Part-65

  The familiar rhythm of James' feet pouhe pavement as he jogged towards school. It was a routine he'd established weeks ago, a way to el some of his nervous energy and hopefully increase his STR – Strength – stat. Sihe Sourov fight, however, his usual zeal had waned. The victory, mixed with the ulis of Crisis Mode, left him with a strange sense of hollowness.

  Yet, a deeper ember of determination flickered within him. He still craved strength, a yearning to stand on his own two feet, punch the hack out of those bullies. He remembered back to the fight, the uling dispy of power during Crisis Mode. It felt alien, a puppet show with him as the unwilling marioe.

  Then, another memory surfaced – his attempt to use "Know Your Enemy and Ally" on his father. The bnk stat s had surprised him, a stark trast to the numbers he'd seen for his mother and sister. It wasn't that his father was weak, far from it. James khat. The fact that the System couldn't eve his father's stats spoke volumes.

  "Just how strong do you have to be to be invisible to the System?" he muttered to himself, his brow furrowed in thought.

  This new question fueled his jog, a spark igniting the embers of his determination.

  Just thinking about having the same DNA c through his veins made him wonder if he would be as strong as his father one day.

  Then James smiled to himself, "Of course I will. I'll bee the ruler of all bullies. What will people call me then? Lord of Bullies? Hmm... Bully Lord sounds fun. I'll be the bully who bullies all the bullies in this world."

  James, fueled by his newfouermination, reached a cresdo in his jog. He pumped his fist into the air, feeling a surge of power… well, a surge of ctate burning in his muscles, but the se was there! He envisioned himself standing on a mountaintop, a bea of strength defying the System's trol. Taking a deep, dramatic breath, he decred, "This world shall know… pai......"

  Suddenly, a voice, gruff and exasperated, boomed in his head. "Cut, cut! Don't say it, you bastard! You're not design to be ah-grade syndrome kid!"

  James froze, his eyes darting around wildly. "Who the heck just spoke?!" he yelped, his voice eg eerily in the empty street. He spun around, searg for the source of the disembodied voice, his heart hammering in his chest. Was this some kind of System upgrade? Iive halluations?

  Seeing absolutely nothing but fused pigeons and a grumpy-looking squirrel, James decided the best course of a was to… well, aal. He coughed awkwardly, trying to salvage the shreds of his dignity. "Uh, cht speech, I guess?" he mumbled to himself, his cheeks burning. "Maybe something more inspiriime?"

  Shrugging off the bizarre i, James resumed his jog, his graion now reduced to a pathetic whimper.

  The author thought inwardly, "Phew! Kids these days."