Skipping Thursday and Friday we enter the weekend.

“Draw Four.” John said, “Draw Six.” Jimmie countered. “Draw Eight.” John fired right back. “Draw twelve!” Jimmie triumphantly roared. “Wait…since when can you put +4 on +2’s?” John questioned and reached for the rulebook. “House Rules.” Jimmie said and crossed his arms. “Yeah, no, Jimmie that is not how I do things.” John muttered as he went through the pages. It didn't take long, UNO rules aren't long after all. “No, nothing of the sort. Draw Eight or give up.” “Give me that.”

“You guys are so laaaaaame.” Rave shouted from the Arcade. The constant noise of smashing buttons and moving joysticks came from the enclave of old machines. “You wanted to stay a bit.” John answered. “Didn’t want Jimmie to be bored.” The mechanic was lighting a cigarette as he went through the small rulebook. “As if I needed you guys to not be bored.” He grumbled and adjusted his cap. “You would just keep working on that robot of yours.” “Is there anything wrong with that?” “It just shows that you are getting no pussy whatsoever.” With that verbal **** from Rave, Jimmie kept quiet as he flicked through the pages.

“Okay, I give up.” The mechanic muttered, threw his remaining cards on the table and left the building.

That must have been the easiest EXP grab in history. Also, he didn’t know if he was the one that annoyed Jimmie enough or if Rave was. No matter, the system accepted it and he had gotten another Level. If only these quests popped up more regularly….

Okay. ‘I have several questions.’ John thought. First-off, why did thinks always happen like this? Second, What the hell were those rewards? Third, what even was a Skill Evolution Point? Was it worth foregoing an extra item more experience and a bigger dick?

“Got a new quest?” Rave asked as she jumped over. No, really, she just straight up jumped unto one Arcade machine and from it next to him on the chair. That jump was worthy of Olympia. John didn’t even question that part at this point. “Yeah, how did you know?” “Not that hard to figure out when you stare really intensely into the air.” Rave pointed out. “Is it annoying Jimmie more? Because I love doing that.” John shook his head. “Ehm, no.” He cleared his throat. “It wants me to have sex with you.” Rave laughed. “Good luck with that.” She went closer to his ear, whispering the next words. “Although you are on the right track right now.”

And there his blood went downstairs again. “Being around you could be hazardous for my health.” John complained as he adjusted his pants to be a little less tightening. That caused her to look at the up left corner of her field of view. “Nah, your HP is fine. Also check out our levels, this is awesome.”

She was right. He himself had reached Level 12 now. The last two days had him keeping levelling Possession and later Mana Power Attack. Turned out he could kill one Ghost at a time on his own with that Skill, he however still faced the problem of high mana shortage. Rave had managed to get Level 17 but the Ghosts gave her really low amounts of experience.

“So, didn’t you want to do something though?” “Yeah…” He still had all his Stat-Points to spend and it was about damn time that he did. He had been holding back because Stat-Points were like Holy Artefacts but holding back on spending them also kept him weaker than he needed to be. It was about time he finally got stronger.

Back when he first decided to put points into Wisdom he hadn’t known about how truly dangerous the Abyss was. Now, with the Rocker attack and four days’ worth of Ghost farming under his belt, he wasn’t so sure that a simple Possession build was going to cut it.

“Are there people like Summoners in the Abyss?” John asked as he looked at his Stat screen. “Oh yeah. Elemancers, Necromancers, Golem Creators, the whole range.” Rave said. “Why?” “Because I am kinda committed to Possession and I am thinking about what I can do with that in combat situations.” Rave still didn’t understand so John continued in his explanation. “If I could possess a really strong body, like a summoned spider or a Golem, my own combat abilities wouldn’t matter as much. I guess I need some way to create something like that.” “That sounds like you are going to be an Enchanter of some sort.”

John tilted his head and crossed his arms. “Yeah, maybe? Problem is I have no idea how to learn that.” Rave pondered over the problem for a moment as well. “Enchanters are hard to find and teaching is to costly for you anyways.” John sighed “If only there was a book about this stuff or something.”

A moment of silence. “Wait a sec!” Rave suddenly said and vanished upstairs. Now that John thought about it he had never been up there. In a pink-haired flash she returned moments later. “This might help.” She said and handed him a book. The title read ‘The Basics of Supernatural Crafting’. John took it from her and the second he held it in his hands a window opened.

“It is a book Baldy was reading last year, he won’t mind if it is missing from his library so you can borrow it.” Rave explained “Okay?” John asked and looked at the window with a puzzled expression. ‘There is no reason not to, right?’ he asked himself and pushed the button.

Just like that the book was gone. “Wha-?” Rave wondered, “Did you put it into your inventory? Like, normally it doesn't just vanish like that when you do. Gamer, Gaaaamer?” John wasn’t listening, he was way too busy getting used to the fact that his mind was suddenly filled with the whole knowledge that book had contained.

“Hello? Earth to Johny.” Rave said and snapped her fingers in front of his face. Finally, he reacted. “S-sorry. I just…well I just learned everything in that book instantly.” Rave took a deep breath. “Bullshit.” She said. “No really, it said it was a Skillbook so I could instantly learn it.” John tried to defend himself. “No, no I believe you. It’s just bullshit is what it is, ya know?” Rave looked like she had seen somebody burn a shed full of 100 Dollar notes. “I mean what?”

Understandable reaction. “Do you have any more books?” “None Baldy wouldn’t miss I am afraid.” Rave calmed down and started laughing. “That is ridiculous though.” “Agreed.” John said. However with that new knowledge new doors opened to him. “So, I can make my own build pretty easily.” “If you have the books.” Rave reminded him, “Which cost a lot of bucks by the way, you just evaporated around 5 grand.”

John’s eyes almost popped out of his skull. “Say what?” “Yeah, it was one of the cheaper ones I know.” Rave said. John tried to single out the sarcasm in her voice but there was none to be found. “How is there so much money in this? How does no one notice THAT?” “Money laundering.” Rave just stated. “It’s how a lot of people in the Abyss keep their head above water.”

That information was almost more shocking than the attack of a nightmare centipede in his school. What the hell? John did his best to remain calm, which once again turned out to be surprisingly easy. “Okay, so if I have the money I can get more books and get a better build…it might take a long time but once I get there things will be easy so I should choose a build now.” John decided.

“If is stick with Possession I need to build a dummy that can fight as me and protection skills to keep my actual body safe. That is the core. I guess something like a manashield would be the best for protection….” Rave just stayed silent while he mumbled to himself. “Stealth could also be useful but it takes too much mana to level right now….yeah it comes down to mana again. I guess I need to up Int and Wis.”

The decision was made. He had 40 points to distribute. He put the majority into Wisdom, raising it from 15 to 40, he also raised intellect from 25 to 35 and finally put the remaining 5 into Charisma so he would at the very least have some basic likeability outside of his Gamer Ability. Should help with his quest too.

The effects were stupendously good. Why? Because his Mana Regeneration rose from 0,5 to 4,5 thanks to this little thing.

His Mana had a similar explosion due to the same Pop-up showing itself, just for Intellect instead of Wisdom. He had just needed one more point in into to increase his mana efficiency. “What just happened?” Rave wondered. “I spent all of my Points!” John said and smiled at her. For some reason Rave blushed slightly, “Well, woop-de-do, pal. You just got a whole lot stronger, even I can feel your mana now.” “Great!” “Which means you just put a giant target on your back for every mana factory thug out there.” And there went his enthusiasm. “OH SHIT!” “Yeah, ya moron.” Rave said and twirled one of the longer strands of her hair, a gesture John hadn't seen here do before. “Better stick by me. Speaking of that can we go now?”