Divine Celebrity 74 (Patreon)

After my first words, I walked around the car for a full turn before muttering, acting like I had just started examining the car. 

Yet, even a minute later, when I turned to my phone, I saw a message from Megan, before the stream gained viewers in two digits, showing that, as usual, she was on top of things. 

‘What are you doing?’ her message read. 

‘Fixing the car you helpfully acquired for me, of course,’ I wrote back. 

‘You are mad.’

I smirked. ‘Honey, you can’t be just realizing that,’ I answered with a chuckle. 

‘Your funeral,’ was her answer. 

‘Good. I will owe you another favor if you drive people to it.’

She didn’t answer, but she didn’t need to. The sudden spike of viewers that followed, easily reaching a hundred in less than fifteen seconds, was more than enough answer. 

With a smirk, I sent another message, this time to my computer, one that would trigger the chatbots I had created all night. 

Just like that, the comment screen started to be filled with comments, people fighting each other about inane aspects, though it didn’t take long for the others to join the fight. 

Showing that, even in its written form, Taunt was surprisingly effective. 

“Of course, I might have just bought a car like other useless rich kids on the team, but I appreciate a classic,” I said, looking at the screen with an infuriating smirk that showed the full range of my anger. 

Then, I pulled the Seduction instead. “Of course, a good classic is like a beautiful woman, only when it’s acquired through great effort, the ride could be termed spectacular.” 

It was something cheesy and extremely annoying, but I trusted the assistance of the traits, helping me to perfect the cadence and the delivery to turn it into something better. 

The viewer count continued to explode, and so did the number of comments, soon overcoming the chatbots through sheer number. 

“Let’s start with something simple,” I said as I grabbed the rust removal spray and applied a generous amount on the hood, before putting on gloves and grabbing a large sandpaper. 

“Of course, I could use an automatic scrapper, but it would be an insult to such a beautiful classic,” I murmured as my hands continued to move over the surface of the car. 

The screen was far away that I couldn’t see the comments or the number of viewers, but I didn’t need to. Not when I could feel the significant increase of the intent I received, enough to allow me to channel to the System. 

Soon, reaching to a point of giving the first reward I was seeking. 

[Repair I, acquired]

I smirked even as I continued working steadily on the body of the car. I had to admit, it would be an interesting sight even for an expert, mostly because of the absurd level of Strength and Agility I possessed, allowing me to work on the surface of the car with a shocking speed. 

Especially since I pushed myself to the limit, working much faster than any mechanic worked — with the exception of professional pit crews — as I resolved the issues on the surface of the car. 

Of course, I continued speaking as I worked on the car to maintain the attention of the people, alternating between mocking the other football players, speculating on how badly they would fail without me, and actual car repair facts. 

When, as I finished going through the body in less than an hour — an incredible speed of achievement considering the mess it was earlier. 

[Mechanic I, acquired]

[Repair II, acquired]

I didn’t know the difference between Repair and Mechanic, but if the System taught me anything, there was no harm in receiving extra traits. 

Then, I opened the hood, and after some struggle, hoisted the engine block to the engine holder, raising it up. 

Then, I changed the camera. “The easy part is done, now, let’s start with the real work,” I said.

Then, I started disassembling the engine block with a shocking fluidity, the Mechanic, Repair, and Agility working in concert to give my fingers an unprecedented fluidity. It wasn’t the first time I was disassembling the engine — as it was my old car that forced me to learn that — but it certainly helped me to enhance my ability. 

[Mechanic III, acquired]

[Repair III, acquired]

[Design III, acquired]

I received these rewards, because I managed to finish separating the engine despite speaking constantly. The phone was near me, enough to allow me to read the screen, and I occasionally answered the questions. 

I received a boost to my Design and Electronic Traits, because I used the opportunity to answer some of the questions that I noticed, using that to brag about my programming abilities, particularly the nature of the design challenges as they pertained to coding. 

Apparently, it made enough of an impression to give me the boost I had been seeking. 

“Now, let’s move on to the electronic challenges,” I as I started dismantling the cables, but after finishing that aspect, my gains were much more meager. 

[Electronics I, acquired]

But that hadn’t been surprising, as I could feel the significant decrease in the intent I had been receiving. Even with the amazing fight of the bots, people were losing interest in the show. Oh, the number of viewers still stayed high, even increasing, but the novelty of the achievement slowly disappeared, dragging down their fascinated surprise along with it. 

Which meant reduced Intent. 

“I think that’s enough show for today, ladies and gentlemen,” I said even as I finished separating the last piece of engine. “After all, we still need to maintain some surprise as you see me moving with the car tomorrow.”

With that, I turned off the camera, but continued recording the repair process. Maybe I could create some kind of compressed video out of it that would benefit me, or put it on the net after people claimed I was driving a different car. 

Making a very public bet and then revealing the truth would have been extremely fun. 

“You’re not half bad,” came a voice from behind me. I turned and caught the gaze of the brunette owner of the garage, looking at me with an interested gaze. 

I had long noticed the gaze she had been throwing my way as I was busy making my video, of course, but I didn’t say anything. Since I was in her garage, I didn’t have the luxury of asking her to stop — not that had any point when I was actually live-streaming the process. 

“I dabble,” I answered with a shrug, but the confident smirk on my face turned that into a brag rather than a display of humility. 

Humility was overrated. 

“Good, I was afraid that you would make a mess out of my garage, but you seem to know what you’re doing. Would you be interested in a part-time job?” she asked. “

I was certainly interested in, especially in a high-end garage with no problem with income if the quality of the cars sprawled around was any indicator. I could only imagine the salary she would offer. 

It was a pity that the appearance of the shadow ruined anything I had toward the game. I doubted that I could actually fall asleep without someone watching me — and considering the nature of my attacker, the only viable source of protection was my guide. 

Which meant Intent over money. 

“I am, but I currently don’t have any time. Maybe after a few weeks,” I answered with a sigh. She just nodded, proving that she was a woman of few words. 

I had no idea whether that would be possible, but there was no harm in keeping my options open. 

I expected her to leave, and she did, but not before saying one last thing. “You can use anything in that corner,” she said as she showed a corner, where a great number of parts in various conditions, likely removed from the other cars were sprawled around, each in a different condition. 

“Thanks,” I said as she turned back and moved away, and I was sincere. The parts might be second-hand, but considering the machines they came out of, they were hardly cheap. I had no doubt that, to the correct buyer, they were worth a lot. 

A part of me, the same part that rejected the car Thad offered, wanted to reject her generous offer, but I bit my lip and accepted. 

The assassination attempt by a shadow did much to blunt my pride. 

Not enough that I actually failed to take the picture of every single part I used, to be paid later, once I had enough money. I had no problem receiving that ruined car from Megan, because ultimately, it was still an exchange of favors, and the things she had received from me were significant — and also, the monetary value of the ruined car was low enough to be affordable even for me. 

I focused on the repair. 

“I’ll lock the garage, do you want to leave or stay,” she asked several hours later. 

“I’ll stay,” I answered as I turned my attention back to the car, continuing to work with shocking efficiency. Since I had no hope of sleeping, I might as well make sure that I finished the repairs.