12 Skills And Building Trust

I bailed on martial arts classes for the day and decided to head home.

This week had been so eventful already, and I barely had any time to speak to Michael about business.

I took a shower as soon as I got inside, and in a few more moments, I was seated at my work desk with my phone in my hand.

Before calling him, however, I decided to take a look at my updated status window.

'Display my status window,' I thought.

<Understood. >

[Status Window]

Name: Damon Darhk

Age: 18 years

Occupation: Student

Current Status: Healthy/Unemployed

HP: 100/100 (Fully recovered)

SP: 150

Stamina: 100 (Recharged)

Skills: Foresight (D+ Rank)

{Additional Information}

Repeated use of foresight has caused it to undergo a slight upgrade. Continue using the skill to increase its rank.

[End Of Information]

I guess the constant use of skills leads to them being upgraded. And an increase in rank? Another loophole.

'System, explain the concept of skill ranking to me,' I thought.

<Understood. >

*Skill ranking*

Skills are grouped into various ranks based on the level of stamina they consume and the amount of SP they require to be purchased. They are also grouped based on how powerful they are.

The levels of skills are D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, and god level.

When a skill shows a + or - sign, its level begins to appreciate or depreciate based on its number of uses, and a skill will rank up from its previous skill when it reaches a required threshold.

A skill can also be deleted when not used for a long time, as D- skills are deemed useless to the host and, as such, are deleted by the system.

Finally, god level skills cannot be purchased from the SP shop but can only be obtained by upgrading SSS rank skills or by reaching a required threshold called godhood.

The process of upgrading skills in rank is called realization, and the process of skills decreasing in rank is known as reduction.

[End of information]

<Would the host like to know anything else?>

'No, that will be all for now.' The system was very explanatory with relaying information, and I realized I could rely on it more for things I didn't know about.

"I should call Michael now; I think it's finally time I revealed my identity to him," I said, dialing his number.

"Hello?" Michael said expectantly.

"Hello, Mr. Michael, how's business?" I said.

"Business is really booming; your predictions have been spot on, and we're making a lot of money, sir," he said respectfully.

"And how much is our total revenue currently?" I said.

"We made a total of $469,840 from our last exchange, bringing our revenue to a total of $5,672,290, sir." He said; I could feel the excitement oozing from him.

"Well, that's to be expected. Oh, and Michael, I think it's finally time I revealed my identity to you, I trust you now, and our work relationship has been one I've really enjoyed." I said.

"Are you sure? I'm perfectly fine with not knowing your identity, sir," he said.

"My name is Damon Darhk; I'd prefer if you called me Damon from now on." I said.

"Wait, Darhk as in-" he said, but I interrupted him mid-sentence.

"Yes, I'm the son of Simon Darhk, the head of the Darhk Corporation." I said.

"B-but h-how?" He stammered in confusion.

"I'll explain later; we will both have to meet up eventually; we have very important things to discuss. I have to go now, but I'll email the details." I said.

We said our goodbyes, and I hung up. Time had flown by, and I had about an hour before my classes, so I decided to arrive early.

I didn't see the point in going for classes; I wasn't gaining anything; the exam would be easy enough, and worst come to worst, I would rely on the system.

It could be called cheating, but I didn't care, and no one would basically catch me or anything.

But to avoid the attention of the teacher and especially my father, I'd have to comply.

I arrived at class, and only a few people had arrived. I positioned myself at my back seat and brought a book pretending to read so as to avoid unnecessary attention.

I scanned the room, and my eyes caught a girl staring at me; immediately, she noticed me locking eyes with her, she looked away shyly and flustered.

I recognized her; in my past life, I had a crush on her and never truly had the courage to speak to her. I never saw her again after I failed my entrance exams to the university.

Had I piqued her interest now? Well, I couldn't care less. Girls weren't exactly my priorities right now, and she didn't exactly meet my tastes anymore.

I was a man in a boy's body, so girls my age weren't exactly my taste. I felt disgusted at the thought anyway.

But I knew that eventually, I would succumb to thier charms.

She didn't look in my direction anymore, so I guessed it was my imagination and couldn't care less.

Class went on pretty quickly, and sure enough, the girl didn't approach me, so once again, I brushed it off as my imagination.

I begin to walk home alone, planning what I'd eat for dinner. Thinking about branching at a supermarket, I looked behind me and saw two familiar figures behind me.

It was the two bullies who I'd had an altercation with. As I saw them looking less of themselves, I burst into laughter as they approached me; I then stood smiling and waited to be sure they were approaching me.

When I was sure their intent was with me, I stood tall and faced them.

"You guys here for another round?" I said cracking my knuckles. I was more than confident in my abilities now and didn't even give any sign of backing down.

"No, it's not like that; we were just here to apologize," said one of them remorsefully.

"Yeah, we're sorry for causing so much trouble for you, we were hoping if we could be friends from now on," said the other.

"Okay, no problem, friends, meaning I can call you guys whenever I need something, right?" I said an idea coming to my head.

I would use them if the need ever arose. Establishing connections and building my small army was vital, and I'd start with this.

"Sure no problem, guess we'll see you around."

"Yeah, later." I said waving them goodbye as I continued my lone walk home.