Tanya sifted through her notifications between spoonfuls of beans. Technically, she could do the whole lot in her head, but waving her arms around helped her think. Scrolling through the list was more clunky without holding out her hand to guide her. Instead of gracefully zooming and stopping when she was ready, it would stop and start as her eyes moved and her attention lapsed.

She dismissed anything she'd already applied as she went. There were 3 level-ups remaining in her notifications after. She also considered her remaining 2 System Questions from Holler at the Gods. If she came across an important question, she'd consider using it, but she had to make sure it was worth the cost and perfectly worded.

The first was the most tempting rabbit hole.

* * *

Level Up!

You have leveled up More than Meets the Eye to Level 3.

You now have the Ability to see the starting stats of all your awakened tattoos, regardless of the Wielder.

See the 'Tattoos' menu in your interface for more details.

* * *

The idea of seeing every tattoo that had been awakened was thrilling. She guessed there would be stat blocks and all the other information she got in her previous tattoo menu. She gave in to her temptation and opened it. Seeing all of them was ludicrous. She'd been chuffed about even getting access to the ones since The System Integration, nevermind getting live updates about tattoos awakening. That's when she realised what else it meant. They were alive or had been. She gagged slightly at the thought that for any of those people, that awakened tattoo could have been the last thing they saw—either as it defended them or worse. Her chest ached, that throbbing feeling of holding back tears. This wasn't just going to be tattoos to her. She got to know every client that came through those doors. Were they loud or quiet? Did they pull faces? Did they want to chat or turn the music up? Even the quietest of them—like the lady that Phantom Brand had been designed for—told her so much in all the words she didn't say.

Tanya had settled on it—she wasn't going to look. It would be more effective to look after picking her new level-ups—that way, she'd know what to look for.

That plan died very quickly. She saw the tip of Phantom Brand peaking out under her skirt and remembered her last memory of the Chinese lady as she left, plastic wrap down her back. The design was hazy through the opaque white cream, but she knew every inch of it.

Pretty baller to get through a tattoo that size in one session—HOLY SHIT.

Phantom Brand might have a twin.

She slammed her hands down on the table. Her mouth dropped open into a shocked smile. Bean juice rained down on her hand. She scoffed the last of them, ditching the tin on the counter.

She clicked over to that menu, her willpower dying on the spot.

Oh man, it would be a huge version, too. Wait, hold on, Tanya. Just this one for now, yeah?

She agreed with herself reluctantly.

Not looking at the others was taking so much self-control that she covered her eyes, peering through the gaps between her fingers like watching a scary movie.

Flashes of animals and weapons and people flashed past.

Ugh, System can you just find a specific one for me?

Insufficient Ability Level for Search Function

Tanya groaned. Really? She'd have to level it up more for the search function.

She gave herself a time limit to look for it—5 minutes—and she'd move on either way. She wouldn't know if it had even awakened, aside from by elimination, and there wasn't even a scroll bar, so she couldn't tell how far these went down. It did allow her to change the way it appeared, though. Making the results into a grid with just the design image and name sped her up a lot. A couple minutes in, she'd all but given up on avoiding looking.

I mean, it's not like I'm reading about them, right?

Hundreds of designs flashed past. Tanya hadn't realised until now how many snakes she'd done. There was 'Serpent's Sin' and 'Hissy Fit', 'Danger Noodle' and 'Fang'. A couple of them were even just called 'Snake.' Her favourite was 'Mortal Coil'—a snake with a human skull she'd given to all four members of a band. She saw the same design and name there twice. It was cool that it was named after the band for both. The niche ones had the funniest names. She supposed that was probably because serious people rarely got random tattoos. She spotted a croissant stabbed with a knife that a lady had randomly rolled for at her hen do. It was called 'Pain au Pain.' Tanya snorted aloud when she saw the name. Mostly, there were a lot of weapons, flowers, and haunted household objects—each from a different flash sale randomiser she'd done, like the Pokemon one she'd been doing before this all started. She noticed that most of those kept the original names she'd given them, but only the ones she committed to scrawling on the little piece of paper they drew. Seems like they had to have seen it for it to keep it.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

I wonder if they have matching names: Crimson Brand? Phantom Scythe? Maybe it's synonyms instead. Ghostly Mark? Nah, that just sounds like a spin-off.

She kept making bets every time a new idea came to mind.

She asked for the time a few times before realising she could put it at the edge of her vision. It mocked her with each number it ticked down: 5 minutes, 4 minutes, 3, 2… She had 1 minute left when she found the sword, and she just stopped and stared at it. Then she laughed, a real booming laugh that had Mrs Eceer cracking the door with a concerned expression. It only made Tanya laugh harder. She shooed her away, then crumpled over in even more peals of giggles, slamming her hand against the table.

She couldn't read it.

Why the fuck did you expect it to be English when she didn't bloody speak it.

Mrs Eceer eventually left with a huff, after some quip about throwing Tanya to the monsters if she lost her marbles. Tanya barely heard it over her own squawking.

Tanya wiped her eyes, exhaling the last laugh from her system. She had a quick glance at its stats, reasoning that knowing how similar items fared would be useful for deciding whether she leant into replication or original designs, both generally and to help Ishita.

* * *

Name: 血跡 Wielder: 陈瑷菡 Type: Weapon Level: 1

Attributes

Impact: 14 Absorption: 5 Resilience: 20

Abilities

靈魂墨水 Can seep into the remains of the dead, manipulating them through inky tendrils. The more intact the body, the stronger the control; decayed remains are harder to command. Those with strong wills in life may resist even in death.

Boons

難忘 Common Boon—刻在痛苦中 Despite 血跡 size, it was completed in a single sitting, bonding even deeper to the wielder. If they fall unconscious, the tattoo takes control, animating their body until they awaken.

* * *

Interestin'. So this page is made for me, so it translates everything that's not a name. I wonder if it's in third person for them or just me.

She compared it to Phantom Brand's.

The words next to Common Boon must be the name of the Achievement that unlocked it. It's fascinatin' that she got a Boon later on from when she got it. Kinda like the spirit of me doin' the tattoo is still there.

Holy cow, its resilience is high.

Tanya found comparing the main Abilities really interesting. They both utilised organic material, but whereas Possessive Inscription focused on materials, their main one only used people.

Looking closer, she realised their designs weren't as similar as she first thought. She'd sketched her own version in the end, and between the fugue state and Assistant's input, they'd ended up more fraternal than identical. The original was more delicate in design, with shorter ribbons from the hilt rather than tatters. It had a smaller handle and straighter blade, reminding her more of a samurai sword than a cutlass. The biggest difference was the blood. The original dripped with it, contrasting heavily with the delicate patterns down the ribbon and the hilt's fabric.

Tanya tore herself away from the comparisons and Tattoos menu, returning to her level ups. Her mind was buzzing with experiments—could she make two designs identical? Were the two Mortal Coil snakes identical? She itched to check but suppressed it.

She had one choice to make and another ability she'd phased past in combat that she realised would change her tattooing entirely.

* * *

Level Up!

You have leveled Tattoo Summoner to Level 4.

Congratulations!

You have unlocked an Ability Crossroads. These are Abilities you choose rather than just unlock.

Would you like to see your choices?

* * *

Level Up!

You have leveled up The Power of Intention to Level 3

The Power of Intention has received a Minor Ability Boon

The Power of Intention

Level 3

Intention is the core of your tattoos. You can predict how intentions may affect your tattoo whilst in the design phase.

* * *

Tanya began pacing. Being able to predict the result of a tattoo at all would be massive. She had no idea how that ability worked yet. That's when she felt a niggle in the back of her brain.

Oh yeah, I suppressed it, didn't I?

She'd noticed her Concentration had been ticking down over time when she was checking her Vitality to summon Assistant, but she hadn't thought much of it. Conversations about cutting hands off felt intense enough to be worthy of using up Concentration.

As she released the block, she felt relief—like taking off her bra at the end of a long day. That confirmed it was using her stat in the background. The relief ended soon after when the interface kicked in.

Lines protruded from every tattoo on her arm—summonable or not. Each one had words appearing next to it, letter by letter, like in a video game. The entire experience reminded her of shitty VR where her head moving sent her reeling from the strange way the interface jiggled around what was real. Staring down at her hands was so uncanny, both because the words recalibrated when they overlapped from her movement and also because it was the first time she'd seen the interface utilising what was really in front of her to give her information.

Nausea settled in her stomach. She caught random phrases here and there as her eyes struggled to focus. There were a dozen different "Caution: Overload Risk" signs dotted about. She also caught "Ambient Energy Decision Detected" and "Emotional Resonance: Curiosity." The churning in her stomach became too much. She winced more and more before suppressing it again.

Fixing that was a high priority—she couldn't just suppress it forever. She'd have to keep a close eye on her Concentration too.

Concentration: 7/11

It was alright for now. Hopefully, it would last through Ishita's tattoo. She hated the idea of going into the negatives again.

She opened her Ability Crossroad options.

* * *

Please select from the following three choices.

Ink of Dissonance

Level 1 Your tattoos emit a disruptive presence when activated. Their effects interfere with magical detection, causing false readings, scrambled divinations, or even momentary lapses in enemy spells.

Mnemonic Etching

Level 1

You can store a single memory within a tattoo. When activated, it imprints that memory onto the Wielder's mind—whether it's a tactical lesson, an emotional moment, or even a warning from the past.

Marked Insight

Level 1

Your connection to your Summons deepens. You may briefly share sensory input with one of your active Summons, experiencing what they see, hear, or feel.

* * *

"Fuck," Tanya breathed, but she was smiling. "Why'd they all have to be good?"

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