Has got far too much going on and needs a nap

Lex cast an observe on his Mom as she came through the door.

Angeline Frost-Moore
Age: 45
Height: 165 cm
Cup size: Medium

Angeline Frost-Moore's biggest goal in life is to see her precious son, Lex, succeed in all that he wants to do. Works hard to support herself and her son, deeply proud of him but wishes he would play less videogames and go outside more. Incredibly stressed, work is currently 'reorganising' and she is spending long hours to distinguish herself as a valuable employee. Is currently suffering from [insomnia], and [stress]

"Hey mom. I made the bolognaise, doesn't feel like my best work though."

Angeline put her bag down next to the door and walked up to Lex to give a hug and try to kiss the top of his head, he managed to squirm away from that, just. Prompting a tired laugh from his mother.

"You'll make me a lovely dinner but won't even give your mother a kiss. I'm devastated Lex, devastated." She grumbled without any heat. "I'm just going to get changed and I'll be right back." He hummed in the affirmative and put her bowl in the microwave.

New Quest: Do something nice for your mother
Seriously, this woman is literally tearing herself apart so that you can have a good life
Rewards: Your mom will be extra proud of you, [???]

He handed her the bowl as she sat down.

"You seem happier than usual, good day it work?"

"uhm, yes." Lex said, before realising he had to provide a reason that wasn't 'I got superpowers'. "I uh, I realised that my supervisor is quite happy with my work so far." He shrugged. "It took some of the weight off of my shoulder."

"That's great." Angeline's smile was slightly weak but her voice was genuine. "I'm happy for you Lex, really."

"And you?" He asked, hopeful.

She shrugged helplessly. "I don't know Lexie, things are till up the air. My boss is- well it's hard for a woman to get this far. Have to keep paddling, you know?"

He nodded, giving his most encouraging smile. "You've got it mom, they'd be mad to not appreciate the work you put in."

She laughed, one bark, mirthless. "Mhmm, mad is one way to put it."

He grabbed her bowl when she was done and browbeat her to go to bed, ignoring her insistances of hypocrisy on his part. Not inaccurate, but he didn't care. It hurt to see his mother this hard-done by. He was thinking about what he could do about that new quest. Something nice for his mother, he didn't even know where to start.

Mom chased off, and dishes done he took stock of everything. Observe was up to 152/200 skill XP and he had 1 unallocated stat point for each of his profiles. Oh and only 50XP until he leveled up.

There were the two quests, one to do something nice for his mom, and another to read the book the last quest had given him. He walked into his room and closed the door, confident that his mom wouldn't come in without knocking.

He opened his inventory and pressed on the items assuming that it would give him a description.

The Abyss for Dummies [Uncommon, Abyssal]
Instructions for an abyssal newbie, telling you what you need to know, no more and no less.
Requirements: 5 INT, 5 WIS

I’m blessed by the Goddess and all I got was this cute top [Common]
I hope you didn't think it would all be smooth sailing from here? Your powers may be a gift, but they're also a challenge. I give them to my ~strongest~ warriors, or in your case, ones with the potential to be strong.
Requirements: na

He mentally slid it over to his torso slot jumping a little bit at the sensation of having his shirt be replaced by a different top. His normal shirt got dumped into his inventory. He looked at himself in the mirror, the top was a dark green and cut off a little bit above his navel. It was a lot more feminine than anything he would ever wear normal. He turned left and right. It was sort of cute though. The words from the description were written across the chest, where his boobs would be, if he had any.

Lex left it on, instead puzzling over how to grab the book out of his inventory. After a bit of prodding he realised he needed to hold his hand open and picture the book appearing in it.

'The Abyss for Dummies' was a small book, barely 80 pages. Lex was sorely tempted to blow off the whole deal and play some video games or masturbate. Both were activities he vastly preferred to do over reading. He’d never been bad at reading per se, was quite good at it really, it just did not interest him. It was always a struggle to slog through his textbooks or coursework.

The flavour text from the quest flickered to his minds eye unbidden. Enslaved or worse.

Sucking up his reservations Lex opened the book and started reading. 80 pages, A5 size, he could blow through the whole thing in the night if he pushed. Or if he was lucky this would be one of those games that beamed the knowledge straight into his brain.

He opened the book and was greeted only by an authors acknowledgement for the ‘people who made this book happen.’ He'd hoped that the state requirements meant that he would be lucky here. No dice. Lex flipped through the page of heartfelt thanks and stared worriedly at the overlong list of 'in loving memory to.' In most books it was just the one person, here it was enough names to fill out a third of the small page.

'If you're reading this, than there is a decent chance that you're completely new to The Abyss, a very decent chance in fact. Lady Gaia sees fit that material such as my own finds its way into the hands of people just dipping their toes into The Abyss. So with that in mind I'd like to say one thing and one thing only: Leave, just leave. Remove your extremities from the water and find dry land. Pretend like whatever you saw that told you of this place never happened. That whatever strange seemingly-helpful ability you just gained is more bothersome than its worth, because it is. You're likely weak enough still that you won't attract notice from any soon-to-be interested parties. This world is not the safe one of the mundane Earth. It is violent, with a booming **** trade, entire organisations that will see you dead no matter who you are simply for existing. Realms exist alongside our own in The Abyss who's horrors inspired much of the worldly fantasies of tormented afterlives. All this is sugarcoating it. If you take that next step forward you will be ****, strong enough to catch interest but weak enough to be defenseless. It will only be worse from there, the stronger you become the more tantalising a target until you either fall or join them, become one of the horrible people that prop up this place.

It is my hopes that my harsh words have dissuaded some, if even one person saved themselves the troubled, closed this book, and forgot it all I'll die a happy woman. If you've come this far than you are likely not one of those, most are, Gaia rarely blesses the wise. So, hopefully the rest of this book is informative.

If you take my advice you might even find ****.

The unlucky ones don't'

Lex stared at the book in front of him with wide eyes. The fuck!? He though to himself hysterically. That was the bleakest 'how to' book he had ever read. He wondered then if maybe he should follow the advice of the book, his life wasn't incredible, he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth but he had a future ahead of himself. He didn't need magical powers.

Branching Path: The Apple in the garden and the pill in the hand
Red or Blue Lex, your choice.
[ ] Forfeit your new powers, become a normal human forever
Consequences: Lose your powers, lose all items gained through powers
[ ] Keep your powers, never become a truly normal human again
Consequences: [Abyssnet connection added to Menu]

He very nearly just pressed the first option, but stopped himself. Lex looked down at the book. He'd read it first, gather all possible information before he made the choice. If this world was as thriving as it claimed than maybe the situation wasn't as dire as it could be. It might be dangerous, but his curiosity burned. A whole world was out there. Multiple actually.

Just sitting back and getting a job writing code for videogames seemed like a pittance compared to it all. Surely, he would not be given these powers if he had no chance of succeeding.

He minimised the quest box, and turned back to the book, and began reading in earnest.

half an hour later, in an equally intriguing and terrifying description of the practice of abducting nascent mages to sap their magic his reading slowed considerably and a box appeared in his vision.

Through repeated action a skill has been created

Gen Skill: Reading Lv 1/20
Your ability to read, INT determines quality of recollection/accuracy of Glossary filled when reading.
Skill XP: 0/200
Reading speed (words per minute) = 3*Reading Lv*INT = 54 wpm

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" He exclaimed. "My reading speed is at least 300 words per minute, doesn't that transfer?"

There was no response for a solid minute and then a box popped up right in front of him.

Achievement unlocked: Be a little bitch
I get given power by the actual literal God and all I care about is whining
Requirements: Be a little bitch__
Rewards: Bitch's Briefs [Uncommon]

He was still fuming when he opened his inventory screen.

Bitch's Briefs [Uncommon]
Set of underwear with "little bitch" written across the ass, changes form depending on gender of wearer.
Affects: +2 LIB
Durability: 10/10

He took it out of his inventory and held it in front of him much as one would a dead rat. It was a pair of black boxer briefs with the 'little bitch' written in hot pink right above the asscheek.

He stuffed it angrily into his cupboard and went back to reading, stopping occasionally to spend his Mana on observes or check the progress in reading levels. It was with some small consolation that he saw it rising reasonably quickly.