Early the next morning, Ben woke up in his bed to the sounds of birds outside, and stretched his arms out. Only after coming home from the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament did he realize how exhausted, sore, and beat up his body was after all that grappling. He'd fallen right to sleep and spent the entire evening in bed.
Only now did he get a chance to reflect and think back to his conversation with Ricardo Barbosa. Although the main reason Ben agreed to start standup was because he'd seen busy beauties on TV at those events before, he still realized the importance of standup.
After all, Nick had sent him flying with just one punch and that was enough of a lesson. Ben had started MMA with the intention of reinforcing the safety of his cuckolding…
As such, it only made sense to him to go all the way, both in MMA and with men's wives…
To do that though, it was clear BJJ wouldn't be enough. He needed to learn striking, becoming an all-rounder. In any case, although he wasn't any time of master in BJJ, his skill level at the moment was pretty good. As for what was in store for the striking training he agreed to begin at Ricardo's gym, Ben had no idea. He'd learn about that when the time came.
For now, he had other business to take care of—counting his rewards!
Opening the system screen, Ben navigated to his challenges.
[Congratulations! You've completed the Special Optional Challenge: Tourney Time, Not Horny Time – Win a BJJ tournament at Barbosa MMA Gym]
[Reward: 5000 PUA Points, signs of recognition or permission to train in more advanced classes]
[Punishment: Extended period without permission to train in more advanced classes]
[Distributing reward: PUA points x 5000]
As for the other reward, before Ben left, Ricardo gave him permission to move up to train in the purple belt class as he'd promised in the past. However, when Ben asked if he could be upgraded to a blue belt, Ricardo just laughed at him…
In the end though, perhaps feeling bad, Ricardo gave Ben a condolence gift, having pulled out some black tape from his desk drawer, walking over to Ben and wrapping one black stripe around the tip of Ben's white belt. It also made Ben scream, "Get away from my d*ck, pervert!"
…
However, realizing what was happening, he held himself back and accepted his status upgrade, as meager as it was. Now, back at home, he appreciated the genuine upgrade he cared about, as he reviewed the system notifications he'd received back at the gym.
[Congratulations, you've been granted access to a higher level of training at the Dojo: Barbosa MMA Gym]
[Your development speed will accelerate while training in more advanced classes]
[Earn further rewards by being awarded signs of recognition such as stripes and higher belt colors]
[Your status in the Dojo has increased]
[Distributing partial reward: PUA Points + 5000]
[Congratulations, you've been granted an official status upgrade at the Dojo: 1-stripe white belt]
[Your status in the Dojo has increased]
[Distributing partial reward: PUA Points + 1000]
Now, Ben's PUA points were starting to accumulate once again, making him feel a little better after wasting so many during the week when he prepared for the tournament. The rewards for winning weren't incredible, but he didn't have an MMA system in the end, it was a pickup artist system. So that was only reasonable.
In fact, the big reward here was the chance to advance classes, which would give him an opportunity to boost the speed of development of his personal talent stat, which would help him in the long run. Regardless, the thing Ben wanted most, he achieved—which was revenge on Nick.
At least, that had been the case until Ben took that sucker punch. Ben narrowed his eyes as he stared at the ceiling. 'Some people really don't appreciate death until their girlfriends see my c*ck-in…'
In reality, Ben was magnanimous. He'd been willing to let Nick go if Nick only took his loss like a man, showing good sportsmanship.
Followed by begging on his knees and presenting his girlfriend Lia to Ben as tribute…
Still, he thought was mighty kind of him. Now, they had another grudge to settle, and since Nick had been kicked out of the gym, Ben would need to find other ways to get back at him. Of course, he already had some ideas…
However, those would take time. For now, Ben needed to move on with his life, because his death challenge was something that would never take it easy on him. If he relaxed too much and forgot about that, in some months, it would be Ben's turn to get smashed by a truck and isekai'd, and that would be the best-case scenario.
Well, since it was sex that brought him closer to completing that challenge, Ben and his little brother didn't find it too difficult to stay focused. No, they were focusing very hard…
Still, the pickup was only a means to an end this time. It was about stats. With that in mind, Ben thought about how he should spend his points. Right now, what he needed was a new Stat Growth Multiplier, but as he considered whether he should spend points to buy one, he remembered he'd gotten one as a random price from all the mystery boxes he'd bought this week.
Leaning over to his right and reaching into his desk, Ben removed the white card.
[Low Level Stat Growth Multiplier(Consumable, Fine, Looks) x1]
Since he already had this one, he figured he might as well use it now. There was no rush to develop any other stat and he'd already used one of these before so he knew how to develop his looks. It was as simple as continuing to go to the gym and doing physical training, which would develop his body. Although, he had little confidence a low level card would be enough to get his Looks stat to a 7, knowing how difficult every point above 6 was, but it would bring him closer in any case.
With that in mind, Ben went ahead and used the card.
*Whoosh*
Right away, it was as he saw a vision, or perhaps, some would call it a goal.
It was of a dark-skinned man dancing while wearing nothing but a red bandana and a USA flag as a thong!
"NO!"
Ben shook his head violently as the image faded away. He didn't know where that came from but he'd prefer it if he'd seen a doge meme as an aspirational target…
"Whatever, it's time to get to work." Forgetting about that, Ben felt the rush of motivation to work on his looks. As a result, he got his things together and prepared to go to the gym. His thoughts were a bit distracted though, because after this gym session, he had the Strategic Marketing class, and he remembered there were quite a few beauties he was looking forward to seeing there…
——
*Author's Note: Hello everyone, sorry for the lack of releases. I will continue writing as many chapters per week as I can. Believe me when I say I have very little free time and spend much of it writing whenever possible.
