The first thing I did when I woke up was check my physical stats and, true enough, the +1 I gained from jogging with mom had been fully integrated into my VIT. So, now, my stats were...

STR – 5
DEX – 4
VIT – 6

Still pretty bad, all things considered, but not so bad since I now knew how to raise them. It'd be a pain, of course, since exercise was the only way forward, for now, but it'd be worth it. It meant, however, that sleeping – or just resting – was a crucial mechanic to my growth, which... I guess was fairly realistic, since physical gains and improvements, quite literally, required sleep. It was why a lot of athletes took melatonin to maximize their sleep and rest. I don't think I needed that, but the point remained.

In terms of the System itself, the expenditure of War Points to increase my stats was, for the moment, extremely expensive. I'd been experimenting with my interface last night and found the conversion chart. Essentially, I'd have to spend 500 War Points to increase one physical stat by one point. So, quite literally, that jogging session I had with mom was worth 500 War Points. But, that wasn't all I learned. See, the price per Stat increase doubled each time I purchased an actual stat point. So, increasing my STR by 1 point, costing me 500 War Points, meant I'd then have to spend 1000 War Points if I wanted to purchase yet another increase. The same was true for all Stats.

So... yeah, nah; I couldn't afford any of that just yet.

Basically, the System was telling me that, for now, my best bet was to just exercise my ass off.

There were, however, purchasable items that could somewhat bypass this, because Combat Drugs were apparently a thing I could get my hands on – provided I could afford them. The top three were: [Serpentin], [Nightmarish Power], and [Unnatural Vitality], and each of them had the same cost of 1500 War Points. [Serpentin], once injected into my blood stream, would give me a one-time permanent DEX boost of 20 points. That was a lot, honestly. [Nightmarish Power] was for STR, while [Unnatural Vitality] was for VIT, both boosting their respective stats by 20. These three drugs were amazing, but – of course – they were expensive and I could only use them once, after buying them. So, I was definitely going to purchase them when I could afford them, but I think – for now – it was better to just focus on building up my physical stats the old fashioned way.

It was 4:00 in the morning. No gym was open and I honestly didn't have any weights available. And I certainly didn't want to just fall asleep again and waste time. I felt refreshed – more refreshed than usual, honestly, which meant that sleep and rest were now affected by the System, which was good. That said, I... no longer wanted to just play video games and watch movies on my computer. I had two hours of me-time before I could join mom on her morning jog. So, I spent all that time trying to do as many push ups, sit ups, and squats as I could. I found, quickly enough, just how hilariously unfit I actually was. Still, I pushed myself to the brink, a pool of sweat forming underneath me as I finished a grand total of thirty push ups, twenty six sit ups, and fifty squats... in two hours.

The results, however, were... interesting.

STR – 5(+1)
DEX – 4(+2)
VIT – 6

More than interesting, it also felt really good to be rewarded, but – honestly – I didn't think body weight exercises had anything to do with dexterity, until I realized that they did, in fact, have everything to do with dexterity, just not in the way I expected. DEX measured my overall skill in doing things that involved fine bodily control. For instance, while it did involve strength to perform, I found that form had a far greater role in push ups. Not that mine was great by any means, but I guess that was how the system made sense of it. Whatever the case, that was some pretty good progress. Though, I suppose it'd soon get to a point, wherein I'd no longer receive any stat bonuses from simple body-weight training. But, I could just switch to using weights at that point.

After that, I showered, got dressed in running clothes, and went downstairs. Mom was already standing by the front door when I got down. She didn't ask me anything this time. We went out and jogged for 40 minutes, ten minutes more than last time, before coming home. I still felt like shit the whole time, wheezing and seeing my life flash before my eyes, but I soldiered on and even got a pat on the back from mom for my trouble. What mattered more than anything, however, were the results.

STR – 5(+1)
DEX – 4(+2)
VIT – 6(+1)

All things considered, progress was really good. For now, [Isha's Mercy] was so hilariously difficult to work with that I decided not to grind it just yet as pushing myself to brink every five minutes seemed like a recipe for disaster. Perhaps, once I attained a VIT of 15 or more, I'd start grinding [Isha's Mercy] again, but – until then – it was going to sleep. And, besides, with my low VIT, the skill was pretty much useless. A 600% increase of natural regeneration, which I could only sustain for three seconds without falling unconscious, meant I'd only be moving their self-healing forward by like eighteen seconds, which was fucking nothing, unless I was treating a needle wound, maybe.

My daily quests remained the same.

Assist in a Medical Emergency – 100 War Points
Win a Physical Competition – 150 War Points
Discover a Hidden Secret – 200 War Points

So, it was probably safe to assume that they were going to stay the same every single day. Assuming I somehow was able to discover a hidden secret every day, that meant I could gather pretty much 450 War Points every single day, without having to worry about the Hidden Quests or Secret Feats. Though, 450 War Points, in the grand scheme of things, was nothing. The middling stuff in the F-Tier had costs up to 100k War Points. And that was just F-Tier. No, at the end of the day, the Daily Quests were nothing more than helpers to get me started. The real shit was to be made from Hidden Quests and Secret Feats.

Not that I knew how to accomplish any of them, considering the Hidden and Secret portion of their names, but I suppose I'd stumble into them eventually.

After eating a breakfast of fruits and some poached eggs, I took a shower, got dressed, and just walked to the University. My friends, Benjamin and Terrence, Ben and Terry for short, would be attending today, no doubt still nursing terrible headaches from their hangovers. Party animals, the lot of them.

I arrived on campus just as the sun was beginning to bathe the buildings in a warm, golden light. The air was cool and crisp, a typical early morning in Maine. Students milled about, some hurrying to early classes, others lounging on benches and grassy areas, enjoying the calm before the rush of the day.

I headed to the usual spot where I met up with Ben and Terry, near the main entrance of the university. As expected, they were both there, looking a bit worse for wear. Ben, with his blond hair tousled and dark circles under his eyes, gave me a weak smile as I approached.

"Morning, Amir," he said, stifling a yawn. "You missed a wild party last night."

"I bet," I replied with a grin. "But I had other things to do."

Terry, a tall guy with a perpetually relaxed demeanor, nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you said that last time. You're always so serious, man. You should have come. Would have been fun to have you around. Some of the girls asked about you. Ben and I still aren't sure why women are interested in your scrawny as at all."

"Maybe next time," I said, though I doubted it. My priorities had shifted drastically since yesterday, and partying was low on the list. Though, admittedly, hooking up with hot women was always a good time. But, once again, I had other priorities for now.

We walked to our first class together, talking about the usual stuff—classes, assignments, and the latest campus gossip. It felt good to be with friends, even if my mind was constantly drifting back to the System and the tasks ahead. I knew I had to stay focused on my studies, but balancing that with training and questing was going to be a challenge.

The first class of the day was a lecture on European History. I tried to pay attention, but my thoughts kept wandering. I wondered how long it would take me to build up enough War Points to buy one of those combat drugs. The idea of boosting my stats by 20 points in one go was incredibly tempting. But I needed to be patient and methodical.

After the lecture, we had a break, and I decided to check the System again. The boys and I, as usual, found a quiet corner in the library and opened the interface.

Welcome back, Amir Azad. Would you like to check your Daily Quests?

I confirmed, and the familiar list appeared. No changes. I closed the interface and leaned back in my chair, thinking about how to tackle the day. Assisting in a medical emergency seemed like the most likely quest to complete, but I couldn't just wait around for someone to get hurt. Winning a physical competition was out of the question for now, given my current stats... or was it?

What counted as winning a physical competition in the first place? Well, I just had to test that, right? "Yo, Terry; I'm bored, let's arm wrestle."

Terry dropped the book he was reading, something about Genetics, and shrugged. "You're bored? Not surprised, but eh, why not?"

"I don't know, man, arm wrestling seems kinda fruity to me," Ben said, leaned his head back against a stack of books behind him – an old stack of books, covered in dust. It'd probably been there since before any of us were born. "Two guys, holding each others' hands and staring into each others' eyes - fruity."

"Shut up," I said. He had a point. "I'm bored."

Terry was weaker than me, which was honestly quite a low bar to somehow fall under. And he also didn't care about winning. More than anything, this was an experiment.

We set up the arm-wrestling match on the library table, our elbows pressed into the wooden surface, hands clasped. Terry had a smirk on his face, clearly not taking this seriously, which was exactly what I hoped for. I glanced around, making sure no librarians were watching—last thing I needed was to get kicked out for disturbing the peace.

"Ready?" I asked, my grip tightening.

"Born ready," Terry replied, the smirk widening.

Ben counted us down, "Three... two... one... go!"

I pushed with all my might, feeling the strain in my arm immediately. Terry put up a little resistance, but it was clear he wasn't using his full strength. I managed to push his hand down to the table in less than ten seconds.

"Wow, that was... underwhelming," Ben said, yawning.

"Yeah, yeah," Terry said, rubbing his arm. "You win, Amir. Congrats."

I felt a small surge of satisfaction and quickly opened the System interface, eager to see if my little experiment had paid off.

Daily Quest Completed: Win a Physical Competition – 150 War Points awarded!

Yes! It worked. I grinned, feeling a rush of excitement. It wasn't much, but it was a step in the right direction. I'd need every point I could get if I wanted to make real progress. And that brought my total collection of War Points up to 450 – not bad, I guess. More than that, however, was the stat point bonus that I wasn't even aware of until I checked my actual stats.

STR – 5(+2)
DEX – 4(+2)
VIT – 6(+1)

Oh yes. Look out Terry, I'm about to arm wrestle you every single day, until I get strong enough to arm wrestle against Ben and win. Fuck it. Once I get strong enough, I might just wrestle someone like Eddie Hall.

"What's with the creepy smile?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Just... happy to win for once," I said, not wanting to explain the whole System thing to them. Not yet, anyway. It was still too new, too uncertain. "And happy to know that there's at least one person who's weaker than I am."

Terry snorted.

"Let's celebrate your great and noble victory with some food," Terry spoke in a deadpan tone. "I'm starving."