Lian turned towards the entrance of the restaurant. A few meters from the door, two tall tan intimidating men were approaching. Both of them wore hoodies, looked to be in their 20’s or 30’s, and gave off a menacing vibe. One was bald and had a trimmed beard, while the other had dark hair, was clean shaven, and wore a cap.

As he was visible to the pair, Lian pretended to be focusing on reading the texts on his cellphone while slowly eating his meal. Luckily, they didn’t take notice to him at all. As they approached, Rafael stood up from his chair.

Rafael: “Alonso! Dante! You’re finally here. Isabel, these are the friends I previously mentioned to you.”

Finally, they sat down and ate their meals. Most of their conversation was a repetition of what Lian previously heard. The only additional piece of information he was able to find out was that their plan would take place in a week.

However, at least now he knew about everyone involved in the plan. The two who just came were apparently typical thugs that would do any job for the right amount. Throughout Lian’s previous investigations, Rafael would brag that his parents owned many high-end restaurant chains, so it would make sense that he could afford the cost.

Once the group’s conversation was over, he waited for them to leave the restaurant before heading out as well. Upon departing, Lian paid for his meal then shamelessly handed the waiter a 10-cent euro coin.

Lian: “Keep the change!”

He then proceeded to change out of his disguise and hitched a normal ride back to the farm. Along the way, he began thinking of ways to use the system to advance his fighting capabilities. Seeing those two thugs, he would need some good fighting power in order to foil the group’s plot. This would also be necessary to break Francisco of his love-spell.

Realistically, it would be best to warn Francisco ahead of time. But, if he did, there was a higher chance that the love-struck idiot would pay no heed to any advice. Therefore, to advance in his task and to allow Isabel’s true colours to come out, Lian had to take this risk. Besides, he didn’t owe Francisco anything.

Lian: “System, do you have any recommendations for increasing my fighting capabilities?”

System: “The best way for the user to become powerful would be through leveling up their character. But, there are also many skills that the user can learn for a boost in fighting technique.”

Lian: “Okay…so can I learn martial arts…? Or maybe something else, as I assume that skill probably wouldn’t be really useful in real-life situations.”

Lian: “I still remember once seeing a video of a tai chi master getting his ass beat by a boxer. It was brutal! Therefore, would increasing my sports skill then be needed to learn boxing as a better option?”

System: “The user must not underestimate the martial arts skill as it might come as a surprise to them once higher levels are reached. However, as explained before, the user must also take into account that not all skills can be learnt at the same speed and certain skills have restrictions.”

System: “For example, since the sports skill encompasses many sub-skills that grow together, just to advance to a masterful level in terms of boxing ability, the current user would require years. This would be the same case for the medicine skill as it comprises a plethora of fields and can heal others easily once at its peak.”

System: “In addition, restrictions may consist of learning weaker skills in a relation to a subject before mastering higher-tier ones. The only way to bypass these restrictions would be through leveling-up or wasting more time than normal.”

Lian: “Fuck this restriction bullshit! Can’t I just reach level 4 in Sports and use my boxing abilities in the fight? Though I’m not sure how useful that would be…”

System: “Indeed. Unfortunately, as you know, level 4 for any skill only encompasses the basics. The user would be better off learning a lower-tier fighting skill like Brawling and mastering it, before learning other much harder skills such as Marksmanship or Martial Arts.”

Not being able to cheat the already cheat-like system made Lian feel kind of sour. But, he already knew about the general rules behind restrictions and leveling up, so it wasn’t too surprising. Basically, Lian was just a lazy person and wanted to find the most efficient way to take advantage of the system.

He got off at the storage facility, and headed directly towards his room. He was already a little bit ahead in his task, so Lian decided to start learning the Brawling skill. Once he managed to gain it, he could spend time training it in his main body, while he focused on his farming tasks in his current state.

Since the system could only provide Lian with general advice regarding skills through his probing, he would have to find out how to learn the new skill himself.

“So I guess I just start kicking and punching?”

Making sure that his intention was to learn the brawling skill, Lian tried dishing out some normal kicks and punches into thin air. The room was very cramped, so he couldn’t exert his full effort.

After a few minutes, he stopped. Nothing was happening.

“Perhaps I’m approaching this wrong… Since it’s unlike martial arts, maybe I need to attack like a thug? I’ll give that a try.”

Lian cued an underground music playlist. He focused his mind, closed his eyes, and tried imagining an anime thug holding a knife in front him. He faced-off against the enemy for half a minute without moving. His expression slowly changed as he began looking psychotic.

“You want to fuck with me!? Come on, I dare you to stab me!”

He threw out his bent right forearm as he stepped forward. Pretending to have been stabbed in that same arm by the enemy, Lian inwardly laughed it off. He then feigned losing consciousness from shock. Even in his imagination, he couldn’t help but pull shameless tricks.

After a few seconds, he abruptly grabbed the imaginary thug’s armed hand by the wrist with his free arm and kneed the aggressor with his right leg. Not realizing that this went against the laws of physics, Lian lost balance, tripped over, and hit his head on the wall.

Lian: “Fuck!”

*System: User has learned a new skill: Brawling.*

*System: User has gained 1 exp point for spending one minute on: Brawling.*

*System: Current experience to reach lvl 2: 1/10.*

Rubbing his head to ease the pain, Lian turned off the ringing music. He then looked at his new skill with pride. It seemed that as long as he could come up with dirty techniques to fight enemies, he would gain exp to level it up.

However, before he had any time to further train or investigate this new power, Lian heard a knock from the door…