Placement
Michael was wary of the guy in lane #5, he was Jack Howell. He already had a time of just a little above 16 minutes, he was the only one that was expected to be able to beat Michael's time.
The first 100-meters, Jack clocked in at 58 seconds. Much better than Michael but that was partly due to him having to adjust to his level-up in technique.
'Oh no.' Michael anxiously thought.
Looking at Jack crossing the 800-meter mark, he was swimming at a pace of 1 minute and 4 seconds. So far about 10 seconds ahead of Michael's time.
Jack crossed the 1300-meter mark with the same pace. Michael had swum 1 minute and 3 seconds for the second half of the race, but Jack was still ahead of him by 5 seconds.
Thankfully, Jack seemed to be unable to keep the pace for the entire race. At the last 200 meters, he slowed down.
He had touched half a second after Michael, with a time of 15 minutes, 58 minutes and 74 milliseconds. Michael nearly had a heart attack watching the final touch, he knew just how ludicrous the system's rewards are, and he wanted the best of the best.
"Congratulations Mike! You got gold, I'm happy for you." Kai congratulated Michael.
"Thanks, I-"
Just as Michael was about to respond, he got cut off by a feminine voice.
"Hello boys, I see you've made up quite well. Congratulations on the gold medal Michael."
"Thanks."
"I'll be on my way now, see you later." Rose said.
Michael turned to Kai and said, "I think I'll be on my way as well, today has been a stressful day. I want to rest."
"Yeah, no problem. See you around Mike."
Michael went back home and felt exhausted. After the emotional roller coaster he went through, he just wanted to sleep off all the stress.
--------------
After taking a 2 hour nap, Michael felt refreshed and very excited.
'Time to see the rewards!'
Pulling up the system tabs, Michael read through the notifications he had ignored before.
[DING]
[CONGRATULATIONS FOR COMPLETING A MISSION]
[CALCULATING REWARD...]
[MAXIMUM REWARD ACHIEVED (gold medal)]
[FINDING THE MOST SUITABLE REWARD FOR HOST]
[REWARD FOUND]
[HOST HAS GAINED 'Daily Micro-nutrients Pill' (DMP)]
[DESCRIPTION: The human body is a very complex that require hundreds of different micro-nutrients. It is almost impossible to fulfill every micro-nutrient quota by whole foods alone without becoming obese. This pill will provide every micro-nutrient needed for the body, giving a boost to almost every process in the body.]
[HOST CAN TAKE A PILL AT ANY TIME ONCE A DAY]
[TO GET THE PILL, PLEASE SAY 'Manifest daily pill']
[IT IS RECOMMENDED TO TAKE THE PILL EVERYDAY IN THE MORNING]
'That.. seems very useful.' After hearing what the system said, Michael decided to take a pill for himself now.
"Manifest daily pill." As soon as Michael finished his sentence, bright lights came out of thin air and condensed into a small spherical shape. It landed in front of him, on top of his bed.
Grabbing it, Michael felt a soft yet slightly metallic feeling. Bringing it close to his nose, he couldn't smell anything.
He decided to just put it in his mouth to see what happens.
As soon as he closed his mouth, the ball instantly melted into a viscous liquid similar to honey yet had no taste at all.
After completely swallowing it, Michael felt no difference, but that was expected as his body has yet to digest and absorb the pill.
Having nothing else to do, Michael decided to plan his next course of action.
There will be a kind of event/photo-shoot where all the people who get a medal will receive their corresponding medal and have photos taken of them.
'This will be a good chance to get recruited by a high profile club or coach.'
'While I did do well on my own, I know it's not going to be enough. My training plan is a joke compared to what real professional coaches can make.'
'I don't want to waste any potential, especially with this system.'
The event Michael was thinking about was set to take place in 4 days.
Michael planned on getting a haircut and some proper neat and good looking clothes. His objective was to get attention, and appearance is the first and most important step in gaining attention.
There was a problem Michael seemed to overlook, he barely had any clue of fashion, especially high-class fashion. He at least knew that rich people/groups almost speak a different language and take appearances differently. He didn't want to seem like a country bumpkin in front of the best coaches in his country.
So Michael decided to call his friend for help.
*RING RING*
"What's up Mike?"
"Oh nothing, I just have a very important event to attend and I have no idea what to wear."
"Oh, you're attending that post-race photo-shoot? You know you don't have to attend right?"
"Sorry Mr. Olympian, but I don't have any coaches, this could be my chance to get into a decent club."
"How about I recommend you to my coach? He is one of the best in the world. While he is mainly focused on short distance sprints, I'm sure he will be tens of times better in long distances than any coach you can get from this city."
Kai added, "He is from Germany and has a heavy dutch accent, he has a strict military vibe around him, but trust me he is very good at what he does."
"That sounds great, when will I meet him?" Michael responded.
"I'll talk to him about it today, and if nothing goes wrong you'll meet with him after-tomorrow."
"Alright, thanks man you're the best."
"No problem, we are friends."