THE URBAN PHOENIX: Arthur Salvatore's rise from the ashes.

CHAPTER 8

[New Task>>> Put your ex-girlfriend in her place]

Arthur's brows furrowed together. "Ex girlfriend? I dated her?" He asked himself. He muttered under his breath as he turned around to look at Sophia.

"I'm not sure I should waste my energy on… that," He started to walk away and ignore the system's task.

[Reward >>> an amount of your memory will be regained.

Additional 10,000 USD and increase in ego.

Punishment >>> Compatibility with the system will be reduced by 5 percent. Remember, if the system Compatibility reduces by less than 35 percent, it will cause a slow and painful death.]

The cold robotic voice in Arthur's head made him shiver with fright.

A slow and painful death. Goosebumps.

"And what are you standing there ogling at me?" Sophie's voice snapped him back to reality.

Arthur shook his head. "You're not worth my time."

That took Sophie by surprise. She gasped. "What?!"

"I said you're not worth my time. That's what I said," Arthur said lazily.

Sophie looked like she was about to get a heart attack. She could not believe that Arthur was talking to her like that.

"Maybe I should remind you of who my boyfriend is," Sophie gloated.

"How about you tell me who you are?" Arthur said. "You clamor behind a man because you know you're nothing but thrash."

Sophie opened her mouth to say something but closed it without a word.

"Were you going to say something?" Arthur asked.

Her mouth opened and closed again like a fish.

"I thought as much," Arthur said and walked away. He flagged down a taxi and got in, leaving astounded Sophie standing on the street and thinking about her life.

Arthur sat in the backseat of the taxi, waiting for the results from the system.

[Task completed successfully]

"You have made your ex-girlfriend reconsider her status," The robotic voice said in Arthur's head.

He smiled.

[Ego increased by 5%]

[System Compatibility with host increased]

[System Compatibility >>> 55%]

Arthur fist-bumped the air.

The taxi driver glanced at him, confused.

"Just keep driving me around the block. I'll pay for everything the meter counts, okay?" Arthur said to the driver who nodded.

"A piece of your memories concerning your ex-girlfriend is starting to be uploaded into your brain. Brace yourself."

Arthur took in a heavy breath as he felt a rush of adrenaline into his head and pictures flooded across his mind. Pictures, voices from the past.

How he met Sophie in college and how much he had loved her. But what the system didn't show him was the reason why they broke up. That space was still blank in his memory.

"There is still a blank spot in my head," Arthur muttered.

"What did you say, sir?" The taxi driver asked from the front seat.

Arthur shook his head, "Not you."

The taxi driver kept glancing at Arthur.

"Why did we break up?" Arthur muttered under his breath.

"That will be uploaded into your memory when you complete more tasks," The robotic voice said.

Arthur groaned in frustration. He leaned forward and said to the driver, "Stop me here."

The driver pulled over to a stop by a street. Arthur got out, paid his fee from the thick wad of cash in his bag, and walked away.

He dipped his hand into his pocket and kept his head low. "So what now? What do I do?" He asked.

"Anything you want. I will let you know when your next task is ready," The system replied.

Arthur nodded and just walked along the sidewalk, soaking in the morning sun. He walked past a boutique and the clothes displayed in the window showcase caught his eyes.

[New task]

[Glam up. Upgrade your looks]

Arthur chuckled. "Oh, I can do that," he laughed and walked into the store. A little bell jingled as he opened the door. There was a sales girl behind a large counter. She looked up and gave a bright smile at him as he walked in.

"Hello sir," She said.

Arthur smiled. "Hello. I need to get some new clothes."

She looked at him and laughed, "Oh you look like you need it." She said it very jokingly that even Arthur smiled.

"What do you have for me here?" He asked.

"What are you looking for?" She asked back. "We have formal, we have casual… anything. Feel free to browse around."

Arthur nodded and walked along the aisle. He was oblivious to the dirty glances that some customers around gave him. He walked around. A thick shirt and denim jeans caught his fancy, he picked them up from the hangar and carried them to the front desk.

"Fine choice sir," The sales girl said. She reached across and picked a pair of sneakers. "This would go very fine with it."

Arthur looked down at his feet. His shoes were open at the front and peeling all around the skin. He chuckled. He had not thought of getting a new footwear. "Thank you, miss–"

"Ella. What do you think you are doing?!" A sharp voice snapped from behind the sales girl. She turned and saw a colleague coming from behind a backdoor.

"I'm just attending to a customer. That's all." The nice sales girl called Ella replied.

Arthur looked as the owner of the voice came into view. It was a scrawny looking lady with a long neck. She came over to the counter. "I got a report from some of our respectable customers that a vagabond was strolling along the aisle unnoticed."

"Oh I noticed him," Ella said. "And he's not a vagabond."

The scrawny sales girl stretched her long neck and looked at Arthur from head to toe and said, "He sure looks like a homeless person."

Arthur shrugged and said, "You're not wrong. I am homeless."

The scrawny girl turned to Ella and said, "You see? How do you expect him to pay for all that? You even added a fucking sneaker!"

"Oh I am going to pay with no –"

"Shut up!" The sales girl said. "Ella, take those things back from him and return them to the shop."

Arthur started to protest, "Oh, no no, I am going to –"

"I said shut up before I call the security," He was snapped at back again. "Ella, do what I said and return all those things."

Ella gave him a sorry look and started to pack the things.

"I said no, I am going to pay, and I'll pay in cash." Arthur snapped.

The scrawny girl raised an eyebrow and with a smug smile on her lips, she said, "Oh yeah? Ella, how much is the total?"

Ella typed into a calculator and said, "Everything came up to 6,500 dollars, sir."

"I bet you've never seen that amount of money in your entire life. Now get out of here before I call the police."

Arthur frowned. He reached into his bag, counted out the money, and dropped it on the counter.

The eyes of the salesgirl almost popped out. Then he reached into the bag again, took out another wad of cash, and threw it on the scrawny sales girl. "There. Use that to pay for your surgery."

"S-surgery?" Ella asked, smiling subtly. The scrawny salesgirl was unmoving. A vein bulged in her forehead like she was about to have apoplexy.

"Yes. Your colleague needs surgery to remove the stick up her ass," Arthur said, took the package of his clothes and walked out the door.

Over the jingle of the bell, he heard Ella's laughter.

Smiling as he made his way across the street, he was concerned that the money he had left was little.

[Bonus gift for standing up to the sales girl]

[Additional 5,000 USD into your Nirvana bank account]

[Ego increased by 5 percent]

He found a lonely alley and quickly changed into his new clothes.

[Task

completed successfully]

[Credit alert of 15,000 USD into your bank account]

[System Compatibility with host >>> 58.3 percent]

[Leveling up…]

Arthur chuckled as he sat on a park bench. "I love this life." He laughed.

[New Task]

[Rewards >>> More memories about your family]