The walk back to the apartment felt different. The cracks in the pavement were the same, the grey city smog was the same, but Ethan felt like he was carrying a secret that made the air vibrate around him. The notification was still there, burned into his peripheral vision: [ +5 Charisma Points Permanent ].
What did that even mean? He didn't feel like a movie star. He didn't feel brave. But as he passed a group of teenagers laughing on a street corner, he didn't duck his head as low as he usually did. The crushing weight of their imagined judgment felt... lighter, as if a few pounds of lead had been lifted from his chest.
When he finally closed his apartment door and engaged the three separate locks, he collapsed against the wood, gasping. The grocery bags thudded to the floor.
"System," he whispered, his voice cracking. "Status."
The air shimmered. The elegant gold-bordered panel bloomed in the dim light of his hallway.
[ STATUS WINDOW ]
Host: Ethan Thorne
Level: 1 (Exp: 5/100)
Title: None
Health: 85/100 (Sedentary Lifestyle Debuff)
Stamina: 30/100 (Low Endurance)
Stats:
Strength: 4 (Below Average)
Agility: 5 (Average)
Intelligence: 14 (Above Average)
Charm: 6 (+5) = 11 (Average Human)
Confidence: 2 (Cripplingly Low)
Romantic Points (RP): 10
Ethan stared at the 'Charm' stat. Average Human. For the first time in years, he wasn't below the curve. He walked to the bathroom, his heart hammering. He didn't like mirrors. Mirrors were reminders of the pale, soft-jawed, tired boy he had become.
He stood before the glass and turned on the flickering fluorescent light.
He looked... the same. But as he looked closer, he noticed the subtle shift. The slouch in his shoulders wasn't as pronounced. The dark circles under his eyes, though still there, didn't look like bruised shadows anymore. His skin had a faint, healthy glow, as if he'd finally caught a few hours of real sunlight. It wasn't a transformation; it was a refinement.
< The System does not create a new person, Ethan, > the velvet voice echoed in his mind. < It unearths the man buried under years of neglect. You are simply becoming what you were always meant to be. >
"And the cost?" Ethan asked the empty bathroom. "Nothing is free."
< Effort. Discipline. And the courage to interact with the world you fear. >
Suddenly, a new icon flickered at the bottom of the screen. It looked like a classical scale held by a blindfolded woman.
[ THE EXCHANGE MARKET - JANUARY EDITION ]
Note: The Market refreshes on the 1st of every month.
Ethan tapped the icon. A grid of items appeared, but unlike the games he played, these weren't swords or mana potions. They were biological and material reality-warpers.
[ Physical Sculptor (Minor): ] Permanently burns 2kg of fat and converts it into lean muscle mass. Cost: 100 RP.
[ Vocal Resonance: ] Deepens the host's voice and removes stuttering under pressure. Cost: 50 RP.
[ Vitality Augmentation (Specific): ] Increases blood flow and cellular growth in the pelvic region (Physical size/stamina). Cost: 250 RP.
[ Financial Injection (Low): ] Deposits $500 into a verified account via a 'lottery win'. Cost: 80 RP.
[ Pheromone Level 1: ] Subtly increases the attraction of those within a 2-meter radius. Cost: 150 RP.
Ethan's eyes widened. He looked at his current balance: 10 RP.
The 10 points he'd earned from Maya—from a simple compliment about a butterfly clip—were barely enough to look at the menu, let alone buy anything. The realization hit him like a cold wave. To change his body, to fix his bank account, to become the man he saw in his fantasies, he would have to do that hundreds of times. He would have to talk, to touch, to seduce.
He sat on the edge of the bathtub, burying his face in his hands. The "Romantic System" was a ladder, but the rungs were made of his greatest fears.
"Ten points for a compliment," he muttered. "How many points for a date? How many for... more?"
< High risk, high reward, Ethan. But for now, you are weak. You are a seedling in a storm. You must grow before you can bloom. >
The System window faded, but a small timer remained in the corner of his vision.
[ Daily Task Available in: 12:45:02 ]
The rest of the evening passed in a strange, heightened state of awareness. Ethan tried to play his usual game, but the digital monsters felt hollow. The leveling up of a pixelated sorcerer felt meaningless when he knew he could be leveling up his own vocal cords or his own muscles.
He looked at the ramen on his desk. Usually, he didn't care. But now, seeing his Health and Stamina stats in red, he felt a strange sense of guilt. He stood up, walked to the kitchen, and boiled the eggs he had bought from Maya.
As he ate, he thought about her. Maya. The way she had looked at him—not with disgust, but with a brief, flickering interest.
Affinity: 2/100.
It was a start. A tiny, microscopic start. But as Ethan laid in bed that night, the silence of his room didn't feel as oppressive as before. He wasn't just Ethan Thorne, the shut-in. He was a Level 1 Host.
And tomorrow, he would have to find a way to earn more points. Because the Market was waiting, and for the first time in his life, he actually wanted to buy what the world was selling.
The dawn didn't break with a choir of angels; it broke with a stabbing pain in Ethan's lower back. He had fallen asleep on his side, his body unaccustomed to the strange, buzzing energy that the +5 Charisma points had injected into his nervous system.
He lay there for a long time, staring at the ceiling. The timer in his vision had finally hit zero.
[ Daily Task Generated ]
Task: The Disciplined Seed.
Requirement: Perform 20 push-ups and 20 squats.
Note: A beautiful soul requires a sturdy vessel.
Reward: 5 RP, +1 Stamina.
Failure: -5 RP, "Muscle Lethargy" debuff (48 hours).
Ethan groaned. "Twenty? You have to be kidding me."
To an athlete, twenty push-ups were a warm-up. To Ethan, whose exercise for the last three years had consisted of walking from his PC to the fridge, it felt like an Olympic marathon. He rolled off his bed, his feet hitting the cold hardwood floor.
He tried. The first five were okay. By the tenth, his arms were shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. By the fifteenth, his face was the color of a ripe tomato, and his breath was coming in ragged gasps. He collapsed on the eighteenth, his chest hitting the floor hard.
"Get up," he hissed to himself. "You want that market item? You want to stop being invisible? Get. Up."
With a final, guttural cry of effort, he pushed. The last two repetitions felt like he was lifting the weight of the entire world.
[ Daily Task Completed! ]
[ +5 RP Granted. +1 Stamina Granted. ]
A wave of warmth, much like the one he felt when he touched Maya's hand, washed over his sore muscles. The ache didn't disappear, but it changed—it became a "good" pain, the kind that told him his body was actually alive.
He checked his balance: 15 RP. Still a long way from the 250 RP needed for the "Vitality Augmentation" or the 100 RP for the "Physical Sculptor."
After a quick, cold shower—another recommendation from the System that he found miserable but strangely refreshing—Ethan stood before his closet. He realized he owned nothing but oversized hoodies and faded graphic tees. Everything was designed to make him look smaller, to help him blend into the shadows.
< Clothes are the armor of the modern warrior, Ethan, > the System's voice vibrated in his skull. < Today, we do not hide. >
He chose his cleanest black hoodie and narrowed his eyes. He had to go out. Not because he wanted to, but because his bank account was sitting at a dismal $42, and the rent was due in two weeks. He needed a job. But more than that, he needed the System.
He decided to go to a part of the city he usually avoided—the university district. It was crowded, loud, and filled with the kind of people who made him feel like an alien. But more people meant more "Targets."
The subway ride was a test of willpower. Usually, Ethan would stare at his phone until his neck hurt. Today, he forced himself to look up.
[ Scanning... ]
[ Target Identified ]
[ Target Identified ]
Small panels floated over people's heads, flickering in and out as they moved.
Target: Sarah. Affinity: 0/100. State: Anxious about an exam.
Target: Marcus. Affinity: 0/100. State: Judging your shoes.
Ethan winced. Seeing the "State" of people was a double-edged sword. Knowing that Marcus was judging his scuffed sneakers didn't exactly help his confidence.
He hopped off at the campus station. The air here was different—it smelled of expensive coffee, old books, and ambition. He wandered into a large, glass-walled library cafe, his heart hammering against his ribs. He sat in a corner, clutching a small black coffee he could barely afford.
"Just one person," he whispered. "One interaction."
Then, the door opened, and a woman walked in that made the entire room seem to dim in comparison. She wasn't just beautiful; she had an aura of intense, focused intelligence. She was wearing a tailored grey coat, her dark hair pulled into a sharp ponytail. She carried a stack of heavy medical textbooks.
[ SPECIAL TARGET DETECTED ]
Name: Isabella Thorne (No relation)
Age: 24 (Medical Resident)
Affinity: 0/100
State: Overwhelmed, sleep-deprived, looking for a table.
Warning: High Difficulty. High Reward.
Ethan froze. The "Special Target" label was gold-trimmed and pulsating. The library was packed; there wasn't a single empty table. Isabella scanned the room, her brow furrowed in frustration. Her eyes landed on Ethan's table—the only one with an extra chair.
< Quest Triggered: The Gentleman's Gambit >
Requirement: Offer your seat or share the table without stuttering.
Reward: 20 RP, +1 Intelligence, +1 Confidence.
Failure: -10 RP, "The Invisible Man" debuff (People will literally ignore you for 48 hours).
Isabella began walking toward him. Every step she took felt like a drumbeat. Ethan's palms were sweating. His old self screamed at him to grab his coffee and run. But the System's golden light was reflecting in his eyes, a reminder of the "Physical Sculptor" and the "Financial Injection" he so desperately needed.
She stopped in front of his table. Her scent hit him—sandalwood and sharp espresso.
"Excuse me," she said, her voice like cool silk. "Is this seat taken?"
Ethan looked up. For the first time, thanks to those +5 Charisma points, he didn't look away. He met her gaze. She looked exhausted, with faint purple circles under her eyes, but she was magnificent.
He felt the System's pressure—a gentle, magnetic pull on his vocal cords.
"It's free," Ethan said. His voice was steady. It wasn't loud, but it didn't tremble. "The lighting is better on this side anyway. Please, take it."
Isabella paused, a flicker of surprise crossing her tired features. She had expected a grunt or a shy nod, not a coherent, polite sentence. She offered a small, weary smile.
"Thank you. I really appreciate it. This week has been... a lot."
She sat down and began spreading out her books.
[ Quest Completed! ]
[ Affinity with Isabella: +1 ]
[ Rewards granted. ]
Ethan felt a sharp, crystalline clarity hit his mind—the +1 Intelligence. It was subtle, like a lens being focused. He looked at the medical diagram on her open book. Before, it would have been a jumble of Latin and lines. Now, he could almost... see the logic in the anatomy.
But the real reward was the 20 RP.
Balance: 35 RP.
He was a third of the way to his first physical upgrade. He sat there, pretending to look at his phone, but his mind was on fire. He was sitting at a table with a "Special Target." He hadn't died. He hadn't been laughed at.
He was starting to realize that the Romantic System wasn't just about "romance" in the way movies portrayed it. It was about reclaiming the space he occupied in the world.
As Isabella started highlighting a passage in her book, she glanced at him again. "I'm Isabella," she said, almost as an afterthought, perhaps sensing the strange, quiet intensity coming from the boy across from her.
Ethan took a breath, feeling the new 'Confidence' point settle into his soul.
"I'm Ethan," he replied. "And if you're studying the cardiovascular system, page 142 has a better summary of the mitral valve than the chapter you're on."
Isabella froze, her highlighter mid-air. She looked at him, truly looked at him this time. "How did you...?"
Ethan just smiled—a real, small, slightly mysterious smile.
[ Affinity with Isabella: +3 ]
The hunt had truly begun.