章 2: HogScape
Pro could feel a rush of energy flow through his body, and he could feel the faint weakness of his body fading away a bit. It didn't take long for the congratulations message screen to fade away as a familiar game interface faded into existence within Pro's vision.
Glancing at the familiar mini-map design at the top-right corner of his vision and the two lines of seven buttons at the bottom right corner of his vision, Pro had a feeling of nostalgia as he recalled his childhood of hardcore grinding. Although the interface was modified and wasn't exactly the same, Pro was still able to recall where it came from with a glance.
"Isn't this the Old School R*nescape game interface?! It also seems to be the newer interface version where there won't be a rectangle box permanently stuck on the right side of the screen. Out of the fourteen button grids, most of the buttons are missing and replaced by a blank grid. The transparent chat box is there, but all the chat buttons are also missing except the game toggle button, which is for system notifications. So, there probably isn't any chat function and the chat interface is probably used for system notifications."
With a glance, Pro was able to notice the many functions that were probably still locked. Probably more functions will be unlocked in the future, but right now, there seem to be limited functions.
The mini-map was working fine to display the surroundings to Pro's surprise, but Pro was not able to tap on the map to auto-move to his destination. To the left of the mini-map was the compass and the data orbs of hitpoints with 10 HP and run energy of 100. On the other hand, the prayer points and special attack orbs seems to be missing.
"Starting with 10 HP is the default and 100 run energy ... but isn't that the standard of an adult? Well, I'll figure out how that works later."
At the bottom right control panel, the available buttons include the combat options, skills, quest list, inventory, worn equipment, and settings buttons.
"It seems the essential buttons are still here! Not only do I have the level grind, I most likely have an inventory space!" Pro thought in excitement.
Just when Pro wanted to check out the functions of the available buttons, his mother poked her head around the corner and called out to him, "Pro, what are you doing dilly dallying over there? Hurry and come eat breakfast. You don't want to be late now do you, darling?"
"Yes, mother," Pro obediently replied and strolled over to the living room doorway.
Strolling past the door of the closet below the staircase and stepping through the archway, a cozy living room of pastel colors and chintzy fabric entered Pro's eyes. Across from the entrance to the living room was the entrance leading to the small garden of the house.
Facing a fireplace on the eastern wall, there was a sofa featuring a common mottled print with a small, round glass table sitting on each side of the couch. A white lamp sat on top of each table along with a couple of photo frames. Many of the furnishing had gold accents and there was a bouquet of flower sitting on top of a rectangular, glass coffee table in front of the couch. A cathode ray tube television silently sat in the corner of the living room to the left of the fireplace.
The kitchen was through a rectangular doorway next to the doorway that Pro entered from. The dining room was located through an archway on the eastern wall, at the corner of the living room between the fireplace and the kitchen door.
Hurrying into the dining room, Pro found his father sitting in a solid pine dining chair at the head of a large, rectangular glass dining table while reading a newspaper and sipping a cup of coffee. On the table, there was already a plate of food consisting of bacon, fried egg, and a slice of buttered toast.
Hopping onto his chair on one side of the table, Pro calmly waited for his breakfast to come. Although he could go offer his assistance to his mother, it would be out of the normal if he did. Perhaps he would find some way to ease in his abnormal intelligence in the future, but not now when he had no time to plan at all.
Hearing the sound of footsteps behind him, Pro turned around to see his mother coming into the dining room with two more plates of food. She gently placed one of the plates in front of Pro while she glanced at his hair with a frown. After placing down the other plate on the other side, she reached out her hand and pinched daddy Joseph once more.
"Ow! Hey! What was that for baby?" Joseph exclaimed in confusion.
"Joseph! Did you mess up our cute darling Pro's hair again? I remember it being perfect when he came down just then! Why do you do this every day? Even your own hair is a mess, for goodness's sake Joseph," Beatrice gave Joseph a glare while she combed Pro's hair with her hands.
"Hahaha~ You know I can't help it baby. Lil Pro is just too cute, and I can't resist giving his head a rub!" Joseph chuckled with no remorse as he gave Pro a wink while stashing his newspaper to the side.
Pro secretly rolled his eyes, but didn't make any comments and allowed his mother to fix his hair. After Beatrice was happy with his hair, she took off her apron as she strolled to the kitchen. Not long later, she returned and sat in her seat across from Pro.
"Alright, time to eat up. Pro, remember to eat more so you can grow up more! Mommy even made your favorite scrambled eggs just for you. You don't seem to be as pale today and perhaps you can eat more to break your record! Mommy can't wait to see my baby growing more fat~"
Glancing down at his plate that was piled with even more food than the plates of the two adults, Pro can't help but twitch his mouth. How do you expect a kid to eat so much? Of course, Pro knew from his memory that his parents didn't expect him to eat all of the food.
Although his parents doted on him, the downside was that they weren't strict with him. They never blamed him for wasting food nor for being a picky eater. In fact, they were not too strict regarding his life overall and were willing to buy him anything if he asks for it. They only hoped that he lived happily and healthily.
Still, Pro won't complain about his current situation because he would enjoy the freedom that he had. In fact, what made Pro surprised was that the previous owner of this body didn't become a spoiled brat. Perhaps this had something to do with his previous frail body, it seems the previous owner might be a bit more mature than expected.
Unfortunately, his time still came and he was replaced by Pro. Pro was also a bit afraid he might just drop dead silently someday, but after binding with the system, he could feel the vitality that coursed through his body, and he felt that his body was not as frail as before.
However, it seems that healing his body consumed most of his energy. Feeling the protest of his stomach, Pro did not wait any longer and he dived into his plate of food while trying to keep his eating manners the same as his memories. Although this slowed down his consumption a bit and worried his parents for a moment, this worry was dispelled when he broke his record by eating more than usual.
Of course, he still wasn't able to completely polish the plate. Seriously, the amount of food was not what a child his size should eat. Pro was surprised that he managed to stuff down almost the entire plate of food. Perhaps it had something to do with the system binding.
Patting his belly in satisfacation, Pro watched his mother clean up the plates. Even when he offered to help, he only earned another hair ruffling from his father and was told by his mother that he shouldn't do heavy duties until he grows up a bit more. Pro could only sigh in exasperation as he knew that he might have freedom in many areas, but will be restricted when it comes to many physical activities.
It didn't take long for his mother to return with a cup of juice. Handing the cup of juice to Pro, Beatrice gently commanded while fixing his hair, "Go on Pro, be good and drink your daily juice. It will be good for you."
Glancing at the cup of unknown juice that had a weird smell, Pro frowned a bit but he still chugged it down as usual. Based on his memories, he knew that he has been drinking this 'strange juice' with a nearly everyday, but he didn't know what it was. He just knew that this strange tasting 'juice' would make him feel better for the day.
Although the previous owner didn't discover anything wrong, but Pro was able to notice the strangeness. Even though Pro didn't know all the juices in the world, he was clear that there wasn't a juice that tasted this bitter. Pro was inclined to believe that this 'juice' was medicine, but he didn't know what medicine; however, he trust that his parents won't harm him.
Seeing Pro finish the medicine, mommy Beatrice gave him a kiss on the forehead as she praised, "Good job my darling. Now go and let your daddy bring you to school. Remember ..."
Then, an omitted section of motherly care, warnings, and lecture occur. Pro felt grateful when daddy Joseph interrupted and said it was time to go. Mommy Beatrice finally let Pro head off after handing Joseph a child-size backpack and smooching Pro a couple more times, making daddy Joseph jealous and also asking for smooches like a child.
Heading out the front door, Pro skipped through the paved pathway traversing through the green lawn and arrived near the street where a silver-white Ford Sierra was parked. Opening the car door, Joseph picked Pro up and placed him in a child car seat to Pro's dismay. After buckling him in, Joseph chuckled and ruffled Pro's hair once more. In the end, Pro can't escape having messy hair like his father.
Vroom. With the churning of the engine, the car drove off to school. Ignoring the passing scenery around him, Pro returned his attention back to his system interface.
Ignoring the mini-map that was scrolling by like a GPS's display, Pro focused his attention on the available buttons at the bottom of the screen.
Tapping on the combat options button, a rectangular box appeared above the line of buttons and displayed a couple of options that are familiar to R*nescape players.
Unarmed Combat Level: 3
[Punch: For every point of damage dealt with a punch, gain 4 exp in Attack and 1.33 exp in HP, Gain invisible +3 to Attack Level]
[Kick: For every point of damage dealt with a kick, gain 4 exp in Strength and 1.33 exp in HP, Gain invisible +3 to Strength Level]
[Block: For every point of damage dealt with a punch, gain 4 exp in Block and 1.33 exp in HP, Gain invisible +3 to Block Level]
[Auto Retaliate (Off)]
"Oh! Same as the game except that I will need to actually do the right actions in order to gain exp. Based on my experience, I should train strength first. Let's also set auto retaliate to on because I should hit back when I get hit."
Checking to see that his father isn't paying attention, Pro raised his hand and tapped on the kick and auto retaliate options to select them. Successfully changing the options, Pro switched over to the stats page. Unsurprisingly, most of the skills were replaced by an empty grid, and the only available skills were attack, strength, block, and hitpoints.
Unlike the game, the quest list was completely empty. It seems that there wasn't any novice quests that he could do, and Pro didn't know if it would be a trigger on encounter type quest system. The inventory rendered a blank screen of 28 slots as expected, and Pro didn't have anything to test out the function of the inventory at the moment.
So, he moved on to the worn equipment page. To Pro's surprise, he actually saw that his clothes counted as equipment that filled in the body, legs, and feet slots. However, they obviously did not provide any equipment stats. The settings menu has a multitude of settings to adjust the interface and sound effects, but that was about it.
After a while of congestion, the car finally reached his primary school. Dropping Pro off, daddy Joseph gave Pro's hair another ruffle as he chuckled, "Cute lil Pro, remember to make a couple more new friends after going to class. Dad will be here to pick you up at 3:30 sharp. If dad doesn't show up, make sure to stay in the building lest you catch a cold."
"Yes, father. I won't catch a cold so easily," Pro gave the standard response from his memory.
"Good! That's my strong lil boy!"
Putting the child-size backpack onto Pro's back and ruffling his son's hair a final time, Joseph chuckled before sending him off. After watching his son safely walk into the school, Joseph was finally relieved and drove off with a smile.
On the other hand, Pro silently stood in the midst of the chaotic primary school kids. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly and bemoan the fact that he had to go through primary education again with tons of little brats.
"Hopefully it won't be too troublesome ..."
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