Happy birthday, mission success!

When the next day came, everyone was in high hopes. From eight in the morning until two in the afternoon, hundreds of guests piled into the house, and into the garden to greet Mr. Hyde.

Although there were many looking for Rhys as well, he spent his time in the music room preparing his performance over and over, with the targets keeping him company.

Finishing up, he sighed and smiled, telling them he was ready to head out to the garden, so they could all go and change.

"Sorry about making you waste your time in here." Rhys said, rubbing his palms and neck lightly.

"You apologise too much. It's okay, I don't want to be out with that many people anyways." Erin said turning to the side, he was getting friendlier now.

As they changed and went to the garden, Rhys could feel a bunch of eyes all over them. Although he still wasn't on their level of handsomeness, he was still eye catching, pairing with his charisma.

Xavier excitedly want to run around and eat, so he and Seth ran off. Rhys tasked himself on protecting Erin from any contact, noticing the eyes on him.

"I'm sorry if anyone comes to talk to me I know people make you uncomfortable." Rhys said to Erin as he nearly reached for the wine out of habit.

"This sucks." Rhys cursed in his head, he really could of used a bit of alcohol at the moment.

As he predicted, the two were swarmed by the people who came to wish his dad a happy birthday. Some with their partners, some individually, but it felt like they were never left alone, after coming out.

Erin was irritable with the people who bothered him and Rhys, but tried not to ruin the celebratory mood. It was nearly amazing how easily Rhys talked with them and charmed them away, or seemed unaffected by it.

"If this were my past life I'd be able to just ignore them instead of smiling and ignoring them." Rhys thought as he face was starting to hurt.

"On the bright side, your smile skill levelled up, just one more!" Kane said, clapping for Rhys.

An hour passed and two girls along with a guy decided to approach Rhys and Erin, when they were finally about to have a moment alone.

"OBLIGATORY SYSTEM MISSION"

"A group of siblings are about to approach. Stop their advancements by claiming Erin Keller to be your boyfriend. You will not be rewarded, failure results in one memory loss."

"What the hell is this?" Rhys hissed and yelled at Kane to no avail. It was one thing to protect Erin, but to call him his boyfriend, while getting no reward? What a good for nothing system!

They introduced themselves, and one of the girls started to ask Erin about himself, and the man talked to Rhys about the celebration.

Although Erin was reluctant, he brushed the woman off and just told her he was a friend of Rhys' not knowing anyone here.

The attitude in the girl shifted, now focusing more on Rhys as well, before plain out asking him on a date. The other girl chimed in and asked Erin if he wanted to make it a double date with her.

Erin looked at her with disgust as she tried to cling onto him, Rhys interesting. He pressed himself against Erin, chest to chest, as he looked down at her and asked her to leave.

"Please stop hitting on my boyfriend. And secondly, don't treat him like an object, he didn't say you can touch him." Rhys said, obliging to the mission's request while his face erupted in a blush.

The women stepped back in embarrassment, and slight humiliation from being rejected, the man on the other hand laughed a little giving a wink before taking his sisters out of there.

"MISSION SUCCESS." The voice rang as Rhys' blush worsened, stammering and apologising to Erin. This is the damned system's fault!

He removed himself from him, clenching his eyes in fear the affection points he worked to achieved would plummet.

To his surprise, it rose by four. Erin was now at thirty-one, meaning all the targets were at thirty or greater.

"All targets are at or above the minimum requirement of thirty to unlock information and a system gift." A screen proceeded to pop up with information and rewards.

The world froze, "Xavier Meiyer used to get into fights during middle school. Seth Hyde once broke his ankle while playing basketball. Host is now able to touch Erin Keller comfortably."

"What are with these most random bits of information?" Rhys asked as he got his reward, two attribute points.

"If you used your brain you could utilise it, like why Seth didn't believe he could go professional, why Xavier has two sides to him or how you can now cling to Erin?" Kane raised a brow.

Grumbling about how how unfair the system is, Rhys spent his next two points in strength. "How much now?" He asked.

"Around eighty pounds. Each added fifteen pounds." Kane explained, floating around in circles.

"Well whatever." Rhys thought as he walked over to the alcoholic beverages and drank a bit of wine, before heading back to where he was before the world froze.

"I mean, are you sure that's all you want to do when the world is literally frozen?" Kane asks, as the timer was reaching thirty seconds.

"Trust me, I needed that." Rhys said, straightening himself as the world unfroze itself.

Looking at Erin, the male had a heavy blush on his face, and he quickly looked away. "It's alright. I know you only said it to get them to stop, but it wasn't all too bad." He said.

Rhys knew he could now touch Erin without losing affection points, causing him to hold Erin's hand. "Is this much fine, then?"

It was now his turn to get back at Erin for all of his previous teasing, watching the man in front of him hiss out insults while walking off, hand still in Rhys', affection raising by one to thirty-two.

"It's been less than a week but you're a third there! At this rate you should be clear by the end of the month." Kane congratulated Rhys.

Ignoring him, they made their way over to Rhys' parents, where Seth and Xavier were, hiding from the crowd who wouldn't leave them alone.

Letting go of Erin's hand before anyone saw, Rhys pulled out a box from his pocket and offered it to his dad.

"Happy birthday, dad. I hope you enjoy my gift. I'll give you the flowers when we're alone." Rhys said with a smile on his face.

Gabriel thanked him and patted him on the shoulder, a nonverbal sign of appreciation towards Rhys' thoughtfulness, as he slipped the jewellery on.

The six mingled and talked to people, before it was six, Rhys walked up to the piano in the centre of the garden, and sat down. Everyone attending never questioned it considering Gabriel was a pianist, but they were shocked to see Rhys sitting down.

Hushed whispers soon took over, "He's Gabriel's son, right?", "Some say he's really good and his performances always sold," "Do you think he'd be open to dating my child?" "It's cute how he thinks he can play for the master pianist Gabriel."

That last comment slightly irked him as he calmed down, congratulating himself. "I'm the master pianist they're talking about. It's my own skill, I'll put on a show stopping performance." He thought, swallowing thickly.

He pressed down gently on the keys, a soft and slow start, before getting faster and faster, his hands crossed left to right at quick speeds, and no one could even tell what keys he was hitting anymore.

Although it was fast, it was still pretty, nothing aggressive like how he had played the day before. The melody had captured everyone's attention, and they were shocked at how well the Rhys played, considering his age.

Never once messing up, he finished and took a deep breath before sitting up and fixing himself, heading to his dad. This was what he called perfect.

The world froze, and the voice rang. "MISSION SUCCESS." And showed him the rewards.

"Rewards upon completing master pianist, mission, two attribute points, one skill." The screen read, Rhys decided to start putting his attributes into different things.

"I'll go for agility and stamina." He said as Rhys cheered. Finally, Rhys was trying to build a well rounded character rather than a handsome one.

"I feel like I'd need it eventually, and you did mention the first one always gives a buff." Rhys said, as he asked Kane for the affects.

"You have enough stamina to run a mile now, and thanks to the speed you'd be able to run it in 12 minutes." Kane said, not bad Rhys thought.

"If I just upgraded my speed a bunch would I be able to almost teleport?" Rhys said jokingly, as Kane shook his head.

"A previous host took advantage of that. He kept killing the female leads instantly and farmed attribute rewards before the system patched it." Kane explained, making Rhys raise a brow.

"Is this all the same host or a different one?" He asked, as he and Kane began a bit of idle chatter.

"The same. We only had five hosts at the time and this host in particular was the worst person." He sighed, while Rhys checked out his new skill.

"Skill unlocked, fast fingers level 0. This skill lets the host move their hands quicker than normal. Using this skill repeatedly allows the host to level it up."

"What the hell is this useless skill?" Rhys asked with a sigh. He should of seen that coming by now, shame on him.

As Kane was about to give a what if scenario Rhys just told him to shut up, he couldn't take anymore lecturing and drank a bit more wine before the space ended.

All eyes were on him as they clapped like crazy, staring at him, while he had a look of pure confidence, acting as though they didn't exist in the moment. They looked down on him, and now he got to look down on them.

"How was that." Rhys smiled, his cockiness showing a little. His dad laughed and smiled, thanking him for a great birthday gift.

"You're only a child but you've surpassed me. It's great that you take after me." Gabriel openly boasted about Rhys, causing people to want to rush over and talk to him once more.

Instead, Rhys ignored their stares and made his way to the targets, starting casual conversation as they talked about how great his performance was, and what a beautiful evening.

"If only you could of seen it during the evening." Cecelia joined in with a smile, talking to them as Gabriel was soon greeted by an old friend.

The man called out to Rhys, causing him to look at who it was. The man from Friday, his wife, and their two children, who seemed shocked to notice Rhys.

"Hello! What a surprise to see you here, mister. It's nice to formally meet you, I'm Rhys Hyde." Rhys said with a smile, shaking the man's hand.

The targets looked at the man, before rushing over to Rhys. Xavier clung to one of Rhys arms, with Erin slightly pulling the other, Seth standing in the back.

"It nearly looks like you're the novel's female lead with her harem now protecting-" Rhys shouted at Kane before he could finish his sentence, trying to prevent a blush from taking over his face.

"You're that man with irresponsible children from that time." Erin jabbed at the older gentleman, who only put a smile on his face.

"We're so sorry about Friday." One of the girls tried to speak up now realising who Rhys was, but Xavier interjected.

"Who are you again? I only remember the couple from lunch." He said, with a smile on his face as the mom took her daughter's hand.

"It's fine. I just wonder how you manage to misplace a family heirloom though." Rhys said with a smile, his charisma working as the dad laughed, agreeing with Rhys.

The two families exchanged conversations, at one point the couple even bringing up marriage between their children as a joke, seeing how close the families are.

"Am I that good looking that everyone wants to marry me?" Rhys thought as his self confidence flew through the roof.

"No, this is just a novel where the author thought that rich people acted this way." Kane cut in, Rhys ignoring him as he bragged about himself in his head.

"Sorry to break it to you, but my son is definitely gay." Gabriel laughed as Rhys wanted to scream in his head, his face starting to redden.

"I want new parents now." Rhys thought as he and the targets slipped out of the conversation, heading over to grab some food, even more in Xavier's case.

When they finished, Rhys called his dad in as they shared a moment when he gave him flowers, before wishing him a farewell. They'd have to leave now if they'd want to make it to school tomorrow.

Running back out he told the targets it was time to call the party over. When he informed his mom, she insisted on cutting the cake and letting them take some, as they thanked her.

They changed, packed their things, and got back in the car, everyone letting out a sigh of their own, which soon turned into laughter.

"There were really too many people." Erin said as he rested against the window. Making Seth nod.

"The food was good and everyone looked super pretty, but they kept interrupting me eating and hitting on Reece's." Xavier pouted, putting on his seatbelt.

Rhys smiled, starting the drive. "Thanks for coming with me." He said, their affections raising from that sentient. In just two days, they all felt like they knew much more about each other, and it just brought them closer together.

Xavier rose by two to thirty-nine, Seth rose by one to thirty-seven, and Erin rose by two at thirty-four.

"For an easy world, it seriously does feel like I've been here forever." Rhys said to Kane, who nodded along getting the feeling.

"You've done so much and it's really paying off. You may actually be able to complete hard worlds within a few years of entering!" Kane clapped.

"Isn't that just too long?" Rhys hissed in his head, snapping at Kane who was now just insulting him.

"Hard worlds are difficult, yeah, but most of the hosts who do them have no problem killing the female lead or being intimate and clear the worlds within a few months, or weeks." Kane explained.

Rhys and Kane began to talk about future worlds and what they'd be like, while Rhys occasionally chimed in with the conversation the targets were having.

Although he was going to be tired when he got home, he enjoyed this weekend and worked hard, and even got his ego back up to one hundred again, all in all, he'd call it okay.