The ride home from the hospital felt strangely quiet.
Nicolas sat in the back seat of the cab, staring out the window as buildings slid past in a dull blur. The sky was still cloudy, though the storm had already passed hours ago. Puddles reflected the grey afternoon light, and the air smelled faintly of wet dust.
Lightning.
The word kept circling in his mind.
A lightning strike should have killed him. At the very least, it should have left him in a far worse state than a few light burns and mild exhaustion. The doctors had repeated that several times while looking at his charts like they were trying to solve a puzzle.
He had nodded along, pretending to listen.
But the real question in his head had nothing to do with the doctors.
It was the voice.
[Synchronizing with host]
Just remembering those words made a faint chill run through him.
The taxi stopped outside his apartment building. Nicolas paid the driver and stepped out slowly. The familiar sight of the old three-story building felt oddly comforting. At least something in his life still looked normal.
He climbed the stairs to his apartment and unlocked the door.
The room smelled faintly burnt.
That alone made his stomach sink.
His eyes immediately moved toward the desk near the window.
His computer sat there.
Or what was left of it.
The monitor was dark. The power strip looked slightly melted, and one of the cables had turned black near the socket. The faint smell of burnt electronics lingered in the air.
Nicolas walked closer and pressed the power button.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Silence filled the room.
For a moment, he simply stared at the screen.
Months.
Months of work had gone into the game he was building. Countless late nights, endless debugging, and more coffee than he cared to remember.
Now the machine that held everything was dead.
He sat down slowly in the chair.
His hands rested on the desk as he looked at the lifeless computer.
"Great," he muttered quietly.
A lightning strike nearly kills him, fries his computer, destroys his project, and somehow he walks away almost unharmed.
If life were a game, the developers clearly had a weird sense of humor.
His thoughts drifted again.
Those pop-ups…
The strange windows that had appeared in front of his eyes in the hospital.
They had looked almost like a game interface.
But that was impossible.
Right?
Nicolas leaned back in the chair and rubbed his face.
"Maybe I imagined it."
That seemed like the most reasonable explanation.
Getting struck by lightning probably did strange things to the brain.
Hallucinations weren't exactly impossible.
Still…
The memory of those floating messages felt too clear.
Too real.
He looked at the empty air in front of him.
Then, almost half-jokingly, he thought,
If you're real… show yourself again.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then—
Something flickered in front of his eyes.
A faint transparent window appeared in the air.
Nicolas froze.
The interface slowly became clearer, like a screen adjusting its brightness.
And then the message appeared.
[Quest]
Daily Physical Conditioning
Complete the following exercises.
Condition
• 30 Push-Ups
• 30 Sit-Ups
• 30 Squats
• 1 Minute Plank
• 2 Kilometer Run
Reward
• +0.01 Strength
• +0.01 Endurance
Nicolas stared at the floating window.
His brain struggled to process what he was seeing.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
He waved his hand through the air.
Nothing happened.
The window remained there, perfectly stable.
He tried looking away.
When he looked back, it was still there.
"This is not real," he said quietly.
But the problem was obvious.
It looked very real.
The text was clear.
Sharp.
Almost like the interface of a game menu.
Nicolas stood up from the chair slowly.
His eyes moved across the list again.
Push-ups.
Sit-ups.
Squats.
Plank.
Run.
Basic exercises.
The kind of routine someone might find in a beginner fitness guide.
He crossed his arms and leaned against the desk.
"So… what exactly happens if I do it?"
The window didn't respond.
Of course it didn't.
It wasn't a person.
Just a system.
Or a hallucination.
One of the two.
Nicolas looked at his dead computer again.
His unfinished project flashed through his mind.
All that work… gone.
Even if he bought a new machine, rebuilding everything from memory would take months.
He sighed.
"Well," he muttered, "it's not like I have anything better to do today."
If the system was fake, nothing would happen.
If it was real…
Then that raised an entirely different set of questions.
He stepped away from the desk and cleared a small space on the floor.
"Let's see what happens."
He dropped down into a push-up position.
"Thirty push-ups."
He hadn't done a proper workout in months.
Programming didn't exactly encourage physical activity.
Still, thirty push-ups didn't sound impossible.
"One."
His arms bent as he lowered himself toward the floor.
"Two."
"Three."
By the time he reached fifteen, his arms were already shaking.
"Seriously?" he muttered between breaths.
Apparently months of sitting in front of a computer had done terrible things to his strength.
Twenty.
Twenty-five.
His muscles burned.
Thirty.
He collapsed onto the floor.
"Okay… that was worse than expected."
He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling for a moment before forcing himself to sit up.
"Next one."
Sit-ups were slightly easier.
Still uncomfortable.
Still tiring.
But manageable.
Thirty completed.
Then squats.
Those burned his legs far more than he expected.
By the time he finished, his breathing had grown heavy.
"Plank," he said to himself.
He positioned himself on the floor again and checked the time on his phone.
One minute.
The first twenty seconds passed easily.
Then the shaking started.
His arms trembled.
His stomach tightened.
By forty seconds he seriously considered quitting.
"Come on…"
He gritted his teeth.
"Just… twenty more seconds."
When the timer finally reached sixty, he collapsed onto the floor again.
His entire body felt tired.
"Last one," he muttered.
The run.
He grabbed his shoes, stepped outside, and began jogging down the street.
Two kilometers wasn't terribly far.
But for someone who hadn't run in months, it felt much longer.
His breathing grew heavy halfway through.
Still, he kept going.
Step by step.
Eventually he returned to the apartment building.
Sweaty.
Tired.
Completely exhausted.
He walked back into his apartment and dropped onto the couch.
"That… sucked."
For a moment he simply lay there, staring at the ceiling.
Then the window appeared again.
[Quest Completed]
Daily Physical Conditioning Complete
Reward Granted
• +0.01 Strength
• +0.01 Endurance
The text faded after a few seconds.
Nicolas slowly sat up.
He rolled his shoulders experimentally.
Something felt… different.
The exhaustion was still there.
But strangely, it didn't feel as heavy as he expected.
Normally after that much effort he would be completely drained.
Instead, his body felt slightly lighter.
Not dramatically stronger.
Not suddenly athletic.
Just…
A little less tired.
Like his stamina had improved by the smallest possible amount.
He flexed his fingers thoughtfully.
"…Okay."
That was strange.
Very strange.
But not unpleasant.
He leaned back on the couch and looked at the empty air where the system window had disappeared.
"No more quests?"
Nothing appeared.
The room remained quiet.
Nicolas exhaled slowly.
"Well," he said quietly, "this is going to be interesting."