He nodded along to her ramblings. He didn’t want to be a crafter or a mage. Neither of those interested him in the least. Miss Jane was annoying to listen to. Luckily, he was saved by the bell.

“Rain!!” the sound of his little sister shouting over the crowd was music to his ears right now. His family had finally caught up to where they were. He had three sisters, two of whom were younger than him by five and ten years, and one older by four years. His littlest sister, Mele, was the one that shouted. Her tiny voice could pierce ears sometimes - she had lungs on that little 8-year-old frame! Kua, his eldest sister, was watching Mele run up to Rain with her hand on her hip like a mother watching her child. She looked just like their mother behind her. Moki, the middle sister, was a daddy’s girl. Even at 13 she was still attached to their dad’s hip.

“I’ll send y’all a message about class with the package attached. Make sure you come early when the time comes, yeah? An’ get a good night’s sleep t’night. Ya level up doesn’t really take effect until the mornin’,” Miss Jane said, nodding to his parents as she meandered off, not wanting to get in the way of their chat.

“I’m so proud,” his dad said for the thousandth time today, causing Rain to groan as he felt his father’s large hand clasp against his back, “No really! I am. I’ll never hear the end of it from your sisters, you know? Is that high luck how you ace your tests?”

His dad was teasing, so all he got in return was an eye roll. His mom on the other hand was tearing up. Her little man was gonna be heading off from home now, apparently. He was always welcome back any time, blah blah blah. The waterworks bothered him. This wasn’t something to be sad about.

“Ah, come on mom, Moki and Mele won’t have to share a room with me gone. They’ll love it,” he mused, trying to cheer her up with the distraction. His little sisters certainly wouldn’t mind this absence since it meant they’d get so much space to themselves! Heck, they’d push Rain out the door themselves if they had to! Their evil grins said as much.

Kua rolled her eyes as a response, folding her arms, “Mom’s gonna hate it and worry, but we’re all gonna be jealous. Just don’t get killed or something, yeah? And like… visit? I’ve heard of explorers spending years away from home, not even sending a text because they’re so distracted. You better come back for every birthday and holiday. Maybe you can actually help set things up if you get that strength of yours up. I mean, I knew you were a weakling but WOW.” She grinned. They loved to tease and torture each other.

Rain gave her a glare, “At least I can improve mine through level ups now! You’re still stuck at level one. I’ll make sure to show off when I’m back home and can lift like… a whole car or something.”

“Focus on lifting a sword first, hm?”

He groaned, “Whatever. Let’s go get food and get out of here. Somewhere inside, please? It’s way too hot and muggy for this, and all the bodies moving around aren’t helping. I can feel my social batteries running on empty as we speak - I need a shake, stat.”

They ended up inside a small chain restaurant getting tacos and other pseudo-mexican food. They didn’t live on the big island, and usually didn’t even come here. They lived on Lanai, which had the population of a small town - just over 3,000 people. It had a handful of tasty restaurants, but they had been to pretty much all of them numerous times. It was nice to get a taste of some junk food now and again.

Rain got an obscene amount of food for his skinny frame. His sisters were big eaters, too. The talk around the table was inundated with MAZE stuff. Kua was sweet and eager to talk about it, but he could see the pain hidden behind her smile. She had wanted to be an adventurer since she was little. 

It must have hurt more than he could imagine for her little brother to get this - especially since he wasn’t interested in any of it.

He forced a smile to his face for her sake, “Well once I’m in I’ll make sure to send lots of pictures and make lots of money. I’ll save up, and you’ll be level two before you know it.” If he looked like he didn’t care, it would only hurt more. “I’ll make sure not to become a controller or an explorer role, so you can get that when you get in.”

Kua rolled her eyes, but their dad beat her to the punch, “Sorry bud, but I don’t think controller would fit you well anyway. Now, explorer, that sounds more up your alley.”

“I think being a mage would,” his mom chimed in, “He’s so smart he’d do a fantastic job. Plus, it would mean he could be farther from the danger. There’s no harm in being a ranged specialist.”

Rain didn’t have a response to that, just rolling his eyes and pecking at his food.

They finished after an hour or so and then they made the long boat ride back home. By now, it was late. The sun was dipping below the horizon, and the lull of the boat was putting him to sleep. Moki and Mele were already fast asleep - the two of them passed out almost as soon as the boat started. They always did.

He dreamt of the MAZE that night, with turbulent sleep and fear curling its talons around him. All manner of monsters tried to make a meal out of him - some he had seen a picture of online, and some his mind simply came up with to make him worry. By the time he woke up he had died in his dreams more than a few times, leaving him with tired-looking bags beneath his eyes and a grumpy expression glued to his face.

He didn’t want to die.

He didn’t want to end up getting eaten.

System, dreams were mean.

Rain did notice that things felt different. That was what happened when you leveled up - you slept on it, and the next day things would take effect… like some weird caterpillar thing. He wondered what the heck that looked like on the outside. Like… when someone leveled up, they had a glow around them, but then, it didn’t change the stats until after they slept… so… did they glow while they were asleep or something? He decided that was something he’d have to look up later.

He went out to the kitchen in his pjs, just a t-shirt and shorts - the first one up it seemed. No surprise there. It wasn’t like he slept well, anyway. It was a little after five in the morning with the sun barely starting to silhouette the trees outside the kitchen window. He raked his fingers through his rats nest his hair had become. He must have tossed and turned in his sleep. He’d brush it later.

The water cooker started to hiss as he got it started to make some coffee, and in the meantime he got himself a glass of water to help wake him up. He’d make enough coffee for everyone, or at least all the adults. Anyone who only made one cup wasn’t human.

The drink felt nice on his throat, and as he drank, he calmly brought up his status menu.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rain Kaiwi -- Role: Civilian Level: 2

Stats: 

Strength: 5 Endurance: 10

Agility: 10 Charisma: 15 

Intelligence: 16 Luck: 100 

Attribute Points Available: 0+0(bonus) Total: 0

Skills: 

Passive:

Grand Lucky Stars (Innate, Hidden)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Water went out his nose as he coughed and sputtered. He managed to drop the glass into the sink gently enough for it to not shatter, but was just about coughing his lungs out thanks to that spit take.

“What the fuck?” he uttered aloud, a half-whisper of incredulity. This had to be broken. His luck was not that high yesterday.

That skill…

Tentatively, he selected it to read its description.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grand Lucky Stars: Increases luck once at level two. Luck = Starting Luck * 5.

This ability affects how the user gains stat points outside of those gained by level up.

Luck stat points are significantly easier to gain naturally.

All other stat points are significantly harder to gain naturally.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ha… ha ha… what?” He tapped Luck as though he was trying to confirm for himself what he was seeing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luck: Increases the good fortune of the user.

Although it is a subjective concept, what is considered good fortune will be defined by the system.

It also increases the odds of receiving unexpected benefits from various sources.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What the hell was this!? Was he supposed to be some sort of lucky charm or something? And all his other stats would be harder to get higher outside of a level up? Did that mean that no matter how hard he tried to do pushups or run or whatever, strength and agility wouldn’t budge?

He looked at his strength again with a far paler expression. Now he felt like he had to level up quickly just to survive! Even basic training would be hell. How was he supposed to learn how to swing a sword or draw a bow or whatever?

He’d heard that guns worked on the earlier levels… so maybe that’d be an option?

Fuck.

His coughing fit had woken up his mother, who wandered out to the kitchen in her nightgown like a beautiful hawaiian spirit of the night. Rain waved away his screen, worried she’d somehow see it, even though that wasn’t how it worked. He wasn’t even sure why he was worried about it! He’d keep it quiet until he could talk to someone more knowledgeable like that Jane lady. Maybe he broke something?

“You alright, keiki? I heard coughing,” she asked, hiding a yawn behind her hand.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Just… wrong pipe, I guess,” he lied, hurriedly grabbing a paper towel to wipe down his face and the ground where he’d spilt his water, “Sorry I woke you up. I couldn’t sleep.”

“Don’t apologize. I wasn’t sleeping well either. You have some big things ahead of you, and as a mom, I’m worried. I can only imagine how tense you are about it,” she said, offering him a peaceful smile, “As worried as I am, I’m still proud of you. I know how you are, though. Make sure to respond to that email the woman sent you. Don’t procrastinate it, alright?”

A chuff-like laugh bubbled out of his throat, “Heh. Yeah, yeah. I’ll make sure to respond. I get the feeling if I didn’t, Kua would skin me.”

He also wanted to respond for his own sake now, so he was doubly motivated to email the lady back. Even his own procrastinatory ways wouldn’t best him this time.