AWACS - An American With A Chinese System
Copyright© 2025 by PT Brainum
Chapter 48
I resolved to never let myself get unbalanced like that again. It was even worse than the death I experienced on the tarmac in Beijing. I ate a peach, and a few pomegranate seeds to see if I got any good ideas. The only thing that seemed good was doing my Free Spin.
I triggered it:
Free Spin: Upgrade Passive Skills (10/10), Upgrade Active Skills: (10/10)
Like the bonus points I won so early in this adventure, it added a new item to my stats:
0/120,000,000 (112) Level
26,560,000/1,200,000,000 positive points
83,518,964 neutral points
12,575,000/1,200,000,000 negative points
29/32 Active Skills
27/30 Passive Skills
47,605 Bonus Neutral Points
Active Skill Upgrades: 10/10
Passive Skill Upgrades: 10/10
I was really pleased that I didn’t have to use them immediately. I had six new skills to choose, three passive, three active, then I could use my upgrades. These upgrades were extremely valuable, because, barring a happy accident, it would take a while to gather up 120 million points for the next level.
I picked passive options first:
Pick a New Passive Skill:
~普天同庆 everywhere heaven together celebrate (0/4)
~精打细算 meticulous plan (0/4)
~天作之合 heaven considers perfect fit (0/3)
~缘木求鱼 climbing trees to catch fish (0/3)
~箭在弦上, 不得不发 arrow in the middle of the bow must be used (0/4)
The pomegranate must have been working, because I immediately knew what I wanted to pick:
箭在弦上, 不得不发 arrow in the middle of the bow must be used (1/4)
- let’s go, the person you pick will be motivated to start immediately whatever future task is planned, even if they aren’t ready, must be waiting for them to begin, must be within speaking distance
No more waiting for somebody to be ready on time. Another overpowered category five, controlling other people. I wondered if I would ever feel comfortable when using these skills. I had used my suggestion skill pretty readily, and for what could be considered a pretty evil purpose. I was self aware enough to realize that it would be very easy to abuse that particular power set, so I think I was purposely trying not to use them. Useful but they made me question my morality, and my ability to resist temptation. I sighed, and selected my next pick:
Pick a New Passive Skill:
~少见多怪 seldom sees many wonders (0/4)
~今朝有酒今朝醉 now to have wine now intoxicated (0/4)
~安居乐业 lived peacefully cheerfully work (0/4)
~杀鸡给猴看 kill chicken for monkey to watch (0/4)
~洛阳纸贵 Luoyang paper is expensive (0/4)
Nice options. Scribe confirmed that the last two were both category four skills, as I had picked the last available category five passive. Nice to know that I had reached my passive limit in controlling others.
Scribe also had two suggestions:
Luoyang paper and seldom sees many wonders. One was category one, which meant points, the other a category four I had only seen once before I think. When queried I got the idea that it was a route to lots of money, but only when leveled up.
With the inflationary cost of levels, I decided to go with points:
少见多怪 seldom sees many wonders (1/4)
- that’s new, if you notice that something is different you will gain 50 negative points if it’s a nice change, 50 positive points if it’s not a nice change, only effective the third time you’ve been somewhere, not effective on changes in living creatures
I knew that point skills got much better after upgrading them, so I selected one of my free upgrades:
少见多怪 seldom sees many wonders (4/4)
- that’s new, if you notice that something is different you will gain 50 negative points if it’s a nice change, 50 positive points if it’s not a nice change, only effective after the third time you’ve been somewhere, not effective on changes in living creatures
- brand new, anytime you travel somewhere new you will gain 5000 negative points if it’s a nice place, 5000 positive points if it’s not a nice place, must be farther than 10 lǐ from anywhere you have ever been before
- howdy stranger, generate 500 points every time you meet new people, positive points if they are in a good mood, negative if they are in a bad mood, must say some sort of greeting to trigger, or just nod if in Texas
- afternoon somewhere, get 10000 points every time you move into a new time zone, each time zone can generate points only once per week
I jumped up and down in excitement. I had expected the skill to go up one level. But it went up to max, with just one use of the free spin upgrades! I was so glad I tested it on a four level skill first, it would have been a waste to use it on two level skill.
Holy crap that was an awesome free spin!
I quickly reviewed the points, and realized it was a very good skill. 10 li was just 5 km, I could walk that, or even fly it in moments, plus any long distance flight in the future would totally pay for itself if I crossed a few time zones while doing so. Especially with my stacking bonuses. There were 24 time zones, in an emergency I could fly a circle around the earth, I could loop the earth in 90 seconds or less at x17, and spend less than 58000 points. If I hit enough time zones I could generate 240000 points before bonuses. The one week limit made it not a great bonus, but I was looking forward to upping my speed when I headed back and hitting as many time zones as possible. I realized then that it specified time zones, and some places would be on daylight savings and others on standard time so I could potentially get more than 24 if I planned the route right.
I pushed the calculations to the side, and chuckled again thinking of some future trip to Texas. A Texas dance hall full of ladies, and I’d be a bobble head trying to score points.
Pick a New Passive Skill:
~普天同庆 everywhere heaven together celebrate (0/4)
~精打细算 meticulous plan (0/4)
~富丽堂皇 rich imposing grand (0/4)
~洛阳纸贵 Luoyang paper is expensive (0/4)
~孺子可教 child able to be taught (0/4)
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