It'd been a day since I visited Mira and Uncle Ezra. I hadn't been idle since then. I'd gone around and tried to do stuff to get more skills to pop up in my interface, but nothing seemed to trigger it. I even briefly thought about spending all my money, all 1743 Rayn, on various items to try to get a skill. It was a tough argument, but I eventually just decided to get another perk instead.

It was a difficult decision to make. A long one, too. Seeing Mira and Uncle Ezra though? It renewed the fire within me- the on that almost went out. I wanted to be capable of fully supporting myself and to go and do things with them without having to hide my own body under baggy hoodies.

All of that? It could change. If I was just slightly more capable. Just slightly able to make more Rayn, it could all change. The interface? It seductively whispered into my mind. It could do all of that and more, should I use it right.

And so that's what I was preparing to do next. I made sure I had water and food, even splurged a bit and ate well beforehand, and ensured I was really ready for this.

「Spend a Perk Point?」

With a single thought, my surroundings vanished. I blinked, and by the time my eyes opened, I was standing in the pavilion once more. It'd been mid-day when I activated the interface, and yet the moon's light gently illuminated the pavilion. Not that I expected anything else. The moon had stayed in the same spot the entire last time I was here.

The room itself had changed minutely, though. Now there were four separate shelves scattered around. Stealth was still present, though the entire bookshelf was shrouded in darkness. The three new shelves were 'Sleight of Hand', 'Driving', and 'Concealment'. Sleight of Hand and Driving were illuminated by a small ball of fire floating just above the shelf; Concealment had two.

So the flames were the Perk Points? Stealth must be dark since I didn't have anything to spend, then. It'd probably light up once I got it to level eight.

Before doing anything else, I called out softly, "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Absolute silence met my question. Nothing but the ambience. No creaks of movement, nor sounds of breathing. I figured as much considering the space had changed so easily back when I first entered it.

"A-are you eidolons? Who runs this place?" I asked again. I wasn't really expecting an answer though. And yeah, none came. Figures. I'd have to try and find out more about it some other way. I hesitated for a moment longer before heading for Sleight of Hand's shelf.

The number of scrolls was as extensive as Stealth was, with about as many requiring other unlocks. After a bit of searching, eliminating a few Perks as I went, I settled on one. There were quite a few good ones, but this one? It looked too good to give up.

「Hidden Hands - Your hands are less likely to draw the eye.」

Given my profession, it was exactly what I needed. I wouldn't need to be nearly as careful when skimming. Without as much time focused on care? I could grab and and make more.

I pulled the scroll off the shelf and walked over to the easel. A deep breath helped calm my mind as I prepared myself for what was to come. Surely this would suck, but the sooner I got through it the better. And hey, I was prepared this time for the suckitude. As long as I got it down before being flatlined by dehydration, it was fine.

Without time to second guess myself, I placed the scroll on the easel. It magically unrolled by itself. A painting of a hand showed, though I couldn't quite make out what I was looking at. In fact, the picture itself was kinda boring. I lost interest as my vision faded away-

And then I was back on my bed, as though nothing happened. A frown creased my lips. According to my phone, barely a minute passed. Did it… not work? I got the feeling something had changed though.

I brought my hand up in front of my face and then looked away. Nothing seemed to have happ- wait a second. My frown deepened. My hands- there was something different about them. I felt the irrational desire to look away from such a boring mass of flesh. It was weird.

I looked away, and that sense of incongruence and apathy vanished. Then, as soon as I inspected my hands again, it returned… So Hidden Hands was active now? Why hadn't I suffered though? N-not that I was complaining! I-it's just that, I dunno, it feels… anti-climatic? Compared to the last time, that is.

I looked at the interface. Sure enough, Hidden Hands was there under Sleight of Hand. Why did the process change? Something was weird here… was it due to the name? The other one was Fox's Paw. Was it because I had Fox's Grace that the entire process of attaining the Perk changed?

If so, I'll just happily avoid anything to do with foxes when picking my Perks from now on. And, since it was so painless, then I may as well go pick another. Thank you!

I closed my eyes and once more appeared in the pavilion. The light above sleight of hand had gone out entirely. It seemed my initial assumption proved to be correct.

I moved over to Driving's shelf and checked out the skills. Unlike the other times, the choice this time around was rather easy. Nothing really stood out to me. Might as well get better at something that I was already decent at.

「Land Vehicles - You are proficient in every land vehicle.」

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I took the scroll and once more entrusted it to the easel. The ancient thing unrolled, showing a painting of a street surrounded by neon. I blinked, and then I was sitting in a car on said street. The neon grid-like forms surrounding the road looked like some kind of retro outrunner stuff. I half expected synthwave to blare through the radio.

The typical hyper-reflective buildings in outrunner art had been replaced by sakura trees with reflective leaves. Even the sun had been replaced by a low-lit neon pink moon. It was surreal, like how I had heard runners saw the world.

A window popped into my vision.

「ASCorp Horas - Reach the ending.」

Fuck. It was another one of these.

— — —

I gasped for air, flopping back on my mattress. I successfully returned to my cargo container from that- that hellscape. My throat and insides were literally burning as I forced myself toward the fridge. I downed a bottle of water. I had another one cracked open and guzzled down before it could even hit the ground. Then another. I was so thirsty I was half-tempted to say 'consequences be damned' and drink straight from the tap. Probably get a couple diseases while I was at it.

Once I finally felt alive again, I slumped on the ground with my back to the wall. The cold metal felt good as if it could cool down my overstimulated brain. I tried to think back to the time I spent on the damn road in the learning space, but my memories felt muted almost. It was as if it was all a dream. A two-day long fever dream.

Although they were muted, I could still remember the basis of what happened. I was given a simple instruction the entire time: reach the ending. The issue had been the ending itself though. As soon as I finished, which was easy since ASCorp's Horas was an easy enough vehicle to drive, I was back at the beginning in a different car.

Then that's where it started to get hazy. I faintly remember driving thousands if not hundreds of thousands of vehicles. Everything from bicycles to literal tanks. I couldn't exactly recall the details though.

Basically, the Perk threw me through a long, long list of land-based vehicles and said good luck. I learned how to operate them, but damn was it tiring. Especially when I got to the complicated tanks and ATVs.

I didn't even become a master. I was just barely good enough to get them through some obstacles. Thankfully, it wasn't painful like Fox's Paw had been. Just long and draining.

I checked my phone. No messages. I thought briefly for a moment before heading to the nearest vending machine for something a little more than silage.

———

Come on, Shiro; it ain't worth it. Surely there were better things you could be doing than heading back to the pavilion…

And yet, I wanted to go back. Ignoring the absolute bitch of a time waking up half dead, it was fun. I was learning. I was growing at an unmatched rate compared to before the interface showed up. It was a major advantage.

Oh, and I think I cracked the code on why Land Vehicles and Fox's Paw had been so long but Hidden Hands had been almost instantaneous. It was the type of effect. Both Land Vehicles and Fox's Paw required muscle memory and knowledge of how to do things, Hidden Hands didn't. Its effect was almost magical in nature.

So if I just picked the magicky Perks, I would be done almost instantly. Or, at least, that's what I told myself as I headed back to the pavilion. I had one last Perk I could test the theory with.

Several minutes later, I was thrown out once more. I sighed and popped my back, stretching out. It was done. Theory tested. By the fact that I came out minutes later instead of hours? My theory was practically proven.

「Name: Shiro Tsukuyomi

Traits: Fox's Grace, Quick Healing, Insight

Tracking - 3

Stealth - 6

Fox's Paw

Perception - 2

Sleight of Hand - 7

Hidden Hands

Driving - 7

Land Vehicles

Concealment - 8

Lethargic Presence

Hidden Weapon

Data Pending - Duration One Day」

「Lethargic Presence - Those in your presence grow tired.」

「Hidden Weapon - Weapons are more likely to be overlooked.」

I spent both of my Concealment points without any issues. Both were in the same vein of each other, being active ability type Perks. I didn't have to spend another few days trapped in my own head this way.

The effects were nice, and togglable. I found that out after getting tired really quickly. Yep, Lethargic Presence affected me too. To a lesser extent, I'd say, since I knew it was the Perk's effects. A bit annoying, but could be really useful. I wouldn't have to worry about insomnia anymore.

I decided to keep Hidden Weapons permanently active. There wasn't a reason not to, but the same couldn't be said for the other two.

Lethargic Presence making me also tired was reason enough to not keep it active all the time, and Hidden Hands gave me a sense of incongruence that messed with my head. I should probably only activate them when I needed.

Unfortunately, I couldn't disable the 'learned' perks of Land Vehicles and Fox's Paw. Not that Land Vehicles needed it in the first place. More so Fox's Paw. I was still as silent as a mouse. Quieter, even. No amount of psychological pressure could force me to make a noise. I definitely picked up some kind of condition.

I went to sleep early after a quick meal of silage, testing out Lethargic Pressence. I may have been technically resting for two days, but my mental state was in tatters from fatigue. I hit the bed and instantly blacked out.

— — —

I blinked awake, feeling the disgusting crust build up on my left eye fall to pieces under the weight of my eyelids. I rubbed the rest away, along with my desire to go back to sleep. I sluggishly ate breakfast—silage, yay!—and finally felt myself fully wake up.

Maybe I should get a new eye. I had the Rayn, for once, and it would be incredibly nice to get something with a few more features. I was literally rocking the bare minimum, as evidenced by the crusty eye every morning. It would be nice to not have to deal with that.

A state-of-the-art cyberoptic might be out of the way, but one with at least a hud would be nice. I could also probably get a Shift Lense implanted into my flesh so my eyes matched… or not. Just the thought of someone digging into my eye made me shudder, even if that someone was Nael.

I logged onto the First International Boswan Bank app and checked my account. 1732 Boswan Pulas, or Rayn as I usually called it. I could work with that? And I could start paying off my debt while I was at it. It would take all my money, but Nael deserved to be paid out.

I checked my phone, which I still had to do manually since my eye was horribly outdated. Gah. Well, at least it wasn't all my eye's fault. My phone was also several dozen generations behind and probably wouldn't connect even if I had a HUD-capable eye.

A message from Ishimaru popped up. Speech to text must've really improved given his coherency. 'Your phone checked out. Real high-tech anti-tracking software was already installed. Nobody should be able to find you with it, even if you, say, searched the DarkNet. A very lux good. You can come get it anytime you want.'

Well, at least I had some stuff to keep me busy today-

「Data Pending Complete」

「Request Board Unlocked」

「You have [1] Request」

「Request - First!

Cause mischief

1 Skill Point」

Wut? Request Board? Then that means somebody, or something, needed to be making the requests, right? Just what was this interface thing anyway? I originally thought it was a secret corpo tech, but now I leaned closer to the eidolons. But why? I'm not even contracted to one, so why me an not one of their Magi?

And what was up with this request? What kind of mischief did I need to cause? What scale, even? Like blowing up a city or replacing someone's ice cream with synth mayonnaise. And this was the first time I had seen Skill Points. So far it's only been Perk Points and Traits.

Gah! Too many questions. Not enough answers. I'd just worry about this later. For now: Absolom Clinic.

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