Young man, medium length unkempt man-bun black hair and wore mostly black with flu mask covering his face and earphone on his ears; 'Maps' by Maroon 5 was playing on an iPod Classic. It was on the highest volume and he nonchalantly nodding his head following the tunes. His name was Wa Lui Qi, and he was half-walking-half-dancing toward an ordinary convenience store in Chinatown, clutching the lousy ten dollar bill on his right hand and skateboard on the other, while vocal mouthing under his flu mask.
Wa Lui Qi pushed the glass door and walked in. The bell on the door jingled, but the store owner didn't look up. He was busy flipping the newspaper and positioning his glasses. There was no other customer except for Wa Lui Qi, the store atmosphere was slightly solemn.
"Hey, Mr Chang." Greeted Lui Qi by waving his hand and kept heading toward the pharmaceutical section in one fluid movement.
Mr Chang, still focusing on his newspaper and without looking to whom he was speaking to reply. "How you doing, Qi?"
"Just the usual flu." Lui Qi sniffed.
"Mind is body, Qi, Mind is Body. You don't need any medicine if you have been meditating as I showed you." Mr Chang closed his newspaper and started inhaling a deep breath, showing Lui Qi his meditation technique.
"No, I have not. And it will not work." Said Lui Qi as he walking past Mr Chang without batting an eye.
"You won't know it will work or not if you don't even give it a chance."
"No, it doesn't work, because I bought a DVD from your cousin, and it was in Mandarin." Said Lui Qi. "Just because I am a Chinese, it doesn't automatically mean I can speak Mandarin."
Hearing Lui Qi's answer, Mr Chang started talking in Mandarin. Lui Qi didn't have a single clue of what Mr Chang saying, but from his tone alone it was clear Mr Chang was displeased by his answer. "Yeah, I don't understand that, either." Lui Qi replied as Mr Chang kept spewing out some Mandarin."See, that right there, I don't understand what you just said. That is the problem."
Ignoring Mr Chang, Lui Qi arrived at the pharmaceutical shelves and violently snorted, his nose was nothing but water right now. He searched for the flu medicine, and just when he found one that didn't taste bitter and was about to take the medicine.
"Ah, crap." He said as he noticed a red dot was entering the store. He didn't know when or how this was started, but as long as he could remember, he could see video-game like mini-map in the top right corner of his vision. And with 19 years old life experience of living the life with this map, one thing that he knew of was that red dot always meant something troublesome.
And he was right.
Before Lui Qi himself was able to 'take' something else, he turned around as the bell jingled. A man moved violently through the glass door. He was wearing a trench coat and bringing a backpack. In one single fluid movement, he took a shotgun from only the God knew where, and without wasting any second he threw his backpack onto the counter and saying his demand. "Put the money in the bag." He said once then cocking his shotgun. "Put the money in the bag!" He said twice.
Mr Chang was an elderly man with heavy wrinkles, grey spiky hair and a bushy moustache, and of small stature. He did give this 'I'm the kung-fu master' aura with all of his obsession in meditation and traditional medicine, but no matter one looked at this situation, there was no way Mr Chang could win against a big muscular guy with a shotgun in his hands.
Qi inwardly sighed a breath of relief as he noticed the burglar itself hadn't realized he was here. At the same time, Mr Chang started moving his shaky hands, transferring the dollar bill from the register to the bag.
Maybe... if he had better skill, like super strength or super speed, Qi wouldn't hesitate to jump in and save the day. Though, the only 'skill' he had was 'Mini-Map.' The best he could do with this skill was using it as a cctv to observe the situation in 2D.
'Then again, it will be troublesome if Mr Chang closed his shop because of this incident.' Qi thought as he rubbed his chin. For every now and then, twice in a month Qi always stole some things; either it was snacks, foods, medicines or anything else from Mr Chang store. And Mr Chang never noticed or caught him in action everytime he did that.
Of course, it was because of his Map skill. There was a small arrow on every dot, that if he concentrated well enough, he could see the dots field of vision on his Mini-Map. As long as he was staying out from the dot field of vision and didn't make any unnecessary noises, Qi was 100% sure he could come and go like a ghost.
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Taking a deep breath, Qi slowly walked backwards and positioned himself between the shelves. As soon as he reached the end, he aimed and slid his skateboard across the floor, it moved and hit the other side from where he was positioned himself.
Just as Qi expected, as soon as his skateboard bumped into the other shelves, the man turned around and focusing his attention to where the sound came from, as the result, the cone of his field of vision somewhat became smaller; Qi didn't know the theory behind this phenomena but this happened everytime someone got distracted and Qi already used it many times in the past.
Knowing the burglar was distracted, Qi rushed toward the burglar and shoved him from behind. Qi might be not the most muscular or the biggest person, but he had enough strength to topple and hold the burglar down if he used his whole body. Meanwhile, the burglar's shotgun was fell to the counter.
Grabbing the burglar by his hair, Qi pulled his head up and slammed his face once onto the floor. As the loud dull sound echoed through the store, and the red dot turned to gray. That was good, gray meant he was either sleeping or unconscious, and almost simultaneously Qi heard another sound of bell jingling on his ear.
Cring cring
Congratulations! Your level is now 1! Status 'menu' is now available! Skill 'menu' is now available! Class 'menu' is now available! Companion 'menu' is now available! You have received 3 status points, 2 skill points and 1 class points.
Wa Lui Qi
Level: 1
Class: --
Health(/R per day): 100 (1.2)
Mana(/R per hour): 15 (12)
Stam(/R per minute): 33 (1.2)
Strength: 2
Vitality: 3
Dexterity: 2
Agility: 3
Intelligence: 2
Knowledge: 3
Wisdom: 3
Focus: 3
Charisma: 2
Intimidation: 1
Deception: 3
Willpower: 2
Skills: Mini-Map Lvl 1.
You can access Status, Skill, Companion or Class by thinking 'Menu' and select 'Status/Skill/Companion/Class.'
"...The hell?" Wa Lui Qi always thought his life couldn't get any weirder than his previous life, and yet there were invisible messages floating in front of his eyes.
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The twelve status scores all have hover text that defines them, available whenever your mouse hovers above them. If you are viewing this story in a format that strips the hover text, here they are for reference:
STR= Strength- How much force you can exert. Used to break down doors, bend rebar, or shove someone out of the way. Affect Stamina Point and Physical Power.
AGI= Agility- How fast your body reacted. Used to dodge a bullet or do cartwheels. Also, affect Stamina Regeneration.
VIT= Vitality- How much you can physically withstand. Used to go on forced marches, or tread water. Also affect Stamina, Stamina Regeneration, and Life Regeneration.
DEX= Dexterity: How much you can precisely control your body. Used to move all of your fingers, standing on a rope, or focusing your vision.
Intelligence- How smart you are. Used to figure out puzzles, learn new things, or calculate faster. Affect Magic Power.
KNO= Knowledge- How much you know. Used to dig up old memories or memorize a ten digit number. Affect Magic Point.
WIS= Wisdom - How well you can read situation. Used to read body language, avoid being stabbed in the back or understand what your girlfriend wants to eat. Affect Magic Resistance.
FOC= Focus- How well you can concentrate. Used to finish a repetitive report, or playing video game while listening to music while talking. Affect Magic Regeneration.
CHA= Charisma - How much people like you. Used to woo the lady, bargaining with a merchant, or plead for your life.
INT= Intimidation- How well you can coerce someone. Used to demoralize ungrateful customer, or instil fear."
DEC= Deception- How well you can hide the truth, either verbally or through your actions. Used to con a merchant, or maintain a straight face while playing poker.
WIL= Willpower- How well you withstand other people. Used to withstand interrogation, or keep dry eyes during your ex-girlfriend wedding.