Duncan was observing the traffic and time with attention. The rush hour was over so the traffic was not congested and he knew he would make it after 10 minutes of riding the cab.
George the taxi driver’s lack of enthusiasm to drive him at the start turned into outright fake familiarity after he got an advance payment of fifty dollars.
“Do you mind if I put on some music?” George asked.
Duncan shook his head, “Go right ahead.”
He was sorry right away as salsa and bachata rhythms filled the taxi with inappropriate loudness.
“Could you maybe lower the volume a bit?” Duncan yelled to make George hear him.
“You don’t like Latin music?” George said as he tried to lower the volume.
Duncan shook his head, “It’s OK, just not so loud.”
“Alright. I will try to lower it. The volume knob is stuck,” George replied as he swerved in traffic.
Duncan rubbed his eye, shaking his head as the beat and Spanish sounding singers shook the cab. Finally George managed to squeeze the knob and turned it down a bit.
Duncan breathed out as if meditating and hoped this ride would end without an accident and another wake up in a hospital.
“How come you were in the hospital?” George asked at a traffic light.
Duncan really didn’t want to talk about it but he replied anyway, “They had to run some tests.”
“My sister once had to run some tests and they found she was pregnant. Are you pregnant?” George laughed as he said that.
Duncan looked at him and even considered finding another cab.
“Kiddin’ man. Don’t be so uptight,” George replied as he saw the annoyed look on Duncan’s face in the rear view mirror.
George’s ass was bouncing to the rhythm as he drove the cab. Especially at every traffic light when he would even let go of the steering wheel and shake his arms.
“Do you like Salsa? I love Salsa,” George said.
“I can see, I mean hear that. Watch the road!” Duncan replied.
George laughed, “Don’t worry. I never had an accident and I have been doing this for two years.”
“There is always a first time. Watch out!” Duncan yelled as they narrowly missed a bike courier.
George hit the horn to the rhythm of the music on the speakers. “Bike messengers don’t count. I mean a real accident. Involving a car or truck.”
They drove past another intersection as Samba de Janeiro started playing and George became even more energetic.
“I will go to Brazil someday. Dance in the Rio carnival,” George said as he shook his ass while driving.
Duncan calmed down and touched his forehead while breathing heavily.
“Go to Mars for all I care, just bring me home safely,” Duncan thought.
Out of desperation and annoyance he activated [Observe] on George. The music became slower and the basses deeper and after a while everything started moving at normal speed again. He thought he would get a driving skill but what he got didn’t surprise him either.
[ You have Observed Dancing ]
Learn
[ YES ] - [ NO ]
He mentally clicked YES.
[ You have Learned Dancing Level 1. ]
Agility +0.1
Endurance +0.1
Charisma +0.1
George didn’t stop shaking his ass for long as another song he liked started right away. Duncan used [Observe] again.
[ You have Learned Dancing Level 2. ]
Agility +0.2
Endurance +0.2
Charisma +0.2
Duncan used it two more times after that and got Dancing to level 4.
“Are you alright man?” George asked as he looked nervously in the rearview mirror.
“Yeah. Why?” Duncan asked.
“Ah. OK. You were not responding to my questions before,” George replied.
“I was just thinking about something,” Duncan replied and motioned to the road ahead.
Not long after that they were at Duncan’s place of residence.
“That would be 26 dollars and 34 cents extra,” George said as he parked his taxi in front of Duncan’s building.
Duncan thought about how big of a tip to give him, “Here is a $100 and if I ever need you again you better come. Thank the dispatcher girl properly by splitting the tip.”
“Sure man. Anytime. Well, not when I am in Rio,” George replied and pocketed the money.
Duncan shook his head when the taxi drove off. The curious looks from the local dwellers were not a welcome sight.
Having a taxi service bring you home was considered a luxury here. His place could be robbed the next day if they knew where he lived. He checked his time off and he still had more than 2 hours to spend on Earth.
Duncan didn’t immediately enter his building but went up the street to a bodega to buy a prepaid card for his mobile carrier and to throw off the vultures. Flashing your money around was a capital crime in this neighborhood. There was no one in the bodega but the shop owner so taking out a fifty dollar bill did not alert anyone. He bought some snacks and a soda which he ate and drank right in front of the shop before he returned to his building.
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Walking up the stairs the smell of urine slowly subsided the higher you went. Drunks and addicts were not known to be great climbers of stairs. The paint was peeling off the walls and ceilings with lightbulbs missing but Duncan was used to it. He used his cellphone where it was too dark to climb the stairs safely otherwise and finally made it to his home.
Unlocking the door he breathed in the familiar stale air and happily went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Because you know you have to have priorities.
Duncan plugged in his phone on the charger and checked the time left for him on Earth.
One hour and forty minutes was what he had left approximately. He searched for a sprint video in the last Olympics and activated [Observe].
With his setting at double speed the video was over in a flash.
[ You have Observed Running ]
Learn
[ YES ] - [ NO ]
He confirmed the choice.
[ You have Learned Running Level 1. ]
Agility +0.1
Endurance +0.1
He repeated the process three more times until he got running to level 4. Less than 5 minutes have passed. Duncan was satisfied with the rewards. One whole stat point in 5 minutes was a good result.
Next he watched a parkour video using [Observe] hoping to get a skill from that. He didn’t. Duncan figured it was classified as running by the System or whatever made the decision. He got some additional knowledge in how to handle obstacles while running but that was it.
Duncan watched a climbing video next. The [Observe] skill worked this time and he learned the [Climbing] skill.
[ You have Learned Climbing Level 1. ]
Dexterity +0.1
Agility +0.1
Endurance +0.1
He repeated the process using different videos because by now it was apparent to him that different videos offered more insight into skills than repeating the same one over and over.
[ You have Learned Climbing Level 2. ]
Dexterity +0.2
Agility +0.2
Endurance +0.2
[ You have Learned Climbing Level 3. ]
Dexterity +0.3
Agility +0.3
Endurance +0.3
[ You have Learned Climbing Level 4. ]
Dexterity +0.4
Agility +0.4
Endurance +0.4
What surprised Duncan was that his [Observe] skill finally leveled up to level 4 and added 0.4 stat points to his perception. Duncan quickly found another two videos of climbing and parkour and leveled up climbing and running.
He checked his time left on Earth and it was at 1 hour and 11 minutes. Duncan decided then he will leave some in reserve. He got himself comfortable in his bed and returned.
Wondering why [Observe] suddenly leveled up, Duncan checked his skills. He counted them up and he had twenty two active skills now. It made no sense that it would level up now. If there were twenty it would make more sense.
Then he remembered a crucial piece of information. Duncan got some skills like Trapping and Herbology from [Reading]. He counted all the skills he remembered he got from [Observe] and got to sixteen.
“What do 4 and sixteen have in common?” Duncan asked himself.
“Four times four is sixteen, but then I would have gotten Observe at level 3 at twelve skills,” he mumbled.
“Two to the power of four is sixteen. Two to the power of three is eight and two to the power of two is four. This must be it. So, I have to find another sixteen skills the system recognizes before I can level up Observe again,” he mumbled and shook his head at the prospect.
“Never mind the next level up. To get it to level 10 I will have to Observe 1024 skills,” Duncan shook his head at the thought. He hoped he was wrong and some other criteria raised the skill also or he will be hard pressed to reach past level 6 where he already required 64 skills learned from [Observe] if his guess proved right.
He became thirsty suddenly and his stomach started to rumble, protesting the lack of food for almost four days. Duncan quickly dressed himself and went looking for Wazsh.
There were no lights on in the kitchen or at the bar. As he checked the time he noticed it was in the middle of the night. He tapped the spots Wazsh showed him to turn them on and sat down at a table. He took the last Roasted Rat leg from his inventory and ate it while drinking a glass of water. Not exactly a breakfast of champions but it would have to do until Wazsh wakes up.
Duncan checked all the skills that were at level four that he could level up using [Observe] and youtube videos. They were Acting, Cooking, Dancing, Gardening, Geography, Mana manipulation, Meditation, Stealth, Trapping and Unarmed.
Mana manipulation was out of the question. Geography was not worth it for now. Meditation if he found a short video but he doubted it would work. For Stealth and Trapping he had Petris. The rest were all good, especially Gardening.
Duncan looked at the time and he needed approximately 30 minutes before he could leave to Earth again. He packed up the dirty cutlery and deposited it in the kitchen sink before he went to brush his teeth and got ready for another study session.
Since he had nothing to do he tried Meditating the remaining time away. The time flew by and after two hours had passed Duncan exited his Meditation session. The skill actually leveled and got him another 0.2 stats in Intelligence.
Duncan quickly activated the transfer and grabbed his phone when he arrived. Gardening came first. A random raised bed gardening short video did the trick.
[ You have Learned Gardening Level 5. ]
Strength +0.5
Dexterity +0.5
Agility +0.5
Vitality +0.5
Endurance +0.5
Perception +0.5
Wisdom +0.5
Duncan found a video of a famous chef named Gordon next and observed him make poached eggs. He got an upgrade to his Acting skill instead of Cooking from that.
“I guess it was scripted,” he mumbled before clicking on a home cook doing a stir fry. He got the Cooking skills upgrade he wanted from that.
[ You have Learned Acting Level 5. ]
Intelligence +0.5
Wisdom +0.5
Charisma +0.5
[ You have Learned Cooking Level 5. ]
Dexterity +0.5
Perception +0.5
After a short Olympic Judo video he upgraded his Unarmed skill.
[ You have Learned Unarmed Level 5. ]
Strength +0.5
Dexterity +0.5
Agility +0.5
A quick breakdance video later he upgraded his Dancing skill.
[ You have Learned Dancing Level 5. ]
Agility +0.5
Endurance +0.5
Charisma +0.5
Duncan had 46 minutes left and he decided to save them for a visit to the jeweler or some other pressing matter that he would have to face. He returned and jumped from the bed with the light escaping the black hole’s surroundings illuminating his bed.
His body felt weird after all the upgrades he had done. For the moment he was using too much power to move his legs and arms. Duncan looked like a robot as he tried to relearn something he never had to learn in the first place since it came naturally.
After a while his brain must have adapted to the new distribution of power and he dared to walk down the stairs after brushing his teeth and washing up.
Wazsh was in the kitchen peeling some purple vegetables unknown to Duncan.
“Good morning,” Duncan greeted as he came in.
“Ah. You are finally back. Good morning. How did it go?” Wazsh replied.
“Great. Do you happen to have any other skills I could learn from you?” Duncan asked.
Wazsh shook his head. “None that the system recognizes as valid I am afraid.”
“Did anything new happen while I was gone?” Duncan asked.
“Nothing unusual. Elland asked for you to come to his shop when you come back.Other than that it has been quiet,” Wazsh replied.
“I wonder what he wants,” Duncan muttered as he left the kitchen.