AN: Welcome to another installment of "The Clear-Sighted Gamer"! This chapter is going to be mostly worldbuilding, with Remedy figuring out how his new powers work. There will be a lot of worldbuilding, and a lot of game messages. I know this might be boring/annoying for some, but I promise it will get better in later installments. Also, sorry for the late update. Real life got in the way. Also, I had to design an entire RPG from ground up for this fic, that took some time. Don't worry, I finally got a hang of my writing schedule, so I will post several chapters in quick succession to make up for my absence. Still, a 6 week wait time is much better than some "Never Update" fics on this site (looking at you again, Author I'mjusttryingtofindmyway.) When an amazing fic is unfinished, it is an insult to the readers and the characters.
Also, FYI, numbers in brackets (123) is the original stat number of a stat, and options in square brackets [xxx] shows the current selected option.
-(o)-
Chapter 2: Game Knowledge
-(o)-
Disclaimer: I don't own Rick Riordan's Universe. If I did, many characters would have gotten a better Fate
-(Remedy Adams)-
Of course, I didn't really know what I was doing.
I do not know how to fight. I do not know how to swing a sword, how to parry with a shield. I can maybe fire a gun and hit my target, but I have no actual training with weapons of any kind. I also don't have a gun, am currently defenseless, and useless in a fight.
Well. I think fighting is currently a bit too far out for me. Best to get used to my new reality, and figure out some game mechanics before doing anything too crazy.
An alarm started to ring on my phone. It is already 6:00 AM. While I usually woke up from this alarm, today I woke up early due to the sleep message box. I quickly turned it off with one swift movement. Now that I think about it, I might have a need to check past messages if I miss something important. Is there a Message Function?
Answering question...
Yes
Well. Such a large glowing box for such a short answer. Good to know, I suppose. "Message!"
Messages (Sorted by [Date]/Type/Word Length): Seeing messages from December 14th, 2005.
Search by term: -
You slept for 6 hours, and thus got a base sleep quality of 60%. Applying modifiers: final sleep quality is 90%. You regain 90% Rest, 9% HP, and 90% MP.
Answering question...
{Game Guide}: When you have a question about the game system, the system will reply, answering your question.
{Calm Gaming}: Suppresses dreams, nightmares, and emotions, when desired. Does not suppress magically induced emotions, prophetic dreams, curse-based nightmares etc.
Answering question...
Yes
From what I can see, past messages are saved, and I can pull them back up if need be. There are even different sorting systems and a search function, very handy and useful.
I decided to still go to work, and use the day to experiment with my new abilities. As I sat up from bed, I phased through the several glowing blue boxes I have created so far.
Such message boxes have several methods of popping up in games. In some games, they fade away slowly, while others would have a "x" in the corner to remove it.
Examining the glowing message box, I noticed the "x" in the top right corner. However, I also noticed there is a small box with 3 thick black horizontal lines in the top left corner, like a menu drop down button. So, I clicked it, and a menu drop down appeared:
Settings:
Set this type of box to: Follow perspective / [Stay in place]
Set this type of box to: Fade over time / [Stay until deleted]
Controls:
Pinch bottom corners to drag and move
Pinch both bottom corners to expand or shrink
As it turns out, I have a lot of control over how these boxes work. I can make it bigger or smaller, move it wherever I want, set it to fade or stay, and more.
After thinking about it for a moment, I set messages to fade over time, with everything else needing me to manually remove. I can always just bring up the message board later, so I won't miss anything important. I then bought up my status menu while going through my normal morning routine.
Status:
HP: 100/100
MP: 55/55(50), +11(10)/hr
Rest: 100%, -1%/hr
Stamina: 100/100, -5/hr
Hunger: 96/100, -5/hr
It would be a smart idea to set my status menu to follow my perspective, because then I wouldn't need to bring it up whenever I need it. In a dangerous situation, I would be able to know at a glance what my status was. I even found a setting that displays my status with different colored bars included, making it even easier to figure out my current condition.
As I got in the shower, I moved my head around to test the follow perspective feature. The box moved along with my head, but not my eyes, so glancing at it does work. As I turned on the water though, something interesting happened:
You cleaned yourself! You gain the [Clean] status effect, and removed the [Dirty] status effect (if you had it before)!
So, there are status effects. I almost forgot about their potential existence, even though a number of RPGs contain these. I wonder what these effects do?
Answering question...
[Clean]: +5 Cha until player becomes dirty again.
[Dirty]: -5 Cha until player cleans himself.
Sure enough, there is currently a +5 modifier to my Cha, bringing it from 10 to 15. The original number, the 10, is currently shown in brackets, while the modified stat number, the 15, is on the outside. There are also two other stats similar to this. Int and Wis. I wonder why?
Answering question...
Benefits and detriments of Remaining rest
90%: +10% Int, +10% Wis
50%: -5% Int, -5% Wis
40%: -10% Int, -10% Wis
30%: -15% Int, -15% Wis, -15% Dex
20%: -20% Int, -20% Wis, -20% Dex, -20% Str
10%: All stats -30%
The penalties for having low rest seem much worse than the benefits for having high rest. Basically, I should always be well rested. Good thing I have {Game Guide} to tell me this, or I would have needed to force myself to not sleep to test the actual effects.
As I dried myself with a towel, I made a list of goals I wanted to complete today.
First, I needed to figure out how to level up. According to the interface, I need a total of 170 exp to level up to level 11, and I already have 10 exp. So, I also have to find out what gives me exp.
Second, I need to find out how to get more Stats, and how they scale with my HP, MP and Hunger stats.
Third, figure out other mechanics, like food, water, and status effects.
And finally, learn how to trigger missions and quests.
New Quest!
[Learning Curve]
Description: Learn all you can about your new abilities, and take your first step into the impossible.
Rewards: 100EXP, new Ability [Observe]
No failure possible
Accept/Decline?
Huh. So that is how you trigger quests. By setting goals for yourself, you can trigger a quest and give yourself EXP by completing it. Also, there is a new ability that I could get from the quest, so that's an added bonus.
Let's complete enough quests and earn EXP to get to level 11 today then. As I left the room, I found I was much happier today then I have been in a long time, and for once, my walk out the door was much more animated than normal; I now have the knowledge that I could eventually change the world and do some good.
-(o)-
The first stop was for coffee and breakfast. Not a Starbucks, the prices are exorbitant there. No person in their right mind would make buying overpriced coffee a part of their daily routine. As I walked to the convenience store where I normally get my instant coffee and breakfast sandwich, I saw the local Starbucks with a long line of people lining up to pay. Ah, the power of a famous Brand-name.
As I entered the convenience store, the sliding door opened, and a "ding-ding" rang out to announce the ingress of the next costumer. While normally I would rush around, pick up my food and drink, then leave, I decided to slow down a bit today.
The quest information mentioned an Ability called Observe, something many games contain. Through observing, you get information about the thing you are observing. Sometimes, there are very little limits in what you glean, while other games have prerequisites before you can use or obtain a perfect result from observing.
As I looked at the egg sandwich and the bottled coffee, I examined it carefully, to see if anything interesting happens.
You are examining an item [Bottled Coffee]! No related Ability or Skill detected. Basic examination starting...
[Bottled Coffee]: Cheap caffeine beverage, stored in a plastic bottle.
Item type: Consumable (Drink)
Price: $5
Volume: 1 space
Weight: 1lb/0.45 KG
Effect: Unknown, consume to find out.
You are examining an item [Egg Sandwich]! No related Ability or Skill detected. Basic examination starting...
[Egg Sandwich]: Cheap egg sandwich breakfast option.
Item type: Consumable (Food)
Price: $5
Volume: 1 space
Weight: 1lb/0.45 KG
Effect: Unknown, consume to find out.
Interesting. So, I can examine things without the Observe Ability. Most of the results are expected, with only how the volume of items are calculated in units of "space" being strange. How much space do I have then?
Current available space: 5.9/8
[Windbreaker]: +2 space (two pockets)
[Hoodie]: +2 space (two pockets)
[Jeans]: +4 space (4 pockets)
Some articles of clothing allow for increased volume capacity, and it seems like that the system takes that into account. Thinking about it, I haven't tried out if I have an Inventory yet. No better time than now, I suppose.
Inventory: Say "store" to store an item you are touching, visualize an item and say "drop" to take out an item.
Equips: [T-Shirt], [Hoodie], [Windbreaker], [Jeans], [Socks], [Running Shoes]
Held: [Bottled Coffee], [Egg Sandwich]
Stored: [Leather Wallet ($57.6)], [Nokia 1110 phone (92% charged)], [House Keys (Remedy's Apartment)]
I walked up to the counter. The teenage boy sitting there looked utterly bored as I handed him my purchase.
You are examining a person [Convenience store cashier boy]! No related Ability or Skill detected. Basic examination starting...
Name: Terrence Millman (From Nametag)
Race: Human
Title(s): [Convenience store cashier]
Notes: He is very bored.
The results are very basic, and very little information was given from the examination. Presumably, the result of Examinations would get better if I got the Observe ability.
I paid a total of $10 for my food. Instead of taking out my wallet however, I hid my right hand before whispering "drop" and visualizing a 10-dollar bill. The bill appeared in my hand, and I gave it to the cashier to pay for my breakfast.
I walked towards the Walmart I work at while I ate my sandwich. I paid attention to both the number of Calories the label said it contains and the mechanical effect it had on my hunger bar. After each large bite, the Hunger went up by one, but no other effect happened until I ate another bite when my hunger bar was full.
Your Hunger is full. Any more food or drink you consume will not convert instantly to Hunger. Instead, it will be digested over time. You gain the [Full] status effect, and the timer increases for 5 minutes for every extra Hunger you obtain.
The effect of being full allows me to store undigested food, and lowering the decrease of my Hunger by 5/hr, resulting in my hunger not falling at all for the next hour or so.
I looked at the sandwich wrapper, and it says that the sandwich contains 400 calories. I gained a total of 20 Hunger from the sandwich, so that must mean that every 20 calories are equal to 1 Hunger. That also means I need to eat a total of 120 hunger worth of food every day, or around 2400 calories.
After throwing away the wrapper, I started to drink the coffee, and sure enough, it gave me a status effect:
You drank some coffee! You will gain the [Caffeinated] status effect in 1 hour, lasting for 5 hours!
[Caffeinated]: +5 Int, +5 Wis, pause rest decrease. Once over, you get the [Caffeine Crash] status effect (Duration depends on Con and other factors)!
[Caffeine Crash]: Normal effects: -2 Int, -2 Wis. If you have the [Coffee Dependency] perk, lose 10% Rest instantly, and minus an additional -3 for Int and Wis.
Seeing the rather dangerous effects of Caffeine Crash, I decided to find a way to never get the Coffee Dependency "Perk." Not much of a perk though is it, if its effects are negative.
After finally getting to my Walmart workplace, I punched in on time at 7 o'clock, got into uniform, and got ready for another day of monotony. At least it will be broken up by me figuring out new things about my power.
Today's job for me was to stock the shelves; cereal and toilet paper was running out in the display racks. At least I triggered the quest [Stock the Shelves], after which completion would give me 20 Exp and Wages. I accepted it, grateful for any Exp that I can get my hands on. I walked along to the storage room, greeting coworkers when I passed them. Of course, I didn't forget to examine them. All of them gave simple bios, and not much information was gleaned that I didn't already know. Even the information from the products I passed by was more useful.
After taking a large cart to carry everything, I put in a cascade of different brands of toilet paper and breakfast cereals, before carting it all back to their respective aisles. I started to put everything into the aisles, several at a time.
You have been working out! +1 Str, +10 Exp
Well. This was a nice surprise. I checked my stats, and sure enough, I was up one Str, up to a total of 11. I repeated the action of carting the items and putting them away, but this time, it took several more runs to get another stat point in Str. It would seem like that the higher your stat, the harder it is to raise your stat with simple actions.
Thinking about the other stats, I guess that reading would raise Int, critical thinking would give me Wis, fine manipulation or parkour would help with Dex, getting fit and thus toughening up would help with Con, and Cha would be raised by talking and social interaction. Not sure how Luc would be increased from training, though. Seems like I would need to get some important training materials in the future.
As I put the products of the fourth run onto the metal shelves, I heard screaming emanating from the aisle next to me. Ah. Another annoying costumer. I rounded the corner to see the mid-50s blonde lady screaming at one of my coworkers. Something about not having the specific brand of cereal she wanted and wishing to see the manager. Pretty much a stereotypical Karen.
New Quest!
[Calm the Lady]
Description: Calm the lady down.
Rewards: 20 EXP
Failure requirements: Manager is needed to solve the issue
Accept/Decline?
I quickly accepted the quest. There's Exp on the line, and I have [Basic Calming Level 3] with a base chance to succeed of (15+Cha) %. That means I have a 25% chance of success, but that is likely to be lower with how angry the Karen is. I need a prop.
As I listened in to the screaming, I heard the brand name of the cereal she wanted. Turns out it wasn't out of stock; I just haven't gotten the boxes onto the shelves yet.
As the lady continued to scream, I pushed into her hands a box of her desired cereal and said that the cereal wasn't out of stock. After some talking and nudging to get the lady to calm down, she left satisfied with minimal complaints.
Quest [Calm the Lady] completed! You gain 20 Exp!
You trained the skill [Basic Calming Level 3], and it became [Basic Calming Level 4], +10 Exp
You talked an angry person down! +1 Cha, +10 Exp
From just completing one mission, I have managed to get 40 Exp (Now I have a total of 70 Exp) an increase in Cha, and an increase in my Calming skill. As I suspected, stat and skill increases award 10 exp every time; not much, but still welcome as a bonus included with the main increase. But skill and stat increases would only get harder from here; I need better training material than just normal everyday encounters.
I completed my work throughout the day, with nothing interesting happening after that, except another +1 to Str and a +1 increase in my Con from constantly running around. Con turned out to scale with lots of other parts of my status. HP max, Hunger max, and Stamina max all scale 1:10 with Con, while Stamina regeneration scale 1:5 with Con. After getting a total of 11 Con, I now have a 110 max for all three statuses. I also noticed that Stamina falls when I am doing physical actions. In fact, it falls very quickly, and carrying heavy boxes costs me more than 60 stamina per hour. Luckily, Stamina also regenerates rapidly, with me regaining 55 Stamina per hour when not engaging in heavy physical activity.
Soon 3 PM rolled around, and it was time for me to end my shift. As I was paid hourly, I collected my wages (A grand total of 80 dollars) and finished my [Stock the Shelves] quest, bringing my Exp total to 110. I put back on my windbreaker, and walked into the freezing New York winter afternoon.
Because I haven't gotten any time to eat lunch, I decided to walk around and find a random, off to the side restaurant to eat at. While eating my steak and salad, I looked around for a specific shop and a target.
I have decided, while thinking at work, to do several specific things. Training material was needed, especially if the training material was small and light, allowing me to travel without tiring. After all, I would likely need to travel when hunting the strange monsters that I now knew existed in the world, and a good start to protecting humanity would be to help hold the darkness back at bay. But it was obvious that time was the most important resource I have now; every moment can and should be used for training.
Second, I want to pick out a relatively weak monster to see how easy it was to beat one. Not one of the cyclops, of course; those are much to large and strong. The Hellhounds also seem very deadly. The strange blood sucking women I might be able to deal with; those don't seem too tough.
I walked a bit further down the street after finishing my early dinner. I remembered that there was a game shop just around the corner. It sold just about any game or sports item, and I might find some interesting items to train with there.
Half an hour later, and I was down a hundred bucks but got a number of useful items:
[Rubrik Cube (With instruction pamphlet)]: Puzzle cube, with 6 different colors. Scramble to start, unscramble to win.
[Travel Chess set]: A set of chess pieces. The pieces in this set can be pinned into the plastic board to keep it stable.
[Deck of cards (In box)]: A deck of 52 cards, good for magic tricks, poker, and shuffling.
[Set of DND Dice]: A plain d20, a d12, 2 d10s, a d8, a d6, and a d4.
[Plastic Yoyo (With instruction pamphlet)]: low quality, but still usable spinning toy on a string.
[Small Dumbbells]: Dumbbells, to use for training Str
[Metal Baseball Bat]: Nice and strong. Good for whacking balls and caving skulls. This one is solid, end-loaded, and has a double handed grip.
Most of the money went into the baseball bat. It is solid metal and loaded with a weight at the end, allowing it to have more force when swung. It is also made to be swung with two hands, making it easier to utilize.
Unfortunately, there's no game that can easily increase Cha or Wis. Int will increase from chess and puzzles (Even though I am a total amateur at both), Dex will go up from magic tricks and yoyo, Str would go up from the dumbbells, and Cha would go up from endurance training. Luc might increase because of lucky dice rolls, but I have no idea if that would work.
I put all my purchases in a shopping bag I picked up at work, and walked to the local bookstore. I have a plan for increasing my stats even quicker. Once I got to the bookstore, I picked up, for a total of another hundred bucks:
[The Nuances of Social Communication]: a book about how to communicate, read to increase Cha.
[101 methods of seeing your inner self; How to meditate]: a book on seeing you own inner thoughts, and different methods of meditation throughout the ages. Read to increase Wis.
[The Ways of Chess]: a book with common chess openings, tactics, setups, and checkmates.
[Magic Meister: 3 dozen card tricks to impress your friends!]: a book with the instructions for 36 different card based magic tricks inside.
With these four books, my training materials and tools are all collected, and I slowly trudged my way home, intent on finding some trouble once I got fully equipped and prepared. I still needed toiletries, food, water, extra clothes, and more.
I didn't know, of course, that trouble would find me instead.
-(Nearby Hungry Empousa) -
Hungry.
Very Hungry.
No. Not Hungry. Thirsty.
Can't think. Too long without blood.
Me not like older blood feeders.
Can barely control blood hunger.
Me need to hunt.
Hide in alley.
Streets not good hunting.
Too many preys.
Prey fight me if me seen hurting other prey.
Especially if they are prey mates.
Alley much better hunting grounds.
Drunks and addicts easy to Charm.
But bad taste. Me drunk or high every time after.
There is prey. He is male. Good. Can Charm.
He is carrying metal stick. No matter. Mortal willpower is weak.
Pull self together.
Speak.
"Hello~! Wouldn't you like to come here and give me a kiss?"
-(Remedy Adams)-
For a moment I was entranced.
For a moment, I saw the most beautiful women I have ever seen. Red lips, long legs, blonde hair, fair skin that was shown because of very revealing clothing.
Red lips, long legs, blonde hair. I walked into the alley.
Red lips, long legs, blonde hair. My grip on the baseball bat slackened as my cautiousness left me.
Red lips, long legs, blonde hair, and glowing red eyes...
Wait. Glowing red eyes? Glowing red eyes?!
You are being Seduced (Nonmagical)! {Calm Gaming} nullifies the emotion!
Sudden clarity floods my mind. This thing in front of me, this thing I was about to kiss, was not human. In one swift movement, I dropped the shopping bag, gripped the baseball bat with both hands, and swung the bat towards the monster's cranium.
-(3rd person POV)-
The Empousa was taken aback. There never was a prey that fought back after being charmed, at least without external help. Sure, she didn't put any magic into the words, but normal humans wouldn't want to reject this!
Remedy, for his part, saw the Mist clear, and saw the glowing eyes and mismatched legs. One leg of a donkey, the other of Celestial Bronze. He had seen before the strange anatomy of these creatures. He avoided them back then. He shall fight back now.
The Baseball bat flew towards the Empousa's head, smashing her cranium in. While Remedy wasn't a professional baseball player, he at least knew how to swing a bat in order to hurt and kill. The Empousa, still surprised by what was happening, didn't dodge in time.
The vampire flew into a wall, rubble falling on her and bricks shaking. She bared her fangs, and charged at her prey, desperate for blood.
While the truly old and powerful Empousai could control half a dozen beings at once, burst into flames to escape, and weave lies that can rival the Charmspeak of Aphrodite's children, this Empousa was weak from inexperience and blood craving. She barely sharpened her fangs and manifested her clawed hands before the next strike came, this time smashing into her gut.
But a supernatural monster was much more powerful than that; mortal weapons take a lot to kill them. She sprung up, head throbbing and gut bruised. With a feral grin, she swung her clawed hands at the man. Several bleeding claw marks appeared on Remedy's chest, and the man himself exclaimed a curse.
The two fought back and forth, the Empousa getting her ribcage crushed inwards a bit, and the bronze leg was loosening, while Remedy gained claw marks on the hands, legs, and chest. It was obvious that Remedy had less battle experience than needed for this fight, while the Empousa relied on tried-and-true instincts to battle.
By now, any normal human would have collapsed from shock and pain, but not Remedy. {Calm Gamer} suppressed his pain while increasing his adrenaline, allowing him to keep fighting. But eventually, Remedy fell on his back, baseball bat rolling away.
The Empousa grinned even more at the thought of enjoying this meal. She walked up to the fallen man, and placed her bronze leg on her prey, before licking the blood off her claws. The prey was caught, and all was well-
Remedy suddenly pushed himself up, and held onto the bronze leg. While he was down, he noticed the bronze being rather lose because of the battle. Grabbing onto his last chance, he pulled-
And the bronze leg popped right off.
The Empousa, suddenly only on one leg and very unbalanced, fell back. Remedy stood up, one hand holding the leg and the other holding the metal baseball bat.
"Well. You were much stronger than I expected... why don't we stop fighting, and we can go up to my room for some fun." The Empousa was very desperate by now, and put in all her seductiveness and Charmspeak into that one sentence.
You are being Seduced (Charmspeak)!
Enemy Seduction power is: 15 Cha + 15(Basic Seduction Level 3) = 30*1.3(Basic Charmspeak Level 3)= 39
{Calm gaming cancels out (Basic Seduction Level 3)}
Final Enemy Seduction power: 19.5
Your resistance power: 10 Wis + 10 Int = 20
You resist being Seduced by the Empousa!
"Really? You are almost dead, and you are still trying to seduce me?" Not waiting for an answer, Remedy bought the Celestial Bronze leg down on the Empousa.
The leg smashed right through her chest, and she started to become dust.
"Damn you! I will come back for revenge, you hear me? I will come ba-" her last words were carried away by a light breeze, spreading her dusted form across the floor.
And with that, Remedy's first monster was conquered.
-(Remedy Adams)-
Seeing the monster die and turn to dust, I collapsed onto my back.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Emotionlessly, I got up, and looked at the past several messages that I have ignored during the fight.
You are fighting an Empousa! Entering Combat mode: {Calm Gaming} is suppressing all unnecessary emotions!
You are fighting with a club shaped weapon, new skill available for purchase.
You have been clawed, -5 hp (x17)
You are bleeding, -1 hp/sec for 20 seconds. Bandage your wounds!
You have been inflicted with several claw slashes, +1 Con, +10 Exp.
You resist the Empousa's Seduction, new skill available for purchase.
You kill the Empousa! +50 Exp
Level up to Level 11! +11 Stat points, +11 Skill points, +1 Perk points
I looked at the points and level up I gotten out of this, and decided to look into it later. Instead, I bought up my Character sheet
Character Sheet
Name: Remedy Adams
Race: Human (Clear-Sighted)
Title(s): [Walmart employee]
Level 11, EXP (0/170)
Status: Expanded
HP: 15/120 (HP very low, please heal yourself!)
MP: 50/50, +10/hr
Rest: 100%, -5%/hr
Stamina: 34/120, +60/hr when not in a state of high activity
Hunger: 107/120, -5/hr
Stats (11pts): Expanded
Str: 13
Dex: 10
Con: 12
Int: 10
Wis: 10
Cha: 11
Luc: 10
Perks (1pts): Click to Expand
Abilities and Skills (11pts): Click to Expand
Description: Click to Expand
I looked at the nearly empty HP bar. I stared at it, the visual manifestation of how close I was to dying. And I laughed. I laughed at the absurdity of this situation. I nearly died fighting a vampire, a succubus! An Empousa! Beating the head of a supernatural creature in with a metal baseball bat, before punching apart her chest with her own bronze leg! I laughed, then cried.
I have taken the first step in fighting back my nightmares.
-(o)-
For those wondering why the Character screen at the end is different from last chapter, that's because I made some changes for balance and realism.
For battles, climatic moments, contests, and other parts of the story that would work well if the audience can see into more than one person, 3rd person POV will be used. If you don't like this, too bad.
As always, Favorite, Follow, and Review this story, I would appreciate it. I like constructive feedback. Also, as our main character is going to pull loot from any fictional universe out there, you, the readers, can suggest something for him to get as a loot drop! Below is the suggested format:
Item name
Item description (What it looks like, powers, in game description etc.)
Suggested Item Stats (I reserve the right to change any part of this I want, got to keep my game balanced)
In addition, you can also leave an OC, using a similar format to above:
OC name
OC description (What they look like, powers, in game description etc.)
Suggested OC Stats (I still reserve the right to change any part of this I want, got to keep my game balanced)
As I promised, I will speed up updates for a couple days, so you guys are guaranteed two more chapters this week!