Chapter 25 – The Weekend

Chapter 25 – The Weekend

“Draw Four.” John said.

“Draw Six.” Jimmie countered.ALL new chapters on nov(e)lbin(.)com

“Draw E-eight.” John fired right back.

“Draw twelve!” Jimmie triumphantly roared.

“Wait...since w-when can you put +4 on +2s?” John questioned and reached for the rulebook.

“House Rules.” Jimmie said and crossed his arms.

“Yeah, no, you c-can’t just introduce h-house rules mid game...” John muttered as he went through the pages. “No, nothing of the sort in here. D-draw Eight or give up.”

“Give me that.”

“You guys are so laaaaaame.” Rave shouted over from the arcade machines. The constant noise of smashing buttons and moving joysticks came from the wall of old game systems.

“You w-wanted to stay a bit.” John reminded her.

“Jimmie’s like a cat, if ya never pay any attention to him at all he’s gonna get all fat and lonely.”

The mechanic was lighting a cigarette as he went through the small rulebook. “As if I need you guys for company.” He grumbled and adjusted his cap.

“You would just keep working on that robot of yours.”

“Is there anything wrong with that?”

“It just shows that ya got no game whatsoever. Even the nerd’s hanging out with more girls than you.”

Jimmy didn’t respond to that insult, only threw John a semi-jealous glance. The Gamer pretended not to notice. According to Observe, Jimmie had a bit of interest in Rave. It was understandable, who wouldn’t have an interest when they were hanging around a woman like her? Whatever he was feeling for her wasn’t strong enough to actually act on it though. He also wasn’t the guy she had lost her virginity to. Apparently that had been some mundane party goer that she since had cut all ties with.

John had been learning a few things between Wednesday and the weekend. About Jimmie, Rave, and just how to behave in general. He still put his foot in his mouth more than he was happy to admit. He still had a stutter. He still had no idea what to do. Yet, there was improvement. Quicker and more notable than at any point in his life.

He was starting to wonder if he really needed those powers or if he had just needed a motivator to leave the house.

“Okay, I give up. You win.” Jimmie tossed the manual and his remaining cards on the table. “I’ll go work on that ‘robot’. At least it doesn’t give me lip.” While he walked away, two windows popped up in front of John.





The Quest had popped up after Rave had told him they would stay in the arcade a bit. He hadn’t aimed for the Optional goal and he wasn’t sure if he had cleared it or if Rave’s comments had done it. No matter, the system had rewarded him with the easiest EXP since the first Quest. If only these popped up more regularly.



‘Okay. I have several questions.’ John thought. ‘First-off, why do things always happen like this? Second, What the hell are those rewards? Third, what even is a Skill Evolution Point? Is it worth foregoing an extra item, more experience and a bigger dick?’

“New Achievement?” Rave asked as she jumped over. Literally, she jumped on top of one of the arcade machines and then over to where he was sitting. It was in a realm on par with or beyond that of Olympian athletes. John didn’t even question that part at this point.

‘The human brain gets used to anything after three days,’ was a saying he had heard before and he believed it held true in his case. Even the image of the mangled corpse no longer popped up in his mind uninvited. This was just what his life was now.

“Or another Quest? ‘Cause when ya said ya got one to annoy Jimmie, I was pretty hyped about it.”

“Y-yeah... you’re really good at guessing what I think, you know that?”

“Not hard when you’re staring into the air instead of at my butt. Don’t think ya got more in there than nerd and horny.” She tapped his cranium a few times. “Anyway, do we have to annoy Jimmie more? I love doing that.”

“No, no I believe you. Its just bullshit is what it is, ya know?” Rave looked like she had seen somebody burn a shed full of 100 Dollar notes. “I mean - wat?”

Understandable reaction. “Do you have any more books?”

“None Baldy wouldn’t miss I’m afraid.” Rave calmed down and started laughing. “That is ridiculous though.”

“Agreed.” He wasn’t sure yet if these two Skills would actually come in useful for anything specific. He didn’t see himself as a crafter long-term. In most games he played, he was happy to do the resource grind but he preferred buying the items in exchange for the currency he earned doing that. ‘Better to have it than not though.’ “S-so I can... g-get the Skills I need.”

“If you have the books.” Rave reminded him, “Which cost a lot of bucks by the way, you just evaporated around 5000 dollars.”

John’s eyes almost popped out of his skull. “W-w-w-w-what? US dollars?”

“Yeah, it was one of the cheaper ones, I know.” Rave said.

John tried to single out the sarcasm in her voice but there was none. “How is there so much money in this? How does no one notice THAT?”

“Money laundering.” Rave just said. “It’s how a lot of people in the Abyss keep their head above water. Shell companies and all that. Dunno, ask my dad, the Abyss Auction takes care of most of it.”

That information was almost more shocking than the attack of the nightmare centipede in his school. What the hell? He thought the Abyss would use some fantasy currency, but they used USD as well? How did that even work? John did his best to remain calm. Past the initial shock, that was pretty easy. His thoughts evened out and his heartbeat followed. “Okay, so if I have the mo-money, I can get more books and get a better build...it might t-take a long time but once I get there things will be easy so I should c-choose a build now.” John decided. “If I stick with Possession I need to have a body that c-can fight as my frontline and protection Skills to keep my actual body safe. That is the core. I guess something like a mana shield would be the best for protection....” Rave just stayed silent while he mumbled to himself. “Stealth could also be useful but it takes too much mana to level right now....yeah it comes down to mana again. I guess I need to up Int and Wis.”

The decision was made. He had 40 points to distribute. He put the majority into Wisdom, raising it from 15 to 40, he also raised intellect from 25 to 35. After a glance at Rave, he put the last 5 points into Charisma. He was making progress with her but doubling his miserable Charisma was hopefully going to make him less... inept. He feared that, once the novelty wore off, Rave wouldn’t tolerate him just for the occasionally good joke.



The effects were stupendously good. His Mana Regeneration rose from 0,5 all the way to 4,5 thanks to a new mechanic he discovered.



His Mana Pool had similarly exploded. Although his Intellect had already been 25, it seemed the system had required it growing at least once to register that fact.

“Wow, I can actually see that,” Rave stated. “So ya spent all your points?”

“Yeah,” John responded and smiled at her. No quiver to the side of his lips, no uncertainty in it, he just smiled like a normal person. Somehow, that was enough to make Rave blush a bit. “Got way more mana, how can you see that?”

“...Can ya repeat that?” Rave asked.

“I got way more mana, can you see that?”

Rave tilted her head. “One more time?”

“...Is this some kind of joke I am not getting o-... wait a second... my stutter is gone. My stutter is gone!” John jumped to his feet and laughed. He had been fighting that damn thing since childhood and at the click of a button, it was eliminated. Without thinking, he turned to her and gave her a quick peck on the lips. “Thank you!”

Rave’s blush went from slight to manifest. “I just did what I wanted to anyway, don’t make it such a big deal,” she told him, while tugging at her hair. “...You put points into Charisma too, didn’t you? You have way less...” she stopped for a moment and rubbed where tired and genetically unfortunate people had bags under their eyes. “...these.”

“Yeah, put it to 10!” Rave wrinkled her forehead. “It was at 5.”

“Huh... I didn’t think ya were that bad,” Rave said. “Just hella awkward.”

John felt like kissing her all over again, but he reined himself in. “Ehem,” he cleared his throat. “so, what did you mean by seeing my mana grow?”

“You can’t do it yet? Basically every Abyssal has like... a second sight or whatever you call it? It’s just a very basic thing that lets you differentiate the mundanes from the Abyssals. Kinda like... you can take a glimpse at the power of their soul. Some people can do more with it. Like, the Order has seers who can trace anyone.

John shook his head, he had never heard of that. Moira had mentioned something similar, but he thought it was more limited. “Maybe it's been replaced with Observe? Wait, how did Moira no- Ah, right.” He stopped when Rave stuck her tongue out and presented the piercing again. “Wait... so if everyone can do that...” He let out a deep sigh. “I just made myself an even bigger target for mana factory goons, didn’t I?”

“Yup, congratz. Absolutely no way ya getting out of the Abyss now – guess you’re stuck with me. Speaking of getting stuck with me, wanna go while it’s still morning?”

“Sure,” he responded with a deep nod.