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 took a shower, got my gym bag on my tank top, and headed to the gym.
On my way there, I opened my status window and discovered some slight changes.
[Status Window]
Name: Damon Darhk
Age: 18 years
Occupation: Student
Current Status: Healthy/Unemployed
HP: 100/100 (Fully recovered)
SP: 0
Stamina: 100
Skills: Foresight (D Rank)
{Additional Information}
New discoveries have been made by the host. How will he approach these discoveries?
The Keepers of the Code have acknowledged your existence.
[End Of Information]
Hmmm, this was a lot to digest.
'Stamina and skills have been added to my statuses, eh? Cool,' I thought.
'How is foresight only a D rank skill? It seems too broken. Guess I'll learn about skill rankings later.' As these thoughts flew through my head, none of them intrigued me more than the additional information.
*The Keepers of the Code have noticed you.* This was the second time I'd heard about the code, and I didn't know what to make of it.
There was too much I didn't know, and it pissed me off. I would make research later and uncover the secrets behind the system, but for now, I had a battle ahead of me and I walked confidently as I swung the gym doors open.
I was pretty early and noticed that almost no one had arrived, just I, the janitor, and some other dude.
'Well, that's just my luck,' I thought, picking a work and starting my sets. I felt a sense of dread when I discovered today was leg day.
I hated leg day, everyone did.
'System,' I thought.
'How can I improve my physical muscle mass without having to go to the gym?'
'Oh, this could work, and what is the level of my physical attributes now?'
Ouch, well, that certainly hurt my ego. Everything just kept pointing toward me grinding SP; I'd neglected it for too long. Not anymore.
*Notice!* *Notice!*Notice!*
~Ding!~
*New quest unlocked*
Reward: 100 SP
*Activate self defense protocol?*
[Yes] [No]
I looked up, and I saw that the bully and his gang had arrived, and that he was slowly walking toward me.
'There will be no need for that really; system how do I activate my skills?' my thoughts started coming in rapidly as I anticipated him coming to take action.
'Just what I thought; now let's see what this skill can do. Foresight!'
*Notice!*
In the next instant, what happened played before my eyes like a movie. In the next six to seven seconds, the bully was going to bump me hard, and I would fall and hit my head on a dumbbell.
And then in another instant, I was back to my senses, quickly regaining my consciousness as the bully was only a few steps from me now. I waited for the opportune moment and when he tried bumping into me I sidestepped and he missed me causing him to trip over the dumbbells and fall down face flat.
Everyone was already watching with keen interest and the whole gym burst out laughing when this scene unfolded. Furious, he got up and tried to hit me; twenty seconds had already passed since I first used foresight so I had about forty seconds to wrap things up.
He charged toward me again, and I activated my skill and dodged by jumping swiftly to the right again.
'Thirty seconds left, I have to wrap this up!' I thought about scanning my environment for what I could do. Fatigue was starting to hit me.
I'd used foresight twice already and that had a stamina cost of -40; this had to end with the next two moves.
There were loud cheers of *Fight back*, and *quit running* from the crowd in the gym, but I simply ignored them too.
Even the gym officials didn't seem to want to intervene as they stood at the corner watching it all play out.
All this into consideration, I knew I had to end this on my own. I ran to the edge of the room and stood in front of some dumbbells as he charged at me. Ten seconds left, I have to make this count.
Pushing through my limits I used foresight again and planned my defensive strategy; he came charging at me with a right hook and I moved away, locking his legs with mine and using his momentum against him, because of this he tripped and slammed head first into the rack of dumbbells behind me and he lay there, unconscious.
At first, there was a loud cheer from the crowd but everyone suddenly went silent as a lady screamed. Blood dripping from the side of the unconscious man's head.
I stood over the unconscious man, feeling a sense of pity and it was at that point that the gym officials finally decided to swing into action.
The gym nurse stood over him, screaming for a first aid kit and placed an ice pack on his head.
People quietly began to leave the gym and I stood there watching the whole scene unfold not feeling any sense of remorse.
I was brought back to my senses when the receptionist tapped me gently. "Mr. Damon, the owner of the gym would like to have a word with you," she said shyly, beckoning me to follow her.
I simply nodded and looked behind me for the last time watching the chaotic atmosphere unfold.
~Ding!~
*Quest complete*
<100 SP has been received and added to status.>