NOVEL WEB Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Financial Struggles and Strategic Deaths – (REMAKE)
Chapter 2: Financial Struggles and Strategic Deaths – (REMAKE)
The morning after the alien invasion that apparently didn't kill him, Adam woke up in an alley. Not just any alley, mind you, but an alley that smelled vaguely of stale pizza and existential dread. His clothes were rumpled, his hair looked like a bird's nest after a particularly aggressive fight, and he was pretty sure he had a dried piece of something questionable stuck to his cheek. This was not the glamorous start to immortality he'd envisioned. No secret lairs, no cool gadgets, just… alley.
" Well, this is just peachy. Instead of a heroic death, I got a respawn in a dumpster adjacent. At least I didn't wake up as a pigeon. Though, honestly, a pigeon's life might be less complicated right now."
The System's glowing interface, still annoyingly persistent in his peripheral vision, reminded him of his current predicament: 0/1 lives remaining (meaning he was on his one active life for this cycle) and a grand total of zero dollars. Zero. For a system that promised immortality, it was surprisingly capitalistic.
"Alright, System," he grumbled, picking a stray leaf out of his hair. "So, I need to die, but not really die, to level up. And I need money. This sounds less like a superhero journey and more like a twisted version of 'The Sims.' Am I going to have to find a job just to afford a better respawn point?"
His first order of business was to get out of the alley and into something less… alley-like. He spotted a discarded newspaper. The headlines were still screaming about the invasion, but there were also small blurbs about community clean-up efforts and, more importantly, a local lottery winner who had apparently misplaced their ticket.
" Aha! The universe provides. Or, you know, the universe provides a convenient plot device. Either way, I'm not complaining."
Adam spent the next few days in a bizarre dance of survival and strategic self-endangerment. He needed five deaths to reach System Level 2, and they couldn't be fatal. This meant he had to find ways to "die" that were more inconvenient than lethal. His first attempt involved a particularly zealous flock of pigeons.
He was walking through a park, pretending to be engrossed in a very important phone call (to himself), when he spotted them: a murder of crows, but with a particularly aggressive vibe. He strategically "dropped" a piece of bread, then "tripped" right into the middle of the ensuing pigeon frenzy. They weren't exactly vicious, but when twenty feathery, squawking creatures decided your head looked like a prime landing spot, it was surprisingly effective.
[SYSTEM ALERT: DEATH DETECTED. CAUSE: MINOR ANIMAL OVERWHELM.] [LIVES REMAINING: 0/1 (Current Life Activated)] [DEATHS ACHIEVED: 2/5 (Next System Level: Level 2)] [SKILL ACQUISITION: 'ENHANCED PIGEON AVOIDANCE' HAS BEEN UNLOCKED!] [DESCRIPTION: Grants a subtle, subconscious awareness of avian threats, allowing for improved evasion.]
" Are you kidding me? 'Enhanced Pigeon Avoidance'? Is that even a real skill? What am I going to do, join a pigeon-fighting ring? This is less 'superpower' and more 'sad trivia fact.'"
He sighed, brushing imaginary feathers from his shoulders. The System was clearly having a laugh at his expense. But a death was a death, and that was one step closer to whatever wonders awaited him at Level 2.
Next up: money. The lottery ticket lead proved to be a bust – someone else had already claimed it. Of course. This wasn't some fantasy where money just appeared. He needed to be more… creative. He decided to leverage his meta-knowledge, subtly.
He found a small, local electronics store. He "accidentally" overheard the owner lamenting about a faulty component in their security system, a specific, obscure part that Adam knew, from his deep dives into tech forums in his previous life, was about to become incredibly valuable due to a sudden manufacturing shortage. He "found" one online, cheap, and resold it to the owner at a modest profit, pretending he was just a tech-savvy guy who knew a good deal. It wasn't much, but it was a start.
He then stumbled upon a forgotten wallet in a cafe – full of cash, no ID. He debated, briefly, the ethical implications. Then he remembered he was technically dead and resurrected, and the wallet probably belonged to some background extra who wouldn't notice. He "turned it in" to the police, minus a discreet twenty-dollar bill. He wasn't a saint, but he wasn't a criminal mastermind either. Just a guy trying to make ends meet in a new, insane reality.
His third death was an unfortunate encounter with a rogue skateboarder. Adam, distracted by a particularly interesting fire hydra (he was looking for subtle signs of meta-human activity, okay?), "failed" to notice the kid speeding around a corner. He didn't break anything, but the impact was enough.
[SYSTEM ALERT: DEATH DETECTED. CAUSE: MINOR BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA (SKATEBOARD).] [LIVES REMAINING: 0/1 (Current Life Activated)] [DEATHS ACHIEVED: 3/5 (Next System Level: Level 2)] [SKILL ACQUISITION: 'BASIC BALANCE' HAS BEEN UNLOCKED!] [DESCRIPTION: Improves overall balance and reduces the likelihood of minor tumbles.]
" Oh, fantastic. Now I can walk a straight line without looking like I've had too many questionable smoothies. My superhero name could be 'The Un-Tripper.' It's riveting."
He was slowly accumulating funds, mostly through these small, almost invisible transactions and lucky "finds." He wasn't rich, but he was building a small nest egg. His goal was to reach that magical $1000 mark so he could finally peek into the System Shop. What wonders awaited him there? Probably more skills like "Improved Spatula Handling" or "Advanced Lint Removal."
His days became a weird routine: wake up, avoid actual danger, subtly exploit his meta-knowledge for small financial gains, and then, most bizarrely, seek out minor "deaths." He discovered that a leaky faucet, combined with a slightly faulty electrical outlet, could provide a surprisingly effective, non-lethal shock.
[SYSTEM ALERT: DEATH DETECTED. CAUSE: MINOR ELECTRICAL SHOCK.] [LIVES REMAINING: 0/1 (Current Life Activated)] [DEATHS ACHIEVED: 4/5 (Next System Level: Level 2)] [SKILL ACQUISITION: 'MINOR ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE' HAS BEEN UNLOCKED!] [DESCRIPTION: Provides slight protection against minor electrical currents.]
" Great. Now I can change a lightbulb without fear. Truly, I am a titan among men. Though, to be fair, in this universe, 'Minor Electrical Resistance' might actually come in handy more often than 'Enhanced Pigeon Avoidance.' Just saying."
By the end of the second week, Adam had found a cheap apartment – nothing fancy, but it had running water and didn't smell like a hobo convention. He had also accumulated a respectable five hundred dollars, mostly from "finding" forgotten change in laundromats and "winning" small, inconsequential bets on local sports teams he knew the outcome of. It was slow going, but it was progress. He was still Level 1, but he was almost there. One more death. Just one more ridiculous "accident."
" One more step closer to… whatever this is. Immortality. Superpowers. The ability to argue with a cosmic system that clearly has a dark sense of humor. This is my life now. And honestly? It's kind of exhausting."