As the green light receded, Ben looked into his hand, upon the treasure he hoped would change his fortunes, the item he wished would allow him to slap some dude’s face and shame him in front of a public audience……

  There it was, a gray-greenish seed the size of a fingernail. Ben’s eyes shimmered. "A magical item? A seed from the world tree?"

  [Olive Pit(Item, Trash) - An olive eaten by some guy named Ray-Ray]

  "F*CK!!!"……

  A minute later, Ben calmed down, after cursing Ray-Ray and his entire family down to 3 generations……

  ’It’s fine. Every one isn’t going to be a winner. This is what I should expect with the low-level mystery box. A lot of its drops will be poor. Still, as long as I keep trying, I’m bound to get something decent eventually……’ Next, Ben tested that hypothesis, and once again learned why science was his worst subject.

  A used gym sock.

  A dirty shoelace.

  A floppy disk that Ben thought was some magical technology……

  A hub cap.

  A half-eaten corn on the cob.

  An old SEARS catalog Ben was about to throw out but did a double-take and ended up keeping just in case……

  The last one was a styrofoam cup. "God damnit! This isn’t even biodegradable!"……

  In short, it was a failure. Ben had picked up a bunch of garbage. The only decent thing he managed to get was a low level stat growth multiplier for looks but that wasn’t going to help him defeat Nick unless he could woo him into becoming a homo……

  Ben thought about it for a second before shaking his head…… "Even if it’s popular now in certain places, I don’t want that damn tag!"

  He was a straight shooter. Yet, what would he do now? With only 800 points remaining, Ben walked in circles in his small dorm room, on occasion kicking over a random piece of garbage he’d received from a low level mystery box. He realized he’d been lucky when he first got the system. He didn’t know if it was beginner’s luck or the system taking care of him. Either way though, that wasn’t the case anymore.

  He received some good items back then but now, it became clear; the distribution was still mostly trash and common items for the low level mystery box, a fact he was learning through the pain of bleeding his points away now.

  After a while of ruminating though, he sighed. "Screw it, just do it." There was no point mulling about. There was only one chance remaining but his only choice was to take it. I mean, who knew, maybe he’d pull off a miracle and get what he needed?

  Ben wasn’t optimistic……

  So when he bought the last green low-level mystery box, held it in his hand, and opened it. He was ready to slap whatever he received across the room, even if a magical girl came out……

  Yet, when he saw a somewhat familiar item, he froze with his backhand cocked back……

  It was a tattered gray scroll, rolled up in a piece of yellow that was falling apart. Being careful as he held it in his hand, Ben hurried to read the system information.

  [Stat Steal(Magical Skill Scroll, Consumable, Fine) x1 - Use to steal one point of a chose stat from someone and apply it to yourself for a period of 3 hours]……

  Ben paused for half a minute as he read and reread it, before realizing…… "This is it!" He was about to jump in the air, before he recalled he was still holding the frail-looking scroll in his hand. So he put it down, and then proceeded to jump in the air…… "Who said daddy can’t pull one out of his ass?!? Maybe I want to do it too! Just to see what it feels like!"……

  It felt good……

  So life could be so easy? Ben got a taste of what it was like to be any other protagonist and felt all of his hard work was worth it…… He narrowed his eyes and glanced back at that SEARS catalog as he wondered if it was time to celebrate……

  A short while later though, when he heard the front door of his dorm room open and saw Fariq walk in, Ben decided to leave the "celebrating" for later.

  As for Fariq, he stopped in place as he witnessed a bunch of random trash strewn across the floor of his bedroom. "Ben bro, this is……"

  Ben looked around, understanding the scene was a bit weird, before he wrapped it up nicely. "I went to a garage sale."

  "……A garage sale?" Fariq wasn’t sure how to respond. They lived in the middle of Manhattan. Were there even any private houses with garages around here? He didn’t have time to add any questions though because something even more unexpected caught his eye. Peeking out below that bed, was that a plastic ass?……

  Fariq leaned his head back as he looked at Ben, wondering just how little he knew about this roommate of his. Still, as a good dude, Fariq threw his doubts away, pinning them in the category of a consequence of a little bit of loneliness……

  Scratching his head, Ben finally felt a bit of embarrassment as he began to gather his "riches" together…… Then, he apologized to Fariq for being a hoarder and hurried to leave the room carrying a big sack of rubbish like some kind of derelict……

  A while later, after throwing it out outside the dormitory, his mood changed for the better though, because he’d received a text message from Miyuki, and she told him something very, very interesting. Heading back upstairs, he looked forward to seeing with his own eyes just what she described to him——

  *Author’s Note: Thanks for all of your support this week. Please don’t forget to vote daily to support the book and author. Although I’m sometimes late with chapters and miss a day occasionally, believe me when I say I’m really going out of my way to keep writing as often as I can. Thank you!