Richard arrived home to see his son seated on the main couch in the living room, a game controller in his hands as he eased off his headset and greeted with the warmest of smiles;
"Welcome home, Pops. Dinner’s ready whenever you want it."
"Thanks, Champ. I’ll hold off on it for now." the man replied as he began to take off his shoes, hooking his fingers to hold them afterwards as he walked into the living room.
"Haven’t seen you use that bad boy in a while." he remarked with a hint of surprise, his head doing a little gesture towards the VirtuStation 5 console.
"Well, I can’t allow it to keep gathering dust," Aiden replied with a grin to which he then said;
"The gang says ’Hi’."
"Send my regards." Richard replied with a warm smile and made his way into his bedroom.
Though he’d never been the type to dissuade his kid from gaming as he pleased, Aiden hadn’t used it in a little over eight months now, hence why he was a tad bit surprised to see him dusting off its cobwebs.
He was, however, gladder to see that he’d woken up from his beauty sleep looking and perhaps feeling even more refreshed than usual.
At the same time, he was proud to see that his son was taking his advice to heart and wasn’t ping-ponging from one goalpost to the next.
Besides, he’d completely earned the right to be lazy and Richard was ready to keep things that way without disrupting his current downtime with his buddies.
Afterall, if his changed mindset was anything to go by these days, he could very well assume that should his son’s interest be piqued by something, he was going down that rabbit hole without thinking twice.
Taking a shower to refresh himself a bit, Richard soon returned to the living room, branching the kitchen to dish out his dinner first.
Spotting the new gallon of Brandy in corner though, the man tilted his head in a slight beat of curiosity.
Then, he shook it upon realizing that his son, clearly hadn’t actually spent the whole day lazing around.
As a result, he called out with a hint of resigned amusement;
"Champ! Did you not get the memo?! I thought I told you to kick back and relax for the rest of the day!"
Already expecting that, Aiden laughed a bit. Then he replied;
"Can’t help it, Pops. Thought up a pretty neat way to improve the brandy so I got down to just that."
"Oh?" Richard responded in a mildly surprised tone as he dished his meal onto a plate and asked;
"I’m guessing you’re letting it seat?"
"Yeah. Two days, this time." Aiden answered, then added;
"Should give it a much richer taste afterwards. Fingers crossed."
Simply nodding in understanding, Richard made his way over to the living room and lowered onto one of the couches, the man proceeding to eat his meal as he and his son caught up on things.
Somewhere along the line, Aiden had placed down the controller after his character had flatlined and curiously looked over to his Pops with an intrigued glint in his eye, the man unaware as he spectated the rest of his buddies who happened to coming in clutch to revive him.
Then,
-
› {Richard North} – [0.5 LP].
└ Assess?
-
Despite the staggering jump in LP cost, Aiden didn’t think twice before he proceeded.
-
[Richard North]
⸢Stats
› Mind — C+
› Strength — B+
› Stamina — B+
› Agility — B+
› Charm — B+
⸢Skills
› {Architecture - I}, {Construction - A}, {Drawing - I}, {Cooking - I}, {Brewing - N}.
-
’Holy guacamole...’ the thought echoed within the confines of Aiden’s mind, the youth stunned, to say the least.
Sure, he knew his Pops was much older than him and had garnered way more experience over the course of his life... but even then, he still hadn’t expected this!
Asides from the stats themselves, the fact that he had picked up the {Brewing} skill was definitely the most impressive to him.
But then again, he’d had to make a couple gallons here and there for his colleagues at his site a bunch of times over the past eight months so it was to be expected in a way.
’Welp! I don’t think there’s much for me to improve here, really.’ Aiden couldn’t help but chuckle to himself, earning the curiosity of Richard who looked at him, wondering what was up.
Before the man could inquire, his son spoke;
"Pops. I’m gonna need some of that dad lore every once in a while. You’ve got some serious explaining to do."
Clearly puzzled by his son’s words, Richard had a rather bemused expression on his features as his son kept staring at him reverently.
...
...
...
Aiden woke up the next day to a stream of notifications.
-
[Daily Quest Completed.]
[Title,{Aw, they grow up so fast}has taken effect.]
⸢Daily Quests
› Wakey wakey!
└ Log 7 to 8 hours of sleep from dusk till dawn – [0.025 LP Awarded!].
[Quests Updated!]
-
Knowing fully well that all of his quest details across the board must’ve changed, Aiden opened up his main panel with a refreshed yawn.
-
[Aiden North] – Life Points – [4.59]
⸢Stats
› Mind — S
› Strength — C
› Stamina — C
› Agility — C
› Charm — B+
⸢Skills
› {Type Designing - A}, {Digital Illustration - I}, {Drawing - A}, {Cooking - A}, {Brewing - I}, {Singing - I}, {Dancing - I}, {Writing - N}, {Lettering - I}, {Programming - I}, {Riding - N}, {Video Editing - I}.
⸢Special Skills
› {Insight}, {Midas Touch}.
⸢Titles
› {Expand}
⸢Achievements
› {Expand}
⸢Shop
› Browse Catalogue.
⸢Daily Quests
› Road to College.
└ Read and assimilate three pages from your academic curriculum – [0.05 LP].
› Eat Your Broccolis, Champ.
└ Eat a healthy meal within the first half of the day – [0.025 LP].
› Wakey wakey!
└ Log 7 to 8 hours of sleep from dusk till dawn – [0.025 LP Claimed!].
› How To Be Strong.
└ 25 push-ups! 25 pull-ups! 25 sit-ups! 25 squats! 15km run! – [0.1 LP].
⸢Exclusive Quests
› {None}
⸢Time-limited Quests
› Am I cooked chat?
└ Achieve a 3.5 GPA before graduation – [2 LP]
› Don’t get comfortable, big dog.
└ Make $500,000 before your fiscal year end – [7 LP]
-
⸢FAQ⸥
-
Aiden instinctively understood why his system was rearranging things for him.
His Special Skills were set to be a costly expenditure, one that could be counteracted by a higher influx of Life Points, hence the upgrades.
That said, his Daily Quest now affording 0.2LPs on a daily basis to net him roughly 6 to 6.2 LPs per month was set to leave him with so much wiggle room.
Then there were his Time-Limited Quests, both of which had ticked up from 1LP and 5LP respectively.
Seeing all these, Aiden couldn’t help but feel chuffed as he got out of bed and promptly went through the motions, knocking out one quest after the other.
Two hours later, he and his Pops were out the door, both individuals waving to each other as they made their way to their respective destinations.
Upon reaching school, the reception Aiden got was... enthused... to put it simply.
Everywhere he went, it was almost as if students and teaching staffs alike were high-fiving and greeting him respectively, far more than they usually would.
Then there were the hallways, everywhere decorated to the max to reflect the upcoming Prom in two days’ time.
That said, classes were soon about to start and students and teachers alike were rushing across the corridor to reach their classes before the first bell for the first period rang.
The rest of the gang had gone ahead as Aiden had a bit more to sort out at his locker since he’d missed out on yesterday’s lectures to arrange his stuff as he usually would’ve in preparation.
A few minutes later, he was already making his way to class, as was Casper whom had ended up spending more time than he’d planned chatting with Daisy.
Still...
’Why does it feel like I missed out on so much in just one day?’ Aiden pondered to himself, his expression reflecting his mild bewilderment as he strolled down the hall alongside his blonde-haired buddy.
"That’s because you did." Casper answered without him needing to say it out loud as he pulled out his phone, swiped across its screen a couple times and handed it over to him as he said;
"You probably haven’t seen it, have you?"
Curious, Aiden received it... only for his eyes to flicker in understanding a moment after;
’Ah~. That explains a lot.’
It was a video of him blitzing through the super quiz at the academic decathlon, presumably taken by one of his decathlon team members whom had posted it onto their class group.
Then there was another of Theo’s, though his was notably shorter with a one-minute playback.
Still, Aiden was certain the youth must’ve received his fair share of attention yesterday.
Returning the phone to Casper who simply pocketed it, Aiden casually remarked;
"Figures it’d have spread like wildfire across school to everyone except me..."
"That’s what happens when you archive every single group that so much as has over fifty messages per day." the blonde-haired youth called him out, squinting at him in mock disappointment.
"Too much clutter, too much hassle, and too little time." Aiden simply shrugged it off, not the least bit perturbed.
A moment after, they’d arrived at their class, both of them slipping into their chairs right as Mr. Lazlow walked in for homeroom call.
Before he started though, the man gestured to Theo and Aiden specifically and then said, a proud smile on his lips;
"Mr. Brooks, Mr. North. Principal Walters would like to see you both at lunch break. It’s rather important, so I recommend you head on over as soon as possible."
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