Chapter 31

Daniel Meadows

Age -14

Relation- Self

Occupation- Student

Personal Traits

Sexual Orientation (current) - Straight

Happiness- 61/100

Self Esteem- 53/100

Ambition- 64/100

Compassion- 62/100

Charisma- 51/100

Physical Traits

Health- 100/110

Stamina- 125/125

Strength- 9/100

Dexterity- 9/100

Constitution- 9/100

Mental Traits

Mental Health – 100/105

Intelligence – 8/100

Wisdom – 9/100

Aptitude – 12/100

Mental Fortitude- 13/100

Special Traits

Tennis

Forehand (Semi-Western) 23

Backhand (one hand slice) 12

Backhand (two hand) 10

Basic Serve 19

Flat Serve 8

Top Spin (tennis feature) 20

Power (tennis feature) 17

It had been just over a week since his father had left. Dan had woken up shortly before his alarm, and after receiving his bonuses from his gains for his Sunday’s training session, Dan had pulled up his information, looking over the progress he’d been making. With his dad gone, Dan had been increasing the duration of his training sessions with Peter, and had been utilizing both the morning and afternoon to try and improve his physical stature.

To that end, his stamina had been improving, and his physical stats were nearing the 10 mark. He still wasn’t certain where that put him compared to the average person, considering 0 had been his normal baseline before he got his powers, but he could tell he was starting to show noticeable improvements. He wasn’t going to win any records, mind you, but there was no doubt in his mind that he was above most of the other freshman with his physical traits.

At the same time, his mental traits had been climbing in school at a similar rate. While he was exhausting his stamina to grow his physical traits quickly, apparently actually paying attention in school, reading the textbooks, and doing the homework was an effective way to raise his mental traits. Who knew? Granted, he wasn’t over the top anxious to really grow them, but what he did want, was his aptitude to keep growing.

This was because from what he’d learned, aptitude was the trait that influenced any additional gains he made. The skill, essentially, gave him 1% extra experience from his efforts, per level. So yeah, while a single level of aptitude wasn’t going to change anything, getting it to say, 12, mean all his efforts were giving a 12% increase.

The importance of this had become even more noticeable as Dan climbed from the single digits to the teens, and now twenties on some of his skills. The amount of effort, practice, utilization, you name it, that he needed to do in order to increase a skill or trait by a rank, seemed to greatly increase as he hit those benchmarks. The first 10 levels of a skill grew quickly, but then that growth really started to slow. And now that he had some skills in the 20s, he’d noticed their growth slowing even more.

Because of this, Peter’s stats seemed even more impressive to Dan. Considering how high some of Peter’s skills were, Dan couldn’t’ fathom how much work, how much blood and sweat and tears, the senior had put into his passion. There was no doubt that Peter loved tennis. That, and girls, and his car, were really all he ever talked about. Peter lived and breathed tennis, and over the past week, Dan had felt that passion, that infectious addiction, rolling off of Peter and onto him.

For the past week, Dan had been fervently growing in his tennis skills, his passion transforming from a mere task in order to impress a girl, to something even more. This was because, when his dad had left, Dan had resolved himself to really improving. To finally pushing himself, to grow and reach a goal, and do something substantial, something tangible. Dan had wanted to use the time his father was away, to grow his tennis skills to the point he could secure a spot for himself on the team. So that when his dad returned, he could proudly show his dad that he could, and would, thrive, even if his father couldn’t be there physically to care for him.

Dan had wanted to take a step forward, and begin to show that he was on the path towards being a capable, responsible, and successful individual. And, Dan had a feeling if he kept up with his training as much as he would, with Peter there to guide him and further his growth, Dan would be at a level capable of claiming a spot on the tennis team. At the end of a month, Dan was confident he was going to be able to take that next step forward, on his own journey.

He dismissed the additional point to his Ambition even as it crossed his vision, his eyes searching out his phone. It was vibrating, indicating he had a text message. That would be Peter, he was sure. Peter was the only one who would be up this early, and he knew the Senior was aware he’d been running to school early to practice tennis.

Sure enough, as Dan opened the phone, there was a message from Peter. He opened it, a grin on his face, wondering what Peter was going to say. A moment later, the grin faded from his face, and he placed the phone gently on the bed beside him. Even with his increased mental fortitude, Dan’s happiness dropped three points.

Hey man, hate to do this to ya, but something came up. I’m going to be gone for a couple days…maybe a week tops? I’ll fill you in when I get back, yeah? Don’t skimp on your practice! I’ll know if you do.

Dan took a few breaths as he reread the message. What was going on? Was Peter alright? Wouldn’t Peter have told him he’d be absent for the week, if he’d known in advance? Dan couldn’t help but feel a sense of worry for his friend. Because that was what Peter was. He wasn’t just the guy teaching him tennis. He was Dan’s first true best friend. At least, that’s what he felt in his heart. He was closer to Peter than anyone he’d ever known before. And yet, here, in this moment, his mind was screaming, questioning everything. What was going on? He wanted to reply back instantly, but Peter had said he’d tell him when he returned. Dan was so torn…that he left his phone on the bed as he got up and got dressed.

Sure, it was going to be weird, not seeing Peter. But that didn’t mean Dan’s world was going to end. He’d gotten by this past week without his father…he could survive another week with Peter gone. It wasn’t like Dan didn’t have other people he could… Dan realized he really hadn’t been making any other friends at school. He’d spent all his time outside of class with Peter. Hell, he hadn’t even been interacting with Sophia all that much. After all, his entire focus had been on tennis, and power leveling. In hindsight…he probably should have been working on his relationships as well.

He finished getting ready, grabbed his phone, and left the house. These were all problems that weren’t going to solve themselves wallowing in pity at home. And now that he was up, he needed to move, he needed to run, he needed to play. Because if he sat still, if he stopped moving forward, he was afraid he would fall backwards. And that was not what he wanted for his life. Without another thought, Dan began his run to school. It was the start of a new week, and just because Peter wasn’t going to be there…he was still going to make the best of it. If he didn’t…if he slacked off…he was certain Peter wouldn’t let him live it down.

That thought brought a small smile to his face, and he doubled his pace. If he worked at it enough, maybe he would get lucky and be able to Ace Peter when he returned. It was probably a pipe dream, but Dan really wanted to experience that feeling. Which was why as he ran, he decided his morning was going to be dedicated to a single skill. That morning, was going to be all about his flat serve.