Chapter 6 (Patreon)

With consciousness came awareness, and for a scant few moments I was completely confused as to why everything felt so…foreign. I was lying on a lumpy but soft mattress, scratchy blankets were tossed over my half naked body, and there was the distinct smell of blueberries & cream drifting into my nostrils alongside a very real and warm weight pressing against my side. This definitely wasn’t my apartment - the bed was too uncomfortable, and my on and off again girlfriend used strawberry shampoo.

And then, the cloudiness faded, and all of the memories of the previous day hit. One by one. In gratuitous, prodigal, and damn near nauseating detail.

I got fucking isekai’d into Worm by some omnipotent entity.

The Celestial Grimoire was shoved into my soul.

And I killed four nazis, set fire to the leader’s car, and escaped with a spunky hacker girl who apparently liked to use large amounts of blueberry shampoo.

A mirthless chuckle escaped hollowly from between my lips. ‘All in a day’s work, I guess.’

After opening my eyes and blinking away the crusties, I spent a couple minutes just staring up at the slate gray concrete ceiling above me. Cassie had given me the grand tour yesterday before she had collapsed in bed and started snoozing, and I had to admit - her bunker was pretty fucking badass. Obviously it was a bunker so commodities were pretty low, but whoever owned it before her clearly had a bit of money to toss around. Having access to an emergency shower, limited amounts of electricity, rudimentary plumbing, and even whole servers was insane for what was meant to be an Endbringer shelter. Although I had a feeling that most of the technology stuff had been brought in retroactively by Cassie herself.

Hell, the chick even had a fucking coffee machine. And speaking of…

Carefully, I shimmied my way out of the mess of blankets and limbs and rolled lightly onto the cold stone floor. Cassie, now thoroughly washed and rocking a pair of oversized pajamas, grumbled something in her sleep and shifted around. Her ankle was propped up by an extra pillow at the foot of the bed, so she was forced to stay lying on her back - probably the only reason why I was able to escape without waking her up.

Say what you wanted about ‘stranger danger’ and ‘boundaries’, that girl was touch-starved as fuck.

I, admittedly, hadn’t asked before slumping into her bed after my own shower, but she had briefly woken up to yell out ‘Lights off’ and lay her head on my chest so I considered myself innocent until proven guilty. That innocence, however, would not hold up in any court of law if I loomed over her sleeping form with my very real and very hard morning wood, so I quickly turned away and started up another cup of joe. It was fortunate that she had a pile of hand-me-down clothing, including clean underwear, piled up in her tiny bathroom or else more problems would’ve popped up during the night.

Namely, little Jay jabbing her like that switchblade she let me borrow.

Not to come off as cocky, but ‘little’ was pretty inaccurate - so I was thankful that hadn’t happened. Hiding it would’ve been impossible, and I didn’t want to run my newest roommate off or make her think I was some sorta rapist creep. It didn’t help that her attractiveness practically doubled once she washed the grease out of her hair and cleaned the muck off of her skin. Pouty red lips, soft, pale skin, and from what I’d seen before she showered yesterday…

Girl had a pretty fat ass. Small tits, but I was definitely an ass and thighs guy before I was a tits man. Annnd now my newest perk was bringing to mind the very clear memory of Cassie’s bare little bubble butt as she slipped away into the shower. There was no door to the bathroom, and the emergency shower was simply a sprinkler nozzle jutting from the ceiling, and she hadn’t seemed to mind when I stared for a few seconds before turning away. Maybe a bit shy, definitely blushing and pouting, but she hadn’t said a word. It could be the whole ‘saving her’ thing kicking in? Plus, she did call me handsome back at the bus stop…

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

“Fuck!” I jumped, my heart skipping two whole beats at the annoying sound of the coffee machine going off. “That’s what you get for bein’ a perv, Jay…” I shook my head in amusement, grabbing the chipped mug filled with steaming hot liquid and bringing it with me as I headed downstairs. We didn’t have much in the way of creamer or sugar - apparently Cassie had been out running errands for the past couple days and was hoping to grab some commodities on the way back, but then she met me, and well…

It was probably up to me to grab the essentials now that I was the de-facto man of the house. ‘And,’ I thought dryly, taking a sip of the bitter coffee and shuddering in disgust as it went down, ‘It was sorta my fault she got fucked up in the first place.’ The memory of her ankle dislocating - the sound of the bones cracking, the fear in her voice as she screamed - flashed through my head. It wasn’t as all-encompassing as the memory of her ass, however, and I easily brushed it away. My control over the magical perk was improving steadily.

A Rareified Mind (Cultist Simulator - 100 CP): It would be a shame that in your quest for enlightenment you suffered a lapse of memory. It’s not like some of these secret teachings can be found in the local library. This simple perk makes your memory perfect, limitless, and retroactive, while also allowing for instant recall and perfect indexing. You’ll never forget any moment of your life, no matter how small, and you’ll be able to recall those moments as if you were currently standing there again. As a retroactive effect, your past memories will also be affected, even if you’ve somehow managed to forget them.

It had been a bit scary, suddenly seeing my life flash before my eyes right before bed yesterday. I’d thought I was dying from a fuckin’ heart attack or undiagnosed cancer or something, but indexing the memories and filing them away in a sort of mental cabinet quickly calmed down the onrush of long-forgotten sights and sounds. I had accepted the perk myself, but I hadn’t exactly expected it to blindside me like that. It did, however, have the positive effect of alerting me to some things I’d forgotten in the excitement.

“I fucked up.”

The stoic declaration didn’t come with any self-pity bullshit or excuses - I wasn’t that type of guy, and although I had issues with anxiety in the past, there wasn’t much of it bothering me right now. It was a simple fact that I played yesterday’s confrontation extremely sloppily, and I chewed on the thought as I sat down at Cassie’s expensive-looking computer setup and leaned back in the chair.

I took another sip of scalding hot coffee. The bunker was cool, temperature-wise, and the bitter liquid helped warm me up a bit in my current state of undress.

“If there were cameras in the Docks, there definitely had to be cameras watching over that fight. I had my hood on, sure, but Cass didn’t…” I’d be pissed at myself if my lack of forethought got my little hacker hemmed up with the cops. She hadn’t shown anything supernatural so I doubted the PRT would be on her ass, but maybe they would if she was seen as a partner to me - the Cape that had just killed four assholes in broad daylight with glowing knives.

I groaned, sitting the coffee mug down at the desk and covering my face with my hand. “What to do…”

I was probably a fucking criminal now. Sure, self-defense dictated that I defended myself, but taking the dude’s car and going only for kill shots? I wasn’t a lawyer, but my now crystal clear memories of Judge Judy told me that a normal jury wouldn’t look at the situation super favorably. But I was in Worm now, and they had different players. I didn’t have to be on the lookout for just cops. The PRT would definitely be looking for me, and considering the fact that the jacket-wearing skinhead was screaming on the phone…

I probably had the Empire on the lookout as well.

A loud, obnoxious, and familiar yawn from behind had me slowly twisting around in the desk chair. In spite of my dark thoughts, my face was as ‘resting bitch’ as it always was as I gave the sleepy Cassie a two-fingered salute. “Yo.”

“Ugh, guuhdmornin- aaaah.” Slouched over the railing of her impromptu bedroom patio, messy-haired and drowsy, Cassie cut her words off with yet another jaw-cracking yawn. The sleeves of her black pajama top was too big so it hid her face when she went to cover up her mouth. Smacking her lips, the girl blinked down at me. “Watchu stressing ‘bout?”

I arched an eyebrow. “The usual. Killin’ mooks, the possibility of being incarcerated, the fact that you’re walking on an ankle that looks like a purple balloon.” I gestured at said ankle with a disapproving frown.

Cassie smirked, waving her flappy sleeve dismissively. “I popped a few painkillers when I woke up, don’t worry. I get chronic migraines often so I stol- er, borrowed a lot a couple months ago.” She blinked again, her staring turning more intense as the sleep faded from her eyes.

I winced in sympathy. “Shit, sorry - migraines are the worst. Still, numbing the pain doesn’t mean you can just hop around on it. It won’t heal that way.” I was far from a worrywart, but I felt responsible about the injury and I wanted her to feel better as soon as possible.

“Trueee…” Cassie trailed off, breaking eye contact and glancing downwards. Her eyes were back up immediately, however, and I briefly wondered if I’d just imagined it. Fucking teenage hormones acting up again. “I’ll do my best, but uh…y-you need some clothes or something? I know it’s pretty cold down here.” Or maybe not? The nervous lilt in her voice sent a spark through my chest.

I glanced down at myself. While I would never say that I was the most muscular man in the room, I had to admit that I was looking better than I remembered looking back home. It wasn’t by some significant amount - I was still athletically built and leaning more on the lankier side, but the robustness of my chest and the definition of my abs were more prominent than they were a few days ago for sure.

That wasn’t even including the large, meaty imprint that slid down the right leg of my briefs. It was all a bit obscene now that I took everything in at once, but I had never been one for hiding my body back at home. Shame or embarrassment were two emotions that I rarely had the pleasure of dealing with. Not even bothering to adjust myself, I looked back up to the staring girl. Her eyes had drifted down in tandem with mine, and she hadn’t even realized.

“Nah, I’m good,” I said coolly, keeping my face carefully composed. “If it’s uncomfortable for you then I definitely can though, no issue. I just feel comfortable like this.” I leaned back in the chair, folding my ankle over my knee in order to make it seem like I was trying to ward away her gaze. In reality, however, it only accentuated my bulge.

Dully, in the back of my head, I wondered why I was messing around with Cass - why was I subtly working to rile her up or get amusing and satisfactory reactions out of her? And then my mind flashed through a few dozen memories of me doing the exact same thing to previous female conquests over the years, and I dryly accepted it. I was a fuckin’ deviant, and this shit was fun.

“You-...” Cassie’s cheeks practically exploded in fiery red, all sleep erased irrevocably from her mind as she raped my attractive form with her eyes. She was biting her lip again - something I was beginning to associate with her being nervous or unsure - and I could hear her breath quicken. “Uh, your- I mean! You can totally do what you want here, y’know?” Her breath caught in her throat, and her normally low and sensual voice cracked just a bit. “I’m cool.”

Snort.

Amusement began to war with the slumbering heat in the back of my chest, and I couldn’t stop the crooked grin from breaking out across my face. “You’re cool,” I agreed tightly, barely holding myself back from breaking out in chuckles.

Cassie gaped, her eyes sharpening in anger. “Jason you dick!” she yelled, going right back to her all bark and no bite self. “Go put on some fucking clothes, harlot!” Reaching back, she grabbed the pillow from the foot of her bed and launched it at me with a grunt.

I watched it fly for a brief second, my mind tracing the trajectory of the toss and channeling that information directly into my muscles. Reflexes wanted me to either dodge out of the way or catch it, and for a moment I marveled at the feeling. Time didn’t actually slow down or anything, and I was sure that a thrown pillow was immensely slower than, say, a bullet, but my reaction time was markedly faster than it was yesterday. It felt…nice.

As quick as a snake, I stood to my feet and yoinked the pillow out of the air, rotating with the momentum of the throw and tossing it over the side of my head straight in Cassie’s direction. She yelped and went to duck down way too slowly, but I hadn’t aimed for her.

The pillow barely landed an inch or two away from my intended target - which was the exact same spot she grabbed it from. I clicked my teeth.

“Lame,” Cassie huffed, sticking her small pink tongue out at me. “Using your powers to harass the defenseless hacker, huh? For shame, truly.”

I gave her a bemused smirk. “You’re sounding awfully cocky for a shameless pervert, Cass. My eyes are up here.” I gave her a faux reproachful glare.

As expected, she immediately flushed again, a puckered little pout forming on her lips. Her eyes lowered shyly. I was beginning to understand a bit more of how she worked, and it wasn’t very far from what I’d originally observed. She acted tough, spunky, and flippant…but she really was a soft little nerd on the inside, wasn’t she?

I went back and grabbed my quickly cooling mug of coffee, and an errant thought went through my head. I blinked back up at Cassie.

“Say, Cass…”

“What?” she snapped, but there was no heat in her voice. She crossed her arms and stared down at me imperiously.

“Are you a virgin?” I asked seriously.

“...Shut up!” Huh, her voice was much higher again. It was happening quite frequently, and I put thought to the back of my mind for later pondering.

“But you get so nervous when I-”

“SHUT. UP.”

“I can teach-”

“JASON!”

Laughter bubbled in my chest, free and happy. “Alright, alright - but seriously, grab some coffee and get down here. There’s some stuff I wanna talk to you about.”

“...Whatever.”

Turning away from the furiously blushing and annoyed girl, I walked over to the other side of the room in order to grab the second rolling chair from her…third computer?

All jokes aside, I needed help figuring out what to do, and who better to help than a Brocktonite hacker?

_________________________________________

Clad in an oversized pink hoodie and torn black fishnets that was doing an admirable job at dividing my attention, Cassie took a brief break from typing on her obnoxiously loud mechanical keyboard to give me a dry glance.

“So, let me get this straight…” she began, tapping her big toe against my stomach.

Oh yeah, and she was back to being physically clingy. Her fucked up ankle was wrapped up in worn bandages and resting on her desk, but her uninjured ankle was currently resting on my lap. Thank God I put on some actual clothes, as threadbare as they were.

“Go on,” I replied easily, flicking her toe. She jumped and gave me a mock glare.

“I will.” Wiggling her butt in her chair and clearing her throat, Cassie looked back over to her main monitor that was opened up on some sort of Microsoft Word expy. Words in tiny font scrawled down the white page, but my vision was way too shitty to even attempt to read from my seat a few feet away.

“In Jason Black’s ‘Ultimate Three-Pronged Plan To Survive and Thrive’, you want to: One, amass overwhelming strength and wealth via generating different abilities through your bullshit Trump power. Two, clear your name with the PRT and come out the other side a free and squeaky clean man. And finally, three...destroy the Empire-88 and piss over the burning ashes of all their assets and properties because ‘fuck nazis’?”

The blank, incredulous stare that Cassie gave me after reading the first portion of her word document left me feeling a bit self-conscious. I shifted in my seat, not enjoying the feeling. “You summarized what I was telling you in a way that made it sound dumb as fuck.” I spat venomously, though the venom was more like a spritz.

Cassie snorted. “Sure, but don’t lie: I basically wrote what you said without the dumb flowery wordiness you were adding in to sound smart and professional.”

I gaped at the pure amount of lies that were escaping from between her lips. “I am smart and professional! And destroying nazis should always be commended, not mocked.” I was definitely not being petulant and acting my age right now. No sir.

Cassie shook her head, grinning in amusement. “They’re assholes for sure, and I’d love to ‘piss over the burning ashes of all their assets’, but a good plan always starts small. You have to…build a foundation before you can start toppling entire organizations, Jay.” Though her face was amused, Cassie’s voice was dead serious as she stared me straight in the eye.

I probably would have been intimidated or put off by the seriousness being showcased if not for the knowledge that she was wiggling her toes beneath my shirt in search of warmth.

As it stood, I merely sighed and nodded my head. “Fine, then scratch that out for now. Step one is still salvageable, though.” And speaking of ‘bullshit Trump power’...

My soul sent its line out, a positively humongous charge having been built over the course of the past couple days, and the ability that it snagged itself on was…interesting. I wasn’t the most knowledgeable of Warhammer, other than knowing that the universe was the incarnation of chaos and war, so I was already relatively hesitant at the idea of introducing any of that particular flavor of madness into my soul.

The fact that the ability was called ‘Skull-Weave’ and was based around terrifying my enemies with the whimpering and screeching skulls of my fallen foes was reason enough not to grab it. That they would be weaved into my hair and clothing was just icing on the disgusting cake. That was not my vibe at all, so I released it back into the sea.

I blinked back into focus just in time to hear Cassie’s loud ass keyboard once again. “Sure it is, but I need to know more about it if you want my help. You say the time between abilities are random, but is there a limit? Are they only minor powers?” She eyed me oddly as she asked the last question, not even trying to hide the curiosity on her face.

For a moment, I thought of lying and playing dumb about my limits, but honestly…I needed someone in my corner. I wasn’t so dumb and arrogant as to think that I could make it through my time in this world without a confidant, and Cassie has done absolutely nothing to make me doubt her or her intentions. There had been so many times I could’ve been able to hurt or kill her, and she freely lied in bed with me on the same day we met.

So, trusting my gut instincts, I looked her straight in the eyes and…

Slid on the hipster-looking sunglasses that I’d found snooping around the boxes of junk in the back of the bunker. One of the lenses had a crack in it, but I figured I’d learn magic that could fix it eventually.

Cassie blinked in confusion. “Jay, what are you doing with my-”

“I can’t see you, so you can’t see this,” I cut her off, hoping beyond hope that my understanding of the Eyes See All or None ability was correct. As soon as the words left my mouth, that familiar sensation of an egg cracking over my head flowed through my body, and a shiver went up my spine. I wasn’t one hundred percent certain, but…I was pretty sure that it worked.

Cassie stared at me. Hard. “That’s another power thing, isn’t it? Yesterday, you said something weird right before acting like you could see the dumpster behind us.” Her head tilted lightly to the side as she studied me like I was some sort of particularly complicated syntax error.

I pinched her thigh to shake her out of it.

“Ow!”

I gave her a cheeky smirk. “It is a power thing - I get eyes on the back of my head when I say the words ‘I can see what you’re doing there, young man’, and they can even see invisible people.” Her eyes widened at the explanation.

“Woah, let me see!”

She gasped when I turned my head to the far right, blinking a couple times beneath my glasses. “What do they look like?”

“Pretty, like your normal eyes.” Cassie said absently, leaning forward a bit to poke at them. It was…weird, seeing through two pairs of eyes for the second time in my life. It was also less discombobulating. Her finger went straight through the illusory pupil, not affecting my depth perception or vision in the slightest. “Weeeird.”

“Pretty weird,” I agreed, turning my head back to her and deactivating the ability. “And thanks.”

“For what?” Cassie raised an eyebrow, leaning back in her seat once more and crossing her arms. “Poking ‘em? Freak.”

“For calling my eyes pretty,” I replied easily, “I think yours are pretty mesmerizing as well.” And they were, truly. Dark, smoky, almond-shaped, with long black eyelashes that gave them that feminine appeal. Ten outta ten eyes for sure.

Cassie actually managed to get through the sudden compliment without gaping or stuttering. Smiling a bit, she tucked a strand of her behind her ear and peered at me suspiciously. “...Thanks. But don’t try to weasel your way out of the topic at hand.”

Topic at hand? Even with my perfect memory, I lagged a little bit. Her eyes really were pretty.

Her smile faded into an impatient frown. “Your powers! What are your limits and are they limited to minor abilities, like the eye thing you have going on?” Her fingers were posed over her keyboard, and there was an eager glint in her eyes. At least she seemed invested.

“Ohhh yeah,” I breathed, nodding my head. “I don’t have any limits.”

Cassie raised an eyebrow, impressed. “So you can have a set amount of minor and major abilities, like the golden energy constructs you made of my knife. That’s actually…really fucking strong, Jay. Now, what are the limits to-”

“No, listen to me,” I cut her off, looking her straight in the eye. “I don’t have any limits. Period.”

…Silence.

Cassie simply stared at me, all bravado and impatience wiped clean off of her face. Her eyes searched mine, likely looking for any signs that I was lying or tossing out half-truths, but clearly my penchant for blunt honesty preceded me because she let out a harsh breath a few seconds later.

A disbelieving giggle left her mouth, and she withdrew her leg from my lap. “Alright, if that’s how this is gonna go…let me go grab my good weed.”

I wrinkled my nose, watching her hobble towards the back of the bunker. More specifically, I watched the captivating sashay of her hips. Was it just me, or was she moving a bit more seductively than before?

“You smoke dope?”

She nearly choked on laughter.

“That’s your moral boundary?!”

I snorted. Admittedly, that was a pretty fucking silly hill to die on. It wasn't like I was straight-edged; I just didn't like smoking weed because the scent was fucking gross. I knew a lot of people back in my past life who smoked it to help with chronic illnesses, however, so it wasn't surprising to me that Cassie partook. What did surprise me, and what a pleasant surprise indeed, was the sensation of my soul reaching out into the sea once more. Perhaps the Grimoire was impatient and didn't enjoy me rejecting its humbly offered 'SKULL THRONE' ability - which sounded about right, considering it actively wanted me to grow stronger. It wouldn't be offering me powerful magic otherwise.

Armaments (Generic MG - Free): For most girls, this is a simple scepter or wand. But different girls are different people with different weapons. Some might have swords, some might use some might just have brass knuckles integrated into their raiment. Take up to as many power packages have been purchased. You can import any of your personal weapons into your armaments, and can later import armaments into future weapons. Armaments can be materialized to hand while transformed. Materializing a weapon will also repair it, though that will cost a small amount of magical energy.

I almost wanted to laugh victoriously at the odds. I wasn't a girl, that much was obvious, but I was not turning down a free weapon and the ability to transform said weapon into any other weapon I came across in the future. Yoink.

As I accepted the power, I could feel it reel itself into my soul, imprinting upon me a question that was less heard and more felt.

What form would my weapon take? It waited for me to summon it with my mana, a twinkle in the back of my eye in need of an owner.

I pondered the question amidst the quiet curses from Cassie as she fumbled around and searched noisily in the background.

_________________________________________

Perks Received:

A Rareified Mind (Cultist Simulator - 100 CP): It would be a shame that in your quest for enlightenment you suffered a lapse of memory. It’s not like some of these secret teachings can be found in the local library. This simple perk makes your memory perfect, limitless, and retroactive, while also allowing for instant recall and perfect indexing. You’ll never forget any moment of your life, no matter how small, and you’ll be able to recall those moments as if you were currently standing there again. As a retroactive effect, your past memories will also be affected, even if you’ve somehow managed to forget them.

Armament (Generic MG - Free): For most girls, this is a simple scepter or wand. But different girls are different people with different weapons. Some might have swords, some might use some might just have brass knuckles integrated into their raiment. Take up to as many power packages have been purchased. You can import any of your personal weapons into your armaments, and can later import armaments into future weapons. Armaments can be materialized to hand while transformed. Materializing a weapon will also repair it, though that will cost a small amount of magical energy.[/spoiler]

1000 CP Remaining.