Locking In With My Life System

After their last assessment for the night, one where they’d mentioned that his father’s hemorrhage was well and truly stable, Aiden waited for the man to head to bed before he got to action.

Waving his hand over his face and snapping his fingers a few times to ensure the man was in a deep sleep, he then proceeded to use {Midas Touch}.

-

› {Richard North} – [10 LP].

└ Improve condition?

-

As Aiden’s LPs whittled right down to 3.465, he ignored it as he watched a hue of resplendent green only he could see, similar to the hue of his panel, slowly extend from him and over to his Pops.

Upon reaching a sleeping Richard, it gradually enveloped him and lingered for a fair while. Then, roughly a minute after, it gradually dissipated.

No sooner had the last of its remnants vanished, Aiden pulled up his Pop’s panel.

-

[Richard North]

⸢Stats

› Mind — C

› Strength — B+

› Stamina — B+

› Agility — B+

› Charm — B+

⸢Skills

› {Architecture - I}, {Construction - A}, {Driving - I}, {Cooking - I}, {Brewing - N}.

-

Upon seeing that his Mind attribute had in fact ticked back up a grade, another sense of relief crashed over Aiden as leaned back into the chair.

Now that he’d confirmed that it did in fact work, Aiden’s thoughts finally settled into its resting state of relaxed calm as he stared at the ceiling of the hospital.

For a fact, he wasn’t going to completing one of his daily quests given it was already pretty late into the night and he had yet to hit the sack.

Honestly though, he couldn’t be bothered by that right now.

For starters, his thoughts drifted towards his late mother. Back then, he and his Pops had been seated next to her bed the way he was seated next to his father now.

And though Aiden imagined what life could’ve been if he’d had the Life System back then, he found himself not lingering all that much on it.

For as much as he loved his mother, he also understood well enough that her death had a lot to do with him getting to where he was now as a person.

More than that, the past whether he liked it or not, had to stay in the past if he wanted to keep looking towards the future.

It was also why his thoughts came right back to the present not too long afterwards.

For close to a year now, he’d been steadily working his way towards gaining his financial freedom, his greatest motivation being to retire his Pops before fifty.

Considering Richard was currently forty-two, he had a little over seven-years left to make his goal a reality.

However, with what had just happened...

With the reality of it hitting him that even if his Pops was bound to survive this, he would still be working in an environment that could very well cause another incident independent of this that would require him to be hospitalized...

... and that was if life didn’t decide to screw him over first, Aiden found himself cutting that time limit down by more than half;

’Before he turns forty-five,’

’Which means I only have two years at most.’ he self-imposed it on himself, leaning forwards with his interlocked palms placed under his chin.

That also meant, that it was something he had to make possible within his first to second year of college.

Even then, Aiden found that he was utterly confident that he could make it work.

It would take him some serious grinding yes, but it wasn’t the least bit impossible.

It also helped that his new time-limited quest had done a good job of giving him a rather unreasonable target, but even then, it only served to drive his resolve that much further.

Because right now, Aiden didn’t just have plans to mark the quest off the board this time. Instead, he’d personally made it his own plan to make double that amount.

Having settled on that, the youth then leaned back into his chair, then closed his eyes to get some much-needed shut-eye.

...

...

...

Aiden was currently on the drive home, the morning breeze tousling his coal-black hair and a relaxed smile on his features.

With the doctor assessing his Pops with nothing but good things to say--including him being discharged sometime tomorrow, he’d decided to head on home to freshen up.

At the same time, he intended to prep prepare a meal for his Pops and knock out most of his daily quests.

More than that, given he’d scheduled a meeting with SlurpPAK, he intended to also sort that out before he finally headed back to the hospital.

Arriving home roughly twenty-five minutes later, Aiden worked out, took a bath, then slipped into a more formal wear as he sat before the laptop whilst adjusting his tie.

Within minutes, he began the meeting, a man who seemed to be in late-twenties staring back at him from across the screen.

”Morning, Mr. North?” Nathan remarked, the hint of surprise in his tone palpable.

Clearly, he hadn’t expected that the person who contacted them was such a young chap. Naturally, that came with a healthy amount of skepticism from him, though he knew better than to show it.

”Good morning. I presume you must be Mr. Gregory? The CEO of SlurpPAK?” Aiden replied firmly, his voice clear and confident.

No sooner had Nathan heard him speak, his entire approach shifted. This wasn’t the way someone who wanted to waste their time would speak.

”Yes. That’s me.” the CEO replied, adjusting his posture into a better poised position.

”We would like to discuss several things regarding the beverage line you proposed. We understand that you want to start with a limited production run first?”

”Yes. Twenty-five thousand bottles, to be specific.” Aiden replied without missing a beat and Nathan nodded as he promptly jotted it down.

”How long would that feasibly take?” the youth asked afterwards.

”For a run that size?” Nathan paused momentarily as he considered the question.

Then he spoke, his tone thoughtful;

”Assuming the formulation is finalized and we have all the necessary materials ready to go, I’d say roughly two to three weeks from the day we actually start production.”

Aiden nodded thoughtfully, then curiously asked;

”And that includes filling, carbonation, bottling and packaging?”

”Yes. Production itself wouldn’t take anywhere near that long. A week, tops.” Nathan replied, then added for clarification;

”Most of that time prior would be allocated toward scheduling, ingredient procurement, quality checks and getting everything lined up for the run.” he added for clarification.

”Alright then. That’s good to hear. Aiden nodded to which Nathan raised an eyebrow slightly as he politely inquired;

”You were expecting something different?”

”Not particularly. I simply wanted to establish a realistic timeline, and well... four weeks sounds very realistic for a small run. Faster even.” Aiden leaned back slightly as he responded.

As a thin smile tugged on Nathan’s lips in response to that, Aiden continued;

”Besides, I’d prefer to keep the first run relatively simple.”

”How so?” Nathan curiously asked.

”One product.” Aiden replied without batting an eye and Nathan’s pen stopped as he repeated;

”One?”

”Yes. The Pineapple-Mint flavor.” Aiden affirmed.

Honestly, Aiden had considered launching all three flavors at once.

After mulling it over a couple times though, he’d ultimately decided against it.

There was little point in spreading his resources across three separate products before he even knew how the market would respond to the first one.

If Pineapple-Mint worked, he could introduce Watermelon-Lime and Cucumber-Lime afterward.

If it didn’t?

Well... he’d at least have considerably less money tied-up and sitting ducks in unsold inventory.

Which was why...

”I want the first production run to be entirely dedicated to that flavor,” Aiden continued.

”Twenty-five thousand bottles. Once we have some sales data, customer feedback and a better understanding of the demand, then we can discuss expanding into the other two.” he added and Nathan slowly nodded in understanding.

”That actually makes things easier on our end,” the CEO then said to which he then asked;

”Do you already have a finalized formulation?”

”Yes.” Aiden replied.

”Great. We’ll need the full formula, ingredient specifications and processing requirements so our production team can determine whether anything needs to be adjusted for commercial production.” Nathan explained.

To that, Aiden nodded as he replied;

”Understood. The formulation has already been reviewed by a nutritionist, but I’m aware that scaling something from a kitchen environment to commercial production can introduce variables.”

”Exactly...” Nathan gestured with his pen.

’Well, it’s a good thing I’ve tested it multiple times enough to know that homemade production is actually what’s holding it back. Would be nice to see it at the excellent grade.’ Aiden inwardly mused.

Nathan on the other hand, had leaned forward slightly as he continued;

”...especially with a coconut-water base and carbonation.”

To that, Aiden’s expression morphed into genuine concern as he asked almost immediately;

”You’ve handled something similar before?”

”Not exactly the same formulation, but we’ve worked with coconut water and carbonated beverages separately. Combining the two isn’t outside our capabilities.” Nathan replied and Aiden inwardly heaved a relieved sigh.

The last he would want was to get into legal trouble for recreating what someone else had already created.

In any case...

”Good.” Aiden tapped a finger lightly against the desk.

Then he explained;

”The coconut-water component is important, though. I don’t want something that tastes like ordinary sparkling water with coconut flavoring added afterward.”

In response, Nathan gave a small nod and inquired;

”So, you want the coconut-water character to remain noticeable?”

”Precisely. The coconut base should be part of the identity of the drink, not just a flavor note.” Aiden affirmed.

He then proceeded to explain the intended profile of the drink itself.

Lightly sweet and refreshing. Pineapple-forward, but not overwhelmingly so. A subtle coconut finish, and just enough mint to leave a cool sensation without turning the beverage into something resembling mouthwash.

Nathan made several notes as the youth explained like he’d had decades worth of experience in the game.

Soon, the CEO asked;

”Carbonation level?”

”Moderate. Enough to make it feel lively, but not so aggressive that it overwhelms the flavor.” Aiden replied without missing a beat.

”Bottle?” Nathan inquired this time.

”Three hundred and thirty milliliters.” Aiden followed up.

”PET?” Nathan looked up from his note, his head tilted slightly.

”Yes. Preferably something suitable for a carbonated beverage and easy to reseal.” Aiden nodded in response and Nathan bobbed his head as well as he replied;

”That shouldn’t be a problem.”

”And I’d like the bottle to have a distinctive appearance.” the youth casually added.

”Custom bottle?” Nathan curiously asked.

”Aluminum can, actually. But not for the first run.” Aiden replied, then proceeded to explain;

”I don’t want to spend unnecessarily on custom molds yet. A standard bottle with strong labeling should be enough for now.”

That earned another approving nod from Nathan as he said;

”You’re thinking about keeping your upfront costs down.”

”I’m thinking about keeping unnecessary upfront costs down, period.” Aiden smiled faintly in response as he said afterwards;

”There’s a difference.”

Nathan actually chuckled this time, his smile amused as he replied;

”Fair enough.”

Then he glanced down at his notes again and then said, his tone assuming its prior seriousness;

”Now, there’s one thing we need to talk about.”

”Pricing?” Aiden asked and the CEO gestured yet again with his pen;

”Exactly.”