Mm, dem stats be fine

Thirty minutes after Skyler finished playing his matches with his brother. He decided to try working on his stats. He opened his inventory to look over the different books he had and what requirements he needed to meet to learn at least one of them. He had three books that all required more stat points than he had yet to acquire. Way of the Monk required 15 Strength, 10 Endurance, 15 Agility, and 20 Wisdom. He would need to increase his Agility by 4 to be able to learn that one. Hmm, didn't Woodworking Solutions also require him to increase his Agility by 4? He quickly checked and indeed it did. It required 15 Strength, 15 Endurance, 15 Intellect, 15 Wisdom, and 15 Agility.

However, Skyler had one more book to check. Meditation, Achieving Inner Peace required 20 Strength, 15 Endurance, 10 Charisma, and 25 Wisdom. Skyler would need to increase his Strength by 3 and his Charisma by 4. Sadly, he wasn't even sure how to increase his Charisma. Would he need to take a speech class or something? He knew self confidence was considered sexy, but he was only self confident in things like cooking, playing his video games, and math. Although there were a few other matters he was decent at like health, singing, and cats. Health was one of his more practical knowledge points. This didn't account for much since many people nowadays knew a good deal about health.

Skyler started to think more upon this matter. 'Well, I know women are attracted to fit, smart, funny, and honest men. So, that could be something.' He looked down at his flabby gut and sighed. As he sighed, his eyes closed and a thought came to him. 'What if I just workout a lot? If my new powers truly work like a video game. I just need to put in some effort to achieve permanent results. With my increased Endurance I should be able to more easily increase my Strength, Endurance, and Charisma by working out. Heck, it might even increase my Intellect. I know my mental health and function were on the decline when I wasn't working out at all.' Before he could look for his dumbbells a new red exclamation flashed that he allowed to pop up.

Achievement Unlocked!

Playing the game!

Think your way to a positive solution.

Reward: 5 xp, 1 Intellect, and 1 Wisdom.

P.S. Clever, but can you pull it off?

Intellect has increased from 16 to 17.

Wisdom has increased from 27 to 28.

Skyler smiled upon seeing the reward, but glared at the subtext. He simply brushed the notification out of the way. He wasn't planning to give Gaia the satisfaction of annoying him. He soon went to look for his dumbbells. After several minutes, he had found two sets of dumbbells, a set of twenty and a set of thirty-five pounders. He set the thirty-fives down horizontally by his feet before laying down, using those weights to anchor his feet to the ground. Although this wasn't the best method, it would at least remind him of his feet's placement. Over the next ten minutes he barely managed to perform three sets of ten sit ups and three sets of five cross crunches for both sides.

Skyler was breathing fairly heavily by the end, but knew he was close to a breakthrough. After a couple of minutes of rest, he got up and looked down towards the dumbbells. "I got this. No pain, no gain. Right?" He muttered to himself before picking up those weights, bending his knees to reach them, picking them up parallel to his frame. He tried to control his breathing as he started to curl up both weights at the same time, doing his best to keep his back straight. As he lifted them, his feet curled slightly, causing him to rise up onto his tippy toes.

Skyler sighed softly as he felt his calf muscles tighten. He grumbled to himself, knowing exactly what using more muscles than intended meant. When this happens it means that the current weight is simply too much. He set the weight back down, after realizing that. He set them about a shoulder length apart from one another in front of him. He was planning to use them for push-ups later. After retrieving his 20 pounders, he started again, curling the weight fifteen times before adjusting his position to work on his triceps. His muscles were trembling by the time he finished his fifteenth one and soon set down those weights.

After rotating his shoulders a couple of times, Skyler knelt down to get into position and began doing push-ups. Sadly, this was short lived. He realized quickly that he was rushing things, resulting in only performing five push-ups before his body gave out. He dropped roughly two inches onto the floor with a soft thunk. Although this didn't hurt him physically. It did remind him of just how frail he truly was. He waited for several minutes before trying again with a greater success rate. He was able to complete three sets of sixteen push-ups. By the end of this, a new red exclamation flashed that he allowed to pop up.

Achievement Unlocked!

Basic training complete!

Feel those calories burn!

Reward: 10 xp, 1 Strength, and 1 Endurance.

Strength has increased from 17 to 18.

Endurance has increased from 15 to 16.

Skyler smiled weakly while breathing still heavily. He closed his eyes a moment while thinking of what he could do to exercise more effectively for Agility. All that came to his mind was a dancing game he had for his Xbox One, Dance Central Spotlight. When this thought occurred to him a new yellow exclamation flashed that he allowed to pop up.

New Quest!

Shake it off!

- Dance for at least thirty minutes within any mode

- Must be done all in a row, no stops, this does not include breaks in between songs

Reward: 50 xp, 2 Strength, 2 Endurance, and 2 Agility

Optional: Do so while naked.

Reward: 150 xp, $69, 2 Agility, and the loss of 5 pounds of fat

Accept or Decline?

Skyler quirked an eyebrow, but mentally hit, 'Accept' and thought. 'Seriously? All that for dancing naked for thirty minutes? That seems a bit much, but I'll take it.' After quickly preparing his room for his dancing session, he locked both doors to his room. One door went to the laundry room while the other went to the outside of the house. He didn't want to deal with the reactions of someone seeing him naked. It was horrible enough to see himself in the mirror. He didn't want to accidentally have someone else witness such a horrid display. He wasn't that cruel of a person.

Once everything was complete, Skyler looked around for Cleo. Luckily, she was asleep on top of his metal shelves near the curtains of his bedroom. With that out of the way, he set up his Xbox and turned it on. He opened his inventory and unequip his clothing. When the game started, he selected free mode, cardio, strength, and beginner. Although he could do a bit better than that usually. He didn't want to risk petering out and having to do nearly an hour of exercising because he didn't understand his own limits.

As expected, things were going well until about twenty minutes in. Unfortunately, Cleo had woken up. Although her waking up wasn't a bad thing in it of itself. However, she loved to get in his way whenever he exercised. A sense of dread filled him when he heard her sweet mew fill the air. Shortly after, the difficulty mode was turned up to eleven as it were. He had to not only watch the screen, but his feet to avoid stepping on Cleo. Over the next five minutes, he was successful in avoiding her. She kept getting close to his feet and meowed at him. She wasn't trying to be mean. She simply wanted his attention.

As time went on, Skyler's muscles were weakening as the heat from exercising and the exercising in it of itself was starting to get to him. His legs trembled slightly as he tried to keep his balance, barely keeping up with the beat while still avoiding Cleo. His heart rate was increasing as did his breathing rate. He was a little worried he might pass out. The last five minutes felt like another session to him as it intensified with adding Cleo in the mix. He had to move faster to avoid hitting her while still keeping his attention on the positions on the screen. During the last few seconds, he couldn't keep up and lost his balance, ending up collapsing onto the floor with a thud. - 20 Hp

Luckily, Cleo ran out of the way to avoid being squished. However, much to Skyler's surprise, his quest's results were fruitful. Not only had his quest turned itself in, but there was a new red exclamation that he allowed to pop up.

Quest complete: Shake it off!

Reward: 50 xp, 2 Strength, 2 Endurance, and 2 Agility

Optional bonus: 150 xp, $69, 2 Agility, and the loss of 5 pounds of fat

Ding!

Strength has increased from 18 to 20.

Endurance has increased from 16 to 18.

Agility has increased from 11 to 15.

Weight has decreased from 220 to 215.

Achievement Unlocked!

Catlike reflexes!

Damn son, you had some sick moves.

Reward: 200 xp, 1 Intellect, 1 Endurance, and 1 Agility.

Intellect has increased from 17 to 18.

Endurance has increased from 18 to 19.

Agility has increased from 15 to 16.

Skyler wasn't quite sure he believed what he saw, but he noticed his fatigue was gone. Although the puddle of sweat from his exercising was still present, he wasn't exhausted from his earlier exercising. He used this time to cast Clean on himself five times when a new red exclamation flashed that he allowed to pop up. 5 x 5 = - 25 Mp

Clean has increased from level 1 to 2 - Area cleaned has increased from 1 ft squared to 1.5 ft squared.

Skyler couldn't help smiling as he finished cleaning up by casting Clean another four times and yet another red exclamation flashed that he allowed to pop up. 5 x 4 = - 20 Mp

Clean has increased from level 2 to 3 - Area cleaned has increased from 1.5 ft squared to 2 ft squared.

After Skyler placed all the sweat and dirt in his trash bin. He opened up his character sheet to spend his 5 new skill points in Charisma, increasing it from 6 to 11. A new notification appeared as he used a mental command to reequip his shirt and boxers.

Congratulations, your Charisma has reached 10!

Social skills, seduction, persuasion, and your looks have improved to the point of being normal.

Skyler blinked several times after reading that, but he didn't feel any different. However, the results were clear when he looked in the mirror hanging on his wall. He noticed his skin was not only smoother, but it no longer had uneven skin tones or redness. His attention was drawn to his feet when he felt something rubbing against his right leg. Cleo had come back to him. She was purring softly while nuzzling his leg. He knelt down to pick her up and nuzzled his cheek against the top of her head. "Silly kitty."

As Skyler nuzzled Cleo, he started to think about what he should do next. Should he learn his skill books first? Or should he try to level again by trying out an illusion barrier instead?

Name: Skyler Peterson

Title: The Gamer

Lvl: 5 XP 401/1,000

Hp: 119/119

Hp regen: .19 per min

Mp: 102/146

Mp regen: .56 per min

Money: $2,185.46

Build: Overweight

Weight: 215 lbs

Height: 5' 10 ¾"

Dick size: 6 inches

Inventory slots 7/25 (Gift box (Way of the Monk and Meditation, Achieving Inner Peace), Black Pearl Ring of Enthrallment, Small Living Core, Vial of Slime x 2, Damaged Grey Sleeveless T-shirt, Damaged Shoes (Damaged Socks), and Woodworking Solutions)

Unspent skill points: 0

Str: 20 + (0) + (0) End: 19 + (0) + (0)

Int: 18 + (0) + (0) Wis: 28 + (0) + (0)

Agi: 16 + (0) + (0) Cha: 11 + (0) + (0)

Lib: 14 + (0) + (0)

Equipment Slots:

Ring 1:

Ring 2:

Gloves:

Weapon:

Off-hand:

Torso: Bright Orange Baymax Shirt

Legs: Black Boxers

Feet:

Neck:

Face: Red Tinted Glasses

Head: