Hope

'Is it possible? Can I live?' Michael asked himself in disbelief, but despite his shock, he wasted no time and immediately started to adjust his technique and speed.

Leveling up felt weird and euphoric in a sense, it was as if his muscle memory was getting forcefully re-written by the second, and he could feel himself becoming smoother and more efficient in the water in real time.

At about the 100-meter mark, Michael had finally fully adjusted his technique and now felt better than ever. He had slowed down a bit during the first 100 due to his old and new technique conflicting and creating a little bit of a mess. But Michael couldn't care less about that.

'I have a chance to live, I will not waste it.'

'I want to live!' With newfound determination, Michael started to swim faster than ever, at a pace of 1 minute and 4 seconds. If Michael kept this speed up, he would be guaranteed to live another day.

200-meters, 1 minute and 4 seconds.

400-meters, still 1 minute and 4 seconds per 100-meters.

800-meters, 1 minute and 4 seconds.

900-meters, 1 minute and 3 seconds, Michael felt that he was adjusting to his new technique with each 100 meter he did, he now felt that he could keep up the 1 minute and 3 second pace for the rest of the race.

1km, 1 minute and 3 seconds.

1.4km, 1 minute and 3 seconds.

last 100m, Michael went all out for the last bit. He swam the last 100 meters in 59 seconds.

Finally touching the wall, He felt as if all his energy had been sucked dry.

Water somehow got into his ear, so all he could hear were muffled cheers from the crowd of spectators.

Looking up at the big screen, he saw his time. 15 minutes and 58 seconds.

Looking at the time, Michael froze. He didn't know how to react. He had never felt the feeling of finally winning after putting in the tremendous amount of effort that he had done.

'It was all worth it.' Michael felt that he had no regrets. He now found his purpose, his goal in life. And he would do his best to pursue it.

Sighing, Michael felt himself able to control his body again. His heart rate was racing, and he couldn't hide the huge grin forming on his face.

Getting out of the water in his happiest moods ever, Michael did a very light 200 meters to cool down his body slowly. Otherwise, he would be unable to get out of bed the next day due to soreness.

After showering and changing into his clothes, Michael walked up the stairs to get to the spectator seats.

'Where is Kai? I last saw him here after finishing my race. I want to make it up properly with him.'

After searching for a few minutes, Michael finally spotted Kai's figure.

'There he is.'

"Kai, hey!"

After walking up to Kai, Michael noticed that he seemed to be feeling.. awkward.

"Oh, hi Michael."

Feeling the awkward tension, Michael decided to finally say what he wanted to.

"Look man, I'm sorry for how I acted the past couple of days. I know it's not an excuse, but I just.. wasn't in a good state of mind." Michael said with a sincere tone.

"It's alright, everyone has bad days. I just want to us to get past this. Just make sure to not do it again. Okay?"

"Okay, I promise, it won't happen again."

"Alright, that's enough serious talk. We haven't talked about your crazy new time you just got! How did you get such a big spike in performance?" Kai said, changing the topic.

"Honestly, it was mostly luck with hard work." Michael thought that getting the system was a massive moment of luck. After all, he wasn't unique in a way. A lot of people also lack talent, and some of them even end up suicidal like him. But they have no supernatural system that comes in and saves them, allowing them to grow and become the best.

"Well, that's very good. I always thought you at least deserved this much." Kai said, feeling very happy for his friend.

"Anyways, want to stay with me? I'm going to wait for the final heat to see what medal I get." Michael asked.

"Sure." Kai responded.

There were a total of 13 heats, and 1500-meter races are about 17 to 18 minutes per heat. So Michael will have to wait about an hour, but he was fine with that.

After a boring hour went by, Michael was now hyped up. The last heat is in 1 minute.

This is the moment that will make or break a good reward for him from the system.

"Get set!"

"On your marks!"

*BEEP*