Chapter 23 – Mommy Newman

John had left after Rave had encouraged him to. A few pleading glances had eventually managed to convey the message. She had brought him to the door and said, “Thank you for keeping me company. Gets pretty dull around when everyone’s doing stuff. I’ll see ya tomorrow.”

No goodbye kiss, but the hug he got was enough to lift his mood back to previous levels. It had been a wonderful day. If this was the future then the Abyss looked pretty bright. Even with the corpses, the blood, and the danger.

While he returned home, he cast Observe on anything even remotely interesting. For one, he wanted to level it. Additionally, he hoped he hit the information broker that was apparently on him. Finally, it popped up.

‘It’s maxed at five?’ John thought, confused. ‘Masturbation is at 18… is it special? No, Possession is also at 5 and it's still gaining progress to the next level. Maybe Observe is the special one? It does seem rather useful. It’s only been blocked once so far.’

It was a little bit overpowered that he could get as much as a hint of someone’s power and backstory at a single glance. In terms of information gathering capability, it must have been up there. Maybe he should consider getting into the whole info broker thing?

‘No, I really don’t want to snoop around strangers for a living, especially if they don’t deserve it,’ he thought and turned his mind to a more present issue: It was 9 PM. He had given his mom an excuse this morning, but it hadn’t covered this much time.

He quietly entered his home, hoping his mom had gone to sleep already. That was immediately dashed. She sat in the living room, staring him straight in the face when he entered. To get an idea how to best weather the storm, he used his new and improved Observe.

There was a lot there he regretted knowing. It was a little relieving to know that his own Libido was not some freak accident of nature, but every other detail he could have lived without. Especially the bit that implied she knew about what he did in his room… then again, how could she not? “John Benjamin Newman,” she cited his full name. “You are well past the time you told me you would be back.”

Considering what her Observe said, he could appease her with the truth. “I hung out with a girl.”

Immediately Brenda’s demeanour changed. “Really? You did!” The joy she displayed put a dent in his pride. An earned one, but still.

“Yes, really…,” he mumbled.

“Is she nice?”

“The best,” John said immediately. “She’s all colourful and bright and she has that sassy side to her that just…” He realized he was gushing and turned as red as he could. “She’s really fun to be around.”

“At your age, most girls are ‘fun to be around’,” Brenda said, her happy tone slightly compromised by worry. “I’m not going to tell you that she isn’t any of the things you said, just take care you don’t delude yourself into thinking she’s an angel just because she’s attractive, okay sweetie?”

“Okay,” John said with a strong nod. For all of the butterflies currently whirling in his stomach, he did want to keep those words in mind. If there was hurt coming out of this, he wanted to be prepared.

“And don’t let it affect your studies!” she warned him, laughing a little bit. “Alright, that’ll be all then. Don’t make it a habit to come home this late.” And that was all she said about it. She stood up and left the living room.

John followed her example and headed upstairs. Once in his room, he sat down in his gaming chair. Out of pure habit, he turned on the PC. The soft whir of the fans pushed away at the silence. He stared a hole into the air between him and the monitor.

‘My studies,’ John thought. Again, he considered if school was even worth it anymore. Did he really want to get a day job when he could be messing around with Rave an extra eight hours a day? Sounded like he was better off dropping out than getting prepared for something he didn’t care about anyway. He could just live off Loot, grow stronger and… do what, exactly?

His goal to get a harem had been an impulse. Now that he was hoping to get with Rave, it seemed so much more distant. A potential harem of sexy women lost a bit of its appeal now that he had chances to have one woman that actually existed. Everything beyond that awesome techno lover felt greedy… and John still wanted it. Even if the dream was tilting more towards realism, he would want it if it could happen. It just died as quickly as it came as his primary motivation.

‘I should distribute my Stat Points,’ he thought, just like last night. He had 20 of them laying around. ‘Wisdom for the path I already picked, Wisdom and Intellect or… maybe I should dump it all into Charisma? But Rave said I should get some muscles… do I really want to do something just because she said it? Maybe I should just get everything up? I… don’t know.’

The decision paralysis still had him strong in its grasp. In the end, he procrastinated on it, instead turning around and playing a couple of rounds of whatever game he was mentally awake enough to pay attention to. After a while of that, he went to bed. He still hadn’t figured out anything. Not what he wanted his Stats to be, not what to do with these emotions towards the girl with the bubble butt, and definitely not what his future would look like.

But it was just the second day since he got these powers.