Chapter 4
The sun was low on the horizon, making the sky a beautiful hue of orange and yellow. An older couple were on their daily walk. They spotted a slender young man picking up trash in front of them. He held a big bag full of garbage. He bent over to pick up a coffee cup and threw it into the bag. The old couple spoke as they passed him, “Thank you so much for taking care of the road. It saddens me that people would throw away their garbage in such a beautiful place.”
He looked at the couple and flashed a smile, “That’s exactly why I’m doing it.”
The couple continued on their walk, “What a nice young man.”
Vincent’s smile disappeared when they turned their head as the muscles on his face relaxed. He looked at the hologram in front of him. He had 3 points now. Picking up the last few pieces of litter, he finished another task and his points became 4. He looked around and noticed how dark it was, “I won’t be able to see anything. Time to head back.”
As he walked home, the path alongside the river was spotless. No garbage could be seen. Entering into the apartment, he saw Ace doing sit ups. He laughed, “Got tired of pushups?”
“That, and I couldn’t do anymore,” Ace said as he did a sit up, “How does the city look?”
“Spotless.”
“How many points do you have now?” Ace asked as he gave Vincent a thumbs up, “I almost have 4.”
“I just reached 4,” he said as he walked towards the kitchen.
“Hm, looks like we’re gonna be tied today,” Ace laughed.
Vincent prepared to make a sandwich from the fridge. He spoke to Ace as he made it, “If the price of physical enhancements increase each time, this is going to take a long time.”
Ace paused briefly, “I suppose.”
“Hopefully it’ll become faster in the future.”
Vincent thought to himself, “If only I could commit crime without repercussions.”
Ace spoke up, “I was browsing the tasks list while working out. I found some tasks related to school. We shouldn’t skip our classes any more after today.”
“Sounds good. It would be a waste of our parent’s money if we didn’t finish our classes.”
Ace continued, “Alice will be coming over with makeup this weekend.”
“Got it.” Vincent finished making the sandwich and brought it to the kitchen table. He sat down and prepared to eat.
…..
The weeks flew by. Each day they focused on tasks. Some were related to school, and others were focused elsewhere. Ace even completed one for adults only.
1
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Spend 2 hours studying
1
Spend 1 week going to school
1
Participate in a study group for 1 hour
1
Get 90% or higher score on a test at school
1
Ride a bicycle for 2 hours
1
Travel a distance of 100 miles within a week
1
Climb to the top of 25 trees
1
Swim for 1 hour
1
Have sex 10 times within a week
The list went on and on. Vincent and Ace even combined some tasks for maximum effect. A month had passed since the tattoo appeared. Vincent was sitting on the couch in their apartment. He was watching the news and browsing the internet for information related to the tattoo. Ace was in his usual spot working out. Ace sighed, “Finally reached 40 points. This is getting so expensive.”
“Indeed.”
They had purchased the cheapest physical enhancements 9 times now. The price got so high for strength that they switched to agility and intelligence.
Ace finally reached enough to purchase another enhancement. As he pushed the button, he felt his strength increase one more. Suddenly, he froze in shock. He noticed the challenge tab wasn’t grayed out anymore, “Vincent!”
Vincent looked over at him, “What’s up?”
“I just unlocked the challenge tab.”
Vincent’s eyes lit up. He stood up and walked over to Ace, “What’s on the page?”
Ace pushed the challenge tab. There was once again two panels. Rows of new buttons appeared before him. He was stunned, “The rewards are so high.”
“What do we have to do to get them?” Vincent inquired.
“Oh, right.” Ace looked at the challenges, “Hmm. The first one says kill 100 skeletons.”
100
Kill 100 skeletons.
“Skeletons?” Vincent raised an eyebrow.
Ace shrugged his shoulders, “That’s what it says.”
“Where will we find skeletons? Aren’t those monsters in a game?” Vincent imagined the skeletons he defeated in the video games he played as a kid.
Ace pushed on the challenge. The panel on the right lit up with information. On the bottom right was a new button that said ‘Accept and Teleport’. He informed Vincent, “It says ‘Accept and Teleport’.”
“Teleport?” Vincent thought about what that meant, “It will probably transport you to a new place that has the skeleton monsters.”
Ace nodded in understanding, “Oh. I see now.”
“How many points does it give?”
“100.”
Vincent eyes widened in surprise, “100? That’s a lot.”
Ace frowned as he imagined what a skeleton looked like, “Right, but how strong are skeletons?”
“Good question,” Vincent’s brows furrowed, “And what happens if they kill you?”
Their faces grew solemn as they looked at each other, “Death.”
“Well, I’ll hold off on this for now,” said Ace as he closed the challenge tab.
“How many times did you purchase an upgrade?” Vincent asked.
“Hmm,” Ace recalled how many times he purchased a physical enhancement during the past month, “This was the 10th one.”
“Oh,” Vincent nodded, “I’ve only purchased 9. That means that you need to enhance yourself 10 times to unlock challenges. I wonder what else there is to unlock.”
Ace shrugged and typed into the search bar on the rewards tab. His eyes lit up, “Ahah! I found a warhammer and a full set of iron armor for only 1 point each. This’ll help, right?”
“Hmm, skeletons are made out of bones. A warhammer should do the job.”
Vincent grew excited, “A fight with monsters? I better hurry up and get that last enhancement.”
…….
A day passed. Inside their apartment, Vincent and Ace stood adjacent to each other. Ace clicked the button to purchase a warhammer. Motes of light flew out from the hologram and formed into a massive warhammer. The weapon spun in place, defying gravity. Vincent let out a gasp, “Ah. I can see it.”
Ace clenched his hand around the base of the weapon. The warhammer sunk down. He grunted, “Damn!”
He immediately used all of his strength to hold the weapon up. He looked over at Vincent, “You’re probably going to need to use two hands.”
“Got it.” Vincent purchased the warhammer as well. He bent his knees, preparing to accept the full weight of the weapon. He clenched his arms as the weapon fell, “Damn, this is at least 30 pounds.”
Next, they purchased a full suit of iron armor. It hovered in front of them. They looked at each other, “Eh, how heavy is this going to be?”
“Very.”
They gripped underneath the armpit of the armor. The suit fell into them as Vincent collapsed to the ground. He heard Ace laugh. Vincent pushed the armor off of himself as it rolled onto the floor next to him. He stood up and rolled his eyes, “How do we put this on?”
“It should be simple.”
Thirty minutes later, two knights from the medieval age appeared in their apartment. They looked at each other through the gaps in their helmet, “Good luck!”
“You too.”
They pushed the ‘accept and teleport’ button. With a flash of light, they were gone.