Chapter 03: Thinking Outside the Box

Lily was in her bedroom, sitting at her desk with her science homework out.

But there wasn't anything written on it.

She just sat there, holding her pencil with a frown.

'How did you get inside of the Protected Space?'

'We'll meet again, be certain of that.'

The meeting with that man from earlier that day was still fresh in her mind.

Just who was that?

What did he mean by protected space?

Looking at her computer as it was on with a game ready for when she finished, she placed her pencil down and logged out of the game, instead going to a search engine.

'Protected Space.'

Typing that, Lily pressed enter only to get barely anything, just results on Non-Breaking space for typing.

"Did I really expect to find it on the Internet?" Lily muttered proping an elbow on her desk as she couldn't focus.

This was driving her insane… Or it would if she didn't have Gamer's Mind.

But the problem was that this guy was dangerous and she had to be prepared to defend herself-.

*Thud*

Lily went to stand up and accidently hit her knee on the desk causing her to give a small cry of pain before the box popped back up.

'HP: 152-149.'

'Your actions allowed for you to learn a new skill. Physical Endurance (Passive) Lv. 1. The Bodies durability increases and lowers the damage of the body. Physical Attack damage lessens by 3%. Next Level 0/3.'

Rubbing her aching knee, Lily gave the box a deadpanned look.

While she could see the value of this particular skill, she was not looking forward to having it level up.

Then another thought crossed her mind.

"Passive Skills?" Lily asked as that caused all of her Passive Skills to show up. "Right, the Free-Running affects my HP a bit."

If she could learn a lot of Passive Skills she could use them to get stronger without wasting points.

'Your Act of thinking things out raised your Wisdom by 1.'

"So that's how I raise Wisdom." Lily looked surprised before her Homework caught her attention again and she sighed.

"I still need to finish this." She muttered.

… Maybe one of her parent's old textbooks had something?

Leaving her room, Lily pulled on the drawstring to open the attic door as the ladder came down with it before climbing up there, turning on the old light bulb as she did so.

Taking a few steps in there, she paused to cough. "Man no one's been up here for awhile." Lily muttered as the dust was messing with her allergies.

It took some time but eventually she found the right box with the books and opened it. "Here we go-." Lily stopped when she saw a text appear in front of the Chemistry book she went to move.

'This is a Skill Book Chemistry 101: Do you want to learn this skill?'

"W-What?" Lily asked at seeing that before she shakily pressed Yes.

'You can't learn this Skill. It requires INT 12.'

At first Lily was disappointed before she remembered her extra points and brought them up.

… Using four wouldn't be so bad.

Once that was done, she tried again and this time the book began to disintegrate as knowledge began to flow through her.

'You have Learned Chemistry 101 (Passive) Lv. 1: The knowledge of the different chemicals flows through your head allowing for you to make various combinations. Right now you can only make firecrackers and stink bombs. Next Level 0/5.'

"I guess I should've expected Skill Books." Lily muttered as not only did she feel smarter due to the points she used, but the chemicals were really flowing through her head.

Fire Crackers and Stink Bombs huh?

Those are pretty much prank items, but they could be useful for combat as either distractions or actual weapons depending on how she used them… She'll have to see about getting a Chemistry Set to make them as well as level up her new ability.

Now looking curious, Lily began to go through the box some more, hoping to find another Skill Book, but sadly that was the only one as of right now.

"Oh well, it wasn't a total waste." Lily mused as she went back to her room, closing the attic door as she did so and went back to her room to finish her homework, earning another 25 Exp.

Thankfully she had no other problems the next day in getting to school, so Lily was on the bus getting ready to head towards Oscorp Industries, although it was a bit reluctantly.

While it was nice to be outside of the classroom she wished the Field Trip was going to be in another exciting place.

But she figured she could pass the time by playing a game on her phone.

"Hey is this seat taken?" A voice spoke up causing Lily to look up to see Mary-Jane Watson smiling at her.

"No it's not." Lily said a little surprised as she scooted over a bit to allow the Red Head girl to sit down.

'Doesn't she usually sit next to Peter Parker?' Lily thought as she looked over to see that he and Harry Osborn were sitting next to each other. 'Oh… What about Liz Allen-?'

Liz was sitting with the Cheerleaders.

"You looking forward to the trip?" Mary asked as Lily gave a small hesitant nod.

She wasn't really sure what to say… It was easier shouting at that weird guy from the other day than speaking with this girl.

"Observe." Lily whispered when she made sure Mary wasn't paying attention.

'Mary-Jane Watson.

Age: 14

Race: Human.

Level: 3 (24/200)

Title: High School Freshmen

HP: 350

MP: 800

STR: 13

VIT: 14

DEX: 13

INT: 32

WIS: 30

LUK: 20

Description: Mary-Jane Watson, originally known as "Mary" to her friends, she later picked up the "MJ" nickname. MJ is a brilliant student. She usually expresseses her true feelings, though she can be short-tempered and has even physically attacked some of the bullies at her school. Also called Brainy Jane due to her grades, she has a dream of becoming an Actress. Has no opinion on Lily as of right now.'

Lily almost cried as she saw Mary-Jane's stats in comparison with her own.

How the heck did Mary-Jane get high stats like that when she's the one at the higher level-... Maybe it was because of how in Video Games the Non-Playable Characters Stats are distributed automatically as well as the experiences they get go into said Stats.

… Damn she was pathetic before getting this ability.

Thankfully, the girl didn't notice Lily's pride being shattered as she smiled and turned towards her.

"So I'm Mary, but feel free to call me MJ." Mar-er MJ said to her.

"Uh… Lily." Lily said and her hesitation surprised MJ.

"Is something wrong?"

"Oh uh no, I'm just." Lily looked away as she thought of a way to explain. "Not really good at socializing, sorry."

MJ now looked amused. "No need to apologize, a friend of mine was the same way growing up." She said looking towards Peter before she looked back at Lily. "So what do you do?"

Lily didn't answer immediately as a new Quest just appeared.

'Make a Friend.

Someone is keeping a conversation going in an attempt to reach out to you, reciprocate the conversation with words of your own.

Rewards: 225 Exp and a New friend in Mary-Jane Watson.

Penalty Fail: 5 Exp and a further loss of reputation.

This Quest is Mandatory and can't be declined.'

Lily was not expecting for that to be a Quest. "Video Games." Lily muttered as she looked away.

Why wasn't her Gamer's Mind helping out with her being socially awkward?!

… Wait, she was supposed to keep the conversation going, wasn't she?

"What about you?" Lily said quickly.

MJ blinked at how fast the words left her mouth. "I usually hang out with either Liz or Peter." She said to her. "It's either the movies or the mall, depends on what we do honestly."

"Sounds interesting." Lily said with a nod.

They didn't really talk all that much as they were at Oscorp before long. So Lily was pretty sure she failed that Quest.

… Okay she had to admit the amount of technology in this place was pretty impressive-.

Lily stiffened as she saw that the person giving them the tour was a woman with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a lab coat while glasses hung off of her nose.

'Mom.' Lily thought not sure if she should say anything or not as her Mom was working.

Carly Zacks had her clipboard in front of her as she spoke. "Welcome children." She said walking right by Lily, not even looking as she spoke. "Since 1973, Oscorp Industries, Inc. has been dedicated to providing innovative materials for manufacturing, construction, automotive, chemical processing and numerous other global industries."

The class followed her, no one was really paying attention, heck not even the science whiz Peter was paying attention in favor of looking around the area in excitement as Harry and MJ were near him.

"We are leading Global Manufacturer Osborn operatives." Carly droned on as Lily felt her eyes drift away, looking around to see her Dad, a man in his early forties with black hair and goggles on another level working on something.

"Am I boring you, young lady?" Lily stopped and her head snapped back to the front to see Carly giving her a look.

"Uh no, just looking around." Lily said quietly as she looked away from her Mom, angry at how she just zoomed in on her when she wasn't paying attention when just about everyone was doing the same thing.

There were some snickers before a pained yell came from the middle causing everyone to turn and see Peter screaming as a huge black spider was on his hand biting down on it, causing people to freak out as they scurried away while Peter got the spider to go flying into MJ who screamed.

"Oh my God!" She used her notebook to smack it away and as it hit the ground, Kong slammed his foot on it.

"Die!"

Peter fell over shaking as MJ went to help him causing Flash to shake his head. "The spaz is freaking." He said with a hint of amusement.

"He just got bit by a huge spider!" Lily snapped not caring if she would get in trouble as something like this was different from bullying. "It could be poisonous for all we now!"

Flash winced a bit as he didn't think about that as Peter threw up on MJ's shoes and blacked out.

Needless to say the Field Trip ended then and there as everyone was back on the bus after Peter got checked out by one of the scientists, the spider wasn't poisonous thankfully, so his hand was wrapped up.

'Poor guy.' Lily couldn't help but think as while she might not have known him personally, having something like that happen is just bad luck as she watched MJ and Peter talk at the front of the bus after one of the teachers told him that they called his Aunt-.

Wait Aunt? What about his Mom?

Lily shook her head as it wasn't any of her business.

Looking out the window, Lily felt her blood freeze as she saw the man from the Protected Space looking right at her with a smirk as he fingered his shades.

Then a truck passed by the window and he was gone.

She didn't know she was shaking until she heard a voice. "Hey, you alright?"

Lily's head snapped to the right to see Harry Osborn giving her a weird look as he was nearby. "F-Fine, why?" She asked her Gamer's Mind finally taking effect.

"You were shaking." Harry pointed out.

"Just… The spider freaked me out." Lily lied before looking towards Peter at the front. "But it must be worse for him."

"Pete's fine, he can sleep this off." Harry said although he sounded a little worried before snapping his fingers. "Oh right, the names Harry."

"Lily." Lily said with a nod right before she saw something weird.

Right above Peter's head, his Lvl was changing.

It was now a question mark.

'The heck?'

After school, Lily was just walking home after putting her backpack inside of her Inventory.

'I wonder if I should go to the Library to find out which books I can use to learn new skills.' Lily was thinking to herself as she walked through some crowds before her mind went back to her earlier quest to make friends with MJ.

She didn't get a notice for a mission failure, but hey it's impossible to make a friend in a single day.

Maybe it was an ongoing one?

And then there was the fact that Peter's Lvl. became a mystery to her, that's never happened before.

Then again, she only had this ability for what? Three days? So she can't exactly think it's weird when she still hasn't figured everything out yet-.

Lily blinked as she looked around.

… Everyone was gone and buildings were destroyed.

'Skill Leveled Up: Observe Lv. 3: This skill allows you to see a person's Level and max HP, MP as well as the Durability of items. Next Level: 2/45.'

"Oh come on, again?" Lily muttered as she quickly pulled the Trash Can Lid out of her inventory only to pause as she saw something new on it.

'Trash Can Lid- Poor Quality It's a Trash Can Lid, what were you expecting, Legendary Quality? Attack Power: 3-5. Defense Power: 4-6. Durability: 9/10.'

"Now that's an interesting ability." A familiar voice said right behind her as Lily turned only to have a hand slammed against her chest and she was sent flying back into a wall as it cracked.

'HP: 152-73.'

Lily coughed in pain as she fell to one knee, blood dripping out of her mouth.

'Due to surviving a strong attack, you're skill has leveled up thrice. Physical Endurance (Passive) Lv. 4. The Bodies durability increases and lowers the damage of the body. Physical Attack damage lessens by 12%. Next Level 4/30.'

"Tch but you're weak, that was only a small fraction of my true strength." The man from the other day muttered in annoyance at her. "But I suppose I should take care of you before you become a problem."

Shakily, Lily pushed herself up as she tightened her grip on the trash can lid scared despite the Gamer's Mind keeping her calm.

This guy wasn't like the zombie or the slime, hell she barely saw him move when he hit her.

And that was only a small fraction of his strength?

'Survive.

Survive the horde of Zombies and then escape the Protected Space.

Rewards: 1500 Exp, ?, ?.

Fail Penalty: Death.'

"Considering you're at Death's door, I think it's safe to say they will finish you off." The man snapped his fingers as a dozen zombies began crawling out of the ground.

"Why?" Lily asked trying to get some information while stalling so she could get used to the pain she was in.

The man looked amused as he looked at her. "What? Do you think I'll start monologuing about my goals?" He asked as Lily shrugged.

"Don't the bad guys always do?"

"Tch, you think I'm the bad guy?"

Lily glared. "News flash, you're trying to murder me." She snapped at him. "That isn't the definition of a good guy."

The man's lips twitched a bit as he fought to hide a smirk. "I suppose it isn't, but the world isn't black and white." He said looking at her. "And don't think I didn't catch on to you stalling."

With that he snapped his fingers and disappeared while the Zombies began groaning and walking towards her.

'Why Zombies? Couldn't he have made an army of those slimes?' Lily thought as she looked at all of them. 'Not that I'm complaining, it's probably good he's underestimating me.'

But who was he?

Lily observed each Zombie, they were all Lvl. 6 with 1000 HP, so stronger than the one she fought the other day, but she could get through this.

She just had to be careful.

Running forward, Lily slammed her shield against the Zombie, knocking it back as the HP went down to 900.

Jumping back, Lily barely blocked a clawed strike from another Zombie as the sheer strength caused her to stumble, her chest flaring up.

Thankfully the block worked so she didn't take any damage, but she backed up before she could get surrounded as she turned and ran.

'I need to find a way to get an advantage.' Lily thought as the whole city was desolate for her at the moment. 'But how?'

Going through the thoughts of her head as she swear she could hear the Zombies moaning getting weaker, meaning she was losing them, Lily's breathing was becoming difficult slowing her down, making her think she might have a broken rib.

'Okay, from Zombie movies I know that if you take care of the head they're done, but is it the same with these guys?' Lily thought as she had to stop and lean against a brick wall. 'But what else can I do-?'

Lily stopped as she saw the gas station nearby and her eyes lit up.

Stumbling, she swore she hear the moaning around her so she had limited time as she made it inside.

Most of the items were gone, but there were still stuff in here making her feel relief.

It was like loot in a dungeon or something like that.

"Come on." Lily muttered looking through the stuff before she smiled as she saw what she was looking for.

A lighter and hairspray.

"Fire should work against them." Lily said as she checked to make sure the lighter even worked and smiled when she saw the flicker of flames.

'Due to thinking outside of the box, your INT went up by 1.'

Placing the trash can lid in her inventory as she held the lighter and hairspray, Lily went to walk out before pausing.

… She checked the cash register to find fifty bucks.

Hey, no ones here and she may need the money.

Pocketing the money, Lily walked out to see three Zombies moaning as they saw her.

As they got closer, Lily took some time to work the lighter quickly before she held it in front of her and got the hair spray ready, none of them were aware of the danger they were in as they got within range.

Lily smiled at this. "Burn." She said spraying the hairspray, creating a flamethrower as the three zombies were engulfed in flames, their moans being turned into cries of agony as they were stumbling.

Eventually they fell over, dead-er fully dead, each of them giving out 200 Exp.

That was when they decomposed as Lily saw some items dropped this time.

There were three small red jars that she felt shock at seeing what they were along with money.

'Potions (Low): A recovery potion that is good for adventurers starting out. It restores up to 200 HP.'

Lily didn't waste any time grabbing them, placing two in her inventory while she took another one to restore her health.

A flash of red light surrounded her before her chest felt normal.

Giving a grin, Lily looked at the money to see up to 450 dollars, each Zombie dropped $ 150.

'I-Is this real?' Lily thought in shock as she grabbed it and placed it in inventory with her other items causing her eyes to widen as the money counter went to 505.

She never had that much money at once before in her life.

That was when she remembered the other Zombies and turned around with a determined look.

It was time to finish this.

It took up to two hours before she was panting in exhaustion, nine more burnt Zombie corpses around her as each of them dropped a potion while four of them dropped $150 each.

So she had up to 11 potions and $1150.

She leveled up two times and her exp system seemed to have changed as she looked at her stats.

'Name: Lily Karla Zacks.

Age: 14.

Race: Human.

Job: The Gamer.

Level: 7 Next Level: 60%

Title: High School Freshmen

Specialization: N/A

HP: 152

MP: 325

STR: 7

VIT: 6 (.05) =2.02

DEX: 9

INT: 9 (+4)= 13

WIS: 5

LUK: 5

Money: $1105.

Points: 27

Description: Lily Karla Zacks is just an average Socially Awkward Girl who gets by playing Video Games. Currently a Freshman her peers see her as a slacker due to her being late for class.'

'I've definitely gotten a lot stronger.' Lily thought with a smile as she actually survived it and reaped some benefits-.

'Ping! Quest Completed.'Survive.'

Survive the horde of Zombies and then escape the Protected Space.

Rewards: 1500 Exp, Skill Book, 3 Stat Points.'

That was followed by leveling up again.

Lily smiled before the cracks began appearing above her as she quickly put the Lighter and Hairspray in her inventory right as she was back in the real world, outside of the protected space.

'I'm back.' Lily thought in relief as she was still panting. 'I survived.'

That was when she recognized where she was.

Hell's Kitchen.

'I better go.'

What she didn't know however was that her sudden appearance caught someones attention as a man was on the rooftop dressed in a red suit with two D's on his chest while holding an escrima stick with a devil like mask covering the upper half of his face as he frowned.

Daredevil was just doing his usual patrol when his enhanced senses picked her up coming out of nowhere and she was definitely not there before.

He could tell that the person was a fourteen year old girl with some good health, but nothing really abnormal about her.

Memorizing her heartbeat, Daredevil moved to continue his patrol as he would keep an ear out for this girl in the future if she ever appears like that again.

To Be Continued…

Man this took awhile to type, sorry for the wait I've had to deal with some personal issues but I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Now we're moving into the Marvel part with Peter being bitten as well as the cameo by Daredevil at the end whose enhanced senses picked her up as she came out of the protected space.

Now the man that attacked Lily, his intentions will be revealed in time.

So anyways, let's answer some reviews.

PenSnatcher: Thank you and you'll have to wait and see, I hope you enjoyed this one.

CrimsonSylvan: She'll have a shield as one of her weapons, she'll have plenty more in the future so don't worry about her being a female Captain America. I'm happy you liked the originality of her first combat skill as well.

Angel of light and darkness: Thank you for reading it.

MysticSpider: Thank you.

LordXeentheGreat: Thank you.

AndJrew76: Thank you, I'm happy you liked the idea of the trash can lid. Don't worry, she won't have to yell out her attacks, unless they're spells as those do require a verbal command.

7diamond: Thank you.

HogwartzGrad: It will, don't worry.

TDKa. k. aTowerDiveKings: That would be hilarious, thanks for the image.

Chiufan95: Thank you and I'll try to update that eventually.

The froggy ninja: Not just a shield master but that's a good start for now.

LadyCalus: Eventually yes she will learn that way.

SaintMichael95: Don't worry, she'll stop doing that soon.

Sundrawnshadow: Thank you, I hope you enjoyed this.

Now for her Stats.

Stats.

Name: Lily Karla Zacks.

Age: 14.

Race: Human.

Job: The Gamer.

Level: 8 Next Level: 77%

Title: High School Freshmen

Specialization: N/A

HP: 152

MP: 325

STR: 7

VIT: 6 (.05) =2.02

DEX: 9

INT: 9 (+4)= 13

WIS: 5

LUK: 5

Money: $1105.

Points: 35

Description: Lily Karla Zacks is just an average Socially Awkward Girl who gets by playing Video Games. Currently a Freshman her peers see her as a slacker due to her being late for class.

Skills List.

Gamer's Mind (Passive) Lv MAX: Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through with a peaceful mind. Has a resistance to telepathic attacks and psychological damage.

Gamer's Body (Passive) Lv MAX: Let's the user's body live the real world like a game. HP and MP are fully restored if sleeping in a bed. 75% in a Tent and 50% Outdoors or in a Sleeping Bag.

Free Running (Passive) Lv. 1: You are now barely adept at traversing busy streets. Speed is increased by 5% along with improved breathing and stamina. This skill also gives 5% to your Vitality. Next Level 12/40.

Observe Lv. 2: This skill allows you to see a person's Level and max HP, MP and as well as the Durability of items. Next Level: 2/45.

Lying Lv. 1: You can now plan out lies to deceive those around you. Next Level: 0/5.

Shield Mastery (Passive) Lv. 4: The weight of a shield is familiar to you adding 35% to your attack and defense whenever you have a shield equipped Next Level: 3/45.

Shield Bash Lv. 3: Catch your opponents off guard by slamming your shield into them. Costs 10 MP. Next Level 14/35.

Physical Endurance (Passive) Lv. 4. The Bodies durability increases and lowers the damage of the body. Physical Attack damage lessens by 12%. Next Level 4/30.

Chemistry 101 (Passive) Lv. 1: The knowledge of the different chemicals flows through your head allowing for you to make various combinations. Right now you can only make firecrackers and stink bombs. Next Level 0/5.

Titles.

High School Freshmen: As a student of school your INT can rise 50% faster than your other abilities if you apply yourself.

Weapons/Armor.

Trash Can Lid- Poor Quality It's a Trash Can Lid, what were you expecting, Legendary Quality? Attack Power: 3-5. Defense Power: 4-6. Durability: 9/10.

Items Storage.

Potions (Low) (11): A recovery potion that is good for adventurers starting out. It restores up to 200 HP.

Unknown Skill Book.

Ongoing Quests

Make a Friend.

Someone is keeping a conversation going in an attempt to reach out to you, reciprocate the conversation with words of your own.

Rewards: 225 Exp and a New friend in Mary-Jane Watson.

Penalty Fail: 5 Exp and a further loss of reputation.