Elian Reyes awoke to the chirping of birds perched at the edge of his apartment window, the Manila sun seeping through the curtains like a golden invitation to a new morning.
He blinked away the light and slowly sat up. His body was lighter now—leaner after the daily exercises, his mind quicker than it had been in months. There was still a subdued unease in his chest, however. Today counted. The system wouldn't allow him to forget that.
His phone buzzed.
[ Weekly Mission Activated ]
Mission: Ace the InterviewObjective: Attend and pass the job interview at NovaTech
Rewards:- Trading Skill (Advanced)
Side Missions:– Help a Stranger in Need– Arrive Early for the Interview
Rewards:- 5 Years of Simulated Experience in Frontend Technologies (React, Angular, Vue)- +10 years of experience in .NET Technology
Elian's breath was caught.
This was it. The system had piled today's rewards high—and that could only mean one thing. This interview would not be normal.
By 7:15, Elian was at the corner of the street along Kalayaan Avenue, hoping a jeepney would drive by. BGC wasn't far, but Manila traffic, even a short trip, felt like a pilgrimage.
A jeepney slammed on its brakes. Full. Individuals were packed shoulder to shoulder, holding onto handrails and breakfast bags.
He got in despite that, wedging himself against the metal beside the doorway.
When the next stop came, an elderly woman balancing a compact tote struggled to get aboard. Elian did not hesitate. He elbowed the man sitting nearest to him and nodded, then pointed at the old woman.
"Nay, you can take my seat," he uttered, standing up and making his seat available.
The lola smiled, thankful, and gingerly sat down.
As Elian grasped the roof rail with one hand, the System buzzed once more.
[Side Mission Complete: Help a Stranger in Need]
Rewards Unlocked:
- 5 Years of Simulated Experience in Frontend Technologies
- Angular
- React
- Vue
- CSS
- Next.Js
- HTML
- Three.Js
- Responsive Design, State Management, RESTful Integration
The information struck him all at once, as if a deluge was pouring into his neurons. Now he could see components, props, lifecycle methods, CSS grids—all with the fluidity of someone who'd spent a decade typing front-end code.
He smiled. "This could be enjoyable."
By 8:30 AM, Elian had reached the modern, glass-panelled edifice that served as NovaTech's Taguig office. He was thirty minutes ahead of schedule—on purpose.
He waited at the lobby and checked in, sitting on a couch nearby, taking long breaths, going over his mental notes.
[Side Mission Complete: Arrive Early for the Interview]
Rewards Unlocked:
- 10 Years of Simulated Experience in .NET Technologies
- ASP .NET Core, Entity Framework, Clean Architecture, CQRS
– REST APIs, Microservices, Optimization, Identity & Security
Ten years. That wasn't experience—that was mastery.
Elian suddenly knew how to scale APIs, optimize LINQ queries, secure JWT tokens, and design enterprise-scale backend systems.
He stood a little taller, his confidence no longer wavering.
The fourth-floor conference room was spacious and flooded with natural light. There was a table of five individuals seated in front of laptops and notepads.
A man rose from his seat and held out his hand. "Elian Reyes. Welcome."
"Thank you, sir."
The man nodded toward the others. "Let me present the team."
"Mr. Jonathan Lim, Head of Software Engineering."
"Ms. Carla Dizon, Product Manager of NovaSuite."
"Mr. Jericho Tan, Senior Architect."
"Ms. Patrice Morales, HR Director."
"And I'm Eric Valdez, President and CEO of NovaTech."
Elian went stiff for half a second. The CEO was on this panel personally?
Valdez chuckled. "We're growing fast, and we need good developers—particularly full-stack ones. Something you put on your resume interested us."
Jonathan leaned in. "You said five years experience with frontend frameworks and ten years with .NET?"
"Yes, sir," Elian replied coolly.
"Tell us a little about the projects you've worked on," Carla said.
Elian described hypothetical but vivid projects the system had run through his brain. E-commerce websites, admin panels, analytics platforms. He described working with real-time data in Angular, scalable APIs in .NET, and reducing bundle sizes for responsiveness on mobile.
Carla looked at Jericho, arched eyebrows.
Valdez smiled weakly. "Alright. We've heard enough theory."
He angled his laptop toward Elian.
"Here's the challenge. One hour to develop a simple inventory management system. Web-based. Must have login, adding an item, removing an item, and a viewer for stock. Use any of the technologies you said you knew. No internet. You're on your own."
Elian's fists clenched for a moment. Then he let the air out.
"If I finish it?" he asked.
Valdez crossed his arms. "If you can deliver a clean, working prototype that impresses us—built from scratch in one hour—then we'll offer you a remote senior developer position today. Full pay, full benefits."
Elian nodded once. "Challenge accepted."
The timer started.
He worked like a machine. No hesitation. No wasted motion.
First, he scaffolded a .NET Web API project with security and token-based authentication. He established item models, configured CRUD endpoints, and managed input validation.
Then he opened Angular, creating a new project with routing and HTTP client modules. He built services, login pages, item forms, and a dashboard. Buttons were reactive, errors were gracefully handled, and UI was sleek—even without a design library.
The panel sat in virtual amazement.
"Check out that folder structure," Jericho breathed. "This is level-professional."
"He's not only coding fast," Carla grumbled. "He's coding clean."
By minute 45, the app had logged in a user, added stock items, removed them, and displayed real-time updates to data on the dashboard.
At minute 59, Elian leaned back.
"It's done," he announced.
Valdez stared in shock. He opened the application, went through the login, checked the endpoints, inserted dummy data, removed an item.
He faced the others. No one said a word. They were too involved examining the code.
Patrice finally spoke.
"Elian. did you maybe already create this already?"
"No ma'am. Created it just now.
Jericho glanced up from the backend code. "This type of structure—most devs would spend a month creating something like this. Even teams are not able to maintain code this clean."
Carla shook her head, as if in amazement. "From login to item filtering to even form validation. No cheats. Just pristine, solid code."
Jonathan laughed. "This kid's either a genius or a time traveler."
Valdez approached, held out his hand once more.
"Elian Reyes," he declared, with a smile brimming with respect, "you're hired."
Elian shook his hand in shock. "Thank you, sir. I won't disappoint you."
"You can report tomorrow. Remote configuration. Full-stack. Senior developer pay."
He held back.
"Actually," Valdez continued, "scratch that. You report today. Let's begin your onboarding."
As Elian walked out of the NovaTech building an hour later, the world was different. Lighter. Brighter.
[ Weekly Mission Complete: Ace the Interview ]
Reward: Trading Skill (Advanced) Awarded ]
He could sense it—terms, candlestick patterns, charts, risk ratios, crypto, forex, stock fundamentals—all falling into place in his mind.
And then. another notification:
[ Urgent Mission Received ]
Time Limit: 12 Hours ]
Objective: Unknown ]
Accept? [Y/N]
Elian gazed at it.
And smiled.