CHAPTER 32: 32. NEXT LEVEL

[Your first mission today has been successful! You have earned three million dollars]

[You have earned an additional 2 points]

[You have successfully advanced to the silver level!]

[At this level, you will be able to take on more difficult missions with bigger rewards]

[Some items that were locked in the system store have also been unlocked]

[You automatically have permission to sell every product in the system store]

[Here is your latest status]

[Name: Riki Khaizer]

[Age: 21 years old]

[Level: Silver]

[Nickname: generous young man]

[Points: 51]

[Intelligence: 40/100]

[Charm: 50/100]

[Influence: 40/100]

[Reputation: 61/100]

[Strength: 46/100]

[To reach the next level, you must earn +150 system points]

[Good luck!]

"Riki? Hey!" Sean came over and tapped Riki on the shoulder as he was daydreaming. Actually, Riki was just reading the system screen in front of him. Riki had to read it twice before he could fully understand it.

Even though the system always came with a robotic voice, Riki still had to read the text on the screen again. It made him look like he was daydreaming.

"Oh, Yeah?" Riki immediately turned to Sean, who was wearing Zeno’s clothes at that time because Sean didn’t bring any clothes.

"I’m going with Arvin today to finish everything... after that, I’ll meet you!"

Riki furrowed his brow, "Why do you wanna meet me?"

Sean scratched the back of his neck, looking very awkward.

"Well... you always help me, so I thought I’d buy you something—oh, what do you like?"

Riki was silent for a moment, posing as if he was thinking hard, "Whati like, huh? Maybe for now I want something that... Eum, no, bring me the ingredients to make gratin, it’s better if I make it myself."

Sean looked annoyed, "Oh, come on... I know your cooking is better, but I want to buy you something."

"Bring me Deva, that’s much better."

Sean stared at Riki in disbelief, "Oh, okay... should I bring Deva’s aunt too? You might be happier."

Riki laughed when he heard that, "You’re so mean! I don’t want to see that old woman right now."

Sean stood up again, "Alright, I’ll go now, Riki! I’ll call you later."

Riki just nodded as he watched Sean’s back walk away. He felt a little strange, because after all, he had just met Sean. But Sean treated him as if he were his own brother.

Riki remembered his older brother. In the past, Riki’s older brother was a good brother. He always invited Riki to play and taught him many things. However, over time, his brother changed. This was because he chose the wrong friends to hang out with. Moreover, his brother hung out with Andre and his friends, who were also delinquents.

Riki missed his brother as he used to be. Even though Evan was like a brother to him, it was clearly different.

"Why are you so gloomy? You said you wanted to leave quickly, but instead you’re sitting here brooding." Zeno came over, eating an apple and sitting in front of Riki.

"Oh, yeah, I’m going to the office. You know, I have to prepare a few things, then go back to campus because I have a class."

"Oh, I have a class later too. How about we leave together?" asked Zeno.

Riki turned back to him, staring at Zeno as if he had said something very strange.

Zeno furrowed his brow, "Why? You’re acting like we’re strangers."

Riki laughed, then said, "I still think that way."

"Wow, I can’t believe this!"

"Aren’t we not really that close?"

Zeno reached out to flick Riki’s head, making Riki wince in pain. Zeno’s flick was very strong.

"Ouch!"

"We talked about a lot of things last night, how can you say we’re not close? It’s like you’re creating boundaries between us."

Riki fell silent. Had he been doing that all this time?

He was sure that he used to have some good friends. But his friends slowly drifted away. Riki thought that they didn’t want to be bullied like him, so they stayed away from Riki.

Because of that, Riki didn’t dare to be friends with anyone.

Was it Riki himself who had set boundaries that caused them to drift away?

"Maybe you’re right."

"What?"

Riki shook his head, "No. Let’s meet again at university, Zeno."

"Okay."

***

"Suddenly you have shares in Hayper Entertainment?" asked Jake, not believing what he had just heard.

It wasn’t easy even for people with a lot of money to buy shares in Hayper Entertainment. But Riki—uh, Jake was always surprised by his boss.

"Can you surprise me even more than this?" asked Jake, who was actually just being sarcastic, but Riki replied seriously.

"You mean like Zeno Raynold and Christopher Raynold who want to support our business?"

Jake held his head, which felt like it was about to explode.

"You... you even know the Raynold family? Who are you, Riki?"

Riki laughed at Jake’s question, thinking Jake was being ridiculous. But Jake’s expression was so funny that it amused him.

That afternoon, Riki had just finished checking some of Jake’s work at the office. Jake said he would look for some qualified workers and interview them after Riki left for campus.

But before leaving, Riki mentioned that he had shares in Hayper Entertainment and asked Jake to take care of them.

"Zeno is my friend from high school, and his grandfather is the owner of the company where my father used to intern when he was in college," said Riki.

"Oh, boss, I forgot that you’re the teenager who can buy this entire building—oh, I heard that the name of this building will be changed soon. They’ll take care of it for us, boss."

"That’s great, Jake. I have to go now before I’m late for class. See you later, Jake!"

Riki was in such a hurry to leave that he didn’t hear Jake’s reply.

He thought he saw Andre’s figure for a moment in the parking lot.

But Riki wasn’t sure it was Andre, so he didn’t care and immediately got into his car.

When he arrived at the university, he walked quickly so he could get to class on time.

However, for some reason, there were many girls who wanted to approach him today, making it difficult for him to get to class.

But he was lucky because he arrived at class on time.

In class, he saw Liz sitting alone, so he approached her.

"Liz, hey—uh, you look sad, is something wrong?" whispered Riki.

Liz turned to Riki, then smiled slightly and shook her head slowly.

Something was strange.

Liz looked sad today. In fact, last night Liz posted on social media that she had dinner with Kaivan and Angeline. She looked very happy.

Riki couldn’t ask any further questions because the lecturer had arrived.

Throughout the class, Liz was still gloomy, even though she was still paying attention to the class.

[Today’s second mission is to help solve Liz’s problem! This is a fairly easy mission, so your reward is only +5 to your strength]

Easy? So, is Liz’s problem a trivial one?

"Liz!"

The girl flinched when Riki patted her shoulder.

"Oh, Riki? Since when have you been here?" Liz asked, very surprised to see Riki next to her.

"Oh, my goodness, I’ve been here since before class started. You clearly have a serious problem, right? Quickly tell me, I might be able to help you."

Hearing Riki’s words, Liz’s eyes began to well up. Until Riki began to doubt the system’s statement that Liz’s problem was trivial.

"I don’t know if you can help or not, but... suddenly today some of my flowers wilted. My gardener said there’s nothing that can be done because it’s caused by a fungus. Once infected, there’s no saving them; they have to be pulled out immediately so it doesn’t spread to other plants. But those are my favorite flowers..."

As Liz told her story, she looked very sad. But to someone like Riki, it was clearly a trivial problem.

What should Riki do at that moment? Damn! It seemed like an easy problem, but it turned out to be not so easy. Riki didn’t know anything about plants.

"Wait a minute, I’ll call Evan first, okay? He might know something," said Riki.

Liz nodded in agreement.

The girl waited patiently for Riki to call Evan, but it turned out that Evan’s answer was the same as what the gardener at Liz’s house had said.

Liz couldn’t hold back her tears.

"Sorry, I’m so emotional... sob!"

Riki panicked at that moment.

Wait a minute!

Maybe there was something in the system store. The system said that some items were open today, right?

Riki tried to find something hidden in his system store.

Until he found an item that might help.

"Liz, how about trying the new fertilizer I’m going to sell later? Who knows, it might restore your plants? But if it doesn’t work, we have to let go of your plants so they don’t affect the others, okay? Letting something go isn’t a bad thing."

Liz nodded quickly, "Let’s try it, Riki!"

Hearing there was new hope, Liz stopped crying and panicking. She perked up as if she hadn’t been crying just a few seconds ago.

The girl immediately pulled Riki out of the classroom.

Meanwhile, someone who was still in the classroom stared at the two of them with a sullen look.

"You can’t get close to him anymore, Hannah... give up. Besides, Anton dumped you too, right?"

"This is so unfair! She suddenly became slim and beautiful, and she also got Riki!"

"But you were the one who dumped Riki, Hannah, wake up! Why are you blaming Liz..."

Hannah turned to her annoying friend, making her friend scared. Especially when Hannah suddenly smiled widely, looking terrifying, making Hannah’s friend shiver.

"I have a good idea..."