At home, Yuto started training again.
The room he had chosen for this exercise was not large: a rectangular room, with walls plastered with gray and shade, almost without decoration. The neon lights fixed to the ceiling vibrated imperceptibly, projecting a white and icy light that accentuated the slightest relief of his sweaty face. The continuous whisper of ventilation formed a mechanical background, like an artificial breath that contrasted with the organic rhythm of his breathing.
On the walls, the system projected luminous glyphs. The symbols, similar to a forgotten tongue, were animated in sequences, lighting up as soon as Yuto took a correct step in his movements. It was as if the walls judged his gestures, rewarding precision with a discreet brilliance and punishing clumsiness with a return to silence.
A metallic sound suddenly resounded.
DING!
A new notification had just resounded in his mind, clear, relentless, without heat.
New system task
Main task (to be completed in 6 months, i.e. before the end of the year)
→ Establishment Foundation, first level.
Reward: A high-grade healing pill.
Subtasks (to be progressed in parallel):
Reach level 2 in proficiency of sword movements.
Reward: Each body movement performed during training earns 20 system points.
Get a cultivation technique in 1 week.
The system's synthetic voice went out, leaving behind a silence heavier than a drumbeat.
Yuto, his forehead already pearled with sweat, stopped for a moment. His chest rose at a regular pace, but his eyes betrayed a tension that bit the bottom of his being. He inhaled deeply, clenched his fists, then questioned in a low voice, where hope mixed with apprehension:
- If I can do everything, what really happens?
The answer came immediately, sharp as a steel blade.
— If one of these objectives is not achieved, the system will be disabled and will kill the host.
The gravity of the message made the air vibrate around him, as if the neon lights themselves had lost a fraction of their brilliance. For a few seconds, he remained frozen, his eyelids closed, aware that the slightest weakness could now mean the end. Then, slowly, he removed the sports shirt that stuck to his soaked back and looked up at the luminous shot that had just been imposed in front of him.
Yuto's action plan
The glyphs drew a concept map in front of his eyes: straight lines, colored fragments, a whole cold and methodical organization chart. Yuto gritted his teeth and began to structure his immediate future.
Fragment 1: Progress of the sword
Work on effective sequences: fluid movements, sharp stops and energy flow management in simple combos.
Objective: to reach level 2 in a week, in order to start accumulating the 20 points per move.
Fragment 2: cultivation technique
Search, obtain or steal a method of breathing and circulating qi within the imposed period of one week.
Study its application, integrate it into its training cycles.
Fragment 3: Structure the training over 6 months
Design a schedule that pushes towards the Establishment Foundation level 1.
Alternate physical work, controlled breathing and mental concentration.
Avoid exhaustion, but maintain absolute rigor.
Training
He immediately got to work.
The training sword, a simple slightly balanced metal bar, flickered under the neon light. Every movement he performed gave rise to pale trails in the air, as if his body was cut into multiple sequences. The glyphs on the wall throbbed, sometimes approving, sometimes mute.
"Still too slow," he whispered to himself.
He chained a series of horizontal cuts, followed by quick pivots. His breath synchronized with the speed of his gestures: inspiration to prepare, exhalation to strike. After each series, he stopped, adjusted his balance, started again. The ground vibrated under his steps, and sweat fell drop by drop, tracing small dark circles on the smooth surface.
The glyphs, like silent examiners, now projected brief annotations: Angle too wide. - Lack of fluidity. - Correction necessary.
Every criticism stung him, but he knew that without them, perfection would be inaccessible.
The weight of time
As the training progressed, Yuto felt his mind swing between two states: the fighter's acute concentration and the cold awareness of the system's ultimatum. Six months. An eternity and a moment at a time. If he failed, there would be no second chance or recourse.
His thoughts drived in spite of himself to the outside: the corridors of the academy, the hubbub of the streets, the familiar faces that did not know the burden he was carrying. But here, in this closed room, everything seemed frozen, as if the world had ceased to exist. He was alone in front of the machine, alone in front of himself.
He caught his breath, closed his eyes for a moment, and concentrated on what he had left: each breath became a silent tutorial, each heartbeat a relentless metronome. The textual glyphs that were drawn on the walls were replicas of a test that did not say its name.
The inner spark
However, despite the death threat, Yuto felt a new conviction being born. Deep down, he sensed that the system was not only a cruel prison, but also a key. A key that, perhaps, opened access to truths hidden in the interstices of the world.
He tightened the handle of his sword with a new intensity.
Each movement was no longer just a mechanical gesture: it became a question asked to the system, an attempt at silent dialogue with this impassive entity.
The body and mind linked, step after step, breath after breath, in a dance that led him to an unprecedented power.
Yuto then understood that what he was looking for was not only survival.
What he wanted was access to a broader truth, a logic buried behind the cold lines of the program. If the price was sweat, pain and fear, then he was ready to pay.
The room was silent, apart from its breath and the rattling of its sword against the void.
Outside, the world remained silent, but inside, Yuto advanced.
One step, one cup, one breath.
An invisible thread woven between the present and an uncertain future.
And in his eyes now shone a new glow: that of a man ready to defy his own destiny.