Chapter 5

I enter the classroom and take my usual seat.

7:55 AM

There's still five minutes left and the butterflies have not yet left my stomach. It's quite an exhilarating feeling to start conversing with new people and assimilate yourself.

I differentiate the cliques of students and notice there is not a single loner here apart from me.

I'd expect there to be at least one lady talking to me due to the looks but it seems no one even acknowledges me. There's not even a lady attempting to play with my heart or anything. Or maybe there is? It seems this part of my memories has not yet been assimilated.

[Ding!]

[The System congratulates the host on receiving their first-ever quest!]

[Make a New Friend!

1 Achievement Point.

Description:

No being a loner anymore.]

Holy Shit! I forgot there was this thing. It's popped into my brain two times and both times I completely ignored it! What the hell? How did I even forget I had this?! What even is this? What's the explanation for having such a thing? Achievement points? What are those?

Hmm, even though I'm freaked out I'm regaining my calm pretty quickly. Have I just grown numb to these things?

Well, having a quest system awarding me things is going to be nice.

Okay well, the first quest is going to make a new friend and I certainly want to get that achievement point.

I boldly turned to the left of my quest towards a guy sitting on the window side. He was staring at the clique of pretty girls until he noticed my gaze and frowned at me.

Okay, I'm not so sure I want to be friends with this guy. Whatever though.

"Hey, what's your name?"

He raised his eyebrows at me. At least he acknowledged me.

"We've been deskmates for 3 classes this semester."

"Huh, cool. What's your name?" I act completely oblivious to the fact I should know his name but don't and shamelessly repeat the question.

"You seriously don't know me? Last year we were also deskmates five times. Five."

This guy can talk pretty easily and he looks to be in the group of the loud handsome playboy guys. Huh, I'm honestly not sure I want to be friends with this kind of person. Ah, well. I am going to have to get along with everyone anyways. I have a feeling the system will make me do something like that.

He's still squinting at me, however, I straighten my posture and reveal my pearly whites. My monotone facial expression that screamed FUCK OFF, now turned very friendly and I saw two faces turning my way in the background.

"I'm Charlie, what's your name?"

The two separate people that saw me smile interrupted their group conversations and pointed at me. Okay, I have some attention now. It's not negative either, so I'm feeling safe on the quest even if this guy turns out to be unfriendly.

The guy I'm talking to squints even harder and replies with a suspicious tone,

"I'm Reed, do you really not know me? The handsome guy that's always helping you out when the teacher calls you out?"

Did he really help me out? I rush into my memories and indeed, there was a guy that would help me out but I was always just so out of it that I did not care at all.

I scrunch my eyebrows to show a little more expression and suddenly widen my eyes while opening my mouth in surprise.

"You're that guy!"

He bursts out in laughter at my comical expression and I too show a hint of amusement on my face.

"Okay man I thought you were depressing but you're funny, huh?"

He shifts his posture toward me.

Attempting to connect with me by calling me 'man' and also complimenting me. He also added a huh at the end to add more expression to himself and is now giving me attention. He's not responding out of politeness, he also wants to get to know me. The line of thought immediately passes through my head.

Success.

I smile at him, however, before I can respond the teacher comes in and announces the start of class.

"Charlie Yang. Is Charlie here?"

"Ah, I'm present teacher."

He nods and moves quickly through the rollcall.

I glance back at Reed and he too glances at me.

Getting friendly with this guy is an instant assurance that I won't be lonely throughout the rest of the school year. Although being a loner will allow me a quiet life if for some reason I am having trouble, my friends will be there for me. I don't intend to solo my way through this when there's no need to at all. I'm going to need to make a friendly impression on him pretty quickly.

I get comfortable on my chair and begin thinking about how I am going to live my life.

I believe I am at a height of 6'3. My skills in basketball will probably allow me to land at least the lower team and then I can work my way up. However, I'm not sure I am going to want to go for an athlete's life. I'm not as passionate about basketball as others and it'll surely come back to bite me in the ass later.

An idea popped into my mind.

I have an Achievement thingy! It's something no one else has and I'm sure it'll be of use somehow.

In my mind, I think,

Achievement System? Are you there?

[Ding!]

[Yes Host, may the Achievement System be of assistance?]

Uhhhhhh.

What are your functions?

[Ding!]

[The Achievement System rewards the host upon completing quests, gaining a hidden achievement, having an impact upon people, and more!]

More?

[Ding!]

[That is up for the Host to discover!]

[The rewards may range from titles granting benefits, passive perks, upgrade in stats, achievement points, and more!]

Huh, well it's more or less self-explanatory…

Are there superpowers?

[Ding!]

[No!]

Oh, a flat rejection. What do the achievement points do?

[Ding!]

[The Host may use the achievement points to buy things from the shop. Not only that, but the number of achievement points accumulated in TOTAL grant bonuses!]

Okay Woah, that sounds cool.

How do I check the shop?

[Ding!]

Immediately a holographic tab appeared in front of my eyes.

Crap. I quickly look around to see if anyone notices it but there's no reaction or upset.

Ah, dumb system giving me a heart attack and not warning me about a stupid holographic tab.

Deciding to stop ranting, I look at the Achievement Shop.

[Devil's Luck: 50 Achievement Points.

Description: Have extremely good luck with-

I immediately passed through it. I don't want to be caught up in a misunderstanding because some woman accidentally flashed her panties or something. I also want to maintain my dignity of being pervert-free even if no one would know about the skill.

[Energizing Drink: 4 Achievement Points.

Description: A drink that really gets your blood circulating! Your mind gains clarity, your neurons trigger faster, and your body shoots up to peak condition. The effects last 2 hours and heavy fatigue will follow.]

Okay, that sounds useful.

Looking and scrolling through the shop while seemingly paying attention in class, I realize there are so many weird things. There are also things that give you a completely unfair edge over people.

I feel tingling in my fingertips. Oh, this is going to be great.

The prices also don't look too unreasonable. I imagine I'm going to progressively get more achievement points as I complete grander quests.

I check the shop once again. There wasn't much that I wanted, or was able to get. The only things I was able to afford was a huge teddy bear, a 'stat' upgrade, or a 'skill upgrade.'

The teddy bear seemed useless, but the stat and skill upgrades looked very juicy.

They were only 1 achievement point but they were upgrades which are always good.

Uh, Achievement System, what are my stats?

[Ding!]

[Host, your current stats are:

Luck: 0

Intelligence: 12

Charm: 9]

I hovered my eyes over Luck and a separate tab zoomed out with an explanation.

[Luck: This dictates the positive influence the world is allowed to force upon the user. Current value: 0. Neutral.]

I hovered over Intelligence after:

[Intelligence: Your ability to learn things, the speed and efficiency of your thought processes, creativity, and what's related to the mind. Current value: 12. Above Average.]

Well, I feel really good.

[Charm: The way you influence people, how you are perceived immediately, and your social ability to interact with things. Current value: 9. Handsome.]

Nice.

Well, this is extremely interesting. Getting a stat upgrade and using it on my luck to get good fortune sounds nice. I could also save the stat upgrade for future situations or I could put it on intelligence to be smarter. Having brains is a boon after all. Putting it on charm right now would be cool but the benefits would be limited. This also seems way too cheap to just be 1 achievement point. Is it a newbie sale?

I looked at the other upgrader, 'skill upgrader.'

Well,

What are skills?

[Ding!]

[Skills are anything the Host can do! Any ability the Host has is transformed into a skill that can then be upgraded by practicing the same skill. Examples of skills are Cooking, Acting, Writing, Running, or any such thing the Host is adept at doing.]

Hmm. That is pretty interesting. Does this also mean I won't hit breaknecks or obstacles that'll limit my skill? This is basically implying I can be amazing at everything…

Looking back up from the tablet, I look at the mathematic equation on the whiteboard.

[Ding!]

[Mathematics has advanced by ten points!]