‘From the three new stats, which one is the best one for me to focus on right now? In the context of Earth, of course.’

[ The best course of action is to combine Transcendence and Psionics. If you were to start with one, I’d recommend Psionics. ]

‘What about Arcana?’

[ Unfortunately, you do not live in a Mana friendly planet, which makes tools a requirement to develop your magic. The cheapest Mana Refinement Chamber costs 500,000P. ]

‘Fuck me sideways.’

[ That is what Maruyama Patricia said, although not so much with words. ]

Asahi chuckled. ‘Yeah, she kind of did. So, I can see several manuals for Psionic abilities. What do you suggest?’

[ Psychokinesis. ]

‘Got it, thank you.’

[ You are welcome. ]

As Asahi bought the Manual for 5,000P, a new section appeared in the System, the Codex. Looking at it, he saw Psychokinesis all by its lonesome. Inside it, was like an e-book.

The first thing it recommended, was a training tool for beginners. A small 5cm metallic cubic box, with cushioned interior, and three ball bearings inside.

One needed to put a drop of their blood in each of the little metallic balls, then they would forever feel them if they willed it. With that, they were able to practice Psychokinesis, hidden in plain sight.

The tool was only 500P, extremely cheap, so he immediately bought it.

As soon as he did, it appeared on his chest, since he was lying in bed. However, he could already feel the metallic balls inside.

‘Do things that I need to link to myself already come linked?’

[ They can, if you want them to. Since this one was for you to train, I made it come out linked. ]

‘Good to know.’

Before starting to explore Psychokinesis, he tried out the abilities that he bought.

The Recording/Editing Mode was more or less what he was expecting. It was a window that played the moment in his life that he wanted to see, being able to adopt a 3^rd person view. Everything related to it functioned by him simply willing it.

He then started a recording on his phone, and used the Jam ability, which made the recording completely scrambled and useless, being exactly was what he wanted from the ability.

The Spatial Storage, was pretty much a game-like inventory. With an object in hand, he just needed to will it, in order to store it. Same thing went for taking things out.

He thought about a lot of things that he could do by combining the store with it.

Lastly, he decided to give Psychokinesis a try.

He bought the Basic Psionics Boost, and a 10,000P Psychokinesis one and started to follow what the manual said.

In such a short time, he had spent a total of 135,500P, but he didn’t even wince. Everything he bought was necessary in his mind.

He put the small box on his desk, and lied in bed again.

Upon closing his eyes, he focused on one of the metallic balls, and tried to project his will in an attempt to grasp it, by connecting his consciousness with matter itself.

It took him nearly twenty minutes of failure after failure.

However, as soon as he managed to move one of the metallic balls, a shiver went down his spine, because the basic nature of Psychokinesis finally dawned on him, and it was terrifying. It wasn’t a spectral hand manipulating things or anything like that, but the direct control of matter itself.

Of course, even though he wasn’t an intellectual genius, he realized that in order to connect to matter and control it at an atomic level, he would need a very high value of Psionics, and a mind absurdly more developed than his own.

What really made him shiver, was thinking about what powers other earthlings could possess.

‘Speaking of which, are there organizations to keep powered people in check?’

[ Yes. The Transcendent Society takes care of all powered people on earth, except the Mages. ]

‘Why is that?’

[ Mages, or Mystics, depending on who you ask, belong to the Mystical Consortium. ]

‘So, those who unlocked Arcana are Mages, and those who unlocked Transcendence are Transcendents. What about those who unlock Psionics?’

[ Those who are not Mages or Transcendents, are called Quasi-Transcendents. They are composed by people who unlocked Psionics, which are incredibly rare, or people with powerful passive skills, that don’t need Ki or any type of fuel to function. ]

‘Interesting. How do they determine who is what?’

[ Unlocking Transcendence changes a person on a genetical level, which is easily detected by a DNA test. Mages can be detected by reading their natural magnetic field. The change is subtle, only enough to alter the reading and nothing else. As for Quasi-Transcendents, Earthlings have no way of detecting what they are. ]

Asahi thought about that for a bit. ‘What are the chances of Trish have hurt my nose on purpose, in order to test my blood?’

[ Extremely likely. However, at the time, it would come back negative. Now, on the other hand, the result would be positive. ]

As he started to get angry, he shook his head and calmed himself down. ‘The certain circles in which her family has influence, and her growing up around opportunistic people, it makes a lot of sense now. Don’t show me her Relationship screen, but does she wish me any harm?’

[ Absolutely not. ]

He sighed in relief.

‘Instead of mentioning unlocking, you mentioned that Mages are detected by their magnetic field. Does that mean that just unlocking Arcana doesn’t change my magnetic field?’

[ Correct. You need to start refining your mana before any changes occur. ]

As he was about to ask another question, he heard a knock on his door, and saw the handle move.

Mayumi slowly opened the door, and peeked inside, seeing him in bed, wearing only boxer briefs.

He smiled. “Good morning.”

She entered his room, wearing a thong and a crop top, with a mischievous smile. “Good morning. It’s almost noon, so I came to wake you up, in a fun way.”

His eyes widened. “Almost noon?”

She climbed onto his bed, nodding. “Fumiko left a couple hours ago.”

As she lied beside him, he realized that him oversleeping might have been due to the System’s evolution.

“Wait for me here, I’ll just brush my teeth and come back.”

She smiled and nodded. “Sure.”

He quickly went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

‘My body feels great right now, did the evolution recover the fatigue from yesterday?’

[ Yes, all forms of fuel have been refilled, if you know what I mean. ]

He chuckled, drooling a bit of toothpaste.

When he got back, he climbed onto his bed, and kissed Mayumi.

He lied down, and pulled her closer, caressing her ass.

She gave him a light kiss. “Someone woke up feeling frisky.”

He smiled. “You climbed onto my bed, looking all sexy like that, how else could I possibly react?”

She giggled. “So, how did it go yesterday?”

“How many specific details do you want?”

She lightly bit his lower lip. “All of them.”

“Okay.”

He put his pillow against the headboard, and sat on the bed, then opened his legs, tapping the bed. “Take a seat.”

Displaying excitement and anticipation, she sat in front of him, leaning against his chest.

He whispered into her ear. “You’re gonna love this.”

He then slipped his right hand under her thong, and his left hand under her top.

While he played with her tits and her pussy, he narrated everything he did with Trish.

Mayumi looked totally engrossed with his story and hands, letting out incredibly sexy moans once in a while.

By the time he was finishing the story, she climaxed.

He kissed her neck. “Oh, and there is more.”

She caressed his thighs. “More?”

“She said that she is totally cool with you watching us having sex, in person. Actually, she said she’s looking forward to it.”

She looked at him widened eyes. “Are you serious?”

He nodded. “Very.”

She kissed him, deeply, turning around to face him.

His hard cock, which was pressing against her ass, looked like it was fighting against his underwear.

She licked her lips and went down on him.

 

In the shower, before leaving to train with Trish, he continued where he stopped when Mayumi entered his room.

‘Is there a way to safely tell someone about you? By that, I mean without risk of someone reading their mind or something like that. Speaking of which, what if someone reads my mind.’

[ The only way for anyone to know about a System, and I am including the entirety of all universes in this, is for its bearer to tell them. If someone reads your mind, or the mind of those to whom you told, it will be like the information was never there in the first place. ]

Asahi’s eyes widened. ‘Does that mean that if I want to tell Mayumi about you, I only need to worry about the consequences of her learning about Transcendents and stuff like that?’

[ Correct. ]

‘And what happens if someone whom I tell about you, tries to tell someone else?’

[ They will be physically incapable of doing so.]

He pondered for a bit. ‘Wait, even with all that, if a previous bearer wrote it down, wouldn’t it fuck everything up? Within just a few generations of bearers, anyone with a System would be the most hunted creature in the universe.’

[ When the bearer dies, all records of the System are erased, including memories. However, changes due to Skills and items created will remain. ]

‘That’s surprisingly thorough.’

[ Hardly. Given my capabilities, potential, and the fact that I was created by beings who created a virtually infinite number of universes, this is below the bare minimum. If I was not able to even conceal myself properly, how could I break down your universe into quantum data in order to function properly? ]

‘Right, sure, my bad for not realizing the obvious. Does the Transcendent Society have any rules regarding telling regular people about their existence?’

[ No, but for those who try to reveal their existence to the world, death is the best outcome. The same goes for the Mystical Consortium. ]

‘I see. Is there a way for me to make so Mayumi’s mind can’t be read for subjects aside from you?’

[ The optimal way to do so, is buying a Stone of the Mind Fortress. It permanently grants immunity to mind-affecting effects upon receiving a Mark from it, affecting a maximum of four creatures before losing its power. When something tries to affect the mind of someone who bears the Mark of the Mind Fortress, its bearer instinctively knows what it is and can allow it to affect them or not. It costs 500,000P. ]

‘That is a lot of points, but it seems relatively cheap for what it does. And is there a way for someone to bypass it?’

[ Only those more powerful than the item’s creator. ]

‘Which is…’

[ I am the creator. ]

‘So, no one can bypass it?’

[ That is correct. ]

He sighed in relief. ‘I’ll need to somehow get my hands on it. Alright, that will be my next goal.’

 

Training with Trish went as usual, aside from the fact that they were closer and there was some flirting here and there, but without doing anything sexual. It was purely a sparring day.

The week went by with Asahi practicing his Psychokinesis as often as he could, without neglecting his relationships.

On Wednesday he started learning the basics of grappling from Trish, which ended up resulting in a quickie in the women’s bathroom afterwards.

His novel was doing quite well, with a couple thousand followers already. Although he was surprised by its success, Trish said that it was within expected. On top of its quality, the fact that he published three chapters a day, made it much easier to gain traction.

 

Thursday, 3:43pm.

Asahi was lying on his bed in his underwear, practicing Psychokinesis, now moving three metallic balls at the same time, when he heard his phone vibrate on his desk.

It was a message from Fumiko.

(F)- I’m back from hell.
(A)- Wow, it has been two days since you cut contact. Did you manage to solve the thing for that
        German company?
(F)- I did. The thing that ravaged their server, and entire network, was due to the CEO’s son. He
       decided that it was a good idea to use the server to go to some shady porn sites, and get this,
       DOWNLOAD PORN! I know that I’m being paid for this, but I still want to punch that kid. ?
(A)- I know that I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, but holy fuck, that’s some next level stupidity.
(F)- Holy fuck indeed. It’s still on the company though, why would you allow anyone that is not trained
       properly to even enter the server room by themselves? On a brighter note, I have a surprise for you
       guys. May I come over?
(A)- Sure, I’m free, but Mayumi is not home though. She went out to watch a movie and have dinner
       with her parents. Wanna hang out until she comes back?
(F)- Absolutely, I’ll be there in 10. Want me to bring something?
(A)- Nope, we went shopping this morning. We’re fully stocked in snacks and drinks.

Asahi got up and put on shorts and a tank top, then went to the kitchen, and started to set aside Fumiko’s favorite snacks.

Soon, the doorbell rang.

He opened the door, only to find a tired-looking Fumiko, wearing sweatpants and a hoodie, with her hair tied in a bun.

He hugged her, and kissed her cheek. “Hi, you look like shit.”

She laughed, hugging him back and kissing his cheek. “And this is the freshened-up version.”

Letting go of the hug, he caressed her shoulders. “You feel tense as fuck. Want me to give you a massage? Mayumi always feels better after one.”

She pinched his cheeks with both hands. “I know the type of massage you give her.”

He laughed. “No, I mean an actual massage.”

She smiled. “I’d love one, thank you.”

They both went to his room, where she lied on his bed, facing down.

He was by no means an expert, but he was good enough to make someone at least relax.

Shoulders, arms, hands, back, lower back, thighs, calves and feet. Clothes on, with no oil or anything.

As he went through each one of them, he felt her body relax more and more. Of course, her venting to him about her two days of hell during the massage, also helped quite a bit.

After he finished, she lied properly on the bed, with her head on a pillow and her body turned to him.

She smiled. “Thank you, that was fantastic.” She then tapped the bed, in front of the other pillow. “I vented more than enough, let’s talk about you, how are you doing?”

He lied beside her, with his body facing her. “I’m really enjoying my life right now, but I’m still struggling with acceptance and self-esteem.”

She caressed his face, smiling. “You know that you rule right? By yourself, you survived shit that takes down people with a whole support group.”

He caressed her hand. “Yeah. Intellectually, I can see the things that I accomplished. The problem is that it’s really hard for me to feel that I accomplished them. I’m getting better as time goes by, thanks to Mayumi being there for me since I got here, and now thanks to you too. Being around the two of you, helps me more than you can probably imagine. But, sometimes, it’s like a wave of sorrow washes over me, and it’s a bit overwhelming.”

She displayed a light frown. “Your first session is in a couple of weeks, right?

“Yup. The only therapist with a pro bono spot happened to have just started her vacation.”

“Can you promise me something? If it gets too tough, we’re not here only for you to talk to, we’ll pay for it if you need a session earlier, and can’t afford.”

He smiled, and kissed her hand, that was still caressing his face. “Yeah, I promise that I won’t be stubborn.”

She smiled. “Good.” She retracted her hand, and bit her lower lip. “I know it’s just me overthinking things, but… it was okay for me to have hooked up with Mayumi, right?”

He chuckled. “Yeah. She even told me beforehand that she would go for it.”

She sighed, in relief. “It’s just… I really like you guys, and I don’t want to screw it up. I knew that she had probably talked to you, but it was still bugging me.”

He got very close to her, and caressed her face, then gave her a light kiss.

It was quite different from their previous kiss, the one where Fumiko displayed her tongue skills, it was intimate and tender.

She giggled.

He smiled. “What’s so funny?”

She smiled. “It was just like the first time Mayumi and I kissed.”

Caressing her cheek with his thumb, he kissed her again. “I understand that feeling of not wanting to screw things up, believe me. I really like you, and I really like her. The two of you hooking up, to me, is two people that I like a lot, showing each other a good time.”

She moved her face closer to his. It was almost a kiss, but without their lips touching.

She caressed his face with hers, in a display of intimacy. “I really like you too. It’s one of the reasons that I was worried, even though I knew better. I never felt like this about anyone before, and now I have this feeling for two people at the same time. It’s a bit confusing, and slightly scary.”

He hugged her with one arm, moving his body closer to hers, while their legs interspliced. “Yeah, I get that. I think the three of us are going through similar things in that regard. I need to ask you though; do you understand what you’re getting yourself into?”

She smiled. “No labels, no physical commitment, just caring for each other, and enjoying ourselves.”

He kissed her. “You got it. Are you okay with that?”

She kissed him. “I am.”

He ran his hand through her back, until it reached her ample, plump and toned ass, then squeezed it. “You know what comes next, right?”

She looked at him with a seductive expression, mirroring his move. “Absolutely.”

They looked at each other, and spoke in unison.

“Video games.”

They started laughing, then got up and went to the living room.

 

Later, 10:17pm.

Mayumi got home, wearing jeans and a hoodie, only to find an interesting scene in the living room.

Asahi was sitting sideways on the couch, with one leg extended on top of it, while the other was spread, with his foot on the floor.

Fumiko was sitting in front of him, leaning against his chest, with a controller in hand.

His arms were wrapped around her, also holding a controller.

Mayumi smiled, as they paused the game upon seeing her.

Asahi was the first to speak. “Welcome home. What movie did you watch?”

“Indomitable Seas.” She said, as she approached them.

She gave each of them a light kiss, then sat on the couch, unable and unwilling to contain her happy smile.

Fumiko spoke cheerfully. “I was waiting for you to get home. I have something to show you guys. Can you pass me my phone and the remote?”

“Sure.” Mayumi nodded with a smile, picking up the items from the center table, passing them to her.

Fumiko made the TV screen go black, then synched her phone with it.

It showed a Ryokan in Kyoto, a traditional Japanese Inn, and a very fancy one at that. A large room, with a private onsen, and delicious meals.

Fumiko then spoke. “I got a room for the three of us, all expenses paid, courtesy of an extremely embarrassed German CFO. We can go whenever we want and stay for three days and three nights. What do you guys think?”

Mayumi lightly clapped her hands, with a giddy expression. “I love it.”

Asahi, who had put the controller down, hugged Fumiko’s lower torso from behind, and kissed her cheek. “I think we’ll have a blast. I can’t this weekend though, I have my thing with Trish. But after I come back, I’m game whenever you guys decide to go.”

“How about we go on Tuesday? That way you will have a day to recover from you trip, before leaving on another one.” Asked Fumiko.

Mayumi nodded. “I second that motion.”

Asahi smiled. “Tuesday it is.”