Grinding

I'd be damned if I let anyone in the school see me! 

This was Hiro's thought after he alighted from the black sedan. While he was expected to enter the school grounds and head to the dormitory registry building, he deeply understood the concept of first impressions. 

Thus, under no circumstances was Hiro willing to have his status as a lame fatso imprint itself into the minds of the student body of this school. Hiro sneakily made his escape from the massive steel gate and scurried along the streets, drawing further and further away from the school. 

When he thought he was far enough, Hiro stopped a random passerby with a "good man" vibe around him, asking nicely, "Excuse me, where can I find a shopping center and an ATM machine?" 

The man paused, turning off his phone and storing it away in his pocket before he fixed his silver-rimmed glasses and focused his attention on Hiro. Hiro had the vague illusion that the man's glasses flashed a bright light as if he was a supremely intelligent existence about to bestow great wisdom. 

Hiro coughed inwardly, maintaining an innocent smile. At the very least, he thought his smile was rather innocent. 

"Of course," the man answered lightly, but it sounded like the tone of a villain for some unknown reason. "There's a grand shopping center if you go..." 

The man provided Hiro with the location of various business districts across the city and how he could get there through either a taxi or the underground metro stations. Then, he guided him toward a convenience store with an ATM machine across the street. 

"Thanks," said Hiro gratefully before waddling over toward the store. As he walked, he opened the envelope where he found a Nexus Bank credit card and the associated PIN code. 

He checked the code, withdrew some cash from the machine, and waited by the roadside for a taxi. A few minutes later, Hiro got on the taxi and described his desired destination to the driver, who happily complied and started driving. 

... 

The Blue Shark shopping center was a famous attraction site in this city, or at least that's what Hiro learned from the taxi driver during their idle chatter time. He also learned that the shopping center was home to many establishments and facilities, including but not limited to fancy restaurants, love hotels, china towns, boxing gyms, etc. 

This shopping center was very close to three famous high schools and had a direct corporation business with one major university, which provides great customer channels. 

Hiro was amazed to learn all that. After contemplating the situation, he decided to visit the gym for a membership after he bought himself a new phone and registered a SIM card. 

What kind of a foolish douchebag would wander the modern society without access to the internet?! Definitely not me! Hiro convinced himself as he entered an electronic shop inside the Grand Mall. 

Honestly, all of these miscellaneous tasks were basic routines in every transmigrator's starter experience in their new world. Hiro decided to refer to his actions as 'Transmigrator Foundation 101'. 

He bought a small notebook and wrote down his expectations for the 'Transmigrator Foundation 101', starting with the "First Chapter - Grinding." 

His to-do list under the first chapter included buying a smartphone, losing weight (a lot of goddamn weight), buying new clothes, and getting a part-time job. 

The moment he finished the list, he heard a soft chime in his mind followed by the appearance of a small, blue pop-up screen in his field of vision. 

[Notice: Daily mission "Grinding" has been created!] 

[Notice: The "Workout" option has been unlocked!] 

... 

A stream of information appeared in Hiro's mind. 

Is this also possible? Am I going to be rewarded for something so basic? Hiro was pleasantly surprised as he thought of this. He decided to visit the system space in a bit and check out the new workout option. 

Hiro also wondered if similar options would be unlocked in the future depending on how he went about his daily life. For now, he realized that the server attendant was signaling for him to move forward; it was his turn on the counter. 

After a grueling battle of wits with the server provider, hoping to not get scammed with a package deal for a new phone, unlimited calls, and unlimited data access, Hiro finally acquired a proposal he felt to be fair. Then again, his economic sense in this alternate reality was trash at best, so he didn't hope for much. 

After activating his phone and SIM card, he inputted his personal information and saved the PIN code for his credit card somewhere secure before crumbling the small piece of paper and swallowing it to remove any risk factor. 

Who knew if someone was stalking me, lurking for an opportunity to fish this paper from a trash bin after I tossed it away? Hiro considered himself smart for taking such precautions. 

Ignoring the weird looks of everyone in the store, he waddled his way and followed the erected signs toward the nearest men's restroom. Hiro quickly located an empty cubicle and locked himself inside, sat down, and willed for his consciousness to enter the system space.

After a familiar combustion of millions of stacked colors, Hiro found himself once again in the magnificent hall.

A dense collection of holographic screens shuttled all around Hiro, each representing a feature of the system, either locked or unlocked.

With a thought, all but one screen dissipated into motes of light. Hiro had to admit that the system interface was quite convenient, as it would have been annoying if every little detail and feature in the system were clumped into one long column of options.

Hiro summoned the "Missions" window and focused on the "Grinding" list, finding out that it was a replica of his to-do list in the real world with a progress bar of 0% next to each line of text.

Then, he focused on another holographic screen with the "Workout" feature, finding a basic chart of his physical attributes in real life.

A diagram of a fat young man was on the screen. There were various statistics listed down, and all of them were in the red zone.

Stamina, Strength, Speed, Fat, Endurance, Muscle, etc.

"Hm," Hiro touched his chin. He browsed the options in the window, quickly locating the option to chart a workout plan.

After he curiously selected the option, many other features were available to him as a line of text quickly appeared.

[Please customize the desirable fitness level.]

A new diagram of Hiro's body in real life appeared, but this one was viable for custom editing within reasonable parameters.

What determined the reasonable parameters?

Hiro quickly found out when a few options popped up. After tapping away for a while, the initial parameters were set.

[Deadline: 7 days.]

[Intensity: Extreme.]

[Formulating a workout plan, do you wish to proceed?]

Hiro selected yes.

After a chime, two diagrams of Hiro's physical attributes in the real world appeared.

One of them was labeled as "Current" and the other was labeled as "Target".

The "Grinding" mission screen was updated, displaying a target of daily exercises to be completed every day by midnight.

From the three tasks on the list, buying clothes was the easiest, while finding a suitable part-time job was subjective.

Finding a job could be both easy or difficult, leaving only the daily exercises as the task requiring the most hard work and perseverance.

Hiro sighed.

It couldn't be helped, he needed at least one week in the library to prepare for the entrance exams, so he could only punish himself by choosing the highest intensity provided in the workout feature.

With trepidation in his heart for the upcoming week of hell, Hiro exited the system space.