Chapter 20: A very angry problem
Stefan’s POV
I woke up with a problem.
A very obvious, very angry, very persistent problem standing straight up under the animal-skin cloth like it had been awake for hours and was personally offended that the rest of me had spent the night sleeping.
I looked down at it. It looked back at me, or at least it felt like it did.
"Bro, We talked about this, didn’t we?" I muttered flatly.
It did not care what we had talked about.
I hissed, shifting to sit upright, every movement reminding me that twenty-four hours of forced restraint was apparently a physical experience my body had decided to make as dramatic as possible.
Then the System chimed.
[Daily Task Complete: Do Not Climax For 24 Hours.]
[Reward: +50 Ap]
[Current balance: 290 AP]
I let out a short and dry laugh as I stared at the number. "Two hundred and ninety." I paused. "All I need is an extra zero. Easy. Simple. Basically already there."
I was kidding. I was very much kidding.
Thankfully, my sense of humor was still very much alive.
[NEW DAILY TASKS AVAILABLE:]
- Do not eat until noon — +100 AP
- Help two slaves — +100 AP
- Complete 100 push-ups — +100 AP
- Run 50 laps before noon — +50 AP
I stared at the list for a long moment.
"What is this?" I demanded but I got no response.
"Are you trying to get me fit? Is that what’s happening here? You’re building me a training programme now?" I gestured at the notification. "Isn’t that supposed to be my decision? A man’s body is his own business-"
Nothing.
I gritted my teeth. "Fine. Fine, I need the AP anyway."
"You weird system, let me show you what I can do." I snapped then I growled as I flexed my muscles for effect. In case the system was watching me somehow, let him know that I could do anything and whatever I set my mind to.
I got up, found a clear patch of ground, and dropped into push-up position with genuine intention this time.
I intended to get to 50 at least before I would take a break but my body... My body was a betrayer.
I managed ten. Barely. My arms started shaking, my breathing became hard.
"I can manageee..."I drew out but my body used that moment to finally give up. I collapsed flat on my face at the eleventh with a grunt that was more emotional than physical.
I lay there for a second, face in the dirt.
"What exactly," I said to the ground, "are you training me for? What is coming? Why do I need muscles on this planet? Why-"
The System didn’t answer. It never answered the questions that actually mattered.
I dragged myself up and headed to the bathhouse. I knew Zinnia would have gone out and I wasn’t wrong.
I washed off every dirt, sweat and shame on my body as best I could, and stepped outside.
The camp was nearly empty, the morning already moving on without me. Most of the warriors had dispersed on training routes, patrols, whatever the daily structure of this place actually looked like when nobody was being hauled to the punishment tent.
Then I spotted her.
Jonquil, alone at the far edge of the clearing, working through some kind of solo drill in sharp and repetitive movements, like she was trying to beat something out of her own body through sheer effort.
The System activated immediately.
[PRIMARY MISSION ASSIGNED.]
[Make Jonquil happy.]
[TIME LIMIT: 5:00:00]
[REWARD: ⚠️ Locked]
[PENALTY: ⚠️ Locked]
I read it twice. Make her happy. Not laugh - happy. Different bar. Slightly more human-sounding, which on this planet probably meant it was harder.
Then the daily task box chimed with one more addition.
[BONUS DAILY TASK: Last two hours.]
[REWARD: +500 AP]
I stared at that number for a long, silent moment.
Five hundred AP for one task?
"Wait, dude... What are you trying to do?"
Was the system reminding me of exactly what I’d failed at last time with the specificity of someone who definitely remembered and absolutely wanted me to remember too.
"Is this a joke? Are you actually mocking me right now?" I gritted out.
Silence.
"You held me back from climaxing for twenty-four hours," I said slowly, working through it out loud, "specifically so I’d have the stamina to last two hours today." I paused. "That’s actually diabolical. That’s genuinely diabolical."
I looked across the clearing at Jonquil, still drilling, still unaware of me.
"Alright," I muttered, straightening up, rolling my shoulders back, finding whatever was left of my dignity after three days on this planet. "You want to see why I successfully conned women across three continents? Watch and learn."
I tsked and got into position.
I started with the fifty laps first, partly for the AP, partly because Jonquil was right there and I needed her to actually notice me before I could do anything else.
Lap one was fine. Lap five was less fine. By lap fifteen I was breathing hard enough that two slaves carrying water pots turned to look at me. By lap twenty-five I was having what I could only describe as a personal conversation with my own lungs about whether we could keep this up.
But somewhere around lap thirty, I caught it; Jonquil had stopped drilling. She was watching me. Not warmly, not with any particular expression. Just watching.
"Good!" I kept going.
By lap fifty I crossed the finish point I’d mentally designated and stopped, hands on knees, breathing like I’d been chased.
[DAILY TASK COMPLETE: 50 laps before noon.]
[+50 AP]
[CURRENT BALANCE: 340 AP]
I straightened up slowly and walked toward her, still catching my breath, which probably wasn’t the smooth entrance I’d have preferred.
"How can I make you happy today?" I said, arriving in front of her.
She blinked at me, her head tilting slightly.
[Beast Insight activated.]
JONQUIL
[Current Mood: Sad]
"Sad?" I frowned.
I looked at her again. Her face hadn’t changed much. She was as stoic as ever. If the System hadn’t told me, I would’ve assumed she was simply being her usual emotionally constipated self.
I let out a slow breath.
"Right. Okay." I pressed a hand to my chest. "Daddy Stefan to the rescue."
I stepped toward her, squared my stance, and reached out to grab her by the waist with every intention of sweeping her off her feet the way she was always doing to me.
I pulled. She didn’t move.
I pulled harder.
She looked down at my hands on her waist, then up at my face, with the expression of someone watching a very small animal attempt something inadvisable.
I released her, stepped back, and cleared my throat.
"Right, I need to go to the gym." I said, very calmly.
Somewhere in the corner of my vision, a small notification appeared.
[AFFECTION: -2%]
"Oh, come on, that’s not fair. That’s genuinely not fair." I muttered. "
I took a breath, and reached out to take her hand instead, a much more achievable physical task.
"Come with me," I said, pulling her gently toward the tent. "Let me make you happy. You don’t have to do anything. Just come."
She looked at our joined hands for a moment, something unreadable moving behind her eyes.
Then she followed.
