He woke to his phone buzzing insistently.
Eric groaned, rolling over and grabbing the device. The screen was lit up with notifications. Multiple texts, all demanding attention.
He checked the time first. 5:47 AM. Sunday morning.
'Who the hell is texting me at 5:47 AM?'
He opened his messages.
The first was from an unknown number, sent at 11:23 PM the night before.
"Hi Eric. Got your contact from a satisfied customer. Are you available tomorrow evening? I'm willing to pay your rate plus 20%. Please confirm at your earliest convenience."
A potential new client. Eric made a mental note to respond later with screening questions.
The rest of the messages were all from Sarah.
11:54 PM: "I'm sorry about earlier. That was weird. Can we talk?"
12:17 AM: "Eric? Are you awake?"
12:34 AM: "Okay you're probably asleep. Text me when you wake up?"
1:03 AM: "I really need to explain what happened"
1:41 AM: "This is why I should never act on impulse"
2:15 AM: "Please don't ignore me"
3:02 AM: "Eric seriously"
4:33 AM: "Fine. Be that way. But we're talking about this eventually."
Eric stared at the messages, his stomach sinking.
'She's freaking out,' he realized. 'Probably hasn't slept. Probably overthinking everything just like I was.'
The right thing to do would be to respond. To talk it out like adults. To address what had happened and figure out where they stood.
Eric swiped the notifications away.
'I'm not ready for this,' he thought firmly. 'Not now. Maybe not ever.'
He set his phone down, face-down so he couldn't see any new messages that might come through.
His mind felt clearer than it had in hours, probably a side effect of the intelligence boost. The emotional fog from last night had lifted, leaving only cold logic.
'Avoiding Sarah is the right move,' he told himself. 'For both of us.'
Eric stood, stretching. His body felt incredible, the stat increases having worked wonders. He wasn't even sore, despite sleeping in his clothes.
A familiar ding sounded in his mind.
The blue screen appeared without him needing to summon it.
‐‐‐
[New Quest Available]
Quest: Physical Foundation
Objective: Walk, jog, or run a total of 5 kilometers
Rewards:
+10 DP
+30 EXP
+1 strength
+1 stamina
Failure Penalty:
Loss of Debauchery System
Time Limit: 24 hours
Accept Quest?
[Yes] [No]
‐‐‐
Eric read through the quest details, his eyebrows rising.
'This is different from the Sarah quest,' he thought. 'This is just... exercise. No social component, no making someone happy. Just physical activity.'
The rewards were modest but useful. More stat points, more experience, and debauchery points that he still didn't fully understand the purpose of since the shop was locked until level five.
The penalty remained the same. Catastrophic.
'But the quest itself is easy,' Eric realized. 'Five kilometers. That's about three miles. I can do that.'
He'd never been much of a runner. The gym was something he'd meant to join for years but never quite got around to. His athletic build was mostly genetics and the physical demands of his work, not any dedicated exercise routine.
But five kilometers? That was doable.
Eric focused on [Yes].
‐‐‐
[Quest Accepted]
Quest: Physical Foundation
Progress: 0/5 km
Time Remaining: 23:59:54
‐‐‐
A distance tracker appeared in the corner of his vision, floating translucent beside the countdown timer.
Eric checked the time again. 5:51 AM. Early enough that the streets would be mostly empty. Perfect for a run without dealing with crowds or questions from neighbors.
He changed quickly, pulling on athletic shorts and a t-shirt that he usually wore for lounging around. His sneakers were worn but functional. He grabbed his phone and earbuds, pulling up a random playlist.
The early morning air was cool when Eric stepped outside, the sun just starting to paint the sky in shades of pink and orange. Stardale was quiet, most people still asleep on a Sunday morning.
Eric plugged in his earbuds, stretched briefly, and started walking to warm up.
'Five kilometers,' he thought. 'I can jog some, walk some, just keep moving until I hit the distance.'
He transitioned from walking to a light jog, finding a rhythm that felt sustainable. His body responded beautifully, the stat increases making everything easier. His breathing stayed even, his legs moved without the usual burning fatigue.
'This isn't so bad,' Eric thought, surprised. 'Actually kind of nice.'
The streets were empty except for the occasional early riser walking a dog or grabbing a newspaper. Eric jogged past his usual coffee shop, still dark, past the community center where Sarah played volleyball, past blocks of houses and apartments that made up his neighborhood.
The distance tracker in his vision ticked upward steadily.
1 kilometer. 1.5 kilometers. 2 kilometers.
Eric's pace remained steady, his breathing controlled. The playlist in his ears provided mindless background noise, letting his thoughts wander.
He thought about the system. About quests and stats and progression. About what it all meant, where it was leading.
'The first quest was social,' he reasoned. 'Making a connection with Sarah. This one is physical. Building a foundation of fitness. Are future quests going to combine these elements? Get progressively more complex?'
2.5 kilometers. 3 kilometers.
The sun was fully up now, painting everything in golden morning light. Eric's route had taken him in a wide loop around his neighborhood. Another two kilometers and he'd be back at his apartment, quest complete.
He rounded a corner and suddenly caught a scent that made him slow.
Perfume.
Not just any perfume. Something expensive, sophisticated, with notes of jasmine and something darker, muskier. The kind of scent that came in bottles that cost more than most people's car payments.
Eric's head turned, following the scent like a hound tracking prey.
And there she was.
A woman stood on the sidewalk about thirty feet ahead, bent slightly as she adjusted something on her shoe. Eric's pace slowed further, his usual weakness kicking in hard.
'Woman,' his brain supplied helpfully. 'Attractive woman. Pay attention.'
She straightened, and Eric got his first proper look at her.
She appeared young, maybe mid-twenties, with an almost ethereal quality despite being dressed for athletics. Short, slightly wavy pink hair framed her face in soft layers, with bangs falling over her forehead. Her eyes were warm brown, friendly and approachable, and she wore a faint, relaxed smile like she was enjoying some private joke.
But it was her outfit that really caught Eric's attention.
A sleek, form-fitting black athletic bodysuit that left absolutely nothing to imagination. It hugged every curve, every line, designed for movement but somehow more provocative than most evening wear Eric had seen. She looked like she'd stepped out of a high-end athletic wear commercial, the kind where the product was secondary to the model wearing it.
Eric stopped jogging entirely. Just stopped, standing frozen on the sidewalk, staring.
'Move,' his brain commanded. 'You're being creepy. Start running again.'
But his body wasn't listening. His eyes tracked her as she finished adjusting her shoe and straightened again, rolling her shoulders in a pre-run stretch.
And then she turned.
Her warm brown eyes met his crystalline blue ones across the distance.
Eric's breath caught.
She smiled, that faint relaxed expression shifting into something more knowing, more amused. Like she'd caught him staring and found it entertaining rather than offensive.
And then she winked.
Actually winked, one eye closing deliberately before she turned and started jogging in the opposite direction, pink hair bouncing, the bodysuit doing incredible things as she moved.
Eric stood there for another three seconds, his brain completely offline.
Then something kicked in. Not logic. Not reason. Something more primal, more fundamental.
'Don't let her get away,' that voice commanded. 'Keep up. Stay in visual range. Don't be creepy about it, but don't lose sight of her either.'
Eric started running.
Not jogging. Running. Actually running, faster than he'd been moving before, his newly enhanced strength and stamina propelling him forward with surprising speed.
The distance tracker in his vision ticked upward faster.
3.5 kilometers. 3.7 kilometers. 4 kilometers.
The pink-haired woman maintained her pace ahead of him, glancing back once with that same amused smile. Not afraid, not concerned. Just aware and entertained.
Eric's lungs burned, but in a good way. His legs pumped, eating up the distance. The fatigue he'd expected never came. His body responded like a machine, tireless and strong.
'I can keep going,' he realized with something like wonder. 'I could run for miles and not feel it.'
4.5 kilometers. 4.8 kilometers.
The woman turned a corner. Eric followed, no longer caring that this was probably creepy, too caught up in the simple joy of movement, of pushing his body and finding it more than capable.
5 kilometers.
‐‐‐
[Quest Complete: Physical Foundation]
Progress: 5/5 km
Objective: Complete ✓
Rewards Earned:
+10 DP
+30 EXP
+1 strength
+1 stamina
‐‐‐
Eric barely registered the notification. He kept running, kept chasing the pink-haired woman who'd disappeared around another corner.
His body hummed with energy, with capability, with strength he'd never felt before.
And for the first time since the system had appeared in his shower, Eric felt something other than confusion or concern.
He felt alive.