New Day, New Problems

John used his exit barrier skill to bring them back to his room. “I will check the hall to make sure she isn’t out yet,” John advised before he crept out of his room. From the look and sound of things it didn’t appear that his mother was up yet, thankfully, and he returned to his room. While he was gone she switched back into her civilian clothes. “Coast appears to be clear for the time being,” he said as he took her hand. As he was focused on being on the lookout for his mother, he didn’t notice the slight blush that appeared on her face.

“See you at the bus stop,” she said as she stepped out of his house with a little wave. He smiled slightly and returned the wave briefly before he shut the door.

John walked back up to his room, using his stealth and move silently skills, if for no other reason than to just get them leveled up. He glanced over at the clock beside his bed and saw that he still had a bit of time before the alarm was set to go off.

’Wait a minute,’ John thought to himself, ’That book that I touched in the Brighton Library wanted to give me a skill. I wonder if other books will do the same thing?’ Interested in testing this theory, John moved over to his bookshelf and looked at the multitude of books that he had collected over the years. Most of them were the typical things one would expect of him like gaming magazines and mangas of a variety of flavors.

There were a couple of books, mostly given to him as present from people like his father that didn’t understand his obsession with games, that were more like manuals. John decided to focus on those ones first. John activated observe and began touching the dust covered tomes that he had never used.

A surprising few gave him options to learn. Most notably were the books about metal and wood working that had been gifts from his father, and an odd book that had been given to him by his grandfather who had passed away when he was a young child.

He remembered very little about the old man, only that he seemed different from everyone else, and had encouraged John to follow his passions, wherever they may lead him. No one knew what had happened to him, only that he had been found dead in the old home that he had owned. The oddest part was that there had been no cause of ****, it was as if the old man had simply stopped living.

John decided to see what the books his father gave to him would yield and touched their interface.

Woodworking for beginners
This book will add a bonus to your craft skill when using wood or wood based components when crafting.
Do you want to learn this skill?
<Yes> / <No>

John touched yes without a second thought. The book flipped open in his hands and he watched as light consumed the book. John watched as the letters floated off their pages and hovered in the air before him, gathering into a ball before they softly poured into his eyes.

In an instant John understood what he had done wrong with every wood project that he had done in the past. Thrilled by this John dropped the book, not realizing yet that the pages were now blank, and repeated the process with the metalworking book.

Metalworking for Dummies!
This book will add a bonus to your craft skill when using metal components when crafting.
Do you want to learn this skill?
<Yes> / <No>

John mashed the yes icon on his interface and watched as the the same thing repeated that happened with the woodworking book. Again he felt the knowledge rush into his mind, a heady feeling.

Just a John’s alarm went off he got two pop-ups.

QUEST COMPLETE! (You know, I was sure that you would fail this one.)
Quest Rewards: +1 END
Optional: Complete! (I was really sure that you weren’t going to get this one.)
Optional Rewards: 1 Random Elemental Essence, deposited in your inventory.

“Well good to know where that went,” John said aloud to himself as he shut off his alarm and took a look at the other pop-up that he had gotten, pretty sure that he knew it was his next daily quest.

Daily Quest
I Pledge Allegiance
Choose one of the factions surrounding you to join. (It isn’t nice to keep so many ladies waiting for your answer.)
Rewards:
(You want something for doing what any sane person would do? Aren’t you just a greedy little snit.) +10% to all RP gains with that faction.
-50% to all RP gains with other factions.
Optional Quest:
Complete this quest without making an enemy of the other factions.
Optional Rewards:
-20% to all RP gains with other factions instead of the -50%
Accept:
<Yes> / <<No>

“What the hell is with that?” John shouted at the pop-up after he had finished reading it.

“Is everything okay in there John?” Brenda called from down the hall as she was about to head into bathroom. Dressed in only a robe, she walked over to her son’s room and knocked on the door.

John jumped and quickly hit the yes button before he hurried over to the door and opened it for his mother. It wasn’t like it was locked, but the both tried to respect each other’s privacy when it came to closed doors.

“Yes everything's fine mom,” John said, “I just got upset about a reply that I got from one of my friends,” he added lying a little bit.

Brenda pushed past John and sat down on his bed, patting the space next to her for him to sit down. “I worry about you sometimes,” she began, “you don’t seem to have any friends that you can talk to face to face, and sometimes it helps to have that closeness,” she explained as John sat down next to her. Before he could move, her arm had snaked around his shoulders and pulled him against her bosom, her robe falling open a bit so that his head was pressed directly against her tit-flesh. “I love you dearly, and I just don’t want to see you become one of those shut-ins that we hear about on the news.”

Brenda leaned down and kissed her son’s head before releasing him and standing before him. Her robe fell open a little bit more to reveal a line of skin straight to the junction of her thighs, which caused John’s member to grow in his pants.

“Promise me that you won’t become like that, okay?” Brenda asked pouting a little bit in the way that would cause her husband to give into whatever she desired, and John nodded dumbly in agreement. “Good boy,” she said before she left his room, not bothering with, or not noticing, her open robe revealing her assest to her son.