Locking In With My Life System

Chapter 15: Brewing

Currently seated in his Pop’s office, Aiden texted his buddies;

-

Aiden: So... I ran into Lizzie at my place of work today...

Larry: We will never get over the fact that you actually got a part-time job, but go on, we’re listening.

Aiden: Long story short, she said she might have said yes had I asked her to Prom.

Casper: Might?

Clyde: Deadass, she said might?

Aiden: Yeah. Might.

Benjamin: Well, that’s a red flag if I’ve ever seen one. Sorry man.

Larry: Oof. That’s rough, buddy.

Aiden: Eh. It is what is. We all still on for Call of Honor tomorrow?

Larry: You betcha.

Clyde: Sure.

Benjamin: Wouldn’t miss it.

Casper: Surprisingly, yes. My schedule’s rather free.

-

Responding with a thumbs-up emoji to their messages, Aiden placed the phone aside and stretched out his palms.

Then he pulled out his biology textbook and began reading.

Forty-five minutes later, he was done reading, his daily quest updating in sync.

That was another benefit Aiden had noticed came with upgrading his Mind stat. It took him a lot less time to assimilate what he was reading.

Previously, it would’ve taken him an hour and a couple minutes to do so, but after the bump to the attribute, he had been shaving roughly twenty to twenty-five minutes off each session.

The same was the case with his Stamina stat. Asides from rounding up his daily exercises faster, he was also a lot less fatigued under strenuous work.

In any case, it afforded him more time and energy time to invest into his side hustle.

Returning the textbook and retrieving his laptop, he casually navigated over to his social media handles.

Checking his DM’s, he was once again met with individuals seeking art commissions.

Yet again, the ’dark side’ of the internet was on his ass, relentless in their pursuit to get him to cave in to their desires.

’They never quit, do they?’ Aiden shook his head in amusement as he filtered through his messages, picking out the ones that were seeking traditional, SFW art.

Messaging and discussing with them about his price, only four out of the nine he had messaged responded favorably.

Having realized that most people would rather interact with him directly instead of placing an order on his gig account though, Aiden had opted to give them a discount of $5 should they be willing to make the order on said account.

To Aiden’s lack of surprise, they all promptly jumped on the offer. Afterall, if there was one thing people loved more than free shit, it was discounts.

Whilst waiting for them to place the order, Aiden pivoted to the Webnovel site.

There, he used the same tactic for the two authors who wanted to commission a piece and had responded favorably to his pricing.

Soon enough, six orders came rolling into his gig account, totaling his pending funds to $270 on his dashboard.

In turn, Aiden got down to work with immediate alacrity.

And for the next six hours, he remained by the desk, working to meet up with the deadlines he had set.

Just as he rounded up two of the commissions, his father whom had equally been reviewing a couple documents on the other side of the desk for the past two hours, closed his laptop and then said;

"Alright, Champ. Let’s head home."

"Alright, Pops." Aiden packed up his stuff alongside some of his dad’s.

An hour and half later, they were home. Having branched on the way to grab some pizza, they simply ate it and went to bed a couple minutes after, both individuals tired from the day’s work.

The next day, Aiden woke up and went about doing his daily quests.

Just as he rounded up the exercises, his system updated.

-

[Quest completed!]

[Stats updated!]

-

Despite his heavy breathing, Aiden still managed to let out a curious sound;

"Huh?"

Opting to check it out later, he trudged into his house and made his way up the stairs.

Only after he was done showering and freshening up did he pull up his panel to check what was up.

-

[Aiden North] – Life Points – [1.39]

⸢Stats

› Mind — D+

› Strength — E-

› Stamina — E- » E

› Agility — F- » F

› Charm — C­

⸢Skills

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

⸢Shop

› Browse Catalogue.

⸢Daily Quests freewebnoveℓ.com

› {Expand}

⸢Exclusive Quests freewebnovel.cσ๓

› Pending Update.

⸢Time-limited Quests

› {Expand}

-

⸢FAQ⸥

-

’Ah, I see. Checks out.’ he muttered to himself in understanding, a proud smile on his lips.

Given the daily quests had popped up when he’d inquired of the system if he could upgrade his skills without LPs, it made a whole lot of sense.

Staring at his Life Points though, Aiden pondered whether to utilize it or not.

However, considering his current stats, and the lack of any quests that actually required him to upgrade them, he opted to leave it be.

Toggling the panel off, Aiden then proceeded to go about the rest of his day.

Knocking out his other quests and bidding his father farewell an hour later, he himself got back to his business.

Then, after spending the rest of his morning and most of his afternoon finishing up the commissions, he pivoted to prepping what he and his Pops were going to have for dinner.

Only after sorting that out, did he hop onto the game with his buddies.

By the time night came, his father trudging through the door, he was met with the dining table set.

Feeling rather blessed to come home to homecooked meals despite his wife being late, Richard ruffled his son’s hair in gratitude and then proceeded to eat.

The next day came just as quickly, and this time, Aiden woke up to a rather motivating message.

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[Wallet Notification]

You’ve received $267.00 USD from XXXX.

Previous Balance: $195.00 USD

Current Balance: $462.00 USD

Thank you for using SwiftPay.

-

Smiling at the message, Aiden promptly got out of his bed and got around to knocking off his quests.

Checking in with his Pops whom had decided to sleep in today, the young chap simply let him be.

After bathing and also freshening up, Aiden moved to the kitchen to make some breakfast.

No sooner was he done eating the meal, his system updated again. In kind, he soon made his way back to his room to round up the last of his daily quests.

Less than an hour later, he was done.

Settling into his usual routine, he picked up his laptop and checked to see if he had any new commissions across all platforms.

Surprisingly, there was none. As a result, he proceeded to go downstairs and wake his father up...

...only to see that the man was already up, had already eaten, and was currently reading the newspaper.

"Hey, Champ. Lovely morning we’re having, don’t you think?" Richard greeted with a warm smile.

Typically, Aiden would’ve reciprocated the greeting with the same energy, if not more.

However, he couldn’t help but frown as he slowly walked down the stairs whilst moving towards the man whose legs were constantly shifting roughly every three seconds or so.

Coupled with that, there was a subtle tremor in his palms, and his face was concerningly a tad bit flushed, thereby making him look quite restless.

Maybe the average person wouldn’t have noticed, but there was no way Aiden whom was his son, wouldn’t have.

"Champ? What’s wrong?" the man tilted his head nonetheless, a bit concerned by the worried expression his son was giving him.

Soon enough, the youth’s eyes widened as he walked up to the man and held one of his palms open.

How didn’t he pick up on this sooner? In fact, given how fiercely he’d been against his father’s drinking habits, he should’ve been more than aware that this was bound to happen.

Forcing out the words, Aiden then spoke, his voice cracking in genuine worry;

"Pops... have you been experiencing a withdrawals?"

Realizing that he was completely busted, Richard slowly rubbed the back of his neck whilst letting out a sheepish smile;

"And I thought I was hiding it well..."

Then he sighed as he looked over to his son whom had taken a sit next to him, his shaking palm clasped between Aiden’s palms;

"I’ve actually been following a lot of guides online on how to deal with it. Unfortunately, this is just one of those days where I experience it stronger than others."

"I’m also sorry for not informing you earlier, champ. I didn’t want you to worry." he continued.

"You’ve been so dedicated this past month to improving yourself, I figured I should do the same, you know." he let out another sigh.

Hearing that, his expression now a mix of genuine worry yet also, genuine pride at his Pops willingness to break a bad habit, Aiden then asked with an honest warmth to his voice;

"What can I do to make you feel better?"

"I’d say... allow me to take some brandy," Richard grinned to which he then added whilst gesturing to his shaking palm with a finger;

"But we both know that won’t be feasible if I want to beat this,"

"Besides, I already gave them all away to the folks at work so I wouldn’t be tempted to go back to it, so there’s that." he simply shrugged.

However, Aiden’s mind had latched onto something else, one that had him pondering with a hint of curiosity on his features;

’Brandy... but without the alcohol...’

Almost immediately, he shot up from the chair and grinned at his Pops;

"Okay. Brandy it is."

"Wait what?! Hold on champ, I’m trying to beat an addiction here!" Richard immediately rejected the idea.

"Oh, I know!" Aiden called out as he ran up the stairs and into his room, much to the confusion of his father.

Seated upright on his bed as he pulled up his panel, he soon found the skill he was looking for in the intermediate section of the shop;

-

{Brewing} – [0.3 LP]

└ Claim using 0.3 LP?

-

Upon accepting, he experienced the typical effects of having a new skill added to his repertoire.

This time though, it only took a minute before he regained control. Perks of his upgraded Mind stat.

Immediately, he slipped into his kicks, then made his way downstairs.

"But," he finally picked up from where he stopped as he retrieved his Pop’s car keys from the kitchen counter, then turned to face the man with a wide grin.

"Whoever said anything about taking the alcoholic variant?"