Chapter 6: Became a Player

“Who is it?” Jacob asked with a twisted face. The adrenaline rush faded, and his chest sent him waves of immense pain.

[You have acquired the rights to become a Player. Will you accept?]

He ignored the new message and pushed away the meat shield away from his chest. Along with it came out the tip of the spear that carried his blood.

Jacob knelt down in pain while grunting. He tried to remove his shirt, but his trembling fingers failed. Bob had already reached him by then and helped him out with this. His sternum was pierced through and the ruby of his necklace was shattered. He was heavily bleeding.

Jacob felt the world spinning around him. The next message brought him back to his senses.

[There is not enough time left for you to make your decision. Your heart will cease functioning precisely 0.02 seconds after you refuse to accept. Will you accept?]

‘I accept,’ he thought.

[Congratulations on becoming a ‘Player’.]

Just as he endured the pain, his sternum magically recovered, and he felt much better. Before he could think further, immense exhaustion assaulted his mind, and he fainted.

Bob grew worried seeing both of them down. A door opened up behind the throne. Looking at both of them, Bob wore Sumei’s backpack. He carried Jacob on his back and lifted Sumei in a princess carry. He slowly left the room while making sure Jacob didn’t slip down.

“You’re here!”

Bob looked up and noticed it was Mr. John. He looked at his surroundings and saw that the exit was beside the boss room.

“Give him to me and follow me. Tell me what happened,” Mr. John said. He was surprised when he didn’t find anyone after reaching the flare’s position. He was also curious about their situation.

“She’s poisoned,” said Bob while gazing at Sumei in his arms.

Mr. John inspected her and realized the seriousness of the situation. He immediately took Jacob and said, “Run after me! We need to reach the camp.”

Bob nodded. Along the way, Mr. John simply cast fireballs. He cleared the path while making demonic beef barbecue.

***

“Argh!” Jacob groaned. “This feels familiar.”

“You’re awake,” Mr. Adam said while leaning against a window.

Jacob noticed he was in a hospital bed. His nervous heart began to beat smoothly after knowing he was safe.

“Yes sir. How’s Sumei?” He grew worried. “What about the poison?”

Adam smiled at the concern. But his face grew annoyed at the mention of poison.

“We didn’t notice the goblins using poison until now. I think someone has interfered with them. But there were only two teachers, your team and Kevin’s team. I don’t think he has the ability to do this, and the teachers have no motive to harm your team.”

Jacob’s eyes narrowed at Kevin’s name. He didn’t doubt Adam’s words, but remembered Kevin’s words as they reached the dungeon’s vicinity. But he didn’t have any proof and held no power to investigate. So he held his suspicions in.

“About Sumei, that girl is lucky. The poison’s only use was to make a person unconscious. So far we have found no side effects. She’s already safe. But what happened to you? Your body was fine, but you fainted and didn’t wake up no matter what!” Adam asked with concern.

Jacob was touched, but didn’t want to explain the strange messages he heard.

[You have several unread messages.]

His eyes widened at the voice message, but he tried to calm down.

‘Now is not the time to explore this,’ he thought.

“I’m not sure, sir. It was like I was drained of something and fell down. I even remember being pierced by the spear. Maybe that was the cause?” Jacob probed.

Adam shook his head. “I heard about that from Bob. He wasn’t clear with his words. We didn’t find that injury when you came out.”

The room remained silent for a while. Jacob couldn’t wait for Adam to leave since he wanted to explore his system. But he remembered something and couldn’t help but ask.

“How long have I been here? Did someone visit me?”

“Its been 3 days. Sumei and Bob came first. Then your father came once.”

Even though he wasn’t expecting much, Jacob’s heart warmed after hearing this.

‘So there are still people who care about me,’ he smiled at this thought.

“If you feel any abnormality let me know. They’ll most likely discharge you tomorrow. Call me if you need any help,” Adam smiled and left his favorite student.

[You have several unread messages.]

Before Jacob could think further, he heard the message once again.

‘Show the message!’

‘I want to read it.’

‘Let me read it!’

He tried different ways, but nothing worked.

Frustrated, he said, “Open my inbox dammit!”

At the word ‘open’, he finally saw a virtual blue screen with a blue border appear in front of him.

[There are two unread messages.]

— Congratulations on becoming a [Player] (unread)

— [Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong] is now available. (unread)

He thought that the first message sounded familiar, as if he heard it before from somewhere. His memory of the last battle was messy.

‘Where have I heard it from? I know I have.’

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So, the first message, then.

— Congratulations on becoming a [Player] (unread)

‘Open.’

Ting!

[This System will support the growth of the ‘Player.’]

[Failing to comply with the System’s instructions will result in potential penalties.]

[Your rewards have been delivered. You have been healed]

“Ahh.”

He belatedly remembered this. He heard those words just before he lost his consciousness.

‘Back then, it was talking about a Player this and that, no?’

Of course, back then he couldn’t completely understand it. Even though he knew what a system was, he wasn’t sure why or how it appeared. The ‘System’, ‘growth’, ‘penalties’, and finally, ‘rewards’. The words with familiar meanings echoed in his mind.

‘Just why will it help me grow, and what will it reward me with?’

He decided to worry about the confusing words later and calmly opened the next message.

— [Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong] is now available. (unread)

Gulp.

Jacob unconsciously swallowed his saliva after reading that rather suggestive title. His heart began to beat faster in anticipation.

‘Open.’

Ting!

[Daily Quest: Preparations to become stronger]

Press-up, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)

Sit-up, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)

Squat, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)

Running, 10 km: Incomplete (0/10)

※Warning: Incompletion of Daily Quests will result in appropriate levels of punishment.

‘What?’ Jacob’s mouth opened in disbelief. He had thought of many things, but never considered exercises to be the key to getting stronger.

‘Wait, I know exercise can make me stronger. But why are you forcing me like this? With my mana poisoned body I can’t even walk 1 km, let alone run 10! At least give me some monsters to beat!’

Jacob shook his head in disappointment. Initially, he thought by becoming a ‘player’, he could level up and get stronger easily. But it seemed like this ‘system’ was forcing him to go bald.

Jacob ran his hand along his lush hair. He remembered where he had read about these kinds of exercises before.

‘Sure, that man can kill everything in one punch. But power is temporary and handsomeness is eternal! I cannot give my hair for this!’

He was upset, confused, angry, but also slightly expectant.

‘Maybe… maybe this might work? I mean, I don’t know any easy way to get stronger and my mana poisoned body will not let me live long. Should I try this?’

Jacob called for a nurse to remove his iv cannula and asked when he could leave. After knowing that he still had to stay here for another day for observation, he decided to try it here.

“I guess the only thing I can do here is try press ups,” Jacob concluded. He rubbed his hands together and got on the white, spotless floor beside his bed.

“Let’s do it!” he encouraged himself.

1… 2… 3… 4…….

Jacob exerted all the force he could. Bluish veins appeared on his forehead while his arms trembled. Ultimately, his desire for another press up was met with his body giving up. He fell face flat on the ground and felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

“Dammit! How can I ever reach 100?” he nearly wept. After wiping small traces of tears with his bedsheet, he tried again. This time he was able to do three. He took some rest, then repeated the grind.

4… 5… 2… 6…

Rest. Repeat. Fall. Kiss the ground. Wipe tears. Repeat.

He persisted till 11 pm. Jacob looked at his daily quest.

[Daily Quest: Preparations to become stronger]

Press-up, 100 times: Complete (100/100)

Sit-up, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)

Squat, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)

Running, 10 km: Incomplete (0/10)

※Warning: Incompletion of Daily Quests will result in appropriate levels of punishment.

He felt a strange sense of satisfaction welling up inside him. It seemed that no matter which world it was, working hard on something and achieving it always gave a person deep satisfaction.

But Jacob looked at the remaining tasks and the time remaining in the day.

“Impossible!”

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