Ch03. Thief robbing thief - 2
"ARGH!" I screamed, as I opened my eyes to find myself in a familiar room.
I sat up on the bed, and my body was covered in cold sweat.
Wait.
Why did my voice sound softer?
I got up and went to the bathroom.
I was in my room at Blake's mansion. Was it all a dream?
As I looked in the mirror, I was startled by my own reflection.
I looked...
I looked sixteen!
But before I could retain that information, the door to my room busted open, and I flinched.
"what's wrong, master Kurt?" The butler asked, looking worried. "I heard the scream, so I thought someone had broke in."
Was it all a dream?
"No, thank you... Alphonse. It was just a nightmare, thank you." I said, as I dismissed him.
I needed to catch my breath.
It was one hell of a nightmare...
"Forgive me, younger master, but you're probably worried about your awakening. It's not everyday a young man like you comes of age."
I was still a bit off, so I just asked Alphonse to leave, and when he closed the door, I went straight to the bathroom again, and looked in the mirror.
I really looked sixteen...
But what Alphonse just told me... And the dream.
Nothing of it made sense.
"And what was that shit about a system?" I asked my reflection.
And to my surprise, when I asked it, an information window appeared right in front of me.
"WHAT THE FUCK!?"
The window displayed just a few simple words.
[WELCOME, PLAYER]
[YOU HAVE 04 MESSAGES]
The window displayed.
"It wasn't... A dream?"
I checked my holowatch, it was still 08h30min in the morning, so I had some time before Alphonse announced breakfast, if I remember it correctly.
So I sat on the bed, and kept staring at the window that appeared in front of me for a minute.
Player, messages, system...
It didn't make sense at all, but if yesterday wasn't a dream...
Then my Quintus really betrayed me.
And my father really killed me.
But... How am I back in my room?
How am I sixteen again?
No, wait.
If what Alphonse said was right, I just turned sixteen, and it's the day of my awakening.
The day when father found out that I was only a regular...
But I wasn't gonna let that happen again.
No matter what.
So I put these thoughts aside, and focused on the window in front of me.
"Open system!"
Nothing happened.
"Show messages!"
Nothing, either.
'Shit, how the hell am I supposed to read these messages?'
*Beep
[MESSAGES: INSTRUCTIONS
QUEST
DAILY QUEST
UNIQUE QUEST]
What? Just by thinking of it, the system does what I need?
I proceeded to open the first message.
[INSTRUCTIONS: DAILY QUESTS WILL APPEAR TO HELP THE PLAYER GROW STRONGER.
ACCOMPLISHING QUESTS WILL AWARD THE PLAYER WITH DIFFERENT REWARDS, DEPENDING ON THE QUEST'S DIFFICULTY LEVEL
FAILING TO ACCOMPLISH SOME QUESTS WILL RESULT IN PENALTY]
I vaguely understood what it was.
This system resembled that of a video game, but it didn't show a status window or anything like that.
But as soon as the thought popped up on my head, the status window appeared in front of me, covering the message window.
NAME: KURT BLAKE
LVL: 01 STAMINA: 130/130
AGE: 16 HP: 100/100
CLASS: ??? MP: 50/50
BASIC STATS
Strength: 15 Perception: 15
Dexterity: 20 Intelligence: 10
Agility: 20 Vigor: 25
So it was like a game, after all, and if I was at level one on it...
Then I could really grow stronger.
"Little brother? Did something happened?" Quintus asked, opening the door.
"Oh, well... Don't we know the meaning of privacy in this house?"
I was clearly pissed, first Alphone, and now Quintus? Fur fuck's sake!
"Sorry, little brother. I just heard you scream. Thought something was wrong. But..."
Then he approached me, squinting his eyes.
"What the hell?"
"Did nothing happen? Really?" He asked.
"Nothing at all, why?"
"I don't know. You look... Different."
"Different?" I raised a brow. "How?"
"Don't know." Quintus shrugged. "And why are you looking at me like that? Wanna fight or something?"
I only noticed it when I felt the taste of blood in my tongue.
I had bitten my lower lip so hard it bled.
And I was looking at him with an angry frown that shouldn't be there, but it probably was because I remembered what he did to my in my...
Past life.
But he didn't.
"Anyway, if you wanna fight, just schedule it. You know I'm busy." He retorted my silence. "Big day, today, huh?" He punched my shoulder a little hard.
Frowning at the resistance he felt.
"You've awakened, right? I don't remember you being that sturdy for a kid... By the way, breakfast is ready, better eat something, today's a big day for you."
And he finally left.
He was right.
I had awakened.
I don't remember a single time in my past life, when I didn't almost suffocate when he was near me.
His mere presence was enough to make me feel oppressed.
But now...
He didn't feel normal, but also didn't feel overwhelmingly scary like before.
And this thought almost drove my attention away from the system.
But I still had two messages to read, and I already had a few things figured out.
So I summoned the message window again, and started reading the three messages left.
[QUEST: CHANGING THE TIDE]
[CONTENTS: 1/2 AS A REGRESSOR, WHO IS RELIEVING LIFE BACK FROM A CERTAIN POINT IN TIME, THE PLAYER MUST FULFILL HIS DYING WISH.
CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE PLAYER'S PAST CAN BE CHANGED, WHILE OTHERS CANNOT.
THE PLAYER MUST GROW STRONGER TO FULFILL HIS WISH.
2/2 PLAYER DOES NOT MEET THE REQUIREMENTS TO ACCESS INFORMATION!]
[REWARD: CHANGE YOUR FUTURE]
That was interesting, but not being able to read the second part made me feel a bit bad, so I went to the third and fourth messages.
[DAILY QUEST: THE STRONGER SELF]
[REQUIREMENTS: RUNNING WITH WEIGHTS 0/10KM
SIT-UPS 0/50
PUSH-UPS 0/50
SPARRING 0/10MIN]
[REWARD: ???]
[PENALTY: ???]
I thought that this system was supposed to help me, but it was trying to kill me!
Come on!
A ten kilometer race? With weights?
Ten minutes sparring?
Sit-ups and push-ups?
And what the hell was with the question marks in the reward and penalty sections?
I felt goosebumps after seeing the question marks in the penalty section.
If the system is able to make me regress to a certain point in my life, and also give life back to me...
What the hell can't this thing do, if I don't accomplish the daily quest?
But that was a thought for another time in the day, because I still had one last message to read.
"We're waiting, little brother!" Quintus called me, now with the decency to not barge into my room.
"TWO MINUTES!"
And when I couldn't hear his steps anymore, I opened the final message.
[UNIQUE QUEST: FINDERS, KEEPERS]
[REQUIREMENTS: STEAL QUINTUS BLAKE'S GUILD BADGE]
[REWARD: UNIQUE SKILL; CLASS UPGRADE]
I felt a grin over my lips, as the surprise quest made ideas sprout in my mind.
It was a big day, yes.
But it was even better, because I would get to know if Quintus is really a member of the Shadow guild or what...
Ch04. The drive to grow stronger
After we had breakfast, and Quintus bragged to father about my recent awakening, even though father kept silent about it, I readied myself to go to the Wielders Association.
It wouldn't take long to finish the test and get my results, so it seemed I would have most of the day to test the system's features.
When I was ready to leave, Quintus asked if I wanted a ride, since he was going to work anyway, but I politely refused, for two reasons.
First, I didn't want to be alone in the same car as my brother.
Second, I wanted to test out one of the daily quests.
If the system was planning on murdering me with that amount of exercise, it was best to see if the reward was worth it.
Way better than just waiting to see what kind of penalty I could receive.
It was ten kilometers from home to the association, so,if I could just finish running with, let's say, 2kg weights on my legs, it should do.
It was a shot in the dark, but the quest clearly said running ten kilometers with weights. It didn't specify how heavy the weights should be.
So I wore a pair of jogging pants, my shirt, a black hoodie, and went to the training room to get some weights.
After I was ready, I started walking my way out of there.
It was uncomfortable in the beginning, but after a few hundred meters, I was able to start running.
I didn't want to get anxious about the results, so I didn't open the quest window, and just focused on running, with as much of a steady pace as I could.
But when I was halfway from the association, I heard the beep in my head, followed by a notification in front of my eyes.
[Agility +1]
So it was already giving results?
I didn't think it would make any difference, but the more I ran, the steadier my pace and balance would become.
So I tried to push it a little harder, to test the extra point I just acquired.
And I was right.
I could run a bit faster than when I gave my first steps with the weights on my legs.
I went past a park, and slowed my pace as an idea came to mind.
I opened my status window and the quests window.
NAME: KURT BLAKE LVL: 01
AGE: 16 HP: 100/100
CLASS: ??? MP: 50/50
BASIC STATS
Strength: 15 Perception: 15
Dexterity: 20 Intelligence: 10
Agility: 21 Vigor: 25
[QUESTS]
[CHANGING THE TIDE]
[DAILY QUEST]
[UNIQUE QUEST]
I chose the daily quests and checked it.
[DAILY QUEST: THE STRONGER SELF]
[REQUIREMENTS: RUNNING WITH WEIGHTS 8/10KM
SIT-UPS 0/50
PUSH-UPS 0/50
SPARRING 0/10MIN]
[REWARD: ???]
[PENALTY: ???]
As I thought, I was almost done with the running, but I still had the other exercises to do.
I sopped in my tracks, catching my breath and looking at the park.
It was a beautifully wooded place, and it even had an area with some equipment I could use someday.
But for now, I was content with the plain ground by itself.
I approached the area, stretched a bit, and laid down on my chest.
"Okay, let's fucking go!" And I began doing the push-ups.
It was hard in the beginning, and it only got harder the more I pushed.
But slowly, I was able to finish the fifty push-ups.
Then I laid on my back and started the sit-ups, which were a bit easier than the push-ups, but also a bit painful.
When I checked the quest window, this time, it showed both push-ups and sit-ups completed, which gave a strange feeling of accomplishment, and as I smiled towards the window, I began running again.
There were just two kilometers left, and I still had to think about how I would have a spar with my older brother.
Arriving at the association, I went to the reception desk and scanned my holowatch.
"Okay, sir. Just go to the second floor and wait with the others." The receptionist said.
I took the elevator, and when I got to the second floor, fifteen people were already in the waiting room.
And I knew one of them...
"Nikolai?"
The young Russian looked at me, perplexed.
"Do I know you?"
Ah, of course, he didn't know me when he was young.
But we did study in the same school.
Before he received the results of the test, knowing he was just a regular, dropping off school right after that, and going to live in the streets.
Becoming the king of the black market, not long after.
"Kind of." I answered. "I know you from school, you're remarkable."
Nikolai stared at me, with those dark blue, curious eyes.
"I didn't realize we were the same age, you look older than me, somehow." He said, still looking at me. "Came for the test?"
We chatted a little, and then it was his time to enter the room.
"Semenov, Nikolai!" The voice echoed through the speakers in the waiting room.
"It was good meeting you, Kurt. See you at school?"
"Sure."
And he left.
Ten minutes later, I saw Nikolai leaving the testing room.
His eyes were glued to the floor, distant.
I knew what happened, because I already seen it happen before.
"Nikolai!" I called, getting up from where I was sitting.
He looked at me, still feeling distant.
I didn't know what drove me to do what I did, but I went towards him, held his hand in a reassuring way, as firmly as it could get, and said.
"It's not over, Nikolai. I know you might think it is, but if you need anything, call me. I got your back."
Nikolai looked at me like I was crazy or something, but I raised his hand, and touched his holowatch with mine.
The device beeped as I sent added him to my contact list.
"Blake, Kurt!" The examiner called.
"It's my turn now, wish me luck." I said, still gripping Nikolai's hand. "Don't forget it. If you need, call me!"
"You sure are an odd one..." Nikolai said, but this time, he had a smile on his face. "I will not forget."
'Neither will I... Friend. As long as I breathe, you won't die again.'
And I started walking towards the test room.
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