Cherreads

Chapter 2 - The Price of Power

I open the system.

Not a ceremony or congratulion to me. Just a shimmer in the air above my bed, soft and blue and pulsing faintly like a heartbeat. Daphne was asleep across the room, curled under her green-and-silver blanket, one hand still clutching a storybook about wandlore. I lay staring at the ceiling, pretending to sleep, when the menu appeared.

No sound. No guidance. Just that same floating panel waiting patiently for attention.

It had changed.

A new tab blinked at the corner: [Beginner Package Available]

I focused on it.

The panel unfurled like an ancient scroll.

No words. Just awareness. A gentle nudge in my head. The sense of something unlocking.

+100 System Points (SP)

Choose One Starter Skill

The list emerged like a shop menu.

Organized.

Labeled.

Dangerously tempting.

Each skill was listed with a glowing icon and a point cost beside it. I skimmed the options and immediately understood two things:

The possibilities were insane.I was absolutely broke.

Starter Tier Skills (Choose One):

• [Observe Lv.1] – 10 SP

• [Focus Lv.1] – 20 SP

• [Basic Chakra Control] – 50 SP

• [Pokémon Capture Interface Lv.1] – 60 SP

• [Shunpo Lv.1] – 70 SP

• [Shadow Clone Technique Lv.1] – 100 SP

That was the cap. I could afford exactly one of the starter skills, and only just barely.

I stared at Shadow Clone for a long time.

My inner anime fan whispered, "Do it."

Then I scrolled further down and that's when my jaw metaphorically hit the mattress.

Advanced Tier:

• [Rasengan] – 25,000 SP

• [Bankai – Unlockable] – 50,000 SP

• [Sharingan – One Tomoe] – 75,000 SP

• [Ultra Instinct – Incomplete] – 100,000 SP

• [Gear Second] – 85,000 SP

• [Tsukuyomi] – 120,000 SP

• [Reiatsu Burst Lv.1] – 60,000 SP

• [Susanoo – Sealed] – 150,000 SP

• [Pokémon Trainer License] – 90,000 SP

• [Gate of Opening] – 30,000 SP

• [Gomu Gomu no Gatling] – 40,000 SP

I stared at the screen.

Then back at the numbers.

Then back again.

One hundred thousand points?

How the heck was I supposed to get that?

Was I meant to start a business? Hunt dark wizards? Write the next great wizarding novel?

And then I saw the final tab blinking in the corner: [Quests]

Of course.

That was it. The grind.

I opened the tab.

A simple list popped up:

Daily: Sit Still Through 1 Full Tutoring Session – 1 SP

• Daily: Speak Less Than 10 Words at Breakfast – 1 SP

• Daily: Don't Knock Over Anything for 12 Hours – 2 SP

• Milestone: Learn to Read Wand Motions Accurately – 10 SP

• Milestone: Gain Daphne's Full Trust – 20 SP

• Hidden: ???

It was a start. The point reward is pathetic, but at least it is something.

At one point per lesson, I could earn a Shadow Clone… in a hundred days.

Or Ultra Instinct in… never.

I closed the menu with a sigh.

This wasn't going to be a cheat code.

It was a full-blown RPG grindfest.

The next morning, I sat through tutoring like a statue.

I kept my mouth shut at breakfast, even when Father made a comment about "developing self-discipline through silence."

And when Daphne dropped a book and it landed on my foot, I didn't flinch. Not even a twitch. She raised an eyebrow. I raised one back.

Later that day, the system flashed again, invisible to everyone else.

+1 SP

+1 SP

+2 SP

This was going to be slow.

But also?

It felt earned.

I finally decide to use the Beginner Package that evening.

After thirty minutes of silent debate, I chose Shadow Clone Technique Lv.1

Not for combat.

For studying.

For stealth.

For being in two places at once when needed.

It cost all 100 points.

As soon as I selected it, the icon embedded itself faintly in the corner of the UI like a badge. The air shimmered once, and I felt something shift behind my eyes. No instructions. No activation key. Just… the certainty that I now knew how to do it.

Sort of.

I wouldn't try it yet. Not until I was alone.

But it was real.

It was mine.

And it was only the beginning.

That night, I looked again at the skills I couldn't afford.

[Bankai – Sealed] – 50,000 SP

[Sharingan – One Tomoe] – 75,000 SP

[Ultra Instinct – Incomplete] – 100,000 SP

I wasn't discouraged.

I was intrigued.

Because while everyone else would be focused on spells and house points…

I'd be farming a different kind of magic.

System Points.

And when the time came?

I wouldn't just be another wizard.

I'd be the first wizard to body flicker across the Quidditch pitch, drop a Rasengan on a basilisk, and ride a captured Arcanine to Charms class.

They had wands.

I had quests.

Let the grind begin.

 

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