Noise in a Quiet Morning
The morning air outside Nicolas Drake's apartment was cool and slightly damp. The sky was pale gray, the kind of color that made the city feel half-awake. Cars passed on the road with a low hum, and somewhere nearby a dog barked at nothing in particular.
Nicolas stood near the entrance of his apartment building, stretching his arms slowly.
The exercise from yesterday had left a faint soreness in his muscles. It wasn't unpleasant. In fact, he noticed something strange. His body felt lighter than usual, as if the fatigue that normally followed physical effort had faded faster.
He rolled his shoulders once and glanced down the street.
Then the familiar text appeared in front of his vision.
[Quest]
Daily Physical Conditioning – Day 2
Condition
• 30 Push-ups
• 30 Sit-ups
• 30 Squats
• 1 Minute Plank
• 2 km Run
Reward
• +0.01 Strength
• +0.01 Endurance
Nicolas stared at the message for a moment.
There was no sound. No glowing interface like in video games. Just clear text appearing in front of his eyes, visible only to him.
He had spent a good part of the night trying to understand it.
He had tested commands.
Status.
Menu.
System.
Every attempt had resulted in the same quiet response.
Access denied.
Tier Null.
Complete five quests.
So he stopped trying to force answers.
For now, he simply followed the instructions.
Nicolas dropped to the ground and began the first exercise.
Push-ups.
His arms moved steadily against the pavement. The cold ground pressed against his palms as he counted silently in his head.
Twenty-two.
Twenty-three.
Twenty-four.
The soreness from yesterday appeared again, but it wasn't as heavy as he expected.
Thirty.
He stood up without hesitation and moved to the next exercise.
Sit-ups.
The quiet morning continued around him. A few people passed by the sidewalk, barely noticing the man exercising near the building entrance.
When he finished the squats and plank, Nicolas wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead and stepped onto the sidewalk.
The last part remained.
Two kilometers.
He started running.
His pace was calm and controlled. Not fast, but steady.
For someone who had rarely exercised before yesterday, his breathing remained surprisingly stable.
His mind, however, was focused elsewhere.
The system.
If it was real, then it followed rules.
Structured rules.
Like software.
And software always had a purpose.
As Nicolas turned a corner and continued along the quiet road, a voice suddenly called out behind him.
"Wait… Nicolas?"
He slowed down and turned his head.
A man jogged toward him from the opposite side of the street.
Short black hair. Slightly messy. Athletic build. A constant expression that looked like he had too many thoughts at once.
Harold Brown.
A coworker from the company where Nicolas worked.
Harold stopped in front of him, hands on his knees while catching his breath.
"Hold on… hold on…" he said between breaths. "You're… running?"
Nicolas looked at him calmly.
"Yes."
Harold straightened up and stared at him like he had just discovered something impossible.
"Since when?"
"Yesterday."Harold blinked.
Then he laughed.
"Yesterday? That's not how exercise works."
Nicolas didn't respond.
Harold crossed his arms, still looking amused.
"You realize I've worked with you for two years, right?" he said. "You're the guy who takes the elevator even if the stairs are faster."
"That is correct."
"And now you're jogging outside like some fitness influencer?"
"I needed exercise."
Harold rubbed the back of his neck.
"This is weird."
Nicolas simply continued walking forward, slowly resuming his run.
Harold walked beside him.
"You also disappeared yesterday," Harold continued. "The office was talking about it."
Nicolas glanced at him briefly.
"What about it?"
"Don't act like nothing happened," Harold said. "There was a lightning strike in your building."
Nicolas kept his pace steady.
"I know."
"Know?" Harold said. "Half the street lost electricity for a while. Someone said an ambulance showed up too."
"That is correct."Harold squinted at him.
"You were in that ambulance, weren't you?"
"Yes."
"And you're running the next day?"
"Yes."
Harold stopped walking.
"What?"
Nicolas slowed and turned around.
Harold stared at him with a mix of confusion and disbelief.
"You got hit by lightning yesterday," he said slowly. "And today you're jogging like nothing happened."
"I was not directly hit."
"That doesn't make it normal!"
Nicolas tilted his head slightly.
"I feel fine."
Harold studied him carefully.
"You don't look injured."
"I'm not."
Harold sighed.
"Man, I swear working with you sometimes feels like talking to a robot."
Nicolas resumed running.
Harold followed again, shaking his head.
"So what happened to your game project?" he asked.
Nicolas answered without looking at him.
"The computer was damaged."
"Ouch."
"All files were lost."
Harold winced.
"That's brutal."
They continued moving down the street.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Harold grinned suddenly.
"You know," he said, "if lightning fried your computer but gave you superpowers, that would be a fair trade."
Nicolas remained silent.
Inside his vision, a new message appeared.
[Quest]
Social Observation
Condition
Maintain conversation with another human for 5 minutes.
Reward
• +0.01 Intelligence
Nicolas blinked once.
The text remained steady.
Harold noticed his brief pause.
"What?" he said. "Did you remember something?"
"No."
"Then why did you stop?"
"I did not stop."
"You clearly—"
Harold cut himself off and laughed again.
"You're impossible to talk to."
Nicolas continued jogging.
But internally, he observed the system message carefully.
Social observation.
Interesting.
The system was not only guiding physical actions.
It was also guiding interaction.
Five minutes passed gradually as Arjun continued talking about random topics.
Office gossip.
A bug in the company's latest software build.
A coworker who spilled coffee on a server rack.
Nicolas responded with short answers.
Yet he continued the conversation.
Finally, the message appeared again.
[Quest Completed]
Social Observation
Reward Granted
• +0.01 Intelligence
Nicolas felt nothing physically this time.
But he noted the result.
Harold stretched his arms as they slowed near a park entrance.
"You're seriously weird today," he said.
"Why?"
"You're actually listening to me."
Nicolas looked at him.
"I always listen."
Harold laughed again.
"Sure you do."
Nicolas glanced down the road.
His running distance was nearly complete.
Harold pointed toward the park.
"You heading there?"
"Yes."
"I'll join for a bit."
They entered the park path together.
After a few more minutes, Nicolas stopped.
The system message appeared once again.
[Quest Completed]
Daily Physical Conditioning – Day 2
Reward Granted
• +0.01 Strength
• +0.01 Endurance
Progress: 2 / 5 Quests Completed
Nicolas inhaled slowly.
His breathing stabilized faster than expected.
The fatigue in his legs faded almost immediately.
Harold noticed him standing still.
"You okay?"
"Yes."
Harold stretched again and smiled.
"Well, this was unexpected," he said. "Next thing I know, you'll be joining a gym."
Nicolas looked toward the quiet path ahead.
"Maybe."
Harold blinked.
"Wait… seriously?"
Nicolas started walking back toward the street.
Harold followed him, still talking as usual.
But Nicolas's attention had already shifted inward.
Two quests completed.
Three more required.
Then the system would unlock its next tier.
And finally…
He might understand what had entered his life the moment lightning touched the wires above his computer.