Alexander's days continued routinely. He maximized his time by focusing on 'tasks' he could complete while still bedridden, as he was unable to get up.
He would ask to have vegetables and fruits added to the meals brought to him, in order to complete the daily task of 'Eating a Healthy Meal'. This made his mother very happy, since he had previously been a very picky eater. Interestingly, Alexander also remembers that in his previous life as Norris, he abhorred eating vegetables as well.
This earned him about 10 EXP per day, while he needed 1,000 EXP to increase his level from User Level 0 to User Level 1. Although progress might be slow, there was also an achievement called 'Healthy Balanced Diet'. This achievement didn't grant EXP but instead provided a +1 increase to the attribute 'Vitality'. It was a repeatable achievement, but each repetition became more difficult to complete. The first time, he only needed to complete the daily task of 'Eating a Healthy Meal' once; the second time, twice; the third time, three times; and so on.
He also asked for books to be brought to him. He tried reading the training manuals Sylvia provided, but to his disappointment, his talents for the Spirit Mage Path and Martial Warrior Path were only slightly better than those of a potato. This deeply depressed him. As a result, instead of focusing on books related to cultivation, he turned his attention to what he called this world's 'Culture', which was just a bunch of fantasy stories. Either way, this allowed him to complete the daily task '10000 Words Read In A Day' which by its name implies him to read at least ten thousand words in one day.
This also earned him 10 EXP per day and a repeatable achievement called 'Avid Reader'. Similar to 'Healthy Balanced Diet', this achievement granted a +1 increase to an attribute—in this case, to his 'Soul Sea'.
He combined the reading task with another daily task: '1,000 Words Written in a Day'. To fulfill this, he would write a one-thousand-word summary and reflection on the ten thousand words he had read. This approach was similar to the other tasks in terms of EXP and achievements. Completing it earned him the repeatable achievement 'A Literature Man', which increased his 'Soul Force'.
Additionally, he asked the servants to open the window each morning so he could observe the garden outside his room. Each morning, he would try to look at the fine details in the garden, like the butterflies flying or the leaves swaying in the wind, and so on. This was to complete the task 'Observation' and earn the achievement 'The Observer'. This achievement would also increase his 'Soul Sense'.
Regarding his Spirit attributes, options were limited due to his current circumstances. He could only find one task and achievement that could increase his Spirit attributes: deep meditation. He had to meditate in a deep, uninterrupted state for three hours at night while everyone was asleep; otherwise, his progress would reset. To make it more difficult, he struggled to enter this 'deep state' of meditation, which required complete tranquility and detachment from the world. It often took him an entire hour just to reach this state; he couldn't stop thinking about how itchy his nose was or something like that every time. The only silver lining was that, after meditating, his body felt incredibly refreshed, and he only needed a little sleep each day.
The 'Deep Meditation' task would grant him the achievement 'Focus and Tranquility', which increases the three attributes related to the Spirit: Spirit Root, Spirit Capacity, and Spirit Power.
As for Physique and Agility, he had the excuse of still being bedridden to avoid working on them. Physique required physical workouts, and Agility required running activities he had no desire to do.
He also had other things to do and visitors to accommodate every day. He had to drink the piss potion every day, get bathed and dressed and entertain his little chatter box sister. Healer Agnes also comes in the afternoons to check his status and use healing magic to accelerate his recovery and avoid having scars. If Healer Agnes were transported to his previous world and retained her abilities, she would surely crush all pharmaceutical and beauty product companies—women would be eager to schedule beauty sessions with her.
After eight days of being bedridden, Healer Agnes finally announced some good news. "Congratulations, my dear Alexander. All your injuries have finally healed. Not only that, but your congenital condition seems to be completely gone. Previously, you would experience bouts of dizziness and collapse every two to three days, but over the past 8 days, you haven't had any."
"Wow, Healer Agnes is really incredible," Alexander thought. "That was a third-degree burn on my chest, a broken rib on my left side, and several deep wounds. She healed them all in just 8 days without leaving a scar. I heard third-degree burns usually take about three weeks to heal, and broken ribs can take up to six weeks, and often leave nasty scars. She's truly amazing."
"Great, I've been lying in this bed for more than two weeks. I started feeling like I've become a pillow. Thank you so much, Mistress Agnes," Alexander said happily.
"Hahaha, you sure do talk funny, kid," Healer Agnes chuckled.
"Very well, I'll report your recovery to your parents and then get going," she said as she slowly stood up.
"Wait, you're leaving right away, Mistress Agnes? We still need to show our gratitude. Can't you stay until dinner?" Alexander asked dejectedly.
He truly wanted to thank her properly. He could see her efforts clearly—beads of sweat covered her face as she used her healing spells, a testament to how much effort she was putting into healing him.
Healer Agnes shook her head. "There are many patients to tend to back in the village. They've been wounded by some beast. There have been reports of a ferocious beast lurking in the woods north of Maplewood Village," she said warily.
"Oh my God, has that been confirmed?" Alexander asked fearfully.
"Not yet. All the survivors are just woodcutters, but based on their descriptions, it seems like a wolf-type ferocious beast. Your father has already sent scouts to locate it and confirm the situation," Healer Agnes replied.
After bidding farewell, Healer Agnes left the room.
"Ferocious Beast? That must be an evolution from a Monster Beast," Alexander recalled what a Ferocious Beast was.
In this world, ordinary animals like cats, dogs, tigers, and others are considered beasts. When they begin to absorb natural energy, they can evolve into Monster Beasts, becoming stronger or gaining special abilities. Once they reach the next stage, they can further evolve into Ferocious Beasts, growing larger, more powerful, and acquiring even more terrifying abilities. There are records suggesting that Ferocious Beasts aren't the only possible evolution path; they can also become Demonic Beasts or Spirit Beasts. However, Alexander didn't know much about these other forms.
"Damn, I better train as hard as I can. If I ever encounter that beast, I need to run fast enough not to get caught," Alexander thought to himself.
"Useless," Sarah mocked him again.
"What do you know? That's a ferocious beast. Do you not understand the 'ferocious' part in its name? Just one swipe of the wolf's claw could turn me into ribbons," Alexander countered.
'Ding'
[ System Notice: Special Mission Started: 'Extreme Body Training'
Difficulty: B rank
Details: Your body has been idle for 8 days; you need to catch up on training your body to be able to run faster than a ferocious beast. User needs to complete the tasks 'Intense Workout' and 'Marathon Training' three times in the next four days.
Success Rewards: 160 EXP, (Special) Each completion will count towards the achievement 'Body Builder' and 'Runner' (this will be received per completion)
Failure Punishments: Per Day - Each set not completed within the day will be doubled the next day. Complete Failure - upon not completing the quest in four days User will be paralyzed for 1 month. ]
"Holy crap, is this system messing with me?" Alexander exclaimed in frustration.
"I've already told you, it's designed to help you achieve your goals," Sarah replied coolly.
"Then why is there a failure punishment?" Alexander asked, still irritated.
"Again, Additional Motivation," Sarah said, emphasizing the words 'Additional Motivation'.
"Fuck Me" Alexander cursed.
Over the next four days, our lazy protagonist had a very busy schedule. Each morning, he could be seen in the garden doing workouts, and in the afternoons, he ran many laps around the manor. Not only that, he maintained his previous routines to increase his other attributes. He actually wanted to stop doing the other tasks, but he had a weird premonition that if he did so, the 'System' would mess with him again.
Seeing this, his father was overjoyed. He thought, "What a hardworking young man. As soon as he could begin cultivation, he went all out and pushed himself to the limit." He was genuinely delighted by the sight.
However, there were actually two people who were not pleased by this scene.
The first one was his mother, Elena. She was very worried about what her son was doing, seeing him train so hard that he was drenched in sweat all day. He had just recovered from being bedridden, and now he was abusing his body to the extreme. She wanted to reprimand him, but was stopped by Leofric.
The second was his little sister, Sylvia. She was so upset that her big brother hadn't played with her for the past few days. She was so excited when she heard he was finally well and out of bed, but as soon as he recovered, he seemed to ignore her and didn't spend time playing with her.
On the fourth day, Sylvia finally reached her limit. She couldn't take it anymore and decided to teach her big brother a lesson. She charged into the yard where Alexander was working out.
"Brother, why aren't you playing with me anymore? I'm going to die of boredom in this house!" Sylvia yelled as Alexander was exercising.
Startled, Alexander nearly dropped the stone weights on his foot. "Oops, you scared me there, Sylvia. Why are you so angry with me again?" Alexander asked, surprised.
"Why? I can't stand it anymore! I've been stuck in the house for the last 12 days since I got home. I have nothing to do, and you don't take me to the village to play anymore," Sylvia complained.
"Calm down, this is my last day of intense workouts and marathon training. Tomorrow, I'll have some spare time," Alexander reassured her.
"Besides, I'm doing this so I can enroll in the White Griffin Royal Academy too," he coaxed, patting her head.
He was taller than Sylvia, but not by much, which made it a bit awkward.
"Really? In that case, why stop training tomorrow? You should go all out and train even more, brother!" Sylvia said excitedly, completely forgetting her earlier complaints.
"I can't, if I do this just a day more, my body will fall apart," Alexander lamented.
"Anyway, let's go out and play tomorrow," Alexander reassured her.
This made Sylvia very happy when she got back inside.
Alexander continued his workout, and by the afternoon, after finishing his laps around the manor, he finally completed his Special Mission.
'Ding'
[ Special Mission Completed: 'Extreme Body Training'
Received: 160EXP ]
'Ding'
[ User Level Increased
Current User Level : 1
EXP: 1010/2000 ]
A second notification sound rang after the first one. After so much hard work, he finally leveled up.