ASCorp's unpleasant logo flashed brightly in my eye for a brief moment. The pristine shield of Aetherium shone was a splendor that the corporation most definitely didn't deserve. Hey, guess this thing did have a HUD after all?

「Connect to the Net

3 Traits」

Great, and this stupid thing is back. Just go away! Ugh- so annoying. I waited for it to fade from my vision before looking around.

Nael stood at the entrance talking to two other guys. One looked practically silver with cybernetics. He looked more metal than skin, like some kind of robot poorly masquerading as a human. From the looks of things? He didn't even have high-end chips. Maybe a bunch of scavenged junk?

The other guy was almost all muscle. A boyish charm clung to him, brightening the room better than any neon. His green eyes, chrome of course, somehow seemed to twinkle with mischief even though they were metal. "…Sally go after the explosion?"

Nael looked at the mischievously smirking man for several long moments before finally replying, "Where?"

"Everywhere!" The guy broke into uproarious laughter at his own joke. It was the kind of laughter that made me want to join in even though I only heard the tail end of the conversation.

Nael glanced over, his crinkled eyes meeting mine. "Ah! You're awake, Shiro."

"Yeah…" I groaned, rubbing my head. Pain meds must've worn off. At least my wrist wasn't throbbing.

"Let me check her out, and I'll be right with you two." Nael waved to a bunch of seats off to the side of the clinic.

"No problem, boss." The guy's smile remained as he settled up against the wall alongside his companion. His eyes started to flick rapidly. Interacting with something on his HUD, maybe?

Nael walked back over to me and tapped a scanner. "I fixed your wrist. Just lay off it for the next week or so and it'll be fine. Still having that eye bug?"

I glanced down to see his handiwork. It didn't hurt, but now there was a line of stitches all down the length of my wrist. "Um- yeah? Something about connecting to the Net?"

Nael began wrapping my wrist with a bandage. "Well, we could always see if it's plugged in."

"I can still see with it-"

He sighed and waved off my words. "Just a joke. Really making me feel old here, Shiro."

Ah, must've been some of those old-world jokes he liked to share. "Come on, you ain't that old yet."

"Right, right… whatever you say, kid." He finished up the bandage and motioned to his terminal. "As far as my scans could tell, you're not infected with a virus or anything. Pass me your jack and I'll try to connect it."

"Right." I twisted my wrist, the non-broken one, and pulled out a small cord from a hidden slot. The Interface Plugs and Neural Link were the most expensive piece of chrome in my possession, and they were damn nice to have for situations like this. The only downside was how overwhelming being jacked into anything felt. It's like seeing in five dimensions instead of three. That, and the Neural Link cost more than I probably did.

He plugged it in. "Did that do anything?"

「Processing…

Successful…」

A sense of nausea raced along my bones, but nothing changed? What was this about success if nothing happened? Maybe it was a driver update or something? Weird… I was looking to get a better optic anyway, maybe this was a sign to go ahead? Hmm… maybe if I had a few hundred more Rayn…

"It says it's done. Nothing changed though." I rubbed at my arm.

He tapped around on his keyboard for a moment. Eventually, a sigh escaped him as he shook his head. "Tell you what- why don't you go a couple days and see if it pops up again? I'll look into it a bit more. That model is ancient, so I'm sure there's a bug or two with it."

"How much do I owe you?" I pulled out my phone. It was several dozen generations behind the one I pulled from the briefcase, but it worked well enough. I could text and bank off it, at least.

"Don't worry about it, kid. Your treatment technically isn't done with that eye of yours. Just pay me later." He shifted his attention before I could protest. "Alright, Nabal, Silas, I'm ready for you."

"'Bout time." The tin head spoke in a voice barely recognizable as a human. Damn, he seemed like the type of guy to die alone, eh? Hmm… can he even clean himself? Isn't that like a toaster bath if you're that chipped with cybernetics?

I barely spotted the disappointed look the cheerful guy shot at the other. "All good, Chum. Athena brief you?"

"It's in the back." Nael headed for a back room, not even sparing me a glance.

I left the clinic in a slight huff. Nael always found some way for me not to have to pay him. Probably why I thought he was as good as he was… It pissed me off. I had Rayn. Not much of it, but I could pay.

Not having to pay back when I was younger had been a blessing, but now? Now I was ready to pay off my debt, even if he likely wouldn't ever collect it. Unfortunately, my debt was higher than my savings. Once I got a bit more Rayn though- yeah, then I'd pay it all back.

Worming my way back through the alleys, I returned to my bike and began the trek back home. I would rest for today, doc's orders, but tomorrow I would have to get active again. Life in the city didn't come cheap, and I was running low on Rayn as is. Silage for dinner it is, then. Joy.

— — —

I just finished eating when the box popped up in my vision once more.

「3 Traits Received」

「Pick 3:

Drug Dependency

Drug Resistance

Quick Healing

Bruiser

Gun Expert

Language Extraordinaire

Melee Expert

Martial Artist

Quick-witted

Built to Destroy

Gun-fu

Savant

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Born Driver

Beloved by Beasts

Green Thumb

Bear's Cave

Improved Metabolism

Trigger Finger

Small Frame

Wild

Natural Speaker

Genius Technician

Fox's Grace

Medic

Programmer

Netrunner

Kinetic

Adept

Chipped

Next Page >」

Now what in the hell was all of this? I spent the next thirty minutes trying to figure it out. Oddly enough, simply by intending to go to the next page, the list changed to a whole new set of thirty 'traits'. Since when was the Genov-4 so advanced? Did Nael slip in some augments?

I could even focus on one of these 'traits' and a full description lit up in front of my eyes. And yet no matter how hard I tried to close it, it sat open in my view. Tauntingly. Did the augs come with faulty software?

An hour of roller coast emotions passed. Was I going crazy? Surely not, then I must be high on something. There was an awful amount of Tosta smoke these days. It wouldn't be that weird to get a second hand high. Or it could be a remnant effect of the pain meds I took earlier. They had looked a little fishy.

Maybe- maybe I should just accept it as some strange event. Strange things weren't exactly rare in this wacky city. Especially with the likes of Magus, Adepts, and Kinetics going about. No telling what kind of witchcraft passes around me on a daily basis.

Ugh- my head started to throb just from not being able to make the list go away. Even with my eyes closed I could see it, which shut off any attempt at sleeping through it. Maybe it was just some kind of trick on my psyche? Gah, fine! I'll just pick three! Are you happy?!

At first, I wanted to grab just any. Nothing would happen anyway… but that delusional 'what if' factor made me take a serious look. The Traits offered? Some of them were incredibly impressive. It took three hours, but I finally narrowed down my choices from the undress in the list.

Some choices were easy to weed out, at least at first glance. This issue was when I went back over them and rethought their viability. All offered some kind of benefit that would help immensely.

Take for instance Drug Dependency. At first glance, it was a terrible pick, right? Wrong. Sure there were cons, such as easily becoming addicted to any drug I took, but then there were also the benefits: quintupled positive effects of every drug.

Then it became easy to eliminate Traits again once I really thought about it. Exhibit A: Drug Dependency. Designer Drugs would be the only way of truly getting an effect out of it, but they were damn expensive. That, doubled with how often I was exposed to ambient drugs from smoke alone made me skip it. Seriously, it would suck if I happened to become dependent on Tosta after inhaling a few breaths of it on the streets.

That being said, some were immediately eliminated. For instance, Green Thumb, which would make me better with plants. Where the hell would I find plants in Aythryn City? Not like there was a whole garden section of the city dedicated to them. Completely useless unless some kind of massive plant invasion happens.

Beloved by Beasts was eliminated for similar reasons. Simply put, there were hardly enough beasts for it to have an effect. Except rats, but eww. Why would I want to be beloved by rats? That was a quick way to catch a plague.

Things like Chipped were also knocked out pretty quick. Chipped dealt with cybernetics, but I would have to have cybernetics for it to have much of an effect. Some were even too crazy to get. For instance, Lost Your Head on page three would decapitate me… yep. I would somehow still be alive according to the description, but…

Some I didn't even look at. Kinetic and Adept on the front page were examples. The horror stories of Kinetics and Adepts were surprisingly widespread for how few of them there were. I didn't need to be losing my mind or body to some eldritch monstrosity, if they were even a thing.

By the end of it? I narrowed everything down to three picks.

「Quick Healing - Restore wounds while resting. Fatal injuries will take longer.」

「Insight - Gain a sixth sense for danger, among other things.」

「Fox's Grace - The blessing of a sneaky creature.」

Quick Healing, assuming all this Trait stuff was real for the sake of arguing, was something else. Medicine was expensive. Injuries? Even more so. If I could theoretically just heal by sleeping? Probably the best Trait in the entire list. Not to mention it'd work for fatal injuries.

Besides, Aythryn City was downright vampiric. I'd heard the stories of legends brought down by accumulated injuries. I wouldn't ever become a legend, but dodging stacking injuries would be really nice. I wouldn't have to worry about my wrist anymore, if nothing else.

Insight played into a similar situation. Quite frankly, it could hypothetically keep me safe. Anything that boosted my own safety would be extremely important. I didn't want to die young here. If it could save my life even just once?

Finally, Fox's Grace. I wasn't a hundred percent sure about it, but being sneaky and stealthy had kept me alive this far. And it was literally my job with the Fangs. Not really sure what it all entailed, but anything that could boost my current capabilities further? It'd be nice.

As soon as I chose my three, I received a new message.

「Choices Locked」

「Sleep to Reboot」

Nothing happened? Figured it wouldn't be real… still, it was nice to hope for a bit. I'd probably forget about all of this come morning anyway. I turned over in bed, getting more comfortable.

Regardless, I didn't need to be told twice. My eyes felt more than heavy. As soon as they shut, I was out like a light.

— — —

I awoke bright and early, unfortunately. Some habits never die. I made myself a bowl of silage. The bland flakes made my tongue hurt.

I washed up and popped my bones, feeling a bit of relief. Ugh- what was that smell. Oh… me. I reeked something fierce. And I could still feel sand in places it shouldn't be. Definitely time for a shower.

I wanted to take a shower last night even, but showering at night was… well, part of the issue with cargo container living was the lack of a personal shower and bathroom. Everything here was communal. To that end, I had long learned it was best to wait for the morning when the ladies of the night would be washing up.

The only issue with such a thing was, well, it was quite draining. They tended to be very social, especially today for some reason. I returned to my container, clean yes, but entirely drained of my will to do anything. Ugh- why were they so chatty so early in the morning.

I collapsed onto my mattress. I carefully brushed off some sand I found, and then flipped over to stare at my wrist. I noticed it earlier; my shattered wrist didn't hurt. Like, at all. Nael's pain meds should've worn off by now, at least partially.

Hmm… no- it can't be, can it? I moved to the counter and hesitantly unrolled the bandage. I needed to change it out anyway. It got soaked in the showers. Couldn't exactly leave a damp bandage on-

"Huh?" I nearly tripped. The wound? Completely gone. The scar vanished as if it'd never been there. Nael was good, the best even, but this good? He said a week. It'd barely been a day. Either he used some seriously expensive medicine… or- or maybe last night wasn't all a delusion.

Fear. Cold fear held me back from admitting the easy truth. Power- power wasn't just given. It had to be earned or gained. It didn't just appear out of thin air. Even Magi had to fill their contracts with eidolons to use magic. There was no such thing as a free ride.

What was the cost of this Quick Healing? More importantly, where did it come from? Why now?

There was only one place that logically made sense. It only popped up after that drop-pod incident in the Outskirts. What could've- maybe when that guy grabbed me? That slow electrical stroke had been weird. I just assumed it was some kind of augment on his chrome. Maybe that wasn't the case?

Regardless, electricity didn't go slow. That's just now how it worked. Not like that. What if- what if he transferred some virus to me in his last moments? Shit- was the Human Mutation Virus? Maybe some kind of advanced strain? Was I mutating? Sh-should I have shot him when I had the chance-?

W-wait. Deep breathes, Shiro. Nael would've noticed if I caught something like that. That's right. Take it slow. Take it calm. One step at a time-

As if to break my calm, that damn screen popped up into my vision once more.

「Name: Shiro Tsukuyomi

Traits: Fox's Grace, Quick Healing, Insight

INVALID DATA」

Damnit! If this was stuck in my vision again- oh, it went away… weird. As if sensing my thoughts, it popped back up. It disappeared when I wanted it to. At least I could make it go away-

Wait… I popped it back up again. My head felt light as another realization struck me. I could see it with my right eye. My flesh eye. I definitely shouldn't be able to see it with my right eye assuming it was some kind of HUD? Back to some kind of plague then?

It took me a bit to calm down and start thinking rationally again. From what it looked like, the thing almost seemed like a game status page. I never got into those games myself, what with poverty and all that. Mira, my best mikata, though? Practically addicted to them when she was younger.

Ugh- no matter how much I wanted to deny its existence, it was too late. Quick Healing had taken effect last night. That meant it was real, for better or worse. Though if it could grant me something like Quick Healing? Maybe for better. Assuming the price isn't too high, that is.

I tried to manipulate the interface. It easily changed how it looked, though didn't show me anything new. The INVALID DATA message stuck around like a persistent gnat. Ignore it for the time being? Maybe I'll find something to fix the error somehow. Or it might fix itself with any luck.

I felt something, almost like a buzz in the back of my brain. A second later my phone started to vibrate. Ishimaru, my 'employer', was calling. Was that- that was definetely Insight? This was seriously causing me a headache.

I shook my head and picked the phone up. "Hello?"

"Chiwa, Shiro! If it ain't my- hic my favorite shtreetrat!" His voice, as it usually did, sounded as if he'd downed quite a few. Still, it failed to hide the steel only those who'd put their life on the line countless times had.

He was always like this. The flattery was sickening, I guess? It should be the other way around, at least from what I've heard. Flattery was the job of the employee, not the employer. But hey, at least he was an equal opportunist and treated everyone else this way too. "Do you need something?"

"Yosh yosh, mikata. Lishten, I got thish- hic- thish thing." His voice lowered, and I could almost see him speaking out of the side of his mouth like he was sharing some kind of secret. "Private earsh only, if you catch my drift. Why don' you come down and 'll tell you all about it? Heavy Rayn ish in the forecasht-"

He hung up, cutting himself off. He didn't even wait for my reply… not that I blamed him. I always accepted his jobs. I was too poor not to, and they put Silage on my plate. What was it this time?

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