Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the characters of his universe, I just play in that sandbox for fun and without pay or any form of remuneration other than reviews and private messages; which are fortunately non-taxable.
AN: I have to say that the response I've received on this story has helped to inspire me to find my previously lost love of writing. Over 270 reviews?! Are you kidding me? Wow. I'm not sure what I enjoy more, coming up with crazy ideas and funny quirky plotlines or seeing the reaction of the readers. All I have to say is thank you so much for the flood of great ideas and reviews, when I see you chuckling or laughing in your reviews it makes me smile in return. Ok, now for a couple of items regarding the last two chapters: 1. I fixed the errors with the 250 versus 500 experience that Harry should have received for saving the baby, and I fixed the pound coins. Humorously enough on the pound coins, I was chastised in a review for my Oops story about using pound coins in Britain during 1939. Apparently there were one pound notes back then but not the coins; probably due to the scarcity of metal during the great wars and growing inflation over the years. 2. The Harry in this story knows he is in a video game, he understands roughly what a video game is seeing as how Dudley no doubt had some, and the idea of a game spans both the wizarding world and muggle world. That said Harry has no experience specifically exploiting video games or really even playing them. He is also a slave to his stats, so without a high intelligence and wisdom score he isn't going to be able to perfect the exploits beyond the common sense things that he learns through trial and error and just dogged determination to survive and win. He's devious, but he isn't smart like Hermione… yet. Cheers!
'Thoughts are in italics'
"Things Said, or Things Written"
Chapter 3: Angry Mr. Tibbles
"Ding! Mission complete! +1 to Dexterity and 1000 XP. Level UP!"
Flashed in front of Harry's eyes the moment Dudley and his gang disappeared behind Harry and his mad sprint speed bunny hopping. Even though Harry was in the process of jumping, the world around him froze, including Harry who hung in midair as a new window popped up along with a tutorial explaining what was happening.
"I Wish I Was A Little Bit Taller, I Wish I Was A Baller" The tutorial was titled before explaining what was in front of Harry. "Welcome to the Level Up menu, where you can tailor your character for your type of play. As you gain experience in the game you will level up when you reach the required amount of experience to meet the next level. You gain experience by defeating enemies, completing missions, or finding secrets or treasure. For every level you gain, you can add four points to your ability stats; though that can be modified given perks, powers or bonuses you earn in the game. At age 4 and in the first level of the game, your stats to date are thus:"
At which point the tutorial message moved to the top right of Harry's vision, and his statistics and current scores were shown to him in the Level Up menu.
Level 2:
CURRENT EXP: 1625 TOTAL EXP NEEDED FOR NEXT LEVEL: 2100
Health: 11/11
Magic: N/A
Ability points to be allocated: 4
ABILITIES:
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 4
Constitution: 1
Intelligence: 3
Wisdom: 2
Charisma: 1
SKILLS:
Herbology: 0
CRAFTING:
Cooking: Master Chef
Harry examined the possibilities, but didn't know what to necessarily put points in. Thankfully the programmer of the game was good for something, and that something was the tutorial messages; even if they did tend to poke fun at Harry.
"Level Up noob, where to put your points." The tutorial read, and even though Harry didn't know what the term "noob" meant, he decided to flip his fingers towards the sky preemptively as he was pretty sure he was being mocked again.
"With every level your health, magic and stamina will grow, however what abilities increase is up to you. Place your points carefully in your abilities as you won't be able to move them.
Strength allows you to carry heavy things, use large weapons, perform more athletic tasks like jump further, or run swim or climb faster, and increases your melee damage.
Dexterity allows you to hit what you aim at and dodge others that are trying to hit you. Who attacks first is determined by your Dexterity as well as assists you in tasks that require fast thinking and deft actions like picking locks, sneaking, picking pockets, finding traps without triggering them, and most of all not getting caught when you don't want to be.
Constitution is your life as well as your ability to shrug off attacks of the body, mind, and soul. Every point to Constitution assists you in resisting poison, attacks to your mind, or attacks on your soul, and every two points in Constitution gives you another Heart to your total health.
Intelligence is your smarts and enables you to learn things faster, calculate situations and problems easier, and increases the number of skill points you get per each level. For every 2 points of intelligence you gain, you get 1 additional skill point per level up.
Wisdom is all about the magic. As a child of 4, with unbound magic, you have a surprisingly high Wisdom of 2 whereas the average unbound magical four year old would only have a Wisdom of 0. For every point you put into Wisdom your pool of magic increases by 20 units. That's 20 units that lets you cast more spells or overpower the spells you have already learned.
Charisma is how well respected by, and how good you are with, the ladies, the public at large, merchants, government officials and the different races and species of the Harry Potter Adventure world. At a Charisma of 1 you are a generally untrusted by the masses, a mopey bastard prone to brooding, your first real kiss will make a girl cry and the world at large will turn on you in the wink of an eye. With a Charisma of 25 or above, people think you are a swell guy, women flirt with you, you get the smile of the year award, and gosh darn-it people like you. At 50, women want you, men want to be you, and make sure you duck when they throw their underwear at you."
Harry read the last details about Charisma and had to bite his tongue not to go into an expletive laced tirade at the game's seeming mocking him and his previously painful life.
"Would have been nice to have known this last time." Harry growled, only to have a new tutorial message pop up.
"In Hard mode, tutorial messages are not possible and your ability and skill points are automatically allocated based on the abilities and skills you regularly use. Aren't you glad you are in Normal mode? Have a nice day!"
"Merlin's enlarged prostate! You bastards!" Harry yelled in anger. It was official, the game was definitely mocking him.
Harry pouted for a few moments, steamed at the situation he found himself in. But as the Abilities screen stayed waiting for him to act he finally decided to place his points.
Still fuming a bit, Harry spoke to himself as he examined his options, "Hmm, definitely like the idea of extra skill points every level, even if I only have Herbology available to me at the moment. And figuring out these ways around the game mechanics would be easier if I was smarter- still, I want to be a power house when I finally reach Hogwarts, and being better able to throw off the imperius or legilimency and give me another heart would be nice."
Harry bit his lip in concentration for a few moments before nodding and placing his points. "One point to Intelligence, one to Constitution, and two to Wisdom." Harry ordered.
Health: 12/12
Magic: N/A
Ability points to be allocated: 0
ABILITIES:
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 4
Constitution: 2
Intelligence: 4
Wisdom: 4
Charisma: 1
His stats locked in as he used his available Ability points.
"Skills for the skill-less, there is hope for you yet-maybe." The tutorial message read as the abilities screen disappeared and suddenly a list of Skills was shown, most of them greyed out and others labeled "Unknown."
Currently the only skill that was lit up was "Herbology" which showed a skill level of 0, but Harry knew he could modify that to 2 if he was wielding the Hufflepuff Shovel; the idea still made him shiver a bit when he thought of Madame Sprout and her fertilizer piles behind the Hogwart greenhouses.
"Skills can be increased in several different ways. Leveling up provides you with a total of 4 skill points each level, plus an additional skill point for every 2 points of Intelligence you have. Some perks, which we will discuss in the next section, also provide additional bonuses or negatives to your skill levels. Weapons, armor, enchantments, potions and spells may also affect your skill level; though are often temporary or last only so long as the item lasts or is equipped. The best thing for raising skill levels are constant use, missions, and skill books; skill books can be found throughout the world. Skill points may be immediately spent upon leveling up or saved for future use."
As he read the tutorial, a thought popped into his head. Well, two thoughts popped into his head, the first was that he was really glad he had raised his intelligence level as the second thought had been floating just out there on the edge of his consciousness as he read the tutorial message on skills. Just to be sure, Harry Potter read the tutorial once again, and then a third time.
"Bwa ha ha ha ha." Harry chuckled darkly. "Screw with me, I screw with you." Harry cackled as he rubbed his hands together in glee.
"Pass on the skill menu, I'll keep my 6 skill points for now and put them in something magical or combat related later." Harry ordered, the wicked smirk still on his face as the screen flipped to perks and Harry saw that he had the option to allocate one perk point and about five perks available to him to choose from.
Available Perks: 1 Perk Point available
"Hair Like Snape"
"Lemon-Drop Addiction"
"A Black Gene"
"A Summer Job"
"Comprehending The Incomprehensible."
None of the perks explained what they did until Harry mentioned their name. Hesitant though he was, he started at the top.
"Hair like snape." Harry questioned, his statement coming out as more as a cringing tentative question than an order.
"Hair Like Snape" a pop-up box read. "Your hair is as greasy, stringy and black as if you grew it out only to bathe it in motor oil on an hourly basis. You gain 10 permanent points to your Potions skill and a 25% chance of critical successes on Potion crafting; critically successful potions magnify the abilities of the potion by 50%. On the other hand, no amount of washing, enchantments, charms or potions will ever get rid of the grease in your hair, you will suffer a permanent -1 to Charisma and this will open up a conversation line where people ask you if a certain potions professor is actually your father. Would you like to purchase this perk? Yes, or No?"
"HELL NO!" Harry screamed, as he had been getting progressively more and more pale as he had read the description for the perk. Even the mere thought of being related to Snape almost made him physically sick. He just hoped that the next perk option was nicer to him.
"Lemon-drop addiction." The tutorial read as Harry said its name. "For most muggles and wizards the Lemon-drop candy is merely a slightly bitter and sweet confection. For some however, with a decidedly addictive personality coupled with a rare gene, the lemon-drop is the key to tapping magical power in its most potent form. The character who chooses the Lemon-drop addiction gets an additional bonus to their magical power by 33%, but is forced to eat lemon-drops several times a day or risk going into withdrawal. Lemon-drop withdrawal not only removes your bonus of 33% more magic, but also reduces your magic available by an additional 50%. Would you like to purchase this perk? Yes, or No?"
Harry again said no while shaking his head as his new level of intelligence gave him an insight into something that he never understood before. "That explains so much about Dumbledore. Still, I never realized that his offering of lemon-drops to everybody who entered his office was his way of pushing an addictive substance." Harry shrugged as he got ready to look at the third perk, "Oh well, it's just an addict trying to share his addiction, he probably figures the extra 33% bonus to magic is for the Greater Good."
The next perk popped up upon Harry's command. "A Black Gene, your grandmother was born a Black from the House of Black, and you've been born with the Black Gene. This gene type gives you an additional +10 to the Dark Magic skill and enables you to metamorph your hair color and length twice a day. Gaining this gene will immediately put you into conflict with Bellatrix Lestrange and the Malfoy family, both of which feel increased antagonism to you due to your blood status and the fact that you are next in line for the position of Head of House Black."
"Nah, not interested." Harry finished, preempting the question on if he wanted the perk.
"A Summer Job. At the end of every summer you gain an additional one hundred pounds muggle money and go back to school with tan and calluses. Yes it is child labor, but at least you're paid for it."
"Not interested, Next!" Harry ordered, hoping this next perk was worth the while, because he really didn't want to select the first two options, and the last two were just ok.
"Comprehending The Incomprehensible, you like to read and you are good at it. Maybe it's magic, or maybe it's just the weird way your brain works, but you gain an additional +2 skill points for every skill book you read and an additional +1 ability point for every ability bonus book you read. Still, you have to find the books first. Would you like to purchase this perk? Yes, or No?"
Harry smirked, this perk just added to his to his already wicked thought that came from reading the skill tutorial.
"Yes, I want the Comprehending The Incomprehensible perk." Harry ordered, and with that the perk lit up and his perk point disappeared and the Level Up screen also disappeared.
The world around Harry came back into motion, and Harry landed out of his jump on two feet; cushioning his landing by bending his knees.
"Inventory," Harry commanded, a huge smile spreading across his face. Harry retrieved his Pointy Stick from his armory and then pointed it down the block and back towards where the public elementary school was which also housed the Little Whinging Public Library.
"To the Library, Charge!" Harry yelled while thrusting his Pointy Stick in the air and bunny hopping his way towards the library.
"Skill books, skill books everywhere, bwa ha ha ha ha." Harry cackled. It hadn't been terribly hard to mingle with the children on the playground as the recess ended and Harry followed them into the school. Harry had to restrain himself from jumping through the hallways as at 4 years old he wasn't exactly supposed to be there, and he probably risked getting thrown out if he was caught. Still, even though the interior of the school was greyed out and unexplored, Harry knew the way to the library as in his previous life this school had been where he and Dudley attended class.
Moving through the taller students, because come on, Harry was short even for his age, Harry turned the corner and entered the equivalent of the game grinder's holy land, the library.
Harry had to bite his fist to keep himself from cackling, as throughout the library Harry saw here and there glowing books, yet still the "Be Quiet" signs lined the walls and even hung from placards attached to strings dangling from the ceiling.
The moment Harry stepped into the library, the Auto-save signal lit up in his vision, making him startle as he realized he had forgotten to save while doing all of his exploring. Soon the Auto-save disappeared, and Harry was able to focus on the shelves of books.
It wasn't like every book on the shelves was a skill book, but still, there were at least twenty skill books available on the shelves and behind the librarian's desk were two locked cases that held five glowing ability books; each of those books labeled with one of the ability stats names on them.
Rather than go for the hard goal first, especially since Harry didn't have a clue on how to get to the books locked in the cases, Harry went about trying to gather the twenty odd skill books and then carry the wobbling pile back to a table. Even with his strength skill of +3, the books were a strain and Harry found that he could only carry ten of the books at a time; plus given his small size, ten stacked books was enough to block his vision as these weren't kiddy books.
"Lock-picking +3" Harry smiled at the message as he opened a book titled simply "The Thief." Apparently he didn't even have to read the whole skill book, and the original +1 to the before then unknown skill also gained the +2 that his perk gave him.
Harry quickly set the book down and opened another skill book, followed by another after that.
"Duel Wielding +3" "Armor Wearing +3" "Unarmed +3" "Pick-pocket +3" "Pick-pocket +3" "Muggle subjects +3" "French language+3" ""Muggle subjects +3" "Muggle subjects +3" "Duel Wilding +3" "Lock-picking +3" "Muggle subjects +3." The messages popped up one after the other as Harry quickly opened a skill book, gained the points, then closed it and opened the next. However an interesting thing happened when Harry opened up the third "Muggle subjects" book; a book and skill set that seemed to cover all of the normal muggle school subjects like reading, writing, arithmetic, muggle history and the sciences.
"Ding, +1 to intelligence." A message flashed before Harry's eyes, interrupting the list of skill point additions and was quickly followed by a new tutorial message that interrupted Harry's skill book grinding.
"So you want to be a Ravenclaw?" "Congratulations on getting your first 10 points or more in Muggle Subjects. For every 10 points you gain in Muggle Subjects you can get a +1 to your Intelligence score. Similarly, studying Magical Subjects like Arithmancy, History of Magic, Magical theory, and Runes can gain you points to your Wisdom score; every 10 points in Magical Subjects gains you +1 Wisdom. You can gain points in Muggle Subjects or Magic Subjects by finding skill books or by studying applicable books yourself. Skill books are instant gains in skill points, studying yourself requires that you actually read and study the subject. Have fun- nerd."
Harry didn't even mind that the tutorial had just insulted him, once again, he had books to read.
Seven additional skill books later, one of them being another Duel-Wielding book and the other six Muggle Subjects, Harry was up another 18 points of Muggle Subjects and had gained another 2 points to Intelligence. He was feeling brilliant.
"I am a Genius!" Harry yelled out in joy, jumping out of his chair and pumping his fists in success.
At which point Harry Potter learned the difference between Intelligence and Charisma, for though the people of Little Whinging had upgraded his status to "That-Boy-The-Neighborhood-Isn't-Too-Sure-Of," Harry's School District status was "Hostile-You-Hooligan!" Coupled with his lowly Charisma of 1, which according to the tutorial made people turn on him in a wink of an eye and upon yelling in the library, Harry found himself mobbed by 4 white haired Old Lady Librarians.
"Ambush!"
"Old Lady Librarian attacks with "BE QUIET!" You take 4 points of Shhhh! Damage!" "Head Old Lady Librarian attacks with "BE QUIET!" Critical hit! You take 6 points of Shhhh! Damage" "Old Lady Librarian attacks: uses Boxes Ears, you take 1 point of Damage and are Dazed." "Old Lady Librarian attacks with "Revokes Library Privileges" Uses dazed status and low health to toss you out of library and school. Special attack add-on effect! The Power of a Good Book Compels You: Lose track of 2 hours."
The attacks happened before Harry could even arm his Pointy Stick, such was the power of the Old Lady Librarians in their native habitat.
And thus Harry Potter found himself laying on his back outside of the Little Whinging Elementary School, staring up dazed into the sun as one lone red heart flashed at him in warning.
"Trophy! Congratulations, you've won the trophy "Beat Down By A Blue-Haired Biddy." You've been beaten up by an old woman, aren't you proud?"
The trophy taunted Harry, but he was too dazed to notice it as he lay on the ground unblinking up at the sunny English sky.
Finally Harry blinked as his Dazed status wore off, and was a bit stunned as the sun moved from its 9:00 AM position to 11:00 AM; a clock on his visuals telling him the change in time.
Stumbling to his feet, his ears ringing from the boxing as well as the loud "Shhh!" attacks, Harry weaved in a stupor while calling out "Inventory."
Fortunately he had Burnt Bacon to the rescue, as bacon is known for curing a multitude of ills.
Finally after a few minutes and a full health bar of 12 hearts, Harry shook himself and then dusted himself off and attempted to re-enter the elementary school.
It was locked.
"Crappit!" Harry cursed before bending down and looking at the lock.
"Dee-Do," "So You Feeling Lucky, Punk." The tutorial popped up showing a difficulty marking above the lock that said, "Medium" and a close-up view of the lock and almost an x-ray view of the interior which showed its pins and locking mechanism.
"To pick a lock you need a hair-pin, lock-pick set, or know an unlocking spell. The lock-pick skill governs all unlocking abilities, including the magical. As your lock-picking skill gets better, you are better able to unlock harder locks without failing, setting off alarms, or breaking your hair-pins or lock-picks. Currently you own: 0 hair-pins, 0 lock-pick sets, and 0 unlocking spells. You can also attempt to break doors and bust open locks with physical force if you have the requisite strength, weapon, or spell. You currently have none of the above. Have a nice day!"
Harry cursed and stomped away from the door. "There went my bloody chance to read every book in the library, especially those ability books." Harry groused. Then, as if to add insult to injury, his new intelligence level of 7 provided him with the insight that not only could he not read and study the books in the library, he had no idea what other types of items or skill grinding he could have found available in the other parts of the school.
"BAH!" Harry yelled in anger, for apparently smarts aren't everything.
Harry was bouncing down the street towards the Dursleys, coming from the direction towards Ms. Figg's house, when he saw two young teenagers in leather jackets poking at a burlap sack that was shaking with loud hissing and cat's meows. An exclamation point hovering over the laughing teens' heads told Harry that this was the mission "The Kneazles In The Bag."
The two teens didn't know what hit them.
Falling upon them like a Bouncing Kindergartner of Doom, four year old Harry Potter used his new 9 points of Duel-Wielding to bring down the hammer… or at least the Hufflepuff Shovel and Pointy Stick.
"You gain initiative! Surprise attack!"
"Kong!" Harry's Hufflepuff Shovel made a ringing sound as the flat black and yellow checkered metal head of the shovel knocked the teen holding the bag right upside the teen's head. A green bar appeared above the teen's head and immediately dropped into the red, showing the boy's health drop to 2/10 points due to the power of Harry's special weapon; it would also be good for hiding the bodies later.
Meanwhile, using his Pointy Stick like a lance, Harry channeled his rage at getting beaten up by old lady librarians to stab the second boy.
"Critical Hit! Spleen Skewer!" Rang over the second teen's head. The blow immediately dropped the second teenager to 1 health, take bleeding damage that would kill the teen if not healed, and caused the teen to drop to the ground and start screaming, "My Spleen! You stabbed me in the spleen! Why God? Why?"
Due to Harry's attack initiative given his unusually high Dexterity of 4 and lucky surprise attack bonus of a Bouncing Attack From Above, Harry was able to swing his shovel again, braining the first boy and dropping him to 0 health.
In another lifetime, a 4 year old Harry would have been no match for the two boys. In another lifetime where a malnourished 4 year old Harry Potter hadn't ground skills, bunny hopped for hours to increase his stamina and strength stats, and would have only had a Pointy Stick. Well, that Harry would never have had the option of a surprise attack, and that Harry would have gotten his ass kicked and would be learning about how to reload at the last saved game.
This Harry, working off of a Surprise attack and getting to attack twice in a row quickly finished off the two young teenagers.
"Tada! You've defeated Level 2 Weak Teen Hooligans, 250 Experience earned. Loot bodies? Yes, No?"
Flashed above the two lifeless bodies.
It was at this point that Harry realized he had just killed two humans, in broad daylight, in the middle of a heavily populated neighborhood.
"Aaaah! What have I done?! Aaaah! What am I going to do?!" Harry danced in place, jumping up and down as he freaked out, looking around as he expected a police cruiser to pull up at any moment to arrest him. He expected answering screams to issue from the ever gossipy and snooping neighbors, and expected no lack of witnesses to his double homicide.
Harry quickly looked to his left up the street, ready to run.
Seeing nothing to his left, Harry darted a look to his right down that direction of the street.
Yet no cops appeared.
No neighbors entered the street to yell recriminations.
Nobody seemed to care. In fact, a mail man walking the other side of the street was whistling as he worked. The mail man even looked at Harry and smiled with a little wave before going back to delivering the post.
"What the hell?" Harry asked, totally off kilter about the lack of reaction to the two dead teens lying at his feet.
"Loot bodies? Yes, No?" Popped up in his vision again as a reminder.
Harry took a big breath in. Held it. Then forced himself to relax with a deep exhale.
"Ok, so video game Harry is allowed to kill people and not get in trouble- hmmm, this could lead to some nice opportunities." Harry finished, a small smile creeping across his face as he thought about getting rid of Snape, Malfoy senior, or even some of the members of what Harry was mentally labeling "The League of Incompetent Junior Death Eaters," or T.L.I.J.D.E. for short; an acronym that made about as much sense as any other acronym used in the wizarding world.
"Loot bodies? Yes, No?" Popped up again, apparently not going to leave Harry alone until he answered.
"Fine, fine, don't get your bloomers in a bunch." Harry rolled his eyes at the annoying message pop-ups, "Yes, I want to loot."
In an instant, Harry was getting an eye full of two sets of pasty white male butt cheeks as the two Weak Teenaged Hooligans were suddenly naked lying face down in front of Harry.
"Argh! My Eyes!" Harry flinched back and looked away. Fortunately the image of the loot he gained stayed floating in his vision even as he looked in a 'safe' direction.
"You gain 1 leather jacket, 1 switchblade, 1 pair of fitted jeans, 10 pounds muggle money."
"Wonderful Loot, or in short, Woot!" Harry thought he was being witty as he made a new word.
"Inventory." Harry commanded, and when the trunk popped into existence Harry saw a new tab called Armor had been added next to the Weapons tab.
Upon clicking on the Armor tab, Harry saw the new jeans and leather jacket were available, but what was most interesting was a life sized image of Harry wearing his baggy worn out Dursley hand-me-downs in a three dimensional image in the right hand side of the inventory chest.
Harry furrowed his brow, and the 3D image also scrunched up its forehead.
Harry waved, and the image waved back. Harry smiled, and the image smiled back.
"Wicked." Harry quipped before looking at the options displayed in the Armor tab and saw a button that said "Default," another button that said "Max Defense," and then the statistics for Harry's current wear versus the Leather Jacket and Jeans he had just looted.
"Current armor rating, -2" Harry read his total armor rating with the Dursley Hand-Me-Downs and was not amused. Apparently the Armor Wearing skill bonus to his armor rating was only 1 point. Unfortunately though the -3 from the baggy shirt, baggy worn out jeans and worn-out hand-me-downs sneakers erased any benefit he was gaining from his armor skill and then some.
"Bah, Default." Harry groused, just wanting to get rid of the Dursleys clothes to see what his normal armor rating was- but not thinking about what the system meant by Default.
Upon Harry's command, Harry was suddenly looking at a naked 3D image of four year old Harry Potter.
That's when Harry felt a draft and looked down.
"Eep! Max Defense! Max Defense!" Harry quickly crossed his hands over his privates and crossed his legs as he noticed his adolescent twig and berries and the rest of his naked body were on display for the entire neighborhood to see. The program wasn't even nice enough to give him a pixelated blur of his private bits, nor give him a simple loin cloth or underwear.
Fortunately the Max Defense command had Harry wearing the Leather Jacket and Jeans before he could win the "Going for a Streak" trophy. His new ware now included the nice slightly armored leather jacket and jeans along with his original Hand-Me-Down shirt and worn out sneakers.
Harry smiled and turned to the left, then turned to the right, the image in the trunk showing off the fact that Harry finally had a pair of pants that fit and that coupled with the Leather jacket raised Harry's Armor rating to +2; which would have been higher if he wasn't still wearing the Durlsey provided baggy shirt and shoes which were giving him negative armor penalties.
Still, the new clothes made Harry happy, so now it was time to look at his new weapon.
"Switchblade, 5 melee attack/0 Defense. Special attack when Duel-Wielding two Switchblades, The-Sewing-Machine: You wield your blades at a tremendous speed, stitching a line of punctures down your enemy's frame."
"Wicked." Harry mused before unequipping his trusty Pointy Stick and equipping the Switchblade along with the Hufflepuff shovel.
"Meow! Hiss." Issued from the burlap sack on the ground, drawing Harry's attention and reminding Harry about the whole point of the mission.
Looking at the sack, a popup appeared over the sack. "Release kneazle and complete mission? Y, N?"
"Wait, why wouldn't I want to complete the mission—" Harry's statement cut off as a thought germinated in his mind.
Harry looked at the bag that included the squirming cat and Harry cocked his head to the side, "On one hand, I hate seeing the kitten being tortured, but on the other—well, it would sure be nice to try and get another switchblade and complete my set of new clothes." Harry paused for a second, and then shrugged.
"Sorry kitty, greed beats need." Harry quipped and then answered, "No, fail mission."
"Mission Failed," The screen announced, and Harry blinked.
In the instance that he blinked, the cat was once again held in a bag by two snickering Level 2 Weak Teenaged Hooligans with a floating mission exclamation point floating above their head.
"Bwa ha ha ha ha, let the gravy train commence operations." Harry smiled evilly.
"Save game." Harry ordered, his new intelligence of 7 helping him to remember the rather simplistic idea of saving before entering combat.
"Game Saved." The system stated as a little image of a thumbs-up with the words next to it popped up in the corner of Harry's vision.
Harry stepped forward towards the two teens with an evil smile on his face, just as both teens turned to Harry and sneered at him.
"What you want tosser?" One of the teens stated, while the one not holding the bag took a threatening step towards Harry and added his two pence, "Get lost ankle biter."
Harry just smiled up at them in return and pulled out his Hufflepuff Shovel and Switchblade.
"Let's play." Harry quipped, and combat began.
Harry got his ass kicked.
More specifically, Harry was quickly killed and found himself at the menu screen asking if he wanted to continue at the last save.
With a growl, Harry reloaded the game.
And then Harry died again.
In fact, Harry was killed and had to reload three times, he ran away once, and then had to restart the mission after a fifth accidental failure before he lucked out with another winning Initiative and gaining a Surprise attack and the related two attacks in a row that allowed him to narrowly kill the two teenagers.
In the first three rounds both hooligans, armed with switchblades, each did 5 damage to Harry every attack even with his new jacket and jeans; absolutely destroying Harry's health bar. First round of combat saw Harry dropped to only 2 remaining hearts, and his return attacks only did a total of 11 damage spread between the two teens before they killed him in the next round.
Harry died three times before running away the forth and eating food to regain his health and attempt a fifth time to grind the combat.
The fifth time he tried the mission saw Harry's relatively low dexterity causing his shovel to miss in its swing at one of the Hooligans and instead bash the bag holding the cat, killing the kneazle and causing the mission to fail. He might have been deft for a 4 year old, but he was far from having perfect aim with his attacks with a Dexterity of 4.
It wasn't until the fifth attempt at the mission "The Kneazles In The Bag" that saw Harry win due to another surprise attack which included another critical strike called "Shiv to the Spleen." Harry had shook his head at the programmer's obsession with the human spleen, but enjoyed the additional 250 new experience points, another 10 pounds muggle, and other loot won from the successful attempt to defeat the Level 2 Weak Teenage Hooligans.
Gaining a T-Shirt and a pair of Fine Leather Combat Boots by defeating the two hooligans saw Harry's armor rating jump to a total of 8, due to his 3 Armor wearing skill which added 1 armor point per every 2 skill points. Harry's new armor rating saw future switchblade attacks dropping to only 2 damage per successful attack by the Hooligans. Even better than the new armor and loot was the new level he gained from the second win and additional 250 experience.
"Mission Failed." "Level Up!" Flashed before Harry's eyes as he once again purposefully failed to free the kneazle from the bag.
Harry immediately dumped all 4 of his new ability points into Dexterity; if he was going to be mining this mission for loot and experience, he didn't want to go through all the work just to miss a swing and kill the cat again.
"Woot!" Harry cheered as he saw his new stats.
Level 3:
CURRENT EXP: 2125 TOTAL EXP NEEDED FOR NEXT LEVEL: 3400
Health: 13/13
Magic: N/A
Ability points to be allocated: 0
ABILITIES:
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 8
Constitution: 2
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 4
Charisma: 1
SKILLS: Skill Points to Allocate: 15
Armor Wearing: 3
Duel Wielding: 9
French language: 3
Herbology: 0
Pick-pocket: 6
Lock-Picking: 6
Muggle subjects: 30
Unarmed: 3
PERKS:
Comprehending The Incomprehensible.
Harry decided to once again save his skill points as he was holding out for magic skills, even if that lock-picking skill sounded helpful; especially with the Dursley's always locking him up in his cupboard.
Harry bit his lip in thought before nodding to himself, "Yep, going to hold off for a while. Not like I won't be grinding experience from these hooligans and get a chance to level again."
With that thought firmly in place, Harry looked at the available perks, and shivered again at the first two options, but the presence of three new perks interested him.
Available Perks: 1 Perk Point available
"Hair Like Snape"
"Lemon-Drop Addiction"
"A Black Gene"
"A Summer Job"
"Arrr, Yer a Pirate!"
"Ninja Vanish!"
"Creature Comfort"
"Hmm, what have we here? What is Arrr yer a pirate?" Harry clicked on the first new option.
"Arr ye seeking booty? Arrr Yer a Pirate gives you a 25% chance of getting better and more loot, and makes sure that even the smallest creature gives you at least a few extra coins. As an additional blessing, or curse, you will occasionally find yourself talking like a pirate. Probably best not to tell women you are there for their booty. Also, beware the ninja! Do you want to select "Arrr Yer a Pirate, Yes or No?"
Harry quirked an eyebrow and answered "No" before looking at the next new perk.
"Ninja Vanish! You gain the power of the ninja. When sneaking in shadows, you gain an extra +20 bonus to your sneak skill for as long as you are sneaking in the shadows. Your perk also gains you an addition 25% increased attack damage while performing sneak attacks. You also gain a permanent +5 to your Dual-Wielding skill. Pirates, or those with wooden legs, will be extra cautious around you due to your sneaky disposition. Do you want to select Ninja Vanish, Yes or No?
Harry wasn't sure what went into sneaking yet, so decided on answering No for now.
"Creature Comfort." Harry called out next, only for his eyebrows to rise almost to his hairline at the perk's description. "Not sure if you're one large step for mankind, or one giant step backwards, but you gain the ability to taste smells, see heat, and you can regenerate health faster than normal humans. You gain the ability to slowly regenerate health and regrow lost limbs without the use of healing potions or food. Still, you will be discriminated against by those who focus on blood status or discriminate against part creatures, you are afflicted by a -5 Charisma as frankly people who keep sticking out their tongues all the time are just weird, and the double eyelids are a bit freaky." Do you want to select Creature Comfort, Yes or No?
"Um, no, and a double no." Said Harry, as the idea of what would happen if his charisma went any lower was downright frightening.
Thus Harry learned that sometimes he wouldn't be able to select a perk that really spoke to him, or that was clearly an advantage to his chosen style of life, the universe, and everything in it.
"Um, I guess better loot sounds good in the long haul. Arrr Yer a Pirate, yes." Harry commanded to see the other perk options disappear along with the Level Up menu.
The teens were back, holding the bag that hissed and spat as it flailed in the grasp of the Level 2 Weak Teenage Hooligans.
Cracking his neck, and then his knuckles, Harry bounced on his toes twice and then jumped at the respawned teens.
"BANZI!" Harry screamed.
What followed was the sounds of shovels hitting flesh, the cracking voices of cockney teenagers going through puberty screaming for their "Mommy," and the occasional game announcement of "Shiv to the Spleen!"
"Bwa Ha HA Ha HA, Woot!" Harry cackled madly as he slaughtered the teens again and gained another level and load of loot, making him a total of Level 5.
The loot had been great, and for every time Harry attacked and killed the teenagers he now gained at least 25 pounds muggle, a full set of clothing, and at least one switchblade per round harvesting the teens; he really hoped he could sell off the excess armor and weapons at some point.
The Arrr Yer A Pirate perk had come in handy as one successful round of combat had even earned Harry the cream of the crop when it came to football Hooligan paraphernalia; a rare weapon that had Harry salivating: The Surrey Slugger.
The weapon's name didn't sound too threatening, until you realized it was a hooligan crafted cricket bat with nails sticking out of it along with the length of the paddle being wrapped in barbed wire. Stylistic punk metal and rock-n-roll drawings of devils and skulls covered the cricket bat, all painted in bright glow in the dark colors that made the eyes want to bleed upon looking at The Surrey Slugger. Couple those artistic elements with the 50% chance of unleashing the power of the Groin Stomp automatic follow-up attack, and it was a devastating weapon against enemies close to Harry's level. The Groin Stomp details were rather interesting also. When the Surrey Slugger's normal attack connected it knocked the enemy down due to its added knock-down damage and base stats of 10 melee attack/5 Defense. However when the power of the Groin Stop was triggered, the weapon allowed Harry to do a follow up Stomp to the Groin on the enemy, a stunning attack that immediately halved an enemy's remaining hit points and left the enemy crying about the children that would never be born. After equipping the weapon, Harry affectively one shot the Level 2 Weak Teenaged Hooligans every time Harry used it.
Harry's total experience was up, his loot and money were up, his armor was maxed out with what he could get from the hooligans, he had kick ass weapons in both hands, and he had even gained another 6 points to Dual-Wielding and 2 to Armor Wearing from repeatedly killing and harvesting the two teenagers.
Harry continued laughing madly as he again plugged in his skill points and marveled at his new abilities, and especially his magic.
Level 5:
CURRENT EXP: 6125 TOTAL EXP NEEDED FOR NEXT LEVEL: 7600
Health: 17/17
Magic: 320/320
Ability points to be allocated: 0
ABILITIES:
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 4
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 6
Charisma: 1
SKILLS: Skill Points to Allocate: 29
Armor Wearing: 5
Duel Wielding: 15
French language: 3
Herbology: 0
Pick-pocket: 6
Lock-Picking: 6
Muggle subjects: 30
Unarmed: 3
In addition to his already owned perks of Comprehending The Incomprehensible and Arrr Yer A Pirate, for Level 4 Harry had chosen a new Perk option called "I Have The Power" which not only gave Harry an additional 100 points to his magic pool, but actually unlocked his magic skill simply due to the programming fact that it affected his magic pool.
Yes, Harry had affectively unlocked his magic early, hence the mad cackling.
It appeared that the game had expected Harry to be participating in a new level of the game by the time he reached Level 4; a level that included magic or at least accidental magic. Apparently the programmers hadn't expected a Harry Potter quite like the one they were dealing with; armed with the power of grinding and the patience to power level.
Due to Harry's grinding he had unleashed the power of the arcane earlier than expected in the game. Hence his mad cackling upon reaching level 5 and being given additional options.
If Harry's math was right, then every young wizard started out with a base magic of 100 points. Harry's abnormal Wisdom score of 6 gave him an additional 120 points which then was increased by the Perk "I Have The Power" for a total of 320 points.
Harry couldn't do anything magical yet when it came to skills, but that was soon to change as he examined a new perk that came available at level 5 called "Are You Threatening Me?!"
The description of "Are You Threatening Me?!" made Harry laugh in both glee and anticipation. "Are you a pyromaniac? Does the idea of somebody getting in your face make you twitch and immediately picture their greasy hair catching on fire? Well then my friend, this skill is for you. Your knowledge of the incendio spell has been so hardwired into your mind that fire is your bitch. No wand? We don't need no stinking wands. When threatened you have a 66% chance of automatically blasting your attacker with an instinctive wandless incendio, lighting your enemies on fire when your automatic attack hits. This instinctive counter-attack does not tap your magic pool. Do you want to select Are You Threatening Me?! Yes or No?"
"YES! Oh sweet Merlin Yes! Bwa ha ha ha ha! Fire, heh heh, fire." Harry cackled while rubbing his hands together in glee. The stress of the game and dying repeatedly had apparently unhinged Harry just a little bit.
"Spell learned: Incendio"
"WOOT!" Harry cheered even louder as he was awarded a spell simply because of the perk he chose.
The world unfroze around Harry, and the two teenagers were once again in front of him holding the bag with the cat in it.
Harry looked at the teens that were three levels below him, briefly noticing that when he focused on them the title that floated over their heads was grey in color rather than the blue or green color they had been previously.
"You know, you guys are getting too easy, haven't bloody landed a good hit on me since I hit Dexterity 8. I need something challenging to try my new spell on." Harry smirked and spoke to the two teenagers who didn't seem to hear Harry as he was standing a good five feet away from them and apparently out of aggravation range.
"Save game and Map." Harry stated, looking around for a challenge on his map while the game saved again. That's when he saw the missions "Nine Lives" and "Herding Cats" close by him, right around in the backyard of Ms. Figg's house; which he was standing in front of.
Harry shrugged, before strutting proudly into the squib's backyard.
Life was good for Harry. He had the best armor he could find, two specialty weapons, and more levels then he should at this point in the game, and damn-it, but Harry was proud of what he had accomplished.
Upon entering the backyard Harry saw Ms. Figg with a silver exclamation point floating over her head, calling to several kneazles scattered throughout the yard who were ignoring her. Immediately scoffing at the Herding Cats mission, Harry pushed his way through Ms. Figgs back hedges as his mini-map lead him to the secluded mission called Nine Lives; noticing that he seemed to be disappearing deeper and deeper into the hedges as if the space inside the bushes was larger than what could normally fit in Ms. Figg's backyard.
Green branches from the surrounding hedges bracketed the path, causing Harry to weave left and right and even up and under roots and branches to find the hidden mission location. Trees shaded the path, seeming to just appear as Harry pushed his way through the path.
Finally pushing through the last bit of branches, Harry stepped out—stepped out into what only could be called a feline gladiator arena.
Tiered hedges like arena seating were situated high above a clearing with a thorny gate across from Harry, the tiered hedges and even the tree branches above that, were filled with Kneazles of all colors and sizes; snacking on tuna and meowing to each other.
"I'm not sure if I ever could have imagined a sight like this, was this even here during my first life?" Harry asked incredulously, his face scrunched up in confusion as the cats around the arena ignored him.
Harry spun in a circle, looking around at all the kneazles who sat above him, protected by a high hedge wall were the tiered seating began and affording the cats a good view of the arena that was carpeted in a fine gravel of kitty litter. Completing his turn, the kitty litter crunching under Harry's feet, Harry noticed a sign written in red dripping letters pinned above the thorny gate.
"Abandon all hope ye who enter here! Beware Mr. Tibbles' Anger. Take heed for here dwells Mr. Tibbles the Terrible, destroyer of Sir Cuddlebum, and slayer of the once ferocious Ms. SnookieWookums."
Harry read the sign, his previous confusion at the arena dissolving into a chuckle at the combatants' names.
"The programmer who came up with this is stuff is crazy." Harry shook his head in mirth.
A gold mission exclamation point hovered between Harry and the thorny gate.
"Bah, bring it on Mr. Tibbles." Harry mocked with a sneer, armed with his full set of armor, his Surrey Slugger cricket bat along with a switchblade in the other hand, ready to unleash the full might of his incendio counter attack.
Harry stepped forward bravely into the golden exclamation point which disappeared in a shower of golden sparks as the gate in front of Harry dropped into the ground with a solid "Thud."
"Boom." The ground shook as the sound echoed through the arena.
The kneazles around the arena started mewling and hissing excitedly as all attention focused down on the arena floor, the cat sounds drowning out everything but the solid booming sound that came from behind the gate.
"Boom." The ground shook a second time, followed by a third, and then forth quicker booming sound as something moved closer.
It was at this point that Harry began to question his earlier comment about Mr. Tibbles. Harry paled as the footfalls drew closer and something moved in the shadows of the opening behind the former thorny gate, Harry readied himself for combat; white knuckles clutching his weapons tightly.
Just as a small white fluffy kitten with big green eyes and a pink ribbon and bow tied around its neck pranced out of the shadows behind the gate. The cute kitten's tale waved and flicked back and forth as the kitten's height barely reached Harry's shin; even with considering the fact that Harry was a very short four year old.
"This is Mr. Tibbles?" Harry asked incredulously before breaking out in hysterical laughter.
Mr. Tibbles ignored Harry's laughter and instead stopped shortly after exiting the shadowy gate, sat down, and then began to groom its dainty pink padded right paw with its cute tiny pink tongue.
If Harry hadn't been laughing so hard, hard enough that tears came to his eyes and he was struggling to breathe, he would have noticed that the "Mr. Tibbles" name floating above the kitten's head was a crimson blood red color with a blood red DarkMark included in the title; showing that something about this enemy was special in addition to being multiple levels higher than Harry's current level.
If Harry hadn't been laughing so hard, he might have even realized that even though Mr. Tibbles looked like a weak little kitten, Harry failed to gain initiative.
"Mr. Tibbles attacks with Baleful Glare. You're Marked for Death, insta-death in two rounds." Issued in Harry's vision as Mr. Tibbles stopped licking its paws briefly to glare a cute little glare at Harry.
"Wait, what?" Harry questioned, wiping his eyes and now surprisingly focused upon the game's mention of death.
"Automatic counter attack triggered, incendio!"
"No wait! Run away!" Harry frantically tried to countermand the auto-attack, but alas, it was not to be.
Mr. Tibbles continued to lick his little cute paw as a jet of flame appeared in the air in front of the startled Harry, the flame shooting forward at the little kitten.
The oncoming jet of flame headed right for the kitten, only at the last minute seeming to split and flow around both sides of the kitten and disappear down the shadowy opening in the arena wall. The fire didn't even singe the fluffy white kitten's perfectly groomed hair and dainty pink ribbon and bow.
"Incendio misses!"
"Wait, What!" Harry shouted, his eyes bugging out of his head.
It was at that point that Harry saw the most frightening thing in his life, even more frightening than Voldemort's AK heading towards his noggin.
Mr. Tibbles stopped licking his paw, and frowned at Harry.
It was definitely a frown, a cute frown but a frown none the less, and Harry realized that he had just made Mr. Tibbles angry—the very thing the sign warned him not to do.
Harry's last sight was Mr. Tibbles deploying a set of tiny razor sharp claws from the cute little paw the kitten had been licking.
"You made Mr. Tibbles Angry: Mr. Tibbles counter attacks."
The next thing Harry realized he was sitting up suddenly with a gasp and wide eyes, lying on an invisible black floor in a realm of darkness, a giant menu screen in front of him asking if he would like to load from a saved game.
Unfortunately Harry was too busy screaming in fear to reload his saved game.
"Don't make Tibbles Angry! Don't make him Angry!" Continued to echo over and over again into the darkness of the menu prompt.
AN: Anyway, some great ideas from the readers were encapsulated in this chapter, but with a twist from my demented mind. The fact that I had to explain the abilities, skills, perks and what not made this chapter a little longer than I really wanted it to be. Still, it was necessary. This story is a mix of humor and adventure. That said, I now see why authors of Life as a Video Game often stop writing their stories; it's more than a bit difficult and time consuming to make sure that the numbers for experience, skills, loot etc. are correct and make sense and you have to account for every little detail or the readers will notice and you feel like an idiot. I really like the idea of perks as I believe Fallout and Elder Scrolls games have a lot to offer in the area of game mechanics. That said, it's damn difficult to keep things balanced and yet fun and adding to the plot in addition to modifying Harry's abilities while not making him a Gary Stu. Ok, and now I really need to thank everybody who left me a review or sent me a pm with an idea or even just an "I liked it." Seriously, over 270 reviews for two chapters?! Woot! You people are freaking amazing. I really appreciate it and hope you all continue to enjoy the story. Cheers!