"Thank you! I saw this online and thought it was incredible. I saw you posted another incredible piece last night!"
"You saw that?"
"Haha, yeah I followed you after the first painting. I was really interested in it, but if I'm honest here I don't think I can afford a fair price for that painting."
I was showing an obvious confused look and the man laughed lightly.
"I run an art gallery, but I spend a lot of my money on buying the pieces I see. I also meet a lot of artists, and I can tell you're not used to selling your art. As a serious enjoyer of the arts, I can't rip you off. That new painting of yours is worth a decent amount. At least a few hundred."
'No way! A few hundred? For a painting?'
Although I knew the painting was great, I didn't know it would be worth that much if no one knew me yet, so I was surprised by the amount.
"I knew art could make a lot of money but I thought that would only apply if I was a well known artist."
The man nodded and patted my shoulder.
"That can definitely limit how much you could make, but it isn't like buyers don't have eyes. Anyone can see the value of your art, prestige only helps to get the most out of it... Hey, what do you think about showing one of your paintings at my next event?"
"Are you serious? I appreciate it a lot but can I ask why you would do that for me? You don't even know me."
"I love art, and I just got the feeling that you have a great future... If not then that's okay too."
The man then introduced himself as Malcom Griffin. He was an art gallery director who lived in the city and he wanted to showcase my art in his next event a week later. I happily agreed and we agreed to meet the day before the event.
After Malcom and I went our separate ways I was wandering around the lower city. I didn't have anything specific in mind but I hoped to find something that interested me. I eventually found myself walking around the upper city and I wandered into an art museum.
I had never been to an art museum before. Partly because it would be a waste of money but they simply didn't have art museums in the lower city. I looked around until I finally stopped in front of a large painting on display that had me entranced.
It was an oil painting made up of an arrangement of dark colors but I was in awe as I looked at it.
The emotion it invoked was purely despair. I felt so incredibly dreary looking at the painting but the fact it could even project that emotion so powerfully was incredible. Unintentionally I let out a sigh of admiration.
"Amazing."
A voice came from my side.
"I agree. His command over color and emotion is out of this world."
I turned and saw a short woman standing with her head turned up towards the painting. I looked around but realized the only person she could have been talking to was me.
She turned her head to look at me and smiled lightly. I was stunned because I had never spoken to a girl before much less someone who was as pretty as this girl. She had long eyelashes and beautiful black eyes. Long silky black hair that was tied into a ponytail and pale porcelain skin.
"You have good taste in art... This is one of my favorite pieces."
She turned back to the painting while I shook my head and admired her from the side.
"A-are you an artist yourself?"
"Yeah I am, how'd you know?"
"Oh! Uh, I didn't really but you seemed to have a working knowledge of art. Either a connoisseur or an artist yourself... But I met a connoisseur earlier and you don't give off the same impression as him."
She let out a small laugh while covering her mouth with her fist.
"I guess that's fair. If you met a connoisseur then you are probably an artist too?"
"I don't know if I can really say I'm an artist but I am trying..."
I lowered my head a little and scratched the back of my head. However without missing a beat she replied immediately.
"If you're trying then you're already an artist. It's not about producing things that are deemed beautiful, but making art. Do you have a phone? Can I see some of your art?
My cheeks went red and I now had to admit I was poor.
"I... I don't have a phone... I use my computer to post on social media..."
"It's okay. Tell me the username."
She then pulled out her phone and looked up my art account. There were only two posts but after looking at them she was silent for a long time.
'Ah shit! I shouldn't have tried to claim to be an artist in front of another actual artist.'
After what felt like an eternity, as I began considering running away after making some excuse to leave, she spoke out in a serious tone.
"You can paint like this... And you claim you're not an artist?"
She looked up at me from her phone and there was a shine in her eyes.
"This work is really good! Have you ever thought about appearing in an art show? It would help a lot with getting exposure for your work."
"Actually I am supposed to be in a show in a week... Did you want to come to it?"
"Really? I would love to! When and where?!"
Surprised by her enthusiasm, I told her the name of the art gallery and she said she knew of it. She said she had to go to a meeting with a friend, but that she would definitely see me again at the showing.
"My name is Yasmine."
She held out her hand. I looked down at it briefly, and without her noticing I wiped my sweaty palm on my pant leg, I reached out my hand to shake hers.
"I'm Draven."
She smiled and left the museum, but I stood for a long time looking down at my warm hand.
'I've... Never held a girls hand before... Does this count? I think it counts... It counts.'
I felt warm in my heart and with a bit more pep in my step I left the museum to go back to my apartment. I had a spark of inspiration.
When I entered the apartment I found Cee Cee in the kitchen trying to make a pasta dish she saw on the internet. I wished her good luck before grabbing a canvas and sitting on the couch. I grabbed my paint and began vigorously mixing yellows with reds. I had an assortment of summer colors.
Thanks to my increased intelligence my memory was better, and I could accurately remember a lot of details of someone I had just met.
I began painting.
'I just met her but I would be lying if I said meeting her wasn't a bright light in my dreary life.'
I looked at the painting. A woman who glowed with warmth and a happiness I couldn't replicate, however her face was obscured while a clear smile was on her face.
"Who is that?"
Cee Cee had finally finished making spaghetti for the both of us, and brought some over. She looked at my drawing and asked. I didn't take my eyes off the painting. I.. Wanted to look at it as much as I could.
"Someone I want to meet again."
Cee Cee had gone back into my room to enjoy her meal while watching more videos on my computer, while I sat and ate next to the painting in my living room. After a while I heard a knock at the door so I answered it. It was a postman, and after I signed for the delivery I took the box into my apartment.
Sitting down on my couch I opened the box. It was the phones I had ordered. I took them out and began inspecting them. Two of them had obvious defects. They both had debris in the charger ports, and one of them was bent in the charger port. I quickly cleaned them out and used my screwdriver to realign the prongs in the one that was bent out of shape.
After that I took out the other four and took them apart. While sitting on the floor I quickly figured out what was wrong with them all.
Two had water damage to the circuit boards, and the other two had battery issues. After removing the batteries, which most likely exploded because of too much heat, I went online and ordered the parts to replace for the four phones.
The circuit boards were relatively cheap at $10 each, while the batteries were only a couple dollars, so they were bought and I paid a small fee for express delivery. They would arrive tomorrow along with my art supplies. I decided not to post my painting. I wanted it to be a surprise I could show Yasmine at the show.
I set the painting somewhere safe and went into the bedroom. I sat and watched Cee Cee browse the internet. I ended up falling asleep at some point but I slept really well that night.
I woke up in the morning again feeling extremely hungry.
"I should have ate more before I fell asleep."
Opening the fridge I saw that Cee Cee and I had gone through all of the food I had gotten the other day.
"We really are eating a lot... Sigh, I can't afford to go back to the same store since they probably noticed the theft. I'll have to go further out to get food."
Realizing it was going to be a long walk, I decided to leave the apartment now before it became too late to get the food and be back in time for breakfast.
****
At a random grocery store over thirty minutes from my apartment I was walking around looking at different goods but also placing items discreetly into my inventory. While I was walking around I felt as if someone was watching me. I turned and looked around just to notice that there were two big guys standing far away looking in my direction.
Perhaps it was the intuition I had developed over the past few days of going into the trials, but I felt like they weren't looking at me out of curiosity.
'They must have noticed it was weird that I wasn't taking anything and just walked around for so long. They might have sent an employee to check the stock where I looked at stuff and found I stole some things... I should leave.'
Realizing quickly that the situation wasn't good I put down the ground beef I was looking at and began walking towards the entrance. I kept my eye on the two men who had been watching me, but when I got closer to the entrance I saw there were more employees blocking the exit.
I made a quick judgement call.
I turned around another aisle, and while the employees lost sight of me for a brief moment, I sprinted to the back of the store. With 2 points in agility I was as fast as an average professional athlete. Not the fastest but definitely fast enough to lose some grocery store employees.
I was already at the back of the store when I heard someone shouting.
"HEY HE'S RUNNING! TOWARDS THE BACK!"
However I only turned for a moment to look at my pursuers before I slammed the handle on the emergency exit and a loud alarm went off while I sprinted down the back alley.
I was already gone by the time the employees had reached the fire exit door.
****
"Captain."
"What is it Vasquez?"
Two men were talking to each other inside an office, both wearing military uniforms and with guns holstered to their hips.
"There was a report of someone who stole from a grocery store, for almost $300 worth of stuff."
Confused the man who was called 'captain' put on an annoyed look.
"So what?"
The man named Vasquez walked forward with a folder that had a bunch of pictures inside, and tossed it on the table.
"He didn't have a bag. The items just 'disappeared' after he touched them."
The nameplate on the captain read:
Captain Michael Santino.
"A player?"
Vasquez nodded.
"Find him."
****
In another place.
"Young Miss Heath, welcome home, there is something that requires your attention."
"Hm? What is it?"
A butler walked forward and handed over a folder.
"It seems there is a new player."
Ms. Heath took the folder and skimmed through it for a moment. While she was looking through it the butler asked a question.
"How was the museum today?"
Closing the file, Ms. Heath raised her head and looked at the butler with deep black eyes that were hard to see through.
"I met someone interesting."
****
When I got home I immediately took out the food from my inventory and made breakfast for us. We had a dozen eggs and an entire pack of bacon. Half the loaf of bread was made into toast, and we drank half a gallon of orange juice.
After we ate I didn't even feel the least bit bloated. Instead I felt full of energy. Advanced Metabolism was working miracles for me. Since I was full of energy I decided to exercise for a bit before showering. It was just basic stretching and some body weight exercises.
When I was done with my shower I came out and sat on my bed while I watched Cee Cee browse the internet. She had finished watching cat videos and was instead watching videos of people getting hurt in funny ways. She laughed loudly and I was happy that she was able to enjoy herself.
However as I watched her I realized I had nothing I wanted to do. I oddly enough started craving for the trials. I had decided to take a break but...
'I like the excitement... The danger...'
Realizing how boring my life was, I decided to head into the trial since I had nothing better to do.
"Cee Cee, I'll be gone for a while. There is food in the fridge, so you should be fine."
Cee Cee nodded and didn't even bother looking towards me. So I simply entered Stage 1 and began my run.
Today's stage 1 was easy. It was goblins again but I now did 10 damage with my fireballs so they died in two casts instead of four. This led to me dominating the first stage with ease. After four goblins I was once again greeted with the familiar perk selection.
[Choose one random perk:
Spell Echo - Spells will be casted twice when you cast.
Lesser Flight - Allows for flight up to 7 feet above the ground, for up to 10 seconds with a 2 minute cooldown.
Hubris - Enemies will become enraged when you enter a stage, causing them to enter a frenzy and sprint towards the entrance of the stage. Enemies will also give 2x EXP when killed.]
"Huh. The last option seems to be the most beneficial. It's a gamble, but if I can get lucky with the type of monsters on a stage I could gain a lot of exp. What am I at right now?"
[500/800 EXP to Level 5.]
"Yeah, I'll choose Hubris and hope I am lucky."
I quickly selected Hubris and walked forwards to find the final goblin of the stage. After killing it I received 25 EXP as normal, but it did say it would activate when I enter a stage.
[Stage 1 complete. Moving to Stage 2.]
[Choose one of the following:
Corpse Explosion - Spend 100 MP to detonate a corpse dealing 100 DMG in a seven foot radius.
Chain Lightning - Spend 75 MP to shoot out a lightning bolt after 5 seconds of casting. Chains to another target within 5 feet, up to 5 times. Deals 25 DMG.
Earth Spear (Trap) - Spend 30 MP to set a trap that creates an Earth Spear when a creatures comes within 5 feet of the trap. Deals 50 DMG.]
"Corpse Explosion's damage is insane, but it isn't really reliable damage. Plus I have to kill something first so it won't be useful against a very powerful enemy... Chain Lightning is a very good option since it can deal 25 damage to up to five more enemies, even though the mana cost is really high."
I looked at my mana and shook my head slightly.
"I would only be able to cast it twice before running out of mana... 50 damage could kill some weaker enemies though. Earth Spear is the safest option. However 30 mana to deal 25 damage? It's worse than Lesser Fireball's efficiency... All these choices would be good if I had more skills or stats, but I think I'll go with Chain Lightning. It at least does more damage overall and it's mana cost is at least manageable. With Corpse Explosion I could only cast it once since after casting a single fireball I don't have enough mana to cast it again."
I selected Chain Lightning and stepped through the portal. Immediately on the other side I found myself inside of a creepy forest.
[You gain 25 Gold.]
A wave of red burst out from me and travelled quickly through the forest. After a few seconds of travel I heard an ear piercing roar from deeper in the forest.
Followed by another.
And another.
Seven total roars.
"Shit I can only hit up six targets... That means I'll have to fight the last one with 50 mana."
As I was thinking there was rustling in the trees ahead of me and I immediately prepared myself for combat. Out of the dense treeline came a shambling creature with green flesh and a vacant expression.
A zombie.
It's speed wasn't the fastest, but I couldn't outrun a zombie forever. I wouldn't be able to break away from it if it was a simple mad sprint, so I would have to try and take the terrain to my advantage.
After clearly organizing my thoughts I prepared to avoid the first zombie's attack, but I was watching out for it's six friends to arrive at any moment.
The zombie suddenly changed it's speed and rushing at me. I dodged to the left and tripped the zombie with my foot as it ran past me. It feel to the floor with a hard impact sound, and the sound of bones breaking followed.
However it showed no signs of discouragement as it quickly rose to it's feet and ran at me again. I once again stepped out of the way but when I was holding my foot out to trip the zombie I heard a rustling sound from my backside.
I quickly turned and saw another zombie's snarling face emerge from the trees. Unable to move in time because of my frantically taken steps, I opted to plant my center of gravity on my back foot and kick out with a straight kick to the zombie's stomach.
Using the momentum of the rushing zombie, I pushed myself back and fell on the ground hard. However I knew they wouldn't politely wait for me to get back to my feet, and I rolled with the fall until I felt my feet on the ground. Pushing myself up I stood up and looked around.
I expected to see the first two zombies but now I saw all seven zombies had arrived.
"Thanks for grouping up fast."
Immediately I began casting Chain Lightning.
'Five seconds... I just have to last five seconds and if I'm lucky they might have less than 25 HP... Although that's unlikely, but maybe it can stun them for a second.'
The zombies quickly ran at me, but since I now knew all seven of them were here, I turned around and sprinted the other direction.
"FIVE ONE THOUSAND!"
I began to dodge between tress and taking random double backs.
"FOUR ONE THOUSAND!"
As I was doubling back a zombie managed to leave a large scratch mark on my side as I ran past it.
[HP: 90/100]
"SHIT! THREE ONE THOUSAND!"
Caught momentarily off balance from the attack I stumbled and a zombie had managed to catch up to me. Lunging at me it fell just short of where I was, but I wasn't completely safe. It grabbed my shoe and I barely managed to slip my foot out before dodging another zombie. It scratched my side again and I took another ten points in damage.
[HP: 80/100]
"TWO ONE THOUSAND!"
I punched out at another zombie that jumped at me.
[You deal 1 DMG!]
It was more out of frustration and panic than any organized attempt to deal damage.
As I broke free from the encirclement of zombies I shouted and pointed my fingers like a gun.
"ONE ONE THOUSAND! FUCK YOU!"
Lightning flew from my fingers and shot directly into the zombie I had just punched, before arcing to another five. There was one final zombie that was unscathed but I had already turned and began running.
I glanced back and saw that only one zombie was even close to me. The other six were stunned for a moment when they were hit by my skill. I continued to run and when chain lightning was halfway finished casting I turned around. I dodged the zombie that had been following me, and ran towards the trailing six.
When I finally saw them I casted it again.
[Lvl. 2 Zombie defeated.]
[Lvl. 2 Zombie defeated.]
[Lvl. 2 Zombie defeated.]
[Lvl. 2 Zombie defeated.]
[Lvl. 2 Zombie defeated.]
[Lvl. 2 Zombie defeated.]
[+40(20x2) EXP.](x6)
[765/800 EXP to Level 5.]
[You gain 10 Gold.](x6)
"Phew... Just you left?"
I smiled as I wiped sweat off my brow and looked at the last zombie left. It was snarling and baring it's disgusting teeth at me. As if it was properly provoked, it sprinted forward recklessly. I tripped it while casting Lesser Fireball. As it was on the ground I threw a fireball straight into it's mouth.
[You deal 10 DMG.]
"Let's see how much health you have."