Author's Note: Another long chapter. Hooray!

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*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* “Uuuuugh!” David wakes up in his bed groggy. He has always hated this time of year.

'Dammit! I have to go back to school! To that fucking place! With those fucking disgusting people!'

Null gets up and slouches over while dragging his feet to the bathroom to get ready. When he's done, he goes to the kitchen. He's eating toast silently when he hears his sister, Cindy. David tries to ignore her, but she still speaks to him.

“David, have you forgotten? I start high school today.”

“Ugh. Okay, let's go over some ground rules so we do not step over each others' toes.”

“Right.”

“Do not speak to me. Do not look in my direction. You do not know me. I will go to school first unless I feel like being late. You'll go after you are at least 100-200 feet away from me or more. You can go an even longer distance than that. I don't care. Any questions?”

“Why do you get to go first?”

“Because you draw too much of a crowd for my liking. Also because you walk slow. Every time I let you go first, there will be people saying “Oh my god, are you really Cindy Lewis? Can I have your autograph?” or “Wow you're so pretty, you should be a model.” Next thing you know, you have this huge impenetrable crowd of people that blocks the path for everyone else. Any more questions?”

“Well what if I need something from you at school?”

“I wouldn't recommend it. It's not good for your health. Don't forget that I know very embarrassing things about you. Sure, you could try and embarrass me, but my reputation at school cannot go any lower. Let's see who wins. Our parents can't help you there. At school, I hold the advantage over you.”

“Dammit, fine. I'll agree to these conditions.”

“Good.”

David leaves earlier than usual as per his and Cindy's agreement. His frown is deeper than his normal, permanent frown usually is. People are telling him to cheer up and that it will get better, but David just ignores them all.

He makes his way to school, sits in an obscure corner, and starts playing with his AR glasses. After a while, the bell rings and it's time for homeroom. David goes inside the class. It may be in a different class, but the faces he sees are the same. David as usual doesn't talk to any of them, and they don't talk to him. He takes his seat in the back like he usually does. He sits and gets on his AR glasses.

Several minutes pass. When the freshmen ended orientation, it was announced on the intercom that Cindy Lewis would be the 9th grade class president. The people in his class were talking about that, unaware that David is her brother.

“Cindy Lewis? The one that goes to the Olympics? She goes to this school? That's awesome!”

“Have you seen her? She's so pretty, cute, and bubbly without being intimidating. I think I've fallen in love with her!”

“Dude get in line. You're not the only one. I heard that a few people confessed to her already, and they were all upperclassmen! She rejected them all.”

“Oh man. I have to distinguish myself from the rabble then don't I?”

“Compete in the Olympics. That is sure to get her attention.”

This causes everyone nearby to laugh.

“Have you heard that her brother is Michael Lewis?”

“Michael Lewis? The trillionaire that invented the backbone of New Reality? That's amazing! Those siblings are too amazing.”

David couldn't care less about what they were talking about and continued playing on his AR glasses.

The students kept talking about different things. One of them is a virtual reality game that plays like soccer. It's one of the predecessors to New Reality. The difference is that you get different power ups and there are random obstacles in the way. It's still fairly popular with there being professional leagues. It's showcased on television. Sports are still being watched, it's just now they have to share views with virtual reality competitions.

Someone then talks about something that peaks David's interest.

“Dude, have you heard?”

“I swear if this is another bird is the word joke...”

“No, I'm serious!”

“You being serious? Harumph.”

“Dude I'm so cereal, I looked in the mirror this morning and I was a bowl of Cheerios!”

David listening in ponders this. 'Cheerios huh? Sounds serious. I should listen to what he has to say.'

“Luciana Leavitt has become a ranker in New Reality!”

“Wha? Really?”

“Yep! She's now in the top 10000 leveled players in the world!”

“That's pretty amazing considering that you have to be 16 to play the game, and we had no choice but to play a year later than the older people. Not only that, but now close to a billion people play New Reality. That's a pretty amazing achievement.”

Other people listening in join in on their conversation.

“Her username's Scarlettflame, but people call her the Flame Empress because every time she fights, she dominates the battlefield with her flames.”

“I've actually seen videos of her fighting. Her nickname of Flame Empress is well deserved. It's like she commands an ocean of flame to wash over her enemies. She could easily burn down a small town by herself in one attack if she wanted.”

“Isn't she the basketball captain this year?”

“Oh yeah she is isn't she?”

“Wait, I heard she models part time too. She's pretty famous for her beauty. Where does she get the time to do all these things?”

Speaking of the devil, Luciana arrives in class. The looks they gave her are looks they would give to a prophet.

“Luciana, you're so amazing!”

“Wow Luciana, to become a ranker! How amazing of you! You just aren't for your beauty are you?”

Luciana sighs and doesn't say anything. David looks at her. He thinks it's ridiculous for anyone to be that beautiful and perfect. Basketball captain? Part time model? New Reality ranker? David hates her guts already. While the students are talking to her, she gives off a bored look like they are wasting her time. She always gives off this ice cold, aloof persona.

David thinks to himself, 'She's a billionaire too isn't she? Her father owns the company Energy Solutions I think? She probably thinks her shit smells like roses. She probably bought a bunch of equipment with her money that got her to be a ranker. Well whatever, she has never messed with me or talked to me, which is all I can ask for.'

Later, David heads to his 2nd period class, AP Calculus. David is looking out the window looking at the different birds minding his own business when he hears an annoying voice.

“Well, well, well. My rival has come out to play.”

David gets a scowl on his face. The person talking to him is the current Honors Society President, Cecile Vincent, the top student in their school. She is well known for her beauty, her dignity and poise, her caring personality, and never looking down on anyone.

For some strange reason, that previous personality gets thrown out the window whenever she talks to David. He snaps at her.

“Rival? I don't even know your name!”

“I told you a million times! How can you keep forgetting? It's Cecile! Ce-cile! It's two freaking syllables for crying out loud!”

“Well stop being so cliché and generic playing the “perfect” girl who can't accept the fact that she's worse than me in some things and I might not have trouble remembering you.”

“Don't call me cliché! Just you wait David. I'll get all the top awards this year and we'll just see who's better.”

“I don't care! I never did care! If I just say you're the best, will you just leave me alone?”

“No! This year will finally mark me getting the best in everything! Anyway you're just jealous that I'm the top person every year.”

She gets a gotcha look on her face.

“Congratulations. You're doing better than me in the subjects I don't care about. How does that make you feel?”

That gotcha look slowly turns into a look of frustration.

After school, David heads to work. Since it's the beginning of the school year, it tends to get busy. David just keeps stocking shelves. After 2 hours, he heads home. His sister is there to greet them.

“Hey, David!” She said with a bright smile.

David frowns even deeper. “What are you after?”

“Well, I have a gymnastics performance tonight and was wondering if you would like to go.”

“You should already know the answer to that stupid question. What I'm more interested in is how you'll try to force me to go.”

“I'll tell mom and dad!”

“Like I care. I will just barricade myself in my room till it all blows over. I have enough food and water to last me a while.”

“Well look at all these locks that are no longer on your door!”

She drops them all in front of David. He had forgotten to change the locks in a while.

David is shocked and angry. You do not ruin his happy place. That's the only place he feels secure from the rest of the world, and she ruined it.

“That's it! I'm going to break every single bone in your body! Even the ones that don't exist! Especially the ones that don't exist!” David yells at Cindy.

“Bring it you little bitch!” Cindy yells back. They fight. Now you might think that David, being trained in several martial arts and being bigger and stronger would have an advantage. Well, you're wrong.

Out of all the 3 siblings, Cindy has the best physical ability. That's why she was able to go to the Olympics in the first place. David is never able to land a hit on her because she keeps dodging his blows doing acrobatics and things that should belong in the Matrix. Cindy is never able to make a clean hit because David keeps blocking her blows. They always end up tied and tired.

David heads towards his room. “Whatever, don't bother me.”

David slams the door. Cindy ends up sad. The truth is, Cindy wants to reconcile with David, but every time she tries to be nice to him, David ignores her, so he always tries to get his attention by any means necessary, which makes him hate her more. She thinks that it's well deserved that he ignores her because of how people in the house have been treating him, but she thinks it's time to let bygones be bygones. She's afraid that when David graduates, she'll never see him again.

David logs back on to New Reality thinking, 'School was as bad as I thought it would be. Well at least very few people talked to me.'

He logs back in to where he stays.

It's been 4 years in-game since David has come to his present location. It looks very different from before. There is now a huge shed standing from what was a hut before. He had paid an architect to make the shed for 100 gold. Null had learned that huts made of wood, twigs, and leaves are not a good place for burning forges.

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Flashback:

The place is on fire. “I'VE MADE A HUGE MISTAKE!”

Flashback end:

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When David had found this place, he was level 47. Now he is level is 72. Most of his level gains were from the donation of books to the library, but occasionally he would hunt down different monsters for alchemy ingredients. It's been the equivalent of 4 years and he has only gained 25 levels. The trajectory of how the average person levels up is that it takes 5 months in-game to reach level 100, a year in-game to reach level 150, and 5 years in-game to reach level 215.

After that, the leveling starts to slow down because of guilds occupying high level hunting grounds or higher level monsters in too dangerous places and not wanting to lose levels. When you lose a life, you lose 2 levels and 5% proficiency in random skills. If you're level 1, you just lose 4 stat points. No one wants to risk losing those hard earned 2 levels, so they play it safe.

Null doesn't care that he still hasn't reached level 100. He's not playing competitively. Now normally a person might think that since Null has been alone for so long in the game that he becomes lonely and wants to get friends. Nope. Null is enjoying his solitude more than ever. There have been many events throughout Null's time in New Reality. Things like holiday events, and randomly generated events he found no interest in.

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Flashback:

Quest: Holdendale Under Attack!Quest Information: Trolls and ogres are heading towards Holdendale to ransack their supplies and the town's women. If nothing is done, Holdendale will be destroyed. Make sure all the monsters that are headed that way are destroyed before they get there. This mission is available for everyone in or near Holdendale.

Reward: The Count will gift you with royal points. Royal points let you have social standing. The more royal points you have, the better the people will treat you. You can also exchange royal points for various things. The more monsters you kill, the more Royal points are given.

Quest Rank: D

Penalty if refused: Decreased affinity with Holdendale citizenry.

Do you accept?[/size]

“Hmmm... This sounds like it's not my problem. No I don't accept.”

You have rejected the quest.

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Holiday event: Halloween Spirit convergenceIt happens only once every 5 years weirdly, but the monsters can't be contained during this time. It's the Halloween Spirit convergence, and the spirits are unhappy. Walk around in costumes to please them so that they will drop more items when you kill them. Monsters for the week drop candy along with other drops. Can trade the candy with items for the week.

“No. Go away.”

Null closes the window and continues with what he was doing.

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Holiday event: Happy holidaysIt happens only once every 5 years weirdly, but the celebrations last for a month. Participate in the events and carnivals. The top 10 people who collect the most points from playing the carnival games and participating will get a prize!

Exchange gifts with people to gain experience. You can exchange gifts 3 times. The more expensive the gift, the more experience you will gain.

A specific monster comes out at this time called the toy elf. The drops it contains are 7x more than monsters of the same level. Defeat enough of them, and the Santa boss comes out. These Santa monsters drop 20x the amount of drops of other monsters at the same level drop.[/size]

“Leave me alone. I hate the holidays. Bah humbug and whatnot.”

He closes the window.

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Holiday Event: With LoveIt happens only once every 5 years weirdly, but love is in the air. For a week, Alchemists will sell you a special bottle filled with a potion that will reveal if the person you crush on has a crush on you back. If you are both holding the ends of the bottle, and it glows, the feeling is mutual.

Chocolates and flowers are on sale for the week.

Special monsters come out at this time called Cupids, that shoot arrows that make people temporarily fall in love with the first person they see that's not the Cupid.

"Bleeeeeeeeergh."

Null threw up and closed the window. He didn't leave the shed that entire week.

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Null's level might be 72, but if you were to look at his stats, you would never believe it.

Status WindowNameNullFame450Level72Infamy0RaceHumanSatiety100%GenderMaleEndurance175/175Main ClassLibrarianSub ClassesCalligrapher, Painter, Alchemist, BlacksmithTitlesNoneHealth5850/5850Health Regen1.97 / secMana10830/10830Mana Regen5.7 / secStrength178Dexterity182Vitality178Charisma141Intelligence344Wisdom341Luck141Knowledge354Attack73Defense47Magic DefenseNone

Those are not the stats of a level 72 player. During each level up, you are given 5 stat points. Those stats should be impossible. There is a reason for this. Remember, getting intermediate in a skill is very rare, even among the top level players, so the game rewards you if are able to achieve such a milestone. When a class or subclass reaches intermediate, you are gifted with +10 in all stats. When a skill reaches intermediate, you are gifted with +5 in all stats. This is what Null's current skill list looks like.

Skill proficiency Librarian Mastery: Intermediate level 5

Book Repair: Intermediate level 1

Paper Create: Intermediate level 3

Universal Identify: Intermediate level 4

Information finder: Intermediate level 2

Learning without Reading: Intermediate level 1

Calligraphy Mastery: Intermediate level 3

Proofread: Intermediate level 3

Ink hand: Intermediate level 2

Calligraphy expansion and contraction: beginner level 8

Painting Mastery: Intermediate level 4

Illustration: Intermediate level 3

Handicraft: Intermediate level 5

Art is Feeling: Intermediate level 1

Art Materialization: Beginner level 1

Alchemy Mastery: Intermediate level 3

Gardening: Intermediate level 1

Alchemy Finder: Intermediate level 1

Potion Creation: Beginner level 6

Blacksmith Mastery: Intermediate level 3

Smelting: Intermediate level 2

Weapon/Armor Repair: Intermediate level 2

Blueprint: Intermediate level 1

Instant forge: Beginner level 5

Hand to Hand Combat Mastery: Beginner level 4

Essene of Mana: Beginner level 9

Archery Mastery: Beginner level 4

Cooking Mastery: Beginner level 2

Mining Mastery: Beginner level 4

Evasion: Beginner level 2

Crossbow Mastery: Beginner level 3

Throwing Needle Mastery: Beginner level 3

Throwing Knife Mastery: Beginner level 1

Bombing Mastery: Beginner level 3

Breathe Idiot: Beginner level 1

Camping: Cannot level up

Light Orb: Cannot level up

Calm Mind: Cannot level up

Transmutation Circle Creation: Beginner level 1

Transmutation Circle Activation: Beginner level 1

Those skill proficiency gains are impossible for the average person to level up in only 5 years in-game, but thanks to the knowledge stat, Null was able to achieve it. Even 20 years in-game would probably be too short for all those skills to level up for the average person. During these 4 years, Null has been busy. He's been making skill books and working on his techniques. The small garden that he used to have has grown enormous, and that's only his main garden. Some of the plants Null is growing are so dangerous, that he has no choice but to plant them far away from him.

He wrote skill books to give him several skills. Luckily, there aren't a lot of skills. You don't get skills just for running or playing hopscotch really good. Some skills he tried to get, but couldn't because they were class exclusive, like Eagle Eyes for trackers, the healing skill for clerics, and the glowy, stabby sword technique of death for swordsmen. During all this, he found out he really, really, really hated Ptah.

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Flashback:

Null has got his projectile weapons down to a good degree.

He thinks, “I could make them go faster if I could learn to manipulate wind. Maybe I should go for it.”

Null sets out to make a skill book for wind. He knows that it's unlikely given that he's not a mage, but he thinks there might be something that he can use. Null went to the mage guild, went to the wind sorcery section, and sat in a corner, observing them. Everyone thought Null was weird, but he didn't care. He saw how everyone used their skills. He wrote down notes trying to make a skill book. Every time he tried, he failed. One day, the option he was looking for came up.

Would you like to learn Essence of Wind?

“Yes! I finally got the skill! I would like to learn Essence of Wind!”

You have learned Essence of Wind, is what I would say if you could actually learn it. Well take pleasure in the fact that for 5 seconds, you were happy that you thought you could actually learn the skill.

“[email protected]%&%! @(^@& @&%[email protected]#* $%[email protected], PTAAAAAH!”

Yes, Null was so angry, he was speaking gibberish.

Flashback end:

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The skills that he gained are what would be useful for him. He could've gotten a lot of passive's if he wanted to, but to make even a simple skill book takes a week, and the more difficult one's take a month. Skill books aren't found in the library, as skill books disappear when you learn them. Some skills he could acquire faster by just practicing the skill. Others he made a skill book of. Once Null was satisfied with the amount of passives he had, he stopped trying to make as many skill books.

He found the passives useful.

EvasionSkill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 2When being attacked and dodging, dexterity increases by 4%.

Crossbow Mastery Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 3Crossbows are 10% more powerful than the base stats. Shoots 12% farther. Archery mastery adds to this effect.

Throwing Needle MasterySkill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 3Throwing needles are 8% more powerful than the base stats. Get your points across.

Bombing MasterySkill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 3Blast radius increases by 4% and can throw 7% farther than base stats. Go absolutely ballistic.

Breathe IdiotSkill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 2Breathing correctly will cut down on your endurance depletion by 12%

Calm MindSkill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyCannot level upIt doesn't make you invincible to emotions, but you can now focus more on your techniques and planning without outside interference distracting you as much.

Because of artificial selection, the small health and mana potions he makes are 50% more potent. What used to take a week to grow now only requires two days. He's been experimenting with various potions of different effects. He learned glass making and glass blowing techniques, so he never has a shortage of empty flasks. Some poisons cause paralysis, some cause a person to fall asleep, some cause you to hallucinate, and many others. Not all of them are poisons, as some give you beneficial effects. For example, Null created a potion that temporarily improves your vision at a distance for the cost that your vision will be blurry afterwards temporarily.

He got a new skill, potion creation. It's very difficult to work with, but a lot of the new potions he created were thanks to that skill. How it works is that you have to have a thought in mind with available ingredients. Say you want to make a sleep potion. The ingredients will be marked with different colors when you see them. The water will be white, while the ingredients that help will be yellow, ingredients that hurt will be red, and ingredients that are neutral will not glow.

When you mix it in the water, red water means that it has failed and you have to start all over, white water means the process is ongoing, and green water means you have completed what you wanted. The problem is, that if the potion you want to create is too high level, or the potion you want to create is too difficult. It would show up as gray, for being too high level, or a bunch of colors Null can't decipher if its too difficult.

Null's Ingredient Finder works the same way as his Information Finder skill, only with alchemy ingredients.

Null's blacksmithing has also shown a lot of improvement. Thanks to his instant forge skill, he doesn't even need to build those huge forges and can smelt and forge even on the go, but the Instant Forge skill doesn't make products as good as the forges that Null built yet. All Null needs is a tiny crucible to make the Instant Forge skill work.

Null had learned advanced sword and armor making techniques. He now regularly creates fine swords and good leveled armor, but that's not the only things he makes. Thanks to Null's Blueprint skill, he can use it along with system assist to make different things. The blueprint is a 3 dimensional projection, and works a lot like the AR glasses Null uses in real life. When he got the Blueprint skill, it only had 4 models inside: Sword, Armor, Shield, and Bow.

A person would usually have to buy additional blueprints from people or shops to have a wider range, but thanks to Null's Illustration skill, he could draw out his own blueprints. Null would then use the system assist to learn how to make them.

There are two camps of people in New Reality. One camp thinks relying on system assist is stupid as you can't level up the skills as fast. The other camp thinks that it's far easier to rely solely on the system assist. Null thinks both of them are idiots. Null, through trial and error, figured out that it's best to do system assist to learn how to make something, then make it with your own hands. A problem is that the system assist doesn't care about the best or worst method as long as it gets there.

Null's calligraphy improved. He has created over 2000 fonts, and has the expansion and contraction skill that can grow or shrink text. He can write entire pages in a few seconds thanks to the ink hand technique.

Null hates, with a passion, the new skill he got in his art class. It's called Art Materialization. You can materialize anything you want just by painting the picture. It's only limited by the size of the paper you're painting on. That might seem overpowered, but the cost of materializing them is levels. Things that are common like water or rocks, they cost one level. If you want to materialize something like an ordinary sword, something like that costs 2 levels. A legendary sword that can kill everything in your path? Something like that would cost 30-40 levels. The worst part is that the items you make are only temporary, so you wouldn't even be able to keep it later on. The more powerful the item, the faster it would return to paint. Null never bothered with leveling up that skill. He figures if its an emergency, he'll use it.

Null would go in town and level up his Art is Feeling skill by painting happy pictures of people who look down. It's not like he wants to help them. He's just following his motto of not causing harm if he doesn't have to, and he has to find some way to raise the skill easily. That's what Null tells himself.

His painting skills have improved to the point where his art looks like a professional painted it, yet the world would never know. His skill have become so amazing, that the paintings that he creates will let you temporarily gain stats if you look at them.

His main class, the librarian class, is the reason he was able to reach intermediate in so many skills, even though most people struggle to get intermediate in one. The librarian class by itself is useless. No one would argue with that, but the librarian class itself was never meant to act by itself. It was meant to support his other skills, strengthening them. Null had figured this out.

He found out that his knowledge stat increases skill proficiency slightly, and he found something else wonderful about the knowledge stat. When Null's knowledge stat reached 200, he unlocked something exclusive to the librarian class, arguably the most useful thing he has. The book that Mrs. Allensworth gave him, can now hold an unlimited amount of information. Before this, Null had to set aside a whole room full of research papers. He had trouble going through all of it, and it was very disorganized.

Now, all Null has to do is imagine what he wants from what he wrote in the book, and it instantly materializes on the pages. The book is blank unless you are looking for something. This further accelerated his skill proficiency. Another thing that accelerated proficiency speed was the skill Learning Without Reading. It works by placing your hand on a book and saying the skill. Your mind will know and comprehend whatever it is you're using the skill on.

When he first got the skill, he could only use the skill on about 30 pages. Afterwards, he would get a big headache because his mind was trying to decipher what was wrote. It gradually got better. Now he can read up to 500 pages at once and know what the book is talking about.

His Universal Identify has grown to a powerful level. Null thinks it gives too much information on things he's trying to find stuff out on. When it hit intermediate, it now shows the rarity of different items. They are seperated into tiers. Common rocks and water are an example of Tier 1. Common wood and coal are an example of Tier 2 and so on.

Null was surprised to learn that the mystery book he got from Mrs. Allensworth was Tier 15. The highest weapon grade Null had seen in person when he did Identify on it was Tier 12. Null learned while using the skill that just because something is rare doesn't mean it's useful, and just because something isn't rare doesn't mean it's useless.

His mining has improved where he can now occasionally mine gold. He has even mined rubies. His archery has it that he can now shoot up to 40 meters away. Cooking? He doesn't give a damn about that.

Null starts heading to town. He's preparing to leave the Holdendale area. If it were up to Null, he would've spent his entire life in that area buried in obscurity, but there's a problem.

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Author's Note: Another 5000+ word chapter. Soon we'll see what Null is capable of. The plot starts picking up in chapter 1 quadrillion when Null has to fight against the Heat Death of the universe.