Reality!
All of which happened, just felt like a dream.
But with his smartphone in hand, Alex knew that it was reality and that his mind was not playing some kind of joke on him.
After all, before leaving, Miss Mia left him with her contact ID and number, though she insisted on not contacting her on a daily basis, or else her husband might get suspicious about it without any reason.
[System Notification: Experience Gains Calculated]
Target: Mia
Session Summary: Intimate Interaction Completed
[Host initiated first kiss: +10 XP.]
[Host deepened the kiss passionately: +15 XP.]
[Host made Mia's heart skip a beat: +5 XP.]
[Host-initiated intimate touch: +10 XP.]
[Host received first blowjob: +50 XP.]
[Host maintained emotional rapport throughout: +10 XP.]
[Total Experience Gained: +100 XP.]
Target: Mia
Status: Married. Emotional Barriers Present.
Emotional Affinity: Moderate.
Compatibility: High.
Trust Level: [Moderate]
Attraction Level: [Dormant]
Loyalty: [Locked]
Emotional Vulnerability: [Analyzed...]
[Experience Progression:]
[Current Level:] 0 → 1
[Experience Points:] 100/100
Host: Alex
Current Level: [1]
Experience Points (XP): [0/300]
Status Panel:
Strength: [1]
Vitality: [1]
Agility: [0.8]
Charisma: [1]
Sexual Prowess: (1)↦ [2]
Emotional Control: [2]
Luck: [5]
Status points: 2.
[Level-Up Rewards Unlocked!]
+2 Attribute Points to Allocate
Skill Acquired: [Mind Whisperer (Passive)]
Effect: Allows the host to hear the inner thoughts of others within a 3-meter radius, particularly amplifying thoughts related to emotional or intimate states.
Cooldown: Passive, always active.
Limitation: Requires proximity and emotional focus on the target.
When Alex was smiling at the message of levelling up. He received a message that nearly destroyed the positive vibe Alex was feeling.
Alex's mood plummeted the moment he saw the notification. His fingers trembled as he stared at the message. It was like a cold chain had been wrapped around his chest, tightening with every beat of his heart.
"Big Bro Kane," the infamous bully and a lackey of the webtoon's main delinquent antagonist, was someone Alex knew he had no chance against.
As he read it with a gloomy expression, a vision of the girl he liked hugging that miscreant flashed through his head.
After all, Alex from the other world enjoyed that character just as much as Alex from this one did. For this reason, Alex's mind was currently filled with nothing but a wave of negative emotions and a crushing feeling.
[Chat Notification: New Message from "Big Bro Kane"]
Big Bro Kane: "Yo, Alex. Don't forget what I told you. Tomorrow, 8 AM sharp. Bring the stuff or you'll regret it. You know the drill; don't mess this up."
Even though he had level-up and grown stronger than the original weak-willed host of this body, Alex was still just a speck compared to the towering presence of Kane and the others in their gang.
The room suddenly felt smaller, the air heavier. He clenched his fists, staring at his reflection in the window. The faint glow of the streetlights outside mocked him, a stark reminder of the world he was trapped in—a world that would crush anyone too weak to fight back.
"No matter how much I change, no matter how much this system helps, I'm just... nothing here," he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. "For now..."
The memories of the original host's despair started to seep into Alex's mind, unbidden and vivid. He could almost hear the echoes of the past—the taunts, the beatings, the unbearable humiliation that had led the previous Alex to take the ultimate escape.
All of it was alive within his chest. He gritted his teeth and shook his head violently as he tried to dispel his own thoughts and personification of his past self.
"No... I'm not him." "This is just past trauma of previous host and has nothing to do with me." The room felt colder now, and his thoughts turned darker.
'What if the system wasn't enough? What if he was doomed to fail, just like the original host?' The idea of being trapped in this cruel, unforgiving, and insane story, where he will be just a punching bag, clawed at his sanity.
But Alex's mind started to gain sanity very quickly. His experience from his previous life brought Alex to rational thinking.
Images of his previous life flashed through his mind—times when he'd been underestimated, times when he'd been pushed to the brink but had clawed his way back.
In his old life, he hadn't been a hero. And he was not a paragon of strength or courage. But he had one thing: an unyielding will to adapt and survive.
The memory of a crucial moment surfaced—a time when he'd been bullied at work, his career hanging by a thread because of a corrupt boss.
He hadn't fought back physically, nor had he crumbled. He'd outwitted his enemy, used his cunning to manipulate the situation, and turned the tables.
"Power isn't just about fists or stats," he whispered, the words feeling like a lifeline in the storm of his despair. "It's about strategy. And I have something none of them have—this application."
As he plotted his next steps, a faint notification flickered at the bottom of the system interface, barely noticeable:
[Title Unlocked: Incubus King's Last Descendant.]
[Status: Hidden. Access Restricted.]
Alex didn't notice it, his attention fully absorbed in optimizing his strategy. While the thought of overthrowing the main delinquent MC of this world felt distant but not impossible.
But he didn't need to rush; after all, this was not a sprint.
And since his previous life had taught him the value of patience and precision. He would use his system to gain influence, inch by inch, until the balance of power shifted.
Alex finally felt a bit relaxed and smirked, a dark glint in his eyes as he shut the interface.
"I might just be a mob character now... but soon, they'll realize. In their story, I'm the real threat they should fear." As he rationalizes things with reality, he finds how narrow-focused he was becoming due to this body-inherited reaction and thoughts.
And the lingering fear of how his thought process was getting overwhelmed there, he decided to pay more attention toward his previous host's residual emotions and feelings, and maybe utilizing that he will be able to completely satisfy his previous host and let him pass.
Though, he knew just swearing like in a normal novel would do. But maybe getting to date the girl the previous host once liked, he might be able to completely erase his last will.