Joe lived in a moderately busy lower/middle class suburb on the edge of the city. Fort-Berg was a mid-sized and completely forgettable city that didn’t really have any attraction or reason for being there except the factories that had been built there throughout the history of its growth. Supposedly a rich immigrant had long ago built a Fort that had established this location as a good place to settle. He used his influence to get a railway built through the area, and industry soon followed. The land was flat and unremarkable. But the business and commercial section in downtown Fort-Berg was quite respectable and had numerous sky-scrappers.
Joe only had to walk a couple of blocks to get to his local grocer. It sat on a mid-sized street that was snuggled in between two wide, solid, old, graying and very used sidewalks. The street was lined with one story and two-story buildings that were completely stuffed full of all sorts of Mom-and-Pop businesses, music stores, book sellers, coffee shops, grocers, and of course his favorite hangout spot, “Sloppy Joe’s”.
If you were looking for a great dinner, Sloppy Joe’s really wasn’t your first choice. However, if you needed a fun atmosphere, and a cheap and consistently okay-ish meal that typically never made you sick, then this was the place for you! Better than the Golden arches, but still somehow lacking, Sloppy Joe’s was a fun place to hang out for the youth. It had plenty of space and tables, dim lighting, lots of retro memorabilia hanging on the walls, old video games you could still play for a quarter, chess boards and the like, and a working, neon-lit Jukebox! All of this worked together to make Sloppy Joe’s food seem to taste much better than it actually did.
Joe walked past his favorite restaurant and headed to “GO Grocery”, Fort-Bergs famous grocery chain. He rummaged through the different goods on the shelf, referencing the note that Claire had left him as a shopping list. After gathering the ‘necessities’, he headed to the register to pay for his haul. As to why he doesn’t refer to Claire as mom in his thinking; I have just one question? Would you?
After bagging up all the groceries in two big, blue, plastic bags that had the word GO written on them with a winking smiley face inside of the O, he left the store. Outside, he turned left and started walking back toward his home.
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Ding! You earned 5 points for buying groceries for your mom.
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Joe didn’t have too much time to think about his system, because he suddenly heard a loud voice behind him.
“Hey Joe! There you are, we’ve been looking for you all day!” (???)
Joe turned and saw who was talking to him. His shoulders instantly relaxed as he realized it was his two best friends, William and Jake.
“Brothers! Am I glad to see you.” Joe said as he walked up to his two old friends and gave them a quick knuckle bump and a slap on the shoulder.
“Samantha told us what happened, bro, we gotta talk! We have questions. (William)
“Yeah, we have questions!” (Jake)
“Actually, I do to…” said Joe as he stared at his knees with a complicated look on his face.
The trio walked along the street for a bit as they swapped stories and caught up on the latest. William and Jake had been friends with Joe ever since 4th grade when Joe had helped them escape from a group of bullies. They had been close friends ever since. Samantha was also a deep part of this group, and the 4 of them were quite close.
As they passed ‘Sloppy Joes’, William and Jake grabbed Joe by the arms. “You’re not going home yet! Let’s buy you lunch! That’s what friends are for.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Joe smiled big. Having friends that understand you was always a good thing. Claire didn’t say she needed the groceries right away, so he should be able to waste some time here. It was a bit late for lunch, and Joe was feeling very hungry after all that he went through in the last 24 hours. Food was a kind of comfort after all.
Settling into their favorite booth in the back of the restaurant, they ordered the usual burgers and fries. Right as the food arrived at their table, the front door opened, and Samantha walked in. After greeting each other, and ordering food for Samantha as well, they all happily settled in and started to talk and eat.
Samantha and Joe shared everything that had happened with William and Jake. William and Jake nodded along, accepting everything as if it was completely expected and completely understandable. That’s just how they are. They have trusted Joe since 4th grade, for better or for worse.
“Well, now you’re going to be a real Hero!” (William)
“Yeah, a do-gooder helping little old grannies cross the street”, said Samantha as she giggled while chewing some fries. “A righteous, fine, upstanding…”
“Knock it off and stop talking with your mouth full of fries”, said Joe as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“But seriously, what are you going to power-up first? (Jake)
Joe leaned back, crossed his arms, and stared vaguely at the ceiling. It was a good question. He had enough to buy 3 status points from the system. After thinking about it for a second, he called up his status.
“Status” (Joe)
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Joe Brown Age 24
Occupation: Currently Jobless
Class Rating: F
Stats
Strength 4 (typical blue collar strong)
Agility 3 (like a plumber)
Endurance 4 (Typical American)
Perception 3 (Believes what He sees on TV)
Intelligence 3 (see above)
Wisdom 2 (see above)
Luck N/A (System error, contact bureau)
Skills - No current skills
Good Deed Points - 30
Active Quests - Find a Job
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“Oh yeah! That’s right, I’m supposed to find a job today. So, I need to power-up the attributes that will help me make some money” Joe said as he rubbed his hands together.
“Well, let’s look at it logically. What jobs make money? Which of those can you do? Which of those do you want to do?” (Samantha)
The grabbed some spare paper from the waitress and pulled out their pens. After about an hour of back-and-forth discussion with many bad ideas being thrown around, most too shocking to discuss here, they finally settled on 3 possible jobs: Salesman, Construction worker, and Alaskan King-Crab fisherman.
“I think you should be a used-car salesman! My uncle Vinny is a used-car salesman, and he always seems to have money. He would always wink at me and tell me that everyone loves him!” (Jake)
“Yeah, that sounds like a great idea.” (William)
Joe smiled as he thought about it and asked, “So, which trait should I power-up”.
“Well, Uncle Vinny said you have to have ‘Eyes to see’. I asked him what he meant, and he said, ‘there is always a way to get people to give you their money if you notice the details’. Good ol’ Uncle Vinny was full-o-wisdom.” (Jake)
“Yeah, perception is where it’s at!” (William)
Samantha just looked at Joe and shrugged her shoulders in resignation and agreement, mostly because she didn’t have a better idea. Joe smiled big and called up his system.
“System, I would like to buy 3 points of perception with my Good deed points”.
Suddenly Bob poofed into existence on his shoulder.
“Wait a second there, friend. I highly recommend that you balance out your stats before you start trying to go higher”. (Bob)
“Why would I care about that?” (Joe)
“It’s one thing to notice details, but you need wisdom and intelligence to know what to do with them. Also, if you don’t have matching strength and agility, you will never be able to react to…” (Bob)
“No, yeah, no. That’s fine, thanks for the advice.” Joe said waving his hand through Bob in a dismissive manner. “System. Spend those points on perception”.
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Ding! 3 perception points purchased.
30 good deed points removed.
current GD points = 0
…
…
...
The system suggests that the user sit down.
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“Strange, why would it say…” Joe started to say, but then suddenly the world around him started to spin. You see, he had doubled his current perception of the world. This meant a 100% increase in his sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, and even his instincts were greatly boosted. Colors were much brighter, and he suddenly noticed the stains on the table he was sitting at. He then looked around and noticed the built-up dirt in the corners of the floor, the cobwebs holding dust that arched between the decorations, and the rust that was building up on the bottom/right corner of the jukebox.
It wasn’t just the sights. He could smell. I must say here that Sloppy Joe’s was not the best choice of place to power up your perceptions. His burger really didn’t smell like he thought it did before. Was that ammonia? Also, He suddenly realized how close to the bathroom they were sitting. Lifting his arm, he also realized that he had not taken a shower in two stress-filled days.
It wasn’t just that, he suddenly became much more aware of how he came across to other people, and how they might be interpreting his actions. The thoughts flooded his brain in a way that overwhelmed his ability to process. It is doubtful how much of the information he would retain once he woke up and came to his senses. Mostly because Joe was Joe, and not much was going to change that.
The Sounds, the taste of lunch in his mouth, the smells, and the sights overwhelmed his senses.
So, Joe fainted.
Bob just shook his head. “Should have chosen wisdom and Intelligence first”.
End Chapter 6
