Chapter 45

Dan had felt pain before. He wasn’t a stranger to it. Hell, he’d been hit by a freaking truck roughly two months ago. And yet, he’d never experienced a pain quite like this. His eyes rolled back in his head as his body burned, and yet at the same time, everything about him seemed icy and numb. Burning and freezing at the same time sent his nerves into overdrive, and he could swear his bones were breaking.

As his back arched in pain, all he could do was groan, his vocal cords, everything about him, paralyzed, out of his control, not responding. Time seemed to freeze as the pain rushed through him, consumed him, and yet still, it continued. His mind couldn’t even race. All that he could think, the only thought running through his mind, was that he would rather die, than feel this pain.

And then, just as quickly as it had started, it was gone. Completely washed away as euphoria filled his body. A warm buzzing rushed along, and he felt like he was practically vibrating with power and life. Hesitantly, he opened his eyes. Part of his mind told him this was a trap, but the more rational part, having finally calmed, knew what had happened, even without having to read the notification that filled his vision.

Ascension to Tier 3 Complete, +2 to all Stats. +3 to all Special Traits Unlocked: Auto-battle system. Minor Skill Assist has improved to Basic Skill Assist. Improved: Relation Monitor.

Immediately following that, Dan pulled up his information, ignoring the various stat improvements crossing his screen. He figured it would be easier to just look at the whole list, rather than try and read through them.

Daniel Meadows

Age -14

Relation- Self

Occupation- Student

Personal Traits

Sexual Orientation (current) - Straight

Happiness- 71/100

Self Esteem- 62/100

Ambition- 68/100

Compassion- 60/100

Charisma- 59/100

Physical Traits

Health- 100/150

Stamina- 150/150

Strength- 14/100

Dexterity- 14/100

Constitution- 16/100

Mental Traits

Mental Health – 100/150

Intelligence – 10/100

Wisdom – 12/100

Aptitude – 18/100

Mental Fortitude- 17/100

Special Traits

Tennis

Forehand (Semi-Western) 26

Backhand (one hand slice) 15

Backhand (two hand) 13

Basic Serve 22

Flat Serve 11

Top Spin (tennis feature) 23

Power (tennis feature) 20

Soccer

Stealing 56

Trapping 62

Dribbling 64

Shooting 66

Precision 66

Finesse 56

He couldn’t believe his eyes as he read through everything. Sure, he had expected his stats to increase a little. After all, when he ascended to Tier 2, everything had gained a +1, at least, everything in his personal, physical, and mental traits list. The fact this time around, he not only gained +2 to those, but also a free +3 to his Special Traits, blew his mind. Stats that took much, much more experience normally to move, had freely just been boosted not once, not twice, but three times. On top of that, all of his tennis skills, which he’d been neglecting all week, had just gained experience. Meaning, Soccer practice had not only served to boost his physical stats, but still, had managed to improve his tennis skills.

These powers, really were, cheats.

Oh, look at you go. Syn’s normally snarky voice cut in. The individual had actually been quiet most of the week. Apparently watching Dan kick ass at soccer was a lot less fun for him, than watching Dan get bullied on a tennis court. Syn would only pop in here or there to make a snide comment, usually about Sam and her tight-fitting soccer shorts, and then go poof off to quiet land again. Should have warned you about that Tier. Auto-battle takes a toll on the body.

“Auto-battle?” Dan said as he flexed his muscles. He’d been toning up a bit over the past week, and even before his free stat increases from his tier up, had gained a decent growth in his constitution, along with lower growth in dexterity and strength. First and foremost, Sam’s week of soccer had been endurance.

Mhmm. It’s the best part about tier 3. Like, sure, Basic Skill Assist is more precise, but the real joy is Auto-Battle. It helps take the most unpredictable and useless part of any task out of the equation.

Dan had a feeling where this was going, but still had to ask. “And that is?”

You of course. Auto-battle let’s a much more rational, calculating mindset take over. For an easy comparison, let’s just say an AI takes over your body, gains access to all your stats, and performs at peak performance for you, while you sit back and watch. Most of the time, for actual heros…they’ll use Auto-Battle to either farm up experience against weak, pointless mobs, or toggle it on and off when they need to against an opponent that is unpredictable or unknown for them. Because let’s face it, a completely rational, artificial intelligence is a bit more stable and reliable than the frail human mind.

“And that’s enough Syn for the day.” Dan said aloud, mentally doing his best to shove the annoying individual aside. Really, he had Syn to thank for his powers, and he was thankful. However, the…diety, perhaps? He still wasn’t sure what Syn was. Regardless, Syn was annoying, condescending, and rarely ever actually helpful. The fact Syn seemed to view Dan as just a source of amusement, also rubbed him the wrong way. So, whenever he could, he would opt to just ignore the mysterious voice. Such as now.

Suit yourself. The voice said, though faintly. Dan had been getting good at blocking it out. But sooner or later, you’ll be back. Syn snickered and faded away completely. Dan had figured out that among other things, Syn had a thing for the dramatic.

None of that mattered to Dan right now though. He was feeling amazing. Better than he had ever felt before and had achieved a Tier up. He was quite literally a much better version of himself than he had been the night before and had numerical proof via his stats to prove that. Not only that, he’d gained a new skill, and improved others. With his relationship manager improved, he knew now he would be able to view an even more detailed version of everyone’s stats, and he was curious to see what the range would be now. Previously it had been in 20-point increments, and if he had to guess, the next step, was 10-point increments.

Even more exciting, yet somewhat bittersweet as he grabbed food and prepared to head to school, was the fact it was his final day with the soccer team. Sam had informed the players they would be scrimmaging against the JV team, and Dan couldn’t wait. That seemed like the perfect time to try out this so called ‘Auto-Battle’ tool he’d just unlocked, as well as see just how improved his Skill Assist was. Not only that, the 3-point jump to his special skills had him excited. A week of extremely hard practice had moved them by a single point, but that was because most had been close or part of the way towards leveling already. The three points, he figured, equated to at least a month, probably more, worth of hard, intense practice. Even then, he had a feeling the skills, in a normal person, would hit a plateau that couldn’t be passed. Yet, he’d simply gone to sleep, and woke up with them greater. It felt dirty, but at the same time, he was eager to see what they would translate to on the soccer field.

He didn’t ask for these powers, but he sure as hell was about to abuse them.

Ambition +1 (69) Compassion -1 (59)