Chapter 102: Concoctions

After dinner with his Pops and the general pleasantries, both individuals headed to their respective rooms.

Showering first, Aiden soon landed onto his bed in his pajamas a couple minutes later.

Having received what he could assume was perhaps the fastest line of contact to SlurpPAK from Casper, Aiden proceeded to construct and send them an e-mail.

No sooner was he done drafting it out, he received a notification from his system just as he was about to review it.

-

[Skills updated.]

-

Briefly assessing it out of curiosity, Aiden realized that it was his {Writing} skill that had progressed to the Intermediate grade.

"I’ll take it." he muttered to himself then finally hit send.

Now that he had the achievements tab, Aiden knew for a fact that every skill upgrade--asides from simply benefiting him--counted towards gaining more LPs.

It was also why, after placing his phone aside on the bedside table, he returned his attention to the translucent green interface.

-

⸢Achievements

› {A Cut Above} – [Claim 1 LP?]

└ Take all attributes to grade B.

-

Claiming his reward, Aiden’s system naturally updated in sync, his Life Points settling into 9.615.

Dismissing the panel following that, the young man proceeded to finally get some shut eye.

Unsurprisingly, he woke up the very next morning to yet another notification.

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[Quests completed!]

[Quests updated!]

[Title applied!]

⸢Daily Quests

› Ahead of the Curve.

└ Read and assimilate three pages daily from your collegiate textbooks – [0.05 LP].

› How To Be Strong.

└ 30 push-ups! 30 pull-ups! 30 sit-ups! 30 squats! 15km run! – [0.15 LP].

⸢Time-limited Quests

› Go Big or Go Home!

└ Make $5,000,000 before your next fiscal year end – [7 LP]

-

Aiden rolled his eyes at the new Time-Limited quest as he slipped out of his bed and transitioned smoothly from a deadfall into his push-ups.

That said, Aiden couldn’t help but believe that he was finally reaching a plateau with the number of Life Points he could gain from his Daily Quests.

For one, he was only getting a little bump to it despite having upgraded his lowest stats twice in quick successions.

In fact, it seemed like the Life System was more focused on optimizing and balancing things out for him instead.

Which, if Aiden was being honest, made a whole lot of sense to him.

There was only so much it could allow before it started pushing him into superhuman territory--at least enough that people would begin to take notice... which honestly wouldn’t bode well for very obvious reasons.

Nonetheless, gaining 7.5 to 7.75LPs from his daily quests monthly was very much welcome.

Afterall, that was roughly 90 to 93 LPs per year... which wasn’t even accounting for all of the extra quests in between.

Speaking of extra quests;

’Five million, huh?’ Aiden pondered to himself as he switched into sit-ups.

’That’s gonna be a bit difficult, even for me.’ he acknowledged.

Yet, in the next moment, a slow, exhilarating grin touched his lips as he inwardly declared;

’Bring it on!’

With that, Aiden continued through the motions, and eventually rounded up his exercises roughly thirty minutes later with his daily run.

Greeting his Pops whom was already in the kitchen and had already made breakfast, Aiden causally settled onto the stool next to him, both sharing a comfortable silence as they ate.

A few minutes later, they were both out the door and on their way to their respective destinations.

Currently navigating over to his email as he strolled down the street, some part of Aiden hoped that SlurpPAK would’ve responded.

Instead, all Aiden saw were the same old promotions and spam mails.

Not the least bit perturbed by it though, the coal-haired youth pocketed his phone and continued his walk to school.

For as much as he wanted to kickstart the beverage business, Aiden knew he had to get it right if he really wanted to succeed in the venture.

So, if by chance SlurpPAK never responded, he would simply try his luck somewhere else. If unfortunately, he wasn’t able to find other co-packers that checked his boxes, then he would opt to meet with the more established ones.

Granted his initial investments would almost double if he went down that route as opposed to if he worked with one that was less established, the eventual payoffs would be worth it nonetheless--if he played his cards right at least.

Arriving on school grounds about seven minutes later, the gang already huddled up in their usual spot on the well-kept lawns as they conversed, Aiden abruptly stopped himself before calling out to them.

Instead, he tugged on his {Insight} to appraise every single one of them.

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› {Larry Vance} – [0.5 LP]

└ Assess?

› {Theo Brooks} – [0.5 LP]

└ Assess?

› {Casper Callaghan} – [0.5 LP]

└ Assess?

› {Clyde MacAuley} – [0.5 LP]

└ Assess?

› {Benjamin Beaumont} – [0.5 LP]

└ Assess?

-

Granted Aiden didn’t have plans to begin dishing out skills and upgrading their stats like he was a Pokémon trainer, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to at least have their details in his inventory.

Still, he couldn’t help but wince a bit as the points were promptly deducted from his current 9.815LPs, leaving him with 7.315 Life Points.

Opting to shelve all of them for now as it would be pretty weird to stand in the middle of the lawn whilst staring blankly into space, Aiden finally made his way over to his buddies and greeted with gestured arms;

"Idiots~! How’re you doing?! What are you up to?"

"Oh, you know. Plotting how we’re going to get all the carnival game rewards at Luna Park." Casper replied as the rest of the gang thoughtfully nodded in the affirmative.

Without thinking twice, Aiden slung an arm over Clyde’s and Benjamin’s shoulders, his smile widening and intrigued as he remarked;

"Alright, then. What’s the plan?"

*

Aiden spent the next couple days battling with the homemade brandy.

Even after upgrading his {Brewing} skill, he was unable to get it into the excellent grade.

As a result, he’d come to the conclusion that this was the limit of the quality he could get from a homemade brew using the limited equipment he had.

To that effect, he’d placed it on the backburner and pivoted, shifting his attention solely to the coconut-infused sparkling water for the next week and a half.

Having received Mrs. Rodriguez’s recipe, Aiden had begun with it as the base flavor.

Then he had gone right ahead and made three distinct flavors out of it.

Pineapple-mint.

Watermelon-lime.

Cucumber-lime.

Appraising them all with {Insight}, he had ended up spending a 0.05 LP per appraisal, tallying them up to 0.15 LPs expended.

Having done that, Aiden had then employed {Midas Touch} to suggest individual improvements to each of them, each improvement costing 0.5LP each, and eventually resulting in another expense of 1.5LPs.

Upon finishing them all;

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› {Pineapple-Mint Coconut-infused Sparkling Water}

Created by Aiden North, this lightly sweet, tropical sparkling water is built around a smooth coconut-water base, which is complemented by the bright sweetness and gentle acidity of ripe pineapples. Fresh mint adds a crisp, cooling contrast, while delicate carbonation brings everything together with a lively mouthfeel, leaving behind a refreshing blend of tropical sweetness, subtle coconut and a lingering mint aftertaste.

└ Quality: Great.

-

› {Watermelon-Lime Coconut-infused Sparkling Water}

A clean and refreshing coconut-water sparkling drink infused with the delicate sweetness of ripe watermelon and the bright tartness of fresh lime created by Aiden North. The naturally mild coconut base gives the beverage a smooth feel without overpowering the fruit, while gentle carbonation adds a crisp, effervescent character. It finishes light and juicy, with watermelon, coconut and a refreshing citrus tang lingering on the palate.

└ Quality: Great.

-

› {Cucumber-Lime Coconut-infused Sparkling Water}

A crisp and sophisticated coconut-water sparkling drink made by Aiden North, this mixture is infused with cucumber and lime. The subtle sweetness and smoothness of the coconut base balances the cucumber’s clean, refreshing taste, while the lime provides a bright citrus edge. Fine carbonation gives it an invigorating bite, culminating in an exceptionally clean finish of coconut, cucumber and fresh lime.

└ Quality: Great.

-

Yet again, Aiden hadn’t quite managed to crack the excellent grade. Even then, he wasn’t particularly worried or bothered.

Now that he was certain that his skills weren’t lacking, it was crystal clear that he was simply lacking in the infrastructure required to really push things the concoctions to the next level.

A bridge he knew he would eventually cross in due time.

Unfortunately, SlurpPAK still hadn’t responded to him, and Aiden himself hadn’t been as lucky to find other co-packing startups that met his criterion thus far.

Despite this, he wasn’t the least bit desperate. Having handed over the mixes to Dr. Kowalski for vetting later that very same week, Aiden decided to focus on his upcoming final year exams.

When they were finally done with said exams though, the current senior years were rather hyped.

Afterall, not only were they one step out the door of high school, they could finally also go on their planned trip to Coney Island.