[The Protagonist ‘Jed’ has a Mentality Crack(Irritation). Congratulations! You’ve earned 50 Critical Points.]
Oho!
Alex, behind the wheel, felt a spark of interest. He’d been curious about this crime-solving ‘Protagonist’ for a while. He’d even swung by the police station a few times hoping to catch a glimpse, but Jed was always conveniently out on a murder case.
Tonight, Alex was just here because Riley was finishing her shift at This bar. It was also the last night Eric Vaughn was scheduled to give her grandma acupuncture, and Alex planned to take Riley to the hospital tomorrow to visit.
Running into the Protagonist himself? Total coincidence.
‘Seriously though,’ Alex mused, ‘just getting hit with headlights makes his mentality crack?’
‘And only 50 points? Come on, Mr. protagonist, don’t be so cheap!’
Alex smirked and decided to stay put. He kept the brights fixed squarely on the best-looking officer in the group.
[The Protagonist ‘Jed’ has a Mentality Crack. Congratulations! You’ve earned 100 Critical Points.]
‘Pathetic,’ Alex thought dismissively. ‘Eric Vaughn gave way better reactions…’ He couldn’t care less about these tiny point gains.
While bathing the crime-solver in light, Alex gave him a good look.
[Name: Jed]
[Genre: Crime-Solving System User]
[Luck Level: 7]
[Personality: Hates evil, calm and driven, sharp observer, great analyst, but fresh out of the academy, sometimes surprisingly clueless.]
‘Woah! Level 7?’ Alex drew a sharp breath.
That Eric Vaughn fellow was only Level 5. This Jed guy was starting off way stronger, already at Level 7!
What did Level 7 even mean for a Protagonist
Think about it: Eric Vaughn, the ‘Prodigy Doctor’ type, had three insane masters backing him, a legendary doctor, a master poisoner, and a top assassin. Even though he only started at Level 5.
Jed’s level genuinely shocked Alex.
Then, his eyes drifted to the ‘Genre’ section, and the shock intensified.
‘A System User protagonist!’
Ah. Well, that explained the Level 7 start.
Everyone knows the power ranking: Old Mentor guiding you is good, being reborn or sent to another world is better, but having a System? That was top-tier.
Protagonists with old monsters might be strong, but they had limits. System users? Their potential for crazy power was off the charts.
A flicker of caution sparked in Alex. Jed wasn’t just a System user; he was a crime-solving one. Did his System give him crazy skills like ‘Mind Reading’ or ‘Scene Replay’? Maybe super-powered versions of ‘Profiling’ or ‘Hypnosis’?
Crime-solvers in these stories already had weird abilities. Add a System that could grant anything?
Yeah, you definitely had to be careful with guys like this.
‘System,’ Alex thought, ‘got anything to block mental tricks?’
‘Only a system can counter a system,’ he figured.
[Red Alert: Creates a small field blocking low-level mental interference. Also alerts the user to attempted interference. Cost: 1 Critical Point per minute active. Price: 10,000 Critical Points.]
Perfect.
‘Only 10k? Pocket change. Buy it.’ Feeling loaded, Alex confirmed the purchase instantly.
Eric Vaughn had been a goldmine lately, constantly freaking out and generating points. It felt good having a nice cushion of Critical Points to spend. Definitely a satisfying feeling.
….
About three minutes crawled by just like that.
Lane definitely recognized her boss’s car. She’d spotted the car from the start. What puzzled her was why her boss was deliberately aiming his brights right at that surprisingly young cop.
The officer first tried blocking the light with his hand. When that didn’t stop, still squinting, he sidestepped left, trying to get out of the blinding beam. But weirdly, wherever he moved, the headlights moved too, locking onto him.
[The Protagonist ‘Jed’ has a Mentality Crack. Congratulations! You’ve earned 60 Critical Points.]
Jed was getting really confused now. What was the deal with this car? Why were its lights chasing him like a prison spotlight?
‘Seriously?’ Jed thought, annoyed. ‘Is being handsome a crime now?’
The lead officer nearby saw it too. This wasn’t accidental; the driver was clearly messing with Jed.
Just as the lead officer was about to step forward and ask the driver what was going on, Lane moved smoothly past the other cops, walked right up to the red sports car, and tapped politely on the driver’s side window.
The intense headlights clicked off instantly. The car door swung open, and Alex climbed out.
“Boss,” Lane greeted him respectfully, then quietly motioned for the bar’s security guy to take the car and park it.
Lane hadn’t whispered. All seven officers heard her call him ‘Boss.’
‘Ah, so that’s the owner of the bar,’ the lead officer thought, a small smile forming. ‘Young guy, clearly successful, and seems… decent enough…’
He remembered this was the man who’d generously replaced all the aging patrol cars at the station.
Alex was also known for investing heavily in local businesses, building factories and shops, creating jobs.
Plus, he was always front and center when it came to donating to charity. Little things like that earned him a lot of goodwill with the police force.
Jed rubbed his stinging eyes, still seeing spots after three minutes of headlight glare. He blinked, raising an eyebrow slightly as he sized up the young man who’d just emerged from the flashy supercar.
First thought: Damn, he’s handsome. Maybe even a little more so than Jed himself.
He’d heard a lot about Alex, the brilliant young entrepreneur all the senior officers seemed to admire.
Jed had been curious to meet him, but the station had been slammed recently with a string of nasty murder cases, keeping him constantly busy. No chance for introductions until now.
He hadn’t expected to run into Alex during an anti-vice raid with a senior patrol officer. Jed was training for the detective squad, that was his path after his internship.
But wanting to see different sides of police work and get more experience, he’d volunteered to join the patrol team tonight.
This bar was known as the biggest, fanciest club in the city. Normally, places like this in other towns were breeding grounds for prostitution or drugs. But This bar was different. Spotless.
No illegal stuff happened here, period. The place was run tight, and even the customers stayed in line. Nobody dared start trouble.
Everyone knew it was because Alex was the owner, and these were his rules.