Nebula's Anamoly

Daily Quest

Eli was currently preoccupied with examining every aspect of the holographic interface, from an outside perspective it would have looked like Eli was reading the air, but to him he was delving into an entirely new situation, scanning every nook and cranny. It was at this moment something popped up on his screen.

[Daily Quest- Complete Consecutive Push-ups 0/15]

Faye giggled while staring at Eli.

"Oh yeah, there's something else."

"Yeahh?" Eli immediately closed the interface as he looked at Faye. Faye continued to chuckle as she handed Eli a hand mirror. Eli's heart dropped, 'Oh no, I've become horribly disfigured haven't I?' His mind was racing and he looked at himself in the mirror. The tension in his body quickly dissipated and Eli didn't know whether to be relieved or shocked. His hair had turned from a vibrant blond to a dark navy blue. Other than that everything else seemed to be the same, even his sky blue eyes had remained unchanged.

Just to be certain Eli grabbed the hair above his forehead and pulled it down, while staring upwards. His hair really had become blue.

"Hey umm Faye? How the hell did this happen?"

"Honestly, the Doctors have no idea either." She remarked while trying to hold back a smile. "If it makes you feel any better, I quite like it." She snickered. This led Eli to scoff and pinch her cheek.

"You'd better be getting home now, I'll probably be back in a couple of days." Eli gave her a pat on the top of her head, further scruffing up her already messy hair. Faye frowned and c****d her head a little to the left.

"They said you'd be discharged in a few weeks, not a few days."

"Is that right?" He mumbled to himself, staring into his lap. He was visibly perplexed.

"What's the matter now?" Faye's chest tightened, she didn't want to push too far, but at the same time she knew Eli well enough to tell he had something weighing on his mind.

"Honestly, I feel fine, better than before even. Maybe I ought to mention it to someone." Eli reflected. Faye's eyes lit up.

"I can if you like." She straightened her posture and donned an elegant smile.

"Nah don't be silly, you stay here, get some rest." It hurt Faye to hear him say this, she knew he was only looking out for her, but he had literally been stabbed and yet behaved as if she was the one in danger.

Often it'd be like that. They'd have a steady conversation where everything would seem fine, however she would always be reminded one way or another that she was ill. It hurt her even more because she felt responsible for Eli, if she had not been ill then he wouldn't have had to fetch her the painkillers and they wouldn't be in this situation at all. It relieved her somewhat when Eli divulged what had been playing on his mind, but nevertheless she had an itching suspicion there was more to it than Eli portrayed.

Looking at him now weighed heavy in her heart, for she felt accountable for what happened to Eli and knowing how Eli thought, he was probably only blaming himself.

Eli on the other hand, was much too distracted, if he hadn't mysteriously acquired this interface then perhaps that would be what his thoughts were consumed by, but as of this moment his mind was far from it.

"Anyway, you're right, I probably should get going." Faye sighed and stood up while collecting her things. She hobbled out the room with her crutch under her armpit, giving one last look to Eli. "Call me tomorrow?"

"Yeah for sure, don't push yourself Faye." Eli smiled. Faye smiled back half-heartedly in response. As she left, Eli thought to himself, 'Faye's always putting on her brave face for me huh?' Little did he know, Faye was having the exact same thought.

….

Ell had now been left alone for a few hours and decided to open up his interface once again. 'Hmm daily quest is to do some push-ups, seems easy enough'. Thus, Eli attempted to do 15 consecutive push-ups. However, he reached 13 and dropped to the floor.

After about 5 minutes Eli attempted to go again after feeling moderately recuperated. On this occasion he only managed to complete 9, as he collapsed again he grunted as he rested his body against the wall and then mockingly cursed himself for not being able to successfully do 15 push-ups. He decided to rest for about 10 minutes and decided to pass the time by further investigating the interface. It really was identical to the interface on the VR game Nebula. Additionally, he discovered he still had a tab for skills, which was divided into normal skills and Mana-skills. This in turn, only led to him having more questions.

Eli originally thought that the 'Mana' aspect simply did not exist, this was because he had no MP bar underneath his HP bar. This was different to the game Nebula as when you started an account, you would instantly have 100 MP and 100 HP, typically the average amongst most players, it did vary between classes however. Eli had no MP bar and thought it just wasn't a feature, enlightened by the page of Mana-skills it only disapproved of this theory.

Moreover, depending on your class your base stats would differ, they would all start at 10, aside from Luck which started at 5, and depending on the class you would achieve an additional +3 to a stat.

This served to aggravate Eli, as all of his stats, HP included, were well below the average and to add to the wound he didn't even have a class. Focusing on the class section of the menu a notification appeared-

[Level 5 required]

-how cheap!

"One more time. C'mon." He said aloud in hopes of pumping himself up. Achieving only 11 consecutive push-ups he crumbled to the floor again panting, and he noticed that his HP dropped by 1 point.

[HP: 49/50]

"Excuse me? What!?" Eli was stumped, until he received a notification on the interface.

[You have pushed your body to the limit- +1 STR]

[Autonomous Skill Unlocked:]

[Determined- Raises attributes by 5% when 'Focused']

Eli concentrated on the term 'Focused' in order to discover the requirements to reach a 'Focused' state, inadvertently triggering the ability-

[You are 'Focused'- Attributes increased by 5%]

-ironically the abrupt notification drew Eli's attention away and the notification disappeared.

Eli smiled, feeling rejuvenated he attempted the daily quest once again, now managing to do 15 pushups, he decided to take it a step further and continued onwards, managing to do 19 push-ups. He fell forward and rolled onto his back, after a deep breath he covered his eyes with the back of his right palm and audibly laughed.

A passing nurse overheard this from the hallway and she knocked on the door. "Is everything alright in there?"

Eli was too preoccupied with admiring the interface; he was oblivious to the nurse, who momentarily decided to enter the room on her own accord. She was standing at the doorway, staring at the sweaty boy on the floor, she recognised him as the boy who's been insisting he's fine. He was well known in the hospital among the workers because of his colour changing hair. She expressed her dismay on her face and cleared her throat.

"You were told to avoid strenuous exercise for another 2 weeks!"

Eli shot up from the floor and slowly turned his head to face the nurse, scratching the back of his head with a smile.

"Eheh…" Eli was at a loss for words. After several seconds of the nurse staring at him, he was beginning to feel uncomfortable. "Look, I seriously do feel fine." He slowly stood up and sat at the edge of his bed.

"Feeling fine and being fine are two completely different things, this is a precaution for your sake." She voiced her concern in a very rehearsed manner, she had clearly said this to several patients before in the past.

"Yeah I get it. Don't worry, no strenuous exercise." He delivered in an exaggerative manner, he felt it'd be easier for both parties if he just played along. After the rolled her eyes, she performed a routine check-up and she left Eli to his own devices.

He was gleaming as he stared at his interface.

[Daily Quest completed: 100 exp]

[+10 Exp]

He fixated on +10 bonus and a notification appeared on his screen-

[Desire to grow- 10% Increase to growth characteristics]

-he could not contain himself. 'What a useful ability'.