"....98, 99… 100!" I stumbled to the ground from exhaustion. To be completely honest with myself, I don't know exactly why I did all hundred, maybe I actually want to make a change for myself.
Though my arms are aching a lot now…
Crap, my arms are hurting, the pain would probably last for days. The Hero Association probably won't believe me as an excuse for this…
I put those thoughts aside and looked at the wall where there was a clock. Noon had dyed over the light blue ocean sky. Currently the time is 5:54 p.m. I don't have anything else to do. Wait, there's still that last message!
'Open.'
Tti-ring.
[You have received a gift.]
[The great Valmer admires your courage. The great Valmer has gifted you a special enchantment for showing your courageous actions through threatening and vicious situations. As long as you have this blessing, you'll have a healthy and strong life throughout eternity.]
"This is a gift…?" 'Having a healthy and strong life throughout eternity? This is more of a god's blessing than a gift. Or I'm I getting the wrong idea? Eh, whatever.
I helplessly looked it up, now the messages 'unread' have turned to 'read'.
"Yawn…I'm tired." I pushed myself too hard today. Sleeping is the only way to recover my strength…
I climbed onto the mattress, my eyelids slowly closed shut and I immediately fell asleep. The outside sky was slowly getting darker, as the wind blew with a cold breeze.
The needles on the clock were ticking.
Tik, tok, tik, tok.
They spun and spun until it was 11:59:56 PM.
Tik, tok.
57…
58…
59…
60…
Slowly, the small needle hits 12. 12:00:00 AM.
Tti-ring!
[You have failed to complete Daily Quest. Level 1 Danger penalty. You'll be transferred to the 'Penalty Zone' for an hour.]
***
RUMBLE!!!
My eyes shot right open, a violet shake erupted the room. The ground was shaking hard and trembling with brute force.
"W-what?! An earthquake?!" I tried to grab on to something to hold on to, but the shaking was so bad I couldn't maintain my balance.
RUMBLE!!!
The shaking was getting worse every second tickle by, then it happened.
The floor soon turned to water, while the white walls started to 'disappear'. The ceiling soon melts into sparkles. I looked down, brown wood I seemed to be touching.
The mattress as well turned to water, everything from the room just disappeared. I screamed out, the items and furniture in the room turned to water.
…Plop.
I was flung out of my mattress and got placed roughly. I felt something rough and smooth, like wood.
Soon, that damned earthquake had stopped.
"What is this place…" My eyes carefully caught the sight of the endless bridge. I frowned and got up. Some of the furniture that had been converted into water had poured into my clothes.
Indeed, the whole room that was covered with furniture and walls had been turned into water. Only the endless bridge remained with water surrounding on both sides while the waters were swirling violently.
"Is this an ocean…?!" I couldn't believe what was happening. Just a few moments ago, I was sleeping, then an earthquake struck and as soon I opened my eyes, I was in the middle of nowhere, while a never ending-bridge that continues to who knows where, and an ocean surrounding both sides remained.
There wasn't any wind or breeze here. I walked to the edge of the bridge, and let my hand scoop up a handful of the water. I tasted it. 'Salt water' was the only thing that came to mind.
Putting that aside, I raised my head to look at the sky, no sun or moon, neither having any clouds or stars. It was simply an empty sky filled with nothingness.
"Where is this place anyway?" Then it happened.
Swoosh….
Suddenly, the waters started to swirl, creating a deep pitch-black hole. It looked endless.
"Huh? W–kkhn!"
I desperately stood back avoiding the swirling waters down there. The swirling grew bigger, and wider within each second.
"What the hell?" I stared at the bottom, the water was almost 'glowing'. My eyes narrowed, and I carefully took a closer look, the glowing looked as if it was expanding.
"Hold on a second…" I was getting a bad feeling about this. Just as I stepped back, the water suddenly exploded upwards.
SPLASH!!
The falling water emitted a large and wide mouth. My eyes turned horrific from the sight I was seeing.
"Is that… a shark?" The identical figure that exploded out from the ocean waters was a large and giant shark.
Kiiieeaaak!!
It wasn't fully revealed, but this thing almost reached the height of a 5-story building, no, maybe even bigger…
I swallowed my saliva, this was unreal, this b*stard was incredibly huge for a shark. I was sure I've never heard of a creature this big before or existing in the world. But, its size is terrifying.
Then something on top of the shark's head had something written in red on it.
'The Savage-Tooth Giant Ocean Shark.'
Am I still hallucinating? I rubbed my eyes again, nothing changed. The red words were still on top of the monster's head. It's just like a monster from a video game….
Its sharp teeth were big and sharp looking as they could tear anything apart in one single bite and there were tons of them. It won't take even a child or a genius to figure out what's going to happen.
Upon seeing its teeth, my face turned pale. The shark's face made a grin and a horrified smile.
"Ahh…." It was then the sound in my head ranged.
Tti-ring.
[Penalty Quest: Survival Run]
Objective: Survive until the end of the time limit.
Time Remaining: 5 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds
"Hah… give me a break…." As soon as the 'time remaining' changed to 4 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds, the shark soon swam towards me with full force, as if it couldn't have waited any longer.
"Sh*t!" I instinctively spun around as quickly as I could and ran for my life. There wasn't any time to deliberate the situation, if I wanted to survive then there was only one option. And that one option was to run!
However, what happened next was unexpected. I take a quick look at the giant shark. 'It' tore down the bridge with its giant teeth open wide. It still possessed its evil grin.
"Aaack!!" I panicked, this shark b*stard was toying with me. I kept running through this never-ending bridge, but there still hasn't appeared to lead any left or right turns. At this rate, I'll run out of stamina!
['Skill: Overcome' has been learned.]
[Passive Skill has been activated.]
Out of the blue, my stamina soon started to recover, but this wasn't enough. My head was full of thoughts, only one world would describe this situation. Survive. Survive until the end, that is the only way you'll live.
***
Tik, tok, tik, tok.
The clock ticks silently, three and 59 minutes with 50 seconds had gone by.
51…
54…
57…
As soon as the large needle made a full turn.
I soon appeared back in the room, keeling on the floor coughing nonstop. I wheezed out from the horrifying experience I experienced.
"Cough, cough!! Pant, pant!!" My lungs were out of breath, my eyes were teary and my legs hurt even more. This was something I won't ever forget. I'll remember, I swear.
Tti-ring.
[You've completed the 'Penalty Quest.']
Screw you! My expression couldn't have gotten any better. But I don't recall doing anything just to be punished. Though just a few moments ago I was about to get eaten by a big ass shark, perhaps that could've been the 'Penalty Quest'?
'Could it have been…' The situation was still unclear, everything that happened back there was real. Penalty Quest?
"This is too much, cough, cough…"
The pain I felt back there was very real, my lungs burned from the pain as the shortness of the breath I kept taking suffocated me was harsh and the chase by a shark was real. That time still felt fresh in my mind. I nearly died back there…
That felt more like torture! If this were to happen the next time, it'll probably not be the last.
The mechanical voice ranged through my head.
[You now have rewards for completing the Penalty Quest are now available.]
[Would you like to confirm these rewards?] (Y/N)
'Rewards…?' Who cares about that now, I just want to get some rest. I don't have any energy left within me to confirm that. My body simply won't allow it.
With that left in mind, my sight gradually blurred and soon fell into a deep slumber.
***
".... Seriously?"
The next morning, Ryan came by to check up on Alan, to see how he was doing and if he had gotten over the experience he experienced back in the alleyway. Though to his surprise, when he opened the door to Alan's room, he found him lying on the floor sleeping.
"Sigh…" Without being bothered by Alan's actions, he walks towards him and lifts him with little effort, and places him on the mattress. 'So light. But how did he come into this state? He was fine last night… his condition simply couldn't have changed after last night.'
He carefully examines Alan's condition, however, Ryan couldn't find anything wrong. He checks his pulse with his fingers.
'High blood pressure… about four hours ago… normal pressure seems stable.' He takes his fingers off of Alan. He spat out a sigh of relief. 'He's only in a deep sleep. What could he possibly have done for his deep slumber…'
Ryan looks around the room, he doesn't notice anything suspicious. He frowned the more he kept looking around, but so came to the conclusion he must've been fatigued.
'Maybe I'm overthinking things. Sigh, I really need to stop working overshifts. It's going to ruin my health one of these days.' He gives the room one last look before leaving and closes the door quietly.
***
Tti-ring.
[ Daily Quest is now available.]
[If you do not complete today's quest, a proper level of punishment will be held.]
My eyes quickly shot open and the first thing I did was to check the time on the wall. Time has only passed by 5:30. Meaning there were only six hours with twenty minutes left.
'Alright.' I opened the mailbox.
Tti-ring.
[Daily Quest: Daily Routine Exercise.]
Push-ups, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)
Sit-Ups, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)
Squats: 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)
10km Run: Incomplete (0/100)
*Warning: Levels of Punishments will be held if Daily Quest is incomplete.*
"Well would you look at that, it's the same thing again." I was kinda expecting the daily quest to be something more different. In video games, daily quests are mostly randomized or either led to send a message or deliver something.
No, I'm thinking ahead of myself. Something 'easy' won't make me strong, this is actually for the better. I'd prefer this type of quest rather than an impossible mission or sending messages that lead to different routes. This is much more suitable instead.
As long as I have enough time, I'll be able to complete this quest and not complain as much. Though the only down effects would be that my body would suffer pain. Well, I've done it once, might as well begin with push-ups first.
I got on the floor and began to do the first exercise.
"One."
If I don't finish the quest that's assigned today, I'll be dragged into another suspicious and bizarre place I'll probably see. If yesterday's penalty quest wasn't so nice, then today could be worse than last penalty's quest.
"Two."
I obviously got lucky on the previous night, though there can be no guarantee it'll happen again. After all, luck is something that can be given by coincidence.
"Three."
"Four, haa…"
I raised my head a little, and above me, there was a hologram floating with contents of the quest. I noticed that each push-up I performed was recorded in perfect time.
Tti-ring.
[You've completed a push-up.]
Tti-ring.
[You've completed a push-up.]
I wanted to make sure that every push-up I made would be recorded in perfect form. I bent my back a bit, and to my surprise, the push-up wasn't recorded. Now let's try something else. Let's see what happens if I only went half way down. Again as expected, that push-up doesn't count as well.
"My god, gimme a break." I groaned. I was hoping to get this over with, but it seems not only my arms but as well as my body would hurt.
I complained but continued on doing the exercise.
Tti-ring.
[You've completed a push-up]
[Push-ups 100 times: Incomplete (30/100)]
That's right, I can do this, I still need 70 more to go. After that exercise, I continued with the other four that were waiting to be completed.
…Three hours have now gone by.
Push-ups, 100 times: Incomplete (100/100)
Sit-Ups, 100 times: Incomplete (100/100)
Squats: 100 times: Incomplete (100/100)
10km Run: Incomplete (100/100)
"Pant.… pant…. Pant…."
I was currently bent over and panting out heavily, my heart was racing like a speedy car whose engine would explode at any second. But I couldn't give up, not now. I continued running from a nearby park.
'I'm almost done, I can't waste all my efforts here, so there's no way in hell I'll….'
I somehow managed to open the front door and stepped forward fatigued.
Tti-ring.
[Total distance ran: 10km]
[You've completed running 10km]
Finally it was over. All I wanted to do was sleep already.
I fell on my knees, running had parched my breath, and my face was all soaked with sticky sweat.
"Cough… pant, pant."
As I tried to regain my breathlessness, the rough sticky drops of sweat continued to drip from all over my face, a familiar message that I immediately recognized popped in front of my eyes.
Tti-ring.
[You've completed 'Daily Quest: Daily Routine Exercise'.]
[Completion rewards have arrived.]
[Would you like to confirm these rewards?] (Y/N)
I wanted to forget about everything today and only get some rest and simply lay down, but I quickly changed my mind for now. I wanted to confirm these rewards and witness them with my own eyes.
"Confirm."
Tti-ring.
[The following rewards are available.]
Reward 1. Full recovery of the physical body.
Reward 2. Three additional Stat points.
Reward 3. One random box.
'Wow, so many of them.' That was the only thought that entered my mind after taking a proper look at these rewards. Though the more I dug deeper into these rewards, these were actually useful, especially the first one, I needed that one right now!
Right now, I'm urgently trying to regain my strength. I'm at the blink of pasting out. To think the rewards were this high. I'm grateful.
Well, let's hope nothing comes out of the ordinary.
"Confirm first reward."