Chapter 98: Surprise (I)

To the reader that are left after the last Chapter.

2.5k stones for bonus Chapter.

Get cracking.

...

After the initial bombshell, John spent most of the night training and following Loki’s notification thread between his breaks.

There was no telling when this unstable god might point the Bifrost at Earth, John would have no choice but to explode with the planet. And it really drove home the point of how small he was compared to the vastness of the Marvel world.

’I’ll have to make real considerations while making the next purchase.’ John sighed while eyeing the notifications.

[Loki has experienced empathy toward a fictional machine. +50 EP]

[Loki has contemplated the meaning of sacrifice. +65 EP]

[Loki has experienced existential uncertainty. +80 EP]

It was quite fascinating, to say the least. The movie Loki, at least around this time, was more focused on showing Odin that he belonged in Asgard and was raised correctly to be the perfect king. And he even went as far as to destroy Jotunheim, his birthplace, in order to make a point.

But it seemed like things had changed a lot; after all, there was no news about mass evacuation in a certain New Mexico town or any news about a random storm.

Honestly, it had been a while since Thor touched down on Earth, and according to the timeline, the events of the first Thor movie should’ve already been finished.

John could only sit with his thoughts about how he might’ve had a big hand in changing the trajectory of the so-called plotline. In a way, it was probably smashed to bits.

If Loki didn’t fail to destroy Jotunheim, he wouldn’t leave Asgard. That meant he wouldn’t meet Thanos and wouldn’t lead the attack on New York. No attempted sacrifice from Tony, so probably no Ultron.

Two Avengers movies gone just like that.

He was fully ready for some geared-up squad of soldiers with fancy Minecraft fire sticks to break through his door, window, and roof, but none of that happened.

"TVA be slacking." John had almost given up on them showing up at this point.

If they didn’t show up when the anonymity filter was removed the first time, they probably won’t show up ever.

It could be that he had lived in the Marvel world since birth and just reawakened his true memories, or maybe there was another reason that they weren’t showing up.

Was it the almighty system working its magic?

’If it is the system, I can forgive the price gouging and unannounced removal of skills and powers in the shop.’ John moved on from the topic since he couldn’t get an answer from this unethical system.

It was around midday, and he was making his meal, which was basically a table full of meat and three bowls of salad. That’s when the new wave of notifications popped up.

[Loki has begun questioning the identity he has constructed. +150 EP]

[Loki has experienced fear regarding his own identity. +100 EP]

[Loki has confronted a truth he has suppressed for centuries. +250 EP]

[Loki has remembered an unconditional love he had forgotten. +200 EP]

’Oh boy, what is the world is happening with him? He’s not gonna laser the nine realms at once, right?’ John didn’t even bother to search for a YouTube video today; the notifications kept him occupied as he ate.

He really wondered which story Loki was reading to react like this. But after thinking for a bit and recalling one of the previous notifications mentioning machines, it had to be Pluto.

That manga really knew how to play with the reader’s emotions, and it really stung in all the right places. Even more so when the ones going through all these emotion turmoils were actually robots trying to learn what it was like being human.

The story had been very popular on the website; there were even YouTube videos dissecting each volume. But it still didn’t reach the same numbers as Your Name or the new edition of Fullmetal Alchemist for some reason.

Well, John knew the reason. It just came down to individual tastes. There were readers who liked the challenge of a complex narrative, and then there were those who just wanted an enjoyable story that they could enjoy with their brains turned off after a weary day of work.

Neither side was really wrong about their wants; the wrong ones were the readers who entered these stories with the wrong mindset.

They read the complex narrative without much focus, skipped lines and obvious clues, then called it shallow or surface-level while claiming the work was boring.

And then they tried to split hairs on a feel-good story with unwarranted logic instead of enjoying it just so they could get a bit of attention.

John had seen a dozen of them appearing on the website these days, but thankfully he didn’t need to do anything himself. There was an eradication squad made up of the OG readers going around and ’kindly’ handling these backseat writers.

’Wish I had something like this when I was writing back then.’ John stretched his hands while picking up his bag.

He had seen a dozen of his online writer friends stop writing because the negativity got to them. Since most of the readers who liked the works were silent, the vocal minority seemed much bigger than it actually was.

John himself was one of the silent readers, but it wasn’t that bad to show vocal support once in a while. It was better to do that instead of lamenting why the writer lost his motivation to write later.

’Go, Anti-Slander squad, I will forgive you for saying you’ll kidnap me.’ He silently cheered them on while locking the door.

And just as John exited the building, walking towards the subway station to make his way to Chikara Dojo, a new notification popped up in his view.

[Loki has removed one of the oldest masks she has worn. +150 EP]

[Loki has accepted her original form. +200 EP]

He froze while taking out his Metro card at the gate.

His eyes read the notification once, then twice, and a good hundred times more just to make sure his eyes were working as intended. Honestly, he didn’t need to do all that; he had perfect vision. But the matter itself was that shocking.

’She?’ Since when did Loki become a she? And what was this first mask bullshit? Her original form?

So, Loki wasn’t a man, but a woman acting like a man? What was going on up there? Why did the system address her as a man before? Was it because of that mask thing?

If Loki had the emotion farming system, she would’ve gotten a million points just from John’s confusion alone. The reason for this confusion wasn’t just because of the gender change; the cause was the following notifications.

[Loki has developed curiosity toward you. +50 EP]

[Loki has developed interest in you. +75 EP]

[Loki resents you. +100 EP]

[Loki has an intense desire to confront you. +150 EP]

[Loki has decided to find you. +200 EP]

[Loki is thinking about you. +50 EP]

[Loki is still thinking about you. +50 EP]

[Loki is wondering what you look like. +75 EP]

John deadpanned at the continuous notifications and quietly closed the system window. He had resigned himself to his fate at this point.

The ’Find John Doe’ club kept getting worse by the day, and John could only hope that the anti-slander squad would help him fend these people off as well.

’I have to stop thinking about this...’ For obvious reasons, John was unable to stop his thoughts going back to Loki, or Lady Loki now.

[Loki is looking at her grown chest and is worrying about back pain. +10EP]

’That wasn’t information I needed, you damned system! Are you taking revenge that I called you names?’ John’s mind instinctively went back to a certain game design of Lady Loki he knew well.

"Damn you, Netease." There wasn’t anything he could do at this point but clench his fist; it was better to just move on. There was no other reason here.

John couldn’t help but wonder if he was a trouble magnet. Still, Lady Loki chasing after him was much better than M.O.D.O.C wanting his body at least.

"You look distracted today." Colleen walked up to him, wiping her neck with a towel.

They had a spar just before this, and John had to agree; he was quite distracted. And Loki wasn’t the only reason for his distraction today.

[Susan Storm wants to take a picture of your body. +10EP]

This notification has been appearing constantly in front of his eyes since the spar ended. The grey tank top stuck to his body because of the sweat he had worked up between sparring and the inevitable confrontation with the ’Find John Doe’ club members.

John glanced to his left and found Susan; she was in a tracksuit barely following the drill Colleen had given her before the spar. Right now, she was just stealing glances at him while clearing her throat.

Apparently, this was the surprise Colleen talked about. Susan had also joined the dojo to learn some self-defence techniques, apparently.

But so far it felt like she had only joined to ogle at him; well, at least she was looking respectfully.

"It’s understandable, don’t worry." Colleen, on the other hand, patted his shoulder with a knowing smile. It wasn’t the first time she had seen men acting differently in Susan’s presence.

She had expected John to be different, but it was ok even if he wasn’t. The woman in question was also equally distracted by him, which was quite surprising and endearing to see.

It was the first time she had seen the oblivious Susan be like this.

"It’s not what you think; I was just going easy on you." John stood up.

"Now you’ve done it; we’re going for another round." She smirked, throwing the towel to the floor.