6 Diving In
On the way home, Jim began scanning nearby buildings for any new books, the thousands upon thousands stored within his mind may seem like too much, but Jim had always believed there was no limit to knowledge, his learning ability was just too low before, being able to memorize everything perfectly on the first time reading even detailed technical guides re-ignited his lust for learning.
[Fear Resistance Level Up]
[Fear Resistance Has Reached Level 6]
Of course, his anxiety hadn't vanished, he became paranoid that people were looking at him funny on the way back, it was all in his head as they weren't even sparing a glance towards him, an overweight man in his mid-40s with a plain face wasn't hard to find in America, after all.
The oppressive weight on his mind only served to fuel his desire to grow, his insides were like a roaring flame by now, he felt unstoppable and all-powerful after gaining this system, all thoughts of this being a hallucination had vanished after tangible benefits kept showing themselves.
After heading in, he collapsed on his bed, exhausted, it was a good feeling to have applied himself to something after so long, with a slight smile on his face he drifted to sleep.
Waking up the next morning, Jim decided to sort out which skills to purchase, He decided on Reiki first, it had a low cost and would be his first real supernatural power, he couldn't wait.
[Congratulations Host, To Commemorate Host's First Purchase In The System Shop Random Gift Pack x 1 Awarded]
[Reiki Healing Technique Obtained]
Hmm, he had stocked up a few Gift Packs by now, might as well open them.
[Random Gift Pack Opened]
[PVC Pipe x 10 Obtained]
[Copper Wire Spool x 20 Obtained]
[5 Points Obtained]
"...Are you messing with me!?" 'Just what am I supposed to do with this?' 'No, no, calm down, I've gotten so many good things already, having a miss isn't a big setback, just take it and move on.' His hopes for the other packs were rather low now, but decided to open them anyway.
[Skill Seeker Gift Pack Opened]
[Congratulations Host, Skill Ticket x 5 Obtained]
[Congratulations Host, System Upgrade Module x 1 Obtained]
[Congratulations Host, 1000 Points Obtained]
'That's more like it!' It seems some of the packs have set rewards, on to the next.
[Skill Max Gift Pack Opened]
[Congratulations Host, System Upgrade Module x 2 Obtained]
[Congratulations Host, 10,000 Points Obtained]
Jim's heart started pounding fast at the large number of points it showed, he quickly opened the other two Skill Max Gift Packs, they gave the same rewards, opening the shop he checked his resources.
[10, 11, 32,905]
The 5 at the end ticked Jim off for a second, but he still had a wide smile on his face at reaching five digits in points, he figured he had a good number of Skill Tickets and Upgrade Modules, time to figure out what they do.
[Skills Can Be Obtained Via Skill Shop With Skill Tickets In Place Of Points, Number Of Tickets Required Scales With Skill Value]
[System Upgrade Modules Unlock Various Functions Of Revolution System 12.4, Number Of Modules Required Scales With Function Complexity]
"Whoa!" This was the first time the system had responded to his thoughts, no, wait, he told it to shut up before and it stopped giving notifications of the relevant type. Oh, he guessed the status and shop displays were a response too. "Um, System, what are the functions I can unlock?"
The Shop Window appeared with a different category, it had a list of names, he began browsing.
[Level Up]
[Reforms Host's Body, Allows Experience Point Aquisition, Levels Gained Cause Substantial Growth]
[Price - 5 System Upgrade Modules]
[Auxillary Status Display]
[Allows Visualization Of Host's Condition]
[Price - 1 System Upgrade Module]
[Job System]
[Allows Aquisition Of 'Jobs', Equipping A Job Improves Relevant Status and Skills]
[Price - 5 System Upgrade Modules]
[Improved Rest]
[Host's Sleep Ensures Recovery From Injuries, Loss Of Energy, Cures Various Conditions]
[Price - 2 System Upgrade Modules]
[Crosshairs]
[Allows Visualization Of Action Trajectory]
As a huge fan of RPGs, Jim didn't even think about it and purchased the upgrade [Level Up]
[Level Up System Upgrade Unlocked]
Jim quickly said "Status!"
[Name: Jim Garrett]
[Species: Human]
[Level: 0]
[Experience: 0/10]
[Stats]
[Skills: Cooking Lv. 2, Appraisal Lv. 2, Focus Lv. Max, Reading Lv. Max, Fear Resistance Lv. 6, Willpower Lv. Max, Mental Corruption Resistance Lv. 6, Nausea Resistance Lv. 9, Distant Reading Lv. Max, Parallel Processing Lv. 3, Reiki Healing Technique Lv. 1]
[System Functions Unlocked: Log, Status, Shop, Skill Assist, Cooking Assist, Level Up]
"Hm...?" The portion of the display saying [Stats] was slightly lit up, after a second of pondering he tried touching it, the window display changed.
[Strength: 2]
[Dexterity: 3]
[Vitality: 1]
[Agility: 2]
[Magic: 0]
"This status is not very impressive...", Jim looked down at himself, his scrawny arms and somewhat rotund abdomen was the exact opposite of what a legendary hero should look like, he never put much effort into training his body so this was entirely his own fault. "I guess I should try?" After a moment of thinking Jim decided to purchase the [Improved Rest] Function, then began working out.
"Ugh..." he was having trouble after only two Push-Ups, his arms trembling as he tried to keep the correct posture, after 10, he collapsed, despite having the drive to continue his terrible muscle strength and stamina wouldn't allow him to. Standing up, Jim attempted Squats, it seemed easy at first, but after three minutes his legs started burning and it grew harder and harder to move them, he kept it up for a full fifteen minutes until his legs felt like jelly, using what strength he had to head into bed, he slowly dozed off.
"Urg!" Waking hours later, his body felt like it was broken apart, the muscles sore like someone just rammed a truck into him, he gathered the strength to get up and head to the kitchen, his stomach was pleading for even a morsel of food. Pulling a tv dinner out of the freezer, he stopped for a second, recalling that food quality is vital for working out, he put it back, then opened the Shop.
Entering the Grocery Category, he began browsing.
[Buflan Steak - Quality: Good]
[Nutritious Meat, Easy To Digest]
[Price - 2]
[Dragon Haunch - Quality: Legendary]
[Even The Most Starved Predator Will Feel Full From One Bite, Enormous Power Contained Within, Huge Benefits To Strength And Vitality]
[Price - 100]
[Magic Carrot - Quality: Great]
[Mutated Vegetable Grown In Magically Rich Soil, Increases Organ Function And Eyesight]
[Price - 10]
His mouth started salivating at the thought of eating the listed ingredients, quickly making a decision he bought a Buflan Steak, Magic Carrot, and God Of Cooking's Soup Stock, total price of only 15 points, the items appeared on the counter in front of him and he quickly summoned the mental Cooking Assistance, he wasn't really sure how to use it, so he just placed the ingredients in, luckily it did the rest.
The Steak and Carrot were chopped into bite-sized pieces and placed within a Crock Pot, Soup Stock was added along with water that suddenly appeared, he stared at the kitchen utensils moving on their own with drool coming from the side of his lips, after a few agonizingly long minutes a message appeared.
[Cooking Level Up]
[Cooking Has Reached Level 3]
[Simple Meat And Vegetable Soup - Quality: High Has Been Completed]
He grabbed a bowl from his cabinet and willed the soup to come out of the mental image, grabbing a spoon he dug in, the flavor exploded in his mouth, the tender meat and carrot slices were perfect, beyond anything he had tasted before in his life, the broth itself was heavenly and he felt it would suffice even without the other ingredients. The bowl was quickly finished off, more remained in the crock pot and he continued eating until his stomach was completely stuffed, after ambling over to his computer chair he sat back and just enjoyed the taste still on his tongue.
