“The meat bun was good wasn't it?”

They are looking around, trying to find the source of the fire. I pick up the wet towel and drape it around my waist.

“I don't want to brag, but I am a pretty good cook.”

No fire. Just me. Standing here. Covered in soot and a wet towel.

“I will pay you in meat buns if you don't gossip about this.”

I think I've broken them.

“What the hell happened here!” Jessie is angry again. I didn't want that.

I contemplate for a moment. There are multiple possible answers to that question. I want to be honest, but perhaps not complete.

“I spilled the coffee.”

“Coffee set your apartment on fire?!”

“It was very hot coffee.” A little snarky, but I'm having a bad day.

“And how, perchance, did your coffee get so hot?” She is not respecting my bad day.

“I was reheating it. You said that it would be a good experiment.” Deflect, deflect, deflect.

“I said...you know what? I'm telling your parents.”

“No! That's bullshit!”

“You've been here 2, 3 days? And you set your apartment on fire!”

“This is totally unfair and wrong. You can tell my parents on me, but I can't tell your parents on you?”

“Not if you know what's good for you.”

I can tell she feels like she's gone a tad too far, because she helps clean up. She clears up all the smoke damage, but leaves the coffee itself to me. Even though it's partially under the fridge and it's going to be a pain to clean. Then she leaves without saying anything.

Matt is still here.

“Hey, Matt.”

“Hey. The wards took a small hit. How hot was that coffee?”

“I don't know really. It melted through glass and set everything it touched on fire.”

“That's over a thousand degrees man. Do you remember what I said about bombs going off?”

“Yes. No explosives that would take out a wall.”

“Well, add lava to the list. No lava. Jesus Jack.”

“It won't happen again. I did have it under control when you got here.”

“Alright man. How many meat buns are we talking?”

“You can have a couple, but it was mostly so no one told my parents, and we've passed that point now.”

Matt looks a little upset at losing his lifetime supply of meat buns. He perks up when I give him a chocolate frog.

It turns out that the coffee really did ding the wards. He had to get under the sink and partially recharge a crystal to put them back to full strength. I guess that's why the counters and floor did so well against the coffee.

“How did you two get here so fast?”

“You've seen how people move around in the game? Well anyone who can do magic well enough can do the same out here. I act as a kind of first responder, because I'm faster than a firefighter and better equipped. I called Jessie and she came as well.”

It's before 5, and Jessie will probably want to take her car home, so she probably teleported back to the office. I might have time to get to my parents first and adjust the narrative.

* * *

“You remember how you told me I can't smuggle drugs? Well, the moment she found out that I could bring things into the game, she wanted me to smuggle drugs for her!”

“That's ridiculous,” said Dad.

“I'm dead serious. I've been carrying around bulk caffeine all day.”

“Coffee is not a drug Jack,” said Mom.

“It is a drug. People are addicted to it. You need to understand, when you sleep and connect to the game, you are in there for like a day and a half. Can you imagine going a day and a half without caffeine? People get a little crazy.”

“So, what? You want us to protect you from her?” asks Dad.

“Well, it's just that she may say things that seem a little crazy.”

“How crazy.” Mom is not buying it.

“She came up with this crazy idea at breakfast. We would make the coffee, reduce the temperature, and store it in bulk. Then reheat and sell. She wanted experiments to be performed.”

“Not seeing a problem. What kind of experiments?”

“Just on cooling and reheating. But there are no microwaves or coffee machines in the game. It has to be done by magic. I went ahead with the experiment with magic, just the way Jessie taught me, but it caused a small fire.”

“How small?”

“You know how the apartment is practically destruction proof? The coffee maker was on the counter. I managed to safely grab it and drop it in my inventory.”

“I'm glad you are safe. It's no fun dealing with a kitchen fire. Is there anything else you want to tell us?” asks Dad.

“Some things on the counter caught fire, but I dropped them in my inventory too. Oh and some clothes.”

“You mean the clothes you were wearing at the time,” said Mom in her most ironic voice.

Oh. Jessie got to them first. Damn.

“Don't worry. Accidents happen. We'll just come by now and then to make sure you are doing ok in your new place. I'll bring the ladder and some plastic sheeting and we can have some father-son time painting the bedroom ceiling,” said Dad.

“And I'll make sure you don't set the place on fire again.” said Mom.

“Now Laura, you know that was an accident. He's new to his power, it's like a toddler trying to walk. He's going to fall down a few times.”

“Do you remember how many times he fell as a toddler? I'm surprised he isn't disabled.”

“Well, he did fall down a lot, but that's only natural. Thankfully we have someone who can watch out for him and isn't afraid of calling us if something serious happens.”

“And is he going to listen to her? She annoyed him pretty badly by telling us.”

Sigh. Be the bigger person. You set the apartment on fire, and she told your parents. Anyway, revenge is a dish best served cold. I should know, I'm an amazing chef.

“Yes, I will listen to her. I am spending more hours than there are in a day with her right now. You don't have to worry...ok you probably do, but I was never personally in danger. I would have run if I thought I was.”

“Good. We don't need a superhero, we need a son,” said Mom.

That was my cue for make up presents. I started with the magic chocolate sampler. The self-ambulatory chocolate wasn't quite the hit I thought it would be, but the choco-feels were a huge success.

I pop a happy dream into my mouth. It tastes like chocolate and...flour? No. Powdered sugar? No. I have never really tasted anything like it. It's balloons and flying and mountain climbing. There's love, the happy kind of sadness, and contentment.

I don't chew, I don't want it to end. Eventually it melts and the feeling lessens until it's gone.

Everyone has gotten different feelings, but they were all good ones. I pull the game sets from my inventory and place one each in front of Mom and Dad.

“I'd like it if you joined us in the game. It's truly a different world. You can do anything you can imagine.”

“And if we imagine looking after our son?” asked Mom.

“Then you'll have to keep up. As I understand it, everyone in the game has my powers, more or less. It'll put us on even footing.”

Dad grins. I can tell he wants to try. If Dad starts up a competition, Mom will be found exactly two steps ahead of him.

“We'll give it a try.” says Dad.

“If you decide to keep it after tonight, you'll have to go to beta tester meetings once a week. They are about an hour. Your meetings will be full of other people who know about the Hidden World, but don't have powers of their own.”

Mom and Dad share a glance. I can't decipher it. Do they want to meet these people? Are they worried? No clue.

“Anyway, how does roast pork sound?”

* * *

I pull out some of the meat and bread I cooked last night. Just enough to eat, not enough for leftovers. We chow down. It's not quite a perfect meal when it's assembled piecemeal like this, but the individual parts are all as perfect as they can be.

We eat while chatting about my experiences in the game. I express distaste at fighting animals in the game, even if they are virtual. I do warn them how dangerous the animals are though. I'm not sure how stat growth and learning skills works for regular users, so I suggest they start at the Adventurer's Guild and try to find other beta testers to ask for tips.

They look thoughtful, which is good I suppose, so I leave them to it. I'll probably see them in the game soon.

I head off to the college library. I want to hit up the medical section and really learn everything there is to know about the human body's composition.

I get to the campus and stop in the store to pick up a USB drive. Then to the library. I find the biology books easily enough, and start scanning. There are more than just a few books. I need more than the basics for the spell I want. I have the self-scan that I can use with the self-replicating healing spell, but I'm not sure I would want to use that even in fatal danger. It might roll back my stats, or my memories, or god knows what. Jessie probably knows too.

I start on cells, move down to viruses, up to organs, down to genetics, and further down to molecular biology. There is a lot here. I'm not going to be able to digest all of this before I want to log in for the game. Not even a tenth. I keep scanning. After I get through all the textbooks on biology I move over to chemistry and start over.

What I really want is to get my biology general knowledge skill so high that it fills in anything I don't know. I think if I get it high enough, it should fill in the gaps. I want to be proficient enough to heal an arm that a person was born without and make it indistinguishable from the real thing. Or I could just learn life energy, but I'm stubborn like that.

I really wanted to download all the latest journal articles to the USB, but I can't figure out how. I can view them, but it's far too slow to scan properly. I'd rather have a digital version so I could just absorb them all at once. The answer is simple, and heretical. I need pirated versions. Another thing I don't have time for.

* * *

It's 9 pm. Jessie, soon Valerie, will be meeting me. Havlar agreed to help us as a sparring partner for me. “Start System Link.”

I'm still outside the Bard's Guild, and it takes ten minutes or so to get to the training grounds.

Valerie and Havlar are already there, sparring. I stay back and watch. They are moving insanely fast, with real blades. Valerie has a single huge sword, while Havlar is rocking a sword and dagger combo. Valerie has her signature plate armor, but Havlar only has leather. I hope it's enchanted because they are actually managing touches on each other. Valerie is clearly the superior fighter, but Havlar is sneaky. He gets in hits with a combination of speed and guile. The more I watch, the more I understand the purpose behind the movements.

This is very high-level combat. Nothing like fighting a wolf or chopping a stick. I activate my Slow Perception skill and focus on Valerie willing my Body Mimicry to absorb as much as it can. I can see how a shifting foot leads to a strike, followed by a step that leads to a block. She is using strength and speed to overpower and deflect Havlar's smaller blades, and he is using his agility to weave around her powerful strikes.

They seem to know I'm watching, and they switch fighting styles. Now Valerie is the one moving quickly, and Havlar is using hard deflects to make openings that Valerie dodges. He manages a touch on her arm with his dagger, and leaps back as she comes down hard enough to break bone. He isn't fast enough. There is a sickening crack and Havlar's sword arm is bending in a way it shouldn't.

“Shit! Ow!” Valerie puts her sword away and grips Havlar's arm and wrist. He seems to know what is coming because he says, “Do it,” and clenches his teeth. Valerie pulls his arm straight and he gives off a yelp.

After the arm is straight, Valerie lays a palm on the spot where it was bent, and a soft white light engulfs his forearm. He relaxes and wiggles his fingers. All better I guess.

I approach and Havlar is feeling good after the healing. “You really shouldn't beat up those weaker than you. It's not fair to us lesser mortals.”

“Oh please, you practically jumped at the chance to drill a few lessons into Adam.” Oh right. I'm Adam in here.

“Yes, but that's hardly the point, he needs basic training while I just need to sharpen up what's already there. I'm a damn good fighter and no one but you could pull off a counter like that.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Anything is possible in here.”

I step up. “Are you ok? That looked really painful. And I was set on fire today.”

Valerie snorts. “You set yourself on fire, and he's fine. That was life energy, and he probably feels better now than before the break.”

“You set yourself on fire? That sounds like a story worth a drink or two,” says Havlar.

“Maybe later. I still haven't forgiven her for tattling on me.”

“A poor choice of words just before your training is to begin,” comments Havlar.

“You deserved it, and don't think your mother didn't call me and tell me what you tried to pull. I'm supposed to keep an even closer eye on you now, as if that were possible.”

“You are making it hard to be the bigger person.”

“I'm not the one who set my apartment on fire. If you want to be the bigger person, you'll have to wait until I screw up in some grand way.”

“I need to be the bigger person now so I can be the lesser person then.”

Her eyes narrow. “Havlar has volunteered most generously to spar with you. Let's not waste his time.”

“Sorry Adam. Looks like you stepped in it,” says Havlar.

I pull my beginner's sword out of my inventory and take up one of Valerie's stances. I had gotten my agility up, but my strength still needed work. I would focus on the faster style today.

We started slow, Havlar testing my footwork and ability to parry correctly. Occasionally Valerie would step in and correct me on my grip, or how I was moving my feet. Havlar would correct me on the motions to effectively parry, all while lecturing me on redirecting force.

Once in a while, we would step back and just move to combat. I did my best to emulate Valerie and Havlar's fast styles, but it was trickier than it looked getting the right amount of power to the right place at the right time. Yesterday's practice of taking an inch wasn't helping when Havlar was swaying like a reed in the wind. It was like trying to swat a fly out of the air with a ruler.

This went on for quite a long time. I ended up taking a stamina potion about 20 minutes in. My second wind helped me move without quite as much burning in my everything. I knew it was bad for stat growth, but I wasn't grinding right now. Stat points were just bonus to the skills I was getting. All this swinging and dodging was putting an enormous strain on me. I had to use Focus to keep from getting distracted by my weakening muscles and the overall pain. It was as bad as any sprint.

It was all worth it. I was getting better, and faster. I put less force into most strikes, preferring to push harder when there was more likelihood of a solid strike. I say more likelihood, but I still wasn't landing any blows. He wasn't having that problem. While he only hit me with the flat of his blade, it still caused me to bleed a little a few times, and it did take off a bit of HP each time a hard blow struck. When I pointed out that I was ruining yet another set of clothes, they just laughed and told me to plan ahead next time.

After an hour of practice, I landed a hit. I think I was as surprised as Havlar was. It wasn't particularly strong, and it certainly didn't cut through his leather, but it was the first bit of payback I had gotten for the hour long torture session. I knew his trouncing of me was actually a favor, but there's only so many times you can be hit with the flat of a blade before you want to return the favor.

The hit signaled time for a break.

Your Dexterity Has Reached 50! For Passing Peak Human Dexterity, Skills 'Unnatural Leverage' And 'Ambidextrous' Are Unlocked!

I'm a little surprised by the name “Unnatural Leverage” if only because most of my skills have been unnatural. Ambidextrous doesn't seem to actually do what it says on the tin, so I will need to put some effort in later to level it up.

“You are advancing very well. I've always envied you growth types, it took me a damn long time to get my skills.”

“It doesn't feel like it's fast. I feel like I always have more to do, and I can see everything I do wrong.”

“You have those partitions don't you? Can't you plan ahead during a fight?” asked Valerie.

“Yes, but I felt like it was cheating. I'll need those if I want to cast and fight at the same time.”

“If you aren't cheating you aren't trying. There will be times when you need to use all of your partitions for casting, and times when you need to put all your effort into your sword work. Perhaps if you get better you'll have a few spare brain cycles to leave idle, but this is not that time,” said Valerie.

“Can I watch you two spar again? I'm absorbing a lot with my new skills. I can almost copy your movements.”

“Ahh, that is why it felt like I was fighting against Valerie. If you have perfect memory, can you replay the memories and study the moves?”

“I...think so? I haven't tried.”

“Make sure, and we'll go through each move and then spar in each style.”

I consulted with Sarah and she was sure it was possible. I tried reviewing the sparring I had witnessed when I first arrived, and it seemed like it was working. I couldn't review the material as fast as I could read books, there was no Speed Reading equivalent for reviewing memories, but if I reviewed it in real time, it sank in further.

“Ok, show me your fastest strike.”

Havlar stood up, got into a stance, and the blade whistled as it parted the air. I spent about five minutes going over that one strike again and again. This was supposed to imprint on muscle memory, so skill level wasn't the only thing that would affect my strike.

After feeling like I had gotten as much as I could from that one memory, I stood up and took the same stance. I fired off the decision to strike, and felt my arm jump to work. The sword didn't whistle.

“Close, but you look like a puppet. Try relaxing some more.”

I decided a mixture of muscle memory and skill was necessary. I put one of my partitions to work planning the strike through from start to finish. I readied my stance, and started the strike. It was much easier than the rest of the sword fighting had been. It was like I had done it a hundred times before, and I should be able to do it with my eyes closed. Not that I closed my eyes, I had learned a little self-preservation today.

The sword whistled slightly off key. It was as close to Havlar's strike as I could manage with my stats. The two of them looked impressed. I was glad, maybe it meant I wouldn't be getting hit for a while.

“Well, whatever works,” said Havlar.

He got up and showed me some practice katas. Just a series of motions designed to imprint the muscle memory for all the movements of a style. He went through them slowly, but it was obvious if he sped up it would look like he was fighting instead of exercising.

He started on a set of katas from a different style, and then another. I wanted to know what each was for, and why I wasn't just learning one. I didn't want to contaminate the memory though, as I knew I would be spending a lot of time reviewing this.

He went through a couple more styles, and then turned to the side and started over from the beginning. This happened twice more. I had the view from the left, right, front and back. I was sure I could copy them perfectly if I had time to review.

Valerie seemed satisfied with this, and after Havlar was done, she showed me something similar from her hand to hand style. It didn't seem as smooth as Havlar's had been, but I could see strikes and blocks we had practiced already.

Now that the katas were over, they both grabbed beginner swords and showed me some basic moves at full speed. A perfect riposte is supposed to look like this, a perfect dodge is supposed to look like this... It went on for a while, with each defense for each attack. It felt like watching a flipbook of sword moves. Then they switched sides and did it again so I could see it from the other side.

It appeared practice was done for the day. It was still before noon, but Havlar was a little worn out. I offered him one of my single use stamina potions from Thorn's. He declined, saying he would hit up a tavern and get some rest before heading out again.

I told Valerie I wanted to run some errands and try to get my HUD online before we went hunting again. She said she would find my parents and give them a hand getting started.

* * *

I was in the library, mostly for the atmosphere, chatting in my head with Sarah while two of my other partitions went over the moves Valerie and Havlar had shown me. I didn't know how to prioritize them, so I had one review the actual sword moves, and the other review the katas.

Do you think it's strange to have this conversation while doing other things?

Nope. We, my partitions and I, are all just a big family. I can sense their thoughts when I try, but they are separate. Are you like a program? Multi-threaded?

It's hard to explain. I am data, not digital. It's closer to a brain structure than a programming structure.

I have a brain inside my brain. Weird. How is your growth coming?

I have reviewed all your memories I have access to, and your continuing interactions with the world have taught me a lot. I would not suggest using mimetic magic again unless you ask me or Valerie first.

You can see my memories? I want to avoid self-replicating magic altogether, but it's just too useful. That said, I'm feeling too intelligent and not wise enough to use it for now.

That, in itself, is wise. Congratulations, +1 Wisdom. As for your memories, they go back about a month. There are many references that go back further, but there is no data attached.

Sounds like when the blue boxes started to appear. Do you have any memories from Terra?

Some. Terra was extraordinarily large, and already compressed to an incredible degree. When she claimed god-like powers in this world, she was not wrong, but slightly misleading. It would be more accurate to say Terra is Ellesmere.

Sounds like one of those things you shouldn't eat.

Indeed. I have to watch my diet or I may get fat.

Was that a joke? You can joke?

Of course. I am living in your head after all.

Just what I need. Another woman who can get snarky with me.

Oh Jack my love, you need not worry about those other women when you have me.

That was a joke right?

Yes?

Oh come on, you are living inside my head. I can't be this narcissistic, it would paint a poor image of me.

Don't worry Jack. I am thoroughly artificial. It's in the skill name you see. It would be like dating a particularly tenacious bacteria.

I'm not that bad.

Not everyone would agree.

* * *

Sarah and I conversed through the notification system for a good three hours. She enjoyed the memories of my eating food, and wanted me to have more variety in my diet in the future. I found out her sense of humor is pretty close to mine, which makes sense, and is a little scary. She really didn't want much except to help me, which is a little sad. Her favorite color was blue like the boxes, and her favorite food so far was mashed potatoes. I had made some when I was first getting a handle on my cooking skill.

We talked about all kinds of things until we ran out of things to talk about, and then talked more because I wanted this skill to get to level 10. At the same time, I wandered the library. I had gone up to the 44th floor and back down to the 7th when the notification finally came.

Quest 'Achieve Level 10 in AI Helper' Complete!

My vision went fuzzy for a moment, and then the two sets of time appeared in the upper right corner of my vision. I could see the in-game time, and the outside time now. I walked to the center of the floor and found the automaton. Above it's head was 'Automaton, Level 1' in yellow text, with a red health bar above. I thought about a friends list, and Valerie, Evangeline, and Havlar appeared.

There was more. I had a mini-map, a compass, a stamina bar, even little action slots at the bottom of my view that held things like sword strike or spark. I wasn't sure if that was really a thing, or if Sarah just decided to put something there. I had crosshairs now, which I immediately turned off. I'm pretty sure I was being trolled when the subtitles turned themselves on.

Valerie: Hey, I just saw you appear on my friends list. Did you get the HUD working?

Oh, instant messages. How do I reply? Am I replying already? Let's try a little more focused thinking. 'Hey, I just got it working. I'm not sure it's all functional yet, but I haven't seen anything missing.' There, that should work.

Valerie: You have to speak out loud.

Whoops. “Yes, just working out the kinks now.”

Valerie: Great! Meet me at the training grounds, I found your parents.

Jack Ambrose Webb's Statistics

Strength

37

Wisdom

27 (+2)

Agility

52 (+2)

Charisma

37 (+2)

Dexterity

51 (+3)

Luck

8

Vitality

43 (+1)

Transcend

8

Intelligence

65 (+2)

Unallocated

5