Thug and Idol: 10X Rewards Second Identity System

Two more days later.

When the TV show of the Californian Young Star contest aired its premiere, Tristan and Nelson gathered together at Tristan's flat to watch it—but mostly to just hang out with beer and pizza.

They both were sprawled on the couch, watching Angelo perform his insane two-keyboard-song. When the music ended and the host began talking again, Nelson turned to Tristan.

"And he suggested that you two form a band? You know, Tris… That doesn't seem like such a bad idea, no? It would be like making a band out of, um… Beethoven and Mozart! Absolute domination!"

Tristan scoffed and sipped some beer.

"Don't you start, Nel…"

"Alright, alright. Listening to all the band drama on music news, I get why you don't want it."

"If I'd make a band with anybody, it'd be you, Nel. But I don't want to." He paused. On the screen, the show switched to ads. "Anyway, how's that album of yours going? Did you finish the last song you planned?"

The two friends chatted like that while the show went on in the background.

The stories of the few hand-picked contestants from different cities competing for the main prize in Los Angeles were just interesting enough to be aired. But after that, the music and the spectacle carried its ratings like wind carries a ship on sails.

"…and then he just slaps himself in the face! For no reason!" Tristan raised a hand with a pizza slice in his hand, as if asking, 'can you believe it?'.

Nelson laughed. In the background, the TV show ended, and another bout of ads began.

"What were you even doing up so late—no, that's more like early? The sunrise is when only narcs go out. Especially to buy food."

"I—"

[Ding!]

[Your appearance on national TV impressed 1 million people. Reward: your CP increased by 25000!]

[Ding!]

[Your Pop-star rank has changed from Adolescent Star to Californian Star! Reward: your CP increased by 3000!]

[Ding!]

[You have gathered a critical mass of points. A special offer waits for you in the system shop!]

"Tristan? You what?"

Tristan blinked and re-focused his attention on Nelson.

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

"I was saying that of course you'd see a narc—only narcs and weirdos go out so early! Except for you, I suppose—unless you already went high on stardom and started going lines in the bathroom?" Nelson cheekily elbowed Tristan's side.

Tristan laughed and pushed him away, but his mind really wasn't on it.

'This many points! And that shop offer—shit, I want to look at them now… But I don't want to chase Nel away! We didn't hang out in forever!'

In the end, he compromised by going to sit on the toilet.

'I will just do this quickly and go back to the remaining beer. Status.'

[======]

[Tristan Gemello (Tristan Hayes)]

[Current identity: Pop-star. Second identity: Criminal.]

[Pop-star rank: Adolescent Star.]

[Criminal rank: King Lion.]

[Pop-star Points: 25140]

[Criminal Points: 28000]

[===Attributes===]

[Appearance: 270]

[Charisma: 345]

[Fearsomeness: 877]

[Strength: 679]

[Dexterity: 600]

[Toughness: 600]

[===Skills===]

[Singing: 1857]

[Dancing: 1079]

[Playing guitar: 2096]

[Music theory: 680]

[Music production: 523]

[Acting: 1315]

[Songwriting: 1724]

[Voice control: 811]

[Stage presence: 1223]

[Playing piano: 801]

[Video editing: 217]

[Styling: 506]

[Playing flute: 1]

[Playing violin: 1]

[Sneaking: 844]

[Close-quarters combat: 1224]

[Observation: 2076]

[Driving: 618]

[Pickpocketing: 533]

[Firearms shooting: 1836]

[Athletics: 419]

[Treating injuries: 201]

[Lockpicking: 1001]

[Combat analysis: 505]

[Hacking: 2431]

[Governing: 454]

[Torture: 2]

[Logistics: 4]

[Forgery: 1]

[===Talents===]

[Clark Kent Effect] [Sleepless] [Clean Hands] [Bullet Time] [Hypnotic Voice] [Sight Awareness] [Electronic Sight Awareness] [Ambidextrous] [Bilingual (Spanish)]

[======]

Tristan still had the Pop-star Points he earned earlier. He was holding onto them until now because he was hoping to spend them on some overpowered talents.

And because he felt that if he spent them all at once on attributes and skills, then someone would DEFINITELY find it strange.

'Now, what's that in the shop?'

[===Shop===]

[(PERMANENTLY AVAILABLE) Second Identity System upgrade version 1.1 'Task Force': 40000 points]

[Skill refund: 100 points]

[A foreign bank deposit card: 3000 Criminal Points]

[======]

'A… version upgrade? There are version upgrades now?! What does "Task Force" even mean here? And it costs 40 thousand points… insane.'

Tristan opened the upgrade's description.

[Congratulations, user! You now can access an upgrade for your Second Identity System. This upgrade aims to fix the problems the user has been dissatisfied with before and improve clarity and conciseness.

The key features of the update:

— A rework of skills,

— A new task system rewarding you with points,

— Many new talents,

— A shop rework,

— An option to turn off the sound of notifications.

Note: your skills and attributes will be recalculated, but you won't lose any existing progress or abilities.]

'Wow. It's like a game update. Things I was dissatisfied with before?' Tristan suppressed a shudder. 'That thing watches me, doesn't it? Or… God? The system was sent to me by "Heavenly Lottery", after all.'

He remembered that day vividly, despite never thinking twice about Heavens after that.

'That's a lot of points to spend on a cat in a bag. I should think longer whether or not I actually want this update! The Second Identity System has been working just fine before, after all.'

With that thought, Tristan flushed the toilet and went back to hanging out.

But later that evening, after Nelson left, after Tristan read an email from Derek congratulating him on a successful TV appearance and drafting the next steps of Tristan's showbiz career, after Tristan dealt with urgent calls from his criminal subordinates…

He thought about that upgrade. For a good hour.

And eventually, Tristan pressed the purchase button.

[Ding!]

[The Second Identity System update is being installed. Bonus talents are being awarded for high skills. You might experience slight dizziness.]

The 'slight' dizziness felt like being thrown into a zero-gravity space. If Tristan wasn't already sitting in front of his laptop, he'd fall.

[Ding!]

[You receive a talent for high fearsomeness attribute: 'Freezing Glare'.]

[Ding!]

[You receive a talent for high playing guitar skill: 'String Theory'.]

[Ding!]

…Oh, it was still going.

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