12:49, December 4th, 2022.
The cars were unable to pass through the traffic jam caused by a sudden accident. Throughout the city, car alarms sounded as smoke rose into the air.
Screams of bloodcurdling pain were muffled by the sound of gunshots.
Chaos reigned in the city.
- Present
During this time, in the labyrinth.
"Hahahaha…"
Towards the top of the empty and quiet staircase, the sound of a grim laugh could be heard.
There, stood gray, doing push ups as he looked at the screen ahead of him. Cuts and dry blood could be seen on parts of his body as he watched the number change with each push-up.
[39/100 Push Ups]
While the darkness above him stared down at him, he trained, doing his best to complete the quest.
Three days had passed since he had entered the labyrinth and begun his training. Having not taken any medicine or shower, his wounds, the cuts on his body were slowly starting to get infected. Dirt had accumulated and he was giving off a horrible and foul stench.
His hunger had never reached such a point. Training under these conditions were hell. But he had no choice.
He could tell by looking up at the large hole above him that it was nighttime, but the hole was too far down to see the moon.
He could only hear the growling of his stomach and the heavy panting of his lungs. At that moment, he felt as if he was the only person on earth.
He focused solely on his training without any distractions.
———————————-
[Possessor: Gray Caliber
Race: Human
State: Injured / Greatly Fatigued.
Level: 1
XP Required For Level Up: 65/100
HP: 2/10
"One blow took 3 HP… How many stat points will I need for that monster?". He questioned with a nervous smile.
[Quests]
[Daily Quest]
[Daily Quest:
Pause Training:
Pause 100 Objects: 39/100
100 Push ups: 43/100
100 Sit Ups: 50/100
100 Squats: 60/100
10 KM Run: 1/10
Reward: 2 Stat points.]
[Main Quest]
[Conquer the Dungeon's First Floor]
.
. 3 Days ago, past.
. 23:57, December 1st, 2022
Despite his best efforts, he was unable to see it. The core. There were no gaps in the Armour. Neither could he see the red glint within its helmets that gave the impression that it had eyes. The only thing he could see and feel was darkness.
Gray entered the room. He entered regardless of the situation, after all, whether it was the end for him or not, he would accept it.
He walked further into the room, taking care not to activate any traps along the way. He became more cautious when he reached the center of the room.
Gray kept his eyes on the Armour, waiting for it to act. Unfortunately, the Armour did nothing but stand there.
Gray was convinced that it was a trap, so he waited.
Gray's anxiety slowly rose as seconds passed and he was soon about to reach a minute. By then, Gray was tired of waiting.
In taking a step forward, he blinked. At that instant, his eyes grew wide.
'Pause-'
[Pause]
Right before his eyes, a sword edge stopped right in front of him. A mighty thrust had been delivered by the Armour as it had leapt at him. It had moved fast, way too fast.
An unexpected kick came from the side at high speed before he could even process what had happened.
When Gray stepped back from the fear, he barely avoided the kick from outside his perspective without knowing that it had happened. But then-
*WHAM!*
As a steel fist struck him in the middle of his face, he broke his nose and almost cracked his teeth as he was thrown backwards. The Armour had put a lot of power into the punch, resembling a pitcher as it dragged it's fist further into Gray's face from the front. The impact alone reverberated throughout the room.
His only thought at the time was 'Ah... I'm fucked.'
At the same time, the Armour also appeared to temporarily pause, but it was canceled out when Gray's body received the impact.
Flying right back towards the entrance, his body flew throughout the air. A moment later, the Armour was seen rushing towards him, taking its sword along with it to follow up with an attack.
By the time Gray's body hit the floor, sliding back, the swing was already beside him.
While barely conscious, Gray glanced at the sword inches from his bottom half, shouting out the word in his mind as loud as he could.
[PAUSE]
Gray slid out of the room as the sword froze in mid-air. He barely managed to escape.
He quickly arose and raised his guards as he waited for it to respond, but once again it acted the exact opposite of what he expected; it simply stood there and stared at him from the entrance of its room before going back to its throne. Soon after, the doors closed.
'It can't… Leave the room…?'
Gray stumbled backwards a few steps, feeling relieved.
His mind went back to what just happened as he fell to the ground.
"If I hadn't paused his fist in the last second… I'd be dead."
Gray saw the fist coming and tried to avoid it, but in terms of speed, the fist had the advantage. Gray, unable to dodge, paused his fist just before landing on his nose, preventing the punch from reaching its full force and momentum.
If he had not, his head would have been cracked open. Before he collapsed to the ground, unconscious, this was his last thought.
Gray awoke to find himself at the bottom of the staircase with only 2 HP left. He was struggling to breathe as his nose rang in pain. His mouth was covered in dried blood.
He probably got it from his nose. In Gray's state and with his HP, he knew he would never be able to beat the monster. So he began training.
One day of training won't make much of a difference. The body needs to rest and recover. No amount of muscle he could put in a day would save him.
He took advantage of the quest function and the system because of that. It didn't matter if it took a day or two. His chances of winning would surely increase if he were to increase his stats.
That was his theory and his only chance. Failure would mean his death.
In order to complete his daily quests, he did them one by one. His first exercise was 100 squats.
'One… Two… Three…'
Every time he squatted, he felt as if his legs were being stabbed repeatedly, but that didn't stop him.
Instead, he was excited. Due to his weakness, he had been trampled on and stepped on all his life. However, now that he has the chance to change, why not take it?
It was this thought alone that motivated him to finish every single one of the tasks.
***
In order to complete the 10 KM run, he ran up and down the stairs countless times. To facilitate the push-ups, he used the stairs to do them, doing 20 at a time. For the squats, he followed the same procedure.
[100/100 Push-ups]
[10/10 KM]
[100/100 Squats]
For the situps he placed his legs inside of a crack in a wall and did it normally. By far, it was the hardest for him, as he felt as if he was going to puke blood after completing each one.
[100/100 Sit-ups]
Finally, there was a pause. Before attempting it, he took a one-hour break as it consumed too much of his stamina. When he overused it previously, he fainted.
While he tossed the pieces of Armour which remained scattered on the floor into the air, he paused and unpaused them repeatedly. Once he got tired of this method, he used pebbles that had formed from cracks and debris around him.
It was much lighter and less exhausting.
They were repeatedly thrown into the air by Gray and paused by him.
It took four hours in total. Since he had been injured, he had to wait so long, but he was able to do it in the end.
[100/100 Objects paused]
[The Daily Quest has been completed]
[Received two stat points.]
As Gray grabbed the pebble, his head hung down. While his hair hid his expression, it was pretty obvious how he felt after hearing those words.
Relieved.
- 3 Days Later
- Present.
That was his first time completing the quest, the very first day. By this point he had gotten used to doing the exercises, but his health made it much, much harder.
"How much more…?"
Those were the only words he could muster as he diligently did the tasks.
