Ugly Bastard

Noah soaked for so long the water almost turned cold when he came out.

He dressed in the new set of cheap clothes he bought in the city and walked out of the bathhouse with his bag on the shoulder that he took with him to not be suspected of having dimensional pockets.

The sun had already set and the alley had become so dim it would be barely visible if not for the lights coming from the upper floors of some buildings windows looking into this alley.

He walked through the silent alleyway back to the inn when he passed a cross road between buildings with one way leading to the other alleyway, with loud music and echoes of laughter coming out of it.

His interest was piqued by the sounds of festivity and he decided to check that street. Turning this way he went to the sound that was becoming more and more apparent as he walked down the alley.

Soon bright light coming from the street started to light up the alley. When Noah came out of the alley into the street he stopped rooted in place.

The street was full of drunk and happy men waltzing it as if this was a market at noon. Women in revealing clothes stood at the doors of many establishments on the street calling these drunken and laughing men, who on many occasions stopped to have a chat and laugh with gorgeous women flirting with them.

"Hey sweetheart." Said a female voice from Noah's side startling him a bit. "Looking for a good time tonight?" Asked him a lady in quite revealing dress and a note of affection in her voice 

Noah already understood what all the fuss was about and his ears became slightly red from understanding the kind of good time the girl offered him. 

"I am sorry milady. Not today." Said Noah and quickly turned around and walked back the way he came from.

"Oooh. Too bad. Come again next time sweety, I'll make your night unforgettable." Threw the words to his back the lady.

/Sorry girl, don't have any money anyway./ Thought Noah as he walked back to the inn.

*System would like to share an observation.*

/What is it?/

*As user have noticed before, the system is gaining an Evolution Energy from performing some actions that from a moral point of view might seem a bit ill-favored. System was wondering if visiting the so-called "House of Sin" would be one of the precursors of gaining an EE in a more acceptable way for the user method.*

/That is an idea that calling for conducting an additional research, I'd say/

*Yes, indeed. This topic would need to be researched by the user for purely scientific interest*

/Yes, yes that is indeed so. It has to be done in a pure scientific intention. It's not like I crave to visit the brothe…I mean this house of low moral standards…khe khem./ Thought Noah with his ears gaining a deeper red tint.

*Of course. Users' intentions would undoubtedly be purely educational and scientific.*

/I agree with your suggestion. We might make a research of this topic, once we earn some money in the nearest future./ Said Noah in his head and hurried back to his room.

He walked inside his room and closed the door behind him, throwing his bag in the corner near the bed again. He washed his face and undressed, throwing his clothes to the only chair in the room.

"Oh God, finally a normal rest. It seems like it's been forever since I had a good night's rest" Said Noah

*....*

"See you tomorrow, system. User now needs some good sleep." Added he, closing his eyes.

*.....*

"Sleep sweet sleep"

*....*

"...."

*.....*

"....."

*.....*

"I can't sleep because of my passive skill don't I?"

*User would be indeed resting, however staying lucid in dreams with the level of control over the mind realm that you gained after the awakening of the system, negates the idea of dreams in its usual sense and meaning.*

"What does it mean?"

*As the mind realm is a lot more functional and gives the same sense of rest as sleeping, the system has used the useless dreaming algorithms to make the Mind Canvas Painter skill that is a lot more practical and connected sleeping function to the mind realm. That allows the user to enter into the mind realm without physically transferring there, which might come in handy if the user travels with companions in the future. Although that version of entering the mind realm has a bit of limitations  such as for example the dream travel skill will be closed.*

"In other words, laying here with closed eyes, from now on will only transfer me to the same mind space I usually go to. But with less function"

"Exactly."

"So what the fuck am I supposed to do if I can't sleep?"

*System suggests using this time to research the so-called topic of manga stories in the root library. Previous story has greatly inspired the user however time spent in that story took away useful time of the day. Performing the research instead of sleeping is an advantage in my point of view.* Answered system.

/Fine, let's go/ Thought Noah and disappeared in the mind realm.

/So what stories did the people in CS suggest?/

*That I am not sure, as many of their explanations are a bit superficial such as: hit me with the worst or something for the soul. There have also been used an unidentified words like: yaoi and yuri. We would need more information on the topic to understand the meanings of these explanations.*

"Alright. Any suggestions?"

*System would suggest starting with the research on these particular stories.* Said system and CS conversations scrolled with a fast speed until they reached the highlighted by the system conversation.

Guys give me something nice to read. Asked one person in the new post.

Here, this ones nice. Answered the guy with a cute lamb picture that Noah has already seen a few times.

OH GOD. What the fuck is this shit? Replied a few minutes later the person who initially asked to suggest him something

Oh shit, sorry man. That was the wrong link. I am really sorry. Here this is the right one. Dude sorry really 

What the fuck!?! Agh my eyes, why did you let me see this. 

Oh damn man, there must have been an error in the link somewhere. That's not the one I wanted to suggest. Here this ones the right one for sure. I checked it..this is the one. Believe me.

You f$)#(@ mother f@_#+@. Why did you do this to me. I am not believing a word from you ever again. God, how do I erase my memory of this shit now? I feel dirty. FUCK.

No no dude sorry. I didn't mean to. I am innocent. It was an accident. Here, this is the right link. I swear.

Yeah right. I am not trusting you again!

LAMB RUINED ANOTHER NEWBIE. Came the reply of a third person after that accompanied by an ugly laughing guy picture in three different positions.

Another newbie sent straight to hell it seems. Replied the fourth person. With another  laughing picture.

After that there were several more replies with the spiteful laughs.

"...."

*....*

"I am NOT touching any of these three links!" Said Noah.

*User, my logical analy…*

"I don't care what you analyzed there as I already know your preferences heavily lean toward the most atrocious things of the world. And I am not reading it. Period."

*We might find a good defence skill there*

"System." Said Noah making himself and the system look around the mind real. "Do I really need to remind you of the big fucking mountain left in my mind realm after the first story?" He added after pointing the system toward the huge mountain standing within the darkness of one part of the mind realm. "We both know the stories leave an imprint within my mind after being "read". And we currently have no idea what consequences these imprints bring. Imagine we open a story and some shit I have no idea how to deal with appears here. "

*Tssk*

"Huh?"

*No nothing. I have a few more suggestions.  There were a few stories that people recommended by name instead of a direct link. I have confirmed that if we use the search function, we will first enter a cover page of the story with a short summary that might help us decide whether it's a good enough choice for us or not instead of directly entering the story as in the case of link.*

"I knew there were better choices. You just wanted to see those three no matter what."

Noah started to use the search to choose the story to read.