The skill crystal cracked, and warm, yellow energy ran up into Jack’s arm.

Python (programming language): Rank 1

“Are you kidding me?” Jack said, and chuckled.

“What? Another useless skill like this shield skill?” Brian said.

“Ehm… I still think that shield skill isn’t useless, but yeah kind of useless. Or not. At least not useful here, unless there’s a computer nearby. But now I know the very basics of object oriented programming and the basic semantics of python programming and other programming stuff. If I wanted to, I think I could make a simple calculator program or something like that.”

Jack said his skill name.

“Your first step towards becoming a genius super hacker,” Lucas said.

They finished resting.

“Okay, so keep grinding. Buy a pistol. Explore new areas to get this new skill point. Let’s get it!” Brian said.

…

“It looks kinda greasy,” Lucas said.

“You sure it’s gonna work?” Jack said.

“Yeah, duh. We just have to clean it once in a while and it’ll be fine,” Brian said.

“Do you know how to clean a pistol? Have you even ever held a pistol?” Lucas said.

“Shut up,” Brian said.

After the sky inside the game started turning dark, they decided to head back to the real world before something more dangerous than a balloon monster started appearing.

They barely had enough money for a used pistol and 20 bullets.

“You have to spend money to make money. So let’s use this pistol to rob somebody,” Brian said.

And so, they went around and robbed a bunch of homeless people. Because Jack, Brian, and Lucas had been busy the past few days with grinding, this left the local homeless population with excess cash on them. Enough to go to a local diner and eat dinner.

Cheese, eggs, rice and chicken.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

“You know, I really want to sleep in a motel or something instead of like a homeless person. I used to complain about sleeping in the same bedroom with 6 of my brothers, but now that feels like it was a luxury. I even had the corner of my own mattress. Better than a concrete floor,” Lucas said.

“Yeah, Redtown really wasn’t that bad. At least prettier than Greentown. What do you think, Jack? Do you miss Redtown?”

“I prefer my current home to my previous one,” Jack said, and sounded like he didn’t want to elaborate.

The mood became silent after that.

“Hey, when I get mana I can finally use that insect skill!” Lucas said, trying to break the silent.

“Please get rid of the cockroaches in our room,” Jack said and smiled.

Happy and with full stomachs, the boys went back to the abandoned warehouse.

They smelled it before they saw it. Pee everywhere. Poop smeared on the walls and on the makeshift beds. Everything looted, though there was nothing worth stealing anyways.

“I’m gonna kill somebody,” Jack said. He could hear his heart beating in his ears.

“Who you think did this?” Lucas said.

“I’m not sure. It could be the homeless junkies. It could be that Fernando gang we heard about. All I know is that we need to get out of here now, we can never stay here again. Too dangerous,” Brian said.

Fucking assholes. I finally get a place I can call my own and this is the shit they pull. I’ll fucking kill them.

“It’s probably the fucking hispanics we saw today in the game. Disgusting Mexicans ruining our country,” Jack said.

“Whoa whoa, chill on the racism my dude,” Lucas said.

Jack gave him an angry look.

“Okay, I have an idea. Let’s sleep inside those metal rooms for the VR thing. That’s probably the safest place in the world to sleep. And then we all meet at 11 in the game, make sure you get good sleep. Set your alarms on your phones. How’s that sound?” Brian said.

They all agreed.

…

“I want revenge,” was the first thing Jack said.

They were all standing in the stone plaza. As always there were big groups of people around, but this time the hispanics were nowhere to be seen.

“Bro, chill. We’ll get our revenge. But please keep your cool. We don’t even know who did it yet. Okay here’s the plan: all those people are probably watching our moves, especially that Eugene guy.. Let’s go to the tunnel we usually go, but then walk horizontally away from where we usually grind and see if it’s possible to reach the areas in the other tunnels and start grinding skill points there.”

They followed Brian’s plan, and sure enough, they reached a new area.

They all walked side by side, all three of them with their combat knives out, saving the gun for emergencies. Brian carried it behind his back.

That’s when they saw the new monster type. A dog sized grasshopper was jumping towards them.

“I’ve got it,” Jack said. He was itching to fight something.

Just like the Balloon Monster, this Grasshopper Monster kept jumping at a normal pace, and then when it was close enough, it changed rhythm and jumped towards Jack and attacked. Its mouth was open and revealed sharp fangs.

Jack, just like last time, jumped away while slashing his knife.

Instead of popping, the combat knife cut through the grasshopper’s head like it was made of styrofoam.

Kill 100 non-Balloon monsters

001/100

Before Jack could study the dead monster in front of him, he spotted a group of 3 hispanics nearby with their backs turned. Jack ran towards them with his knife in his hand.

“Jack, no!”