Systematic Survival

5 - Problems

As Matt made his way back home, he took his phone out of his pocket and checked the time.

[2:05 PM]

'It's later than I thought. But, I guess I did sleep in.'

He put his phone away and finished the walk to his apartment complex. It was a large tan building fairly close to downtown. His apartment resided on the 3rd floor of the building which had an old staircase leading up to it.

The apartment had an elevator but Matt hated how it rattled and was afraid that it would fall one of the times he used it. So he always used the stairs. It was probably the only thing that kept his physical stats from being even lower.

Matt unlocked the door to his apartment and stepped inside. It was a mess with clothes thrown around and empty soda cans on the floor. He never had anyone over so he couldn't find an excuse to clean up. He definitely wasn't the most disciplined person you could find.

He headed over to his PC chair and sat down before recalling the system messages that showed up after the running quest.

'So it said that new quests were available but they always showed up as a small menu. I don't see any menus now. Should I just open it the same way I do stats?'

Without holding off any longer, Matt shouted "Quests!"

__________

||General||

(NEW) Take a Shower [Reward: +4xp]

(NEW) Pick up Laundry [0/14] [Reward: +6xp]

(NEW) Wash Dishes [0/23] [Reward: +8xp]

(NEW) Clean up Trash [0/43] [Reward: +12xp]

(NEW) Do Pushups [0/100] [Reward: +2 Strength, +20xp]

-

||Daily||

*Daily quests not available in beta*

__________

'...'

'Are you my mom or something!? Why is it all chores? Also, what's with 100 push-ups!? Is this system trying to kill me?'

He sighed and took a second to calm down. The quest window flashed in front of his face while he wore an ugly expression.

'The last quest already wore me out enough. Why are all these physical? Am I just unlucky?'

Matt eyed the screen in front of him and noticed something strange.

'Daily quests aren't available? Apparently, this is some sort of beta. Well, I guess it doesn't really matter right now. I have other problems.'

He complained as he picked up an empty soda can from the floor. Just as before, trash and clothes covered the floor but there was also an assortment of used plates and other dishes on his desk. He tossed the empty can he was holding into the trash and as he did, he noticed a change in the quest.

Clean up Trash [1/43]

'This is going to take forever. Fine, I'll play your game system. I'm used to grinding quests.'

After making up his mind, he got to work collecting the trash around his room first. He decided to take the quests one at a time just so that it would be more rewarding. He would receive the XP from the quests he finished first and it would motivate him to continue.

After gathering the trash into one spot, he dumped all of it into the trash can next to his desk. He then checked his progress again.

Clean up Trash [21/43]