Chapter 54| First Bond Quest

Chapter 54: Chapter 54| First Bond Quest

Zane was about to close his eyes when the system beeped.

Not the daily quest tone. Not the proximity alert. Something different. A lower register that sat below the usual notification frequency. The kind of tone that felt like it had been waiting for exactly the right moment and had decided this was it.

He opened his eyes.

BEEP!

『 FIRST BOUND TARGET QUEST ISSUED 』

『 Objective: Formally establish your first Bound Target bond 』

『 Reward: HIDDEN 』

『 Penalty: SYSTEM DEACTIVATION 』

『 Time Limit: 10 days 』

Zane stared at the notification.

’Oh,’ he thought. ’Interesting. The system finally surprises me with a quest.’

He read it again from the top. The objective seems clear enough. Reward hidden. Which was new and slightly concerning. Time limit ten days.

Then his eyes landed on the penalty.

SYSTEM DEACTIVATION.

’What the actual...’ he thought. ’System deactivation. What does that mean exactly?. Does the system shut down?. Does it take me with it?. Is deactivation a polite word for something significantly worse.’

『 You could always fail the quest to find out. 』

Zane stared at that response for a full four seconds.

’What a straightforward answer,’ he thought. ’Genuinely helpful. Thank you.’

『 You’re welcome. 』

’That was sarcasm,’ Zane thought.

『 I know. So was mine. 』

He sat up on the bed.

’Different question,’ he thought. ’What does bonding even mean in this context. The system has been using the word since week one without defining it properly. What exactly am I supposed to do to formally establish a Bound Target bond.’

The system was quiet for a moment.

A beat longer than usual.

Then....

『 To bond successfully the host must have sex with the target. Thereby unlocking and initiating the system upgrade associated with that bond. 』

Zane looked at the ceiling.

’Sex,’ he thought.

He let that sit for a moment.

’Sex,’ he thought again.

Then he laughed. Short. Dry. The laugh of someone who had heard something so specific and so unexpected that the only reasonable response was to find it funny.

’Haha. Okay. Very funny. I know you joke a lot. Good one.’

『 This is not a joke. 』

The laugh stopped.

Zane looked at the notification.

Then at the ceiling.

Then back at the notification.

’You’re serious,’ he thought.

『 The system is always serious about mechanics. The notification format alone should have indicated this was a formal quest rather than a supplementary one. 』

’I thought...’ Zane stopped. ’I assumed bonding meant emotional connection. Genuine trust. The kind of thing that builds over time through shared experience.’

『 Those are prerequisites. Not the completion condition. Emotional connection and genuine trust bring the familiarity to the required threshold. The threshold itself is what unlocks the formal bond. And the formal bond is established through physical consummation. 』

Zane sat with that for a moment.

’So everything I’ve been building,’ he thought. ’The morning training sessions. The cafeteria lunches. The conversations. All of it was... what. Foreplay for the system.’

『 Foundation work. The system does not reduce genuine connection to a transaction. The connection is real and necessary. This is simply the step that formalises it. 』

’That’s a very diplomatic way to describe this,’ Zane thought.

『 The system was initially built from a combined configuration sourced from your sexual desires carried over from your previous life and this body’s foundational yearning for power. My core functioning is based on that configuration. The Bond Target mechanic reflects the system’s foundational architecture. It cannot be separated from what I am. 』

Zane stared at the ceiling.

’Damn,’ he thought. ’I must have been a complete lust freak in my previous life.’

『 The data supports that conclusion. 』

’You didn’t have to agree that fast,’ Zane thought.

『 The system presents accurate assessments. Speed of delivery is not a variable I adjust for comfort. 』

He lay back fully.

Looked at the notification still hovering at the edge of his vision.

Ten days.

’Ten days,’ he thought. ’You gave me ten days for this. Ten. Do you understand what you’re asking. These are real people. Real relationships that took six weeks to build to where they are. You can’t just..’

He stopped the thought.

Started it again differently.

’Why ten days specifically. Why not thirty. Why not more.’

『 The system has assessed your current progress across all Bound Target candidates and determined you are sufficiently prepared to complete this quest within the given timeframe. The time limit was calculated based on projected completion frequency given your current familiarity standings and the natural trajectory of your existing relationships. 』

’Projected completion frequency,’ Zane thought slowly. ’You ran the numbers. On my relationships. And calculated how fast you think I can...’

He stopped that sentence before it finished.

’Damn you system,’ he thought. ’Genuinely. Ten days. Damn you entirely.’

『 The system notes your objection. The timer is running regardless. 』

He sat up.

『 Stop being a chicken. 』

’Excuse me,’ Zane thought.

『 Ten days. You have some potential candidates. You have everything you need. The only variable is you. Stop overthinking and start moving. 』

’Did the system just call me a chicken,’ Zane thought.

『 The system presented an accurate behavioural assessment. 』

Zane stared at the notification.

’I genuinely cannot stand you,’ he thought.

『 The timer is running. 』

Zane pulled up the full candidate status for the first time

Familiarity percentages appeared simultaneously across all four candidates except one was unknown. Visible for the first time. Actual numbers, actual standings, the full picture of where six weeks of interactions had landed each relationship.

『 BOUND TARGET CANDIDATES — FAVOURABILITY STATUS 』

『 MAREN — Familiarity: 56% — Acquaintance Tier 』

『 SERA DUNNE — Familiarity: 25% — Stranger Tier 』

『 NYX HALE — Familiarity: 8% — Stranger Tier 』

『 NIL — UNIDENTIFIED — DATA PENDING 』

He read the numbers.

Sat with them.

’Maren at 56%,’ he thought. ’Six weeks of 6:20 AM sessions. The closest by a significant margin.’

’Sera at 25%. Daily lunches. Stolen fries. Closer than it felt from the inside.’

’Nyx at 8%. One real exchange in a courtyard. Just barely started.’

’And Nil,’ he thought. ’Still unidentified. Still pending.’

He stared at that last entry for a long moment.

『 Stop being a chicken. It’s ten days. The numbers tell you where to start. 』

’Maren,’ he thought.

『 The system notes your conclusion. 』

’Interesting,’ he thought. ’Very interesting.’

The system stayed quiet while he processed. No commentary. No observation. Just the numbers sitting there being what they were.

Gerald wheezed.

Dex was already asleep across the room. Face down. Boots still on. The complete unconscious peace of someone who had no idea what was currently sitting in his roommate’s field of vision at 10:30 PM on what had already been an extremely full day.

Zane lay back down slowly.

Ten days. Four candidates. A reward the system had classified as hidden. A penalty that the word deactivation did not fully explain and the system had declined to elaborate on beyond the option of finding out through failure.

’One thing at a time,’ he thought.

’Starting tomorrow.’

He looked at the notification one more time.

The timer was already running.

He didn’t know exactly when his eyes closed. One moment he was staring at the notification. The next he was beginning to get consumed by the fatigue from the day

Gerald wheezed once more. Long, slow, the specific wheeze that sounded like it was commenting on the situation.

’I know,’ Zane thought.

’I know.’