Paranoia!

He was thrilled yet anxious, finally, something that may take him out of this never-ending loop of boredom and simplicity appeared. There was no way in h.e.l.l that he would let this opportunity slip by. That"s why he was also anxious because should that "hope" be some bored G.o.d"s cruel joke he might as well jump off of a cliff. He wouldn"t be able to put up with the depression.

So, please! Just this time!

A quick look around and he found all the ingredients necessary for what he had in mind. He picked up a pan and put it on the already lighted fire and added a few strips of bacon.

He may not be some expert cook but since his mom was rarely at home he started learning some tricks, and in time he could prepare some delicious plates.

So it wasn"t hard for him to accomplish only this much.

Indeed, after 10 minutes he was faced with a plate of b.u.t.tered toast, scrambled eggs, sausages, and a few strips of bacon. Obviously accompanied by an apple and a cup of orange juice.

Satisfied with his work he put the food on a tray, and with slow steps, careful not to stumble and ruin everything, headed for his mother"s bedroom.

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.

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Knock! Knock!

He knocked twice on the door, knowing that it was more than sufficient to wake her up. She was an early riser so she"d have come down in a few minutes either way.

"Come in..." He heard her say.

He opened the door making the creaking sounds ring out through the entire shadowed room.

He glanced at the bed and saw the bedsheets move slightly before the shape of a woman rose calmly. She stretched and rubbed her eyes, before noting her son"s presence.

"Jered... good morn"- She yawned mid-sentence before finishing- "ing"

"Morning, mom." He replied.

Seeing that his mom was still a bit dizzy, Jered approached her and placed the tray full of food on her bedsheets-covered lap.

"I prepared this for you... I... thought that it"d be nice do something for you every once in a while, especially since you"re always busy... so... yeah. Hope you like it. " He ended with an awkward smile.

She seemed to freeze for a moment, and not knowing how to respond she just kept looking at him, slightly wide-eyed.

She tried to say something but the words didn"t want to come out, almost like she suddenly lost her voice.

This gesture of his came with a great surprise to her. During their last 2 years, namely the timeline after her husband, John von Jacobs death, their small family started to mentally drift apart.

Naturally, that doesn"t mean that their love for each other started to fade away, they just preferred a bit more s.p.a.ce for themselves.

And the fact that she too didn"t do anything to salvage the situation was of no help. She wasn"t at fault though, or that"s what she"d like to say. She needed a bit of time for herself. Both Jered, and her eldest daughter Jasmine, thought that she was still mourning their father"s death. What they didn"t know was that that wasn"t the truth. And that"s what she wanted to hide all along.

So she was greatly taken aback when she saw her son doing such a sweet thing for her. She thought that her continued absence from their lives made them resent her if only a bit.

Such a thing, she still remembers when Jered was a snot-nosed little brat running around the home and always following her. Especially that Sat.u.r.day morning, where she found him in front of her bed with a messy paste of what he called "A super-ultrmommy-delicious breakfast".

It wasn"t that delicious, obviously. But it was the gist of that action that deeply touched her. Something that her husband never did...

Finally finished reminiscing, she looked at the tray on her lap. It was the same as that day, though now the food seemed to be edible, even appetizing if she might say so.

Seriously, this kid. Doing such a thing for her.

She held back some tears that threatened to come out and smiled slightly, saying the only thing that could break this strained silence.

"Thank you, sweetie."

She didn"t even wait for a response as she started eating the delicacies her son made for her.

"How is it? " He asked expectantly.

"Delicious. " She smiled.

...

That seemed to be the trigger as a notification appeared in front of his eyes.

[ Quest: A caring son. Completed! ]

[ Your actions have brought back old and deep memories buried in your mother"s heart. There"ll be some positive behavioral changes on her part. ]

[ Reward: 3 Attribute points20 System points. ]

He stared at it for a while, mildly surprised at the second notification.

Positive changes?

Does that mean that he can do something to make her happy like she always deserved?

He suddenly felt a surge of excitement almost burst out of him. He ignored it but he knew. His mother had to sweat blood to bring home food for them, working from daylight till sunset, just to return tired, with disheveled hair and turtle steps, and falling asleep as soon as she reached her bedroom.

It pained him, it truly did. But he had no idea of how to help her. He was just a kid, he still is, but more mature. As time pa.s.sed by the feeling of helplessness kept growing stronger with each time he saw her poor state at night.

So you may call it an instinctual reaction from his body or just his brain trying to defend itself, but that feeling soon became numbness. Maybe that was the reason of why he grew to be cynical and indifferent to his surroundings.

And when he saw that there was hope to bring their family back, like it was years ago, it made him so happy that he had to squeeze every fiber of his body to not start dancing and laughing like a maniac.

His mother seemed to notice his slight change in demeanor and gave him a puzzled look.

He just faked a cough and excused himself as he made his way out the door.

She still appeared to be confused as she watched him go out but smiled nonetheless. Who would have thought that she"d start the day with her son showing her something she thought as already lost.

After a few years, she finally saw some hope. To find that her son still cared for her left her speechless from overwhelming happiness.

Maybe they still had a good way to go but to her, this was more than enough. She was sure that in the end, her family would be back again.

Yeah, definitely.

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Once in his room, he made sure to close the door, he didn"t have a reason to but he was way too nervous to notice. He gained 3 attribute points and wanted to find out if it really works.

He opened his status and looked carefully at his stats.

Now, where to put the points?

He needed visible changes. Something that he might not mistake with his brain pulling some jokes on him.

Intelligence? No, he wasn"t sure of how large was the difference between 16 and 19. How could he tell if he became smarter? What if 3 points are way too few to make any noticeable alteration? In that case, he wouldn"t be able to judge if the system really works.

Physical stats like strength, dexterity, vitality or endurance? It was hard to tell as well. As aforementioned, without knowing the true value of these points and the change that they might bring, he was left tied.

Mana? Appearance?

He didn"t even need to decide, he could easily gauge alterations in his body if the so-called "Mana" really exist.

From what he knows of games, mana is an energy present in the world that can exert powers of the elemental forces of nature embodied in an object or person.

So he was pretty sure that he could note a such thing inside his body.

He hurriedly placed all his points on "Mana ".

However...

[ Alert: The attribute "Mana" is not available unless you get the cla.s.s "Magician". ]

Sigh.

How troublesome.

He clicked on "Cla.s.s" and indeed...

[ Alert: You need to complete at least 4 quests to unlock your cla.s.s. ]

Yeah... what did I expect?

Having no better alternatives he looked over at the screen and upped his "Appearance" points from 15 to 18 and-

He abruptly felt his face on fire. Like there were countless ants biting on his skin and trying to dig his flesh out.

He crouched on the floor trying his best to not scream, knowing it"d draw his mother"s attention.

It was a hard feat, he never felt such soul-stirring pain. And it only got worse when he felt his facial bones shifting, breaking and reconnecting.

He grunted painfully while using his hands hold his face as if by doing so the pain would go away. Naturally, that didn"t do anything to diminish his anguish.

After a few minutes of intense torture, right when he thought it was finally all over, a new wave came back to strike him. Now though was both on his hair and on his eyes.

He felt his scalp itch and tingle so much that he felt the urge to rip his hair off forcefully so as to make it stop. It didn"t matter what he did though, whether he scratched it or pulled it, it was useless.

His eyes started burning, and he was forced to close them. The light coming in from outside felt like he was staring at the sun.

Again, after a few minutes it stopped, giving him a sweet reprieve.

He panted, feeling his body soaked with sweat. He tried to stand up but failed as he had already used all his strength to fight off that agony. So he just laid there, breathing, his chest going up and down rhythmically.

When he finally felt some energy fill his body he stood up and walked towards the bathroom where he took off his clothes and got in the shower.

The pleasant touch of the water helped him clear his mind and concentrate on what just happened.

If this experience was anything to go by then he was pretty sure it worked somehow.

He stayed there for a while and when he felt refreshed enough, turned off the water.

He slowly got out of the shower, with a towel wrapped around his waist.

Taking a deep breath to calm his beating heart he looked at his reflection in the mirror and what he saw left him astounded. As he had expected there weren"t any big changes, but the result was still something that was difficult to believe.

Thinking it might be his eyes that saw wrong, he leaned closer and looked attentively, using his fingers to trail what he felt like were the parts that improved.

He had always been considered handsome, with his delicate facial features and fair skin, coupled with his raven hair and piercing green eyes made him stand out quite a bit wherever he went.

And now? His face was slightly more symmetric making his face look more perfect. His eyes were a bit brighter as was his skin. His hair became glossier and smoother.

Alone, these improvements would have amounted to almost nothing. However, when added together he could safely say that it was more than he thought.

It seems that the system really works.

Taking a last look at the mirror he turned around and left, a small smile present on his face.

Yes, this was it.

What he always wanted.

Something that could shake his life and crawl him out of that hole he used to hide in. He could feel it now.

The feeling of being alive.