Status

January 8th, 2025

Early in the morning, an hour before sunrise, we arrived in San Francisco and found an old motel in the downtown area where we rented two rooms after haggling a little for $70 per day for three days.

Since the motel had everything we would need except food, we left everything Vicky brought in her car and went to our rooms to rest.

…

I gently laid my mom down on the bed and covered her with a blanket. She hadn't woken up yet, and it didn't seem she would wake up anytime soon.

My little sister sat on the bed beside her, looking at her with a concerned look before she asked, "Big brother, should we take her to a clinic and have them look at her to see if everything is alright?"

I knew she was worried that all that smoke she inhaled might have worsened her situation. Truth be told, I was worried too, and since I now have over $10,000, I could have her checked up without worrying about money, but…

"No need. She will be alright." I shook my head. Since I now had the skill [Medicine Fluids], there was no need to worry about her condition. I just needed to feed her some of my blood, and she would get better.

Cat raised her brows but then nodded as if she understood something, her eyes turning misty.

Seeing this, I sighed. I could tell she must have thought that I refused because I had no money to get her a checkup.

For a moment, I thought I should tell her about my system, especially since I had already told her that Fire Avoidance Pearl was a magic item. However, I chose not to do so because even though Earth was supposed to be a harmless world unlike those magic and cultivation worlds in novels where people could extract memories, it was still better if not many and ideally no one other than me knew about the system to minimize the risk. 

After all, even a seemingly harmless world shouldn't be underestimated. I didn't know at this moment, but this decision of staying cautious was going to prove to be right not far in the future.

I caressed her head before gently lifting her chin with a finger, making her look at me. Then I softly but with conviction said, "Believe me. She will be fine."

"Mm, I believe you." Cat softly said, closing her eyes and leaning her face into my hand like an adorable kitten, which put a smile on my face. She was just so sweet, and I…

"Okay, now go take a shower and then sleep for a few hours. We are going out in the afternoon for lunch." I told her before lying down on the sofa and closing my eyes.

…

Cataline, with a light blush on her fair and tender cheeks, gazed at her big brother with affection, "...Big Brother…" 

She softly muttered and then panicked, thinking he might have heard her. Quickly jumping down the bed, she ran toward the attached bathroom, her heart beating wildly.

…

"Hmm?" I opened my eyes and looked over but only saw my little sister's back before she disappeared in the bathroom.

"Didn't she call me?" I muttered before shaking my head. 

'System, pull up my status screen.' I said in my mind. 

Unlike those protagonists in web novels, I didn't have the luxury to check my status the moment I got the system. I could have checked it on the long journey here, but with Cat sitting in my lap throughout the night, all my mental capacity was being used in suppressing those illicit, raging emotions, and therefore I could not afford to be distracted.

[Name: Ryan Brown]

[Race: Human]

[Sex: Male]

[Age: 19]

[Physical: 8]*

[Mental: 11]

[DFS points: 100]

[Status: Not bad for an average human.]

[Skills: Inspection (Lv. Max), Medicine Fluids (Lv. 1)]

[Quests] →

[System Shop] (Inactive) →

[Inventory] →

I read my status information and wasn't surprised when I saw I was physically weaker, albeit slightly, than an average adult man.

'At least my mental is above average.' I shrugged nonchalantly before I frowned and asked, 'System, why is the system shop inactive?'

The system, however, didn't answer, and instead, another floating screen appeared in front of me.

[System: Desire Fulfillment System]

[System Level: 0]

[Requires 10,000 DFS points to level up to level 1.]

My eyelids twitched when I saw this.

"Fuck!" I cursed. I didn't want to be like those protagonists who toiled to earn system points to get their things done, but as they say, what you wish doesn't matter to reality.

After a few moments, I exhaled a deep breath and shook my head, 'Let's just be happy with the fact that I have the system and can achieve everything I want with some hard work.'

Then I opened the Quest section and saw there was only one quest.

[Quest: Make Vicky Yours]

[Description:..."

[Time left: 2 days, 16 hours]

Closing the quest section, I then opened the inventory, which was currently empty. The inventory interface was game-like. There were ten gray boxes, and upon clicking on one of them, a small informational screen popped up.

[Inventory]

Slots: 10

Occupied Slot: 0

[Note: You can store any nonliving item in the inventory as long as the space it takes doesn't exceed 1 cubic meter.]

A while later, I willed the floating screens to disappear from in front of me, and then I sat up before taking out a razor blade from my pocket. I had bought it from a convenience store before we found this motel.

Since Cat had just entered the bathroom, I knew she would take her sweet time, so I was not in a hurry. Standing up, with quiet steps, I walked over to the bed. Activating the [Healing Fluids], I carefully made a small cut on my finger.

Hiss!

I winced when the blade cut slightly deeper than I intended, causing the blood to pool on my finger.

I then leaned down and, with my other hand, gently parted my mother's dry lips and opened her mouth before dripping the blood inside.

After several drops, blood stopped flowing out on its own, so I squeezed the fingertip and dripped a few more drops.

'Fuck!' I inwardly cursed when suddenly my vision became blurry, and I felt faint. 'Did I overdo it…?'

---

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