So…

It is a bit odd to eat breakfast at a grand dining hall when only three people occupy the entire table. There is room for dozens, but for now it is only us three.

Apparently, King Bodhi was going to make a morning greeting to her Very Important Dudes, but she and most of her guard had to leave early. At this very moment, they are aboard a pirate ship, raiding a cruise ship that got too close to Santa Barbaran waters.

So they are in a war, while we are sitting here twiddling our thumbs and eating breakfast. Later today we will travel to the Santa Barbara Zoo to take a look at the interesting animals as well as other nearby sights, but for now we are simply eating in relative silence. The members of the guard who remain here are very much the quiet type, and do not wish to converse with us.

To be fair, though, this breakfast is quite good. Poached eggs and orange slices, which are good, but the truly amazing food here is something called oatmeal. It is oats and grains mashed up into tiny pieces and then with milk brought to life in a sort of soupy way.

It’s rich, with a cinnamon-esque flavor to it.

It’s so good that I must say… I love it!

Ding!

[+1 DP. Total 74 DP.]

Wow, I am so glad that I always love Earth food. If I loved it any less, that would probably be somewhat tragic, because all these new Destiny Points are amazing.

What is not amazing is the fact that every Destiny Point I gain could lead me one step closer to falling into someone’s master plan and being used as a tool for nefarious deeds.

Someone, somewhere, wanted me dead enough to kill me on Mystix as an astral projection and do whatever complicated stuff that resulted in. Rare, on Mystix, openly wants me to return to overthrow The Goddess herself. And here on Earth, I was told by those two South African Secret Service agents that I need to keep as low a profile as possible or else people may find and capture me.

Everywhere I go, I am always involved in stupid plots! I hate it almost enough not to want to gain Destiny Points anymore. But… the allure is very strong. I very much want to have more progress in my goal.

Despite everything, I still want to become an S-Rank hero. Despite all the horrible stuff I learned in my dream last night. Despite learning that I was lied to and manipulated, both to become a villain and to join Team Fanghook all that time ago. Somehow, that does not hamper my quest here on Earth, and I do not know why.

But maybe seeing Francis’s smiling face beaming at me is the reason.

“Hey, Eryk, when you’re finished with your breakfast, come over to this side of the table. I wanna show you a new game. Er, an old game, but a new game that I bought yesterday. You know what I mean.”

“A new game? Is this a fighting game to help my Destiny Points? If so, I will bound over there immediately!” I engulf the last few bites of oatmeal and leap over the dining hall table. For style I do a few flips in the air before I land on the other side with a graceful finish.

It’s impressive enough that Delta claps afterwards. Or that is part of her patented sarcasm. I am not sure.

I sit down next to Francis and he presents to me his 3DS. “This is a game called Jump Ultimate Stars,” he says. “It’s like a big crossover of a bunch of anime and manga characters, but from almost twenty years ago so everything is pretty outdated. Don’t worry, I don’t know any of the characters either. The short of it though is that you get to play as all these weird dudes with powers and you jump around platforms fighting other weird dudes with powers. You get it?”

“No, but I will try my best.” I take the game from him.

“So pick whatever character looks the best.”

“I like this funny man with the yellow hair and big muscles,” I say. “He reminds me of myself, despite the lack of pink. I think I will choose him. His name is… Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo? I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I. Maybe he was in some popular show from—wait a minute, how did you read that? This game is in Japanese.”

“The symbols? They are Elven runes,” I explain. “I thought you knew this.”

He shakes his head and tries to ignore what I just said. “Okay, Eryk, now start the battle. I guess if you can read the menus then you know what to do.”

I shrug. “I don’t see what all your fussing is about. Okay, battle started.”

The game has simplistic graphics with moving artwork that is not as advanced as what I have seen on the televisions or computer screens around my travels. It is even primitive compared to the graphics I have seen on my own phone. But the style is nice and I am quite fond of it, overall.

I lose my first few battles; the controls are very tight and it is very difficult to fight against the power of this Goku fellow who seems to be wiping the floor with every player.

But beside me, helping me out, is my friend Francis.

I love my friends.

Oh, I finally win a match! I defeated the mighty Goku! I even destroyed his companion Bejita! Yay!

[+1 DP. Total 75 DP.]

“I did it! Huzzah!” I exclaim.

“You’re the best!” Francis exclaims back.

“Do I have time for another round before we visit the zoo?” I ask.

“Well, it’s a portable game, so you have as much time as you want.”

“Oh, right. But… Just one more match before we go. I have 75 Destiny Points, which is just one away from three consecutive level-ups. I want to achieve this!”

“Oh, alright.”

I win one more match, and then we wrap everything up so that we can go on our newest adventure into Santa Barbara. Today is going to be a great day.

And yes, I get that nice-sounding ding giving me my 76th Destiny Point. I love it so much.