Chapter 39: Did you miss that weird snail?

The hallucinogenic snail Jack healed was slowly moving in a desert zone.

Small, red, bleeding worms popped out of the ground in front of it.

The snail ignored them and they automatically disappeared as they came close enough to the snail.

Notification: User [Hidden by concealment Lvl. xxx] created a public information request on you.

The snail kept checking the status of the request. Genuinely curious whether or not that monkey would betray him.

After enough time passed, the snail surmised that it would not do so based on what he saw while it was inside his head and viewing every single one of Jack Stonewall’s memories.

While the snail was inside Jack’s head it, it saw that it was very likely that the next skill it would choose would have something to do with the game menu.

It did the equivalent of a surprised look in hallucinogenic snail body language. It never figured that dumbass would be lucky enough to unlock the missions menu.

It stopped moving for a second. It blinked. It was now in a different world. A kind of rainforest. Filled with tropical fruits. The sun was shining and the air was perfectly humid.

The snail teleported over to its children’s nest.

Two of his children were trying to kill each other. He noticed obvious flaws in that hastily erected mental shield. But he was even more disappointed in the pitiful three-thronged mental pincer attack.

With one thought, all the mental magical warfare disappeared from the nest.

In all the excitement, they hadn’t noticed dad was home.

“What did I tell you all about overreliance on the mental world? despite my mental masking you should all have been easily able to physically see me. What a disappointing display,” the dad snail telepathically communicated.

…

Lucas looked at Brian drop to the ground. He rushed over to help him.

Jack saw Brian drop but ignored him and turned towards where he had heard the gun sounds.

He couldn’t see anyone. They were hiding behind the trees. He got down on one knee to make himself smaller and started shooting at each tree.

“Fucking shoot you idiot…” Brian said in a low voice Lucas could barely hear.

He stood up and got next to Jack and started shooting as well.

Even though Brian was on the ground in pain, he still had his assault rifle in his hand. He also turned around and laid on his stomach and started shooting.

They kept just shooting at the general direction of the trees until they ran out of bullets.

As soon as Brian heard the empty clicking sound from his assault rifle, he yelled, “Get to the metal rooms and don’t come out until you’ve reloaded!”

And right after saying that, he disappeared out of thin air.

Jack followed suit. Lucas was the last one to exit.

Jack wasted no time. Right after teleporting, he jumped out of the VR chair and started reloading his rifle. He also double checked his pistol.

He was the first one out in the hallway. He aimed his rifle down the hallway, poking his head and rifle slightly out of the door.

He saw Lucas exit and almost shot him.

“It’s me! Jack! Don’t shoot!” Jack said.

Lucas faced him and nodded.

Lucas was totally out in the hallway and the metal door slammed close behind him.

“Fucking idiot! Come over here to my door and stay inside, fucking out in the open!”

Lucas felt like an idiot and did as he was told.

It took about five minutes before Brian exited his VR room.

He called out before looking out the hallway and made sure it was safe and Jack and Lucas were there.

He limped over to Jack’s door chamber. He was hunched over and holding a pistol in his hand. He couldn’t hold the assault rifle from the pain in his ribs.

“You two stay here. I’ll check if it’s clear. Don’t move,” Jack said.

…

“Fuck that hurts,” Brian said.

Jack was in his focused state healing Brian’s broken rib in a new motel room. Even though the attack was inside the game world, after their experiences with Fernando they were also paranoid in the real world.

After four hours, he stopped and was brain scattered for another four hours.

Jack snapped out of the state and took deep breaths.

“How you feeling?” Jack said.

“Better but still shit, no way I can do shit like running or grinding,” Brian said.

“Fuck, I really wanted to see Miranda tonight,” Jack said.

“I ain’t no pussy. We can still party. I’m just saying let’s not grind tomorrow. Also, we need fucking revenge. Let’s party and then tomorrow head over to one of Howard’s bars and get some info who the fuck shot me. He knows everything that happens in that gameworld,” Brian said.

///////

Jack:

Knife Fighting: Rank 1

Knife Fighting: Rank 2

Python (programming language): Rank 1

Mana Generation: Rank 1

Sand to Glass Conversion Mana Blueprint: Rank 1

Healing Mana Blueprint: Rank 1

Origami: Rank 1

Enhanced Bodily Recovery: Rank 1

Speed Counting: Rank 1

Enemy Weakness Identification: Rank 1

Poetry: Rank 2

Blueprint visualizer: Rank 1

Mana Sense: Rank 1

Blunt Force Resistance: Rank 1

Pool: Rank 1

Mana Manipulation: Rank 1

Specialized Mental Sacrifice Ritual Focus Borrow: Rank 1

Typography: Rank 1

Enhanced Healing: Rank 1

Throwing: Rank 1

Acrobatics: Rank 1

INT: +1

Missions Menu unlocked.

Brian:

Shield Defending: Rank 1

Marksmanship (pistol): Rank 1

Right Arm Increased Strength: Rank 1

Mana manipulation: Rank 1

Mana Sense: Rank 1

Enhanced Propriosense in Toes: Rank 1

Enhanced Bodily Recovery: Rank 1

Flame Shield Dispel: Rank 1

Cryptography: Rank 1

Enemy Pattern Recognition: Rank 1

Airplane Pilot: Rank 1

Mana Generation: Rank 1

Enhanced Vision: Rank 1

Blunt Force Resistance: Rank 1

Finnish: Rank 1

French oil painting technique: Rank 1

Throwing: Rank 1

Acrobatics: Rank 1

Vision Upgrade: ⅕ until Rank 1

Lucas:

Insect Movement Control: Rank 1

Enlarged Penis: Rank 1

Mana sense: Rank 1

Mana Manipulation: Rank 1

Surfing: Rank 1

Arithmetic: Rank 1

Chess: Rank 1

Human Interpersonal Non-verbal Bodily Social  Behaviors Enhanced Perception: Rank 1

Blunt Force Resistance: Rank 1

Changing car tires: Rank 1

Water Mana Affinity: Rank 1

Walking: Rank 1

Mana Generation: Rank 1

Juggling: Rank 1

Throwing: Rank 1

Acrobatics: Rank 1

Enhanced General Nervous System Reaction Time: Rank 1

Diesel Motors Piston System: Rank 1