Chapter 5

Dan waited until his teacher started the morning lecture before he finally did what he’d wanted to do. That is, test out more of what his so called ‘power’ had to offer. So, as the teacher began covering some basic algebra principles, which Dan was already comfortable with anyways, he turned his attention away from the teacher, and more interesting things.

Stats. As soon as he thought it, the flow of information appeared before his eyes. Quickly he moved past the starting bit of information…he knew his name and age obviously, and selected Relation Monitor. That was the portion he was most interested in, for this moment at least.

Relation Monitor (Nonexistent, Poor, Neutral, Good, Excellent)

Matthew Meadows- Excellent

Annabelle Rand- Neutral

??? (Syn)- Nonexistent

Peter Young – Neutral

He’d had a theory, early on with his powers, that the Relation Monitor wouldn’t track every single person he’d ever been in contact with. Or at least, he’d been hoping that wasn’t the case. Because otherwise, that would get exhaustive, and become extremely cumbersome. Instead, he theorized it would act similar to relationship gauges in Fire Emblem games, where it tracked progress with key individuals. In this sense, Dan figured Key Individuals likely meant people he was frequently in contact with. Case in point, Peter was the only new name added to his list, even though he’d said hi to a few people in school before class had started.

Moving on with his theory, Dan focused on Peter’s name, mentally urging it to pull up additional information, much as it had with his dad. He wasn’t quite sure if it would work, but he reckoned it was worth a try. If not, then he would just have to wait until a good time to check out Peter’s information, while being near the Senior. Perhaps at tennis practice?

Peter Young

Age- 17

Relation- Classmate

Occupation- Student/Tennis Player

More Details Y/N?

Dan had to do his best to keep his breathing calm. It was working. With this, he would be able to go over the information of everyone he had relations with each day. Meaning over time, he could utilize this tool to best get to know and understand those he was dealing with. And…his mind was already shifting to what else that meant. If he could see this type of information on people…that would give him a huge advantage with how to deal with them. This tool, this power, he could tell would open so many doors to him.

Ambition +2 (45)

He ignored the quick gain to his ambition, and selected the More Details option. Just how in depth would this tool let him dig? How much could it give him?

Select from Below

Personal Traits

Physical Traits

Mental Traits

Special Traits

Dan’s heartrate increased.

Personal Traits

Sexual Orientation (current)- Straight

Happiness- Medium

Self Esteem- High

Ambition- High

Compassion- Low

Charisma- High

That was different. Dan had definitely been expecting to see the numbered scale, just like what existed for him. However, this…while still helpful, was a bit lacking for details. He paused for a moment, looking over the information, before closing it out. It was kind of a given that Peter had high Charisma, Self Esteem, and Ambition. The Medium happiness seemed a little off to Dan, and the Low Compassion…while slightly concerning, wasn’t unexpected either. The guy, after all, carried around collections of tennis racquets he won off of people…

Physical Traits

Health- High

Stamina- High

Strength- Medium

Dexterity- High

Constitution- Medium

And there it was again. The less than helpful general descriptions regarding Peter’s stats. Dan could have figured as much by just looking the Senior over. He was toned, but not overly muscular. He seemed healthy enough, and from the short time Dan had known him, didn’t seem prone to injury or sickness. Suddenly, Dan’s powers seemed a lot less…powerful. He sent an angry mental thought towards Syn. He was certain that strange man could somehow pick up on his thoughts. At least, when they were targeted towards the strange man in the green and gold pin-striped suite.

“Look at you, figuring these things out.” The snarky voice started in his mind. Dan wasn’t certain if he wanted to be relieved, or disturbed, that this mental message to Syn had been heard. “Though, truly, you’re going to have to stop sending me messages out of the blue. You totally caught me predisposed.” Laughter in the background. And…was Syn’s voice slurring? Was he drunk? “Any ways Danny, buddy. Here’s the thing. Well, two things.” Syn paused for a long moment, and Dan was pretty sure he could hear the sound of ice clinking within glass, and then a long drinking sound. Syn, was definitely drinking something.

“First, your powers…are in their infancy. You need to use them more, to level em up. The more you use them, and the more data you collect with them, eventually you’ll rank them up. Right now you’re at Rank 1, it peaks at Rank 5. So, good luck there.” Dan had already guessed as much. Considering when he pulled up information on himself it showed some locked aspects and required Ranks. So…really, Syn wasn’t being very helpful.

“I heard that buddy.” Syn made that clicking sound with his tongue that Dan was getting accustomed to. “Keep that up, and I’ll ghost you.” Laughter from multiple voices. “Kidding, maybe. Who knows? Any who, keeping this quick, since I am busy. The better your relationship with people, the more detailed information you can gain on them. Nonexistent relationships will only let you see whether or not they have access to certain Special Traits. Poor, will let you see all their traits, but only give you a good or bad rating. Neutral, as you can tell, gives you Low, Medium, and High. Good relationships, will give you a better rating, from poor, below average, average, above average, and excellent. And finally, if you have an Excellent relationship with them, you can see the full details.”

“Of course,” Syn continued, “the higher rank your powers become, the more detailed information you will be able to discern, without necessarily needing those relationships with people. After all, this is supposed to be a special power that would have made you a powerful hero in another world. So, it will have perks…you just gotta level it up buddy.” More swishing, ice clinking sounds. “Now then. How about you do some, leveling or whatnot. Amuse us, and try your best not to keep asking me questions. I’m not some tutorial guide for you. I’ve got better things to do.” Syn’s chuckling was the last thing Dan heard of the guy as he faded away.

“So helpful.” Dan muttered under his breath. Actually, Syn had been more forthcoming with information than Dan had expected. He figured, whatever the being had been consuming, had aided in that information sharing. And Dan wasn’t about to let it go to waste. Sure, he wasn’t quite sure how ranking up his powers would go, but Syn mentioned the more he used it, the closer it would get to ranking up. That, he could at least work with.

And, the other aspect, was the more important part. Not only had Syn told him his relations would adjust how much information he could see on people, Syn had also mentioned something of greater interest to Dan. Because according to what Syn had just said, Dan would still be able to see special skills on people, regardless of their relationship with him. Without pause, Dan selected the next option on Peter’s information

Special Traits

Tennis

Gamer

Cooking

Dance

Poetry

Archery

…

The list went on. Peter, was extremely talented it seemed. Or, at the very least, he’d had special traits in quite a few things. Dan figured most of that had to do with the fact he was a student at St. Arthurs’. Dan had already taken note of the wide range of classes and skills the school seemed to teach, and he figured Peter’s dad had likely done everything he could to make sure his son, Peter, was proficient in as many things as possible. Dan, also figured his own Special Traits list would grow as he began utilizing and trying out new things. After all, he’d already unlocking Gamer, and he had no doubt after today, Tennis would be on there as well. Speaking of Tennis, Dan focused on that trait, remembering what Syn had said about Peter. Apparently, the Senior was like a tennis prodigy or something.

Tennis

???

???

???

???

???

???

???

???

???

And, that was super unhelpful. Dan closed that tab out, and selected the Gamer tab. He had a theory…

Gamer

RPG - Low

Simulation - High

???

???

???

???

???

There it was. Apparently, while Dan had the ability to see the special traits of someone, he was limited for the moment on what he could actually see. His guess, was he had to be exposed himself to the specific skill or aspect of that Special Trait, in order to see what it was on the person’s data sheet. Whether or not that was something that would change as he ranked up his powers, he figured he would just have to wait and see. Because he doubted contacting Syn again so quickly would go over well. Still, he’d gained a decent amount of information, if not solely on Peter, but also his powers, already. He figured he could wait a little longer, to see if his new theories on his powers were correct. After all, he was certain by the end of the day, he would have a few skills under Tennis unlocked.

He closed out the list of information, and turned most of his focus back to the lecture. Dan had a feeling the day was going to feel extremely long, as he sat through class after class. Firstly, because he now wanted to test out his hypothesis with regards to the Special Traits tab, and for that, he needed his tennis lesson with Peter. Second, he was really looking forward to seeing Sophia at tennis again after school. Not only because well…it was Sophia, and he definitely had a crush on her, but also because he was more than a little eager, and anxious, to see just what the Relation Monitor would tell him about her. Syn said he should have fun with his powers…and Dan fully intended to use them as he saw fit. To hell with his current low Charisma Score.

Self Esteem -1 (55) Ambition +2 (47)