"998."
"999."
"1000," As Michael finished up his 1000 jabs he tried to catch his breath.
____________________
Skill: Jab
Rank: F+
Perform the jab correctly 2000 times to level up
0/2000
____________________
It took quite a bit of time and energy for Michael to jab 1000 times. But he thought the end result was worth it, so he leveled up his jab and tested out the quest system at the same time. Although he still didn't know much about where he was at and this quest system he knew one thing.
'My jab has gotten better.'
As Michael was wrapping things up a man in a suit came into the room and said to him,
"May you please head back to your room."
"Sure."
Michael walked back to his room, drenched in sweat. As soon as he walked into the room a projected video started playing on the wall.
All he saw was Figg on the screen and Figg said,
"Attention Boxers. You are currently in a facility I made called '2FL'. Hopefully you braced yourselves coming in here with your life on the line. There will be fights every night and you will be fighting. If you lose just one of your fights, you die. If you win? You move on. We have special training equipment here waiting for you and you are not permitted to leave our facility unless given permission otherwise."
Michael's 2nd roommate who was quiet before looked even more scared after hearing what Figg just said. Rick looked prepared but deep down you could see nervousness in his eyes.
"I should've said goodbye to my family," the same roommate that was still in the corner said.
A moment of silence fell among the three.
"We all should've, but there's nothing we can do now," Michael said.
"You wouldn't understand."
"I might not understand but I understand what it's like sacrificing everything for your dream."
"You don't understand," the guy in the corner said.
"Geez, we get that you're in a bad mood but you don't have to keep being an asshole to us, we are in the same exact situation as you," Michael said. "Think about the bright side, we're all pursuing our dream and we get connected with like minded people."
"Who said this was my dream?"
"Why else would you be here?"
"My brother's Deontay Lury."
What. That was the only word that could describe how Michael was feeling right now.
"So you're Jake Lury?" Rick asked.
"Yea."
Everyone in the room fell quiet. Deontay Lury is the former heavyweight world champion of boxing and a respected individual within the boxing community. Being his brother was a big deal.
Jake regretted coming here. He sacrificed his whole life metaphorically and literally just for someone else's dream. He wanted to spend his last days just doing what he wanted (which isn't boxing).
"Can I rant to you guys?" Jake asked.
"Yea of course," Rick replied.
"I never wanted to be a boxer. I only started boxing because of my dad and brother, I had to live up to the name of the Lury family but I just never enjoyed or was talented at boxing. But now I'm here doing the same thing that I swore to myself I'd never do, Boxing. I'm gonna literally die for someone else's dream."
"What's your dream?" Michael asked. When Michael asked that question a face of relief and a bit of happiness was shown on Jake's face. Never in his life has someone asked him what he wanted.
"I want to be a musician."
"It's never too late to pursue your dream, no matter your situation," Rick said. "Even if you're gonna die as a boxer, live your life as a musician. Don't let your family hold you back."
Jake, Michael, and Rick went quiet for a second and ending that silence was Jake.
"Thank you guys. No one has ever treated me like this before."
"No problem," Rick and Michael said.
After the 3 of them finished talking they heard footsteps outside the door, and a lot of them.
"What's happening?" Jake said.
The 3 roommates went outside their room and saw what it was, a fight schedule.