186 Fiction is truthier than strange (1/2)
Exhaling, he reminded himself of the stakes. ”No pain, no hoes slain…”
By now, Ben recognized this truth; Too few were born privileged enough they didn't have to struggle to get ahead. He wasn't special either. So he'd have to eat some discomfort if he wanted to make progress. At least for him, the efforts showed benefits that he could quantify. 'Let's check the effect of the potion.'
He changed into some running clothes and left his dorm room…
A while later…
Back in his room, Ben was wiping his face with a towel after returning from a jog. ”20% boost in stamina again.” The boost was consistent with his expectations, which was one point the system proved reliable on. If he had to give one characteristic to describe the system, it would be b*tch.
…
If he had to give a second one, it would be that she was consistent…
”Ok, what's next?” With the booty chest used up, that only left Ben with some points and a live flag. After some thought, he decided to use the points first to fish for a useful item, since he didn't need to save many for a stat growth multiplier. There were still a few days remaining on his multiplier for social status, and he already knew which multiplier he wanted to activate next.
[Mid Level Stat Growth Multiplier(Consumable, Rare, Manliness) x1]
He'd received this after completing the booty burglar challenge for Penelope and saved it until now. If no new problems sprung up, with university and his financial woes taken care of, Ben could afford to focus on manliness next. He already thought of a plan to develop it, but he'd delve into that more next week.
For now, since he lacked another important use for them, he prepared to spend 5000 of his 9300 points on a mystery box and save the remainder. It would serve as a buffer in case something urgent came up. So with that in mind, Ben opened his store screen, and purchased a high level mystery box.
Soon, he held the shiny silver box, and opened it without delay.
As the light emerged and the item materialized in his hands, the first feeling Ben received, was of heaviness...
His arms sank…as a non-trivial weight fell into them.
Feeling cold metal in both of his hands, he opened his eyes once the light receded, and found he was holding something he'd never touched—a typewriter…
Sitting in silence for a while, Ben was experiencing something unexpected--awe...
He'd never seen a device with such a pure and beautiful appearance…
Sitting next to modern machinery, this typewriter's antiquated nature couldn't have been more apparent, but it still possessed a strange magnetism, attracting his eyes, as if simply looking at it carried a purifying effect.
Ben was also curious because he'd never been close to one of these, which was normal; By the time he was born, computers already replaced them for the most part. So he explored it, tracing it with his fingers and eyes.