Having completed the task, still panting heavily at the road intersection, Lenny discreetly injected himself with the remaining half of the [Insta-Health Recovery Capsule] from before, letting him carry his weak body back to the apartment room.
Utterly dehydrated and soaked in sweat and grime, he drank directly out from the kitchen sink to quench his thirst.
Then, he took out his mobile device and entered Top Idol.
> You have been rewarded (15) v-points for completing [Task #2: Perform 40 push-ups, 40 sit-ups, 40 squats, and a 4 km run].
Satisfied with the reward message, he quickly entered the Shop tab and spent two viral points by purchasing an [Insta-Health Recovery Capsule] and [Insta-Power Booster Capsule].
Moving to the Inventory tab, he first clicked on the [Insta-Health Recovery Capsule] icon.
[Use] / [Sell]
Lenny hovered his thumb above the 'Use' button and contemplated deeply.
'...My body's killing me. I wouldn't be able to act in any impromptu altercation if I'm not in tip-top shape. But there's the issue of people noticing something off…
'Welp, apart from getting the information from the marketplace, the only other way to find out whether or not people notice the changes on my body is to actually test it out and see for myself…'
Sighing, Lenny decided to use the consumable and lightly tapped on the phone screen. Almost instantly, with a thud, the cuboid packet materialized and landed on the small kitchen counter.
This time, Lenny saw the way the peculiar item was delivered. It had just appeared out of thin air!
'...I can swear there was a yellow light surrounding it, although very briefly. Or was it green? It also looked green…' Lenny thought.
Suffering from all-around body pain and severe weariness, he took out the part-metallic, part-transparent material canister with reddish-pink liquid flowing within and injected it into his bloodstream.
With the feeling of mild lightheadedness, the aches from all over his body drastically reduced. The process of working out was minutely destroying the muscles and bones to force them to repair and strengthen themselves.
Feeling light aches still, the facial bruises and skin tenderness healed further but didn't fully disappear.
Lenny proceeded to 'use' the [Insta-Power Booster Capsule] and it instantly materialized on the small kitchen sink. He had healed his body but he was still utterly drained of stamina and energy.
At the moment, his body was begging him to go lay back down on his bed, however, he still had a lot of things to do today.
Just then though, Lenny had a random thought, 'Multiple injections, like a drug addict. I wonder if these consumables are addictive…'
Pressing the top of the canister placed on his forearm, Lenny released the bright green liquid into his bloodstream.
With a faint green glint sparkle briefly in his eyes, his mind cleared and a fresh wave of energy washed over him. He felt like he could even perform the strenuous task once again.
'...No. I shouldn't think that. It might actually give me the task again…' Lenny stared at his phone, afraid his thoughts might soon turn to reality.
…
[Rule #12: Nothing is free. All transactions must cost something to all parties involved.]
…
Lenny then looked at the top right corner of the app. As of the moment, he had a total of 20 v-points.
He entered the Attributes tab and quickly invested 5 v-points in his charisma.
Charisma — 5 >> 10.
Then, with 15 total viral points left, he invested 1 vhpoint in his looks.
Looks — 8 >> 9.
He took it that since looks were obviously more noticeable than charisma, he should increase it very minutely. He rather spend his hard-earned v-points on other attributes like Strength and Endurance or save for a talent, but the need for charisma and looks to complete social-oriented tasks was undeniable.
'...I also still need to get to 100 vp for the songwriting talent. But regardless, I have to prepare…' Lenny thought, prompting him to leave Top Idol, go to his contacts, and call Desmond's number.
"Lenny, what's good? Sorry, nothing has come up since." Desmond said, sounding slightly disappointed with the situation. He knew just how much Lenny needed the clowning gigs.
With a soft smile, Lenny spoke, "No, I'm not looking for a gig. I need a car and a few of your boys to be my bodyguards, just for the day."
Apprehensive, Desmond lowered his voice. "It's those people again, isn't it? I'm sorry man, but I can't let the boys get into trouble."
Understanding the case from Desmond's angle, Lenny contemplated giving up on the idea of employing bodyguards, but the image of Boss Falcone's goons abruptly intercepting him and pushing him into their vehicle played in his mind.
He countered, "I've already sorted that issue. They came to visit me yesterday—y'know, after I confronted the goons at Old Town—and we had an agreement where both sides win. I just wanna head into town with a few bodyguards because those guys are uh… kind of unpredictable. Trust me, with the current agreement we have, we're cool. I'm just taking precautions."
Desmond muttered, unwilling to enlist his employees for potential danger, "Still, I don't know…"
However, Lenny was persistent. "I have some money as of the moment. If there would be any issue, I promise to double the pay. What do you say?"
"Hmm, I'll ask them if they want to take the risk. How many guys do you need?"
"Just three or four..." Lenny said succinctly.
"Alright. I'll get back to you."
Ending the call, Lenny went to his bedside drawer and took out a jotter. He was heading out, he needed to plan himself.
'...Okay, I need a new desktop computer, a camera, a microphone, a tripod, and… a musical keyboard… and a guitar. Oh, and also a desk and chair…' he wrote down the products he planned to purchase.
Now, he just needed to form his budget. He scoured the net for great cameras for live streaming and not-so-expensive microphones great for live streaming and sound recording. He settled for a renewed $78 Logitech C922 Pro webcam with a $14 tripod and a brand new $129.99 Blue Yeti microphone.
As they were cheap, he wrote down their prices and immediately ordered them from the large and popular online tech store, e-Amazon. They were to arrive in the next 24 hours.
He budgeted $3,000 for the desktop computer, $1,000 for Desmond's services, $500 for the musical keyboard, $300 for the acoustic guitar, and $300 for the desk and chair. He only knew the basics of playing the piano and absolutely nothing about the guitar, but he figured he could easily learn them.
The key thing to him was the ability to make a song. The ability to play the piano or acoustic guitar didn't ensure the ability to form an amazing song. And with the limited amount of only three talent slots and the ever-present guillotine on his neck known as Boss Falcone, he couldn't afford to be foolish or dilly-dally around, completing tasks and saving viral points to purchase talents he could just learn with the help of his maxed-out intelligence.
Done with the budgeting, his mind was drawn to the gnawing feeling in his tummy.
"Dammit, I'm starving," he lampooned.
Just then, a light, almost hesitant, knock came from the apartment door.