Old Man Li had been disillusioned for many years. His own son was a wastrel, born with promising C grade potential, but he had squandered it, choosing to spend his life watching Animu, some kind of moving cartoon pictures on a screen, not to mention apparently reading and writing webnovels online, causing his potential to descend to the pits of Z++++.
Or so he believed.
In fact, his son was in his own way a brilliant Artist, receiving countless weekly power stones and revered as a Master on certain top tier writing platforms and owing to the desperate global situation, the Animu demographic was quickly gaining traction, breaking into mainstream ascendancy, but Old Man Li didn't know about this at this point.
All this is getting ahead of ourselves in the story, so returning to the present, basically, Old Man Li was p***ed as hell.
He was getting on in years, so it was time to find a successor to his teachings. Back in the day, he had devoted himself to the Martial Arts, and the most sacred of all, passed down from generation to generation, was none other than the Art of Rizz, which his late Master had bequeathed to him on his deathbed.
"Always remember," his Master intoned in a soft voice,
"Don't end up like me."
His Master had been a charismatic and legendary figure in the Wuxia world, until that fateful day, having reached the pinnacle of the Chad level, he found the confidence to challenge the Ice Queen of his day, Lady Mei.
He had been an arrogant and c***sure Young Master at that stage, but Lady Mei had humbled him.
In short, he had courted death.
After that encounter, where Lady Mei had finished him with just one move from her collection of razor sharp s-words, the mental and psychic blow had reverberated throughout time and space, rendering his Chaddian Master a shell of his former self.
"I- I had eyes, but I couldn't recognise Mt Tai" Master said sadly.
"That's not true. She was just b****y! She probably just had her own issues to deal with." Li choked.
Master sighed.
"No, Li. I- I was merely like a toad, lusting after swan meat."
The raindrops plopped down, Old Man Li grit his teeth, and the Master breathed his last.
"Master! I will avenge you!!!!"
____
As the time passed, Li trained and honed himself, sleeping on a bed of sticks, and tasting bile daily for years, but tragically, just as he made the breakthrough to the post-Chad level, Lady Mei ascended, leaving him punching at air, with no target for revenge, and his life empty, devoid of meaning.
He turned to drinking rice wine and watching TVBJ to drown his sorrows, but none of it filled the emptiness in the wholesome Rizzmaster's heart.
The once handsome disciple of the Master turned to trash, and even his wife left him, shaking her head, and taking everything, which to be fair, wasn't much. In short, he had almost nothing left.
But!
Never underestimate the determination of a desperate man.
The manuals of The Art of Rizz, which his Master had handed down, were something that he had always kept with him. He had painstakingly added his own volumes to the collection, and after all these years, he knew that he didn't have much time left.
It was time.
Brushing the dust off his robes, he strode out into the world, ready to find one worthy to inherit his legacy.
___
As such, Bob was as usual doing his pushups, situps and squats, when finally, he saw the grandpa, clad in what appeared to be a bathrobe, stroking his beard.
"Young man, We meet again. It must be fate."
As a matter of fact, Li had meticulously calculated the meeting, timing his arrival just as the school bell was about to ring.
Unfortunately, he was immediately accosted by police officers, led by FBI agent Secretary Susie.
"Holy Sh**. What the hell?" Old Man Li uttered some ungrandfatherly words in alarm.
Susie had whipped out a taser, and it was crackling with electricity. She looked somewhat a little too enthusiastic, like she was itching to thrust it into the chest of the old man.
"It's all right. I know him. He's my grandfather." Bob quickly intervened.
Susie and the police relaxed. "Oh."
Old Man Li gave a tense chuckle. "Yes. No Problem. I'm just here to pick up my dis- my grandson."
A few moments later, as they turned the corner, Bob turned on his Interrogative Rizz.
"All right, gramps. Out with it. I know you dropped this booklet", he said, revealing 'The Art of Rizz, Vol 1' with a fluid movement. What are you up to?"
Old Man Li's eyes shone, as he noted that Bob had flawlessly integrated the teachings of the manual of Vol. 1 of "The Art of Rizz" into the very fibres of his being.
In fact, had he not been a Rizz Master, he might already be under the influence.
In fact, wasn't the fact that he wasn't arrested also due to this young boy's abilities? He was truly a monster.
Old Man Li sighed as his eyes took on a misty, vacant look worthy of a drama. "There truly are heavens beyond the heavens and geniuses beyond geniuses in this world." he muttered incoherently.
Bob cleared his throat.
"Old Man, that's great and all, but what's your name?"
Bob knew that he had to be ruthless.
"More importantly, can I borrow the rest of the manuals?"
Old Man Li regained his focus. He wasn't a Rizzmaster for nothing.
He dusted off his bathrobes.
"I am Li Zhang, Rizzmaster of the Post-Chad Level, and I am searching for a disciple, worthy to carry on the Way of The Art of Rizz."
Thunder rumbled. There was a storm brewing.
"Young man, you have potential, which is why I tested you with the first volume. Since you have passed, you are eligible to become my chosen disciple!!! Congratulations! But!" He waggled a finger before Bob could interrupt.
He wasn't a Rizzmaster for nothing.
"Ignorance is also bliss. Many are happy to live as Peters, Adams, never knowing of the Chaddian-realms. Knowledge can be a curse." He thought back to his Master, who had tried so hard and got so far.
"The choice is yours, young man. He extended two hands, one containing a red pill, the other a blue one. What would you like to do?"