Well, seeing as you asked so nicely...

Peeling an eye open, I glanced out the window. Finding that I had a few minutes to go yet on the ride, I returned my focus to my status sheet in search of more information. Whilst I had a general idea of what everything did, I felt it was probably best to check before a dumb assumption came back to bite me in the ass. Handily, focusing on each attribute brought up a tooltip, complete with brief explanation.

Strength: 6 (+0).

Strength is a measure of your physical prowess. It determines how much weight you can carry and move, as well as how hard you hit with melee weapons. Increasing strength will also increase your HP regen, currently at a rate of 0.025 HP/min per point of strength.

Agility: 8 (+0).

Agility is a measure of your physical finesse. It determines how fast you can move, how accurate you are with both melee and ranged attacks, and also affects balance and hand-eye coordination.

Endurance: 10 (+0).

Endurance is both a measure of your physical stamina and a measure of your physical resistance to damage. It determines how far you can push your body before failure (both mentally and physically), the speed at which you recover from physical and mental strain, the amount of sleep required for you to feel rested, and your innate physical resistance. Increasing endurance will also increase your maximum HP, currently at a rate of 2HP per point of endurance.

Intelligence: 12 (+0).

Intelligence is a measure of your mental processing power. It determines the speed at which you can solve complex problems, your ability to form and cast magic, as well as the ease at which you convert short-term to long-term memory. Increasing intelligence will also increase your maximum mana pool, currently at a rate of 2 mana per point of intelligence.

Wisdom: 10 (+0)

Wisdom is a measure of your ability to intuit information from the world and your ability to apply knowledge already learnt. It determines how perceptive you are, as well as a measure of mental control. Increasing wisdom will also increase your mana regen, currently at a rate of 0.05 mana/min per point of wisdom.

Charisma: 10 (+0)

Charisma is a measure of your likeability and affects how others perceive you. It determines how persuasive or intimidating you are to other beings, how well you can strike a bargain, and also has a minor effect on how attractive you are to other people.

Nodding as I took in the information, I next tried to do the same with my specialised Exp pools, only to be met with an error message telling me I would be told about the various types of specialised Exp when I needed them.

A soft nudge on my arm suggested it was a moot point, as it appeared I’d run out of time and would have to explore my status more later. Smiling at Sophie in thanks, I stood, grabbing the handrail as the bus slowed to a stop in front of the university. I was mildly surprised when I stepped onto the curb to find the same old main building of campus in front of me, as I’d been half expecting everything to change to something more closely resembling a Japanese high school.

Both Sophie and I kept our heads down and walked side by side towards the main doors, moving quickly to avoid gaining the attention of the small collection of students hanging around and handing out fliers neither of us wanted, the shouts of people advertising everything from nightclubs to popular student restaurants and cafes, and even a couple of the cities less seedy strip clubs, filling the air.

I shared a small, triumphant grin with Sophie as we successfully navigated the throng and made it inside the building, only to let out a sigh of defeat moments later as I was stopped by a university sanctioned spokesperson, who eagerly started expounding the virtues of safe sex at me as my traitor of a flatmate scurried away.

Sophie quietly watched from a safe distance, a smug grin on her face as she witnessed my numerous awkward attempts to break away from the conversation as politely as I could. Unfortunately, the super cute and incredibly enthusiastic pink haired anime girl I’d been caught by was having none of it, all of my escape attempts thwarted as she tried her very best to warn me of the dangers of bareback sex whilst hyping up the humble condom, arms waving around to emphasise one point or another.

By this point Sophie’s grin had morphed into a silent fit of giggles, deeply amused by the slowly dawning look of horror on my crimson face. The seemingly innocent looking girl’s persuasive arguments had got thoroughly lost in the weeds along the way, and I was **** to stand in the middle of the busy lobby in mortified silence as the pink-haired young woman described, in stunning and unnecessary detail, just how amazing receiving a ‘nice, hot, gooey creampie’ (her words, not mine) felt.

It was only by distracting her with the promise of support for her cause and offering to purchase the little safety pack she was hawking that I finally managed to get free of the girl. After assembling a ‘goodie bag’ for me personally, she sent me off £10 lighter with a distracted wave, her eyes distant and dreamy.

Stuffing the small bag of naughty goodies into my backpack, I power walked out of the lobby, a grinning Sophie skipping up beside me. “Soooo, get anything good?” she asked, an amused twinkle in her eyes. Determined not to be the only one dying of embarrassment, I fished back into my backpack, bringing the small bag back out.

“Let’s find out, shall we?” I asked back, opening the little bag so that both of us could see and revealing it to be chock full of condoms. Shaking the bag, a surprisingly large bottle of lube and a little sticker with ‘I heart safe sex’ printed on it were revealed to be buried amongst the small foil packets.

I got the reaction I’d been expecting as Sophie looked up at me with wide eyes. Her teasing smile suddenly turned shy as an all too familiar blush returned to her cheeks. She caught my satisfied grin and huffed, lightly slapping me on the arm. “Well, you did ask.” I said, chuckling.

She rolled her eyes at me, then raised a slender eyebrow as I reached into the bag and started rummaging around, intending to fish out the sticker and put it on as a joke.

Letting out a small noise of triumph, I pulled it out, holding up my prize to the light. “Wait, shit, no, that’s a condom.” I was treated to a bemused look as I dropped said condom back into the bag and tried again, this time successfully drawing out the sticker.

Both of us glanced down at the sticker in my hand, then at the mobile number clearly written on the back.

Sophie slowly looked back up at me, and I could practically hear the ‘jiiiiiiiiiiiii’ as I was treated to my first full-blown anime girl pout.

‘In for a penny…’ I thought, peeling the sticker, sticking it to my blazer, then screwing up and throwing away the back portion, number and all. “Not really my type.” I said with a shrug, before turning and walking off towards our next class with no further comments. Sophie once again fell in beside me, a noticeable pep to her step as we walked towards the lecture hall.