He got fresh and ready for the day before making his way to the dining table. As always, his parents were already there, busy with their usual routines.
Ethan looked around, taking in every corner and detail that would soon become memories. They were going to leave this apartment soon. Elise was busy preparing breakfast while Aaron was reading the latest news today.
They could just get all of the information online, but his father preferred the old way. Elise, who was busy, noticed Ethan. "Good morning, Ethan. What's your plan for today?" she asked casually.
Ethan greeted back, "Morning, Mom. Morning, Dad." He sat down at the table. His hand reached for the pot and poured himself a cup of tea. While doing so, he replied, "I haven't thought about it yet."
Elise smiled warmly. She then asked, "And how's the project your university gave you coming along?"
Actually, Ethan had already forgotten about that excuse. While trying his best to stay calm, Ethan replied, "So far so good. I'm actually almost done with it."
Both Aaron and Elise turned their gaze quickly to Ethan. They were surprised to hear that since they believed Ethan just started with the project.
However, their attention was caught by something. They had forgotten to continue with their questions regarding the project. Elise blinked a few times while Aaron rubbed his eyes.
Both of them leaned closer. They were just inches away from Ethan's face.
"Mom? Dad? Err... Why?"
"You look…" she started. Elise moved her hands to touch Ethan's face. Her movement was so gentle. "Ethan, have you… changed? Your face looks different somehow."
Aaron put down his newspaper and joined her. "When you put it that way... he does look… uh… different?"
He could not help but tilt his head left and right. He did that a few times. Even though he had just seen Ethan every day for the past few days, he could not figure out what exactly had changed. "I guess all those problems distracted me. I didn't even realize that you've changed this much."
He grabbed Ethan on both shoulders. Then, with an apologetic tone, Aaron said, "Sorry about everything, son. Maybe we should spend more time as how we used to."
Elise nodded in agreement. "Me too, Ethan. We've been too wrapped up in our own routines and... problems."
Before Ethan could respond, Jacob and Lily stumbled into the kitchen, still groggy from sleep. The sight of their parents peering closely at Ethan immediately grabbed their attention.
"What's going on?" Jacob asked, rubbing his eyes. He walked over to Ethan and, after a moment, gasped. "Whoa, what happened to you, bro?"
Lily, who was still half asleep, opened her eyes widely. Her gaze lingered on Ethan. "You look... different?" She did not know whether it was a statement of awe or a question directed at her older brother. "You look more... muscular?"
Jacob reached out and poked Ethan's arm experimentally, his brows shooting up. "She's right. Did you start taking supplements? Or… Wai a minute... Don't tell me you're taking steroids?" he asked.
Ethan was unsure if his little brother was serious or joking. However, he understood what this would mean for him. His parents would begin to suspect him.
Ethan waved his hands quickly to dismiss Jacob's accusation. "Please. Don't say anything stupid, Jacob," he said. Despite his best to appear calm, he could not help but laugh nervously.
He met the intense gaze of his parents, who were now looking at him with great focus.
"Don't worry. No supplements... No steroids," Ethan said firmly. "I've just been taking better care of myself." He turned to Elise. "Mom, you can check if you don't believe me."
Elise gave him a long, appraising look but eventually smiled. "Alright, alright," she said. "I believe you."
Aaron, however, narrowed his eyes. "You're sure about this, son? If you're hiding something…"
Ethan felt his chest tighten momentarily. For a fleeting moment, a thought crossed his mind. What if those potions were actually drugs? Some strange kind of illegal enhancement?
He quickly shook his head to dismiss the idea. No, the system wouldn't do that… right?
Thankfully, Lily broke the tension with her next comment. She looked at Ethan with wide, affectionate eyes and said, "I think you look more charming now. Really handsome."
Ethan felt his cheeks flush. "Well… thanks," he muttered, using the moment to shift away from the awkward conversation sparked by Jacob's comments.
Standing up, he smirked and added with a hint of teasing, "This is what happens when you have money, you know."
His family exchanged glances, their curiosity far from satisfied, but they decided to let the matter drop. Ethan relieved, grabbed his glass of water, and took a long sip, thankful to have diffused the situation.
Aaron cleared his throat, setting down his coffee cup. "Speaking of money…" he began, his tone a little hesitant. "The amount you lent us the other day, Ethan—I'll pay it back once I get my paycheck. They're giving out a bonus this month, a full month's salary."
Ethan's heart sank a little at the topic. He wished his parents wouldn't bring up financial issues in front of Jacob and Lily. They were still too young to carry such worries, and he didn't want them to feel burdened.
He quickly responded, his tone light but firm. "No need to worry about that, Dad." Then, turning to Jacob and Lily, who were now watching the conversation with wide eyes, he added reassuringly, "You two don't need to think about this stuff. I've got everything under control."
Aaron and Elise exchanged a glance, catching the subtle hint in Ethan's words. They nodded, silently agreeing to be more careful about discussing such matters in the future.
Ethan didn't elaborate further, steering the conversation back to lighter topics. They chatted a bit more about everyday things, sharing a few laughs as they finished breakfast together.
The morning warmth of their familial bond made Ethan feel grounded despite the whirlwind of responsibilities he was juggling.
Ethan pushed his chair and stood up. He looked at his family and said, "I'm going to be in my room."
Besides, it was already time to work for his parents, too. Both of them would walk to their workplace.
Ethan got into his room. His laptop was ready on the desk. "Time to get the work done."
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
He leaned forward, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. He opened up a blank document. The first step was crucial in app making. For him, it was the name.
His mind wandered briefly to the name. Names were powerful; they carried weight, meaning, and identity. What could he call this? Something simple, something universal, something that encapsulated speed, convenience, and efficiency.
"Quick," Ethan muttered to himself, the word rolling off his tongue effortlessly. "That's it. Quick."
He typed it into the document header, smiling to himself. It was clean, memorable, and carried the promise of speed and reliability.
"Alright, Quick," he said with a grin. "Let's make you real."
Ethan's first step was to define what Quick would be. He opened a fresh document titled Project Vision.
"What do I want this app to do?" he asked aloud, as though speaking to the blank page would summon ideas faster. His mind raced with possibilities, and he started typing.
Ethan wished for it to start as a food delivery app but expand into a multi-functional platform for package delivery, courier services, and ride-sharing. A one-stop solution for modern convenience.
"That sounds good."
Ethan leaned back in his chair, satisfied with the vision. It felt ambitious yet achievable. "Start small, dream big," he muttered, a mantra that seemed to suit the moment.
His thoughts shifted to the potential users of Quick. Who would benefit the most? He imagined late-night students ordering food, busy families needing quick meals, and small businesses requiring affordable delivery solutions. He created mental profiles of these users, thinking about what they'd need from the app.
"It has to be easy," he murmured, jotting down notes. "Simple interface. Quick access. No fluff."
He grabbed a notebook and began sketching rough designs for the app. “Okay, the home screen needs to be intuitive,” he said, drawing a rectangle to represent the phone’s display. “Three main options: Order Food, Send a Parcel, Book a Ride.”
He labeled the boxes and began detailing each feature.
=====
- Order Food: Partner restaurants, real-time tracking, seamless checkout.
- Send a Parcel: Easy address input, delivery estimates, and live tracking.
- Book a Ride: Driver profiles, ETA updates, and route maps.
=====
By the time he finished, the notebook was filled with rough sketches of menus, buttons, and layouts. It wasn’t polished, but it gave him a sense of what Quick would look like.
With the design sketched, Ethan moved to his laptop and opened a wireframing tool. It felt like translating his ideas into a digital blueprint. He dragged and dropped elements into place, recreating his sketches on the screen.
The home screen came first, followed by subpages for each feature.
“It’s coming together,” Ethan muttered, his excitement growing as he clicked through the mock app. It was still barebones—just placeholders and lines—but it gave him a clear direction.
The next step was more technical. Ethan opened his browser and began researching what tools he’d need to bring Quick to life. “Alright, let’s keep this scalable and efficient,” he said to himself, diving into articles and forums.
For the backend, he decided on Code.js, a lightweight framework perfect for handling real-time updates like delivery tracking. To store user data, he chose MangoDB, a database that offered the flexibility he needed.
For the app’s front end—the part users would interact with—he settled on Reflect Native. “One codebase for both Android and iOS,” he said, nodding. “Saves time and resources.”
With his technology stack decided, Ethan set up the project in his IDE. The first thing he coded was the server, setting up routes for user registration, placing orders, and tracking deliveries.
Lines of code filled the screen, and Ethan lost himself in the rhythm of typing, testing, debugging, and typing again. This was his element—solving problems and creating something from nothing.
Hours passed, and Ethan barely noticed the time slipping by. It was not an exaggeration to say that his fingers were now dancing. This was all thanks to his mind feeling a lot sharper than it used to be.
Everything that he had learned or forgotten was now resurfaced.
"Wow," he muttered, pausing for a moment to process what was happening.
He could think faster, visualize complex structures in his mind, and find solutions to problems before they even fully formed. His creativity felt boundless, ideas flowing freely as if the puzzle pieces were already laid out for him.
“Well, it's all thanks to the upgrade on my Intelligence,” he said to himself. “Will I be able to unlock the full potential of the human brain?”
Ethan pushed aside all those thoughts for now. He continued working on the app. Somehow, he was able to think of many features that he had not planned initially.
However, he kept it in mind to ensure it was user-friendly. Besides, every problem he encountered seemed to solve itself, his hands moving almost instinctively to type the answers. He marveled at how effortlessly it all came together, as if the app was designing itself through him.
“If it keeps going like this,” Ethan murmured, leaning back to survey his work so far, “I could probably finish this entire thing by myself.”
The thought exhilarated him. At first, he thought he would need help from others in order to complete this project. But now, his high Intelligence made everything smoother, every step more efficient. He glanced at the unfinished prototype on the simulator screen, feeling a surge of determination.
“Why stop halfway?” he said with a chuckle. “If I can complete this quickly, the mission will be done. I should just go all the way.”
Thinking about the rewards from the mission, Ethan was ready to take the project to the finish line.
Ethan didn’t notice the soft golden light creeping through his bedroom window. The morning sun bathed his workspace in warmth, but he was too immersed to care.
He even turned down lunch and dinner yesterday. He felt hungry, but he still wanted to complete this project.
His hands moved deftly over the keyboard, every tap calculated and precise. The world outside was a blur—his focus entirely consumed by Quick.
When he finally stopped, it wasn’t because he was tired. It was the sense of accomplishment that made him pause. Ethan leaned back in his chair and exhaled deeply, rubbing his eyes.
The app's home screen gleamed on the simulator, polished and professional. Every feature was functional, every detail exactly how he had envisioned it—or better.
“Finally...” he whispered. His eyes were glued to the screen. He was excited yet exhausted.
Before he could celebrate further, a familiar chime echoed in his mind, and a blue notification panel appeared before his eyes.
=====
[Mission Complete: Deliver Success]
Objective: Successfully develop the Novan City Food Delivery App.
Reward:
- 5,000 EXP
- 20 Ascension Points
=====
Ethan blinked at the notification, the words sinking in slowly. He smiled widely and laughed with joy. “I did it!” he said, feeling proud and satisfied.
Ethan was practically buzzing with excitement as he leaned forward in his chair, eager to check his Status Panel. This time, instead of using his phone, he opted to display it directly in front of him, the translucent blue screen appearing mid-air.
When the panel materialized, Ethan's eyes widened in surprise.
=====
[Status Panel]
Name: Ethan Vale
Level: 4
EXP: 7500 / 10000
Ascension Points: 20
Wealth: Unlimited
Attributes:
- Strength: 21
- Speed: 18
- Endurance: 17
- Intelligence: 21
- Charisma: 16
Free Attribute Points: 20
Skills: [None Unlocked]
=====
His jaw dropped slightly. “Level four already?” he muttered, marveling at the progress. “And two levels at once? That’s... impressive.”
His gaze drifted to the bottom of the panel, and his lips curled into a grin when he saw the twenty free attribute points. “Twenty points? That's generous.”
Ethan leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms as he thought about what to do next. "I should spend these points right away," he decided. He remembered how much stronger, faster, and sharper he felt the last time he used his points.
He glanced at his current stats, a smile tugging at his lips. "Let’s balance everything out,” he said, tapping on the screen with precise intent.
=====
Attributes:
- Strength: 23
- Speed: 23
- Endurance: 23
- Intelligence: 23
- Charisma: 21
=====
As the points were allocated, Ethan felt an immediate ripple of change course through his body. It wasn’t as intense as when he drank the potions, but it was undeniable. His muscles felt subtly stronger, his mind clearer, and even his sense of balance seemed to improve.
“This feels incredible,” he murmured, flexing his fingers and clenching his fists experimentally. His gaze returned to the screen, satisfaction gleaming in his eyes as he admired the symmetry of his stats.
"Charisma’s lagging behind a little," he said with a chuckle, "but I’ll work on that later. For now... this is perfect." Ethan leaned back, letting out a deep breath, a wave of accomplishment washing over him. "If things keep going this way, there’s no stopping me."
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