The grocery run took less than twenty minutes. Steven was back before the evening had fully settled, bags in hand, nudging the apartnt door shut behind him with his foot.
He brought everything to the kitchen and started putting it away, working through it thodically. Refrigerator first, then the cabinets, organising each section as they should be.
He had bought more this ti, enough to last two weeks without needing to think about it again. The kitchen looked properly stocked when he was done, the way a kitchen was supposed to look, and he stood back and looked at it for a mont before closing the last cabinet.
After he was done with that, he decided to start making dinner and he decided to keep dinner light. He wasn’t particularly hungry, more tired than anything else, and the ribeye from earlier in the day had set a standard that a heavy second al would only compete with poorly.
He made sothing simple — grilled chicken, sliced thin, with a small amount of rice and a handful of vegetables he dressed lightly with lemon and olive oil. It was ready in under forty minutes and he ate it at the counter, standing, looking out at the city in the early evening light.
When he was done, he did the dishes, dried his hands, and walked to the bathroom.
Walking into the bathroom, Steven stopped for a mont.
The mirror above the sink caught his reflection and he paused, looking at himself properly for the first ti in what felt like days.
He was lean. He had always been lean, but it was more visible now with the bathroom light overhead and no jacket to soften the lines of it.
His lean build ca from years of long shifts and als that were calculated rather than chosen, of carrying stress in the body the way people do when there’s no version of the day that doesn’t have sothing pressing on it.
He could see it in the way his shoulders sat, in the flatness of his chest, in the definition of his forearms that had co from work rather than from any deliberate effort.
His body wasn’t malnourished. He was clear-eyed about that. He had never let himself get to that point. And the past few days of proper als had already begun to make a quiet difference that he could feel more than see. The physique point he had used hadn’t transford him visibly, but it had changed sothing in how his body carried itself.
Still. There was a version of himself he hadn’t reached yet, and looking at his reflection, he could see the distance between where he was and where he could be.
He thought about going to the gym.
It was a straightforward enough thought on its surface. He wanted to work on his body, build sothing more intentional than what circumstance had given him. The system could raise his stats, but stats and physical appearance were not the sa conversation. A physique point made him faster and stronger in ways that were real and asurable. It didn’t change what he saw in the mirror, and he cared about both things.
Speaking about his physique and exclusive points, Steven rembered how much he has spent today and decided to see how many exclusive point he now has.
[Rebate System]
[Na: Steven Craig]
[Physique: 13]
[Intelligence: 19]
[Account Balance: $4,147,647.74]
[Exclusive Points: 4]
***
"4 exclusive points?" Steven muttered in surprise when he saw the amount of exclusive points he has.
He thought about sothing and his eyes went wide, as he realised just how much he had spent in about five days.
In addition to the two exclusive points he had already used, he had gained a total of six. And since the system awarded one exclusive point for every hundred thousand dollars spent, it ant that he had spent an estimated amount of $600,000 in the past few days!
This amount, to Steven, who has an account balance of more than $4.1M, still felt like a lot. And his old habit imdiately kicked in, as he started calculating what he had spent on to have made him spend so much.
He imdiately caught himself and stopped thinking about it. He was aware that there was there was no point thinking about it. He was going to spend even more anyway.
"It really is true that old habits die hard," he muttered, shaking his head slightly.
He turned his attention back to the screen and to the four exclusive points sitting unused.
He observed his physical appearance once more and thought of going to the gym. The system helps him to increase his physique but it’s not the sa as improving his appearance.
He would have to personally work on himself to achieve the kind of build he wants. He doesn’t have to bulk up to the point of looking like a body builder.
He knew that bigger muscles didn’t always an real strength. He also understands that there are people who looks leaner than him but have incredible bone strength and physical strength.
He thought about the allocation for a mont, running it through his thoughts. The gym plan addressed physical appearance. The Physique stat addressed capability. They weren’t competing. They were complentary, and there was no reason to hold the points back when the answer was already clear.
Three into Physique. One into Intelligence.
He tapped the Physique plus sign three tis in succession.
What followed was not subtle.
The first point had been a quiet current moving through his muscles, easy to miss if he hadn’t been paying attention. Three points at once was a different experience entirely. It started in his core and moved outward fast, a deep physical warmth spreading through his chest and into his limbs, his shoulders, the backs of his hands.
He felt his posture shift slightly without deciding to shift it, his spine straightening with an ease that hadn’t been there a mont ago. He opened and closed his right hand and the grip that ca back was noticeably different from anything he had felt before.
He looked at his reflection again.
The mirror showed the sa lean fra but sothing had changed from before. His body was no longer slightly hunched like it was before, like he has the weight of the whole world on his shoulder.
He stood up straighter and pressed his thumb against his palm, testing.
"That’s real," he said, to no one.
He tapped the Intelligence plus sign once.
He felt that his mind beco subtly clearer compared to before. He felt like he could rember things from the past more. But it was only a feeling.
Steven looked at his reflection one final ti.
His stats now read Physique 16, Intelligence 20. He was at the average ceiling the system had described for human intelligence, and well on his way in physical capability.
Steven decided that he has stood in front of the mirror long enough and that he should take his shower imdiately
He walked in and stepped out a few minutes later, dried off, and dressed for the night. He moved to the bedroom, pulled the sheets back, and got in.
The city was visible through the windows, the skyline pressing its quiet light against the dark. He had a view. He still hadn’t entirely gotten used to it.
He made himself comfortable and smiled, thinking of the fact that he would trigger the restaurant acquisition tomorrow and give his forr boss what is due him.
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