Over to Rave’s place.

“Is your dad still home?” John asked as Rave fidgeted with her keys at the door. The trio was standing at the boorish building that hid the crazy mumble-jumble that was her home. People were passing with curious stares. John knew that these gazes were never directed at himself but always at those two companions of his. Rave in her skimpy outfits, a top of flashy blue and tight jeans of a darker shade, and Aclysia in her cosplay that bordered on provocative with the shortness of her skirt were bound to find the attention of lustful, condemning or confused eyes, sometimes all three at once.

John checked the time on his smartphone. 13:55. It was pretty early all things considered. They probably could have killed another Boss if they wanted to. However, he also got more money than he needed already and this day was about spending time with Rave (+Aclysia). Beating the first phase of the Tree of Life (Minor) without a bazooka also would prove a much harder endeavour, although doable now that they had that sword and his new Mana Ray skill.

“He is in town until the end of the month if that is what ya asking.” Rave said and turned the key. “But he is not here right now.” She winked at him. “Why is that important?” Aclysia asked. “’cause we plan to fuck.” Rave said as they entered the hallway, she could see that Aclysia was still confused so she continued her explanation, “Generally talking humans find it really awkward when their parents are around when thy have sex.” “Why?” “Because **** is a bad thing.” “Why?” “Uhm, it leads to genetic deficiencies.” “Why?” Rave opened her mouth, then she closed it, then she opened it again. “Just google it!” She finally ended the argument and they entered the living space made of chaotically arranged thematic rooms.

John got a good chuckle out of that. It was nice to see somebody else be riddled with questions for a change. “What is Google?” “A search engine for the internet.” “The internet being the planet wide network of electronic devices?” “Why do you know THAT but not what google is?” “My basic knowledge is based on video games. As an internet connection is required for some games the knowledge of this network was implanted in me.” Rave threw an annoyed glance at John. “So ya are to blame for this!” John raised his arm in defence, “Hey, I have to put up with this much more than you have to!” “Are my questions annoying you, Creator?” Aclysia was concerned and it showed in her eyes as she voiced that questions. “Sometimes. I’d rather you ask them than stay confused though.” John admitted but was quick to extend on his viewpoint. “Well, I’d rather not answer the most mundane or annoying stuff. YOU!” Rave said and pointed at Aclysia, “You will spend the next hours researching!”

Aclysia blinked in confusion before being dragged off by Rave to the videogame room. John followed the debacle with a smile. Rave urged the artificial guardian in her frilly goth-maid outfit into the chair in front of the PC. “You know how to use this?” “Yes.” “Okay, turn it on and click on that blue and red ball.” “The one where the red has the distinct shape of a fox?” “Yes, open it.” Aclysia double-clicked and firefox opened. Rave pointed at several parts of the interface “Up there is the address bar. You can type whatever question you have in mind up there and probably receive some kind of answer. You can also see the place where you are at in the internet there. This is a dedicated search bar where you can change the search engine, google is the best though and stay away from bing. Wikipedia is a pretty good source of basic explanations. You got that?” Aclysia nodded slowly and looked at the keyboard. Her fingers moved pretty awkwardly as she typed, it was always a bit cringe inducing to see beginners type. ‘What is sentience?’ she googled and landed on some Wikipedia site.

“Okay, you keep researching and John and I are gonna go to my room.” Rave said and turned around. “If you need something contact me.” John tapped on his head as he followed Rave to signal that she should use that mental connection he had with her. Aclysia nodded she had understood that gesture.

The two walked to Rave’s room. While she opened her laptop John grabbed one of the beanbags and plunged it down next to her chair. The Alienware machine quickly went online and Rave opened Youtube. “Mhm, Jompa uploaded something.” She mumbled and clicked on the video. Some soft female voice underlined by a strong beat boomed from the device. “Honestly surprised you don’t have giant speakers.” John commented as he pulled out his smartphone and started the 2048 App. He wasn’t sure whether it was because his high Intellect made him good at the game or because the Stat honed his interest in logic but he had become very fond of logic and problem-solving games these days. It was probably a mixture of both factors. 2048 was the perfect thing for him to halfway concentrate on as he hung out with Rave.

His fingers glided over the screen as his girlfriend answered. “Well, we have a sound room so I go there if I want to listen to really loud music.” “Why am I not surprised…” John snickered to himself. Rave turned the office chair she was sitting in and put her naked feet in his lap. She wiggled her toes to the rhythm of the music.

“I should apologize to Victoria tomorrow.” John said absent-mindedly. “Ja, ya better.” Rave agreed and pulled the laptop in a position that was easier to access. “I still don’t think you should have told her though.” “Huh? I thought ya agreed that telling her was smarter than not doing so.” “I had a second to think about it. Yes, telling her was correct but I don’t think she should know that early. I haven’t even told Travolta yet and he actually deserves to know. I only met Victoria yesterday.”

“Ya only met me two weeks ago!” Rave said. “Yet we are here. You gotta be a bit spontaneous John. Nothing bad is gonna happen!” They stared at each other for a moment then John sighed. “I just hope you are right.” He budged but kept his doubts. If Rave was right he lost nothing this time, if she was wrong…Well, Victoria didn’t look especially trustworthy so he would keep an eye on her in silence.

Minutes later as they spent time in honest silence Rave clicked her tongue disapprovingly “If ya want to ponder about things that are actually worrying check this out.” She pointed at the laptop screen. John looked at the screen with an annoyed expression. On the screen was the Abyss Auction or to be specific: The information bundle about him. As Rave had bought the highest tier she got all the updates and through her he got them as well.

On the screen were several pictures of Aclysia as well as a list of what she could be. All of them were some kind of summon or golem, so they were pretty spot on. In the photos close to Reagan’s house the background was blurred and Rave was always censored to a point where you wouldn’t be able to guess if that person in the photo was even a woman. “We need to take care of that stalker eventually.” John complained, Rave nodded in response. “He is a slippery bastard. He either has very good equipment or is really strong or both.” “Well, he sold that Monster Controller so he can’t be a total pansy.” He sighed and then he heard a giggle.

“What’s so funny?” “The guy enabled the comment section, hear this: ‘That John Newman fellow has absolutely no taste in waifus. We all know that short hair is superior. If I could create a Golem like that it would look like Senjougahara Hitagi, the greatest of all waifus.’” Wrinkles appeared on John’s forehead as he furrowed his eyebrows. “Fucking weebs.” He said. “Ey, don’t ya mock ma anime’s, I will replace ya with a body pillow!” Rave threw an agitated threat out in response.

Before John could muster a response the Abyss Auction page refreshed automatically, pulling back Rave’s attention to the screen. “Would ya look at that he added a Discord Channel for the top payers.” “The Abyss uses Discord?” “A slightly different version with more secrecy and stuffs but yeah. It’s run by an independent organization that never sold information ever, thus a lot of people use it and pay for extra features while others donate. Works pretty great.” Rave grinned at him. “Wanna check it out?”