“No way Jose,” Jack said.
“Hello oh great system. This is what you would define as, FUCK NO! You tryna get us killed?” Brian said.
“We already have the fucking burritos after us. Now you want another super big gang try to kill us? Fuck you!” Jack said.
“What should we do? We need skill points. We need other challenges than this shit. How come challenges are the only way you can get skill points?” Brian said.
“Maybe it’s not?” Jack said.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we didn’t know something as simple as doing 100 pushups would give us a body related skill. I say we don’t know what’s what. Maybe we should go to Eugene and get more info?” Jack said.
“That’s risky as fuck. I don’t trust that guy. He’s got a snake face.”
“You have a better idea? You wanna grind butterflies rest of your life and hope one of them has a healing crystal?” Jack said.
“Okay, fuck it. Let’s do it. But I stay behind and you go in. In case they try some shit. I’ll hide nearby with my gun. You also have your piece on you,” Brian said.
“Okay.”
They slowly made their way back to the football camp they’d spotted when first entering the butterfly zone.
Brian stayed behind nearby with all three bags. Jack only went in with his combat knife and gun. His gun was hidden behind his shirt.
He walked up to the entrance to the group of tents where a few guys dressed in football gear were standing.
“Hello, I’m looking for Eugene,” Jack said.
“Oh, okay. Which group are you from?” One of them said.
“Eh, one of the smaller groups,” Jack said.
“Which one?” The guy said.
“We don’t really have a name. Look, Eugene asked me to exchange information with him. Can you just call him?”
“Hey, I think this is one of the guy’s from that murder group?” one of them said.
Suddenly the atmosphere changed. They were not directly threatening him, but Jack could feel hostility from them.
Calm down. Don’t reach for your weapons. Learn some kind of diplomacy you jackass.
“Okay, you can come inside. We’ll call Eugene for you,” one of them said.
“No. I’ll stay here. Call him here. I don’t have all day,” Jack said.
No fucking way I’m going in there and get surrounded by everyone.
“Okay. You do you. I’ll go get him.”
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Jack had to wait for five minutes before he showed up. While he was waiting, he looked around the camp. All of the things were made of things made from smaller parts. He realized it was because you could only bring very little with you while inside the VR chair. He noticed how everyone had standardized gear. Football uniforms and wooden spears. The spears looked too long to fit inside the VR chair. So it meant that they had broken them off of trees in the game.
Why didn’t I think of doing that? A spear is way safer than a machete or knife.
Finally, Eugene came. Jack was expecting the usual friendliness and fake cheerfulness he had on his face when they were alone.
“What do you want?” Eugene said, with a neutral tone.
“I was looking to exchange info. I wanna know how to earn more skill points,” Jack said.
“No. You’re not welcome. Leave.”
What?
“What?” Jack said.
“Do you have trouble hearing?” Eugene said.
“Fuck you. Suck my dick,” Jack said.
Everyone around him tensed up. Eugene stayed relaxed. He looked back at the men around him, and gestured to stand down.
“Okay,” Jack said.
He walked backwards for a few steps. Then he walked away, keeping his eyes on Eugene and the football players at all times while they were in range.
He ran over to Brian and explained what had happened.
“Maybe it’s because of the group? You are a danger, and he has to look good for the rest of his team. Maybe if you got him while he was alone, he would have been his usual snakeself,” Brian said.
“Maybe, but let’s get the fuck out of here. Now they’ll probably rat us out to the burritos. Fuck.”
They kept moving, ignoring monsters, until they were at the border of the next inland zone.
They had nothing to talk about, so they just kept grinding for many hours until it was starting to get dark. The silk was slowly filling up inside their backpacks.
“Finally. This one’s got a crystal. Your turn, Jack,” Brian said.
When Jack was just about to crush the marble sized crystal, Brian said, “Wait! Stop! I wanna get closer to you and see how it looks with my mana sense when the yellow energy goes inside your arm.”
Jack nodded.
He crushed the skill crystal, and the yellow energy absorbed into his hand.
Speed Counting: Rank 1
“Roses are red. Violets are blue. Super system, fuck you,” Jack said.
He explained to Brian what he got.
“When I tried doing the mana sense, I couldn’t see anything. My mana sense couldn’t pick up on that yellow energy. Maybe it’s not mana? Or a different kind of mana,” Brian said.
“That’s interesting. I wish we were smart enough for that to be useful,” Jack said.
He sighed.
They decided to stop grinding when it was nighttime and agreed to take shifts sleeping.
Jack slept 4 hours and had dreams about big wolves. Brian woke him up.
“Your turn,” Brian said.
“Hey. I know how we are gonna get a free skill point,” Jack said.
“And how’s that, Einstein?”
“We are going back to the big wolf zone.”
//////
Jack:
Knife Fighting: Rank 1
Knife Fighting: Rank 2
Python (programming language): Rank 1
Mana generation: Rank 1
Sand to Glass Conversion Mana Blueprint: Rank 1
Healing Mana Blueprint: Rank 1
Origami: Rank 1
Enhanced Bodily Recovery: Rank 1
Speed Counting: Rank 1
Brian:
Shield Defending: Rank 1
Marksmanship (pistol): Rank 1
Right Arm Increased Strength: Rank 1
Mana manipulation: Rank 1
Mana Sense: Rank 1
Enhanced Propriosense in Toes: Rank 1
Enhanced Bodily Recovery: Rank 1
Lucas:
Insect Movement Control: Rank 1
Enlarged Penis: Rank 1
Mana sense: Rank 1
Mana Manipulation: Rank 1
Surfing: Rank 1
Arithmetic: Rank 1