Chapter 12: An invite
( One month later )
Rocky hit an astonishing 1 million subscriber count by the time he reached day 30 of his 90 day hard challenge on MeTube.
Over the last 30 days, his physique had improved by leaps and bounds and the exercises that once left him in heaps and exhausted, were now more tolerable as he could at least reach the 6-7th set for each exercise without his muscles feeling the need to revolt.
His aesthetics improved rapidly as the challenge progressed, with his body looking much more toned and athletic on day 30, compared to when he first started the challenge.
Although working hard and eating right could improve the physique of anyone, Rocky's growth within one month was akin to what non-climbers achieved with 1-2 years of consistent efforts, as he benefited greatly from the after-effects of his awakening.
For climbers, the first awakening was like a deep body cleanse. An event that opened their mana pathways and improved their innate constitution, however, to make the most of it, one needed to train their body hard in the days following the first awakening to build a solid foundation.
While humans of Earth were not too aware of this benefit, there were many other races across the cosmos who were also connected to the tower that understood the importance of building a solid physical foundation.
Rocky's system, which already had access to this information, issued missions to Rocky to guide him on the right path, even though he himself did not understand the real logic behind it.
For Rocky, the benefits did not end at just the aesthetic and strength improvement, though as with 1 million subscribers under his belt, Rocky had officially become a real life influencer.
Thousands tried out his workout and lifestyle routine across the globe, trying and failing to keep up as they realized just how hard the challenge that Rocky was performing really was.
The few that did manage to follow his routine past day7, became cult loyalists who heaped mountains of praise on Rocky as they were secretly convinced that Rocky was in a world of pain after the disappearance of his sister and that he was doing all this to forget about his pain as in their understanding, no-one in their sane minds could consistently do what Rocky was going, if they did not have some sort of clear goal to train for.
Rocky's usually aloof attitude, coupled with some viral interviews of his classmates and teachers narrating tales of how indifferent he was to everything, mixed with his pitiful circumstances made him an internet sensation with a cult following as he had all the ingredients to become an internet sensation.
Girls drooled over his body.
Guys respected his work ethic.
NEETs appreciated his indifference to the world around him
And Critics could not help but appreciate his role in starting a youth fitness trend instead of uploading cringe content.
At this point in time, Rocky could do no wrong and any hate comment under his post was usually met with fierce opposition from his loyalists.
However, the best villains often started out as spotless heroes who could do no wrong, as the higher the pedestal they were placed on, the greater was their fall.
[ Strongest System Notification :- You have a new event quest!
The popular TV show 'Dinnertime With Sunny' has invited you to be a guest on their show as a result of your increasing popularity.
Accept this invitation and follow the live system script while answering questions on the show.
Time Limit :- 42 hours.
Rewards :- 5x Body Strengthening Potion.
Failure penalty :- Your next vlog video will accidentally be switched to a porn video featuring a prominent actress, resulting in your account being banned and you being sucked into a whirlpool of controversy.
Note- Not accepting the quest, not following the system script, not delivering the system script convincingly will all be deemed as failure ]
Rocky had received many invitations from popular podcasts and news channels over the month, once his MeTube channel started to explode, however, the system did not seem to react to any of those invitations uptil today.
'Dinnertime With Sunny' was by far one of the most popular shows in country X and all over the world, with almost every prominent climber having featured on it at least once.
It was a big deal to be invited to such a show, however, if not for the system coercing him into going, Rocky would have politely declined the invite if it were left to his discretion.
He did not like getting unnecessary attention, however, with the system giving almost inhumane failure penalties, Rocky had no choice but to play ball as under duress, he accepted the proposal to feature on the show.
**********
( Meanwhile, on floor 92 of the tower )
"The lamb is fattening up well, don't you think so brother?" Ravan, the younger of the Gemini brothers said as he looked down on Rocky's life with his omniscient eyes.
"He needs to get much fatter brother…. A few million followers won't be enough.
He needs to become the most famous man on Earth for him to be of any real use to us.
This is but the start" Shakuni replied, as Ravan laughed heartily listening to his response.
Since it was his brother pulling the strings from the shadows, the upcoming events were sure to be extremely entertaining.
—-------
/// A/N - Hey guys! I have some excellent news to share.
The novel has just gotten contracted today with the platform! So it's here to stay as an exclusive work.
Cheers to us all, because it's probably the fastest book to be contracted of all my previous works! ///
Chapter 13: TV Show
( The next day )
Rocky was absolutely pissed that despite being forced to go on a TV show and waste half his day, the system still expected him to complete the ongoing daily mission, as it did not cut him any slack at all.
Not wanting to have his pants drop off on national TV, Rocky had to pull an all-nighter with his workout and had to skip school just so that he could accommodate the TV shoot.
Amelia was not very thrilled that Rocky had chosen to skip school and wished to take the chauffeur to the film village where the set for the 'Dinnertime With Sunny' TV show was, as it wasn't the safest area to visit.
However, she acknowledged his hardwork and determination over the past month and viewed him as a good kid, which was why she allowed him to take just this one day off, so close to his end semester exams.
As Rocky reached the film village, he was guided to the set for Dinnertime With Sunny and greeted there by Sunny's assistant who quickly took Rocky to the vanity van to fix his looks.
Rocky, who was already pretty handsome, was given a fresh haircut that made him look sleek and clean.
His eyebrows were shaped, some make-up was applied and after a two hour long vanity project, Rocky was turned from just another handsome teenager to a dashing looking youngster who could easily steal the hearts of young women with just a smile and a wink.
Finally, after all the preparation and touch-up, Rocky was invited backstage and explained about his cue to enter the stage and also briefed about what he could and could not say on the show.
Since Rocky was not an established big star with a huge PR management team backing him, he was not given a script about what Sunny would ask him on the show as the segment was scripted to be candid and natural.
However, Rocky was given the assurance that he would not be asked anything too wild and that they planned to portray him as positively as possible.
Since it was not a live TV show, they also promised to bleep out any accidental use of cuss words and maybe even edit it out of the final print altogether if it bothered Rocky.
Alas, it was not the accidental cuss word that Rocky was afraid of in the first place as what bothered him really was the script that the system would force him to follow in the interview ahead.
Uptil now, Rocky had mixed feelings regarding the system, however, he did not trust it completely. Especially not for his public image as it seemed to be hell-bent on spoiling it as much as possible.
However, without there being a proven history of its nefarious intent, Rocky decided to trust the system just this once, as the alternative to not going along with its scheme seemed to be equally bad as well.
***********
( Live taping of the show )
*Cheers* *Laughter*
" Hahaha, with that being said, let's welcome a young guest to the show, someone who is revolutionizing the fitness trend on social media.
Our very own country X's rrrr…Rocky yadavvvv" Sunny said, rolling her tongue to exaggerate the r and the v, introducing Rocky with enthusiasm and gusto.
*Cheers*
*Applause*
*Whistles*
The audience welcomed Rocky with a thunderous applause, as he walked onto the set while waving to the crowd as instructed.
"Welcome to the show" Sunny said as she shook hands with Rocky and gestured for him to take the seat across from her, as the interview finally started.
" Wow- doesn't someone look dashing today!
Ladies, how do we feel about Rocky's good looks?" Sunny complemented, as a huge cheer erupted from the women in the crowd, prompting Rocky to blush as he looked down to hide his face.
" Awww, look at you getting all shy, so cute" Sunny marked as soft chuckles reverberated through the audience who were completely in love with the shy teenager that Rocky was.
"So Rocky, first things first….. have you really awakened as a climber? There are some rumors going around that you have, but I wish to confirm it from your own mouth about whether you have or have not awakened" Sunny asked as Rocky looked at her and then towards the audience, but what he was really doing was looking for the system text prompt, but there was none showing up as of yet.
"Yes, I turned 18 on the first of January, and I also underwent awakening that very same day" Rocky said as slowly as he could as he put some pressure behind every word that he spoke.
Unlike Sunny who spoke very fast and tried to keep things flowing and fast, Rocky's style of speaking was much different, but it helped him garner everyone's attention as his tempo and tone made it seem like he was speaking something very important.
"So it's true…. Rocky is a climber just like his sister!" Sunny said as the big screen behind where Rocky was seated suddenly lit up with a picture of himself and Riva side by side, which was taken from Riva's social media account.
It was at this moment that the atmosphere within the room started to change as the jovial atmosphere died down and a more gloomier atmosphere kicked in.
"As you must already know, before you I had the good fortune of interviewing the rising star of generation Z, your elder sister Riva, about 6 months ago on this very show.
She was a terrific young lady and I must admit that the news about her kidnapping really rattled me and millions across the world.
I understand it's a sensitive issue to talk about for you, but can you please shed some light on the events that lead to her kidnapping?" Sunny asked in a gloomy voice as pin-drop silence spread across the TV set.
Rocky thought about the question for a second, and just as he was about to answer, the system finally booted up and displayed a wall of text before his eyes as the script he was meant to follow had finally arrived.
—--------
/// A/N - I'm speechless guys. The support you have shown to this novel is literally overwhelming.
The entire author's server is in uproar on how amazing of a fanbase I have and I can't refute those claims one bit.
I might have the best fanbase on this platform and I'm blessed for it to be this way.
Naturally, I wish to repay the kindness through actions rather than words, which is why I'm planning to give 5 bonus chapters on top of giving one bonus for each gift received for a total of 8 chapters. Cheers!///
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
21 Power
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