The small button was back on the edge of my vision, blinking away. As before, it simply said “Quests”. And as before, it reacted to me swiping my hand through it by disappearing, to be replaced by a larger semi-transparent window.

  Now that there was no-one around to think I was crazy, I could stop and take a proper look at it. It was a simple box with another set of buttons:

  [Daily]

  [Standard]

  [Special]

  [Class]

  They each had a plain ice blue border except for the Daily button, which had a gold glowing one.

  Clearly that was the one to press. Waving my hand through it once again made it disappear to be replaced by a new window. This one had more text to it. Several boxes with headings and a short sentence. A red cross occupied the right hand side, with 100XP written under it.

  [Waking Up

  0/200 sit-ups completed ]

  [Making Gains

  0/200 push-ups completed ]

  [Gaining Ground

  0/3000m run ]

  At the very bottom was the text “A penalty will be applied for each Daily not completed”.

  I considered that last sentence. Given the murderous nature of the dungeon that this weird game thing was undoubtedly related to, risking a penalty by not completing the dailies seemed like a stupid idea.

  It was evening but still light. Time enough to get these done if I paced myself. First order of business—the run, while it was still light.

  Wearing my own clothes was a welcome change from the hospital gown. Stopping at the nurse’s station, there was a middle-aged, tired looking nurse engrossed in her phone.

  “I’m just going for a walk around the ward.”

  The nurse nodded distractedly, barely looking up from her phone. That seemed like permission enough. I wasn’t going to tell her what I was actually doing.

  The wind ruffled my hair as I stepped out into the cooling air. Jasmine planted somewhere nearby gave it a fresh scent, and the light had turned golden. Breathing it all in, literally and figuratively, made me appreciate everything I still had. Never mind near-death, an actual-death experience was a potent reminder not to take anything for granted.

  I realized I could just go home, if I wanted. There was nothing stopping me from just keeping on walking.

  Well, except I’d left my phone upstairs—along with my ID—and it would cause people a lot of trouble.

  Pushing the thoughts of escape from my mind, I set a timer on my watch, and took off at a rapid jog. I wasn’t sure how I was going to measure distance, but I knew I could do that three kilometers in about ten minutes. I figured I could just circle the block until the timer went off and see if the quest checked itself off.

  I’d always loved running. Because I was born after my father’s Awakening, I was a Hunter from birth. That meant that I was in the top 5-10% of normal humanity, just as a starting point. My heritage disqualified me from competition at school, but I joined the club and participated in events anyway.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Even though I could never actually win officially, no matter how in the lead I was, I loved the feeling of exertion. Of letting my body take over and my mind drift. I did my best thinking this way, and today was no exception.

  This game-like Interface that had appeared was really fucking weird, though. It wasn’t a Hunter thing—I’d never seen it before, and no one had ever mentioned it. Sure, certain novels and comics had some kind of “System” like it, but there was nothing in reality like this.

  It wasn’t like it was unfamiliar though—anyone under the age of 60 knew what a UI was. And it was clearly related to the events in the amphitheater, since it showed up as soon as I woke up.

  Which brought me to that part. The part where I woke up…after I clearly remembered dying. Or maybe I just fell unconscious?

  That didn’t feel right. Not with the wounds I’d taken, and no healing. And certainly not after my throat had been cut.

  I swallowed and rubbed at where I could still feel the knife slicing through cartilage. That would take some time to get over.

  So I’d definitely died. And then someone—or something—had revived me, closed the Gate, and given me whatever this Quest Interface was.

  But why?

  I guessed the only way to find out was to go along with it and see where it took me.

  With my mind done with that track, it returned to paying conscious attention to my surroundings, and I idly wondered how far through the quest I was.

  To my surprise, the Interface popped up again, this time in the top right of my vision. It read:

  [Gaining Ground: 2396/3000]

  Well, that was handy.

  I finished up the rest of the quest before I got back to the hospital entrance. I wondered if it stopped at the target or kept counting, and the counter showed up again:

  [Gaining Ground: 3229/3000]

  I also wondered if there was any bonus for beating the target, but the Interface didn’t respond to that thought the way it had earlier.

  I hadn’t pushed myself very hard, so by the time I was walking back past the nurses station my heart rate was steady and my walk casual. The nurse didn’t look up.

  Back in my room, it didn’t take long to knock out the other two Daily Quests, making sure to do an extra 20 each of push-ups and sit-ups. As soon as I stopped, the Quest button flashed up again, blinking.

  Back into the menus again, and each box now had a green tick where the red cross had been. I swiped my hand through each one and they disappeared. After the last one, another box of text replaced them, this one larger:

  [Daily Quests complete]

  [Rewards: 400 XP, 1 Key Shard]

  [Bonus Rewards: 30 XP, 1 Key Shard]

  So, exceeding the target did make a difference. I resolved to always do so—why do only what was required when I could easily push myself further and gain more?

  And what were these Key Shards? I looked around but couldn’t see any change in the room. Where did they go?

  As soon as I had that thought, the Interface changed again. It now showed a grid of black squares and, sure enough, the top left one was occupied by what looked like a shard of red metal, with a number “2” in the corner. Obviously I’d have to collect more to find out what they actually did.

  I was getting the hang of this. If there was a function in the Interface, it responded to my thoughts, but pressing buttons needed the gesture. The next thing to figure out was XP and levels.

  With those thoughts, my Stat Sheet replaced my Inventory. It was pretty straightforward, showing the number “1” in the top left my 430/1000 XP in the top right, and four Stats:

  [Strength: 9]

  [Agility: 10]

  [Endurance: 11]

  [Spirit: 12]

  With no frame of reference, I had no idea what the numbers meant. Were they scaled for a normal human, or for Hunters? The XP was easier to understand—less than halfway to the next level, but it was only day one.

  The top only held two words: my name, and under that “None”. With no other cues to see, I guessed that would be my class.

  I was glad it said “None”. I wasn’t sure which would have been worse: not being able to pick, or having to pick my class without knowing what I was getting into.

  As I lay back on the hospital bed, I rolled the events of today around in my head. I had the feeling that this was a turning point in my life. Quite apart from not being dead, it appeared I now had access to a means of growth unheard of amongst Hunters. If I was right, then the XP and levels I could gain meant I could grow beyond the limitations of an E-Rank.

  Soon, I would no longer be the World’s Weakest Hunter. And after that? I had no idea how far I could take this, but I intended to find out.