Life System
"One tuna sandwich and a bottle of Coke, Mia."
Before he knew it, school was over.
Simon, who didn't participate in any clubs, took Meg to a convenience store with a small diner inside.
This store was part of Dominic's family business, and the waitress, chef, and cashier all rolled into one was none other than Dominic's sister, Mia.
"Okay! Meg, what do you need?" Mia asked.
"I'm having dinner at home later, so just an apple soda for me," Meg replied.
Mia nodded and quickly brought over a sandwich and two bottles of soda.
---
"I heard you had a run-in with Navarro?"
While Simon was eating his sandwich, Dominic walked up to him.
Simon kept eating, not even looking up. "Don't worry. I'll handle it."
Seeing how calm Simon was, Dominic nodded. "If you need anything, just say the word."
Leaving those words behind, Dominic grabbed a beer from the fridge and headed to the back of the shop.
Once Dominic left, Meg started chatting with Mia, while Simon quietly sat there, enjoying his sandwich.
---
"One tuna sandwich, please."
Just then, a stranger's voice sounded from behind Simon.
At the same time, a voice only Simon could hear echoed in his mind.
[Ding! Detected Brian O'Conner, the protagonist of the Fast & Furious series.]
[Sign in?]
"Sign in," Simon answered silently in his mind.
[Ding! Choose one of the following skills:]
1. Combat Mastery (Intermediate)
2. Weapon Proficiency (Intermediate)
3. Mechanic (Beginner)
"Choose 1."
After thinking it over, Simon chose the first option.
[Ding! Detected existing Combat Mastery (Intermediate). Upgrade current skill cap?]
"Confirm!"
[Ding! Combat Mastery skill cap upgraded to Advanced.]
At that moment, a flood of combat knowledge and techniques surged into Simon's mind.
[Ding! Combat Mastery +100 EXP! Consecutive sign-ins for 7, 15, and 30 days will yield double, fivefold, and tenfold rewards.]
---
"Open character panel," Simon murmured inwardly.
A screen, visible only to him, popped up.
---
[Host: Simon Lewis]
[Age: 18]
1. Driving Mastery (Master) – Maxed
2. Mechanic (Expert) – 500,000/500,000 EXP (Cap reached, cannot upgrade)
3. Tracking (Beginner) – 10,000/10,000 EXP (Cap reached, cannot upgrade)
4. Robust Physique (Intermediate) – 50,000/50,000 EXP (Cap reached, cannot upgrade)
5. Combat Mastery (Advanced) – 100/500,000 EXP
6. Weapon Proficiency (Intermediate) – 25,000/50,000 EXP
---
As a transmigrator, Simon naturally had his own golden finger—a mysterious system.
This system allowed Simon to sign in whenever he encountered the lead characters of various movies and TV shows.
The first sign-in always rewarded him with one of their skills along with a chunk of experience.
During his first sign-in, Simon had even received double rewards.
Subsequent sign-ins only granted skill experience, but if done consecutively, the experience would multiply.
If Simon could sign in with the same person for 999 days, he'd unlock the ability to choose another skill from them.
If two characters had overlapping skills, Simon could either convert one into experience or keep both.
All the skills Simon acquired had levels:
Beginner → Intermediate → Advanced → Expert → Master.
Skills could be upgraded either through self-training or by encountering characters with the same skill and merging them.
For example, Dominic, as a protagonist in Fast & Furious, had provided Simon with several skills:
Robust Physique (Intermediate)
Driving Mastery (Expert)
Mechanic (Advanced)
Combat Mastery (Beginner)
Weapon Proficiency (Beginner)
Simon's Driving Mastery had reached the master level because Dominic originally had it at the expert level.
Mia and Letty, as Dominic's sister and girlfriend, respectively, each had advanced-level Driving Mastery.
By merging their advanced skills into an expert-level skill and then combining it with Dominic's expert skill, Simon had unlocked the world's highest-tier driving ability.
The same fusion process had upgraded his Mechanic, Combat Mastery, and Weapon Proficiency to intermediate levels.
As for Tracking, Simon had acquired that from Veronica.
Since Veronica often worked as a part-time detective, she was no stranger to tailing people.
In fact, Veronica also had a Photography skill, but Simon had passed on that one. He wasn't planning to become a "Chen Teacher," after all.
Meg, unfortunately, didn't grant Simon any skills, as she wasn't a main character.
The only downside was that the system allowed only one sign-in per day.
---
"Simon? Simon!"
"What?"
Meg gave Simon a push, snapping him out of his system interface.
"Are you okay?" Meg asked, frowning with concern.
Simon collected his thoughts and smiled. "Of course, I'm fine!"
"Are you sure?" Meg pressed, her brows still knitted.
"Absolutely!" Simon confirmed with a firm nod.
"Alright, then. It's getting late. You should drive me home, or my mom will start nagging again," Meg said, finally relaxing.
Hearing that, Simon quickly finished the rest of his sandwich in a few bites and tossed three dollars onto the table.
"Mia, keep the change!"
With that, Simon wrapped an arm around Meg and headed for the exit.
Mia casually pocketed the money and called out, "Drive safe!"
"Got it!"
---
After dropping Meg off, Simon wasted no time and drove straight to a garage on the outskirts of town.
This garage was another one of Dominic's businesses.
It rarely had regular customers, mostly serving as a private workshop for car inspections and modifications.
"You're late, Simon!" Letty said, wiping sweat from her forehead as she checked a car engine.
"You guys were just early," Simon replied nonchalantly.
With that, he walked over to a car covered by a protective tarp.
Pulling off the cover revealed a sleek black Toyota Supra, nicknamed the "Bull Demon King."
This fourth-generation Supra, released in 1994, originally came with a twin-turbocharged engine, boasting 280 horsepower straight from the factory.
But that was far from its true potential.
After years of modifications and fine-tuning, Simon had transformed it into a 712-horsepower beast.
Combined with his top-tier driving skills, this made him an unbeatable champion in quarter-mile drag races.
And every victory brought Simon one step closer to affording college.