2. The system

Jun En approached his home, he had just gotten off the flight train and made it back. He looked at his watch [6:57] not bad, it could have been worse.

His house wasn't big a home, it was decently sized terrace on the smaller side with 2 floors. The outer appearance wasn't too worn down nor was it shining beautiful. The yard was too small to call a proper yard while the small front gates were slightly rusted. It was a humble living area to say the least but it was still quite decent. Outside the home there was a plate on the side of the gate [District D - 08 Wu family].

The city was divided into multiple districts from A to F, these were the rankings provided by the government based on the households usefulness regarding the stories which they held. It was definitely possible for someone living in district F to move to district A if they could create a good enough story, however this was rare. Occasionally you would have some households moving up a few districts as they inherited or created a decently useful story.

Of course while the city was divided in to multiple districts this doesn't mean that each district was necessarily worst off with broken walls and torn down homes. District F was not like the slums despite the way the city was organised. Instead during an attack by the Regs when the cities needed to be evacuated they would have last priority and the district was furthest from the main areas of the city.

It also affected what kind of jobs that they could receive or the amount of assistance which they could receive from the government if they needed help. While district F wasn't the slums it wasn't the best place either people there lived hard lives the divide in society and the deeming of useful and useless stories had caused those in district to F to struggle doing whatever they needed to do to get by. This meant that district F also possessed the highest crime rate within the city.

Jun En lived in district D it was the most average districts there was nothing inherently bad nor good about it. He had lived in F before when he was younger however his father figured out a way to use his story and gained a new one as well. The stories "the hardworking farmer" and "the lottery winner" helped his father grow, the farmer allowed him to slowly build up up skills so that he could adapt to most jobs, and the lottery winner made him decently lucky. His mother possessed stories too but they were deemed not as useful by the government.

Jun En entered the home, closing the door behind him.

His mother shouted to him "hehe you were almost late 6:59, I see you like cutting it close"

I'm back now aren't I

Jun En's mother wasn't that tall she stood to about 164 cm, had black hair just like him and had a dark shade of brown to her eyes that almost made it look like it was black in color. She had a well built stature, and could be seen to be quite fit wearing sweatpants and a shirt.

"Jun En, you should hurry up and go have dinner your dad will be coming back from work late"

Jun En gave his mother a wave and quickly went to the living room. In the span of ten minutes he had washed his hands, eaten his food along with anything extra left over and darted up to his bedroom. Despite his thin appearance he had an appetite and an eating speed that would rival professional eaters.

Well that wasn't a very useful skill though.

He entered his bed room which had white walls a wide cabinet to the side and was littered with books all over the ground. His computer sat open on his desk which displayed a light novel he was trying to write [when our souls meet]. Jun En liked a lot of different genres, especially romance and fantasy, so that was his attempt at writing a romance novel.

Jun En plopped on to his bed face first into his navy blue sheets, he turned his head and saw the title on his computer screen.

Maybe I should just leave the romance to those who know how to write, this was a mistake from the start.

A loud sigh emptied itself throughout the room. He turned around and faced the roof looking upwards while lying down on his bed and recalled the events which had just happened.

The purple silver book and the entity named Dev that he formed a contract quite spontaneously.

Did he rush this, he really liked the stories which he read and wanted to be the characters, he wanted more power to take care of his family and freedom but was this the right way.

For all he knew he could have just made a contract with an evil entity who would eat his soul. Thinking about it Jun En shuddered at the thought.

As he thought about this a voice rang out in his head.

"Hello dear contractor or should I say Jun En, by the way I'm not an evil entity, rather think of me as your new Best Friend who will gift you amazing things".

The tone of the voice sounded like a salesman trying to make a pitch to make people buy things. Actually no it sounded more like scammers and those shady gangs who loan people money thought Jun En.

"I can hear what you're thinking and no I'm not any of those things, I offer something much better"

I know, I know power and what not maybe I did rush this, Jun En thought this waving his hand in the air.

So what happens now do I get special powers or become overpowered now or something, is It going to be like those game systems with level ups that I always read about?

"Well that depends on you, I can give you power in any shape or form, it can be a level system if you want, however if I can't grant you the full power right now as your body is too weak to handle everything and would pop like a balloon if I have you the power"

I knew it this was a bad decision after all, I don't want to pop like a balloon! Ah Jun En you idiot you big idiot!

"Chill, that's why I recommend giving you a way that would allow you to slowly amass power as your body becomes a proper vessel that can handle the full power in the future"

Listening to this Jun En resigned to his fate

Well I can't stop now, just do whatever feels right

"Okay then say-"

Status window

"Oh" the voice sounded surprise to Jun En's words

I've read a lot of stories with these types of systems I know how it works, and the system is one of the best ways for you to train my body to be able to handle power as I slowly "level up" isn't it.

"Ah I see... well okay then"

*Ding* a Status window appeared in front of Jun En it was like a game but with many more functions than the stories Jun En read about.

Name: Wu Jun En

Race: Human

Class: Unknown

Title: (__________)

Level: 1

HP: 20/20

Stamina: 5/5

Strength: 8

Agility: 5

Dexterity: 15

Intelligence: ???

Unassigned stat: 0

Skills: Speedy Devour, Speed Reading, Quick Thinking

Skills Tree (???)

Stories: [The quick eater], [Immersive reader], [over analyser]

EXP: 0/100

Huh. Jun En looked at his stats he didn't know whether it was good or bad as he had nothing to compare it to. As if knowing what he was thinking about the voice began to explain

"Each stat is represents a different part of you physically, an average person at your age of 17 would have base stats of 10 across the board, however you fall below the average."

Jun En wasn't surprised by this he was never an advocate of getting out with your friends nor excreting he never cared too much about it, when he was reading he would skip meals at time just to finish his book. This resulted in his overall thin appearance.

The voice continued bu this time it sounded a little surprised "despite that your health and Dexterity are surprisingly high for someone like you".

Jun En couldn't argue with what he saw despite his horrible stats his body still knew how to take a hit as he used to be bullied a lot thus his body learned and grew because of that. His Dexterity was something that was natural and explained his ability to weave between crowds without making contact with anybody, he had a good control over his whole body.

"Your stories control the skill that you gain as you can see, some stories may yield multiple skills, the only decently useful story you have is [over analyser] however it isn't anything to write home about"

Jun En looked at the title and skills tree and asked the voice

Hey why is my title blank and what is with the question marks for the skills tree?

"It's not 'hey', it's 'Dev', anyway the title you have yet to earn one yet and the skills tree, you have yet to unlock that yet"

How am I suppose to do that?

"I can't explain much to you but I will give you advice build up your base stats first, if you don't your body may not be able to handle the drawback of certain future skills"

Hmmm what so I may die or something, said Jun En nonchalantly

"Well I guess so"

Yeah well for something this good it has to be earned

Jun En sat up his bed leaning back on the wall next to his bed.

Well I guess I have some sort of power now not that I know how it is used for. Jun En thought to himself what his first course of action and his goals were writing it down on a piece of paper.

Goals:

1. Gain a more useful story

2. Get into Novelia Academy

3. Become more powerful

4. Move my family to district A

He didn't have too many goals but he knew that if he wanted to make use of this newfound power he needed a more useful story good enough to get into Novelia Academy, only from there then he could begin.