I awoke to the interface blinking in my bleary eyes. The job must've finished. I rolled over and checked the local news on my phone.

Last night, Ajay Insurance 'mysteriously' burned down. It was particularly mysterious since only his corner burned out, and only one person, suspected to be Ajay, was caught in the fire. Bastard got what was coming to him.

「Sleight of Hand - 7>8」

「Net - 1>2」

「Intimidation - 1 Acquired」

「First Aid - 2>3」

「Deception - 3>4」

「Accounting - 1 Acquired」

「Name: Shiro Tsukuyomi

Traits: Fox's Grace, Quick Healing, Insight

Tracking - 4

Stalk

Tech - 5

Eidetic Schematic

Stealth - 7

Fox's Paw

Sleight of Hand - 8

1 Perk Point

Hidden Hands

Perception - 4

Aetherial Perception

Net - 2

Melee Weapons - 1

Intimidation - 1

Firearm - 3

First Aid - 3

Evasion - 2

Driving - 7

Land Vehicles

Deception - 4

1 Perk Point

Criminology - 4

Cues

Concealment - 8

Lethargic Presence

Hidden Weapon

Brawling - 1

Accounting - 1

Request Board」

Most of the Skills that went up were about as I expected. It was nice to see that helping that guy out with his arm leveled First Aid even if I didn't necessarily fix the problem. Honestly, I didn't think I'd get anything out of that other than a pat on the back. Skill levels and a free burger? Crazy weird.

Accounting was a surprise. I guess it made sense considering how much I poured through Ajay's financial statements. Unfortunately, it was one of the Skills I originally deemed useless. I still didn't see a point for it, though I could at least admit someone somewhere might find it useful.

The Perk Points whispered sweet temptations into my ears. Now really wasn't the time, though. Spending points left me vulnerable, and I definitely didn't want to be in such a state with Feras around. I trusted him slightly more than I originally did, but still not as far as I could throw him.

Hmm… unless… Fox? Can you put a leash on him? He's your Magus, right? Can you even hear my thoughts? Or I was just thinking to myself. No answer came. He'd be gone soon, though. I could spend away after that.

I ate a quick meal, polished off the last of my burger from Big Mikes, and headed down to my bike. I pulled up Advent's address I got from Nael and set it up in the Mapp.

Advent sat at the southern edge of Downtown, closer to Oldtown and the FSA's Blitz Base than my home. It was a seriously long drive to get down there, especially with traffic going so slowly these days. Eventually, I spotted it rising in the distance.

Advent owned the entire building they were housed in, which meant I could safely mark the place as a medium-level corp. It was a sheer white building faintly reminiscent of Medtech's hospital. It looked like one big brutalist block.

I parked nearby in a small garage. Say what you wanted about Aythryn City, but at least the parking wasn't too bad here. I'd seen images of other places, like Veyth, the capital of Vurn, where slags just parked out in the streets everywhere. I can't even imagine the stress of driving through somewhere like that.

I hopped off my bike. A lone breeze caught my hair, blowing into my face annoyingly. The wet strands, somewhat soaked by the light rain on the way over here, stuck to my cheek. I pulled it all back into a ponytail and secured it under my trusty Aythryn City Slashers baseball hat.

Just as I reached the door, I got a message from Carone. 'Confirmed. Deposited 5,000 Rayn.'

I checked my First International Boswan Bank account. A big deposit of 5,000 sat in it. I felt giddy at the sight of nearly seven thousand Rayn in my account. Fantasies of getting a nice, comfortable bed started to loop through my brain. Or maybe even some scented shampoo? I hadn't used any of that stuff since I was a kid. 'Course, I could also buy a gun or something…

I shoved that thought to the back of my head and entered Advent. The door opened into a rather large lobby. Everything here was done in smooth whites and grays, evoking a certain detached vibe from the rest of the filthy city. Alcoves along the walls hid neon blue lights, casting a clinical glow around the lobby.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Paintings of fancy-looking doctors, chrome, and labs were scattered about the clean-cut white walls. Each of them felt very out of place, though I couldn't exactly say why that was. Almost as if there was a… pattern? Something itched at the back of my head. Regardless, they looked very high-end if the golden frames were anything to go by.

The lobby was fairly empty for its size. There were a few people scattered about, but nowhere near what I would expect from a corporation like this. To put it into perspective, Artoras had dozens of people coming and going when I walked by it.

While they were slightly lacking in population, they weren't lacking in security. Advent had at least a dozen security guards stationed around the entrance further into the building. They looked kitted out too. Heavy flak armor clad each of them, and their rifles looked mighty impressive.

Shen Kang Keiji weaponry based on the design of reds, golds, and blacks. It was odd considering Sentinel was the preferred brand around here. At a glance, each guard wore at least fifteen hundred Rayn in gear. Not to mention they looked actually trained and not just the slop that security usually was.

I walked across the lobby, trying to ignore the mass of security watching me like hawks. With so few people around, I felt so very out of place. Not to mention I was wearing clothes tagged all over with Fang stuff. I hesitantly approached the receptionist's desk in the middle of the room.

A rather lithe guy came to the counter and met me, one that was absolutely covered in scar tissue. His face was clad in circuitry and Light Tattoos as if to take away from the scar tissue. "Hi! Welcome to Advent Labs, how can we help you?"

I flinched. He had a very cheerful voice. "Um- I'm here to meet with someone. Doctor Fodisa, I think."

The man tapped on a terminal. "You must be Miss Tsukuyomi. The doctor is expecting you. Just head on through security, and someone will take you to him."

I nodded to the man and headed to security. "Ma'am, if you'd surrender your weapons here, please. We'll keep them safe till you leave."

It was rather nice to see security that expected people to be strapped instead of the typical song and dance of being surprised every time someone pulled out a gun. Stupid corporate red tape, I guess. It was a serious waste of time.

I didn't put up any struggle or hassle and even revealed everything I had on me. I was confident in sneaking at least my emergency shiv by most forms of security, but not past a metal detector. I'd light up like a firework. It was much better to just leave everything here. Did I like it? No. Not one bit.

Maybe I should look into getting some plastic weapons? Or just make them myself, I guess. I had some of the know-how, and I'd surfed countless blueprints on the Net. Who knew? I might even be able to work around some of the defects in common plastic guns.

Sure, plastic guns that could be taken past metal detectors were super illegal… but so was murder. And klepping. And practically living in this day and age. Maybe I should look at something else though? They make plastic knives and stuff. Hmm… maybe I should just splurge and buy a metal detector-proof gun. But I didn't have black market contacts, nor the money at the moment…

I walked through the metal detector, instantly setting it off. They checked my chrome and gave me a pat down. For a startup corporation, according to Nael, Advent Labs had some crazy good security. Not to mention this massive building. They must either have a really rich backer, or a parent corporation behind them.

A woman stood at the other end of the security. She didn't say much, though she did lead me through the building. She left as soon as she dropped me off at an office door. Doctor Fodisa according to the nameplate.

I lightly rapped on the door. A heavily accented voice called out. "Enter."

I stepped into the doctor's office. It was about as normal of an office as I would expect, except bits and parts of chrome covered absolutely every part of the place. There were even blueprints scattered about, which I glanced through and memorized. Unfortunately, most of them were unfinished and I couldn't make out their purpose. They looked to be prints for parts, but I couldn't piece them together without a larger print.

The doctor himself sat behind a desk, looking far too… normal, I guess. I was expecting a doctor focusing on chrome to be chromed out himself, but he looked a hundred percent flesh. Heck, he even wore a pair of glasses.

His skin was incredibly dark. A first-generation migrant from Mandor? Why'd he leave that place for a shit continent like North Arkhanika? "Ah, you must be Miss Tsukuyomi. I was wondering who my old chumba would give the phantom to… How's it treating you? Oh, and please, take a seat."

"Um- okay? It overheats. Quite badly, at that." Bad enough to melt my brain into a vegetable. Seriously, how'd that get past testing? I slid into a seat across from the doctor.

The man nodded and passed me a port. "Yes, some of the other testers mentioned similar issues. Please, jack in. I'll run a diagnostic check."

I pulled out a data jack and plugged it into the port. An uncomfortable buzz of electricity passed through me. "How'd it get out of testing with such an issue?"

"Oversight, I'm afraid." Fodisa's expression twisted into one of disappointment. "No matter. The Phantom is being shelved. More specifically, the Blackout augment."

"It's being shelved?" Why? With that kind of tech, they could make billions in the merc field alone. Every PMC would want a piece of the pie.

"It was designed so people could get away from the oppressive feelings of modern society. I didn't think about how it would enable crime-" The doctor sighed, rubbing a hand across his face. "No, no… I just didn't want to admit it. Not to mention the materials are- ahem- costly to acquire. Advent Labs, with my staunch backing, decided to shift into a different direction."

"Oh…" Was this a classic case of a noble cause being warped by others? Oh wait, I was one of those others…

Regardless, I could appreciate a man with morals, especially one who was willing to throw aside profit for the sake of them. Such a thing was quite rare. As expected of one of Nael's mikatas, I guess. Really, that guy just didn't miss.

Also, the doctor must have an incredibly high position in Advent to be able to shift the entire corp's direction away from a massively profitable venture. How intriguing… and who was on the board that was just okay with this shift in direction? Several saints? We're talking potentially billions of Rayn here.

Doctor Fodisa clicked around on his terminal, intently focusing on the diagnostics. He looked up and checked me out with a clinical gaze. "You a fan of the Slashers?

"I used to be. I haven't been able to watch baseball in a long time, though." For once, the small talk wasn't horrible.

"Such a shame. I watch the Slashers all the time." He smiled. "They're up five two this season."

"Is Quitan Tearantino still playing?" It'd really been a long time since I had the luxury of checking in on sports. Couldn't exactly pay for them, nor did I have the time to set up a bunch of piracy stuff.

The doctor shook his head with a sad expression on his face. "He got brained a couple seasons ago. Zeroed before the team's Medek could get to him. Slashers just haven't been the same."

That sucked. Quitan Tearantino was the best player of the Aythryn City Slashers back when I used to watch. His rough and gruff style of shredding and tearing apart the opposition made him a favorite in the blood sport. "The glory days are behind us."

"Unfortunately…" Doctor Fodisa focused back on the screen.

I looked at the doctor, feeling a cold tingle of Insight. My eyes tracked up to a reflection in his glasses. It looked like… the Phantom's blueprint? I used the dual-zoom augment, blowing up the image even further. Just like that, Eidetic Schematic imprinted the entire thing into my brain.

Unlike the other schematics around the room, the one for the Phantom was complete. Hmm… maybe I could just make a Blackout augment myself? The tech was too good to give up on. If they were shelving it, then making it myself would be the only way to get my hands on it.

Unfortunately, while Eidetic Schematic let me memorize prints, it didn't enable understanding. The Phantom, and Blackout in particular, was extremely confusing. I'd have to wait for a higher Tech level to figure out what was going on with the complicated tech.

"Alright, we're good to go. As a beta-tester, you're welcome to test out some of the other products free of charge." He smiled apologetically. "We'll have to remove the Phantom."

"That's fine." Nael was right back then. Being a beta-tester sure had its benefits. "What are the options?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.