After eating dinner, Silas went back to his room to change into his workout clothes. He wore his sneakers and joggers before leaving the house to complete his daily mission.
Not that he really had one specifically set aside for workouts. He would just make do with any of his clothes he felt were the closest to workout clothes.
As he walked out of the house, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly before looking at the quiet street and taking in its beautiful view.
As a street that is occupied by mostly below-average, low-income earners and retirees, it's always clean and very quiet, especially at night.
Silas smiled sheepishly for no reason and started jogging. Doing exercise or any taxing activity after eating is not ideal. But he had to do it anyway, as the time given to complete the mission was almost up.
Since he had no choice, he decided to take it slow by starting with a light and slow jog, gradually picking up his pace and intensity.
As he picked up his pace, he eventually broke into a run. As he ran, he felt as free as the wind. He felt the cool night breeze blowing against his face and his body, bringing with it a cool and refreshing feeling.
He felt the stress and pressure that had been accumulating on him for the past few years disappear as he ran, going with the wind.
He felt so light that it seemed like a dream. It took all the willpower he had not to scream in excitement.
For the past seven years, he had been broken and broken over and over again, but he held on for his little brother; he held on for the future he knew nothing about, but now everything would change.
At that moment, he made up his mind to rise and stand against all odds. He had been holding on to a bleak future, but there's no need for that now.
He would use the system to propel himself to success, to achieve the dreams and ambitions he had given up on. He didn't know what the system, the world, and the future had in store for him, but he was determined to face it head-on.
As he ran, he continued to let out all the bitter and pent-up feelings he had bottled up.
'This feeling, I hope I get to feel it more. I don't want it to be an illusion.'
More than an hour later, an out-of-breath Silas dragged his tired and brink-of-collapse body home.
Opening the door, he saw that man, his father, slouched on a sofa in the living area, with more than a dozen empty and filled bottles of beer on the table and a burning cigarette stick between his fingers.
Silas' expression changed when he saw this; he decided not to get entangled with him as he quietly made his way upstairs.
Unfortunately for him, his father had already noticed his presence when he opened the door.
"Hey b*stard. You go out and come back whenever you want now, huh? It seems like you have started making too much money." The man said as he pointed at Silas before standing up in a stagger.
He was about to walk towards Silas when he fell back on the sofa and let out a deep belch.
Silas saw this and smiled wryly as he shook his head. His father never ceased to keep surprising him, and there seemed to be no chance for the badly desired change to happen.
His father pushed himself up from the sofa and walked towards him with a stagger. When he got to where he stood, Silas could smell the strong scent of alcohol and cigarettes wafting from his breath and body.
"Tell me, b*stard, where did you go? You went to make money, huh? Give your father here some money. Don't be stingy and ungrateful. I raised you for so long; you should start repaying your debts." His father said and held his collar, and more of the pungent smell wafted out of his mouth as he spoke.
Silas turned his face away from his father's face, as the smell coming from him was making it hard for him to breathe. These and the fact that his father was holding him by the collar made him feel like he was being choked.
He decided to answer his father's questions so that he could quickly get away from his father's presence and go to his room.
"I just went out for night exercise, and I have no money to give right now," Silas said as he stressed the words 'night exercise' and 'no money' so that his father could leave him alone.
"Come on... I don't want much. Just give me $500," his father said, not wanting to give up until he got something out of him.
"Sorry, but I got nothing."
"What about $200?"
Silas: *shakes head in response*
"Hundred?"
Silas: *shakes head in response*
"Hahaha... What was I expecting? You're just as useless as you have been from the start... Go to your room," his father said, releasing his hold on Silas' collar before walking back to the sofa in a stagger.
Silas saw his father's actions and sighed in disappointment as he made his way to his room.
"BASTARD! I heard that. You are sighing at your father, right? Let me tell you, I used to have it big. I once had a good job with good pay, but those stars set me up and ruined me. Now I'm just a below-average bus captain." His father bellowed at Silas from the living room.
Silas did not pay too much attention to his father's rant, as it was not the first time he did it.
Hearing it only made him sigh more. His emotions, though, were fleeting, and the same smile he had when he was running came back to his face as he opened the door to his room.
The first thing he did after getting in was to freshen up. The sweat accumulated from him running was already drying up, and he needed to wash it off before it started giving him body odour.
After taking a shower, Silas wore boxers and a light shirt before lying down on the bed.
"Let's see my progress."
Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before opening them, he called up the system's status interface. He had already been notified that the reward for completing the daily mission had been sent to his account.
"Status"
[Ding!]
[Host has completed Daily Mission.] Daily Mission's reward has been sent to the host's bank account.
[Name: Silas Kurt]
[Age: 20]
[System Level: 0]
[Level Daily Reward And Perk: Daily reward of $10, $10 for every mission completed when the host is still in said level]
_____
[Strength: 3.5 ==> 4.0]
[Agility: 2 ==> 2.5]
[Stamina: 2 ==> 3]
[Intelligence: 3]
[Charisma: 0.5 ==> 1]
_____
[Skill(s): None]
_____
[Mission(s):
Daily Mission(s): Improving and Perfecting Body Condition.
Press-up, 100 times: Completed (100/100)
Sit-up, 100 times: Completed (100/100)
Squat, 100 times: Completed (100/100)
Running, 10 km: Completed (10/10)
[Mission(s) Reward: $40]
Silas saw the screen floating in front of him, and a smile crept up on his face. Just immediately after the screen appeared, a notification sound came from his phone.
*Ding*
Anxiously and excitedly, he picked up his phone. When he pressed the power button, the phone's screen lit up, and he saw a message from his bank on the phone's notification board.
[Notice from Merchant Bank: $40 was deposited into your account at 11:58 p.m.]
Silas saw this and immediately checked his bank balance.
$275
From the initial $235 he had, it has now gone up to $275.
Silas smiled from ear to ear when he saw this. He looked at the time; it was almost midnight, and from what the system said, he would be rewarded a certain amount of money every day.
He also noticed that his attribute points increased, but he did not feel any different from before. He decided not to think too much about it; he knew that with time, he would get the answer to all his questions.
"Time to sleep," Silas said as he covered himself with his blanket. Unfortunately for him, the sleep was not forthcoming.
So many thoughts flooded his head, making him unable to sleep. Even though he had seen the system screen twice and also received a reward from it, he still felt like everything was a dream.
While he was still deep in thought, a notification sound came from his phone, and Silas immediately picked it up to check.
[Notice from Merchant Bank: $10 was deposited into your account at 12:00 A.M.]
'Nice. Now my account balance is going up. Just today, $50 without doing anything. Maybe because I'm at level 0, but $10? I guess it will increase as I level up.'
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the host for meeting the system's level-up requirement.]
[Level Up.]