Sunlight shined through Matt's window and straight onto his face. It was morning again, and he had finally recovered from the exhausting events yesterday. His alarm was blaring again.
He yawned and stretched before grabbing a quick breakfast, from the supplies that were running low in his apartment. Luckily his alarm actually went off this time, so he could take his time getting to work.
'Well, I guess I need to figure out a plan.'
He thought as he chewed his unhealthy breakfast cereal.
'So, step one, I need to level up as much as I can. Two, I need to pay off my rent so I can get that mystery reward. Three, I'll prepare to go to my parent's place and then college. This is gonna be a busy week.'
Matt sighed like he usually did. Things had gotten a lot more stressful since he got the system, but in no way was he regretting it. Things were just more complicated now. He mainly didn't want to go to college due to his past, and also because he wanted to be independent of his parents.
But, things had changed. The system could go live any day now. He didn't have time to worry about rent. Though it did give him a good quest, it would only happen once like [Help] mentioned. So going to college would probably also open a bunch of new quests.
Honestly, moving every once in a while, or traveling often would probably be a good way to generate quests.
'I should probably learn how to generate more quests. I know it has to do with events and stuff but surely there's a way I can trigger them more easily.'
Matt got up from the table, put on his work clothes, and stepped out the door. He still had some time and so he just walked to work.
'Ah, wait. Running would be better anyway just to level my agility.'
With that, he set off running instead.
He quickly zoomed toward his workplace due to his new speed, he had 12 agility, so he was decently faster. It seemed pretty straightforward for a game system.
He liked that kind of system, compared to the ones in some games where there were complicated math equations that made stats exponentially weaker or there was some linear bend, and they were a pain to figure out.
This type of system was easy to metagame because the formula was right in the open. Matt was pretty sure he had even played a few games with this exact type of stat increment.
'Huh, I've already been playing this system for three days. It sure feels like it's taking a while to level. If I played a normal game for three days straight, I would already be level 50 at least.'
He finally arrived at work and saw his boss standing at the door, but she looked surprised and spoke.
"You're actually early?"
She also did a double take.
'Shit, I keep forgetting I look different now. I gained 3 strength last night.'
He decided to break the silence.
"I uh, wanted to get here on time, I don't know."
She didn't comment on how he didn't look like a deflated eel anymore, probably because it would be awkward. They both headed inside, and then she gave him roughly the same tasks as yesterday.
None of the quests he had gotten yesterday appeared again. Just like [Help] said, they won't unless they were specifically dailies. But during his workday, his boss did give him a task that was different than the last day. And it was a big one.
__________
[New Quest]
Organize Books [0/120 Books] [Reward: +1 Intelligence, +25xp, ]
__________
'Awesome. If I didn't have the system, this would be such a pain. I probably just would've given up and taken the scolding later. Another stat point in the bag!'
He quickly started sorting the books into their respective categories. Each box was labeled with a genre, and he was supposed to sort them alphabetically by author's last name, per his boss's instructions.
A half-hour passed.
[54/120 Books]
'Damn, this sure is taking a long time.'
There was no way he was going to miss out on a stat point, but he sure was getting bored.
[69/120 Books]
…
[105/120 Books]
Another hour had passed.
'Just a few more!'
__________
[Quest Complete]
Organize Books [120/120 Books]
+1 Intelligence, +25xp [XP 28/120]
__________
His mind cleared again, and he felt he was able to focus even more than before. Though he had been a bit tired mentally from sorting all of the books, his mind felt well-rested again.
'Nice! I'm at 15 intelligence now! So I guess I'm fifty percent smarter than the average person. Not bad.'
His mind felt like it worked significantly better than when he started with 12 intelligence. But, it didn't feel like he was "smarter." Probably because he didn't attempt to learn anything new.
'I guess it makes sense. It would be weird if it filled my head with knowledge. But, I should probably study something to take advantage of my intelligence.'
He looked around and remembered stat training. But with the amount of intelligence he had, it would probably take forever to gain just 1.
'Wait, help said that training harder meant faster results. So the reading equivalent of a boulder would be…'
He looked around and spotted the perfect book. It read:
[Intro to Quantum Physics]
'Perfect!'
He picked up the book and quickly started to read through it. Though, he only had 3 more intelligence than he was used to, the rate he was able to read and pick up information felt a lot faster.
He felt like he could probably get through a math or history book without dying of boredom now. In high school, even though he used to get decent grades, he just hated studying with a passion, mainly because it took away time that he could've been gaming or watching anime instead.
'Learning is awesome!'
He never thought he would ever say those words in his entire life.