Plan

As John continued to contemplate within the bathroom stall, the first whispers of an idea came into his mind. It was a plan of pure genius, but would have to be executed with near perfect precision in order to be a success. He looked into his inventory and equipped the Ring of Minor Mana he had received earlier.

60/85 MP

Alright, now that my max mana is increased, let’s see if this’ll even work, John thought as he opened the bathroom stall and walked out. He looked around to see if any of Frank’s cronies were around to see him, and once John confirmed that they were not, he power walked to where he knew there was a ladder to Ashcroft’s roof.

A few minutes later

John looked around one last time to see if anyone was watching him. He nodded to himself and began to climb up the ladder and opened the latch at the top to reach the roof. As he stood on it, John looked into the distance to see the beginnings of dark storm clouds form. He walked over to the edge and peered down to see that Frank stood below him at the school’s main entrance. He walked over to every side of the roof to repeat this action, and found that Frank’s cronies did indeed have every normal exit to the school covered. He could already imagine how smug Frank must feel, sure that John had **** but to just get pummeled. However, John had a different idea in mind.

“Alright, time to put Gamer’s Body to the test,” John muttered to himself. He walked to the western entrance of the school. It had been boarded up recently due to some drunk students that had thought shooting fireworks at it was a good idea (they were promptly expelled). However, this was a good thing for John because this meant that the door was inaccessible from inside the school and therefore Frank had nobody stationed there.

John peered over the edge, it seemed about a 15 meter drop to the ground. He waited for a few minutes until a few students that hung out near it went away. Once they were gone, John threw his school bag over the edge and prepared himself for the pain that was soon to come.

Here goes nothing! John thought as he ran off the edge of the roof. The next second was easily the longest in John’s entire life, as he banked on powers to keep him alive.

New status effect acquired:
Hysterical Strength:
Adrenaline pumps through the Gamer’s body, pushing his body into its maximum physical potential.’
Strength and Agility have been increased by 50%.
30 seconds until the effect wears off.

With the added boost to Agility, John managed to react in time to attempt to roll as he hit the ground. Even with the roll, it clearly wasn’t enough as John felt his ribs and several other bones throughout his body crack from the impact.

-40 HP

John had to clench his teeth to prevent a scream of pain escape from his lips so as to not draw attention to himself. He laid there for a while as he felt Gamer’s Body repair his body. Once it felt like all noticeable damage had been fixed, he slowly got up and grabbed his bag. Once he did so, he ran away from the school before anyone could see him.

Once John was far enough away from the school that he felt no one would see him, he pulled out the paper with the address Wentworth had given him earlier.

Let’s see, this isn’t too far away from the school; I could probably get there in an hour if I walked. Actually, if I got a point of Endurance from masturbating this morning, I should get more if I jogged there, maybe even get a point in Agility as well, John thought to himself as he began to jog to the address.

Over an hour later

It was after this jog that John realized just how physically out of shape he was. With the amount of breaks he had to take on the way, it had taken him longer to jog here than it would’ve to walk. As he stood there out of breath and covered in sweat, he looked at the popups he received with a proud, but exhausted smile.

As he dismissed the popups, John read the name of the book store in front of him. The sign on the entrance said it was called the “Palace of History”; John looked at the address and confirmed that it did indeed match the one Wentworth had given him. With that, he pushed the front door open and walked into the store.

It had a humble look to it, the air permeated by the classic old book smell. The only ones inside besides John were a kind old lady at the front counter and a seemingly half Asian woman that sat in front of a shelf, a dusty old tome in her hands. John walked up to the old lady who herself held a book that she looked up from once she took notice of John.

“Hello there, sweetie, is there anything I could help you with?” the old lady asked John.

“Umm, yes actually, I want to find some books about demons. Like their history and appearance for example,” John said. The oldy lady pursed her lips as she began to think.

“Tell me, hun, what kind of demons are you looking for? Abrahamic, fictional, or perhaps even… Abyssal?” she asked John. The moment she said the last option, a chill went down John’s spine. It was if the word itself contained power. John swallowed as he **** down his body’s instinct to use his ultimate plan.

“Yes, Abyssal, that’s the kind I’m looking for,” John said. She got up from her seat after he answered.

“Well then, I’ll ask that you follow me to our private collection then,” she said.

You have been invited to enter an Illusion Barrier
Owner: Margaret Helen
Would you like to accept?
Yes/No

As soon as John hit yes, the world seemed to shift slightly, a signal that he had indeed entered an Illusion Barrier. The old lady whom John assumed to be Margaret snapped her fingers. Once she did, three old books floated off their shelves and hovered towards John.

“These are some of the general guides on demons. If you want to learn more about the specifics, there are more books next to that young lady over there," she said as she pointed at the other woman who seemed to have entered the barrier with them. The lady in question seemed to be too focused on her book to even notice them or the fact that she had been pulled into a barrier.

John sheepishly moved over to her and sat down next to her as he cast Observe on the book she was reading.

50 Ways To Cure the Side Effects of Demonic Possession!
By: Metylda Typheinne

John was about to make a comment when he saw her face for the first time. She was perfect, not the kind that would put her in supermodel status, but the kind that checked all of John’s boxes. Midnight black hair that matched her black jacket, pale skin, seemed to be half Asian, and had rosy red lips. Whatever John was about to say got stuck in his throat as he took her in. Every brain cell in his mind now sounded the cute girl alarm.

“That’s, ummm, uhhh, a book,” John said as he failed to produce a coherent sentence. As soon as the last word left his mouth, he mentally slapped himself. She slowly looked up from the book in her hands and blinked at John.

“Yes, I suppose it is," she said bluntly. John screamed at himself as he tried to compose himself and reboot talking_like_a_normal_person.exe.

“I mean, what I meant to say is that I think your book seems intriguing; I’ve recently gotten interested in learning more about demons myself,” John said, successfully able to coherently communicate his thoughts this time.

She looked at the three books John currently carried. She closed her own book as a new light entered her eyes.

“Really?! That’s great to hear. I think not enough people take the time to actually study demons. Most just like to kill them on sight, or just study enough about them to learn how to more effectively kill them. Seriously, the amount of scholars for this stuff is lower than you’d think nowadays, especially here in Springfield,” she said to John, her every word clearly filled with passion. John swallowed as he awkwardly nodded in agreement with her. She grabbed his hands and picked him up. John was surprised by just how easily she was able to lift him up.

“Say, I know we literally just met, but would you like to come over to my place? I have all kinds of research there that’s just collecting dust,” she asked John.

“Yes,” was the simple answer he gave.