Harem Mode - ON Ch. 02

KAYLA SYDNEY MARTIN

AGE 18

STATUS: IN A RELATIONSHIP

RELATIONSHIP TO YOU: 18/100

SLIGHT CRUSH

Chet replayed these sentences in his mind over and over again as he ran to shop class. For the first time in his life, he showed confidence and assertiveness toward a girl. And not just any girl, but arguably one of the hottest girls in the entire school. And it worked. The words floating above her head proved it.

But she was in a relationship with Josh, head of the wrestling team. Chet weighed the pros and cons of pursuing something with her as opposed to using his newfound powers on someone else. Powers that he was reborn with after being killed in a woodshop accident. He could see his relationship to other people broken down as simple statistics floating above their heads.

With this system, Chet also had backdoor access to improving all of his mental and physical traits, albeit without knowing the extent to which he could tinker with them. The points he spent last night upgrading his mind and body definitely paid off, but he didn't know when he'd get his hands on more. He wished his new powers came with a manual.

Just how do I level up?

This question was in the back of his mind during the safety demonstration his workshop teacher, Mr. Algernon, put on for the class. Considering that Chet was killed the last time he took this class for not paying attention, it behooved him to try and listen this time.

But instead his eyes drifted over to Anna Young, the only girl in class. Chet never paid any attention to her previously, but his RPG-vision was displaying something curious.

ANNA YOUNG

AGE 19

STATUS: SINGLE

RELATIONSHIP TO YOU: 8/100

INTRIGUED

Intrigued? But we've never even spoken to each other.

Since Chet only received his powers of enhanced perception last night, he had no idea if Anna always felt this way towards him, or if it was because he upgraded aspects of his appearance and personality. He had never considered Anna as a romantic interest before, but now that he knew about this, he began to reexamine her.

She didn't have a bad-looking face, even if it was a little masculine. Sharp eyes, sharp cheekbones. Slightly prominent nose. These were partially obscured by safety goggles. Chin was a little strong for a girl, but nowhere near a guy's. If Chet had been a little more empathetic, he would have realized that these were probably sources of insecurity for her. But his empathy stat was only a five.

Out of a hundred.

She had dyed her long blonde hair black and cut them à la Skrillex, with one of the sides buzzed down, which was a major turn-off, as was her septum piercing and left arm tattoo. Luckily she didn't have those hideous gauge piercings in her ear, but overall she had an intimidating, tomboy look.

Her green eyes caught him staring at her. Chet resisted the urge to look away immediately, so he slowly turned them back to Mr. Algernon and his band saw.

Maybe if I had more CONFIDENCE points, I would have kept my eyes on her, Chet chuckled to himself. He was curious what an 8/100 level of interest meant for Anna. He had to do 30 successful pull-ups and expose himself to Kayla to get the same rating from her before he escalated things in the locker room.

The teacher concluded his demonstration and the class broke to start working on their assignments. Today's was making a cutting a thin strip off a board of wood and turning it into a ruler.

Chet drew out an outline with a ruler and pencil, curious to see if the game overlay would kick in. To his disappointment, it didn't.

Huh.

He rested his block on the metal work surface. He was to cut a parallel line from the edge of the board, a mere quarter of an inch thick. If the blade didn't follow the straight line he drew on the wood, the ruler would come out with an irregular thickness and receive a worse grade. With the size of the block he was given, he only had three tries to get it right.

He lowered the upper saw guide until it was just above the height of the wooden block and got the air blower ready to clear away any sawdust. He flicked the on switch and adjusted the band speed to get the blade spinning at the right frequency. As soon as he put his hands back on the board to push it against the blade, a holographic circle appeared, hovering above the wood.

The circle had a little notch on the top, and a pointer that followed the angle of the wood. When Chet tilted the board with his hands even a little bit, the pointer would wildly swing away from center and the circle would glow red. But when they were aligned, the circle would appear green. Chet exhaled and made micro-adjustments to keep the board in the green. When it was, he then pushed it against the spinning, serrated band of metal.

Keeping the circle in the green while pushing the wood through at the same time was an agonizingly slow process. Twice he had to stop and collect his breath, turning his head away so as not to inhale any sawdust. When the blade cut all the way through and the ruler-sized chip broke away from the block with a satisfying snap, he turned off the power to pick it up.

Chet held it against the light and gazed at his handiwork in awe. The two flat edges of the ruler were perfectly parallel. He laid it against the flat metal table of the band saw. It was in full contact from end to end. He took off his glove and rubbed it against the cut end to confirm it for a third time. It was smooth. Only a minor bit of polish was needed to make it perfect.

He walked over to the end of the classroom where all the sanders were. It was empty because everyone else was still busy cutting. Mr. Algernon put a burly hand on his shoulder.

"Looks pretty good, Chet. Are you going to use the 500 grit?"

"I was thinking about using the 1000. The edge isn't that coarse, and I don't need to shave off too much."

"I agree. It seems pretty level to me."

The teacher walked away and left Chet alone. As soon as he put the sander in his hand, another mini-game interface popped up, highlighting the uneven parts of the ruler in red. Polishing became simply a matter of sanding away at these parts until the red disappeared.

This is too easy. I could crank out a dozen of these before class is over.

Satisfied, Chet took out his pen and wrote his name and date in small print on one of the corners, and turned it in.

"Great job, Chet. I'll give you your fifty points. You can work on the extra credit assignment now."

Mr. Algernon wrote 50 in red next to Chet's name on a sheet of paper in his grading binder. As soon as his pen left the page, a little chip tune chirp reverberated in Chet's ears.

WORKSHOP MISSION COMPLETED +15 EXP

"Woah," Chet exhaled softly.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, sir." Chet turned around and headed back to his station.

That is to say, after he bumped into Anna, who was standing right behind him, ready to turn inher assignment.

"Oof!" He exclaimed in surprise as his torso collided with the older girl's. Her B cup breasts smushed against his chest. He didn't notice though, because her hard forehead knocked against his chin.

"Hey, watch it!" She grunted, the level of aggression in her voice surprising both Chet and Mr. Algernon. She rubbed her forehead and gave him a look expecting him to say sorry. It was actually kind of intimidating.

Chet looked her up and down and went, "Pff," before walking away. Anna's eyes and mouth bugged open and she gawked at him. Mr. Algernon was almost about to chastise Chet for not apologizing but he was already gone.

15 points, huh? Is that enough for me to level up?

Chet was too busy thinking about his 'experience' to notice that Anna's interest in him had increased to 9.

-xxxxxxxxx-

The weak sun bounced off the windows of the parked cars lining Madison High's entrance, slightly warming up the 3 o'clock afternoon air. Chet was straddle-walking his bicycle, waiting for an opportunity to separate from the crowd of students so he could ride all the way home.

It's too bad Kayla doesn't have 7th period, Chet lamented. Since she left for home already, there was no chance of ever bumping into her after school.

He looked down at his thighs as he rode his bike. His muscles were gaining experience too with exercise.

Maybe I should head over to the old Rochester plaza and pick up some take-out for Mom, he thought. There was no rush to go home and the extra distance would level up his leg muscles. Couldn't hurt.

He turned around and sped the other way, past the slightly dispersed crowd of teenagers. He spotted Anna with her headphones, black T-shirt and torn jeans heading in the same direction. She gave him another scowl before looking back down at her phone as he sped by.

Why is she such a bitch?

Chet parked his bike in the middle of Rochester plaza. It was Hamilton's less frequented shopping center, and the faded paint on most of the buildings gave away its decline. A couple of businesses had closed a while ago, but none had come in to take their place.

Little Wok still made decent business though. The food was salty and greasy, but it was affordable and quick.

"Uhh...Beef and Broccoli...the Tofu Eggplant, yes, that one...And, uh...one order of the Insanity Chicken...Yeah, that'll be all, thank you...No wait, three egg rolls too, please...Here's eleven...Alright, have a nice day."

Chet walked out with his orders in a tied-up plastic bag. He kept quiet about it, but his new RPG-vision gave him quick readings of the values on all the items in the restaurant, and he realized just how little nutrition there was in fast food. He justified his bad meal choices on that he was getting food for his mother.

Next time I'll just go to the grocery store and pick up some fruit.

"Man, that smells good. Whatcha having, son?"

Chet looked up. A homeless man was standing in front of him, clutching his belly. He immediately started feeling uncomfortable.

"Just Chinese. A little B&B, tofu and chicken. And fried rice."

"God, that sounds heavenly. Could you spare me a dollar? I haven't eaten anything for two days."

Chet reached for his wallet and gave him a bill. He didn't want to dwell here for too long.

"Five? God bless you, son. What's your name?"

Chet blinked, realizing he had given him a Lincoln by mistake. But it was too awkward and too late to do anything about it, so he just grit his teeth silently before responding.

"Chester."


"Well, pleasure to meet you Chester. I'm Frank.."

Chet pursed his lips into a tight smile. He started feeling guilty that he regretted giving the bum five dollars. Then another ringing noise took him by surprise.

GOOD DEED PERFORMED +30 EXP

The homeless man stared at Chet as he stood paralyzed for a moment. Chet's eyes resumed focus and his face was animated again. He reached down, pulling his takeout bag off his handlebar. He took a box out and gave it to Frank.

"Here you go, man. Get some food in you."

The man's face broke out into a heartwarming smile, and in that instant, a warm breeze blew past the two of them, ruffling the hair on their heads. Chet just stood hunched on his bike, watching the old man hold the box with both his hands and looked back at him, squinting against the setting sun that filled the streets with an orange glow.

"That's mighty kind, sir. Mighty kind. You're rare stuff around these parts, Chester." Frank's voice was soft and uncertain.

"I can't tell you how much this means to me. Let me repay you," Frank fumbled as he pulled a half-empty bottle of vodka from his jacket.

"Thank you sir, but my mama wouldn't like it if I drank," Chet lied. The joy of doing a good deed was starting to compound, and he didn't mind hamming it up.

"Well, let me put a prayer in for you, son. Can I at least do that?"

"Yeah. I would really like that. Put a nice word for me with the big man. Well, I'm gonna go home now. Good luck, Frank."

"I will, boy. God bless you."

Frank sped off as the bum waved at him. Chet liked how he was feeling. It was a bit schmaltzy, a bit maudlin and saccharine. One could even call it twee. But he did have positive feelings towards Frank, and was glad he could make someone else's day a little brighter.

Then another message popped up.

GOOD DEED PERFORMED +15 EXP

Then Chet really smiled.

-xxxxxxxxx-

Chet finally got back around 4. He didn't run into Mr. O'Leary or Jane on his way up to the apartment, but his food was getting cold so he didn't mind going straight home without conversation.

When he got to his apartment, his mother was busy applying the last of her makeup. She was wearing heels and a miniskirt for her night shift at the bar.

"Hey Chet, brought food? I already ate but I can have some more," Roxanne smiled, wrapping a leather jacket around her waist to cover her long, exposed legs. A little decorum for her son.

Chet did nothing but give his mother an annoyed look. She often spoke to him in that coy way.

The two of them sat down to eat, with Chet reheating the egg rolls in the microwave to get them toasty again.

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family."

The TV was on. The President was humiliating the entire country again with his butchered quotes. Chet pulled the takeout from the microwave and scooped it onto some plates.

Roxanne's large bosom swelled tightly against her small shirt as she ate. Chet was used to seeing his mother dressed like this that he wasn't bothered by it anymore.

"You're home a little late, Chet. Did you have fun with your friends?"

"Yeah, mom. I was getting sodas with the buddies. Went over to Rochester."

"Lame. I was hoping you were spending time with a girlfriend," Roxanne snarked, teasing her boy.

Chet chewed through an eggroll, the crispy outer layer giving way to a hot, gooey center. He tore open a pack of sauce and squeezed the red liquid into the cavity he just opened in order to drench his second bite with sweet and sour lava.

"I'm still deciding who to go after."

"A lady's man, huh? You've got options?"

"I think I'm becoming a cool kid. Might want to try out a cheerleader."

Roxanne laughed at her son's newfound confidence. Normally he'd clam up whenever the topic of girls was brought up. Even if he was lying, it was comforting to know he was thinking about his romantic prospects. She was worried he'd be a single virgin forever.

"Just don't break any hearts, Chet," Roxanne joked, going along with Chet's bravado. "Girls don't like being played with."

"That's where you're wrong, mom."

Roxanne almost spilled her coffee.Is Chet starting to learn game? She stared at him curiously, but he didn't react at all. He kept chowing down the remainder of his beef and broccoli.

"By the way, why didn't you bring back any insanity chicken? You know that's my favorite."

"I had to give that to a homeless guy," Chet replied nonchalantly.

"Oh great, my only son's becoming a comedian now."

-xxxxxxxxx-

Chet's mom left for work, leaving him alone to finish his schoolwork and surf the internet. He dug into his math homework, hoping to gain more exp, but he only got 5 points for completing the assignment. So off to porn it was.

He started by typing in "australian girls" into an Image search, making sure to flip off the explicit content filter. After scrolling down for a bit, he gave up since you couldn't tell that the girls were Australian just by looking at them. Well, maybe the sunburned ones.

OUTBACK ASSTRALIA - SEXY SHEILAS DO AWFUL THINGS FOR MONEY

He then switched to searching for Australian porn, hoping to hear some at least moan in the same accent as Kayla's, but found that most women moan the same way in porn. He'd have to look for videos with a lot of dialogue to bring the accent out, but porn dialogue was usually the weakest part of the pr0n experience, so he gave up on that too.

He eventually just tried looking for girls that looked like Kayla, combining search terms such as blonde, tan, athletic, swimmer, etc. He looked through databases of popular pornstars, hoping to find someone with the right face and a decent line of work.

To his horror, he stumbled across an actress named Molly Jane, who bore a more than striking resemblance to his mother, down to the same little smile and high-pitched voice. Even worse, her most popular videos were all incest-themed. He shut his laptop and looked at his wilted dick.

Damn you.

He closed his eyes and sighed. There was one last option, but he felt like an ass for considering it. He pulled his drawer open and slapped down a piece of paper on his desk, grabbing a pencil and eraser.

Let's see, you're supposed to start with the head, right?

He made a light oval near the top of the page, then a small cylinder for a neck beneath it. Below that he made several attempts at a body, erasing and making new lines to adjust. He drew several clumped lines around the head to create hair, leaving enough space in the face to draw in eyes and lips and all that.

Damn, it looks nothing like her.

Suddenly, a faint outline appeared, overlapping with Chet's crude geometric shapes. A remarkable 2-D facsimile of Kayla Martin was embedded in the page, drawn perfectly with light gray lines.

Chet was impressed and delighted that his skills even applied to drawing his own porn. He took his pencil and traced the outline of Kayla, covering its light grey marks with darker lines. He erased all the markings which didn't line up, and held the finished product up to admire. In his hands, he held an anatomically correct Kayla, smiling back at him.

Not a very exciting pose, though.

Chet started over, this time drawing a crude humanoid in a more provocative pose. Once complete, the same magic helper outline showed up, depicting a realistic Kayla sitting with her legs in an "M", with one hand down at her pussy lips, spreading them up open Hustler-style. Even her expression was more seductive, as if Kayla really were modeling for him.

Chet spent an hour cooking up new scenarios and bringing them to life through the magic of tracing. He experimented with increasingly risqué drawings: Kayla pressing her big breasts together, Kayla on all fours, presenting her rear to him, Kayla on her knees, covered in semen.

His dick stayed hard throughout the entire session until he could bear it no longer and jerked himself to oblivion.

Finished, he decided it was a good time to hit the hay, so he cleaned up his room and made ready for bed.

-xxxxxxxxx-

Chet 'woke up' in his dreamscape to a familiar screen.

SCORE: 0000000164

LEVEL: 004

XP: 01/300

FREE POINTS: 4

So he had leveled up! But wait, he distinctly remembered he was pretty close to level 4 last night, and that he had earned quite a fair number of experience points today. So why was his experience so low?

As if to answer his questions, a new screen popped up.

DAILY RECAP

EXERCISE: 3 EXP

SCHOOLWORK: 20 EXP

GOOD DEEDS: 45 EXP

GIRL PROGRESS: 8 EXP

KIND TO MOTHER: 15 EXP

PORN CONSUMPTION: -60 EXP

MASTURBATION: -25 EXP

Jesus Christ, porn and masturbation set me back THAT much? Chet was stunned at the implications of this revelation. He'd been watching and reading porn and jerking off since he was a pubescent. Maybe that's why he was only at level 4 at 18 years of age. This was the first time in Chet's life where he had a real incentive to quit.

His thoughts were disrupted when yet another screen popped up, containing useful information.

GIRL PROGRESS

JANE CHIKOVANI

3/100 -> 4/100

CURRENT STATUS: DISINTERESTED

KAYLA SYDNEY MARTIN

0/100 -> 16/100

CURRENT STATUS: SLIGHT CRUSH

ANNA YOUNG

8/100 -> 10/100