Chapter 5

A couple months passed by with no problems occurring. Ray breezed through every task assigned to him, becoming one of the top recruits praised by most instructors.

Except one instructor, the one in charge of physical training.

" Drop down and give me 20 more!" The middle aged man demands crossing his arms.

" Yes, sir!"

Ray drops quickly doing twenty push ups. He hops back up and runs back to complete the obstacle course.

" You! Drop and do 20!" The instructor points at another recruit, interrupting the young man's jogging.

" Yes, sir!" The recruit sighs and does as told.

The instructor would randomly pick on recruits he didn't like. Not enough to get fired but just enough to get on the recruits nerves.

The instructor picks his next victim, setting his sights on a young female.

" Drop down and give me 20!" He barked.

" Yes, sir!" The green eyed and black haired, slim lady growled as she drops, cursing the old man in her mind.

These three were the usual ones to get picked from their class of 35 people.

The instructor disliked Ray for his stoic face that held no expression as he did well in everything without working up a sweat.

He disliked the young ladies attitude, rough and able to keep up with a monster like Ray. She, Ash Leigh, excelled in criminology and held the highest grades after Ray.

The third poor soul to get picked on is Julian Lee, a Chinese-American. He came in third place regarding grades, but first in firearms.

The instructor simply was a racist and a sexist.

Thirty minutes later, the class was finally given a ten minute break.

" Ugh! My arms! Lee, massage mine and I'll do yours!" Ash shuffles like a zombie towards Lee.

Lee stood near Ray at the water fountain.

" My arms first." Lee swings his arms, trying to relieve some of his soreness.

" Drink some water first." Ray comments.

" Oh, right! I totally forgot!" Ash runs up to an empty fountain and gulps down some refreshingly cold water.

She comes back, wiping her chin with her arm and carrying a satisfied smile.

" Me first, please." Lee puts his arms in front of Ash.

" Tch. Fine. Only because your puppy eyes are convincing." Ash rolls her eyes before grabbing his arm.

" Thanks." Lee chuckles shyly.

The three have gotten closer as they had most of their classes together, including the psychical training.

" My turn!" Ash shoves her hands in Lee' face demandingly.

" Alright, alright."

As Lee kneaded her arm muscles, Ash turned to Ray. " Ray, are your arms not in pain? The instructor made us three do like 200 more push ups than the rest."

Ray was completely fine, which bewildered not only her but everyone else too, including the instructor who tried to mess with Ray.

" I'm fine, not too sore." Rays lips arced up as he stretched.

" Times up!" The instructor ends the break, calling everyone back.

Ash groans. " Twenty bucks for whoever gives me a piggy back ride back."

Lee backs away slowly. If he had to carry her, he would collapse.

" Sure." Ray shrugs and keels.

He had nothing to lose, it's like he was tired. After all her bugging these past 4 months, he's gotten close enough with Ash to call her a friend.

" Thanks! You're awesome, dude." Ash grins as she hopes on his back.

" Stay still or I'm dropping you." Ray warns her as she kept moving around.

" Okay, okay. And nice back muscles." Ash pats his shoulders.

~~~~~~~~~

After his training in the police academy finished for the day, Ray went home. He showered and changed into lounge wear.

He sat on his bed as he roughly dried his hair with a towel.

" System." He called out in his husky smooth voice.

A blue screen, visible only to him, appeared.

Ray awakened his silent system when he was 18. At first he ignored it, he wanted a normal life with his family. But ever since his family was targeted he decided to put it to use.

The screen was like an interface typically seen in games.

It had three windows; Status, system shop, and inventory.

The first window, Status, had his name, body description, and items on him. Mentally scrolling further down, his stats appeared.

[ Name: Ray Jay Lloyd

Level: 15 (Exp: 271/3,500)

Titles held: Reincarnated Soul. Holder of past life's memories. Systems Host. Police Officer Recruit.

HP: 500 ( health points- 0= death)

SP: 250 ( stamina points- 0= faints)

Strength: 32 (10+15+7)

Agility: 27 ( 9+ 15+3)

Intelligence: 28 ( 11+15+2)

Sense: 29 ( 12+15+2)

Charm: 27 (12+15+0) ]

The numbers in the parentheses represent his base starting points plus the points earned from each level up, plus the points he added on separately.

His stats are attributes that can be increased via points gained from leveling. Each of the stats go up one point for every level up.

How can he level up?

There's two methods that Ray found by experimenting.

The first would be completing a mission given by the system. This gives him experience points.

The second is gaining experience points and stat points by defeating others.

This second method had unclear boundaries. Could he gain points from winning in betting or gambling? Ray found that the answer is yes.

A simple coin bet would get him a fraction of a single point. The reward would increase the higher the risk if he won.

Now, defeating others. Animals without intelligence did not count.

Ray seemed crazy to Hunter, his younger brother, when he got caught pinning down their family cat and golden retriever. Ray threw that embarrassing moment to the back of his mind.

The system shop window was still shrouded in mist. It was locked until he became level 20. From just the title, Ray guessed that he could buy things from the system. He was extremely curious of what the system would offer to sell to him. Nonetheless, he had the patience to wait until he leveled up two more times.

The inventory was a blessing, and Rays favorite part of the of the system. It had opened after he became level 10.

He currently had a 12 foot cubic space. The space wasn't fixed, it would take the shape of the objects put in, not wasting any space. It currently held a couple thousand U.S. dollars and two hand gun that he got from when he raided the dead Alexsandro's nightclub.

For every 3 foot cubic space that he wanted to gain, he had to pay the system 1,500 experience points.

Ray sighs as he lays down. He already sacrificed quite a bit of his experience points to obtain his current 12 foot cubic space.

" Close interface." He commands as he closes his eyes.