AWACS - An American With A Chinese System
Copyright© 2025 by PT Brainum
Chapter 5
I had an interesting dilemma in my new active skills. I was being offered another level 5 skill, but that had problems. I already had a level 5 skill and having two would take up 8 levels of upgrading to get the skill to full power. I was considering using it to upgrade a skill instead. These were my choices:
Pick a New Active Skill:
~破釜沉舟 break pots, sink boats (0/4)
~废寝忘食 waste sleep forget food (0/5)
~闻鸡起舞 hear chicken get up to dance (0/2)
~讨价还价 ask price, make counter offer (0/3)
~理所当然 logic resides where it should be (0/1)
The top one I had seen before, I had a feeling it kept popping up because there weren’t many active skills that could generate points. Another interesting one was the hear chicken get up to dance, that was interesting because I just wanted to see what it was. Were dancing chickens a Chinese thing?
I didn’t have any 1 level skills, did that make them super powered from the start? I asked Scribe, “Do any of these affect people other than me?”
Ask price and logic resides both blinked. “Which one affects more people?”
Both blinked once. So equal maybe. “Which one lasts longer?”
Ask price, make counter offer blinked. “Do you suggest upgrading or getting a new skill?”
Ask price, make counter offer and hear chicken all blinked twice. I wasn’t sure if that meant yes or choose and upgrade once.
“Which one costs points to use?” Seemed like a brilliant if belated question.
They all blinked. “Which is cheapest to use?”
Hear chicken blinked, “which one is most useful to me right now.”
Hear chicken get up to dance blinked, so I picked it.
闻鸡起舞 hear chicken get up to dance (1/2)
- set an alarm to wake up choose the time you wish to wake, sleep soundly until the time arrives, cost 5000 points, must pick time before beginning sleep, must be a minimum of 5 hours, must not exceed 12 hours, will fall asleep immediately, other alarms will still wake you
I was slightly disappointed, maybe the upgrade made it significantly better? Even sleeping for 12 hours, my banks were large enough that they wouldn’t top off.
I checked my stats to see what changed.
0/1,300 (13) Level
4,189/13,000 positive points
3,291 neutral points
2,983/13,000 negative points
4 Active Skills
2 Passive Skills
50,000 Bonus Neutral Points
I had enough banked points to upgrade to level 19, my bonus points were a nice safety net in case I needed healing or some other emergency, I didn’t plan on using them.
I used all my positive points to level up, it gave me two more levels, and nearly a third. 12 more positive points rolled in from mosquito, so I finished it off.
1600 negative points took me to level 17, the rest plus 317 neutral points took me to 18. Moving to level 19 left me with nearly 1200 points, and 1900 points to level 20.
0/1,900 (19) Level
1/19,000 positive points
1,174 neutral points
0/19,000 negative points
4/7 Active Skills
2/5 Passive Skills
50,000 Bonus Neutral Points
I now had to decide, upgrades or new skills. I tried the passive skills. It seemed like I should have more of those:
Pick a New Passive Skill:
~感恩图报 be grateful to plan recompense (0/1)
~世外桃源 life outside peach blossoms (0/4)
~穿新鞋, 走老路 to wear new shoe, but go old path (0/1)
~高山流水 Alpine mountains, flowing water (0/4)
~箭在弦上, 不得不发 arrow in the middle of the bow must be used (0/4)
These were all new options, I hadn’t seen any of them before. Scribe recommended Alpine mountains as the most fun, to wear a new shoe as most utilitarian, arrow in the middle as being the only one that affected other people, and be grateful as the only one that generated points.
“Which one will I like the most?” Life outside peach blossoms blinked rapidly. Further questions couldn’t narrow it down, and I had three picks so I picked it.
世外桃源 life outside peach blossoms (1/4)
- where’s the princess, there is a hidden space accessible only by you that contains one ever fruiting peach tree, you may enter and exit this space any time you wish, returning to the exact spot you left
Scribe was right, I really liked that. A lot. I used it immediately.
I found myself sitting on soft grass, in front of a medium sized peach tree. It was covered in blossoms and fruit, and the smell was intoxicatingly sweet. I stood up and looked around, there was no sun visible in the blue sky above, but light was coming straight down over the tree, as it was surrounded by inviting shade.
I looked around, and the distance seemed indistinct and blurry. I moved away from the tree, walking without pain, but awkwardly on my toes as I was still wearing my casts. I reached a solid barrier about 20 feet from the tree. It curved in both directions, and I followed around, finding that it enclosed the space and the tree.
I couldn’t resist the smell and moved to the tree. The flowers seemed to be only in the upper branches, the lower branches were loaded with perfectly ripe peaches.
I picked one, and bit in. My moans as juice dribbled down my chin broke the still silence of the space.
I gathered five more, all I could hold, and returned right back to the seated position I had been in before.
I set the five peaches down, and finished the one I was eating.
I looked at the description, and chuckled at the joke. Princess Peach. I realized that there was another difference between Passive Skills and Active Skills, Passive Skills had a little comment before the description while Actives were more utilitarian in description.
I checked to see what other Passives I might get, and found the list different again:
Pick a New Passive Skill:
~心若死灰 heart reduced to ashes (0/2)
~刻舟求劍 to cut boat to seek sword (0/4)
~一无所有 one nothing possess (0/3)
~莫名其妙 unable speak inner subtleties (0/4)
~宾至如归 guest arrive as if to return (0/4)
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.