The System’s Avatar Pt. 2

Lukas was awestruck as his eighteen year old self was staring back at him in the mirror. His crystal blue eyes were bright and full of energy and the bags under his eyes had fully disappeared. He panicked for a minute before rushing over to his phone. Ignoring all the notifications, he stared at the date in disbelief. 'I really did restart… but not to the beginning…' His face filled with a look of understanding. 'To the day before Proelium gets its surprise release.'

What everyone on the planet didn't know was that exactly five years after LightByte Studios suddenly closed its doors, they reappeared in a press conference stating that everywhere you could currently buy games had been secretly stocked with LightByte's newest console and game, Proelium Online.

To play their newest game, everyone had to buy a new type of console, the likes of which had only been seen in movies and fantasy novels. It was a Full-Dive system, complete with a Neura-Link headset, which processed information directly from your nervous system. Once it obtains the information from your nervous system through nodes attached to the visior, it turns it into data. Which it then translates into the game as commands. So, basically your neural network is the controller. Luckily, the headset also sends a signal back to your body that causes your brain to think you're asleep, so your body never moves while you're playing.

'So, tomorrow is the day that Proelium gets released, huh?' Lukas thought as he continued to stare at himself in the mirror. 'Owww…' He yelped a bit in pain as he pinched his cheek to once again check if he was dreaming. 'Definitely not dreaming. This is crazy. How in the world did this happen?' He shook his head slowly. 'I'm not gonna figure it out just thinking about it, since the interface in my field of view, and the screen in that void were so much like Proelium, the only logical way I'm gonna figure this out is to play.'

[New Quest Received]

'There was that unfamiliar female voice with the signature ding from Proelium whenever you receive a notification again.' Lukas glanced down at the exclamation point bubble, and sure enough, there was now a 6 where the 5 once was. 'I wonder…' as soon as he thought of the words 'Open notifications' small little text windows started popping up in his view.

[Congratulations on becoming the Player]

[You have equipped the Body of the Avatar]

[You have equipped the Mind of the Avatar]

[You have 2 new quests]

'Quest log'

[Daily Quest: Grow Stronger]

{If you read SL, this is gonna seem very familiar for the first day. But, I liked the concept, so I decided to incorporate it into here. Instead of being the same thing every day though, it'll change every day}

[Quest Clear Conditions:

100 push-ups (0/100)

100 sit-ups (0/100)

100 squats (0/100)

Run 5 miles (0/5)]

Warning: Quest failure will result in adverse actions against the Player.

'Adverse actions? What the hell is that supposed to mean? You know... might as well never find out. I'll get this done as soon as possible. I don't want to fall into the rut I did before anyways.' Lukas smiled at himself in the mirror. 'Might as well shower after I do this then… wait, a minute. What's the next quest then?'

'Quest log'

[Main Quest: Game Start]

[Clear Conditions: Buy and play Proelium Online]

[Rewards for Completion: Unknown]

[Quest Failure Conditions: Do not buy game]

[Quest Failure Penalty: Death]

Lukas' eyes widened in shock at the last line in his notifications. 'Well, that seems a bit drastic. But, regardless, I planned on being at Gamers' Paradise before the store opened anyway, and long before the press conference tomorrow.' Lukas wasn't worried, when he hurriedly shut off the shower and walked over to his closet to put his running pants on and a beat-up T-shirt.

'Time to get this Daily Quest done.' Lukas thought as he picked up his phone, threw his headphones in, and walked out of his door.