Emily skipped the bus and bought a pair of black glasses from an old man's digital stand. She quickly put them on and activated her skill.
[ Blood vision activated ]
Her blind eye turned red, and she could see like every human but in shades of red. She looked around, her eyes widening in amazement. The air cars, shuttles, floaters, and rich teenagers using gliders were all shades of red. The high-rise suspended buildings were a deep maroon. She had never seen anything like it before.
She took a deep breath and smiled. She was finally able to see the world.
She started walking down the street, taking in all the sights. She saw people going about their lives. She saw children playing, couples walking hand-in-hand, and businesspeople rushing to work.
She felt a sense of wonder and excitement that she had never felt before. She was finally able to experience the world in all its vibrant glory.
She stopped to watch a group of children playing with a ball. They were laughing and having fun, and she felt a surge of joy. She had missed out on so much in life because she was blind, but now she was able to catch up.
She walked towards the high street gym and paid them the one day trial fee. She was ready to work out. There were a few people inside the gym that looked at her as she entered wearing her school clothes, her frail body making it clear to everybody inside that she had to be an amateur.
"This looks like your first time here. I'm a personal trainer, so if you need any help I will give you the first lesson for free."
"It's okay I-"
"No need to be so cautious, as I said the first lesson is completely free! Here let me guide you on how to use the equipment. You won't believe how many gym users injure themselves because they do things wrong. So first of all, let's weigh you and then we'll look at your body fat percentage. With that data I'll create a personal plan just for you."
Not even letting Emily get a word in, she was soon tailored off to the weighing scale, and the female personal trainer had her just where she wanted her.
"These personal trainers… they're worse than car salesmen! I just wanted to try to do my own thing and get out of here! What am I meant to do now?' Emily thought, but caught up in the wind, at the end of the day the guy did say the first lesson was free.
After some measurements the trainer took her over to the bench press. She was quite the buff lady, nearly as muscular as weightlifters. Weight after weight was being put on either end, and soon the trainer was pushing away, while describing all the correct points.
'Is this lady really trying to teach me, or does she just want to show off in front of a newbie?'
Finally, the trainer stopped and allowed Emily to try, while she went around the back of the rack to help her in case anything was to go wrong.
'I've never even been to the gym before, how much weight can I lift?'
The trainer was looking at the weights on the bar that he still had, and also had his hands ready. He hadn't even removed any of the weight he had originally put on the bars.
'This kid, I can see she wasn't impressed by my bulging hard muscles. I guess she's never been to the gym before so she doesn't know how hard this is. When she tries to even lift the weight off the bar she'll soon understand, and I'll be there to pick the weight off her when she does.' The trainer thought.
Although it didn't look like Emily had paid too close attention, she had actually remembered each of the points the trainer made, and was now copying her starting position, arching her back slightly. Emily had copied the trainer to the point where she almost looked like a replica.
'Oh, this kid's form is pretty good.' The trainer was surprised, wondering if Emily was just pretending to be new to this.
Then, when trying to push the weight of the rack slightly, Emily could feel it budge only slightly. She held her breath and began pushing and pushing.
But the bar didn't budge.
Emily frowned and tried again. She pulled harder and harder, but the bar still wouldn't move.
She was starting to get frustrated. She didn't understand why she was so weak.
[ Malestorm Quotient 63 MQ]
[ 108 MQ ]
[ 143 MQ ]
[ Your strength is increasing ]
She didn't know why she was getting angry, but she felt her strength increasing.
She took another deep breath and pulled on the bar with all her might.
This time, the bar moved slightly.
Emily smiled and pulled even harder. The bar moved up and up, until it was finally above her head.
Emily held the bar for a moment, then slowly lowered it back to the rack. She was panting heavily, but she was also feeling a sense of accomplishment.
Wiping the sweat from his head, Gary got off the bench.
"Did I do a good job?" Emily asked.
The instructor stood there stunned, and started to look around to see if anyone else had seen what she had just witnessed.
"This is a joke, right? She laughed to herself, but when trying to lift the bar up, she could tell the weight was still there, no one had tampered with it.
'The weight was at least 80kg, how was she able to push that much in one go?!'
[Daily quest complete]
[10 Exp received]
Ah this is great, I thought I would have had to stay here all day, I'll come back tomorrow.' Emily was elated and ran off leaving his stunned trainer there.
The reason for doing all this was because she had asked Armodeus how to fast like Daniel and the answer was Exp.
Knowing that the system was giving her exp for completing all these quests, using the money she still had, Emily decided to stop off at the supermarket. Here she grabbed two kilograms of meat, piled up in her basket, and it was time for her to complete the second daily quest.
While walking though, she suddenly stopped.
'No, I can't just go and bring back the food! If I cook all of this and eat it in front of Mum, she'll ask where I got the money to buy so much steak from_ Daniel sent her some money and he said it was for her treatment and he was sorry for breaking her skull.. the message was cute and Emily had to stare at the message umpteenth times and they'll think I'm a monster for chugging down so much meat!'
Pulling the meat she had just bought out of the plastic back, Emily bcould see it through the cellophane plastic. The red blood that was dripping off the raw steak, the white marble areas. She never found raw meat apprising before but for some reason her mouth was just rolling at the site of it.
Looking around, she made sure no one was looking, and then stepped into an alleyway between two buildings. She soon found herself using her nail to pierce the plastic and the scent had immediately hit her nose.
There was no second guessing herself, as if she was being controlled by something, her hand grabbed onto the raw meat and she took a big chunk out of it. Soon she found herself golfing all the food, ripping it through it with her teeth with ease.
When all the meat was gone, once again the message had popped up.
[Daily quest complete]
[10 Exp received]
Naturally she wiped her mouth with the sleeves of her shirt which was now covered in blood.
"Wait!.. I wanted to give the money to my mom so she can pay some of the bills.. What did I just do?.. now I feel bad. " Emily thought.
She took a deep breath and tapped on the screen of her comm. A text message appears:
"Is there anything else a supernatural can do to make money or a job?"
She clicks send and waits.
After a few minutes, there's no reply. Emily sighs and puts her comm in her pocket.
Emily's family is struggling to make ends meet. Her mother job pays so little and they're behind on their rent, and they're about to be evicted.
Emily knows that she needs to find a way to make money, but she doesn't know how. " No one will employ a sixteen yo old." Emily thought.
Suddenly, her comm buzzes in her pocket. She takes it out and sees a new text message:
"No problem. Meet me at the park tonight, just make sure to come alone!"