Peter hadn’t really thought about what kind of state he would be in when the system prompt would appear before him. You know, the one he had been patiently waiting for over the last week, but now that it finally appeared before his eyes, he realised that comprehensive body pain was one hell of a miracle drug - perfect for ruining otherwise momentous occasions!
Sadi had “forgotten” to tell him yesterday that today they would be clearing a different dungeon, and that he shouldn’t go to the crypt dungeon, and for this not seeing through this clear act of sabotage, of course, Peter was punished harshly. Even though the man hadn’t broken a bone in Peter’s body with his beating, so far as Peter could tell anyway, that didn’t mean that the damage hadn’t proved almost universally effective at crippling him.
He’d initially tried to “walk it off” as the man had snidely suggested, but as even getting to his feet was a struggle for him, both he and Sadi had quickly come to the same realisation about his current state – he wouldn’t be able to do his work today. Thus, he had been granted a few “days off” by the giant which Peter had no doubt was being added to the debt that he owed the cruel bastard, a fact that he hated – but it wasn’t exactly as though he had much say so in the matter.
It had been whilst Peter was dragging his body across the floor in the general direction of his new squatting spot that he had received it, and honestly, he had only let out a slight sigh of exaltation. That was until he read the prompt in full and then a triumphant smile formed out of his chapped dry lips.
Your assigned bot has completed its task!
Perk: [Idle Progression]’s rank is now [F+]! You can now increase system-related stats/phenomena beyond [F] rank!
Updated Information:
Idle Progression | Type: System | Rank: [F+] | Progress to Next Rank: 0/3 | Description: It is only by you assigning your bot(s) and waiting the designated amount of time for each improvement that you can improve most system-related stats/phenomena. – Current Bots Available: 1/1 – Upgrade Time Reduction: 1%
Peter had thought his perk ridiculously OP before, but now that he knew that each upgrade to his perk would seemingly grant him a percentage cut to the time it took to upgrade something else – he thought that his perk must have been granted to him as some kind of blessing from one of the system’s many patron gods.
Yet, as was typical for him, the excitement about this development quickly gave way to Peter thinking ponderously about what he should upgrade next now that his bot was free again.
Immediately, the pain-hating part of his mind put forward the idea of upgrading his constitution stat – mainly so that he could recover from beatings much faster, but something in his gut told him that it would be a bad move. It took a second for him to put a finger on what his gut feared exactly, and then it struck him, and if he wasn’t almost disabled at that precise moment he would have physically recoiled as his mind vividly imagined what would happen if Sadi discovered he had increased healing capabilities.
‘Yeah, not a good plan’, Peter decided decisively – even though he would definitely upgrade his constitution stat at some point. He was getting rather sick and tired of spending long periods of time almost completely helpless due to some sick bastard deciding to kick the shit out of him after all.
He thought about his potential options for a few minutes, and he almost commanded his bot to upgrade his Luck stat – as the system knew he needed some luck – but before he said the words affirmatively in his head, a new idea formed in his head and Peter paused to consider it.
In the last 2 days, despite using the skill almost constantly, at a great expense to his total energy reserves, his [Detect Objects] skill had not levelled even once. That in and of itself wasn’t that suspicious, skills took a while to level after all, even at [Inferior] rank, but with Peter’s perk’s description in mind – there was likely a more pressing reason for this lack of levelling despite strenuous continuous application. If he wanted to level the skill, he’d need to use his one and only bot.
Upgrading the skill would reduce its cost, even if only slightly, or it might even grow slightly more powerful – allowing him to know about the objects that surrounded him in a wider area. That would probably help speed up his ‘work’ as Sadi’s baggage slave, but Peter was conflicted about whether or not that was really that much of a good thing.
A part of him wanted to intentionally drag out his work just to spite the man for his cruelty, but that part of him was quickly quashed with the crushing reality that the man seemed to enjoy prolonging his torture anyway – so that method of ‘revenge’ would only give the man more time with which to beat him.
However, if he got through the dungeon faster, then he could minimise the amount of time he needed to spend in the dungeon with the man. Though it did pain him that this was also a benefit for Sadi, he gritted his teeth and got over it – mentally commanding his bot to upgrade his [Detect Objects] skill to level 2 and a new system prompt appeared in his vision displacing the old one – its contents were very interesting.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
You have assigned 1 system bot to increase Skill: [Detect Objects], to level: 2!
Time remaining until assignment completion: 1 day, 23 hours, 32 minutes!
It seemed the time required for each upgrade depended on what was being upgraded. That seemed to be a no-brainer mechanic for a system perk such as the one he had to have now that Peter thought it over, but it was still an interesting thing to know about his perk, nonetheless.
“It would have taken exactly 2 days to upgrade the skill’s level…” Peter mumbled to himself in thought, “Interesting…”
However, his thoughts quickly grew less and less fruitful, and once he had started seriously thinking about what method of torture Sadi would use against him the next time they met, Peter realised he was just wasting precious time and got back to attempting to crawl back home with his belly again.
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It had been barely 12 hours since his last beating and already it seemed there was a group of scrappy-looking teens eyeing up his new squatting spot with jealous eyes – and as soon as they realised the current occupier was injured and in absolutely no state to fight back if they were to attack, he doubted they would be just looking for very long. Or, even worse, they’d recognise him and immediately run to rat on him to Fred.
Peter pressed the side of his head up against the wooden walls of his semi-detached ruin of a home and he could make out the faintest traces of the conversation taking place between the young men, probably only possible thanks to his [Enhanced Senses] perk.
“It’s taken?!” A squeaky but very loud voice exclaimed in an exasperated voice, “But I hung around here nearly all of yesterday and the day before and no one came within a hundred metres of this ratified beauty.”
“And you wonder why you’re not the scout of our party? The place is clearly currently occupied and has been for at least a few days now according to my skill.” A rough gravelly voice said with an impressive amount of gusto.
“As that wench from the guild says, never trust a pipsqueak to do a job meant for real men like the rest of us.” A remarkably androgynous voice said in a teasing manner.
“Hey!” The deep voice called out in response, “Watch what you’re saying Frank – you never know if someone from the guild is watching us right now to determine whether we’re worthy of that sweet dungeoneer licence yet or not. Don’t go and cost us our future because you couldn’t keep that foul mouth of yours in check.”
“Pfft! Dude, they’re not omniscient, plus I am pretty sure the guild’s local management is desperate to hire more dungeoneers around our level of power right now so that they can finally stop having to depend upon that creep Jared to clear all the low-level dungeons.”
Upon hearing this last part, Peter instantly knew he had to get moving. The group outside was clearly a party of adventurers, and he was definitely not in any good condition to fight them off. However, there was a slight problem with getting moving, as although he may now be able to walk thanks to his body had healed somewhat, he wasn’t exactly going to be able to sprint away at any speed fast enough to escape the group should they give chase. So, he’d have to be extra stealthy, as Peter knew he’d be unable to evade capture for long if they noticed him.
However, as he was slowly and quietly crawling towards the back exit of the abandoned building he was in, his stomach started loudly growling at him like it had done many times over the last few days. Peter knew it was because he hadn’t eaten in a few days, as bitter hunger wasn’t an uncommon thing for him to experience – though the fact he hadn’t eaten in so many days kind of alarmed him. The only reason his body was still working properly, and he hadn’t received the ‘Starving’ debuff was probably because of the potion that the man, Sadi, had given him a few days prior, as healing potions not only healed you, but they also restored your body’s physical state to a healthy level.
Peter, deciding that lingering too long on his hunger would only make it worse for him, pushed himself to keep moving forward whilst simultaneously promising himself that he’d get something to eat after his wounds had fully healed, though from where he’d get said food, he had no idea – stuff like that could be worked out a later date. In the meantime, he’d focus on staying alive.
A knock on the front door of his “home” caused Peter to freeze in place. Then, he heard the deep voice he’d heard before calling out from behind the door.
“Whoever is in there, we only want to talk!” The voice claimed with its unbelievable booming quality, though Peter didn’t believe the words were genuine at all so he decided to simply make a run for it out of the backdoor. As, surely, the teens outside would just take his spot for themselves and leave him be, right?
Wrong. As soon as he had stumbled out of the backdoor, he heard the sound of heavy footsteps running in his direction.
‘Dammit,’ Peter exclaimed in his head as he tried desperately to hobble to the nearest hiding spot – only for any hope of avoiding a beatdown to be instantly crushed by the sudden appearance of a slender pale … person, directly in front of him.
He thought of them only as a person as the figure in front of him seemed almost entirely genderless in presentation – a fact that was at the same time rather startling and perplexing.
“Oh, so it was a kid, huh?” The androgynous figure said in an unsettlingly neutral voice. Then, the figure gestured at Peter and asked blankly, "What is your name, child?"
Peter, realising that the person in front of him was definitely stronger and faster than he was, and thus that escape was impossible, cursed internally, and then replied with a lie, "Samuel. That's my name."
The person before him didn't visibly react to his response for a minute or so and then nodded their head in acceptance.
Peter wondered what they were nodding about, and then he felt a hand come to rest on his shoulder - and he jolted forward but the teen's grip was too strong and he only hurt himself in the attempt to escape from the guy's grip.
The leader of the party, the boy with a voice as deep as a cavern, walked in front of Peter and then turned to look down at him. Then, mimicking the characteristic posture of a dominant male lion, the musclebound party leader placed his hand on Peter's head and ruffled his hair as if Peter was but a toddler and then he leant in way too close for Peter's liking and said, "The name is Leonard and I was wondering what you would think about us sharing this place, huh?"
On pure impulse, Peter did what he had always done when he felt cornered and threatened.
He punched the boy in front of him in the face.