9 A Stupid Mistake

(NEW) [(F-Tier) Basic Phantom Skill Set]

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- [(F-Tier) Phantom Punch] ⓘ (LEVEL 1)

[Phantom Punch is a special punch that creates an afterimage of your punch, making your actual punch invisible for a split second while your opponent can only witness the fake afterimage punch headed towards them while the actual punch is attacking another position.]

[Attack: 10]

[Requirements: 10 Agility, 5 Strength]

[Cost: 5 Energy]

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- [(F-Tier) Phantom Shift] ⓘ (LEVEL 1)

[Phantom Shift is a special set of movements that creates an afterimage of yourself, making your actual self invisible for a split second while your opponent can only witness the fake afterimage of yourself headed towards them.]

[Requirements: 10 Agility, 5 Stamina]

[Cost: 10 Energy]

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- [(F-Tier) Phantom Kick] ⓘ (LEVEL 1)

[Phantom Kick is a special high kick move that creates an afterimage of your kick, making your actual kick invisible for a split second while your opponent can only witness the fake afterimage kick headed towards them while your actual kick is attacking another position.]

[Attack: 10]

[Requirements: 10 Agility, 5 Strength]

[Cost: 5 Energy]

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[Warning! The current Phantom Skills will fail if your opponent has a perception above 10]

Mako was blown away by how cool the moves that he just learned sounded but he had no way of testing them out until he arrived home.

"Here you go Mako, compliments of the chef!" Gary said as he placed a big plate filled with salty & spicy fries alongside a giant triple deluxe burger.

Mako rubbed his hands together as he was already mouth-watering while looking at what he could only describe as a piece of heaven. He had worked out quite hard today and was ready to have a well-deserved feast.

Wasting no time Mako dug in, while Gary wiped his hands with a clean towel and proceeded to sit opposite of Mako.

"So I heard that there was this event about showing your collection of old vintage games that I am thinking about attending...." Gary resumed his normal conversations with Mako, while he stuffed his face with delicious food.

'Today really is the best day ever!' Mako screamed in joy within his thoughts as he continued spending time with Gary.

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[6:07 PM]

Mako walked back to his house after he had finished his burger. More customers also started arriving at the store at this point, mostly to grab a bite to eat as no one was very interested in old games anymore, which made Gary busy.

Honestly, Mako was relieved to get out of there for a couple of reasons. Not that he hated his time with Gary or anything, but it was just that he was itching to try these new moves, and also that he would have lost his mind if he lost to Gary for the twenty-third time.

"I guess me beating Big Bro Gary was either a fluke or he let me win." Mako realized as he went over all his losses.

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Mako finally made his way back to his home, and immediately rushed into his backyard to try out the phantom skills.

He quickly warmed up by doing some jumping jacks and practice punches. He finally made his stand by putting pressure on his legs to solidify his position in the dirt. He looked at the tree in front of him with determination. Pulling his fist back Mako unloaded his punch onto the tree with full force while shouting out loud.

"Phantom Punch!"

*Crunch!*

There were a couple of seconds of silence before.....

"AAAAARRRHHHHHHH" Mako screamed at the top of his lungs before tightly gripping his wrist.

His hand was bent out of shape and was bleeding from the injury of punching a solid tree with full force. It was throbbing with pain as he carefully started to blow on it like that would accomplish anything.

[-65 HP]

[User has broken their metacarpal bone]

[Bone has been offset by 45 degrees]

[Emergency healing has been activated]

[Warning! Emergency Healing requires 45 energy to finish healing. Once healed the user will have low energy]

[Estimated time for recovery: 6 hours]

Mako was in so much pain that he didn't even register the fact that the system had started the process of healing him.

Mako just very slowly laid down next to the tree and closed his eyes. He started breathing deeply and in minutes he was unconscious.

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*DING!*

[75% completion in recovery]

Mako's eyes slowly opened as he saw the moon shining down on him. It took a couple of seconds before Mako realized he was still lying down next to the tree.

"Uhhh...." Mako groaned as he slowly sat up only to notice that his hand had completely stopped bleeding and looked a lot better than before.

After getting back to his senses, Mako realized what an utter idiot he was for punching a tree without any warning or practice.

*Ding!*

[Alert! Energy levels Dangerously Low!]

[Replenish Energy Levels Immediately!]

Mako had the worst kind of stomach ache imaginable that happens when one is incredibly hungry like they could gobble an entire table's worth of food.

"Idiot.. idiot... idiot... idiot..." Mako continuously muttered to himself as he slowly got up and made his way to his kitchen.

Once he arrived, he gobbled up everything that he set his eyes on as if he were a wolf who had been hungry for several days.

Apples, leftover pasta, raw asparagus, nothing was safe. After about twenty of his eating frenzy, Mako sat down on his kitchen floor and went over what had happened.

[Energy: 46/50]

"Why didn't the phantom punch work?" Mako was beyond confused about his current predicament.

He decided to re-read the description of Phantom Punch again to see whether he had missed something.

- [(F-Tier) Phantom Punch] ⓘ (LEVEL 1)

[Attack: 10]

[Requirements: 10 Agility, 5 Strength]

[Cost: 5 Energy]

When Mako re-read the text, he just wanted to facepalm so hard that his hand would go through his skull.

He didn't have the requirements to actually use the skill, and that was why he had ended up in this predicament.

'Open System Interface'

[User: Mako Grey]

[Health: 76/100] ⓘ (+1)

[Energy: 46/50] ⓘ (+1)

[EXP: 150/200] ⓘ

[Level 2] ⓘ

[Strength: 2] ⓘ (+1)

[Agility: 3] ⓘ (+1)

[Perception: 2] ⓘ (+1)

[Intelligence: 5] ⓘ (+1)

[Mentality: 2] ⓘ (+1)

[Stamina: 4] ⓘ (+1)

[Charisma: Locked] ⓘ

[Fortitude: Locked] ⓘ

[Attribute Points: 5] ⓘ

His current Agility and Strength were too low to cast any of the phantom moves, and although Mako realized that he had 5 more attribute points to spend; it wouldn't be enough to reach that level.

When Mako rechecked all his attributes, he also realized that there was a (+1) symbol next to his Energy and Health bar which didn't make any sense as to how could one gain more health or energy by simply doing nothing.

'But there has to be a reason for it to be there, I mean... why would great-grandfather put a (+1) symbol there anyway?' Mako reasoned with himself before finally accepting that he should give it a go, as he could always gain more attribute points.

Mako decided to add two points to Energy and two points to health in order to find out what would happen.

[Health: 77/120] ⓘ (+1)

[Energy: 46/150] ⓘ (+1)

"WHAT IN THE WORLD!?" Mako shouted out loud as he was dumbfounded by the increase in his energy and health. Health could be increased in intervals of ten while Energy could be increased in intervals of fifty.

Now that he understood how to actually cast skills, and the importance of the Health and Energy bars, Mako understood that he would need a lot more attribute points to become somewhat of a decent fighter much like his classmates.

[76% completion in recovery]

"Well, I guess that I will have to rest a bit more until this heals," Mako said as he laid down on his sofa while also thinking how great it was that the system could now heal him if he was injured, and he won't have to waste money on healing pills.

Mako also understood the dangers of those bars going down as it was torture when Mako only had 5 energy points remaining. Who knew what would happen if the energy or health bars were to reach zero, but that was something Mako didn't want to find out any time soon.

Mako reached to the side of the sofa to check the time to calculate how long he passed out again since it looked like passing out was the new norm for Mako.

[10:46 PM]

*PANIC*

"Sir Derek is gonna kill me!" Mako shouted as he got up from the sofa, and ran to his bedroom to change into clean clothes.

His hand still hurt him, but it was not to the point of hindering his movements anymore.

Mako quickly got out of his home and booked it to the bakery before 11 p.m. He already didn't show up to work yesterday because he got knocked out in the secret basement for twelve hours, and if he got to work late today then it would be the end of his job.

After exactly seventeen minutes of constant full-speed running, Mako finally arrived in front of the bakery being so out of breath that he thought his lungs would jump out of his chest.

Checking the time on his watch, it was three minutes past eleven which meant that, although; he was indeed late, he made it in the nick of time before Sir Derek became really angry.

Explaining to him why he didn't come to work yesterday was another battle he would have to face.

After taking a deep breath, Mako entered the door as quietly as possible so as to not alert anyone.

"MR. MAKO GREY!" a loud voice was heard from across the room.

'Ah, s***!' Mako thought as he turned around to face his boss.

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