"Man, I messed up big time. Emily's probably getting super pissed off right now. It's nighttime already, and she has no idea where I am. She's been looking forward to that beer, and I promised her I'd be back soon. But then that lightning strike happened, and everything went crazy."
"I hope she's not too worried. I should've called or texted her, but my phone's probably fried from that lightning. I can just imagine her waiting for me, tapping her foot impatiently, wondering where the heck I am."
"I have to figure out a way to let her know I'm okay. Maybe I can borrow someone else's phone or use a payphone if those still exist. I can't leave her hanging like this."
"And that old man! It's all his fault... And what was his deal anyway? Laughing like a maniac and ignoring me when I told him to leave. He was as crazy as this whole situation. Maybe he got fried in the lightening," Rick thought about the old, homeless man. He did ask Amanda about him, but after checking with other nurses and the records, she could not find anyone matching that profile.
"I feel bad about how I reacted, trying to hit him with that stick. True, he acted like an asshole. It was just so frustrating... I did so much for him out of goodwill. But that bastard was so ungrateful," Rick gritted his teeth as he remember about the old man. But then he took a deep breath and calmed himself down, "Still, I shouldn't have raised my hand against him... That's no excuse for violence. I hope he's okay, wherever he is,"
"But right now, my priority is letting Emily know I'm safe. I can't believe I got myself into this mess. I'll have to make it up to her big time when I finally get back. I will certainly go broke making up to that drunkard..."
"Whatever... I will worry about everything else later. First, I need to find a way to get in touch with her and let her know I am alright. Then, I can figure out the rest later,"
"Wish I had something... Maybe I could have just teleported back to her..."
"Wait a minute... That ding sound in my head... That's it," Rick muttered to himself, he suddenly remembered about the weird prompt in his head, "Wasn't that a system? Lust-o-Meter?"
Rick scrunched up his face, focusing hard to recall the system, "Ding, ding, ding..." he mimicked, hoping the system would just pop-up. But nothing happened.
"How on earth am I suppose to access it again?" Rick pondered to himself.
Rick scratched his head, trying to think of the right words to trigger the system, "Lust-o-Meter system, Open Sesame..." Rick murmured.
"Nope, that didn't work."
"Alright, let's see... 'Abracadabra, system activate!'"
"Nope, not a wizard, apparently,"
He snapped his fingers. "I got it! How about 'Hey there, system buddy'?" But, unsurprisingly, nothing happened.
Rick shock his head in defeat.
"What the hell am I suppose to say? Why are there no instructions? Even if there are no instructions, make it something easy... Something simple like 'System Open!'" Rick complained. But just as he did, the pale blue screen was in front of him again.
"System initializing!"
"Ha! So it was actually this easy," Rick smiled wryly, thinking he aimlessly threw weird spells to open the system. Not everything has to be complicated.
Soon the system loaded, and an array of options presented themselves again, and Rick couldn't help but grin. "Alright, let's see what this system is all about."
Rick's eyes scanned the system's interface, and there it was – his personal information displayed before him.
[
Host's Name: Rick Smith
Age: 22 years (Expected: 88 years ; Limit: 125 years)
Gender: Male
Cultivation Level: Mortal (19%)
System Level: 1
Experience (EXP): 1900/10000
Skills: ---
Summons: ---
Sexual Encounters: ---
Harem: ---
Quests in Progress: ---
]
(1 - hour duration)
"Magical fingers? Interesting."
* * * * *