Weekend of discoveries

The weekend at Joe’s place was a productive experience for Mark. He didn’t get any assignments during that period, so he didn’t have to worry about his HP. 

Joe and Maria had progressed more on their algorithm to mine TruckCoins and could slowly mine parts from the vast source, but it was still very slow. In the current rate, by Joe’s estimation, they would need 1 week to get 0.1% of a TruckCoin, unless another sudden release or drop of the defense happens.

Mark had made sure to check Melinda’s housework and had A-42 to help her, but not do her studies. Fortunately, A-42 was advanced enough to follow a command like that without Mark being there.

He also went into a marathon of movies; most of them were superhero origin movies. Again, he discovered unique abilities and powers, which he noticed some like what the STORE had. He had started gro excited about acquiring them, but he still missed the resources to do so.

This time, he also got a message about his Target #2 and Target #3, meaning Kura and Ray. 

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Target #2 gained the special class Swashbuckler

Reward: 1x Driver Upgrade

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Target #3 gained the special class Loremaster

Reward: 1x HP Restore

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INVENTORY function is ACTIVE 

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Mark was excited to get another Upgrade; although he could use it to upgrade the one he had, it would cover only part of the cost. Since his TELEPATHY was already at level 2, it needed four Driver Upgrade points to level up to 3, or he needed to pay 8 TruckCoins. 

He could use his newly gained Driver Upgrade point and use 6 TruckCoins to Level it up. But he could achieve leveling it up by using it; it just was slower progress.

On Sunday night, after he watched all those movies, and had new ideas about how those powers could work, and their advantages or disadvantages, he picked his second Driver Upgrade.

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DRIVER UPGRADE UNLOCKED (HP REGEN LVL1)

Details: Each day, you have 5%* to restore 1 HP.

*chance can increase by leveling the upgrade

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The chance was slight, but then he used 4 TruckCoins to gain its second level, which increased the chance to 10%. It was also one ability that was passively used, without Mark needing to focus on it.

Then he opened his STATUS Window to check his current progress. 

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MARK HENDERSON

HP:8/8

Level: 2

Assignments Completed: 2.5

System Type: Truck-kun

UPGRADES

Truck: FIREBALL (LVL 2)

Driver: TELEPATHY (LVL 2), HP REGENERATION (LVL 2)

INVENTORY

1x HP Restore, T-Phone

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Mark had also found out how the INVENTORY function of his worked. First, he could focus on some items, and make them disappear, and would appear on the list of his INVENTORY. Then, if he focused on those items, he could make them appear back in his hand. 

But this worked only on his special phone, and the HP Restore item he got rewarded. So he could store only items that had to do with his System.

Mark focused on getting HP Restore to appear in his hand, a glass vial with a crimson liquid in it. He inspected it once more to reread its description.

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HP RESTORE

Details: A consumable item that can restore 10-50% of the HP of the user.

Uses Left: 1*

*if the number reaches 0, the item will get destroyed

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Combined with his HP Regeneration, his time to survive while having an assignment increased.

He also saw the news that had reports of the disappearance of Ray and Kura. There were many rumors of the reason behind their disappearance. In addition, the journalists learned the stories about their secret relationship, which Mark understood wasn’t as secret as he thought. Still, not everyone knew about it or said anything about it, but now that those two were away, everybody told everything they thought about their ‘weird’ relationship.

It surprised Mark that they were in the news that fast, as it was less than 48 hours that they had disappeared. But hearing Melinda gossiping through the phone with some friends of hers, he learned many journalists were inspecting the family for a long time, but their mothers kept them away.

This sudden event gave them the opportunity that they wanted.

Mark didn’t enjoy the fact that people were investigating the private life of someone, especially when that someone was away and in potential danger. He was the only one that knew of their true fate, but he couldn’t share it with anyone.

Not like anyone would believe him, even if he told them.

He put his HP Restore back to his INVENTORY and went back to his bed. Fortunately, their rooms didn’t have any cameras, just speakers for A-42’s voice, so Joe wouldn’t learn about the ability to store and summon certain items.

Having his phone stored there would make it harder for others to learn about it, and he wouldn’t lose it that easily.

The last thing he did was focus his mind on his TELEPATHY Upgrade, but not use it. Then, finally, a text appeared that had on it written 2/2. So those were the remaining uses, and he recently found out that he could check it like that; otherwise, it would be hard to remember when one got recharged.

He had used TELEPATHY as much as he could these days, as also the command ability of it. But he did it in a way that even A-42 would overlook.

The trick he used was that he gave an order that they would follow, even if he didn’t use the ability. So, for example, he told out loud to one of the robot butlers to bring him something to drink, and then send him a Telepathic Order, for his drink to be a beer.

He did something similar when he wanted a snack, or something else that he could leave it general with the request that he said with his mouth, but could get only get specific with his Telepathic Order.

He got a bit more used to it, but there was no further change to it as far as its range or times he could use it. He could feel that it had progressed but needed more to get to the next state, even if he didn’t know what the next state was.

In the end, since he noticed everything working as expected, he went to bed to catch some shuteye.

He was confident that he would have an exciting morning.