Morning System Management

“...Em, John? Newman? John!”

John’s eyes snapped open from their lazily half-lidded state, and he leapt backwards a step, yelling as he did, “I’m awake! Ughh, blood rush…”

Moira looked on apologetically as the tired Gamer swayed in place slightly, clutching his head. “My apologies, John. I did not realise your state. Might I…” she eyed him curiously, “...might I ask why it is that you are so, well… tired?” The redhead finished the question with a surprising amount of tact, considering John knew what he looked like right now, clutching his head and falling asleep whilst standing.

He huffed a little laugh as the blood rush faded, and actually looked at Moira as he replied, “I haven’t woken up this early since Mom insisted we visit my aunt last year. I… I don’t do well with early mornings, heh.”

Whilst his tone was tired and conversational, his eyes roamed over the sudden feast being presented to them, in the form of an early morning Moira.

Despite efforts made, it was clear that Moira herself had yet to fully wake. She was in a set of casual morning clothes, shirt and pants which barely skirted the line between pajamas and public clothes. The clean pressed lines of her outfit failed to distract from the fiery red hair that simply refused to fall as it usually did, giving her a mussed appearance, or the slight shadow that hung underneath her eyes, or the barely perceptible trail of dried drool that tracked its way from the corner of her pink lips to the edge of her face.

All in all, she was thoroughly enticing, and equally adorable. “I like the hair more like this, I think.” It was a testament to how tired John was that he didn’t even register he had spoken until Moira’s cheeks turned as scarlet as her hair.

Before he could begin to apologise and backtrack, the embarrassed redhead spoke, “W-well, I suppose you, uhm, did admit to being rather tired. It is understandable that you would speak foolishly until you are more, er, in control of your facilities. Yes. Quite understandable. I suggest you take some of the coffee available, or you might- you might upset someone.”

She turned slightly and busied herself with collecting some breakfast of her own from the table. John was worried he’d actually upset her for a few silent seconds, until she turned just enough for him to catch a glimpse of the blush that filled her cheeks, and the very slight smile she was visibly restraining. Even if he wasn’t quite sure how, he wasn’t so utterly stupid as to not realise he’d done something right.

The pair continued with their breakfast, not speaking again until they had almost finished, despite numerous curious glances at each other when they believed the other not to be looking. Fortunately, as he ate, he felt his capabilities slowly return to him, and with them, the distinct feeling that he was forgetting something important.

He was still trying to recall what it was when Erica strolled over to Moira, giving him a wave as she did so. He returned the wave as the pair began to discuss something about the Fateweaver, Holly, and today’s plan. John’s attempt to listen and join that conversation lasted as long as it took for a hot breath to tickle the back of his neck, and a warm, soft, slightly moist pair of lips pressed against his cheek.

After that, he stopped attempting any thought for as long as the sudden and unexpected kiss lasted.

He was still floating in thoughtlessness when Erica’s voice cut through, laughter following her words, “Velvet, I think you lobotomised him!”

The berserker babe was openly laughing, Moira was visibly hiding her amusement behind one hand, and Velvet was blushing wildly and intensely. John did note that she didn’t apologise, though, or even look slightly regretful.

There was a large part of him, even after the past few days, which felt their mirthful stares like screws into bone, and Erica’s laughter like nails on chalkboard, echoing in his skull. It screeched against the mockery, clashed and clawed. It was prominent, yet more prominent still was the lingering feel of Velvet’s lips on his skin, and the scent of her in the air around him, and the shy smile she pointed at him.

Maybe… maybe it wasn’t too bad to be the butt of some jokes.

—

Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly depending on how familiar you were with the Velvet Effect, John failed to recall the thing that he had forgotten, and the fact that he had forgotten anything, until the group of four had reached the little courtyard where the barrier practice was taking place.

It was only the sight of the weapons rack, and the battleaxes resting on it, that prompted John’s thoughts with a soft exclamation, “Oh!”

With a thought, he opened up his character sheet, navigating to his notifications where, as expected, a little red dot waited for him. He glanced over at the girls before he opened it, and sheepishly smiled. “I thought I remembered getting something last night, when we finished training, Erica, but I, uh…I kinda forgot about it because I was tired.”

Moira simply raised an eyebrow; whether it was in disbelief or curiosity, John wasn’t sure. Erica laughed a little, joined by Velvet’s soft chuckle, and said, “I guess you would be, huh? Alright, let’s hear it.”

With that, he clicked open the list, and let the pop-ups appear.

Achievement Unlocked! - The Neutral Guilds I
Meet a member of the Fateweavers and employ their services, albeit indirectly.
In the Abyss, only three factions are universally accepted. The first is the Fateweavers, binders and shapers of reality.
Reward - Optional Class (To be chosen at completion of The Neutral Guilds III)

That was… an interesting achievement, but not overly helpful right now. An extra class was the last thing John needed right now, when he didn’t even have control over his first one. That said, he had played far too much to disregard the inherent value of multiclassing. Plus… “That means I’m not permanently locked into Berserker as my primary class forever.”

John couldn’t help the note of surprise that slipped into his voice, or the slight relief that he would get another choice if he wanted it. He didn’t regret his split-second impulse decision to do what he did, even with the consequences, but… he would be lying to himself if he said that he was completely happy with it.

That said, for all the surprise in his tone, Moira appeared to have been floored by this information, her expression completely baffled and overwhelmed. After visibly regaining control of her expression, she sharply demanded, “Correct me if I am wrong, but you are telling us that you are going to be capable of simply… gaining another skillset at will, at a whim?”

John shrugged a little, growing uncomfortable under the stern redhead’s glare. “I, uhm, I’m not sure? I haven’t done it yet, so, uhhhh, I- I don’t know.”

Before the paladin could respond, Erica cut in, “Moira, chill it. He doesn’t have a clue what’s going on, remember?” Her words were friendly, but undeniably a firm rebuttal of the Shield Warden’s growing intensity.

It was enough that her green eyes cut swiftly to the berserker babe’s blue, polished sharp emerald meeting unrelenting ice. Then, as swiftly as they had met, Moira looked away with a deep breath.

This time, when her emerald gaze turned to John, it was softened and… regretful? “I am… sorry, John. As Erica pointed out, I forget that you remain new to the Abyss, and do not know or understand the significance of your…” Her words seemed to fail her for a moment, as she sought a socially appropriate word to summarise John’s apparently reality-breaking powers.

For once, it was not Erica but Velvet who spoke up with the fitting curse, “Bullshit.”

Erica’s eyes opened with gleeful surprise, whilst Moira’s turned to regard the well-mannered blind girl mildly aghast. For his part, John simply found himself smiling at her, thrilled to see a part of her mask dropping.

“Uhm,” John started before anyone could comment, “S-so, other than that achievement, I got another level? And I also got this new skill.”

The Gamer looked over at Erica, who met his eyes with a glimmer in her own. “I, uh, I guess your training last night paid off.”

“That is so damn cool.” Erica said, grinning.

“Yeah…” John said, quietly examining his character sheet for a moment. “...Oh yeah!”

John looked around after exclaiming, a slow heat creeping up his neck at drawing everyone’s attention so suddenly again. He rubbed the back of his neck and awkwardly explained, “Oh, uhm, I-I remembered that I, er, I have points to apply from my levels.”

“Hm…” John scratched his temple with a finger as he thought aloud, “My class seems to use the physical stats most, but I definitely have mana, and I can’t really afford to let that drop too far behind or I won’t be able to keep up with the spell costs…”

His eyes drifted over the somewhat alarmingly high Libido stat. ‘There’s also that. I have been… a bit distracted lately, with Velvet and Moira and Asta and- Yeah. Maybe it’s like D&D, and there’s a link between stat balances? Wisdom would be my guess… And Wisdom might let me control the berserker rage better?’ John frowned a little, and muttered, “If there actually is a link…”

“Care to share with the class?” Erica’s snark cut through his thoughts

“Oh! Yeah, uh, sorry. I have, uh, 15 statpoints that I can put into my, well, stats? I was just trying to decide where they should go,” John explained, and then realised Moira, at least, might need explanation of what that meant.

He looked at her to explain, right as she said, “Oh, it’s like a tabletop RPG then?”

His mouth hung open in confusion. John stared at her. Erica stared at her. Velvet even stared at her, which was an impressive feat.

A crimson blush slowly rose in her cheeks to match the shade of her hair, and eventually she snapped, “What?! Is it really that difficult to believe I might know of that?”

It took John a moment, but he did manage to summon enough social grace to stammer out, “Oh! U-uhm, s-s-sorry, Moira. I-uh-uhm, yeah. Sorry.” Truly, he had a way with words.

…That was an argument for Charisma all on its own, really.

He took a deep breath to **** himself to calm down again, and explained, “I, I was thinking of where to place my points? Because, games often have, uh, synergy thresholds? When you have certain stats in balance. So, uhm, for example, I was thinking that improving my Wisdom might let me deal with the Berserker stuff a little more easily? Since it’s all about keeping a clear head.”

Erica was nodding as he spoke, and when he finished, said, “It’s hard to say, because your little latebloomer abilities confuse everything, but that does sound like it could work.”

“What’s the counterargument?” Moira asked

“Well,” John said, “if I don’t put points into Wisdom, I can put more into the physical stats, to make it easier to do the fighting stuff I’ve been doing in the barriers, and to make me sturdier. Or, I could put some into, uh, into Charisma? Which might help me, uhm, adapt and react better to all of the new Abyss stuff…”

Velvet hummed slightly in her throat, and then softly said, “Why not do all of them?”

“I only have fifteen points, Vel,” John told her, only to get a soft dissenting noise in return.

“Yes, but-”

“John, she’s talking about early game bonuses.” Erica interrupted

John’s eyes widened slightly in realisation. “...Fuck, yes, you’re right. How did I not…” he trailed off, as his thoughts drifted through the milestone stat boons he could recall from games he had played and theorised the potentials for his own from them. He had completely drifted away again when Moira politely and not-so-discreetly cleared her throat, raising a single eyebrow when his eyes shot up.

Ignoring the heat he could feel rising in his cheeks, John nodded, and looked at his stats again, speaking his thoughts aloud as he did so, “Alright… well, if I’m doing that, I can add two to my Strength, to bring that to ten… three to Endurance to get it to ten… two for, uh, Charisma… That leaves eight? I could just throw them into Strength or Endurance as well, for combat ability. Or… I guess I could also throw them into Wisdom, to see if it balances out the Berserker thing I mentioned… Could split it between them. Four to Wisdom and… Yeah, I’ll do that. Okay, and let me just confirm this-”

John pressed the confirm button, which he was very glad to find existed, and felt the strangest sensation. It was as if he could suddenly acutely feel the blood in his veins for a short moment. Except, it wasn’t his veins? He wasn’t the best at biology, but he was pretty sure.

Moira was watching him with as intense a stare as he had seen from her yet, Erica was grinning again, and Velvet was… biting her lip? He only got a glance at her before another set of windows popped into the air in front of him, and he gave a little fist pump and exclaimed, “Yes! It worked!”

Velvet said, “That’s incredible! Surely the two of you can- uhm, can feel that?”

“That we can, Velvet,” Moira answered, relaxing her stare slightly, though not lifting it. “His aura just skyrocketed. Where you barely passed for an Abyssal before, now you appear as someone with enough power to warrant recruitment.” Her stare had changed now, as if… expectant.

John was confused for only a second before it hit him. “Ah fuck, I’m a target now, aren’t I? Especially if…” he trailed off, his thoughts taking a dark turn to that basement once again. Before they could go too far, however, he shook his head. “Alright. I just have to get strong enough that they can’t do anything then.”