Black Gate

"Jack!!!Jack!!Jack!!!!!!!!!'

[Bang] [Bang] [Bang]

Jack struggled to open his eyes, " What is happening? What is that noise?" Jack slowly glanced around, realizing it was his sister knocking on his door. He tumbled out of bed and dragged himself to the door.

" Yes?" He said with a yawn.

Aurora looked at her brother with great worry, " Don't " Yes?" me, you were locked in your room since yesterday and it almost 5 p.m. I know being an E is disappointing but it is ok, you don't have to keep worrying about me all the time, take care of yourself."

Before Jack could say anything, Aurora turned around and ran away with tears in eyes. Jack clenched his fist, "Aurora."

As he turned around to enter his room, Jack saw a pop-up message appear out of thin air.

[ Urgent Message]

[Daily Quest: Becoming Stronger]

[ Squats] [0/100]

[Pull Ups] [0/100]

[R.H Curls] [0/100]

[L.H Curls] [0/100]

[Crunches][0/100]

[Running] [0/10 KM]

[ Time Limit : 7 hours 5 minutes 31 seconds remaining]

[ Failure to complete will result in a [Punishment Quest]]

" What is this? A training regiment. "

Jack shook his head. However, his eyes were drawn to the [Punishment Quest] notice, " That red notice looks really ominous, maybe I should really try to complete this quest before the time expires. AH, but have no training equipment in the house."

Jack started to panic.

" No worries I will just have to do it old school."

" 1...2....3...4", Jack started doing squats on the spot.

Six hours and 30 minutes later.

" Huff... huff....phew, OMG, What is this? Can't believe people like doing this. I can hardly breathe," Jack tried to push himself forward, his running form complete destroyed as he started to waddle.

[Daily Quest: Becoming Stronger]

[ Squats] [100/100] [COMPLETED]

[Pull Ups] [100/100] [COMPLETED]

[R.H Curls] [100/100] [COMPLETED]

[L.H Curls] [100/100] [COMPLETED]

[Crunches][100/100] [COMPLETED]

[Running] [7/10 KM] [INCOMPLETED]

[ Time Limit : 25 minites 42 seconds remaining]

" Just 3 more Kilometers, I can do this, " Jack proclaimed as his feet lost all strength.

" Damn, I can't move," Jack screamed as he watched the time run out.

[ Time Limit: 1-minute remaining]

.....

[5] [4] [3] [2] [1] [ Time up ]

[ Quest Failure]

[ Punishment Quest Begin]

...

When Jack came to, he was in a desert wasteland.

Suddenly, the sand around him inclosed on itself and a slope began to be made.

"Uh, huh!"

jack rolled desperately to avoid being s.u.c.k.e.d into the sand.

The sand pit started getting wider and eventually, Jack could barely climb up using both his hands.

"Huck, huck, huck."

Jack desperately used his h.i.p.s on the ground and ran with all of his strength. Strangely, the sand near the bottom of the sand pit was boiling. Jack felt his spine turn cold as he looked into the abyss below him, one misstep and it was over.

".....Phew "

Jack's eyes became sharp as he heightened his concentration, focusing only on survival.

Suddenly, Jack felt the scorching sand cool down, "It's not boiling anymore."

When he looked closely and he saw something big under the sand. Jack instinctively raised his body.

" This does not look good."

Suddenly the sand rosed up to the sky in front of Jack, who was walking backward slowly.

The sand shot into the sky and fell everywhere, even into Jack's eyes. He quickly closed his eyes and used his hand to cover his face. Jack slowly reopened his eyes and was overwhelmed with fear and surprised at what he saw.

"A-a g-giant be... bug?"

It was a huge sandworm with gigantic teeth that came out of the sand. It viciously screamed at Jack causing its saliva to splatter everywhere. As the saliva came in contact with the sand it instantly evaporated leaving only stream.

The sandworm was enormous, its head would be way above the rooftop of a five-story building.

Jack swallowed his gulp.

"… Come on, give me a break."

Certainly, this was becoming too ridiculous. Jack started to notice something above its head.

"What is that on his head … Is that a name floating?"

[ Giant Sand Beast]

Jack closed his eyes and tried again, but nothing changed. The letters of the nametag were pitch black above the head of the sandworm.

Like a monster in a game.

"Poison teeth, huge sandbags."

As Jack was starting to panic, having no idea what was going on he suddenly received another popup message.

[Punishment Quest: Survival]

[Objective: Survive to the end of the required time. Required time: 4 hours]

[Time Limit: 4 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds]

'Are you kidding …?'

But when the time left was 3 hours, 49 minutes, and 59 seconds, the sandworm came across the sand as if it was waiting for the countdown to begin.

"Wait..... what?"

Jack rushed backward, turned and desperately started to sprint away. There was no time to worry.

"I must run to live!"

In his head, there was only one thought.

[Survive!]

But as he took a few steps, more and more the sand pillars rose in front of him and a sinkhole that was s.u.c.k.i.n.g his energy away. A ball of sand hurled in his direction, narrowly missing him, knocking him away, freeing him from the sinkhole.

"Ahh!"

Jack was pushed back by the extreme pressure, he rushed to his feet, desperately trying to gain footing. This time it was not one or two sandworms, but six.

F*ck me! F*ck me!

Suddenly, five more sand mounds started to rise in the distance.

Kie ee eek!

Kie eek!

Jack's face turned pale.

"Damn it…" Jack turned and desperately ran away, only focusing on survival.

Four hours later

Jack returned to the spot in the park where he collapsed, coarsely coughing up sand.

[Cough][Cough][Barf]

His mouth was full of sand and extremely dry. Jack was groaning for a while, eventually, regain his abilities to breathe properly and his heart rate slowed down. However, he still didn't have any energy to lift even one finger, he just laid there on the ground.

"Y-yes,... F*ck you!!! Giant Sand Beast. I survived!!"

A new popup abruptly appeared in front of Jack, who was breathing his b.a.r.e breath.

[Punishment Quest: COMPLETED]

Jack smiled and promised himself, " I am never failing a Daily Quest again. I almost died. That was too much … Ugh… Ugh…"

Jack suddenly heard the same voice again.

[The penalty was to throw a person into a perilous fight for survival]

[ For the weak to become strong, they must overcome averstity]

[The daily quest was there for you to grow, failure to comply with result in punishment]

Jack sighed, "Thank God, it wasn't another quest."

[Reward for Punishment Quest completion has arrived]

[Do you want to check the reward? (Y / N)]