It wasn’t as bad as I had feared. It was worse. When we reached home and dad told mom what I had been up to she got quiet, like scary ‘i’m gonna flay you alive’ quiet. I thought I was in some horror movie as her head slowly turned to me her eyes always facing forward. The look she sent me… I can’t even describe the feeling of fear I felt. For all that is holy, I instantly gained 7 levels in Detect Bloodlust bringing it to Level 13!

She only told me two things, ‘go to your room’ and ‘I’ll talk to you later’. I only managed to stay downstairs for a bit longer by asking if they could contact Melodie's dad and letting him know she was okay. Melody wasn’t so hot on that idea until I whispered that if she told him what happened in such a way she could probably get out of that arranged marriage. She tentatively agreed to it and her dad was contacted quickly through magical means I couldn’t figure out.

I was then ordered to go upstairs. I gave Melody a sad wave and smile goodbye which she returned and shuffled upstairs and into my room. As the door clicked shut behind me, I flopped onto my bed and did my best to sort through the craziness that had probably become what my normal days would be from now on. Figuring the best place to start was to look over my stats, skills and other things I’d gotten for completing the quest and leveling.

“Status,” I said to my ceiling and read the screen as it appeared. Looked over my stats and nodded, my physical stats still sucked but they were better than before. I guess I was going to be a more magic focused character than anything else with my INT and WIS being insanely high for my age. The only problem was I had no idea how to use magic.

I sat up and focused my thoughts on how to bring out my magic. I had MP so I knew I could use it just not how. My train of thought leads me to the old tropes of how many protagonists to learn magic or some hidden power were told to meditate. I’d always written it off as a silly plot device but now that my life was a game, a silly plot device may be just what I need.

I fold my legs and place my hands on my knees, close my eyes and steady my breathing. After a minute… I can already tell meditating is going to be hell. My mind just wouldn’t focus. That damn impatient trait was kicking me in the balls hard. I wished whatever had given me a calm mind back when I faced the assassin would work now.

A wave of calm washed over me after that thought, stilling my mind and body. I was slightly surprised and decided to test something. I willed it away and I was back to near fidgeting nerves. I willed it back and my nerves calmed.

“I wonder if this is a skill I have, better check it out.”

“Skills,” I said a blue screen popped into existence and listed all my skills, what they did and their levels.

Gamer Mind - LV MAX

Gamer Body - LV MAX

Observe - LV 15

Detect Bloodlust - LV 13

Sneak - LV 4

Annoy - LV 2

Physical Endurance - LV 2

Intimidation - LV 1

Lying - LV1

I had no idea what Gamer Mind or Gamer Body was so I clicked the first one and the description came to view.

Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. It allows a peaceful state of mind, immune to psychological status and effects.

Okay, that was seriously awesome. Guess I know what that calm feeling was now. Done with that I dismissed it and clicked Gamer Body next.

Grants the user a body that allows the user to live in the real world according to the status they possess.

That was just as overpowered at the Gamer mind. Does that mean that instead of being physically damaged I lose HP? I didn’t feel like testing that theory our just yet. I already knew the other skills so I closed the window completely. I had to give a small smile at how OP this power was. It was like a universal cheat code to life, I could do anything with this power, nothing was beyond my grasp! My plans for world domination had to wait though as I had other things to look over.

“Inventory.” A wide, brown screen popped up. On it was a picture of me in a classic T pose and boxes over certain parts of my body. It was a normal equipment display set up. I saw my pair of shorts in the box for my lower body. Growing curious I pulled the shorts out of the said box. Looking down I saw I was naked as the day I was born, I hadn’t even felt them come off. Putting the pants back into the equip box I watched as they appeared back on my body

“Okay, that’s cool,” I said with a smile. Never having to worry about a change of clothes ever again would be a huge boon. After that test, I looked at my actual inventory on the right side of the screen. Three rows of six boxes were displayed before me and an arrow pointing right at the bottom of the screen. I pressed the arrow and another three rows of boxes were displayed along with a counter that read 2/100.

“Okay I take it back, whoever you are Gaia, You are amazing!” I shout in my head as I almost started drooling at the possibilities of having a near-infinite amount of space to store things that could lead to. I pulled myself from my happy hoarding daydreams and went back to the first inventory screen which had the loot I’d gotten from my completed quest.

I was curious about the enchanted weapon I’d gained and clicked the image. The air in front of the screen rippled and out popped a very strange looking weapon. Its scabbard was made of wood and leather with a blackened steel cap at the end, very nondescriptive and normal looking. The hilt fit in my hand comfortably and still had plenty of room for when I got older and bigger.

The guard was actually a mix of a finger guard and a knuckle duster combination with a deep green emerald about the size of half a walnut shell set into the but of the hilt. When I drew the blade that’s when things became really interesting. The blade, if you could call it that, was made in a triangular design, with three edges that, while they looked sharp, wouldn’t cut very deep.

I could easily see this was meant for stabbing rather than cutting. I looked it over carefully as well as using Observe on it and what I read was extremely interesting

Enchanted Dagger

Name: Final Breath

Class: Rare

35 Damage (un-augmented)

Ability:

30% chance of instant kill when attacking from cover

25% chance of paralyzing enemies when struck

+10 LUK when equipped

Final Breath was once the favored weapon for renowned Thief and killer, Black Patch. Said to be his good luck charm as well as his preferred tool for killing any enemies or rivals. He was said to be so accurate with this weapon that all he had to do was poke his targets and they would bleed to death. When he was finally caught this weapon was lost before his execution and no one knows where it ended up.

My eyes were nearly bugging out of my head. I kept looking between the dagger and the info. I was extremely impressed with this weapon. I was curious about what the ‘Un-augmented’ bit was about. I clicked it and my eyebrow rose as I read.

Emerald - Decent quality - High magical capacity

Current magical charge (0/1500)

Magic type: N/A

I had a nasty grin on my face. If I’m reading this right and I think I am, This gem acted like a magical battery. You put magic in and it holds it until you want to use it. And it could contain different types of magic. I can now see why Black Patch was such a threat. I sheathed the dagger and pushed it back into the inventory slot it came from. I can’t equip it yet, it’d draw more attention than I already had or wanted.

Next, I clicked the magic book that I had gained from the quest. Another ripple effect and the book dropped into my lap. I picked it up to examine it but a new screen popped up.

PING

You have acquired a skill book for the illusion branch of magic.

Disguise

Warp your magic around you to create a shell and shape it to look like anyone.

Mana cost: 50 MP per 30 seconds

Would you like to learn Disguise?

Y/N?

Is this game stupid? Hell yes, I’d learn this! I pressed yes and the book exploded into small particles of light before being absorbed into my chest. The rush that came after, I can’t describe it. So much information flowing through my mind, you’d think it would hurt, but the closest I can get for a description is an adrenaline high.

It was amazing, it didn’t feel like I’d studied this spell over time more like I just, knew how it worked and could do it. It sadly didn’t last long and as I was coming down from the high I got a ping.

New Skill!

Disguise - LV 1 (0/100)

I dismissed the screen and heaved a happy sigh. This spell would come in handy for the future. I started to feel a nagging itch in the back of my mind though like I’d forgotten something. It wouldn’t go away so I decided to check my Quest screen to check y loot gain. There was only one quest displayed and it was the assassin one though it was dimmed, must be how it’s shown when it’s completed rewards and my eyes landed on one reward that I missed.

New Title!

I blinked. I had no idea what a Title was so no time like the present to learn. I verbally called for the guide and clicked the glowing tab labeled titles.

Titles are terms and labels of renown for doing virtuous deeds and actions or reviled deeds and actions. All titles come with boosts to certain things, an example would be a sword user gaining a title that increases his prowess with swords. You are able to equip a total of five Titles before you have to switch them out for others you acquire and wish to attach.

Current Titles:

1: -

2: -

3: -

4: -

5: -

Titles available:

Grand Master of the Illuminati: +25 to all skills and stats regarding espionage, information, and anything sneaky.

I grin split my face and it didn’t seem to want to stop growing. This was too amazing to not attach, so I clicked it and dragged it to the first slot. When it clicked into place I dismissed the screen and pulled up my status page and was quite happy with what I saw.

Name: ???
Titles: GrandMaster of the Illuminati

STR: 17 (-10) - 7
END: 16 (-10) - 6
DEX: 17 (-10, +25) - 32
INT: 15 (+10, +10, +25) - 60
WIS: 15 (+10, +10, +25) - 60
LUK: 32

“Hot damn.” was all I could say as I read over these stats. My DEX was now through the roof along with my WIS and INT. If these are the way the dice are falling looks like it’d be best for me to be a sneaky magic character build, sounds fun. I was distracted from my thoughts on this by another ping.

PING

Quest:

“Be the shadow behind every throne” - (⅓)

Create an organization and control the criminal underworld and all it touches.

Objectives:

Gain underlings

Collect protection tax from three business

?

?

?

Rewards:

?

?

?

?

?

Failure:

Death of everyone you love

Accept

Y/n

I swallowed as I read what would happen if I failed. While this quest was awesome I didn’t feel it was worth the lives of everyone I love now and probably everyone I’d ever love either. I sighed and with a pout, I clicked no. Only the quest didn’t go away. I pressed no again, but the quest window stayed.

PING

This Quest is mandatory. Quest can’t be canceled

I felt a cold sweat form and I felt my stomach do a barrel roll. I couldn’t get out of this quest, but I didn’t want to do it! Almost as if my brain was responding to me, unbidden, I recalled something I’d read in the intro.

Some choose to try and ignore the power and continue on with their lives like they had before they were granted it. That never turns out well… Ever.

That last word now held a VERY different meaning to me now. I swallowed the goose egg in my throat and with a shaky hand, I accepted the quest. As the window vanished I could only say one thing about my situation.

“Well… I’m fucked.”

Author's Note

ooo, things seem to be taking a bit of a twist, I wonder where it will lead. Evil Cackling
I do hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I had to re-write it three times because my brain would stop coming up with ideas.

Just a reminder for those who haven't done so yet, there is a Poll in the 5th chapter concerning a future plot point I'm letting my readers decide. If you haven't already please go and vote on that, it will make my job sooooo much easier in the long run.

Well, I'll see you all in the next chapter and remember

Evil, always finds a way.