Pizza is life

Short brown hair, brown eyes, and an oval face stared at me from the mirror. My looks are nothing special, and I had the body of a typical teenager my age.

'Had' being the keyword. Now, there was just a little bit of visible muscle. Trust me, it's there, I can see it. I promise!

After I finished my homework, I started doing anything I could think of to increase my other stats.

First, I put on some gym clothes and went outside to run. I believed that with Gamer's Body, I will be able to just keep on running and not get tired.

I was wrong. I did get tired and had to rest a lot. My stamina regained fast, however. I ended up jogging for an hour and a half.

From all the running, my Dexterity increased by 3! I even got 1 point of Vitality for that. That was good to know.

However, running was boring, and if my stats hadn't increased, I wouldn't have been able to keep at it. Next time, I will definitely bring my headphones with me. That should make it at least a bit more enjoyable.

The next thing I did was my physical workout, which consisted of me doing pushups and lifting a pair of weights I had received as a present.

My Strength increased by 4, and I learned something valuable. When my Strength increased, every single muscle in my body got better.

That's so bullshit, and I absolutely love it! Just give me some time, and I'm sure girls will swoon at my muscular body.

If only there was a Charm stat, I could've made myself look super handsome. Guess I will have to just use my natural charms. After all, they've worked splendidly for my entire life. Not!

After that, I tried to find if there was another way to increase my Vitality. Since the stat was tied with my HP and HP regen, I figured reducing my HP and letting it regenerate could help there.

It did, but it wasn't pleasant. Hitting myself did the job, and it also granted me another skill, Physical Endurance. It decreases physical damage done to me by 1% per level.

Have I told you how bullshit my mutant ability is? Because I will say it once more, BULSHIT!

It was currently level 2 out of 100, but what will happen when it reaches 100? Will I become impervious to physical damage? I really want to find out.

On a side note, I did some testing with my Gamer's Body. Just saying, I'm not a masochist, but I did pierce my hand with a knife.

In a video game, your character never gets injured when attacked, only his HP drops. This wasn't the case for me. The wound stayed there, and I even got the Bleeding status effect.

However, after I bandaged the wound, the negative status effect was removed, and when my HP regenerated, the injury disappeared as if it was never there. That was informative.

I also considered chopping a finger to see if it would regenerate after I sleep, but not gonna lie, I chickened out.

From hitting myself, my Vitality had increased by 2 more, and it was now 13.

[Name: William Williamson

Mutant Power: The Gamer

Level: 1 Next Level: 29%

Title: The Gamer]

[HP: 130

MP: 140]

[Strength: 14

Vitality: 13

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 14

Wisdom: 18

Luck: 10]

[Stat Points: 0

Cash: 14.50$]

I always smiled when I leveled up a character in a video game and raised its stats, but seeing my own stats increase was unexplainably satisfying. I would even call it euphoric.

I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to do with my newly awakened powers. Fighting crime and whatnot did seem cool, even though the media didn't agree with it, but it was also dangerous.

I can easily die trying to do that. I don't even know how much I need to increase my stats to come even close to surviving the green monstrosity called the Hulk. His fight with the Abomination had left Harlem in ruins.

Finding what I wanted to do besides getting stronger was something I needed to do.

I took one last look at myself in the mirror before going to bed. I felt both physically and mentally tired, which was slightly disappointing.

Gamer's Mind and Body, you failed me! A gamer was supposed to go to sleep only when he had no other option! I had hoped I would be able to stay up indefinitely with those two skills, but it was not meant to be.

I didn't get to try and create other skills today since I was too absorbed in increasing my stats. The experience really is euphoric.

Tomorrow that will be a different story as I plan to try and create at least one skill. I will try to make a magical skill, but I will be happy with whatever I can get my hands on.

Time to sleep now.

---

While the lovely Gamer went to sleep, a certain bald-headed man was having a bit of trouble.

Cerebro, the machine that detected newly awakened mutants and boosted Charles Xavier's mutant powers, had found a new mutant in New York. For a whole day, he had been trying to find this new mutant, but there was nothing.

Xavier was sure that his machine did not make a mistake, but no matter what he did, he couldn't connect or find the newly awakened mutant. He just hoped it wasn't an outer mutation. Because if it was, there was a chance the Friends of Humanity had already gotten him.

There was even a worse possibility. If the newly awakened mutants power was discovered by his parents, and they didn't like it, they could be the ones that ended him.

Both of those were worst-case scenarios, and Charles hoped he was being blocked by the mutant's power. However, he knew that was the less likely situation.

---

The next day, I got up and was instantly awake. I usually needed at least a few minutes to sober up in the mornings. Unless it was a weekend. Then I could wake up and sit on my computer in a second. No buffer time needed.

Thinking about it, I hadn't even started my computer yesterday. I would've never considered that as a possibility before, but what was the point of playing a game when your life turned into one.

On the way to school, I kept using Observe, and the skill reached level 2. Whohoo.

I also wondered how my life will turn out now. I used to imagine finishing school, getting a simple office job, and playing games in my free time.

There was no point in the last one now, but the second one... Wait. I have levels, stats, and inventory. If I continued along this path, can I get loot from killing things as well?

That was an interesting thought, but what was I supposed to kill, and what kind of loot will I get?

In games, when you kill an enemy, you get loot specific to it plus the main currency of the game. So, will I get dollars, and will they be valid?

If they were, I might not even need a job. That's so bullshit.

Again, that brings me to the thought of what I should do with my life. If I can get money in such an easy way, I could live my whole life just playing my own game.

Things were never that simple, however. In games, comics, movies, trouble always finds you.

Damn it! Did I just jinx myself? I hope not.

School was just as boring as yesterday, but I tried to make the best out of it. It was a good place to increase some of my stats. I raised my Intelligence by 2, but my Wisdom didn't increase even though I participated in class and gave the right answers.

I guess I should've expected that since the higher the stat, the harder to increase it.

*Ding* +1 Wisdom.

Oh, I love that sound.

"Hey, Will. Vy didn't you log in yesterday? Didn't think you could miss a day?" Kurt greeted me in the break.

"Hey, Kurt. I had some things to take care of," was my reply.

"I don't think I will be even able to log in today."

Kurt looked saddened, but hey, I couldn't waste my time on video games, when I was already playing one all the time.

"Zat is sad. Maybe tomorrow, then?" Kurt asked me with a hopeful expression.

"Maybe."

*Ding.*

[Lying has increased to 4.]

God, damn it. I don't want to lie to you, my friend, but you haven't told me that you were a mutant. So, this should be fair. Right? Right?

We talked for a bit before we ran into the school princess. Bright red hair, luminous green eyes, and an incredible body every male in school had fantasized about, maybe even the females have as well.

[<Marvel Girl of the X-Men> Jean Grey Lvl. 29]

{Jean Grey 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.}

Apparently, she was also a mutant and part of the X-Men. It didn't say what her powers were, but this Charles Xavier guy had helped her control them.

Hmm. That name sounds familiar. I'm not sure, but I think I've heard it before.

Either way, Charles Xavier is either someone with extensive knowledge about mutants or has powers similar to Jean. Or maybe both.

*Ding*+1 Wisdom.

Jean was usually followed by Scott Summers like a faithful bodyguard, but about a week ago, they had a big fight. At least, that's what I heard. He hasn't been seen around her since then.

"Kurt, I will need you..." Jean paused mid-sentence and looked at me strangely.

Normally, I'd be happy to have caught her attention. Normally. Now, I just felt like something wasn't right.

"I don't believe we've been introduced. You must be Kurt's friend...um...umm."

Of course, she wouldn't know my name. I was no one important.

"Will," I said eagerly. Maybe I was a bit too eager to introduce myself, but hey, the school princess was in front of me.

"Will," Jean repeated my name and extended her hand.

"A pleasure to finally meet you. Kurt has told me a few things about you, none of them bad."

Enthusiastically, I shook her hand, and I don't know what got over me, but I blurted out. "Pizza is the best food there is."

Way to go, Will, way to go, just make an ass out of yourself.

There was a brief moment of silence before both Kurt and Jean burst out laughing. They were definitely laughing at my 'joke' and not at me. Yes! I guarantee you that.

*Ding.*

[Lying has increased to 5.]

Come on! You are supposed to be on my side. My own powers betrayed me.

"I prefer salads. They are healthier," Jean said after she finished laughing.

That saddened me. Why, oh, why would anyone prefer a salad over pizza? Come on, pizza is life!

That got me thinking. Maybe I can create a Cooking skill and make the best pizza ever to show her the true way of life.

*Ding*

[Quest has been created.]

[Cook the best pizza ever: Create the Cooking skill and raise it up before making the best pizza ever to present to Jean.]

[Reward: 1000XP, Jean will believe pizza is better than salad.]

[Failure: Jean will continue believing salad is better than a pizza.]

I accepted that quest the moment it popped up. I will show you, Jean, pizza is the way of life!

[Name: William Williamson

Mutant Power: The Gamer

Level: 1 Next Level: 29%

Title: The Gamer]

[HP: 130

MP: 160]

[Strength: 14

Vitality: 13

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 16

Wisdom: 19

Luck: 10]

[Stat Points: 0

Cash: 19.50$]

[Skills:

Lying(Passive) Lvl. 5/50

Observe(Active) Lvl. 2/10

Physical Endurance(Passive) Lvl. 2/100

Gamer's Body(Passive)

Gamer's Mind(Passive)]