Matt was like a deer in headlights. He didn't expect there to be anyone here, and since he hadn't mentally prepared to see or talk to anyone, suddenly seeing someone paralyzed him.

What he saw was a woman with a book in her hands. She had brown hair and blue eyes. That was about all he could see before she started to talk.

"He-"

But before she could say anything, Matt started to climb down as fast as he could. It was too awkward, he wanted to just leave the situation as fast as possible.

But as he was rushing to climb down, he lost his grip and started to fall. His heart jumped again as he felt gravity take hold of him.

As he fell, he landed on a large branch, knocking the wind out of him.

[-2 HP]

But he couldn't recover in time which made him slip off. He fell more, and a few more branches hit his limbs and head until he finally caught himself on one of the lower branches.

[-1 HP]

[-1 HP]

[-1 HP]

He heard another notification as he caught his breath on the branch he was hanging from.

__________

[Training Successful]

+1 Constitution

__________

But he didn't stick around. He still had one goal in mind, and that was to get out of there.

He slid down the rest of the way, holding onto the tree like a fire pole. Once he hit the ground, he picked a direction and started running as fast as he could. He didn't even want to look back to see if the woman was watching him or not.

As he ran, he cringed internally.

'AHH, why did I run!? Did she see me fall? Shit, I really should've just played it cool! But, why was she even up there!?'

He was very embarrassed. Not only because he wasn't prepared to see anyone, but because he was climbing a tree like an idiot. Then he fell. He was cringing so hard and knew this would be one of those memories that would keep him up at night 10 years later or something.

He had been so distracted that he hadn't seen the notification that was floating next to him. As he kept running, he looked at the menu that had popped up.

__________

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[Quest Complete]

Climb to the top of a tree

+1 STR, +1 AGI, +20xp [XP 118/120]

__________

He forgot that he had gotten a point in CON and realized his body felt a lot sturdier, though he was still in pain a bit.

Now with another point in STR and AGI, suddenly felt faster and a bit stronger again. His muscles tightened and he felt more capable. His speed picked up more as he was running away.

He started to push his cringe away, as he focused on an important detail he noticed about the quest finishing.

'I only need 2 more XP to level up!?'

He realized that he hadn't been paying attention to the XP amounts and he didn't realize he was so close to leveling up.

'Wait, what can I do to get that XP as fast as possible? Can I just trigger an easier quest? Because the quests I have right now are pretty annoying.'

He remembered how the quest difficulty had gone up earlier with the new batch of quests. But he hoped he could somehow still trigger a quest that wasn't as hard as the ones he got in the new batch.

Matt thought about it some more but realized there really wasn't a way he could predict what would trigger a quest. He would have to wait for something to happen to him, but not much usually happened to him. He sighed.

'I guess I should try to finish one of the quests I already have.'

He was too excited about leveling up, but he calmed down. He realized there wasn't an easy way to do it, even though he only needed 2 xp. So he decided to just do what he was planning to do today like normal.

He looked at the quest menu again to really go over his options and pick the one he thought he could finish in a short amount of time.

__________

||General||

Pay the rent [$223/800] [Reward: +Mystery Reward, +30xp]

Reach LVL 5 [2/5] [Reward: +10 Unassigned Stat Points, +1 Artifact]

Make a stranger believe you are a celebrity [Reward: Stat Unlock, +30xp]

Compete in an event and win [Reward: +1 All Stats, +75xp]

Intense Training: Do 100 Pushups, 100 Sit Ups, 100 Squats, and a 10 Mile Run [Timed] [0/100, 0/100, 0/100, 0/10] [Reward: +3 STR, +3 AGI, +50xp]

__________

'I am definitely not doing the celebrity one. I already had enough embarrassing social interaction for the day.'

Looking through the menu, the only one that seemed feasible was the Intense Training quest. He wasn't exactly sure if he could do it, but with his new stats, he might be able to.

'I'm worried about the part that says timed. The last pushup quest let me just do them whenever. But this one seems trickier.'

Although he had his doubts, he decided it was his best shot at completing another quest today and leveling up. He started to slow down since he felt like he was a very good distance away from the park already.

He decided it would be best to start with the 10-mile run, and then do the rest in his apartment. He noticed the quest hadn't started yet, even though he had been running.

'Wait, how do I start this one?'

He tapped on the quest to look at it individually and noticed that there was a big "Start Quest" button on it.

'Oh, I never got one of these before. Is it just for timed ones?'

He pressed the button and a large timer appeared at the top of his vision. It was visible enough, but without being in the way. It started ticking down, and the time it displayed made him let out an annoyed sigh.

[59 Minutes Left]