5 Chapter 5: Rewards
Murayama closed her eyes as she took a bamboo shinai and got into a fighting stance, Katase was in front of her doing the same.
Murayama had gone to Katase's house to train for the future kendo tournament, as practices at the club had been suspended due to the flu outbreak, they would have to find alternatives for training and thus not lose their touch.
Katase's father was deputy mayor of Kuoh, which gave them a more affluent position than the rest of the civilians in the city.
Her house had a gym that was not too big, but it was more than enough for both of them to train their mastery in the art of kendo.
"Hajime"
As if they had agreed to speak at the same time, they both pronounced the key word to start the training and ran towards each other.
Katase raised her shinai to make a vertical strike towards her best friend, who blocked her lunge by placing her bamboo shinai horizontally.
Murayama thought about disarming her friend but she was in a difficult position as a ray of light came to mind Goku's advice.
"Analyze each movement of your opponent to be able to make a more effective counterattack, if necessary take punches on purpose, this will help you determine the enemy's fighting pattern and develop an offensive strategy to defeat him"
Murayama smiled having remembered those useful tips, his friend Goku might not be very intelligent academically speaking but in kendo and martial arts she was a deity.
She took distance from Katase, who after only a second ran into the attack again wielding her shinai.
Murayama prepared to receive the attacks and block them while she analyzed the fighting pattern, this would be the first time that she would put Goku's advice into practice, she trusted him.
Katase attacked from Murayama's right side, who positioned her shinai in the right place to block her friend's blow.
Seeing that her attack had not been successful, Matase redirected her bamboo shinai to Murayama's left side, who smiled, blocking the offensive in turn, she already had a strategy.
'Katase attacks from the sides but refuses frontal attacks, that leaves me room to attack her own sides because when she attacks me she leaves her flanks defenseless, I must be fast enough to block and attack in the shortest possible time' Murayama inquired taking distance from his opponent.
Katase decided not to give her rival space and ran to shorten the space between the two, just when she raised her shinai to attack her, Murayama broke her guard and hit her on the left side although not too hard .
"Uhhh" Katase frowned at the small pain caused by the blow from her friend. "Incredible! How did you do it, Murayama?"
"A friend advised me to analyze your fighting pattern while attacking me in order to develop an offensive strategy" Murayama replied with a smile helping her up.
"A friend? You mean Goku-san?" Katase asked since the only boy who could have advised him something this elaborate was Goku.
Murayama gave a nod as she walked over to a table where there were energy drinks, took hers, and handed one to Katase.
"So you usually practice with Goku regularly...?" Katase asked and Murayama's face reddened as if he had been asked something else. "Hmm ... you look strange."
"Strange? Surely you are wrong" Murayama gave a nervous smile but her friend did not trust, that smile gave him away.
"What is certain is that you are hiding something, speak now Murayama or I will not prepare the chocolate cake you have asked me" Katase spoke and Murayama took several steps back.
"You won't dare..." Murayama snapped since Katase's chocolate cakes were the best there was. "Okay ... I've met Goku on Sunday, but I'm quite nervous".
"Why? It's just a hangout as friends, right?" Katase asked in turn, trying to understand her friend and what was happening to her.
"Sure but, what if I do something that ruins the perfect friendship we have...? What should I really do when I've never been on a date before?" Murayama spoke, blushing at the latter.
"Just be yourself Murayama, go to the movies, enjoy an ice cream and have a good time, that's the most important thing after all, right?" Katase asked looking at her friend who nodded.
"You're right, thank you really" Murayama thanked with a smile, hoping everything would go well between her and Goku on Sunday.
'What are you doing now ... Goku?' Murayama couldn't help wondering that, she didn't know why but she had the feeling that Goku was enjoying something right now.
Hours later.
"I haven't enjoyed it one bit!"
Goku screamed panting as he fell on his bed, the four hours that the system gave him as a punishment had passed.
He didn't manage to defeat the golem, he had to dodge all his attacks for four very long hours that became eternal and really that had tired his enough, he needed a break.
Because the mud golem had an incredible size he managed to avoid every attack of his with some ease, that was because with more volume and mass his speed had decreased and his blind spots had increased against him.
Having completed the four hours the dungeon in which his room became disappeared, everything had returned to normal but the fatigue would still be present.
'I think I get it now ... I ignored the message I got from the system when I was in class and that's why this happened ... so to avoid it, should I do that called Quest?' Goku wondered as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.
However, in his mind there were still doubts about what a system was and how it worked, but at least he had understood something, the least.
[The player just received the reward for doing the Punishment Quest]
[Do you want to open it?]
The voice of the system sounded again in his mind and he immediately got up from the bed. Reward? That drew a smile on his face, at least his efforts would be well rewarded.
Of course he wanted to receive that reward, with a smile impregnated on his lips he yelled a fervent "Yes!" In his mind.
[You have received the following rewards]
[Reward 1: Stats Recovery]
[Reward 2: +3 Stats Points]
[Reward 3: A Random Box]
Goku blinked his eyes observing the screen in front of him, he did not understand absolutely anything of what it said, he thought they would give him a plate of food but it was not like that.
[Name: Son Goku]
[Current age: 17]
[Current level: 1]
[Class: Unknown]
[Titles: Unknown]
[HP: 200/200]
[MP: 200/200]
The stats screen appeared in front of him, it was the same as the previous one only they had added two more slots than the previous version.
'What do those letters mean?' Goku wondered when he saw those initials that were present.
[The HP is an indicator that indicates the amount of health of the player]
[The MP is the amount of mana or magic energy, the mana reserves will increase as the host levels up]
'Oh...' Goku managed to understand two concepts of the system, he was also intrigued to know what the "class" and "title" slots alluded to but for now it was important for him to know.
"Now I understand why I don't feel tired, it's because the health indicator is full" Goku stated with a hand on his chin.
'That also means that I'm capable of using magic ... how could I do it?' Goku wondered with his hand on his head.
Suddenly a new screen appeared in front of him, the boy realized that it was a screen similar to the one that appeared the first time on his deathbed but there were different slots, in front of all those slots it said "stats".
[Strength: 15]
[Constitution: 15]
[Agility: 15]
[Intelligence: 15]
[Sense: 15]
[Charisma: 15]
[Luck: 10]
Below all those slots there was one that indicated the stat points that the system gave him after completing the penalty quest.
"Are they something like my physical qualities measured with numbers...?" Goku asked as he watched the screen. "What could I do with the available stats points?"
Goku sighed as he scratched the back of his neck, he didn't understand what was happening or why it was happening to him, what a luck.
[The stats points are used to increase the player''s statistics]
[Obtained by performing daily quests or with secondary quests]
'If I understood correctly ... then with these points I could increase my strength, intelligence, agility ... and in order to achieve them I must do the Quests' the black-haired man understood slowly.
[The player can level up by performing the daily quests]
[Each level means an increase in stats points in the host's statistics]
'Well, to level up I have to complete the Quests, which are kind of missions that the system gives me...' Goku said to himself, now he understood it much better but he still had doubts.
[The player can acquire skills by performing Quest or buying them in the system store]
[Requirements to open the store: the host must reach level 5 to unlock the store]
"Can I also acquire skills? It's fantastic" Goku said enthusiastically, his next objective would be to unlock the store to see what abilities the system offered him.
He saw the slot where the stats points were, the system had given him three points so with them he could increase his stats a bit.
'What could increase....?' Goku wondered, inquiring, it would be good for him to raise his intelligence to pass the upcoming exams, although increasing strength would be adequate to perform the Quests and obtain more points.
He decided to add the three points to the "strength" slot, the screen jingling for a few moments before reappearing updated.
[Strength: 15 -> 18]
[Constitution: 15]
[Agility: 15]
[Intelligence: 15]
[Sense: 15]
[Charisma: 15]
[Luck: 10]
'It's true that it has increased ... Hmm, let's see if I've really gotten stronger' Goku spoke with a smile as he clenched his fist.
The young man went to his bed and taking it by the edge he tried to lift it, felt lighter than on other occasions when he had done the same, and outlined a huge smile.
'Really ... I've gotten stronger ... so this is not a dream' Goku thought, more convinced that the system was something real.
He threw himself on his bed while he put his hands to his head, he understood various things about the system but he could not understand what the system was in itself and why he had it.
