-E.A. Bucchianeri

The benefit of Gamer's Body was boundless, John realized the next morning. Forget the completely magical effects; just the pseudo-magical ones like not being exhausted were amazing, because it did the impossible. It made John into a morning person. With no sense of exhaustion, John was alert and awake from the moment his eyes opened, his brain working at full capacity with no start-up time or caffeine intake required.

"I won-"

John clasped a hand over his mouth before he inadvertently summoned the monstrosity that was Natty, finishing the thought in his mind.

"I wonder why I still need to eat and sleep. Do I need to brush my teeth?"

Whether the sanctity of his teeth was in question or not, John was sure that his breath wasn't covered under the eternal warranty of Gamer's Body, so he opted to play safe and brush away. Seras once again slept in, and John started to suspect that it was due to her nature as a creature of the night. Unfortunately he couldn't really rearrange his entire schedule, so for now, she was going to have to live with a bit of drowsiness.

They'd gotten back pretty early last night, and with little to do they'd gone to bed almost immediately, so it was still early - just past eight. His mother had specified an afternoon return, and assuming her hangover slowed her down even a little bit, he had more than enough time for breakfast followed by a quick trip to see the others. No shopping trip, but he could raid the fridge. He'd barely eaten anything from it over the past few days, so having been gone as long as she was (and apparently expecting John to keep Moira over all weekend…), his mother wouldn't notice the missing foods.

By the time John had inhaled a bowl of cereal and raided the back of the refrigerator for the nearly-expired foods that had been all but forgotten, Seras was up and about. John found her coming out of the bathroom; her head poked out of the doorway to make sure it was him coming up the stairs.

"Sorry, just freshenin' up a bit, what are we doing today?"

"The same thing we try to do every day, Seras, try to- you probably never watched that either, huh?" John noted, putting a hand to his chin. "First thing I do after we get a house built or we have another weekend off is I'm sending you on an electronics binge."

"I, um, okay. Seems like kind of a-"

"I will not be denied my references!"

Saying that John and Seras crossed the space between worlds in a moment, landing at their campsite again. The residents gathered there barely reacted this time, perhaps growing quite used to the sudden intrusions from seemingly nowhere. Lunaya perked up the most, her nose twitching wildly. John only smiled at her as he revealed the plate from his inventory, covered in every piece of meat John could scrounge up.

"Who's up for an early lunch?"

That got everyone's attention in a way nothing else had. John did his best to set the plate down before he could get attacked as all three of the animalistic girls leapt for the food. He was worried about fighting for a moment, but after plucking her choice of meat from the dish, Lunaya backed away and left the rest for Maera and Mithra to share.

"Anyway… four hours this time, food delivered. I'm gonna make a Dungeon in a few moments, anyone… want to… come along?"

Maera and Mithra had devoured the remaining food - almost two-thirds of a plate - and immediately started off toward the forest. Only Maera stopped, hearing John's drooping voice as he watched them start to leave. As she doubled back to the campsite, John wondered if she changed her mind. Instead of waiting patiently at his side as she normally did, though, Maera instead leaned in to whisper in John's ear.

"Cannot play today, Master! Sorry, it's Caturday!"

"Caturday? That sounds familiar… shouldn't that be Satur- aaaaand she's gone," John sighed, shaking his head as Maera bounded off toward the forest with her sister. "Swear I've heard that somewhere before, though. Was it in the sheets?"

John pulled up Maera's character sheet to see if he'd missed a reference in one of her abilities or descriptions. He hadn't actually looked at it since distributing the growth points, so it was due for a good once-over anyway, and…

"Oh. Yeah, that's uh - that's a thing. I'm- Natty, I swear to Gaia, I will find a way to delete you," John said, growling as the tiny avatar popped up in his eyesight.

"Try it, shitbird!"

Despite his words, Natty vanished into the air as quickly as he'd shown up.

"What's all tha' about? 'Character sheet'? Oh, that's cool, everythin' really is like a video game to you, innit? Can I see mine?"

"Uh, okay," John said, shrugging. "You know everything about your past now, so there's nothing left to really hide."

John pulled up the sheet and allowed Seras to glance over it. It was exactly as it had been last he'd looked, except that now the part about "probably shouldn't let her see this sheet" had vanished.

"Oh, that's neat. So these stats all go up when you get one of those level ups you mentioned?"

"Yeah, and you guys get growth points too. I spent the ones you earned so far, but next time I'll let you check 'em out, let you customize yourself a bit. Maybe you'll notice the difference more."

"Yeah, maybe. Let's start some trainin' and find out!"

"Someone's excited," John noted, smiling as he opened up his menu. He was gonna need more wood, and if he didn’t want to be chopping trees all day when he got back, he had an idea of what to do.

"Pretty sure I saw… yup, there they are." John set the dungeon for level two, mindful of yesterday's mistakes, and found at the bottom of his list what he was looking for. Treants. Living trees might not have been the best choice under other circumstances, but if he got any reasonable amount of wood from them, it would be worth it.

"Alright, we've got… three and a half hours according to my phone. Let's grind some dungeons!"

---

Mini-Boss defeated, Dungeon complete [Level 2]!
WARNING: Dungeon has already been completed three times this week, during current Reincarnation. Rewards multiplied by (.5^4)
+31 EXP [+(50/4) EXP from Perks]
+$62 (31 + 100% from Perks)
+1 Wood

"Alright, that's the last one… won't get any more from dungeon rewards, and they're barely dropping anything but this Damaged Wood. Not sure if that's even suitable for building anything from or if it'll just look like shit, but whatever."

"How was our time on that one?"

John checked his phone again. It was almost noon; they'd taken nearly three hours to do the four dungeons, but the rewards had been fruitful. John's inventory was restocked on wood, nearly as much as he'd gotten from that tree thanks to the end-of-dungeon rewards. Things had been a lot less dangerous than any of the higher level dungeons, and even though the time had increased a lot from the level one runs, that was probably mostly due to having only the two of them. It had been well worth the time - John got all the way up to his next level, and even had 373 EXP towards level 7!

John has reached Level 6!
+2 all stats

"Thirty-two minutes. A lot better, and I'm sure we'll get faster as we level up our speed. Probably wouldn't have taken as long if we could figure out how to make the dungeons smaller, if that's even possible…"

The Dungeon Barrier John had created stretched all the way to the forest, probably to give the Treants a more natural habitat. Thankfully that wasn't a massive distance to cover, but it added to their initial time, and John wanted to make sure they didn't start too close since Maera and Mithra were still in the Forest… somewhere. Fortunately, the Barrier popped them out with only the occasional distant mewl to alert them to the Nekos' location. After the second attempt he heard nothing at all, meaning hopefully they were alone, but he still didn't spend much time outside the Barriers.

"Well, always room for improvement, right?"

"The optimism is appreciated… but let's head back. It's almost time to go home."

John and Seras walked back to camp together happily, encouraged by the day's progress. John was hoping that level three dungeons would still be repeatable. Level two had increased the rewards immensely, and he still had been able to avoid using much mana for healing inside the Barriers. He'd had to lay off a little on the third one to conserve mana with Feast so that he could make a final dungeon, but that was okay, compared to almost getting shredded by harpies.

When John and Seras returned, the Nekos were still missing, but John couldn't be certain if they were still enjoying "Caturday" or if they were just out playing. It didn't really matter, because before they returned the last few minutes of John's cooldown had ticked off.

"Tell Maera and Mithra I said goodbye… I mean, you know, just… sort of gesture it at them… never mind," John finished hastily as every word he spewed caused Lunaya's eyebrows to knit closer and closer together. Eager to escape her wrath, John cast World Shift and brought them home.

Back in the relative safety of John's bedroom, it was simply a matter of a luncheon and waiting for his mother to get home before they saw more of what was waiting for them. It didn't take long - John was actually quite glad he'd gone to bed so early. Just as he was cleaning off the last bits of a frozen pizza he'd heated up, the front door opened. Seras quickly made for the closet, while John made for the stairs.

John was just preparing to greet his mother when he was brought to a stuttering halt at the sight of her attire. Rather than the casual but relatively elegant clothes she'd had before, his mother was wearing a pair of khaki shorts, a short-sleeve Hawaiian tee unbuttoned over a white tank-top, and a straw hat that looked worse for the wear of the twenty-odd hours she'd spent on the road. She was also dragging two suitcases despite leaving the house with nothing but whatever she'd had in her pockets.

"Oh, hi, John! Don't mind me, just unpacking a few souvenirs. Went a little crazy, I got good news while I was down there."

"About what? Get invited back for spring break?"

"Oh, John, you know your aunt has a standing invitation! No, I got promoted! Turns out Mr. Ellison was embezzling from the company, so he's going to prison, and I'm going to a thirtieth floor office as our new Head of Social Media!"

"So you're gonna get paid a little more money to get on Twitter?" John asked idly, staring as his mother began unpacking all manner of knick-knacks and miscellaneous crap over their kitchen table.

"No, John," his mother corrected, sounding serious despite the massive grin on her face, "I'm going to get paid a lot more money to get on Twitter!"

John's mother unpacked the last of her apparently stuffed suitcases out, filling almost the entire table with everything from seashells, t-shirts, and necklaces to miniature statues, souvenir pennies, and multiple sizes and shapes of glasses. Not to mention the pile of miniature liquor bottles.

"How many places did you guys go?"

"Now, listen, John, I know it's been hard lately with your father gone," Brenda said, ignoring John's questioning as she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him lovingly, "but I've been working really hard to get this promotion so that we can do things differently. I know being out of high school and still having to live at home can be rough, so I was thinking… maybe in a couple months, after I've saved some money from this raise, we could look into getting you an apartment. If that's what you want! It just seems like lately you've been getting a lot more social, and-"

"Seriously? An apartment? That'd be… I mean, I'm not really sure I'd know how to handle myself, but… that'd be amazing! Here in the city?"

"Sure, you've got plenty of time left at the Academy," Brenda said with a smile. "When your lease is up and you're done at the Academy, we can always look for an apartment wherever you end up at college! Ever since we lost your father, you've had to deal with me being home too much or not enough, and I want you to have a chance to be in control of your own life. Just promise to come visit your old mother every now and then, okay?"

"Mom, I'd never abandon you, I promise," John chuckled, hugging her back. He felt almost numbed to the extra shock after all that he'd had these last few days, and it was taking a lot of effort not to shout at how much he wanted out of the house. Just a week ago the thought might've frightened him a little, no matter how exciting it was, and he wasn't even sure if back then he'd have wanted it. But now, an apartment meant a chance for Seras to not have to constantly hide in his closet. Or sleep in his bed… but he could probably talk her into that part still.

"Well, I'm gonna stretch out for a bit and probably take a nap, then maybe we can go out to eat and celebrate this promotion?"

"Uh- yeah, sure, that sounds great," John replied after the briefest hesitation. He wouldn't be able to do any more training if he was waiting around for her, but he'd thankfully gotten plenty done this morning, so it wasn't like he was wasting the whole day.

Besides, after everything else this past week… it was nice to feel normal.

---

Sunday night was a blur of lights, drinks, and laughter. Together they'd eaten out at an Italian restaurant, the nicest they could get without an advance reservation. John had eaten pasta until he'd nearly thrown up, while his mother drank so much wine John ended up driving home. Quite frankly, if his mother didn't have any magical abilities hidden away, scientists needed to study her liver and figure out how to duplicate it for the advancement of all humanity. She insisted she was going to be fine to work tomorrow, though, and having seen her proceed to work after far harder spirits, John believed every word.

By the time they got home, it was almost ten, and John had to start getting ready for bed. Seras poked her head out of the closet and seemed almost energetic, although at the suggestion of sleep she nodded. John wasn't entirely sure if she was actually still getting sleepy at the same time as he was or if she just wanted to try to keep her schedule in line with his. Maybe she was just trying to **** her supernatural body to adapt to a mortal lifestyle.

It didn't seem to be working, because, despite how awake she was at bedtime, Seras was always sound asleep long after John woke up. With less time than usual, he opted to simply leave her in bed and shut the door, hoping that his mother had already departed. If not, she had no reason to go inside anyway. To be safe, he checked the driveway and was relieved to see that her car was long gone by the time he finished getting ready for school.

The bus route John took to the Academy was relatively lengthy, and once more John found himself engrossed in thought. This time, though, it was about the apartment he was now being offered.

"An apartment… wow, that would make things so much simpler. I could just put a good security system on it so nobody can just waltz in, then I can use World Shift and make Dungeon Barriers whenever I want! Plus, I can probably get a pretty cheap place once I get a bit stronger. If I were Moira, I could live anywhere; I don't think even an entire gang could do much to her at this point without magic."

John was so excited it wasn't until he was in first period and halfway through a lecture when the oddity of that last thought actually hit him.

"Cheap? Wait, why cheap? I mean, I guess if mom's paying for it I'd want to go easy on her wallet, but… why couldn't I afford my own place?"

While his professor droned on about the difference between exothermic and endothermic reactions and how they were going to demonstrate both in that week's lab experiments, John had a piece of scratch paper out and was doing napkin math as quickly as his INT score would let him work.

"With Seras at level 6 and rising, plus occasionally Maera and Mithra, I have enough people to basically run low-level dungeons on auto-pilot with no real risk or danger. If it came down to it and I didn't want to push myself any further, we could easily run four dungeons, levels one to three, every week without putting ourselves at risk, even a little bit. Even if we never leveled up ever again, never sold or made anything out of the loot, and totally ignored finding precious gems and metals in resource nodes, and only factor in the perks and achievements I already have, that'd be…"

John scratched the numbers down, trying to figure his individual dungeon runs into a figure he could more easily compare to real-world standards. After a long column of multiplication and addition added up, he came to the total of…

"Over two-hundred and fifty thousand?!"

"Mr. Newman, if you don't know the answer, please keep it to yourself. No one appreciates a ludicrous answer for the sake of 'humor'."

His professor gave him a sour look and returned to the lesson. Apparently they had moved on to discussing the number of calories released in a single reaction. John had been so shocked by his own math that he'd said it out loud… and, apparently, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Despite his scolding John continued to ignore the lesson, staring gravely at the numbers in front of him. He double- and triple-checked his math and found every time that it was more or less accurate. Even just running level one and two dungeons would give him almost a yearly income of $150,000, more than even his mother made with her new position!

"Why am I here?"

The thought struck John like lightning, a jolt running through his body as he considered the implications of the math he'd just done. He was sitting in a classroom, studying to pass an entrance exam and to prepare for another education that would cost him tens of thousands of dollars, so that he could potentially… what? John had none of the intentions, connections, or skill sets required to become a CEO, and even positions in the medical, legal, or engineering fields would only just barely make him any more money than he could generate in under four hours a day… and if he factored in the number of levels he could gain in a month? A year? A lifetime?

John blinked a few more times at the number, realizing not for the first time that he didn't even have an idea what he wanted to do with his life before the magic came. Before his entire world was overturned and the remaining pieces thrust into his open arms. And now a whole new set of paths opened for him, paths that not only appealed more but offered far more possibilities in physical, emotional, and financial advancement.

John slowly gathered his things, stuffing away his notebook, pencils, and the textbook for his course in his bag. No one around him seemed to pay him any mind, the teacher too busy giving his lecture, until John finally hitched his bag over his shoulder and headed for the door to the classroom.

"Mr. Newman? Mr. Newman, where are you going? Class is still going on; if you leave now I'll have to subtract from your-"

"I, uh, I'm… leaving," John mumbled, more to himself, not even looking up. He just slowed his stride for a moment, glancing one last time at everyone in the classroom. Everyone who knew nothing of magic, everyone who was preparing for an ordinary life out there.

"I… don't think I’m coming back."

---

"You what?!"

"Jesus, calm down! What's the big deal, why are you suddenly so interested in my educational career?"

"John, you've had your powers for a week, you can't just- you don't just uproot your whole life over a week-long experience!"

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, Moira, magic kind of changes things. Besides, why are you still in class?" John toyed with the sandwich in his hand, eyeing the toasted bread with desire as he struggled not to eat while speaking with his new best friend.

"A Warden has to learn as much as she can about everything, including those she must protect. We cannot simply abandon our intellect and empathy towards those who need our aid for the sake of combat training and diplomacy, much as some of us envy those that can. But consider what you're doing John - if you had any intentions of returning to a normal life, if you ever wanted to go back… you are throwing away one of the biggest pieces of that. Without an education living a mundane life would be-"

"Even more boring and hellish than I planned on it being? Yeah, I get that," John said, sighing. "This was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing, but… if I want to live a mundane life I'll just add Barriers into the equation. Not that big of a deal; I never planned on giving any of it up anyway, much less all of it."

"Well this doesn't excuse you from our meeting!"

"Yeah, I know. I'll see you after class in the parking lot."

"Where are you now? What's all that noise in the background?"

John glanced around at the ShellShock Arcade’s neon lighting and the sound of numerous cabinets in the background getting game cards swiped one after the other, mixed in with the repeated echoes of bullets and explosions.

"Just, uh… just doing some studying of my own. I'll be there by three, see ya then!"

John hung up the phone before Moira could judge any more of his life choices, shaking his head and laughing.

"Boy, until I get that apartment, I'm gonna have to think up a way to kill eight hours a day away from home. This place will probably get boring… in a few weeks."

---

John kept his word, despite his latest attempt at a world-breaking Blitzkrieg Blast-Off high score very nearly keeping him past the allotted time he had at the arcade. He caught another transit back near the Academy and had just set foot on the Academy grounds when Moira came zipping up to him on her bike, engine running hot as she skidded to a stop right next to the sidewalk.

"Get on, John. I'm looking forward to this."

"I don't think I like the sound of that," John said as he straddled the back of Moira's bike and seated himself just in time for her to rev the bike up and set it into motion once again.

"You should. Both of us have been looking for answers to your power. I think the person I've called in is the only one under contract with the Order who might even begin to understand what you're capable of."

"Who is it, exactly? You still haven't given me a name."

"It's Danielle," Moira said guardedly. "If you have any questions you want to ask, or any mysteries about your abilities you want solved, I suggest you think of them now and ask early in the examination. She has a tendency to… go overboard with her tangents when something piques her curiosity, or so it has seemed the past few times we have called on her talents."

"Sounds strange," John noted. After nearly a minute passed with no noise except the sounds of traffic around them, John grew a bit restless. "Where are we meeting her?"

"At the manor, I want to be certain of our security while she is discerning the nature of these abilities of yours."

"Okay. Just a heads up, Seras is at home, so…"

Moira gave a sigh of frustration. "Well, I assume she will be no more or less unique from the rest of your creations, save for her undead nature. That will be up to Danielle to discern, though. She may request to come home with you."

"Oh, you think so?" John asked hesitantly. He didn't want to run his mother out of the house again… or have her assuming he was turning into a gigolo of some kind. Not that she'd probably lecture him, but all the same, it would be uncomfortable.

"As I said, her tangents can be quite bothersome at times."

Just a few blocks and a couple turns later, they were at the manor. Moira's ability to rip through the streets of Springfield in a timely manner still amazed John and made him frankly glad that her back blocked the undoubtedly frightening view of the oncoming road and buildings. John shakily dismounted the motorcycle first, getting his legs under himself and steadying himself as he gazed at the manor. He saw the usual Brighton servants running around, but this time it was different. Mostly because John recognized some of them now - here a groundskeeper, there a chauffeur, and a custodian up high cleaning windows. All of those he recognized were knights he'd seen either guarding the interior of the mansion or on the mission against the Cabal.

"Do the knights all work the yard?"

"It's the only way we can have guards posted without being suspicious. Most of them carry weaponry on them the same way I do my shield and hammer. Remember, people may forget what magic they see, but the Brightons would certainly draw attention if we had armed or armored knights standing about the exterior of the mansion."

"Makes sense… couldn't you use illusion magic to disguise the heavy-duty stuff?"

"We could," Moira said quietly, a dangerous note entering her voice. "And that is all you shall learn of our security today, John."

"S-sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Ah, there's Danielle now."

John glanced up to see a young woman approaching them, looking more out of place than perhaps anyone else at the manor except John himself. While the Brighton servants and Moira herself at least wore relatively formal clothing that suited the British mansion décor around them, the woman approaching was wearing a simple but functional outfit: a black t-shirt with the logo of a MOBA that John had heard of but never actually played, a pleated skirt that was surprisingly form-fitting but just loose enough to sway and twist with each step, black stockings that trailed high enough that John lost them in the folds of her skirt, and a pair of black flats with just enough heel that John could see it as she strode across the Order's sidewalks. She even had on long, black gloves that stretched all the way up into her t-shirt, and though they appeared to be made of a comfortable fabric that stretched easily, they certainly seemed out of place in the still-warm weather that Springfield had several more weeks of before winter started in earnest.

The rest of her appearance both clashed and blended well with the all-black look. It clashed because her hair was pure blonde, with no streaks or obvious dye to tie it in and complete the geeky goth outfit she seemed to be trying to work together. Her skin was also a bit healthier than most goths he’d seen, flawless and relatively tan, if not as much as many of the Academy students who spent the summer partying in the sun.

What worked in her favor were two things, really. One, the look on her face also could've been pulled straight out of Hot Topic - she glanced between John and Moira with no visible signs of recognition, no smile or wave in greeting, and generally speaking no open acknowledgement of their existence. The second was the tone in her voice, which despite her speaking directly to them, seemed more as if she wasn’t aware of their presence at all, and were speaking to the air itself. John cast Observe on this odd arrival while trying to keep an eye on her as she addressed them.

"This must be the one you informed me of?"

Her voice was as emotionless as her expression, and somehow she hardly seemed to be speaking. Her mouth moved, but her head remained fixed in place, her cheeks frozen and only her eyes moving in time with her words as she once more glanced between them. John shuddered a bit at the oddity of the woman's behavior - she was actually quite attractive; her skin, while pale, was flawless, and though her outfit seemed designed to conceal as much of herself as possible, her t-shirt showed just enough of her figure to confirm that she was thin but had a very healthy handful of B-cups hiding under her overly loose tee.

Even her face was shaped beautifully, sharp lines and soft cheeks contrasting against brilliant eyes that were by far the most alert part of her and that John couldn't tell from this distance whether they were blue, green, or somewhere in between. But all of that was given a strange vibe by her constant state of disinterest, alertly but passively taking in everything around herself.

"Yes, this is John Newman. He's demonstrated several abilities, including some I was not yet able to inform you of, many of which should be impossible."

"From what you have told me, they are impossible," Danielle said, shaking her head. It was the tiniest of movements, only a half-inch to either side, but it was the first communication she'd made non-verbally, so that was a start.

"That remains to be determined. Let's go inside, together we can tell you what we've learned in the past several days, and then you can begin your examination."

"I rather wish you would have allowed this to take place at my abode. I was only able to bring the most mobile of my components to this manor," Danielle said, turning toward the front door and striding away. John waited until she hard turned completely around before he started tugging on the hem of Moira's shirt, trying to get her attention.

"John? What is it, what are you-"

"Be quiet," John whispered, "and accept the invite!"

"John, this can wait until-"

"That's not Danielle!"

Moira froze for an instant, a mixture of disbelief and sudden suspicion on her face. Without saying another word she reached out and must have accepted the invite into John's party, because her eyes started to widen as John's interface once again became visible to her.

Tricia Gorbachev
Level 9 Scythian Healer
<Gorbachev Opekuny>
150 / 150 HP
Relationship: 2
Alignment: 40 [Suppressed: 1]
Status Effects: Nanosuit Suppression [97%]