A lot of people have something they wish they could change about themselves or their life. On a separate note, I accidentally uploaded the wrong chapter TWICE and had to delete said wrong chapter. I apologize if you were spammed with update notifications because of my mistake.
I had explained everything to Alice. I proved everything by creating a protected space. Except, Alice didn't enter the space with me, not at first. It took me some time to realize the second hidden clue that the being had left me: Alice had to be in a party with me for my power to affect her.
After that, it was easy to bring her into protected space. She had a short meltdown when I used Magic Blast to blow a hole in the bedroom wall. Apparently, Alice and I were both afraid of Old Man Crocker's wrath. I also saw Mind of the Gamer affect Alice twice during my demonstrations, which surprised me. The hardest part was what would happen once my demonstrations were over. Honestly, I was afraid of Alice's reaction.
Alice and Darren had taken me in. They gave me a place to live and food to eat. In turn, I worked whatever jobs I could get that would pay under the table. I couldn't legally have a job since I was fifteen. Some of my jobs took advantage of me because of that. I put up with it because I wanted to help them like they helped me. The sound of Alice's voice pulled me from my thoughts.
"I wouldn't believe any of this if I hadn't seen it.", said Alice slowly. We sat on the couch in relative silence. It was where the majority of our discussion had taken place. I wanted her to have time to process things but she had a point. I would have thought I had gone insane instead of having received a special power, if not for the being.
"It is pretty crazy. Yesterday, I was a normal person. Today, I have powers that defy logic.", I replied carefully. I would count myself lucky to have a bed that wasn't made of newspapers. I meant to talk to her about it later but I was really scared of her reaction. I took a look around at the protected space we were in to take my mind off depressing thoughts.
The space was made by Alice. I taught her how to make her own space. She even created her own skills as she learned how to make it, much to our mutual surprise. Through that, I realized that I had only started to learn the basics of what my power could do. I also taught Alice how to use the Create Character command.
Alice decided to recreate her body. I knew she'd stay with brown hair and blue eyes. She did make her hair long enough to reach her shoulder blades. What I didn't expect her to do was bump her breasts up from a B cup to a D cup. She said it was to be more in line with her physique but I didn't buy it. Originally, she was about six feet tall but she said she took off a few inches and it showed. She was still a bit taller than me.
"What are you going to do?", she asked, looking me right in the eyes. I shrugged and avoided looking at her. I fiddled with my thumbs.
"I was told the Abyss is a pretty dangerous place. If I do it, I'm worried that I'll be putting you and Darren in danger. I-", I said, pausing at the end. "I only want good things to happen to both of you.", I finished. I couldn't look her in the eyes. She put her arm around me.
"And I only want good things for you and Darren but life doesn't always work out that way.", she replied. Her sentiments only made me feel worse. "Jun, look at me for a sec?", she asked. I did as she asked and looked her in the eyes. "You said this power can be used to make money, right?", she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's not like I've tested it. I mean, I'm curious about my power but I'm worried about both of you.", I replied with the honest truth. The theory of making money by killing monsters sounded good. It was one of the most common staples of MMOs and RPGs. She hummed for a moment before withdrawing her arm. She turned to look at me.
"Then, let's test it. I've always wondered what it would be like as a protagonist!", she said with a smile. Her bright, cheery smile made me feel like I was worried and upset for no reason. Despite that, I knew my explanation of the Abyss had to be weighing on her as well. She stood up and pulled me up from the couch. "Wipe that gloomy look off your face.", she said with a light-hearted laugh.
"Skills.", she said, touching the icon for Create Instant Dungeon. I read the skill description out of mild curiousity.
Create Instant Dungeon Active - Lv:1 Exp:0.0%
You are able to generate a dungeon full of monsters.
Dungeon ID:
0 - No monsters
1 - Goblins(Day), Zombies(Night)
"Ok, how do we set the dungeon ID?", I asked. I was clueless at how to do that. Alice replied to my question with a small laugh.
"Well, we want to set the dungeon ID, right? So, why not look in the Settings menu?", she posed. Even after all I had seen, I doubted there would be a Settings menu and told her as much. It felt too much like a cheap attempt at breaking the fourth wall. "Settings.", she said with confidence. I should have known it would work.
It took some searching around in the menus but we found the dungeon ID setting in the Game submenu. It was initially set to an ID of zero. So, we both set our dungeon IDs to one and got ready to leave Alice's space to create a new dungeon. It was the perfect chance for her to learn how to leave dungeons.
"So, it's just like a creating a dungeon.", she said as she raised her hand up. The protected space disappeared the same way mine did. "And then, we just magically pop up back in to reality from nowhere.", she said in an amused tone as she looked at me. "Are you really going to hunt monsters in a tank top?", she asked with a smile.
"My shirts won't be dry for a bit longer.", I said as I motioned towards the closet that held the washer and dryer. I raised my hand up. "Create Instant Dungeon!", I said. I was giddy, excited, and afraid all at the same time. "Besides, it's not like anyone else will see me.", I said as we entered the dungeon. A small window popped up to tell us that we had entered a dungeon.
We headed for the front door but Alice stopped me from opening the door. It didn't take long for me realize why. There was something moving around in the hallway. I felt a shiver run down my spine when it let out a deep moan. It sounded pretty close to the door.
"It really is a zombie.", said Alice, disgusted. "Here's what we'll-", she started to say something but was cut off by something slamming into the front door. A high pitched moan came from the zombie on other side of the door. It started ramming the door repeatedly. Alice pulled me away from the door. "The door will be fixed when we leave the dungeon. So, I'm going to blow up the door as a sneak attack.", she explained as she raised a shaky palm towards the door.
"Magic Blast.", she said calmly as a pop-up appeared in front of her, showing Mind of the Gamer had activated. The familiar blue ball of flame struck the door and exploded. When I looked, the door frame was gone, leaving behind only a hole where the door used to be. I heard a lot of loud moaning and shuffling come from the hallway. "Now, let's get out of here.", she said as she went through the doorway.
She stopped and raised her palm again. "Magic Blast." An explosion rocked the hallway as I left the apartment. "These zombies are pretty resilient. Good thing they're like Romero zombies.", she said before shooting me a wide smile. To my left, Alice had her palm directed at a pile of four zombies that struggled to stand up. I had a good idea of what she was thinking and raised my palm.
"Magic Blast.", we said together. It took only two shots from both of us to bring down the zombie pile. Once their HP ran out, the zombies turned into black smoke and disappeared. Several windows appeared in front of me at the same time.
*DING!*
You have gained 454 exp.
You have gained 489 exp.
You have gained 472 exp.
You have gained 495 exp.
You have gained a level.
"Nice! You leveled up!", said Alice enthusiastically. She held up two five dollar bills when I looked up at her. "They really do drop money, just like in games.", she said as she put her arm around my shoulders. "Let's head back for now. I want to see if the money is real.", she said as she led me back to our apartment. Once we were inside, Alice took us out of the dungeon.
"Oh yea!", she exclaimed. I jerked backwards in surprise. "Darren is staying at Mac's house tonight. I forgot all about that!", she said excitedly. "We can keep hunting without worrying about popping up in front of Darren.", she explained with a smile. "You scared the heck out of me with that earlier.", she said as she gave me a playful punch to the shoulder.
"Again, I'm sorry about that.", I apologized for what must have been the tenth time. "I really didn't mean to scare you.", I said as I remembered the laundry needed to be done. I got sidetracked for a few hours by studying my power. I watched as Alice headed for her room.
"I'm still in my work uniform. I'm gonna change clothes before I head out.", she said as she shut her bedroom door. I pulled out the load that was done drying and threw the washer load into the dryer. I stripped off my tank top and grabbed a freshly washed shirt. I heard the bedroom door open as I put on my shirt.
Alice came out wearing a plain white shirt, a blue denim jacket, and a loose-looking pair of blue jeans. She held up the two fives we had gotten earlier. "I don't need to leave.", she said with a triumphant smile on her face. "I marked the bills with one of the counterfeit pens I swiped from work. There's no black mark! That means the money is real!", she said, excited as she pulled me into a tight hug.
"Yay!", I said happily as I hugged her back. "Hey, wanna do a late night grind like we used to?", I asked, super excited. Alice used to play MMOs with Darren and me until her computer and one of the laptops died for good a few months ago. Usually, I would play tank while Darren was DPS and Alice was the healer. She pulled back from me and winced.
"Ugh." She picked at her bra strap and slightly adjusted a few things. She caught me staring at her. "Wearing a bra that's two sizes too small is really uncomfortable.", she explained while blushing a little. She raised her hand and winced again. "Create Instant Dungeon!", she said happily. We found zombies right outside our apartment, just like last time. Alice blew up the front door with Magic Blast and took them down.
"Party.", I said, curious about the menu. To my surprise, a window appeared in the top left corner of my field of vision. The window showed our names, HP bars, and MP bars. The HP bar was red while the MP bar was blue. At the same time, there was also a window that opened up in front of me with settings for exp and loot distribution.
"Ok, that's pretty cool. It's like someone mixed VR and AR games together!", she commented. "Still, we're both low on MP. Status.", she said, clearly getting the hang of things. I looked at her status menu.
Name: Alicia Rockwell
Occupation: Magician in Training
Level: 9 Exp: 37.89%
Age: 20
HP: 220/220
MP: 24/230
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 21
Wisdom: 9
Luck: 10
Points: 0
"What are you looking at?", I asked. Her stats were also a little too neat to be natural. Did she readjust her stats for magic like I did with mine for melee? I was also pretty sure her occupation was listed as something else this morning.
"Well, I wanted to see how close I am to gaining a level. What about you?", she asked. I brought up my status window and realized I had forgotten about my level up. "Okay, you just need one or two more zombies to level up but your stats are weird. Why are they so low?", she mused while looking at my stats.
Name: Jun Tachibana
Occupation: The Gamer
Level: 3 Exp: 97.89%
Age: 15
HP: 340/340
MP: 12/70
Strength: 16
Agility: 15
Intelligence: 5
Wisdom: 4
Luck: 4
Points: 5
"We'll pick and choose our battles until your MP is full.", I said as I moved in front of her. I could hear more zombies moaning and shuffling towards us from the hallways on the side. I could also see zombies slowly moving towards us from further down the hallway as well. "We need to leave the building or we could get boxed in and become a zombie manwich.", I said. My strategy earned a laugh from Alice.
*DING!*
Wisdom has increased by 1 point.
"Did you really gain a stat boost from using strategy?", she asked as we rushed down the stairwell to the first floor. I was about to reach the door when I heard Alice scream my name. As I turned around, I saw a zombie take her to ground. I rushed forward and kicked the zombie in the ribs. My kick threw the zombie off of her but it still had a solid grip on her arms. Alice had lodged her feet against the zombie's chest but she couldn't break free.
I stomped on the zombie's arm again and again but it wouldn't let go of her. "Go for the head!", she screeched as the zombie slowly pulled her closer. I did as instructed and immediately noticed my attacks were having much more of an effect. I heard the familiar dinging noise twice but I ignored it. Helping Alice was far more important.
I didn't have to attack the head for long before the zombie turned into black smoke and disappeared. I heard another dinging noise but, over that, I could hear the moans and snarls of more zombies getting closer. Alice and I bolted from the building and onto the streets. Unfortunately, there were a lot of zombies in the street.
"Come on!", said Alice as she dragged me into an alleyway. We hid behind some trashcans. Alice was breathing hard. "Game or not, that was way too close. We need a better way to hunt zombies, like with a shotgun.", she spoke while watching the street.
I remembered hearing three sound effects by the front door and called up my skill menu. I learned two new skills. I touched the new skill icons to see what they did.
Hand-to-Hand Combat - Trainee Passive - Lv:1 Exp:0.0%
You have learned the basics of fighting with your fists. This skill is only in effect when unarmed.
Effect: Inflict 30% more physical damage, move 5% faster.
Strong Blow Active - Lv:1 Exp:0.0%
Deal a powerful physical blow to an enemy.
Skill damage is linked to Strength.
Effect: Deal 200% physical damage striking an enemy or deal 300% physical damage to a single enemy by striking a weak point.
"Well, I created some new skills. That should help us out some.", I said as I looked at the other end of the alley. There was a lone zombie standing in front of a chainlink fence at the end of the apartment building. "Alice.", I said as I tugged on her sleeve.
"What?", she asked as I opened the status menu. She watched as I dumped two levels worth of points into Strength. I saw a 'Finalize' button appear as I raised my Strength and tapped it when I was done. Right after that, I heard another sound effect. At the same time, I felt my entire body tingle as something inside me changed.
*DING!*
Due to reaching 25 Strength, a new skill has been created: Warrior's Body - Trainee
I quickly reopened my skill menu and saw a new icon. I tapped on it and read the description. I could feel Alice looking over my shoulder.
Warrior's Body - Trainee Passive - Lv:Max
Your body has begun to harden due to physical training.
Effect: Increase physical damage by 10%. 5% physical damage reduction.
"Well, I have a few questions on how damage calculation is done.", she said in a snarky manner. I heard something metallic scrapping against the concrete off to our left. When I looked up, I saw the zombie from earlier was staggering towards us with a metal pipe in hand. Alice started to raise her hand but I stopped her.
"I got this.", I said as I started walking towards the zombie. "I need to check out my new skills anyways.", I said with a growing smile. When I got close, the zombie swung the pipe at me. I jumped back to avoid the attack but I could feel the wind from the sing. I quickly glanced at the text above it's head.
Zombie Warrior in Training
Lv.11 Zombie
"Jun, be careful!", Alice called out from trashcans. The pipe looked like it was a few feet long. The zombie was pretty fast when it attacked but it was pretty slow to move forward. All I had to do was attack right after it missed me. As I predicted, the zombie swung for the fences as I hopped backwards. As I moved back, I heard a sound effect go off.
"Strong Blow!", I called out as I rushed forward and decked the zombie right in mouth. The zombie cried out as it stumbled backwards and fell over. I wasted no time in starting my ground-and-pound game with Strong Blow. I only needed a few Strong Blows to finish it off. After it disappeared, I found a small tooth and ten bucks where it used to be. I took the money and left the tooth.
You have earned 793 exp.
I ignored the pop-up and turned around to give Alice a thumbs up. "Magic Blast!", she called out. I watched as a small pack of zombies were blown off their feet. "I'm out of MP again!", she called out to me. I saw the zombie's metal pipe was still around. So, I grabbed it and ran to Alice.
"Here.", I said, offering her the pipe. "I'm gonna crack some skulls.", I said as I walked towards the zombies. They still hadn't gotten up. As I checked the zombies' HP bars, one thing I noticed was Alice's magic was doing less damage than my Strong Blow. Despite that, we both only needed to land two skills to take out a single zombie.
We finished off most of the zombies. One of the zombies did manage to get up but I put it back down with Strong Blow. When we were done, Alice and I climbed up the fire escape ladder in the alley. I sat down to rest while Alice waited for her MP to recover. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the relative silence until Alice spoke up.
"After this, I don't think I can keep watching the Walking Dead.", she said with a big smile as she laughed. I opened my eyes to see she had moved next to me. She sat with her legs off to the side and leaned against the railing of the fire escape. That was when I noticed the being from earlier was standing behind Alice.
DUN DUN DU~~N!