Good Gains and Sudden Kindness??
STATS
Strength: 24.2
Agility: 27.4
Endurance: 26
Vitality: 30.6
Perception: 23.6
Ferocity: 7% (Stable)
Allocatable Stat Points: 0
Mike felt incredibly relaxed.
Funny, considering he'd just performed hard labor that would have required at least a dozen of his past self to complete, but not only was he relaxed, he was quite happy.
Needless to say, his gains had been quite nice, and he felt a bit stronger now than he had earlier in the day, which was crazy to think about, but it was the truth.
If there was one thing he was a bit miffed about, it was that he got hungry a bit faster than before.
It seemed like the stronger he got, the faster his body burned through calories, forcing him to eat more.
While his dorm was stocked with all sorts of high-nutrition foods, he wasn't sure if the school would restock it for free or if he'd need to buy them with his money.
'I'll ask someone about it.' He shook his head as he made his way to the next spot for his commission, the Assembly Warehouse.
This place was also not too far away from the main part of the school, so he got there quickly enough.
When he arrived, he showed the guard—who was another credit-earning student—the commission details - and he was let inside.
A bot then directed him as Mike inspected the place. It looked like a factory, with conveyor belts and robotic assembly arms putting together melee and ranged weapons.
As for what he needed to do, well, it was quite monotonous as he'd expected.
There was a large pile of weapons and armor parts. Blunt blades for swords and spears, gun barrels, bows, armor, shields, etc.
Mike always found it quite novel how, despite how advanced the world was, weapons used in the past were still prominent, especially among ability users.
Regardless, he did his task as told. He was to carry different parts to different assembly lines over and over. It was simple, albeit pretty tedious, as he had to make sure that no assembly line went empty for too long.
Also, one needed to know that he wasn't running around the entire warehouse. The thing was more than a few square kilometers on its own, and Mike would die even with his extreme stamina if he tried to tend to every single assembly line within. No, this was just a small part of it.
Mike did wonder why such mundane tasks were given to students to accomplish because from what he could see, the bits were capable of handling them with medium effort.
'Maybe they are there for people like me. People willing to do grunt work to earn points.' He mused, nit particularly annoyed by the fact.
In the end, the whole thing took a few hours. By far, the longest commission of the three, but probably required the least effort as he just memorized where the assembly lines were and tended to them as needed.
Hence, by the time he was done, he didn't feel particularly tired, and the sun was only now beginning to dip below the horizon.
Moreover, Mike was now 580 credits richer.
'Our weekly allowance is 500 credits. So I made what I'd make in a week in a single day. Nice.' He smiled to himself. If he could keep this pace, he wouldn't be dirt poor, at the very least.
He soon returned to his dorm with his hands in his pockets. He considered what to do with the remaining time of the day. He wasn't particularly tired, and while he could go for more commissions, he felt like looking into the digital library would do him some good. If nothing else, he could get a vague idea of what he was going to be studying, and then he could look for commissions to do tomorrow.
He hopped into the elevator and briefly hoped that his roommate wouldn't step out of his room. The guy was weird easily, the weirdest person he'd met since he came to this place, and often, weird people weren't good for one's health.
The elevator doors opened, and he got ready to step out, but then he froze, and his eyes widened.
In front of his room door, a familiar redhead stood there, her face a mask of indifference. However, when the chime of the elevator door sounded, Theresa turned, and her eyes lit up vaguely.
Mike blinked.
'... Screw that.' He started tapping the descendants button rapidly.
Theresa narrowed her eyes and quickly walked towards him.
'Come on, come on!' The two of them locked eyes as Mike didn't stop pressing. Sadly, just as the doors started closing, Theresa reached him and put her hand between the doors, the sensors immediately sensing her and stopping the closing.
She then stepped forward, grabbed Mike's collar, and tried to push him into the wall, but Mikke didn't budge in the slightest. This surprised her, but she simply tightened her grip on his collar and stared down at him.
Mike stared back up at her, his ferocity slowly but steadily climbing as he refused to back down.
The two of them stayed like that for a few seconds, neither willing to relent or saying a word. Then...
"Sigh. Guess you aren't all bark." Theresa sighed and released his collar.
"What does that mean?" Mike asked with narrowed eyes, barely suppressing a growl. However, his irritation soon faded when his senses picked up on how she was feeling.
Moreover, he couldn't see it at first due to the intensity of the moment and her tanned skin, but she seemed to be... blushing?
Was she embarrassed?
"... Look." She muttered and scratched her hair while averting her gaze. "The way I acted this morning wasn't... nice. And you were right about what you said. So... I wanted to apologize." She mumbled.
Shock
'She apologized!?' Mike thought, bewildered, and any lingering annoyance he felt towards her evaporated in an instant, especially when his instincts told him that she was being genuine.
"Wha- H-Hold on..." He stammered, and she glared at him.
"None of that cliche stuttering nonsense. I'm... not like the rest of them. I can recognize when I screwed up, okay? I was in the wrong, so I'm apologizing." She said, bolder now.
Mike stared at her for a few seconds, and then he exhaled and smiled genuinely
"Well. Apology accepted." He nodded. She seemed surprised at his quick acceptance, but she quickly schooled her expression and huffed.
"Still, I intend to make it up to you so... do you mind following me somewhere?" She asked, and Mike raised a brow.
"Where?" He asked.
"Well, since you're here on scholarship, you're probably not from any prominent family, which also means your skills should be lacking. So if it's alright with you, I could perhaps help you a bit in that department. At least with your ability." She said flatly, and Mike felt like someone had hit him with critical soul damage.
"H-Hey, you don't know that." He tried to protest, and she just stared at him without amusement.
"... Okay, maybe." He mumbled.
"Good. Let's go." She turned and pressed the button for the ground floor. Mike felt like the doors closed faster compared to when he'd been trying to close them before, but he had no proof.
***
Theresa led him to the training wing into one of the indoor training areas. The place was pretty spacious and surprisingly empty.
There was a rack willed with different weapons and armor, with seats on the edges for people to spectate. It seemed pretty standard.
Which is also when Mike had a thought.
"Hey, how do you know that I'm combat oriented?" He suddenly asked, realizing that Theresa shouldn't have known his ability or what course he chose. Did she perhaps have access to his ability file-
"I guessed." She said flatly and tuened to him.
"Huh?"
"I guessed." She repeated with that same, flat tone. And oddly enough, Mike knew she wasn't lying.
"... Fine. So, what's this all about?" He asked, trying to hide his indignation.
She regarded him for a moment before asking.
"What do you know about energy?" Hearing this, Mike tilted his head.
"It's what allows people like us to use our abilities. Of we run out of energy, we can't manifest them." Mike answered.
"A pretty rudimentary answer, but you aren't wrong." She nodded and mused before asking again.
"What's your ability type?" Mike hesitated for a moment, but his instincts were quiet, so he replied.
"Aura-type, self-augmentation." She was silent for a moment again.
"Hm. I can work with that. Can you show me?" She enquired, and Mike just sighed, deciding to commit.
With a thought, his aura emerged as blue mist seeped from his pores. He kept it active for a moment before deactivating it, and Theresa stared at him for a moment, her expression a bit incredulous.
"... What?" He asked, feeling a bit self-aware.
"... Wow, your control is horrible." She blurted out bluntly, and Mike felt his face heat up.
"Hey!" He called out with indignation, unhappy at being called out so plainly.
"I mean it. Your energy output is way too inconsistent, and you clearly lack sufficient control. With release like that, you'll tire yourself out quickly, even if you unleash it at low output. Moreover, if it's meant to enhance your body as you said, then you are wasting far too much energy simply by standing there." She shook her head.
"Did you not receive ANY formal training?" Mike's face reddened more, and he averted his gaze.
Theresa went from incredulous to genuinely surprised.
"Wait, seriously? Your ability looks quite potent though. Even if your family isn't that prominent, there's no way they could have neglected your training THAT much, right?" She asked, more curious than anything.
Mike hesitated, then he sighed.
'The cat would have been out of the bag eventually.' He thought before saying.
"Yeah... I'm not from a family." He answered softly and winced as Theresa froze, her eyes widening.
"You... then... how do you...?" Now it was her turn to stammer.
"I got my ability from an ability orb. I'm a commoner, or whatever you guys call us." He shrugged, feeling oddly unbothered.
Theresa stared at him for a while before understanding dawned on her face, and then... relief?
"... I see. Well, that doesn't change anything, I suppose." She saidz surprising Mike.
"Wait, you aren't—"
"Disgusted? Disdainful? Disappointed? Please, I'm above that childish stuff." She waved her hand dismissively. "Besides, like I said, it hardly changes anything. You're still a student in this school. You're still going to learn like the rest of us. Where you came from doesn't matter. Not to me, at least." She said it casually, and she genuinely meant it.
Still, Mike felt a soft warmth bloom in his chest.
"... Alright." He nodded, barely stopping himself from smiling.
Theresa stared at him for a moment before scoffing.
"Anyway, it's clear that energy control and output is your biggest issue, so, watch closely." She said and held out her hand.
Mike immediately focused on the action, and a moment later, his eyes widened as a soft red and orange light shone.