The next morning, Maluck woke up feeling like a winner.
Which was nice, considering yesterday felt like a constant battle against fate itself.
Stretching, he mentally pulled up his stat sheet, which had quickly become the first thing he always did in the morning.
STATS
Luck Level: 2 (0/200)
Unfortunate – Your toast lands butter-side down. On your last clean shirt.
Bad Luck Points (BP): 18
Luck Points (LP): 82
Strength (Str): 1.10
Intelligence (Int): 1.28
Charisma (Cha): 1.02
Health (HP): 1.01
Dexterity (Dex): 1.03
Wisdom (Wis): 1.62 (Damn, that shot up.)
Constitution (Con): 1.02
Endurance (End): 1.18
Perception (Per): 1.14
Cash: $224,500 (Cash + Bank)
Roll of Cash: $21,903
Pending Expenses:
?Visex Bill: $12,000
?Books: $20
?Outfit: $55
?Total: $12,075
Miscellaneous:
?1982 Penny: Estimated $100,000 (Yeah, still need to cash that out.)
?Unknown Bigfoot Coins: ??? (Might be worth millions. Who knows?)
INVENTORY
?Bad Luck Bracelet (A reminder of past suffering.)
?The Probability Charm – Boosts the chance of something happening by 10%, but at the cost of Luck Points.
?The Luck Siphon Stone – Steals luck from others and adds it to yours. (Recharged.)
?The Appraiser’s Lens – Reveals hidden value in objects, investments… and even people. (Recharging.)
?The Lucky Watch – Time is always on your side while wearing it. Never late, never too early.
?Fortune Tuner (25 LP Per Use) – Turns bad luck into good luck. Because sometimes the universe needs a shove in the right direction.
SKILLS (Expand?)
The most important thing?
He had Luck Points again.
And after a full day of suffering without them, Maluck had learned an important life lesson:
Never, ever, EVER let them hit zero again.
Because when the universe knows you’re out of Luck Points?
It takes that personally.
And right now?
The System Store, the Lucky Spin, and the urge to level up his system were all calling out to him like sirens luring in a sailor.
Come on… use those Luck Points…
Maluck gritted his teeth.
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For the past three days, he had watched amazing items show up in the store—things he actually wanted—but with zero Luck Points?
He had been nothing but a sad, broke window shopper.
And today?
Same story.
TODAY’S SYSTEM STORE
50 LP – The Fortune Cookie of Fate – The message inside always comes true. You just don’t know when.
250 LP – The Charismatic Cufflinks – Makes people instantly like and trust you. Even enemies.
999 LP – The Phoenix Feather – If you could potentially die while carrying it, you miraculously survive instead. One use per feather.
Maluck stared at the list.
They all looked amazing.
The Fortune Cookie of Fate? That sounded interesting…..
The Charismatic Cufflinks? Instant trust from anyone, even people actively trying to kill him? That would be hilarious.
And then there was The Phoenix Feather.
A literal get-out-of-death-free card.
Which was probably why it cost 999 Luck Points.
Maluck sighed, rubbing his face.
“Yeah, sure. Let me just casually earn 999 LP. Shouldn’t take more than… I don’t know… a year?”
Once again, he had to ignore the store, close the menu, and pretend he wasn’t missing out on some of the best items he had ever seen.
His Luck Points were precious now.
And if he was gonna spend them?
It sure as hell wasn’t gonna be on a damn cookie.
***
But he did have some Luck Points he could spend.
Just a few.
And staring at that Wheel of Fortune option, Maluck felt the temptation creep in.
10 LP a spin.
One little spin wouldn’t hurt.
Just one.
He took a deep breath, hit the button, and watched the wheel spin.
It slowed.
Slowed.
And finally landed on—
“SORRY, TRY AGAIN.”
Maluck stared.
“…No. No, no, no. That’s bullshit.”
Okay. Fine.
‘Maybe just one more.’
He hit the button. The wheel spun. Slowed.
“SORRY, TRY AGAIN.”
Maluck’s eye twitched.
“Oh, COME ON!”
‘Alright. Last try. For real this time.’
“Come on, fortune gods, don’t do me dirty like this—”
“SORRY, TRY AGAIN.”
“ARGHHHHH!”
His soul left his body.
The Wheel of Fortune had betrayed him.
His 82 Luck Points had shriveled down to 52, and for what?
For absolutely nothing.
He slammed his hand down on the bed, then clenched his fists.
“NO MORE! NEVER AGAIN!”
Chloe glanced up from her book, raising an eyebrow.
“…What’s with the dramatic whining?”
Maluck flopped back onto the pillows, arms spread. “Just reflecting on how terrible my luck is.”
He wished he could tell her about the System, but he couldn’t.
Chloe snorted, flipping a page. “Weird thing to wake up thinking about… but for you? Yeah, that makes sense.”
Maluck rubbed his face, groaning.
‘I refuse to end on that note.’
He opened his System menu and dumped 10 LP into leveling his System.
Luck Level: 2 (10/200)
Unfortunate – Your toast lands butter-side down. On your last clean shirt.
“There. Now I’ve at least gained something.”
With 42 LP left, Maluck forced himself to stop.
Because if he didn’t?
He’d be stuck doing punishment tasks again.
***
After breakfast, the two of them hit the gym, keeping up with their daily training ritual.
This was something Maluck never skipped, and he made damn sure Chloe didn’t either.
“Hey, Chloe,” Maluck said, mid-rep, “do you really want to become the world’s best thief? I know I’ve kind of been shoving you toward it, but do you like it?”
Chloe, stretching out her arms, grinned. “Yeah, I love it. Now that I’ve discovered my hidden potential, the idea of it is really exciting.”
She paused, frowning slightly.
“But I have no idea what to do with it.”
Maluck nodded, wiping sweat from his brow. “Yeah, me neither. But I’ve got some ideas.”
Chloe raised an eyebrow. “Like what? How often are we gonna need to break into some rich guy’s wine cellar or open a hotel room door?”
Maluck grinned. “I mean… hopefully not that often. But you never know. It might come in handy. And hey, it’s not like you need a job to pay the bills.”
Chloe tilted her head. “Well, as long as you don’t mind paying the bills, I wouldn’t mind taking extra training—not just hanging out in the gym.”
She flexed an arm, checking herself out in the mirror. “Although, I gotta say… I’m starting to see results.”
Maluck, curious, took a moment to check his own stats.
Since they weren’t System-issued gains, his stats would increase, but he wouldn’t get a notification.
He hadn’t noticed before, but sometimes his stats seemed to have increased by 0.01—small, barely visible gains.
“Huh. Maybe I should start writing these numbers down.”
He immediately dismissed that thought.
“Nah, that’s way too much work.”
Instead, he turned back to Chloe. “So, do you want to enroll in some sort of security school?”
Chloe blinked. “Wait… those exist?”
Maluck grinned. “Gotta be. It’s not like you’re going to regular school, right? There’s gotta be one in town that trains people in lockpicking, bypassing security, breaking into high-profile buildings…”
Chloe snorted. “That sounds less like ‘security training’ and more like ‘how to be an international criminal’ school.”
Maluck shrugged. “Same thing, different marketing.”
Then a thought hit him. “Wait, didn’t your ex-boyfriend do some sort of training like that?”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Ugh, yeah. Brandon. He was doing high-end security training so he could get hired as a private bodyguard.”
Maluck smirked. “Perfect. Let’s find out where he trained and do it better.”
Chloe grinned. “Oh, I love this plan.”
With that, they started searching, eventually finding a school with multiple branches and a solid international reputation.
It advertised cutting-edge security training, advanced lockpicking, surveillance techniques, and counter-intrusion strategies.
Which, in other words, meant—
A fancy, legal way to learn how to break into places professionally.
Maluck leaned back, satisfied.
“Alright. Step one to becoming the world’s best thief: Learn from the people trying to stop you.”
Chloe cracked her knuckles. “Let’s do this.”
***
“But first,” Maluck said, finishing his stretch, “there’s something we have to do that’s even more important.”
Chloe raised an eyebrow. “Oh? What’s that? To find spirituality in our life?”
She said it with mock seriousness, folding her hands like a holier-than-thou nun.
Maluck grinned.
“There’s a man we need to talk to,” he said, cracking his knuckles.
“About a certain incident yesterday.”
***
