AWACS - An American With A Chinese System
Copyright© 2025 by PT Brainum
Chapter 17
Ok, the room was nice. A good size TV viewable from bed, there was a two sided fireplace between the bedroom and the living room of the suite. The tub was big, and the bathroom had a separate shower. The living room had a bar area to the side, with chairs that faced a big TV, with a mini kitchenette sort of thing behind the bar. The fixtures were nice, nice solid looking wood and what looked like granite, and it was clean. The third TV, also in the living room, was a monster, with a comfy looking couch facing it.
I spent some time getting myself cleaned up, and headed to the restaurant for lunch. Food was the priority, everything else could wait.
I found a Mexican themed restaurant and had chips and guacamole, while I waited for my steak burrito. It was good, and I agreed to the offered beer, which went well with the burrito. I paid cash, getting another skill derived discount, instead of putting it on my Spirit Card.
I checked the time, and headed back to my room.
A review of what I could upgrade revealed it would take all 29 of my new skill points to fully level all my current skills. 20 of them would go to passive skills, while active skills only needed 9.
I was unsure if I’d get a haul like this again, the next level would cost 10 million points, and each one after that should go up another million, if the progression I saw as I leveled held up. Another 90 million point score would not even get me 7 new levels at the current cost.
I leaned back in the rooms recliner, with a partial view out the window. I took a deep breath, and opened the system.
Scribe was blinking the Free Spin button at me pretty insistently, so I hit the Free Spin:
Free Spin: Pick a Free Skill from a Random category, Skill will be fully upgraded.
~孺子可教 (?/?)
~含沙射影 (?/?)
~洛阳纸贵 (?/?)
~好人好事 (?/?)
~千军易得，一将难求 (?/?)
~苦尽甘来 (?/?)
~以小人之心度君子之腹 (?/?)
~笑里藏刀 (?/?)
~缘木求鱼 (?/?)
~惊弓之鸟 (?/?)
~杀鸡给猴看 (?/?)
The system must be punishing me. I couldn’t leave without picking, and Scribe wasn’t responding. I had no idea what any of this meant, so I just picked the longest one:
以小人之心度君子之腹 use nasty person’s heart to measure nobleman’s stomach (4/4)
- hearts of men, everyone’s karmic point balance is visible to you, no one can hide their actions, only works while looking at the person
- bad balance, take 25% of the total negative or positive karmic points, whichever is greater, of another person, points must be severely lopsided: have negative or positive points exceed the other by more than double, can only use once per day, can only use once per person
- deep well, take a second time, take 50% of the total negative or positive karmic points, whichever is greater, of another person, points must be severely lopsided, does not count as a daily use
- it’s an ocean, take a third time, make them balanced, take all the excess of negative or positive karmic points so that they become balanced, person must be lopsided, does not count as a daily use
Wow, pretty good for a random pick. From the description style, I knew it was a Passive Skill, and since it showed me stuff about other people I figured it must be a category four like crouching tiger. I was probably in a great location to find people who were severely lopsided.
I checked my stats and confirmed I had a new Passive Skill.
I asked Scribe if he was going to be blocked on all Free Spin choices now, he blinked once, then twice. I guess he didn’t know. I went ahead and picked the next Free Spin.
Free Spin: Pick 3 Free Skills.
~维妙维肖 maintain wonderful maintain resemblance
~九牛二虎之力 strength of nine ox and two tigers
~龙飞凤舞 dragon flies phoenix dances
~余音绕梁 lingering sounds spiral around the roof beam
~不知肉味 to not know meat smell
~马到成功 horse go to success
~开卷有益 to open a book profitable
~饮水思源 drink water to consider source
~云消雾散 cloud disappears fog disperses
~来日方长 future direction long to grow
~念念不忘 study study don’t forget
~金石为开 metal and stone to become opened
Twelve choices this time, and I get to pick three. Scribe wasn’t available, but at least I had descriptions to review. I had never seen any of these skills before, I couldn’t even guess at the category they belonged to. Strength of nine ox looked good, dragon flies looks good, I wondered if it was also a flight skill, to open a book was interesting, because it mentioned profit.
Study study might be good for learning new things. Metal and stone become opened was intriguing, no idea what it meant, but it sounded cool. Cloud disappears might be some sort far sight, or being able to see through stuff. Future direction sounds like maybe it could let you see the future, or future probabilities. Horse go sounds like it might guarantee success.
I picked my three:
九牛二虎之力 strength of nine ox and two tigers (1/1)
- you are super strong, spend multiples of 50 points per second, each increase doubles your strength, applies to power exerted and physical resilience, if points reach zero or you stop your strength will return to your normal weakling self
马到成功 horse go to success (1/1)
- you are fast, spend multiples of 50 points per second, each increase doubles your speed, increases physical speed and mental speed including reaction times, if points reach zero or you stop your speed will return to your normal slug self
金石为开 metal and stone to become opened (1/1)
- make a round hole in any solid material, cost variable 50 points multiplied by area of hole multiplied by depth of hole as measured in fēn, can not be used on living things, no maximum limit, hole forms in one second, hole must go thru to the opposite side, material removed is lost, must need able to see where hole will start to activate
I hopped up, grabbed the couch firmly with both hands, and activated: strength of nine ox and two tigers, I won’t mention how many multiples I had to use, but I was able to lift it, and spin it around, and set it back down again. As I set it down and dropped the skill, I discovered it was a hideabed couch, so extra heavy. I felt less bad about having to double my strength so many times.
Active Skill Super Powers, from category two. They were all single level, but they also were scaling depending on how much I was willing to spend. I did a quick stat check:
0/10,000,000 (90) Level
88,800/100,000,000 positive points
20,627,900 neutral points
29,600/100,000,000 negative points
17/31 Active Skills
18/33 Passive Skills
47,605 Bonus Neutral Points
1 Free Spin
My number of Skills was now nearly even, even though one of the skills wasn’t really an official skill, just my very helpful and beloved Scribe. I told him that he was beloved and helpful, and he blinked the upgrade button at me.
“Show me the upgrades you recommend,” I told him.
Upgradeable Passives:
~贪天之功 covet heavens achievements (1/4)
~一狐之腋 one foxes armpit (2/5)
~世外桃源 life outside peach blossoms (1/4)
~莫名其妙 unable speak inner subtleties (2/3)
~瑕不掩瑜 a flaw in jade does not conceal luster (1/4)
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