Chapter 21 - Gains

After celebrating Christmas with the August's, Kai gently laid down on his bed and reminisced about the past 6 months and how his life had changed for the better. It had it's ups and downs.

The shooting and his condition after were all low points but him meeting Jeffrey, him somehow gaining the system, learning how to sing, play different musical instruments and now being on the way to realize his dreams. It was a turbulent ride but in hindsight, he wouldn't change it if he was given a choice.

He now was in much better physical and mental shape than ever before and also had many close social relationships. He had a caring mentor, guardians and even an adorable little sibling-figure to spoil.

As he reminisced about the good times in his life recently, he opened the system to check the progress he made in the past few months.

User - Kai Jones

Age - 20

Talent Assessment - A Rank

System Level - 2 (250/5000)

(Evaluation - User has taken steps towards becoming a star)

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USER MENU

User Stats

Pending Missions

Snoop 

Music Selector 

******

(*** - Indicates that the user isn't ready to see to see the features. Kindly upgrade the system to know more)

Kai felt a small sense of satisfaction after seeing his talent grade increase from a B rank to an A rank. Another small thing he noticed was that in the evaluation the text changed slightly. Instead of "a small step", it was replaced by "steps" indicating that the system did acknowledge his hard work and was evaluating him accordingly. He left at peace realizing that.

He then looked at his updated stats from the past few months

[User Stats]

Name - Kai Jones

Talent Grade - A

System Level - 2 (250/1000)

Titles - Voice of Empathy, Limit break

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Strength - 16

Agility - 17

Intelligence - 15

Stamina - 14

Charisma - 14

Luck - ??

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Skills -

Observe

Singing - Level 5

Piano - Level 5

Guitar - Level 3

Swimming - Level 3

Yoga - Level 3

Korean Mastery - Level 2

Cooking - Level 3

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Inventory -

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His stats has risen dramatically these past few months. His highest was ironically Agility! He had worked tirelessly during physiotherapy and once that concluded on his own that his legs and overall agility was higher than ever before. His other stats weren't too far behind through.

After using the [Snoop] feature multiple times and on multiple people, Kai realized that the average stat points for other people was 10-11 points. Of course no one has the same points in each stat nor do they have a steady stat ratio either. Each person has their strengths and weakness. Similarly they had a few stats higher than others, which some stats were lower than average. 

That was human nature and Kai realized that. He also realized that his stats while superior to the average person, weren't too high from them either. Therefore he swore to start working harder than ever before and complete the system mission as soon as possible.

He planned to increase his training and add more variations to expedite his training. He the checked the [Pending Missions] tab

[New Quest Available]

Quest - Get back in athletic physical condition

Deadline - 8 months

Rewards - Physique Enhancement Roll, Mysterious tickets x3, 500 points

Penalty - 7 point deduction from each stat

Seeing the penalty put a shiver down his spine. Losing 7 points in each stat was nightmare of a punishment and it would take away months of hard work and cause irreparable damage to his career.

In addition to upgrading his existing skills, he also added new ones in his skill repertoire. His Singing and Piano had been raised by 1 and 2 levels respectively. It was really difficult to upgrade it after reaching level 5 as both these skills were upgraded in September. Despite him practicing everyday and trying his best to get them to level 6, it took a lot more effort. But on the plus side, he felt that both his skills were close to upgrading.

He also learned a ton of new skills. He picked up the guitar because the system gave him a mission to learn another skill and once he expressed his desire to learn another skill, Jeff although initially perturbed by his attitude, assuming that he was bored of the Piano and wanted to leave it but once heard the reasoning and promises to practice both at the same level, reluctantly showed him the basics.

Jeff was a savant when it came to musical instruments and his mastery over the guitar left Kai absolutely speechless. The grace and fluidity that he displayed while handling the instrument would make even rockstars jealous. 

As promised, he gave equal attention to both the piano and the guitar and while he wasn't the prodigy that he was while playing the piano, he wasn't bad either. Jeff's words not his own.

Steadily, he gained additional 2 levels in guitar by November and Kai really enjoyed playing the instrument. He was very glad that the system gave him that mission. 

Once his physiotherapy reached it's later stages, the therapist had recommended swimming and yoga as recreational exercises and Kai had learned to love both of them. He started both these activities solo but eventually someone or the other had joined him. For swimming, it was Zach and sometimes Steven and for yoga, it was Eliza. 

Apparently Eliza was extremely proficient in yoga. So when Kai discussed the topic of the two recreational activities, Eliza was quick to suggest that he practice yoga with her. He quickly agreed as he trusted her a lot. And she was extremely patient which he was very thankful for.

Yoga required a still mind and body. As he was still not 100 percent when he started, he made a lot of errors and got immensely frustrated in the first few sessions. He almost thought of quitting altogether but Eliza stopped him.

Flashback

The yoga room was bathed in the soft glow of afternoon sunlight, filtering through the tall windows. Dust motes floated lazily in the golden rays, dancing to the rhythm of their slow, deliberate movements. The scent of lavender and eucalyptus lingered in the air, remnants of an essential oil diffuser humming softly in the corner. The polished wooden floor felt cool against Kai's palms as he adjusted his stance, a stark contrast to the heat radiating from his exerted muscles.

The only sounds in the room were the rhythmic rise and fall of their breaths, broken occasionally by the rustling of fabric as they shifted poses. Outside, the distant chirping of birds and the faint murmur of wind through the trees provided a soothing backdrop. The serenity of the environment clashed with the frustration bubbling inside him—his mind refused to quiet, his body refused to cooperate.

Each time he attempted a pose, his muscles trembled with effort, beads of sweat forming at his temples. His limbs ached, his balance wavered, and eventually, his frustration boiled over. When he finally lost control and collapsed onto the soft mat beneath him, the thud felt louder than it was—an echo of his internal struggle. The silence that followed stretched unbearably, only broken by the gentle sound of Eliza's footsteps approaching.

Kai, kneeling down, was breathing heavily. Yoga - while a recreational activity which focused on relaxing and improving flexibility, was also pretty tough in it's initial stages and was quiet taxing on an underdeveloped body. The asanas (poses) were quiet challenging to maintain for Kai as he was still in the process of getting his feel under him. Seeing his "guardian" doing them so effortlessly, Kai's desire to impress were backfiring right now.

His confidence was shot to hell and he was thinking of quitting on yoga when a soft hand landed on his head

He lifted his head to see Eliza looking at him with sympathy. Kai while grateful for the support wasn't happy to see that look. 

Over the years, he had gotten used to this look from others people. More so after Nana passed away but seeing Eliza give him this look brought a knot to his stomach. But before he could spiral deeper, her voice cut through the silence.

"Why are you distracted Kai?" Her voice brought him to reality. 

"I'm not distracted." he defended himself but internally he knew better. He did not want to appear weak in front of them. Jeff, Steven, Eliza & even little Zach. They had helped him a lot over these past months and he wanted them to see that he wasn't a hopeless case.

Kai wanted to show them that he was good enough to stand on his own and excel in life. This chip on his shoulder was ultimately proving to be his downfall.

"I'm not blind Kai. I can see it. You're here but mentally you're somewhere else. You are always planning the next move. It isn't just me that has observed this. We've all observed this for the past few months. You're pushing yourself too hard. Jeff has given you the freedom to do things at your pace but don't rush yourself. Please. Everyone here cares for you a lot and they don't want to see you hurt again."

Her words hit him like a sledgehammer. Was his insistence to show them his worth as soon as possible causing them more grief? He felt very guilty but before he could digest it any further, he felt a hand on his cheek and he looked at the woman who gave him a very tender look which reminded him of his grandmother.

"We all really care for you Kai. All we want from you is to take care of yourself. Just live in the present with us okay? I'm sure we aren't that bad" Eliza chuckled.

"No! You're all the best Eliza. I just want to be better as soon as possible to repay you all as soon as possible" he started loudly but finished with a whisper, embarrassed. Hearing this, the lady chuckled, before surprising him with a tender hug.

He stiffened for a moment before hesitatingly hugging her back. "If you want to repay us, just take one day at a time and enjoy the present with us, okay?" she said, hugging him and smiled when she felt him nod his head from the hug.

Flashback end

Since then, yoga had become a very pleasant experience for him mainly due to Eliza's presence and once he slowly started letting go of the chip on his shoulder, he started relaxing and eventually got better at the craft. Similar with swimming too. 

As for Korean language skill , as the Korean wave was quiet popular in the US and KPOP idols and groups were popular in not just US but also internationally, Kai decided to pick up Korean to help him communicate with them. And he was getting quiet decent at it according to his tutor. 

Cooking was also a skill he picked up during these past few months. But unlike his other skills, cooking wasn't obtained through him actually cooking in the kitchen. Cooking was a skill he picked up while using the Observe skill for the first time.

Flashback

Kai stealthily made his way towards the kitchen. He wanted to use his Observe skill and there wasn't anything he could do to use the skill as he was afraid of the backlash

Observe - Observe allows the user to observe another artist for 10 seconds and comprehend their mannerisms to it's finest details. This can allow the user to increase the speed of his relevant skills if utilized properly. [Cooldown - 15 days.]

[NOTE - As the user hasn't used the skill before and is unaccustomed to it, the probability of severe headaches, is high as the skill is quiet stamina intensive]

Remembering the skills description, he was afraid to use it in front of people as if the backlash was very heavy, he could injure himself and cause worry to his housemates. Thus the only way he planned to use it was to sneak into the kitchen, use the observe skill on the chef and understand what using the skill is like. If he gained a new skill than nothing like it!

Eventually he reached the kitchen and saw the 2 chefs prepping for dinner. He tentatively closed his eyes and activated the skill

[Observe]

His eyes gained a faint blue tinge and if anyone noticed intently, they would see a faint blue circle on the edge of his irises which made it gave it an ethereal look.

For Kai, it was an indescribable few seconds. He could see every moment the chef made, From the way they held the kitchen knife, the angle of their cuts, the way they handled the vegetables cooking on the stove, everything seemed to go in slow motion and he could see and understand every single movement they made. 

Eventually the 10 seconds ended and a blinding pain suddenly erupted throughout his head. He could barely stand straight and he tried his best to make his way towards his bedroom.

One of the reasons, he chose the kitchen and not the music room was that the latter was on the second floor and he wasn't sure if he would be able to descent from the second floor in his condition. And the kitchen was relatively close by and he had a much higher chance of reaching his room from there.

But it wasn't as easy as he thought. After what felt like an eternity, Kai finally reached his room and immediately laid down on the bed and tried to rest but he couldn't due to the headache he was feeling right now. Eventually he passed out from the pain

Flashback end

He figured out that his stamina was low and thus the pain was more intense. As his stamina increased, the pain would also decrease. It still hurt like a bi*ch when he used observe but not nearly as bad as the first time.

On a positive note, he also gained the [Cooking - Level 3] skill from the entire mishap. Silver linings and all.

So overall he was satisfied with the progress he made in the past few months and in the next 2-3 months he would intensify his training and bring out the most from his body until he eventually stepped into the limelight!