Author's Note: Hello and here's another chapter of David being David. I'll try and release faster if I can, but you all have probably noticed that my chapters are longer than most, and I have to make sure to fix any plot holes I come across. This story is long, and I haven't even gotten to a tenth of its length yet. I have to be careful. Again tell me if you see any mistakes. Please and thankies.

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David heads to his 3rd period class, PE. He's grumbling in his mind while heading there. It is a required course, or else David wouldn't be going there. He goes into the locker room to change. Well, no he doesn't. He actually goes inside a bathroom stall to change. David is very shy when it comes to these things, though he would never admit it. 

David was supposed to have showered, but he doesn't think the PE teacher pays enough attention to him to care anyway. He changes into sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt that's too big for him, even though it is still very hot out. When he goes towards the area where everyone else is at, he gets very weird looks from everyone, and everyone whispers among themselves talking about him, calling him weird, gross, creepy, and other variations of those insults because of what clothes he has on. They also make fun of his depressing posture and permanent frown. David sits in a far off corner by himself and gets on his AR glasses while everyone else chats among each other. The students wait a little while, sitting down until everyone gets changed. 

Rory coincidentally shares this class with David, and he is surrounded by fans and guys trying to get into the “in” crowd. 

“Rory I bet this class is more annoying than anything for you right? You could probably do more in 1 minute than the exercises we do in to the entire class.” Some brown nosing guy says. 

“No, even I couldn't do that.” Rory states. This causes everyone around him to laugh as though he had just said the world's most funny joke. 

“Rory, what are you doing later today?” A girl asks while twirling her hair. 

“Hmm... I wonder... Well I guess I'll go to my gym to practice a little bit, then play New Reality.” 

“Oh Rory, you should add me as a friend on New Reality.” 

“Sure. What's your ID?” 

“Oh Rory! Add me too!” Another girl yells. 

“Hey! Hey! Over here! I exist too!” 

“Me too!” 

“Like totally add me for fun adventures and junk!” 

“Yo dude, might as well just add the whole class.” A guy next to him says while chuckling. 

Rory shrugs and says, “Sure. Why not?” 

Two other girls were talking to themselves. 

“I saw that episode yesterday! It was so good! I can't believe you missed it!” 

“Well I was in the middle of a quest in New Reality, and I was really into it!” 

David then sneezes and sniffles. The two girls notice him. 

“Why is he in long sleeved clothes when it's still hot out?” 

“I don't know. Who knows what a weirdo like that thinks?” 

“What's his name again?” 

“Um, is it Steve? He looks like a Steve.” 

“Is he even in our grade? I'm pretty sure this is the first time I'm seeing him.” 

“You know, I pride myself on knowing everyone in our grade, and now I'm not so sure of myself anymore.” 

The PE teacher then comes and says, “Okay everyone. Get up. Get up.” 

Some people start groaning and complaining. 

The teacher says, “Save the groaning for after the pain inducing exercises. Now everyone partner up with someone and warm up.” 

David knows how this is going to go, so he starts heading towards the wall out of everyone's way to prepare his exercises. 

The people are talking among themselves about David while they're warming up. 

“He has no friends, so he has to exercise in a corner.” 

“I feel sorry for him.” 

“Yeah, I did too, but every time I try to talk to him, he just rejects and ignores me. Just leave him alone. I'm sure that's what he wants.” 

After warm ups are done, the coach tells them that today, they are going to play soccer, so they go outside to a soccer field. 

“Okay, is there anyone here who lives in a cave and doesn't know how soccer works? No one? Good. Girls will go first, boys second. Split into 2 teams for each gender. Ted and Sam will be picking team members for boys, while Sally and Elizabeth will be picking team members for girls.”

The guys go and sit on the outside bench. They talk among themselves. 

“Man Elizabeth has got it goin' on in those booty shorts.” 

“I'm looking at Kelly.” 

“Leggings are the greatest invention mankind has ever made! It's like my eyes are at an all you can eat buffet!” 

“Person who invented leggings, thank you.” 

“Leggings are the light of the world!” 

“Look at Sally though.” 

“Man you've been obsessed with Sally the longest. Just go talk to her.” 

“All you need is self confidence. That's it.” Says Rory. 

For 5 seconds, Rory becomes enemy number one for all the guys there. The guys glare at Rory. 

Rory confused says, “...What? ...What!?” 

“Can you believe this guy?” 

“Yeah, gets half the girls in the class to himself, and declares that all you need is “self confidence”.” 

“Don't worry man, we still love you.” 

They keep talking about different things like who they would do, who they would do between two attractive people, who they would do between two terrible choices, not necessarily human, and who would win in a fight between Superman and Goku. When the match between the girls ended, it's now the boys' turn. Ted and Sam are arguing who gets to pick first. 

“We both know that we want Rory as first pick. How about we resolve this with a coin flip. I got one right here. I call heads.” Says Ted. 

Sam grabs the coin and looks at it. 

“Nice try. This is a two headed coin.” Deadpans Sam. 

“Okay, how about this? We'll play rock paper scissors. Whoever wins gets Rory, and whoever loses gets that guy.” 

Ted points at David. 

“No. Hell no. Whoever loses the rock paper scissors would be guaranteed to lose!” 

“Okay, maybe that was a little harsh. Whoever wins will get Rory as their first pick and that's it.” 

“Fine. Deal.” 

They play and Ted makes rock, while Sam makes scissors. 

Sam says, “You know, if you make the scissors big and powerful enough, they could theoretically cut through a rock.” 

“Yeah you try to reason your way out of that. Rory get over here.” 

Rory goes up to him and Ted holds out his hand. Rory gives him a high five. 

“Wooo!” yells Ted with both arms in the air. 

After picking the players, they get to the final 2 choices. It's between David, and a frail sickly kid named Rick with asthma, coughing problems, and a missing leg. 

“Yes! We get Rick!” yells Sam. 

“So I guess you're stuck with that guy!” Sam points at David. 

“At least I got Rory.” quips Ted. 

They start playing. 

“Pass the ball here!” 

“Yes! Another goal!” 

“Ah, Ted! Block that shot!” 

While the game is going on, no one passes the ball to David. They're playing the game like he's not even there, but that's actually what David wants. 

'No use getting attention. If you want to be a good loner, don't stand out.' thinks David.

Some of the girls in the stands are yelling out. 

“Go Rory!” 

“Oh did you see that pass? Rory doesn't even play soccer, yet he's this good!” 

“Wow Rory!” 

While Rory has the ball, he then does something unexpected. He kicks the ball to David. During the game, David was just leisurely jogging from side to side depending on where everyone on the field was. He wasn't actually doing anything, or trying to do anything. Now Rory passes David the ball. 

David feels obligated to pretend to try, or else his teammates will give him even more shit. When he halfheartedly runs towards the ball, someone from the other side steals it. 

“Come on! You were right there!” Yells a teammate. 

“You better not be trying to make Rory look bad!” One of the girls in the stands yells out. 

The match goes on. The hype towards Rory started going up, along with the insults towards David. 

“What the hell is that guy doing?” 

“He's so slow. Is he part turtle?” 

“God! Watching him is so frustrating!” 

The girls in the stands say. When the soccer match ended, Rory's team barely won, with Rory scoring most of the points, and David taking them away with his halfheartedness. 

“Rory, awesome as always.” 

“If it wasn't for him, maybe we would've done a lot better.” 

He looks at David while squinting his eyes. David doesn't care in the least though. Besides David, they all start heading towards the locker room to shower and get dressed. 

Rory says to them, “Hey I'll see you guys in a bit.” 

“Okay man.” 

Rory goes back to David who was heading towards the bathroom stall to change. 

“David, you're probably wondering why I passed the ball to you so many times, right?” 

“No, not really. If you could not do that again though, that'd be great.” 

“I think it's time for everyone to know of your skills. You've hid them long enough right? It's senior year.” 

“So? I still have no interest in doing anything of the sort.” 

David walks away and Rory sighs.

“David wait!” 

He stops. 

“I know you were severely bullied in the past, and I myself did nothing while it was going on much to my regret, but with your present skills, people would easily acknowledge you. Just impress people and your quality of life will improve tenfold.” 

“How would you feel if I told you you could impress a cockroach to make them acknowledge you?”

 “What?” 

“What would you do if I told you you could impress rats to gain favor with them?” 

Rory furrows his brows. 

“I know the ways people work. They do everything to make sure that they're better at something than the person next to them. If I were to impress a group of people, then that would mean I was better than them at something right? That would make me the winner. 

In that type of system where there are winners, there will always be losers. The losers are then looked down upon and are forced to submit either subtly or blatantly. Someone like you who was born with looks and talent were always the winner, so of course you would speak favorably on that type of system. Me? 

I find that whole concept to be disturbing and disgusting, but that's the way our societies work. No, not just society. It's human nature, and I want nothing to do with it. I only improve to protect myself from being absorbed into that type of disgusting system of cockroaches currying favor for other cockroaches. Winner? Loser? I choose neither.” 

David walks away. 

Rory thinks to himself, “Does he even think of humans as humans? I wonder. I really need to think of a way to change his mindset one of these days.”

After PE and 4th period, David goes eat lunch outside in the corner. He really likes that corner, as no one comes to bother him. He sees inside the cafeteria that people are surrounding someone. Upon a closer look, he sees that it's Cindy. 

She's like Rory, but in reverse. There are guys surrounding her wanting to hang out with her, and girls sucking up to her. David can't hear what's going on, but all he knows is that's it's none of his business. 

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David starts heading home after work. His mom is standing in the doorway tapping her foot against the ground like she's upset. 

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Jefferey, why did you break the lamp?” 

“The lamp? What are you talking about?” 

“Around 2 hours ago, I heard a crashing sound. I went to investigate and I noticed the lamp was broken.” 

“Okay, your brilliant investigative skills only consisted of finding a broken lamp. What does that have to do with me?” 

“Someone broke the lamp and I can't think of anyone other than you.” 

“I was at work. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person in this house. Have you tried asking Cindy?” 

“Cindy would never do something like that.” 

“Is Cindy immune to the laws of physics? Is there an invisible force field around objects that make it so that Cindy can never break lamps?” 

“Well let's ask Cindy if she broke the lamp to settle this.” 

They walk over to Cindy's room, and their mom knocks on her door. 

“Cindy, it's me.” 

Cindy opens the door. 

“Oh, hi mom.” 

She sees David glaring at her. 

“What's going on?” 

“Well I know this is a silly question, but you know the lamp in the living room by the doorway right? Very expensive? Anyway, I am asking if you broke the lamp, or do you know of anyone who did.”

Cindy starts looking around rapidly, avoiding her mother's gaze, and sweating. 

“Lamp? I don't know of any lamp. Never seen a lamp in my life. Probably David. Who knows? Well, I have stuff to do. Bye.” 

She talked rapidly and then closed the door. Cindy may be trying to reconcile with David, but she is still a spoiled brat. 

Their mother talks to David. 

“See? Cindy couldn't have done it, so that only leaves you.” 

“...How in the hell did you two give birth to two prodigies?” 

“Deebo, I will not tolerate lying. Now are you going to admit it or not?” 

“I'm not going to admit to something I didn't do.” 

“Maybe I should just cut you off from playing that game.” 

“Good luck going through all my locks.” David walks away.  

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David logs back on to New Reality. He is currently resting in a town. It's been four months in-game since Null had fought Medusa. He's been constantly hunting, and is now at level 166. His leveling rate is abnormally high because of his inflated stats. 

There is something strange happening in the town. It's weird though, as everyone seems to be on edge and are currently evacuating. 

What's even weirder is that when some found out that Null had intermediate in alchemy, they ran away from him saying, “It's him! Plague has come to wipe us out!” 

“Plague is right there and he will kill us all!” 

“At least let me not die a virgin! If you have to kill me, please spare my dick!” 

Null was confused. 

“If you're dead, you wouldn't have any use for your di- Why am I talking about that?” 

Null goes around and stops someone who is on his way out of town. He looks to be less hysterical than the people around him. 

“Hey. What's going on?” 

The guy looks at Null. 

“How could you not know?” 

“It's been a while since I've been to town. What's happening?” 

“There exists someone that is cruel who has only recently surfaced. His name is Plague. He goes from town to town spreading his disease. We have heard that 2 towns down from this path have already fallen, and he's about to head over to our neighbors. If he takes over and kills everyone in that town, then we are the ones that will be next, so everyone is trying to get out while they still can!” 

The man then goes away. Null thinks to himself, 'Someone who has the power to spread disease? Well someone like that is sure to be powerful. I will make sure to stay out of his way. Should I go in this direction? Well I have no other choice. There is only this one path.' 

Null heads out of town.

While Null was out in the wilderness, he decides to go look for some high level areas to hunt. He's sees a monster that looks interesting. There's a giant praying mantis, and it's at level 172. They're sort of close in level, but Null has a disadvantage. 

His poisons are losing their effectiveness on higher and higher level opponents. Well it is Null's fault somewhat. Most of the poisons that he gathered were from the same area, which were all relatively low level. He has found plants with more powerful effects throughout his trek, but they take too long to grow, and he can no longer make the huge quantities of poison he had before. Higher wisdom helps amplify his poison's effects, but there is only so much higher wisdom can do. 

The plants with more powerful effects are getting rarer and rarer, even in the higher leveled areas. Also, the rare plants he does find take longer and longer to grow. He always stays and plants some seeds of the plants he picks before he leaves. He takes his motto of leaving everything as you found it very seriously. He is not the strongest of his level anymore and can no longer curb stomp people on the same level. 

Null throws some bombs at the giant praying mantis, and it jumps, avoiding the explosions. It has fast reflexes, and sickles at the ends of its hands. With those sickles, it rushes towards Null and attempts to cut Null into 3 pieces. Null manipulates his body for dexterity, and jumped while flattening himself to squeeze in between the gap left by the 2 sickles attempting to trisect him. After that failed attempt, the praying mantis attempts a flurry of attacks with its sickle hands, but Null parries all the blows with his gauntlets. 

He can't rely on the needle launchers right now, so he's going to use his crossbow. Its exoskeleton is incredibly tough, so he needs to aim for the eye. Right now, using the crossbow for that is pretty much impossible, as the praying mantis is far too fast, and he needs to aim carefully. 

The praying mantis jumps towards Null in the air. That was what Null was waiting for. He manipulates his mana for strength, and throws out multiple heavy bolas at the praying mantis. A few bolas won't do anything towards it, but Null threw a good amount of bolas. It didn't stop the praying mantis, but it slowed it down enough for Null's preferences. He manipulated his mana for dexterity as far as he could go, and with the use of his jet boots amplifying his speed, got up close to the praying mantis and shot his crossbow in its eye. 

It hit, and the praying mantis hissed and groaned in pain. While it was distracted, Null hit the praying mantis' joints using his gauntlet blades. It tried to hit Null, but he was too fast, and couldn't hit him effectively blinded in one eye. When Null used his crossbow to hit the other eye, he was blinded completely, and was just thrashing around. There was nothing it could do now. After a while, Null killed him. 

Null thought, 'That monster was a lot of fun. I hope I come across more of those.'

One week later. Null has leveled up to 167. Right now, he is fighting an extremely annoying opponent. It keeps digging holes in the ground.  It's a mole man type monster. It's weak, but its reflexes are abnormally fast. Every time Null goes to slash it, it digs a hole in the ground. Every time Null tries to place a bomb in the hole he dug, he comes out the ground and makes a new hole in a split second. 

Null thinks, 'My endurance is getting depleted. It's trying to wear me out. There is one thing I can do. It will slow my reaction time temporarily, but I need to kill this thing.' 

Null takes out a potion. This potion dramatically increases reaction time for 15 minutes, at the cost of depleting it severely for 6 hours. When the mole man comes out the ground, Null finally manages to hit it. Null now had his strategy. He once again dropped a bomb inside the hole the mole was presently in. 

When it came out and dug a new hole, Null threw the bomb at the same time he dug the hole. He timed it precisely. It takes the mole man 0.3 seconds to have to come out and dig a hole. The bomb exploded and killed the mole. He got some arrows and some worn gloves for drops. He puts it in his bag when a message pops up.

Your bag is now full.

'Already? Well that's no biggie. I can see the next town. This won't be a problem. Oh man, I just realize that this is the town that is supposed to have been taken over by that Plague character. Can I find someone to sell my items to?' 

He arrives to town. He notices something is strange when he gets close, as he doesn't hear the hustle and bustle that towns typically make. There aren't even any guards at the entrance.

'Oh man. It's worse than I thought. Can I find someone to sell my items to?' 

Null goes inside the town. It's practically barren besides a few players running about. Another odd thing he notices is that all the players he sees are alchemists and clerics. 

'So are they trying to find a cure to the disease? Well whatever. That has nothing to do with me. I haven't thought about what to do about my full bag. I hope the blacksmith shop is open.' 

He tries going to the blacksmith shop to sell off some of his items. They're closed. 

'Damn.' 

He goes to a tailor place and it's the same thing. Every shop he tries, its closed. The town's activity is pretty much dead. 

'I can't do anything right now! I need to get rid of my stuff! Will someone buy my things? I don't care who!' 

Right now he's walking around contemplating his next move. While looking around, he sees someone that really catches his eye. The girl is beautiful. She looks like she is in cleric gear, and was surrounded by guys talking to her. 

“Hey, I need some help with the people in house 304. You think you can join me?” 

“We should work together to find the cure! Just you and me!... And no one else.” 

“Miss, will you do me the honor of healing the sick with me?” 

She speaks to them politely saying, “I'm sorry guys, but I have my hands full at the moment with other patients. Maybe next time.” 

She walks away from them. Null looks at her from afar.  

He thinks, 'My god, she is gorgeous. And look at the way that cleric suit hugs her and shows off her curves. Those streaks of blue on that suit do her wonders. I may be a misanthrope, but I'm still a straight male dammit. Wow. That beautiful hair, those eyes, that walk. 

It's her. Oh god. It's her! Oh no. No no no! Anyone but her! Why did it have to be her!? I would rather have to deal with Brett and his lackeys a thousand times over before I deal with her! I would rather be locked in a room with my family for a week than deal with her for a second! I would rather get fucked in the ass by everyone at Red Serpent Guild than deal with her! 

Well... Maybe that last example was a little too extreme, but seriously, why her!? Well, it looks like she didn't notice me yet. I'm also wearing a hood over my head, so maybe I can discreetly turn around and slide away all incognito like. This town is just full of misfortune. I'll just head to the next town.'

“Huh? David? Is that you?” Cecile said, surprised to see Null in town.

'Fuuuuuuuuck!' 

Null then performed a technique, one of the most powerful techniques in his arsenal. It's a technique passed from years of experience and gained from his ancestors. 

He ran away. Null calls the technique “Strategic Withdrawal”, but he's not fooling anyone.

'God damn side effects of that god damn reflex potion. I would have noticed her a lot sooner if it wasn't for that! Damn you mole man! Is this your revenge from the grave!? You knew this would happen! You were playing the long con!'

“Hey! Wait up! Why are you running away!?” 

She runs after him.

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Author's Note: And it begins. It's happening!