The way home was rather uneventful for Iris, after comforting the crying women and splitting up after an exchange of numbers, as the women wouldn't take no for an answer by clinging to Iris until she shared her contact information.
Which she grudgingly did at the end after constant nagging from the girl, this seemed to make the girl so excited it seemed to have entirely taken her mind of the previous incident, which caused Iris to form a slight smile at the girl's antics.
The reasoning behind her being reluctant in the first place is just Iris being not much of a sociable person.
In school, she has few friends and rarely speaks to anyone else.
It's not as if she cannot make friends if she wants to, in fact, Iris is actually one of the most beautiful girls in her school which makes her reasonably popular among the male students.
However, her personality makes her very unapproachable, which seemed to put people off naturally.
Despite this Iris generally preferred it this way as she never liked being the centre of attention, and enjoyed not being disrupted, but now with the system, this would be basically an impossible task.
With her original appearance beautiful alongside with the continuous enhancements of the system her looks will continuously improve which will make Iris stand out whether she likes it or not.
How could she solve these problems?
The only explanation will entail her trying to explain the whole 'Mystical Powers' thing, which she absolutely will not do.
Moreover, she knew that at some point in time she'd be forced to her parents, after all, a secret is always bound in being discovered by prying ears especially when she'll meet those that have specific powers to do such a thing.
She signed in annoyance.
With these thoughts continuing to plague her mind, she finally arrived back home.
Standing in front of her house door, she began thinking about her experience with the man.
Honestly, it felt exhilarating.
She never saw that side of herself before, the feeling of adrenaline coursing through her veins with having to deal with an armed man under the pressure of having a risk towards her life.
Felt is freeing, and it was the most exciting thing she felt for a long time.
She always felt like she was slipping into the same cycle and that she wanted something more in her life.
With the system, although it will be dangerous she knows that there will never be a dull moment in her life ever again, she doesn't know if she will prevail over every obstacle she comes across, but it doesn't instil fear within her of the risk of death
A dazzling smile emerged on her face.
She opened the door quietly, trying not to be heard. However, the lightly 'Kacha' sound it did after being closed reverberated through the quiet home.
"Damn..." She cursed.
Slow footsteps walked down the stairs before a Handsome man and Beautiful woman appeared in her sight. It was her father and mother, James and Emily.
"Where were you, young lady?" Sternly said James, I knew he was putting on this appearance for my sake. My Dad usually is a very light-hearted man; I must have truly worried them this time.
"Sorry Dad, I just went out for a night walk I'm sorry I didn't inform you both." Spoke Iris in an apologetic tone, she knew this time it was truly her fault that she left her parents worrying at home without leaving behind a message of her whereabouts.
"Hmm. Did you know how worried sick, we were? I was about to convince James in calling the Police to search for a missing person! Going out this late at night, do you know how dangerous it is for a lone girl?" As Emily vented out the last two hours of panic for her daughter, she finally noticed something while staring at her daughters face. Iris gulped as saw her Mother suddenly approaching her, putting both hands on her shoulders and leaned her face closer to take a better look.
"Yes, Mother?" Iris asked with a hesitant look while her Mother was inspecting her face closely.
"What did you do to your face?" She asked curiously.
"Nothing. Why?" She feigned innocence.
"Mhh, why do you seem to have become more beautiful? Are you really sure you didn't do anything? James honey do you see it also?" She asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion then looking towards James for reaffirming her suspicions. James squinted his eyes giving her face a thorough glance.
"Hmm. I'm not sure?" James queried.
Seeing the thorough confusion on James' face, Iris sighed in relief. I think women are definitely more sensitive to this sort of thing she thought while looking at the puzzled expression on James' face.
"See Mom, Dad can't notice anything different!" Iris spoke trying to divert her Mothers attentions elsewhere.
"Fine, your off the hook Young Lady but don't expect to be late ever again, I don't want to be seeing you missing by the time we get home!" Emily demanded.
"Alright, Mother. I promise I won't be out this late again." Responded Iris while stretching feigning a yawn. "Well, I guess I better go to bed, I'm knackered. Goodnight Mom and Dad" Before her Mother can retort Iris already rushed upstairs entering her room.
Phewww that was close.
Thankfully her Dad is clueless.
Iris jumped on her bed laying down, and Iris was looking dejectedly at her ceiling like it would somehow provide her with all of the perfect solutions towards her troubles.
I will have to provide a decent explanation for my parents sooner or later...
It was doubtless an exhausting day.
That damn system was making his daily regularity just more difficult, yet also so exciting.
She smiled.
Drawing a sigh, she stood up.
It was time to work out; she was curious to see what would happen.
Unfortunately, Iris hadn't got any of the specific gym tools, but doing some homemade exercises were still suitable for her to do. So, deciding on a position, she reached down and placed her hands on the floor; directly under her shoulders, her arms fully extended, her body straight, her toes also on the floor.
She inhaled deeply and started going up and down smoothly, thanks to her enhanced strength it was rather easy, but as time went on her arms wobbled, signalling they were about to fall.
But she still kept on going pushing herself forward, as only by surpassing her limits could she truly get stronger fast, and that's what she was aiming for because there was no saying what next the system could throw at her.
Thinking of the events of today, where she would utterly helpless without the skills she previously purchased from the system made her desire to grow stronger strengthen.
She can't be powerless; she won't accept being weak! She knows that if she doesn't grow stronger quickly, then eventually she won't be able to resist and be trampled upon by those who are stronger than her.
Thinking about Orthos, when she ended up forced into giving him assess to her soul just because she hadn't had the strength to defend herself!
With Orthos said that even a being such as himself is being hunted, she unconsciously thought to her current class, without the strength required then wouldn't she end up like the others with the class, hunted until only death awaits?
No, she can't accept it, with these continuous thoughts in her mind, Iris grew increasingly determined to exercise until her body is completely unable to continue.
Her eyes became bloodshot as she pushed herself even further going up and down strenuously, making her muscles begin to ache.
Her arms hurt so much, recommending her to give up and rest, that there was no need to go to such extremes to improve her strength. But for every time she felt that her determination was wavering, she gritted her teeth and continued pushing.
Until eventually after much time passed she fell.
Panting heavily and feeling sweaty all over her body, Iris slowly lifted her upper body, as she got into the correct position Iris started doing exercises towards her abs.
Throughout the entire night Iris didn't really sleep much, she just took quick breaks before continuing with the same routine destroying her body.
Until notifications appeared in her mind from the system, informing her that she has levelled up her skills.
[ The skill 'Bodybuilding' has levelled up to '2'. ]
[The skill 'Bodybuilding' has levelled up to '3' ]
[The skill 'Athleticism' has levelled up to '2']
Mhm? So I can actually level up my skills as well? She stopped exercising as she stared at the notifications, during the entire time she was entirely focused on her training and didn't even notice the announcements from the system, therefore she was faintly surprised at the information telling her that she can level up her skills. It seems the athleticism skill really was handy in the end.
So she decided to open up her status, 'Status' Iris thought.
[Name: Iris White]
[Age: 15]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Eranyth Warlock - Apprentice]
[Secondary Class: None]
[Strength: 14]
[Dexterity: 13]
[Constitution: 13]
[Endurance: 13]
[Intelligence: 19]
[Mana: 20]
[Appearance: 21]
[Attribute points: 7] [System points: 205]
[Shop] [Quests] [Skills]
Upon looking at her current status, Iris pleasantly noted that her Strength increased by '1' and the Endurance stat went up by '2', making Iris happy that her hard worked was rewarded.
It seems endurance basically means her stamina alongside her ability to resist physical strain and pain.
Obviously, she knew that once she becomes stronger, it'll become incredibly hard to raise her stats by pure physical training alone, hence demonstrating the true usefulness of the points received from the system.
Furthermore, it was still unknown how strong she is right now or how strong can she become, before that comes the need to use her points.
It was still to test.
Looking over at the 'Skill' option on her menu she tapped it.
[ Body Arts ] [ Magic Arts ]
On the new screen that appeared only two options were available.
Is it because I only got skills related to them? Mhh...
She touched 'Body Arts'. And...
[ Body Arts ] [ Skills: 3 ]
[ Low-level ]
[ Bodybuilding ] [ Level: 3 ]
[Athleticism] [Level 2]
[Martial Arts] [Level: 1]
Damn, she is still too weak at the moment.
She cringed a bit before going back and clicking on 'Magic Arts'.
[ Magic Arts ] [ Skills: 5 ]
[ Low-level ]
[ Fire Manipulation ] [ Level: 1 ]
[ Dark Manipulation ] [ Level 1 ]
[Soul Manipulation] [Level 1]
[Legendary]
[Devour] [Level 1]
[Dark Soul Flame] [Level 1]
Hmm.
That's interesting, two legendary skills from her class she received from Orthos and alongside three Low-Level Magic skills also.
She'll sort that out later; she is exhausted at the moment.
Iris closed her menu, finally unable to keep her body functioning anymore as a result of being heavily worn-out of all that practice.
Struggling to stand up, Iris exerted effort in dragging her tired body towards her bed, crashing down her body motionless while sprawled across the bed.
The noise of cars sounded outside, as she silently drifted off to sleep.