[You receive a talent for high songwriting skill: 'Copycat'.]
[You receive a talent for high observation skill: 'Detective'.]
[You receive a talent for high firearms shooting skill: 'Blind Shot'.]
[You receive a talent for high hacking skill: 'Quick Fingers'.]
[Ding!]
[The update is installed successfully. Use the 'update description' command for more information.]
Only after the notifications stopped flashing in front of Tristan's eyes, the dizziness finally stopped.
He felt...
Mostly the same as before—but with a body almost humming with potential energy.
'First—system, what does my status look like now?'
It looked very different from what Tristan had earlier. Even the interface became more modern and sleek. Some elements stayed the same, though. There were still ranks, attributes, and skills, and some of them were even the same as before.
[======]
[Tristan Gemello (Tristan Hayes)]
[Current identity: Pop-star. Second identity: Criminal.]
[Pop-star rank: Adolescent Star.]
[Criminal rank: King Lion.]
[Pop-star Points: 5140]
[Criminal Points: 8000]
[===Attributes===]
~~~Pop-star~~~
[Appearance: 270 (Model)]
[Charisma: 345 (Stunning)]
[Dexterity: 600 (Gymnast)]
~~~Criminal~~~
[Fearsomeness: 877 (Demonic)]
[Strength: 679 (Weightlifter)]
[Toughness: 600 (Bones of steel)]
[===Skills===]
~~~Pop-star~~~
[Vocals: 1938 (Siren)]
[String instruments: 2097 (Guitar God)]
[Percussion instruments: 0 (Nobody)]
[Task system: this is a replacement for the old status-based point-gain system. Instead of it, you can now create tasks for yourself. The system will evaluate their value in points, and you will gain 10x points in reward for completing the task.
The system will automatically identify your plans and desires and create appropriate tasks. Only goals related to your careers can be used as tasks.
The system will also create hidden tasks for achievements which you didn't think about—so don't worry about losing points because of inattention.]
'A permanent shop? That sounds good. But the rest... I guess the only way I can tell if this update was worth 40000 points or not is by reading the descriptions of the talents I got.'
[Freezing Glare: you can make people freeze with fright for a brief time with an intense glare. The effect works weaker on people with high willpower.]
[String Theory: you can see strings of relationships that connect people with each other.]
[Copycat: you can perfectly copy any melody or sound you've heard.]
[Detective: you can recreate in your mind past events that happened in a place based on their traces.]
[Blind Shot: you can reliably locate targets with all your senses and aim at them even when blind.]
[Quick Fingers: you can type incredibly fast.]
Tristan looked at the descriptions for a moment, then grinned.
'Yeah, that was totally worth at least ten grand. I don't think I will need to copy anything... Hm. How does the String Theory talent work, though?'
He looked down at himself, and following an instinct, squinted a bit. Through his eyelashes, he saw dozens of transparent strings coming out of his chest.
Green, blue, black, violet and others, with different thickness... He had no idea what they meant.
He supposed he would have to find it with practice. But it was already exciting.
'Next step would be trying out if this task system is even worth it. Making a task... Hm... I assume that testing the task system doesn't count. What does? Say... Finishing my album?'
Before Tristan could think any more, he got a new notification.
[Ding!]
[New Pop-star task: release your first album. Value: 100 + extra (based on album's reception).]
Now it was on Tristan's task list, too.
'This was easy, but the reward is still pretty vague... Alright, then one for the Criminal identity, so it'd be even!'
This time, Tristan had to think for longer before the system dinged him.
[Ding!]
[New Criminal task: complete the restructuring of the King Lion Gang and move its main HQ to Los Angeles. Value: 300.]
The two tasks looked nice in his status panel.
[===Tasks===]
~~~Pop-star~~~
[Release your first album. Value: 100 + extra (based on album's reception).]
~~~Criminal~~~
[Complete the restructuring of the King Lion Gang and move its main HQ to Los Angeles. Value: 300.]
[======]
'Good. Very neat-looking.'
Before he went to do anything else, Tristan went to the system setting and turned off the damned dinging.
'Since I will still have hidden tasks, these open tasks seem to exist more so I could see how many points this or that action will give me,' Tristan mused. 'Anyway, there's still one thing I didn't check out. System, open shop!'