Getting the overused Gamer System shoved into my soul was... Uneventful to say the least. Sure I was sitting on my ass playing Genshin Impact on my computer and trying to level up Shenhe but when I was reading the Gamer Web Comic in the background apparently my thoughts of disdain about the main character of the series endlessly spamming, 'Spinning Mana Arrows' and magic, in general, was a funny thought to a godly being of some sort.

As before I could react a golden basketball of light flew out past my wall, through my monitor destroying it, and into my chest. I heard the god's voice and honestly, his voice was kind of similar to my own weirdly enough.

"Then here. Take this Gamer System that will have heavily nerfed magic growth and no dungeon creation." The voice spoke as the ball of golden light merged into my chest and as my body heated up and my vision was consumed by a kaleidoscope of light I heard the voice continue to speak. "Become the strongest in a new world in which you can actually grow. Prove your thoughts and complaints to be fair. Or in the end, I will take your power back and wipe your memories if you fail at your challenge and die in this new world."

-

"This is fucking bullshit... Do gods actually listen to keyboard warriors and slap us for our thoughts that are obviously correct?" I spoke dully as I stared out across New York City. "I don't even fucking know what world this is and why the hell did you put me on top of the fucking Empire State Building?!" I roared as the wind howled at the height I was at and went through my hair making me shudder at the chill of the feeling.

[User has acquired skill. Cold Resistance, Lvl 1 - .05% to next level.]

[User resists cold temperatures better. Lowers damage taken by frost effects and lowers damage done to the user by ice magic by .5%]

After I finished reading that little tidbit I decided to wait till I got off the Empire State Building before I got into my Gamer system and saw what that god meant by nerfing magic and other things.

It turned out that with the Empire State Building being such a huge tourist attraction that even in the late parts of winter and early spring despite it being stupidly cold up here. People still came up here commonly on tour groups so I was able to make up an excuse about being the last part of the last tour group and when the group left I was left behind with the door automatically locking while I was busy taking pictures.

Once I got out of the Empire State Building I thankfully was clad in a hoodie and jeans after just getting home and jumping on my games so I did have some cash to buy some food and a small map of NYC so I could decide what the hell I should do.

"Should I just try to use my old Paypal and get a ticket back home?" I wondered as I certainly had enough money in savings to get a flight back to the Midwest but then I recalled very clearly about how this was a new world and that running into my doppelganger if he was there was a terrible idea.

"Fuck it... I am an adult and I slept in treehouses before, sleeping in a box so I can get an apartment or something in a week won't be too bad." I muttered as I walked through the streets of NYC towards Central Park and I wondered what I was doing in the long term.

After finding a nice old bench that wasn't some anti-homeless weapon meant to break people's backs I sat down and experimentally said under my breath. "Status." And then a blue-tinged screen appeared in front of my face and seeing as the people that were walking through Central Park weren't gawking at the floating holographic screen in front of my face I knew other people couldn't see it."

[ Jake Barriss. Level 1]

[Mana - 10]

[Stats.] Measurement of personal bodily abilities.

[Strength _ F-] Measurement of vitality within the body, determines the strength of blows, and the durability of the body.

[Dexterity _ F-] Measurement of the body's ease and precision of movement, and level of reaction speed

[Charisma _ F-] Measurement of your innate attraction and influence you have over other people through a variety of factors.

[Intelligance _ F-] The Measurement of the user's intelligence in solving issues as well as determining the total mana pool and its regeneration.

[Luck _F-] Fate is an endless tapestry and this stat determines if you get strangled by the threads of fate or instead the fates weave you a quilt to warm yourself with.

[Skills- Gamer's Body, Gamer's Mind,]

[Gamer's Body, User's Body is reflective of a game character's with the body being almost perfectly adaptive to stimuli and growth in all directions.]

[Gamer's Mind, Protects the User's Mind from mental attacks and alterations to the mental state from negative effects while also making the user's mind more adaptive to certain magical practices that would strain normal minds.]

I couldn't help but deadpan at the sight of the 'luck' stat as the others were rather informative even though the Charisma stat could use more of an explanation but what the hell was this going on about the fates weaving me a blanket?

I shoved those thoughts aside as I checked the rest of the Gamer system and although the audio and video systems were interesting for a number of reasons like being able to play songs from my old world, I could also make myself go color blind with my video settings... No idea why I would want to do that but I could.

I checked the rest of the Gamer Systems stuff like the inventory and then looked into my skills and perks but other than the Cold Resistance I finally saw the nerf, that the god who reincarnated me mentioned about using magic.

[Path of the Homeless Emperor, Restricts all magical growth, and magical skill acquisition, and increases the cost of using magic by 120%. The user must acquire his own territory and property with the expansion of the user's territory and property lowering the debuff accordingly until the debuff is removed.']

'What the fuck is making the debuff a hundred and twenty percent... Does that mean I have to somehow buy property here in NYC before I can even hope to ever throw a fireball or something?' I pondered wryly and in response, I got a ding with my Intelligence going up by one point and another little box that answered my question.

[User must fully own the land, territory, or treasure to qualify it for dominion. Renting or otherwise buying a property that is still in the holdings of the United States or any country that you fully intend to pay taxes upon does not mean you actually own it.]

'Does this mean I have the perfect excuse to avoid property taxes?' I thought wryly before sighing as I looked up at the city skyline that surrounded me. "Well, I guess the best idea is to take territory as some kind of gang member or something to fit with the system requirements... But I have no idea the supernatural background of what world I am in." I muttered as I scanned the city skyline looking for some kind of super obvious building that could tell me which universe I was in.

But with no Stark tower or anything else super obvious, I just shrugged as I got to my feet. 'Well, at least I have Gamer's body though it seems I don't have a health pool and will take damage like a normal human being.' I thought as I sighed and got to my feet. It was time for me to try to take some kind of territory.

After checking the surface map of NYC I realized there really were no good area's to 'claim' as to do so would invite people to come either take it back from being either gang members or even the police coming to kick my squatting ass out. But as I looked through the other maps I picked up I paused as I looked at the map of the subway system and I grinned.

"Bingo!" I hissed with glee giggling as I saw several parts of the subway system had to be closed off over the years and just generally been shut down and I remembered I think it was the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie back in ninety's that had them living in some abandoned train car that was still in livable condition.

Just claiming chunks of the subway system would be far easier than claiming an alleyway or even a derelict building as being in the subway I would be for the most part away from the elements. "I just hope the rats aren't as big as the rumors say," I muttered as I wondered if my little thoughts about the mutated turtles would lead me to run into rats the size of dogs or even people.

After collecting some more supplies a very large refrigerator, some sleeping bags, snacks, lights, and a bunch of solar-powered lights... Yeah, I kinda just robbed a closed Dick's Sporting Goods on the edge of the city. It turns out that you can inventory anything you can put your hands on. Which just so happens to include locked doors.

I didn't really feel guilt at my theft of several thousands of dollars of stuff due to how I knew everything was insured so I stocked up everything I needed and if this world truly did have a supernatural world then they could deal with the cleanup from the camera's catching me throw stuff into my inventory.

While I was getting stuff I did grab a simple pump shotgun, a high-power revolver said to be able to put down bears, a lot of ammo, a couple of compound bows, crossbows, and plenty of arrows/bolts for them while also picking up a bundle of javelins at the Track and Field side of the store.

Sure the Javelins weren't actually spears but if a vampire or something decides to nibble on me in the middle of the night or something the shorter spear would work just fine.

Best of all, during my looting, I unlocked the [Observe] ability when I was trying to figure out which was the best gun and I found that the heavily engraved revolver I chose actually had a bonus damage modifier against spirits, wendigos, and skinwalkers due to the handle being made of deer antler with Native American iconography all over it

"Well, this isn't ominous at all," I muttered as I looked at the rusty cage that was locked with a padlock to block off the closed-off tunnel in the sewers. But either way, I broke the padlock and replaced it with my own that I had a key for, and as I stepped into the tunnel and turned the corner into the more open room at the end I mentally acknowledged the area as my own from now on as I threw down a tent to finally rest within.

[User has taken, his first step to supremacy in acquiring an abandoned sector that he could conceivably call his own. Malus from the skill 'Path of the Homeless Emperor' reduced from 120% to 100% and now the user is capable of possibly creating skills that require mana.]

I clapped my hands joyfully at the news and with that settled, I took a couple of metal bookshelves out of my inventory along with a large gun safe to block off the entrance to the storage area that I took over so no one could surprise me without making an unholy racket to move the large metal things across the dirty tiled ground.

-

For the next couple of days, I cleared out my little hideaway throwing the trash that filled it into another tunnel this one leading into towards the main subway, and otherwise just cleaning up the area in general with some rags.

But the whole nerf to the creation of magical skills was no joke... Even after reading dozens of gamer fics and the original that went into great detail about the usage and management of mana in the creation of magical spells and such. All I could accomplish was a ball of spinning mana that would float over my hand.

"I can't freakin stabilize this mana ball so it will fly and not just dissipate in the wind." I snarled at the spinning Rasengan in my hand that I wanted to turn into a mana bolt or even an arrow or something. But the moment I actually threw the spell or it just got more than like six inches away from me I lost all control over it and the mana would just poof out of existence as it disappeared into the air.

Actually calling the spinning ball of mana, a Rasengan, to begin with, was a major overestimation of it. Even pushing the edge of a piece of paper against it would pop the ball of mana and make it poof into a ball of mana smoke.

I had learned that with my Gamer's Body that internal skills or martial arts that used mana were obscenely much easier to create as I was able to several variations of [Power Strikes] with weapons and apparently the MMA dummy I snagged from Dick Sporting Goods counted as an actual training dummy so I was able to level up my boxing skills along with bare-handed [Power Strikes]

But I knew super fancy magical martial arts like the lost Chiyou martial arts used in the Gamer Webcomic weren't something I could recreate on a whim as it was crazy world-breaking stuff that allowed the user to ascend into some kind of Sage god and rewrite causality with their blows.

"Actually I should at least see if I can get some kind of skill books at the library, I need to get crafting books and other things so I can use the Gamer's biggest cheat of auto-crafting," I muttered after I got cleaned up after my training and I then made my way through NYC's underground but as I was approaching the edge of the abandoned section of the subways I felt a chill and a blue screen popped up.

[New skill created, Sense Bloodlust. The user is capable of feeling bloodlust aimed at the user from entities that wish to cause harm to the user. The level will decide the range and sensitivity of the user's senses. Level 1.]

My head snapped to the side towards a pitch-black tunnel that was unlit from any light source and I felt the bloodlust aimed at me thicken. Then a set of red glowing sideways bar-like eyes opened within the darkness of the pitch-black alleyway.

Bang bang bang!

"Nope fuck youuuu!" I crowed as I took out the Ranger Sequoia with a buff against Native American monsters and emptied the whole fucking revolver at the glowing red eyes and with a screech of agony whatever monster I shot splattered glowing green blood that hissed like acid as it bubbled like peroxide on dirt.

When I fired all five 44 rounds into the monster and my revolver clicked as it cycled all its chambers I threw the gun into my inventory as I took off down towards the more lit section of the subway as I heard the monster screech a terrible and unholy thing as it shattered the tiles that covered the ground and walls as it charged after me.

The monster was ten feet tall with its large horns from its goat-like head scratching, grinding, and shrieking across the roof of the subway. It had large bat-like wings and held itself up in a semi-bipedal form as its furry body rushed at me like a gorilla would use its massive arms to run at you but it had wings that made each leap far longer and faster than such a creature should be able to leap.

As I entered a more well-lit central area of the subway that was well lit and I could hear people in the distance I used Observe on the charging monster. [Jersey Devil, Lvl 23]...

I knew fuck all about the Jersey Devil and seeing as it wasn't some kind of higher-level monster hopefully it didn't have a specific weakness I needed to know to kill it.

So wordlessly I took out the loaded crossbow I had and as the Jersey Devil landed, paused to tense and was launch itself towards me again I pulled the trigger on the crossbow and a screeching baying rang out as the crossbow bolt rammed into the monster inverted kneecap partially crippling it. So as it attempted to only launch itself on one leg I was able to dodge to the side of the leaping monster on its lame side.

"I wonder how many people you killed!" I snarled as I slammed a javelin through its bat wing that attempted to bat at me as I went past it and it screeched again as I used a [Power Strike] with the javelin to pin the short spear and its wing into the ground.

I was curious why there were no homeless people down here or even made an attempt on my whole abandoned area. It didn't make sense as I saw plenty of homeless people on the surface of NYC but not a single damned one down here in the subway despite how it was the later winter and still cold as shit.

So there were clearly monsters filling the many dark and abandoned sections of NYC's sewer and subway system... 'I guess the whole massive city gators may not have been a lie.' I thought wryly as I took out the hunting shotgun I had that was loaded with slug rounds and began methodically shooting the screaming monster in its face but I realized the slugs honestly were barely penetrating the monster.

"Just die dammit!" I roared as I ducked under the swipe of its arm that had four clawed fingers on the end after I ducked under the blow I took out an axe and with a wet crunching noise I slammed it into the Jersey Devil's neck with a jump but before I could react I got punch by the other arm of it as it tore its pinned wing off.

"Fucking monster." I cursed as I vomited at the blow. as my Gamer's Body didn't come with some kind of arbitrary health bar so I could feel my ribs screaming in agony at being hit by what felt to be a baseball bat.

But the monster also didn't have some kind of arbitrary health bar so with an axe that shattered its spine and almost cleaved the monster head from its neck, that one punch as it tore its wing off was the last thing it could do, and finally with a growl, at me. It exploded softly into black dust and I heard a clatter as something dropped on the ground where the monster was, I got back to my feet while holding my chest.

Before I did anything like checking my loot or even the details of my level-ups from killing a monster well above my levels I reloaded the revolver that was seemingly enchanted or its engravings allowed it to do more damage to supernatural monsters. As those slug rounds did literally nothing to the monster but tear off some fur.

Then I finally checked the details of my level up.

[Jake Barris, -Empty Job- -Empty Title- Level 7] [Strength _ F-] [Dexterity _ F-] [Charisma _F-] [Intelligance _ F-] [Luck _F-] My letter stats were the same but below those stats, apparently at level five and with my first slain enemy I unlocked the [Job] and [Title].

[User has unlocked Jobs that will strengthen user by upgrading letter stats by fulfilling Job's requirements and their challenges.]

Below that message was a list of three classes of 'Job' I could take with one of them being crossed out and the sigh of it made my eye twitch as the [Mage] job was crossed out which left me with [Weapon Master] or [Unarmed Specialist]

Both options at first glance were rather clear cut but as I read what they were about, I realized they very much were not so simple and I would need to get several [Jobs] over time as even if I maxed out the entire skill tree and did all the challenges I would only get two ++ which would allow the stats the [Jobs] effected to only reach F+ thankfully they both effected only [Strength] so I wasn't going to mess with my total growth with either of them.

[Weapon Master] focused more on perfecting the usage of weapons and attaching skills to the weapons to make them stronger and much deadlier than the [Unarmed Specialist] which focused on honing the body into a work of martial artistry that would allow me to punch ghosts to death with my skills that would augment my body.

In the end, I didn't really see much of a choice as these monsters for a long while were going to be much physically stronger than myself... So without hesitation, I chose the [Weapon Master Job]

Before I could get into the actual details of the job I heard voices approaching so I instantly bent down grabbed the loot from the slain Jersey Devil and took off toward the depths of the subway towards my claimed area.

-

Three men in suits with one walking in the front of the trio walked into the site where the battle between Jake and the Jersey Devil took place the leading dark-skinned man hummed as he looked at some kind of tablet that was showing graphs and jargon that he was reading with interest.

"The Jersey Devil that has claimed this section of the Subway seems to have met his end at the hands of a human with natural untamed mana." The dark-skinned man spoke as he touched his ear and spoke into it. Some garbled words came through and the well-dressed man spoke again. "Very well. We will attempt to approach the killer to give him his due as it was a public contract that has been left to fester." The man finished before he lowered his hand from his ear and looked at his compatriots that were also in suits but actually armed with pistols with glowing runes engraved upon them.

"Gentlemen please lead the way. The Continental pays its debts." The man finished with the two silently men nodding as they walked together in front of the man who followed behind them.

-

[Demonically enhanced horns X2] [Health potion X3] [500 USD]

Those were the drops I got from the Jersey Devil and looking at the money I realized its serial numbers were different and even with different years on certain ones. I wonder if the money is actually currency that had been destroyed or truly lost over time so it couldn't be considered counterfeit money?

But either way, I knew I could get crafting recipes from skills and such so I could use those horns to maybe make a spear or maybe a dagger.

"So I guess I can use this money to go buy some skill books from a bookstore or something.' I muttered as I put away my drops and just relaxed with some meditation to hopefully level up that skill that would slowly raise up my total level of mana for magic and skills that used mana.

After twenty minutes of meditation, it was broken as I heard someone knocking on the metal of my safe in a clear manner of actually knocking to get my attention and my thoughts were confirmed as I heard a clear and cultured voice speak out. "Hello sir, we are with the local supernatural cleaners and have come to check in on you. As your slaying of the Jersey Devil was a contract we were assigned to deal with and I have been ordered to provide you compensation for the completion of the contract."

For a moment I considered telling the voice to fuck off as I had no trust or idea of what kind of supernatural world this was... But in the end, I needed answers, and bumming around was going to give me no answers.

"Give me a second please," I called out as I took a couple of chairs out of my inventory for my supposed guest and then I went to the entrance to my claimed room that was still blocked by several shelving units and a large heavy safe so with a grunt I pushed them aside and as I did so I blinked as I saw who was on the other side of it.

'Charon?' I thought blinking as I saw the dark-skinned man who ran the concierge office in the John Wick movies but I cleared my confusion as I stepped back and held an arm out. "Please come in, I have some refreshments if you and your compatriots desire?" I asked and Charon smiled softly as he gently denied my offer of tea or water.

"Please sir, I have your payment here." He said holding out his hand and within his hand was a small stack of golden coins. "The Jersey Devil rated as a low-end job is worth only six coins but its hunting habits had led to... Issues especially with how it learned to only hunt while underground in the darkness." The man spoke as he respectfully handed the coins over to me.

"Sir, do you have a continental pass or have you just arrived in New York City?" Charon asked and I shook my head.

"No, I have only just arrived in the city so I am unaware of the major players if you have the time I would appreciate a rundown of the city's situation, or likewise just a book or pamphlet with such information would be highly appreciated," I said wryly and the man smiled softly as he shook his head.

"I apologize I do not carry such information on myself as I was merely sent here to verify the death of the Jersey Devil by my colleagues behind me." He said and I glanced at the silent men in suits behind the man and as I looked at them they nodded silently.

But even as I scanned Charon with an observation to confirm his name I was listening as he continued to speak. "So I am to assume with your young age that you are some kind of mage in training, a Sacred Gear wielder, or would I be wrong to assume you have come here to NYC to find your parentage as a Greek demigod?" He asked before continuing as my mind connected the sacred gear bit being part of DXD and with this being NYC and the Greek gods being here that meant this almost certainly had something to do with Percy Jackson.

Unless the DXD Greek gods decided to fuck off across the ocean to America and rebuild Olympus for the hell of it. Though my arrival so close to the Greeks at the top of the Empire State Building also gives credence to this world having something to do with Percy Jackson's world.

"Something like that," I said simply to his question and then I spoke again. "Actually do you know of any magical shops here in NYC, where I can buy some books on magic and other disciplines?" I asked and the man blinked in surprise before smiling as he reached into his pocket I almost tensed but as I saw the two men behind him tense and glowing rune-engraved pistols showed up in their hands I was untensed as I had no way to deal with enhanced guns.

"The Continental Hotel, here in NYC is the hub of human interactions with the Supernatural in the eastern half of North America, so yes we most certainly have shops with magical items and books. Normally to earn entry into the Hotel you must prove yourself of a certain amount of skill or power but with your killing of the Jersey Devil and my own position I am entitled to give you this, and allow you entry into the Continental and avail yourself of its services." Charon spoke as he handed me a palm-sized plaque that gently radiated mana.

"I appreciate it, let me escort you out and I will head there as soon as I find directions to it," I said and the man chuckled as he patted me on my shoulder.

"Young man just follow us. My colleagues will drive us there as I have no other responsibility to the Continental at this time but the core of my job is to help the customers and users of the hotel's services." Charon said respectfully and knowing what I did in the John Wick movies that he was speaking true so I nodded in thanks as I gave him back one of the gold coins as a symbol of thanks the man hummed in agreement as he pocketed the coin.

A couple minutes later as I climbed into the sedan that was going to take me and Charon to the Continental I asked him if there were any hard rules and unspoken rules I needed to be made aware of.

"Oh for hard rules, yes there is the simple rule of no violence taking place within the premises. But as for soft rules yes, these gold coins are made out of Imperial Gold so they hold a good deal of value for a number of magical uses and thus are the currency that is used within the Continental, of course, there are higher valued coins than those base Imperial Gold coins but all services and most products are sold within the Continental with those coins acting as the guaranteed currency. Other than the soft rule of currency, there are the missions members and employees of the hotel take to get coins." Charon explained as he told me about how I could apply to be a mercenary who would go after the many monsters that fill the streets, abandoned buildings, the sewers, and the subways.

The completion of the job is shown in handing over the remains and reagents of the monster to the Continental as proof of its death before the hotel hands over the value of the reagents as well as the value of the bounty itself to the mercenary or employee.

It seemed that in this world, the Continental was less of an organization for assassins and instead acted as the mega-corporation equivalent of Amazon in offering all kinds of services to the many mercenaries that were on the East Coast of America.

So as Charon told me of the bounties all I could think of, was how this was perfect for me being a Gamer as this was literally an almost infinite source of quests though I would need to expand my domain more if I wanted to more easily learn and use magic.

 

 

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