For a different look at things in Party Invite 2.4 we see Taylor's perspective on the events of Tutorial 2.6. Beta by Faria Lyton.

Party Invite 2.4

When I woke up, I was pleasantly surprised that my arms and shoulders weren't screaming. The first few days after I'd taken up jogging had been decidedly unpleasant. While jogging worked my legs and general fitness, it didn't do much for my upper body. After swinging my bat for hours, I should be feeling the same kind of hurt that I felt in my legs when I first took up jogging. Instead my muscles were sore, but it was the familiar ache of a good workout. I could deal with the pain, and it would fade with more exercise. Obviously James's power was at work, probably from the level-ups. Both times I'd hit a new level I'd been rewarded not just with a pop-up and points, but a burst of energy better than a hot cup of tea and a fresh shower. It was yet another example of just how bloody useful James's powers were.

While I was eager to continue training with James, it was too early to meet him, so I decided to butter up my dad by cooking breakfast. In doing so I learned the [Pancakes] and [Scrambled Eggs] recipes while adding 28.3% to my [Cooking.] I also managed to level [Singing], by just singing along with the radio.

Meanwhile my other skills were not going up near as quickly. I had to shut down [Sense Processing] while trying to cook and eat. Smelling and tasting what my bugs sensed just did not mix well with anything to do with food. My constant efforts to level up [Mental Control Area], [Lingering Command], and [Combat Mapping] were making some progress, but it was slow. More telling was that the higher the level of the skill the slower it was gaining.

Breakfast was quiet. My father was never very talkative until after his second cup of coffee and I was gone before then. I did manage to wheedle a 10:30 PM curfew out of him, which I thought was pretty good considering I had school tomorrow. Even after cooking breakfast I still left early, so I extended my morning jog. I really wanted to pick up a [Jogging] skill especially if it had ridiculous multipliers like [Power Strike] did. A Mover power would be awesome.

I quickly learned that singing while jogging was more difficult than they make it look in the movie versions of Army basic training. Or possibly I just needed to learn some kind of marching songs. The only songs where I could remember all the words were kids songs and some of Canary's recent hits. While I used to like Canary's music, there was no way I was singing that evil bitch's songs anymore. It was capes like her that made people leery of anyone with a Master ability, even ones like me that couldn't control humans at all.

Despite my extended jog I still arrived at the ship's graveyard before James. I spent the extra time trying to train up as many skills as I could by practice. Not that it did much good. I confirmed that just trying to sneak around on my own did nothing to level up [Stealth]. Target practice was just as bad as the previous day at leveling up any combat skill, and constantly singing dried out my throat. Fighting zombies was the way to make real progress. When James finally showed up on bug-dar, I was tempted to race out and meet him, but I forced myself to chill and wait for him. James was a friend and not my personal skill trainer.

James waved as he approached, but the first words out of his mouth were, "Do you have the mask? My quest won't complete, and I think it's because the costume isn't complete."

No, 'Hi Taylor, good to see you?' Just 'Where's the mask?' I was a little miffed, but also guilty because I'd totally forgotten about his quest this morning. I only had his mask because I'd packed it in my backpack last night. I dug it out of my backpack and handed the yellowish grey balaclava over to James. It really wasn't my best work. I'd made it as more of a back-up emergency mask than anything.

He almost snatched it out of my hands, yanked it down over his head, and called out "[Inventory.]" He made some swiping gestures at an unseen screen, and then was suddenly standing there wearing wearing the mask I gave him, his boxers, and his socks.

I wasn't quite ready for almost naked James. I suppose it wasn't any worse seeing James in a pair of swim trunks, but still… Oh em gee, what the hell was he wearing now? I knew that I had no room to talk about poor fashion choices, but this was awful! The sleeves didn't match the rest of his shirt and had been obviously been poorly tacked on. Ugly shirt along with plain black jeans, grey sneakers, and black gloves were the base of his outfit. On top of them he had plastic shinguards that looked like he'd spray-painted them, some kind of shiny plates strapped to his arms and chest, and a bike helmet with a goofy-looking antenna stuck to it. Oh and sunglasses. I couldn't overlook the hideous oversized sunglasses. This would fail even as a Halloween costume. Granted, he didn't really intend that as his hero costume. I knew that he'd cobbled it together from scraps overnight, so I should give him some credit, but even so I was speechless.

"I couldn't find any black spray paint, and the helmet is crap, but it's a start… Meet Beetle Knight!"

"Wait, what?" So not entirely speechless. He was proud of that monstrosity? Bullshit happened then as a cardboard box the size of a small end-table appeared in a golden glow.

James seemed to take the sudden appearance of the box from nowhere in stride. "Beetle Knight. I thought it worked well as an 'insect medieval' theme. And I like the sound of it. Lady Bug. Beetle Knight. Get it?"

Lady Bug Beetle. Beetle Knight. I got it, but... box from nowhere? It really shouldn't surprise me. My bat came from nowhere, as did the zombies, so chalk it up to bullshit powers and move on. The name, Beetle Knight, was at least much better than the costume. Focus on the positive. "Okay, it's not bad. The name works well with Lady Bug and gives us a shared theme. Give me time, and I'll get a spider silk under-suit made to go under your armor." That was better than telling him that his costume sucked. "Also, Parian might have some ideas that work with the name…" James had opened the box removing a helmet. Unlike the rest of his costume it was professional quality: glossy black, bug-eye lenses, stylized mandibles and fangs, and a large freaking hole right in the center of the forehead. "That hole looks… like it could be a problem"

"Let's see what's up with that. [Observe.] One moment…" James removed another box from the box-from-nowhere. Inside he removed a pair of curved horns in a matching glossy black. "[Observe.]"

Horns? Was he Viking beetle now?

James slid the horns into the slot in the helmet and they clicked into place. Once attached they didn't look as bad. "It's got a few different add-ons. This one gives five extra percent of AGI." James rooted through his box of goodies and opened other smaller boxes that were apparently different kinds of attachments.

I recognized one the attachments as matching that of a Goliath beetle. Thinking about that put the other set in perspective. I was pretty sure there was a beetle that had pincers like that, so maybe it actually fit his name. At least the helmet looked good. "That's way better than the one you're wearing. Why don't you try it on?" I offered him what I hoped was an encouraging smile.

James took my advice to heart and swapped the helms discarding the balaclava I'd given him, that horrible bike helmet met TV antenna thing, and his oversized shades.

The pincer helmet was a little campy, but so much better that I couldn't begin to tell him without insulting his efforts. "Yes, much better. I like that helm. If you can get a full set like that you won't need help from me or Parian… That reminds me - did the pauldrons look bad?"

"Haven't made it yet. Just earned a title. I'm a [Novice Hero] now. Gimme a sec." James turned to stare at a pop-up that I couldn't see and made some gestures at it. "That's… really weird feeling. Definitely using this one for a bit, though. That's useful."

I nodded in relief glad the conversation had drifted away from his costume. "Especially for me. I swapped back to [Novice Hero] last night. All I get from leveling is a few stat points, which I plan to save until it becomes harder to earn stat levels."

"Well, it does make more sense to use your rare candies at level 90 than at level 9."

Rare candies? I wasn't sure what that had to do with anything, but I was saving my points so I nodded along.

"We've got a few levels on the zombies now. How about we try training our skills a little, maybe try and fill in our skill lists. I kinda want [Rising Strike] and [Finishing Blow], and I'm sure-"

"I want [Physical Resistance]!" Oops, a little too eager there. "...and [Grounding Strike]. Give me a moment to change into my costume." James might be bold enough to change out in the open, but no way was I flashing my bra and panties to him. "Be right back." I retreated a short distance away to access the [Inventory] feature. With a few quick swipes I was back wearing my costume with bat in hand. I called over a few thousand bugs to handle [Combat Mapping] and [Entangle] and I was good to go. "Okay, I'm ready-"

"[ID Create!]," interrupted James.

As usual we appeared in the middle of zombies. I sent my skirt-nets to [Entangle] most of the zombies close by while pouncing on a zombie that was almost in my face. I used a [Rising Strike] to send it James's way. He batted it out of the air with an unarmed [Grounding Strike] and then pounded it with his fists until it vanished.

"Got [Finishing Strike!]" James said. "Do you have a-"

I cut him off by handing the knife that I'd already retrieved from my backpack hilt first. "You opened the barrier before I could offer you a weapon. This is the only spare I've got on me. You probably can't get [Rising Strike] with it, though."

"I'll stick to unarmed until that one pops. But thanks." James accepted the knife from me and stepped toward the one zombie that I'd left free for us to fight. "Hey, Taylor, can I ask you something?"

"Sure." I freed another zombie and stepped up to the plate bat in hand. "[Power Strike!]" and wham to the side of the shambling dead's head.

James had his own zombie under control, hitting it with uppercuts. "So what's up with the bitches three? They are way too focused on you and you alone. Seriously, hero or not, how have you not given them crabs or at least lice?"

Madison. Sophia. Emma. He had to ask about them. I took out some frustration by swinging my bat like a golf club into the next zombie. "[Rising Strike!]" I caught it below the belt and sent it flying. It went up, but dissolved away leaving nothing but a rib to fall to the deck. If nothing else zombies were useful for venting my anger upon. Still, I owed James some kind of answer. We were partners. "I don't give them crabs because I can feel exactly where all the bugs in my range are. All the time. I don't give them lice because I'm better than them. Than that. I'm going to use my powers for good." That wasn't the whole truth. I also couldn't trust myself enough to use my powers at Winslow. "Besides... sometimes my emotions leak into my bugs. If I ever started with them, I'm not sure I could stop. It's... They're... They aren't worth it."

James planted his feet and the zombie he was fighting with a well-placed uppercut. It was a solid hit and sent the zombie back a bit. "Okay, I get it. Beware the dark side, forever shall it dominate your destiny. But what's with their hate-on for you?" He switched to his knife.

Sometimes I had nightmares about what could happen if I lost control of my bugs, but James took that possibility in stride. Of course, then he had to ask about Emma. I released a zombie from my skirt-nets only to bind its legs together around the ankles. It fell at my feet, and I slammed it twice in the head with [Finishing Strike], the baseball bat version of the double tap. "It's a girl thing." A mean girl thing, but a girl thing. "Emma used to be my best friend. Then she got to high school…" Life would be easier if she'd been a zombie, but real life problems took more than a baseball bat to put down. "…and realized that as a model she could be popular, but little old me was uncool. So she ditched me for Sophia the track star and popular girl." It hurt to say it, but really that's what had happened. I didn't like it, but girls chose sides. "I'm the ex best friend forever who is unpopular. She has to diss me to prove she's above me now." I picked up the shard that dropped. That wasn't really the whole story. Emma could have just ignored me, given me the cold shoulder and let it go. Instead she'd found some sort of cruel joy in making my life miserable. "At least that's the only sense I can make of it." I think that in some ways Emma was a worse monster than any of these zombies. What did it say about me that all those years I'd never seen that inside her? Had she ever really been my friend? Or had she just enjoyed having someone that looked up to her? I pointed my bat at another zombie. "Letting that one have a go at you."

"Setting one up. [Rising Strike]." James launched the zombie at me. "Take it down."

So James had [Rising Strike] now! The airborn zombie made a slightly harder target, but it was still almost impossible for me to miss a maggot-filled corpse. I caught it midair and slammed it down to the deck. A pop-up let me know that I'd gotten the move right and earned the [Grounding Strike] skill. I flashed James a thumbs up. I let another zombie through to me, just using normal blows and letting it fight back. I needed to kill them slower so they could land some blows if I ever expected to get [Physical Resistance.] Since we were doing the talking thing, I should ask him something in return. Madison and the broken collar bone? Maybe something less personal? "If you don't mind me asking, why isn't D&D a good cover story at your house?"

"Honestly, I'm a little on the outside, even in my family, so I don't know all the details." James smashed a zombie with the hilt of his dagger, but it only staggered back instead of going flying. "What I do know is that one night Mom woke the entire house up yelling because she'd found my oldest brother, Bill's Dungeons and Dragons books. Too many demons and too much magic for her take on Christianity." He called out a "[Power Strike!]" and finished off his target. "She kept the whole house up for three or four hours yelling and crying. When she finally shut up long enough for everyone to get back to sleep, he left. It was over a year before we heard from him again. Even now he's unwilling to be around more than once every three or four months, and it's been around seven years."

"Oh, sounds uncomfortable." I wasn't sure what to say. Mankind had not reacted well to the arrival of the Endbringers, but the religions of the world went even crazier about them. I was well aware that many churches now believe that the end of days were upon us. It sounded like James's mother was one of those types. "My family was never really religious." It sounded weak, but I wasn't really sure what else to say. We settled into an awkward silence punctuated by the moans of zombies and the sounds of combat.

James broke the silence. "On the subject of books, I noticed two of my books at home count as skill books. I brought them along. We should check them out after lunch. Tabouli and provolone on wheat, by the way."

Thank you, James! "Oh right, you mentioned learning skills from books. Sure, I want to pick up some." We still had a bit of combat chatter going along, but by unspoken agreement no more awkward questions were asked. Instead we focused on grinding zombies, which was again very rewarding: [Blunt Weapon Mastery +3], [Entangle +3], [Rising Strike +2], [Light Armor Mastery +2], [Power Strike +2], [Finishing Blow +2], [Combat Mapping +1], [Dodge +1], [AGI +1] and [VIT +1]. James did as well as I did. He earned [Rising Strike], [Finishing Blow] and [Light Armor Mastery] and gained one level in [Brawling], two in [Power Strike] and [Grounding Strike], and three in [Knife Mastery], and also a level before we decided to take a break for lunch. The only real disappointment was that I still hadn't received [Physical Resistance].

"Maybe nothing hit you hard enough?" suggested James. "If it weren't for [Gamer's Body], I'd be bruised pretty badly from how I got that. [Inventory]." James started pulling sandwiches out of thin air along with full glasses, not bottles, of water.

While James set out lunch, I ducked around a corner to change. My costume got a little warm after fighting for a few hours, and I wanted to cool down, but not so much as to change in front of him. While I swapped out my outfit I considered his advice about gaining [Physical Resistance]. He was probably right, but that didn't help me much. The zombies hit pretty hard and unlike James I didn't have a slow regeneration. Without my armor I'd be getting a lot more than the few bruises I'd picked up.

When I returned from doing the costume quick change, I discovered that in addition to lunch James had brought two books. Interesting. I picked up the first one "Beginner's BASIC? I…"

[You've obtained the skill book [Computer Programming]]
[Would you like to learn the skill?]
[Yes] [No]

"Wait! We don't have to study? Push a button and just learn it? This could make computer class even easier. This could make everything easier..." I poked [Yes]. Suddenly my mind was flooded with the details of BASIC: every command, declaring variables, loops, and more. It even included a wealth of detail on how to write structured programs. Technically speaking that wasn't part of BASIC, but I wasn't complaining. I'd already known parts of it, but the rest of it just poured into my memory in astonishing detail.

[You've obtained the skill [Computer Programming]]
[Computer Programming (Passive) Lvl 1 Exp 0.0%]
[Allows the user to read, write, debug and use computer programs, +1 INT]
[At this level, the user has a BASIC comprehension and will have difficulty with any other programming language.]
[10 PRINT "Hello World!"]

"Wow. That was… I already knew most of that, but still. I didn't expect a skill as broad as [Computer Programming] from this book and it just poured into my head!" I looked down and noticed the book was gone. Whoops. "Sorry."

James waved off my apology. "I half-expected it. A lot of games only let you get one use out of skill books. I guess Long is a Dragon is mine." He picked up the remaining book. "I never figured I'd actually learn Chinese before Japanese. [Yes.]"

This time I got to watch while James consumed a book. The book devouring came with an impressive light show. Long is a Dragon glowed, shattered into smaller pieces, which scattered and shrank to glittering motes of light before vanishing into nothing. Meanwhile James's hair moved as if caught in an unseen breeze while his mouth stretched into a wide smile.

"I get the feeling I'll still need to study a lot before it's really useful, but damn me if that wasn't one hell of a jump start."

"No kidding." This opened up so many possibilities to us. I didn't want to get pushy again, but... "Can we go shopping after lunch? I think I need to visit a used book store."