Meet my friends

Putting all my free stat points into INT was the way to go. Or maybe I should say it was one of the right ways to spend them. Another route that could have worked was a split between INT and WIS, preferably with a two-to-one ratio in favor of INT. At this stage my mental stats take priority over the physical because they're of greater use and are less likely to land me in hot waters.

LUK is something that I was iffy on. Unlike every other stat, I couldn't really quantify it. Like, how many points would I need to add to it to get a noticeable change? Three? Ten? Fifty? I don't know and that's what made me hesitant about putting my hard earned SP into it. That's not to say I will never manually increase that stat, cause I most definitely will. But when I do, it will be because I can afford to rather than any expectation of visible results.

Anyhow, because my level up came after I'd already attended my high school's open house, I had to make another, separate trip to see my guidance counselor. Classes started on Tuesday so I went in the day before that to get my schedule changed. In my junior year I took two AP courses and got A's in them so I already had two lined up for senior year. What I did was pick up another two; one of which being AP Calculus. Never in my life would I have considered such a move – I was confident in my math abilities yet I also knew my limits – but I was on a whole new level of intelligence now so I wasn't too worried. If anything it would probably end up being super easy. Ten INT was one hell of a cheat. After convincing my counselor that I would be fine, it helps that the school gets rewarded for every student who sits an AP exam, I walked away with a schedule that old-me would have frowned in horror at.

This school year should certainly be interesting.

…

"Yo, Lucio. How was your summer man?"

All around me is the buzz as my classmates walk into AP Chemistry and re-connect with friends before class starts. All the expected questions about new clothes, summer activities, and what classes they're all taking this year. Not many people come up to me to ask but that's expected. I'm acquittances more than friends with most of the people in here due to running in different crowds. Different interests and life-styles, along with the fact that I haven't really made an attempt to become one of them.

But more often than not, I'll share a class with someone I'm actually friends with.

"What's up George. Sorry for disappearing on you, had to get my stuff together. Make some life decisions." I bump fists with him.

George is one of my better friends. A bro really. We met in our freshman year where we shared homeroom and a couple classes. Both of us are smart so we've had other classes together since then. He's about 5'3" and light skinned, good with computers and the person who put me on to anime.

"Was one of those decisions working out?" He asks lightly punching my arm, "You're looking cut man."

"Just a little bit." Going from four to five in STR made a noticeable change. A bit more definition in my arms and slight increase in the pecs, not extreme but impressive since it only took one summer. To him that is, the changes actually happened overnight while I was sleeping. Seems healing isn't the only thing Gamer's Body does with proper sleep. "How about you though? Did anything fun?"

"I didn't turn into the Rock junior but I got things done. Finished a whole campaign and watched all eight seasons of GoT." He slides his lanky form into the seat in front of me, pivoting around. "Good shit man."

"The whole thing? Well about time really." Eight seasons in just two months. That's some dedication.

"You can't say about time when you still haven't watched it." I shrug.

"But I never wanted to watch it, it's you who's been saying you would since last year." Maybe if I'd started watching when it first aired I could be persuaded to spend that much time on it.

"And it was worth it. Trust me, that Daenerys scene?" George kisses his fingers like a fancy chef complimenting food which makes me laugh. The dude's almost a stereotypical nerd but he's funny. Only reason he even watched that stuff was for the naked scenes and sex. Not that I can blame him, I've looked up a few clips myself. There are some hot girls in that show.

"Alright man, stop with that face before you embarrass us."

"Too late. Do I even want to know what's going on here?" A girl's voice interjects.

Out of all the people who could have caught us, by 'us' I mean George, Shelby isn't the worst. Our relationship is similar to the one I have with George; had classes together and eventually we became friendly if not actual friends with each other. And through association, her and George know each other.

"Game of Thrones." I reply and she laughs.

"Of course. What did you think of the last season?" She asks, taking a seat in the row next to us. While she turns momentarily, I cast an eye over her. Where George is kind of short and skinny despite the junk food he inhales on the daily, Shelby is tall for a girl, cute in the face, and has a subtle pear form. I accidently - not really - stumbled upon that term online and can confirm that her hips do flare out and thus meet the standard. Coupled with a nice butt her form is enticing enough for me to peek every once in a while, or in simple terms whenever it's in my line of sight. This time though, the sight is burned into my now eidetic memory.

In my defense, I'm a young virgin with more energy than I've ever had before. And her ass isn't the only thing I looked at, also noticed the hints that she'd spent time in the sun and the areas where skin had regrown.

She moves to turn and my eyes flick away to take in the rest of the class. Only listening with one ear as George shares his disappointment with how things ended. I tune in again when Shelby addresses me.

"Don't think I didn't notice Lucio; you have muscles now." I take some pride in how she runs her eyes over me. Feels good, even if I cheated.

"What do you mean now? I been had muscles." I joke.

"Nnn…" She winces. Ouch.

"Damn Shelby, you could at least lie to me. But I'm thinking of trying out for the basketball team this year so I had to work out a bit."

"Oh, gotcha. Think you'll get in?" She asks over George's noise of surprise.

"I hope so. Worked out to get fit enough and practiced a lot over the summer." And I leveled my basketball skill after playing lots of pick-up games and practicing on my own with video tutorials so I'm kind of confident. "But let's not jinx it. How was your summer, spent time near a beach?"

We catch up in the little time remaining and soon enough, the teacher closes the door and starts class. Mostly syllabus stuff and icebreakers but something interesting happens when she has us pull our textbooks from under our desks.

Skill-book: Chemistry AP Edition obtained. Do you wish to learn it?

I really want to but higher thinking wins out. So far, everything about my new power was subtle. No flashing lights or new appendages that could clue anyone in on something being different about me. But I've also never gotten a prompt that required feedback like this. All my quests were just presented with their rewards, tiny amounts of XP. I could either do them or ignore them. But this asks me if I want to learn the book which makes me feel something might happen to it.

So being in public with a book that probably costs a lot of money, I mentally reject the prompt and the feeling fades.

This calls for more experimenting.

…

I've been missing out.

As I walk through the non-fiction part of the school library touching various books, the prompt to learn many of them pops up. Enough to make me drool, almost.

Although I'd spent some time reading over the summer, the few physical books I looked at were for entertainment rather than learning so the skill-book prompt had never shown up before.

And good thing it hadn't or I might not have put the time into working out that I did.

Back to the present though, I need to be smart about this. Still don't know what happens to books I learn so I can't test it with books that aren't mine. And I don't own books like that meaning I have to buy some if I want to take advantage of this. Buy them with my allowance money that really isn't all that much…

Guess I'll look up places where I can get cheap books. Maybe even second hand. And those books should preferably be on topics that I'm not taking this year. Why buy a chemistry book to learn when I'll be in that class anyways? Waste of money really. I can just check out a copy from the library if they have it and read it the old fashioned way. I've been able to function on a solid five hours of sleep during the night ever since getting my powers so I can use the extra time to read books I don't want to spend money on.

As for the purchased books, I'm thinking one on computer science might be good. Technology is really important so starting now should help. Probably should throw in another on the hardware side, just in case. A technical book on basketball should help me learn all the rules and plays I haven't picked up yet.

Actually, I'll hold off on buying anything until I check the school catalogue and that of the public library's. That way the only books I pay for are those that I can't obtain for free. Learning a book might be faster but I'm not in a rush at the moment. And I'm close to broke. So yeah, I'll do that instead.

…

Over the course of a week, I found and physically read a number of books. The one on basketball was an easy read and definitely filled a couple gaps in my understanding of the game. The book on coding was kind of dry but my high INT made sure I was able to sit through it and actually understand it. Gave me a computer science skill. I also checked out a book or two on finance and money management which I'll read soon and hopefully get some type of skill from them.

I held back from reading my school textbooks, deciding instead to stay at the pace of the teacher. These are full year classes so getting ahead will only leave me bored during class time where I can't do anything else. Despite that, I'm learning things at a really fast pace and the couple quizzes I've taken so far were stupid easy. I also got XP from acing them, just fifty-five points in total but that's way better than the low amounts I would get from doing basic chores.

At that rate and assuming tests give more XP, I could easily level up again before winter break. Who knew school could be so useful?

And I finally know what happens to books I 'learn.' They completely disappear while the information gets absorbed into my brain. I bought a cheap, soft-cover book on the advancement of modern warfare and accepted the prompt while alone in my room. One second the book was in my hands and the next it was gone. I didn't even have time to worry before I noticed new information I'd never sat down to learn.

I could easily see myself getting addicted to learning stuff that way. Maybe it's a good thing that I couldn't afford my fix.

Not yet at least.

This is the first of two updates today. Don't miss the second one.