[ You have been given the chance to prove yourself! ]

[ Complete a 5 mile run within 23:55:47 ]

"Complete a 5-mile run?" Arlo couldn't help himself but look at the display dumbfounded.

'This can't be real right? There is no way this is real.' Arlo thought to himself.

He tried touching the display, his hand fazed right through it like a hallucination. Then he tried to stand up and the blue display followed his line of sight.

'Is this real?' Arlo asked himself yet at the same time his gut feeling told him that it was very real.

When he looked back at the message and noticed the time was counting down a sudden sense of urgency flooded his body. It was the same feeling as having to complete an assignment knowing the deadline was getting closer and closer.

The feeling of urgency was so strong that Arlo was starting to get cold sweats.

"It's just five miles. I might as well just do it." Arlo said to calm himself down.

Arlo thought about the display closing and suddenly the display was no longer visible. Arlo quickly changed into a t-shirt and athletic shorts and walked downstairs. Making sure no one was home yet, he went out and started jogging in the neighborhood.

It only took about a mile of running for Arlo to already be out of breath and for his legs to quiver. Even worse, when he tried to slow down to walk he couldn't. Something was keeping him from slowing down. Arlo started to freak out a little bit but he decided to just stick to it.

Another mile later his feet started to burn like hell. Arlo's breath was even more ragged to the point he was starting to get light-headed.

At mile 3 it only got worse. Arlo's t-shirt was completely drenched, his breathing was still ragged, his back was slouched, and his head was moving around like a bobblehead. The burning in his feet and the pain in his legs only got worse.

By mile 4 Arlo occasionally screamed and grunted to keep himself going. The people in the neighborhood that saw this scene had looks of disgust on their faces as Arlo passed them.

The last mile was a mental battle with himself of whether to finally call it quits or to pull through. 'You can do it!' was what Arlo told himself every other step. What Arlo didn't notice was that during this last mile he no longer felt the pain in his legs or feet and his breathing had become steady.

*Ding!* A message popped up.

[ Congratulations! You completed 5 miles, you have proved yourself. ]

[ Calibrating System … ]

The moment the message popped up in front of Arlo's face, he lost consciousness falling face-first onto the hard concrete of the sidewalk he was running on.

Twenty minutes later Arlo woke up still on the concrete. He lifted himself off the ground and to his surprise he felt no pain even though the last thing he remembered was falling on the ground. He looked straight ahead and noticed a series of new messages.

[ Tip: Exercise and training your body can lead to an increase of stats ]

[ +1 Stamina ]

[ +1 Agility ]

[ Quest 'Prove Yourself' has been Completed! As a reward 5 skill points have been granted ]

[ Personal Information ] [ Quests ] [ Abilities/Skills ] [ Inventory ] [ Crafting ]

Arlo screamed "Oh shit! Lets GOOOO!" On the other side of the street, an elderly man was walking his dog looking at Arlo with a disgusted and confused look. Arlo noticed and apologized quickly before walking back home.

When he got to his house he went back to his room and sat on his bed to inspect the new things the display showed.

Stolen novel; please report.

'Personal Info' Arlo said internally. Almost instantly a new display popped up.

[ Name: Arlo Herz ]

[ Race: Human ]

[ Cultivation: Grey Core(20.57%) ]

[ Class: ??? ]

[ Level: 1 ]

[ Exp: 0/20 ]

[ Element(s): Light ]

[ Strength: 4 ]

[ Agility: 2 ]

[ Stamina: 2 ]

[ Fortification: 1 ]

[ Perception : 0 ]

[ Intelligence: 2 ]

[ Available Skill Points: 5 ]

'Oh this is exactly like a video game, this is so sick!' Arlo continued to look at the screen when he realized something. 'One whole year of cultivation and I only cultivated to 20% of the grey core are you serious?!' Arlo screamed internally in protest.

Arlo sighed and came to the conclusion that "I guess I really am trash".

Another realization came to Arlo. "Is this my awakened ability? I know that abilities can basically be anything but I have never heard of one being like this before. How do I even explain what this is?"

"Plus why do I have no perception? If I had to guess perception would be the ability to sense things including mana and internal energy, but that doesn't make sense. When I awakened I was able to sense my core and my internal energy or I wouldn't have been able to cultivate."

After aimlessly thinking about the many questions he had for a little bit he decided to leave it for another time. Instead, he decided to check the other options the menu offered.

'Abilities and Skills'

[ You have no available Abilities or Skills... ]

"..." Arlo was speechless. He realized he was trash but this hurt him quite a bit.

'Alright next is inventory.'

[ Inventory is locked! Requirement: 5 Perception ]

'Looks like I'm about to find out what perception does. Add 5 points to the perception stat' Arlo said internally.

*Ding*

[ Stats have been updated ]

[ Strength: 4 ]

[ Agility: 2 ]

[ Stamina: 2 ]

[ Fortification: 1 ]

[ Perception: 5 ]

[ Intelligence: 2 ]

[ Available Skill Points: 0 ]

Suddenly Arlo felt extreme irritability, restlessness, and discomfort. Arlo fell forward from the side of the bed onto the ground. Everything looked more vibrant and he could see things a lot clearer. As for sounds, everything was louder and more sounds could be heard from further away. When he went to cover his ears and eyes the feeling of touching things became irritating. He could feel his own clothes rubbing against his skin.

Arlo was going through sensory overload from the sudden increase in perception. It only lasted a minute but it felt like half an hour.

Even though Arlo stopped feeling a strong irritation he continued to keep his eyes and ears covered. Needless to say, all doubt of the system being fake was gone.

As Arlo had his eyes closed he was astonished by what he sensed. It was a weird feeling, it was like being able to look at the outline of oneself from a third-person point of view in a black abyss while at the same time being able to look inside yourself with a type of x-ray vision.

Inside Arlo, he could see a grey ball similar to marble in shape and size. Around the marble-like thing was what looked like a cloud of gas swirling around it.

'Is that my core and my internal energy?' Arlo thought to himself.

Before he was still able to sense it but it was nowhere near as clear. Now the energy also felt like it was a part of him whereas before it felt like there was a disconnect.

Arlo slowly started to uncover his eyes and ears and look around when a message popped up.

[ The Inventory tutorial will now begin! ]

[ Please pick up an item you want to be stored in the inventory ]

Arlo went to his desk and quickly picked up a pencil.

[ Please gather mana in your hand ]

Arlo closed his eyes and tried moving the gas-like substance from the center of his body towards his right hand. Contrary to what Arlo thought the gas moved seamlessly towards and into his hand.

[ Please encircle the object in your mana ]

Arlo continued to have his eyes closed and spread the internal energy out of his hand until he felt that his internal energy had wrapped around the pencil. From an outside perspective, it looked like pale smoke was converging around the pencil.

[ Please imagine pulling the item surrounded by mana into yourself ]

Arlo followed the instructions and suddenly his grip closed as if the pencil was snatched from his hand. He opened his eyes and saw that the pencil really was gone. The display now showed a grid of boxes that was 5X6. In the first box was a pencil.

[ If more information is wanted please imagine expanding the item icon ]

Just as the message said, Arlo imagined expanding the pencil and the icon enlarged to fit most of the display where the empty space showed more information about the pencil.

[ Arlo's Pencil ]

[ The Pencil that you took from your desk to partake in the Inventory Tutorial ]

'That's neet' Arlo thought.

[ To take items out of the inventory you can state its name ]

'Pencil' Arlo said internally. Before he even realized it the pencil was back in his hand like it never left.

"Maybe I'll just say that this is my ability."

[ You can summon multiple items at once by giving the items a set name ]

[ This concludes the Inventory Tutorial! ]

Arlo closed his eyes and kept practicing putting the pencil in the inventory and taking it back out. When he got comfortable with it he then continued to do the same with his eyes open, which took a significant amount of concentration.

Once he got comfortable with doing the same with his eyes open he went over to his desk and also added a pen into his inventory.

When Arlo saw that both the pen and pencil were in his inventory he decided to try giving them a set name. 'Give pen and pencil the set name: Writing Utensils' Arlo said internally.

[ Arlo's Pen and Pencil are now given the set name 'Writing Utensils' ]

Arlo then looked at his hand and internally said 'Writing Utensils' and exactly as expected both the pen and pencil showed up in his right hand.

After practicing summoning and putting the writing utensils in his inventory a few times he plopped onto the bed and looked at the ceiling.