Locking In With My Life System

Chapter 27: Double Whammy

Having arrived home a couple minutes earlier, Aiden was currently seated before his laptop, his pupils widening as he stared at the post he’d made earlier in the day.

Though he could’ve checked it earlier via his phone at school, he had been sidetracked by the normal day-to-day shenanigans of schooling.

Still, seeing the post garnering over 200K views, 10K likes and over two hundred comments was rather astonishing.

Though he’d expected it in some way, he clearly hadn’t expected it to come as early as it did... and certainly not on the first day that he’d uploaded it.

Upon opening the comment section of the post though, he quickly found out why when he read the first comment;

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Dommy_Mommy: Interesting, young padawan. Interesting. Very well, I shall play this ’game’ of yours.

-

’Ah, yes. It had to be you. It just had to be you.’ Aiden rolled his eyes in amusement.

Once again, the internet personality known for her rather ’interesting’ art had yet again dragged over some of her fandom to his post.

Not that the post hadn’t organically found a lot of people in its own right.

Still, Aiden knew better than to ignore how much impact someone with a massive following on the platform could drive traffic to lesser-known creators.

Speaking of traffic...

’I’d better start monetizing my channel...’ the youth thought to himself as he began scrolling down the comments, curious to see what other people asides the gooners thought about it.

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TheThing: He’s literally me. A chip off the old block! Let’s see how far you go, youngling.

JaxTheBunny: Tues your adventure? Really. That’s the cheesiest fucking thing I’ve heard in a while! But sure, I’ll play along...

MustProtecc: I don’t know why I’m invested already but if anything happens to Rock. I’m suing!! He looks so cute! And yes, a truly majestic surface indeed.

GeodeTheNavigator: Oh, a brethren!? Welcome to the league of sentient rocks!

BeardStroker: Now this is a rather intriguing post to have stumbled upon. I choose B!

ToxicEX: Vote then, retard @BeardStroker. Why come out and announce to the whole world what you’re gonna pick if you’re just gonna announce it anyway, idiot?!

MikeTheBoxer: Haa... @ToxicEX. The internet has made some of y’all really comfortable with using words that’d get you punched in the face for in the real world.

PowerScaler: Give it 50 posts and this thing is easily soloing gods.

ThatOneGeologist: Finally. Accurate rock representation.

RPG Lover: Okay. I’m game. Let’s see where this takes us.

Technicolor Theo: This is either going to be one the dumbest things I’ve ever read or the greatest thing ever! And I’m gonna be here to watch it all unfold! Can’t wait!

-

Aiden wouldn’t have been too surprised by the comments he was reading had he not seen the very last one.

"You can’t be serious..." he muttered to himself, a hint of curiosity on his features.

’It can’t be the same Theo, right?’ he inwardly remarked, his cursor already bringing up the profile of said user.

What he saw next though, had him genuinely stunned.

Though the profile in question only had a few followers in the lower double digits, there was probably over thirty posts on the account itself, all of them rather recent.

But what really got Aiden’s attention, was the content of said posts.

"Damn..." Aiden remarked in quiet awe, his olive-green irises glinting much the same as he leaned forwards slightly.

"This is pretty insane..." he added, upon cross-referencing the map he’d seen on Theo’s A4s to what he was witnessing now.

Then, without thinking twice, Aiden messaged him.

Over the course of yesterday, up until today, Aiden had been thinking of new spaces to get into. Spaces he could employ his skills in.

And though he hadn’t quite managed to find one, his current action was one that would drive him in the right direction.

A few seconds later after composing the message, he hit send.

Knowing better than to wait around for a response, he then returned his attention back to his own post.

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TUES YOUR ADVENTURE!

You gain consciousness.

The first thing you realize is that you can’t blink.

The second is that you don’t have any eyes.

You are a rock.

Just... a rock.

You lie on the side of a quiet road.

The wind brushes over your majestically rough surface.

Something buzzes nearby.

What do you do?

└ A] Observe the strange buzzing. [79%]

└ B] Attempt to move. [20%]

└ C] Continue existing. [1%]

(Voting ends in 24 hours. Next post comes up next week.)

-

Though the voting seemed completely skewed towards option A, Aiden knew better than to not prepare for all three choices.

’Better safe than sorry.’ he pondered to himself as he pulled out his notebook and began to review the ideas he’d drafted out.

Musing over the best way to go about things, Aiden soon settled into what he felt would be the best bet.

Striking a balance between what he felt was the most interesting, and what he felt his growing audience might like.

Speaking of growing audience though, Aiden’s follower count on TweetTalk had gone from an accumulated 2000+ over the last couple months, to suddenly ticking up by a 100+ in a single day.

Clearly, his strategy seemed to be working.

In any case, just as Aiden was writing out the new posts for each respective option that might end up winning out...

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[Ding!]

[Skill updated!]

-

’Ah. I was expecting that.’ Aiden thought to himself as he pulled up his panel to check his skills.

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[Aiden North] – Life Points – [1.8]

⸢Stats

› Mind — C

› Strength — E

› Stamina — D-

› Agility — F+

› Charm — B-

⸢Skills

› {Type Designing - A}, {Digital Illustration - I}, {Drawing - I}, {Cooking - I}, {Brewing - I}, {Singing - N}, {Dancing - N}, {Writing - N}.

⸢Shop

› Browse Catalogue.

⸢Daily Quests

› {Expand}

⸢Exclusive Quests

› Pending Update.

⸢Time-limited Quests

› {Expand}

-

⸢FAQ⸥

-

Considering ’Tues Your Adventure’ was his brainchild--a brainchild that required him to actually sit down and write it out, Aiden wasn’t too surprised that the new skill had been added to his repertoire.

Dismissing the panel, he resumed making the posts, a light hum of satisfaction escaping his lips as he did.

Midway through rounding up the last post though, he got a response from Theo... well, two responses, specifically.

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Technicolor Theo: Oh wow, it’s you! You made that ’Tues Your Adventure’ post, right?! It’s a fantastic idea! I didn’t even know you were an artist until I checked your profile! Wow!

Technicolor Theo: And, yes! I’d love that! I really would! I’ve actually been contacting a bunch of artists who might be interested in helping out, but to no avail, so you reaching out is a godsend! Thank you so much!

-

Seeing that response, Aiden smile warmly.

Though he’d never actually seen Theo speak that much in person, it was rather nice to see him so enthusiastic over the internet.

That said, Aiden actually hadn’t revealed himself to his classmate.

Given how much of a recluse Theo seemed to be, he figured it would be better to focus on building a rapport with him online first before letting him know they actually attended the same school.

After all, online Theo seemed very passionate... talkative, even. School Theo on the other hand... well, he barely spoke above a murmur.

Besides, judging from the way he’d panicked when his papers flew into the air, Aiden was intuitive enough to understand that Theo probably wanted his interests kept under wraps.

In fact, albeit Aiden wasn’t sure, he was beginning to put two and two together, one that made him realize why the youth often slipped into the computer room whenever he was chanced.

As a result, the last thing he wanted was for Theo to suddenly become self-conscious and retreat back into his shell after finally finding someone genuinely interested in his work.

Which was why, a few seconds later, he sent a text in response.

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AidenDraws: That I did. Thank you for the compliments :).

AidenDraws: You’re most welcome. So, which aspect would you like me to start with?

-

Aiden hadn’t even had to wait before a reply came almost immediately.

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Technicolor Theo: The map. I have a nasty case of aphantasia so all I’ve managed is a travesty to the art form XD! If you could help me spruce it up though, that’d be great! We can then progress from there!

AidenDraws: Alright. I’ll get to it then. I’ll contact you when it’s done.

Technicolor Theo: I look forward to it! Thank you once again!

-

Sending a thumbs up in response to that message, Aiden rounded up his own posts first, saved it in a word doc and then proceeded to take on Theo’s request.

...

...

...

It didn’t take long before night came.

Having taken a shower, and currently in his bed, Aiden was just about to put his phone aside when his messenger app buzzed with its familiar tone.

Typically, Aiden would’ve laid off on responding to it until tomorrow as he didn’t want to get sidetracked and fail his daily quest.

However, when he saw that it was from Casper, he couldn’t help but at least open it up.

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Casper: So... about that novel I was writing? Well, here’s the entire first volume. [The Last Radiant Knight.pdf].

-

Aiden had thought him stumbling upon Theo’s venture was enough of a whammy for one day.

Yet, as he stared at the name of the pdf Casper had sent him, the slumber in his eyes flickered away in an instant, his pupils dilating as he was hit with a double whammy.