[Creativity: 5+1 =>> 6]
[50 EXP consumed.]
[Total EXP: 17]
"Whoa. That was a lot of points for a single upgrade."
[EXP required for an upgrade will increase the more you upgrade.]
"Typical."
Ty stretched and decided to continue writing. From what the system implied, he could upgrade these stats without even using EXP, but he must train himself seriously for that.
"Let's get started. These stats won't increase themselves. When I'm done, I'll have a recording session to hone my vocals, rhythm, delivery, and my stage presence."
Old man Breezy arrived. He was a stout 56-year old dark skinned man, who looked a little older than his age. The left side of his afro was covered in grey. He carried in a bunch of CD's and placed them on a rack. He grunted in slight discontent.
"What you doing here, lad? Came to rip me off again, huh? Need another beat on credit, huh?"
Old man Breezy finishes half of his words with "huh?"
Ty laughed. He was familiar with the man's game where he pretended to not be pleased at Ty's presence. But he knew Ty did most of the work here for he was most times absent from the studio. Ty was like a worker he never employed.
"Huey said you needed me. Why pretend you are not happy to see me?"
"Damn Huey and his big mouth. I only need you to collect dust in this place."
"Ha. And here I am, collecting dust like you wanted. Tell me, do you need help with production again? You only have to ask, old man."
"Hell, you read me like a book. Yeah I need help. Get over here."
He half pushed Ty over to a comfortable seat by his workspace. On the large table which occupied half of his studio was an open laptop, an electronic drum set, three different microphones, a large headset, some carelessly scribbled musical notes on a ripped jotter, and the picture frame of Breezy's beautiful daughter who had died a few years back.
Behind them at a far wall was a grand old synthesizer, Breezy's most adored equipment.
"You know how I say I get inspiration from the dreamland, huh? I got one this midnight. Can play a tune of it, but can't get it to recording. It's like I'm missing something important."
"You remember how it goes? Whistle it, old man."
Breezy's wrinkled, rugged face suddenly phased into a calm one. He closed his eyes slowly, nodding his head slightly, trying to recollect how the beat went.
(Whistles a fine intro tune.)
The tune was melancholic at first, stretching at different sections and always coming to a slow, almost boring end. But that was only after the first four notes.
The tempo rose slowly after that, gaining momentum slowly. The rise in tempo was almost unnoticeable, but for trained ears like Ty's, he could see where it was headed. A wave of familiarly washed over Ty. He could bet he'd heard something like this before. Maybe from one of the many CD tracks in the studio.
Ty scratched his head, thinking of the perfect way to break the news to the old man.
But instead, he decided to start recording the intro tune. He went to sit by the synthesizer (a piano-like device used to generate or modify audio and create a wide range of sounds), and clearing his head of nonsense, he began playing the keys of the synthesizer.
He deleted and remade and tweaked till he finally got a close-to-perfect example of Breezy's dream beat after only about 30 minutes. It only needed more modification to make it a standard trap beat.
By the time Ty was done, he had remembered where the original beat was from.
It was from "California Love" by Tupac. But he was not ready to burst Breezy's bubble. The old man had obviously listened to so many hip-hop beats that has escaped his memory over time that whenever he dreamed of such beats, he couldn't remember where he heard them. So, it always felt like it was a beat he discovered in his dreams.
But what Ty made was too familiar with "California Love", and it will only make Breezy a bad name if he sold such beat to artists, claiming it was his. So, Ty decided to work more on it. Not entirely deleting it to be remade, he did a lot of modification, adding a somewhat bass undertone, more synth sounds, and some cool rapid beat from the electronic drums.
By the time he was done, he had a beat that was on par with "California Love" in quality but not too alike. A good listener would detect that it was a spin-off, but they would accept it was different in every other aspect asides the repeated phrases.
Old man Breezy seemed satisfied with the outcome. He clapped Ty's back joyfully while he struggled to grab a few recording instruments from the table.
"You always get it at the end, Ty. You are a genius. Haha!"
Ty smiled and gave the seat for the old man to complete the job. He went back to his notepad and prepared to start writing.
Checking the time, he was alarmed to discover that he'd spent three good hours in making that spin-off beat. It was mid-afternoon now and the studio had gotten hotter.
Ding!
He got a notification from the system but he pushed it away. He needed to focus now. He needed to come up with better word jabs to knock his opponents out. The system can wait.
But as if everything was against him, three huge men dressed in latest trendy clothes walked into the studio, and they had a few words with Breezy.
"I just got this new beat. Listen to it and tell me you don't like it, haha!" Ty heard Breezy brag about the beat, and he smiled.
The three men had settled down for a recording session. So, Ty knew he really had no way of focusing on his lines right now. He'd have loved to write some more and even record them to help train some of his stats but there was no chance now.
'These men don't look like they're here to record a soothing music. They reek of noise pollution.'
So, he stepped outside.
"I'll be back, Breezy. I gotta go."
"Hey, you trying to bail on me, huh? Just get back here as soon as you can."
Breezy always needed his help, but Ty knew the old man could manage just fine without anyone. He only appreciates Ty's company as it makes things easy for him.
Since he wasn't going to start writing outside, Ty decided to pull up his status screen to check the notification he received earlier.
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[You have successfully composed a top tier beat without any help.]
[Production Analysis Result: Mind-blowing.]
[You have received a rare skill.]
[SKILL REWARD]: Beat Production (level 1)
This skill reward can be upgraded using EXP or through more beat production training.
[EXP REWARD]: 500 EXP
Total EXP: 517 EXP
[STAT UPGRADE]: Creativity: level 6=>> level 7
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Ty had to stop himself from howling in delight.
He was extremely happy about the skill reward: beat production (lvl 1). There are tons of rapper, but only few could produce a cool beat from scratch for themselves. He felt he doesn't need such skill for now since he doesn't have a production set, but it was surely a skill he'd need later on. He'd continue making more beat for Breezy to upgrade the level, but he knew EXP upgrade was the fastest way to upgrade a skill. He was however scared about the amount of EXP it'd require. The system doesn't tell before an upgrade.
But he was even more delighted about the upgrade he got on his [Creativity]. He was going to write more rap lines so he could earn EXP to upgrade his Creativity.
But now, he's received an automatic upgrade, increasing the stat from level 6 to level 7. With this, he'd find it even easier to come up with better words to write in preparation for the rap contest.
He thought about using his EXP also to upgrade the [Creativity] stat since he now has a whooping 517 EXP remaining.
He tried to rough guess how many EXP would be required to upgrade it now. He had spent 50 points to increase it from level 5 to level 6.
Level 6 to 7 would have been even more expensive, maybe a 100 EXP, but that had been done as a reward.
'If 6 to 7 would have cost a 100, that means each upgrade requires additional 50 EXP. 7 to 8 would require 150 EXP then.'
So, he decided it was worth a spend.
"Upgrade Creativity stat by one level," Ty said. He needed it. He waited with baited breath.
[Creativity: level 7 =>> level 8]
[EXP consumed: 300 EXP]
[EXP remaining: 217 EXP]
"Yo! That's unfair! That does not add up!"
A few passersby stared him down while he appeared to be talking to himself.
"Drugs be doing the most in the life of these street thugs," one of them murmured.
[I didn't cheat you, host. I only restricted the information about EXP needed for upgrades.]
[There are better ways to cheat you if I wanted.]
"Say that like you're doing me a favor with the withheld information."
With 217 EXP remaining, he decided to use it up to upgrade some other low stats. He pulled the stats screen up to check.
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[[Displaying Stats]]
Vocals: 5
Flow/Rhythm: 5
Delivery: 8
Aura/Stage presence: 4
----------------------------------------------------
Creativity: 8 (recently upgraded)
Lyricism: 6
Storytelling: 4
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Ty could tell the system had separated his stats into two parts: those that belonged to his physical or vocal performance like his [Vocals], [Rhythm], [Delivery], and [Aura/Stage presence]; and the second part that belonged to his intellectual performance, like [Creativity], [Lyricism], and [Storytelling].
Currently the lowest of his stats were [Aura/Stage presence] and [Storytelling] which were all at level 4, and he knew just which one he needed to upgrade.
He does not need to upgrade his storytelling for now, since he doesn't need that stat much in a rap contest. But he sure needed to have a commanding stage presence like the system stated. The more intimidating he appeared to his opponents and the more the audience likes his aura, the better.
"Upgrade Aura stat by one level."
[Aura/Stage presence: level 4 =>> level 5]
[EXP consumed: 20 EXP]
"That's low. Upgrade it some more."
[Lvl 5 =>> lvl 6]
[EXP consumed: 25 EXP]
"Really? Aura stats does not consume much EXP then?" He decided to try to lavish about half of his remaining exp on it. But he was shocked to find that lvl 6 to lvl 7 consumed 100 EXP.
"You are nothing but a cheat, you this vile system."
[EXP remaining: 72 EXP]
Ty scoffed before reluctantly spending 50 EXP in upgrading his [Storytelling] from level 4 to level 6. After the exercise, this was what his stat screen looked like:
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[[Displaying Stats]]
Vocals: 5
Flow/Rhythm: 5
Delivery: 8
Aura/Stage presence: 7 (recently upgraded)
----------------------------------------------------
Creativity: 8 (recently upgraded)
Lyricism: 6
Storytelling: 6 (recently upgraded)
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His most prominent stat still remained [Creativity] level 8 and [Delivery] level 8, followed by [Aura] level 7. He was however still worried that these stats were still low, considering that the max level was supposed to be level 20. Maybe it was just right for an amateur like him. He pushed away his worried thought, and tried finding a cool spot to think. Anywhere but his home.
Just then, the screen popped up again:
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[You have been granted a side quest.]
[SIDE QUEST:]
1. Try a tongue twister and repeat 10 times without making a mistake.
Reward: [Flow/Rhythm] stat upgrade.
2. Sing a popular melodic chorus 5 times without your voice cracking.
Reward: [Vocal] stat upgrade.
3. Learn how to twirl a microphone round your fingers without dropping it.
Reward: [Aura] stat upgrade.
Complete all side tasks to get 1000 EXP or a mid tier skill.
[Time remaining: 11 hrs, 59 min]
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Ty scoffed. It was obvious the system was trying to force-upgrade his weak stats...and he enjoyed it. He tucked his notepad in and decide to go home after all. He needed to complete them all so he could have time to finally write.