02 - Change

When I left the room, the first thing I did was brush my teeth, before going down to the kitchen to look for a bottle of water to take with me during the walk.

But when I arrived in the kitchen, I was surprised by what I saw.

At the kitchen table sat Jonathan, looking at a handful of papers, which I assumed were bills, with a tired expression as he sipped coffee with his other hand.

When he heard my footsteps, I could see the surprise on his face as he quickly tried to hide the papers from me, probably afraid that I would find out about the possible financial problems the family was having.

"Hey Champ, did you wake up at this time? Or were you playing late?" My new father asked me while trying to act casual.

I pretended I didn't see his concern about the bills and tried to respond in a more natural way.

"I woke up now, I woke up feeling a little bad about my body and I decided to walk a little." I tried to speak normally, without using this world's Noah's submissive tone, or my old aggressive way of speaking.

If I were to depend on Noah's experience of this world to have this conversation, I would hardly be able to say more than three words, but luckily I had some friends at school in my past life.

The problem is that my friends were all problematic, just like I was, so our way of talking was much more aggressive than normal people are used to, like us insulting each other, talking angrily, or things like that.

It was something really good for us, since we were able to take out our anger about other things on each other, but without offending anyone, since no one there cared.

As much as I tried to speak normally, I could see the surprise on my father's face when he saw me saying so much.

I didn't intend to act like the old Noah, so showing small changes like this was something I had planned.

"That's good, my son. I think this is the first time I've seen you wearing that shirt I gave you, it looks great on you." He said excitedly as he stood up and grabbed two pieces of toast from the toaster.

One of them remained on his plate while the other he placed on a plate for me.

I was surprised by the concern he was showing for me, and it seemed like he really was happy with just this little interaction we had.

Maybe the time he spends working away from his family is affecting him more than I realized.

Seeing his expectant look, I sat across from him at the kitchen table and ate my toast with him.

But since I didn't know what to say, and apparently he wasn't used to talking to me either, we both just remained silent while we ate.

Even though no one said anything, I was very happy with this simple moment, since I can't even remember a moment of such peace in my previous life with my former father.

And from the smile I saw on Jonathan's face, it was clear that he was also happy to have company for breakfast.

(NunuNote: Hello everyone, Author here, just to explain about these comments. Just like I used it in my iCarly fanfic, I also felt it would add to this novel.

These comments are basically like in a SitCom, where an interviewer talks to the characters to find out what they are thinking.

Of course, the characters in the real world don't know they're in a story, or that they're "being filmed", it's just something to give the characters more depth.)

-------- Jonathan Commentary --------

Sitting on the interview couch, a little nervous, Jonathan didn't quite know how to act.

"I was surprised Noah woke up so early… having company at breakfast was really nice…" He said with a smile on his face. "He was even wearing the Emerald Thunders shirt I gave him, it had been so long since we talked…"

"I think what made me most happy was knowing that he was going to exercise, his weight was already worrying me, knowing that he is going to start exercising gives me a little relief." Jonathan sighed as he thought about how heavy his son was.

He didn't quite know how to bring up this topic with Noah when he thought about it before, but seeing that Noah already thought of it himself made him feel relieved.

-------- Commentary Ends --------

When I finished, I washed my plate and got ready to leave.

"I'm going to take my walk…" I said, not knowing what else to say.

My father smiled as he responded. "Alright, have fun Champ."

"Good job…" I replied as I left the house.

[CHA +1]

Seeing this notification suddenly appearing in front of me left me very surprised, as I didn't imagine I would be able to increase my statistics like that.

'So it's not just missions that can give me stats?' I thought excitedly as I started walking.

Moving a 150 kg body was much more difficult than I imagined, especially over long distances.

After just 10 minutes I could already feel my breath leaving.

At 15 minutes I was having difficulty taking in oxygen, seeing that I had already walked 1 km, I decided to take a 5 minute break before walking again.

Even though 5 minutes seemed like a lot, I was still very tired when I started walking again, but this time I didn't stop to rest and kept pushing myself.

Arriving at 30 minutes I decided to do a 60 second sprint and another notification appeared!

[DEX +1]

As soon as this notification appeared, I felt that my body became a little lighter and that the movement I used to do to walk 6 meters, I was now able to move at least 9 meters in the same time and without getting too tired!

Considering my Dexterity was only 2 points, now that it rose to 3 points it was the same as a 50% increase on my previous total!

'It will be difficult to complete 3 km in an hour, but with this point in Dexterity, I can do it!' I thought motivatedly as I continued walking.

My resistance was terrible, as I was all sweaty and very tired, but I didn't give up.

At 48 minutes I received another notification.

At this point I was so tired that it was difficult to even think, but I held on as I walked and tried to read the notification.

But my surprise was huge when much of the tiredness I felt was disappearing.

Or rather, the tiredness wasn't disappearing completely, but it was as if my body was screaming that it could take more and that the tiredness that had previously been almost killing me was now no longer my limit.

With that I was able to look at the screen and was very happy with the notification.

[WITH +1]

Smiling, I continued running around the neighborhood until in 59 minutes I completed 3 km!

[Mission: Walk 3 km (1.8 miles) in 1 Hour.

Rewards:

+1 CON, Mysterious Skill

Completed!

Accept reward?]

As soon as the mission notification appeared to me, I couldn't even look ahead, it was as if the adrenaline that was holding me upright disappeared and my body just started falling forward into the nearest grass.

Not only was my body hurting, but my head was also hurting a lot since I didn't have enough oxygen to my body.

After what felt like an eternity of breathing, I managed to open my eyes and accept the reward.

[WITH +1]

[New Title Unlocked: Perseverant.]

[Persevering: Only those who persevere to the end in a difficult task receive this title.

Effect: +10% ease when doing a task that requires a lot of effort.]

'What a useful title!' I thought excitedly as I felt the other point in Constitution alleviate some of the fatigue I was feeling.

[New Skill Acquired: Aerobic Exercise Lv 1]

[Aerobic Exercise Lv 1: Performing aerobic exercise, increases the user's Metabolism speed by 1% for 24 hours.]

Seeing the new skill I gained, I was shocked.

Considering that the amount of calories a normal body burns in a day is 2,000, and that with my weight I probably burn more, this should reach around 2,800 to 3,000 calories in a day, with this 1% bonus it's practically 30 calories spent every day doing nothing!

And since this skill is at level 1, this will increase even more if I level it up!

Imagining the Skill increasing my metabolic speed by 100% shocked me, since with that I could easily lose almost 10 kg every month without doing anything!

Shaking my head to let that thought go, for a moment I thought about going back to running to try and level up that skill, but I knew that would be useless with how tired I was, so I just got up from the grass I was on. lying down and returned home at the slowest speed I could manage.

As I was close to home, it didn't take more than 5 minutes to arrive.

It was only 6:05 am, so in a few minutes my mother and Olivia would wake up.

'I better go take a shower soon.' I thought hurriedly as I ran to the bathroom as I saw the memories of how long Olivia took to get ready in the bathroom.

Normally Noah woke up after Olivia finished getting ready, so he didn't feel it as much, but since I was stinking from sweat, what I needed most now was a shower to feel clean.

Arriving in the bathroom, I was surprised.

In the reflection in the mirror, even though I couldn't identify exactly how much, but I felt like I was a little thinner and a little prettier... but how?

Until I remembered!

Since I saw my reflection earlier, I had gained 1 more point in Charisma and 2 more points in Constitution, which apparently made me a little more pleasing to the eye.

Even the caloric expenditure from my walk apparently had a bit of an effect, as when I weighed myself on the bathroom scale I saw that I had lost 700 g!

For someone who weighed 150 kg, dropping that weight to 149.3 kg was already a big step forward!

When I finished showering and looked in the mirror I was a little disappointed as it would take a long time to improve my appearance the way I was.

Looking at my long black hair, this was something that needed to change urgently.

I hated long hair on men, especially the way Noah's hair was, completely dry and poorly cared for, which gave him an even dirtier impression that he no longer looked good.

So using a pair of scissors that were on the counter, I started cutting my own hair.

Since my old father never gave me a dollar for a haircut, I had to teach myself how to cut my own hair.

At first my hair looked like rubbish, and the old man laughed at me because of it, but over time I got better at it.

[Acquired Skill: Haircut Lv 1 (+23 Previous Proficiency Levels.)]

Seeing this notification, I was surprised, both for being able to get a new Skill so easily, and for having already gotten this Skill at level 24 because I knew how to do it in my previous life!

[Cut Hair Lv 24:
When cutting someone's hair, the cut has a +24% chance of pleasing anyone who looks.]

Seeing the skill description, I became even more excited while cutting my hair, until I finally finished it.

What used to be long, dry hair was now much shorter and messier, which was exactly my style in my old world.

Fortunately, the bathroom also had a razor blade, which the old Noah used to trim what little beard he had, which I used to cut the little bit of my beard that was growing, cut the base of my toe hair, and with the What was left of the blade, now with less cutting, I used it to go through my hair, giving it an even messier look, but much more stylish.

[Buff Acquired: Beard and Hair Made]

[Beard and Hair Done:
Effect: When Hair and Beard are well cut, the user receives a +1 CHA bonus.
Duration: 71:59 Hours.]

Looking at my reflection, I was quite satisfied, indeed the CHA Buff was deserved with how much better I was.

Even if this Buff only lasted 3 days, I would have no problem touching it up every day, since with the way I looked, any extra point in CHA would help.

But thinking about how I got the haircut skill just now, but hadn't received a running skill, made me realize that maybe the technique I use when doing something has an influence, so as soon as I came out of the bathroom I turned on the computer and I looked for videos explaining the correct techniques when running.

Luckily for me, I was right!

[New Skill Acquired!]

[Walking Lv 1: When walking for the purpose of exercising, you know which techniques to use and how to maintain your posture in the best possible way to train your muscles.
Effect: When walking, your muscles develop 1% faster and your body tires 1% slower.]

With this new Skill of mine, I was more confident in losing weight even faster.

And knowing how I could learn new Skills, countless possibilities began to emerge in my mind of how I could develop in this new life.

Especially when I remember how small the video site in this world was currently compared to the YouTube of my previous life.

What they called MeTube in this world was practically YouTube a few years after it was launched, something with few people accessing it and only a niche audience, something that I could benefit from my knowledge.

But my thoughts were interrupted by a knock on my mother's door. "Come on Noah, you can use the bathroom, your sister is already done getting ready."

Knowing how challenging it would be to interact with these new people, I was a little worried, but thinking that none of this would be worse than interacting with my old father, I relaxed and became more confident.

I just took another look at my Status screen to gain more confidence.

=========================
| Character Status |
=========================
| Name: Noah Black
| Title: Perseverant
| Level: 01
|------------------------
| HP: 50/50
| MP: 90/90
|------------------------
| Weight: 150 kg -> 149.3 kg
| Strength (STR): 4
| Dexterity (DEX): 2 -> 3
| Constitution (CON): 3 -> 5
| Intelligence (INT): 9
| Wisdom (WIS): 9
| Charisma (CHA): 3 -> 5 (4 + 1)
| Agility (AGL): 2
| Black (CLOSE): ??
|------------------------
| Skills:
| (Aerobic Exercises Lv 1), (Haircutting Lv 24), (Walking Lv 1).
| -----------------------
| Buffs:
| (Beard and Hair Done)
=========================

I was surprised to see an unexpected change in my HP!

From what I remember, my HP before was only 30 points, now it has risen to 50!

Seeing a relationship, I soon understood, as my constitution increased from 3 points to 5, so my HP is 10x my constitution, which actually makes a bit of sense, since it's like my body is healthier and can cope much better with the injuries.

With the change in my HP, I looked at the Mana bar just below that and became a little thoughtful.

So far I haven't gotten any Skills that involve Mana, or need Mana, I haven't even been able to feel Mana, but that was still in my Status.

Did I need some special condition to unlock the use of this?