Level up at least once!

"The Storm is coming," Noara began dramatically, capturing their attention. "A very elaborate group of individuals, manufactured to eliminate all life on every plane of existence, all domains, all spaces, and dimensions—a storm that will eradicate corruption and evil. They call themselves Shūryō." She paused, wanting to gauge their reactions.

Kurumi listened intently, her eyes wide with curiosity, like a kitten chasing a laser pointer. Hikaru, on the other hand, appeared completely lost, having never heard of such a group before. Shuuta, well, he remained Shuuta, not fully grasping the gravity of the situation.

Noara, frustrated, popped a few veins and continued her explanation. "Do you remember that kid, Hikaru? Mazumi, was it?"

Hikaru flinched at the name, as his old friend's memory resurfaced. "What happened to him?"

"What happened, you ask?" Noara replied, "He's being held captive inside the school's inner dungeon."

Everyone flinched at the revelation, and all eyes turned to Noara in shock.

"Dungeon?!" they all exclaimed in surprise.

The doctor in the coat closed her eyes with regret and sighed. "Yeah, a dungeon. I can't tell you more." She ushered everyone out of the infirmary.

Shuuta, intrigued, turned to Hikaru. "Yo, Hikaru."

Hikaru responded with gleaming eyes, "Yes, Shuuta?"

"Shall we?"

"Indeed. But first, we must prioritize my dear sister."

"Fair enough. So, which mission should we tackle first?"

Shuuta pulled out his phone, tapped on an app, and the screen turned bright red, playing a little jingle.

"Welcome to Q-uest," the screen displayed.

"Quest? No… the screen said Q-uest. What kind of name is that?" Shuuta wondered aloud. The screen turned black, revealing the main menu.

Q-uest was developed by Mystics who were engineers, allowing everyone to level up and undertake missions. It was a recent addition to the Mystic world.

A message notification appeared on Shuuta's screen. He tapped it, and it led to a chat box with Noara.

[I heard you from behind the door, Shuuta.]

Shuuta's expression darkened, especially when he saw Noara sending a barrage of skeleton emojis. Nervously, he ushered everyone out of the school.

...

[Quest: Slay 20 Demonic Goo in under one minute.]

Shuuta stared at his phone, trying to understand what "Demonic Goo" meant. He shifted his gaze away from the phone and spotted what appeared to be a slime, shaded red, dragging itself slowly near the hive infestation. Many buildings resembled scenes from a zombie apocalypse.

"So, what's the quest?" Hikaru asked.

Shuuta blinked repeatedly, clearly confused. "I think we have to kill that?"

As he pointed to the slime, he felt a burning sensation on his foot. "Gaaaahh!" Shuuta shook his foot, trying to dislodge the slime that had clung to him, burning through his jeans.

"Stupid slime! Get off my damn foot!" Shuuta coiled Devour Mana around his foot, disintegrating the slime.

"W-weak, and they're cute too," Kurumi remarked.

"But they burn like a b-"

Crack! A swarm of slimes broke through a window on a tall building, descending like tiny insects.

Kurumi, stunned by the sheer number of slimes, muttered, "Too many…"

Hikaru jumped in, "The quest is to kill 20 of them in under a minute. Kurumi, it's your turn."

Kurumi remained dumbfounded, struggling to process the vast number of slimes. "I'm going to get swallowed..."

She saw sparkles, rainbows, and glitter around them. The slimes were too cute for her to handle.

"Kurumi! Watch out!" Shuuta noticed a slime preparing to attack, spitting lava-like goo. He swiftly pulled Kurumi out of harm's way, but...

"Gaaaah! It burns!" Shuuta dropped to the ground and rolled.

"Idiot! You're not on fire! You're spreading it more!" Hikaru berated him.

Hikaru examined the flooded street, rubble everywhere, and a big, chunky mass of redness in the distance. He started strategizing to determine the best way to complete the mission. "We need to regroup and draw the attention of just 20 of them."

As they huddled together, Kurumi would need an AoE skill to do substantial damage. "I don't have one," she said, blushing in embarrassment.

[Quest Failed]

They quickly decided to make their way out of the area. Roaming around the school was a dangerous proposition, especially with the looming hive-like infestation nearby.

"Great! Next quest, Shuuta. Please choose an easy one for my dear sister," Hikaru urged.

Shuuta, taking out his phone, browsed through the list of quests that Noara had sent him. However, his brows furrowed as he encountered a series of demanding quests.

'I might as well sell an organ!'

[Eliminate Giant Demonic Goo 0/1]
[Eliminate Grade C Demons 0/10]
[Eliminate a Demonic Warrior 0/1]
[Eliminate a Demonic Harbinger 0/2]
[Close the Rift in the Sky]
[Eliminate a Dharka 0/1]
[Eliminate Grade B Demons 0/1]
"How many elimination quests did you send me, Noara?!" Shuuta exclaimed.

"Enough for your lovely Kurumi to choose," Noara replied with a hint of amusement. "You and Hikaru are there to assist, so you should be fine. Good luck!" She hung up abruptly, leaving Shuuta exasperated.

"She will be the death of me, I swear…" Shuuta grumbled, his frustration evident.

Kurumi, who had overheard their conversation from a distance, had a blank expression as she approached them. "So it's all elimination quests?"

Shuuta glanced at her phone. "Yeah, Noara seems to be really keen on having you eliminate demons."

Kurumi laughed nervously, her unease apparent. Shuuta could sense her apprehension, and even her brother Hikaru shared the sentiment.

Shuuta decided to ask about her skills. "What skills do you have?"

She replied hesitantly, "Uhhhhh… I just developed one called [Freeze]."

Shuuta couldn't help but sigh. "You only have [Snow Cushion], don't you?"

Kurumi averted her eyes, a bit shy. "Y-yes, I'm sorry, Shuuta."

'Go figure, she probably didn't even have one before I fought that perverted Martial Artist... Danger might be the only way, but Hikaru might disagree with my next idea.'

...

"I'm going to kill you in your sleep, Shuuta. I know where you live," Hikaru threatened.

"Okaaay… Disregarding the part where you know where I live, give it some thought," Shuuta paused, mulling something over. "Imagine this: you're being beaten to a pulp by a Grade D demon-"

Hikaru interjected, "Excuse me? At least make it an A grade demon."

Shuuta glared at him, resuming his tale. "The dark moon shines upon your face, the tip of a claw rapidly cutting toward you, but then a majestic 'clang!' halts your impending doom. There, you see her: white silky hair, bright shiny eyes, a maiden outfit, and a white-cloaked katana. Your sister cradles you to her chest, pointing her blade at the entity. 'I won't let you hurt my dearest onii-chan anymore!' She's protecting you at all costs."

Shuuta even attempted to imitate Kurumi's voice as he recounted her heroic deeds.

"That does sound delightful, being saved by my Kurumi-chan, being held by her, her protecting me from danger…you know what, on second thought…"

Easily swayed by Shuuta's story, Hikaru agreed wholeheartedly, causing Shuuta to realize the depths of Hikaru's emotional attachment to his sister. It was somewhat creepy, and Shuuta bestowed upon him the nickname "Sis-con."

The plan was set: Kurumi would be left to fend for herself, teaching her to defend herself against the monsters.

[Quest: Eliminate giant demonic goo 0/1]

"A-are you sure about this, Shuuta-Kun? I don't feel like it'll work," Kurumi hesitated.

"Less talking, more doing! Now, do it!" Shuuta urged her.

"F-fine! [Snow Magic: Snow Cushion]!"

The roughly giant-sized slime, twice as big as Shuuta, became completely covered in snow, which immobilized it and slowed it down as it tried to unstick itself from the concrete.

"See, it worked! All you have to do is get creative with your magic! You can basically create anything out of snow! Imagine all the cool things you can make… like a snow dragon, a snow serpent, or maybe a-"

Shuuta's excitement came to a screeching halt as he squinted in disbelief. Kurumi had inexplicably created an ordinary snowman, complete with a rather expensive-looking hat.

"Wait a minute… where did the carrot and the hat come from?! Err…anyways. cough Why a snowman?! You could've made something cooler than that!"

Kurumi defended her choice, "Snowmen are cute! But don't worry, I gave him anger issues."

"Anger issues?" Shuuta raised an eyebrow.

To everyone's astonishment, the snowman suddenly gained red eyes and swiftly disintegrated the slime in half with powerful snow fists.

'I think Kurumi mistook the concept of a snowman and a snow golem.'

Shuuta couldn't hide his shock as the "snowman" grew taller and bulkier.

"Is that a new skill, Kurumi-chan?" Hikaru inquired.

"Yeah! It's called [Snow Creation: Snow Man], and he's really cute too!" Kurumi beamed.

Shuuta couldn't help but remark, "And deadly… I can see death in his button eyes… it's terrifying. Good job!"

Kurumi smiled as she dissolved the snowman.

"Nice! You completed a quest! Please tell me you leveled up," Shuuta asked expectantly.

"No… I only filled a bar for less than a quarter. It only gave me 25 Xuvia points out of 150."

"That makes sense. We have to keep doing quests for you to level up. But please, don't overexert yourself, Kurumi-chan," Hikaru advised, taking Shuuta's phone to check for an easy quest.

Both of them knew that harder quests granted more Xuvia points.

"Wait, why are there no easy quests?" Shuuta inquired, retrieving his phone.

Hikaru pondered, "Mmm… maybe Noara is testing us."

"Testing us? For what?" Shuuta was curious.

Hikaru explained, "You see, every school has Mystics, right? Every Mystic has to be a member of a team, and teams are essential for completing missions."

Shuuta nodded, starting to grasp the concept.

"But, why did we go to the mall that one time? We aren't teammates," Shuuta pointed out.

Hikaru clarified, "Noara didn't know there was a B-rank demon there. She probably thought we could deal with it easily."

"Okay, what does that have to do with Noara testing us?" Shuuta asked.

Hikaru reasoned, "She probably wants to see if we're capable of finishing the mission. She might be planning to create a new team. We could become the 5th squad."

Shuuta was surprised, "There are more Mystics in the school?! I thought it was just us and Kurumi!"

Hikaru confirmed, "Well, you're wrong. We have a few more, and… let's just say they're not in high spirits right now… especially after what you did."

Shuuta looked down, gazing back at the fissure in the sky. "I'm sorry. I promise to find a way to close it. I'll regain my strength and become even stronger than before."

Hikaru smirked, "I won't let a freshman outdo me. I will be stronger than you."

Their eyes lit up with determination, burning with the fervor of youth.

Kurumi interrupted, pouting, "Hey, you guys. Don't count me out!"

Hikaru teased her, "That's right! You were going to kill Shuuta, right? What's up with that?"

Kurumi replied earnestly, "He has the biggest mana out of all of us! I need to prove my worth!"

Shuuta was bewildered, "And that's why you wanted to kill me?"

"Mhm!"

Shuuta sullenly glared. "Give me a break, there's so much I don't know about my magic, plus, I have a debuff on me right now. Kill me already."

"I can't kill you now. I need you to be at your prime first."

"Then you'll have to wait a long time."

"Don't worry, I'll be there when you reach it. Then I'll kill you."

Shuuta squinted his eyes at her.

'Are girls her age supposed to say stuff like that?!'

In the end, Shuuta and Hikaru spent most of the day helping Kurumi level up at least once.