MARVEL: GAMER PATH - CHAPTER 2 (Patreon)

The ride to New York was bumpy and the seats were very uncomfortable but the night wind was pleasantly cool. The road to the city cut across several farmlands and fields that colored the trip with a bit of entertainment. During this long trip, I had enough time to ponder over my situation as a whole, discovering and accepting a few things of it all.

First, I came to accept this was no dream or hallucination, that much had become clear after a while, painfully clear, and that scared me a bit, the implications of not being in my own world, and now being in one I always thought to be fictional was also a bit shocking.

Second, my gaming system or power was similar to that of a video game, which I suppose is to be expected with the thematic and all.

Last but not least, I had no idea what I was going to do now that I was here. Believe me, I know this is a situation many fantasize about, I have too in the not so distant past, but from there to make it a reality, it made this a whole lot more complicated.

But like my grandpa used to say, fuck the doubts and fears in the A without lubrication, for there is no point of stagnanting because of them.

Laughing at his old saying, I changed my focus from those suffocating thoughts, now focusing on the bright side of my situation, I was in the Marvel Universe, I had a power that was awesome, I had options to grow, I mean, it could’ve certainly be worse, I could’ve been a human with no powers in here.

As for my gamer power, like I said before it operated like a video game, in its entirety.

“Menu,” I thought as I yawned, leaning my head against the cold window of the truck as I waited for it to arrive to its last stop, where I would get off, also on another note, I had discovered the power worked with mental commands, meaning I didn’t have to look like a crazy person talking out loud.

[Interface]

[Character]

[Quest System]

[Inventory]

[Map]

[Skill List]

Some of this options were currently useless to me, like inventory, for I had nothing on me to store there, Skill List, also nothing, Quest System, since the last quest no other quest had appeared… but out of all of them, Interface was the best one, it had the option to put music in the background.

What can I say, if I ever get into a fight, I would love to hear a good song while I kick some ass.

“We are almost there,” the truck driver reminded me.

In a few minutes I would be in New York without papers, without money, and without a fucking idea how to get any of them, maybe working on construction… Those places always seem to hire people without legal documentation.

“Thanks,” I smiled, my eyes going back to the menu.

Opening the map, I chuckled as I noticed something, like a video game map, the map was mostly obscured aka undiscovered. The only unveiled portion was the small section I had absorbed from the newspaper and what I had ‘discovered’ on my trip to New York. Using mental commands I zoomed into the discovered area, seeing that the map worked better than I imagined, having icons and such giving me a general idea of what is what and where is where, for example, the coffee shops had a coffee mug as an icon.

With a smile, I zoomed out, seeing where I was going. According to the map, I was close to Queens, ha, spidey here I go… wait is Spider-Man a thing yet, wait what MCU is this…?

I really hadn’t questioned that yet, I mean I had no idea where I was… universally wise, Marvel has many iterations of its worlds, some better than others. “Fuck…” I cursed under my breath, if this was the marvel zombie universe I was going to lose my shit, and die, I am in no way equipped to survive a hungry hulk.

No, no need to panic just yet, for all you know, this world is the MCU cinematic universe, or another less dangerous iteration.

“We’re here,” the driver said, tapping me in the shoulder.

Looking around I noticed we were in the middle of the street, not in the last truckers stop, “Here?” I asked and he nodded.

“I can’t let my supervisor know I let people ride with me,” he chuckled, “So here is as far as I can take you.”

Oh that made sense, any supervisor would be mad at this clear breach of security, I mean, for all he knows I could be a serial killer or something. “Understandable,” I chuckled.

“Here,” Reaching for his wallet, he pulled a few bucks and handed them to me, “You look like you need a headstart, and I know what is that… so, consider this my blessing to you.”

[You have received 200$]

Impressed with this unexpected gesture, I took the money and smiled, “I don’t know what to say.”

“You could say thank you,” The trucker laughed. “It’s okay kid, we all need help sometimes, and I am glad I got to help you. Now, go find a job and pay taxes!”

“Haha, thanks.” I laughed, getting off the truck.

“See ya around!” And with that, he left. What a nice guy, giving a complete stranger money, this shit only happens in movies and ga… games, huh.

————————————————————————

It didn’t take me long to find a place to stay, surprisingly two hundred dollars in the 90s was a decent amount. I didn’t find a fancy place, but found a room I would have to share with someone for 150$ a month, no background check, no security deposit, which was perfect for me.

I mean yes, my roommate looked like he, he consumed them, and by looked I mean this.

[ Aaron Leman / Drug Addict = LV 3

HP = 23% / 100%

MP = NULL]

But in all honesty, I had nothing for him to steal, the money was in my inventory, and so would be all my future shit, at least while I lived here.

[New Quest = **Read some books**

Read a few books and learn a few helpful skills to help you in your day to day life!

Objective = Learn at least five skills 0/5

Reward = 175$, 300 exp, Tutorial Book]

And here I was thinking there would be no other quests, “Time to find a library!” I declared.

“I know where it is… I can tell you for… some cash,” Aaron smiled, a toothless smile, thanks to all the crack he had consumed in his life. Granted he still had a few teeth, but… not enough, also I take great offense my gamer power assumes I can’t take him off, he looks like the wind is about to break his back in Mortal Kombat style.

“I have no money Aaron, if I had… I would not be here…” I reminded him, for even though I had been here for less than a few hours he had already asked me for money four times.

“Well… fuck you!” And like the other three times, he stormed out of the room, oh no, whatever shall I do…

—————————————————————————

Finding the library was easy enough, I just walked up to a cop, asked him, and he took me to the library. Why did I approach a cop without legal documentation, risking my possible stay in the states? Well, if there is something I have learned about not having documents is… to not be suspicious, the more relaxed and calmed you look, the less deportable you look.

Once I was at the library, my hunt for skills began. Some books had requirements I had yet to meet, but others had none, like the world map I consumed like a hungry hippo, take that Google Maps!

I also learned some martial arts, Marksmanship, survival skills, and others, finishing the quest with ease, effectively leveling up to level three. Of course I didn’t stop there, I mean, finishing the quest was my primary objective of my coming here, but why leave when I could learn shit instantly.

So I stayed, and continued to consume the books I was allowed to because of my stats without anyone noticing, which I would do without even taking the books out of the shelf, I would just tap them, and boom.

In short, I continued doing this book consumption thing for hours to no end, until.

“The library is closing.” The Librarian approached me, tapping me on the shoulder.

[Mary Wolowitz - LV 4

Librarian

HP: 100% / 100%

MP: NULL]

“Oh, I’m sorry, I got carried away.” I chuckled, apologizing to the lady, “I’ll be out of your hair.”

“It’s okay, come back soon!” She waved at me as I left the library.

————————————————————————

[STATS

Name = Alex Walker

Occupation = The Gamer

Level = 3

EXP = 0/450

HP = 240/240

MP = 100/100

STR = 12

VIT = 15

DEF = 12

DEX= 12

INT = 12

CHA = 12

WIS = 12

WILL = 12

PER = 12

LUK = 7

STAT POINTS = 20

MONEY: 200$

]

[SKILL LIST

Cooking LV8 - Passive = A skill that allows the player to cook delicious meals. 8% increase in cooking efficiency.

Swimming LV 5 - Passive/Active = Passively increases movement speed when swimming by 5% = 2.2 miles per hour.

Running LV 12 - Passive - Active = Passively increases movement speed when running by 12% = 10 miles per hour.

Martial Arts LV 1 - Passive/Active = Passively increases hand to hand combat damage, when used actively it allows for total concentration in combat. Damage buff 1%.

Marksmanship LV 1 - Passive/Active = Passively increases accuracy and attack damage with long range weapons by 1%

]

The skills that are high level are because he knew how to use them prior to learning the skill in this life, so that transfers to here.