Oh no...

John’s good morning continued as he scrambled onto the bus. Scanning his eyes across the filled seats, there was no sign of Frank or Vanessa. That most likely meant they were getting driven to Ashcroft, a not uncommon occurrence and a relief every time it happened. Whatever the reason for their absence, it meant he could safely relax, dropping onto an empty bench towards the back and idly staring out of the window as the bus started moving once more.

His thoughts remained on his Class and the ongoing Quest; the need to obtain rare sounding materials did seem to indicate he’d need to go back into a Barrier. Malal had mentioned that there were naturally occurring ones, and as the bus turned a corner, John wondered if those would prove safer than the one he’d created by accident. With a bump, the back wheel of the bus clipped the curb, jolting John sideways and drawing a cry of protest from the others on board.

Settling back into his seat with a grimace, John gazed out at the building they were passing - a run down church, with a small and almost entirely elderly congregation heading inside. The presence of the church dragged his thoughts away from the Quest and to his Class in general, and specifically that he had a book to study. Hopefully, studying hard would let him gain some skills, wildly flailing with a stick at monsters not seeming particularly Cleric-like.

At least one of his lessons for the day would lend itself well to the need to read - a general study session for students to get advice from the staff or to work on their own projects. John usually spent it in the library anyway, so reading one more book wouldn’t be out of character for him. The other classes he’d have to mostly focus on, but he could probably sneak in some extra study time here and there. And then there would be lunch of course. John idly wondered if Matilda would be on duty again, thoughts of her curves filling his brain for a second before a horrible thought sent a chill down his spine.

“I’m a Cleric now… but aren’t clerics supposed to be celibate?” John bit his thumb, cursing under his breath. If he’d worked so hard for a Class only to end up with one that meant he couldn’t get laid… Had he made a terrible, awful mistake? Sure, he’d never had a chance to have sex - and with his low Charisma, it still remained unlikely - but to shut off the option entirely was a nightmare.

His thoughts spun; was there a way to unclass? Could he try again, maybe get something similar but without the ban on sex? Or what if he started worshiping a sex based god? From what Malal had said, it sounded like the other chaos gods kind of existed, and there was one in particular that was associated with pleasure and excess. But then, maybe the Class didn’t work like that? He felt sick as he over-analysed the situation, assuming the worst possible outcome at every step until a chime in his head brought him up short.

A moment later, John’s mouth dropped open as a second chime and pop-up filled his vision

Getting a Quest to lose his virginity was something of a shock; all thoughts of celibacy fled from John’s mind as he read the Quest details, his cheeks growing redder by the second. The optional objectives seemed easy enough, at least if he was to complete the Quest in general - but the Rewards? The whole partner specific thing sounded like he could complete the Quest with multiple people, which was just ridiculous. The idea that he could manage to get one person involved on a date that led to him losing his V-card was a stretch, let alone several.

As he struggled to get his embarrassment under control, the bus pulled up outside Ashcroft. Staggering off the steps and towards the building in a daze, John almost walked into one of his peers. She’d been standing in his path, just staring at the entrance of the building as if she too were lost in her own world.

“Sorry,” they both said at the same moment, the girl looking worriedly at John for a second before turning and hurrying away. Well, a girl looking at him with some form of negative attitude was hardly unusual, but the previous day’s habit had stuck and so John threw a quick Observe at her retreating form - and then nearly walked into the door as he read it.

There was that Guild tag again. John pulled the door open and hurried to class as he pondered the fact that he’d now seen three people all with that exact same Guild, two of whom also attended Ashcroft. The disposition reading was odd as well; he wondered what exactly the brunette had on her mind that was sufficient to make his Observe report on her in such a way. A moment later as he sank into his seat at the back of the classroom, John let his gaze drift over the others present, then frowned. The girl he’d just ran into was sitting in the row one back from the front, right up against the wall furthest from the door.

As the lecturer began to drone about chemistry, John’s thoughts drifted to his Quest and the lack of chemistry he had with people. Rebecca shared this session with him, and yet her familiarity was set to stranger, despite the fact that from what he could see, she was just as much of a loner as he was. Albeit, a loner with a Guild, but even so. It was all just so… frustrating. John was so lost in his thoughts that he failed to hear his name being called, looking up only at the second time of the lecturer asking him a question, to snorts from the rest of the class.

The material wasn’t particularly hard, but daydreaming in a lesson was not exactly good for his non-existent reputation, so after managing to scrape a barely acceptable answer, John put thoughts of his social life to one side and focused on chemical bonds rather than personal ones for the rest of the class. After all, the last thing he needed was being dragged into a disciplinary meeting and away from his plans for that afternoon of quiet reflection and self-study time reading his clerical instruction manual.

His second class was equally uneventful - the only major event being a discussion activity that saw John paired up with the tactician Wesley he’d Observed on the bus the previous day. To John’s delight, the pair had a mutual love of Globe of Fightcraft’s raid scene, and despite the discussion task officially being on business management styles, they spent most of the allocated half hour arguing back and forth on the merits of running a third tank on trash-heavy encounters.

By the end of the session, John had agreed to a game of chess with Wesley at some point - partially because the idea of a friend who wasn’t caught up in the Abyss felt like a good idea, and partially because John was genuinely interested to see how he would do against a level six tactician. On the way out, and on impulse, John used Observe once more on his new acquaintance, just to see what information the upgraded Skill would give him.

More or less what John had expected, although the positive opinion was nice from someone he’d barely spoken with before today. Thinking about it, the only other person he’d seen a positive opinion reading on was Matilda. As he dwelt on that, he stepped into the dining hall and stopped. Behind the counter, serving the line of Ashcroft attendees (and giving them far less of a smile than the one she usually reserved for John) stood the woman he’d just been thinking about. Out of the corner of his eye, John pulled up his Status - and importantly the Quest details. “Ask someone out…” He knew from Observe that she was attracted to him in some way, but - could he do that?