A Feeling of Excitement
Late at night, accompanied by the low, guttural rumble of the aging engine, Arthur Sterling navigated the neon-lit streets of Los Angeles.
He rode the old motorcycle into the cramped, shadowed parking area of his rented apartment complex, bringing the heavy bike to a slow, steady halt.
Just as he killed the ignition, the cold mechanical voice of the system notified him that his [Driving] skill had successfully increased from level 2 to level 3.
He noted that the reward for crossing this threshold remained consistent; he gained only one free attribute point, and his hidden private space expanded by a single cubic meter.
However, Arthur was still immensely satisfied with this steady, undeniable progression in his capabilities.
He immediately allocated the newly added free attribute point directly to his Strength.
Because his foundational physical attributes were relatively low at the moment, every single point he added brought a sudden, incredibly noticeable improvement to his entire body.
With another point reinforcing his musculature, Arthur flexed his hands and felt a dense, coiled power vibrating beneath his skin.
He calculated that his current physical strength should no longer be much worse than Vince's.
After all, that hulking man had been following Dominic Toretto for several years, acting as muscle and violently plundering heavy transport trucks all over the California highways.
If Vince didn't possess significant brute strength and violent influence, he would never have secured his position as Dom's right-hand man and absolute enforcer.
Arthur reviewed his status panel and saw that after his [Driving] skill reached level 3, the requirements for upgrading to level 4 became exponentially steeper.
It now required a full 2,000 experience points, which practically equated to driving a mechanical vehicle on the road for two thousand grueling kilometers.
While it might not seem mechanically difficult to just ride around the city, for Arthur in his current situation, it was a massive, looming hurdle.
The primary reason was painfully simple: Arthur was completely out of money.
When he first crossed over into this cinematic world, he had thoroughly searched his predecessor's apartment and found a pathetic sum of just over twenty dollars to his name.
Over the past five days, in order to rapidly grind experience points for his various skills—especially the [Driving] skill—he had been forced to ride his motorcycle relentlessly across the sprawling expanse of Los Angeles.
Naturally, keeping the old bike running required him to constantly fill the tank with expensive California gasoline.
He had also invested a significant amount of time, effort, and resources into repairing several dangerous, lingering mechanical issues on the dilapidated motorcycle.
After all that necessary maintenance and fuel, Arthur had been forced to rely on a maxed-out credit card he had found hidden in a drawer, swiping over two thousand dollars just to cover the week's expenses.
Credit cards offered the dangerous illusion of easy money, but the looming reality of the impending debt was a massive headache.
In his past life, he had experienced the crushing weight of overspending right out of college, nearly drowning in payments he couldn't afford.
Using the credit card now was an absolute last resort to simply survive the week.
Therefore, finding a way to make real, sustainable money had naturally become Arthur's absolute top priority.
He quickly made his way upstairs, unlocked his heavy door, turned on the flickering overhead lights, and walked straight toward the small, cramped bathroom.
Throughout the long, exhausting day, on top of his rigorous swimming and running routines, he had been driving his motorcycle through the smoggy city heat, leaving him covered in a thick layer of grime and sweat.
He felt sticky, utterly exhausted, and incredibly uncomfortable as he stripped off his clothes.
He took a quick, bracing shower in the narrow, rust-stained stall, letting the cold water wash away the day's physical toll.
Stepping out and changing into a pair of clean boxer briefs, Arthur aggressively rubbed a towel over his wet hair as he walked toward the small partitioned kitchen.
"Even showering every single day, my muscles ache and my skin feels tight," he muttered to himself in the quiet, empty room.
He genuinely missed the luxurious, deep-tissue sports saunas and steam rooms he used to frequent to recover from heavy workouts.
A quick shower simply couldn't soothe the deep muscular fatigue he was accumulating from leveling up his physical stats.
He strongly considered looking for a proper athletic recovery center in downtown Los Angeles the following day to finally get a deep-tissue massage and relieve the lingering tension in his body.
"Grumble!"
His stomach let out a loud, demanding protest, echoing loudly in the quiet apartment.
His physical exertion had been incredibly high over the past few days, causing his metabolism to skyrocket and making him hungry unusually fast.
His hair was short and the evening temperature in Los Angeles remained stiflingly hot, so Arthur simply threw the damp towel onto a nearby chair.
He walked over to the humming refrigerator and pulled out a one-pound cut of fresh chicken breast.
Scanning the limited shelves, he also grabbed a crisp cucumber, a handful of roasted peanuts, and some dried red chilies he had picked up from a local market.
Arthur planned to make a heavy, spicy chicken skillet for dinner.
He was intimately familiar with this particular recipe; it had been one of his absolute specialty home-cooked meals back in his previous life.
Using the perfect excuse of a lingering, mild concussion from Vince's attack, Arthur had taken an official leave of absence from the repair shop.
He hadn't gone to work at all, dedicating every waking hour to solely focusing on grinding and leveling up his new abilities.
During his time off, he had also taken the opportunity to explore the local markets, buying fresh ingredients and robust seasonings that perfectly suited his personal palate.
After setting a small pot of rice to steam on the back burner, Arthur expertly prepped the ingredients and began aggressively stir-frying the chicken.
The intense, mouth-watering aroma of searing meat and blistered chilies had barely filled the kitchen when a sudden, sharp knock echoed from the front door.
Arthur physically jolted; the unexpected sound gave him a powerful, unmistakable sense of déjà vu.
His mind instinctively flashed back to five days ago, when Mia had unexpectedly appeared on his doorstep for the first time.
Not taking any chances with the unpredictable nature of his neighborhood, he quickly twisted the knob to kill the heat and moved the sizzling skillet to an empty, cool burner.
"Coming!" he called out, his voice steadying as he crossed the small living room.
He quickly walked to the heavy wooden door, leaving the security chain engaged as he opened it just a narrow crack to peer out into the dim hallway.
The next moment, his breath caught as he recognized the familiar, striking figure standing directly outside his apartment.
"Hi, Arthur!" a soft, melodic voice greeted him.
It was Mia Toretto again!
Arthur offered a genuinely warm smile and quickly undid the chain, pulling the door fully open to invite her inside.
However, just as the welcoming words reached his lips, a sudden realization hit him like a physical blow.
Having just stepped out of the shower a few moments prior, he hadn't bothered to dress fully; he was only wearing a fresh pair of boxer briefs.
His entire upper body was completely bare.
Over the intense, grueling grind of the past five days, Arthur had earned a total of seven free attribute points.
While two had been allocated to sharpen his mind, the remaining five had been evenly distributed among his core physical attributes, fundamentally altering his body's structural composition.
Therefore, while he hadn't suddenly ballooned into a massive, unnatural bodybuilder, anyone looking closely would instantly notice the dramatic, athletic transformation.
Crisp, highly defined muscle separation now traced along his arms and thighs, and his chest and lower abdomen were sculpted with the hard, lean lines of a dedicated fighter.
When Mia had first knocked on the door, she had fully intended to casually greet him and ask why he had been completely absent from the garage all week.
But the absolute second the door swung open and her gaze landed on Arthur's bare, sweat-dampened torso, her entire train of thought completely derailed.
Her amber eyes widened slightly, locking onto the newly forged lines of his physique, utterly unable to look away.
Arthur possessed a naturally clear, striking complexion that contrasted sharply with the grease-stained, sun-leathered skin of the men she usually associated with.
Yet, his lean, dense musculature had aggressively caught up to—and perhaps even surpassed—the physical presence of most seasoned racers and street brawlers his age.
Although Mia had grown up entirely surrounded by aggressive, hyper-masculine men in the dangerous world of Fast & Furious, Vince's suffocating harassment had severely isolated her.
She simply hadn't had the freedom to interact closely with any attractive peers of the opposite sex since she had entered puberty.
Thus, standing in the doorway and taking in the sight of Arthur—a young man her own age with an undeniably captivating and rugged physique—Mia instantly felt a magnetic, breathless pull.
She already harbored a deep, lingering sense of guilt knowing that Arthur had been violently targeted by Vince entirely because of her existence.
Furthermore, over the past week, he had effortlessly become the peer she had spent the most meaningful, unguarded time with.
Now, confronted directly with his sculpted, bare upper body in the intimate setting of his apartment entryway, Mia quickly felt an intense heat rush to her cheeks, flushing them a deep, vibrant crimson.
An unprecedented, heavy flutter ignited deep in her chest, making the usually composed and tough young woman feel suddenly, overwhelmingly flustered.
Oh no, Mia thought, her pulse hammering wildly in her ears as she openly stared at him, it's the feeling of excitement!