Nightmare and Preparing To Shop

John turned off the water, stepped out of the shower, and then grabbed a nearby towel to dry himself off with. Now thoroughly dried, he grabbed his clothes and began to cast Craft on them so that he could repair the tears that they had just gotten and clean the sweat they still had from his workout. It had cost him some mana, but nothing he would miss as he reequiped them through his inventory.

He opened the bathroom door and peeked through it. Blair was still deep asleep on her bed, even though it had been around an hour or so at least since she had fallen asleep. John figured that she probably wouldn’t wake for another hour based on what she had told him, how much **** she had drunk before sleeping, and just how tired she had seemed in general.

John quietly made his way past her bed and through her room; once again he tried to not disturb her if he could help it. Although, a large part of him doubted anything short of a rather acutely sharp and sudden noise would be able to actually wake her up. Nonetheless, he was soon out of her room and closed her bedroom door behind him with a soft click.

John had already finished his quest, and at this point really couldn’t think of anything of imminent importance he wanted to do. He opened his inventory and saw the item he had received as a drop from the boss and had almost forgotten he had got right before Blair had collapsed in the Barrier. He took it out of his inventory and placed it on the table in the living room. He sat on the couch, took out the pen and notebook he had to describe its name and properties for Wentworth, and then cast Observe on it.

Grass Jingasa (Uncommon)
This kasa hat is made from dark, interwoven blades and roots of grass. Has the same shape of the traditional war kasa that was often worn by samurai.
Durability: 94/100
Attributes: +1 Dark Resistance, +1 Fire Resistance, and +5 DMG Protection.
Creator: Gaia

He wrote down all of the information Observe gave him, and then placed the item alongside his notes back into his inventory. He leaned against the back of the couch, and felt fairly accomplished about all the things he had managed to get done today. He had become fit enough that he was physically almost incomparable to what he was before he had woken up with powers. He had lost his virginity, arguably the most important thing he had done today. And last but not least, he was basically rolling in money at this point. Sure, the vast majority of it was from Wentworth to somehow spend on the Abyss Auction, but he had also earned $1000 from the boss fight as well. All in all, so far today had been a relatively good day for John Newman.

He made himself comfortable on the couch, since Blair wouldn’t likely wake up for a while, and as he didn’t really have anything better to do, John decided that he might as well treat himself to a nap. He rested his head on one of the couch’s pillows, closed his eyes, and already felt himself begin to drift off. 

When John woke up, he was in a field of black and dead grass, soundless wind passing over it. He turned around. Behind him was a hill, at the top of which was a stone shack. Even from the bottom of the hill, John could hear the sound of laughter and the clinking of utensils from inside it. It seemed its residents had already begun to eat dinner and enjoyed themselves. The rest of the world seemed dead and empty, with all the life John could see and hear solely concentrated inside this shack.

He began to climb the hill, mostly out of curiosity to meet these people. However, as he continued to climb, it began to feel like each step he took became only more difficult. His legs felt like lead and it was hard to even just lift them off the ground. His lungs felt like iron had began to build up inside them, his breathing now restricted and he had to fight for each breath. He looked up to the shack, and believed that surely he would have gotten closer to it and would be near it by now.

However, when he looked up, it was still just as far away as it had originally been. In fact, when he looked around, it seemed that he was still at the very base of the hill he had started from. Then, before he could decide what he would do next, he heard the sound of a door opening and the light from inside the shack lit up the area around it, which included where John stood as well. He had to cover his eyes to protect them from the sudden and harsh light. And when he removed his arm, he saw only the ceiling of Blair’s home above him.

John looked around and saw that Blair had just left her room and had begun to walk towards him. Already having forgotten the dream, John stood up from the couch.

“Evening, hope you had a good nap?” he asked her.

“Meh, so so. ‘Bout what you’d expect from taking a nap at this time of day. Anyways, what was that you were saying earlier about wanting to learn more about the Abyss Auction? ‘Cause I can get you signed up for it right now if you want. At least, since you’re a noob to the Abyss as a whole, I assume you still haven’t made an account for the Auction yet.”

John nodded, and confirmed her sucipison. “Thought so, well then, just come with me into my room and I’ll go ahead and help you set an account up on my laptop. Just get ready, because trust me on this, your life is gonna become a heck of a lot easier when you have access to the Auction.”

And with that statement, they moved to her room and Blair took out her laptop out from under her bed, ready to get this underway.