5: Mission Accomplished
Nicaria—How could you be this cruel? Are you even human, @JohnDoe6769?
BeastMaster123—This cliffhanger deserves crucifixion!
Padoru—Do it after the novel is finished, please.
Imanahaq—Don’t worry guys, I’ll keep the author well fed; my basement is super comfy.
A familiar comfort settled into John’s chest watching the unchanged state of the comment section, no matter the world, but he vowed to be more careful about his identity. No matter how comfy a basement was, it was still a basement.
‘Better not let them find out who I am.’ He shuddered at the very thought of being discovered, already knowing how fans got with authors.
“Hey…” That was when a voice came from behind him.
“Waah!” John gave a not-so-brave cry and swung around, his arm flailing in a wide arc.
It would’ve hit the speaker if she hadn’t leaned her head back at the last moment.
“Easy there, camper.” Gwen chuckled, wiping the non-existent sweat of her brow. “Almost knocked me out.”
“Ah, well…” John controlled his pounding heart, looking between her and the computer screen. The only saving grace was that he hadn’t made the mistake of logging into his writer account.
Good thing he wasn’t the type to speak when he got excited, or his secret life as an author would’ve ended before it even began.
“You couldn’t wait either, huh?” Gwen smirked, and he tried to mirror it, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. “Man, I can’t wait for the next chapter too. Tell me if it's posted.”
With that, Gwen started for the door while glancing back at him, letting out a sigh of relief in her mind.
‘I hope he didn’t hear me scream.’ She scratched her cheek as he belatedly waved goodbye. ‘So damn embarrassing.’
She could feel her calm and composed image crumbling in real time. However, John didn’t give two shits about that.
He slumped on the table as soon as the door clacked shut, like a puppet with cut strings.
That could’ve ended badly. Getting exposed as the writer on the very first day? Was there something more embarrassing than that?
‘I need to be more careful from now on.’ John vowed not to check on the novels unless he was home; he had to resist the urge somehow. No, he would double-check everything even in his house before logging in there as well.
But as the pounding heart calmed down, he thought back on what had happened. Gwen sneaked up on him without a sound. Sure, he had all his focus on the screen, but he wasn’t that distracted. He could swear he had heard her shoes make squeaking sounds against the tiles when they parted ways near the cafeteria.
And now they made no sound? Not to mention the natural dodge. Sure, he was no Mike Tyson, but even he didn’t know when or how his arm swung like that. But Gwen very accurately moved back just enough to dodge, almost as natural as breathing. Not to mention the calmness after that.
‘There’s no way, right?’ His fingers poked at the keyboard, filling in the search bar.
He hadn’t searched for Spider-Man before because he was under the assumption Peter Parker was still a young kid. However, things were different now, and so was the spider hero.
Just the word spider was enough to fill in the rest. A long list of the Daily Bugle’s reports stretched out on the supposed Spider-menace. All featuring a hero in white and black spandex accented with magenta webs and topped off with a hood.
There was no Spider-Man, but a Spiderwoman. And who this Spiderwoman was had just hit John like a straight punch.
‘There goes my wish to get Spider-Man’s autograph.’ John had to scratch that one off of his bucket list. ‘But Spiderwoman, huh.’
His mind went back to Gwen. Recalling the blonde hair and blue eyes, it did match her style from the Spider-Verse movies. However, she had developed quite a bit compared to that version, as they were in university now.
John had tried his best not to look at her weirdly, but the hoodie and tight pants could barely hide anything, not to mention the figure in the spider suit. The suit drew too much attention to her thighs and chest.
‘Let’s put a pin in that for now. There is a bigger problem at hand with this Marvel timeline.’ He could only hope that this world didn’t throw more curveballs at him. Because he wasn’t sure if his heart could take any more of them.
Regardless, he went home in a jolly mood, almost floating over the stairs. That cliffhanger was still getting him EP, the number rising towards 100 at a steady pace.
John held back the urge to drop another chapter since the momentum hadn’t slowed yet. No matter if he cooked, ate, took a shower, or took a shit, his eyes stayed squarely on the EP counter like a stalking lion.
The moment his EP crossed 90, around midnight, the accumulation faltered from 1 EP every 10-15 minutes to 20-25 minutes.
“Time to deploy.” John acted like he was launching a missile.
And it wouldn’t be wrong to think that either; chapter five had to build up from the cliff of the last chapter. Which it did so very naturally.
The chapter started with an out-of-body experience for Taki, as he watched Mitsuha looking at the falling meteor that split in two, heading for her. And all he could do was shout out her name and tell her to run, with nothing reaching her.
Taki’s turmoil and uncertainty about Mitsuha’s existence became intense; then he went to the ‘body of the god’ where chewed rice’s sake was stored after the last ceremony. And after drinking the sake, he was back into Mitsuha’s body.
The image of him feeling up Mitsuha’s breasts while crying always made him laugh like an idiot. And just as the chapter had lulled everyone into a sense of safety, with Mitsuha and friends getting ready to save the town, no one took them seriously.
The mayor, the people, even Mitsuha’s young sister- her father even tells Mitsuha(Taki) to go and visit a doctor. The chapter ends on him turning towards the mountain beyond Itomori, wondering where his body was. Then he bolts there, telling his friends that the plan was still on.
This chapter was also a cliffhanger, but it was a positive one, a type that built anticipation in the reader about how the protag would solve this problem.
‘And as they keep thinking about it, the EP will roll in.’ With a smirk that would put Light Yagami to shame, John watched the EP cross the 100 mark in twenty minutes flat.
[You have completed the Tutorial Mission. Congratulations!]
Pixelated fireworks went off on the blue screen in front of him; honestly, where did their budget go? Regardless, John was more focused on the following panels.
[Transferring the details of John Grayson’s Bank account.]
It didn’t drop a card in his hand, but simply unlocked a memory in his mind.
‘5k in the bank is workable for now.’ John still had to visit the bank to get a card issued, but it was way better than chewing on day-old lettuce and calling it dinner.
[Skill Shop is now Unlocked.]
‘This is something.’ John inhaled the moment he switched to the second tab.
The panel took a dark, more purplish colour, with a list of sections on the left and his balance at the top.
Common, Rare, Super Rare, Ultra Rare; it was the standard rating fare.
Common had basic skills from drawing to martial arts to singing, with items that spanned from Vergil’s plastic chair to nerf guns and then straight up tanks and ballistic missiles. All increasing in price with the item. This section had a price range of 1-10,000 EP.
Then came the rare section. Sharingan, Ackerman’s physique, Dead Bone pulse, Cleave, Base Haki package, Symbiote, unawakened Zanpakuto, and the works. There were even items and weapons from famous anime and game worlds. The price range went from 10,000 EP all the way to 1,000,000.
The super rare section had John sweating. Kryptonian physique, Saiyan bloodline, Doomsday’s adaptation, The Balance, Tibetan monk techniques, and much more that had him shaking. The items were even more powerful, with Thanos’s gauntlet, Tony’s Phoenix Buster, and even noble phantasms. The price went from a million to upward of 1 billion EP.
John sat down on his bed, looking at the measly 105 EP; he didn’t even have the heart to look at the Ultra Rare section. It was like going to a yacht dealership with 10 dollars, a dream, and a pocket full of ignorance.
It seemed like even the system felt bad for him, sending another panel his way to distract him.
[You have received a rare skill coupon. It has been stored in the inventory.]
...
15 chapters ahead on Pat,reon.