Jump 318: The Gamer

Jump #318: The Gamer
>Eight of Wands (Swiftness): A sudden release of raw power, cutting through confusion and indecision, and setting things in motion.
>Age: 14
>Location: South Korea
>Identity: Player Two
>Drawbacks: Disproportionate Retribution (+100), Just Barely Above Average: Strength (+200), Banhammer (+200), Casting From Hit Points (+300), Abyss Gazed Back (+0, Mandatory)
Soooo... if I do anything in the public eye of note, it's going to get Gaia ticked off at me. This is a bigger deal than normal, considering Gamer powers are supposed to originate with Gaia, I do believe. And it helps nothing that my strength can't even hit peak human no matter what I do. Doesn't help that if I go killing someone with magic, I'll be unable to use that magic again unless I train it up from nothing, too. And as far as casting from hit points... Ceci seems to have drawn the short straw, probably because of what she pulled off last jump, but I'm sure I can find individuals who can stand to lose their souls in order to support her instead of letting her die... the major problem here, though, is that folks aligned with the Abyss will be after me for dubious and possibly conflicting reasons.
>Instant Dungeon (Free)
Yeeeah, I'll be taking the upgraded version of this, thank you.
>Restat (1700, P2)
I'm honestly not a fan of the default stats here. I can think of better ones, though it's situational... maybe I'll go with something derived from SPECIAL stats. Getting to respec every decade is handy too. At least when I respec, I won't be stuck limiting my strength to 25.
>Gamer's Loot (1400, P2)
I already have some similar perks, but this one seems to be about ideal. Useful bits, cash, and so forth. Yes indeed, I'll be making use of this.
>Gamer's Mind (1100, P2)
Flat out memetic hazard immunity as well as invulnerability to mental status effects, and a quest system to boot. Nice.
>Gamer's Titles (1000, P2)
This is actually rather promising, I doubt I'll really need to use a great deal of this, but there will definitely be times where it's handy. I believe these titles usually come with related bonuses? Pity only one can be in effect at a time, but can I be known by them all despite only one being ACTIVE?
>Illusion Technician (600)
Combine this with Gamer's Loot and I'll be able to recreate anywhere I've been. Let's see how smart someone feels when they're trying to kill me and they follow me into an ID of a pitched Warhammer 40k battle.
>Gamer's Skills (300, P2)
Now this, I must admit, is pretty freaking nifty. I am less about consuming the skill books, though, and more about skills hitting their cap and then evolving into better skills.
>Gamer's Body (0, P2)
An HP system ... I think I might actually have one, but again, having it spelled out explicitly will simplify many things. Not to mention explicitly levelling up.
>Gamer's Basic Spells (Free, P2)
Well, I get one 100cp item free. Having a collection of local low-level spells certainly won't hurt, and they'll give me a starting point toward integrating the local magic with my system.
>Gamer's Party (Free, P2)
I can only recruit eight others into my party, but that's quite all right, my companions fit the bill quite nicely and they'll probably appreciate getting to use the gamer perspective. Mostly.

Speaking of Too Stupid To Fail: this place.

Ohhh, this setting.

I am almost certain that not a week is going to go by without seeing some idiot come out of left field wanting to either kill me, use me to their own ends, or attempt to ally with me in order to use me toward their own ends.

That's okay though, because you know what? I'll freely admit, when inevitably confronted by any number of idiots, that I have power.

The nature of the power... well, they won't know that I have the local version of whatever, but I'll happily live a double life in order to keep my apparent family safe. A clone with diminished versions of my abilities can stay behind, do the schoolwork, pretend to be social, and so forth. I'll be happy to go out and do various silliness-related activities as long as it keeps everyone away from my home.

I'm not quite sure what (the local) Gaia will think of my usual open-the-jump-by-stitching-my-magic-into-the-universe thing though. I'm pretty sure she's not that happy about that because whenever I end up using magic in a way that anyone might notice, something inevitably falls on my head. I had a coconut fall out of the sky and crack me on the skull in an open field once, for instance.

That sort of silliness aside though... it was amusing, but it ended up with me largely running around being an errand boy for Gaia. Once I realized the rules and how far I could bend them before facing retribution, I was able to do quite a bit.

It turns out there are a lot of magic users in the world, and while there are plenty of them that aren't jerks, there are some who are just flat out evil. The Gamer abilities had a tendy to act up until they integrated out-of-context magics, but the ideal thing seemed to be to bait them into being asshats, take them out of the picture, do everything SHORT of killing them, and then sacrifice them in an instant dungeon to keep Ceci from keeling over. (Trying to preserve surplus souls in a philosopher's stone was, apparently, considered 'cheating' by Gaia and not permitted - same with trying to use souls I'd consumed in the past, or part of my soul here and now in hopes that it would regenerate. If it didn't go through the proper ceremony, it would have no effect.)

Eventually, I threw in the towel, played up some creepypasta silliness to cover for some major mojo, and disappeared pretty much every serial killer on the globe. This was enough to make certain magic users sit up and take notice, and also attack me, which I used to my advantage... between the idiots who attacked me, and the postcognition-confirmed irredeemable murderers, I had enough useful souls to fix Ceci.

I'm not sure I'm thrilled with the concept of her getting a power-up as a result of it, but apparently she's happy, so that's all that really matters there.

Oh.

I almost forgot.

The first day I was there, I left a copy of The Hercules Method in one Han Jee-Han's mailbox.

The results were pretty much as expected - he touched it, absorbed it, gained some VERY interesting skills from it and some direct stat buffs - and it made for an interesting case study, I have to admit.

Didn't derail canon aside from giving him a nice strength and endurance buff, though.