Breaking the Rules

Turning toward his house, he glanced at his phone and noticed that just about now he’d usually be in bed. Or jerking off. Both make equal sense actually, he realized as he crossed the street and walked up to his house. Slipping inside, he noticed the lights were all off. Either his mom wasn’t back yet or she was already asleep. If it were the former, then he’d need to wait until she got home to sneak out and use his powers.

As he crept up the stairs, he noticed some faint moans in the background. A step creaked, and they immediately stopped. He connected the dots and realized his mom had been doing what he was considering. He knocked on her door, and she answered with a flushed face.

“Hey Mom, just wanted to let you know I’m home. I’m heading off to bed,” he quickly got his point across, as his mom was clearly in the middle of something.

“Alright sweetie, try not to stay out so late next time, it’s a school night! Tell me all about it tomorrow,” she briefly lectured him before kissing him on the cheek and closing the door in his face.

He turned back to the hallway and walked into his room, shutting the door behind him.

Despite how turned on Jenny had made him, one thing dominated his thoughts as he looked at his stats and skills: how do I create a barrier?

Shame I can’t just **** magic out of my hands, but that’ll just create a construct. That gave him an idea. He made a lump underneath the blanket using his pillows and snuck out of his room, making sure to avoid the creaky step when he went down the stairs this time. Apparently he was successful, as he received a skill for that.

New Skill: Stealth, level 1, passive: You are harder to detect when using cover or camouflage. Steps make 10% less noise per skill level to a maximum of silent steps at level 10.

Walking back into the night, he headed toward the barrier Jenny had shown him. He figured the best way to learn how to create a barrier was to examine one closely.

He entered the alleyway, and tried to pay attention to the sensation of crossing that invisible wall. How the air seemed to somehow change. He felt along the invisible wall separating the barrier from reality. He **** his hand against the wall, and without activating the Exit Barrier skill, **** mana into his hand.

To no results. Guess that would make this too easy, he reasoned as he thought about his options. He quickly cast Spy on the barrier to make sure he was alone.

Unnamed Barrier

Level: ?

Population: 1

That left him with many options, so he decided to go with his next plan. He exited the barrier, and sat with his legs crossed in reality on the edge of it. He entered the barrier and immediately began to Meditate before the feeling of getting adjusted to the new reality caught up with him.

It hit him like a ton of bricks, and despite having no way of seeing or knowing how, the barrier stretched around him to encompass him inside of it. He touched his hand to the place where it had become semi-malleable, and noticed that he could stretch it further. Just as he felt the malleable section tense up as if it were going to break, it became rigid again, and a deluge of popups told him why.

Achievement: Cheater

**** the loopholes of your abilities to break the rules of reality. Seriously, don’t do that again. I'm giving you what you were looking for just so that you don't break reality some other way.

• Important Quest
• Powers Hotfix
• New Skill

New Quest: (Not) Breaking the Rules

Don’t break the rules of reality. Seriously. That’s it.

Rewards: A long, healthy life. You get to keep your abilities.

Penalty for Failing: ****. No more reality. Everything you know and love being wiped from existence.

You cannot decline this quest.

Hotfix 1.01

• You must now be completely inside barriers to enter them.
• You may no longer alter barriers without using the Create/Edit Barrier Skill

New Skill: Create/Edit Barrier, Level 1, O mp

Channel your power to edit or create a barrier. You will be able to create and edit more complex options as this skill levels up. Additionally, you may create a random dungeon with monsters of a set level. Current Maximum Size Dilation and Time Dilation: 10%

That was… exactly what he was looking for, though the quest was a bit worrying. He again wondered who was writing all the achievements and quests. His best guess so far was a god of some sort, though why they were so interested in him was a complete mystery. Satisfied with it, he exited the alleyway barrier.

That left one question for him: where to create his first barrier. He definitely wouldn’t make it in his house. That sounded like a bad idea. His backyard was big enough just to test it out.

With that thought in mind, he set off towards his house again, making his way through the empty streets unnoticed.

Once he arrived back at his house, he slipped into the backyard, and focused on activating his new skill. It was a similar feeling to Mana Construct, but whereas he **** a solid feeling out with that skill, this one felt as if he were just letting his energy spool into something different altogether. He decided that he would create a random level one dungeon, as that would be the safest, and he was wondering how random it could get. The specifics didn’t really matter.

He felt his energy return to him, as if the spool had snapped back, signaling the barrier was finished. Glancing at his stats, he reassured himself that he had full health and mana before pressing forward. Taking a deep breath, he entered the barrier.

He was greeted with dense jungle, unbearable humidity, and a popup.

New Quest: Beat your first solo dungeon.

*Optional: Shoot three birds out of the air

*Optional: Clear the dungeon in less than half an hour

Rewards:100 xp, +2 skill points, +1 stat points, *+2 points in Marksmanship, *+1 stat point & 50 xp

Penalty of Failure: Loss of respect, loss of dignity, .5x drops from enemies.

[Accept]/[Decline]

He hit accept and crouched down behind a tree, which activated Stealth. He kept Spy at the ready to be cast, as he hadn’t seen any of the supposed enemies yet. He planned to go for the optional objectives, so he took the gun out of his inventory and readied it, making sure the safety was off.

Based on the optional objective, it seemed this barrier’s enemies were going to be birds, so he scanned the sky, and noticed a speck closing in on him from the canopy above.

Steadying the gun, he fired, and the speck was turned into little more than viscera. The optional objective ticked up one, and John received a minimal amount of xp and cash.

30 dmg!

+2 xp

+$1

+1 quail egg

That was… inadequate, but about what he was expecting. Not even worth the bullet spent to kill the thing, he’d bet. That was alright, as he was more interested in the optional objective anyway. That was when he felt a sharp sting from behind, and nails digging into his skin.

-3 hp!

He couldn’t reach it, but suddenly remembered a skill he had been neglecting. He lined his hand up with the creature behind his back, and activated Magic Bolt twice in rapid succession, killing the creature on the second use and leaving him with fifty five mana.

I wish I actually knew what I was fighting he looked around once more, but spotted nothing through the canopy, no use waiting like a sitting duck, may as well move forward.

As he slowly crept through the underbrush, he noticed that the barrier seemed to be way bigger than his backyard. I guess random meant random dimensions too. I guess it’s best that way, otherwise I wouldn’t have very much space to work with.

His train of thought was interrupted by a bird’s song, and he looked back into the trees. He was lucky, as the next group seemed to have not noticed him. He cast Spy on the closest.

Indistinct Bird

Level 1

This bird is too low a level to have a defined species. That’s right. You’re fighting monsters so pathetic they don’t even have a species.

_Still fits my purposes nicely_, he sassed back to whoever was writing these, so I don’t care for your judgement.

In response to his backtalk, the bird he was Spying suddenly grew, and its information changed.

Wind Attribute Peregrine Falcon

Level 7

Well screw you too.

The bird abruptly reared back, and dove toward him. Not having the time to aim, he fired blindly. Luckily, two shots hit the bird, and it turned to feathers at his feet.

30 dmg! (2x)

+o xp

+$0

+2 enchanted plumage

Gamer’s Luck Level 3!

I didn’t even get any experience for that? I’m sorry, jeez. What he had failed to take into account was the commotion rousing the other two birds, and he dove out of the way of their attacks at the last second. Despite his evasion being successful, he took more damage than if he had just taken their attacks head on as his shirt tore against a rock jutting from the ground and his head hit a stump.

-10 hp!

The birds circled back, and raising his pistol once more, he shot three times, the first missing and the last two both hitting their marks.

30 dmg! (2x)

+4 xp

+$2

+1 pigeon feather

With that the optional objective was finished, though he didn’t get the points. I guess I get all the rewards at once. That makes sense. Sighing, and on edge as ever, he crept further into the jungle.

He stepped on a twig, and three birds, bigger than all but the Peregrine Falcon, emerged from the leaves. Having no time to raise his weapon, he sidestepped, and thankfully didn’t trip this time.

Deciding to go with a different approach, he pocketed his gun and summoned his bat, a chunk of his mana. The birds may have been big, but they were the slowest yet, and he planned to use this to his advantage.

He slammed the bat into all three, and they crashed into each other, then the ground.

Surprise Attack Crit! 2x damage (3x)

20 dmg!

24 dmg!

22 dmg!

Target(s) dazed! (3x)

He was suddenly struck by the fact that he just intruded on a bunch of animal’s homes, and started killing them, but reasoned that as far as he knew, he had created them, which made it alright.

With that in mind, he slammed the bat into the birds, killing each of them. They seemed to have around twenty five health each, slightly more than the smaller ones he had encountered if Magic Bolt was a reliable metric.

+16 xp

+$20

+Hawk feather

+Albatross feather

+Avian Ring

All minor enemies cleared! Boss will spawn in: 1:59!

A timer hang in the air, and began to count down as he sorted his loot in his inventory. Wish I had a button for that.

While deciding the best use of the meager time he had would be to Meditate back to as full as possible, he heard a sound akin to paws hitting the leafy ground in the distance as he sat down and activated Meditate.