Hey, you’re back! Peter rejoiced. You OK, buddy?
“I want to dieeeeeee!” Regina wailed, looking in the mirror.
“You look fine, baby,” Peter tried to kiss her, only to be pushed away.
“You’ll ruin my makeup!”
“I’ll make breakfast,” he said. “Let’s stay indoors for now. Maybe you’ll feel better before lunch.”
Sure.
Ew… I think I would have let him die.
I’m OK here, as long as she is.
I’ll help her hunt monsters.
Let’s continue later.
The breakfast was ready and soon eaten. Regina’s skin was getting visibly better with every minute.
“I’m lucky to have you…” she fondled his hand at the end of the meal.
“Me too,” he leaned forward and kissed her. “Do you want to…” he whispered in her ear.
“How many girlfriends did you have before me?” Regina asked all of a sudden. “Not casual sex. Somebody you told I love you and were in a relationship with.”
Peter choked, spraying coffee back in the cup. “Err…’
“You don’t remember?” Regina frowned.
“Two, including Ariana,” Peter confessed. “I fooled around a bit, though, like every other teenager, then had a long-term relationship in college. The Awakening destroyed that.”
“Did she…” Regina choked.
“Died? No, she moved back to Hawaii. It’s one of the least impacted places. I…” it was Peter’s turn to choke, “wasn’t interested in relationships for over a year, and then Ariana…”
“I didn’t. Fool around, I mean. I was going for the one and only, like my parents, and I thought Jack was it.” There was no reproach in her voice, just information and sadness.
“He loved you as much as he could. He had a stroke of bad luck, and I had a good one. I wouldn’t change that for the world,” Peter said, coming and kneeling before Regina, taking her hands in his and searching for her eyes. She leaned down toward him, and they kissed. Some of the tears in her eyes transferred to his cheeks.
Your Luck stat has reached the cap level. Bonus Perk: Four Leaf Clover. When in dire need, Mana will call upon the Charm Quark to help you find that rare 1/10.000 chance you need.
What the heck does it mean?
“I’ll go apologize to Ari,” Regina said. “I overreacted. She scolded me because she cares about you, and I got mad because I love you. Go figure…”
“Ariana and I make better friends than lovers,” Pete said pensively, returning to his chair. “She was more like a girlfiend than a girlfriend.”
Go away. This is a private conversation.
“What do you think about Naomi and Jack?” Regina asked.
“Honestly?”
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“No, Peter, please lie to me,” she frowned at him.
He shrugged and continued. “I think Naomi’s infatuated with Jack because he’s handsome, and she’s insecure. She thinks about herself as a nerd. Jack wants not to hurt anymore, get over you, and might profit her for that… But I think they'd make a good couple if they manage to stay together.”
“Agreed!” Regina clapped her hands. “New secondary quest: make Naomi dress more sexy to make Jack realize how pretty she is. The main quest remains: Melinda and Ariana,” she cheered, throwing him a kiss in the air with the tips of her fingers.
Afterward, she changed while Peter savored every second of her undressing and dressing. He was sighing blissfully, even five minutes after the door had closed behind her. The System cut his daydreaming short.
“If I must…” Peter opened his stats screen, taking a good and long look at them.
Peter Hillden, age: 25, Class: Impulse, Lvl. 67 (21 APs available)
Strength: 100 / Dexterity: 100 / Constitution: 63
Intelligence: 46 / Will: 58 / Concentration: 51
Charisma: 66 / Luck: 100 / Magic Power: 58
“You mean find out if reaching the cap by having friends around activates the bonus?”
“Yeah, he’s a prick. By contrast, you’re really nice… half of the time.”
“Let’s see…” Peter rose up the Menu, willing three points into Will and Magic Power.
Peter Hillden, age: 25, Class: Impulse, Lvl. 67 (15 APs available)
Strength: 100 / Dexterity: 100 / Constitution: 63
Intelligence: 46 / Will: 61 / Concentration: 51
Charisma: 66 / Luck: 100 / Magic Power: 61
Late in the evening, after Peter had registered for the tournament, Peter gathered his friends and walked to the nearby reservation to check his Constitution perk.
“What’s this all about?” Daniel asked when he arrived at the meeting place. “I have a restaurant to run, you know.”
“We’re testing how crazed beasts react to large groups of people,” Peter invented a motif.
“Let’s hurry. Jack and I have to watch a French New Wave movie together,” Naomi said. “It’s a three-hour-long blissful experience, so we should start as soon as possible.”
Jack’s shoulders sagged in despair. Peter shivered, and he noticed Regina doing the same. Suddenly, he began to appreciate her tastes. Classic movies were nice compared to three hours of watching people staring into nothingness and meaningless interior monologues. Regina rushed to whisper something into Naomi’s ear, and from the frowns exchanged, he could bet his girlfriend was urging the other not to proceed with her death-through-boredom plan.
“Whatever,” Daniel sighed. “He didn’t look like he had understood the plan, but there was nothing to understand anyway; the pretense was nonsense.
I think we’re good, Peter signaled to the System.
A minute later, after the girl pointed at the mound, Peter put a finger inside. Soon, sharp bites broke through his skin. His Constitution rocketed over the cap, the stat showing: Constitution: (63) Now: 103. The base stat was now enclosed between brackets, meaning the bigger number was the current value. Fortunately, Shredder and the System registered as friends, too; otherwise, they wouldn’t have reached the numbers.
The girl nodded and ran a few dozen feet further.
Constitution: (63) Now: 98
“Guys, it’s not working,” Peter tried to say. “Aouch! Aouch!” he screamed. The bites hurt a lot. “Ari, make them go away!”
“Let’sf go inshide the plotectfions; it would wolk better,” she suggested.
“What are you doing outside in the restricted area?” a voice made everyone jerk. It was Kostel doing his evening tour. “Come back this instant.”
“It’s just a couple of feet from the totem, man,” Peter said. “We’re testing something.”
“I’ll report you,” Kostel menaced. “Hey! What are these… Help!” Aouch!”
Less than a second later, the guard ran away at a mild panting speed.
“I called a few ants to bite his butt,” Ariana said. “Thaye can pasf the totemfs ifs they’le chalmed.”
“How many levels do you need until you regrow your teeth?” Peter asked. She showed him three fingers, sulking.
“First thing in the morning, we hit Calltech’s hunting grounds. The word is they experiment with mutations. We kill every monster we find. Fuck Calltech anyway; they’re not much better than Yaleward,” Peter said. Ariana raised a thumb up. “Put your phone to ring at four and meet me behind your dorm.”
The group split up, with everyone moving to their own businesses. Regina and Peter remained behind, walking slowly toward his dorm, accompanied by Shredder.
“Let’s take the bike,” Regina proposed. “I’m tired of all this Warping..”
Later in the evening, the Magic Power test failed as well. Peter’s parents and his twin sisters—which he considered insufferable but loved nevertheless—raised his Magic Power over the cap, and Shredder attacked him discreetly for a few seconds. The buff didn’t activate.
Nevertheless, the dinner was pleasant, and they returned to the Campus with a good disposition, going to bed early to let Peter get a few hours of sleep.
Leveling Ariana took four hours, and Peter returned from his Sunday morning excursion at half past nine. He noticed an envelope snuck under the door and a message on his phone. The first was from his look-alike. It said:
Required persons identified. Cobra’s family is poor; only the mother and a little sister survive, and both have chronic illnesses. The toddlers she spared on Floor One have been adopted by an aunt. I split the money in half. P f 2
A bitter feeling washed over Peter's heart, and he moved to the SMS to chase his sadness away. It was from the College:
Your application to enter the Tournament has been accepted. Present yourself to the Arena on Monday at 9.45 AM, using the obelisk. The competitors will be divided into ten brackets of 256 individuals each, competing in a three-minute round of eliminatory matches, with a five-minute break in between. The top contenders will advance to the Top Amateur Division of the Tournament, where they'll fight against themselves and more seasoned opponents.
But the most interesting thing was the private message he got on his social media page:
You have received a Wild Card for the Pro Division of the Tournament. The first match will be on Wednesday at 3.45 PM. Be there 15 minutes in advance. Use the totem you obtained to teleport by saying aloud: Bounty Hunter Impulse is requesting transportation to the Arena. There will be no attempts to detect your location or identify you. The bounty for Wu will be in your locker.