Chapter 44: How much loot did the gay hostage bring back?

After running into Johnny, Eugene started running back to his camp.

His body was filled with adrenaline and runner’s high.

He had just faced a big wolf monster on his own and survived it. If his parents or any of his teammates knew why he went to the Balloon Monster zone, they would have lost their shit.

When he went to give Howard two skill crystals for information on which tier 2 zone monster would be safest to fight, Howard looked at him like he was an idiot.

“I wanna know what kinds of monsters the other tier two zones have…” Eugene said to himself.

He felt exhilarated. This is what he signed up for. No politics. No murders. Being an actual adventurer. That battle with the big wolf was amazing. Of course he had a gun just in case, but that probably wouldn’t have saved him he figured.

As soon as the wolf and Eugene both spotted each other, there was almost no time to draw the pistol. Just a battle of reflexes and strength. Eugene managed to stab it in the throat. One of his proudest moments. And right after he ran back to safety because of how scary it had been.

He ran back to camp, met up with his teammates and they all exited the game together. The next day he attended classes and football training. He noticed how his grades were gradually improving. All of the bodily improvement skills were giving him a better memory and attention span and sleep.

…

“Johnny, say to the system the following in this format. First say, system I want to spend my skill point on. And then you say what you want to spend it on. And you will say this,” Brian was very careful with his words so it wasn’t him who accidentally spent his skillpoint instead, “I want to know what would be the best skill for Jack, Brian, and Lucas to unlock.”

“Ehm… okay. Now?” Johnny said.

“Yeah, shithead,” Lucas said.

“Relax,” Brian said. He then nodded at Johnny.

“System, I want to spend my skill point on knowing what’s the best skill for Jack and Brian and Lucas to unlock,” Johnny said.

The name of a skill was burned into his mind.

“Did it work? The fuck did you get!” Jack said.

“I got… Eh, Mana Training: Rank 1?”

“You sure, that’s it?” Brian said.

“Yes. That’s it,” Johnny said.

“If you’re lying, I’ll fucking kill you. System, I want to spend my skill point on getting Mana Training: Rank 1!” Brian said.

Mana Training: Rank 1

“You feel anything different?” Jack said.

Brian looked at Jack, then over at Johnny then back to Jack. Jack nodded.

“Okay, Johnny. You did good today, here,” Brian said, and tossed over a bundle of 2000 dollars.

“We will exchange phone numbers. From now on, every day, you will meet us in front of that building at the time I write to you. And you will give us one skill crystal and per day as your quota. And I will give you 2000 dollars per day. If you last more than one week, I’ll increase that to 5000 dollars. You understand?”

“Y-Yes,” Johnny said.

Despite how dangerous everything was, his heart was pumping at the idea of spending all that money.

“Okay. Good job. If you try anything, we will kill you. Press the exit button now,” Brian said.

“Okay,” Johnny said. Then he exited. Lucas noticed with his body language skill that while pressing the exit button he thought he had disappeared and was smiling.

“What a fucking idiot. I give him 3 days tops,” Lucas said.

“Brian. You feel anything different?” Jack said.

“No. But I’ll figure it out. Let’s get out of here. I wanna party. Today was a good day.”

…

Jack tightened the tie on his expensive, custom made suit as they entered the girl’s bar.

“What? Where’s Miranda?” he immediately said to the group of girls loudly greeting their top customers, Jack, Lucas, and Brian.

“We’re not sure. She didn’t show up to her shift yet, Jack,” one of the girls said. “I’m sure she’ll be here any minute, I’ll write her.”

Jack was disappointed, but sat at the VIP table anyway and the party was already starting. The girls brought champagne and everyone started drinking. Quickly, girls were sitting on Lucas’ and Brian’s laps. Whenever one of them tried to flirt with Jack, he ignored them and waited for Miranda to show up.

“Gay,” Brian said.

“That’s more gay than Johnny,” Lucas said.

“Fuck off,” Jack said, while checking his phone and texting Miranda.

Jack could sense that while Brian had a girl on his lap, he was making movements with his mana. It looked like he was trying to trickle the girl.

“You feel anything?” Brian said.

“Ehhh? No?” the girl said.

“Attach the string back to the core if you can. It creates a full circulation,” Jack said.

He tried doing it but the mana string broke.

“Gotta train more,” Jack said.

Suddenly, Miranda appeared. She was not wearing her usual dress and perfect makeup. She was in jeans and a white t-shirt and it looked like she had been crying.

“Jack! Please help me!” Miranda said.

///////

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

Enemy Weakness Identification: Rank 1

Poetry: Rank 2

Blueprint visualizer: Rank 1

Mana Sense: Rank 1

Blunt Force Resistance: Rank 1

Pool: Rank 1

Mana Manipulation: Rank 1

Specialized Mental Sacrifice Ritual Focus Borrow: Rank 1

Typography: Rank 1

Enhanced Healing: Rank 1

Throwing: Rank 1

Acrobatics: Rank 1

INT: +1

Missions Menu unlocked.

Sewing: Rank 1

Ninja techniques: Rank 1

Lethal Strike: 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

Flame Shield Dispel: Rank 1

Cryptography: Rank 1

Enemy Pattern Recognition: Rank 1

Airplane Pilot: Rank 1

Mana Generation: Rank 1

Enhanced Vision: Rank 1

Blunt Force Resistance: Rank 1

Finnish: Rank 1

French oil painting technique: Rank 1

Throwing: Rank 1

Acrobatics: Rank 1

Vision Upgrade: ⅕ until Rank 1

Ninja techniques: Rank 1

Verbal conjugations Spanish: Rank 1

Mana Training: 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

Chess: Rank 1

Human Interpersonal Non-verbal Bodily Social  Behaviors Enhanced Perception: Rank 1

Blunt Force Resistance: Rank 1

Changing car tires: Rank 1

Water Mana Affinity: Rank 1

Walking: Rank 1

Mana Generation: Rank 1

Juggling: Rank 1

Throwing: Rank 1

Acrobatics: Rank 1

Enhanced General Nervous System Reaction Time: Rank 1

Diesel Motors Piston System: Rank 1

Ninja techniques: Rank 1

Engineering diagram waterwheel: Rank 1