I bailed on martial arts classes for the day and decided to head home.
This week had been so eventful already, and I barely had any time to speak to Logan about business.I took a shower as soon as I got inside, and in a few more moments, I was seated at my work desk with my phone in my hand.Before calling him, however, I decided to take a look at my updated status window.‘Display my status window,’ I thought.[Status Window]Name: Malcolm ShadeAge: 18 yearsOccupation: StudentCurrent Status: Healthy/UnemployedHP: 100/100 (Fully recovered)SP: 150Stamina: 100 (Recharged)Skills: Foresight (D+ Rank){Additional Information}Repeated use of foresight has caused it to undergo a slight upgrade. Continue using the skill to increase its rank.[End Of Information]I guess the constant use of skills leads to them being upgraded. And an increase in rank? Another loophole.‘System, explain the concept of skill ranking to me,’ I thought.*SKILL RANKING*Skills are grouped into various ranks based on the level of stamina they consume and the amount of SP they require to be purchased. They are also grouped based on how powerful they are.The levels of skills are D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, and god level.When a skill shows a + or - sign, its level begins to appreciate or depreciate based on its number of uses, and a skill will rank up from its previous skill when it reaches a required threshold.A skill can also be deleted when not used for a long time, as D- skills are deemed useless to the host and, as such, are deleted by the system.Finally, god level skills cannot be purchased from the SP shop but can only be obtained by upgrading SSS rank skills or by reaching a required threshold called godhood.The process of upgrading skills in rank is called realization, and the process of skills decreasing in rank is known as reduction.[End of information]‘No, that will be all for now.’ The system was very explanatory with relaying information, and I realized I could rely on it more for things I didn’t know about.“I should call Logan now; I think it’s finally time I revealed my identity to him,” I said, dialing his number.“Hello?” Logan said expectantly.“Hello, Mr. Logan, how’s business?” I said.“Business is really booming; your predictions have been spot on, and we’re making a lot of money, sir,” he said respectfully.“And how much is our total revenue currently?” I said.“We made a total of $469,840 from our last exchange, bringing our revenue to a total of $5,672,290, sir.” He said; I could feel the excitement oozing from him.“Well, that’s to be expected. Oh, and Logan. I think it’s finally time I revealed my identity to you, I trust you now, and our work relationship has been one I’ve really enjoyed.” I said.“Are you sure? I’m perfectly fine with not knowing your identity, sir,” he said.“My name is Malcolm Shade; I’d prefer if you called me Malcolm from now on.” I said.“Wait, Shade as in-“ he spoke, but I interrupted him mid-sentence.“Yes, I’m the son of Lucien Shade, the head of the Shade Corporation.” I said.“B-but h-how?” He stammered in confusion.“I’ll explain later; we will both have to meet up eventually; we have very important things to discuss. I have to go now, but I’ll email the details.” I said.We said our goodbyes, and I hung up. Time had flown by, and I had about an hour before my classes, so I decided to arrive early.I didn’t see the point in going for classes; I wasn’t gaining anything; the exam would be easy enough, and worst come to worst, I would rely on the system.It could be called cheating, but I didn’t care, and no one would basically catch me or anything.But to avoid the attention of the teacher and especially my father, I’d have to comply.I arrived at class, and only a few people had arrived. I positioned myself at my back seat and brought a book pretending to read so as to avoid unnecessary attention.I scanned the room, and my eyes caught a girl staring at me; immediately, she noticed me locking eyes with her, she looked away shyly and flustered.I recognized her; in my past life, I had a crush on her and never truly had the courage to speak to her and never saw her again after I failed my entrance exams to the university.Had I piqued her interest now? Well, I couldn’t care less. Girls weren’t exactly my priorities right now, and she didn’t exactly meet my tastes anymore.I was a man in a boy's body, so girls my age weren’t exactly my taste. I felt disgusted at the thought anyway; I wasn’t some weird pedophilic pervert or anything like that.She didn't look in my direction anymore, so I guessed it was my imagination and couldn’t care less.Class went on pretty quickly, and sure enough, the girl didn’t approach me, so once again, I brushed it off as my imagination.I begin to walk home alone, planning what I’d eat for dinner. Thinking about branching at a supermarket, I looked behind me and saw two familiar figures behind me.It was the two bullies who I’d had an altercation with. As I saw them looking less of themselves, I burst into laughter as they approached me; I then stood smiling and waited to be sure they were approaching me.When I was sure their intent was with me, I stood tall and faced them.“You guys were for another round?” I said cracking my knuckles. I was more than confident in my abilities now and didn’t even give any sign of backing down.“No, it’s not like that; we were just here to apologize,” said one of them remorsefully.“Yeah, we’re sorry for causing so much trouble for you, we were hoping if we could be friends from now on,” said the other.“Okay, no problem, friends, meaning I can call you guys whenever I need something, right?” I said an idea coming to my head.I would use them if the need ever arose. Establishing connections and building my small army was vital, and I’d start with this.“Sure no problem, guess we’ll see you around.”“Yeah, later.” I said waving them goodbye as I continued my lone walk home.The next day, I woke up, and my normal routine unfolded. I went to the gym, attended my martial arts classes, which I'd been really undisciplined about recently, and chastised myself for it. I got home and delved into my research.Things finally got eventful when I reached my cram school. Eager to maintain my early run, I arrived early once again. Not shocked to see that only a few people had arrived, including the girl I thought was staring at me.I walked past her and positioned myself at the back seat, my usual routine, and rested my head on the desk. This was the first time since my regression that I'd been bored.I jolted myself back to life as I realized I had things to do concerning the system. It was about two weeks to my university exam, and although I was confident in my abilities, I thought of purchasing a skill that could aid me and make things much easier."System, open my status window," I thought.[Status Window]Name: Malcolm ShadeAge: 18 yearsOccupation: StudentCur
[Ariel’s POV]‘I’d been noticing this for a while now, I’d been noticing…him. He, he’d changed. He used to look so goofy and cute but now Malcolm, had something cold and sinister about him.He seemed scary and weirdly smarter, at first I thought it was just my imagination and that he’d be back to normal soon enough. But then when I saw him speak to the teacher that day, I knew within me that something had changed about him.I can’t believe he caught me staring at him the other day, Ugh I feel like such an idiot. He didn’t even smile or anything, he just…stared back, coldly.I shouldn’t be thinking about this.’ These were the thoughts that passed through my head when I was alone in class. I arrived particularly early and was bored out of my head.I scanned the class and saw some familiar yet unfamiliar characters, people whose faces I’d seen but didn’t speak to at all and I felt lonely.My friends hadn’t arrived and I thought of what I could do to pass time, then he walked in. I looked
I headed home in high spirits, it’d been a while since I’d felt my heart pound and I didn’t think it would be because of a girl.Backtracking to about an hour ago, I’d just left the restroom and was headed home when I was stopped by…Ariel.I had no intention of speaking to her as I made up my mind that girls weren’t my priority at that point, but when she grabbed my arm I felt the anxiety well up within me.‘Ugh I shouldn’t be thinking about this’ I thought. Yes, I’d only agreed to be her tutor on the spur of the moment. Once I got home I would email her how I didn’t have the time and be done with it, yes, that was the plan.I branched at a supermarket to get some groceries before heading home.When I got home I tried emailing her and finally realized my mistake “I gave her my email instead of getting hers! Argh ,how could I have been so stupid!” I shouted, placing my hands on my head as I lay face flat on my bed.Then again this wasn’t too bad, Ariel’s family were influential to an e
I got home that day with a lot of time to spare, contemplating what to do with my time, I decided to learn more about secret skills.“System, what can you tell me about secret skills?”“Huh, and what conditions caused me to acquire access to render?”Now I was confused. I unlocked the render skill because I’d been regressed? Did that mean I wasn’t the only one who had access to the system? I had to ask.“ System, am I the only one who has access to you?”There it went again talking about the code. “What is the code anyway?”‘I guess I’ll lay off for now’ I thought, whatever the code was I knew I would find out sooner or later.I still had a lot of free time and didn’t know what to do with it, I still hadn’t gotten an email from Ariel so that also wasn’t an option.I decided to contact Logan again, I felt weird as we’d spoken just about an hour ago, but having nothing else to do I decided to put my plan in motion.I sent him an email and our conversation went thus:*Logan, I think it’s
[Evelyn’s POV]‘Something is definitely wrong with Malcolm, first he speaks back to me and humiliates me in front of the whole class, then I ask him to run a simple errand for me and he declines.His whole demeanor has changed, I feel something is going on with him. Even when I threatened him by saying that I would have to report him to his father, he hardly even responded.He used to be gullible and timid, but now he answers questions in class flawlessly without even paying attention, I can understand if he’s studying a lot but that isn’t enough to give him this amount of growth.And the most surprising part of it all is was that in the pop quiz I organized, Malcolm was the only student who managed to get perfect scores.Something can’t be right, he has to be cheating or something, this amount of growth in such a short amount of time. I didn’t want to ever have to do this but I feel I have to call Mr. Shade.’These were the thoughts that passed through the head of Malcolm’s cram scho
I left my house that day sad and distraught. My father had sent a driver to pick me up and as I came up to my junction ,there he was, already waiting for me. I said nothing to him and waltzed into the back seat of the car after he opened the door for me.In a couple of more moments we were moving. My life hadn’t always been like this, when was it that I’d stopped being happy and hated myself, I think I was 4 years of age.My father and I loved my mother very much and she felt the same for us. She would often tell me that she loved me the most in the entire world and I would be overjoyed as a child.My mother, Mrs Gabrielle Shade, was a beautiful woman who had long brown hair and green eyes. She was of European descent, Spanish I think. I barely had any knowledge of her and could only remember what she looked like thanks to Render.She and my father met when my father was on vacation in Paris, in his mid twenties. My father inherited the Shade corporation at a very young age and had be
As we pulled up to the giant gates of the Shade mansion, I was once again taken aback by the large structure that was my home.‘To think that I would return here’ I thought. The large castle that was the Shade mansion could never get old to me. It was gently nestled atop a lush hillside and one would have to drive up to reach the large castle like gates.On the interior, it had exactly 50 parking spaces and the environment was lined with various exotic flowers that were tended to everyday by the best gardeners.The entire area contained 3 buildings with 3 floors each and 2 basements. With the central building being stationed at the middle of the three.The building on the right was set out for guests, parties, and official purposes and the one on the left were the workers quarters.It was truly a sight to behold and a sense of nostalgia hit me as we pulled up to the front of the central house.I got down from the car as the driver opened the door for me. My father had been informed of
I was in a hospital bed staring at my mother. I could gradually see life fading from her eyes.“Somebody! Help! Please anybody!” I screamed but no one came. She looked me in my eyes and told me, “Malcolm, I’ll always love you” she said and let go of my hand.“No!” I screamed and then suddenly the ground opened up and I fell through a bottomless hole. I kept falling and screaming for a short while and I hit the floor pretty hard.I lay on the floor and tried using my hands to clean my face and saw blood!. I screamed in fear as I turned to my right and saw a hooded figure approach me.“No! Stay back!” I screamed as I tried to scramble away from the person but as I crawled he grabbed me by my ankle and pulled me back to him.He removed his hood and displayed his face before getting up and pulling out a gun, a large grin on his face. As he pulled the trigger I screamed in fear and woke up in my room.‘I was just dreaming’ I thought as I sat up in my bed. I picked my phone up and checked t