Cookies to Darkbetrayer and fatasinia for being wonderful sounding boards for this chapter

Edit 09/08/2017: Minor Grammar errors corrected by JediKage96


For some reason, Touma hadn't kept much in the way of packaged food, So I had to cook again. "A result of his lack of money I suppose."

As I set up the dishes and ingredients for my dinner, I brought up the elemental skill tree. It was something I needed to look at anyway.

[Elemental Skill Tree]

[Element: Electricity]

[Current Level: 1(+)]

[Upgrades available: 1(+)]

[Possible Upgrades:

1. Control 1

2. Volume 1

3. Volume 2]

"Hmmm...interesting" I thought as I expanded the Current Level and Upgrades options

[Current Level: 1

Number of elemental skills required for Level 2: 5

Number of elemental skills currently unlocked: 3]

[Upgrades Available: 1

Cumulative Level of elemental skills required to unlock next level: 20

Current Level: 3 (From 3 skills)]

"Huh. So the number of skills decides my level, the cumulative control I have over them decides how many of the upgrades I can unlock at each level. No doubt I can keep grinding one skill forever, but upgrades I am sure have some massive effect, and being stuck at one level would be a pain."

[Contemplate has gone up by 1!]

I blinked at the random notification before dismissing it. "Is this going to happen every time I sit and think about something?" I thought exasperatedly.

Shaking my head, I expanded the skill tree further. While there were only three upgrades at level one, the number kept expanding at each level. They were all labeled as Control or Volume, barring three at the fifth level, which seemed to be the cap.

[Level 1

Control 1 Volume 1

Volume 2

Level 2

Control 2 Volume 3

Control 3 Volume 4

Level 3

Control 4 Volume 5

Control 5 Volume 6

Control 6

Control 7

Level 4

Control 9 Volume 7

Control 10 Volume 8

Volume 9

Volume 10

Volume 11

Volume 12

Level 5

Control 11 Volume 13

Control 12 Volume 14

Control 13

Control 14

Special Skill 1

Special Skill 2

Special Skill 3]

By the looks of it, to unlock the special skills at level 5, I would have to complete at least one tree, either Volume or Control. Can't be a Jack of All Trades to unlock special skills.

"So...Control or Volume..." I pondered as I chopped some veggies.

Clicking on Volume 1 and Control 1 gave me their effects.

[Volume 1: Gives a 2% increase to damage caused to all electrical attacks]

[Control 1: Increases the chance of an effect of an electrical attack activating by 2%]

"Huh. So Volume gives increased damage while Control makes effects more likely to activate. Hmmm..."

If this were a standard RPG, I would go for volume every single time. Damage was what killed bosses, as they tended to be immune to effects.

However, there were other things to consider here. For example, physical hacking was a pure effect, and it's chances of success were not properly defined in the description. For such skills, every little bit counted. I also doubted that much of what I did here would be actual fighting. Physical violence was not how the city worked, it ran on information and intrigue. There was no defined enemy (except maybe the negative spirits), and there was no end game. This, essentially, was an RPG with a heavy focus on puzzles rather than fighting, where damage, while important, wasn't really helpful in the long run.

Nodding to myself, I selected Control 1, and confirmed that it was the upgrade I wanted. It lit up on the tree, while the others remained dull.

That done, I filled a pot with water, and set it to boil.

While I waited for the water to boil, my mind started wandering onto the several questions that I had had, but didn't have any real time to myself to ponder over. Like how the Gamer existed in the first place.

"From what I remember, Imagine Breaker negated anything out of the ordinary. It was restricted to his right hand, and negated everything. I have unintentionally touched my head several times over the past few days without thinking, and nothing has happened. That means the Gamer, if restricted to my mind, is not affected by Imagine Breaker. It even registers as a skill on it!"

Frowning, I brought up my Abilities window as the pot boiled. Imagine Breaker's description...It didn't seem to cover the range of powers it should, but it still seemed to work the same.

"Hmmmm..." I hummed as I turned shut of the stove. "Time for a test..."

I walked out of the room, and went to the edge of the Ward I had set up around my house. I had passed through it several times without Imagine Breaker going off, but I needed to confirm.

I stuck my right hand through it, and somewhat expectedly, nothing happened.

"According to what I know, Imagine Breaker's Wielder should not be able to cast any sort of magic... but somehow, I am doing just that. And it is not even negating what I have cast. Have I somehow become an exception to Imagine Breaker? Or is the Gamer more powerful than it?"

My frown deepened. I needed to find out how the Gamer was working around Imagine Breaker, or if it was somehow a part of Imagine Breaker itself.

On the bright side, it more or less eliminated the possibility of an outside influence acting as the developer. Imagine Breaker would sever any such connection.

Walking back into the room, I sat down to eat dinner. As the first morsel made its way to my mouth, my eyes fell upon Ninjas of Love.

"Hmmmm..."


(Three hours later)

"Huh...What do you know...she was right..." I thought as I set the book down, halfway done. While the plot synopsis gave the impression that it was just a series of lemons stitched together with plot, it was pretty much the opposite.

Mulling over it for a second, I took out the sticky note that Sakura had left in the back, giving it a considering look.

"Skills versus potential embarrassment..." I thought as I looked at the ten digits that formed Sakura's phone number.

In the end, I decided that whatever happened, the book was pure gold, and shoved it to the back of my mind.

"Ugh. I forgot to play with Instant Dungeons again." I thought. Well, it was too late now, If I wanted to go to school in a timely manner.

I set an alarm on my phone for the next morning. Feeling extremely curious as to whether it would ring from my inventory, I shoved it in. "Eh, worst case scenario, I am late again" I thought as I fell back on the bed, falling asleep.


At seven the next morning, I was awoken by the sound of the alarm from Touma's sad excuse for a mobile phone.

"Metal? Seriously?" I thought. Well, I couldn't dispute its effectiveness at waking me up though.

As I opened my eyes, I was greeted by a notification.

[Alarm: 7:00 am

Dismiss/Snooze]

I stared at that. So the phone functioned from the inventory? Did that mean I could make and take calls without taking the phone out of inventory?

Bringing up the options after dismissing the alarm, I started scrolling through, but there were no options as such to make or take calls, or indeed, anything phone related.

"Hmmm...Maybe it will come in the next update...Or the phone is too old to integrate into the system?" I thought.

Glancing at the clock, which was now showing five past seven, I got myself out of bed, and started to get ready for school.


"Having to cook every meal for myself is seriously a pain..." I thought as I walked into the classroom.

I sat down at my bench, and bent down to retrieve Ninjas of Love, which I planned to pursue in class when I got bored. High school stuff was laaaame. These people used calculators for high school math. I mean, seriously, who needs calculators for high school math?!

When I straightened up, I was greeted by the far-too-close-to-mine faces of Motoharu and Peirce.

I yelped and jumped back, almost falling over in my shock. Hastily grabbing the edge of the desk, I glared at the unrepentantly grinning faces of the two.

"What the hell?" I barked at them.

Ignoring my ire, Motoharu said "Ne, Kami-yan! How was your date yesterday?"

I looked at him confusedly, while Peirce continued to grin like an idiot. "What date?" I asked

"The one which you ditched us for yesterday, you lucky bastard!" Peirce exclaimed, fake indignation all over his face.

I facepalmed.

"It wasn't a date you idiots!" I groaned. "I had to meet up with someone"

"Then why were you so evasive about it?" Motoharu asked

"Because I can't just tell you that I was going to meet up with THE Misaka Mikoto so casually" I thought, while I outwardly said "Because it is none of your business"

The two of them again grinned at each other like they had struck gold. Before they could hound me any further however, Komoe-sensei walked into the room, asking us to settle down.


By the end of the day, I was in a foul mood. The entire day, I had been hounded by those two. During lunch, the two of them made such a ruckus that they ended up being clobbered by one of our female classmates, whose main defining feature was the size of her chest, and ended up in detention. I vaguely remembered her from the series, and the Gamer gave her name as Seiri Fukiyose. For some reason she glared at me too, like their antics were somehow my fault. I had a feeling that this was a regular occurrence given the lack of reaction from the rest of my classmates.

In the afternoon, we had Physical Education with Yomikawa Aiho. She had had a vindictive look on her face today, and made the last two hours of the afternoon an absolute hell for the three of us. I later found out that she was the one who conducted the detentions of my idiotic friends after drawing the short straw in the staff room, and took it out on us in PE.

On the bright side, STR and VIT went up again.

Thus, stinky, tired and irritated, I made my way home, fully intent on finishing Ninjas of Love, which I hadn't had a chance to read the whole of today, after having a nice, long shower.

I was walking past a mall when a girl suddenly linked hands with mine, almost making me fall due to sudden change in pace

"What the fuck?!" I thought, bewildered.

Before I could recover my senses, the girl, whose face was somehow near my ear, whispered in a deadly voice "Play along, or I will shove a bomb down your pants!"

I tried to shake myself free of her vice-like grip, and when that failed, proceeded to glare at her, finally getting a look at her face.

She was a short, young blonde, wearing a beret, a sailor top with a black coat, and a pleated skirt.

She glared right back at me in response.

Before I could say anything to protest against my manhandling, her eyes focused on something behind me. Her eyes then widened, and she pulled me down.

"Mmmphh" I protested incoherently into her mouth as she kissed me, her eyes open and still focused on what was behind me.

A few seconds later, she relaxed, and removed her lips from mine, though she still hadn't let go of my arm

"Gahh! What the fuck!?" I said out loud, flinching away from her. "What's the big idea?"

She put a finger on my mouth, still glaring at me. Her other hand subtly moved her coat aside, showing me a metallic glint.

"Is that...a gun?!" I thought, gulping a little. While I couldn't really get hurt, I didn't want to find out what would happen if I got shot.

"Play along, and nothing will happen to you" she growled at me.

[A quest has been created!]

[Playing Charades]

[You have been forcefully conscripted into playing the part of a loving boyfriend by an unknown, pretty and dangerous girl! Find out the reasons for your conscription and play along for as long as needed for you to be safe from the pretty girl's wrath!

Reward: 5000 EXP, increased closeness to ?, quest continuation. Failure: Dismemberment and other gory deaths, decreased closeness to ?]

I glanced through the quest, and then at the girl. "Well it's not like I have a choice. Besides, the Gamer is hinting that this would be useful..."

"Fine" I grumbled, straightening up. She gave a wide, saccharinely sweet smile that promised death if I didn't follow through, and started dragging me along to wherever it was that was her destination.

"Maybe this is what it means to have a LUK of zero." I lamented internally "You know what, Touma's refrain is really true"

"Fukou da!"


Welp. Three guesses as to who the pretty little girl is!

Interestingly, I actually didn't use a calculator in class until university. Even then, it was mostly because we do calculations with complex numbers, and multiplying and dividing them without a calculator is a pain in the ass.

Guest: Touma won't just start distributing his points just like that! It's a valuable resource, especially since you can grind stats without them. The point of the underworld quest is not money really... but yeah, a side benefit, true.

Yup, Ninjas of Love is from RWBY! love that show! The Alpha sprirt, if you didn't notice, was a beowolf

If I didn't explain before, let me explain again. This is a self-insert fic. That is basically a version of me in Touma's body, and I happen to be from India. So when I see a nurse talking to me in Japanese, naturally the first thought that would occour to me is "Why is a nurse speaking in japanese in the middle of India?"

Sakura hasn't been hit by observe, so Touma doesn't know her stats, nor is it really important.

AriaTheLostMelody: Huh. I suppose that's true. Hmmm...