Talking about books

I looked through the perk tree and I did notice a few perks around my budget that I missed previously.

Conditional quests (2 perks) : Can add an additional quest to target. The quest will be sent everytime the target met the condition. Conditional quest can be replaced or removed as long as it isn’t pending.

Optional step (1 perk) : (Need Quest Designer II) Allows a step to be marked as optional. Useful if a step might be too hard, to avoid failing quest. Accomplishment gives bonus reward depending on quest difficulty.

I’ll have to consider them in the future, but right now there is a perk that would really help. The Quest Designer II that has been the second perk in this perk tree from the beginning, I buy it.

Quest Designer II (1 perk) : Allows the creation of simple two and three step quests.

I’ll explain, until now, whenever I wanted to make a quest like “Clean the kitchen and the living room” the app would tell me this is a multiple step quest. I got away with it by giving a bigger but harder quest like “Clean the house”. But this has it’s inconvenient, what if the steps aren’t related enough to be included in one step? What if the quest becomes too hard and impossible to do.

Actually, I’ve been pushing a lot of hard quest on people and until now none failed, but I think back to the quest I gave Maria last week, instead of being failed, she waited for the weekend to be over. What if instead of failing, quests got stuck indefinitely because they were too hard? That’s a fear that’s been at the back of my mind for a while.

If this app had tutorial to explain how it all worked I wouldn’t be agonizing over theories, who knows, maybe quests are failed after three days? But since I don’t know the rules, I’d like to be careful.

I still have three perk points now, so I might as well buy my first Additional Slot. I don’t have a target in mind right now, but I might use it soon, and buying it was in my mind all the time.

I look at my updated profile.

Quest Master : John
Surname : Moore
Gender: Male
Age : 25
Level 12 (0 / 30 xp)
Class : Multi-classer
Perks : Quest Designer II, Recommended Reward II, Class Designer, Public Unawareness, Target Perk Tree, Character Editor I, Target Unawareness, Additional Slot I
Perk Points : 2

My perk list is still getting bigger, I wonder what it will look like in a week from now. I also need to start thinking about who I want as my fourth target. Until now I’ve always improvised, but I’d like to have a plan in the future.

First, I pretty much know what I’ll do with Matt, I want to improve his life and he was happy to get more viewers so I’d like to help his streamer career. However I’d like to optimise my quests that’s why I’m not giving him any quests related to streaming until he’s level 10 and I can choose a second class for him.

Then we have Maria, I choose her class by mistake, but since, I’ve tried to tailor her quests to get bonus xp from it. I guess I’ll keep going in this direction, I still have no idea what I want from her. She’s been treating me better recently, but is that all I want or am I looking for more? As she gains some muscle I won’t pretend she isn’t becoming more attractive, and the app could be used to have my way with her if I took enough time. Do I want her to hug me more? To kiss me and make love to me?
My boner says yes, but the small part of my mind still thinking about the ethic of the situation says no. I guess I’ll put the decision back, it’s not like I have to decide right now.

What about Rita? She got pretty unlucky I decided to experiment on her, but in the end I felt bad and gave her pretty simple and innocent quests. What do I want to do with her? Honestly I don’t know, I’ve been trying to get her to open up, by posting selfies online, and now forcing her to cosplay. But maybe I should’ve helped her with her degree instead. It looks pretty hard and if I chose the perfect student class I’m pretty sure her diploma was guaranteed. It’s just that I thought with my dick instead, obviously I find the cosplayer class more interesting.
Rita isn’t the best looking girl I have ever seen, but she’s pretty cute and has been making efforts with her appearance if I can believe the picture she sent me.
I would love to see her in skimpy cosplays of sexy characters. Maybe I’ll give her a more useful class when she gets to level 10.

Finally there’s my new empty slot. I could add Brad, I really want to put him down, he’s hated on me for so long that I’m pretty sure **** would be satisfying. But it’s also the bad thing to do, at this point I would be just as bad as him, maybe even worst, I would be modifying him.
If I added Brad, I know I would change him until he’s unrecognizable, which scares me, it feels like I would lose a part of myself.

I could also chose his girlfriend Jessica. I guess the plan would be to slowly make her like me, but I’m not sure how effective this would be. Brad was very angry because he learned I had a discussion with her, so I think he would be full of rage, but I might also be full of hospital bills at the end.

Actually, if I wanted to, I could add both at the same time, that way I could change both and I wouldn’t get hurt in the process. But it’s also the most costly plan.

The only other person I could see myself adding right now is Cotton because she was condescending to me and I’m still frustrated by that. But she would certainly not be the best target, I would have chosen her impulsively, and she might not even come to the library again. I also don’t really have a plan for her, I’d just like to make her less of a brat.

Now that I’ve thought more about it, apart from making Matt a successful streamer, I don’t really have a plan. I guess that’s the issue when you receive so much power over others. When you’re able to do anything, it’s hard to chose something to focus on.

“Do you play mobile games?” I hear an anxious voice asks.

I jump in panic and turn my phone off.

“S-sometimes I do.” I say, turning back to check who I’m talking to.

Rita’s face becomes red as I look at her, and she tries to put some of her hair behind her ear as she looks away.

“C-cool what kind of games do you play? Would you show me?” She asks.

Her second question sounded more like she wanted me to undress than to show her my phone, but I guess I’m nervous.

“I-It’s just some g-gacha game…” I lie, I haven’t opened one of those in years.

“I-I see. If you don’t want to show me, I guess it’s one of the perverted ones…” She says before blushing again, stronger this time.

“Haha…” Well this is awkward.

“So… Rita, how are you doing?”

“I’m doing fine.” She looks at me like she’s expecting me to say something else, but she puff her cheeks when I don’t.

“Don’t you think I look different?”

“Y-You look good, I like your makeover…” I say hesitantly. I’m so bad at this, this is embarrassing.

“Glad I made the effort then.” She winks at me.

I pause in shock, and she starts to get red as well.

Wait isn’t that a new perk she received? She’s cheating! While I’m here not knowing what to say, the perk writes her lines for her!

There’s no way I’m not teasing her back!

“O-Oh, did you make dress up just for me?” I cringe, god I didn’t think I’d ever say something like this.

“What if I did?” She says, still taking this sensual tone, but this time she must have been at her limit, because she hides her face in her hands.

“Please forget I said anything! I swear that’s not what I wanted to say!” She tries to explain still hiding her face, and I can’t avoid letting out a small laugh.

I know she didn’t mean it, but I’m glad I could embarrass her the same way she embarrassed me.

However she doesn’t take my small laugh well and I hear her voice crack.

“Please don’t laugh at me, I’m not that kind of girl.”

“I-It’s okay Rita! You were just trying to prank me right?” She separates her finger just enough to see me through her hands and she nods, and starts to calm down when she sees I’m not actually laughing at her.

I try to console her, and a few moments later she’s actually calm enough to continue the conversation.

“I’m sorry for teasing you… By the way, I’m around the middle of Dream Dellusion, I really like it.”

Her face shines brightly as she hears the news.

“Really? What do you think? Did you like the father and son scene?”

I smile, happy that she got her enthusiasm back. And we start talking about the book. She almost spoils me multiple times, and tells me how impatient she is to be able to talk about the final scene with me, and I promise her I’ll text her as soon as I finish it.

A dozen minutes later, someone else joins the conversation.

“What are you two talking about so happily? Are you getting married?” Maria jokes as she gets closer, I guess she wouldn’t mind taking a break.

I thought they never actually talked to each other, but once Rita has denied wanted to marry me enough times to hurt my feelings, she tells her about the book.

“Right, it was pretty boring, but to each their own I guess.” Maria says, thinking about it.

“Y-you found it boring?” Rita looked like a child learning that santa isn’t real.

“Yep, the characters were miserable all the way, and the conflict with the AI at the end felt ****.” Maria explained nonchalantly.

“The AI was bad because human creation is always as biased as it’s creator!”

“Then the AI should be for spreading the pill.”

Rita seems very bothered.

“But the AI needed to be wrong, that’s why it’s against the pill”

“Actually, being against the pill is what makes her right. Obviously taking a **** to live in a fantasy and ignoring reality is bad.” Maria defends.

“Miss Maria! Y-you would be against the pill?” Rita asks surprised.

At first Maria looks like she’s going to answer by adding more frustration to Rita’s mood, but she stops and look at the smaller girl. Her expression softens, and as she looks at Rita, she starts smiling warmly.

“Rita, you don’t need a magical pill to look beautiful. You’re already a very cute girl.”

That’s enough to make Rita crumble, removing any remaining argument from her mind.

I had some trouble following the conversation since I haven’t finished the book yet. The main plot device of the story is this magic pill that when taken, makes you look like the perfect version of yourself, the only issue is that the change happens entirely inside your mind, meaning other people still see you as you were. Some characters are against it, talking about fleeing reality and taking the easy way out. While others are for the pills, thinking that as long as it doesn’t hurt others, you should have the right to make yourself happier about yourself.

I now notice that Rita really thinks of the pills as a net positive, certainly because she feels bad about her body, while Maria is against it as she values the truth more.

The two have now calmed down, and I feel like I’m in the way, so I try to leave but I hear Maria suggest something.

“You know Rita, if you want… we’re going to the gym tomorrow, I wouldn’t mind if you decided to join us.” Maria tells her.

But Rita shrinks back, she hesitates but she seems even less interested in a workout session than me.

“I-I would be a bother… I-I don’t know how to…” She starts, but Maria is ready for those excuses.

“You know, I just started this week, and it will be John’s first time. Trust me, we’re all new here.” She seems really interested in bringing more people with her.

“I-I’m not sure…” Rita hesitates.

Maria seems to understand she put too much pressure on the girl and pulls back.

“That’s fine, here, I’ll give you my number, just send me a text if you want to come by.”

Rita seems happy to get her phone number at the very least. I didn’t think two of my targets would interact with each other like that. I’m happy they aren’t fighting, but I’m not sure they would really get along.

Not long after, Rita explains she has some homework and leaves in a hurry. Maria goes back to the reception desk, and I end up cleaning the tables until the time to close the building.

As I arrive home, I admit I wasn’t expecting to see Matt cooking some vegetables, but I do remember giving him a quest.

“Hey John, I’m cooking for us tonight, hope you don’t mind?” He asks innocently.

“Great, what are you doing?”

“Oh, I’m preparing a stew, that’s a recipe I got from a neighbour.” He explains.

I’m slightly confused, I knew he had a small conversation for a quest, but I didn’t expect him to actually exchange recipes with them.

“Do you need some help?”

“Nope, I’ll call you when the meal is ready.”

I nod and go to my room, I’m pretty sure he came in while I was away, because I don’t remember cleaning up my desk yesterday. Whatever, he can come in since it’s his house.

I turn my computer on, and see that one of my friends is connected on discord. I decide to talk with him some more.

[You remember how I told you I couldn’t talk about my concept art because of my NDA? Well the game is announced now here is the link.] Is the first thing he says after I ask how he’s doing.

I check the link expecting a niche game I never heard about, but it’s actually the new UnderWatch game I heard rumors about.

[Wow, I played the first one years ago! Who did you design? Is the character in the trailer?] I ask interested.

[Yep, I drew the concept for the robot surfer and the 50s singer. I’ll admit they don’t look exactly like they did in my designs but they had to be reviewed a lot for 3d modelling.]

I’m impressed, I knew he was a pretty good artist, but I didn’t know he was professional enough to work for one of the biggest games ever.

[That’s great! I’d be happy to play a game with you when it releases.]

[Well about that… You live in —city right?]

I wonder why he brings that up.

[Yes I do, why?]

He takes a lot of time writing the next message, I’m pretty sure he thinks about it a lot, and rewrites it a few times.

[They hired me to make more skins if I moved, so I’ll live close to the city, and I was wondering if you wanted to meet in person someday.]

I’m actually very surprised by this message, we have been friends for years, but I always thought he was terribly shy as we never had a voice call, and he just wants to meet in person now? That’s a big step that I’m not sure he’s actually ready to take.

[Are you sure? I wouldn’t mind, but I think you might not be comfortable with that.]

Again, he seems to type his message multiple times.

[I think we could go for a coffee sometime. I’m moving next week so maybe the following weekend?]

I agree with him, and the discussion ends.

I grab my phone to check the app, I’m starting to notice that’s the first thing I do when I have free time now.

Rita completed an advanced quest. [+7 xp] [+7 bonus xp]

Rita bought the Pokerface I perk for 1 point.

Rita bought the Photogenic II perk for 2 points.

Name: Rita
Surname : Torres
Gender: Female
Age : 22
Level 6 (6 / 20 xp)
Class: Cosplayer
Perks : Makeup I, Photogenic II, Modelling I, Flirty I, Cosplay I, Pokerface I
Perk Points : 1

Photogenic II: You’ll always look your best on photos, the angle and lightning showing your best self. (Hidden: Strong compulsion to take photos of yourself and small compulsion to share photos of yourself)

Pokerface I: Hiding your emotions is easier. (Hidden: Emotions are gradually amplified while hiding them.)

I see Rita spent more of her perk points, she upgraded photogenic, surely before taking a photo in her cosplay. She also bought pokerface which might be because of the discussion we had today, she’s often embarrassed so I guess she took the perk to hide that.

I’m still waiting for Matt to finish cooking, while waiting I go on his profile and press the advanced info, there is a new Mental tab to his info and as I press it, it is filled with info I didn’t have access to before.

I vaguely remember unlocking this tab a while ago, I start scrolling through it, but it’s honestly way too big, I think it would actually take time to extract useful info as it’s buried under useless trivia, sure I didn’t know he learned to swim at 14, but does the app really need to say that to me.

I think it would take at least a few hours if I wanted to read everything, and the formatting feels random, but I notice a small search icon in the right corner. I blink a few times in surprises. I swap back to the physical tab, and the icon is here too. Did I just miss that? It’s pretty discreet so I guess I did.

I go back to the mental tab ready to search for a keyword. I’ll try something like his first crush.

Okay, this shocked me way more than it should have, but I didn’t suspect I knew this little about Matt, his first crush, which I was expecting to be a girl I never heard about, was in fact the name of a boy I never heard about.

So Matt is actually gay, or maybe bi. I don’t know what to think, I mean, I’m not against it or anything, but I feel bad about the few times I talked about hot actresses with him. He looked awkward but I thought he was being shy, now, I’m starting to think he just was bothered because he doesn’t like girls.

It recontextualize a few of our interactions, and I feel like maybe I shouldn’t know about this. He never told me, and now I learned about it against his will. I feel a little bad, but that’s not like I tried to find out about his sexuality, even though I did try to find his first crush so I guess it’s the same thing.

I know that’s a little scary to think about but, with the character editor, wouldn’t I be able to change all of that? I could just modify his first crush, or maybe even what he thought about me.

I start typing but I stop. I’m going to far, I shouldn’t use the app like that, it’s… uncomfortable to change people’s brain like that.

“Meal’s ready!” Matt call and I decide to turn my phone off and go meet him. My mind still lingering on the power the app gave me.

Author's Note: I just want to warn that John won't **** the mental tab, and that it's almost impossible to change anything there without the Character Editor III perk that he can't buy anyway.
Also might be the chapter that took the longest to write again. I feel like it's not perfect but I hope you still like it.