Fast forward to a week later, and I'm in the gym, getting my grind on.
This is how I'd been living my life for the past week. I'd wake up, go to the gym for a workout, take my self-defense classes, go home, do some research on stocks, and then prepare for cram school for the rest of the day.My schedule wasn't all too versatile, and I was content with it as I had enough time for myself and for my goals.After finishing my sets, I went to the restroom to take a small break. Looking in the mirror, I was impressed with the amount of progress I'd made. It had been about 4 weeks, so I wasn't expecting anything too much, but I was finally gaining some weight and coming out of my lanky frame.This was good; I'd keep this up and continue to monitor my progress."Okay, it's back to the grind, I guess," I thought as I finally left the restroom.I was on my way to resume my sets when I noticed another guy working out on my spot. "Bro probably doesn't understand gym culture; well, I might as well ask for my spot back," I thought."Excuse me, bro," I said in a respectful tone, trying my best not to cause any trouble."What!" The man shouted as he got up from the bench press stand and rose to his feet.As he stared down at me, and I looked at his face, I realized that I could recognize this man. I'd seen him multiple times in the gym.I had no problems whatsoever with him as I'd simply come to the gym to work out and leave; however, he always felt the need to cause me discomfort here and there.Sometimes he'd shoulder bump me. Other times he'd take my spot like he did today, forcing me to wait for another person to finish their sets before I could continue my workout.This had gone on for a while now, but as I was much smaller in frame and trying to keep a low profile, I let it play out.I was getting pretty fed up, and I guess today was the day I would finally confront him.He was way taller than me, and I was by no means short; I was 6 feet tall, and I was literally looking up to speak to this guy.He looked like a classic biker character pulled straight out of a 90’s movie with a bald head, long brown beard hair, tattoos and piercings here and there, and a very large frame. Like really large.I was intimidated at this point, but I stood my ground, not letting my flustered emotions show.As he stood there, letting his oversized mass cover me, sweat dripping profusely from both of us, others stopped working out and began to stare at us.“Woohoo! Seems like we’ve got ourselves a stand-off, ladies and gentlemen,” said one of the men, and everyone burst out laughing and cheered loudly.A gym official also came and stood to oversee what was going on, and I realized that this was fast becoming a scene.‘I was trying my best to avoid this, but since it had come down to it, I have no choice,’ I thought to myself.I spoke first. “My bag was here first, and according to the rules of the gym, you can't take another person's spot till they are done working out, so please excuse me and go somewhere else.”“Ohhhhhhhhhhh!” The crowd cheered loudly as they heard this, and I realized the scales of this battle were tilting in my favor. There were also cheers of… "He’s right, move over punk" from the audience, and the big guy noticed that he was starting to lose face.Realizing he had to do something quickly, he moved closer and said, “You want me to move, why don’t you make me” and pushed me with one hand, causing me to stagger back a few steps.At this point, the crowd went wild, and everyone was screaming the words ‘Hit him back.’ I weighed my options; even though I'd been taking some martial arts classes and was starting to get adept with the basics of combat, would that really be enough to help me beat this guy?As I still contemplated my options, the system popped up with several panels coming up at once. I was shocked as this had never happened before.~DING!~[SYSTEM NOTICE]*WARNING!* *WARNING!* *WARNING!*I got home that day more furious than ever. This was the first time I’d tasted defeat since my regression, and trust me, I didn’t like the feeling. I sent a message to my tutor and called in sick without going into too much detail.I was in no mood for class as all I had on my mind was revenge, and the rage I felt kept increasing by the minute.The rest of the day went on as a blur, and nighttime came calling pretty quickly. I lay on my bed, dejected. I tried closing my eyes to sleep, but it didn’t work.I’d practically wasted the day away. I didn’t go to class, I made no research on stocks and other money-making prospects, and I also missed my self-defense and martial arts session for that day.I was mad at myself for letting my bad experience at the gym put a wedge on my goal progression, but I just couldn’t help it.When I finally came to and realized I had wasted the whole day complaining like an angered baby, I chastised myself.Whenever a problem presents itself, instead of acce
I woke up with terrible eye bags the next day. My discovery of the SP shop and the possibilities I could obtain from it kept me up almost all night, and I paid the consequences now.I had the gym in a couple of minutes, so I had to get prepared. Once again, I felt like I was dreaming; it was all too good to be true. The SP shop provided a wide range of abilities that even made the gym secondary.The abilities section of the SP shop was just a fraction of what it actually contained. Using SP, you could upgrade physical attributes, height, attractiveness, sex appeal, hair – it was all there.I could also upgrade my stamina, my speed to run faster, my intelligence, my luck, by just farming SP.I could purchase any material item I wanted; it was just all too much.I realized I shouldn’t have been relying on the system too much because I didn’t know its origin, and it was still a mystery I was far from uncovering.But for now, I would maximize it to its full potential and begin my SP grind
I accompanied the receptionist to the office of the manager, and she stood at the door, beckoning me to enter without following me in.I nodded and walked in, taking a seat in front of the manager. I noticed the gang who the bully always rolled with were already in the office but paid no attention to them.“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t call the cops,” he said with a pronounced frown on his face.“I think that’s my line; an altercation was undergoing in your gym, and your officials thought it feasible to stand by and watch while I could’ve possibly been assaulted,” I snapped back.“That’s some bullshit!” shouted one of the guys, and the other guys raised their voices in agreement. The manager stared at them in annoyance as they quieted down.“Why don’t you fellas take your leave, eh? I’ll handle this,” said the manager. The men were reluctant at first but eventually obeyed.It seems they’d been working out at this gym for a long while and had caused situations like this in t
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 rank
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