New Skills, Future Contestants

-Ding!

Hearing his system release a light sound into his head, Kyle opted to neglect it for now as he walked off and exited the stage.

One of the reasons for that, was because the host for Rising Voices, Chris Palmer, a tall Caucasian looking man with a stylishly groomed dark brown hair and marble gray eyes had walked over to him.

"Congratulations on making it to the next round" he said in a warm and friendly manner while handing over the black envelope containing the ticket to the next audition.

Having taken a few hours of his time over the week to get used to the way the singing reality TV show worked by watching the past three seasons, Kyle knew who exactly was speaking to him.

Known for hosting multiple reality TV shows, the thirty-something year old Chris Palmer had also been a no-brainer pick for the production crew of Rising Voices.

Chris exuded a very polished yet approachable look, along with a winning smile that was sure to put both the contestants and the viewers at home at ease.

Coupled with that, the charismatic host was known for his humorous remarks, playful banter with the judges and insightful commentary that made the show even better.

"Thank you" Kyle replied in return with a light smile.

"Do you think we can get an interview with you?" Chris then gestured towards a room tucked away in the corner.

"Ah. I'm sorry but that won't be possible" Kyle respectfully declined, soliciting a mildly surprised countenance from Chris.

This was because the host found it curious that a contestant was willing to pass off the opportunity to get their face out there a bit more.

Some even saw the opportunity to take an interview as a way to give themselves a solid (sob) backstory that would make the audience and viewers at home want to cheer for (pity) them.

Hence, the general public would automatically want them do well even if their skills were quite average or sub-par.

"Is there any reason as to why you don't want to?" Chris politely asked.

To this, Kyle moved towards him a bit and then, silently spoke, almost as if he didn't want the production team to get what he was saying.

"I have an in-course assessment today and I really need to get going…"

"Oh. Understandable then. Have a nice day" Chris immediately understood and gave a light smile with a small handshake.

Receiving his second handshake of the day, Kyle hurriedly left the area.

Considering the time was currently 8:46am on a Monday morning and he had the assessment by 1:30pm, Kyle hoped to get back in time since the journey from Montreal back to Toronto would take roughly five to six hours by bus.

Watching as he quickly left, Chris couldn't help but think to himself;

'And he was one of the more interesting contestants today… Hope he makes it past the second round…'

Whilst thinking about this, Howard Benson, a chubby-looking, forty-year old man and also, the Creative Producer of the TV show, walked out of the production crew's room while asking;

 "You weren't able to get an interview with him?"

"Yeah. He's as you'd expect from his appearance. A busy college student" Chris replied.

"Hmmm. Well at least you had the mouthpiece on you right?" Howard asked, rubbing his nose.

"So you're planning to use what he just said in secret to me?" Chris sighed and said, after which he then added;

"He must've done it because he purposely didn't want anyone to know. I think it's best if you just scrap it Howard. Besides, you guys probably already got good footage from his audition right?"

"You speak as if you don't understand how the reality TV show business works Chris" Howard replied whilst shaking his bald head.

"What the people at home want to see is someone they can root for. Someone they can find interesting enough to want to cheer for. We have to paint that picture as the producers of the show" he continued, adding a few more words definitively.

"And also the ratings. Those are also very important"

'The ratings. Of course that was the actual reasoning…' Chris thought to himself with an inward sigh.

"You're lucky he didn't reveal any major personal stuff but I'd implore you to take it easy Howard. Ratings aren't always everything" Chris then advised.

"Yeah yeah. I hear you" Howard gestured with his chubby hands and then motioned to the Caucasian host.

"You should get going though. The next contestant's a sobbing mess"

"Alright" Chris put on an instant, sympathetic gaze and then, approached the crying young lady.

* * *

"Ah~. Barely made it" Kyle muttered to himself, placing his head on the cool metal table of the cafeteria.

As usual, he was the only one at this table in the lively cafeteria but he didn't really mind.

'Well it's about time I check the system's messages' he thought to himself, picking up an apple from his tray and biting into it.

Opening the system's translucent interface, Kyle was immediately bombarded with a string of messages.

| You have sung your original in front of many people for the first time! |

| A bonus will be applied! |

| You have impressed the judges with your own original! |

| You have impressed the audience with your own original! |

'Audience? Oh… The contestants outside and the production crew presumably' Kyle mused as the system interface kept bombarding him with more notifications.

| You have obtained a huge amount of exp. points! |

| 1000 exp. points have been awarded! |

| Total exp. points (1165) |

| You have leveled up! |

| Singing has advanced from level 6 to level 7! |

| Composing has advanced from level 7 to level 8! |

| Advancement will become even much harder from here on out! |

| Keep singing to improve your skills! |

With a small nod of satisfaction, Kyle thought to himself.

'Baby steps Kyle. Baby steps'

'Now, I need to create those skills' he decided, thinking about the two skills he had in mind while travelling back today.

Kyle figured that even if he had impressed the judges with his original, he was only above average in terms of actual singing, hence, he needed even more of an edge over the other contestants whom he was sure would be far better than him.

With a mental command, he swiftly inputted the two skills into his interface.

___________________________

Active Skill - [Appraisal]

Grants the ability to view important stats, skills and information.

Exp. Points Available – (1165)

Exp. Points Consumed – (500)

Exp. Points Left – (665)

___________________________

___________________________

Passive Skill - [Resonance]

Allows your listeners to resonate with the soulfulness of your song.

Exp. Points Available – (665)

Exp. Points Consumed – (665)

Exp. Points Left – (0)

___________________________

| Error! |

"Huh?" the youth let out a confused sound.

| Insufficient points have been consumed to create a high-end skill |

| Searching for best alternatives… |

| Processing… |

| Passive skill [Resonance] will be converted into an upgradeable skill… |

| Grade assigned! |

| [Resonance] – {E} |

| Lowest grade is E and highest is S |

| Keep singing to improve your skills! |

'Well… beggars can't be choosers' Kyle accepted what he was given without complaints.

Just having a system in its own right, despite how absurd it still felt to him every once in a while, was a genuine blessing and he was quite content with just that.

Dismissing his system's interface with another mental command, the young man soon heard a loud voice call out his name from across the cafeteria.

"Yo Kestis!"

Raising his head up to locate who was calling him, Kyle watched as Ryan waved over to him, a small grin on his face.

Gently waving over in response, Ryan quickly walked over to his table, immediately asking him with an excited expression.

"So did you get in?!"

To that, Kyle nodded slightly, causing an excited Ryan to pump up his fists in response.

"Hell yeah man! At least you'd make for great company asides those two!"

Slightly tilting his head, Kyle curiously asked;

"Those two?"

"Yeah. They were just right behind m-"

Before Ryan could even finish up his sentence, one of the two ladies whom he had previously been walking with, hurried on over and began to pull his hair.

"You just had to forget us and hurry along, didn't you?!" Katie Chopra, a beautiful Indian-American lady with long and smooth shiny-black hair that reached all the way to her back, complained to Ryan, her dark-brown irises housing a slightly annoyed expression.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Katie! Time out! Time out!" Ryan pleaded, his face contorting in pain.

On the other hand, the moment Kyle saw Katie, he instantly recalled where he had seen her.

'She was the one singing when I entered the waiting room…' he thought to himself.

Then, averting his gaze, he glanced over to the other lady walking over.

As she neared his table, Kyle also didn't have to think twice before he also knew who she was.

'Lily Lockhart…'

Having always been seeing her around campus, primarily due to how popular she was in the Performing Arts Department along with her small ViewTube Channel with over 80K subs called 'Lily Sings', it really was easy knowledge for Kyle.

A beautiful, small round face, curly, shoulder-length dark blonde hair, big doe eyes with hazel-colored irises, V-shaped chin jaw, a small nose with a high bridge, heart-shaped plump lips, pale skin, a slim yet curvy body figure and a fairly average height of 5'4.

Staring at her for a few seconds, Kyle understood once again why she had always been the target of so many guys in college despite her no-relationship policy.

In addition to all that, whenever the Performing Arts Department had a big play and she was involved in it, most of the guys around campus would band over and move to the college's main auditorium, just to watch her performance alone.

He even recalled a period in college when a lot of the guys and some ladies had been going crazy over her golden-ratio rating of 94.31% when she had briefly modelled for a fairly popular magazine.

She was just that stunning and drop-dead gorgeous.

That being said, the raven-haired man couldn't care less about it and just subtly averted his gaze.

To him, with the wealth of experience that came from his other life, beauty was very ephemeral after all.

Noticing his subtle actions, Lily gently spoke with a slightly arched eyebrow.

"I hope you don't mind us intruding. Ryan can be a bit too impulsive at times"

"Sure. Please, take a seat" Kyle gestured politely with his hands.

"Thank you" Lily proceeded to sit down, all while Katie and Ryan were now currently arguing over another mundane thing.

"So, you also auditioned for Rising Voices?"

Squinting his eyes, Kyle directed a small glare over at Ryan who was still arguing with Katie.

Letting out a small sigh just after, he curtly replied.

"Yes."

"Hmmm… I see. Guess I might be going up against you down the line" she said with a light smile.

Kyle just nodded in response and then took a small bite out of his food.

Coming to a conclusion of his own, he figured that Lily probably didn't even audition to be on the show.

He also wasn't particularly surprised by this as he knew that some very talented people would be given the opportunity to just skip all the preliminaries and be given a spot on the show.

A special slot or something it was called.

Usually, it was awarded by the production team for talented individuals they wanted to scout for the show to add more spice.

'Only ever seen him from afar but he's quite handsome, isn't he?' Lily on the other hand thought to herself as she gazed at him for a while, noticing how well-hidden his tasteful features were beneath the nerdy appearance.

'He'd be one heck of a dreamboat if he had a make-over…' she inwardly continued.

'Well it's his choice though. None of my business' she then dismissed all her previous thoughts and also focused on consuming her meal.

Kyle on the other hand, suddenly had a bit of curiosity surface in his mind as he kept eating, quickly coming to the realization that this was a perfect time to test out one of his new skills.

Mentally using the skill, a sudden translucent screen, appeared above all three individual's head.

___________________________

{Ryan Parker} – 22 years

Singing › Level 8

Dancing › Level 9

Acting › Level 3

Instrumental Mastery (Bass) › Level 8

Skills – [Breakdancing]

___________________________

___________________________

{Katie Chopra} – 21 years

Singing › Level 9

Dancing › Level 7

Acting › Level 5

Instrumental Mastery (Keyboards) › Level 6

Skills – [High Notes], [Leadership]

___________________________

___________________________

{Lily Lockhart} – 21 years

Singing › Level 11

Dancing › Level 8

Acting › Level 8

Instrumental Mastery (Violin/Piano) › Level 7/6

Skills – [Stage Presence], [Vocal Control Mastery]

___________________________

'Monsters. Absolute Monsters' Kyle inwardly gulped, subtly gazing at the individuals before him with newfound respect.

At the same time, all three made him feel a bit wary about the future.