Ryu woke up to the buzzing of his alarm clock, groggily he turned off the alarm and got ready for school. He felt as if today things were going to change at school, he'd be a new person.
"Things are changing, and once I get a little stronger Kenzo won't be able to bully me," Ryu thought as he was walking out of the shower and drying off.
Ryu threw on a fresh school uniform and headed down the stairs ready to start anew.
As he walked through the school gates, he noticed himself getting weird stares from a lot of students, some failed to recognize him and thought he was a new student. Those who recognized him were stunned, surprised that he didn't look a couple days away from death as he usually does.
This morning there was no slap from Kenzo in the back of the head, and heading into class there was no heckling from his peers.
He couldn't help but think of a popular song "Today Was a Good Day," by Ice Square. As he was daydreaming about how much his life had changed someone tapped on his desk, it was Kenji.
He looked up and saw Kenji standing over him, it would be menacing if Kenji didn't give off the aura of a golden retriever.
"What's up bro," Ryu said to Kenji.
"You look like you're in a good mood," Kenji replied, he went on to elaborate, "Man, you weren't lying you really did change, do they put human growth hormone in the hospital food or something?"
Ryu laughed at Kenji's comment, "No, but they definitely gave me enough to where I could gain a few pounds," Ryu said dismissively as to shoot down Kenji's previous comment.
"Well man, I just wanna say it's good to have you back, and I'm really happy you're safe after falling down that flight of stairs, knowing how you were before that hospital stay, I thought someone blowing on you would be enough to turn you to dust," said Kenji.
If anyone else said those words to Ryu he'd be offended, but since it was Kenji, he was fine with the banter.
Mr. Ito clapped his hands together, indicating to the class to be quiet. Kenzo was nowhere to be seen, he asked Kenji about this, whispering of course to not draw attention.
"Yeah, Kenzo was suspended for two weeks, disciplinary action I heard, but nobody knows why, although it's Kenzo so it doesn't really surprise anyone," said Kenji.
"So the school administration knows he is bullying me, and decided to punish him, but why did they wait this long?" Ryu thought to himself, "and why did they not make it public what he did, it's like they're defending him or something."
Regardless Ryu appeared to cheer up a bit, he was thankful that he wouldn't have to see the devil himself for a little bit.
After this they both quieted down, and paid attention to class. Ryu found it a lot easier to pay attention without the stress and distress of bullying lurking over his shoulder.
The school day had finished, and Ryu started walking out of the building, he had gone a whole day without bullying, this hadn't happened in a very long time.
Thinking about Kenzo as he walked straight towards the gym from school, he was reminiscing about the old days.
At one-point Kenzo and Ryu were friends, best friends if you asked anyone who knew them at the time. Then Kenzo started shutting Ryu out of his friend group and surrounded himself with "cool kids". Since Ryu was in no way considered cool and Kenzo was associated with him by the other kids in the group, he chose to pick on Ryu to show that they were no longer friends, and has his status got higher in the school his bullying got worse and worse.
"Why did he have to turn into such a jerk, I remember he was such a nice kid growing up," Ryu thought to himself, and realized he was walking through the gym door, lost in thought he had gotten here by autopilot.
"Quests" Ryu thought to himself.
[Quests]
[Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee]
[Complete daily exercise requirements, full body lifting workout (Incomplete)]
[Train for boxing with a gym trainer (Incomplete)]
[Reward: Stat Points, Boxing Mastery Upgrade, 200XP]
[Time Limit: 12 Hours]
"With the quest having a time limit of 12 hours, I'll have to complete it before the end of my gym session today." Ryu thought to himself as he walked up to scan into the gym.
Ken the front desk employee recognized Ryu and struck up a conversation with him, "Hey man I respect the dedication, you're in here every day, and somehow you're already looking bigger you must have some blessed genetics bro."
Ryu awkwardly laughed, not expecting any social interaction yet, and replied with, "Just some protein powder and dedication, you have a good day man."
"Wait, before you work out, you signed up for a class last week and never attended it, do you want me to sign you up for one this week, or are you just focusing on lifting for now." Ken said to Ryu.
"Sign me up for another class, I totally forgot about that, you know what I'll set a reminder on my phone right now and I won't forget this time." Ryu responded.
"Alright, have a good sesh, bro," Ken replied, setting him up in the computer system for the next lesson.
Once he was free from Ken's conversation, Ryu continued as normal and completed a full body workout. He felt calm but tired afterwards, but his work there wasn't done, he needed to train with one of their personal trainers.
He started heading back to the front desk, wondering why they had classes if personal trainers could also assist you, but he remembered that on the website they explained personal trainers for martial arts only helped experienced practitioners, while the classes were for beginners.
Although Ryu knew he was in no way considered experienced, he hoped the personal trainer would let it slide today so he could complete his quest.
Walking up to the desk, there was a woman sitting there reading a book while she was waiting for patrons to sign in or ask her a question. She seemed to be around 5'4 but had noticeably defined muscles through her employee uniform. Placed on her was a nametag that said, "Sakura".
"Hey, I'd like to request a personal trainer," Ryu said disturbing her reading session.
Sakura didn't seem to mind, as this was what she signed up for when she applied to work here. "Alright, what will you be practicing?" Sakura replied to Ryu.
"I'll be practicing boxing, where should I go to find the personal trainer?" said Ryu.
"Oh, boxing, the personal trainer's name is Ken, he should be back in the area for boxing training, if he's not helping a client currently, I'm sure he'll be happy to help you," Sakura replied politely.
"Thank you very much," Ryu said graciously as he walked away.
He approached Ken in the boxing section of the gym and saw that he was standing there on his phone, effectively doing nothing.
"Hey Ken, want to train some boxing with me," Ryu said.
Ken appeared to be startled because he was so zoned into his phone, he jumped a little then looked at Ryu.
"You scared the hell out of me man, but sure let's go get you some gloves," said Ken.
Ryu was excited as this was the first time he could put his training to practical use.
He walked with Ken who handed him some almost brand-new looking boxing gloves. As he put them on his hands and strapped them into place, he felt as if he was finally moving forward in his journey to get stronger.
"Alright, so first, we are going to spar, don't worry I won't attack but I will defend, this will be a good way for me to see what skill level you're at." Ken said to Ryu as he started strapping on his boxing gloves.
"Alright," Ryu replied as he walked up towards the ring and got inside of it. Luckily for Ryu, this section of the gym didn't have many patrons in it so he wouldn't get much stage fright.
Ken followed behind Ryu and walked over to the opposite side of the ring, he then motioned for Ryu to start.
Slowly approaching with good footwork Ryu stayed in a defensive position while closing the distance between himself and Ken. Once he got close enough for his wingspan to reach, he let out a quick jab, as the jab headed towards Ken, Ken reacted quickly, but you could tell that he wasn't used to fighting southpaw which was the stance Ryu practiced.
After that Ryu ducked anticipating a hit, but then remembered Ken wasn't fighting back, coming out of the duck he tried to hit Ken with a body shot, which Ken dodged gracefully. Next, Ryu threw a straight at Ken, which slightly grazed him, but Ken reacted quick enough to not withstand damage.
As Ryu winded up to hit him again, Ken motioned for him to stop.
"Alright, you're pretty damn good, why didn't you tell me you had some experience," said Ken, "I can tell you're a beginner by your clunkiness, but you definitely have good potential."
After this Ken took Ryu through a large amount of boxing drills, and after about 60 minutes of personal training, Ryu felt as if he had learned a lot, but at the same time he was very tired due to his lack of agility attributes.
Once he had finished Ken waved him goodbye as he left the gym's facility. He headed back towards his apartment and once he entered through the threshold of his room, he took his clothes off, took a shower, and changed into a comfy outfit.
Now that he had settled down for the night, he thought to himself, "Quests". With that a window popped up almost immediately.
[Quests]
[Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee]
[Complete daily exercise requirements, full body lifting workout (Complete)]
[Train for boxing with a gym trainer (Complete)]
[Reward: Stat Points, Boxing Mastery Upgrade, 200XP]
[Time Limit: 12 Hours]
[Claim Rewards]
He looked at the quest menu and felt proud of himself, as he felt his mind start to get excited for the rewards, he said aloud, "Claim Rewards". He could speak to the system as he was home alone.
With that the notifications flashed by telling him what he had claimed.
After he had read all the notifications he said, "Status". With that the quest display went away and was replaced by a status menu.
[Host: Ryu]
[Level 4: 200/400 XP]
[Strength: 10]
[Intelligence: 8]
[Appearance: 10]
[Agility: 4]
[Unspent Stat Points: 1]
[Health Status: On the low end of average, you're not anything special, but you fall within the norm.]
[A normal human's attributes range from 10-15 in each category.]
[Skills: Regeneration]
[Arts: Boxing Mastery Level 3]
Thinking about how he should strategically spend the stat point, he ended up deciding on agility because of how tired he got at the gym today from boxing. With that he said aloud, "Invest one stat point into agility."
Then his display changed.
[Host: Ryu]
[Level 4: 200/400 XP]
[Strength: 10]
[Intelligence: 8]
[Appearance: 10]
[Agility: 4 -> 5]
[Health Status: On the low end of average, you're not anything special, but you fall within the norm.]
[A normal human's attributes range from 10-15 in each category.]
[Skills: Regeneration]
[Arts: Boxing Mastery Level 3]
As he had finished a long and exciting day, his eyes started to slowly shut even though he tried to fight against it. The day had tuckered him out. He fell asleep with his system display open, smiling about the progress he's already made in such a short time.