Chapter 5: Rex Tremendae Maiestatis

Ian awoke in a cold sweet as he looked around. His vision was blurred but he could tell he wasn't in his home. The dark blue surroundings melded together as he threw off his blankets.

He felt a splitting pain in his head as he moved his legs off of the bed. "This is a different realm." A changing voice spoke. The voice changed between voices he recognized. His mother's, father's, Zoey's, Lily's, and a few others, but never the construct's.

He stood up. His vision began to normalize slowly as he looked around. Various objects, floors, creatures, and more floated around in an infinite expanse, seemingly paused in time.

The sky is a dark blue which fades into black on the top and bottom. 'Where am I?' Ian asked himself as he looked around.

"You are everywhere, and nowhere." The changing voice spoke. "There will be a restructuring of power, be ready." It spoke once more.

"What do you mean?" Ian asked.

"Silence! You are lucky to be in the presence of its omnipotence!" It spoke once more, but this time it was as if multiple were speaking at the same time.

"Answer my question." Ian said with an annoyed tone.

"Arrogant fool! You shall feel the wrath of their omnipotence." It spoke in a multitude once more.

"Silence, ignorant ones. We are in the presence of a unique being." A masculine voice echoed through the expanse. "You, strange one, are between the fabric of reality, bordering on what is real and fake. You are everywhere and nowhere." It continued.

"What do you mean by unique being?" Ian asked.

"You will see, or you will not. All possibilities exist, all possibilities form into one." It responded.

"That doesn't answer anything." Ian said.

"Leave my realm. I will observe your journey for now." It said.

Ian jolted awake as light flooded his vision and his breaths went in and out heavily. He moved his legs off of his bed as he normalized his breath. 'The fuck was that?' Ian asked himself.

He stood up and went through his routine. After getting out of the shower, Ian saw the construct sitting on his bed. "Is something wrong?" She asked.

"No. I just had a weird dream." Ian responded.

"I see." She said. "I have to admit, I am curious as to how it feels to dream." She added.

"Are you incapable?" Ian asked. She nodded then got off of the bed.

"It doesn't bother me, just makes me curious." She said.

"That makes sense. Anyway, I'm going to see about finishing more quests today." Ian said.

"Okay, remember to spend scrap when you get it." She said. Ian nodded as he left the room. He exited and began walking around. He opened the GUI and checked his quests.

Quest #1: Save her.

Quest #2: Use x-ray to peek on girls that are changing.

Quest #3: Use x-ray to peek on women in the shower.

Ian's eyes were immediately drawn to the new quest. 'Who?' He wondered as he stopped. 'Well, I guess for now I should focus on the other quests. Although, I do think it would be best to search for whoever I am supposed to save as well.' He thought as he continued walking.

After a while, he reached his local activity center which has a pool, changing rooms, a gym, and all sorts of activities. (Think of the Y if you know what that is.) He paid the entrance fee, then entered.

'I feel bad for doing this...' He thought as he walked over to the in-building cafe that is roughly eighty feet past the entrance. He ordered a coffee and sat down, then looked in the rough direction of the changing rooms and activated his ability.

His sight went past the walls and he could see into both the male and female changing rooms. He focused on the women's changing room and observed them as they changed, and after a few moments, he heard a ding, signifying the quest's completion.

He looked a bit further and looked into the showers and waited for some women to enter them. After around ten minutes, a few people had entered and he heard the ding. With a hard dick and finished coffee, he exited the activity center.

He looked around for a bit, then found an isolated bench and sat there. He opened his quest log and clicked the finish button for both of his finished quests. He got fifteen scrap and two mystery boxes as a reward for the quests.

'Hopefully they aren't all bad.' Ian thought to himself as he opened the first one. The box had a faint glow to it for a moment.

'Congratulations! You have received the Mystical Shovel! (+3 int when wielding and +1 int when on body!)' A text box appeared with this text.

'I'm not walking around with a shovel attached to my fucking back.' Ian thought to himself as he put the shovel next to him and grabbed the next box and opened it.

'Congratulations! You have received the unreleased copy of the Youjo Senki manga! (Upon finishing you receive +1 wisdom. Consumed upon finishing.)' A text box appeared with these words applied to its body. {Author here. Read Youjo Senki, it's good. It is also called the saga of Tanya the evil, it has an anime.}

'Well, at least it's not completely and utterly bad.' He thought as he skimmed the pages. 'It's in Japanese. Of course...' He thought. 'Well, I now have twenty-five scrap points, I should probably spend it.' He thought as he opened the scrap shop.

His eyes quickly moved to the section with the appearance, material, and structure stats. He quickly clicked the material and structure plus icon twice, upgrading both of them twice and spending ten points.

'Alright, the current prices are now three for appearance, and four for material and structure...' He thought as he pondered how he should spend his points. 'As far as I can tell, appearance changes how human-like her features are. So basically it refines the details, and structure seems to slowly give here a more humanoid figure, and material just changes what she is made of.' He thought.

He tapped the appearance button twice, spending seven more points, bringing his total to eight. 'I think spending the last eight on structure and appearance will be a good idea...' He thought as he spent his last points on them.

[Title achieved: Appearance mindful. Requirements: Bring appearance to the five-point cost first. Effects: Upgrading appearance will be twice as effective.] A text box appeared informing Ian of his accomplishment.

'Fuck, I should have clicked structure first.' He thought angrily. 'Wait, if there was one at five, there should be one at ten, that means I just have to wait.' He thought as realization washed over him.

"Ian! What are you doing at the park with a shovel?" Zoey yelled from a distance with a friendly tone. Ian looked at the girl who seemed to be a decent distance away. He picked up his book and shovel, then walked over to her.

"You gonna tell me what it's for?" She asked.

"They are quest rewards." He said with a disappointed tone.

"That's shitty." She said blandly.

"Well, they give stat boosts, so it's not the worst, but... I don't think I should carry a shovel with me everywhere..." Ian said.

"Right... Well, what about the book?" She asked. He was silent for a moment. "Ian?" She asked.

"I have to read it to get the boost." He said. Zoey was about to speak. "It's in Japanese." He added.

"What kind of fucking system do you have!?" She asked with confusion.

"I have no clue... But, well, at least I got anything. Plus, for all I know, these could be important at some point." Ian said as he began walking.

"I suppose. Though I do think you should have gotten more." She said as she walked with Ian.

"For what I had to do to get these, I probably shouldn't have gotten anything." Ian said.

"What did you have to do?" She asked.

"The quest was to peep on the changing and showering of women..." He said a bit ashamedly as they exited the park and reached a sidewalk.

"I see. That does make sense. It seems rather difficult to find ways to properly give quests for your current ability." Zoey said as they both stopped to wait for the lights to change.

Ian suddenly felt as if time stopped. There was a young girl in the middle of the road crying for an unknown reason. He felt a sudden reverberation of emotion as he looked at her. He noticed a car that seemed to be speeding heading straight for the girl.

He felt as if he could not breathe. Tears formed in his eyes as his head became clouded with anger, sadness, and fear. As he felt himself choke in this moment of time that seemed almost artificially carved out of the normal flow, he forced himself to move.

As he ran to the girl, time seemed to have resumed. He ran to her and picked her up as he ran across the street. 'I'm going to die.' He thought as he lost his balance and the sound of screeching tires could be heard coming from the speeding car that was only mere inches away from Ian.