After graduating from high school, Lu Ke received acceptance letters from five universities thanks to his excellent grades and a standout personal essay. He ultimately chose to major in Journalism and Communication at UCLA. One of the main reasons was the school’s long and storied football tradition, which would allow him to continue pursuing his football dream.

Los Angeles is an expensive city. Tuition plus living expenses was no small burden. Although Lu Ke’s parents were immigrants to the United States, they weren’t investment immigrants, but skilled migrants. His father was a programmer and his mother was an accountant. They had immigrated on their own merits and lived a relatively stable life, but they were far from wealthy.

To save on living expenses and adapt to American college life, Lu Ke chose to share an apartment. It was a three-bedroom, one-living-room unit. Besides him and Logan, there was another guy, Jay Fox.

Jay was in the same year and major as Lu Ke. They had been in the same group for a project in their freshman year communications class. Through their interactions, they gradually became friends, and later, roommates.

When Lu Ke and Logan got back to the apartment, Jay was in the living room playing a video game. His eyes were glued to the screen as he casually called out, "Training’s over? Wanna play a round? Relax a bit."

"I’m in!" Logan was the first to jump over, finding a comfortable spot on the beat-up sofa—a couch they had picked up from the side of the road. It was terribly worn but incredibly comfortable. Curling up cross-legged on the sofa was a simple pleasure.

Normally, Lu Ke would have been happy to join them and unwind for a bit. But today, he had something more important to do. After saying a quick hello to his two roommates, Lu Ke went back to his room. As soon as he sat down, he eagerly summoned the system and noticed an unread message in the top-left corner.

He opened his inbox. There was one unread message. Opening it revealed a single sentence. "Daily Training Quest: Endurance Run, 10,000 meters; Time Limit: None; Quest Reward: Basic Attribute Point +1."

Lu Ke’s eyes lit up. His earlier confusion was now resolved. ’Basic attribute points can be earned by completing quests.’ Then, taking it a step further, he asked, "Qi? Besides the daily training quests, are there other types of quests?"

"Yes. Quests are divided into daily quests, match quests, and special quests," Qi’s professional voice dutifully explained again. "Each quest has a corresponding reward."

"Quest interface." Lu Ke just had the thought, and the system page switched. The same translucent, azure interface appeared, with three tabs: Daily Quests, Match Quests, and Special Quests.

Based on what had just happened, the three-on-three showdown was a match quest, and what he had now was a daily quest. ’So, what about special quests?’

As if sensing Lu Ke’s confusion, Qi explained further, "You do not currently have the authority to unlock the special quests option."

Lu Ke couldn’t help but chuckle. "You can just be honest and say I’m not high-level enough. I don’t have a glass heart." He wasn’t even a substitute. The match quest had appeared by a stroke of luck, so how could he possibly trigger a special quest? ’So, I shouldn’t be in a hurry. I’ll just take it one step at a time.’ At least he now understood how to obtain basic attribute points.

Although Lu Ke was eager to dive into training right away, he knew that haste makes waste. After such a long day, and one so full of ups and downs, what he needed most was a good rest. He would get his energy back, wake up early tomorrow morning, and officially begin his training.

So, Lu Ke chose to relax. He opened his bedroom door and shouted to the two on the sofa, "Guys, count me in. Let me teach you a lesson and wreck you all!"

"Fuck off." "Get over here, I’ll play you. I’ll beat you ’til you call me daddy." "Yeah, try me! Come on, I’ll definitely wipe the floor with you."

...

「The next morning」

Around five-thirty, Lu Ke was already up. After changing into his workout clothes, he left the apartment and started jogging.

Los Angeles is a city full of sunshine, spring-like all year round. With its wide streets, tall palm trees, and low-slung bungalows, the entire city has a feeling of spacious openness—a starkly different style from the lush, compact elegance of San Francisco. Lu Ke’s apartment was in West Hollywood, just a fifteen-minute drive from the UCLA campus. Every morning, you could see a large number of morning runners, all drenched in sweat, starting a new day this way.

Endurance running is part of a quarterback’s daily training, but it’s not the most core element. Compared to stamina, short-distance sprinting ability, short-term explosive power, and instantaneous acceleration are much more important. So, during their usual training, they mostly focused on 1,000 or 2,000-meter runs, with two sets being more than enough.

He wasn’t sure if it was psychological, but because he was burdened with completing the quest, he was constantly calculating the distance he’d run. After only 1,500 meters, Lu Ke felt his breathing become a little ragged. It seemed his stamina was draining much faster than in his usual training sessions. But endurance was Lu Ke’s most outstanding physical attribute; he certainly wouldn’t give up so easily.

’In that case, I’ll just put the quest out of my mind for now and focus completely on the morning run.’ He stopped calculating the distance and just focused on running. He ran all the way from West Hollywood to the Santa Monica Pier. From a distance, he could see the clear, bright, azure sky, where a pale pink sunlight was gradually seeping in, turning to gold. It scattered across the boundless surface of the sea, shimmering and sparkling, radiating an endless rosy glow, like a miracle.

The tranquility of the early morning, the roar of the sea, the serenity of the sunrise, the awakening of the pier—that vibrant vitality, poised between noise and silence, rushed toward him on the sea breeze. It made him want to spread his arms and let the wild wind pass through his hands, turning them into wings to soar and embrace the intoxicatingly magnificent scene before him.

He threw himself wholeheartedly into the exercise, sweat pouring down, and then the whole world seemed to open up. The feeling was so fantastic that Lu Ke couldn’t help but shout in celebration at the crashing waves, "AHHH!" The pent-up air rushed out of his chest, and his body and mind felt refreshed.

His steps came to a halt at the end of the pier. Bathed in sunlight and sea breeze, Lu Ke glanced at his watch and realized he had been running for a full hour. After his breathing steadied, he summoned the system again and noticed a new message in the inbox in the top-left corner. He opened it. As expected—

Quest Complete.

"Congratulations, daily training quest complete. You have received Basic Attribute Point +1."

After he confirmed it, the basic attribute point count in the top-right corner changed from "0" to "1". Before Lu Ke could even think about how to assign this point, another quest appeared with a DING. Without a doubt, a new daily training quest had arrived.

He opened it to read, but the contents had become much more complex.

"Daily Training Quest:

Endurance Run, 10,000 meters;

Weighted Squats, three sets of ten reps;

Sit-ups, three sets of ten reps;

Pull-ups: three sets of ten reps;

Bench Press: three sets of fifteen reps;

Footwork Drills: three sets of fifteen round trips;

Single-Arm Quick Throws: five sets of twenty reps;

Kneeling Pass: five sets of twenty reps;

Running Pass at a steady pace: five sets of twenty reps;

40-Yard Shuttle: three sets of ten round trips;

Time Limit: Three consecutive days (0/3);

Quest Reward: Basic Attribute Point +1."

This series of tasks was dazzling. Lu Ke looked it over. These were all basic training exercises for a quarterback, nothing with any special technical skill involved. It was all about training fundamentals. But the first quest had only been a single endurance run, and now it had become... ten items. It had multiplied tenfold, which really caught him off guard.

More importantly, "Qi, what does ’three consecutive days’ mean?" Lu Ke had noticed this crucial detail. He already had an idea of the answer, but he needed confirmation from Qi.

"The quest must be completed for three consecutive days. You must finish all training items each day. If the quest is interrupted, it will reset, and you will have to start over." Qi’s answer confirmed Lu Ke’s suspicion. He couldn’t help but rub his forehead and press further, "So, will the next daily quest add even more training items? Not just basic exercises, but professional technical ones too?"

"Yes," Qi replied crisply.

The items would increase, the difficulty would grow, and it would also become more professional. This wasn’t surprising. The effort and hardship required to become a top quarterback were far beyond imagination. To be precise, reaching the top in any field is no easy feat.

For the past few years, from high school to college, he had persevered. His interest had become a dream, his amateur hobby a profession—or at least an attempt at one. Even as a practice player, he had never given up. Now, he had even less reason to quit. On the contrary, he would redouble his efforts.

Right now, on the Santa Monica pier, he definitely couldn’t do the drills involving a ball, but he could try the basic exercises, like pull-ups.

Next to the pier, Lu Ke found a set of pull-up bars. He grabbed one, and using his arm strength, began to do pull-ups. Ten pull-ups per set wasn’t a difficult task. After finishing the first set, he rested for a moment, then did the second, followed by the third. Thirty pull-ups were completed quickly.

He summoned the system again, but found no unread messages. ’Is it because the entire quest isn’t finished, so there’s no notification?’ But when he opened the quest page and looked closely, he saw a set of numbers added after the pull-ups option: (6/30).

If he wasn’t mistaken, this set of numbers meant he had only completed six pull-ups. But the problem was, he had clearly completed thirty. His math was still pretty good; he definitely hadn’t miscounted. So why did it only show six here?

"Qi? Qizai?" Lu Ke frowned and called out for help.