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Universe Hopping
Chapter 4. Punching Air and Nerd Talk with Vinnie and Alex

Chapter 4. Punching Air and Nerd Talk with Vinnie and Alex

"First thing first, we need a plan," Alex said surprising no one.

I roll my eyes as I look at the dead body of the security guard that I had killed. I was no longer having a panic attack but was far from okay. Looking at his body laid on his stomach black blood pooling on the floor beside him. I knew that killing him was the right thing to do, he was no longer human. That being said just looking at him made me feel sick to my stomach.

I remember seeing Alex that thing on top of him knawing and trying to bite him and kill him and I just lost it. Worse than any other time I've lost it. Then when it was over and I saw his body the guilt was unbearable. all I could think was that he's dead because of me. That I knocked him out before all this stuff happened and he died because of it. Worse of all was the fact I knew that I would do it again. That I would go about the same ridiculous plan to get my brother out of here. That just made me feel worse.

usually, when I feel like that I just try and ignore it. going too far and not thinking about the consequences is kind of my thing and I've learned to push the guilt away. right then though, my hands covered in both my blood, and it just became clear to me that this was the worse thing I've ever done. Worse than chewing an entire pack of gum and sticking it on Maggie Lane hair for calling me, Orphan Mannie. Worse than breaking Jackson smith arm. Worse than a lot of things I've done.

But I can't wallow in that. Wallowing in my guilt isn't going to help me and right now Alex needs me not to be a burden right now.

I don't get why I feel this bad right now. Maybe its the stress of all the weirdness but I'm not the only one who not on tip-top shape. Alex is in front of me walking back and forth mumbling as he went through the stat box. I decided to temporarily abstain from going through any of the blue boxes until my head wasn't pounding and I didn't have the urge to ball up. That meant standing in front of the security guard body and contemplating shit. While Alex paced back and forward mumbling doing all the work.

"Okay now that we have some time, I've been looking at some of the stuff in the Stat menu and I think that I learned some new stuff," Alex said finally flicking his hand and shoving my menu into my face.

Status

Name: Vincent “Vinnie” DeLuca

Level: 1

(Experience Gained 26.25/200)

Race

Human(Earth)

Alignment

Chaotic Neutral

Titles

The FIrst

Strength: 10

Agility: 7

Intelligence: 7

Wisdom: 3

Endurance: 10

Vitality: 11

Charisma: 3

Luck: 2

Afflictions

Codependency Lvl 1 A slight case of OmnieDimensional Fatigue

Skills

Identify Lvl 1 Unconventional Weaponry Lvl 1 Frenzy Lvl 1

Skill Ponts: 3

Yeah, somethings were different my skills were now on it along with something called "Skill Points" My afflictions were on there, the ridiculous Codependency one and something called Omnidimensional Fatigue. Everything else was the same.

"What's the big woop. Minus the weird OmniDimensional Fatigue Thing nothing here screams any actual importance other than arbitrary describing our strengths and weakness. "

"Use your brain Vinnie-boy, we got that skill {Identify} from looking at something and wanting to know what it is right. so Use it on your stats.

Rolling my eyes at his nickname for me. Nonetheless, I focus on trying to get something from the Stats. I start to feel something when I look at them but it's so unfocused that I can't get anything from it. Like trying to wring orange juice out of a bloodstone. So taking the initiative I focus on one thing, the strength Stat.

Identify Leveled Up

Strength: 10

Whether it's picking a fight or crafting the next StarSight Armour Power is important Strength is The physical power you can assert on an object or person as well as 8kg * STR of carrying power.

Well, that was... almost completely useless. Even the level up didn't really do much from what I can tell.

I did check and see that Skill points did go up I could dawdling and frankly wanted to...

But Alex would probably be on my case if I don't at least find out what the others did.

Agility:7

Ever wanted to walk on walls, or summersault in mid-air at some levels some people have been so light on their feet that permanently float. improves dexterity balance and coordination.

Intelligence: 7

Ever the brainiac soon the knowledge of just about anything will be at your grasp. Not just of your paltry material possessions but all the wonders and nightmare that exist in the universe. Increases the speed of thought. Mana size is increased 5*INT Mana Regen by 0.1`*INT

Identify Has leveled up

Wisdom:3

> "The walnut is vaster than the acorn that it came from. " - Goliate Mairl The Wise.

WIsdom is that, that makes all the sense in the universe while also being utterly bonkers. Increases memory recollection. Mana Regen is increased 0.5*WIS Mana Size increased 0.2*WIS

Endurance: 10

Some who specialize in Endurance can theoretically run till the end of time. You want to last in this new world Better have some Endurance. Health Regen 0.3*END Health pool increased 1*END

Vitality:11

> My Name is Billy and I'm going to live forever!:" - Billy the immortal The Incontestable the NeverEnding.

Notorious Lvl Redacted Adventurer You want to live longer than you better have some vitality. With this, you can survive just about anything with now scarring (The physical kind anyway.) Health Regen .1*VIT Health pool increased 3*VIT

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Charisma: 3

> Beauty might be in the eye of the beholder but you with enough charisma you can change that - BalAi-Ayan the Hideous

No one ever going to say that someone is too charming, at least not in the presence of someone with a high enough Charisma. With charisma, you can find the best deals. Who needs Acne medication when you have Charisma The higher your charisma the more you'll look like you, you always wanted to look like.

Luck: 2

> What are the odds- Leon The Unlucky before his unfortunate demise

Even throughout the many System orientated universes and beyond Luck is one of the most elusive stats possible. truly immaterial Luck is a double edge sword that at high levels increases the chances of Unique things happening. Whether that be finding one of the lost eyes of Balazar The All-Knowing Demon king of the Redacted Universe. or actually meeting said Balazar The All-Knowing Demon king of the Redacted Universe. Improves Loot quality.

Looking at all the information that I just got I had to admit that despite there being a lot of information there I will admit that some of it did seem useful.

Once it Identify has leveled up a second time I got more information and quotes from some other people/Beings. if it was to believe and at this point, I didn't really have a choice but to believe it, then these stats can be improved.

I looked back at my stats and saw some new changes.

Name: Vinnie DeLuca Health(42/43) Regen: 4.1/ HR Mana(35.6/35.6) regen 2.2/HR

"I now have some Health and Mana now it seems."

"Yeah, me too," Alex said still staring at his Stats and half-heartedly swiping me his Health and Mana.

Name: Alex DeLuca Health(26/26) Regen: 2.2/ HR Mana(66.6/66.6) regen 5.3/HR

I have almost twice as much health and Regen than him but he has almost the same when it comes to Mana and its regen. Not that any use since neither one of us knows magic.

Seeing that Alex was clearly to entranced in his own stuff I decide to prepare for our inevitable fight for when we try and leave, We had got a quest called The Great Escape that said we had 24hr to get out of this building. And since I have no plans of going to jail while my brothers geek out I'm going to see what we have to work with.

The handcuffs were on the floor along with the knife covered in black blood. I pick than both up slipping the knife into my pocket and play with the handcuffs a little bit. Out of curiosity, I use {Identify} on them.

Handcuffs(Common)

Description: whether your into the kinky stuff or just need to keep someone off of your goods you can never go wrong with some handcuffs. Durability( 37.5/38)

Effect 1: Can cause a 75% decrease in Arm Mobility when locked.

Effect 2: It can be used as Unconviential Weaponry +3 Dmg. It can cause slight Lacerations.

Causes -2 Dmg to user minus 10% of Vitality(-1+(11*.10)) = -0.1 Dmg

Seeing as I don't know how much DMG I can actually do I don't know how helpful this is but seeing as I already have a skill in {Unconvientional Weaponry} and I don't know how to get any more skills it probably best to use what I have. The -.1 DMG that I do to myself is almost negligible when looking at how much Health I seem to have.

smiling I slip the handcuff in the pocket and do the same with the knife.

Hunting Knife(Common)

Describing: WHether its slicing or stabbing this knife can do a decent amount of DMG to any low leveled being Durability: 20/20

Effect: Causes 1-10 DMG

The knife was almost seemed to cause a whole lot of DMG but I'm not sure how I feel about slicing and stabbing people. I can't afford really afford to leave it though so I slip it back into my pocket and turn to the less than pleasant thing that I have determined that I have to do. Search the body.

When we had first grabbed stuff from the guard we just grabbed what we could see. Now that things are getting really bad we can't afford to leave any chair upright. So I lean over to search the body. Just barely keeping myself from barfing.

The smell of the body shocked me as I got close, to the point where I had to cover my nose as I got closer. I touched the body and because the world seems to now revolve around these Blue boxes one showed up.

Dead Fallen Lvl 1 Do you want to Loot Dead Fallen Lvl1? Yes(Must establish physical contact) No

I thought about it for a second but my natural urge to press buttons got the best of me and I pushed it out of some curious nature that even the end of the world couldn't stop.

Congrats The Party {Unamed} has looted Dead Fallen Lvl 1 You have gained the Title GraveRobbers

Error Insufficient Party Number: 2

Party Requirement 5-8

Override.

Unique Affliction Codependcy Lvl 1: Permanent Party System

1 BulletProof Vest Chest

Small Vial of Fallen Ichor

25 Meta Coins (25* 0.5)= 37 Meta coins

the body evaporated in a puff of black smoke leaving only a black vest and a small vial of black blood that I can only assume was the ichor, whatever that is. I looked for the money, the Meta coins but I didn't see them but considering that I had just evaporated a body with a touch of an invisible button.

"What did you do. " Alex asked me seemingly to finally getting out of his own head. "I just got a notification saying we just got another title."

"Yeah, I decided to loot the body, whatever that means. "

it's a party ability. People in a Party can loot their opponents of anything of value after there dead. Thing is a Party shouldn't be available to us until were Level 5. Our Permanent Party System must let us Loot and allowed us to get that Title with the cool bonus. "

"What bonus," I ask Picking up the vest and the vial.

"Look it up with {Identify} " He said gruffly

Rolling my eyes I discretely do what he said and examed the titled section.

Titles

The First: You have just killed your first monster. Not only that you have killed the first monster in your universe. This is a commendable fact and deserved to be rewarded. 10% additional Exp

The GraveRobber: You seem to have respect for the dead and that can come in handy. 100% / Number of Party Members increase in Meta Coins. +2 Luck per Level

This is definitely interesting.

"So before we get going on our monster-fighting adventure we have a power-up."

"Not just one," He said looking at me shaking his head. "Did you even bother to {Inspect} half the things in the Stat Menu."

"Yeah about that," I said getting a loose boxing stand, like something that I've seen on tv shows. " I've made a decision. " Shooting a punch out at an invisible enemy. " That can be your job. We can obviously share info and since you love to look and examine this shit, you do it. And since we just spent the past ten minutes standing around while you read the descriptions for everything. It's like you, a phone, and a new Ya Sci-fi Novel. You never look up." Shooting another one-two punch. "I figured you read my stuff to me and I punch things to death."A blue light flashed in the corner of my eye but I ignored it.

"Hey, I raised {Inspect} to Lvl 6 meaning that I have 8 skills making me currently winning. "

"As of now," I said moving my feet like I've seen in movies and tv shows. " Not sure that prissy nerd skill should really count if we're going to start counting the number of levels in skills."

"Nah, I figured if we're going to make it a contest than every level in skill should count, maybe our personal levels too but I figured there no way either of us is going to let the other stay ahead long for that to matter especially if the only way to one-up each other is the killing blow. "

I nod my head doing more one-two punches keeping on my heels as I moved. I smiled as I felt us get back on track back to us. Everything can be a challenge if you want it to be. Both of us are competitive but because we are so different it's rare that we find things to compete against each other with. Before all this, we've been playing a 3 1/2 year-long game of Snatch. Wherewith the exception of basic identification there only wallet and whoever has it has control of the money. Wasn't much of a competition since we rarely had money and it's essentially used to embarrass one another. This on the other hand seemed destined to be fun.

You have Learned Skill Shadow Boxing Lvl 3 Descriptions: Some people like hitting people. You like to pretend to hit people. +1% increase in Speed while Boxing (Total: +3%)

"i just got 3 skills in {Shadow Boxing} m catching up to you. And in a skill that isn't borderline useless. " I said smiling. punching the air in front of me towards Alex. Alex smiled before glancing at the stairs to the door.

"Fine ill do all the work in this relationship." He said jokingly exasperated

"All the mental work, " I said moving my feet back and forth moving closer to him. "And while you're standing around marveling at the percentage increase in this and that. I'll be punching shit to death."

"Yeah until I learn magic and trounce your ass."

I smile stopping my {Shadow boxing} mid punch to reach my hand out to Alex. He grabs my hand and pulls me into a hugging making me slightly off-balance before I regain my footing.

"Right now though we have a quest to complete."