Morning of the Strear Wars, Max woke up at 5 AM and decided to go jogging today. The event would start at night, so he had plenty of ti before that. There was no nervousness, only a feeling of being relieved from the burden.
He didn't know if it was because he had talked to Lily last night, or because his worries about the system's quest had settled. But he felt free today.
'My physical condition has returned to similar or even stronger than in my previous world. I am able to do extre sports right now.'
A far cry from his weak and malnutrition condition back when he first arrived. He had gained a lot of muscles, not enough to look like a bodybuilder but he was strong enough to do extre exercise now.
'I will need a lot of training before I can reach my peak condition, but at this point I should be fine with doing real parkour without risking myself too much.'
With that thought, Max changed to his sports clothes and went downstairs.
Soft sunlight stread through the windows, making everything feel like a dream. He was the first person to get out of their buildings and the street was still empty. No cars or pedestrians yet. People's mornings started pretty late in the weekend in the area.
Max jogged around the area, going through the familiar path. When he ca across the park, he took a detour and entered the park. The tall wall, pillars, and everything else he rembered the park had a parkour area. It was a good place to test his body's limits, or maybe he was feeling adventurous.
'I'll try the wall first.' He approached a four ters tall wall, a good place to practice wall run and climbing technique.
The first ti he attempted to climb the wall, Max didn't manage to do well. But now, things were different.
He stretched his arm and fingers, preparing his body for the incoming exercise. After he was done, he took a deep breath and jumped at the wall. His hands grabbed the wall and his feet followed, sticking to the wall like a glue.
Slowly and steadily, Max started climbing. He did it slowly and cautiously, but soon his confidence rose. His body wasn't that different from his old self.
Soon, he reached the top of the wall and jumped to the ground, landing softly with a roll.
'Still not good enough.'
In VR, he could climb such a wall easier. The wall had a rough texture so it wasn't hard to get a good grip. But outside of VR, there was a risk of slipping, falling, or even injury.
Max took a deep breath and tried to do it once again.
He wanted to get back to his peak performance in real life, not just in VR. He would keep doing it until his body got used to it. After he managed to climb the four ters wall, Max decided to try a six ter one. It was taller than him by a few feet and it would take longer to climb.
"Again." He muttered.
This ti, he walked back until he got enough distance to run and then ran straight to the wall.
When he got close, he jumped. His left leg landed on the wall and pushed his body upwards, his hands reached for the top. As he got near the top of the wall, Max pushed himself off with his left leg and grabbed the ledge with both hands.
He pulled himself up and over, rolling down on the ground.
Max grinned, happy that he had done well.
'It's a good start, but my body is not ready for the harder one yet.'
Following that, he tried to climb the pillar, did flips, and pushed himself to the limit. After 30 minutes of intense workout, he breathed heavily and wiped his sweat away.
'So... tired...'
Yet so fulfilling. He had never been this happy in his entire life, and that was a good sign.
After a long ti of training his physical ability, he went back to jogging. It was ti for a cooling down.
Max went to buy so breakfast and coffee on his way back. For himself and Lily. He knew she would appreciate a warm cup of coffee when she woke up.
"I am ho." He entered his apartnt. It was quiet and empty, with no one in sight. Lily must've still slept in the bedroom.
Max placed the breakfast and the coffee on the table, then went to the kitchen to prepare a glass of water. After that, he headed for a quick bath. The water was warm and relaxing. It was just what he needed to wash away the stress and the tiredness he had built up from the morning exercise.
'Ah, how relaxing. If only I didn't have anything to worry about, this would've been a good start to the day.'
The thought of his new quest made Max sigh.
After the bath, he put a black t-shirt and shorts and returned to the living room, finding Lily sitting there. She was sipping from her cup of coffee.
"Morning."
She looked at him, still half asleep, and replied, "Un... Morning. Did you have a run?"
"Yeah."
She yawned and smiled sleepily. She then looked around, and noticed a bag on the table, containing two breakfast and two cups of coffee. One was hers. She reached out and picked it up, taking a sip. "Mm, this is delicious. You always buy sothing good, Max." She said as she looked up at him with a smile. "Thanks."
"You're welco." He said, "Are you going to sleep more after this?"
She shook her head, "I'm good. Just need so ti to fully wake up." Then, Lily took a sip from the cup of coffee. She looked out of the windows and said, "It's dark outside."
"You're right. I think it will rain today." Max said as he opened his window curtain, revealing a cloudy sky outside.
"Hm... I think you're right." Lily nodded in agreent, "I don't like rainy days. But at least the ceremony will be held in the Virtual World so we won't get wet."
"Yeah. It's better to not go outside until the rain stops. It will be dangerous to drive a car, or even walk."
'Co to think of it, it's also in a cloudy days like this that I got hit by a car.' He thought, rembering the worst mories in his past life.
That day, the day he was hit by a car. It had rained the whole day and the road was wet. The car was moving fast. And it all happened in an instant. Due to the wet road, the brake didn't stop the car well and crashed into him.
Anyway, it was not like Max was superstitious and believed in such absurdity as bad on. But the feeling of the rainy day made him a bit gloomy.
"Max? You look pale, are you okay? Did you catch a cold?"
"Huh? No, no." He smiled reassuringly. "I am just thinking of sothing. Let's spend the days like this and go into the award ceremony together. We will log in and wait for it to start, then we'll be back before dinner ti."
"Sounds good." She nodded in agreent. "Do you want to play any ga together while we wait?"
"I have a few in mind, yeah."
The rest of the morning passed quickly. They ate their breakfast and played so gas together.
Ti passed quickly and evening arrived. They entered the VR world and waited for the Strear Wars' Lobby to open while preparing for their outfits.
When the ti ca, an invitation arrived for them.
[You have been invited to Strear Wars' Nominee Lobby.]
[Agree / Decline.]
Max looked at Lily, who received the sa ssage, and nodded.
"Let's go."
Then, he pressed agree.
Reviews
All reviews (0)