Back to John

It didn’t take John long to clear the Wolf I.D. Despite being a tier above the rats, the wolves were still mundane creatures and didn’t hold up well against his Mana Attack. By the time it was over, he’d amassed quite the assortment of wolf pelts and wolf tallow, levelled up most of his skills at least once. He’d even reached Level 8 thanks to a tidy boost of xp for killing the Pack Alpha. It also turned out that grinding was quite the workout, and John had received stat boosts to all three of his physical stats.

Overall, John was pretty pleased with the day’s efforts. He brushed a stray bit of wolf fur from his clothes before casting escape I.D. He’d grown comfortable with the certainty that casting escape I.D. would place him back in the real world completely unnoticed. That feeling of certainty evaporated when he immediately collided with something and fell to the ground. That fall was punctuated by a girlish scream right by his ear. It took a long moment for John to connect that scream to the firm and pert feeling in the palms of his hands.

Achievement Unlock: Copping a Feel
You cupped a girl’s breasts without her permission, you p-p-pervert!
Seriously tho, that’s sexual ****, bro.
+2 Libido
+1 Charisma to help you climb out of the hole you’ve dug

“Oh shit,” John let out when he realised where his hands were.

The girl under him glared daggers and, with flushed cheeks, tried to push him away.

“Get off of her, you perv!” another girl spoke, presumably her friend.

John was on his feet faster than the second girl could finish her sentence. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” John rambled, dearly wishing his Charisma was higher than it was. “I swear it’s not what it looks like.” His dick stood unhelpfully erect.

The second girl helped her friend to her feet, all the while watching John warily.

They both looked familiar, which was supported by the Ashcroft Academy uniforms they wore. They were both rather pretty. The one he’d accidentally groped had short-cut, dark hair, B-cup breasts, and smelled faintly of sweat. Her build was lithe, and she was clearly the athletic type, and John could make out the Academy’s track uniform hidden underneath her jacket.

The other was a much more familiar face. Her name was Chelsea Sharp, and she was the second most distracting person in Art class. Chelsea was a curvy blonde with beautifully sharp looks that were dangerously close to unseating Vanessa Hawthorne, the de facto queen of school. Between the Bitch Queen and Chelsea, John knew who he preferred, and he still harboured a minor crush for the talented artist. John cast Observe on both of them to see if there was any information that might help him.

Observe is now Level 3. Can now see the emotional state of people Observed.

A few bits of information stood out to John. Firstly, he had a better relationship score with the one he’d groped, go figure. It was also dismaying to see how low a girl he liked thought of him, though he was surprised to find jealousy as a cause. Second, 33 Intellect was an astounding stat score to have. He hadn’t seen many people break 25 in any stat let alone 30.

“Oh, of course it’s you, Newman!” Chelsea exclaimed, pulling him back to his current predicament. “First, you’re missing from class today, now this! What do you even have to say for yourself?”

John shifted nervously from one side to another. He was in some seriously deep shit now. Never mind the Game Powers, his reputation was about to take a serious dive at school. “Uh.”

“Hold up, Elsie, he was missing from school today?” the girl named Sam asked.

“Yeah, why?” Chelsea replied.

‘Elsie is a cute nickname,’ John found himself thinking, slightly bemused at how it contrasted her stern demeanour.

Sam seemed to ponder on the information for a bit, before snapping her fingers and looking at John with a wild look in her eyes. “You’re an alien, aren’t you?!” she said, pointing a finger in his direction. It wasn’t so much a question as an accusation.

“Um… what?” John didn’t know how to respond this sudden shift in atmosphere.

“Oh my god, Sam,” Chelsea sighed. “Now’s not the time to entertain this creep with one of your joke theories. ”

“Or are you a time traveller?” Sam continued, ignoring her friend. “‘Cause I swear I just saw you appear out of thin air.”

Almost as soon as the girl finished her question, John got a direct message from Gaia.

If you don’t convince her otherwise I will end you - xx Gaia

“Uh… ah… no! I just jumped out of the bushes and grabbed your breasts I swear!” John fumbled, eyeing Gaia’s message. “Wait… that came out wrong.”

Achievement Unlocked: Words Not Spoken.
Hahaha! You literally just said something that nobody has ever said before.
+1 Charisma

“Did it?” Sam asked, her brow raised and the ghost of a smile appearing on her face.

“I mean, I just wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and collided with you,” John corrected himself.

A quivering smile betrayed the amusement Sam garnered from his plight.

Chelsea, however, seemed fed up. “Screw this, I’m calling the cops,” she said, pulling out her phone.

Sam held up her hand to her friend. “Slow down, Elsie, we can deal with this martian by ourselves.”

Chelsea visibly grit her teeth and glared at John. “Sam, he’s not a martian, just a perv.”

Meanwhile, Sam had begun to pace around John, scanning his body. Her eyes lingered on his erection, which was noticeably strained against his pants.

“Hmm… you look pretty human,” Sam hummed. “So time traveller then? No, you wouldn’t have missed school if you could time travel. Oh well then, I guess you’re just a pervert.”

The look in Sam’s eye made John dearly wish he could deny that.

“I’ll tell you what,” then Sam smiled nastily. “You let me punch you in the face, and we won’t call the cops on you.”

That... was actually pretty reasonable, all things considered. Still, John didn’t particularly like the idea of getting punched in the face.

“It’s that or the cops, buddy,” Sam said tightly.

“Fair enough,” John sighed.

His relationship score raised by five with Sam. That was a pleasing improvement right up until the moment Sam’s fist connected with his face.

- 16 HP

John made a tragic show of trying to stay upright before falling flat on his ass.

Achievement Unlocked: Got What You Deserved!
You got punched by a girl. OMG, this is playing out so perfectly!
+1 Endurance

“Oh my, that was cathartic,” Sam exclaimed, letting out a deep breath before, much to John’s surprise, she helped him to his feet.

The spike of pain in his cheek had already numbed

“Huh, you seem to be taking it pretty well,” Sam observed, checking his cheek for signs of bruising.

Gamer’s Body meant there wouldn’t be any, which could actually be a problem if Sam noticed.

“You hit pretty hard,” John commented, rubbing his face to hide the fact that no bruising was actually developing.

“Yeah, it’s a point of pride,” the athletic girl replied cheerfully.

Chelsea looked on impatiently, though a slight smile played on her lips. “Why are you talking to this creep?” she asked, tapping her foot.

“He’s interesting,” Sam replied matter of factly.

John noticed that as she said that, his relationship with both girls ticked up 10 points.

Chelsea’s stance towards him gave no indication of this improvement, however. “Well, we have somewhere to be,” she sighed and briskly walked past John.

Sam eyed John and shrugged. “See ya, martian.”

John watched the two girls walk away, suddenly feeling very tired.

‘That was… an encounter,’ he thought. “Oh and fuck you, Gaia. What the hell was that about?” he cursed. Sure, his benefactor had orchestrated the scenario and then threatened his life. Though in retrospect, she was probably just stirring the pot. Either way, John had ended up embarrassing himself and was ready to call it a day.