Slyly. [ScrapCrow]

Hello everyone, TheDespaxas here. Here comes a novelty, a new author that has been coached by another that himself was out of our new author filtering program. Scrap Crow , presented by Tzuf. Like always small variations to expect in this branch, those are features not bugs. Go on, read it. But first à word from his sponsor.

Hello everyone, Tzuf here! I never really thought I’d be doing this but I’m here to introduce to you a new author. My first and so far only egg, Scrap Crow! I think you all should enjoy his branch, as it’s filled with some great action, characters, and ideas, and is absolutely a branch that both of us can be proud of and that he’s put a lot of work into. I’m especially sure you all will especially like his unique hook involving soulbound items… So without further ado, I hope you all enjoy the chapter and the fantastic branch that follows!

The notion of stealing money, from his mother no less, left a sour taste in John’s mouth. He could hear the scolding he would receive if he got caught and had to explain why he needed the money. Words like ‘responsibility’ and ‘budgeting’ echoed in his head as he imagined his mother lecturing him.

Still, he knew he couldn’t last the day with his measly two and a half dollars. That wasn’t even enough for a drink and bag of chips from the vending machines that lined the cafeteria wall.

‘Wait a minute,’ John thought, a plan forming. His recollection of the prices of his school’s vending machines had made him recall the prices of the food the cafeteria sold. The standard school fare was a bit on the expensive side, an issue that most of the student body didn’t have to worry about. But John was in the small minority that didn’t have access to vast funds, having been accepted to Ashcroft Academy due to merit over his family’s bank account.

“Hey, Mom,” John said, approaching his mother, “do you think you could loan me a bit of cash? I’m going to be a bit short for lunch.”

Brenda sighed as only a mother could. “What happened with your allowance? I thought you were going to be responsible and budget your money.”

John adapted a sheepish expression, trying to mask his guilt. “I did my best, but lunch at school’s a bit on the expensive side…”

He trailed off as Brenda’s expression softened. He really didn’t like having to lie to her, but it was better than just taking her money.

“Maybe you should start bringing your own lunch to school,” Brenda said in a soft voice, as she moved towards her purse set upon the counter. “But your bus is almost here so we don’t have the time to whip something up.”

She extracted a ten dollar bill from her wallet and handed it to John. “Here you go, sweetie. Just try to budget a bit better, OK?”

She gave him a peck on the cheek and moved out of the kitchen to finish her own preparations for the day. John didn’t immediately store the money as he was distracted by a set of popups, one an achievement, the other a notification of a new skill.

He deposited the money into his inventory as he left the house and read the popups, starting with the achievement:

Achievement Unlocked: Pinocchio

Used a lie to convince someone to do something for you. Better make sure your nose hasn’t grown.

+1 to Charisma

‘I guess I can get bonuses by doing stuff,’ John thought as he walked to his bus stop. ‘Wonder what else I can do to boost my stats. Jerking off gave me plus 1 to Endurance and lying to Mom boosted my Charisma. Would working out give me a Strength boost?’

Pausing his musings, he looked to the other notification:

New Skill: Charm Lv. 1

Active

Cost:15 MP

Increase target’s Relationship Score by (Cha*SkLv) for (SkLv*1 min).

‘Relationship Score, huh,’ John thought as he reviewed his new skill, stopping as he reached his bus stop, ‘I wonder if that’s a hidden stat or if I can somehow see it. Maybe it's part of Observe?’

With no way to test that theory at the moment, John elected to pass the time by more thoroughly reviewing his character sheet. An errant tap of the blank space under his skill list brought up a popup of color options.

‘Well, that's a nice feature,’ John thought, ‘Don't even need to install a mod. The current color is nice, but I'm feeling a green might look better.’

John tapped the green colored square as his bus rumbled into view. He closed his windows as it stopped before him and the doors swung open. He climbed up the two short steps into the interior and trudged to his normal spot, a lonely seat two rows from the last set, idly noting that everyone had their name and other info floating above them.

Seated as comfortably as one could on a bus, John shifted his thoughts back to his powers, ‘I guess that boosting someone’s Relationship Score would make them like me more and believe what I tell them. At least, that makes sense since I got this by convincing Mom to give me money. And since I have a good number of targets, let's see if I can't get Observe to level up.’

John began to spam Observe, hoping that a level up would give him the extra info he wanted. Even if it didn’t give him relationship info, getting levels was never a bad thing. Thankfully, he only expended ten mana before he was rewarded with a notification:

Skill Level Up: Observe Lv. 3. Relationship Score now revealed. Scores range from -200(Hate) to 200(Love).

‘Yes,’ John cheered internally and began to use the upgraded skill on some of the people he hadn’t already. Three uses later, he stopped, his elation deflating as the highest Relationship Score of the three had been a -25.

‘I don’t even really know these people,’ John dejectedly thought, casting another Observe at a classmate he wouldn’t have known the name of if it hadn’t been floating above them. Their Relationship Score was -21.

John clenched his fist as he was to accept that most of his fellows thought so poorly of him. And it wasn’t much of a mystery as to the reason.

A seat ahead of him and on the other side of the bus sat the culprits behind at least the root cause of his social standing. Vanessa Hawthorne and Frank Dickinson, the Cheerleader Queen Bee and the Football All-Star. And for the last six or so years, his personal tormentors.

The bullying and rumors spread about him, ranging from the size of his cock to having outlandish kinks and deviant behavior, had left their impression. He had hoped that graduating High School and moving on to higher education, even if it still carried much of the same trappings, would have let him start anew.

Then he saw that his tormentors had followed him, bringing with them all the stigma they had helped grow.

John had long accepted that he didn’t have any way of getting back at them, but things had changed, hadn’t they?

‘But how do I get back at them,’ he pondered as the bus rolled along. The tormenting pair were conversing about something, in tones low enough that the rumble of the bus masked their words. Vanessa was also apparently texting someone, given the movements of her fingers on her phone.

John’s attention settled on the phone. It was the newest model and still had that fresh out-of-the-box gleam.

‘I get skills by doing stuff’, he thought, ‘so I should be able to make a spell or something if I try to make something happen, right?’

John focused on the phone, trying to feel his mana, to shape it into an effect to ruin her phone. He felt something shift in him, like a muscle moving in a way that was new, and yet somehow felt right.

A rush of energy surged out of him and Vanessa’s screen flickered, the image distorting.

“What the fuck,” she cursed as the phone let out a piercing noise for a second before it went silent and dark.

John watched, barely able to hold back a grin, as Vanessa almost violently tapped her phone and jammed the power button. A popup distracted him from watching Vanessa begin to complain to Frank and he turned his attention to it.

New Skill: Hex Lv. 1

Cost: 20mp

Disable target’s Attributes or Effects for ((Int/2)*lv) seconds. Time disabled is divided by the total number of affected Attributes/Effects.

John reviewed the info of his new skill as the bus rolled onto the Academy’s property.

‘A bit expensive,’ he internally griped. At his current level, he could only use it three times before it would completely deplete his mana pool, and that was only if he didn't use any other skills. The effect, however, even with the current time limit, was interesting.

‘I guess this means items will have magic effects,’ John reasoned, eyes flicking back to Vanessa’s phone, which she still was trying to restart. ‘I wonder if Observe can tell me what sort of effects items have.’

The bus lurched to a stop and its occupants rose to disembark. John eyed Vanessa’s phone, which was just now beginning to reboot. He cast Observe on it, hoping that he could see what, if any, Attributes the expensive device had.

Before the skill could connect, the person sitting behind John swung his bag as he stood, knocking into the Gamer. John nearly fell over, saved only from a close encounter with the floor by catching the seat in front of him. He righted himself as the few people seated behind him filed past. John ignored them, instead reading the result of his Observe. Only it wasn’t a read-out of his intended target.

Eclipse Talisman - Rare

A silver charm resembling the sun being blocked by the moon.

Observe level too low for further information.

Attributes: ???, ???, ???.

John blinked as he read and reread the popup. The good news was that Observe did reveal Attributes, or at least could if its level was high enough. Of course it wasn’t, so he was left with two questions: What did that item do, and who wore it?

John’s eyes swept over the crowd as he left the bus, but by now, any chance of catching a glimpse of what he assumed was a necklace or bracelet was impossible as everyone filed through the parking lot and into the school.

As he joined the tail end of the stream of students, he couldn’t help but wonder what those three Attributes were, what they did, and just what they said about the person who wore it.

‘Does that mean there are others with powers like mine at the Academy?’ John couldn’t help but ponder. That thought sparked an unusual feeling within the Gamer: excitement at starting a day at school.