"Aww!!" Ian moaned as he got in the hot tub for the second time in three hours. "That's the stuff."
"Would you stop moaning like a girl,?" Flint called from the room. "You're distracting me."
"All you ever do is workout," Ian mumbled as he let his body sink deeper into the tub until only his head was above the water.
"I hate that man who calls himself my teacher," he thought. "He seems pretty intent on killing me. Fifty pushups with five different variations for every ten, fifty situps, and fifty squats every morning, and in the evening, fifty pushups again, fifty situps, fifty squats and a ten-kilometre run. What sort of an insane workout plan is that? I've never even done one pushup until a few days ago."
"....And that is just the tip of the iceberg," he sighed as he looked up at the screen in front of him.
[Updated Daily Quest:]
[50 pushups: 50/50]
[50 situps: 50/50]
[50 squats: 50/50
[10km run: 10/10]
[3 litres of water: 3/3]
[The updated daily quest has been completed.]
[Rewards will be awarded.]
[25 exp has been awarded.]
"Isn't this system being a little too stingy?" Ian complained. "Everything in my body hurts because of this workout. I deserve more at least."
After spending about an hour in the bathroom, Ian finally came out of the tub feeling a little better even though he could still feel his legs shaking as he tried to walk. He tried holding on to things as he walked, but even that proved difficult as his hands were shaky also. He dried his body and put on his shorts before leaving the bathroom.
"Ahhh!" he yelled as he opened the door, startled by Flint who stood shirtless by the door. "What the hell?! Why are you standing here?!"
"I was beginning to think you drowned in the tub," Flint replied casually, with a serious face as usual.
Ian cocked an eyebrow. "And standing here is supposed to accomplish what?"
"I was hoping to wait until I'm certain that you are dead before going in."
"Huh?!" Ian's eyes widened. "Why?!"
"I owe you no explanation," Flint said as walked past Ian.
"I'm pretty sure you do," Ian insisted. "Knowing your personality, I can tell that you aren't joking."
"Good," Flint said as he closed the door behind him.
Blake walked in at that moment with a gloomy expression on his face so Ian knew better than to say anything to him.
"What the hell is wrong with my room?" Ian mumbled as he sat on his bed, ready to meditate. He has decided to make it a daily routine to meditate twice every day. The required one hour in the morning, and an additional four hours in the evening to make it five hours every day.
"My body hurts," he thought as he sat in the lotus position and closed his eyes. "But I just have to do it."
†††††††††
Ding!
The sound of the notification woke Ian from his slumber as he noticed that he had slept in an unnatural position. His legs were still folded and the lack of feeling in them told him that they had fallen asleep. He had his back resting on the wall which was really uncomfortable for his neck which now hurts.
"I must have slept while meditating," he thought. "How long did I even meditate?"
[Host meditated for only 15 minutes.]
Ian stared at the notification dumbfounded for a few seconds before regaining his composure.
"That sucks," he managed to say, disappointed in himself. "This is all that old man's fault."
[Quest reminder: Reach level 10 in 10 days (7 days left)]
"What?!" he yelled out loud and immediately covered his mouth, hoping he didn't wake anyone up. He decided to keep his voice down to a whisper. "What is this?"
The system remained silent.
"System?" Ian called hoping that the system would at least give him an answer or maybe he could plead for leniency, especially after seeing the penalty. "I can't have my lifespan reduced to five months!"
There was still no response from the system.
"Fuck!" he yelled this time unable to contain his frustration as he punched the sliding wall in front of him.
"I would kill you if you make a sound again," Flint hissed.
The sliding door slid open revealing Blake with an expressionless face as he bent down until he was at face level with Ian.
"I've been in a really shitty mood since yesterday and I barely managed to sleep," he said calmly. "Keep the wall open and punch the air if you want to punch something that badly. Do me a favour and also keep your mouth shut while you're at it. I would not warn you again."
He made his way back to his bed without looking back even once after he was done talking.
Once Blake was out of sight, Ian let out a breath he didn't even know he held in. He caught a glimpse of Flint who seemed to be peeking through his own wall. Flint casually retreated into his wall once their eyes met and that did nothing to help Ian's anxiety.
Ding!
[Daily Quest Reminder: Train your vessel.]
[50 pushups: 0/50]
[50 situps: 0/50]
[50 squats: 0/50
[3 litres of water: 0/3]
[Reward: 25 exp]
[Daily Quest: 1 hour of meditation(0/60mins).]
[Reward: 5 exp]
Ian felt a strong urge to curse at the system right now but he knew better after what just happened.
"There's not enough time to do th-," he was saying as he checked his watch. He cracked a smile as he stared at the watch. That was the best he could do to express his frustration right now.
He would have taken Blake's advice to punch the air but considering the fact that he had to do 50 pushups, he needed to conserve as much energy in his hands as possible.
"It's all for the sake of getting stronger," he chanted to himself in his head as he begrudgingly stood up. He checked the watch again to be sure and just shook his head as the confirmed the time.
"This stupid system actually woke me up at 2 am."