A Rude Awakening

Perhaps it was simply a nightmare, but Marriott was in a dark space. The darkness wrapped itself around him. He couldn't see his own hands, maybe he didn't even have hands at this point.

"Can electrocution knock you out? Or does too much just. Kill you?" his voice echoing throughout this endless abyss.

Ding!

"Wait. What? What was that ding sound," Marriot tried to move around, to see if something had popped up. "Is that a sound from outside my body? Or is it in my thoughts." he pondered to himself.

He didn't have to ponder long. A flashing orange screen popped up infront of his eyes.

[The system has taken an interest in you. A system quest has been created.]

[Quest title: An Unfortunate Death]

[Do you wish to make this an active quest?]

The buttons [Accept] and [Decline] flashed infront of Marriott's eyes. Had he been able to blink, he would've done so. Quite dramatically.

"Okay Marriott. Let's uh. Let's just take this in nice and calm. What, in all that is holy and unholy, is going on here," He lifted his hand, the orange screen had generated enough light for the darkness around him to be gone. "What do you mean the title is an unfortunate death? Did that purple haired prick end up killing me??" He yelled out, exasperated at his current situation.

Able to see his hands, Marriott hovered over the flashing [Accept] button. Taking a deep breath in. He pressed his finger down onto it.

[Quest has been accepted. Providing details...]

Another screen popped up infront of Marriot. This time it was purple, white letters appeared as if being typed on the screen. His eyes keeping pace with the words being created.

[Title: An unfortunate death]

[Rewards: (System access)(energy core)]

[Description: An unexpected death, brought by both the inadequacy of a teacher and the sheer strength of a powerful student. Perhaps you might've lived if you didn't taunt him. Take this time to reflect on your choices.]

[Requirements: Sit in the abyss quietly for an hour. 1/60 minutes completed]

[Conditions: If requirements are done correctly, you will be brought back to life.

If requirements are done incorrectly, quest progress will reset. ]

"That's so brutal. He had it coming." Marriott sighed after reading the quest description.

A red warning sign had appeared infront of Marriott, quickly followed by the appearance of a red text box.

[Quest progress reset. 0/60 minutes completed]

Marriott slapped his hand on his mouth and stayed in silence as the timer went up.

[4/60 minutes completed]

The minutes seemed to drag on for hours, he had started to breathe slowly as to reduce any chances of noise being made from him.

[27/60 minutes completed]

The sheer urge to go "ugh" rocked Marriott's body. It took every ounce of self control from himself to stop it from being uttered.

[59/60 minutes completed]

Had it not been for penalty of possibly getting his progress reset, Marriott would've been crying with joy as his immeasurable feeling of boredom was about to go away.

[60/60 minutes completed. All requirements have been achieved for the quest with the title (An Unfortunate Death)]

Another, smaller, screen had popped up.

[There are rewards waiting to be accepted. Press to accept.]

Marriott cheered out as his quest was achieved. He noticed that the requirements had turned green, which had proven they were completed. His celebrations were cut short as a wave of shocked nerves ran across his body. It was as if someone punched his heart. He couldn't breathe, atleast not until he got hit with another heart thump.

He gasped for air as an unfamiliar surrounding suddenly appeared. The utter darkness he had been in was now light, a man in a white coat leaning over him.

"Whew! We saved him!" The man cheered out, a nurse behind him holding a clipboard and Rose at the foot of the bed looking terrified.

As Marriott fully regained his consciousness, Rose ran around the bed embracing him.

"Oh my god Marriott. I was so scared. You. You had been dead for a few minutes. We saw you being teleported to the Infirmary. I was terrifed," Rose's voice quivered, before looking at Marriott and smiling. "Mom and Dad would've killed me if you stayed dead." She said, a few tears streaming down her face.

Marriott couldn't do anything but laugh and hug back, as it had been awhile since Rose hugged him.

"They probably would've killed me for dying," he managed to cough out with a smile. "I'm glad I'm okay though. Surprised I died for a bit."

The doctor in the room, who had brought Marriott back, spoke up. "Yeah, it was an unfortunate accident that happened. We didn't expect such a powerful skill from a student. It had completely stopped your heart, frankly we were in awe that something happened under the teacher's supervision." The doctor cleared his throat before continuing. "However, getting back on track. The student that had been caused the accident was thoroughly punished as it turned out he used a skill that was a higher rank than Intermediate. He was sent back to school for disciplinary action. "

Marriott balled his hand in rage, "So what? He was just put in detention or something? He almost. No, in fact. He did kill me! It's a miracle that I'm alive."

Rose clutched Marriott's hand, squeezing it in an attempt to calm him down. Which had worked as Marriott took a deep breath.

"I'm just. Angry. That he didn't get punished more." Marriott sighed.

"Unfortunately we aren't the ones who decide the punishment. To change the subject and possibly make light of the situation. Other than your heart stopping there was no physical damage done," The doctor ushered the nurse over, taking the clipboard from her hands. "It was said that the weapon you had used managed to absorb the brunt force of the shock, lessening it as the fur inside the gauntlets dampened the electrical power. Which leads into a question for you and your guardian. If you and your guardian wishes. You could still be allowed to participate in the school's hunt."

Marriott looked over at Rose. "I wouldn't mind. Maybe I should rest for a few minutes before getting up though. What do you say Rose?"

Rose nodded her head, the doctor stood up and gestured for her to follow him. Possibly to get the paperwork for signing him out. The nurse had left with him so Marriott was alone.

'Good time to get my reward then.' Marriott thought to himself before he realized that he didn't know how to claim the reward.

The screen was nowhere in his field of vision, which caused Marriott to sigh. Laying back in the Infirmary bed he was in and shutting his eyes.

An orange text box had appeared when he kept his eyes closed. It flashed for a bit as he read what it was saying.

[There are rewards waiting to be accepted. Press to accept.]

Marriott imagined lifting his hand with his eyes closed, pushing his finger forward and pressing the text box. As he imagined his finger pressing it, a large screen came up with the words Active Quests appearing at the top. 4 large boxes with different colors were shown infront of him.

The green tinted box was empty, other than the words [Training Quests (0/1]) at the top. Similarly the red and blue tinted boxes with the words [Skillful quests (0/1)] and [Side Quests (0/1)] were also empty. The final box, which was purple and labeled [System Quests (1/1)] had something in it. A tab showing the words [An Unfortunate Death] in green filled the box.

Marriott reached out to touch it. Which caused the old quest box to appear. However this time the word [Accept] was shown at the bottom of it.

After he pressed it a feeling of cold ran through his body. His stomach tightened as the cold feeling collected in the center of his gut. It felt as if a ball of ice had been condensing inside of him.

[Energy core has been created, Affinity to ice based skills has been discovered.]

[Ice skills will now be boosted by 50%]

[A Skillful Quest has been created.]

[Quest Title: A Latent Talent]

[Do you wish to make this an active quest?]