Time for John to study up.

John stepped back into reality, landing right in the middle of the street. Thankfully, it was past peak hour and there was hardly anyone around. Those that were didn’t even notice him. Gaia probably had something to do with that.

Just across the street was a diner. John wasn’t particularly hungry, not to mention the food he already had prepared in his inventory, but it was a place to sit and plan out what he’d do next.

He had just a bit under an hour until his mana was back at full. He didn’t intend on dungeoning until that happened. John ordered a coffee, sat down in the far corner of the diner and began browsing his stats. He had a total of eight points to spend. He was planning on becoming a mage, so Intellect and Wisdom were good choices, but looking at his appalling Charisma stat made him dearly want to raise it. In the end, John compromised by putting four in Intellect and four in Charisma to make it an even 10. That left him with the question of how he’d fill the time until his mana was full.

There was still so much about the Abyss John didn’t know, so research into that seemed like a good idea. But his previous attempt at using the internet had yielded nothing, and he couldn’t exactly march into school to ask Moira more questions. Thinking of other places that might have the information he needed, there was the library. It was a pretty old building, one of the oldest in town actually, so who knew what gems of information were hidden within. With that idea, John downed the last of his coffee and headed for the library after paying.

New Quest: A little light reading
Read an Abyss related book from the library. 0/1
Bonus Objective: Read 3 books in the library. 0/3
Reward: 1000 xp
Bonus Reward: +2 Intellect
Time to complete: 01:00.00

Of course John hit accept, 1000 xp was an incredible amount at his level, but he seriously wondered how he could read three books in an hour.

“You know... if you’re capable of giving live updated quests like this, I’m sure it wouldn’t be too much trouble to just explain what I don’t understand yourself,” John spoke out loud, sure that the developer was paying attention.

Achievement Unlocked: You’re right
But I won’t :P
+Nothing. Did you really think I’d give you a reward for stating something so obvious.

“Thanks for nothing, I guess,” John spoke dryly.

He arrived at the library shortly after. As soon as he stepped through the doors, the timer began to tick away. John’s first thought was to sift through old newspaper articles, but the quest was pretty clear he was looking for a book, so he gave that a pass. Instead, he browsed through the library catalogue on one of their computers. All of the matches that seemed of any relevance were in the non-fiction section.

The only other person in the section was a tall African-American man who stood to one side quietly stacking books. He must have been the library clerk.

John ignored the man and started scanning the shelves looking for the titles he’d seen in the catalogue. He’d never been good with looking for a particular book on a shelf. Yes, he knew they were sorted alphabetically, but all the titles just seemed to blur together to the point where he could never find anything. He was facing that problem now, but with a time pressured quest, he couldn’t afford to be wasting a second.

So John turned towards the library clerk. “Excuse me,” he coughed.

“Yes? How can I help you?” the clerk spoke with a heavy African accent.

“Do you have any books related to the Abyss?” John asked.

The clerk’s face pulled into a wry smile. “Try the fiction section.”

“But the library’s catalogue told me to come here?”

“Oh, my apologies,” the clerk put down the books he was holding and turned to face John. “Your mana is laughably weak, so I thought you were a normal human. Follow me.”

John raised his brow and cast Observe on the man.

A mixture of curiosity and suspicion welled up inside John. Despite the man’s title, John wasn’t even sure he could trust the information that hadn’t been hidden; how could a man over 6' weigh only 85 g?

The man named ‘Nancy’ paused at an innocuous wooden door at the far end of the library. He turned back to John as he opened the door. ‘Well? Are you coming?’ his eyes asked, filled bemusement.

There was absolutely nothing behind the door. Just a black void. Something on John’s face must have told Nancy he had no intention of stepping through that door.

“Ah, it’s good to have a healthy amount of skepticism,” Nancy said and gave him a grin that showed off his pristinely white teeth. “I promise I won’t eat you.”

John involuntarily shuddered. That hadn’t sounded like a joke.

“Besides,” Nancy continued, “you won’t acquire knowledge without a tad bit of risk involved, eh?”

Despite John’s better judgement, Nancy’s words had a soothing reasonableness to them. He began to edge closer to the door and the black void beyond it.

“That’s the way!” Nancy beamed. “Put your Faith in old Nancy! I promise it won’t hurt you.”

And John believed it. However unlikely it was, John felt like he could trust Nancy. He stepped through the doorway without another thought.

Entered I.D. - Nancy’s Private Collection

John found himself in a dimly lit room. Not a single bit of wallspace wasn’t covered by books, all neatly arranged, and aside from a few cobwebs, the room was immaculately clean. In the centre of the room was a reading table with a floating ball of light suspended above it. There was only one door in the room, opposite to where John had entered, and when he tested the door, he found it was locked.

“Please don’t try and break the door open,” Nancy spoke severely. “I’ve had it replaced one too many times already.”

John turned to face Nancy. In the dimly lit room, he could not even make out the man’s eyes.

Nancy spread his arms wide. “Welcome to my library.”

“Um, you said that the books I was looking for would be here?”

Nancy let out a laugh. A very inhuman laugh that was somewhat akin to a chittering sound. “My friend, you could find almost every book in the world here given enough time. The question is, what is it that you have to give me in turn for the access?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t really have much to give,” John explained. “I only got my powers yesterday.”

That seemed to pique Nancy’s interest. “Care to elaborate on that?”

John wasn’t sure how much about his abilities he should tell this man, but meeting Nancy’s eyes made him want to tell him everything. “I just woke up, and suddenly, I was seeing everything like it was a video game.”

“Unusual. Most are either born into the Abyss or stumble into it by means of someone who already is connected. Very few just wake up one day buried six feet into it,” Nancy was now giving John his full attention. “Very well. You seem to have the Old Lady’s attention, and that interests me. I will deal with you.”

John frowned. Was Nancy really a person he wanted to "deal" with?

Nancy must have noticed his doubt and laughed. “Don’t worry! It’s a good thing! I’m not gonna take your balls or anything. We will simply exchange information.”

Once again, Nancy’s tone had changed to set him at ease. John was beginning to get the sense that the man had a remarkably high Charisma stat.

“So, what is it exactly that you’re looking for?” Nancy inquired.

“Well, I need to read three books, and at least one of them has to relate to the Abyss.”

Nancy let out another chittering laugh. “Okaaay then. That’s gonna be a tall order there my friend.”

Achievement Unlocked: I know it’s a lot to ask...
You asked for something completely inconsequential from a being far greater than you. Couldn’t you have asked for something a little better?
+1 Wisdom

“I’ll tell you what,” Nancy smiled. “You tell me a little more about this ‘Gaming’ power of yours, and I’ll let you read three books from this room. But I will pick them for you.”

John thought over the deal, trying to avoid making eye contact with Nancy as he did. There was so much about his power that John didn’t understand himself, perhaps talking with Nancy could illuminate some details? Not to mention there was so much more to discover.

With that in mind, John accepted the deal, and the two sat down at the reading table while John explained what he knew. Keeping an eye on the time, John tried to keep his explanation as concise as possible. By the time he’d finished, he had less than 20 minutes remaining.

“I could make you tell me more, but I’d feel bad considering you only want three measly books,” Nancy sighed as he stood up and moved towards the nearest bookshelf. “Besides, I have a little experiment to run…”

Nancy’s fingers danced along the spines of his books until he found the one he was looking for and brought it over to John.

Breaking the Bonds of the Mundane: The Basics of Abyssal Magic.
Requires: 15 Intellect
Consume to learn? Yes/No
N.b Consuming destroys item.

“Huh,” John let out. He supposed he should have seen this coming. Very few RPGs actually made you read a book to learn its contents.

“The look on your face tells me I thought correctly,” Nancy smirked.

“Reading it will destroy the book though,” John told the man.

“Don’t worry about that. Nothing in this room is irreplaceable… or particularly valuable for that matter.”

With that reassurance, John pressed ‘Yes’ and immediately was notified of changes made.

Mana regeneration improved: now regenerates by the minute instead of hour. Current MP regeneration: 0.2 MP/m.

“Wow, that’s awesome!” John exclaimed.

Regenerating by the minute would greatly increase his ability to fight using his mana over extended periods of time.

There was a slight sparkle in Nancy's eyes. “What was the effect?” he asked.

“My MP regeneration efficiency increased from every hour to every minute.”

“That is indeed a remarkable improvement,” Nancy acknowledged. “I take it that also satisfies the condition for an Abyss related book?”

Quest: A little light reading
Read an Abyss related book from the library. 1/1
Bonus Objective: Read 3 books in the library. 1/3
Time to Remaining: 00:16.11

“It did,” John told him.

Nancy clapped his hands together. “Excellent.” He was already by the shelves again and soon had another two books in his hands.

The first was William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

“You know I happen to have an original, annotated manuscript somewhere around here?” Nancy chuckled. “Quite the storyteller that lad.”

Consuming Hamlet yielded no rewards, but John found he could recite the entirety of ‘To be or not to be’.

“So only books with practical application translate into Gamer perks,” concluded Nancy. “Interesting. Now for the last one…”

Advanced Applications of Magic
Requires: 75 Intellect
Error: Cannot Consume - Intellect not high enough

“I need an Intellect higher than 75 to read this,” John explained.

“I see,” Nancy hummed and picked a different book. “Let’s go for something other than magic then… ah, this one may be useful.”

Bestiary of Lesser Beasts
Requires: 12 Intellect
Consume to learn? Yes/No

The 12 Intellect requirement was nothing to worry about with John’s current stat of 31.

Acquired knowledge synced with Observe Skill. More information will now appear on Lesser Abyssal Beasts.

New Passive Skill: Beast Slayer Lvl 1
Damage against lesser beasts increased by 1%.

Quest Complete: A Little Light Reading
Rewards:
+1000 xp
+2 Intellect

Level Up! You are now Level 6.

A percentage bonus was something John would gladly accept, and levelling the skill would likely increase that bonus.

“You have yourself a strong power, John,” Nancy said after John had finished explaining the effects. “Finding books on other creature types will likely yield additional skills. I suggest you seek out that information. Of course, I could give it to you, but we’d have to strike another deal.”

“I… think I’ll pass for the day,” John said after a bit of consideration.

While Nancy was right in that he should seek out those skill books, he wasn’t sure he was ready for another deal with the enigmatic man. Who knows what Nancy would demand for the information.

“Well then. This has been an illuminating experience, John. If you ever feel like making another deal, seek out the spiders in any library. They’ll take you to me. For now, ta ta.”

The grin never disappeared from Nancy’s face as he straightened himself and made to leave the room.

“Wait, how will I get back to Springfield?” John asked

“Springfield? Is that where I was?” Nancy frowned. “I thought I was in the British Library. Oh well. Human libraries are so small it’s easy to mix them up. But to get back? Try casting that Escape I.D. spell of yours.”

With that, Nancy calmly opened the locked door and left John to his own devices. John only caught a glimpse of what must have been a much larger room before the door softly closed again. Despite Nancy leaving, he couldn’t shake the feeling he was still being watched. But there was nothing else in the room besides the books. It was safe to say that John didn’t linger in the room for long, casting escape I.D. to return to reality.