The new day arrived, and John was jolted awake at exactly eight in the morning. It wasn't the strong sun rays piercing through the gaps in the curtains that roused him, but something far more insistent and digital.
[Ding! Daily Quest initiated: Use your Frame Recognition ability to examine the room you are currently in.]
[Reward: Mental Point Cap +1.]
"Good morning to you, too," John muttered, his voice thick with sleep. He sat up slowly, feeling the stiffness in his joints. "I slept in my clothes... I must have been more exhausted than I realised."
He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and walked into the central hall. The dining table had been replenished; fresh plates of steaming food sat exactly where the empty ones had been the night before. It was an eerie, efficient sight.
He suspected there was some sort of automated script or hidden conveyor system within the walls designed to ensure food was provided at regular intervals.
John moved to the bathroom, washed the grime from his face, and took a quick, refreshing shower. Afterwards, he checked the large dresser in the bedroom.
To his surprise, it was filled with a variety of clothes, all perfectly tailored to his size. He picked an outfit at random—a deep red shirt and dark blue jeans—before sitting down to finish his breakfast.
"What's the deal with this daily quest?" He asked, eyeing the notification hovering in his peripheral vision. "Am I going to get one of these every single day?"
[Ding! One Mental Point has been deducted for the query service! And yes, every day you will receive a quest. The context will vary based on your current situation and environment.]
"Hey! I never agreed to give you another point!" John stopped eating, his fork suspended in mid-air. He was speechless at the system's blatant greed. However, the interface remained silent, offering no apology or refund. John could only sigh and shake his head. It seemed his "partner" in this world was going to be a costly one.
"Fine. Let's just get it over with," he said. After finishing the last of his meal, he stood in the centre of the hall and focused. 'Frame Recognition.'
The world snapped into its skeletal form. The furniture, the walls, and the floor dissolved into rows and columns of shimmering green code. Because his ability had a limited range, John began to pace through the dorm, moving from the bedroom to the study, waiting for the system to chime with a completion notification.
"What is that?!"
He stopped dead in his tracks. He was standing in the lounge—the room designed for hosting guests. In the corner of his vision, he noticed an anomaly. It wasn't the uniform green of the rest of the suite; instead, there was a spot radiating a weird, concentrated brightness.
He approached the area cautiously. As he drew closer, the "Frame" became clearer. It wasn't just a bright spot; it was a dense, messy cluster of code. It looked like someone had dumped a massive pile of raw data into a tiny coordinate.
John reached out his hand, his fingers inches away from the glowing anomaly, intent on examining the "source" better. But before he could make contact, a warning window flared in his vision.
[Ding! CAUTION! A monitoring device has been detected!]
[Initial Analysis: Motion and presence sensor. Target: Monitoring student movement.]
[Attempting to hack/spoof: FAILURE. Current System Synchronisation is too low!]
[WARNING: Do not touch the device. Contact will trigger a tamper alert, leading to serious trouble!]
'A monitor device?!!' John froze, his heart hammering against his chest. He hurriedly retracted his hand, pulling it back as if the air itself were scorching. 'What does it do? Does it record conversations? Is it a camera?'
He instinctively clamped his jaw shut, realising that if it was a recording device, he had already been talking to himself far too much. He shifted his communication entirely to his thoughts.
[Ding! Analysis suggests it is a high-frequency motion monitor. Its primary function is to track how many unique biological signatures are in the room at any given time.
There is currently no evidence of audio or footage recording functions. It is most likely designed to prevent students from hosting unauthorised gatherings or skipping scheduled lessons by hiding in their dorms.]
John let out a slow, silent breath of relief, but his eyes remained fixed on the glowing cluster of code.
"Agh, still it's not good to have something like that sitting next to you," John muttered, a cold prickle of paranoia settling in his chest. He backed out of the lounge, closing the door firmly.
He didn't just leave it; he turned the manual lock until it clicked and tossed the heavy key onto the top of a high drawer. "Now I'm pumped more than ever to double-check everything!"
Finding one monitor had shattered his illusion of privacy. The quest the system had thrown at him so early wasn't just a random task; it was a wake-up call that was far more serious than he had initially realised. If the academy was tracking movement in a relaxation room, where else were they lurking?
Determined, John spent the next hour systematically sweeping every inch of his quarters. He burned through six Mental Points, activating and reactivating his Frame Recognition to peel back the digital secrets of his new home. He checked under the bed, inside the vents, and behind the bathroom mirrors.
Aside from that one localised cluster in the lounge, his dorm appeared clean.
[Ding! You have completed your Daily Quest!] [Ding! You have raised your Mental Point cap by 1!]
He glanced at the notification and checked his profile, but the "Success" message didn't bring him the peace of mind he sought.
"I can't be sure yet," he whispered, his hacker instincts refusing to drop their guard. He decided to expand his search parameters. He stepped out of his dorm and into the long corridor. The hallway was lined with doors similar to his, and he resumed his sweep.
This time, the results were far more chilling.
[Ding! CAUTION! A monitoring device has been detected!] [Initial Analysis: Audio and Video recording active. Range: Immediate vicinity.
Attempt to hack/spoof: FAILURE. Current System Synchronisation is too low!] [WARNING: Do not touch. Maintain normal behaviour to avoid detection!]
He received this same notification three times as he made his way down the hall. The corridor was a sensory minefield. By the time he reached the grand staircase he had climbed the night before, he felt like he was walking through a spiderweb of invisible eyes.
To his right, a wide balcony overlooked the academy grounds. John stepped out, leaning against the railing to catch his breath. Below him, a magnificent garden stretched for miles, filled with iridescent plants and winding streams. It was breathtakingly beautiful—until he used his ability again.
Through the lens of the Frame Recognition, the beauty dissolved into a structured nightmare. However, he noticed something new: at a certain distance, the green code began to fray. The further his gaze travelled toward the horizon, the more the lines of data became a chaotic, flickering mess.
Looking at the "unrendered" distance gave him a splitting headache, a sharp throb behind his eyes that forced him to shift his gaze away immediately.
"It's not safe outside of here," he thought grimly. He looked down at his profile, realising he had already wasted eight total Mental Points since he woke up.
Between the daily quest and his expanded search, he was nearly half-empty. With an introductory class only two hours away—and the high probability of more friction or combat—he couldn't afford to be "running on low" fuel.
"The class is in two hours. I need to rest until then and recharge," he decided. As he walked back toward his room, he did some quick math, realising just how gruelling the economy of his system and Mental Points was.
"One point per three hours of non-combat? That means if I stay awake for twelve hours, I only gain four points!" he calculated. Even if he added eight hours of sleep, he would only replenish about twelve points a day. It sounded sustainable for now, but not on a long run.
He finally understood the true purpose of the Daily Quests. They weren't just chores designed to annoy him; they were vital subsidies. The system was forcing him to grow his Mental Point cap constantly, yet it didn't touch the regeneration rate, which sounded like a ticking bomb to him.
He opened his profile one last time before lying down.
[Mental Power (MP): 7/16]
"I can't just sleep the whole day to have my Mental Points fully recharged," he muttered, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of the thought. He closed his eyes for a focused hour of rest, letting the silence of the dorm settle over him.
When the time finally came, he stood up, straightened his red shirt, and stepped out of his room with a renewed sense of caution. He bypassed the monitors in the hallway with a neutral expression, heading toward the classroom building.