After leaving the nursing home, Tyler and Devin made their way home. The walk home was quiet but lighthearted
When they got back home, they both went up to their respective bedrooms. Devin was feeling tired and wanted to sleep, while Tyler decided to focus on completing the new mission.
Before he started, he called up the system screen, curious about something.
[Name: Tyler Reyes]
[Age: 16]
[Strength: 7]
[Agility: 6]
[Stamina: 5]
[Intelligence: 7]
[Stat Point(s): 0]
[System Point(s): 0]
[Mission: Train Your Weak Body! (Recurring)]
[Knowledge]
[System Store]
....
He focused his attention on his stats and just as he expected, smaller screens appeared, with information on each stat displayed on them.
"I see...," he said, nodding to himself, as he read the information on each small screens.
According to the screen, the maximum stat value an average adult can reach is 10. Which means that Tyler is still way below average.
"Even that much was already obvious from a glance," he smiled wryly.
Tyler had no idea how long the recurring mission would go on for, and he didn't want to know.
His intention is to gain as much stat points as he can from it, increasing his strength explosively.
Tyler sighed and without hesitation, immediately got started on the mission.
....
Almost two hours later, an out of breath Tyler staggered into the house. His clothes were wet, soaked with his sweat and his legs shook with every step he took. His arms felt like they were going to fall off and his whole body felt very sore.
Though Tyler felt like he could die from the pain and exhaustion any moment, he still had bright smile on his face. A smile full of life.
For someone who hadn't done any form of exercise in his life, he knew that what he was feeling was completely normal.
He knew that with time, his body will adjust and get used to the workout, causing him to no longer be as exhausted as he currently is.
Due to how occupied he was in his past life, he never got the opportunity to properly take care of himself.
With how stressed he was, there was no need for him to actively workout as life was already doing that for him.
"I guess I will get to experience what it feels like to have abs and a fit body in this life," he smiled, making his way upstairs, to his room.
He wanted to take a bath, washing off the sweat and grimes from the workout, before going to make dinner.
He had promised his mom that he would make dinner and he intended to keep that promise.
A few minutes later, he was done with freshening up and was already busy in the kitchen.
Devin was also in the kitchen, helping out, as requested by his older brother.
Dinner took some minutes before it was finally ready.
And as fate would have it, their mom walked in right at that same moment.
Tyler and Devin greeted her, and told her to sit down, while they handled serving the food.
Helena agreed, smiling proudly. Tyler and Devin had always made her proud, and today was no different.
She never would have thought that they would be so thoughtful and bring her lunch. It was a gesture that made her sport a proud smile for the rest of her shift.
But it didn't mean that she wasn't worried. Tyler's suddenly bawling his eyes out was very unlike him.
She has always known him to be someone who has near-perfect control over his emotions. It was something that scared her, as he was nothing but teenage boy.
But that same Tyler broke down in tears and wept deeply on her shoulder, shuddering.
Not only that but her motherly instincts were telling her that something was different about her son, but she had no idea what it is.
There was also her suspicion about where he got the money for the grocery. She didn't buy the lie she told him.
Tyler had always had the habit of wanting to help out with expenses however he could, so he always gave whatever money he had to her.
So, she knew that he was lying.
Maybe she was wrong and Tyler really saved up some money by himself, but it still didn't ease her worry.
Helena sighed as she pushed her worries aside. She knew her boys and the fact that there was no way that Tyler would involve himself in anything that would cause them trouble. He was still too smart and understanding to do that.
Tyler had no idea of what his mom was thinking, as he set the dining table and started serving dinner.
After he was done, he took his seat and they started eating.
....
A few minutes later, they were done with dinner. Helena had a grateful and proud smile on her face, as she wiped her mouth.
Dinner was undeniably delicious, which surprised her as she never knew that Tyler was such a good cook.
Now that she thought of it, the lunch they brought her was equally delicious.
It was strange indeed but she didn't think deep into it. She was very exhausted from working three jobs for the day. At the moment, all she wanted to do was to freshen up, sing Devin to sleep and also go to bed.
She stood up and was about to take care of the dishes, but Tyler stopped her.
"No, mom. You're tired and need rest. Leave this to me. You should freshen up and go to bed," he said.
Helena couldn't help but smile, and nod proudly.
"Dinner was delicious. You did good, baby," she said as she ruffled Devin's and Tyler's hair, then headed up to her room.
"And Devin, help your big brother out, okay?" She added, before disappearing into her room.
Tyler smiled, standing up and taking the dishes to the sink. Dinner was very memorable for him as it was the first time in more than a decade that they all sat down together and had dinner as a family.
In his past life, after his mom fell ill, moments like this became impossible as she was always in the hospital.
But that won't happen in this life, as he will definitely look for a cure before the sickness becomes active. And his hopes were on winning the lottery ticket, and getting the needed capital to unlock a core knowledge branch, before the 72 hours for the discount elapses.
Tyler quickly took care of the dirty dishes, with Devin's help. After he was done, he took him to his room and had him prep himself for bed, before going to his own bedroom.
In his room, he lay on the bed, his eyes on the ceiling. But he wasn't actually looking at it, as his focus was on the system screen in front of him.
Due to how busy he was, he hadn't had the time to check the notification that popped up after he completed his daily mission. But now that he was free, he decided to check it out.
[Ding! Mission Completed!]
[You have been rewarded with +1 Stat Point to allocate freely.]
"Sweet," Tyler smiled in satisfaction, after reading the notification.
He checked his status screen and sure enough, the free stat point was there.
"Good, I will make use of it later," he muttered.
The reason why he decided not to use it was because he has a certain theory that he wants to confirm.
He wants to know if he can increase his stat naturally without adding stat points.
Yes, it was a stretch but he needed to know, and the only way to do that was by not adding any stat point to his stat.
He would definitely use the stat point later. Maybe much later but not now.
"I just regressed today and a lot has happened. And I'm sure that the coming days are going to be even more hectic," Tyler muttered, smiling to himself, as he snuggled into his bed.
He still found his whole situation to be very surreal. And as he went to bed, he hoped that if this was a dream, then it should be one that he won't ever wake up from.