Day 8

  Late Morning

  Erin snapped awake a few hours later when the three-note chime sounded. She wasn’t groggy, and there was no transition from sleeping to awake. One moment she was sleeping, the next she was wide awake. Like the System forced her to be conscious.

  A moment later Erin heard that now familiar voice.

  “Greetings Creatures of Earth!” The System AI sounded almost excited, like she had been anticipating this moment, “Congratulations on completing phase 2 of System integration! Before we discuss phase 3, we need to address what to expect following this message.”

  While the System AI was talking, Erin could see a message flashing in her view. It read Phase 2 Results Calculating.

  “Once this message completes, all users will have full access to their character sheet, including attributes. You will be able to see the levels of your skills and abilities, apply any bonuses received, and open reward boxes.” The System AI took a breath, as if a computer needed one, and continued, “You will be responsible for opening all boxes and notifications, so don’t forget anything or you might miss something really awesome. Lastly, the protection feature will end at the completion of this message, so violence will once again be permitted.”

  Erin cringed, not excited about the prospect of violence. She could handle the application of violence for defensive purposes, but the DN was going to use it for a lot more than just defense.

  “Now about Phase 3. The only goal of this phase is to level. So get out there and start earning XP!”

  With that, the voice cut out leaving Erin with flashing notifications, a completed Phase 2 quest, and a debate on where to start. Erin opted to complete the Phase 2 quest first. Focusing on the quest she got a message on her screen read by the System AI.

  Erin had to read that a second time. Attributes affected her experience. That was vague, but possibly important. She thought about it for a moment, then went to her bedroom door and yelled to the rest of the household, “Hey! Finish the quest for the assessment first! Just trust me on this. We’ll discuss it later!” She received a chorus of acknowledgements, partly muted by the walls.

  Sitting back down on her bed, Erin focused on her HUD again. There was a new notification that wasn’t there before, it read Phase 2: Assessment - Hidden Quest. Focusing on that, she received an absolute information dump.

  “HOLY…SH..”

  “LANGUAGE, Ttarai!” Erin heard her mother yell from downstairs. Did her hearing get better…?

  Erin needed a minute to absorb all of that. If she understood what just happened, there was a hidden quest for Phase 2 that only activated upon completing the main Phase 2 quest. It gave bonus XP for each skill or ability the System assessed during Phase 2, and based on the level it detected she received experience. Then it gave bonuses based on the number of skills and abilities detected, and another bonus based on her Intelligence level. “Is that what the system meant about attributes impacting my experience?”

  She thought Inventory and her inventory screen came up. She still had the level up box for reaching level one, and the…she rolled her eyes…reverse-gangbang box. There were now eight new boxes though. “Okay, some things didn’t earn me reward boxes.”

  Shaking her head, she decided it would be easier to go from oldest to newest, because she didn’t have a better idea. Preparing herself for the info dump, Erin focused on the Level Up Box.

  Erin laughed and cringed at the same time. She cringed because Erin knew exactly what cherry cough syrup tastes like. She laughed, even though the joke wasn’t funny, because she was a little giddy, like opening presents on Christmas Morning.

  Focusing on the next box, mentally shutting out the name, she received the following message.

  Erin felt the urge to find the alien who wrote that note and punch him. Repeatedly. Possibly between the legs. Instead she focused on the benefits of the charm…which Erin didn’t have something she could attach it to. For now she left it in her inventory.

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  “Next.”

  The next box looked fancy. The label read Platinum Martial Arts Box. Focusing on it, Erin’s vision was filled with the message.

  Erin’s eyes started to water as this reward reminded her that Sabom Ryu still needed rescuing, and she didn’t have a plan of action for it. Rewards like this would help, but they wouldn’t guarantee anything. She needed to come up with something to free him. Hopefully one of her rewards would give that to her.

  Standing up, Erin focused on the dobok in her inventory, bringing up a small menu. She selected Equip, and it appeared across her body. “No belt, so it’s loose in the waist, but it feels good.” Checking herself out in the standing mirror across the room, she smiled at how good it felt to be back in her uniform. The semi-holographic logo on the back was a cool touch as well, but it was hard to see while she twisted.

  Testing her flexibility and movement, she definitely noticed the weighted feel of it, but somehow it didn’t interfere with her actions. It was like a perfectly tailored piece of clothing.

  Moving onto her next reward, this one had the label Silver Taekwondo Box. As she focused and the box opened, she got a big grin on her face.

  Erin wouldn’t voice this out loud, but she was beginning to think that either the System AI or the System creators were assholes. One day she wanted to meet an AI that was magnificent without being an asshole.

  Focusing on the belt, she selected equip. It appeared around her waist perfectly tied. A glance in the mirror expanded the smile she hadn’t even realized she was wearing. This really felt natural for her, like a second skin.

  Going through the rest of her reward boxes, Erin tuned out the details, just accepting what was given and storing it in her inventory. She could go through it more thoroughly later, but she needed to see her character sheet. Focusing on bringing that up, she started to dig through the info.

  “Woah…did I gain weight?” Erin checked her body, but she couldn’t find an ounce of fat anywhere. She did notice a bit more muscle tone, but it wasn’t a severe change from what she remembered. She continued to read her character sheet.

  Each attribute group had a plus symbol to the left, like they could be expanded, so she focused on the plus symbol for Physical to expand it.

  “Hmm, Dexterity and Agility are my highest physical attributes. I guess I am pretty quick and nimble.” Collapsing Physical, Erin expanded the Mental attribute category.

  Erin snort-laughed at the stats displayed. Willpower was noticeably higher than the rest, which she took to represent her stubborn nature. “Mom will get a kick out of that. Okay, Combat attributes.”

  “Okay, I’m guessing that resistance being so low isn’t great, but the help menu might…uhh…help understand that later.” Erin collapsed the Combat attributes and expanded the Resource attributes.

  Erin winced at the Health Points. “133? How am I not dead already?. She would definitely be looking to boost that. She had no understanding of the Ki points though. Collapsing the Resource attributes, she expanded the last section, Social.

  Erin didn’t know what to make of these numbers. 1 luck? Didn’t that mean she would be tripping over her own feet? Focusing on it, she got an explanation.

  “So it’s like that. No easy ways to boost your loot.” Looking at her stats again, she immediately decided to put 10 points into Strength, Vitality, and Intelligence each. Two of those would help against the gang, and the last should boost how many attribute points she got per level.

  Next she put 8 points into Dexterity and Agility each. It was good to play to her strengths. That left 20 points to spend. 8 into Willpower. Her stubbornness was a strength as well. 6 points into Wisdom, then split the rest between Endurance and Perception. 3 each. Lastly, she assigned her Refined Body boosts to Strength, Dexterity, and Agility. “Hmm, three points to each from a 15% increase. The System must round the numbers.”

  Collapsing the categories, Erin reviewed the category averages.

  “Some big jumps, some small. I need to test what I can, but first, time to go check on Eomma and the others.”