Su Chen thought that he had his life all mapped out.
He would graduate from college, inherit the family business—which, in commoners' opinion, would keep him wealthy for the rest of his life—marry a pretty and virtuous wife, and have kids.
A beautiful life, wouldn't it be?
He'd always had a feeling that his life was short of something, however.
One day, a mysterious voice called out to him from the deepest part of his brain, and he was given something called "The Prince Charming Makeover System."
At that very moment, he realized that he should not live his life just like that.
Youngsters were supposed to be restless.
Su Chen used to be the Prince Charming for the girls in his high school since he got the good-looking genes from his parents. When he started college, he spent most of the days playing video games in his dorm room and eating delivered food. His once-handsome face gradually grew chubbier and chubbier.
Gaining weight destroyed everything. Since then, girls seldom paid him any attention.
He didn't care much about that, though.
Girlfriend? Would she be more fun than video games? He wondered. But there were too few relationships that started in college that would last, so why waste time on one? So long as his family could provide him a house, car, and money, there would definitely be pretty girls who wanted to marry him.
After receiving the system, however, he was enlightened.
To be a perfect Prince Charming, first and foremost, he had to be good-looking.
"Ran a hundred meters, running proficiency plus-five!"
"Ran a hundred meters, running proficiency plus-five!"
"Ran a hundred meters, running proficiency plus-five!"
***
In a gym in Magic City, Su Chen was running on a treadmill with his teeth clenched while notifications, one after another, showed up in is mind.
He had gotten used to it. It was one of the functions of the system.
In his mind, there was a dashboard, similar to that of a video game, completed with hundreds of skill icons, big or small. Some of the icons were already activated, including the marathon, weight lifting, mathematics, English, and so forth.
Below each icon displayed the level and proficiency of each skill.
For instance, running was his skill with the highest level at the moment. He had been running more than 10,000 meters every day for more than a month.
[Running (Advanced Level) proficiency: 49,150/50,000.]
A skill was categorized as a beginner's level when it was just activated. After that, there were elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels. He did not know what would follow because he still couldn't break through any of the advanced levels.
He had joined this gym for more than a month. The extensive daily training and strictly controlled diet had returned him his handsome appearance and fabulous physique that a Prince Charming would possess. His six-pack was also starting to develop.
His incredibly gorgeous appearance seemed to be even more charming when he was working out and shedding sweat, attracting attention from girls in the gym.
[Running Proficiency reached 50,000, skill level boosted up to Master's Level, advanced skill (fast pace) activated]
A notification suddenly popped up in his mind.
Su Chen quickly checked it out.
[Running (Master's Level) Proficiency: 50,000/200,000]
Under the running icon, a new one activated with an introduction beneath it.
[Fast pace: Proactiveness, running speed increased by 50 percent upon starting up, energy consumption halved, active period: 30 minutes, cooling-off period: 12 hours].
Does it mean that this simple training, like running and weight lifting, were merely the preliminary skills for the game? When he reached a certain level, would new, advanced skills be unlocked?
A gleam sparkled in Su Chen's black eyes as he soon got the hang of this setting.
"Ran a thousand meters, proficiency plus-one hundred!"
Since his running had boosted up to Master's Level, the proficiency increased more.
Su Chen stopped and stepped down from the treadmill and swiped his sweat away with a towel beside him.
At that moment, he saw a slightly plump but rather adorable girl entering the gym. It looked like she was here for the first time. After completing her registration at the reception, she anxiously looked around, her eyes glazed with curiosity.
A burly personal trainer from the gym walked toward her and started to chat with her passionately, trying to get her to subscribe to his training sessions.
The trainer was one hell of a smooth talker. He started out chitchatting casually with the girl without mentioning anything about the subscription, giving her the impression that he could train her free of charge.
Su Chen accidentally heard that the girl was about to be a freshman at the University of Magic City.
In this case, as an upperclassman, he definitely could not sit and watch the trainer trick the girl into spending such unjust money.
"Hey, girl! Are you trying to lose weight?" Su Chen called out to the girl with his bottle in his hand.
The girl looked at Su Chen in surprise. When she saw his T-shirt soaked in sweat, admiration emerged in her big, bright eyes.
"I can guide you if you don't mind. We'll work hard together." Su Chen smiled.
Lin Yumeng got butterflies in her stomach. The smile on this boy's face was too stunning.
When she finally gathered herself, Lin Yumeng nodded her head as a blush crept up her cheeks.
"Come over here. Let me give you some tips for running." Su Chen waved at her.
"Uh, okay!"
Lin Yumeng's big eyes blinked while she nodded and quickly walked toward him, looking adorable.
The trainer glared at Su Chen, blaming him for ruining his plan for getting paid, but could not do anything else about it.
"You should first brisk walk, warm up your body, and then adjust the speed to slow running when it is suitable. This button activates the machine; this button is to stop…" Su Chen taught her how to use the treadmill step by step.
It wasn't troublesome as she learned fast. She picked a speed she deemed acceptable and began brisk walking.
While rehydrating himself, he chatted with her.
"Is this your first time in a gym?"
"Yeah. I idled away my holidays and gained a little weight. Haha!" The girl giggled.
Her cute behavior amused Su Chen. "I heard you have gotten into the University of Magic City. I am also a student there. I am studying finance. I will enter the second year after the holidays."
"Oh, really? So you are my senior then. Hello, senior!" said the girl with her sweet voice.
"Hello, junior. Oh, right, I haven't introduced myself! I'm Su Chen."
"I'm Lin Yumeng."
The two soon became acquainted and talked enthusiastically.
Lin Yumeng worked out very little as she started panting after running for ten minutes.
"Senior, I…I can't run any longer."
"This is always the case when you are giving it the first try. You will get used to it. You can think about the food you love and the pretty clothes you want to fit in. Those will drive you to work harder," said Su Chen with a smile.
Lin Yumeng nodded solemnly. She didn't think about the pretty clothes, but rather chocolate, pudding, cake…
Just as he said, she felt more energetic instantly.
"Nonsense! You will hurt yourself! Quickly stop it! I'll show you how to use the equipment instead," the personal trainer, Gu Zhuang, approached them and spoke to Lin Yumeng with a grim face.
Lin Yumeng looked at him and then cast Su Chen an inquiring look.
"Don't listen to him. You haven't run for long, I'll show you the equipment later," said Su Chen indifferently.
"Okay!" Lin Yumeng nodded with a smile.
"You are not helping her. Intensive running will hurt her knees," Gu Zhuang glared at Su Chen furiously.
Su Chen glanced at him without expression, ignoring him.
"You…That's monkey business. You are hurting people!" Gu Zhuang was at the end of his rope.
"Junior, are you willing to run wild with me?" Su Chen looked at Lin Yumeng and said with a smile.
Lin Yumeng was startled for a second. She then shot Gu Zhuang a shy glance and nodded slightly.
Women were all visual animals. She instinctively trusted Su Chen more, compared to the somewhat intimidating trainer.
"You're just a kid, what do you know about working out?" Gu Zhuang gawked at Su Chen and questioned him furiously.
Su Chen frowned at the address—"kid.""Since you know so much, you must be better than I am. How about a match?"
Gu Zhuang was stunned. He then replied indignantly, "I accept the challenge. Do you think I'd be afraid of you? What's the play?"
"This, of course. I have just run ten thousand meters, so you have the advantage over me. Let me rest for a bit. Then, whoever runs the longest distance in thirty minutes is the winner. If you lose, you'll have to stop bothering us." Su Chen chuckled.