$1M Debt

Marcus's eyes fluttered open. Dull light filtered through dirty windows. The smell of damp wood filled the air.

He lay on a creaky bed. His body felt weak. An IV was hooked into his arm. He felt better, still hungry but not starving, but fear gripped him. He remembered passing out in his apartment, being so close to death once again.

It was not a good feeling.

Then he remembered, a large figure had opened his door before everything went black and now he was saved, Marcus narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

Nothing good comes for free, he thought, time to find out the price.

"Hello?" Marcus's voice was barely a whisper.

A figure moved out of the shadows. It was the same large person he had seen before.

Marcus struggled to sit up, his body feeling like lead. The large figure stepped closer, emerging from the shadows.

It was a burly man with a scarred face and a sneer.

"Look who's awake," the man said, his voice rough and grating. "How you feeling, Alex?"

Marcus frowned. "It's... Marcus," he corrected weakly.

The man shrugged. "Call yerself whatever you want. Alex or Marcus, don't matter to me."

Marcus swallowed hard. "Who are you? Why did you help me?"

The man pulled a chair and sat beside the bed. He leaned in close, his breath smelling of stale smoke. "The sickness finally rot your brain? It's Brick and I've come to collect. You owe us, kid. Big time."

"Us?" Marcus asked, dread creeping into his voice.

"Yeah, the Black Hoods," Brick replied. "Remember? Your parents, they racked up quite the debt, one million credits. And now, it's all on you."

Marcus felt his heart drop and he looked around the room weakly, it was bare bones and rundown, he knew this body had no wealth, "I-I have no money." he said.

Brick smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Well, you've got three months to figure it out. Otherwise, you'll be working in the mines for the rest of your sorry life."

Marcus's head spun. This was worse than he thought. "Why did you save me then?"

Brick laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "Can't collect a debt from a corpse. And with your parents six feet under someone's gotta pay."

Marcus's hands trembled, with fear and rage "Three months?"

Brick raised an eyebrow. "Three months is all you got. No extensions, no excuses."

Marcus nodded slowly, fear gripping him tighter than ever. The weight of the debt felt like a mountain on his shoulders. He needed to think of a plan, and quickly.

Brick stood up, towering over Marcus. "Remember, kid. We're always watching. Don't even think about running."

As Brick turned to leave, Marcus called out, "Wait!"

Brick stopped, looking over his shoulder. "What now?"

"Is there... There's gotta be a way," Marcus stammered. "Something I can do to make you give me more time. Some work, a deal, anything."

Brick's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Sorry bud, this ain't a forgiving place."

With that, Brick tossed a bottle of water and energy bar onto the nearby table then left the room, leaving the door slightly ajar. Marcus could hear more voices and sounds of a rundown house—people talking, metal clanking, distant laughter, and the groans of old wood.

Exhausted, Marcus collapsed back onto the bed. His mind raced, plotting and panicking at the same time. A million credits in three months. It seemed impossible. But he had to find a way.

As the minutes dragged by, Marcus tried to calm his racing heartbeat. His eyes traced the cracked ceiling above, searching for a sliver of hope.

'No running,' Brick had said. Marcus knew he meant it. Debt was a nasty business, debtors would collect anyway they could and none of them were ever good. He could feel eyes on him already, making his skin crawl.

Taking a deep breath, Marcus vowed silently. He wouldn't break. He had come back to life once. He would find a way to stay alive again.

The clock was ticking. There was no time to waste.

Marcus sat up abruptly, determination filling his veins. He had to start somewhere. He grabbed the energy bar and water, grateful for the small gesture of kindness from Brick. Setting the water down, he hungrily devoured the energy bar.

Already he could feel energy beginning to course through his body, then just like witchcraft that same monotone voice and text appeared in his head.

[Crisis Successfully Averted. Malnutrition and dehydration have been solved, you have been awarded 15 Achievement Points (AP)]

Marcus's eyes widened. Achievement Points (AP)?

"What's that?" he said out loud and the voice responded.

[Achievement Points (AP) can be used to unlock new knowledge and skills.]

Marcus's forehead scrunched up, "Unlock… knowledge and skills?"

[Yes.]

"Show me the knowledge and skills I can unlock." Marcus asked and not a moment later an overlay appeared in his vision.

[ Skills & Knowledge ]

[ Current AP (15) ]

[ Observation I (15) : The ability to see and understand basic things about people, creatures and machines. Bonus from - Experience in war ]

[ Programming I (175) : The knowledge to create code that allows automations to follow simple set instructions. ]

[ Materials I (215) : The knowledge to understand the properties of common materials and how they behave/interact. ]

[ Robotics I (555) : The knowledge to design and create simple automations. ]

[ ??? I (1250) : ???. Requirements ???. ]

[ ??? I (1777) : ???. Requirements ???. ]

[ ??? I (9120) : ???. Requirements ???. ]

Marcus stared in awe at the overlay, there was a long list of skills but only a few had any text on them, the rest were just question marks. As if sensing his confusion the voice continued:

[Some knowledge/skills you do not even know exist so before you can even attempt to learn them you must discover.]

[In addition, life experience with certain knowledge or skills or even adjacent knowledge/skills will give you a bonus when trying to learn new knowledge/skills. Like reading a text on the subject, training or doing experiments.]

Marcus nodded, that all made sense, that was how learning things worked in the real world. The one thing that he was still doubtful of was if he could really just learn something through this menu.

Well, there was only one way to find out.

"I'd like to learn Observation I." he said and a prompt appeared.

[Would you like to spend (15) AP to learn (Observation 1)?]

[YES | NO]

"Yes."

And just like that Marcus felt a painful tingle in his skull which calmed down into a dull ache. He looked around his room and focused his vision on the medical machine by his bed. To his shock an overlay appeared beside the device.

[ Medical Equipment (Old) | Purpose: Clean blood | Value: C20,000 | Status: Offline | Components & Material: ??? | Weak Points: ??? ]

[Notice: Unlocked new potential skill - Observation II] 

Marcus blinked at the prompts, the information was not the most useful but he grinned nonetheless, this system, the Automation Design System allowed him to learn skills almost instantly.

He let out a laugh and a wicked grin appeared on his face.

"Hey System, what else can you do?"