♫♪♫ I think it's time we blow this scene. Get everybody and the stuff together. Ok, three, two, one, let's jam– ♫♪♫
Raphael begrudgingly opened his eyes, as he looked towards his phone, which was on the floor at the other side of the small room.
'Why do I have to be such a cheeky little genius…,' he moaned on the inside, as he swung his feet and got up, narrowly missing the low table.
He picked up his phone from the floor and turned off the alarm, yawning and scratching his back. The display light up, the gray digits on its lockscreen showing 6:30 AM, the 10th of August, 2052. He had left it there the previous night precisely because he knew himself too well. Had it been within his reach, he would have flipped it over and blissfully slept away the morning, waking up without a memory of having done so.
He rummaged through the clothes piled up on two chairs, until he found a robe. Putting it on, Raphael went to the bathroom to brush his teeth, before deciding on eating a light breakfast.
He picked out two green apples and cleaned them, after which eh cut them into 4 pieces each, making sure to get rid of the seeds. He had always done this, as his parents would always warn him not to eat them, as they contained amygdalin, which would turn into a form of cyanide when digested. While the small amount of cyanide would not harm him, as his body would easily flush it, Raphael preferred to err on the side of caution.
He turned on the electric kettle to warm up some water, before weighing the pieces of apple and noting their calories in his fitness application. He touched the side of the kettle, deeming the water hot enough and turning it off, after which he poured it into an empty cup and added a bag of black tea. The pieces of apple were placed in a small plate, neatly arranged in a circle.
Raphael sat down and leisurely ate the eight pieces of apple, savoring the crispy texture of its skin. Meanwhile, the water turned into tea, and he took out the tea bag with a small spoon he had prepared. He drank it in a few gulps, enjoying the warmth that it brought to his core.
This sort of breakfast was what his parents had always made at home, and he had decided on having it out of nostalgia. Also, it was actually a healthy way to start the day. Apples contained a good amount of carbs, fiber and natural sugar, all of which people required to get their engines throttling early in the morning, while black tea contained a bit of caffeine, around a third of what the same amount of coffee would.
Raphael threw away the used tea bag, after which he washed the plate, spoon and cup, setting them on the dish rack so that they would dry. Afterwards, he went back to his room and changed into a new set of clothes, putting the old ones that had started to smell in the washing machine.
Raphael applied some anti-perspirant, before he got into position and started doing push-ups.
His body was painfully weak and he knew that it would be a long process to get it back into shape. As he currently did not have the time or money to invest into a gym membership, he would concentrate on a few simple exercises that he could do with his own body weight.
His arms started to ache around the seventh push-up, but he persisted, making sure to keep his form as close to the proper one as possible, while also not rushing through the motion. He did five more push-ups, stopping at twelve as he felt like his arms would buckle if he attempted any more. Push-ups would help him train his back muscles, shoulders, as well as his biceps, triceps and his flexor muscles.
Raphael stood up, stretching out his hands forward, his chest puffed up. He slowly squatted down, again making sure to go slowly for a better effect, before rising back up to his initial position. He continued doing this, until he finished at the 25th repetition. Squats were also a very useful way to train a lot of his unused muscles, helping him strengthen his thighs, hips, buttocks and numerous others.
The last exercise Raphael did was a very simple one. He went up to one of the empty walls, stood beside it, his back barely making contact, and he lifted his heels up. His toes remained in contact with the ground, as his whole body went up by a couple of centimeters, stayed that way for a second, and then went back down. This was called a standing calf raise. It was the last exercise for the day, and he did it 50 times before he called it quits. Standing calf raises would help him train his quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes.
Noticing that his body had warmed up, but not in a sweaty and overheating sort of way, Raphael decided to add these simple exercises to his daily to-do list.
'I'll have to add some others in the future, these aren't enough to fully train my body,' he thought, as he added the exercises to a tasks application he had just downloaded. Using such software was beneficial, as some people would feel a bit better when they had a way of checking off small accomplishments.
As he sat down in his gaming chair, flicking its massage function on, Raphael pondered on what to include in his Origo Goals checklist. After careful consideration, he settled on 3 short-term things he needed to achieve.
➊ Unlock Quest System.
➋ Get to level 5.
➌ Broaden available skills.
While simple at a glance, these three goals were definitely hard to obtain.
The Quest System allowed players to keep note of their current quests, how much time they had to finish them, as well as their difficulty. While it did not seem like much, this was very important early on, when Raphael would have to take on a lot of quests, which all had varying requirements, timings and difficulties. Players had to successfully finish 1 quest, before it would be unlocked. Raphael had planned on doing so with one of the many simple and repeatable quests, but as the Archos mission had locked him out of accepting any of them, he had to complete it. The only other option was to spend a whole week with monsters as his only source of experience points, something with he had not considered for even a millisecond.
The second goal seemed easier, until one did the math. Raphael currently had 85 out of the 250 experience points, which were required for level 2. That meant he needed 165 points for level 2. When you added in the 500 points for level 3, 1000 points for level 4 and 2000 points for level 5, it became a staggering amount.
Three thousand, six hundred and sixty-five experience points! The level 1 cave wolves only gave 30 points each, and when you took in the fact that he would get less experience points the higher his level was in comparison to his opponent, Raphael could not help but feel gloomy. At the very least, even if he battled monsters around his own level, he would have to kill over a hundred of them. If he finished the Archosa quest, as well as a few others, it would definitely be faster than just mindlessly grinding monsters day in and day out.
The third and last goal was the hardest one. Skills could be obtained from trainers, chests or skill books. At this point, Raphael could only hope to get new skills as quest rewards or as random loot. The chances of either was slim, but there was no shortcut he could take.
He sighed, put on the Jago Superior Helmet and activated it, leaning backwards as the game turned on.
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As he opened his eyes, Raphael found himself within the lower branches of a tree. He looked around, noting the continued emptiness of the road, and swiftly climbed down.
After making sure that all of his equipment was in its place, afraid that something might have fallen out of a pocket, he continued walking towards Archosa.
There was a light fog, which obscured anything that was further than 10 meters away. Jiver kept to the left side of the road, ready to sprint into the nearby woods should anything dangerous come his way.
The cave wolves had taken advantage of the openness of the road and Raphael had taken note. Thieves would be at a disadvantage, when their environment did not offer them a way to showcase both their speed and agility. Plus, as fast as he was, monsters and beasts would always be faster, so the best option was to stick close to anything he could use to his advantage.
As he traveled up the road, sounds of a battle started emerging from the fog. Jiver's ears perked up, as he activated his Hide skill and made his way forward. Typically, Hide was not very useful, as it required the player to already have some sort of ability to blend in with his or her surroundings. Even though his gear was not camouflaged in any way, the fog made up for that, so he could make use of a skill for the first time.
Suddenly, an arrow shot out a few meters to the side of Raphael's head, its tail whistling as it a tree. Lowering himself even more, Raphael crept up the side of the road, as a curious scene came into view. One player and two goblins were fighting a grizzly battle, both sides bloodied and worse for wear.
Raphael calmly ascertained the situation from 10 meters away, trying to decide on his next course of action.