6 Magic

"Do you know what you are doing?"

"Uhg... Yeah. Of course, I do. Why would I not?"

*Ding*

[Lying has...]

Oh, shut up!

The woman chuckled and walked past me.

"Somehow, I doubt that."

If it wasn't for Gamer's Mind, I'm sure my mouth would've been opened wide, and I would've gasped out loud.

Lying is my best skill, and it failed me! Man... that thought kinda makes me sad. I have this amazing ability, and Lying is the best skill I have. Or at least, the highest leveled one. That just tells you what kind of a person I am, huh?

The bald woman knelt down and picked up the rotting flesh. She tossed it over a few times and even sniffed it.

"Incredible."

There was nothing incredible about it, woman, that's rotting flesh. Or do you get turned on by that? Ugh, I hope not, that's gross.

Then her hands glowed with light as she swiped them over the rotting flesh.

My eyes opened wide. Magic! Me want. Me want! Maybe I could make her teach me, but then again, I can't even see her level. I can try asking nicely.

"Do you know what this is, Mr. Williamson?" She turned around and asked me.

"Rotting flesh?" I said, thinking about how she knew my name. I don't remember telling her that.

"Observant, aren't you?" She chuckled.

"Yes, this is rotting flesh, but it shouldn't exist, yet it does."

I don't really get where she is going with this.

"I can understand you entering the Mirror Dimension. I saw you practice a form of primitive magic. I saw you entering and exiting this dimension like a little kid. I could understand all that."

"But then you went a step further. You entered the Mirror Dimension and created projections of zombies. I know they weren't here because I was already watching you from the Mirror Dimension."

"I could somehow understand the zombies. Maybe an Elder God had bestowed you with powers without my notice, and you were given the ability to create projections to fight against. It's quite possible, I'm not omnipotent."

I just kept nodding along, acting as if all this made sense to me. It really didn't.

Elder God? Really? Gods exist? I don't like the sound of that.

"But you weren't done impressing me, Mr. Williamson. You killed the zombies, and they turned into teeth, rotting flesh, and actual coins. Do you understand what that means?"

"Yeah, I killed the monster, and the monster dropped loot."

Duh, that's how a game works, baldie.

Seeing the woman slightly tilt her head and the puzzled look on her face made me happy. Who is the confused one now? Take that, Mrs. Question Mark. Or maybe you are a Miss, I don't know.

"That is not how the world works, Mr. Williamson. This rotting flesh that I'm holding is real!"

Yeah, you should probably drop it. You might get infected or something.

"You created actual matter out of nothing. This is truly impressive, and I've seen a lot of incredible feats in my life. So that begs the questions, what are you, Mr. Williamson?"

I took a big mental breath and said. "A human."

*Ding*

[Lying has increased to Lvl. 13]

Thank you Lying skill, you are a lifesaver.

"Lying won't help you, Mr. Williamson. You should answer honestly, less you endanger yourself."

No! My Lying skill failed me! It even leveled up! Why do you betray me like this?

Oh, no, her hands started glowing.

"I'm a mutant!"

"Hmm, not a lie, but it wasn't what I was looking for."

They are still glowing. Shit!

"I'm The Gamer!"

Hands stopped glowing. Thank God!

"The gamer?"

Now she looked confused again. I can work with that.

"Uh, The Gamer with a capital G. I heard you use a small letter for it."

Oh, shit, they are glowing again.

"It's my mutant power, and it turned my life into a Game."

I've never spoken so fast in my life.

"Explain."

Okay, they are back to normal. No more glowing hands.

"Ugh, I have Levels, Stats, Skills, Inventory, like a typical character for a video game. Oh, I also got Quests. That's how I got the skill to enter the Mirror Dimension."

Man, that really sucked. I thought this place was like my own personal ground where only I can enter. Baldie over here was a very unexpected encounter.

"A Quest, taught you how to enter the Mirror Dimension?"

She looked visibly shocked.

"Well, it really didn't teach me how to do it. It just gave me the skill, I only have to utter the name, Mana then comes out of me, and poof, here I am."

"Mana?"

"Uh, yeah, I have HP, which stands for Health Points. I presume I will die if they drop to 0."

*Ding* +1 Wisdom

Oooh, that hasn't happened in a while.

"And I have MP, which stands for Mana Points. I can use them to cast my Active Skills. Create ID is the one I use to enter over here, and Exit ID to leave. I also have Energy Blast, which sends out a blast of energy."

"Fascinating. You don't use dimensional energies for your spells. You are a natural-born Sorcerer."

I like the sound of that. Sorcerer, I wonder if I can make her teach me.

[Quest has been created.]

[Become a Sorcerer: Convince the mysterious bald-headed woman to teach you Magic.]

[Reward: Get taught Magic, 1000 XP]

[Failure: You don't get taught Magic]

[Duration: -]

Wow. Wow! Really? Really? I already knew that, but I did accept the Quest. If I complete it, I will get bonus XP. If I fail, well, I already learned I can teach myself, it will just take me a lot longer.

"A Sorcerer? Is that what you are? Can you teach me?"

The woman chuckled.

"Did you happen to get a quest about it?"

That's not fair! GM, there's a cheater! Ban her!

"Ugh, maybe?"

"Your power is amusing, but why should I teach you Magic?"

"Because as you said, I'm a natural-born Sorcerer. Won't it be better for you to teach me how to use my abilities? And I'm a very diligent student, I can learn easily, I just need a skill book. I'm also intelligent and can become even more intelligent in the blink of an eye, I just need to place my stat points into Intelligence and Wisdom. And... and... I'm the best?"

Baldie chuckled with an amused smile.

"Being a Sorcerer is not a simple matter, Mr. Williamson. Learning Magic is just one part of it."

Oooh, I don't like the sound of this.

"We Sorcerers are tasked with protecting the world from both magical and dimensional threats."

Yeah, I really don't like the sound of this. Dimensional threats? I don't even know what that means, but I don't want to find out.

"But you are correct. You do need to learn how to use your abilities."

"Yeah, that's cool, but I don't want face against dimensional threats. That sounds a bit too much for me. I like my HP to stay over 0, and I don't think dimensional threats will agree with that."

"Very amusing, Mr. Williamson, but you will not be tasked with defending the world until you are ready."

"That's cool, but unless you can guarantee my survival, I'm gonna pass on the Sorcerer business."

"That's disappointing."

She even looked disappointed and turned around. Her hand made a circular motion, and a portal appeared in front of her.

Portals? Me want! Me want!

"On second thought, maybe I do want to be taught Magic."

She turned around with a smile as if she had expected this. Damn it, I fell into her trap. But portals! Who doesn't like that?

I wonder if she could also teach me to become invisible. I will definitely not use it for ulterior means. Nope.

"I knew you would make the right choice. Come to 177A Bleecker Street tomorrow after you finish your run, Mr. Williamson."

With those parting words, she walked into the portal, and it closed behind her.

How much do you know about me, woman? You didn't even tell me your name! Well, I'm just gonna call you baldie then. Take that.

[Quest complete +1000 XP]

Thank you!

I exited the Mirror Dimension and started running home. On the way, I had all kinds of thoughts drifting through my mind.

Dimensional threats just sounded scary, like something I don't want to come face to face. Unless my stats are 100x higher, which will take me a long time, even if I place my stat points.

On the other hand, Magic! Portals! Man, having the ability to teleport, has always been a dream of mine. I want to go to the Bahamas for a nice day at the beach? No problem, I can teleport out of my house and teleport back when I'm done.

Also, if I raise my stats high enough and learn Magic, I might become strong enough to hold my own against dimensional threats. I'm just not sure if I should allocate my stat points now or save them when manually raising my stats becomes harder.

I also didn't know where to place them. Obviously, Intelligence and Wisdom will help me with Magic, but if my physical stats are low, won't I just get squashed with a single punch from someone like the Hulk?

I wasn't sure if I should place all my free stat points into one or two stats, or if I should keep them balanced like they currently are.

Well, Luck was still at 10, but I haven't really done anything to improve it. Maybe I can try playing luck-based games? I will have to at least test it out. Anyway, I reached home and continued with my usual routine.

The next day, which happened to be Friday, I couldn't wait for school to finish. I wanted to be taught Magic, and I will probably spend the entire weekend practicing with my skills.

I was having a nice meal while chatting with Kurt, but Jean was there with us, and she continued watching me with suspicion. Why?? I thought I dealt with that.

I really don't understand why is she like this? What have I done?

When we were packing, she said. "I still don't trust you."

"Why? What have I done to you?" Besides acting like a complete dumbass when I met you.

Jean opened her mouth but didn't answer me. She just narrowed her eyes and walked away.

I used Observe on her and found out the reason. I probably should've done that yesterday.

{Jean Grey is the ??? of ???. She has been a part of the X-Men for 6 years now. She awoke her mutant powers at the age of 12 when she was discovered by Charles Xavier. Since then, Xavier had helped her learn how to control her powers. Jean is currently suspicious of William Williamson since she can't hear his thoughts.}

Ohhhh. Ohhhhhh. That explains a lot. So, Jean has some kind of psychic powers, and she can't hear my thoughts. I'm guessing that due to Gamer's Mind, but it's not like I can turn it off, nor do I want to turn it off. I don't want people in my head. There's space only for I, myself, and me there.

I don't really know how to deal with that, and I don't want to think about it either. Magic was waiting for me!

With that, I returned home, cooked something with the help of grandma, and did my daily run before reaching 177A Bleecker Street.

[Name: William Williamson

Mutant Power: The Gamer

Level: 5 Next Level: 79%

Title: The Gamer]

[HP: 248

MP: 255]

[Strength: 18 + 1.8

Vitality: 18 + 1.8

Dexterity: 18 + 1.8

Intelligence: 18 + 2.52

Wisdom: 20 + 2.8

Luck: 10]

[Stat Points: 20

Cash: 14.50$]

[Skills: Lying(Passive) Lvl. 13/50

Observe(Active) Lvl. 3/10

Physical Endurance(Passive) Lvl. 6/100

Martial Arts(Passive) Lvl. 5/100

Cooking(Passive) Lvl. 6/100

Meditation(Passive/Active) Lvl. 7/100

Create ID(Active) Lvl. 5/100

Exit ID(Active) Lvl. 5/100

Energy Blast(Active) Lvl. 5/10

Crafting(Active) Lvl. 1/100

Gamer's Body(Passive)

Gamer's Mind(Passive)]