Locking In With My Life System

It barely took over an hour before Aiden’s fatigue kicked in.

Though it currently wasn’t at the level of being bothersome, it was eventually bound to leave him tapped out by the time his shift was over.

More than that though, considering he’d only attended to five customers thus far, he could already see himself failing the quest.

Yet, no sooner was he done attending to yet another customer, carefully placing their meal on the table with a warm smile...

”Enjoy your meal, Ma’am,”

... two other customers called out;

”Waiter. Can I get an eggs benedict with smoked salmon and a coffee?”

”Mornin’. I’d like a breakfast burrito, two sausage links, and a coffee. Also, a box of glazed donuts. To go.”

The first was from a corporate lawyer, while the second was from a man in blue whom was looking through the menu.

”Yes. Yes. Give me a minute please.” Aiden called out, quickly moving to the expediter pass as he politely said;

”Eggs benedict with smoked salmon and coffee.”

”Breakfast buritto... uh, two sausage links, a coffee... and a box of glazed donuts. To go.”

”Gotcha kid.” one of the expediters responded from behind the large translucent-paned window.

Drumming his fingers on the pass, Aiden waited for the order to be passed through.

’Mind and stamina. I need to up those stats, stat.’ he inwardly remarked, realizing just how much those two attributes would aid his current predicament.

In any case,

”Orders up!” the meals slid through the sliding compartment a minute and a half later and Aiden carefully picked them up.

”Thanks!” he called out in appreciation before he left.

First, he attended to the corporate lawyer;

”Here you go, Sir. Enjoy your meal.”

Then he placed the packaged meals before the police officer;

”Officer,”

Seeing as the man let out a wry smile in response, a stark contrast to the approving and acknowledging nods he’d been getting thus far, Aiden warily asked;

”What’s wrong, Sir?”

”I only wanted the glazed donuts packaged...” the man let out, looking to Aiden whose expression morphed to genuine horror in realtime.

”I’m so sorry!” he immediately apologized, not a shred of disingenuity to it.

’Dammit Aiden! It’s your first day and you’re already messing things up! Idiot!’ he berated himself.

”Ah, don’t sweat it kid. Miscommunication on my part too. I should’ve been clearer.” the officer on the other hand waved it off and then asked, seemingly in an effort to rid Aiden of his worry;

”You must be new here, right?”

”Yes.” Aiden simply nodded, still inwardly berating himself over the issue.

”I see,” the man rose up from the chair with the packages in hand.

”Well, for what it’s worth, you’re doing pretty good,”

”This place can be pretty hectic even on a weekend so don’t sweat it.” he left Aiden with those words as he shuffled his way out of the restaurant with a warm smile.

Aiden didn’t really get the time to allow those kind words settle in before he was yet again, called up by another customer;

”Waiter!”

Throwing his deprecation to the back of his mind for the meantime, Aiden promptly attended to her, offering a warm smile as he asked;

”Mornin’, Miss. What would you like to have?”

And just like that, the youth’s shift continued, the hours ticking by gradually.

Fortunately for Aiden, the volume of customers trickling in reduced as the rush hour subsided, giving him a much-needed breather in between catering to customers.

Unfortunately for him, it meant he was farther than ever to achieving the total count of customers he could serve as per his exclusive quest.

Afterall, despite nearing the end of his shift, he had only managed to attend to twenty-five customers.

Having peered through the translucent window at intervals though, David had nodded his head, seemingly in approval of the young chap’s work.

Yet, when Aiden himself had finally clocked out for the day, he looked notably sour, a reaction that greatly confused Cody, Mrs. Bao and Jermaine.

-

[Ding!]

[Exclusive Quest Failed!]

› It’s Haute in Here!

└ Serve a total of 50 customers before your shift is over – [0.5 LP Lost.]

-

”You did well for your first time! Why’re you looking so dejected?!” Cody patted his back as they walked towards the back, his energy concerningly exuberant despite the rigor he’d faced the last couple hours.

”I messed up a couple orders,” Aiden, currently unfazed by said exuberance, let out in a self-deprecating tone instead.

”So? Happens to the best of us. Trust me, you did good.” Jermaine assured him.

”Cody and Jermaine are right. Don’t sell yourself short, okay?” Mrs. Bao pitched in as she stopped by the ladies’ changing room.

Though Aiden was appreciative of their kind words, it still did very little to placate him.

Still,

”Thank you. All of you. I appreciate it.” he gave them a warm, grateful smile.

Following that, Aiden, alongside his fellow male co-workers moved into the men’s changing room and donned their casual attires.

Bidding farewell to David who commended him on a job well done, alongside the chefs who gave him a couple leftovers, and equally the rest of the other employees on ground, Aiden soon exited the establishment and slowly made his way up the bustling street to the construction site a couple blocks away.

As he did, he couldn’t help but internalize the disappointment he was feeling.

’It really sucks that I lost out on such valuable LPs,’ he dejectedly mused.

’And everyone else keeps telling me I did a good job, but did I really?’ he demanded of himself.

’If I can’t even complete an exclusive quest, did I actually do a good job--’

No sooner had that thought seeped into his mind though, he suddenly frowned, a certain realization slowly dawning on him;

’Wait a minute,’

’This isn’t why I decided to sign up for the job,’ he inwardly remarked, his brows furrowing deeper.

’I signed up for it because I wanted to take my very first steps towards retiring my Pops and gaining financial freedom, not because I want to farm LPs.’ he reminded himself.

’The Life System and the LPs it awards for its quests are truly miraculous, but I really shouldn’t let them dictate what I should do, or how I should feel about certain things.’ he continued.

’Rather, I should use it as a benchmark to improve myself. Isn’t that what it was made for? Clarity, and the courage to overcome the fear of failure, right?’ he rhetorically queried himself.

’So, if that’s the case, isn’t failing bound to happen every now and then? Would I be moping all the time whenever I fail a quest? Of course not!’ Aiden shook himself completely awake.

Suddenly, all the self-disparaging thoughts he’d been having about failing the quest were shed off his chest.

The previously muted sounds of the busy streets and the drab lens he’d also been viewing the world through for the past few hours equally phased away, replaced by the liveliness and beauty of it all.

It was so amazing, how differently one could perceive the world after reaffirming one’s own worth, independent of external factors.

In fact, now that the haze Aiden had wrought upon himself was cleared, he could finally accept that he did in fact perform quite well for his very first day on the job.

Now with a pep in his step, his slumped shoulders assumed a broad, almost confident form, and an equally confident smile touched his lips.

Before he knew it, he’d arrived at the construction site, ready to greet his Pops and inform him that he had quite the productive first day at work.

Then he caught his old man in the act, seated amongst a bunch of his co-workers with a cigarette in his mouth, and a lighter raised to light it up.

Olive green, suddenly met olive green--one older and panicked, the other younger and menacing.

Richard didn’t need to be told twice before he got the message his son was giving him.

C’mon, Pops. I dare you. I double dog dare you to light that thing.

Immediately, he tossed it to the ground, trampling on it with his boots, much to the confusion of his fellow workers whom were on their self-deigned and indulgent smoking breaks.

”Heyyyy, champ. How was your first day at work?” Richard warily greeted and asked as his son walked up to him.

”Hi, Pops. It was actually quite good,” Aiden on the other hand gave him a warm smile, his baleful stare from a couple seconds ago nowhere to be found.

”I brought some leftovers from the restaurant. Would you like some?” he asked with an expectant smile.

Relieved to see that he wasn’t going to be getting an earful whatsoever, Richard suddenly regained his confidence as a father and ruffled his son’s hair;

”’Course I would!”

”Also, have I ever told you, you look just as scary as your mother used to whenever she was admonishing someone?”

”Huh,” Aiden let out, genuinely surprised to hear it.

”That’d be a first.” he simply smiled, notably glad to hear that tidbit.

In any case, after eating with his Pops, and also observing the obligatory introduction to his father’s co-workers, Aiden retreated into the man’s makeshift office for the meantime.

Pulling out his computer science textbook from his father’s bag--one he’d tossed in as a measure to get himself to study since he’d be arriving home late on days he worked, Aiden began reading.

About an hour and a half later, his system’s notification popped up.

-

[Quest Completed!]

⸢Daily Quests

› Road to College.

└ Read and assimilate a page from next year’s curriculum – [0.01 LP Awarded!].

-

Despite the notification though, Aiden kept reading, clearly interested in consuming more educational content and completing the topic he was reading.

Roughly an hour later, he gently snapped the book shut, a rather proud smile on his lips as he returned it into the bag.

Then he summoned the system, curious to see the total LP points he’d accumulated thus far.

-

[Aiden North] – Life Points – [0.49]

⸢Stats

› Mind — D

› Strength — E-

› Stamina — F+

› Agility — F-

› Charm — C­

⸢Skills

› {Type Designing - A}, {Digital Illustration - I}, {Drawing - I}, {Cooking - I}.

⸢Shop

› Browse Catalogue.

⸢Daily Quests

› {Expand}

⸢Exclusive Quests

› Pending Update.

⸢Time-limited Quests

› {Expand}

-

⸢FAQ⸥

-

”It ain’t much, but its honest work.” Aiden joked, and then dismissed the system.

Pulling out his laptop from the bag a few seconds after, the young chap waited for it to boot up.

When it did, he swiftly navigated over to his DM’s, curious to see if he’d gotten any worthwhile responses from the authors he’d messaged.