Chapter 3 - Take Two

After a brief moment of disorientation, Lucas reflexively clutches his stomach and starts leaning forward, gasping for a deep breath. When his eyes snap open mid-motion, his face is enthusiastically greeted by a vaguely familiar tattered and soiled plastic bag. Freezing in this position for a few seconds before realizing he's not in any pain, he slowly reaches up to grab and hold the repeat offender bag. Lowering his gaze, he stares at the familiar hand holding the happily billowing scrap of plastic. Waiting a few moments more the direction of the wind shifts and he gently releases the bag, watching it float away in front of him with a blank expression.

'This... Well then. I guess that's better than barely holding on while bleedin’ out. Hmm... knock knock super system, or whatever the hell you said you're called, ya still there?'

Blinking a few times, Lucas raises the focus of his gaze and notices the old woman struggling with her luggage. He opens and closes his fist a few times, not experiencing any notable difference from his state before his latest reincarnation.

[Bzzt... Rebirth complete with calibrations successful. Greetings host, this is your assigned system #427 of the Superhero Enhancement System. How may I assist you?]

'Honestly, I have so many questions I don't even know where to begin. First off, you're 427 from now on I am not gonna bother with the full name. Second, assuming ya even had any control over it, why roll back to specifically right now... and in the same body to boot? Third, are there any side effects I should know about..? Eh, I'll stop there for now.'

[Name acknowledged, I will respond accordingly, henceforth.]

[To answer your questions; finding and replacing a new suitable vessel with a sufficient Good Deeds Value requires more system resources than a rollback. As for this precise moment in time, it had been marked as a failed attempt at a Good Deed, please adjust your actions accordingly. Similar minor events are rarely eligible for a rollback, this has been performed as a courtesy service.]

[Please continue to accrue additional Good Deeds Value in order to further increase your enhancement bonuses. The intent for action on a failed performance still generates 1/10th of the potential Good Deeds Value. Meanwhile, ignoring a flagged event will result in a penalty equal to half of the estimated Good Deeds Value of the task. The only potential negative side-effects will occur after a net loss exceeding 1.0 Good Deeds Value has been generated in a 24-hour time span.]

[Your current Good Deeds Value is 2.3. Please be aware, you are currently the only detected human with a Good Deeds Value greater than 1.0 on this planet.]

Briefly rendered speechless, Lucas's left eye twitches before he takes a deep breath, then he approaches the elderly woman.

'Do me a favor and shorten how you refer to this... value. GDV? Yeah, GDV. Good enough. Anyway, you're saying that intent and the end result are all that matter, not how it's executed? Whelp, I already know she won't trust me if I'm nice so... Guess it's time to act more like a local.'

[Correct. However the... GDV can still be adjusted by negative actions at any time. For example, excessive destruction of property in order to prevent a lesser danger.]

'Uh, excessive? Whatever, this is all a bit much sooooo... Time to just roll with it.'

Having come to his own conclusions, Lucas scowls at the old woman and grabs the two heaviest-looking suitcases of the bunch without giving her a chance to react, casually carrying them as if they were weightless.

"It feels like I'm gonna be the one to die from old age just from watchin' you, you're so slow it's pissin' me off. Where are you takin' this trash? I'm just gonna keep gettin' fuckin annoyed seein' you until this is over with, hag." Lucas flexes his amateur acting skills, somehow with a degree of success.

At first, the old woman glares sharply at Lucas in response to his tone and actions. But, after realizing he's impatiently staring at her, waiting for her to tell him where to go, and not running off with her belongings, she relaxes a bit. A moment more and she realizes that there's basically nothing she could do about it anyway, given how effortlessly he's holding everything. Going along with it, she grabs the handle on the last small wheeled bag and walks through the crosswalk, like there is nothing at all strange about this.

"Hmph, just bring it to the quick scan counter at the subway station two blocks ahead for me then, if you're gonna be like that. Don't think I'm gonna pay you for it though, brat." Little granny's voice has significantly less venom compared to their first interaction. Glancing briefly over her shoulder and seeing him follow her quietly, a small smile sneaks onto her face after she's facing straight ahead again.

[Congratulations, upon successful completion of this task your previous .01 GDV from intent shall be replaced with the full reward GDV of .1, bringing your total GDV to 2.39. Please continue completing all subsequent GDV related tasks.]

Lucas stiffens momentarily, an expression of legitimate anger taking over his face while he goes about being an errand boy.

'So little!? Too stingy! Wait, what the hell would it take to lose an entire point in one day!?'

[...As previously stated, it would be the result of a cumulative net change in value. Presumably, you would need to perform several negative actions in a row in order to have such a significant impact on your GDV. The number of individuals affected also plays a large part in the formula when determining value changes, for both positive and negative adjustments.]

‘...Oh. I guess that makes sense. One little ol’ lady doesn’t really matter much in the grand scheme of things, yeah?’

[That is correct. But even small acts of kindness have an impact on the world, and as such, still deserve recognition, even if it is only via a small value change. Please keep that in mind, and behave accordingly.]

‘Eh, Whatever.’

[...]

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Lucas deaths this chapter: 0

Lucas total deaths: 2

Lucas current GDV: 2.39

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Little character theater:

Lucas, still sulking a bit over his rate of gains: Hey, would ya do something about 427? He's so… ugh. Wait, we didn't even catch up to the last time I died, get back here!

A certain confused system #427: [I'm so what? Error, does not compute, additional data required.]

Author, softly: Shhhh, everyone knows the first chapter should be longer than the following ones.