It's a new day, and a new Gamer.

John woke up fresh and surprisingly eager for school. A sure sign that his brief time in the Abyss had already changed him dramatically. With the improvements to his stats, John felt like he was ready to turn his social life around. He had even tripled his Charisma.

John began his morning routine, which now included checking for the daily quest. Surprisingly, there was none, instead he’d received one new notification.

System Update Installed: ‘The Gamer’ ver 1.2 - Combat Overhaul
Main Features:

• Weapons now scale with individual stats on a ranking system from E to S.
• Status Effects such as bleeding and paralysis.
• Unique Instant Dungeons!
• The Depths: A dungeon with 1000 floors, increasing in difficulty the deeper you go.
• The Arena: Starts off with only the basic training regime unlocked. Enemies, game modes, and more will unlock when milestones are achieved in 'The Depths' I.D. Professional MC and Pundits included.
• And more! To be unlocked as you progress through established dungeons.

After reading through the update log, John made a mental note to check out the new dungeons, before he pulled out his sword and cast Observe. A new scaling system probably meant there were changes to his schiavona.

Looking for a little more insight into the scaling, John found that it followed a fairly simple formula. The total scaling is the sum of each stat multiplied by the numerical value associate with its scaling rank, which began at 0.2 for E, increasing by 0.2 for each rank until S which was 1.2. To use his schiavona as an example:

(20 x 0.2) + (20 x 0.4) = +12

It was a simple variation of a system used in many games and basically meant that building himself to a certain kind of weapon would ultimately increase his damage output.

John closed the screen and made his way downstairs after dressing himself for school. He munched on a plain piece of toast before footing it out of the door to catch the school bus. John didn’t miss the raised brows of several students as he stepped on the bus. Casting Observe revealed that his relationship with most people had increased. Some even upwards of ten points. So improvements in Charisma could innately improve his standing with other people, handy.

John found a seat towards the centre of the bus and had, for the first time in days, nothing to do but sit and wait. It would be half an hour before the bus arrived at Ashcroft Academy, and the wasted time hurt John’s heart. He pulled up his stat sheet, thinking he might read a bit more into the update, when he noticed that his Possession skill was woefully underleveled. Suddenly, John found himself with something to do, that being Possessing the bus seats to look up girls’ skirts. Somehow, he got the feeling that he was treading along a path explored by many mages before him.

His mana bar was about halfway empty when a small chime told him he’d levelled up the skill.

Skill Level Up: Possession is now Level 2
Allows the caster to take control of an inanimate object. Now only has a 9 MP activation cost, and you may now slightly move the possessed object.

‘Interesting,’ John thought, concocting a new plan in his genius mind.

John patiently waited for his mana to tick back up to full, but rather than possessing the bus seat, John switched to directly seizing control of the panties of the girl two seats in front of him.

He now found himself in a blissful world between the girl’s thighs. John took a moment to admire her nether regions. It was the first time he’d come into contact with a real pussy, and the wonderful thing about possession was the full sensory feedback John could bathe in from the object he possessed. The girl radiated a pleasant warmth, and there were already traces of moisture around her labia. She had even shaved her hair into a neat little landing strip.

Tentatively, John began to focus his efforts on moving. Gently. Gingerly. He began to rub against her folds. With his own eyes, John saw the girl jerk and then look down between her legs, her face flushing. As her panties, he felt her body heat up, and the air between her legs seemed to grow heavier. Her fingers brushed against him, and John gave her another gentle prod. He could feel the blood pumping through her lower body now. And as the temperature rose, so did the humidity. The girl’s fingers wavered uncertainly above her panties, before she began to massage herself through them...

“John Newman,” a stern voice interrupted his ministrations.

Startled, John pulled out of the possession and turned to face a familiar redhead.

‘Oh fuck,’ John winced as he noticed Moira’s vexed frown and piercing emerald glare. Had she cottoned on to what he was doing?

Without asking, the warden sat down in the seat adjacent to John, trapping him between her and the bus window. John could have sworn he heard her teeth grinding, and he braced himself to be punched.

“Where in the name of the Lady were you yesterday?!” she finally asked, somehow managing to both shout and whisper at the same time.

‘Oh thank God,’ John sighed. ‘She doesn’t know.’

He shuddered to think what she would have done to him. At the same time, a quiet guilt crept in, telling him that, whatever she would’ve done, he’d probably deserve it.

Realising he was yet to answer, he began to hastily explain before she ran out of patience. “I took the day off to get stronger.”

“And you didn’t think to inform me of this?”

“No? Why?”

“Do you not recall my warnings about being ****?! Well a new string of kidnappings has just come to the Order’s attention! Here no less!”

“I remember,” John stated. “And if I recall correctly, I told you I was going to get stronger then and there. Besides, you gave me no way to contact you.”

Moira wore a look that told him she dearly wanted to reply to that with her fist. “Fine then… pass me your phone.”

Get punched or hand her the phone, it was an easy choice. With a slight tinge of red to her cheeks, Moira snatched the phone from his grasp and punched in her number.

Achievement Unlocked: Got the digits.
You got a girl to give you her number, and she wasn’t even your mother.
+1 Charisma

“If you had informed me that you would begin the very next day, I would have at least organised for you to be supervised!” Moira huffed, returning the phone. However, she was not done with her lecturing. “Besides, your training could not have been in the least bit effective by yourself. It takes years of dedication and determination to grow.”

A voice in the back of John’s head warned him that it was not a wise idea to tell Moira he’d levelled up four times in the span of a day.

“Not to mention you’d need a teacher… perhaps I could arrange for a member of the Order to squire you?”

Honestly, that didn’t sound too appealing to John. If the rest of the Order was anything like Moira, then John doubted it was a place where he could really spread his wings, even if their intentions were good.

“I’ll think about it,” John replied when he realised Moira was waiting for an answer.

Moira’s frown deepened, and John took a wild guess that his relationship with her had just dropped.

“Hmm, well, keep in contact, Newman,” Moira sighed. “I would hate to see you unduly killed or, worse, see you go rogue.”

By then, the bus had arrived at the school gates. With that solemn statement, Moira had decided their conversation was over. As she made to leave, John realised he had yet to see Moira’s full stat sheet, so he quickly cast Observe.

John was surprised to find that the highest relationship score he’d found so far was with Moira. For all her grouchiness, it seemed she really did care about his well being.

“Um… Moira?” John cleared his throat as the redheaded Warden whirled back around. “Thanks for looking out for me.”

“Oh, uh… you’re welcome?” Moira blushed, before briskly walking into the school building.

As John watched her hurry away, he saw his relationship with her had ticked up by five points. Who would have thought saying ‘thank you’ could impact someone positively? With that revelation, John followed Moira’s example and made his way into the building.