I woke up to the sound of a noisy auto-rickshaw backfiring on the street below.
For a moment, I didn't move. Every single muscle in my body was a tight, screaming knot of pain. I felt like I had been run over by a truck. Then it all came flooding back. The duel. Jax's face twisted with contempt. The coach standing over me.
"You get the last roster spot."
It wasn't a dream.
I checked the time on my datapad. 9:20 AM. Sunday. The morning air drifting through my open window was already warm and thick with the familiar Ahmedabad humidity.
I finally sat up, my back cracking in protest. And then I saw it, patiently waiting in my vision, just where it had been when I finally fell asleep.
[Quest Complete: Survive high school tryouts][Rewards Pending…]
My heart started to pound. This was it. The payoff for everything I had just been through. The humiliation, the pain, the victory. It all led to this.
With a trembling sense of anticipation, I focused my will on the notification. "Claim rewards."
The interface shimmered, expanding into a bright, celebratory screen.
[Quest Rewards: Survive high school tryouts]
[+500 System Experience!][LEVEL UP!]
[You are now Level 2!]
A warm, golden energy washed through my entire body. It started in my chest and spread out to my fingertips and toes. The deep, aching soreness in my muscles vanished instantly, replaced by a feeling of renewed strength. The system notification confirmed it.
[Level Up bonus: All core attributes slightly enhanced. Health and Stamina fully restored.]
I felt… good. Better than good. I felt whole. But that was just the start. The reward list continued.
[You have received: +5 Unallocated Attribute Points.]
[You have received: +1 Unallocated Skill Point.]
[New Function Unlocked: [Daily Quests].]
I stared at the list, my mind struggling to process it. Five attribute points. A skill point. Daily quests? It was a treasure trove. It was an arsenal.
This was the upset. Not me beating Jax. This was the real upset. The thing that would change everything.
The Attribute Points were burning a hole in my mind. This was what I needed. The key to turning my perfect technique into actual, tangible power.
I pulled up my status screen. The Level Up had given me a tiny boost across the board, but the real choice was mine to make.
Core Attributes:
Strength: 10
Agility: 12
Stamina: 13
Reflexes: 15
Aether Control: 6
Unallocated Attribute Points: 5
Where to put them? For a second, I thought about Strength. About not being so easily shoved around. Or Stamina, so I wouldn't be left gasping for air like I was against Jax.
But my mind was clear. There was only one real choice. My entire fighting style, my entire advantage, was the System. And my only offensive skill, the Power Shot, was completely dependent on one thing.
Aether Control. My pathetic, single-digit stat.
I focused on the Aether Control line. "Allocate all five points."
[Are you sure you wish to allocate 5 points to Aether Control?]
"Yes."
A different kind of energy flowed through me this time. It wasn't the warm, healing glow of the level up. It was a cool, sharp current. It felt like my mind was expanding, like a new sense had just switched on. I could feel the ambient Aether in the air of my small room, not just as a concept, but as a tangible presence. A faint, invisible energy that I was now connected to.
I checked my status again.
Aether Control: 11
It was still a low number. Most decent players started in the 20s. But it was more than double what it was yesterday. It wasn't a 5 anymore. I wasn't at the absolute bottom.
I had to see. I had to feel the difference.
I stood up in the middle of my room, my heart hammering with a new kind of excitement. I held out my palm and focused on the familiar mechanics of the Power Shot.
The result was immediate. And shocking.
Before, gathering the Aether had been like trying to scoop up water with a net. I had to struggle and strain to collect even a tiny amount. Now, it was like opening a faucet. The energy flowed to my hand willingly, eagerly.
A ball of brilliant blue light formed in my palm. It wasn't the pathetic, marble-sized spark from my first attempts. It wasn't even the wobbly tennis ball I had managed to create after hours of practice.
This was a solid, crackling sphere of energy the size of a professional Aetherball. It hummed with a low, stable power that made the air around it vibrate. It felt real. It felt dangerous.
This was the power of a double-digit stat.
A wide, uncontrollable grin spread across my face. Coach Valerius had called me a car with no engine. Well, I had just installed a turbocharger.
I dismissed the energy ball, the power fading but the feeling of it still tingling in my hand. Jax's words came back to me. You're still a zero to me.
Maybe. But the game was changing.
My eyes fell back to the system screen. The excitement returned full force. I had the attribute points. I had seen what they could do. But there was more.
Unallocated Skill Point: 1
New Function Unlocked: [Daily Quests]
I had no idea what a skill point did. Could I level up my Power Shot? Could I unlock something new entirely? And Daily Quests… did that mean I could get stronger, earn rewards, even without a match?
The possibilities were endless. My path forward, which had been a tightrope walk of pure survival, had just split into a dozen new highways. And I was ready to see where they would take me.