Chapter 16 - Punishment.
Hearing that confusing message, Lukas could do nothing but obey the system. He quickly did all 10 lifts. It was not so heavy. The weight seemed to have adjusted to his strength.
Then he wiped his sweat and received a new message.
[ Mission completed ]
[ The user was rewarded with 5 strength points ]
Lukas opened the system and realized they had added the 5 strength points to his numbers. He smiled, satisfied and then sighed, "That took me by surprise. I wonder what would have happened if were something I couldn't do? What is this punishment?"
Lukas looked at the equipment and then thought for a while.
"No, that would be idiotic and very irresponsible." It had crossed his mind to fail the mission willingly. But that was idiotic. What if it was something dangerous? What if he lost strength because of it? It wasn't worth the risk.
'That system is being very kind.' Lukas then walked toward the treadmill.
As he climbed on, he received a new message.
[ Mission - Run 10 kilometres before the time limit ]
[ Reward - 5 agility points ]
[ Punishment applied if the user fails ]
[ Time left - 35:00...34:59 ]
"35 minutes? That's long enough." Lukas clicked the available buttons on the treadmill and increased his running speed. So after 20 minutes, he had accomplished the mission.
[ Mission completed ]
[ The user was rewarded with 5 agility points ]
"The numbers increased." While breathing hard, Lukas sat down on an available bench inside the room. In addition, there was even a drink machine there.
Thirsty, Lukas approached it.
"10 soul points for each drink?!" Lukas exclaimed in surprise. "Well, it makes sense that they don't take coins." Lukas grabbed a bottle of water and took it in an instant. Soon after resting a little longer, he looked at the other equipment.
"I can increase strength and agility, but my endurance and intelligence?"
[ Options unavailable ]
"Will I be able to release them at some point?"
[ Not understood ]
"The system won't answer me that, will it? Well, what should I do now? Should I take advantage of the fact that I'm here and increase my strength as much as possible?" Lukas approached another piece of equipment commonly used to train the chest. But when he started using the equipment, he received no message. Confused, he called out to the system.
[ The missions are embedded in equipment chosen by the system. The others equipments will function as standard equipments. ]
"That's so convenient..." Lukas smiled bitterly and then approached the equipment to do weight lifting again. He lay down and then grabbed the bars again.
It was the same as the previous mission, and the only difference was that the time limit had halved. Even though the time was shorter, Lukas managed to complete the mission efficiently.
[ Mission completed ]
[ The user was rewarded with 5 strength points ]
"The same amount. The time will probably decrease again. If I try again, I probably won't be able to accomplish the mission." Lukas looked at the equipment for more prolonged and decided to lie down again.
He looked at the bar for a while before deciding to grab it.
After holding it, the system again activated a mission.
[ Chosen Training - Weight lifting ]
[ Quest - Do 15 lifts before the time limit ]
[ Reward - 6 strength points ]
[ Punishment applied if the user fails ]
[ Time remaining - 00:15 ]
"15 Seconds?!" Lukas quickly began to lift the weight and lower it, but it wasn't easy even though his strength had increased by 10 points. The weight had increased, and he was having trouble lifting it.
[ Time left - 00:05 ]
There were 5 seconds left and still 6 lifts to go. With tired arms, Lukas could do nothing but give up. "I was foolish..." He smiled and then wiped the sweat from his face.
[ The mission has failed ]
[ You will be punished according to the agreement ]
[ Initiating Punishment ]
After the message ended, Lukas felt the ground shake a little. Then a strange light appeared on one of the walls of the academy. After a momentary glow, a silver door appeared.
Lukas looked at it for a while and then felt his body move on its own.
"What?" He said, surprised as he walked towards the door against his will. After passing through the door, he found another portal. After his vision went dark for two seconds, he found himself in a completely unknown place.
A large area that didn't seem to have an end.
The ground was made of earth, and the sky was completely blue. In the sky, an intense sun was shining. It was scalding. Lukas managed to move his body again and then looked around, completely astonished at his sight.
He had completely ignored that he was in the middle of a punishment.
Lukas walked across the barren ground as he felt his mouth go dry.
"It's like I'm in the middle of a desert." Starting to feel quite thirsty, Lukas could do nothing but "cry". The weather had changed so radically. Before, he was in Jacksonville, where the weather was rainy.
And now he was in a desert wasteland where the heat was melting his brain.
"Now I understand why it's a punishment. I knew it was a foolish decision to be punished willingly." Lukas smiled bitterly over his stupidity. Even though he is not here now of his own will, he was naive to think that the next mission would be simple.
So Lukas gave up walking. He was using up his stamina walking around this place, and his thirst was only increasing.
He sat down on the dirt floor and looked at the horizon.
Just earth. Not a cactus, tree, lake, nothing! It was frightening how lonely and "dry" this place was. Lukas felt his mouth become covered with earth. The dirt mixed with his saliva, and he felt a disgusting taste.
"Ah damn, how long will this last?" Lukas didn't know how long he was there since the sun wasn't moving, and he had no sense of time.
Besides, when he looked at the cell phone, the clock was stopped entirely. "System, how long will I have to stay here?" Lukas asked. Then the system replied in its usual gentle voice.
[ Punishment in progress ]
[ Survive for 22 hours and 23 minutes ]
After that message, a stopwatch appeared in front of Lukas' eyes. It looked like a joke.