"Yo, bro. Why's the chunibyo look?" Dave's greeting hit him where it hurt the most. "I thought you left that shit in the dark past, bruh."Jake thought long and hard about how to justify this on his way to school, but he had no idea.He did have a stupid phase when he wore an eyepatch thinking he was some chosen one.He wore the same one now to save his brain from melting—because he was the Chosen One.The prophecy he heard in his vision made it clear and his eye was also special.Now explain that to your best friend who saw you going through this delusional phase before.Even if it was true this time, there was no easy way to prove it."I pushed my finger into my eye." Jake sighed, dropping his backpack on his desk. "It hurts, okay? Not as much as your reminder, but it's bad, so please.""Ahaha, sorry bro, but no promises." His friend slammed his back with a laugh but made it up by pulling a stack of notes from his bag. "Here, I dug up some tips and tricks for MA."Jake jumped on them.He also looked stuff up himself, but a Moogle search was not as efficient as his veteran nerd bestie.He predicted what he'd ask and also knew what was worth asking."This is a good general skill setup, and that one is more combat-oriented." Dave guided him through his hard-to-read scribbles. They each needed way more SP than he had left.The combat one cost thirty-five when he only ever had twenty-eight.The single skill common on those lists with what he picked up was Running."Is Appraisal useless?" Jake asked, looking at his highest-level skill."Nah, you always need someone with that shit on level two, bruh. Even three if you want to go all out." Dave explained. Jake had it on the fourth already. "It's usually the support's job.""Why not higher?" He asked, his left eye twitching under the cover."It's a waste of points. It's not a standalone skill, so your support must pick a few things to go with it. But they each only cost one SP on level one. Cheaper than the third level alone."So this was, what 'your craft' referred to in the skill description. If only he asked him sooner.Now he wasted more than half of his points on the wrong skill.But he had no option back then, that was the other issue. He needed to unlock the skills to even spend his points on them."What if you start with a blank slate? Like when you set up your character on the go." He asked, raising his remaining eye on his dark-skinned friend.The color difference between his eyes was small enough that even he forgot. He could count on one hand how many people noticed his heterochromia before. Dave was one of them.Nobody else bothered to take such a detailed look at his face."What bruh? Do you mean the rule that you can only pick skills you used before? And yeah, upgrading takes time on top of points." Dave shuffled his notes like he was reading his mind.So the game had actual rules like that. Was his system copying it, or did someone with a system make that game?"Yeah, something like that." Jake nodded, running through his notes.He must have spent the entire afternoon making them. And he even brought him a doughnut yesterday.Dave didn't know why he needed this info and never asked.This lanky nerd was the best friend he could ever have. Jake tried to clarify his questions."You said it's cheaper to pick up low-level skills but it's better to concentrate on fewer ones. So what do I do if it takes a week until they're useful? And how do I pick them up?""Yeah, bruh. Those are a pain to keep track" Dave said. "Train. Seek out a master. A group I know skips these rules, but the good thing is that leveling up clears the learning timers.""Fuck, that's right." Jake slammed his forehead. He forgot about the whole leveling mechanic. He was still a level one, whatever 'Hidden Class' meant. "How do I level up?""Huh? Like in any other RPG, bruh. Grind. Get Exp." Dave sounded puzzled. "It's no different in Magicus Adeptus either."Yeah, it was a stupid question, but he couldn't ask him how to apply this to the real world.There were no dungeons or monsters to kill, that he knew of. He sunk into silence, reading through his notes."Arr, nice eyepatch ya have there, Captain." The high-pitched voice broke his concentration.Looking up, he saw Rebecca, all four feet nine tall, with a thousand-watt smile."Right, it's like a blast from the past, bruh." Dave fuelled her laughter without missing a beat.Jake had no idea these two knew each other, even if they were all in the same class."Shut up, it's not funny." He took offense, covering the eyepatch with his hand. "I'm not a chunibyo okay?""Hell naw, dawg, you're the Chosen One." Dave slammed the desk, bursting with laughter, and found a partner in Rebecca. If only they knew—but Jake stopped this thought.That's exactly what a chunibyo would think."And what is this nerding about? Is that math homework?" Rebecca asked furrowing her eyebrows. This was another thing Jake never thought about.The girls had all those abilities, but did they have the whole shebang? The system interface, character sheet, skills, and everything. The disgust on the redhead's face told him otherwise."It's Magicus Adeptus, a roleplaying game," he told her, curious of her reaction. Nothing."Never heard of it? Dungeons and Monsters? Any MMORPG?""Yikes. Do I look like a nerd to ya?" She acted all offended. "Okay, I watch anime, but that's it. This is all Greek for me. What's the point anyway?"Her voice was more hoarse than yesterday but she sounded genuine. Either this made her an excellent actress or she hadn't seen this game before.How would he make her confess? He knew about the girl's abilities, but how does he tell them he knows? Was he even one of them? His thinking resulted in an awkward silence."So what did ya do? Did ya download one too many movies?" The ginger asked, pointing at his eyepatch. She returned after throwing her bag on her desk like they were friends.Looking up, he noticed how many eyes were on them. His classmates used to ignore him. Was that jealousy? He tried to focus on her question before going down another rabbit hole."I pushed my finger into my eye.""That's the only thing that slowly stops the ache—" Rebecca sang. It was a much different reaction from Dave's. The notes were all over the place, but she laughed without care."Yo, you're into that metal shit too? Slowknot or whatever." His friend shook his head. "Bruh, I gotta listen to some 2-Cents or 50Pac now. I thought Jake was the only freak.""Boo." Was Rebecca's unfiltered reaction. "So he's into rock too? I like him even more already."Jake's heart skipped a beat. He could almost see himself hooking up with the fiery redhead. He wanted, too. But only until he remembered his earlier dream, and where it led them.