Gaining Fame

"What! I have a system?" His mouth hung open in astonishment after seeing the notification floating in front of him, much like those weird floaters you see when staring at a clear blue sky.

He clicked on the notification, and a whole new tab opened up, filled with messages that had been piling up since his arrival in this world. The sheer number of notifications was overwhelming, almost as if the system had been waiting for the perfect moment to reveal itself.

"Holy... That's a lot of notifications. Why didn't I get one about obtaining a system?" he wondered aloud, scratching his head in confusion.

As he pondered this, his gaze landed on the top grid, which read "System is muted." That explained everything. He understood why he had been left in the dark, though he had no idea how he ended up muting the notifications. Perhaps it was a mistake he made during his frantic first moments in this world, or maybe it was an automatic setting. Either way, he had no time to dwell on it, as he felt the ground under his feet begin to shift.

*Tremor* *Rumble*

"Fuck! I forgot about this... The tree also served as the foundation of this peak," he muttered, quickly packing up his stuff and crawling towards the exit. The realization hit him hard—removing the tree had destabilized the entire area. He might have grown stronger, but that didn't mean he could survive a whole mountain peak collapsing on his head.

*Thud* *Thud*

Stones began to fall behind him as he crawled as fast as he could. Every thud sent shivers down his spine, reminding him of the precariousness of his situation. He wanted to punch his way through with brute force, but that would only create more debris and potentially cause the entire structure to collapse on him, either killing him or crippling him for life.

*Rumble* *Thuds*

The ground shook harder, as if an earthquake had struck, followed by the horrifying sound of big boulders collapsing behind him. The noise alone was enough to make anyone panic, and he felt his heart racing in his chest.

"Please put a protective shield around me right now, Rie," he desperately pleaded, his voice trembling with fear. He was frantically crawling, throwing his arms and legs around, bruising himself on the sharp rocks and making blood gush from his wounds. His survival instincts had kicked in, and he was operating purely on adrenaline.

"No, I am instructed not to hinder your progress," she responded nonchalantly. Her voice was calm, almost detached, as if she didn't fully grasp the severity of his situation.

She didn't take his desperate pleas seriously. She could easily stop the collapse with a flick of her fingers and save Lloyd anytime she wanted. Her indifference only added to his frustration and fear.

"Don't bullshit me! Aren't you supposed to protect me? I'll get crushed if you don't do something!" Lloyd's situation was dire; he was fighting for his life. He might as well be shitting bricks right now. The thought of dying here, alone and forgotten, terrified him.

Although a little annoyed by his response, she finally put a protective shield around him, which not only protected him from the collapsing structure but also healed his wounds. The instant relief from the pain and the security of the shield gave him a moment to catch his breath.

...

"Almost died in there," he said, wiping sweat and dirt off his body with a towel in his hotel room. The ordeal had left him exhausted. The comfort of his hotel room felt surreal after the life-threatening chaos he had just escaped.

With Rie's help, he managed to escape the cave, although the entire peak collapsed right after she put the shield on him. Nothing happened to him, except it took much longer to get out from under the piles of rocks. Each boulder he moved was a reminder of how close he had come to being buried alive.

Once he was done, he looked into his system and saw his stats window:

```

Name: Lloyd Hatzok

Age: 14

Potential: SSS+

Level: 10

-----

Health: 180/200

Aura: 2000/5000

Mana: 300/300

Fatigue: 0/100

-----

STR: 11

DEX: 12

INT: 14

```

He was surprised by his potential and said, "I thought I would be SSS rank, but I'm SSS+ rank. It's like Daven, who also increased his potential to SSS+ by eating this fruit." The realization that he had surpassed his expectations filled him with a sense of pride and excitement. This newfound power could change everything for him.

He hadn't expected his potential to increase to SSS+ rank, but it was great news for him. Now he was on par with the protagonist, which would make things much easier after obtaining the Nurture Core.

Exploring the rest of the system, he found it lacking compared to Daven's cheat system. It didn't have rewards system like Daven's. This system didn't even give him any rewards for leveling up, but it did have a store and system currency he could use to buy items. The currency could be earned by completing quests and leveling up, and the items offered were not disappointing compared to the rest of the system.

"It's a decent system, much lacking compared to Daven's, but something is better than nothing. Also, I can't access some portions of the system due to level restrictions," he sighed.

More options would become available as he progressed.

He discovered that more than half of the system options were still locked because he hadn't met the requirements. There was a chance it could become more like a cheat system; for example, he couldn't access the gacha feature, which required him to be level 20.

...

The next morning, when he woke up and saw the news, it was all about the incident that had occurred a few days ago. The news gained major exposure because Lise was involved. If she hadn't been on the train, the story would have died down as soon as the fire was grew.

"The unknown hero who saved over two dozen people in the incident is named as the Drowned Prodigy Banished Lloyd Hatzok of the Hatzok Family," the news anchor announced.

It wasn't just Lise who was all over the news; it was also Lloyd, who had saved her. His name was all over the country, just as he had hoped. He wanted to be in the spotlight again, to be in people's eyes so that he wouldn't disappear overnight. Although his face wasn't shown, his name was enough for people to recall his image.

The recognition felt like a double-edged sword. While he enjoyed the fame, he knew it came with responsibilities and dangers. Like Daven and Hatzok getting to know about him.

"I'm pretty strong now. Let's fight someone," he declared, clenching his fists.

*****

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