Chapter 37: 33. Getting Comfortable before Ranking Up

In Jay’s opinion, bedroom walls were meant to be personalized with everything you could fit.

Rows of shelves lined most of the walls with a gallery of toy figures. Some were old, some were limited in production, and some were custom-made. He had different figures of Dragon Ball Z characters, with Goku as the most prominent. Jay had other major anime leads–Ichigo, Luffy, Yusuke, Mob, Deku, Saitama, Meliodas, Naruto, and more.

Half of them were posed for action. Others were posed like they were breaking into dance with the few figurines of Jay’s favorite anime waifus. From Bulma at the start of Dragon Ball to Yoruichi Shihoin of Bleach to Jay’s secret crush, Space Pirate Ryouko Hakubi of the classic Tenchi Muyou! series–one of the few harems in his mom’s collection she shared.

If the walls weren’t holding up Jay’s toy collection, they featured posters. From 80’s blaxploitation action movie epics like The Last Dragon to 90’s best blockbusters like Terminator 2: Judgment Day to early 00’s classics like Spider-Man 2  with the shot of Peter saving the train. It was a riot of themes that spoke to the geekish boy inside of Jay, who found a pop culture time machine called the Internet and decided to go back to the past and explore what his mom’s generation grew up on–and maybe help defeat Aku.

The decade or two difference between his age and what was represented in his room was purposeful. Made him feel unique. And Mike was all about it, too. 

Besides, who could deny the impact of Jackie Chan flicks on impressionable minds who could see a broomstick as the deadliest weapon in a kitchen and ladders as godlike mook destroyers? Who could stop themselves from smelling Saturday morning cereal and think of the tune to Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and remember how terribly and hilariously ridiculous that show could be when examined under modern lenses?

But it still had a kickass intro song followed by other Power Ranger series that were some strong contenders for theme songs. Before things got pretty weak after Thunder Dino Rangers.

Then again, Jay supposed his perspectives might change once he grew older–a dreadful thought, but something Jay could recognize as an eventuality. Even all the drama from weekly WWE events had lost its luster recently when it started to dawn on him that the stories weren’t real. That didn’t stop him from having a The Rock figure along with others he and his mom liked. It just meant certain fabrications controlling his childlike wonder had worn off.

Jay snorted to himself.

It was a little ironic thinking he grew uninterested in professional wrestling for having scripted stories. The [Faerie] floating through his room came to exist here because the [Freak] pushed a storyline for the dungeon to kill itself with.

Just thinking about what he did in that dungeon in retrospect was kind of freaky even for Jay. It made him wonder if he’d truly done that or if that was someone else. Like he was a pretender replacing the truly mad and gifted Jay, who saved the day and did something that got the System Admins in an uproar.

“Master,” Kleo called, her voice barely above a whisper, “you are good with toys. They all look well here. But why aren’t they moving?”

Kleo hovered toward the shelf holding a majority of Jay’s favorite female leads. A few of them, such as Mikasa Ackerman, stood as tall as Kleo. The [Faerie] reached out hesitantly and prodded Mickasa’s face above the scarf. The female lead from Attack on Titan didn’t move.

“In this world, toys or figurines don’t usually talk or move,” Jay said. “They’re creations that don’t live.”

Kleo shuddered.

“Why do you have them, then?” she asked.

“My mom and Mike shared a passion for collecting,” Jay answered honestly, feeling the heat of embarrassment creep up his neck. “No lie, me caving and becoming a bigger collector than both of them combined probably removed any chance of having a real human girl chill in my room. But my mom encourages it by throwing money my way, and we aren’t struggling anymore, so I indulge, and this is the result.”

Jay breathed deeply. He’d never shown a girl his room before. He was getting flustered. He dreaded another rejection to add weight to his feelings of being a loser, regardless of him being a dungeon-crawling hero.

He pushed forward somehow.

“I’ve consumed the shows they’ve come from,” Jay said. “All these toys are just frozen fragments of memories. Priceless moments that wowed me and brought me out of reality and into their fictional worlds. A place where I can be anything and have powers beyond belief. I can only feel like that when I’m hopping roofs and dancing.”

Jay looked down, his eyes trailing over his bed frame and the old TMNT blanket. He looked to the side where his gaming studio took up the entire lower half of a wall beneath the watchful gazes of famous video game character models–Sly, Kratos, Nathan, and others. It was next to the closet where it took Tetris-style genius to fit his clothes with bins filled with video game cases and discs from bygone eras–the times when the PS2 and Xbox reigned.

Without thinking, he crossed over an illustrated carpet depicting abstract Lindy Hop dancers and picked out a case from his binned collection. It was Dance Dance Revolution Supernova. The pad for it was packed away under the space beneath his bed.

Maybe he ought to show it to Kleo later.

“This is me,” Jay said in a small voice. “I spent so much time doing what I like that I’ve never gotten with a girl before. I’ve, uh, never even kissed before. Yeah, I can play up a cool, brave image, but that’s stuff I’ve learned how to fake. The truth is, before the whole dungeon crawl thing, I was living the life of a classical geek known for a few things. Rooftop Weirdo stuff. Then YoAnna had this mega party come up. And then I decided to face my childhood friend turned crush in the most climactic way possible, risking social suicide. Then all of this happens. In other words, your Master is lame and an imposter, and he’s not as cool and above it all like he pretends.”

Jay put away the game case and looked up at the painted CDs hanging from his ceiling. Anytime he turned the AC on when the summer heat warranted, the discs would spin around from the current. The revolutions from the myriad colored discs affected the vision like he was seeing into a spiraling rainbow. Without being prompted, Kleo floated up to one of the discs and spun one around with a small application of purple magic. She jetted between the decorations before scooting down to Jay’s face.

“Are you uncomfortable, Master?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Me too.”

Jay sighed. “Let me put some music on.”

It didn’t take long to boot up the computer and have an instrumental beat with a chill vibe. With a pleasurable sigh, he sat in his expensive and ergonomic gaming chair his mom convinced him was worth it–and she was right despite the expense–and slumped into his seat. Kleo sat on his lap and looked up at him patiently.

“No romance between us, right?” Jay asked, diving straight into the most uncomfortable part.

“That’ll be best, I think,” Kleo said. “I don’t know anything about that stuff when it involves me. I swear I’ll be able to help you, though.”

Jay felt the antsy buzzing in his chest settle down a little.

“I’m not going to order you around unless necessary,” Jay said. “But I’m hoping you won’t push the boundaries with me or abuse that. Please.”

Kleo nodded. “I’ll be pushy, sometimes. Let me know if I cross a line. But in return, I’ll let you know if something makes me uncomfortable. I’m unsure what that’ll be since I’ve never had the choice before, but I’ll figure it out.”

Jay nodded stiffly. He’d hate to make her uncomfortable with the power he supposedly had over her.

“Can I tell my mom about you? About this?” Jay waved his hand between them.

“Why not?”

“I’m pretty sure the MPC won’t approve.”

“Is your mom cool?”

“The coolest.”

“I’ll be okay with whatever you decide, Master.” Kleo smiled, becoming more comfortable.

“Mom would help with any girl stuff you might need,” Jay said. “Heck, do you even need girl stuff? You don’t get monthlies, do you?”

“Maybe it’s time to look over the System stuff?” Kleo pressed gently.

“Ah, yeah, let’s do that.”

God, he was being awkward. Maybe it was time for a drink? No, no, no, he shouldn’t rely on that. They still had a couple of important things to handle.

Jay tapped his fingers rapidly on the armrest. He’d been nervous about the System stuff. It was exciting at first, and the temptation to check was there, but now he felt a strange apprehension about where all the changes would lead. Then there was the rank-up that he would surely be expected to utilize. To evolve and become more of his ideal whatever.

“I’m a little scared,” he admitted.

Kleo stood and reached up to grab his thumb hanging from the armrest. “Don’t be, Master Jay. I’m here. Let’s do it.”

Jay smiled, feeling a little braver. Turning to the blue screens filled with messages, he thought about how best he wanted the information presented to him. He decided against chronological reports and willed for information based on relevancy. The System responded to his instinctual wishes and reorganized the notifications, settling first on the summary for defeating the Toyreveler Dungeon.

Congrats! You’ve defeated the Toyreveler Dungeon Master despite the dungeon alterations made against you, conquering multiple dungeon boss challenges. The first challenge was against the mighty gorilla guards, which you’ve crushed. 

The second challenge was worthy of being considered a newbie slayer, especially for crawlers reliant on their Mages waiting back and their Fighters taking the front. But you blew that challenge out of the air and overcame an unfair puzzle mechanic that could’ve barred you from reaching the dungeon boss.

Then you’ve fought the dungeon boss and overcame the challenging trick of a boss equipped with limitation breaks. You’ve manipulated the story to improve your Chance for a total victory and a satisfying conclusion. There were certain aspects toward the end of the dungeon crawl that had gone unexpectedly, which is a problem for the System Admins and your Multiverse System Guide to hash out, but the results remain the same.

You are reading story The Gravity Freak of Dungeons and Monsters: System Portal Fantasy at novel35.com

You’ve defeated your first dungeon!

Please look below for your party’s loot summary gained after your crawl.

Jay took a second to prepare himself for the loot summary. This was going to be interesting.

Your party has looted 1 Great Hammer of the Reveler, 2 Good Rapiers of Sinful Delights, 44 Good Bundles of Lifelike Cotton Stuffing, 29 Good Bundles of Puppet Twine, 1 Good Garish Outfit of the Reveler, 37 Basic Plastic Polymer Chunks, 21 Basic Magic Polymer Chunks, 15 Good Magic-Infused Iron Ingots, 25 Copper Multiverse Coins, 1 Toying Voice Skill Book, 1 Small Transmutation Skill Book (Crafter), 1 Good Barrel of Wicked Toy Blood, 1 Great Adaptive Workbench of Crafting Tools, 1 Great Knife of Slaying Justice, 1 Good Party Treasure Chest (Boss), +10 Free AP delivered directly to each crawler, 1 Toy Dungeon Core (Inert), 1 Familiar Faerie-Type attached automatically to the Freak.

“Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle,” Jay said, interjecting some humor again. He might need a lot to loosen up if he wasn’t drinking.

Kleo hummed noncommittally.

“Any thoughts?” Jay asked, seeing that Kleo was reviewing the information through his system screen and not any of her own.

“Lots of craft items for your [Crafters],” Kleo said. “Skill Books look useful. You should get that Toying Voice Skill Book. Like, pronto. Frank might go after it if he pulls his head out of his dark, edgy butt.”

“If Frank needs it more than me, I wouldn’t mind him having it,” Jay said.

Kleo dug her little heel into his thigh. “Nope, nope, nope. This one’s first come, first serve. We’ll wait on the party treasure chest since it is designated for the whole party, but the other stuff is ours to pick through if only to get the essentials.”

“Tomorrow afternoon then?” Jay suggested. “It’ll be an eventful day.”

“Why’s that?” Kleo asked.

“Potluck. Making the trip out to YoAnna’s mansion for the Skill Book. Then I just had this idea of going to the junkyard,” Jay said, feeling more confident. “That place is huge. People always mess around there without a bother as long as you’re cool with the gangs.” Might as well take advantage of his connection with the Junker Twins. “We can practice stuff between us. It’ll only be us since Mike will be hella grounded.”

Kleo snorted. “Sounds fun. Us exploring our powers, I mean. Not Mikey Mike getting held by the tyranny of an angry mother. Can’t break him out?”

Jay gave the [Faerie] a slow and serious shake. “Don’t mess with Mrs. Zhou. She’s old school and scary. The only person who can stand up to her is my mom.”

“Polar opposites?” Kleo asked.

“Which makes them good friends no matter how weird that seems,” Jay said with a shrug. “They met in the same daycare that Mike, Lilith, YoAnna, and I went to.”

“Before we get further into that story, what system messages do we look at next?” Kleo asked. 

Jay smiled, finding his eagerness for System stuff again. It hadn’t died on him. It had merely been resting until now.

Moonwalker leveled up to 10!

Moonwalker is at the pinnacle of its growth! Please evolve Lesser Freak to Rank 2 to continue leveling up the Skill.

One Heavy Step leveled up from 7 to 10!

One Heavy Step is at the pinnacle of its growth! Please evolve Lesser Freak!

Grav Kick leveled up from 7 to 10!

Grav Kick is at the pinnacle of its growth!

Congrats! Lesser Freak leveled up to 9! +8 Free AP.

New Skill acquired! [Horiozndancer, Level 1]!

Congrats! Lesser Freak leveled up to 10! +8 Free AP.

Horizondancer leveled up from 1 to 10!

Horizondancer is at the pinnacle of its growth!

Congrats! Lesser Freak is at the pinnacle of its growth! It’s on the verge of evolving and requires your guidance. Are you prepared to evolve to Rank 2? Yes or no?

Jay stroked his chin. He looked down and saw Kleo copying his motion. That got an uneasy chuckle out of him as he wondered what he did to make a Skill like [Horizondancer] level up ten times in one instance.

He vaguely remembered reading it. He remembered he wanted to break something or push the boundaries to help Kleo before she died from being divergent. But now, he was grasping at smoke and very obscured shadows. His memory of the events and what specifically led to Kleo’s new form was gone from his mind. Or made hidden somehow.

But if his memory erasure wasn’t from the System Admins, who or what did it? The Admins were pressuring YoAnna for answers. And YoAnna was good enough not to press the issue upon her Champions.

Jay wished he could’ve been more helpful. He figured his jokey mood at the time alleviated some of the burdens YoAnna was carrying, even if only a little.

Unfortunately, that was all guesswork from Jay. He couldn’t read the Godling’s emotional gravity. She was probably shielded from stuff like that or too powerful for Jay to read.

Oh well, he’d think about that stuff later.

His childlike wonder was flaring. He still had it in him. His first evolution awaited, which was a scary prospect but also a thrilling one. Like being his own Pokemon.

“Let’s do it,” Jay said, scooping Kleo up and placing her on the gaming desk. “Uh, I’m going to strip into a towel and head into the shower. You mind staying here until I finish evolving.”

“I mind.”

“Really?”

“I’m a part of you, Master Jay. The evolving process affects me, too.” Kleo started stripping down. “So, we go together.”

Jay rushed out to find Kleo a hand towel to cover herself. Then she floated after him into the shower.

“I’m not evolving,” Kleo explained. “Our rank-ups are separate. But I’ll feel myself becoming a part of your evolution, anyway.”

“What’s it like?” Jay asked, taking a seat on the tub floor. Kleo sat on the sink, facing away, so Jay left the towel on the side of the bathtub.

“Dunno, this is my first time being part of one,” Kleo said. “And you’re way more modest than I expected. You know how to act like a character.”

“It’s how I’m brave,” Jay muttered. “I become something or someone more than just me.” Like going from Peter Parker to Spider-Man.

Kleo hummed thoughtfully. “So, we don’t always have to be extra into our characters? We can drop the role now and then and just be?”

“Can you imagine if I try to be funny and extra all the time?” Jay asked. “It’ll be exhausting, and then I won’t have energy when I need to be more funny. Here, home, alone, I can just be meh.”

“Maybe your attitude is, but you got toned muscles that aren’t meh,” Kleo teased. “Maybe try going shirtless more instead of wearing a poofy hoodie.”

“Your sacrilegious words dishonor the way of the Floridian hoodie worship and practicalities,” Jay said. “I’m ignoring you until the rank-up evolution is complete.”

Jay closed his eyes, found the option to evolve, and selected Yes.

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