Arthur counted the money and he has $80. With the $5.49 in his bank a total of $85.49.
Arthur went to a nearby park to sleep for the night because it is quite there. The night was fairly cold because winter was approaching. There was no snow yet. Just a bearable chill. Arthur used his bag as a pillow while he lay on a bench, gazing at the clear night sky. Mesmerised by the beauty of the night sky.
Stars glittering in the sky.
Arthur’s mind was clear, devoid of any spiraling thoughts, nor any thought of revenge.
Can he do anything about those people who wronged him? No. Maybe in the future, but what will that accomplish? That he is the bigger bad? Holding a grudge and making them live in his head rent free basically means he still cares about them enough to want revenge.
That he wants to prove to them that he is capable of destroying them. But the thing is, what difference would be left between him and them if he goes on a revenge rampage cakling like some edgy protagonist?
Even though he hated what his family did to him was unfair, it seemed fair to them. They showed their true colours when they loved his cousin overtime without even asking him once about what happened.
He wants to focus on his life, and use the chance the universe has given him. Given that it is real that is.
Suddenly, he remembered that he knew nothing of the System’s functions. He pulled up the system UI and started tapping randomly to see if there was anything. But there is nothing.
"So there is no introduction or explanation for the rules?"
[Ding!]
[ There is! The host just didn’t ask!]
"Oh. Then system, what can you do and how do you work? And why did you choose me?"
Arthur asked three questions involuntarily, not expecting much because that’s how most systems work.
[Ding!]
[Answering the Host in order.]
The System can do many things! As stated and the name implies, the main purpose is Simping. Simping will unlock those functions when a specific goal is met for system upgrade!
The System gives Instant Cashback for the money spent on eligible women! The return varies, only 2X, 5X and 10X Return being available as of now! System Upgrade will increase the Return fold! So please work hard to meet the goal which is basically to Simp!
Even if the system was given to Host by some higher being for their own amusement, can Host do anything?]
He read through the responses, Instead of being annoying, mysterious, troll or quirky, it answered what was asked straight up.
His impression of it improved by a lot.
The first one was easy to understand, so was the second one. But he noticed that the system did not say it was random. As for the third response, it was the truest of all. Even if some cosmic entity chose him for their entertainment, can he do anything?
No.
But since he is getting a chance to live a better life, he has nothing to complain about. Not like he can anyway.
"...Say system, is the return random or is it based on how hard I Simp? Like, since you did not say it was random and you are a Simp System. So..."
Arthur asked the question he had been thinking about. He was convinced that he would get some mysterious answer or straight up lies for the love of the game.
[Ding!]
[Answering the Host: Returns are indeed influenced by how hard you simp and are not random. You spend money normally without any simping, you get the lowest return. You add a bit of compliment, you get 5X the money spent. You add flirting on top of that, you trigger the highest return. But this function is limited to this version of the system. The more you upgrade, the more return options will be available and based on your simping, the return will be random among the tier.]
"Huh... That is neet. Semi-randomiser as the system gets more upgrades huh."
Arthur was once again stunned at the straight forwardness of the system. It made him think if the system will even share the rules.
"System, do you have any rules of conduct?"
[Answering the Host: Yes. Below the system rules are presented.
[SYSTEM RULES]
[1. Only money genuinely spent on eligible women will trigger Cashback. Eligibility is possessing beauty of 90 or Above.]
[2. Personal consumption does not qualify.]
[3. Money spent on unrelated individuals does not qualify.]
[4. Cashback will be automatically transferred to the Host after qualifying expenditure.]
[5. The host may choose between either system upgrade or random Gift Pack after meeting the expenditure goal.]
[6. Each time the goal is reached, the count will reset and the limit will go up by 100,000.]
"I see..."
Arthur contemplated the rules. It was easy to understand and follow. He closed the system UI and went back to stargazing, thinking about how to approach this situation.
=====
The next day, he woke up early in the morning, even before the sun rose because of the cold. He noticed mist surrounding the area. Dews gathered on the leaves.
Arthur stretched and warmed up a bit. He used a free water supply nearby to wash his face and wake up fully. He brushed his teeth, combed his hair and sprayed some scent he had in his bag. Since he was to approach beautiful women, he can’t look like someone who crawled out of the earth now can he?
After that, he went to a local shop he knows sells food even this early in the morning to eat. He was hungry.
After finishing eating, he roamed around the city to find beautiful women to spend money on. The sun was slowly rising in the horizon, workers going to their work place, cleaners cleaning the Road, shops opening on opening day. A familiar sight but he felt odd. He was once part of that schedule, waking up early and going to work.
Now he has nothing, it was a surreal feeling.
Arthur did not find anyone with a beauty of 90 or above even after searching for hours.
Arthur did not give up and in the afternoon, Arthur found a woman with beauty of 90 near a flower shop. She had long black hair and blue eyes. Her expression is gentle.
She seemed like a reasonable person. But he did not need her to be anything.
Because women are generally beings who like people who fan their fragile ego.
He made a plan. The purpose was to spend money on her. Since the system didn’t specify how, it must mean he can spend in any form, even if given gifts.
It is common sense that he simply cannot walk up to a woman, give her expansive shit and expect her to accept it without thinking less of him. And he never thought he could buy her anything with $80. So he will give her something that is universally acceptable and create a situation where the gift is not the focus and she will involuntarily accept it. And fortunately, a flower shop was just nearby.
He went to the flower shop, bought a wrapped rose for $10 and went to the women.
He spoke Spanish and pretended to be a tourist because he did not want her to understand the cringe lines he was saying. His face was full of smiles. Animated body language that suggested he was describing her beauty. He handed her the rose and showed her his phone. Indicating that he wanted to take a photo. She smiled and nodded.
Arthur sighed in relief internally, he had successfully given her the flower and all he now needed to do is dip.
No one disliked compliments. Even if they did not understand it. Arthur pretended to take photos but his phone was dead since the morning and had no way to charge. He quickly pocketed the phone, said goodbye in Spanish. Then he almost fled the scene. He has never done anything like this before and realised simping might be harder than he had thought. . His smile slowly disappeared. His eyes fixed on the system interface..
[Ding!]
[Simping Detected!]
[$10 Spent on eligible Women!]
[Cashback Triggered: 10X!]
[$100 sent to the Hosts bank account. No worries for legal problems! Money is whiter than most whites in the world!]
And the next moment, he... did not receive the notification because his fuking phone was dead.