"Hey, creep. Is this a date?"
I must say that I was dumbfounded by Jasmine's question at that moment.
What did she expect me to answer to that?
Of course, it was a date. Why else would I ask her out?
Do I have to spell everything out plainly?
I sighed, taking my time to stand and look her in the eyes.
They say fake it till you make it. Even if I was no more confident asking her out a second time, I had to fake it.
I nodded my head and answered her, "Y-Yes. It is. I-It's a date."
She put a finger to her chin and slightly elevated her head with her eyes glancing upwards like a person who was thinking.
"Okay," she said.
"But let me say this, it's a one-time thing."
Jasmine turned and walked away from me. Hers was the fastest walk I had seen all day.
She moved like something was pursuing her from behind and it certainly was not me.
"At least she agreed to the date. That's a problem solved."
I dusted my hands and began to walk to my dorm.
Just a few minutes later, the notifications started to drop and I was happy with what I was seeing.
[ Daily Quests Completed ]
[ You have gained +3 Pimp Points for completing the quest 'Support Albert Lorten's picnic idea' ]
[ You have gained +3 Pimp Points for completing the quest 'Get the majority to agree with the idea' ]
[ You have gained +6 Pimp Points for completing the quest 'Find a date for the class picnic' ]
[ Pimp Points: 44 ]
[ Pimp Status: 2 ]
[ You have 6 Pimp Points left to the next Pimp Status ]
Once again, I survived the barrage of daily quests.
...
...
...
For close to an hour since we finished the Emerald class meeting, I was on my way to the dorm.
It was normally a twenty to twenty-five minute walk from the dorms to the academy building, but I had to make multiple stops to replenish my groceries.
My hands were occupied with bags that were filled with everything I needed urgently.
I arrived at my room, inserted the key into the hole and opened the door.
The first thing that left my hands, after I closed the door with my feet, were the bags.
The handles of these bags were thin enough to press tightly against the palmar surfaces of my fingers as I carried them.
Freeing my fingers from the torture, I saw blood rushing back to the tips and bringing life back to my digits which were already tingling.
I ran a cold shower as I usually did before fixing myself something to eat, depending on whatever I had at that moment.
In a few minutes, I was done.
I stepped out and got myself ready to make a meal. With how hungry I was getting these days, I might just make double the ration I usually ate.
I put a pot of water on fire and as I reached for the top shelf in my small dorm kitchen, another notification dropped.
[ Bonus rewards ]
[ Do you accept these bonus rewards for an excellent performance today? ]
[ Yes ] / [ No ]
I had actually forgotten about the extra rewards I was supposed to get for outdoing myself today.
I earnestly wished that the rewards would be better than the usual ones, so I chose 'Yes' and a dropdown list appeared.
[ Daily Quests Completed ]
[ Bonus Reward ]
[ For being able to convince 100% of the Emerald class to support Albert Lorten's idea, you have gained additional +3 Pimp Points ]
[ There was an increase in your level of assertiveness. That was impressive. Keep it up! ]
[ Your assertiveness has increased by 1%. You have gained additional +3 Pimp Points ]
At this point, I had to interrupt because I didn't understand what was going on any longer.
"What are you doing, system?"
[ I am doing what you, my master, created me to do ]
[ You asked for one thing when you gave me life and that was for me to help you become a man who understood the female gender by treading a natural path, simply because you didn't want to use your powers to do such things ]
[ That is what I am doing, master ]
[ Do you not like the pattern of challenges you face? ]
"Tch, you cocky thing," I said internally.
"It is not a problem, I understand. Carry on."
[ Would you like to view a more detailed breakdown of your accomplishments today? ]
"Show me," I commanded.
Another dropdown list appeared instantly.
[ Daily Reports — Detailed Version ]
[ You gained +3 Pimp Points for completing the quest 'Support Albert Lorten's picnic idea' ]
[ You gained +3 Pimp Points for completing the quest 'Get the majority to agree with the idea' ]
[ You gained +6 Pimp Points for completing the quest 'Find a date for the class picnic' ]
[ Congratulations! You also received bonus rewards for outdoing yourself today ]
[ You gained a total of +6 Pimp Points from 'Bonus Rewards' ]
[ You gained a total of 18 daily Pimp Points ]
[ Total Pimp Points: 50 ]
[ Pimp Status: 2 ]
[ You currently have 0 Pimp Points left to the next Pimp Status ]
I looked at the status screen in front of me, rubbing my chin as I glanced through it.
I was impressed with myself since it hasn't been a long time since I started this journey.
"What now?" I wondered, "It's not levelling me up to the next pimp status. What's going on?"
The system usually performed the level up automatically whenever I hit the required pimp points.
I was expecting it to do the same this time, just like it did when I moved from the pimp status of zero to one and then to two.
But nothing was happening.
I waited for several minutes, growing impatient with every minute that passed.
I turned down the fire that I was cooking with and began pacing back and forth in my room.
For several minutes again, nothing came up.
I sat down, tapping my feet rashly on the floor and resting my chin on the back of my clasped hands.
Rising from my chair, I went and completely turned off the fire.
I had lost the interest and appetite that drove me to cook in the first place.
Another good twenty minutes passed again and the time of day neared thirty minutes past six o'clock in the evening.
Tsk, tsk. I had given up because this had never happened before and I had no idea how to start dealing with it.
[ Ding! ]
A notification dropped and I impatiently pulled up the status screen.
[ Congratulations! You have completed the four-staged Preparatory Assessment Stage (P.A.S) ]
[ The P.A.S was designed to assess and grade your overall performance with the female gender as you climbed through stages 0 - 3 ]
[ Your P.A.S score is ready. Click to view ]
"This is new."
It wasn't the notification I expected but I still got it anyway, so I had to deal with what I got.
"P.A.S score, huh? Let's see."
I tapped the floating screen and it beamed red.
"Huh! What!"
The status screen beamed shone blood red and was blinking with a rectangular sign at its centre that had the word 'FAILED' boldly written in it.
[ You have failed the P.A.S test. Click to view result details ]
[ You have zero skills with the female gender ]
[ You are still able to upgrade for completing the P.A.S ]
[ Your time to upgrade is now. Click to begin your journey to the man you wish to become ]
[ Click to upgrade ]
[ Overall P.A.S remark: SIMP ]
[ P.A.S comment: Do better ]