Degen headed home after stopping the mugging. He spent a few minutes doing his homework, but he kept cracking the tip, and his handwriting had become awful. The loss of 2 Dexterity was awful for Degen whose Dexterity had only just become 10. At some point, he grew frustrated and reached out with his mana, and started to move his pencil. It looked just as bad as his regular handwriting, but it was faster. He guessed that mana control wasn't affected by Dexterity. He assumed the extra stat he received, Control, was in charge of that.
While doing homework, he reached out with mana and began contorting it into shapes. He'd already practiced this several times before, it was an exercise he made for his ability to manipulate mana. He made a lot of progress since he first started, and was confident in multitasking. His confidence was misplaced.
His handwriting became even sloppier, and he performed his routine extremely slowly. Concentrating on two things at the same thing was incredibly difficult. Degen continued regardless. He didn't lose anything from this, though his teachers may get somewhat disappointed in his handwriting.
The cracked phone penalty was rather harsh given how common something like that could be. He needed greater control if he wanted to complete quests without avoiding penalties.
After finishing the meagre homework he received, he put it in his schoolbag. After he did that, he grabbed a bunch of things that were lying around, pencils, pens, a rubber ball, and some string. He began revolving them around his head while he did his normal mana control exercise. He got comfortable with it for after a few minutes, then he began switching things up. He made the random assortment of materials act independently. He had some spin in place and had 2 rings of trash that revolved around him. He would sometimes move a pen from the inner ring to the outer ring, or have a pencil spin in one of the two rings spin in place.
He did this for a long time. It was only when his dad opened the door that his concentration broke and he stopped the exercise. His dad only looked around for a bit before telling him that he wouldn't be home for most of tomorrow and to make sure to bring his keys.
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He spent most of Criminology the next day trying to get Barbara's attention. The attempts were met with failure. She was far too engrossed in the class to pay attention to him, so he did the next best thing: participate in class.
The old teacher, Ms. Satcher, pointed at him and asked, "You. Suppose a man steals a loaf of bread to feed his family, how would you deal with the situation?"
Degen wasn't expecting that type of question, but he tried his best to respond, "Well, the main problem is what drove the man to that point. While he is morally in the right by preventing people from starving, his method is unsustainable. After the first loaf runs out, he'll have to get a second. The only real solution is to get to the root cause and try to fix it. Stealing bread isn't a cure, it's a particularly weak medicine."
"Yes, you're right. The real world isn't black and white, but in this class, we have to make decisions. Judges have to, officers have to, and juries as well. What I'm asking is this. A yes or no question. If you were the one voice deciding whether or not to sentence this man to prison for stealing, larceny. What would you say?"
Degen paused for a bit before saying, "No. I would say no to prison." If the man stealing was the one thing keeping his family from starving, removing him would be sentencing his family to starvation.
The old woman nodded before calling on another student and asking the same question. Degen thought for a little bit before deciding to stick with his decision. Stealing that bread did more good than bad. The question was for more nuanced than that, he was sure people just as smart as him had tried to solve the problem differently.
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The next person the teacher pointed at was Barbara.
"Ah, yes, Barbara. So, the same question. How would you solve this dilemma?"
"I'd choose to convict him. He committed the crime, and while it was to solve a problem, that does not excuse the crime being committed. He should be put in jail to prevent the issue from being chronic, as Degen said, when the loaf runs out, he'd need a second one. The underlying problems should be fixed to prevent the scenario from happening again, but the crime should be considered separately."
"Excellent Barbara!"
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The next class, Degen didn't bother paying attention and simply dozed off. The redhead didn't punch him this time. Degen went through the rest of the day without doing anything noteworthy.
After School ended, he went into a store and bought a simple face mask. He then wore that face-mask into another store and bought another mask; a simple pitch-black mask covering most of his face but leaving his hair exposed. His dad wouldn't be home when he returned, and he didn't need to do anything at home either. He went home to drop his bag and then immediately left.
He put his second mask on in an alleyway he entered and levitated himself upwards onto the roof of a nearby building. He planned to do at least one quest.
Status:
Degen Vasir
Age: 14 years
Health: Healthy
Mental: Anxious
Mana Reserve: 99.7% (1% every 2 minutes)
UNALLOCATED STATS: 17
STR: 9
VIT: 12
DEX: 8 [10]
WIS: 27
INT: 64
PER: 23
Extra Stats \/
Traits \/
Abilities \/
After looking at his massive reservoir of stat points, he decided to spend them. He wasn't going to get much stronger physically any time soon, and he had a way to get more points, there was no reason not to spend them. What he was going to do could get dangerous real quick, and he wasn't like Batman; he wasn't skilled or even somewhat proficient at fighting, and if he messed up, he had no safety net like the Batmobile or partners to rely on. He needed every advantage he could get.
He added 4 points to STR, 5 to VIT, 1 to PER, 3 in WIS and then dumped the rest in DEX. His new stats were 13 STR, 17 VIT, 12 DEX, 30 WIS, 64 INT, and 24 PER. After putting the stats in, he felt no immediate change. He just had to have faith that he would be much stronger.
He began running towards a nearby roof, and it felt completely natural. He could tell he was faster, but he didn't have to adjust the way he ran or get used to his new strength. It was as if he was always that way.
He jumped from 1 rooftop to the other and kept running. He felt free! As he ran he got a notification that almost made him fall.
Quest: Violence! There's an ongoing assault happening right beneath you. Stop it!
Reward: 2 Stat points
Bonus Rewards may appear based on the approach
Penalties may appear based on the approach
Degen looked down at the alley he almost fell into and saw a group of teenagers beating down an older man. He looked like he was in his late thirties, and was utterly terrified of the mob in front of him. His clothes were dirty, and they looked like they'd just been stepped on.
Degen decided to not be seen again as he peered over the side of the building. He reached out, and pulled garbage bags out of a nearby dumpster with his mana. He flung them at the mob, and they began to run away. He saw a few people look up and see him standing at the edge of the building. Some of them pointed, others shouted, but they all ran away from the man bathed in moonlight. They saw his shining black mask and were instantly terrified.
Success!
+2 Stat points
Bonus: Nonviolent
+1 Stat point
Bonus: Nightmare
+6 to Deception
You will be remembered
The quest felt so simple. It was over in a few seconds. There was no sense of satisfaction, he didn't feel accomplished, he just did it. He wasn't satisfied, he needed more.