//------------------------------// // ~Exposition~ // Story: The Egotistical Gamer // by Pachi //------------------------------// “So, you're telling me that a few days ago, you woke up and had video game powers? God fucking damn it, why the hell would she Choose you…” I heard Luna say. She somehow had so much authority in her voice, if it wasn't for all the times I've heard her cuss me out for winning 1v1s, I probably would've pissed myself… Okay, maybe I'm being over dramatic, but you get the point “Chosen?” I questioned her “Oh yeah, you're a noob at this” Hearing those words come out of her mouth made an imaginary tick mark appear on my forehead “Yeah yeah I know, now out with it dumbass” “No need to be so angry,” she said with a small chuckle “Noobie” She almost started bursting into a fit of laughter looking at my reaction. Luna is what most people would call a troll. Saying or doing shit all to annoy or get a reaction out of someone, at least when she plays games “Well, I guess it's time for the info dump… so, you know Gaia theory right?” “Oh yeah, it's that one theory that says that the world is alive or something, right?” "Yep, more specifically, that the Earth exerts its will on nature and ecosystems in order to create balance. It's often used in fantasy games and stuff” “What about it? You're not proposing that…” “Yep, listen to me. There are supernatural powers in this world. Some people call it ‘Origin’, some ‘Providence’-” “-Stop spouting nonsense” “At least let me finish-” “Thatswhatshesaid” I said under my breath “-So, there's a lot of words for it, but generally, people call it ‘Gaia’ or ‘God’” my eyes turned into saucepans with how much they widened “Some people have supernatural powers, it could be that they could teleport, or that they have telekinesis, or that they can control fires, it could literally be anything, and we call these people ‘Innate Fighters’, because they are Born with these powers” “Yeah, but you just said Born, I've never even had any inkling of a power like this” “Can we go back to Gaia theory for a bit? We believe ‘Gaia’ granted these powers to Innate Fighters, so it's like they're chosen by ‘God’” “So it's not that it's a thing that happens at Birth, it's just most people have them at birth… wait, if God gave me this ability… why the fuck is it so weird!?” “Well… for most Late Bloomers, they gain powers related to a strong memory, or what you care about most. For example, a person who almost drowned when they were young would gain the ability to control water” “So…” “Yep, you’re so much of a Game addict that God gave you the power to turn reality into a Game” She says with a snicker “O-okay, so then what's with those zombies before?” “That was a Protected Space, a space made for fighting…” “Your losing me” “Listen, it's complicated, Gaia not only gives people powers, but also Limitations… say you overuse your power and seriously impact the real world, Gaia will come and shut you down” “But… how?” “Hmmm… let's say you win the lottery using your power, that's a one in a million chance that's good for you. Gaia, will then strike you down with lightning, a one in a million chance bad thing” I felt a shudder down my spine “Well that's terrifying…” “But it's fine as long as you don't directly impact people it's fine, say you have a product, and you use your power to make your product more appealing” “And… that's fine?” “It's fine because you're not having a great effect on the person. As a general rule, you will be fine as long as the person your affecting, or anybody not involved with magic doesn't know or find it weird” “It's too vague…” “You'll be fine as long as you're not dum- on second thought…” “Shut up…” “Anyway, let's go back a bit, Protected spaces are perfect places for Supernatural People to well… Fight in, because all Protected Spaces are separate from reality, and only people with supernatural powers are allowed in, so essentially, Gaia doesn't interfere when in a Protected Space” “Isn't that… complicated? Making an entire space separate from reality, I mean” “Well not really, because Gaia helps us make them” “Whaddya mean…” “Look all you need to know is that you can make and break Protected Spaces” “Wait, I can!? Ugh… there are too many things to learn…” “You'll get used to it, you kind have to if you want to survive in the Abyss, and yeah, anyone can make a Protected Space” “How though!?” “Watch and Learn” she says with a smug grin, as she raises her hand into the air and a light blue glow emits from her palm, and the world becomes silent and still “You can make a Protected Space as long as you channel your energy and focus on doing so, getting out is the opposite” I hear her say “Really… that seems… way too easy” “Like I said, Gaia helps you actually make them, you just have to tell her where and what type to make, anyway, just try getting out” I nod my head and raise my hand myself… “...how do I channel my energy…?” “God, you really don't know anything do you!” Walking up to me, she grabs my hand and raises it into the air, before touching my stomach “Wh-what are you doing Luna Senpa-” I feel her punch me in the stomach and I reel slightly in pain [Due to Special Action, Skill ‘Physical Endurance’ Has been Created] “Look, I'm gonna pour some Mana into your stomach, where mana is created and stored, use that Mana to kick-start the flow of your own” she says as I recover, from the hit I felt a strange energy enter my body, like a liquid, and it also made me aware of an energy already in my body, as the two energies mingled with each other… I tried to move the energy around my body, up towards my hand as I thought about leaving the Protected Space [Due to Special Action, Skill ‘Mana Power Attack’ Has been Created!] Oh hey a new ski- “FOCUS DUMBASS!” I don't refute her words, as I move the energy up to the palm of my hand and the air around us cracks and breaks [Due to Special Action, Skill ‘Instant Dungeon Escape’ Has been Created] “Oh hey, I did it!” I say in joy as Luna moves away from me “Wow~ how cool~” she says, completely monotone and deadpan “Kill yourself” “LowTierJin” “Real” “Anyway, try making a Protected Space this time” “Should be easy enough…” I raise my hand again and try to do the same thing as before, this time with my focus being on creating the Protected Space And silence… [Due to Special Action, Skill ‘Instant Dungeon Create’ Has been Created] LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO “Instant Dungeon Escape” I say to myself, causing the sky to cracked and for me to come back to reality “Pffft… Instant Dungeon…?” “That's what the Skill name is…” “That's… nevermind” She says with a grin, before going to get a cup of coffee Currently, I was sitting in the living room of her house. If I remember correctly, she lives with her sister Celestia, so it's correct to assume that she's probably at home as well, since they both work at the same school Well, might as well level up my two newest skills… “Instant Dungeon…” ugh, it's takes too long to say it out loud… Maybe I can… ‘I.D Create’ ‘I.D Escape’ ‘I.D Create’ ‘I.D Escape’ ‘I.D Create’ ‘I.D Escape’ ‘I.D Create’ ‘I.D Escape’ ‘I.D Create’ ‘I.D Escape’ ‘I.D Create’ ‘I.D Escape’ ‘I.D Create’ ‘I.D Escape’ I kept making and breaking I.D's until Luna got back, managing to get the skill to level 10 [Due to using ‘Zone Out’ without Skill, +10% Mastery] I didn't even realise I Zoned Out… huh Well, since Luna is here, I should probably ask the main question… “So… Why are you a Goddess?” “Are you flirting with me?” “No, I mean why are you literally a Goddess” “Tch, Well my good sir, it’s because of Nunya” “I am going to Fuck You-” “How Vulgar” “-re Mother… Why do I even bother” “Because you're a Masochistic Pig” I deadpan at her as she continues to grin, before our staring contest was interrupted by a doorbell “Oohh, my Uber Eats is here!” “Fatass” “I know I have a Fat ass, no need to comment on it though” “There is no winning with you, is there?” “Nope~” "That reminds me, where is your sister?" "Why, you interested? "Not really, just want to put a name to the face..." "Huh, well, she's off on a diplomatic meeting, she'll be back soon... probably" Walking out of Luna's (and Celestia's) house, I reminisced over what the fuck just happened I kept creating and escaping I.D's whilst I walked. It was a little hard to do this and think about other things as well but if I can do this, I may get a multitasking/multi-processing skill And as well as that, every second of me being awake was me grinding [Sleep Resistance] Levels, so I actually have an excuse for my sleep deprivation now It took a few hours of walking before I actually got my desired skill [Due to Special Action, Skill ‘Multitasking’ Has been Created!] Instantly I felt my Job become easier, as my mind seemed to split in two Wait, maybe I could… ’Zone Out’ I felt the other half of my mind almost completely disappear, yet the constantly cracking sky and strange 0.2 second silences said that my experiment went well [For your Unique Application, Skills ‘Zone Out' and ‘Multitasking’ Gain +50% Mastery] [Skill ‘Zone Out’ has levelled up!] [Skill ‘Multitasking’ has levelled up!] [Skill ‘Sleep Resistance’ has levelled up!] Okay, that was a smashing success I continued to do this until I got home, and in less than a few hours since I got it, I had levelled up [Multitasking] to Lv 8, [Zone Out] to Lv 17, and I.D Escape and I.D Create to Lv 20 It seemed that my Mastery for all my skills were starting to slow down in growth, which is a bit alarming I checked out the descriptions of my new skills, and saw nothing out of the ordinary… except when I got to I.D Create… [I.D Create: Lv 20 - 17.08% Mastery Allows you to create Instant Dungeons I.D's Available: Warped Time I.D (2:1) Zombie I.D] So I can control Time To a certain degree… Wait… can't I make a Hyperbolic Time Chamber from DBZ if I level up I.D Create Enough? Okay, this may be a bit more op than I initially thought, though I should probably not do it whilst walking, or else people will see a guy just flickering in and out of existence… And I was now sat in bed, scrolling through my phone Greed: Yo I got a message from an online friend Egoist: What up? Greed: Check out this video I found (Greed has sent a Video Link) I check out the video to see… a guy in a chicken mask? And a Taekwondo uniform? What the hell… The chicken guy started speaking in… Korean Bitch, I can speak Kore- [Due to Special Action, Skill ‘Korean Language’ Has been Created!] I stand corrected Instantly, I heard the Chicken headed guy speak in broken Japanese Not English? Well, I guess it makes sense to translate it into my native language in order to make it easier for me to understand From what I could tell, this guy, who introduced himself as Samdak (Fighting Rooster in Korean), was trying to teach me how to fight… When will this ever help me in real… Well… If I think about it… it didn't let me escape manually by running away when I met that boss monster… So who's to say that it'll let me escape using [I.D Escape]? Egoist: First, I can't speak Korean, Second, why the hell did you need me to watch this? Greed: cuz I found it funny Egoist: real I watched the entire video, before pausing and sighing It seems to be a load of bullshit… This guy only has 2 views as well, and it was posted… 2012!? I'm guessing those two views are both me and Greed… Basically, he was yapping about how to beat an amateur fighter, by moving your head around and doing some shit… things that wouldn't work in real life… probably Whatever, I'll just bookmark the page and move on Greed was one of those friends that you would go days without speaking to, and know barely anything about, but simply just have such good chemistry with, that the time you spend together is irrelevant Well, might as well continue to level up my [I.D Create] and [I.D Escape] Skills… Pondering what things I should do next I get dressed into my pajamas Falling back onto my bed… I felt my eyes get incredibly heavy, as my world faded to black *TRIIING TRIIING* Hearing my alarm, I rise up, reaching for it and smashing it off “Ugh…” did I go to sleep? It's Monday right? No wait… Tuesday… I get up outta bed and groggily get changed into my school clothes. My nails were still good from yesterday, might need to get a manicure though… Maybe a pedi while I'm at it Brushing my teeth, I take a shower and finally freshen up, shaving what little hair grew on my body to be fully smooth “Okay!” It's now… 6 AM… huh, I didn't sleep that long, but I still feel so refreshed… Whatever, probably just a new effect of [Sleep Resistance] Getting my bike out of my inventory, I go on my merry way to school [Due to Special Action, Skill ‘Biking’ Has been Created!] [Biking: Lv 1 - 12.29% Mastery A skill for biking -10% Biking Speed Increase] Cool I guess I could feel myself get faster, but not by that much of a margin And I had finally reached school, how nice Today I was listening to Micheal Jackson's Billie Jean A classic Mathematics and English Levelled up to 6, and nothing else Levelled up And now it was the final two periods with P.E “Today we are playing football” Coach Rommel said in a monotone and tired voice He had creme-ish coloured skin, like spoiled milk, orange hair and emerald green eyes. His signature whistle and the Crystal Prep Maroon tracksuit and baseball cap By all accounts, he was average looking “Jin Isagi, you will be captain for non-bibs, Indigo Zap for bibs” Why the hell did he choose me!? Was it because of… Ughhh Just because my Uncle is Isagi Yoichi, doesn't mean that I'm some kind of football prodigy… Okay time to pick my team… I'll just choose whoever We ended up getting our 10 team members Yippee And… they placed me as a forward… of course they did I don't even like football…