Before he could, something made him pause. [Tzuf]

Hi TheDespaxas here! Here comes a new egg hatching into an author. If you are around on the Discord server he'll be a familiar one, he's been waiting a long time. As always this is a new take on our John Newman and while it starts the same, things will vary between this branches and others. So, happy birthday Tzuf! And now a word from his sponsor.

Hi everybody, I'm Zewesman! This is Tzuf's branch! He's my first egg that's getting published second! Why you ask? Cause he was a naughty nelly that read and wrote before he was old enough to view this naughty content! Then he was silly enough to tell people! But now its his birthday so he can do this stuff and we're all legally ok! So, long story short, it's only illegal if you get caught! Also his John has an interesting take on the gamer powers.

Hey Everyone, Tzuf here! Be aware I have stopped publishing this story as this branch since. It is still being added and written to, but over in Royal Road and Scribble Hub under the name Exploring the Gateway. Sorry to disappoint anyone who liked my branch, but I hope if you do/did that you continue supporting me there. Links: Royal Road Scribble Hub

Perhaps the rush of initial adrenaline had stopped him from giving it proper consideration, or maybe it was just that he didn't want to think about the implications of what had appeared before him. Regardless of why, receiving his first quest gave him pause, enough for his mind to begin to process what had happened. The appearance of the skill and the quest he had gotten meant that something remarkably different had transpired in his life. Its possible origin, a subject John was already theorizing about, was irrelevant, however. For whatever reason, his mind had finally broken or something genuinely magical had happened. Whatever it was, it seemed quite noteworthy. He knew it could very well affect his life forever. In what way, he did not know as of yet, but his hopes were already high. If magic existed, as the seemingly impossible appearance of those popups indicated, there was something inherently exciting about it, of that much John was sure. At that point, however, that was much more his own belief than any concrete fact, which brought him back to thinking of its possible origin.

`Fuck… I must be hallucinating or something, there’s no way this is real.’ But what if it is? A small voice in his mind asked him, as if a demon was whispering in his ear. There were so many times over the years he had imagined himself getting out of his life, just like one of those isekai protagonists, or like almost every young adult book made in the last 20 years. ’Isn’t this exactly what I want? What I’ve always wanted?’ the young man thought to himself, debating whether that exact reason was why he wanted to think any of this was real. And yet, creeping doubt came at him from all sides. ’If it is… How the fuck did I get powers? Some kind of sadistic god looking for entertainment? Maybe it just happened? Or perhaps I was given this for some higher purpose?’ He pinched his hand, trying to get his head out of the loop of pointless theorizing. There was nothing to be done, no information to be gleaned. He still didn’t even know if any of this was real. So he did the only thing he could think of, he went about his normal routine for the morning.

He entered his bath, which was the cleanest of the rooms he visited regularly due to the significant lack of evidence of his usual sulking about. Briefly afterwards, he went into the small glass cubicle contained in the corner of the room and turned the water on. The constant stream of hot water relaxed him. Unfortunately, that relaxation caused him to sink into his least favorite of thoughts, his memories.

Looking back, it was easy to say that his life had become somewhat meaningless. John’s social life had always been terrible, and the few friends he did have had been lost to time. One of them, the only girl he was ever interested in, had become estranged a long time ago. He didn’t have any dreams he wished to follow nor any real plans for the future, and he spent most of his time simply going about his routine, believing that if he did he might one day find some greater purpose. A good job, a way to help people, something that would give him a sense of direction. The young man’s mind drifted back to his apparent discovery, secretly hoping that it might grant him that exact wish.

Eventually, he exited the shower, his thoughts settling into the back of his mind. Even as unusual as this day already was, he did the same thing he did on every other day and went downstairs to have breakfast with his parents. Once he arrived on the first floor of their house, he approached the semi-open kitchen that was cut off by the countertop table where they usually ate. His mother, Brenda Newman, a woman with flowing brown hair and quite stunning beauty, was standing in the kitchen, seemingly completing whatever meal she had whipped up this morning. His father, Benjamin Newman, was a more average looking man that was just as lanky as his son, was sitting near the countertop table, eating what looked to be the usual. Some sunny side up eggs, bacon, and a side of toast with jam.

Standing there, he decided to attempt to use the skill he had gotten on his parents, since it said he would be able to use it to examine people as well. He looked at his mother intensely first, trying to activate it, and a few moments later Observe worked. Before it did, however, a small popup came up giving John access to a customization menu. It let him set a color scheme out of a list of choices. One that was called “Psychic” seemed intriguing, so he quickly picked it. The Observe popup then appeared, being colored in grey and blue instead of the previous yellow.

A popup appeared in his field of view, one which seemed to give him far more detail than he expected. If this wasn’t real, it worried him that his mind could fabricate such a thing so easily. He had never asked his mother about her youth, and her being worried at such a small thing wasn’t something he would know of. Especially relevant, however, was that she was disappointed in him, that it was hard for her to watch him go about his life in this way. It seemed exactly like her to feel that way, but at the same time, it was surprising to John that she did. Additionally, there were many details locked behind the skill’s level, it seemed. That piqued his interest, so he began wondering how he could even level it up.

A moment later, another popup came into view.

Observe levelled up. Level task system unlocked.

Then another one, this time containing the answer to his question.

What confused him most of all was that he apparently levelled the skill by doing tasks. It was a weird mechanic for a game, but one that caught John’s interest. He considered using Observe on his father as well when he was interrupted.

“What are you standing there for? Come have breakfast with us. You need to get to school, don’t you?” He was snapped out of his thoughts by his father waving him over, attempting to get his attention.

“Sorry, I spaced out for a bit,” John quickly lied, not wanting to worry his father. For a moment that made him think about revealing that he had gotten that message, or that he had some sort of skill, but he figured that they’d just think he’d gone crazy. And hell, he wasn’t so sure he was actually still sane.

He sat down soon after and began to eat some of the food that was already placed on the table. A couple of strips of bacon, a single egg, and some toast.

Hunger satisfied. Satiated status condition added: HP regeneration increased to X4, MP regeneration increased to X2, for one hour.

Another popup came to him as a surprise, though it was good to know he still needed to eat and that doing so would obviously provide him with some benefits. It made him wonder what else he still needed to do and what benefits it would give him. That was, however, a question for another time, as his mother joined them a moment later, bringing with her yet more food. That reminded John of a small problem he had caused himself the previous day. The Gamer, following his title, had bought a videogame with the lunch money he was given, having run out of his personal funds. That brought him to a dilemma that still troubled him: go a day without lunch or attempt to convince his mother to provide him with money. And so, with a heavy heart, he decided to attempt the ancient art of bargaining.

"Hey Mom, any chance I could get a small advance on my allowance?” John began, preferring to sacrifice his gaming allowance in favor of eating that day. An empty stomach would hurt him more than losing some money, though he really should have thought about that yesterday.

“What happened this time?” It wasn’t exactly a regular occurrence, but the young man couldn’t deny that similar events had taken place before. With some hesitation, he nonetheless explained the situation.

“I sorta bought a game with the lunch money you gave me yesterday...” Both his parents gave him a look of disappointment, even though it was not one of surprise.

“What do you have to say for yourself then?” his mother said, obviously already tired of this turn of events.

“I didn’t think about it before I did it and that was a mistake. I’m really sorry. It won’t happen again.” Usually, this would have led to a longer discussion with his mother after a brief dressing down, but today he was only met with a popup.

New skill: Charm

He winced. That popup indicated this was something more than a hallucination. His mother had obviously responded positively. Sighing, she went to her wallet and pulled out a few bills.