Chapter 10: 9. Distractions

Who knew good news could be such a buzzkill?

After levelling-up I was too distracted to take care of business, and I ended up just laying there staring into space as I read the notification and the associated info. Oh right, you can get Info on notifications if you catch them before they disappear.

I still didn't know if there was any way to retrieve past notifications, but I worried I had some secret counter somewhere that was telling me I only had six more unused notification spots available before I'd start missing new ones unless I cleared out some old ones.

Anyways.

The other thing was I didn't just reach level two, I blew past it and was a quarter of the way on to level three. The system obviously tracked something like experience points, but for whatever reason that stat was kept hidden. And it didn't escape my attention that the two times I had a huge boost to that value both came after Evie cast her Obedience spell on herself, leaving her under my control.

Gaining a level had a few other immediate advantages too. I got boosts to my health and mana, any spells I cast would be that much more effective in terms of success rate and duration, and the last thing was level two meant I had a free stat-point to apply someplace.

So instead of masturbating like I really wanted, I lay there agonizing over where to put my one point. It was a big deal since I couldn't re-assign it later if I changed my mind. I had to get it right the first time.

Constitution was the only place it couldn't go, since that was already maxed out at five. Strength might be nice, I still struggled carrying those heavy books around. But the whole point of being a kick-ass sorceress was I shouldn't have to rely on strength. There were better places I could spend the point.

After ten or twelve minutes I had it narrowed down to intellect or charisma. My int was already pretty good, and I knew the higher it was the better I'd be at sorcery. My charisma was good too, but the higher that was the more attractive and compelling people would find me.

I figured that would help with the whole 'get girls' secret quest stuff Evelynn told me about. Like ultimately magic would play a part there, but if they already liked me and trusted me from the get-go then it'd be that much easier to enspell them afterwards.

The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea, so that's what I did. I dropped the point on charisma, then grinned at my updated Stats sheet.

Now my intellect and charisma were the same, and I decided I'd keep working those two upwards together. Fifteen was the highest a normal human could ever hope for, and at sixteen and above you were considered supernatural or superhuman. And eight was average.

So my intellect and cuteness were both about three quarters of the way above average towards supernatural, and my dexterity was already bordering on supernatural. Constitution was as good as it'd get, and maybe after I got my intellect and charisma up to fifteen or sixteen I'd toss a couple points at strength just to max it out.

I still didn't really see the value of wisdom. The Info screen mentioned it was important for both witchcraft and wizardry, but it didn't say anything about sorcery so I figured I could safely ignore it.

After a few more seconds I let the Status screen fade away and smiled to myself. Not bad for six days work, Abby. Not bad at all.

By the time I was finished with all that, Evie had recovered and got herself up off the floor. She sat on the edge of her bed and asked me in a slightly uneasy voice, "Abby? Is everything ok?"

I looked over at her and replied, "Yeah. Why, is something up?"

She was still uneasy as she explained, "It's just, you usually enjoy my performances a lot more. But this time when I was done, you seemed sort of serious and distracted. You just lay there staring at the ceiling for fifteen minutes."

Once again I had to fight to keep a straight face. Maybe I made her just a little too needy for my praise.

I gave her a friendly smile and reassured her, "It's nothing to do with you Evie, I promise. I really enjoyed the show you put on. You did great, seriously. It was something else on my mind, but it's not your fault."

Six days in, only the second application of that spell, and my second-year level-four sorceress roommate was practically eating out of my hands. She was happy and relieved to know I wasn't upset with her. She beamed when I told her I enjoyed her show. And she was sorry I got distracted at the end. She asked if there was anything she could do to help.

"Actually yes," I replied with a grin. "Why don't you give me another little show, and this time I won't let myself get distracted. On your knees, on the floor between the two beds like before."

Evie smiled back as she slipped off her bed and back onto her knees. She was already excited at the prospect of showing off for me again, and I wondered if maybe she had a bit of an exhibitionist streak in her. Then it crossed my mind, even if she didn't I could always add one.

• • • • •

I made sure my uniform was clean and neat, then Evie and I exited our room. She put on her act the moment the door was opened, she scowled and stalked away from me while I took my time.

When I got to the dining hall a few minutes later, Evelynn was already sitting with her three year-two girls and I found myself staring for a few seconds. They all did a good job of hiding it in public, but now that I knew what to look for I could see it. All three of the other girls deferred to Evie. They laughed after she laughed, they ate after she ate.

It wasn't like they were a bunch of stereotypical sycophants, from what I could see they had different opinions and they debated stuff now and then. At least when it came to inconsequential things they did. I had a feeling if Evie put her foot down they'd fall into line immediately. Like I knew she'd do for me.

As usual, Candice was sitting alone at the end of a long table and I made my way over to join her.

I noticed as I approached, she had a sort of distant look on her face like she was lost in thought about something. Whatever was on her mind, she was so absorbed in it she didn't even notice me approach. I was tempted to make a joke, but I realized I probably looked like that last night when I was busy studying my Stats screen.

I made a mental note not to look at stats or info in public anymore incase I got caught staring off into space for ten minutes, and just pulled out the chair as I sat down across from her.

I greeted her with a smile, "Good morning Candi."

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"Oh!" she started slightly, and I realized it was a good thing she didn't have a drink in her hand. She blushed slightly and greeted me, "Good morning Abby! How are you..."

Her voice trailed off as she stared for a second, then in a hushed voice she asked "Abby you look great! What's different, what did you do?"

My cheeks flushed, I didn't think one extra point to charisma would make that noticeable a difference. Evie never said anything about me looking different last night. I wasn't sure how to respond either, I couldn't exactly tell Candi I levelled-up last night when nobody else here knew what levels were.

Her eyes were slowly moving up and down over me as she stared, then for just a brief moment her focus flicked upwards to somewhere above my head.

Then she was looking at my face again as she said, "I guess you had a really good sleep last night?"

My heart was racing as I did my best to conceal my emotions. I nodded, "Yeah, that's probably it. I did have a good night last night."

I quickly started into my breakfast so I could avoid talking for now. My mind was going as quick as my heart as I thought about my friend. The thing with her eyes, glancing over my head. That was exactly like I did when I was checking someone's Info. And before that, she was staring into space exactly like me when I was reading stuff on my Status screen.

Other unrelated things suddenly came up in my head. There were eighteen first-years including me. They all had a one-month head start on me, but Candi was one of two who already hit level two in that first month. Like me, Candice was a bit of a loner. Before I got here she didn't seem to have any friends, now she and I were each other's only friend.

At least, she was my only friend who wasn't currently ass-deep in Obedience spells.

That thought reminded me, I levelled-up in six days because I had a level-four sorceress acting like my happy little house-pet. I suddenly wondered what Candice did to reach level two.

And finally, out of all eighteen first-year students, me and Candi were the only two with 'unnatural' hair. Mine was light lime green, hers was bright bubblegum pink.

I was left wondering. Was she a 'player' like me? Or whatever they called those here, people with levels and stats and stuff. And if she was, did she know I was too? Was she already on a head-start like me? Was she already building her harem? And was she planning on adding me to it?

And the biggest question of all, could I trust her?

'Candice, Human, Sorceress, Level 2'

I figured it was best to check that just to be sure, but it hadn't changed since last week. Neither of us had said a word for the past couple minutes. We were both just eating quietly, lost in our own thoughts.

After another minute or two I glanced at her but she was just focused on her breakfast. I braced myself then decided to try it. But rather than just blurting it out I went at it with a bit of subtlety.

"So you know I've been working pretty hard the past week to catch up to everyone, right? Like ontop of all our regular studies, I've been doing extra work every night in my room?"

"Yeah," she replied. "You've been pushing yourself pretty hard actually. I hope you'll slow down soon, I don't want to see you burn out or anything."

I nodded, "I'll probably take a break on our next rest-day. It feels like I've earned it? Last night I made what felt like a real break-through in some of the stuff I'd been working on. Finally figuring that stuff out was a big relief. It almost felt like I levelled-up or something, you know?"

Her expression was fairly neutral and she focused on her breakfast while she listened to me. Until I got to the L word, then her eyes went wide as she glanced up at me. She glanced around then back at me again, like she didn't know how to react or what to say.

Not that she needed to say anything, her reaction told me everything I needed to know.

After a few seconds she finally looked down at her food and started eating again, but as she did so she stated in a firm but quiet voice, "We can't talk here and classes start soon. We'll find somewhere private at lunch."

I nodded quietly then finished my breakfast with her. We had time to get back to the dorm and grab our books, then the two of us headed to first class together. Unlike all the other mornings this week, she and I didn't talk or joke or smile. We were just quiet and I got the feeling she was a little freaked-out.

Classes were ok, but it was almost hard to focus on the lessons. I kept glancing at Candice, and from the look of it she was just as distracted and kept glancing at me.

I also looked over at the only other level-two girl in first year. She had shoulder-length brown hair and I knew she had like four or five friends she was always hanging out with.

'Alice, Human, Sorceress, Level 2'

That wasn't much help but at least she hadn't levelled-up again already. Between her and Candi and me, Alice was the only one with normal hair and a normal bunch of friends. It wasn't much to go on, but I figured that suggested she probably wasn't one of us. Not that I knew what we were, but maybe I was going to find out.

Finally the second class came to an end, and while most of the girls headed for the dining hall me and Candice went to the dorms.

She said quietly, "We can talk in my room. Nobody will bother us there."

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