Nemesis?

I really didn't know how I'm supposed to socialize and make friends. I know it's grandma's wish, and I will try, but I'm not going to force it.

Not that I even know how to force it, but I guess I could flaunt that I now have money. However, even I know I won't make any friends that way. Only leechers that are interested in my money would flock my way.

I figured I could at least try to be a better friend to Kurt. So, during our lunchtime, I asked.

"Hey, wanna hang after school? Maybe we can prank someone or something."

I didn't really know how friends hanged out and spend their time, but I guessed it should be something they enjoy. I'm not a prankster like Kurt, but trying won't hurt me.

"Yes! That vill be awesome!"

Well, he looked happy, guess I'm on the right track.

"Kurt," Jean said and looked at him meaningfully.

"Oh, sorry, Will. I can't do it today," Kurt said apologetically.

Okay, Jean. You are beautiful, and I have that Quest to make you a pizza, but I'm starting to rethink if I really want to complete it.

"That's fine," I said.

"Uh-oh. When someone says, "that's fine," it's never fine," Jean said and finished with a giggle.

"I promise to make it up to you!" Kurt quickly said.

"It's okay, don't worry about it," I said.

"Uh-oh, "it's okay" and "don't worry?" I think you are about to get dumped, Kurt," Jean said with a sweet laugh.

"Ey!" Kurt looked at her.

Normally, I might've enjoyed hearing her laugh, but... I just felt like she was taunting us, even though I think she was trying to just have a good time.

"Don't you have anyone better to hang out with instead of making fun at the nerds from class C?"

Yeah, I was petty about this.

Jean looked down and murmured, "Not really."

And now I feel bad. Ugh. That was also the end of our conversation, and we ate in silence. Great job, Will, great job.

Yeah, maybe making friends is really not my thing.

I returned home after school, cooked some food, and left the house. I had some things I needed to do.

The first place I went to was a clothing store and got myself a few new things to wear. I might've overdone it a bit as I spent 200$ on clothes, but I had the money to afford it.

Next, I went to a store selling fabrics. I bought as many as I can carry and left. I passed by an alley, stored them in my Inventory like I did with my new clothes, and continued on my way.

A book store was the next place I visited. I looked around for Skill Books, and I did find some, but what I mostly purchased were ones on any advanced sciences that are not taught in school.

The fabrics were so I can increase my Crafting skill with them, and the books are so that I know what I'm doing when I start making my suit.

The Skill Books that I got were mostly on stuff I already had, two books on Cooking, one on Crafting, and a Martial Arts one. Yes, I already had the skill, but I was able to consume them to further increase it.

The cooking ones increased my skill by 3 each, the crafting one by 2, and the martial arts one 1. It wasn't anything special, but it was better than nothing.

The last book I got was about massage techniques.

[Massage (Active) Lvl. 1/100: An ancient skill that allows you to take the fatigue away from the flesh of a human. And so it is possible for you to cure body or joint-related negative effects.]

This one I got for grandmother, so I can help her out. It also seemed like it was somewhat of a healing skill, which I was in desperate need of.

When I returned back home, I gave my grandmother a quick massage, raising the skill to 3, and she praised me before falling asleep peacefully.

With that taken care of, it was time for me to grind. My Passive skills were the most important ones as they gave me constant bonuses.

So, that's what I focused on first, and I didn't forget to have Mana Strengthening on the entire time. Since the skill leveled up, the MP cost was lower, and I had an even easier time keeping it active.

At the same time, I also kept spamming Eldritch Magic. That was going to be my main weapon when I start farming the skeleton dungeon.

I was a bit wary of the skeleton Dungeon Boss, but I will deal with it when the time comes. For now, I just had to get stronger.

After training for two hours straight, I started grinding against the zombies. I focused on my Martial Arts and Weapon Mastery on the weak ones until the Legion Zombie appeared.

I grinded for hours until my Stamina Potions and energy drink didn't affect me anymore before I returned home. I still had some energy to spare, so I used that chance to work on my Crafting skill before I fell asleep. I did get to create a few simple things for me.

The next day, school was extra boring for me. Kurt nor the other X-Men were there, and the only thing I did was to meditate in classes. There wasn't any point in paying attention when I can study in a freakishly fast manner.

I didn't bother using the bus to return home. I might as well use this chance to continue practicing my skills. I also figured I could pass by the park that I used to train in and gloat for a bit to my nemesis how much I've grown.

The place was on the way to my home, so I didn't even need to take a detour. However, there was a small problem.

When I reached the park, it was gone. All the trees were missing, and my nemesis was nowhere to be found. What the heck?

[A Quest has been created.]

[Find your nemesis: The trees at the local park are missing, and your nemesis is nowhere to be found. Locate where they've disappeared to and stop them from whatever they are doing]

[Rewards: 100 000 XP; A Magic Skill Book]

[Failur: A lot of people die; Your neighborhood gets destroyed]

[Duration: 4 hours]

Holy shit! That's a lot of XP and a Magic Skill Book as well, but there was something even more important. My neighborhood will get destroyed. Grandmother was still in the house as she rarely left it nowadays.

I had to do something about this and accepted the Quest without hesitation.

Finding the trees wasn't hard since I was able to hear people screaming in the distance. I quickly put on the new face mask that I made yesterday and my suit... which was just a normal black shirt and pants. They didn't offer me any protection, but they did hide my identity.

I made a portal underneath me and teleported on top of a building to scout out the situation.

All the trees from the park were alive. They were moving around, destroying the buildings, and capturing humans.

[Animated Tree Lvl. 25]

They all had the same name and level, but that explained to me there was someone or something that was controlling them.

I was looking around, trying to find the one behind all of this when I noticed there was a guy dressed in a red pajama. He was shooting webs out of his wrists and flying about, trying to save as many people as he can.

[<Spiderman> Peter Parker Lvl. 49]

[Peter Parker was a highly intelligent teenager until he was bitten by a ??? spider, which greatly increased all of his abilities and granted him powers akin to a spider.

His uncle got killed, due to an incident he could've prevented, and he decided to become a vigilante to stop that from ever happening again and help anyone he can.

Peter wants to save everyone that is in danger.]

[Powers: Spider Physiology]

If Peter has powers akin to a spider, then why is he shooting webs out of his wrists and not out of his a... Nevermind, that's not important right now. I need to find where is the one that's controlling all of the trees.

I teleported to a few different buildings, trying to get a better view, but there was no one that looked different.

"I AM GROOT!"

Nevermind, I found different. It was someone with a humanoid body made out of branches.

[<The Monster from Planet X> Groot XXCVII Lvl. ??]

[Groot XXCVII is a Flora colossus from Planet X. He was sent to Earth by the Arbor Masters to obtain information about the inhabitants there, and to kidnap humans in order to take them to his planet for its scientists to study.

Groot XXCVII plans to take control of all plants and trees in New York and use them to lift the city to space.]

[Powers: Cellular regeneration; Plant Manipulation]

Okay, that's not good. New York is my home, and my grandmother lives here, I'm not letting some alien take it.

But, there is no way I can do this alone. Not when I can't even see the plant dude's level.

"Hey, Spiderboy, I need you to save all the people that are captured," I yelled to Peter as he passed near me.

That surprised him, and he slammed into a building, but his limbs stuck to the side of it. For a brief moment, I wondered if I can replicate the same thing with Mana.

"What? Are you a ninja?" Peter asked me with surprise after seeing my clothes.

"Not now, save the people!" I yelled at him.

"What do you think I'm doing? Helping the plant Hulk-wannabe?" Peter jumped away and swung towards a couple that was being chased by an Animated Tree.

Spinning Mana Bullet was going to be useless in this situation. Jumping down to fight them head-on with conjured weapons, was also not an option. There were simply too many Animated Trees. I had to reduce their numbers first.

I started creating portals under all the Animated Trees that didn't have people in their branches and dumped in the Atlantic Ocean. I really hoped they weren't able to swim.

Meanwhile, Peter was saving as many people as he can, and since there were fewer Animated Trees causing havoc, he had an easier time focusing on the people caught by them.

I turned my attention to Groot XXCVII and tried teleporting him away as well. However, he increased in size, and branches grew out of his body. They latched onto the nearby buildings and held him in place.

"I AM GROOT!"

Yeah, yeah, I know, no need to tell me.

Since I couldn't teleport Groot XXCVII out of there, I teleported myself to the ground, conjured a sword in each hand, and activated Mana Strengthening.

"I will cut their branches, you save the people!" I called out to Peter, who had stopped in place and stared at me.

"Wow, you are also a magician?"

"Now's not the time!" I yelled as I ran towards the nearest Animated Tree.

"Got it, Mr. Magician Ninja Dude," Peter shot me a thumbs up and jumped away.

With my increased stats by Mana Strengthening and the sharpness of my swords, the branches got cut up in a single strike. Peter then used his webs to pull the people away to safety.

I didn't bother killing the Animated Tree and created a portal sending it to the Atlantic Ocean before I ran towards another one.

It didn't take us long until we managed to save the people as we worked well together. I teleported all of the Animated Trees away, and only Groot XXCVII remained.

"I AM GROOT!"

"Mind helping me with Groot over there?" I asked Peter.

"What do I need to do, Mr. Magician Ninja Dude?" Peter asked, eager to be helpful.

"Just distract it," I said and twirled the blades in my hands as more of the materialized around me.

"Woah! I'm on it, Mr. Magician Ninja Dude!" I heard Peter exclaim before he flung himself towards Groot.

[Name: William Williamson

Mutant Power: The Gamer

Level: 29 Next Level: 19%

Title: Apprentice Sorcerer]

[HP: 655

MP: 2,398]

[Strength: 21 + 13.02

Vitality: 25 + 15.5

Dexterity: 28 + 17.36

Intelligence: 101 + 62.62

Wisdom: 51 + 31.62

Luck: 11]

[Stat Points: 28

Cash: $8319.70]

[Skills:

Observe(Active) Lvl. 6/10

Crafting(Active) Lvl. 8/100 (+5)

Cooking(Active) Lvl. 18/100 (+4)

Create ID(Active) Lvl. 10/100

Exit ID(Active) Lvl. 10/100

Energy Blast(Active) Maxed

Eldritch Magic(Active) Lvl. 41/100 (+6)

Portal Creation(Active) Lvl. 5/10

Spinning Mana Bullet(Active) Lvl. 33/100

Mana Strengthening(Active) Lvl. 35/100 (+10)

Massage (Active) Lvl. 3/100

Lying(Passive) Lvl. 14/50

Physical Endurance(Passive) Lvl. 22/100

Martial Arts(Passive) Lvl. 31/100 (+4)

Language(Passive) Lvl. 4/10

Meditation(Passive/Active) Lvl. 31/100 (+7)

Weapon Mastery(Passive) Lvl. 9/100 (+6)

Sense Danger(Passive) Lvl. 2/50

Parkour(Passive) Lvl. 10/100 (+5)

Mana Affinity(Passive)

High-Speed Calculation(Passive)

Medium Mana Capacity(Passive)

Medium Mana Control(Passive)

Gamer's Body(Passive)

Gamer's Mind(Passive)]