Cyrielle had stayed up all night trying to create a choreography, and the gift ‘Moderately better creativity’ she had gained earlier proved to be really useful. It was not really about being original, but it provided her with problem solving skills she never thought she would one day have. For example, if the beat dropped, previously she would have thought about two different moves that could follow, but now she knew five others and also how to improve on the two previous ones. It wasn’t only with dancing either, with more freedom in her creativity, she was able to use her other skills in her choreography more effectively. Using her stunt ability not to fall backward, but only to bend and stop it midway with the core muscles she had thanks to horseback riding, standing straight up again in an instant.
She had taken notes of the moves and recorded herself just in case, but everytime she looked at those, she had new ideas to improve on them. She couldn’t include everything, after all the performance needed to be five minutes long at most, a medley of her most well-known songs.
Hopefully, she finally created a choreography that satisfied her when the sun was rising, dyeing her living room in orange and yellow nuances. Thanks to fortitude, she didn’t need to sleep, but it didn’t mean she wasn’t tired.
‘I should send the video to Julie. I need her approval as the CEO, anyway.’
She forwarded the recording to her friend, and walked to her bathroom, taking a long shower before ying on her bed, falling asleep instantly without even covering herself with the sheets.
Cyrielle woke up in the afternoon, feeling refreshed.
‘Yesterday was a good day, I’m so proud of myself !’
[You should be proud of me too.]
‘True, you’re the one who gave me all of that. But I am the one who is so fantastic that I learn abilities on my own and I always get gifts, right ? I even evolved my status !’
[Yes, you are incredible.]
She could feel a bit of amusement coming from the system, but chose to ignore it. She was too happy to let anything tarnish her mood. After her usual skincare routine, she dressed in warm clothes since the weather was getting colder, and sat on her couch.
‘Should we see ‘Path knowledge’ now ?’
Immediately, a blue square window appeared in front of her eyes.
[{Cyrielle Laporte}
Age : 24 (Birthday on 5th of march)
Status : Confident walk
{Abilities}
[Music : Singing, Guitar, Composing, Piano, Lyrics creation], [Aesthetic : Home and Garden design, Character and Attire design, Architecture, Makeup art], [Social : Refinement, Stage presence, Modeling, Acting], [Physical : Horseback riding, Stunts, Dancing], Handicraft, Studying, Sewing, English
{Gifts}
Fwless skin, Mind and body linked, Better hair, Fortitude, Better nails, Moderately better flexibility, Nerves of steel, Better intuition, Moderately better creativity
{Characteristics}
Aura : 86
Visuals : 79
Movements : 62
Impact : 82
Overall rate : A-]
‘It’s looking good ! Julie would faint if she saw all of that… By the way, how many abilities do I have left in my reserve ? I lost track.’
[You still have 12.]
‘It’s more than I thought ! I should be running out now.’
[You earned a lot of your recent abilities by yourself without Path of Destiny’s help.]
‘That’s also true.’
Nodding along to the system’s words, Cyrielle focused her attention back on the square window.
‘My ultimate goal is to master the capacity of my abilities without activating them, so that I can use all of that without the help of Path of Destiny. Isn’t it possible to know what I already got ?’
[I can probably upgrade ‘Path knowledge’ if I use positive karma.]
‘Do I even have some left ? I didn’t do something big like helping Julie and Coline.’
[You helped ‘Noble mayhem’ become popur again, better the life of all the actors and crew team. Without even talking about the runway, where you help your models gain self esteem and gain opportunities in the fashion industry. And there are a lot of horse clubs who are grateful for…]
‘Okay, okay, I get it. It wasn’t on purpose but I did things again.’
Cyrielle sighed internally. Everytime she was sure to be selfish, she somehow ended up becoming so kind of Mother Theresa, it was confusing but she brushed it aside, it was not like she could do anything about it. And if it had positive outcomes, all the better.
‘Do your thing, then.’
She had nothing to save positive karma for anyway, it was better to use it as soon as she had the opportunity. Immediately, the chat bubble disappeared and she waited while the update was on its way. After a while, the familiar square window appeared, but something had changed in the ability section.
{Abilities}
[Music : Singing(87%), Guitar(42%), Composing(38%), Piano(27%), Lyrics creation(31%)], [Aesthetic : Home and Garden design(67%), Character and Attire design(83%), Architecture(10%), Makeup art(76%)], [Social : Refinement(98%), Stage presence(79%), Modeling(81%), Acting(12%)], [Physical : Horseback riding(88%), Stunts(23%), Dancing(9%)], Handicraft(77%), Studying(52%), Sewing(85%), English(71%)
Cyrielle opened her eyes wide.
‘What’s that ? There are percentages everywhere !’
She felt a hint of amusement and smugness from the system who seemed very proud of himself.
[It’s how much of the capacity you mastered. If you reach 100%, you will be able to use it without the system. It means that even if Path of Destiny disappears, you will still have the entirety of the ability still with you. And it also means that you can use the capacity without the ability, it will be engraved in you like a gift, and you will be able to use it to obtain new abilities on your own.]
‘Wow, that’s broken ! So right now, for example, even without Path of Destiny I can study half as well as when I activate the ‘Studying’ ability ?’
[Exactly.]
Cyrielle had to exit the Path knowledge window and lie down on her couch for a bit to gather her thoughts.
‘It’s crazy… So crazy… Damn, I can’t believe how crazy it is…’
She had been going with the flow until now, but it was always scary to imagine that she could possibly lose everything if Path disappeared as soon as it had barged into her life. If that were to happen, she would be left with nothing. But now, she could y these worries to rest. Even if this unbelievable were to disappear, she would still have things to work with, and her life wouldn’t be turned upside down. It was the stark opposite of her life before, when she lost everything because of the pandemic and ended up without a job, a pce to live, or even enough money to buy food. Now she was certain to never lose anything that was her own ever again, as long as she worked hard enough to master the capacity.
‘I decided to be happy, so you better believe I will work for it.’
Determined, she sat up on the sofa and looked at the time. It was still the beginning of the afternoon.
‘If I have the opportunity to never lose anything again, I will seize it. Open the helper module and start the quests for the tour.’
Path seemed strangely fired up too.
[Yes !]
It didn’t take one second for the first message to appear.
[{Prepare a tour}
[Skipping stages handled by agency]
Quest 1 : Concept
You chose to start your own tour, what a good idea ! The first step is to decide on a concept for the tour. Is it to promote an album ? Is it a tribute tour to all your most famous works ? Does it have a particur theme ?]
Cyrielle read the message and headed to her atelier, taking a notebook and a pen to write down her ideas.
‘I want to alternate between covers that blew up on my MyTube channel and songs from my album. Why not throw one or two originals in it as well ? A theme… My album and my runway were linked, wouldn’t it be fun to make use of my ‘acting’ ability and throw in some parts with a story ? I can create a soundtrack for acting bits, like small scenes of a py or an opera. It would be really fun !’
She continued to follow the quests, creating the general outline of her tour when suddenly her phone started to vibrate.
-Brrrr
She frowned and looked at her phone. Since her panic attack, she used it less, it left a bad aftertaste everytime the device was vibrating. Shaking off the feeling, she answered the call.
“Yes, Julie ?”
On the other hand, her friend’s voice sounded excited.
“What the hell did you send me ? It isn’t AI or something like that, right ? It was really you ?”
Cyrielle tried to suppress her smile.
“It's good choreography, right ? I wiped it up after making the medley, I had a bit of inspiration so I finished it quickly.”
“Quickly ? You finished that quickly ? Are you kidding me ? No, you know what, I shouldn’t even get surprised anymore. But seriously, that’s some hard choreography, I’ll have to hire professional dancers. And getting them to master it before the performance will be extra hard. But hey, do you know who I am ? Of course you’ll have dancers, don’t even worry about it !”
“Thanks Julie. Do you think you could get some dancers for the tour too ?”
“Of course ! It’s for ter next year, so I have all the time I need. I’ll prepare everything and keep you updated.”
They exchanged a few words then hung up. Cyrielle stretched widely then focused back on the paper in front of her.
'Now that the dancers are confirmed, I can work in peace !'
AmbreaTaddy
