Chapter 153 - Making the money shot

Chapter 153 - Making the money shot

Lying on his bed, Ben was wheezing, desperate for breath. He'd just suffered the greatest pain of his life, even worse than that time when on a low-hanging day, he accidentally sat on his own nuts.

…

Unlike the last strength potion he consumed, the pain from this one was terrible. It was like his entire body was being pierced with needles for several minutes. After catching his breath, he sat up, having recovered but still uncomfortable. 'What the hell was that?' He hadn't expected that at all, having taken three potions already without such an effect. He could only come to one hypothesis about why this time was different—it was his second time consuming this exact potion.

Since he took the strength potion before, it must've caused some difference in his body the second time. Checking his state, Ben stood up and stretched, his tense face relaxing when there was no discomfort. However, there was still an important matter to verify. He needed to see if this potion helped him gain strength like the first one. 'It better have been worth it. If I had to suffer that for nothing, I'll rage harder than when I finished the last Matrix movie…'

Lying down on the ground, Ben started doing push-ups until exhaustion…

A while later, with his chest muscles burning, he stood back up. "It worked!" His push-up numbers increased by about 20% again, proving the effects stacked! "I'm going to be Superman!" He started flexing and laughed like a fool!

Yet, a few seconds later, he realized the problem--these potions wouldn't stack at no cost. The side-effects of drinking them increased with every stack—immense pain, and possibly worse later…

If he took a third one...

Ben grimaced imagining the agony.

He sighed. 'Whatever. I'll deal with that when I come to it. At least for now, this is a great result!'

His body was 40% stronger, 20% more agile, with 20% better endurance than it would have been without the potions. It was an all-around increase! What was the concept of 40% stronger? A veteran weightlifter who trained seriously for many years would only be up to twice as strong as someone of a similar size who didn't exercise at all! That meant with the strength potion alone, Ben bridged around half that gap!

What's more is his increase didn't apply to the base strength of a person who didn't exercise. Ben lifted weights on a regular basis, having already attained decent strength beforehand. That meant his current power was at the level of a serious athlete! He was a powerhouse!

"I will pump…you up!" He pointed to his little brother...unclear even to himself whether it was a threat or a promise of a stellar future...

It was the approach of mixing the carrot and the stick...

With that finished, Ben moved on to the last matter--how to spend the 10000 points. He could buy either high level mystery boxes or low level stat growth multipliers. To determine that though, he needed to consider his following plans. Although he'd keep attending classes, he no longer needed to concentrate on university at the moment, which meant he could focus on something else.

Regarding school, during the prior week, Ben more than made up for the classes he missed and was now ahead of the other students. That wasn't only in Strategic Marketing but in all his current classes. Although he'd focused on the media competition, he'd still attended and studied for his other courses. He even took a midterm for one, with another two coming up, but he believed he'd ace them.

After utilizing the powerful effects of the stat growth multiplier, you could say Ben held a firm grasp on this semester's entire course-load, gaining an understanding beyond that of a freshman. Now, he was comfortable with school, at least for this semester. As long as he kept attending classes, there wouldn't be a problem. As a result, he could spend more time on a new activity, which would be doing the mattress mambo...except there was another urgent problem to solve—money.

The prior month, Ben racked up credit card debt and would need to start paying it off soon. Yet, there was nothing left in his savings since he made that monumental donation to the dog shelter...

At the moment, he was living off the little credit remaining and that would soon run out. If he didn't get money soon, he'd have to become another student on OnlyFans…

Like a mouse, he required that cheddar…

'Every other system gives the protagonist an easy way to make money and shine. Why does it seem I'm going to have to shine shoes instead?'

...

As far as applying for a good job, Ben's resume was too poor. He was in his first semester at university and possessed no significant work experience. A company would only hire him for a minimum wage job, which wouldn't be enough to cover his expenses and pay back his debt. Needing to figure something out, he considered his options…

There was the mid level multiplier for manliness but that didn't seem like it would solve his financial difficulties. That's when he remembered something.

Ben checked in a hidden compartment of his luggage under his bed, because he saved an item there that could be useful for getting money!

[Blackmailer's Magic Evidence(Item, Rare) - Choose a target and the doc.u.ment will morph into one showing proof of their most vile deed. Can only transform once, taking permanent form once used. It's handy for extortion]

His eyes shined with devilish greed as he picked it up! Then, he sighed. 'No…not that one.' He shook his head. 'I'm leaving to stick to my morals until the end…or until I think I'm going to get killed off, at which point I may consider turning to the dark side for a ratings boost...'

He picked up something else.

[Talisman of Opportunity(Consumable, Fine) x1 - Use will create a high chance of encountering one opportunity to increase stats. Lasts 24 hours. If used while a Stat Growth Multiplier is active, the opportunity will be associated with the Stat Growth Multiplier's targeted stat]

This talisman was what he needed to solve his money problem! 'Will it help me find a briefcase full of money?' Ben daydreamed about such a situation, but stopped when he remembered a sad fact—that storyline never ended well.

Then, he recalled a possibility. "It'll always end well…if it's a p.o.r.n."

…

He googled the number for Brazzers productions.