I returned home a few hours later. Thankfully, the pain in my head was gone. I had a lot to think about out there in the dune sea. That was twice not that I'd been assaulted by pure agony after picking a Perk.

Maybe I should readjust my opinion on the mysterious inner workings of the interface. There were three types, not just two. One forced me to learn something through repetitive action, like Cue. One applied a near-magical effect to me, like Hidden Hands. And one more. The last one changed part of my body. Or maybe this was all overthinking and there weren't definitive types of Perks.

I took a drink from the canteen and settled back down in my cargo container. I just had two Skill Points now. I'd be done after that… at least till the next level up. Was this worth it? Torturing myself, in such a way. Or… was this common? Not too different then cutting off limbs and parts to get bigger and better chrome.

No- this was worth it. Right, this would all be worth it. I was moving up in the world, slowly but surely. Nathos managed to become one of the most feared mercs in the world with the interface. I could be there with time. It'd all be worth it in the end.

I shook my head, clearing out mental space to refocus on my Skill Points. I'd been thinking about what to go for, and without a doubt I wanted the initial level of Net and another of Tech.

'Course, a large part of me wanted to throw in points towards Stealth and get it maxed out as soon as possible. Double down on my advantages and all that. I was hesitant though. Being hyper-specialized in one Skill wasn't necessarily bad, but I wouldn't have the versatility if shit hit the fan.

I wasn't looking to be a jack of all trades- or Skills in this case. No, I wanted to have a couple of Skills to fall back on. Net and Tech were some good ones, but I was also interested in First Aid and Evasion to bring some variation to my skillset. They were both in the range of one to four though, so using a point on them would be a waste.

I didn't immediately put my Skill Points in. It would eat up four days to get through both of them, so I decided to go ahead and stock up on food stuff. I could knock them both out without having to leave the container this way. Four days would also give some time for the city to calm down.

I climbed down from my container and headed just down the street of the container yard. Bob's Bodega sat on the corner in all its neon glory. I pulled my jacket down to better block the rain and stepped in. The bodega was made from three containers smacked together with the walls removed.

I quickly moved through the store, heading to the silage section of the place. For a moment, I looked at the hundreds of pouches on display. I didn't have to get silage. I had some money now, or at least to get a bit of actual food. As much as I wanted to go with the cheapest option, I couldn't deny how tantalizing the idea of getting 'real' food was.

I skipped past the small pouches of silage and headed to the pre-packs in the store. Unlike silage, which was largely just grains filled with additives to be a little nutritious, prepacks were equal parts soy and grain-based. They also offered far better flavors and nutrient value, but were more expensive. Somewhere around nine hundred a month instead of the three hundred I spent for silage.

Having enough food to actually put on some weight though… I might actually be able to support some muscle with something a bit better. And maybe, just maybe, I might grow some more with a healthier diet.

Should I look for a gym membership too? Start building up muscle instead of passive gain? It'd be nice to perform a takedown on Mira for once without tricks… doubt it'd ever happen though. She had more than just muscle. 'Sides, I didn't have that much money.

I looked through the flavors before grabbing a box of 'ramen-flavored' and headed to the counter. Three guys stood around smoking—tosta by the scent—by the cashier. Gangers, though they looked to be a small one.

Although the Fangs were the overlords of Little Yukoto, there were plenty of smaller gangs throughout the area. The small gangs were like finding an ant colony. Too much trouble to wipe out unless they became a nuisance.

Hmm… I really should think about moving out soon. Thankfully, they didn't mess with me at all. I breezed through the store and headed back home. The box of pre-packs cost four hundred fifty Rayn for two weeks worth of.

Ugh- my money… back down to just over thirty-three hundred. Still quite a bit, but I had a feeling it wouldn't last long. If there was one thing the city was good at, it was taking away money.

I set everything down and sorted it out. It'd be ready for me in a couple days when I returned. I mentally psyched myself up and pulled open the interface.

「Name: Shiro Tsukuyomi

Traits: Fox's Grace, Quick Healing, Insight

Tracking - 4

Stalk

Stealth - 7

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Fox's Paw

Perception - 4

Aetherial Perception

Tech - 4

Eidetic Schematic

Melee Weapons - 1

Sleight of Hand - 7

Hidden Hands

Firearm - 3

First Aid - 2

Evasion - 2

Driving - 7

Land Vehicles

Deception - 3

Criminology - 4

Cue

Concealment - 8

Lethargic Presence

Hidden Weapon

Brawling - 1

Request Board」

I wasn't looking too bad these days. If I could get this far, then what would happen in the future? Nathos became a merc feared as the King of Death, right? What would I become? The best thief? That was an extremely attractive offer.

I already knew what I wanted to spend my Skill Points on, though. Been thinking about it quite a bit. Tech and Net were on the chopping board today. Before I could start second-guessing myself again, I threw one of the points into Net.

The interface pulled me into an alternate space. It was similar to where I learned Land Vehicles. A colorful grid covered a pitch black-area, though there was an actual floor this time.

A terminal sat in the middle of a space, blinking to life. It shuddered, flicking to a some kind of code teaching program. I stretched out and approached. I had a feeling this would be another long and tiresome learning process.

— — —

After everything was over, both Net and Tech, I moved over to the desk with a pre-pack and flipped on my handheld radio. The soothing tunes and beasts helped calm my throbbing head. My enforced vacation was over.

The pre-packs were… interesting, I guess. It had more flavor than silage, but I couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Still would much rather get food from a street vendor. It was an overall improvement though.

Net in particular had been a ride. I wasn't good at it. That was the issue plain and simple. Even with the interface propping me up, it seemed it couldn't overcome natural talent… or a complete lack of.

Tech went much better. There were all sorts of new techniques and ideas roiling in my head. Unfortunately, I didn't have the equipment to capitalize on them. Still, once I got set up? I'd be able to get to work on quite a few useful tools.

I finished eating and relaxed, feeling the beats flow through me. Mira sent me a couple messages that I quickly sent a reply to, but nobody really tried to contact me while I was out. Oh- except for Iris. She sent me a thank you message that looked far too professional to have been typed by her hand.

While I was on my phone, I looked through the Net. Recent thoughts of Nathos, the dead merc in the drop pod, had me extremely curious. He hinted at the origin of the interface if I was right about getting it from him.

Nathos was an anomaly on the Net, and definitely a fake name. He had a meteoric rise, coming out of nowhere as a powerful hired gun from the Northern Council in the continent of Reuthus. According to what little information I could find, he turned from a nobody to the Northen Council's top hitman in just a couple years, and it looked as though nothing could stop him.

He was incredibly popular in Reuthus for being one of their best fighters when it came to their mutant infestation. Their infestation was quite similar to our own Dune Walker issue over here. Mutants actually had a bit of intelligence though, so they were potentially more dangerous.

His notable achievement apart from fighting the mutants—and the one that got him on the map as an assassin—was the execution of Triste Corp's VP from the top of a mountain range over fifty miles away. Probably why Kaynis said the guy could put a bullet through a cricket's leg.

He also was suspected of assassinating a Vurn City-state Senator through similar means. Countless other assassinations were attributed to him, but, as they say, a known assassin is a bad assassin. Most were simple suspicions based on matching MOs with no concrete evidence.

Everywhere I looked, he had some incredible achievements all related to guns. If I was right in that I got the interface from him, then it seemed he pumped every possible Skill and Perk Point into making his firearms skill the best it could be. He was a true terror on the battlefield.

As far as I could tell, he had a promising future ahead of him as the King of Death. That is- until it all came crashing down. He died during his infiltration of the orbital Sentinel Corp lab, where he stole the research and plummeted back down to the planet. That was where I came in.

Assuming he got the interface the same way as me, then it must pass on when the current user dies. It was a little reassuring? As long as I was alive, which was a no-brainer, I shouldn't have to worry too much about others having an interface… I hoped.

Thinking I was super special and the only one with this power would be a mistake, though. It's probably best I still stayed aware. Complacency would only get me killed. Not to mention even those without it could still be an issue.

In my research of Nathos, I naturally looked up a second group: the eidolons. After all this time, I was sure they were definitely tied up in the interface somehow. Probably the very creators of the thing itself. No clue how or why, but there was no denying their touch. Everything from the Trait and Perk names to the Request Board hinted at them.

Eidolons… they were an interesting bunch. They were the apex predators and top dogs of the Aether. They were also the source of a Magi's power. A Magi signed a contract with an eidolon, and then gained access to said eidolon's sprites to cast magic… I think. Researching was difficult. There were all sorts of theories and misinformation about them out there.

And, to be frank, Magi and Adepts were a small fraction of the population. They were the ones who interacted with the Aether, so there wasn't near as much information as I would've liked. Everything else looked like guess work.

Most articles and pages were written from an outsider's perspective, so they were untrustworthy at best, and entirely false at worst. There were very few resources that came from a proven Magi on the Net.

Who were the eidolons though? That was a bit trickier since there were so many of them. For instance, Fox was an eidolon who appeared as a, well, fox. No one knows if they were the actual animals themselves, or if they were just beings imitating the shape to appear more approachable. It was a terrifying thought.

There were common eidolons with large swathes of Magi under them. Fox was particularly popular in Aythryn City. Dozens if not hundreds of eidolons existed though, with no overlap. There was only one Fox, and every other Aetherial fox was a sprite under her.

My search was potentially full of inaccuracies though. The Net was vast, and most articles were purely speculation or outright lies. Especially in regards to eidolons. There were all sorts of groups that claimed they were demons, or angels, or even gods.

I took some time to do some other things, like research how to use the bola thing and some other stuff I was interested in. The bola was surprisingly easy. Just throw it at someone to wrap them up, then squeeze the glove into a fist to start shocking.

Overall, I kinda just sat back and relaxed for a few hours while I surfed the Net. In the background of all of that, I finally came to a decision I'd been deliberating.

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