The hecklers started with just a handful of guys seated near the front, but the noise spread fast. Men who hadn't even glanced at the stage a moment ago were suddenly craning their necks, leaning over to ask their neighbors what was going on. Word traveled table by table: apparently there was supposed to be a pole dancing show tonight, six girls with legs that went on forever, and somehow it had been swapped out at the last minute for some guy standing up there rambling into a microphone.A pole dancing show had been cancelled and replaced by this.The grumbling swelled into full-throated chanting. "We want the show! Get him off the stage!" Forks clinked against glasses. Someone near the back let out a long, theatrical whistle. The entire buffet hall, which had been humming along pleasantly with the sounds of clinking plates and idle conversation, was now a roiling mess of noise and restless energy.Over at Asteron Entertainment, the staff had gone pale.Gavin Co

The buffet restaurant erupted."No way... that was insane!" a young man blurted, his eyes wide with disbelief."How did he do that?" someone else demanded, craning his neck to get a better look."Babe, put down the crab for a second and come look at this guy!" a woman exclaimed, grabbing her boyfriend's arm and trying to pull him closer.Two seconds of stunned silence had barely passed before the entire room dissolved into overlapping chatter. People turned in their seats, pointed toward the scene, and leaned over tables to get a better view.People swiveled in their seats, nudging neighbors, pointing toward the stage. And for most of them, the realization was only just landing: the guy up there wasn't some random filler act dragged out to kill time between courses. He was a Magician. An actual Magician.Glen Johnson pulled up the Upgrade Chest interface and checked his quest progress. The number had finally moved: 25 out of 100 positive verbal response

At that moment, manager Gavin Cole hurried over to the edge of the stage, catching Glen Johnson's eye with a quick gesture. He leaned in and said in a low voice, "Keep going with the performance... give them at least one more magic trick. Ideally, something even more impressive."Glen nodded without hesitation. No matter how you looked at it, extending his time on stage was a good thing. If he could pull off another act and rack up even just ten or twenty more positive reviews, he'd be halfway to completing his quest. That would take a serious load off for the next two days.He turned back to face the audience, raising both hands in a calming gesture to quiet the murmurs rippling through the crowd. "All right then... since you're all so enthusiastic, and since you don't seem to think this last-minute soy sauce stand-in is wasting your time, I'll perform one more little act for you." He paused for effect, letting a grin spread across his face. "And this one? This one's goin

Glen wasn't about to back down, of course. He smiled again and raised his voice to address the crowd. "Don't worry, everyone. The magic trick isn't finished yet. What you just saw was only halfway through. Since this is the World-Shift Technique, I still need to shift something, right? Now I'm going to move that potted plant to a location of your choosing. You decide where you want me to shift it. If I can do it according to your request, I won't even ask for tips or anything like that. Just give me a sincere round of applause. Sound fair?""That sounds fair!""Wait, seriously? You're saying you can make that plant appear wherever we tell you to?"The crowd erupted into excited chatter, but no unified opinion emerged. Some suggested Glen should make it appear right on the stage. Others argued that the stage probably had hidden mechanisms, so the plant should appear as far from the stage as possible.The clamor of competing voices grew louder, and Glen felt his he

Glen stood on the stage, still processing what had just happened. The 4 Unallocated Stat Points he'd just used came from the Starter Pack he'd received last night. Back then, he'd been given a total of 10 stat points, but without enough Honor Points to apply them directly to his stats, and unwilling to waste them on his so-called gear, he'd simply left them unused.The recent scare made that restraint seem wiser than ever. Strength alone would not save him if the rest of his abilities were left far behind.The task he'd just completed had rewarded him with only 3 Unallocated Stat Points and 3 Honor Points. Which meant the extra 2 Honor Points he now had must have come from somewhere else, added at some point without him noticing.Thinking back, he'd gotten into fights both last night and this morning. Could it be that whenever he fought someone and won, he gained Honor Points? That seemed likely. If that was how it worked, maybe he should go looking for fights more of