Chapter 84: Lus’s Day Off

Lusac ran his hands through the mop of brown hair on his head and sighed. It was getting long enough that his bangs were starting to annoy him by hanging in front of his eyes all day, but he didn't want to risk asking Yrqw for a haircut again since the last time the Kremel gave him one, it'd looked–to put it gently–awful.

Becky and Zer-Dasht had made fun of him for weeks while he waited for it to grow out afterwards, and Lus was in no mood to endure such things again. Instead he planned to go to a proper Human barber next time the Argo stopped for supplies, but that was still a week away.

That meant Lus would have to endure the annoying bangs for a little longer. Honestly, he managed to ignore them during his shift in the Fsylan tubes or while cooking. It was only when he worked out at the gym that it became truly unbearable.

He didn't go to the gym all that often, opting to only go on his days off when he had the extra time since he got plenty of exercise doing his job aboard the Argo as it was.

It'd been just over a week since his return from the mission to Senator Grwtln where he worked as a servant cook for nearly a month. And while he'd gotten a full day off right after, he'd then spent the next seven days spending all day in the Fsylan tubes and cooking dinner every evening before his next day off.

And Lus had big plans for this rest day. It'd been a long time since he had casual time with his friends so he, Zer-Dasht, Becky, and Oaty were going to get together to hang out that night in his room.

That meant he needed to clean it up some too, but first he wanted to work out and see if he could increase his [Stamina] for his next level up which would probably be coming in the next couple of weeks if he kept up with this same intensity of schedule. He hadn't gotten the chance to try the new [Recipe] from the [Quest] he completed during the last mission, but he was very interested in whatever power was behind [Revelation Cakes].

Normally he'd try to sneak into the kitchen to cook his system [Recipes] on his day off, but he was too busy this time around. He planned to stay up late the next night to test out his newest [Recipe] instead.

Avil stood up from where he'd been sleeping on the bed, stretched, and then curled back up.

"Yeah. I know it's been real rough for you having to hang out with me instead of Becky," Lus said to the cat with a smirk. He couldn't be too offended that his cat wanted to hang out with Becky all the time because Lus shared the same sentiment. "Well, be a good boy. I'll be back in a bit."

Lus left his quarters behind and headed off to the gym. Since it was the middle of the day it might not be quite so busy. His [Luck] held out, and he discovered the room rather empty.

He stretched out near the treadmills, but just as he went to get on and start his run, someone called out from behind.

"Lusac! Good timing!"

Lus turned around to see Nippy's smiling face over by the weightlifting section. He had yet to have that all important conversation about not wanting to put any more stat points into [Strength] for the time being, and it seemed the universe had decided today was the day.

"Hey Nippy. You here for a workout too?"

"I don't know what else I would be doing here," the Kremel chuckled. "Come on. You've been away so long I'm afraid you might have to restart your weight program."

Lus rubbed the back of his head. "About that… I was thinking of kind of focusing on [Stamina] and some other stats for this level up. Just since my [Strength] has gotten so much better recently, I don't want to lag behind on the other ones."

Nippy blinked in surprise and then laughed. "What else do you need? You think [Charm] is going to win a battle? I thought you wanted to become tough enough to fight."

"I do want to be good at fighting, but [Strength] is the only way to do that," Lus argued. "Things like [Speed] and [Stamina] are important too."

"Yes, of course. And [Health]." Nippy nodded.

"Yeah. You get it. So I think I'll just focus on those other ones for now." Lusac smiled, softening the blow. He knew how much it meant to Nippy to mentor him since no one else on board had a system.

"Oh. Alright. Well just let me know when you're ready to level up [Strength] again. [Stamina] isn't going to be much good if you're still physically weak." Nippy turned away.

"Thank you for all your help, still." Lus grimaced at himself, sad that he'd disappointed the Kremel.

"Of course. Enjoy working on your other stats." Nippy was already sliding weights onto one of the bars, signaling that he was through with this conversation.

Lusac turned back to the treadmill and started his warmup walk. He needed to upgrade his [Speed] and [Stamina] since those two were probably the most important.

Not to mention my [Common Sense] could use some help, Lus added to himself, remembering that it was still at 1.

After speed walking for a few minutes, Lus pushed the equipment's speed up, turning his pace into a jog, and after a few minutes, a full run. He kept at it for as long as he could, and then a minute or two longer before slowing back down to a walk, sweat dripping from his brow. His legs muscles burned, and his side ached, but he comforted himself with the thought of increased stats at his next level up. He was only **[XP] away, and he was excited to see what he would get this time around given how much had happened since his last one.

Once he completed his run, he did go to the weights and do a brief set of exercises there just to keep his muscles strong. He didn't know if his system could take away stat points for growing weaker in something, but he definitely didn't want to find out. Besides, he looked how his body looked with the extra bulk from lifting.

Nippy grinned when he saw Lus use the weights, and he knew that the Kremel had already forgiven him for abandoning the straight [Strength] plan he'd laid out for him. Lus had completely finished his work out, but Nippy was still going strong.

"Bye, Nippy. See you around," he said as he got ready to leave.

"See you, Lus," the Kremel grunted as he heaved a bar with a thick set of weights on either side up above his head.

Shaking his head at the sight of such a feat, Lus left the gym and returned to his room where Avil lay in the exact same spot.

"Good to see you working so hard," Lus mentioned as he sat on his bed next to the cat and pet him.

Avil glared at him while simultaneously purring, caught between being annoyed at the comment and enjoying the attention.

Once he'd given Avil enough cuddles to make up for the teasing, Lus showered and pulled on a set of fresh, clean clothes.

Mostly clean.

Maybe he should do laundry today too.

Glancing around at his messy room, he decided laundry could wait another week since he was probably going to spend hours tidying up for company.

Before he did anything of the sort, he abandoned his room and cat once more to sneak into the kitchen and grab a snack. He still had a couple of frozen dishes from earlier, but the [Power Burger] was exceptionally useful in a crisis so he opted for the [Famous Chocote Chunk Cookies] instead. He ate one, and a notification popped up in the corner of his vision.

[+15 Charm]

He smiled. Extra [Charm] would only make hanging out better, right? And who knew, it might wear off before then anyway. These cookies didn't seem to last as long as the full meals he'd made from the system.

Keeping a couple of extra cookies in hand, he returned to his room and set to work cleaning up all the strewn clothes. He then wiped up the dust that had accumulated–strange that spaceships could even build up dust–and finally rearranged the furniture so everyone could easily access the coffee table where he set out a deck of cards.

He'd only just finished when the doorbell rang out.

"Huh. It's still half an hour before anyone's supposed to come over," he said to himself and Avil as he checked the time.

Shrugging, he answered the door anyway and discovered Becky waiting there.

Avil jumped up from where he lay on the couch to rush to her and rub against her legs. She immediately picked him and held him against her chest.

"Hiya, Avil. I've missed you too," she said, nuzzling his face. She then looked up at Lus. "Hi to you too. Sorry, I know I'm early, but I wanted the chance to talk to you in private."

"No problem." He smiled and stepped out of the way, allowing her into the room. "Sometimes I think Avil might like you more than me."

"To be fair, I've never forced him into grave danger just for my own escape."

Avil screeched in agreement, worming his way deeper into Becky's arms.

"It's good for him to exercise."

They both laughed and sat on his beat up couch.

Lus leaned back, trying to seem casual. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well it's kind of a long story, and…" Becky looked at him quizzically. "Did you eat one of those cookies from the freezer?"

It was Lus's turn to be surprised. "Oh, uh, well, um, yeah. I mean, they're mine. I made them."

"Right. They're some special system cookie right? Since you're a chef. It's a long story, but I accidentally ate one without realizing what it was, and realized I had a… strange effect on people. I'm assuming that's the effect I'm under now."

"And what effect would that be?"

"You're much more alluring than usual."

"Alluring?" Lus nearly choked on the word.

"Yeah. They make the opposite sex more attracted or want to be nicer to you or something, right?" Becky held Avil close, and Lus could tell she was nervous.

"No. Well, I mean, maybe, kind of, technically in a way."

She raised a single eyebrow.

"They increase a person's [Charm] by a lot. So I'm just more charming than usual," Lus explained.

Becky laughed. "Ah, I was close at least. That's very handy, but maybe you should label them so other people don't make my mistake. That's a pretty powerful buff to leave lying around."

"They were hidden in the freezer, and I don't know that we have any other cookie thieves aboard." Lusac smiled at her.

"Consider it payment for taking care of your cat."

Avil screeched at this, but Lusac didn't know if it was out of indignation or simply because he wanted more attention, but Lus gave him some extra pets anyway.

"So… you said I was more alluring than usual. Does that mean you always find me at least a little bit alluring?" Lus smirked at Becky.

Her jaw dropped. She then grabbed the single pillow on the couch and threw it at him. "You little sablis. How dare you insinuate such things? I am a lady."

"My apologies, your highness." Lus bowed. They both laughed some more, and then he convinced Becky to tell him the full story around the cookies. He hardly even noticed time passing until the doorbell rang and the others arrived.

The evening was spent with good company and good snacks courtesy of Oaty who picked up several kinds of candy and chips on the last resupply mission. Lus laughed more that night than he had in the last month at the mansion combined. As the evening wore on, he glanced around at his friends and smiled.

It was good to be home.