Emily set her pen down and looked up to her screen. There was a nice wall of text before her, and about eighteen different tabs open on her browser from when she’d gone down a rabbit hole during her research.

Her homework had been pretty simple, but Emily figured that it was okay to go above and beyond. She needed to shore up some points now in case they ever had any sort of group work later in the year. She had never had a good presentation in her entire life, and she doubted that would change.

With a sigh, Emily closed her laptop and let her hands rest upon it. Doing her homework had been her last excuse not to get going. If she didn’t leave soon, she might be late, and that was practically unforgivable. “All right,” she said.

“What’s that, Boss?” Teddy asked.

The bear girl was on Emily’s bed, legs over the edge and arms held out above her with her precious red book in hand. She was nearly a quarter of the way through it by now.

“I said all right,” Emily repeated. “I think I’m almost ready to get going.”

“Cool!” Teddy said. She snapped her book shut and sat up. “I’m already ready.”

That was true. Teddy had her yellow dress on, cargo shorts and all. Her plastic mask was smiling up at the ceiling from atop Emily’s pillow. “That’s great,” Emily said. “You should get in your hoodie to hide all that.”

Teddy nodded and jumped to rush over to her hoodie, which was lying in a corner on a pile of clean clothes. As it turned out, there was a small laundry room on the first floor of the dorm, so Emily had some clean things, at least.

She considered training Teddy or Athena to clean her clothes, and maybe pick up her room, but that felt a little mean.

She’d probably still do it, because washing up was very much the opposite of fun, and it was just about the only way she could use her powers for something that was actually useful.

Emily stood up, stretched a little, then looked at her notifications.

She had a lot of pending quests, well over a dozen. Most she dismissed without a second thought. Any that mentioned killing or maiming were struck out right away. Those that wanted her to rob people could go too.

It left her with a few choices that actually seemed interesting.

Quest!

The Queen with the Silken Sword, Continued

Become an outstanding member of your community!

Reward: +1 Skill Upgrade point per 10 people who recognize you as “good.” Scoundrel +1 per 10 people who recognize you as “good”!

Accept? Refuse?

That one was easy enough to agree to. She’d done it once, and doing it again seemed straightforward. The upgrade points would probably be wasted on her, but she could use the push toward Scoundrel.

New Quest!