From Scraps to Godhood [Worm/Celestial Forge v3]

By: Nixia

[NSFW] - From Scraps to Godhood [Worm/Celestial Forge v3] by Nixia

Status: ongoing

Published: 2023-10-10

Updated: 2024-02-13

Words: 114343

Chapters: 20

Original source: https/forum./threads/24187

Exported with the assistance of

From Scraps to Godhood [Worm/Celestial Forge v3]

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Interlude: Day 1 (Revised)

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 1


A/N: I'm using Celestial Forge v3 with some added perks (Not sure if it's balanced. I will add '*' after the perk names to show if it was added by me or not.) as well as 'Celestial Forge - Lewd Constellations' by Caiuz.

300CP is given for 3 random starting perks with a maximum cost of 100CP.

I will be using 100CP/2k words. Everytime I get points, I will immediately roll for a new perk. If I can't afford the new perk, the points are stored and saved for the next roll. Additionally, if I hit 2 perks from one side (Either normal CF or lewd CF) then the next perk will be from the other.


Waking up in a bed, I was mildly surprised at the certain change in decor. My room was not the master bedroom/study that I was accustomed to. But instead a small one-room flat with a desk, small TV, and bed crammed into a room two sizes too small. Looking over to the side, a small kitchenette was present with a mini fridge just next to a dresser that looked to double as a table. Furthermore, there was a thick, cloying musk in the room that felt embedded into the walls and floors like a stench. Rolling out, I stretched my back and tried to remember what happened last night.

Sleep-deprivation and crunch time. A lot of it. The deadline was coming up and my team was basically working 23 hours a day trying to get it ready for deployment. A stack of Red Bulls sat by my side while we churned out basically third-quarters of the application in the span of three days.

At three, I was running on fumes and basically wanted out at that point. But a certain notification appeared on my screen. Something about the Celestial Forge? I had clicked it out of pure instinct before collapsing on my bed for the night.

"Celestial Forge…" I muttered. I wasn't too unfamiliar with the thing. A frankly enormous set of perks and abilities related to crafting with everything from fantasy swords to 'fuck-off mechas'. Closing my eyes, I tried to feel around for lack of a better term for the power. And boy was it much bigger than I had expected.

A giant platform manifested in my head, a mix of my 'soul' being pulled there and 'remembering' its design in the first place. It was ornately designed, carved out a weird marble-metal material with a smaller circular platform set in the middle. Six pillars stood in a hexagonal pattern, burning with flames as the sky shimmered above me.

Looking up, I saw it. The Forge's abilities. A set of… 1,2,3,4… 50 Constellations that hung in the air. Strangely enough, it looked like all of them stood individually, forming a ring around the platform, yet also looked like they were grouped by their relationship with each other. If I tried to view both at the same time, I couldn't do so. Like how you can't view something in both cross-eyed and normal view. The two biggest Nebulas were the Crafting and Quality Nebulas, with smaller Nebulas surrounding them and the occasional Constellation that stood by their lonesome.

However, what drew my attention were the set of 19 Constellations that sort of felt connected to each other, but also stood close to other portions of the Forge. Like the Aides Constellation which stood near the Assistants Constellation. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like I was able to look at what each Star represented nor the powers they would provide me.

After looking through the Celestial Forge, the platform thrummed underneath me, shaking violently as three tendrils of light spun from the 'horizon'. They were short. Only capable of reaching the lowest Stars. Racing around the edge of the world, they shot out and grabbed three Stars from different Constellations.

And my eyes snapped open as someone took an icepick to my skull.

Grinding my teeth together, I fought to contain my scream of pain. My mind felt like it was unraveling and reshaping itself. Memories bubbled up to the surface before dissipating like fog when I tried to concentrate on them. My hands itched and my muscles tensed as my body remembered experiences that never occurred. Like cooking in a professional kitchen when you had never even held a knife before.

Tears welled up in my eyes and fell freely as the pain reached a crescendo, sending waves of agony through my skull. Digging my nails into my scalp, I wanted no more than to somehow split my skull open if it would relieve my suffering. Taking deep breaths, I stared at a single point on the floor to anchor myself to, or I would go insane. And then it snapped out of existence. Literally. Not even the memory of the pain remained.

Letting my hands drop to the floor, I swallowed my saliva and wiped the tears from my eyes. Coughing slightly, I went to the small kitchenette and poured myself a glass of water and downed it before closing my eyes.

Returning to the platform, three Stars were glowing brightly in the night sky. The first was a small perk from the Technological Crafting Constellation, Hammer Jammer. The capabilities to make small gadgets, larger contraptions and improved skills with DIY crafts. Which also included DIY repairs, attempts at disassembling and assembling items, and makeshift tools. I won't be building an arc reactor out of a box of scraps in a cave any time soon, but I could create some crude items that will work. Somehow.

The next was one from the… other(?) Protection(?) Constellation. It was called 'Painted On' and allowed me to adjust the look of anything I wore. Slim fits? Can do. Thick padding? Sure. See-through? Of course! Why would it not be an option? A bit weird but… I mean sure? It was all aesthetic anyway so even if it was thinner than a hair, my clothing would still keep me warm and retain all of its protective aspects.

Hmm… I was pretty sure Kevlar vests counted as clothing? And if that was the case, then it'd be useful to simply adjust it so I wasn't burdened by the bulk. In fact, I could probably buy a gambeson and simply put it underneath my clothes as protection. Though I would need some form of cooling to not die from heatstroke.

The second to last was 'Savant's Understanding'. A combination of both an intellect boost and memory power. The first part was a near-perfect recall as well as the ability to quickly understand and integrate any piece of information I learnt into my knowledge pool. The second part was a bit more… out-there.

I now had the memories of what was a 'First Age Solar' of the Twilight Caste, the people dedicated to craftsmanship and sorcery. Literally unrivaled in their power in every sense of the word, these Solars straight up killed their gods' Gods. How the hell did they manage to do that was mind-boggling. And I had memories of learning how they did it.

My… life was mostly working as a scholar and the closest thing they had to a scientist and craftsman. Warships that could level cities, swords that felled city walls, armour that could survive a Primordial's strike. I could touch upon them and see exactly how to layer sorceries, artifice, and all sorts of other magics to craft them…

AND IT WAS TOO STUPIDLY EXPENSIVE TO MAKE ANY OF IT!!!!!!

Literal continent-wide infrastructure and resources were needed to make even the 'simplest' of First Age Wonders. Not to mention the actual ability to craft them. I was in these measly human body, and not whatever the fuck a Solar was. Additionally, I still have some amount of my Sorcery knowledge that was still available. Though the presence of the ephemeral Essence, or the lack thereof, would pose a problem in using any of it.

I let out a long sigh. Was this how Tantalus felt? When there were succulent, ripe fruits dangling in front of him, yet he could never reach it and take a bite? When there was clear, crisp water below him, yet he could never take a single sip to quench his thirst? The worst part was that my memory was now perfect and I could never forget any of it.

Running a hand through my hair, I put it out of my mind for now. At least I wasn't saddled with three junk powers that wouldn't provide anything useful.

The final ability was a small mote orbiting Savant's Understanding. A beauty power called 'Beautiful And Terrible' which made me look a little more beautiful and handsome. It cleared scars, blemishes, and even sculpted my face to be a little more symmetrical. It also was supposed to grant me some inhuman features, but since I didn't have a Demon who Exalted me, I didn't get any of it.

Good. I didn't need to start purchasing hair dye or contacts to hide my identity while I was still starting out.

I made my way to the laptop and turned it on. After waiting for a moment, I went into the search engine and just typed 'news' into it and started scrolling. Brockton Bay… Worm… Not… the best of places I could be in right now. Endbringers would be a problem. As will the Slaughterhouse Nine, Cauldron and eventually Scion.

But for something as bullshit as the Forge, I wasn't sure if any other world could handle the full breadth of its power. Like maybe DC and Marvel? But they were comic books with like 70 different continuities and every writer seemingly had a different interpretation of things. I racked my brain for a few moments before putting it aside. There were other things to check.

The date was right on the 1st January 2011. From my memories, Taylor was going to trigger soon and Simurgh was going to hit Canberra on 24th February. Those were the two most notable events that…

Ah shit. Simurgh.

Ah shit. Contessa.

I didn't have Blank or any anti-precognitive powers. I drummed my fingers on the table. I wasn't sure if the Forge worked strictly as an 'Out-of-Context' ability, so any attempts to Path/Precog me simply treated me as a civilian. Or if every act of power gain acted as a trigger event, disrupting any precog ability.

Coil was going to be a problem as well. And Victor the fucking skill thief. I wasn't sure if my skills could be stolen, given that it was from the Forge, but I didn't like the looming threat of giving Nazis super weapons. I drummed my fingers against the wooden table. Everybody else… wouldn't be an issue given enough time for the Forge to ramp up. That was assuming I lived long enough to do so.

Joining a group was out of the question. The Protectorate had too many regulations for me to work well in any form. And the gloryhound Armsmaster was probably going to either work himself to death to try to keep up with me or, just be an absolute pain in the fucking ass to work with. And of course the absolute hardass that was Director Piggot.

Did I want to even work with a boss that hated my guts and distrusted me at every waking moment? Not really, no.

Every gang was out of the question as well. I disagreed with the Empire on principle and they would probably have to go. Victor was a pain and so was his wife, Othalla. Though her powers were too good to pass up. Selection of powers that could be granted to anyone, like regeneration, invincibility that withstood Leviathan, pyrokinesis, and more. Although, pretty much everything other than invincibility was useless to me since the Forge could provide something similar.

The biggest problem was Purity, but her weakness was Aster and Theo. Either I could threaten them to force her out of the city or guarantee protection from Kaiser with the condition that she leaves. Both of which didn't sit quite well with me. Though I probably won't be able to take her on for a while. She was the second strongest Blaster on the East Coast after Legend himself after all.

The ABB… only had Lung and Oni Lee right now actually. Bakuda wasn't hired by the ABB just yet. That would be in March. If I could get her on my side… A bomb tinker with the Forge was a terrifying prospect. The problem would be dealing with her inferiority complex, coupled with an unstable trigger and y'know a bomb threat.

I could handle it. Probably.

Lung was not something I was dealing with for quite a while. Any dragged out battle would be suicide so I needed to take him out in one clean hit, leaving nothing left to regenerate. And Oni Lee… The suicide bomber would require something specialized. A method to track his teleports, as well as an AOE attack that could disrupt the ash clones before they even had a chance to hit me.

The Celestial Forge activated again. A tendril snaked out from the horizon and tried reaching for a Star in the Artisan Crafting Constellation and missed. Unfortunate. I would love for my items to not look like dogshit. But the tendril seemingly snaked around the platform, waiting for another attempt to connect.

Anyway, back to my contemplation.

Merchants… The druggies weren't a problem. Not yet at the very least. Skidmark, Squealer, and Mush. Outside of Squealer, I don't think it would be a problem to handle them after a bit of prep. Skidmark might be slightly competent, given that he had to still run a full drug empire while shot up to his gills, but he was still… y'know, shot up to his gills. Mush, the trash golem, still had a human body underneath all of it. But Squealer's vehicles would be a massive headache to deal with. It wasn't like it was a soft target after all.

And the New Wave was just out. No masks, while fine since I didn't exactly have a family, would be a hassle to deal with. Not to mention the whole fuckfest with Panacea, Carol, Victoria and her parents. It was a ticking time bomb that was going to go off and I didn't want to be anywhere near that blast zone.

Though… I wouldn't particularly mind having the world's best healer on my side as well. I briefly ran through the other notable characters in my head. Taylor actually would be an amazing recruitment. The Forge could help with better equipment and with 'Painted On', I could wear a full set of spider silk armour underneath my clothes at all times. Lisa… A pain but she was the most… heroically-inclined(?) Thinker in the city.

But that of course meant dealing with Coil and his dual timeline simulation powers. Depending on how the Celestial Forge interacted with his sims, I would have to change up my tactics… But I was reasonably certain that if I could meet him in person, I could kill him. With a little bit more prep of course.

And so this led me to my final problem. Equipment. Hammer Jammer was effectively a tinker power, except I knew how every part interacted with one another. And with all tinker powers, I needed resources to make them. Which meant either going through garage sales and grabbing a few knick-knacks, or trying my luck in the dreaded… Boat Graveyard.

A sigh left my lips. "Alright." I clapped my hands together. "Let's go exploring."


Before leaving, I did check what I was working with. Whichever ROB that dropped me in was luckily kind enough to provide me with everything the average person should have. That is, a phone, wallet, a driver's license which placed me at 19 years old this year, a debit card and bank account, and enough of a backstory to be real.

University dropout after first year, a very meh and boring life. No extracurriculars, scored mostly Bs with some As. An overwhelmingly plain individual through and through. My name was also the same as my old life so I didn't have to worry about that as well.

Unfortunately, the amount of cash was a bit low. Two thousand in my card and another thousand in various denominations in my room. I wasn't too sure if it would be enough for some starting equipment. Maybe just one or two simple items? Unlocking my bicycle, I started making my way through the streets of the city.

Zipping through, I didn't spot as much gang symbol as I thought I would have. From the way the city was described in fanfiction, I was half-expecting dragons and Nazi symbols everywhere I looked. But the place was relatively normal, though I did spot the occasional skinhead or Asian thug. However they didn't try anything with each other, even as they walked by, only keeping to glares and foul looks.

A thin veneer of civility at the very least.

Stopping at a mall, I locked my bike at a rack before heading on in. Making my way to a hardware store, I quickly started picking out the items that I would need for my tinkering. A hammer, obviously, and some other tools like screwdrivers. With my basic tools out of the way, I started browsing some appliance and toy stores.

Hammer Jammer was incredibly useful at looking at something and figuring out what components were inside. A bit of shaking and testing and I could reasonably deduce what useful parts I could get from it. And from that, figure out what I needed for my tools.

"Do you have one in, like, a smaller size?" I pointed at a fairly sizable sitting fan, or whatever was the opposite of a standing fan. "Something that could sit on a desk or something…?" I asked the clerk.

Nodding, he quickly pointed me to exactly what I wanted. Perfect for a winch mechanism after a bit of tinkering. Adding it to my cart, I browsed a little longer to see if I had anything else that I could use for a grappling hook that wouldn't draw too much suspicion. Something I could use for a high-tension rope? Though I could take a look at rock-climbing gear for that. A launching mechanism for sure though.

A spring would work… I didn't really need it to punch through concrete since I wouldn't be able to pull it back. But then came the problem of locking the hook in place without fear of it slipping out. A second spring perhaps to dig the hooks into nearby surfaces?

"Excuse me, I need to get through." A voice interrupted me. Blinking, I looked over to an unfamiliar face. Blonde hair, full lips, and really attractive. I furrowed my eyebrows and took a step back slightly. She felt main-character-y. Victoria? No… Lisa? No freckles…

Catching my look, she shook her head. "Sorry, I'm not signing any autographs." She stepped and half-floated, half-drifted to the desk fans I was looking at. A New Wave member then. Not Victoria, definitely not the mothers…

"Crystal?" I cocked my head. Hearing her name, she turned to look at me. Immediately, I pulled through all of my memories to see if this life had any relationship to her. And surprisingly came up short. I went to Brockton Bay University and only occasionally saw the girl between classes and little else outside of that.

Narrowing her eyes, she stared at me. "Do I know you?" She sounded a little suspicious.

"Umm- Sorry." I immediately apologized, hopefully using the excitement of meeting a superhero to mask my sudden spike in heart rate. "Probably not. Actually- I, uhh, go to Brockton U? And like occasionally saw you so… Name's Nathan by the way." I shrugged my shoulders, trying my best to not blow this. The cute face in front of me certainly didn't help and I felt blood rushing out from my head.

Better thicken the pants' fabric. Just in case.

"Oh." Crystal nodded. "I see. Well I guess I'll see you around then." She turned back to the fans and picked one seemingly at random.

"Actually, I wouldn't recommend that one." My mouth moved faster than I could stop it. Whatever my power provided, it also brought in a distaste for bad products. When Crystal reached for that fan, my instinct immediately revolted at the fact that anyone would even bother buying it. Whipping to look at me, she looked fairly amused at my sudden quietness.

"Why not?" She crossed her arms and looked at me.

Swallowing, I started listing off a few things of note that I managed to glean from the displayed device. Listing the problems I found with the motors and wiring, I tried to sound a little exasperated before stopping. "I could go on for longer but it isn't worth the time." I ended lamely after I realized I was ranting and reeled it in.

Crystal stared at me before coughing to stifle her laugh. "Wow, I didn't think anyone would be so passionate about desk fans." My cheeks felt a little hot as I glanced away. God I did not miss these feelings. "So what's your recommendation?"

"Uh…" I blinked owlishly before picking out the same fan that I had chosen. "For general use, it's quieter but the strength is still good and it would probably last until graduation barring any… exceptional circumstances." I glanced down and up to her face again.

"Right… exceptional circumstances." She parroted with a knowing look. "Think I'm going to bring this into combat or something?"

"I mean…" I rocked my head from side to side. "Maybe? Why else are you buying a new fan?" I joked.

Crystal shook her head with a slight smile on her face. "The old one's motor burnt out. So here I am. It was on its last legs anyway. I was surprised that it even lasted this long." She grabbed the box underneath her arm. "Thanks for the recommendation too. I'll be seeing you around?"

"Yea. Sure." I nodded dumbly as I watched her leave. Although this was Crystal Pelham, I was surprised that no one else recognized her. Then again, the appliance store was pretty much just dads buried in the boxes, comparing three different brands at the same time.

All in all, I felt like that was a pretty good first interaction. She didn't seem like she hated me and we got to know a little about each other. However… I doubted that I would be able to interact with her more as a civilian… Eh, it was a chance encounter anyway. What were the chances that I met another character?

Anyway, I bought a stun gun as well as a few small electronics and batteries from a store. I didn't need them right now for anything, but hopefully it wouldn't sound any tinker alarms in the PRT. And a pair of airsoft pistols since I needed a frame to hold all the electronics as well as the rope for my grappling hook. A thin, high-tensile, lightweight rope aimed at mountain climbers. Hammer Jammer was already helping to figure out exactly how to fit all the components I needed and Savant's was filing it all away at a rapid pace.

Hefting my haul to the exit, a sudden and rather loud bang echoed through the mall. Wincing, my hands tried to cup my ears but the sound quickly faded. The lights dimmed and two… things floated through the air. The one on the left was grossly top-heavy, with two arms as large as a person and its chest built like a brick shithouse. However, its legs were normal sized, and therefore paled in comparison to the rest of its body.

The one on the right looked like a mad scientist-esque persona, with thick goggles over his face and a white lab coat splattered with blood. In his hands was a piece of machinery, with a strap holding it in place against his body. And his hair was done up in that spiky style that looked like he got zapped with electricity.

"Welcome, one and all to the Uber!" The hulking mass shouted in a very announcer-like voice, in stark contrast to his appearance.

"And Leet!" The mad scientist cried out with an annoyingly nasally voice. Grimacing slightly, I cursed my luck. What were the chances that fucking Uber and Leet would hit this specific mall, on the New Year's?

"Show!" They both finished. "And today…" Uber started talking but I wasn't listening. Walking over to the sliding doors, I grabbed one edge and started pulling to try and escape. But it didn't budge an inch. Some sort of isolation tech then? I checked my phone as well. No reception. I glanced over to Leet. Definitely made something that blocked easy exit and prevented us from calling for help. A mall is a pretty major hit and it wouldn't do well for any of the Heroes to bust in too early. Though the question was if Glory Girl could bust through it.

The Celestial Forge awakened, throwing out a tendril that reached into the Mundane Toolkits Constellation. And someone failed to find purchase on any of the stars, shooting right past all the stars it could have reached and tried for a Star literally barely out of its reach. What the hell? Blinking, I shook my head. Well, it wasn't like I had a place to put it anyway. But failing to connect twice? Seriously?

A thought came to my mind. Wait… Was Crystal still here? I saw her leave but if she was still inside then-

A red beam cut through the air, interrupting my annoyance, aiming for Leet but he quickly dodged out of the way. "Tsk. Tsk. We haven't even started the event, Laserdream." The girl in question was floating in the air, still in her civilian clothes. "Since you're so impatient to start-!" He threw his hands into the air and a bright blue glow engulfed the floor. Leet's body disappeared as well before his voice came over the speaker.

"The NEW YEAR'S ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!!!"

A veritable horde of zombies appeared in the middle of the mall's atrium. They quickly whirled to the nearest person and started shambling towards them. A scream cut through the air before several screams echoed through the mall and people immediately started charging to the doors. Seeing the imminent stampede heading my way, I ran off to the side, instead moving towards one of the escalators.

Crystal was busy, being engaged by the hulking brute called Uber. His massive size should have made him an easy target but his arms contained a surprising amount of explosive power, allowing him to bounce all over the place like a pinball. And judging by Crystal's expression, it wasn't a particularly fun experience to track him.

Fortunately, each push made a distinct noise so she could easily dodge out of the way whenever Uber tried to strike at her as well. So both of them were stuck in an annoying stalemate. A little less fortunately, the arms were also forming craters on the surfaces that it pushed off from, sending showers of dust falling from above.

Running through the second level, zombies were also approaching from another direction. A second horde? A brief glance placed my estimates at around forty to fifty zombies, and since it was pretty early in the day, there weren't many people that we could gather and somehow push back against them.

Looking around, there wasn't anything I could use as a weapon. Mostly being cosmetic products and toy stores on either side. One of the people standing at the front shouted a battle cry before charging straight into the horde. And promptly being overrun. His fist crashed into the first zombie's head but it did little else outside of making it stumble slightly. Immediately, his limbs were grabbed and he was dragged to the ground while the rest of the horde kept advancing.

"Horrifying." I muttered. Though peering through the gaps, he wasn't being injured too badly. The zombies definitely whaled on him but it was more limp slaps more than anything. I guess Leet knew he shouldn't take things too far. The group I was in comprised five other people, a couple, judging by how the girl hugged the boy, a father-daughter pair, and a single girl who trembled like a leaf as the horde moved.

"Alright!" I called out, forcing everyone's attention on me. "We got zombies on our twelve and zombies down below, so you know what that means!" A smattering of confused looks appeared in my sight. "We're heading up! Let's go people unless you wanna be beaten by a bunch of rotting corpses." I started running for the next escalator. Glancing behind me, they were already running to keep up, having someone to listen to instead of being frozen in fear.

Charging up the escalator, I looked over to Crystal's fight. She was still unable to keep up with Uber, but had tried to switch to culling the zombie numbers with her lasers. Mounds of crushed metal littered the ground, all in vaguely skeletal shapes. I wrinkled my nose slightly. So that's how he made his 'zombie hordes'. I didn't know what else I was expecting really.

However, she was still being hounded by Uber, making such efforts much harder to do. If she stopped paying attention for a second, Uber would come rocketing towards her forcing her to dodge or be smashed into the closest wall. Turning my attention back to our surroundings, I couldn't see any zombies nearby.

"Let's keep moving until we can find a safe place to hide in." I shot a look at the fight that was occuring. "Come on." Following my eyes, they saw Crystal doing her best at dealing with both Uber and the zombie hordes. With a brief nod, they followed my lead through the now desolate halls of the mall.


Spoiler: Chapter Pulls

Starting Perks: -Hammer Jammer (MtG - Bablovia) (100CP)
Sometimes, all you need is a hammer. You've become insanely good at all sorts of Do-it-Yourself work and inventing gadgets, even with unusual parts. They might seem crude and useless from the outside, but the contraptions you invent do their job just fine. You also become good at repairing things, there's nothing you and your hammer can't fix.
Painted On (100 CP) (Generic Lewd Sci-Fi)
Clothing just seems to fit so much better when you wear it. You can decide how tight the fit of your clothing is, as well as reduce the thickness or thinness of the fabric. This lets you decide how supportive the clothing is, too, as well as whether it's sheer or not. This doesn't change the clothing's other features, like its style or colors, or what kind of functions or protection it provides.
-Savant's Understanding (Exalted - The Infernals) (100CP)
A good scholar is one that understands quickly, and remembers their lessons well. Gaining a sharpened mind, you will make connections and associations extremely quickly, your burgeoning mind filling with ideas and potential solutions. But remembrance is just as important, so you will find that your memory is clear and enjoy near-perfect recall. Indeed, the memories of life and technology in the First Age, which your Exaltation retains from its past life as a scholar of note, are likewise quite clear. Even better, you will find it easy to retain absurd amounts of newly acquired information. For some reason, this also makes it easier for you to construct elaborate monologues to reveal the full genius of your grand schemes.

-Beautiful And Terrible (Exalted -The Infernals) (Free)*

You will be able to take on some of the demon realm's splendor and have your visage refined, clearing up scars, blemishes, modest asymmetry and other subtler imperfections in appearance.



Chapter 2


Our wandering was a lot more dangerous than I had first thought. The zombies constantly followed us, and appeared when we least expected it. Well, calling them zombies was a bit pushing it. Though it looked like, and definitely shambled like zombies, the lack of a rotting smell and the flickering of their holographic shell definitely gave it away.

Luckily, we encountered a sporting and exercise goods store and stocked up on some makeshift weapons. Golf clubs were the main go-to, but there were also baseball bats as well. Everything else was either too light or not made for swinging.

"Is there a reason why you aren't putting down your things?" The father, a man by the name of Johnny, asked. He was a muscular-looking man, with a bit of a belly, and a beard on his face. His daughter, Maria, followed slightly behind him, gripping to his trousers as she stared up at me. Glancing at her, she quickly ducked back behind her dad once again.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Not much. They cost quite a bit of money and I would rather not spend it again." I hefted the tools and box in my other hand. "Unfortunately, I don't have insurance that covers villain attacks so that's that."

Johnny nodded his head. "No job?"

I shook my head sadly. "University drop out, I'm afraid." Humming, I saw a group of zombies round the corner and started shambling towards us. "I'm still in the midst of piecing my life back together so…" I tilted my head from side to side. "You know how it is."

The first swing broke through the zombie's skull. With a shower of sparks, the illusion around the zombie faded before it dropped like a sack of bricks. As I tried to pull out the putter, the clothes surged forward, swinging and taking out the other zombies. Due to their light frames, even a decent blow is enough to take them off their feets. Once downed, it was easy for the group to mob them and swing their weapons until it stopped moving.

"If you want a job, I could hook you up with one." Johnny said as he brought his nine iron to a zombie's knee. The metal frame crumpled in on itself as the motor was utterly decimated. Unable to bear its weight, the zombie scrambled on the linoleum as it tried to crawl towards him. But another swing and its face was caved in.

"Where?" I furrowed my eyebrows. I didn't think there was-

"The Dockworker's Union." He stated.

Ah. There was always that option, wasn't there? I frowned slightly. It was a good idea in theory. A way in with Danny Hebert, and by extension, the Queen of Escalation herself, Taylor. But this was Taylor we were talking about. Assuming I could befriend her, what would that accomplish? I would be in a position to be close to her and maybe even recruit her if the opportunity arose. But what would that further accomplish? I now had the Queen of Escalation. Did I want to give a person with that title and 'sociopath-on-demand' incredibly dangerous equipment?

I could even… No, I couldn't. Taylor triggered after winter break which ended in about two days. What the hell could I even do that wouldn't draw a massive amount of attention to me? A vigilante breaking into a school to save one specific girl from what was consistently described as 'bio-terrorism'. Even if the outcome was good, the attention and questions it brought was certainly not.

I let out a soft sigh. I guess it didn't matter right now. The Celestial Forge was bullshit, I suppose. It wouldn't be impossible for me to get something that could render my concerns a moot point. If that's the case then it was better to be in a position to use it than not. As the saying goes 'Luck is when Opportunity meets Preparation' or something like that.

Turning my attention back to Johnny, I shrugged my shoulders. "Sure. If you would have me." I extended a hand. Grasping it, we shook hands.

"Great. I'll pass your name to Danny once this is all over." I took a look around. The moment we had a method of fighting back, these smaller zombies weren't too much of a problem. However, I doubted this was all Leet had in store for us. In zombie apocalypse games, there were two forms of challenges, either the sheer number of zombies which meant resource and bullet scarcity or via more 'advanced' and dangerous types of zombies.

Since Leet's tech was more likely to break the more he made something similar, I don't think he could do the first one. Then again, he has quite a number of tinkertech zombots here so maybe I was wrong.

Looking at the downed drone in front of me, I tried to use Hammer Jammer to try and figure out a method to repair it. The description the Forge gave me was that it could repair anything. But that wasn't quite true.

It could make anything 'workable' again. As good as Hammer Jammer was, it wasn't going to be repairing anything esoteric nor magical in nature. It worked on scientific principles, and therefore wouldn't be able to handle tinkertech which was absolute fucking bullshit on the way it worked. At best, it could rip out whatever that wasn't working and replace it with something that could replicate its effect. Though to a much worse extent.

But in order to repair or even replace something, one must first be able discern what that part was used for. Although it was tinkertech and therefore completely irreparable to Hammer Jammer, fundamentally it was made by human(ish) technology. And therefore, even though I couldn't repair it, Hammer Jammer could provide a decent guess as to what each component was supposed to do.

Much of the zombots important bits were in its head, unsurprisingly enough. No other place had the space for the components needed. There were two parts that Hammer Jammer could discern its uses and a third that it could only provide a vague guess. The two parts in question were a signal receiver and a power source. And the third was too smashed up to discern its use. But from how it connected to the receiver and power source, plus the remnant circuitry, it was probably a computer or processing unit.

Sighing, I turned my attention away from the zombot corpse. It didn't tell me much other than, just like real zombies, these things can be killed efficiently with a shot to the head. Checking with the others, everyone was a little tired but could still move.

"The number of survivors is now 70!" Leet's voice suddenly cut through the air. Several people flinched before staring up at the ceiling. "It's now time to up the stakes a little bit. Uber will now be patrolling the mall, eliminating any survivors he comes across. Do try to keep moving and pray you don't encounter him. Prepare well, survivors!" The speakers cut out as he finished his update.

Just as he finished, the Celestial Forge thrummed and awakened once more, breaking my train of thought. The longer thread shot out to the Quality Efficiency Constellation. And somehow missed every single low hanging fruit in an attempt to reach one of the higher level Stars, barely out of reach. Biting my lip in frustration, I let out a low growl as the thread of energy pulled back for another attempt.

'I swear to fucking god… If I don't get some bullshit OP power, or if this fucker somehow hits a lower Star when going for a higher Star… Someone's going to die.' I sent a prayer to whoever was in charge of this stupid thing.

"Mister." Maria looked over at me. "Are you upset?"

I looked over to the young girl. She was pretty short, at around 70cm? With curly black hair and wide innocent eyes. She was wearing a yellow blouse, with two matching yellow ribbons tying her hair into a two-side-up style. Shaking my head, I replied. "A small annoyance. You don't have to worry about it."

"Mmm…" She hummed as she reached into her pocket. "You can have this." She reached out a hand and dropped a piece of candy into my palm. "I always feel better after eating some candy."

I couldn't help but smile a little at her offer. "Thanks." I popped the candy into my mouth. It was grape-flavoured.

"We have to keep moving." I turned to Johnny who nodded. "Uber's got those massive arms that somehow kept up with Laserdream. Best not to stare that down a corridor."

A smattering of nods came from the group. With our decision settled, we started moving through the mall at a slightly slower pace, keeping an eye out for any zombie groups that were roaming around. Though it wouldn't do anything if Leet was specifically targeting us. Although they were villains, they still streamed their exploits, which meant they required some amount of entertainment value, right?

The mall wasn't exactly a big space. It was sizable for sure, but it still had only so much space to work with. As we walked, we made sure to check every exit door we could find, hoping that maybe one of them slipped through the cracks and we could escape. However, even after half an hour, we were still stuck.

"Do you think the heroes have arrived?" The single girl, June, spoke. "They must have, right?"

"If they did, then whatever Leet's using to lock the place down is more robust than expected." I replied. God that tech would be so useful but I needed a way to observe it before I could possibly use Hammer Jammer to try and see how it worked. Much less recreate it. Plus Hammer Jammer wasn't a skill for reverse-engineering anyway, being only a side-application of its main skill of crafting and repairing.

"Hey, isn't that-" Johnny pointed out. A blonde was leaning against the wall, with several zombot parts scattered around her. All of them looked like someone took a cannon to their faces, smashing the skull to smithereens, leaving little else behind. She didn't look injured thankfully, just out of it and tired.

"Laserdream." I finished. "Well, let's see if she's willing to help us." Walking over, Crystal spotted our group arriving and had a small look of surprise.

"Nathan?" She glanced at me before looking at the rest of the group. Glancing behind me, I could see several looks of surprise and curiosity when she said my name. "Are all of you safe?" She asked as she looked us up and down.

"We're fine." I replied. "Have you figured out what's happening outside? Any updates on how long it'll take to get in?"

Crystal shook her head. "No. Leet's signal jammer is even working on my phone as well. But from the glass outside, several heroes are already here and trying to find a way in." I nodded. Something that could isolate an area like this was probably a drain on power and resources. It didn't look like it should be capable of lasting indefinitely.

"Let's take a break then since we have Laserdream here." A few sighs of relief resounded from the small group. Cracking a half-smile, I shot a glance to Laserdream who didn't look like she minded the work.

As the group sat down, I excused myself and started walking away. With a little bit more time, I could pick around Leet's zombots a bit longer. And if anyone asked, it could just be brushed aside as curiosity about tinkertech. The internet might have some other thoughts, but frankly it was the internet. I just hoped that the Leet's drone bothered some other group while we were resting.

"It shouldn't last for too much longer at least. Everyone knows Leet's tech will backfire on him, most of all Leet himself. If he had any sense, the moment he detects that his tech is failing, he would get out immediately." I muttered. Walking over to one of the zombots, I looked down at it. Unlike the others, this one's head was relatively intact, having its spine and neck blown out instead.

From the damage, it looked like Crystal struck it from below, taking out a portion where the brain stem would be on a human. Turning it around, the power source was blown to bits, thereby rendering the entire machine useless. Suppressing a grin, I started poking around inside the skull. Sitting down, I withdrew some of my tools and started pulling out the destroyed machinery in an attempt to peer deeper inside.

Unlike the first skull which had a golf club put through it, this was a lot more intact. Hammer Jammer still was not happy at how tinkertech simply went 'fuck you' to the laws of physics and made tech that shouldn't otherwise work work. But I was doing my best at wrangling it to try and reverse-engineer the tech.

The skill worked by allowing me to craft things that I otherwise couldn't. For example, one of the 'gadgets' I wanted to make was a taser that didn't require wires to enter the target's body. There was no way I could actually make something like that with my current knowledge, so Hammer Jammer provided me with said knowledge to help me understand how to make it. But in essence, that knowledge wasn't necessarily 'mine', in the same way that just because you could Google it, didn't make the Internet's knowledge yours.

However, this knowledge would then be stored away by Savant's and integrated into my existing knowledge pool. Which then allowed me to use Hammer Jammer to think of other ways to create an item. Which was also integrated into my knowledge pool. And it became a pseudo-reinforcing loop that just constantly made me smarter. Or at least more knowledgeable.

By doing so, I could abuse this newly acquired knowledge to figure out how tinkertech worked to a certain extent. I saw the components and poked and prodded my skills until they spat out the knowledge that could help me understand it. Then reapplied the knowledge to the component to see what else glean from it.

It wasn't perfect, and it very much relied on Savant's Understanding to help me comprehend and remember all the knowledge given to me, but I definitely could understand Leet's work a lot better than before. The exact principles still eluded me but I could discern specifically how the components worked instead of being provided a half-educated guess half-blindshot as to what its purpose was. Or suggestions of poor recreations.

And the results were… interesting. The receiver was a more compact form of any old signal receiver except it had a little something to act as a node in a network of receivers. When it received a signal, it would propagate to other receivers nearby, creating a ripple effect of sorts. Of course due to how fast such transmissions worked, it was practically instantaneous. A much better observation compared to 'the thingy receives signals'.

It certainly cut down on the need to send one signal multiple times, effectively controlling a horde like a hive mind instead. Though why he didn't just make a hive mind was beyond me. Maybe because he burnt his tech tree long ago?

"Hey. We're ready to leave." Crystal's voice came from behind me. Dropping the skull, I glanced behind me to see everyone was stretching and picking up their stuff. Packing up my stuff, I twisted and felt my spine pop satisfyingly. Checking my phone, it had only been ten or so minutes since I sat down and started looking at Leet's tech.

Oddly fast, but the signal receiver itself wasn't as complex as I had thought. I was certain that with more complex tinkertech like say Armsmaster's halberd I would be spending a few months using this method at the very least. Since this worked the way it did, it was probably for the better that I constantly pinged Hammer Jammer to provide me with more knowledge.

"Let's keep going then." I called out as I continued to mull over Leet's receiver. I felt like I was missing something but I couldn't put a finger on what it was.

The rest of our time in the mall wasn't particularly interesting. With Crystal here, we could easily handle any zombies that appeared and we moved quickly enough that we weren't overrun by zombies. Though after we met up, the number of encounters were increasing by the minute. I wasn't sure if it was Murphy's Law or if Leet was actively fucking with us.

It was probably the latter to be honest.

Checking my phone, it was also an hour since the attack started. So hopefully, the heroes broke through Leet's barrier soon. Or maybe a catastrophic failure would occur and they were forced to retreat. Both options seem pretty likely.

"And we're down to our final seven survivors." His voice came over the speaker. "And we have entered, Sudden Death!" I did not like the sound of that. "Uber, as well as all the remaining zombies shall converge at your location. Survive for ten minutes, and you'll win! Prepare well, survivors!"

I glanced around. One, two, three… "We're the last ones left." I remarked. "Ah shit." A thunderous crash punctuated my words before Uber's massive frame came into view. Upon closer inspection, the arm muscles weren't exactly muscles. They certainly looked the part, but they were more just a mesh placed over all the actual machinery that handled his movements.

Behind him, a veritable horde of zombies slowly came into view. By my count, it was practically every zombie that had first teleported into the atrium. Gathering around Uber, it cut an imposing view. Crystal stepped in front of us, her fists already glowing as she floated into the air. Glancing at us, she spoke gravely. "When I give the signal, run as fast as you can away."

"May the Sudden Death start in 3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"GO!!" "RUN!"

Crystal shot forward, crossing her arms and sweeping two beams of bright red concussive force across the corridor. Immediately, a chunk of the horde was simply turned to scrap while Uber was blown back by the force of it. His arms now sported two deep gashes, revealing the machinery within.

However, it seemed to work fine as he used his arms to push off and launch himself at Crystal. Dodging to the side, a beam of red slammed into his body midair, causing him to crash into one of the shops to the side. A roar and he burst out of the ruined store, swinging his fist at her. But her smaller form allowed to easily dodge.

While the two had their second match, the zombie horde was still moving, charging towards us like a skittering tide (heh). Spinning on my heel, I immediately started running the other direction.

The rest of the group followed for fairly obvious reasons. But there was no way that we were outrunning the horde. Not only were they properly running unlike before, but they were also, y'know, robots? They didn't tire, didn't get fatigued. So as long as they ran a little faster than us, we would quickly fall and get mobbed.

My thoughts were interrupted by the Celestial Forge shooting out the lengthening tendril of energy for the fourth time today and, finally! It has managed to attach itself to one of the Stars. The Star pulled energy from the tendril, glowing brighter and brighter before exploding and finally shining brightly. The excess energy from the tendril broke off once the Star was stable, returning to its dormant state. Although the Star that was awakened was on the Enchanting Skills Constellation, and a fairly low one at that. No matter, at the very least I now had something else to work with.

The new perk was 'Loremaster'. And it allowed me to… look at objects really well. Not what I had expected really. I was hoping for a more… tangible ability? Making my equipment better? Runic inscription and all that jazz? Not a worse version of the "Observe" skill found in every Gamer fic ever written.

In simple terms, it allowed me to look at an object, and given enough time figure out how it was enhanced and the effects of each enhancement. Furthermore it was something that had to be trained. For now, I could look at an object and tell you the bare basics of an enchanted object. But with time and training, I would be able to practically map out the structure of a magic item's enchantments.

There was also a secondary effect of being able to argue stupidly well against someone else. Since, apparently, the act of arguing, digging into someone's words to find the unlying logic, thoughts, biases, etc, was similar to digging into someone's enchantment to find the unlying logic, structure, flaws, etc.

"You're falling behind!" Another voice cut through my thoughts. Blinking, I realized that I was at the very back of the group. Picking up the pace, I matched with the rest of them while breathing a quick thanks to Johnny.

Luckily, it didn't seem like they were built to run with their specific weight. Due to their lighter frames, they would often trip over themselves and be crushed underneath the horde while attempting to chase after us. Still that wasn't going to be thinning out the crowd anytime soon.

Bolting down a hall, I turned the corner to see another horde coming our way. Pivoting on the ball of my foot, I gestured for us to run the other way. And then again. And again. And when it happened for the fourth time, I was starting to get a little suspicious.

Barely two minutes in and we were already flagging. Forget the five minute mark, we were going to be downed in three. But something felt a little off. If Leet really wanted this to be unwinnable, which it was, all he needed to do was chase us around until we collapsed. Hell, if he had extra zombies, he could use them to box us in.

So why were they coming down seemingly random corridors?

I had a good feeling that they weren't. With Savant's Understanding, I could call upon a mental map of the mall. And from that, figure out the path we were talking as well as the corridors from which the zombies came from. It wasn't too difficult but I did almost trip and fall, only to be caught by Johnny again. "Thanks." I breathed out.

The zombies were pushing us away from the center of the fifth level. Now there were really only two reasons why a villain wouldn't want people to go in that direction. The first was because it was where all their stuff was placed. The second was because it was where they were hiding.

And I had a good feeling it was number two.

Since he probably was preemptively sending the smaller groups, it would be easy to bait out his zombies. On the other hand, there was a much easier thing we could do.

"Let's split up." I shouted in between breaths. "They can't catch us all if we're split up."

I got a few nods as we approached the next fork. The group split into two very awkward parts. June and I took the left path while the rest took the right path. I sorta knew this would occur since there was no good way to split us up. However the horde only followed the larger group, leaving me and June alone.

A thought suddenly occurred to me. Leet can't splinter his horde once they've been grouped up. Or at least, he can't splinter the group without making all the zombies spread out. Due to how the receivers work, any commands propagate throughout the horde. So he can only make them do one command at a time.

"Huh? Why were we-" June started before I grabbed her arm.

"No time to explain, we gotta go now." I sprinted down the corridor. Turning back around, I shouted to the rest of the group. "Split up as much as you can! He can't break the horde up!" Leet had to send a new horde to deal with us. In that time where we had nothing, I needed to get as close as I could to him. Dashing down the corridor, June ran off in a separate direction, muttering a brief thank you as she left.

"Where is he…" I muttered underneath my breath. Getting deeper into the forbidden zone, the zombies weren't hordes. Not yet anyway, being loose groups of a few idling zombies. Swinging my club, I took them out while still searching around. "Shard. If you can hear me," I muttered a prayer. "Please fuck him over right now."

Nothing. I frowned slightly. Think. Where can Leet be right now? He was definitely somewhere hidden. Probably not in public view. But somewhere that he can coordinate and control all the zombies from. He had access to the speakers… I glanced up and my eyes caught sight of the… security cameras.

Of course, the security office. He would have access to all the cameras, allowing him to precisely control the movements of the zombies. Plus, that's how he could know where we were heading despite only having one streaming drone.

Although I knew where Leet was, getting to him was another challenge altogether. Who knew that the mall didn't exactly want people going to their security offices? Which reminded me, where were all the security guards when this occurred? I guess Uber and Leet took them out beforehand but still, we didn't see a single one.

As I searched through the mall, I kept an eye out for any zombies that were coming my way. I did see the occasional group patrolling, but they were easy enough to evade. In fact, they didn't even bother searching properly, just kinda walking around in set routes. Reaching into my bag, I pulled out my stun gun and opened the packaging. Fighting a tinker was suicide but… it was Leet. How bad could he possibly be?

The memories of my Solar life was primarily as a craftsman, but we… (they?) were also master martial artists. The specific form I was focused on was the defensive Crane form, mostly to stall for time for actual combat Solars could arrive and protect me. Granted I now didn't have any Essence that would turn my punches and kicks into divine fury. However, I'd like to think I was familiar enough that I could reasonably pull off some of the easier skills.

Though this body was also very weak so it was really up in the air.

I had to move quickly and keep myself off the cameras as much as I could. I didn't need a full group to descend on my position right now. The doors to the security office were locked behind keycards. Not particularly difficult to bypass, I could use the screwdriver and hammer to pry off the casing and bridge the relay to unlock the door.

Ahh… Don't you love it when bypassing electronic locks also falls under DIY?

"Don't forget the anti-tamper system…" I slipped the screwdriver underneath to hold the spring in place. And… a soft beep came from the door. Pulling out my hand, I pushed the door open and fixed the casing back into place. Slipping through the door, I shut it behind me.

"You!" The mad scientist appeared before me. The controller hung from his chest, displaying a screen with a minimap as well as several dots that most likely corresponded to the zombies. "You must be a cape right? How about this? Join the Uber and Leet crew and-"

"Sorry." I interrupted him with a hand. "I'm uhh… Not a cape." I lied through my teeth.

Leet blinked and stared at me. "Really? What about the stuff that you carry?"

"I'm just broke and I don't want to buy a new fan. Stun gun for self-protection. Tools for maintenance." I shrugged my shoulders. "You know, university is expensive and…" I rolled my hand in an 'on-and-on' gesture. "Yea. Not buying a new fan after I just purchased this."

"You looked at my tech?"

"It's not every day you get to look at tinkertech y'know?"

"You bypassed the lock without triggering the alarm?" He pointed to the door behind me.

"That's just poor lock design. Like, you could probably do it given some practice. Uber definitely could." I shrugged. "God, not everything has to be powers." I sighed. "Anyway, I don't suppose I can't ask you to peacefully leave?" I cocked my head.

Leet scoffed. "You're facing a tinker, boy. You don't have anything to threaten me with." He laughed at my face. "I'll admit you're pretty good but-" I dropped my box and charged straight at him, catching him off-guard. Flinching, he reached towards his belt and tried to pull something out.

But I was already on top of him. Grabbing his arm, I held it in a vice grip while I tried for a quick strike to his throat. Coughing, Leet stumbled back but I pretty much held onto his arm to stop him from getting too far away. Stepping forward, my other fist struck his sternum and I felt my hand hitting something hard.

Wincing, I took a step back. It felt like punching steel. Laughing, Leet rapped his fist on his chest, making a strangely off-sounding muffled tang sound. "You think I'll be so stupid to not have any protection?"

I shrugged. Chest was out but I don't think the same material could be used for all parts of his body. It was most likely just a single form of chest protection, to prevent his power from fucking with it and making the armour suddenly unravel or something. Taking a measured step forward, I let my Solar memories and instincts guide my fists.

Unfortunately, there were several things working against me. Firstly, my body was not fit enough to handle fighting intensively for pretty much any period of time. Secondly, Crane was a defensive form and not an offensive one. It required my opponent to try and attack before I could land a serious counter. So it wasn't like I could end this in a single strike which meant the battle dragged on.

And lastly, I had to fight. I had no idea what Leet had underneath his lab coat of surprises so I had to keep pressuring him to stop him from pulling out anything that could turn the tides. Breathing heavily, I tried for another neck hit but Leet kept his arms up and blocked it. Clicking my tongue, I pulled back for a moment to catch my breath.

"Hah!" Leet laughed. "Tired already?" He reached to his belt only for a loud bang to echo through the hallway. Letting out a cry of pain, his hand flew to the air as smoke billowed out from a ruined piece of technology from his belt. Seizing my chance, I lunged forward for a sweeping strike.

Leet leaned back to dodge. Taking another step forward, the sweep flowed into a palm uppercut which forced him further back and off-balance. And finally, a leg strike that knocked him fully over. Falling over, I jumped on top of him and started whaling on him. A tinker without his equipment was nothing. My knuckles slammed into his mouth and cheeks, the only vulnerable parts to his face.

"Fu-!" Another fist impacted his cheek, cutting off his words. "Bas-!" A second fist struck his chin, slamming his head back down onto the floor.

After he stopped crying out, I took a deep breath and leaned back. Grabbing his zombot controller, I fiddled around with its control, sending a command to the bots to shut down. Fortunately, there was no need for a password or verification.

The Celestial Forge awakened once more. This time it aimed for the Magitech Crafting Constellation. And missed by a goddamn mile.

Stepping off Leet, he remained splayed on the ground, unmoving. Walking over to my stuff, I pulled out my hammer and whaled on the box, smashing it. Then I started using Hammer Jammer to try and figure out how it worked. It didn't take too long to understand. Hammer Jammer was a lot more cooperative with its knowledge when it was targeting something to be fixed. Though the precise methods Leet used to create such effects still eluded me much to my frustration.

The display and circuitry wasn't too interesting, being little more than a repurposed handheld device and console controllers. But the signal transmitter was really cool. It was the reason why there wasn't any phone signal at all in the mall. It hijacked it to transmit the signal to a specific point. But it wasn't very… efficient in its methods.

When transmitting many signals to the same general location, much of the finer details of the signal was lost as all of them compounded on one another. That's why the zombies propagated the signal when receiving it.

"Interesting." I tossed the ruined tinkertech aside. Reaching into my bag, I unpacked the stun gun I bought and sat next to Leet's body. I would behoove me to make sure he was arrested. Certainly drawing a villain's ire this early on in my career was definitely a Bad Idea but… it's the Celestial Forge! How bad could it possibly be?

Ah well. I looked around the room to find some handcuffs simply lying around. Stripping the tinker, I tossed all of his tinkertech aside, leaving him in his underwear. Then tied his lab coat over his face, and finally handcuff his hands and feet. Then, I took a hammer to the tinkertech and used Hammer Jammer to understand the effects the components produced.

The sound of metal slamming on metal echoed through the bleak hallway. Occasionally, I would pull out a specific piece of tinkertech and look at it before tossing it aside. Once all the tinkertech was smashed and Hammer Jammer had figured out its uses, I tossed the ruined machines beside Leet's body.

I mean. If I was going to piss him off… Let's piss him off all the way, right?

There was still the isolation barrier too… But I wasn't sure where it was. One would think something as powerful as an isolation barrier should be placed as part of the main energy grid. But this was tinkertech and it wouldn't be remiss if it was somehow just a thing attached to a fuse box or something.

Oh and I guess since I was here, I should deal with any unfortunate recordings right? Leet didn't unhack the cameras so I still had full access to the system as well as the speakers. I didn't need the latter right now so I ignored it. Instead, I quickly skimmed through the recordings and deleted those which showed me running around like a madman trying to find Leet, as well as the breaking and entering part. Then, replace the cut footage with some idle footage… And disable the camera systems entirely.

It probably wouldn't survive Dragon or Armsmaster's in-depth retrieval, but it should look… believable enough that they shouldn't check it in the first place. Not to mention this also falls under Hammer Jammer because it was apparently video-editing. Which falls under DIY. Letting out a sigh of relief, I quickly exited the security area and made my way to the atrium, passing the bodies of the disabled zombots.

A sudden bang resounded out. A loud piercing sound that made me duck my head. Barely a second later, a softer but still loud crack came from outside. "This is Armsmaster of the PRT! Uber and Leet, you are under arrest for…" Ah the PRT were finally here. I glanced at my phone which showed it had been about an hour since the attack started. I was half-tempted to tell them where Leet was, but I was certain that Armsmaster probably figured it out from studying Leet's stream footage or something.

Shrugging my shoulders, I made my way down to the PRT troopers who were evacuating the 'survivors'. Luckily, it seemed that most of them came out unscathed, with only a few carrying minor bruises. Walking down the escalators, I bowed my head as I exited the building and finally stepped into daylight.

A/N: Fun fact: Leet apparently burned his Robotics, Biotinker, and Hard Light Holograms tech trees. I only found this out after finishing the entire chapter. And yes, I took a very liberal interpretation of how Hammer Jammer works.



Chapter 3


Dealing with the PRT afterwards was not a fun experience. We couldn't leave until our statements were taken and due to the fact that most of the troopers were clearing out the mall, we were basically stuck until further notice. The few PRT officers that were on duty were taking their time going through each person's testimonies and getting as much as they could.

Luckily, they did have the sense to set up temporary chairs and seats for us while we waited. Plus a few bottles of water were passed around from coolers. Leaning back in my seat, I twisted the cap with a satisfying crack and took a gulp of water. Spending an hour running around certainly dehydrates you. I didn't even realize how thirsty I was.

"If it isn't the man of the hour." Johnny approached me after finishing his talk with one of the officers. Maria smiled and gave me a small wave before turning her attention back to the lollipop in her hands. Taking a seat next to me, he reached over to grab a bottle as well.

"I don't think I deserve that high of a praise." I shook my head.

Scoffing, he narrowed his eyes. "Of course you do. In fact, from the testimonies of some of the other members, you were the only reason we survived that-" He shot a glance at Maria. "-blasted 'Sudden Death'. The moment we started splitting up more and more, the zombies became confused and couldn't chase after all of us, making it much easier to evade them. We even managed to regroup somewhat without them following and hid until they finally shut down."

I nodded slowly. "Glad to see that it worked."

"Incredible stuff. Are you sure you're a Uni dropout? I don't think a university student can immediately pinpoint that Leet," his face curled with slight disgust as he said it, "can't split up the zombie horde."

I laughed awkwardly. "It was more of a spur of the moment intuition. When you get into 'The Zone', and like you work at 110% sort of deal." I deflected. "Say, you offered me a job at the Dockworker's right? When can I cash that in?"

Johnny nodded. "I did say that, didn't I? Well, I'll have to pass your name to Danny first and then have you come in for a short interview. Nothing much probably, with me vouching for you, and your skills you displayed back there." I swallowed but he was probably talking about like leadership qualities right? Yea, no need to overthink things. "You planning on going back to University?"

I blinked for a moment before giving an instinctual response. "Yea." And immediately regretted it. "Just something to tide myself over while I piece my life back together. Once I'm on firm ground, I'll try to finish a bachelor's degree." I dug my hole deeper. I probably didn't need to go back to school in anycase. Even just having Hammer Jammer and Savant's Understanding should put me at genius level or something. But I didn't need him to think less of me.

"Hmm… Something part-time then? Or maybe flexible hours?" He shot a glance at me. "I'll be sure to pass it along. It shouldn't take more than a few days to set it up for you. Got a way to contact you?" I gave him my phone number. "That'll do. I'll call you when we're ready then."

Time passed, mostly being killed via scrolling through the PHO thread for the stream. A lot of shocked comments came up about the whole 'zombie apocalypse' but then it quickly died down after Leet provided an informational during the duller moments. Afterwards, there were quite a lot of comments going 'Oh yeah! I knew that. They aren't that big of fucking idiots'.

Those caught by the zombies were roughed up a bit before being dragged somewhere… Leet said that they would be safe but 'removed from the game'. Quite a number of groups did quite well, until they encountered the roaming Uber and were promptly beaten.

The most surprising part of the stream was the final part. The stream followed Uber until he reached our group and Sudden Death was announced. Following that, it mostly focused around our escape until we started splitting up, in which it turned back to the fight between Uber and Crystal. At a certain point, Uber started trying to pull away from Crystal, but her flight and laser blasts forced him to stay put and fight. Eventually, one of his arms shorted out and he was forced to detach that limb. The resulting figure was pretty lop-sided to say the least.

Finally, the PRT broke through the isolation barrier and Uber made a hasty retreat before ending the stream. Quite a few comments were about me and the group, with quite a few more complimenting my looks. Looking at the few screenshots, I rubbed my jaw thoughtfully. Really compared to the others, there was a slight but noticeable difference to everyone else.

"Shit." I muttered. "Am I going to be recognized on the streets?" Uber and Leet streams were pretty popular, though most of them were there to watch them lose or otherwise have some spectacular failure. Fortunately, it seemed to be one of those rare streams where most of their equipment was working.

After ego-browsing, a PRT officer finally arrived to take my statement. The simple stuff like my name, then what occurred, blah blah blah. It took a while, with the officer asking for clarification several times. I didn't mention my power nor any of my findings from the tinkertech I inspected, again using my curiosity with tinkertech as an excuse. And I definitely didn't tell them about me beating the absolute shit out of Leet.

Oh right. Leet knew my face… I cocked my head. Well, I don't think he would tell the PRT as well. Not unless he wanted them to come to my protection. Probably keep his mouth shut until the revolving door of the PRT lets him out. Then rebuild, maybe team up with Bakuda if all things were left the same, except drop a few special bombs on my head as well.

Well now I definitely need Bakuda. To not have to deal with whatever fucking bombs Leet will make her drop on me if anything else.

'Leet, the Worst Tinker, being my arch-nemesis…' I thought as I leaned back in my chair. There was certainly a form of irony there.

"Excuse me, sir?" The officer interrupted my musing. "Did something come to mind?" I blinked and shook my head. I was still making a statement. Best I don't forget that.

"Nothing much. Just remembering how well I managed to evade those zombie bots." I said with a laugh. "Just like actual gamers, they never look up." I joked. The officer quirked the corner of his lip before nodding. Seeing that I wasn't gonna get a laugh, I hurriedly finished up the rest of my statement.

The officer nodded and left, leaving me alone. Grabbing my stuff, I was about to leave when the doors opened once more and an actual surge of people poured out. Led by the PRT troopers, the crowd were spread out as they finally stepped out into sunlight. And acted like they haven't seen it in years. Squawking, I was caught up in the surge and pushed as they made their ways to the shelters.

Cursing, I tried to push past and felt like a salmon climbing a raging river. Every step I took was made up with another three steps back. Suddenly, I felt a force hooking me underneath my arms and pulled me up. A brief and alarming flight later, and I was back in a relatively isolated area. A few seats were set up for the officers to rest as well as a dedicated cooler. Shooting a brief glance at me, their eyes flickered up before turning back and resting.

Before I had the chance to see what they were looking at, the Celestial Forge spat out its tendril towards the Resource Constellation. Wrapping around a Star and a smaller node, the light flashed and let out a burst of power as the new perk settled over me. And boy was it a good one.

Reclaimer. The ability to salvage and reclaim components and technology from wrecked machines. Needless to say this was an absolutely perfect power for my current status as a tinker without jack shit to his name. Plus, I had an added benefit of having a higher chance of pulling out more delicate and valuable components intact. Once I had a decent costume going, the Boat Graveyard suddenly became a helluva lot more enticing.

That and like… garage sales and dumpsters where people usually dumped their broken appliances without ever checking what was wrong with them. Frankly, with both Reclaimer and Hammer Jammer, it would be like getting a full machine for dirt fucking cheap. Or even free!

I wondered if I could even salvage tinkertech components… I clicked my tongue. If this occurred a little earlier, I might have gotten something interesting from Leet's gear. Though smuggling it out would be a little difficult. Ah well, it was something to keep in mind if I ever encounter wrecked tinkertech. Or maybe I could sell my services to salvage old projects for tinkers? Especially if they were made in a fugue state and they didn't quite have the knowledge required to disassemble it without screwing it over.

The Mote provided was called Lingua-Technis, an entirely new language that I just know now. The best way I could describe it was a derivative of pure binary. A burst of something close to pure code that carried with it a ridiculously dense amount of information. Incredibly useful since most people would just hear noise and even if it was converted to something resembling a language, it was complex enough that deciphering it would be a futile effort.

Small problem. I couldn't speak it. It required implants to even produce the 'sounds' used for Lingua-Technis, much less translating it to and from the sound I heard. And since it was code. I couldn't exactly write it either.

Well, it was something to keep in mind for the future.

"Um… You good?" Fingers snapped in front of my face. Blinking, I realized that my thoughts had drifted. Crystal stepped into view, arms crossed in front of her. "You seemed pretty out of it."

"Oh." I shook my head. "Nothing. Just a little something on my mind." I snapped my fingers. "Thanks for pulling me out of that crowd." I glanced at her empty hands. "Lost the fan?" I asked with a grin.

Immediately, her face fell into a pout before breaking into a slight smirk. "Yea… Dropped it somewhere when Uber and Leet showed up. I could probably find it again… but it's a bit of a hassle." She sighed. "Besides, the PRT will compensate me for my help so I don't mind." Her eyes flickered to the bag in my hands. "I see you managed to keep yours on hand."

I shrugged. "What can I say? I don't have a governmental organization compensating me." I lifted the bag in my hands. With all the jostling and moving, the corners of the box managed to break through the plastic but it was still holding up. The box itself was a bit banged up but the fan should still be in good condition.

"Here." I grabbed the fan and tossed it over. "For you then." Yelping, Crystal was caught off-guard as she hopped forward. With a little boost from her power, she managed to keep the fan from hitting the ground. Which would've been a bit awkward if it happened although not particularly bad.

Picking it up, she looked a bit confused. "Wha? Didn't you like fight off zombies so you… didn't have to get a second one?"

"Out of the kindness of my heart." I stated. When I caught her quirked eyebrow, I coughed and shrugged. "Well… having the gratitude of a cute girl as well would be helpful as well." The moment the words came out, my brain caught up with my mouth. And sounded the cringe alarm.

My face started to feel a little hot. "Um… so, I'll be going now! See you around." I spun on my heel and half-powerwalked and half-ran out of the little barricade. Situated outside were several news vans that I had to avoid, lest be held up by an interview. Reaching the bike racks, I grabbed my ride and swiftly made my way back home.

There was really no way to escape if Crystal really wanted to chase after me. After the first minute passed and I wasn't somehow snatched off the ground like a fish facing an eagle, I let myself slowly relax. I had no idea if she was actually receptive to me but hey, building connections to each team wouldn't hurt.

Shutting the door behind me, I drew the curtains and tossed the rest of my stuff on the table. Taking a quick rinse and changing into a set of fresh clothes, I sat down and started pulling out all the items I bought for my tinkering. Unfortunately, without the fan motor to act as my winch, the grappling hook couldn't be made. And I wasn't dumb enough to cannibalize my old fan for its motor instead.

Firstly, the motor might give out on me since it was pretty old, and secondly I didn't want to die from heatstroke in my apartment.

But my wireless taser should still be possible. Clearing my desk of textbooks and old papers, I set the stun gun, airsoft gun, and bundles of electronics aside. The idea was fairly simple. A way to shock a person from a distance without needing prongs to jab into a person's muscles to conduct the electricity.

Extracting the internals, I carefully cursed myself out for not getting a solvent for glue. Cooking oil was a… usable replacement. Using careful and precise application of my screwdriver, I eased the voltage amplifying circuit out, ensuring I didn't accidentally snap it. The capacitor was removed carefully and discharged. Then the rest of the less important stuff.

The airsoft guns were easily disassembled. The springs could be useful for something. Maybe for the teeth of the grapple? Oh well. The space was a bit tight… But I was going to have to tinker with the circuitry a bit to make it a bit better. And miniaturize it in the process.

It wasn't particularly difficult. Hammer Jammer provided quite a bit of knowledge to help me build this. A portion of it will be placed in the magazine, with some of it in the barrel as well. I also hooked up the safety to the circuit as well. With a simple flick, I could turn my taser from non-lethal to conditionally lethal. It wouldn't kill, but it might if I kept it on them or if I shot it at something vulnerable.

Yes, it also does mean that this does not have an 'off' state. The closest thing I could have was by removing the battery entirely. But what were the chances that I would shock myself while stowing it away? Which also reminded me to get some holsters to store my guns.

The main problem was inducing a charge at range. Inducing a charge wasn't difficult really. Just hold a charged object near a neutral one and voila. The object was charged. Small problem, I needed to do that from a distance ranging from anywhere between 5-15 meters away with a gun. Plus generating a large enough charge to drop someone in the first place.

Letting out a sigh, I let Hammer Jammer help me as I fiddle with the components, while keeping track of the information provided with Savant's Understanding. It took a while, as well as creating several smaller prototypes using some of my electronics and self-testing. The first one was nothing more than a static field generator, making my hair stand on end and little else. The second one was a bit better, making me flinch with a mild shock. A few range tests found that, yes, it did work from a distance.

Though my room wasn't too big so maybe I would have to do some more extensive testing when it was completed.

With the mechanism tested, I started working on the one that was going into the gun. It would have to be a bit bigger to handle the output from the voltage amplification circuit. And a little more robust to handle any impacts and external shocks.

The final component was a bit on the bigger side, requiring me to alter the position of the other components. However, it did as I required it to, inducing an electrical charge on the target. Well, two charges really. One negatively charged point and one positively charged. Then simply allowing nature to equalize the charges through a painful discharge between them.

There were some issues. Though nothing I could really do about it. Charges couldn't be effectively induced during rain or fog, the water messed with the induction process, weakening it and slowing down the rate of which it was induced. And metal was a no-go since the induced charges discharged itself fast enough that the taser was ineffective.

On the flipside, it was also capable of shorting out circuitry. I just needed to actually be able to aim at the exposed circuits.

Looking at the completed taser, was it what I wanted? Yeah. Was it what I expected? Not really. It looked cobbled together. Despite having the base of an airsoft gun, it looked like something that would give Accord a heart attack. Asymmetry and crude were two words that came to the forefront of my mind, along with a little sprinkling of 'slapdash' for good measure.

If someone pointed this at me, I would be inclined to think that they were fucking with me. Hell, even while looking at it, I was half-tempted to believe it wasn't going to work despite the fact that I had tested it. But even so, it wasn't completely disgusting to look at. More of a… deliberate design choice than simply poor craftsmanship.

Which reminded me. I needed to design a costume for my persona. And come up with a name. Personally I would like one major persona and a smattering of smaller deniable identities. Basically, turn 1 person into a whole group or team. It shouldn't be too hard since the Celestial Forge had honestly too many fucking tech trees.

The major persona should be something that represented the full might of the Forge. Both in terms of sheer power and breadth of capability. There was no way I was going to get to that point anytime soon but it was a good anchor from which the rest should branch out from. Biotech… Robotics… My mind drifted for a bit before I wrestled back to focus.

"No. No. This identity now." I stared at my first proper creation. Some sort of gunslinger? My mind flipped through the possibilities, with Hammer Jammer providing a lot of legwork to tell me if it was feasible. I mean… it wasn't its specialty but it was good enough to create some pistols. But anything bigger and it started to move to… less helpful designs. Things that looked like they should be anchored down rather than carried around in a single hand.

Which seemed to be a running condition with the Forge. Each perk wasn't a definite line, where anything that fell outside its domain was left to dry, but more of a gradient. Things that fell in its domain, it would work 100% no problems. But the further you stepped outside of that domain, it decreased in efficiency, to 80%, 50% down to like 5%. And of course each domain overlapped. Like the DIY boost from Hammer Jammer working alongside Reclaimer to make me much better at salvaging equipment than either of them individually.

As I was considering the nature of the Forge, it surged to life. However, something was a bit different this time. Instead of seemingly randomly flinging tendrils all over the place, it instead shot a tendril to the 'other' 19 Constellations. 'Painted On' was part of them, so maybe I was getting something similar? Though I remembered that the description of 'Painted On' was slightly sexual.

And it failed miserably, aiming for one of the extremely high Stars on the Magic Constellation. Oh well, there was always next time.

Anyway, if I was using Hammer Jammer for its main purpose, all I could produce were 'gadgets' and 'contraptions'. My taser fell into that umbrella so it got a pass. Larger weaponry fell into 'contraptions' which were larger and more unwieldy. A mess of machinery that did a certain function. But they weren't exactly what one would call resource-efficient. Letting my power guide me, I tried to draw up a few designs that would work as a lethal option in combination with the taser while making sure I didn't go too far off.

There was something there. Again, it was pretty crude-looking like my taser, but they worked and did what I intended to do. Drop the other guy. One was a pipe launcher. A shitty-looking one, but a pipe launcher that launched explosives. I carefully tore that one off, crumpled it and set it to the side.

The others were of varying levels of lethality. But they… weren't exactly fit for what I envisioned for a gunslinger.

I leaned back in my chair. If I wanted a proper gunslinger, then I would probably need a proper gunsmithing power. Still… It wasn't exactly impossible… Shaking my head, I dislodged that idea and stuffed it to the back of my mind. I shouldn't be bashing my head trying to force it to work. I had much better things to do in the meantime.

Some sort of professional tinker like Uppercrust? A formal three-piece suit, leather shoes, a featureless white- okay maybe not that last one. I didn't need to draw Mannequin's attention as well. I definitely wouldn't be able to sell big pieces like coastline forcefields, but that shouldn't matter. Something for other heroes, rogues, maybe some villains. Equipment basically. Highly specialized equipment. The Q to their Bond.

I mean… I drummed my fingers on the table. Maybe when I got a few design powers that would make my stuff look better. A formal suit would project a certain classiness that I simply didn't have. Both in my products and my attitude to a certain extent. I could use my Solar memories to grant myself a certain air of superiority and self-assuredness but it would ultimately be undercut by the fact that I knew that I had nothing to back it up. And it still didn't solve the issue of having absolutely garbage-looking products.

Maybe I should lean into the crudeness? Some sort of eccentric inventor, unbound by morals and simply creating things for the joy of creation over anything else? That… could work. Wouldn't exactly be easy since I wasn't exactly unhinged. But eccentricity came in many forms. I was sure there was something in my Solar memories I could draw upon. Or pull a Dragon and only converse via speakers and screens, citing 'unwillingness to leave my lab'.

I slipped the designs into a drawer and pulled out a fresh piece of paper. This could definitely work. Some sort of trench coat, top hat, worn leather gloves… Mechanical arms… I cocked my head. Yeah, Hammer Jammer did provide help with mechanical arms. It wasn't a Doc Ock set of arms, just simple mechanisms that extended my reach or held things for me, controlled with a mix of finger and body movements.

As for protection… Hm. Armour, like high-caliber snipers, were not part of Hammer Jammer's domain. Perhaps a protection gadget…? I tried probing and they were mostly reactive protection. Which meant I needed to see the attack incoming to even start blocking it. Which wasn't the safest of protection. Not with people like Oni Lee teleporting all over the place, and Victor who could fire a bullet from across the damn city.

I tried asking for passive defenses but got painfully little. Either requiring stretching my non-existent resources or requiring some painful amount of time and effort to create. Neither of which I had right now.

Sighing, I settled on a deployable shield/arm guard. A three metal plates that formed a bracer and deployed to a slightly larger shield. It wouldn't be winning any prizes for the most protective equipment, but it should hold up against small arms. Or the occasional punch. I should probably test its limits before going out on the field though.

And finally something to hide my identity. I spun the pencil around my finger. Goggles definitely, with a few upgrades because what type of self-respecting inventor didn't have super-observation goggles to keep track of their nine hundred different projects all at once? Again, it wouldn't be that good but something like Spiderman's Stark suit? Capable of zooming in, expressing emotion and maybe having some alternative vision.

It fell underneath the gadget umbrella thankfully, so Hammer Jammer worked perfectly as it helped design the blueprint for it. Some sort of adjusting mechanism for the lenses to allow me to zoom in and out, shutter to constrict the amount of light that enters so I won't get blind by a single flashbang. A reader mechanism to track facial movements so I could actually control all the mechanisms.

The final look was a bit on the bulky side, with a clear half-cobbled together look. In fact, if I wasn't the person who made it, I probably would have thrown it out based on pure looks alone. But it did work, with several labels and notes on how I could create the components I needed to make it or what I could probably tear apart to reuse. Unfortunately, fitting a thermal or night vision capability would make it far too bulky to be practical. Especially if I was running around with it on my head. Even more so designing another mechanism to switch between normal and the alternate view.

It would be much better, both for my neck and the goggles, if I simply made a separate one for each one. Or maybe attachments? That would work. Then I could have the goggles for both tinkering and my actual costume without all the excess bits weighing me down. Plus I could only bring the visions I needed without any redundant items.

I spent the next hour or so creating them, as well as redesigning a portion of the goggles such that they could fit over the lens without smashing anything in. One for thermal, night, and infrared vision. Was it a bit much? Probably, but I mean, since I was designing one, I might as well design for all of them.

They would attach to the top of the goggles before falling over the lens to change it. Not really useful to quickly change on the fly, but it wasn't supposed to. Either they were for lab work, or in situations that didn't require quick changes in the first place. Finally, I made sure that they could attach to either eye without problem and we were done.

I leaned back in my chair and cracked my knuckles. The costume was pretty much done. I wasn't sure if I wanted a mask to cover the lower half of my face. It would provide another layer of protection but I wasn't inclined towards it. I was pretty sure I would look like a tech-priest to a certain extent.

Eh, we'll see. If Lisa would get away with a domino mask, I was sure that my goggles would do just fine. But… just for a bit of caution, let's make sure that the goggles broke up my features a bit more…


I fought back a yawn as I finished up the last of my design work. Taking a good look at the blueprints, I crumpled all of them up and tossed them into a drawer. With Savant's I could easily recall the plans whenever I needed. I just needed to burn them to properly get rid of them. Wouldn't want some nosy person piecing the scraps back together.

Actually, I was pretty certain that if they tried, anyone could replicate my items. I hummed in thought. I should probably blackbox it. Probing Hammer Jammer, it gave a few ideas but nothing more than that. It was too far out of its domain to even start helping.

Oh well, I guess I should just be a little careful when it came to my tech.

I composed a brief shopping list in my head. Lenses, gears, straps… I grimaced. Buying each item individually was bound to point a target at my head. Cameras would be easiest for the goggles… Metal plates… I probably needed to harvest from somewhere. I doubted there was any good supplier of metal. And that they weren't being observed by gangs for possible tinker activity.

Right, there was always Toybox as well. I cocked my head. The tinker group really slipped my mind when I was thinking of groups to join. They should provide resources to up-and-coming tinkers right? It was never explicitly stated anywhere but it should work. I just had to join them. And unlike the other major factions, I wasn't stuck with them. I could leave when I fully established myself. The question was if they took manpower as payment due to my extreme lack of money. Well, it was worth a shot.

I weighed if I should ask before or after I got the rest of my resources. On the one hand, it would be best if I could show off more of my stuff to make them more willing to accept my demands. On the other hand, I still required resources to actually make those items… to then make the demands.

I ran a hand down my face. Well… it was better than everyone else in this goddamn city. Maybe I could even use Loremaster to negotiate for a looser relationship. I took a glance at my laptop before blinking at my idiocy. Obviously I wasn't going to contact the big tinker group from my personal laptop, what the fuck?

It was coming to the evening, with the sun starting to set over the horizon. If I rushed… I could probably make it to the library. Using the computers there would be safer, and probably couldn't be traced back to me…? I don't think they had any one specific tinker that specialized in hacking. I quickly ran through my memories. Nope.

Throwing on my dirty clothes, again, I grabbed my bike and rode off for the second time today. Hopefully there wasn't a villain attack on the way back or something stupid like that. I had enough excitement for the day.

New Perks:


-Reclaimer (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (200CP)

Rare is the heretek with wealth or connections enough to acquire the resources to pursue innovation without raising suspicion. Most must make do with whatever they can scavenge or build for themselves, and fortune seems to often favor them when harvesting useful components from wrecked machines. More often than not, the most delicate and valuable pieces of technology can be pulled intact from wrecks you find or create.

-Lingua-Technis (Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Mechanicus) (FREE)*

Known only to the devotees of the Machine God despite the best efforts of outsiders over millennia, the adepts of Mars speak to each other in bursts of binaric code. This allows for a great deal of information to be communicated quickly and discreetly. Even if translated, it is a complex language thick with ancient and arcane terminology that few outsiders could ever hope to make any sense of. This language allows you to communicate quickly with other adepts, transferring messages and code many times faster than ordinary speech.

A/N: Wind down chapter so not a lot of stuff happened.



Chapter 4


Brockton Bay Central Library was quite the distance from my house. Not unmanageable by any means but still took a good half an hour. The building itself showed its age, with brick and mortar foundations and a weathered look outside. Walking into the building, there weren't many people inside. Outside of the librarian, I counted only three other people as I made my way to the desktops.

The Toybox website was a simple webpage. Its logo was displayed prominently on the front page, with a few links detailing its services, purpose, and an email to contact for business enquiries. Clicking on the services tab, there wasn't much there as well. A vague statement about gaining the help of 'one of our valued tinkers' was on there, along with some brief descriptions of their major tinkers that didn't say anything that wasn't already public knowledge.

That… can't be right? The great tinker collective used a business email to communicate with prospective clients and recruitment? I leaned back in my chair as I stared at the email. Creating a throwaway email address, I sent a message that briefly described my respect for Toybox's work and asked if I could have a discussion.

The Celestial Forge spun up again and reached for one of the 19 Constellations. Spinning off, it grabbed onto the Tech Constellation. One of the lower ones which meant that the tendril's length was… still as long as it was before. Great. But the Star I received was pretty good. In fact, I would probably put it up there with 'Hammer Jammer'.

The perk was Scientific Specialization. I could choose a field and I'll become ludicrously good at it. Not to the point where I'd be a once-in-a-century genius though. More like an extremely good specialist. But as far as I could tell, this choice was permanent. And I would regret it dearly if I picked something stupid for my specialization.

There was also an orbiting star which provided what was the best bonus I could ask for. Forget my Specialization, and compared to Lingua-Technis, this one was actually useful to me right now.

'True Hero Potential' was a godsend. Any of my physical attributes could be improved with training and combat including my skills with a single weapon up to a Hero's level. Which was easily superhuman levels. I was getting slightly giddy with the mental image, creating a blur with afterimages, producing shockwaves with sword swings. Though this was all potential, it did mean that I wasn't completely helpless in combat until I lucked myself into a power suit perk.

I placed that aside for now, making a mental note to find a gym to start training. Turning my attention back to Scientific Specialization, I tried to think of a good focus. My first thought was Engineering. Literally just a boost to how good I could design and make stuff. But I immediately dismissed it. There was pretty much no point to pick it since the Celestial Forge already had several Constellations dedicated to purely crafting and designing things better. It would be a good early boost but made redundant later.

So I shifted my thoughts to more esoteric subjects. Biotechnology was an idea but there was a Constellation for that… There was nothing about how specific or vague this 'field' could be so it would be better if it was as vague as I could possibly make it. Imagine if I put 'Science' in general and got a boost to any form of science I conducted.

Yea, it didn't work.

I racked my head for a little longer. I could pick magic sciences as well like Necromancy but that wasn't really useful without like magic to do the necromancy with. So I was unfortunately stuck with the usual mundane options. Eventually, I settled on one specific option that came into my head. "Material Science." I muttered.

Material science was both for the discovery of new materials as well as researching their properties. The discovery bit didn't matter too much since I knew for a fact that the Forge had access to the creation of new materials and an entire Constellation dedicated to just giving me shit to work with. But testing their properties would always be useful as well as the sub-discipline 'Material engineering' which helped find different applications of existing materials.

And it covered several other disciplines like chemistry, physics, engineering, and even biology for biomaterials. So it gave me a boost in those areas as well. I gave myself a mental pat on the back for coming up with such an ingenious option.

A few minutes later, an email was sent back.

Too long, didn't read. It basically said that they were busy and couldn't accommodate my request. I blinked. No fucking way. I must have missed something somewhere. There must be some hidden contact or weird ARG-esque coding that hid their actual email. I couldn't actually be waiting 3-4 business days for a reply.

Picking apart the website, I started delving into all sorts of obscure places. Inspect Element became my very best friend as I looked at image addresses, the page code, class ids. Literally combing through the HTML code with a fine tooth comb. Savant's Understanding was putting in double time as I pulled out some clues from the pages.

Small bits and pieces of information, some odd id names, random but also weirdly consistent image addresses, a specific hex code for text colour of all things? All these things that I would otherwise overlook were pieced together with Savant's Understanding. There was definitely something there… I just had to turn it into something that I could use.

A few minutes of fiddling around with a variety of ciphers, and bashing my head against the metaphorical wall, I finally figured it out. I just had to stick the entire thing into the page address. I pressed my face into my hands and suppressed the urge to groan. Taking a few deep breaths, I tried to put aside how much time I wasted on the fucking Vigenère cipher.

Well, at least that was all over.

The final webpage looked a lot different compared to the rest of the site. It kinda reminded me of the PHO private messaging function, except with a few small differences that told me we were still on the Toybox website. Typing a simple hello, I hit enter and waited for a response. A few moments later, a message came back.

"This is Cranial. What can I do for you?" I blinked at the message. No confirmation that I was indeed talking to the tinker in question? I furrowed my eyebrows. I was going to feel like a right idiot if it turned out to be some sort of sting operation by some other group to capture tinkers. Though if it was Toybox, I doubted anyone would be fine if there was someone besmirching their name like that.

After seeing that I didn't reply, a second message popped up with an image attachment. It was a piece of paper with the date on it with the Toybox name and a flourished signature of 'Cranial'. As well as a gloved hand on the top right. Hurriedly closing it, I took a brief glance around to see that no one was around me before I continued.

"Do you believe me now?" I wasn't sure if I was imagining it, but I swear I felt some sass. It was probably just me.

"Thanks for alleviating my concern…" I typed. It still doesn't eliminate the fear of getting absolutely pranked but it was good enough. "I was wondering what it would take to join Toybox?"

"Hm…" The first message came up. Not… exactly what I wanted to see. "Toybox doesn't have many restrictions on its members. We'll have to dispatch someone to verify that you're a tinker first, and ensure that you aren't a spy. But once that's over, we'll happily welcome you in."

"Is there any information about the membership that I should know?" I knew that members had to share technology and 33% of all sales through Toybox but I wanted to get the full picture. Cranial provided a brief answer, mostly hitting on the major points of my upcoming relationship. If another Toybox tinker requested my help, I was expected to do so, barring exceptional circumstances like an Endbringer attack or while I was in a crisis situation.

A cut of any sales, if I wanted to sell items, would be taken for upkeep of Toybox. And Toybox would send any requests that they think would fit my tech to me and act as an intermediary between me and any client.

They would also provide living space within Toybox's space itself if needed. Though otherwise, I would have to contact them to set up a Dodge portal whenever I wanted to enter. New members had to go through a trial period before they got access to Dodge's devices. Unfortunately, but I didn't mind it too much. I would prefer being in my own Forge. Once I got that perk.

And besides, Leet who was the biggest danger to me right now was in PRT custody. Until he got out, I should be safe. And really. How long could it possibly take for me to get a workshop power? I grimaced. Currently the rate I was getting powers from the Forge was a whopping 3 attachments out of 8. A 37.5% attachment rate not to mention the 50 possible Constellations it could attach to… Suddenly, I regretted trying to calculate how likely I was.

Well, I think I will be fine for now. Possibly. Hopefully. Turning my attention back to the conversation, Loremaster didn't help since this wasn't really an argument. But it did help pick out vague details that I could ask for clarification. After a few minutes of back and forth, I was satisfied with the knowledge I acquired.

"I think that's agreeable. However, I must know some last few things." I typed into the chat. "How easily could I split from Toybox once I established myself?"

"Very easily. Toybox is a place for tinkers to join without the risk of forced recruitment or staying on the run from both heroes and villains. It would be hypocritical to force our members to stay if they wish to leave." Cranial's reply came much quicker, like she simply was repeating this from memory. "Just fill out a retirement form and submit it. You may leave by the same hour or at the end of the day."

"Ah okay." I nodded. That was good to know. "When should I expect your group's arrival?"

"8pm." Came the reply. An address was also attached, displaying a warehouse at the Docks. Not too far from the Dockworkers' Union building. I breathed a soft sigh of relief that I didn't decide to use my personal laptop to contact their website. After a minute passed, the web page instantly closed. Blinking, I tried going back to the same address but it simply threw up a 404 error. Looking through the clues, all of them had also been changed and the design altered. I guess that conversation was over. Sighing, I cleared the browser cache then shut the computer down.

I had about an hour and a half to kill. And my stomach rumbled. Oh right, I hadn't eaten since this… no not even that. I hadn't eaten since I dropped into this world. Guess, I know what I was doing right now.

Fugly's was my eventual choice. A greasy, heart attack-inducing store that my body was probably not going to be happy processing food from. My memories did provide a rather detailed experience, courtesy of Savant's near-perfect recall. But memories could never really replicate actually experiencing it.

The buns were crispy yet wet, the meat was dripping with grease and actually sliding off the buns. I had to use the wrapper to make sure it didn't fall off entirely. There were also some pickles, cheese and lettuce for all the good they would do. Taking a bite, my mouth was flooded with more oil than I would ever thought could even fit into a single burger.

Coughing, I took a swig from the not-Coke I had bought as well and leaned back in my chair. One bite and I already needed to recover. Holy shit.

Anyway, while I was hyping myself up for the next bite, I glanced over to the news on a wall-mounted TV. A PRT spokesperson was giving the final overview of the mall attack this morning. Which didn't say anything that wasn't already speculated or known. A massive amount of shit was also stolen. From camera footage, Uber and the zombies stuck some sort of teleporting tag which sent the item away. I ran through my memories to confirm, yep, that did happen. I just didn't really pay attention to it since I was looking for my movements running around the mall. Some injuries but no casualties, Uber escaped but Leet was captured.

Not… entirely surprising given that I stripped the man and handcuffed his arms and legs. But they didn't give any details about who captured him. Just saying that an 'unknown vigilante' subdued the tinker. Nor the state he was in when he was. He then continued to ask for this vigilante to come to the PRT and told us that if you had powers, don't go gallivanting around solo.

Which was fair. I guess.

The Celestial Forge reached out to the Magical Database Constellation. For a moment I was excited since a magic database often meant some sort of library right? And I doubted it would just spawn a library in the middle of my room or something. So I would get a pocket space to work in, right? Right??

But I remembered what I was working with.

The Forge reached for, and I kid you not, the second highest Star available . Why? Why would you do this to me, you absolute fucking monster.

I pressed the back of my wrist into my eyes, making sure I didn't slather oil over my face. "What the fuck, dude…" Removing them, I took a deep breath to calm myself down. 'The Celestial Forge isn't sentient.' I don't think so anyway. 'It cannot actively fuck with you.' I repeated those two sentences in my heart until my heart rate was back to normal.

"Bastard." I muttered. At the very least, the energy beam the Forge used to awaken Stars was getting to a frankly absurd length. From a brief glance, maybe around half? Maybe a little less should be available to me next time it woke up. I mean, what were the chances that the Forge missed again?

The news moved onto other details. Asking about the PRT's response to the attack, what they were planning to do in response. All things that I didn't really care about. I heard a few words like 'increasing patrol' and 'dealing with parahuman crime' but we all knew those were fancy words. The director would rather keep the plates resting against the door than even try to open it and change the status quo.

Taking my second bite, it wasn't any better than the first. In fact, I think it was worse since I was barely chewing it anymore. It was slippery enough that it just slid down my throat. Not sure if that was supposed to be a good thing. Taking a deep breath, I steeled my will, drawing upon all my Solar memories to force me to finish the meal I bought.

Thank god Fugly had a sink to wash my hands in. The wimpy paper towels they provided couldn't make a dent in the greasy feeling that clung to my fingers. With dinner and probably tomorrow's breakfast out of the way, I wondered what I should be doing next. I should probably bring my taser to Cranial meet up…

I tried to think of some other notable events that happened in January but came up woefully short. The best I could vaguely come up with was Dinah's trigger but that just simply happened somewhere before April 2011. Literally so as long as it was before April since there were mentions of her involuntarily answering questions with probabilities.

There wasn't much point for planning long-term. Outside of vaguely defined goals like 'Kill Zion', or 'Defeat Endbringers', the specifics of any plan literally couldn't matter since the Forge was seemingly random on which perk it would be giving me. Perhaps the next perk I got would be some stupidly overpowered ability like Noble Phantasm forging or something that would throw half my plans out the window.

Actually, was there a Noble Phantasm forging skill? Not quite… But I could get close…. I could get really fucking close.

Ah well. I'd still rather have a private workshop.

So join up with Cranial… Leverage Toybox for resources while fulfilling my obligations… Then… introduce myself as a new tinker? Oh right, I needed to introduce myself as something that wasn't my own name. For a mad inventor type… I was half-tempted to pick the name of an actual inventor. Though I was sure it would piss off a bunch of people, especially if I handed my stuff to villains.

Something else then. Moriarty? He was a mathematician firstly, and secondly he wasn't really an inventor either. Maybe for someone more like Coil? Hiding in the shadows and orchestrating the events like a conductor. Daedalus? It felt a bit too mythological for tasers and robot arms. I leaned back in my chair.

Maybe not a name. Gears? Eins. The first? Though there were Nazis here which would have a poor connotation. Great, now I have that idea stuck in my head. The mad inventor being the first and so named 'One'. I pulled out my phone and quickly scrolled through a bunch of different languages for the word.

Erstein. The German word for 'first', erste, mashed with 'eins'. The fact that it sounded similar to Einstein was completely coincidental but would definitely rile some people up. Eh, whatever. What could they do about it? Complain until I changed it? Checking the availability of the name, only brought back a small city in France.

Irrelevant then. Erstein it was!

That and it would completely throw people off wouldn't it? I wondered for a moment if it was a good or bad thing. And decided that it didn't matter. I wasn't going to come up with another name now.

"A penny for your thoughts?" A blonde girl sat opposite me. Frowning, I thought for a moment that it was Crystal again. But that couldn't be right. A smattering of freckles over her nose and dirty blonde hair rather than bright blonde. It took a moment, but I got her identity. The one person that I'd rather not meet right now.

"Unfortunately, I'm all out." I joked with a smile.

Lisa Wilbourne. Tattletale. Why the fuck was she here? This… probably wasn't pure coincidence like with Crystal. Somehow I wouldn't be surprised if she figured out that I didn't have any meals from whatever footage she saw on stream and staked out Fugly's until I came. I wasn't too concerned though. The stream didn't feature too many of my antics, like beating Leet or inspecting his tinkertech.

Just from the stream, she shouldn't know that I had powers.

"What do you want?" I asked in a relatively neutral voice. Unfortunately, I couldn't exactly control every part of my body down to the atom to starve her power out of information. My Solar memories did have some ways to keep calm in chaotic combat situations, but it wasn't perfect against her power. "It's not every day that a cute girl sits down opposite me for no reason."

"You're the one in Uber and Leet stream right?" She asked with a slight grin on her face. "The one who figured out that he couldn't split his zombies?"

I nodded. "I didn't think anyone would recognize me." I rubbed my jaw. "To be honest, I thought I'd be mobbed a bit more afterwards." Frowning slightly, I shot a glance around the store. "Should I sign an autograph for you?"

Somehow I felt like I was fencing against her on a tightrope. Both of us knew that the other knew that they knew, but also simultaneously not willing to break that illusion. We tried our best to probe for information about the other, while keeping as many cards as we could close to our chest. Even a single wrong step might allow the other to take control of the conversation. Well mostly for Lisa to take control. I didn't have a super special Thinker power to let me talk better.

"It's fine." She shook her head. "I'm curious. How did you figure out that Leet couldn't split his zombies from a single action?" A direct thrust, aiming to catch me off-guard and stumble.

"Lucky guess I suppose. I was in the zone, y'know? All cylinders firing in perfect sync. I couldn't tell you how I reached that conclusion. But it worked out in the end." I shrugged. Glancing at her eyes, I could practically see her mind whirring away as she used her powers on me. Perhaps she was figuring out my powers? A Thinker ability? She wouldn't be horribly wrong. "And I suppose it's best that we introduce ourselves as well, right? I'm Nathan." I extended a hand over.

"Lisa." Her hand reached over and we shook.

The conversation between us continued back and forth. Each question was a probing strike aiming to try and draw out as much information as she could. It moved from my time in the mall to more personal things. 'What was my job?' 'Do you have any hobbies?' And I tried my best to defend against it as best as I could. Short answers, vague statements. Lisa replied as well with some information, but I didn't quite care for it right now.

I was hanging on for dear life as blocked a question and sent it straight back to Lisa. It wasn't like I couldn't lie to her, it was that her power made it easier to tell if I was. "Travelling? No, I don't travel. Lived here in Brockton for all my life. How about you?"

"Same here unfortunately." Lisa lied as well. This was actually really tiring to keep up. I was trying my best to figure out why she was here as well, with a little help from Loremaster. Perhaps Coil had access to the mall's surveillance footage, asked Lisa to review it, and stumbled upon me in the process. She had seen me in the stream so something. Maybe she was watching the stream and I caught her attention?

Or maybe, this was truly a coincidence, and Lisa was just sitting by her lonesome while using her powers on everyone until she encountered me. Who fucking knew? Not me. She wasn't pushing too hard to figure out my ability or personal life. Did she not care for my details? Or that she didn't need to know since she could easily find out later. No subtle push towards cape drama or the life of a cape so recruitment probably wasn't it. Plus it would be a pretty flagrant violation of the Unwritten Rules. From Loremaster, it indicated curiosity as the main driving reason why she was here so I guess it was fairly safe.

I shot a glance at my phone. 7pm. The time it would take to go back home, grab a mask and go to the meeting place would take a little under an hour, barring some exceptional delay. Smiling, I smacked my palms against my legs and stood up. "It was very nice to meet you, Lisa." I said with a smile. "But I have to go now. Perhaps we can continue this another time?"

"Sure." Lisa replied. "When would be a good day for you?"

"I'm actually a bit busy…" I muttered. "How about this? I'll call you when I get some time off and we'll meet then."

A tense pause passed between us as Lisa stared up at me. I could practically see the gears in her mind whirring away as she tried to figure out what I was up to. Eventually, it passed and she relented. Grabbing my phone, she quickly entered her number before passing it back to me. "Thanks. I'll see you later then." I waved goodbye as I left for my bike. Hopping on, I swiftly made my way back home, ensuring that I took a little longer to throw off any stalkers.

I was also pretty certain she had my phone number now by looking at the oil pattern on the screen. But let's not worry about that for now.

Grabbing my taser, I slipped on the inside of my coat before grimacing at how prominent it looked and shoving it into a bag instead. After a moment's deliberation, I shoved in two books as well to hide its silhouette. I also changed out into thicker winter gear, with a scarf and hoodie and used Painted On to make it a little easier to move around in. Exiting the building, I made my way to the bus stop instead and took the route to the closest station.

The bus ride was fairly boring. I was half-expecting Lisa to step on but unfortunately my dreams of being stalked by a mentally unstable blonde were dashed. Stepping off the bus, I made my way down the street. Occasionally I saw a group of workers hanging out but it was an uneventful walk to the warehouse in question.

The Celestial Forge threw out a length of energy, this time hitting one of the higher Stars in the Magitech Skills Constellation. In fact, this was one of the highest stars I had ever gotten so far. Energy was rapidly pulled from its tendril before it finally burst and stabilized. There was a little bit left, but probably not enough for any high Stars for a while.

The perk in question was called 'Machine Madness'. So as long as I understood how a supernatural effect worked, I could create a device or being?? I had to pause my reading there. Excuse me. Being? Like a person? Android? Biological superweapon? I had to take a moment. That seemed terrifying.

I could make Android waifus that replicated the abilities and powers of any superhero or villain I wanted… That sounded awfully familiar though…

Putting that can of worms aside, I kept reading it. The fundamental method to generate such an effect might change going from whatever it was to technology, but the result would bear no difference to any observer. Well, if that was the case… Shards worked on effectively hyperscience. Science that was so goddamn out of humanity's wheelhouse that it just looks like magic.

If I could say, look at Taylor's method of control, and she did have some form of medium to control insects since Leet created something to fuck with it, could I potentially just create towers to uber boost her range? That's mildly terrifying. And possibly turn her catatonic with the sheer amount of information being driven into her brain. Well… maybe not since the Shard was technically handling it, we would have to see first.

Actually, I didn't have to study it, did I? As long as I knew generally how a supernatural effect worked, I could create something to replicate it. So could I replicate Zion's Stilling? It was the nullification of any wavelengths and… I stopped myself there. Let's not delve down that rabbit hole just yet.

Taking a deep breath, I hoped I didn't draw Simurgh's eyes to me. Though I still didn't know how the Forge interacted with precognition abilities. I really didn't want to test it since the moment there was a discrepancy between what was predicted, and what actually happened, I had a feeling that the Shards would rectify that. And screwing myself out of a potential trump card seemed like a terrible idea.

Wait, would I have screwed- No, but I hadn't displayed any of the Forge's power in front of any Shard.

Putting that aside, could I replicate her post-cognition/precognition? It was basically a Laplace Demon right? Looking into the past to predict the future? If there was a way to replicate it, there would also be a method to disrupt it as well, no?

Well, Machine Madness didn't exactly give me a 'no'. Blocking precognitive effects wasn't just 'take the precog effect and reverse it', I had to specifically disrupt how they were predicting the future. For Simurgh, I was pretty sure her precognition came from her postcognition if I interpreted her text correctly.

So the best way would be feeding her wrong information about me. Which would work all the way until she realized what was going wrong and used models to simulate me instead. Though it would always be playing catch-up with my actual powers. Which felt like I somehow circled back to somehow.

Maybe I shouldn't worry about precogs so much if I kept reaching the exact same fucking conclusion all the time.

A hand tapped my shoulder. "You're the one who contacted us?" A feminine voice asked me. Blinking, I looked over to a shorter girl wearing a full costume, with brown hair done into a ponytail. A set of goggles sat on her face, with a laboratory coat that definitely had some amount of tech built in since it didn't move like cloth would. Still, the costume hugged her figure quite well, showing off some of her curves.

So this was Cranial? I didn't know what I expected. As far as I could recall, and it was a lot, there weren't any descriptions of her appearance. Mainly because she was dead when she appeared due to the Slaughterhouse Nine. I guess the 'mad scientist' angle wasn't exactly a unique concept.

"Um, yeah." I nodded. "Actually, I didn't ask about the whole recruitment process, did I? So how's this going to go… Do I need to show off my tinker skills or something?" I furrowed my brows as I asked.

Cranial tapped the door behind her. "Step in. I'll explain everything inside."

The door was incredibly plain and looked like any other door that might exist on the side of a warehouse. However, when I walked in, I stepped out into a workshop of some kind. A good selection of simple machining tools lined one wall, as well as a table of tools and a cabinet of raw materials and some components. Dodge's work, obviously. Glancing behind me, Cranial took a seat by the side.

"To answer your question, there's really only one way to join Toybox." She clapped her hands together. "Prove that you're a tinker." She gestured across the room. Sitting by the door, she crossed her legs.

"No time limit?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Nope. So don't worry about it. If you need any specific material, don't. Our recruitment budget doesn't cover it." She said with a laugh.

Well… if that was the case. I walked over to the cabinet and started looking through what I could work with. No rope so there goes my grappling gun idea. But… I cracked a slight smile underneath my scarf. I could definitely make my goggles with the items here. Popping my knuckles, I started pulling materials off the shelf.

New Perks:

-Scientific Specialization (Monster Girl Quest) (100 CP) (Focus: Material Sciences)

There is one type of field in which you excel. Pick a focus, it can be necromancy, engineering, or even a focus on a certain type of monster species. Within that field you get a fairly large boost to your research. Those who specialize in necromancy will have a talent similar to that of the Croix family, whereas someone specialized in Alraune could become much better at developing plants. Make your name in scientific arts.

-True Hero Potential (Monster Girl Quest) (Free)*

You sure are gifted aren't you? You now have the potential that Luka and Heinrich possessed in their prime. With training and combat experience; your strength, speed, stamina, durability, magical power, and skill in one weapon of your choice will increase, culminating in their level of power. If you are a Mamano you can inflict Critical Ecstasy during your time here but only in this world. Both Mamano and Humans start off about as strong as a level 1 before perks or previous jumps are factored in.

-Machine Madness (Dragon Ball GT) (400CP)

So much of the universe relies on Ki to grant them power or natural biological abilities. Why pursue scientific perfection when you're already able to claim to be perfect? Why NOT pursue scientific perfection? Despite the lack of need, you buried yourself into science and found ways to use technology to match mysticism. So long as you have a good understanding of how a supernatural effect or technique or ability works, you are able to replicate it through technology, creating a device or being capable of performing that effect or technique or ability. The method, resources, cost and so on may change to fit the new medium but the ultimate result will be as if you had used that magical spell yourself… just through the lens of beautiful, beautiful science.



Chapter 5


Creating the visor was much harder than I had thought it would be. The frame took the longest time, mostly just shaping all the required materials to form it in the first place. Afterwards, the internal components were pretty easy. None of the tech was reality-breaking, so I could repurpose the simple components Toybox provided to form the mechanisms inside.

Leaning back, I shot a glance at Cranial who was scrolling through her phone. "Say. What happens if I wasn't a tinker or a spy?"

She poked her head up. "Hm? Oh you're done?" Leaning to the side, she caught a glimpse of my unfinished goggles. "Well, to answer your question, I would evacuate immediately and seal the dimension you were in. Without any way back out…" She trailed off with a slight smile.

Yikes. What a way to go. Dehydration and starvation, from what I remember, were an extremely painful way to die. And without Dodge's tech, there was no way you could escape. The Entities aren't exactly fond of handing them out willy-nilly.

"How do you even tell if someone was a spy in the first place?" I asked while glancing around the room. "I doubt it's easy to run a background check. Not without breaking the Unwritten Rules." I asked as I started carefully placing the lenses in.

Cranial placed a finger to her lips. "Well, I can't reveal all our secrets can I?" She smirked. "But I'm sure you can figure it out." She said as she vaguely gestured into the air. Pausing for a moment, I shot a look at her.

"Very well then. Challenge accepted." Sliding the final lens into place, I flipped the cover that would hide my eyes and all the internal components and screwed it all down. Leaning back, I felt my spine crack in several places as I unwound myself. I slid the visor over the upper half of my face, covering pretty much the entire top half of my face. Several 'feelers' pressed themselves onto my skin to track my movements, not uncomfortable by any means but definitely something to get used to.

I ran through the full gamete of tests, scrunching up my face, squinting and widening my eyes, and just exercising all of my facial muscles. It worked mostly, though I did need to tweak the sensitivity on some of the feelers. Nothing that wouldn't take a lot of time though so I guess it was good enough for now.

Turning around, I unwrapped my scarf and took a breath of non-stuffy air for the first time. Cranial took a look at my goggles and gave a brief nod. Now time to figure out how she figured out I wasn't a spy…

Clearly it was something within the room itself. Dodge's dimensions were practically impossible to find and I do think it was nearly impossible for signals to travel in and out. So if Toybox's main dimension found out, they would have to do some wonky setup to transfer that data to Cranial. Not only that they would also have to ensure that the signal couldn't be tracked either to its destination or the source. Which sounds like a massive hassle.

And it wasn't some obscure super complex mechanism. Cranial was sure I could figure it out so that was out. I scanned through the room. The lenses were already putting in good work, allowing me to see even specks of dust and metal powder even while standing at the center of the room. Pulling the zoom back, I started looking up.

Because no one really thinks to look there, do they? When was the last time you looked at a ceiling? Just now right? When I asked? Thought so.

The ceiling didn't have too much. A simple paneling, lights and a few black boxes that kinda looked like those wifi extenders you would find in offices or something. But I seriously doubted they were actually extenders. Glancing back at Cranial, I pointed a finger up at them and her smile grew a little wider.

Was I on the right track? Probably. Unfortunately, none of my powers could tell the function of an object through pure observation. At the very least, I needed to see its internal components to even start. But… if I had to guess, it's something to do with Cranial.

Like who were the members of Toybox? Dodge, the Dimension Guy; Glace, Cryogenics; Pyrotechnical, Flames; Big Rig, Building Builder; Bauble, Glassworking; and Toy Soldier, Power Suits. Cranial was the only one who had a specialty that could even start sniffing out spies in the first place with her Neurology specialty. Would it be that big of a stretch to say that she could develop something, maybe in conjunction with another tinker, to detect spies?

"Maybe… something like an intent reader?" I cocked my head. Let's see how much shit I could throw at the wall. "Well, if they weren't a tinker, they would be fucked the moment you asked then to tinker… But then how do you tell if a tinker was a spy? Feeling out how much a person has negative intent towards Toybox?" I stared at her. Cold reading wasn't my specialty but let's give it my best shot.

"Mmm… maybe not entirely. Negative intent is a broad spectrum. You'll need a way to narrow it down and tell the difference between specifically 'I hate Toybox' and 'I wanna punch my neighbour's lights out'. Brainwave scanning? Long-range memory reader? I know you can extract memories from people, and so reading them shouldn't be that hard." I narrowed my eyes and the sound of motors running made me zoom into her face.

"Though it's also probably not a memory reader. Not perfectly anyway unless you're willingly breaking the Unwritten Rules and if such a thing gets out, your reputation as a tinker's neutral option goes to shit. Maybe a mental modeling software?" I shot a glance at Cranial whose face looked a little shocked. I was guessing that I was on the right track.

"Is it instantaneous? Hard to say. Tinkertech is bullshit but I also doubt it unless you're sandbagging. You would need time to construct a good mental model of the target. That's why you want them to tinker in this room, so those black boxes can take their time to scan them and construct it. If the person was a spy or someone out to screw over Toybox, you could easily slip out while they were concentrating on their work." I now knew why Lisa was such an ass. This was pretty fun actually. "Am I wrong?"

Cranial smiled and nodded. "Not bad. Most people don't get that."

I grimaced slightly. "Really?" I cocked my head.

"Mhm." She shrugged. "Most tinkers aren't actually smart, using their powers to coast along which comes at a certain cost. Like the lack of critical thinking. Though it's more pronounced with Thinkers. Generally, they either say 'don't know' within the minute or after pacing circles around the room."

The Celestial Forge awakened. Tossing the arm to the Clothing Crafting Constellation, it failed and miserably slunk back.

"So who else managed to get it?" I couldn't really say much. It was kinda understandable especially if your power was just handing knowledge to you whenever you asked for it. I would probably be in a similar boat if it weren't for Savant ensuring that I was always integrating new information at a rapid pace.

"Can't say." Cranial said with a smile. "You can figure it out with that brain of yours right?" Letting out a breath, my smile turned a little more brittle. I got the feeling she told this to every person who figured it out. Assuming there were others.

Catching my pained look, Cranial raised a hand and patted on the shoulder. "Ahahahaha. Don't worry if you can't figure it out. It's not a test." I shot a glance at her before sighing. "Anyway, you're part of Toybox now. At least in essence. We'll still need to handle some administrative stuff." She cracked her neck.

"Sounds quite official." I remarked as I wrapped my scarf around my face again and pulled off the goggles. Stowing it into my bag, we stepped out of the room. A moment later, Cranial pulled out a small switch. I wanted to try and figure out how it worked but before I could react, Cranial's thumb stabbed down.

A hole was torn in space. Well, torn wasn't the right word. It looked like someone took a pair of scissors to reality, the edges were a little frayed as reality tried its damdest to close it. However it maintained its shape, pushing back against reality's efforts with relative ease. Cranial looked over at me before nodding.

"Yup. Most people react that way too when they see Dodge's work." Stepping through, she extended a hand. "Need some help? It's a bit scary for most the first time they step through. Though I don't know why… Maybe thinking about what would happen if the portal closed while they were crossing?" She shot a glance at me.

She had to be fucking with me. There was no other reason why she would put that mental image in my head. Holding my tongue, I took a moment to compose myself. "If you wanted to hold my hand, you could just ask." I grabbed her hand and tried to step through the portal. But her grip tightened and Cranial practically dragged me through before closing the portal behind me.

Her goggles stared into my eyes for a moment before she spun on her heel. Walking up to a door, she pressed a button on it. "Y'know. Just to give everyone a moment to mask up." She said as she tapped her fingers against the door. I couldn't help but feel that they riffed it off the Wards' room. Then again Toybox had been around for a while. I guess it was possible that they got this from the PRT. Or that the PRT got it from them.

After a few moments, she unlocked the door and walked in. "Welcome to the Toybox dimension." She spread her arms and gestured to the area around us. Compared to the smaller initiation workshop, this was a full house. The living room was really spacious, with a large television on one wall, a long couch, as well as a sizable dining table. The kitchen was set off to the side with a rather substantial array of cooking appliances. Three hallways led deeper into the dimension, with a few neat labels. One for workshops, one for bedrooms and another for facilities, whatever that meant.

In the kitchen was a girl pouring over a cake in front of her. Her platinum blonde hair was tied into a tight bun with a few wispy locks framing her face. The cake itself was intricately decorated, with several swirls and a cascade of flowers. Poking her head up, her mask was fairly ornately decorated, looking similar to a masquerade mask. Primarily ice blue and white, with lace and swooping lines making it look like a bird's beak.

"Ah, Cranial, you're back." She smiled before glancing over to me. Her voice was a bit on the lower side. "And this must be the new member?"

"Mm." She nodded. "Glace, this is…" She trailed off as she stared at me.

"Erstein." I supplied.

"Erstein. Glace." Cranial finished.

Glace nodded. "I would shake your hand but…" She raised a frosting-covered palm and wiggled it. "You're here to finish up his registration?" Cranial nodded. "I'll leave you to it." She turned her attention back to me. "It's pretty simple. It's just a bunch of yes/no questions to figure out what you need and what you're comfortable with. It shouldn't take more than 30 minutes."

Tapping my shoulder, Cranial gestured for me to follow. Entering the 'facilities' hallway, we stopped in front of a door labeled 'Cranial's Office'. Sitting down, she set down a small stack of papers. Lifting one of them, I scanned through the questionnaire. Glace really wasn't kidding when she said it was just yes/no questions.

Sighing, I shot a look at Cranial. Shrugging her shoulders, she took a seat on a chair next to the wall. "Take your time. I only woke up a few hours ago." She stretched and pulled out a book from a nearby shelf. Checking my phone, it was almost ten in Brockton. I didn't exactly have school but I could start to feel my head getting heavy.

"Alright. Let's get this over with." I muttered as I started running through each question.


I threw my head back as I finished filling out the final question. "Done!" I pinched the bridge of my nose. These questions basically hit all the possibilities while working for Toybox. Who were you willing to work with? What groups do you not want to work with? Were you willing to work with other tinkers? What specialties could you work with?

A pain but it was more time-consuming than anything else. Cranial lifted her head up. Bookmarking the page, she slid it back into the shelf. Grabbing the stack of papers, she tossed it into a… machine that started to flick through it at a rapid pace. The computer screen flickered and threw all my answers up on the screen.

Did they repurpose a MCQ marking machine for this?

Tapping away, Cranial did something before stepping back and closing it. "Done. You're now officially part of Toybox now."

I squinted slightly at her before nodding. "That easy?"

"That easy." She confirmed. "Well… that's all for now really. You can either stay here for a bit longer or for the night if you want and get to know the others. Oh and you'll need a Toybox phone." She hopped over to a drawer and pressed her finger against the lock. The latch slid out with a click and she pulled out a normal looking phone and tossed it over.

"It has everything you need in a phone. Untraceable, capable of bypassing most forms of signal disruptions, and if you hold your phone over it, it will copy the data over if you need it. It also has my number, along with the other members' as well." She explained briefly.

Picking up the phone, I stared at it for a moment. "Won't the tinkertech inside break fairly easily?" I quirked an eyebrow.

Cranial made a 'so-so' motion. "Kinda. You'll need to bring it in for maintenance every month or so. But it shouldn't break too easily otherwise."

Slipping into my bag, I let Cranial finish up. "Or you can head back to Brockton Bay."

And risk getting murked in the middle of the streets? God no. I would have to travel through so many gang territories in the middle of the night, it wasn't even funny. "I think I'd rather stay here if you would have me?"

Nodding, her mouth curled to a thoughtful look. "If that's the case… are you willing to reveal your identity?" I paused for a moment. That's… Hm.

Pressing my lips into a thin line, I weighed the pros and cons in my head. And the cons were basically 'what if they betrayed me?' Which wasn't much of a con so much as it was paranoia. Although I was using Toybox for their resources for now, I don't think it would hurt to reveal my identity? The prior members of Toybox had their identities still hidden and I doubt any of them parted on bad terms. And it would build trust with them…

"It's totally fine if you don't-" Cranial started but I raised a hand to cut her off.

"It's fine. Actually." I slowly removed my scarf from my face. And realized how stuffy and humid the air I was breathing was. "I'm Nathan Leong."

Pausing for a moment, she took off her goggles. "Claire Matthews." She extended a hand out. I blinked for a moment before grabbing her hand. She was really cute. My surprise must have been written on my face because Claire smirked and turned on her heel. "Let's go. I'll show you around."

Maybe it was just my imagination. But I could have sworn that her hips were swaying a little bit more. I narrowed my eyes and tried to use Savant's to compare but perfect recall didn't give perfect measurements so I couldn't give any definitive answers. Putting it out of my mind, I followed behind her.

The house was far bigger than I thought it would be. Dodge had made it semi-modular and somehow stitched different dimensions together with the help of a signal tinker. Each doorway was somehow connected to a different dimension that held the room, which also allowed him to disconnect and reconnect dimensions as he saw fit. Which led to some pretty annoying pranks.

"I can't tell you how many times someone walked into another person's room due to him." Claire sighed. "He doesn't do it too often though. But don't be surprised if you walk out of your room and end up directly in the toilet." Well, a bit concerning but it was an incredible security measure as well. Any assault could quickly grind to a halt as the area is isolated. Or by turning an area into looping space to trap them.

I frowned slightly. If this was the case, then how did the Slaughterhouse Nine kill off Toybox? Then I remembered all parahumans turned into idiots when Jack was involved. I guess that was good enough of an explanation. It wasn't like Jack explicitly explained how he managed to do it in the first place. The prick.

Claire showed where most of the important rooms were, which were usually toilets, offices, where the snacks were kept. Plus, she handed me a bag of toiletries that they kept on hand. A spare toothbrush, toothpaste and some hygiene products like mouthwash and facial cleanser.

Heading back to the living room, Glace had removed her mask as well. She very much had that 'princess' sort of face to her which was juxtaposed by the flecks of frosting on her face and hands. Catching my look, she waved her hand at me. "My name is Grace." She smiled happily as she moved her cake to the fridge.

A weird look crossed my face. "Glace?"

"Guh-rrrr-ace." She rolled the 'r' as she washed her hands. "Yes, it's similar to my cape name." She nodded. I turned to look at Cranial who shrugged her shoulders.

Grace and Claire. Glace and Cranial. I narrowed my eyes. Okay then. "I'm Nathan." I bowed slightly.

"What's your specialty?" She wiped her hands down the front of her apron. Claire also perked her head up. "I don't think you've told us yet."

I stopped in my tracks. Specialty… I tried to find some sort of underlying principle or subject that my tech used. And came up woefully short. It felt like each of my perks actively disliked being mislabeled. Or being stuck with something that misrepresented it. Laughing nervously, I quickly threw up an excuse.

The Celestial Forge spat an arm to the Magical Facilities Constellation. And my heart rate jumped for a moment before all my expectations came crashing down a moment later as it missed.

"I… uh… don't know my specialty?" Claire immediately curled into a slight frown. "I just got my powers pretty recently so… I haven't experimented enough to learn what it should be." Claire didn't seem like she believed me, but they accepted my excuse for now.

After a bit of conversation, mostly about inane topics or some inside jokes, I excused myself and hurried to my room. Tossing my bag to the side, I pulled off most of my clothes. Unfortunately, they didn't include some clean clothes so I was stuck with what I was wearing. Which wasn't exactly comfortable for sleepwear.

Pulling off most of my clothes, I used Painted On to thin them out. Collapsing on the bed, I barely had enough time to register that I was lying down before a wave of fatigue slammed into my head and forced me to sleep.


The next morning, I was introduced to some of the other members of Toybox. Dodge, or Maverick, waved at me from his position on the couch. Displayed on the TV screen was some variation of Smash Bros. with the kid absolutely beating his opponent. The other man, Liam, was apparently Toy Soldier, a well-built guy who looked like he could pummel someone to the ground.

"Heya!" Maverick waved at me while executing an absolutely disrespectful Final Smash that sent Liam's character flying and ending the round. Liam leaned back in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. "How's Toybox so far?" He set the controller aside as his victory screen played out.

"It's pretty good. The bed's pretty comfortable." I remarked.

He nodded. "Should be! We got it specially-made by a fabric tinker in Colorado." He glanced over to Liam. "What was their name again…?"

"Seamstress." Liam grunted. A fabric tinker. In Worm? I mean… I didn't see why not? But it was really hard to reconcile fabrics of all things as a tinker power. How does that generate any form of conflict whatsoever? What type of trigger would produce such a power?

"Right! They gave us a few bolts of fabric and we made them into bed sheets." Maverick started rambling as he started talking about the logistics of fitting a full bed through their comparatively smaller doors. Liam gave me a look before giving a 'what can you do?' shrug. Laughing nervously, I slowly stepped past the couch to grab some breakfast.

Due to the fact that Toybox's dimensions sat outside of the usual time zones, meals weren't exactly standardized. Which meant, I was pouring cereal for myself while Grace was having a slice of her cake that I saw her working on before I left. From the look of the plates and the smell lingering in the kitchen, someone else also just had steak.

"You wanna have a slice?" Grace offered as I sat down. Grimacing, I shook my head. I could still feel yesterday's dinner sitting in my stomach. Shrugging her shoulders, she continued working on her slice. "Oh we're also planning to give you a proper debut."

A… debut? I cocked my head and stared at her in confusion.

"Ehrm… It won't be like right now, right now. Like once we get a lab and workshop set up for you, and you have all your stuff ready. Maybe have a product we could market or a specific type of request you would like to take…" She trailed off as she gestured in the air. "Then we can announce that a new tinker joined Toybox. Once that's done, we'll usually have an uptick in requests from potential clients and you can start earning your keep." Grace explained.

"Ah." I understood now. "Marketing and PR."

Grace tilted her head to the side while pressing the tips of the fork against her lip. "Pretty much." She agreed. "The same thing happened when most of us joined actually. Well, those who had something to show off. For others like Big Rig, we usually don't market them too hard, instead we recommend them for extremely specific contracts from clients, like construction or demolition."

"And charge them through the nose for their help?" I deadpanned as I crunched on my breakfast.

Grace nodded. "Pretty much!"

That made some amount of sense. They didn't exactly have what one would call a varied power set. "What about Toy Soldier? Isn't his power suit like massive as well?" I glanced over at the man who was in another round of Smash Bros. And doing just as well as the first time around. Turning back to Grace, she shook her head.

"He can create smaller power suits if the client wants one?" She said with a confused look. Ah. That made a lot more sense.

Nodding, the door opened for Cranial and another person to walk in. This one was wearing something between a blacksmith's clothes and a biker's flame-decaled suit. A holster on his side held a revolver with a similar fiery appearance. From the looks of things, I guess this was Pyrotechnical?

"So you're the new recruit?" He walked over and pulled off his mask. "I'm Pyrotechnical or Jamie out of costume."

"Nathan. Or Erstein." I introduced myself. "Nice to meet you."

Jamie nodded. "From Brockton Bay right?" I nodded with a pained smile. "Can't say I fault you for staying here. Never been there personally, but some of the former members of Toybox did during the Marquis and Allfather era of things. 'Absolute shitshow," they called it." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Sounds about right." I agreed.

Sitting down, he rested his arms against the table. "Right, I think Claire also said that you didn't know your specialty as well?" He furrowed his brows. Nodding, I waited for the other shoe to drop. "Good… That's really good." My building panic suddenly turned to confusion. Cocking my head, I stared at him for a moment before he started explaining.

"Most tinker powers have some form of specialty. I think all of us here can agree to that. As such, most items that your power provides follow that current. For example, everything Claire makes has some form of relation to the brain and memories. Scanning, manipulating, extracting, etcetera. We can branch out from that but it must all relate to our specialty." Jamie first set up.

"As such, it's not everyday that a tinker doesn't know their specialty. And most of the time that they don't, it's because it's not a form of technology, like neurology," He pointed at Claire. "Pyrotechnics," He pointed to himself, "or Dimension Tech." He jabbed a finger at Maverick. "It's a style of making technology."

Claire scoffed. "You stole that explanation from Automata." Jamie shrugged his shoulders in acknowledgement.

"Automata? I don't think I've heard of that name before." I frowned. Scanning through my memories, I couldn't recall any tinker called that.

"You shouldn't have. His specialization was automation, making machines that made more machines." Jamie explained. "His crowning jewel is- was," he corrected himself. "Automating an entire city's infrastructure to let residents have more time with recreation and their loved ones." He sounded like he was quoting from the man himself. "Too bad it got out of control."

Wait what. There was only one rampant technological disaster in Worm. The-

"The Machine Army, yes." Jamie confirmed after he saw the look on my face. "It was… his personal project. We, Toybox, had nothing to do with it except he was under our banner. The Toybox has some archives you could check if you want to learn more." He pointed down the Facilities hallway. "Anyway, if we could get back on track?" He quirked an eyebrow. On one hand, you can't just drop the bomb that 'Oh yea, a former Toybox tinker made one of the S-class threats and simply move on. On the other hand, they didn't look like they were going to volunteer more information about it.

"Fine." I threw my hands up. "Drop a bomb like that and move on. Sure." I nodded while making a small note to do a bit more research on Automata. "So a style of construction?"

Jamie seemed to relax slightly when I didn't push for more. "Yeah. Automata took a while to figure out his specialty, and so did Junkyard, another tinker who had the specialty of 'robust systems' to the point where over 80% of his machines could break and it will still function at full capacity. You might know him as Failsafe as part of the NY Elite." Failsafe? New York Elite? Fuck, I barely knew anything about the Elite's membership. Outside of some important members like Bastard Son and Uppercrust, most of their capes were complete unknowns to me.

Guess I better start researching capes in earnest. My reliance on my metaknowledge was going to get me killed sooner or later if this kept up.

"In any case, the reason why I'm telling you this is so that you don't lose heart. Unknown specialties often means that you would have an incredibly versatile skill set once you figure it out. And most of the time, would be able to work with practically any other tinker." Jamie laughed. "At that point, you'd be a very desirable cape in many circles."

Wow. I… really didn't need that speech. But I would definitely steal that for Chris if I ever got to meet him. I was pretty sure he needed it more than me.

"Um… thanks." I said with a nervous smile. An awkward silence settled over the table. "Wait, isn't automation also a type of technology and not a style?" I cocked my head.

Jamie had a pained look on his face so Grace spoke up instead. "Automata's tinkertech was structured differently due to his specialty. A lot of his creations were made for mass-production using his specialty so they were much simpler and easier to construct. By combining this style with other tinkers, he could make them ready for mass-production with only a dip in performance and slightly higher maintenance cost." She explained.

And suddenly the Machine Army made a lot more sense. I had the very odd feeling that the Machine Army was a Simmy plot. A few additional lines of code, a bit of push and pull on the operators and Oops! An S-class threat broke out. Who could have ever seen this coming??

"I see." I finished off the rest of my breakfast. "I think I should be heading back to Brockton. I still have some things left to do." I stood up and threw my bag over my shoulder. There was a smattering of movement before Claire pulled her mask back on and led me out to the entrance hall.

Shooting a glance at me, she asked. "So how is Toybox? Up to your expectations?"

I tilted my head from side to side. "Perhaps." I shot a glance at her. "I still need some experience before I can make any decision. Could you please teach me more, senior?" Huffing, Claire looked annoyed but broke into a slight smile a few seconds later.

"Sure, sure." She said in a sing-song tone. "Just be sure you can keep up with me." I had a wry grin on my face. I was pretty certain I could keep up with anyone with Savant's Understanding literally boosting my learning and comprehension rate. In fact, I could probably understand enough knowledge to get a Master-degree in the span of a day or so if I tried.

"Challenge accepted." I leaned forward slightly. "I'll be your care then, senior." Claire made a slightly disgusted face at the word. Jabbing her thumb on the portal device, a hole in spacetime was torn yet again. Immediately, a blast of icy wind smacked the two of us in the face. Maybe I should produce some sort of environmental protection as well.

Stepping through, Claire spoke up. "Stay safe." Before I could respond, the portal shut behind me. Taking a deep breath, I glanced around the area. After ensuring that I was alone, I walked out of the alleyway and threw my scarf around my face and made my way back home.

As I made my way down the street, the Celestial Forge spun up. It latched onto the literal lowest Star on the Magical Item Crafting Constellation. And I buried my face into my hands.

The perk was called 'Cult of the Gun'. And it allowed me to turn any item I wanted into a gun. A banana that fires its flesh? Deal. A mailbox that fires letters like buzzsaws? Sure, why not? Anything you could possibly even think of, that thing could be made into a gun. It also provided some amount of 'help' to make things look slightly more like a gun as well. Or at least capable of being handled like one.

I doubt I could turn a guzheng into a 'gun'.

Best part was that I was considering a gunslinger-type identity yesterday. And today, I get a guncraft power, but it doesn't even improve my skills with making actual fucking guns. It just turned other things INTO A FUCKING GUNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!

CELESTIAL FORGE!!! ARE YOU FUCKING WITH MEEE?!!?!??!!?!?!

A/N: Does anyone have canon information about Toybox (like number of active years and/or canon appearances) or were they just to facilitate the Slaughterhouse 9000 arc?

-Cult of the Gun (Enter the Gungeon) (100CP)

What makes The Gungeon work? Magic. Duh. But, it's a specific type of magic: Gun magic, magic that makes objects more gun-like, or that accentuates the gun-like traits of non-gun objects. Unrestrained, it can turn a gun-like non-gun object, like a mailbox, into a gun, granting it a projectile and a firing method. The Gungeon does this passively, but you know how to direct this ability and use it to your advantage, taking any kind of object, and making it into a "gun," complete with the same perks that any gun-like object might gain. It's still fairly uncontrolled, with little if any say on your part as to what kind of weapon you get. How else do you explain, "guns," like a mailbox that fires letters and packages; a banana that fires explosive bananas; a bee hive that fires bees(duh); a camera that deals room-wide damage, knockback, and slowing; a guzheng that fires arrows when played; a pillow that fires zippers and stuns nearby enemies when reloaded; a crate that fires anvils; or a compressed air tank that fires homing sharks?



Interlude: Day 1 (Revised)


A/N: Interlude: Day 1 2: Electric Boogaloo

Now with (hopefully) 100% more Logic!

I was debating whether I should have this as a new post or simply editing the old threadmark since about 90% of the chapter is the exact same. But I decided to shift the old chapter to the 'Extras' section and have this as the new chapter. Any further revisions will occur on this version. Further constructive criticism is welcomed. For those who just want to read the revisions, go to the following lines.

Spoiler: Spoilers!

"Perhaps a undocumented trigger?" Armsmaster suggested.

Spiralling in circles, Lisa could feel her power try to acquiesce to her demands.

Armsmaster sat in his office, looking through the camera footage for the twentieth time today. Specifically, he was scanning for this unknown vigilante that beat Leet. However, even after several hours, there wasn't anything that he could find about this strange parahuman. Unfortunately there weren't any cameras that caught the actual fight between Leet and who the PRT were tentatively calling 'Wraith'.

The camera footage was also tampered with. Dragon had pretty much immediately noticed it the moment they got their hands on the footage. With a bit of investigation, they found that a combined total of about 10 minutes of footage was lost from various cameras. However, they couldn't retrieve the lost data easily.

The lost footage was scrubbed from the servers using Leet's device. Dragon was currently working on trying to retrieve it, but it would take a week or two to piece it all back together. Not to mention that by the time they reached the security station, new data had overwritten portions of the remnant deleted data which made piecing it together a much harder task. Plus they had to work with the mall's servers themselves which severely limited their efforts. Luckily, Dragon did manage to isolate the location where the data should be located, so any remnant data should still remain intact while the mall shouldn't feel too much of a disruption to their usual service.

From what they managed to glean from what they did have, with the help of a Protectorate Thinktank, this Wraith was likely already inside the mall when the attack occurred. Leet's area isolation device was incredibly powerful, requiring a combined strike from Assault and Battery's force stacking combination to break through. Armsmaster and Dragon also had another task to try and reverse-engineer it for increased defenses, and maybe even scale it up to protect against Endbringer attacks.

Which was the great failing of Leet in the first place. It was not exactly hard to see that he had incredible versatility but squandered much of it in petty crime. Imagine if he had brought the proper working model of his area isolator to Dragon? How much change it could bring. Instead, they had to make do with a broken piece of technology that he would likely never be able to create again.

Anyway, due to this device, the conclusion was that Wraith was most likely in the mall. Though it was possible that they had a power to allow them to phase through the barrier. Shadow Stalker managed to get through after all, though, due to the sheer mass of Leet's zombie robots descending upon her, she was forced to retreat. It was possible that they had some sort of similar power to become intangible to physical barriers.

And if he was inside, did he also have the power to predict when attacks occurred as well? It was hard to believe that Wraith willingly camped inside the mall until Uber and Leet attacked instead of stopping them even before it happened. But even if they did phase through the barrier, they would have to also somehow evade every single camera inside the mall before striking at Leet.

A Stranger power? The Thinktank couldn't provide any conclusive readings, being mostly split between yes and no. Which didn't bode particularly well for a group of Thinkers that were supposed to narrow things down to a likely possibility. An idea that Wraith's Stranger ability also messed with Thinker powers was floated around but ultimately put aside for now. That direction only led to further paranoia and distrust. Furthermore, if there was a Stranger aspect to his power, why was the camera footage tampered with? Who else could have a stake in editing the footage?

The last part was a psychological evaluation of the vigilante in question. Violent, decisive, but also values their privacy. An idea that would be corroborated with the Stranger power theory. However, with only a single capture to his name, there also wasn't anything more to say about them.

Interrogating Leet also didn't exactly breach new ground. The villain clearly knew something, given that adrenaline and stress levels spiked the moment his name was mentioned. Anger, extremely hot and burning anger towards the mysterious cape. But despite their best efforts, they couldn't pull any information about Wraith from Leet. Armsmaster was tempted to put his lie detector to use, given that it used micromovements in facial muscles, it could be slightly altered to act as a cold-reader. But despite being given the go-ahead, he was required to wait for Leet to cool off a little more before he could start.

Given that all his tech was also destroyed when Armsmaster arrived, he couldn't exactly blame him. But something told Armsmaster that Leet wasn't going to take it lying down. A determined tinker was a dangerous tinker. There were multiple instances throughout history to prove his point. An even more recent example was the Cornell Hostage Incident. If Leet got out, he might escalate things in an attempt to 'get even' with Wraith, something that the city definitely didn't need.

The stream also didn't give much in terms of information. They managed to pin down the exact time that Leet would have been defeated. Using the time when the Drone stopped moving and the sudden shutdown of the zombie bots along with the precise start time of the stream, they could narrow down the window when Wraith would encounter Leet. Which led to another finding. All the tampering also occurred after Sudden Death was announced which rang several alarm bells in Armsmaster's head.

"But why during Sudden Death?" Armsmaster murmured. There wasn't anything special during Sudden Death compared to any other time. In fact, one could call it a much easier time since the zombies were moving as one cohesive unit compared to a smattering of smaller groups. The civilian group itself also didn't seem special. Moving randomly through the hallways in an attempt to evade the horde. All the way until one of them called-

A sound of the speakers crackling to life notified Armsmaster of Dragon's arrival. The screen flickered and the image of her face appeared on it. "Colin, you need to take a break." Her voice came over. "There's nothing in the recordings that hasn't been picked apart by now." Armsmaster gave a short huff before tearing his eyes away.

"There must be something." Armsmaster muttered. "I do not think that there's a cape that can perfectly hide every detail of their presence. What about the statements of the victims?" He asked. Although Uber and Leet struck fairly early in the day, there were still quite a number of people who were caught early on. Someone somewhere must have seen something right? Dragon had fed them through an rudimentary language processor to extract key information from it.

She took a breath. A short exasperated sound but she relented to his question. "According to their testimonies… No one noted anything out of the ordinary while they were moving around the mall. However, they were also worried about the zombie robots Leet managed to produce, so I don't think you could take it as proper evidence of his lack of presence." Dragon said. "Wraith certainly took good care of hiding themselves from any form of tracking."

Armsmaster grunted in response. Something was off. You didn't get to a rank as high as a Protectorate leader without honing your instincts as well. But he couldn't quite put a finger on it.

"We also have the statements from the final group. The one who evaded the zombies?" Dragon continued. "They pinned much of the responsibility of their escape on the man on your screen right now." Glancing behind him, Armsmaster looked at the person in the middle of shouting his commands. "According to the group, he led them to secure weapons and acted as a leader for the group, all the way up to the Sudden Death."

Armsmaster frowned slightly. "And how is this relevant?"

"It isn't. Not yet at least." Dragon admitted. "But let me explain. Looking through the database, it took a while to pin a name to his face." An image appeared on the screen. One that looked distinctly different to the person in the video. One a lot more… scarred by the throes of puberty. "Nathan Leong, former student of Brockton Bay University before dropping out."

Crossing his arms, Armsmaster's frown deepened. "You think he is Wraith?"

"This was something I discovered during an investigation." Dragon dodged the question with a small smile. "No prior records of taking any form of leadership role, and no records of any form of club activity or extracurriculars." Dragon threw up several more papers on-screen. "Teacher reports also describe him as a 'quiet' or 'meek' with several emphasising his lack of participation in class. All the way up to University."

He could see where this was going. "A trigger?"

"Possibly. A sudden dropout from school without any prior warnings provides a possible window in which a trigger event might occur." Dragon provided a written statement of Nathan's withdrawal, citing personal matters that made him unable to focus on his studies. However, outside that one contained event, there weren't any other notable documented events that would fulfill a similar criteria.

"Perhaps a undocumented trigger?" Armsmaster suggested. It wasn't completely impossible. Though certain powers were rather loud and flashy, Hellhound's and the Cornell Bomb threat came to mind, other triggers were more covered up. Although the PRT and Protectorate tried to keep on top of possible triggers, there were simply too many different ways and too many people to simply keep track of all of them.

Dragon nodded her avatar. "I thought so too. Skimming through prior incident reports from both PRT and Protectorate, there were no events that cited a man of similar build or stature to Nathan as a victim." So not a trigger due to gang activity. As a victim at least. As a gang member? Armsmaster frowned. That couldn't be it either. If that was the case, the teachers' comments of being alone for most of the time wouldn't make sense. He would gravitate to other gang members, wouldn't he?

"This, of course, doesn't dissuade the possibility that he triggered in his own home, without any eyewitnesses." Dragon supplied.

He nodded as all the information that Dragon drudged up was displayed to him. If this was true, they would have to do this with a light touch. It was for the best that the public, and more importantly, the gangs didn't find out about this.

Nathan's drop out occurred at the very start of winter break, about midway through December. Generally a slow period for everyone, gangs included as people started gearing for Christmas. An interesting time to dropout, allowing him to use the break almost entirely for whatever parahuman activities he might need.

Circumstantially, it made sense. A trigger event, either just before or just after Nathan's withdrawal from university. A sudden improvement in appearance, including shifts to facial bone structure of all things as provided by Dragon, something that shouldn't be possible without extensive and invasive surgery or parahuman powers. And suddenly a drastically different personality during his next appearance during a villain attack.

However, it was just that. Circumstantial.

Armsmaster finally asked the question that Dragon was waiting for. "So what's the likelihood that Nathan here is Wraith?"

"52.41439%" An eyebrow rose to look at Dragon. "It isn't perfect but we can use the livestream along with the remaining camera footage to get a general sense of where the group was." A visualization of the mall's floor plan was projected along with the group's route through it, plus several pictures that cross-referenced when exactly they passed each area. Red lines formed to show where the extra zombies came from before the blue lines started to diverge, with a single purple line denoting the direction Nathan was running to.

"Looking at the camera footage," Dragon extended the line before Nathan turned the corner, "he ended here, next to these restaurants." The relevant logos were thrown up as well. "The cameras that were tampered with these ones." Several more images were thrown up as the less relevant information faded away. "And here is where Leet was found." A green dot appeared in the middle of the hallway leading to the camera room.

A few more purple lines drew out, covering the locations where the cameras were. Although vague, they could be linked up with Nathan's last known position to form a line from it directly to the door leading to Leet.

"Interesting." Armsmaster murmured. "However, there were other cameras enroute that did not capture him as well." He pointed to cameras C5, E7 and a few others. "It could just be coincidence."

Dragon nodded, but red zones spilled out from the location each camera was placed. "These cameras also have blindspots that could be exploited to allow Nathan to slip through without notice. It's also because of these zones that my confidence isn't higher."

Unfortunately, the entire surveillance network was down until the PRT secured the area. Otherwise, they might be able to find more information to work with. "What of other possibilities?"

Dragon listed some other possibilities she had entertained. Specifically those of a Master victim, Stranger victim, and pure coincidence since those were the next three highest that made up the bulk of the chance.

"Master and Stranger possibilities are about 15% and 12% each with the possibility of it being a pure coincidence being 21%." She admitted. "For either possibility, it's likely that they were conducted by an unknown trigger or new villain. The usual suspects that may be able to do such a thing have last known positions that place them extremely far away from Brockton Bay."

Concerning, but not terribly so. A strong human Master was practically a Stranger in of themselves. Just look at Heartbreaker. The PRT had no idea he existed until he subverted several women and practically created a wall of unknown victims that protected him. At which point it was impossible to take him out unless they wanted every single one of his victims dead due to his failsafe.

"I think it's for the best to bring this up to the Director." Armsmaster spoke. "Nathan may or may not be Wraith or a M/S victim, but it's better to be safe than sorry." He drafted a quick email and placed a decently high importance to it. Sending to the Director, Armsmaster made his way to the door.

"I'll see you there, Colin." Dragon remarked cheekily before blinking out. Shaking his head, Armsmaster quickly made his way out of his workshop and strode down the corridor. As he walked, people immediately gave way to let him pass. A man in full power armour, power-walking towards you cut a rather imposing sight.

Grabbing the knob, it took a moment to verify his identity. Twisting it, Director Piggot shot a look towards him, then at Dragon who was projected onto the whiteboard. Entering, he took a seat opposite the Director.

"Now that everyone has arrived. Why did you call this meeting?" Piggot glanced between the two heroes.


Piggot pinched the bridge of her nose as the two capes presented their findings. It wasn't completely bullshit. There was definitely enough circumstantial evidence here to paint a compelling picture. Enough that she couldn't dismiss it outright. However, it was also possible that they were barking up the wrong tree.

"It… definitely doesn't have to be parahuman intervention." Piggot muttered underneath her breath. However, as Director of the PRT ENE, and the Director of the powder keg that was Brockton Bay, there were certain things that she couldn't ignore entirely. Like the possibility of having another cape under their belts.

But at the same time, if they were wrong and the gangs somehow caught wind of a new parahuman in town, even with zero hard evidence they wouldn't be sitting pretty. The PRT might accidentally condemn an innocent civilian into being targeted by gangs. After all, the Unwritten Rules could be… bent given the proper circumstances.

"Firstly, seal this behind Clearance Level 8," The level that only allowed the Director and the Protectorate Leader to view its data. "We do not need the gangs to go into an uproar to try to find this man."

As for this Nathan… They shouldn't escalate this too much too fast. If he was a parahuman, that would simply draw attention to him as to why the PRT had an interest in him. If he was a Master or Stranger victim, then it might spook the cape behind him and it would be a hundred times harder to capture them.

"Bring him into the PRT base for observation. Call it an aftermath report, asking for further clarification, whatever. Get him inside and into an observation room so we can run a M/S test on him as well as have a private conversation with him. But do it without alerting him, we shouldn't spook the cape behind him." Piggot eventually made her decision.

"Should we also send similar orders to some of the other victims? To make it look more official?" Dragon asked.

"If it would make it more believable, then do it." Piggot shot a glance at the virtual woman. "If that's all, I will end the meeting here."


Crystal stared at the fan on her table. The motor whirred and circulated the air around her room, creating a droning background noise that her mind anchored to. In front of her was her computer that held her notes that she was supposed to be transferring to her actual notebook. However, her mind kept drifting back to Nathan.

Love was a particular minefield that she never tried to cross before. After the murder of Fleur and her own trigger event being chased by kidnappers due to her mere status as 'the Daughter of Manpower and Lady Photon', she was extremely reluctant to truly fall in love. Anyone who did would immediately have a huge target on their backs as a result.

Though the Unwritten Rules would say otherwise, who was to stop another 'zealous gang member' from attacking them in the middle of the night? What was to stop a cape from accidentally dealing some collateral damage to threaten them, forcing her to breakaway and save them in response?

Not that it stopped people from trying to get into her pants. She was acutely aware of her appearance, and most people didn't think past the pretty face in front of them to consider the cons of being in a relationship with her. She entertained one such relationship, and the boy became an arrogant prick, wielding their relationship like a club.

Needless to say, it ended just as fast as it came to be.

As for the rest of them, she had to let them down gently. Not that it dissuaded the absolute tide of confessions she had received over the years. Even in University, it only stopped after a rumour started spreading around that she was the 'Unattainable Jewel' of the cohort. Which only really stopped the shy ones from confessing, and only left the arrogant jocks who thought it was her privilege that she would be dating them.

And to be perfectly honest, she'd much prefer the shy ones.

All in all, it was all to say she had never really fallen in love. Or even had anything past a friendship with a guy. So why was it that her mind kept drifting back to the guy whom she met at the mall? He didn't seem any different than most other guys who chatted her up. He definitely had a much more appealing face though… But Crystal didn't consider herself a vain woman.

A few flirts but nothing really egregious like dropping a comment on her breast size. Her eyebrow twitched as she remembered that particular interaction and felt the urge to blast a hole in something.

And yet why couldn't she get him out of her mind?? Crystal threw her head back with a groan. She considered the idea of a Master power before immediately dismissing it. She was definitely not going to accuse some random guy of being Heartbreaker of all people just because she had some sort of infatuation with him. For a moment, she considered calling up one of her friends to ask for help, but immediately dismissed the idea. Nothing against them, but they were very much part of the rumour mill in her college. Nothing should be said to them that she didn't want the entire school knowing by the end of the next day.

Her next idea was telling her mom or even Vicky. The first idea was dismissed, mostly because it was far too late and she was likely asleep. However, Vicky might still be awake, patrolling around somewhere. Even though her cousin practically only ever dated Dean, it was still some amount of love experience.

Now she just needed to make sure she didn't catch on…

Dialing her cousin's number, Crystal leaned back in her chair as the phone rang. After a moment, it was picked up and Vicky's voice came over the speaker. "Hey, Crystal! Whatcha up to?"

"Um…" Crystal's voice died in her throat. A sudden balloon of nervousness sealed up her voice, preventing her from speaking. Even fighting Uber again was more preferable than talking about her love life. "Hey Vick… I was just wondering…" She took a deep breath and bit the bullet. "How did you know that you liked Dean?"

"Oh?" Vicky made a soft sound of surprise. "Hehehe… Did a 'friend'," Crystal could practically hear the air quotes, "of yours found someone they liked and they aren't sure if they do like them or not?"

Despite the many jokes of 'Collateral Damage Barbie' and 'Brute-level intelligence' memes, Victoria was incredibly sharp when she wasn't recklessly throwing her strength around. A pained grimace formed on Crystal's face as she immediately regretted having this conversation in the first place. "That's exactly right." She admitted. At the very least, Vicky should have the sense to not spread this on the rumour mill.

"Uuuu….!" Victoria squealed before clearing her throat. "I mean- I'll do my best to help out this 'friend' of yours." The sound of rushing wind whipped by as Victoria flew somewhere… Pulling the phone away, she waited until her cousin settled down before starting her long explanation.

It took a good ten minutes or so before Crystal interrupted her to summarize her points. "So… spend more time with them, flirt back, and watch them interact with other girls and see how you feel about them?" She quirked an eyebrow. It wasn't… impossible since Nathan was a student in Brockton Bay University as well. Though in order to keep it on the down low, she would have to search for him herself.

Vicky sounded a bit sheepish on the phone. "There's… a bit more than that… But it's the gist of it. If your heart pounds when he's close to you, or if you feel jealous that he's with other girls, then you're definitely into him."

Hearing her state it so blatantly, Crystal felt her cheeks heat up rapidly. "It's for a friend."

"Right, right. A 'friend'. I forgot." Vicky laughed which only made her face burn even more.

Sighing, Crystal gave a brief goodbye before hanging up. Rubbing her cheeks, she shut the laptop in front of her before throwing herself onto her bed. Swaddling herself in her blankets, she cursed herself for acting so much like a lovestruck girl in some sort of drama. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head.

There was no way she was falling in love with a civilian. No way no how. Her life was far too dangerous, and there was no way that they would ever be safe. She bit her lip as she remembered him tossing the fan over to her. His smug looking grin when she caught it and said that it was for her. Then his sheer embarrassment as he practically fled from the scene after dropping that cringe line. It was almost refreshing compared to the absolute slop of interactions that she had otherwise.

"Nonono!" Crystal tossed in her bed and buried her face into her pillow. "I'm not in love. It's just an infatuation and it will fade sooner or later." Shutting her eyes, she forced herself to go to sleep, trying to drive his image from her mind.


Sitting in her room, Lisa Wilbourne nursed a growing headache. Nathan… was a concern. He knew not only who she was but how her powers worked and her team as well. A Thinker power for certain. However, when trying to pinpoint how that Thinker power worked, her power spiraled into several different paths.

And all of them contradicted the previous conclusion. The first time she used her power, it said that he was a mind reader. The second that he simply knew and that there wasn't any power that provided him knowledge. The third that he could 'see the history' of whoever he was looking at. Each conclusion being worse than the last. This had never happened before. Most of the time, she would receive relatively consistent conclusions, even if she reapplied her power repeatedly on the same object or person.

Except for some smaller details, the general idea for the conclusion should have been exactly the same. There was nothing to show that she could have drawn wildly different conclusions from the same information. This was unlike the Endbringers or Scion, where her powers pretty much decided not to work on them. It was working but providing seemingly junk information despite it. Some sort of Stranger power? Lisa gnawed on her lip as she massaged her temples.

No Stranger power. No powers. Knew about secret identi-

She forcefully stopped her power again. Her headache was seriously growing into a full-blown migraine at this point. Nothing it said provided any new knowledge to her. Yes he knew about her identity. Yes, his power was apparently impossible for her to figure out. It pained her to do so, more emotionally than physically, but she admitted that simply didn't know enough about Nathan.

For someone who valued her intelligence, that was a crippling blow to her esteem. She had to know. She must know. Endbringers and Scion? Fine, she could live with a mental model instead. Coil and his true identity? She didn't have enough information for her power to work on and he was actively trying to obscure it. It would take a little longer, but she got it eventually. But Nathan? He practically had everything displayed to her on a silver platter compared to the other two. And the fact that she still didn't know was pissing her off. Lisa didn't really care that he was probably a cape of some sort. Both of them knew that the other was one anyway. And despite knowing her identity, he didn't seem concerned about her.

He panicked when he first saw her but quickly calmed himself down and did well in deflecting and evading most of her questions. But despite that panic, her power had provided that it wasn't directed to her. At least, not entirely. But to the boss behind her. It was only after she didn't show any signs of recruiting him did he relax a little more.

Wary of Coil, huh? A sharp spike of pain hammered into her skull and she fumbled for some more painkillers in a vain attempt to dull it. It didn't work. She knew that much. But the placebo effect helped to squeeze out a few more inferences. He knew of Coil and how dangerous he was. Perhaps she could use him to break free from his control? It was something to keep in mind at least.

Spiralling in circles, Lisa could feel her power try to acquiesce to her demands. The information laid bare in her mind as her power sorted and structured them and restructured them over and over again. It was like staring at a kaleidoscope as her power worked overtime, grasping at straws.

And it very much wasn't working. Her powers were drawing conclusions that drove her mad. Statements that made no sense no matter how you looked at it. For example, when she pointed her power at how he held himself, it originally said that he was trained to do so. A weird conclusion but certainly not as bad as 'is actually over a century old' despite looking no older than twenty!

Lisa constantly had to kill off her power and recenter it, starting with known pieces of information and corralling it the best she could. Not entirely possible, most of the time her power simply ran off with its inferences but things like her focus and attention did 'guide' her power to an extent. She stared at her notes containing everything she knew about Nathan, as if trying to burn a hole through the paper, table and maybe the ground underneath.

A certain inference about his attitude did catch her attention though. Sees the world as not entirely real. A strange conclusion to draw and she quickly cut it off. However, it definitely stuck on her mind. Despite the fact that her power didn't exactly work on his power nor mentality, it worked just fine figuring out his emotions, thoughts and body language. Or at least, she hoped that it does.

A form of dissociation? Lisa cursed as another dull throb rocketed through her head. "Shit!" Taking a deep breath, she took a few moments to calm herself before continuing to fight through the pain. It wasn't some starry-eyed naivety or deep depression that pushed the truth of reality out. It was something very different. Her power filled in the cracks, pulling from his body language, his facial expressions, everything. It hurt. Badly. But she wanted, at the very least, one thing about Nathan. The person that somehow screwed over her powers in a way that no one had before.

"He-" Lisa choked back a cry of pain as she had a full migraine now. "Fuck!" Her thumbs ground into her temples in an attempt to alleviate enough pain for her to even comprehend what her power was trying to tell her. "He… sees everything as a fictional world??"

What the fuck did that mean? Growling, Lisa grabbed a nearby pillow and chucked it against the wall. The soft fabric thumped before falling to the ground. She had never had this bad of a Thinker migraine. Literally. She couldn't point to any time that she had overused her power this badly. Not when her parents literally overworked her to game the system to earn money. Not when she had stayed up late to try in vain to figure out who Coil was.

And it was all for fucking nothing! She wanted to throw something again but another wave of pain nearly knocked her off her feet. Collapsing on her bed, she took several deep breaths. There was no point in working anymore, not with her power feeling like it was trying to kill her. However, an ugly feeling reared its head in her heart. She had to know. She must know who Nathan was.

She glanced towards the scrap of paper by her bedside. His phone number, easily skimmed from his contacts list when she passed it back. Though she did use her power to pull out some digits that she forgot. If she spent more time with him, studying him. Then, at some point, her power should have enough information to produce useful information about him, right?

Taking a deep breath, she fumbled for some sleeping pills and popped them directly into her mouth. Without it, she wasn't going to have any amount of sleep tonight. Not with the jackhammer in her skull. Barely a few seconds later, darkness overwhelmed her vision and her pain was blissfully banished from her mind.



Chapter 6


A/N: Now back to your regularly(ish) scheduled Celestial Forge

Entering my apartment, I took a nice lukewarm shower and changed into more comfortable clothes. Sitting down, I placed my mental breakdown out of my mind. The Celestial Forge… wasn't sentient. And therefore couldn't purposefully pick powers to fuck with me. I took a deep breath before turning my attention back to Cult of the Gun.

Picking up a pen, I 'felt around' in my mental space for the so-called gun magic that my perk provided. It took a while… but I found it. It was a weird feeling, a mass of energy that wanted to convert anything it touched into a gun. It was a dull gunmetal grey fog that felt… semi-sapient? It had some form of intent at the very least and was only begrudgingly obeying my orders.

It would be extremely concerning if it was actually sentient though. At the very least, it shouldn't do anything outside of my commands. Letting a little magic leak out, it coalesced in my hands like a metal haze. Picking up a pen with my other hand, I stuck it inside and felt the magic try to convert it into a gun.

The clip of the pen pulled up to be perpendicular to the body before turning into a hook that wrapped around my index finger. The clicky bit remained in place, but its shape shifted slightly to let my thumb press down on it to click the pen. And finally the main body of the pen thickened and turned a little more blocky.

While it was all happening, I had Loremaster working to view how this magic was enchanting the pen. Which didn't tell me much else other than the magic was reshaping the pen. Sighing, I shrugged my shoulders. I guess it was too much to ask how the enchantment was working with literally the weakest version of Loremaster right now. It could see the pathways the magic was drawing throughout the pen though, so I guess that was nice.

The gun magic, or I guess the gun mana, receded and returned into my body. It's job was done so there was no need to have it outside anymore. Spinning my new pen gun in my hands, I pointed it at the wall before grimacing. No. Don't shoot unknown weapons in my home.

"…. I need a training ground." I sighed. The Boat Graveyard?

But I just showered…

I mean… it's just a pen though. I stared at the pen gun in my hand. Let's think about it.

I set it down on the table and stared at it. This would also be good Loremaster training. Peering at it, I let Loremaster help with peeling back the curtain on the object. The enchantment was being animated by my gun magic, cycling through and around the pen like a slight aura. If I wanted to, I could draw that bit of magic back into my body, reverting the transformation.

However, I wanted to peer a little deeper on how exactly the magic worked. Massaging my temple, I let out a soft sigh. Peeling back each layer wasn't easy. The best way I could explain it was like reading a paragraph of text. Then trying to figure out the subtext and the meaning behind the words. Then trying to figure out the subtext and the meaning behind that one. So on and so forth.

No wonder Loremasters were taught by fucking arguing with each other. It would definitely help with this shit.

The second layer was immediately a step up compared to the relatively easy first layer. The method to how my gun magic was enchanting the pen was a lot more complex than I had first expected. Not that I particularly expected it to be anything less. The capability to turn anything into a gun wouldn't be exactly easy to figure out.

Picking apart the enchantment, I tested several hypotheses while I tested the limits of my gun magic. Pulling it away, dragging out the transformation over the course of several minutes, dragging out the disenchantment over the course of several minutes… I even tested on some other objects I had lying around in my room. A belt, socks, an old box…

Savant's Understanding was also incredibly useful as always, every observation and scrap of information was automatically filed away and integrated into my understanding of gun magic. Something that I never realized was how useful Savant was for information-based perks like Loremaster. Things that benefited from understanding directly benefited from Savant's extremely well. Grabbing my new fan gun, I pulled the magic away and gazed at how it unraveled before my very eyes.

Gun magic altered things on the conceptual level. When I enchanted my pen, it didn't stop being a 'pen' and became a 'gun'. It became a 'pen gun'. The same with my socks. They didn't suddenly stop being socks when I infused gun magic into it. So instead of altering the physical shape or something similar, gun magic affected things on the fundamental level of existence and in doing so, altered its physical shape to become more of a 'gun'.

Which was an absolutely terrifying ability. Like imagine being capable of overriding the conceptual existence of objects, and only using it to make things into 'guns'? It reminded me of that one panel of the Dinodude being able to alter genes and using it to turn people into dinosaurs.

An… awfully apt comparison now that I think about it.

Well… Since this was the Celestial Forge backing this power, I doubt this magic would suddenly rampage and turn everything into a 'gun', until it subsumed the world itself and turned Earth into a 'gun'.

Nah… That could never happen.

Anyway, it also didn't simply slap a 'gun' into an object's conceptual existence and leave it at that. It also used itself to mix both concepts together into a tight bond. Think… like a covalent bond between two atoms. It was still two different things and can still be separated, but for now, while gun magic was still affecting it, they were 'one' thing.

When the magic was taken away, it was like the covalent bond being broken. Once broken, the two 'atoms' or concepts split apart without any damage. So no matter how many times I enchanted an object with gun magic, the physical structure never deformed or broke under the stress. It was simply the conceptual existence snapping back and the physical form changing to reflect that.

Creating my pen gun again, I tried working on the third layer of the enchantment. And shook my head as I slammed my head into a metaphysical wall. The third layer was a lot more obtuse compared to the second, dealing with the nature of how the enchantment was structured within the object in question.

Not exactly an easy layer to crack. I could spend the next hour or so using Savant and Loremaster in tandem… Nah. There were better ways to use my time for now than bashing at a brick wall. Removing the magic from the pen, I sat down and focused on the rest of my newly acquired powers.

The main perk I was interested in was Machine Madness. Any sort of supernatural phenomenon could be observed, understood, and replicated with technology. This was what I was going to focus Erstein on. Forget about Hammer Jammer, or Cult of the Gun, this shit was precisely what I wanted. And it even meshed with the whole 'mad scientist' schtick I was aiming for.

I wondered for a moment if I could implement Cult of the Gun's conceptual rewriting with Machine Madness. And it spat back a design so out of my reach, that there was no way I was producing anything like that. Like the complexity and materials needed for a simple device put most items based on Stilling to shame.

Putting that out of my mind, I had entertained a few ideas yesterday but now, with a fresh mind, there were a few powers that definitely caught my attention. Mainly Glory Girl's barrier and Shielder's… shield. A one-time barrier that could tank anything but required a recharge after every hit, and a blue shield that could withstand even Leviathan's waves.

It might sound redundant but it very much wasn't. Shielder's power would be my main defense. I could already imagine it, a set of projection drones creating an array of shields around me, protecting against things like bullets and heavy hits. While Glory Girl's barrier would protect me against sudden and out-of-the-blue attacks from blindspots.

I didn't even need to limit myself to one. I could have three or four or even five of these barriers on me. When one came down, another could be thrown up while the other recharged. Given a short enough recharge cycle, and a large enough number of such generators, I could pretty much have an impenetrable force field around me!

I doubt it though. Machine Madness helpfully provided that, no matter what, there would be a small delay as the first barrier went down and the second barrier came up. Given an accurate shot or simply a hail of bullets, it could slip between the gap between the two barriers and kill me. But the idea was sound enough, having multiple barriers so that I could minimize the time when I was vulnerable.

As for offensive options… Miss Militia was definitely up there. A mass of energy that could take the shape of any handheld weapon. I wondered for a moment how that would interact with Cult of the Gun before putting that thought out of my head. And Laserdream's energy blast. Crystal's blast could stagger Leviathan which was a testament to its pure power.

Those four options would be my focus. At least for now. There were a lot of interesting abilities like Grue's smoke, Regent's nerve puppetry, and of course Vista's spatial warping. However, in terms of defense and offense, those four looked the best. And would also definitely cement me as some sort of power replication tinker.

Now that I have it, do I even need a grappling hook now? Originally I wanted it since I only had Hammer Jammer… But now it would be better and frankly a lot easier to replicate New Wave's flight power.

Okay, the plan was simple. Glory Girl's barrier, New Wave's flight, and Laserdream's laser blasts. I pressed my lips together. I swear I didn't mean to only pick exclusively from the New Wave…

But let's be real. Their powers were definitely less complex than the other powers in the Bay. Like I doubt I was going to have the ability to replicate Assault or Battery's power. Or Hookwolf's transformation. Or Oni Lee's literal destruction and reassembly version of a 'teleportation' power.

Much… much less complex.

Glory Girl formed an invisible barrier around her that would take any attack once before 'breaking'. No force was transferred from the barrier to her and the attack would be stopped. Of course there should be lower limits as to what counted as an 'attack'. I don't need mere wind to shatter my barrier.

Which was the main problem with this piece of equipment. Forming the barrier and having it recharge after impacts was easy enough. I could probably throw something together with capacitors and some time creating the barrier generator component. However, limiting what does and doesn't trigger the shield was another thing entirely.

The Celestial Forge spun up, the tendril snaking out to one of the 19 Constellations again. This time it reached and latched onto one of the five stars of the Aides Constellation. This time it grabbed a perk called 'Lab Partner'? As well as a Mote-

A soft knock came from my door. My heart leapt to my chest before a woman's voice came from it. "Hello? You shouldn't keep a woman waiting y'know?" Swallowing, I stood up and walked over and grabbed the handle. Peering through the peephole, I was surprised at the woman at my door. Lime green hair, standing at around half a head shorter than me, with a pair of rectangular glasses and a lab coat, along with a low cut shirt showing off her cleavage and a tight office lady skirt with translucent stockings. Her appearance rivaled mine, and I had a perk that made me beautiful in the first place. Her body practically radiated sex appeal as well, her breasts being large and an hourglass body accentuated by her clothes.

Spoiler: Appearance

[img: https/upload-os-bbs./upload/2022/11/10/fa02b0021738cb4ca2dcbb1eb2cc2edc_1196075538442393249.jpg]

Swallowing, I unlocked the door and swung it wide open. My 'Lab Partner' flashed a smile as she basically strode into the room. Despite being slightly shorter, she practically commanded the space, as if she owned it.

"My name is Mebisu Amaya. Nice to meet you, Master." She extended a hand out. Glancing at it, I shook it rather hesitantly.

'Lab Partner' gave me… well her. A spitting image of a grown-up version of a certain Flamechaser, as well as a similar name. But outside of her looks, her personality couldn't be more different. She also had some perks as well to bolster her effectiveness. 'A Stroke of Genius' that placed her at the top of the world in terms of intelligence and knowledge, though she was also ludicrously horny. 'Ward's Maxim' so anything she made couldn't kill her. As well as two additional items, 'Authoritative Lab Coat' to make others believe that she was a scientist and 'Ritual Checklist' which checked if she had everything she needed for any ritual.

"Nice to meet you too." I took a deep breath. "I'm guessing even if I tell you my name, you're not going to call me anything else other than 'Master'?"

"Nope, " She flashed a smile at me. "Master~" Collapsing onto the chair, she crossed her legs, though I wasn't too sure if she purposefully or accidentally flashed me. However, judging by the description of 'A Stroke of Genius'… I was putting my money on the former. Taking a deep breath, I pinched the bridge of my nose.

Yup. This was… Hm.

"Okay… give me a moment." I turned around and looked at my Mote. And it confirmed my suspicion on the 19 Constellations. They were smutty, lewd Constellations.

'Carnal Artist' just made me an expert sex machine. Literally that's all it did. Anything to do with the act of fucking? You're now an expert at it, which also included foreplay and flirting. Which… Loremaster of all things worked well with. Finding out their emotions and reasons using Loremaster and then leveraging that with Carnal Artist to get them riled up.

… I mean. Sure. Fuck it. Why not?

Turning my attention back to Not-Mobius, she was busy looking over my notes and blueprints before gazing back up at me. "Are you finished looking at your new perks?" Seeing that I was still silent, she smiled and rested her head on her hand as she stared up at me. "What do you need me to do?"

"What… can you do?" I replied carefully as I sat on the foot of my bed. Although this was a Forge perk and her loyalty was very much ensured, it only meant the woman in front of me wouldn't sell me out or betray me in any capacity. It didn't mean that she wouldn't 'accidentally' bend my orders to kidnap a bunch of women for her orgasm machines or something.

Humming, Amaya tilted her head back. "Well, you should know my perks and equipment right?" She shot a glance at me. "So it's not a matter of what I can do. But what you want me to do. You already have a working relationship with Toybox… so I doubt you need me to help you find and develop a lab for you…" Her fingers idly played with a lock of hair trailing down the side of her face. I swear she was purposefully trying to get me aroused with her movements.

"Infiltration? I doubt anyone would turn away a genius like me." She flicked her lock over her shoulder. "Maybe not the gangs… walking into a viper's pit without preparation is bound to end poorly. But perhaps the schools? Brockton Bay University? Arcadia? Winslow? I could get closer to some of your targets and perhaps… worm my way in?" I didn't particularly like the way she called them 'targets'.

Seeing my face, she quickly picked up on it. Frowning, she continued. "Maybe not then. Or rather you want me for research and development? I am a genius after all." She breathed out a long sigh. "Your taser and goggles." She pointed to my bag "And your blueprints." Her finger moved to my head. "I can help with refining their designs. And removing the crude touches that Hammer Jammer placed on it."

I closed my eyes. "For now…" I spoke up after repeating some Solar chants to calm myself down. "Lay low. You don't have an identity just yet and I doubt you're on the census right now. Plus it's hard to explain away that green hair of yours." I picked up my phone. "I'll try to get you a room for you to stay in-"

"No." Was her immediate reply.

I had to double-take. "The fuck-? No??" I frowned and narrowed my eyes at her in sheer disbelief.

Leaning back in the chair and spinning side to side slightly, she locked eyes with me. "No." She repeated. "I'll be staying with you for the foreseeable future."

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. "You do know how much of a terrible idea that is right?" I stared at her, unimpressed. "How are you going to explain to my neighbours that a green-haired scientist is walking in and out of my room day-in, day-out?"

"That it's your fetish." Amaya replied with a smile. Loremaster helpfully provided me that she was indeed joking. Not that it was a particularly funny joke. Biting my lip, I had to walk into the corner of the room and exhale my frustration, lest my neighbours do hear me. Taking several deep breaths, I turned back to look at Amaya who raised her arms in surrender.

"Alright, alright." She stood up and dusted herself off. "I'll introduce myself as your aunt, coming over to take care of you after your unfortunate drop-out from school." A pained smile appeared on my face. Laughing, she shook her head. "I'm joking of course. I'll handle my identity."

Taking a deep breath, I massaged my temples. "Do you even know how to set up your own identity?" I asked in confusion.

Amaya hummed and leaned back in my chair. "No. But it can't be that hard. After all, I am a genius." Loremaster did tell me that she was fucking with me. Somehow. I wasn't sure how but she was.

Narrowing my eyes at her, I frowned for a moment as I tried to figure out what it was. Only to breath a long sigh as nothing really came to mind. "Fine. Do as you wish."

A wide smile broke out on her face. "Great! I won't let you down, Mas~ ter~" In a single step, she closed the distance and pressed her body against mine. Pulling back, I was acutely aware of how soft her breasts were while they were pressing against my body. And Savant's perfect recall basically kept them at the forefront of my mind. "Oh, and is there anything you need me to do in the meantime?"

I bit my lip. This woman had the 'Evil Genius' origin and was also fiercely loyal to me. And if there was one thing I knew about these types of women from doujins, they had no line that they would cross for their 'masters'. Though… because she had no real qualms about things like morals or ethics, she would also be incredibly useful.

"Could you handle the projects I have?" I asked her. "Maybe the Shield Array?"

Amaya cocked her head as she closed her eyes and considered it. "It would take longer than if you did it since I don't have Machine Madness or some sort of similar perk to help handle all the design work. Plus the projector technology and the interface that would allow you to control several drones at the same time… I would need a proper workshop to fabricate such a thing."

I cocked my head. "Then which research project do you want to work on?" I frowned slightly.

Amaya hummed as she thought about it for a moment. "Regent's nervejacking."

"Denied." I shook my head.

"That's a lie and we both know it." She crossed her arms, pushing up her breasts and showing off her cleavage even more prominently. "We know well enough how his power works and it would be incredibly useful for infiltration and intel gathering. You already have a method to induce electrical charges from a distance, this would be a simple step-up from that."

Loremaster was working well in picking apart her argument. "Just because it's a 'simple step-up' doesn't mean it's necessary right now. We don't need a Master rating slapped onto our backs before we even have a chance to build a decent foundation. And it's a support tool. It behooves us to develop a form of defense and attack first before working on such projects." I shot back. "And you just want to use nervejacking to kidnap some gangsters for your 'personal projects', right?"

Amaya blushed slightly as she turned away. "Ehehe…" She laughed nervously.

Biting my lip, I let out a sigh. I should nip this in the bud. "If you wish… I will allow you to… work on your own projects during your spare time. Hell, I'll even close an eye if you keep any prisoners for testing. However." I raised a finger to cut her off before she could even speak. "You can only kidnap known felons, you cannot kidnap anyone that would bring the wrath of either the PRT or the gangs on us, and you will be mostly responsible for their own imprisonment and well-being. If you need my help, I'll hear it out first before giving my permission."

Her eyes lit up as if she was a kid in a candy store. "Really?" I nodded begrudgingly. "You won't regret it, Master!" I felt like I would regret it later. But Amaya was an Evil Genius through and through. It would be easier, and better for me if she did her evil deeds under my supervision rather than sneaking around my back.

"Anyway, you'll be working on Laserdream's gauntlets. You should know the general details of it?" Amaya nodded rapidly. "Great. That will be your main project for now. In your free time, you can do as you wish, so long as you don't bring down the PRT or any of the gangs on our heads."

Spinning to face the table, Amaya grabbed a pen and paper before opening my laptop and unlocking it with ease. Mildly concerning but I put it out of my mind. Heading to PHO, she started going through a bunch of Laserdream threads and picking out videos recorded by bystanders. The pen started jotting down all sorts of notes, the time taken for her to charge up a blast, the speed of travel, all from simply watching the video without any calculator.

I have a monster in my room right now. I curled my lip slightly. Horrifying.

Back to Glory Girl's One-Time Barrier, I didn't know enough about how it worked. Just the effects of the power itself. How did the Shard determine what was and wasn't dangerous? How did it nullify the energy of any attack? The answer was Shard Bullshit but that wasn't enough for Machine Madness. It wanted a decent explanation of how it worked rather than simply seeing the effect of a power and replicating that instead.

Ironically, that meant the easiest power for me to actually replicate was Stilling. Literally. I knew that it worked by negating the wavelengths of the energy or matter he wanted. And Machine Madness apparently was satisfied with that since it was more than happy to work on guns and fucking lightsabers based on that power.

While I was wrapping my head around that, the Celestial Forge spun up. Again. Already? However, the short length of energy easily failed at trying to grasp at a Star on the Efficiency Quality Constellation. Unfortunate but I was rapidly losing faith in getting a lot of the cheaper perks early. I shot a glance at Amaya who was working on the design of the gloves.

Well, I guess the higher Stars had good payoffs.

Letting out a breath, I put it out of my head. Stilling could be replicated but it wasn't by any means 'easy'. Just the components needed to generate it would require some seriously heavy-duty stuff. Things that would require most tinkers decades to make in the first place. Not to mention the tech to actually channel such destructive energy.

It was like designing a vial to store a solvent that could dissolve anything. Not exactly an easy task.

Anyway, the knowledge of 'effects' of powers don't work. So I would have to design a sensor suite to read and understand parahuman powers first before I could even start. Unfortunate… but not entirely out of my wheelhouse. Hammer Jammer could work on that easily enough since it should fall under its umbrella.

It should be a passive scanner. Something that reads the effect parahumans have on the world around them. Definitely not an AIM field, since I doubted the Shards would affect the universe passively. My personal theory was that all physical effects were dealt directly to the object or area itself, while all mental effects were dealt directly to the brain. So things like Amy's biokinesis was literally the Shard reshaping biomatter according to Amy's will, while Gallant's emotion beams didn't really fire beams of emotions. The Shard produced a beam of light and force and physically induced emotions in the target hit.

I was half-expecting Machine Madness to take that explanation but it didn't. I still needed proper data before it was satisfied.

A passive scanner… Something that could detect parahuman powers… I grimaced slightly. This was skirting the Unwritten Rules. But fuck it, I already knew most of their identities anyway. What were a few more?

Firstly, it had to fit in a small volume, something that could be reasonably worn everywhere without people raising any eyebrows. My first thought was glasses. Easy enough to wear, carry and conceal. However, cramming what would be a sensor for energy, spatial fluctuations and whatever else to detect Shard influence inside was… Armsmaster's specialty and not mine.

A watch? Phone? Tablet? I cocked my head. The more space, the better but again nothing too big either since I would have to carry it around. A phone made the most sense and, with Toybox passing me a phone, I could cannibalize my old one for it. I took a deep breath. Yea, let's do that.

I quickly pulled out my Toybox phone and waved it over my old phone. Barely a second later, all the data was ripped from my old phone and stored on the new one. Transferring the sim card as well, I put it away before measuring the space I was working with. Not a lot, but much better than glasses.

It would be a bit cramped… Most of the internal hardware, like the CPU, RAM, and motherboard could stay and be repurposed for the sensor suite. However, I would have to reprogram it to handle the output data. Afterwards, I could alter a Linux kernel to override the normal OS to get rid of any companies figuring out that I was using their stuff to detect parahumans. That seemed like a good concern to have.

And finally we could have that specially designed to handle a program that would turn all that sensor data into a glorious infographic.

Yea… Phone it was.

Amaya leaned back in her chair. Reaching over the headrest, she held a sheaf of paper between her fingers. "I'm done, Master~" She said with a smirk. Blinking, I glanced as I grabbed it. On it were her thoughts on how Crystal's power could be replicated. The first page was dedicated to explain why they weren't lasers and more of solid hard-light blasts. Then the next few pages talked about the displayed effects of her powers, with several handwritten links and timestamps. And finally the last few pages were her thoughts on how she could design something that could replicate such effects.

A lot of it went over my head. It was very much written for someone of equal standing to her to understand and not… me, who was coasting along using my perks. Taking a deep breath, I read and reread the papers multiple times, using my phone to figure out whatever jargon she was throwing at me. Savant was again pulling its weight as it helped me filed away and comprehend her words at a much faster pace.

Pulling the papers back, I pinched the bridge of my nose. It… would work. According to her notes and my knowledge provided by both Hammer Jammer and Machine Madness, there was no reason it wouldn't. Then again, this was a person on the forefront of science. I doubted anyone barring Thinkers and Tinkers could rival her.

Which raised an interesting point. If she could replicate Laserdream's lasers, or concussive blasts, what was stopping her from replicating any other power? Bringing it up to Amaya, she poked her head up from another set of notes she was working on.

"Master…" She shot a slight smile at me. "I don't have Machine Madness, which means both of us take very different routes to the same destination. I'm sure you can figure it out." She reached a finger out before poking me in the forehead. Returning to her notes, I frowned as I pondered her words.

And facepalmed after giving it a moment's thought. Of course, she had A Stroke of Genius, which handled all the scientific knowledge for her. There wasn't any need to read or understand how a power worked because she could leverage that knowledge to simply recreate it using her knowledge on scientific principles. However, she didn't have Machine Madness that could turn all that scientific knowledge into working machinery and components.

On the other hand, I was the exact opposite. I didn't have scientific knowledge rivaling the world's scientific community so I had to scan and figure out how these powers worked on my own. However, once I did, I could use Machine Madness to design the blueprints for me.

But… then what was stopping us from simply working together?

The answer was right in front of me. Although Amaya could easily produce all the principles she needed to explain how a power could work, Machine Madness wanted how the power does work. Which meant either meta-knowledge or by observing and understanding the power firsthand. That's why I could replicate Stilling since that was explicitly how it was explained in the story.

I let out a soft sigh. No shortcut for me, I'm afraid.

"Well I think it's fine…" I replied as I passed the papers back. Catching a glance of her other set of papers, I caught a rather accurate depiction of the human nervous system. Briefly sending a prayer to the poor unfortunate gang members, I continued. "But since you don't have Machine Madness, you'll have to conduct all the engineering yourself, is that fine?"

"Master." She turned her head and stared at me with a slight sultry smile on her face. "Who do you think you're asking?" A weird smile formed on my face. Nodding, I decided that it was probably better to not know for now.

Turning my attention back to the scanner, it shouldn't be too hard to create. Contacting Toybox to get the materials was definitely possible. However, I would need a version that could be sold in the first place. The way it worked was that any material for personal projects came out of my own pocket while Toybox products would be considered a business expense and covered by them.

I tapped my fingers on the table. There was always running the risk of the Boat Graveyard… or simply waiting until I had the funds to buy the components I needed. Letting out a breath, my thoughts pinged around in my head until my Toybox phone vibrated. Pulling it up, a notification came from Claire.

A client request was sent in. Apparently quite a number of them were sent to their 'fake' email, and an algorithm helped filter out the chaff. Most of them were rejected due to a simple lack of ability or specificity. And their usual requests came from special and specific lines to Toybox and only asked for a single member's talents. However, occasionally a request would be sent in that may work and was reasonably priced. This was one of them.

This specific client was asking for a long-range signal disruptor, basically killing any and all forms of communication in an area. And was willing to pay a good price for it. $50,000 up front, with another $75,000 once it was delivered. Although Toybox doesn't usually take such requests since none of them had the specialty to do such a thing, they were willing to toss it to me to see if I could.

And I could definitely do it. It would definitely fall under a 'contraption' with Hammer Jammer. But with Toybox's funding… yea, it could work. Shooting back a reply, Claire was a little skeptical. Once I took the contract, it wasn't like I could back out of it. Not without paying a substantial penalty fee.

After confirming that yes I wanted to do it. Claire sent a thumbs-up. Toybox would handle all of the nitty-gritty contract work for me, with an AI (Not Dragon-level) courtesy of Cranial and several prior tinkers, who didn't want to handle the legalese themselves, to handle the legalese, so I didn't have to spend three hours of my life on fine detailing. And finally, they would allow me to borrow one of their workshops for the time being. Cranial's one since hers was the only one that didn't have a risk of accidentally blowing up if I touched the wrong button.

Leaning back, I couldn't help but smile slightly. Just as I was thinking about how to earn some cash, I had a massive windfall. Of course I needed to actually make it but it shouldn't be that hard. Right?

A/N: First Aide/Assistant! Why is she a Mobius-expy? Because it's my Lab Partner and I get to choose the hot scientist, obviously. She's also not precisely Mobius if it wasn't apparent. It's more of a new person that just so happens to look exactly like Mobius, and with that a new personality that flickers between genius scientist and horny tease.

I'll try to balance her appearance with the canon characters. But since she's a 400 Point perk, she's going to really really useful and also living with the MC so… expect her to be showing up consistently from now on.

As for Machine Madness, I hope I expanded and explained enough of it as well as keeping it semi-consistent. And I don't know if any power in Worm was precisely explained like Stilling was, especially since Fandom is light on the details. So if I screw up Machine Madness applications or if a power was indeed explained and I missed it, please let me know.

New Perks:

-Lab Partner (World of Tentacles) (400 CP)

They're not quite as brilliant as you are but that doesn't make this bombshell of a mage or scientist any less exciting to work with. The Lab Partner is your most loyal and useful assistant, and has the Evil Genius origin along with 600 CP to spend on perks and items from that origin. Any perks from the Evil Genius tree that you share with them gain a substantial boost in effectiveness whenever you both use them simultaneously; experiments proceed more smoothly, collaborative inventions take much less time to perfect, and so on.

-A Stroke of Genius (200CP)

No matter where he goes or what he's doing, an Evil Genius is almost always the smartest person in the room, and probably the most perverted too. Your intelligence and creativity stand at the peak of ordinary human capacity and your knowledge of the sciences is equally vast, covering many different disciplines from robotics to programming to chemistry. Even magic is well within your grasp in any world where such power can be learned. But when your genius is fueled by depraved inspiration you can push these fields into the realm of comic book super-science. You might design machines that use orgasms to brainwash their wearers or discover a new kind of energy produced by sexual desire. The laws of science may seem hard and inflexible to others but in your hands they bend and flex like a stripper on a pole.

-Ward's Maxim (200CP)

Does nobody besides you read Lovecraft before they start dabbling with eldritch forces anymore?! You've learned to never call up anything that you can't put down and you put that lesson into play by ensuring you'll never lose control of your creations. Any creatures summoned or created by you as well as any devices you build have a built-in kill switch which you can use to restrain, kill, power off, or otherwise neutralize them at will. The nature of this trigger is up to you as long as the effects are the same, but it can only be exploited by you or those instructed in its use by you. You are also automatically inoculated against any chemical or biological agents you may create.

-Authoritative Lab Coat (100CP)

This white lab coat is somehow viewed as appropriate garb for a scientist, researcher, or doctor regardless of what else you are (or aren't) wearing or the situation. In addition, the more you know about medical, technical, or scientific matters compared to someone else, the more easily they will believe you when you cloak your arguments in such 'facts'.

-Ritual Checklist (100CP)

If you write the requirements for a ritual or magical procedure in this blank book then an unseen hand will annotate the list to indicate which have been met. The book updates as though you were continually checking the status of that requirement, giving you notice if that 'virgin sacrifice' manages to disqualify herself, but is unable to discern information that you either could not yourself find out or would be oblivious to. You will be provided with a replacement notebook whenever the current one is full or has been destroyed.

-Carnal Artist (World of Tentacles) (FREE)*

Sex is a lot less fun when you don't know what you're doing, and that's just as true for tentacle monsters as for anyone else. This perk gives you a built-in instinct for sex and eroticism and a mastery of related bedroom skills. Even if you were a blushing virgin before this jump, having this perk will give you an instinct and talent for pleasing your partners; whether you're trying to bring a girl off by milking her tits or leave her hanging on the edge of orgasm for hours on end, you'll be able to pull it off.



Chapter 7


In the meantime, while the agreement was finalized, I decided to get some fresh air. Being cooped up for several hours doing tinker work was fun and all. But it was almost lunchtime and I needed to take a break. Amaya did want to follow me but I would rather not have a bright green scientist following me around.

However, just as I reached the door to the apartment building, a navy-blue suited man stopped me. Pulling out a badge, he flashed it to me before taking a step back. "My name is Michael Smithson of the Parahuman Response Team. May I ask, are you Nathan Leong who lives in this building?"

I glanced at him up and down. I don't… think that I did anything noteworthy? Nothing villainous and definitely nothing that would scream 'I'm a Cape' from the rooftops. Narrowing my eyes, I took a step forward. "I plead the Fifth."

The man coughed awkwardly into his fist. "You're not under arrest. Actually, I have a letter that is of the utmost importance to you." Reaching into his inner coat he pulled out an envelope and handed it to me. Tearing it open, I briefly skimmed through it to get the gist of the letter.

"Alright. So I just have to go to the PRTHQ and give…" I quirked an eyebrow. "Further clarification on my testimony?"

Michael nodded. "That is correct. It's an urgent call, so I hope you can go as soon as possible."

Pressing my lips into a thin line, I stared at Michael for a moment before tucking the letter away. "I'm afraid my testimony is as accurate as it could be. If I try to clarify my statements, I'm afraid I might misremember or alter my memories of the event to be more inaccurate." Complete bullshit of course but I wasn't going anywhere near the PRTHQ or the Rig unless I was physically dragged there kicking and screaming.

The Celestial Forge interrupted our conversation. Unluckily, it missed its shot on the Vehicles Domain Constellation. Sad. A mode of transportation would be nice. Or perhaps a garage as well?

Michael frowned slightly. "I'm afraid that's out of my hands, sir." He shook his head. "This is an official request from the PRT and-"

"And!" I interrupted him while raising my hand. "I shall politely and firmly refuse your request for now." Michael blinked at me before scowling.

"If you do not cooperate, things may get worse for you." Michael warned. I… don't think he was allowed to do so? If there was one thing I had learnt about American police was that probable cause was a thing and authorities generally needed that.

Letting out a sigh, I shook my head. "I'll think about it then." A shorthand for 'never in a million years'. I stepped past the man and kept walking. Glancing back, the man shot me a certain look before turning away and pulling out his phone. Unfortunately, I couldn't eavesdrop on it but it sounded pretty serious if they were glaring daggers at me.

Rounding the corner, I wondered what that was all about. It sounded pretty serious and Loremaster pinned his reason for approaching me as some form of concern and importance, with a certain undercurrent of something while he was talking to me. I frowned slightly. I couldn't quite pinpoint exactly what it was but it was definitely a negative emotion. Annoyance maybe?

But I seriously doubted that they knew I was Cape. If they did, they wouldn't dress it up as 'reviewing and clarifying my testimony'. I was pretty sure they would pretty explicitly just tell me. Maybe send their capes in the civilian IDs over to try and convince me to come or something similar. Or just straight up send a cape over. Whichever seemed most convenient for them.

So it was definitely not that… But it was definitely parahuman-related. Else they would hand it to the BBPD. I let out a soft sigh. There wasn't enough there to draw a definitive conclusion in any direction. Maybe they really wanted me to go to the PRT HQ to clarify my testimony and I was just being paranoid? Who knew?

Making my way to a local Italian restaurant, I went to the very back of the restaurant, away from the lunch rush, ordered a simple meal and waited as my order arrived. As I waited in the booth, I saw a certain dirty-blonde girl dart into the restaurant with me and made her way over. Sliding into my booth, I smiled slightly as I let the Thinker sit opposite me.

She looked rather tired, with dark circles around her eyes but still had that upbeat, smug look on her face. Though on closer inspection it felt a little forced. Her clothes were a bit nicer, hugging her figure slightly more than yesterday. I wasn't too sure if that was because she thought it would distract me or if it was just her choice of the day.

As for her intentions… Loremaster still gave me a sense of curiosity. However, it was slightly different. Instead of a mild curiosity like yesterday, like how one might look at an interesting novelty item, today's curiosity was stronger and deeper. It wasn't a one-off thing anymore. She was serious about me.

Which sounded wrong but whatever.

Sitting up slightly, I made the first move. I shouldn't allow her to lead the conversation. "Heya, Lisa. Didn't think I'd meet you here again." I smiled slightly as I tilted my head. "This a frequent haunt of yours?"

"Mhm." She nodded. "Same here. I thought it would be a few days before we met again." An absolute bold-faced lie. She must have tracked me here. Not sure how. But given that she managed to figure out that Taylor was at the library over text messages in PHO, I wasn't sure if there was any piece of information she couldn't ferret out given enough time.

"Any recommendations? I had already ordered a mushroom and truffle sauce spaghetti, but I'll be sure to keep yours in mind when I come back." I smiled as I handed the menu over to her. Grabbing it, she quickly glanced through it, most likely a token action rather than actually looking at anything within.

Humming, she glanced at me. "Any preferences?" An honest question or probing me? I tried to think of what she might glean from simply my taste for food and came up a little short.

I hummed for a moment before shrugging my shoulders. "Surprise me." Well, even if I wanted to, I couldn't make a decision anyway.

Lisa gave me a slight smile. Listing off a few dishes, they were safe recommendations. With Savant, I could easily pull up the images on the menu and noticed that a good few of them were being eaten by other customers. It was just likely that Lisa used her power to figure out which were being eaten by the majority and said those as it was that she was actually recommending them.

"Will you be ordering something?" I asked as a waiter walked over and placed down my lunch as well as a glass of water. "Maybe we could share." I said with a flirting grin. Lisa gave a kind smile in response but didn't comment on it. Carnal Artist and Loremaster gave me a general sense that she wasn't interested. Carnal could, given some time, probably manage to drop some flirty lines that might get Lisa riled up though her power didn't exactly allow for that.

And I'm sure she had picked it up. Her eyes flickered slightly between my plate and face before shaking her head. "Maybe a drink. I'm not particularly hungry." Yea, I was 80 to 90% certain she was here for me specifically.

"Well that's fine. But you shouldn't starve yourself. Perhaps a side dish instead?" I asked casually. "I'll be paying."

Lisa frowned slightly but agreed to it. Ordering a set of fries, it didn't take long for the two of us to return to our verbal tightrope sparring. I was getting a bit better at leveraging Loremaster to figure out why she was asking certain questions. And Carnal Artist was surprisingly good at dropping the occasional smug double entendre that would throw Lisa a little off-guard. Enough that I could deflect the conversation and regain some ground.

Now I wasn't sure if True Hero Potential also worked with verbal acuity but Savant's Understanding was definitely helping. It pointed out what worked in the conversation and what didn't, the small movements of Lisa's face and details. It was helping with my strategy of mostly staying on the defence, allowing Lisa to throw herself more into the conversation and allowing Savant to draw more information from her.

"Well, I haven't really got the chance to-" I cut myself off as Lisa groaned in pain.

Alarmed slightly, I reached over to grab her shoulder in concern. "Hey, are you okay?" I mentally kicked myself the moment I said it. Of course not, you moron. She had overworked her Thinker power… Or maybe she already had and this was just her limit.

A waiter walked over, his eyes furrowed with concern. "Is your date okay?"

Immediately a pained smile came to my face. Date? Lisa? Maybe when I figure out how to null her powers. "Sorry. It's fine. It's just that time of month, you know?" I gave him a sheepish smile. A look of embarrassment crossed his face while another waitress gave Lisa a pitying look.

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a bottle of painkillers. She grabbed two and quickly popped them into her mouth and dry-swallowed them. (The psychopath. Everyone knows you need to take a drink of water when swallowing pills.) Sighing, she continued to massage her temples while I awkwardly sat with her. There really wasn't anything to do other than to continue eating, so I waited until she recovered enough.

Letting out a long breath, Lisa glanced up at me. "Really? 'That time of month'?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Stopped them from asking anymore questions, didn't it?" I remarked with a smirk. Shooting me an annoyed glare, Lisa grabbed a fry and popped it into her mouth. "But are you really okay? It seems really bad." The moment I finished my words, Lisa winced again. Rubbing her head, she took a moment to compose herself.

I was certain that she was constantly using her powers on me the moment she walked in, but not to this extent. And definitely not to the point where she got a thinker headache. I don't quite know her limits since Thinker headaches were mostly by the whim of the Shard as an arbitrary limit on Thinkers. However, she did figure out the presence and location of Endbringer cores during EB attacks so I doubt it was a low wall.

If that was the case, how much of her power did she 'use' on me for her to get a migraine? Definitely a lot given how she was looking. But why? Shouldn't her powers easily give her any information she wanted from me? Unless, of course, her powers weren't working on me. Not in the sense like Zion that I was a blank by how she was still able to use her power on me in the first place. But enough that she was overusing it to figure out my intentions.

"I'll be fine." Lisa replied as she rubbed her head. "It's just… Well, you know how it is." She gave an attempt at a smug smile that would have been better if she wasn't nursing a migraine beneath it. Loremaster provided a sense of unyieldingness and determination from her, an unwillingness to give up. Furrowing my eyebrow, I shook my head.

"Maybe you should head home. Sleep it off. We can table this conversation for a later date." I said. I couldn't tell how bad it was, but assuming she was working her power since this morning to figure out where I was, plus even more when we had our conversation, she might get an aneurysm pretty soon. Plus those slight dark circles around her eyes… Did she stay up yesterday using her powers then as well?

"I'm fine." She replied rather stubbornly.

"You're clearly not." I gestured to her hand that was continuously nursing her temple. "Head home. Go. Rest."

Lisa bit her lip, clearly weighing both options in her head. Stay and ride out the migraine or leave and possibly stop needling me for information. "Well what if you're wrong and I'm actually fine?" She snarked as she let out a short huff.

"Well if I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. It ain't that deep." I stared right into her eyes. "Sometimes, you gotta accept that the conclusions that you make aren't infallible." A tense pause passed between us. Judging by how she didn't cry out in pain, I was guessing that she was restraining her power really hard.

"Look. You need to rest. I can see the dark circles around your eyes. Either you rest now, or your body is going to make you take that rest." I stated. "Go. We can meet some other time."

Lisa stared at me, gnawing on her lip as her fingers pressed into her temple. I was about 60% sure she was still using her power on me, though I was surprised she didn't cry in pain again. After a moment, Lisa sighed. "Fine." She stood up. Though not before stealing the last fry and staring right into my eyes as she placed it into her mouth. "Don't make me wait for too long." She said rather cheekily despite the pain she was in.

Waving my hand, I leaned back in my seat. "I promise. See you soon." I watched as the Thinker staggered out the door. After a brief moment, I glanced around the restaurant for any other unexpected surprises. Maybe Crystal walking up to me as well? That would be something. However, no other characters came up and interrupted my meal.

Polishing off the rest of the spaghetti, I made a mental note to deal with Lisa's powers later and put her out of my mind. After that, I wondered what I should do for the rest of the day. Tinkering was an option, but I would rather wait until Toybox contacted me again for the contract and I got my money. The next best option was working on my Free Mote 'True Hero Potential'.

The Celestial Forge threw out the length of energy while I was thinking about how to improve that, wrapping around a Star in the Small-Scale Magical Supplies Constellation. A low one to be sure but even low hanging Stars had their purpose.

This perk was 'Pixie Dust' and it allowed me to constantly produce… Pixie Dust whenever I wanted. It was an ability that can be controlled thankfully, so I wouldn't be shedding sparkling dust wherever I walked. Using it, I can choose to fly, as well as making other things fly by sprinkling it over the object in question.

Inanimate objects will simply fly rather easily with some amount of control given to its rider. However, for living beings, they must have the sincere desire to fly along with… happy and carefree emotions… I blinked for a moment. I think I heard the sound of a glass pane shattering. What was that sound? It was the sound of the entire cast of Worm flying out the window as possible users.

It also had a side benefit that I wouldn't be affected by particulates in the air I breathed in. So things like smoke, smog, ashes, or whatever wouldn't impact my breathing in any way. Though, I expect that it only applies to the physical particles themselves and not any other magical or chemical effects that they might inflict. So I may be able to snort glass dust without any complications now or in the future, but toxic mist will still poison me.

Well… I guess I didn't need that flight pack anymore. I think. I mean, if I cover every part of my body and start emitting Pixie Dust, would people be able to see it? Or does it appear around my body in an aura? If it does get produce from my skin, then does that mean it will build up in my clothes? Will it fade? If I remember correctly Pixie Dust was used up as an object flew, so there must be a limit to how long Pixie Dust could imbue an object.

More testing would be required…

In any case, I turned my attention back to my previous thought. The best way I could describe True Hero Potential was that it was an increase of limits. Imagine all living things having a limit, a barrier that they simply cannot cross under any circumstance. A human can only run so fast, or lift so much before their bodies simply break under the strain. True Hero Potential took those limits and brought them to high heaven. I could train harder, lift heavier than any person could ever do, and run faster than any human.

It basically gave me an avenue to a decent Brute, and Mover ratings and increased magic if I was reading the description correctly. It would take a while, but given time, I could definitely reach those heights.

So in order to get swole. I needed a place to train in the first place. Which meant I had to get to a gym. A brief search brought up a few gyms around the city. Some were very clearly Empire businesses, so I immediately eliminated those from contention.

A thought came to my mind. Wasn't Brian's dad also a boxer? Then he should be in one of the gym's right? Another brief search with 'Laborn' along with 'gym' got me a hit. An old post on a forum promoting a boxing lesson by one 'James Laborn'. However, when I tried to look up the gym that they were promoting in the first place, it was closed down a few years back.

But it was a good start. Searching 'James Laborn' and boxing got a few more hits, some articles about an old boxing middleweight fighter from a couple decades back and had a pretty good record too. Sorting through the more recent stuff, there was a thread on PHO's BB boxing section with some dude asking about what happened to James.

A little more digging… blah blah blah. He served in the army… Ah, here we go. He was a personal coach and boxing teacher. From the commenter's words, he was also pretty damn good at his job too. The gym that he was coaching at was situated fairly up south, a little past the Downtown area.

Welp, it's time to take a look. I stood up and headed out. Catching a bus, I got into a seat and took a route that would put me pretty close to the gym in question. Taking a seat, I waited patiently for my station to be called.

The bus ride was pretty entertaining. Unlike my late night ride, a few Empire members got on, and caught sight of the ABB members sitting at the back. A tense atmosphere settled over the bus that suffocated the passengers, like everyone was holding their breaths and waiting for the powder keg to blow.

Unfortunately, it passed without much incident. Getting off, the timebomb rolled away while I stretched my back. Walking over to the gym entrance, there were only a few people sitting inside. Carefully taking a step in, a man wearing a tanktop waved me over.

"Welcome to Punchline Gym. What can I do for you?" The receptionist, a man by the name of Harry, greeted. He was buff and built like a tank but had a rather soft voice. A weird juxtaposition.

"Um… I was just wondering how much for a membership here?" I asked.

Harry nodded. "Right, membership… It'll be $20 per month or $200 if you want a yearly membership. That's just for gym access. There's also 3-month and 6-month options if that's more your style. If you want boxing coaching, those are an additional cost per month, so for an extra $29, you can get weekly coaching by one of our mentors… or if you prefer a biweekly coaching, that's another option you-"

I very quickly tuned him out. Was the gym this expensive? In my past life, I usually just did a jog around the block every week or so. I had zero frame of reference on how expensive a gym was or whether I was being ripped off.

Seeing that he was losing me, Harry quickly reeled it back. "Of course these prices may seem a little high, but compared to the benefits you can reap, it's practically a steal. We have a large selection of equipment available to you and our coaches are professionals, including former Brockton Bay middleweight professional boxer, James Laborn!"

I pretended to sound interested. "Professional boxer?" I echoed. "Sounds reputable indeed."

Harry nodded. "In fact, you seem like a nice guy. So I'll even throw in a little something for you. Sign up now, and if you aren't happy with the gym, you can cancel within a week and we won't charge you at all. How's that sound?" He made a few finger guns. "Eh? Pretty good deal right? You can even work out, try out our boxing lessons, and then at the end of the week, bounce. Simple as that!"

I took a deep breath. Loremaster knew that he was absolutely desperate to get me to sign up. But I needed it and fuck it, having a former middleweight champion would be useful to learn boxing from. Yes, I was also going to learn boxing. As good as Crane Style was, it was a defensive style first and foremost. A proper offensive CQC style would work wonders. "Put it in writing and let's go then."

After some amount of paperwork, I got a shiny new membership card in my hands. Walking in, there weren't a lot of people around but Harry was right when he said there was quite the selection of equipment available. At the corner of the gym, there were a few punching bags and speed bags as well as a black man practicing his footwork.

"Mr Laborn?" I got his attention. Shooting a glance over, he stopped and pulled off his boxing gloves. Walking over, he gave me a once over. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt along with some sneakers. Not exactly one would call exercise clothes.

His face looked fairly dismissive, but he still replied professionally without any tone of displeasure. "That's me. What do you need?"

"Oh, I just wanted to get acquainted with the teacher beforehand. Just signed up and-" He shook his head as he put his gloves back on.

"Don't waste my time then." He turned his attention back to the punching bag. However, I stepped in front of him.

"Actually. I had some prior training in martial arts and I was wondering if it'll make a discernible difference if I learnt boxing as well?" That got his attention.

Dropping his guard, he glanced at my arms. "What did you learn?"

"Well… it's a bit hard to explain…" I trailed off. "How about a spar?"

James snorted. "Brave. I'll humour you then." He grabbed some hand wraps and an extra set of gloves and tossed it over. "I'll be waiting in the ring."

Was it a good idea? Probably not. The only thing I really had were instincts and knowledge basically forced into my brain by the Forge. In terms of my physique, I was absolutely going to get bodied. On the other hand, Crane style also had a few tricks to redirect the force of an opponent's attack back to them. So maybe I'll be fairly fine?

Wrapping my hands up, I pulled on the gloves despite the Crane style did require my hands to be free. I hoped that it wouldn't be too sure of an issue. And I pulled on the head protector for obvious reasons along with other protective gear. Although this was a spar, let's practice basic safety procedures. Hopping into the ring, James stared at me and curled his lip slightly but didn't say anything else.

Leet… definitely wasn't exactly the best opponent to test my combat skills against so I was getting fairly excited to actually test where I stood on the totem pole. James bounced on the balls of his feet, warming up his body. "We'll go until one of us says stop or you hit the mat."

Nodding, I made note that he specifically said 'you'. Okay then. Let's try our best. I fell into a basic guard position. A little less tight compared to a boxing guard since I was using Crane style for the most part but still covering my chest and sides. James counted us down. With each moment that passed, I could feel my heart rate picking up and each breath being deeper.

"Go."

Immediately, I dodged to the left. The boxing glove whizzed overhead, barely nicking the headgear. Pulling back, James showed a little more wariness as he kept his eyes on me. I blinked for a moment. Huh.

Loremaster showed intentions to an extent. Like how I knew Lisa approached me out of curiosity or when Harry wanted me to sign on as a member. Due to the fact that it was trained using arguments, knowing why a person was arguing with you was just as important as what they were arguing for. So why couldn't it also be applied to combat as well?

Wariness shifted to aggression and I was already moving to deflect his punch even before he completed his movements to start it. The moment his arm extended halfway out, my lower arm caught his elbow, and forced it aside. A counterattack came immediately after but he quickly backed away before it could connect.

"Not bad." He admitted.

"Thanks." I breathed back. Okay. Proper combat was a lot different than I had expected. Loremaster could tell that he wasn't going to attack so I could take my time observing how he was moving. Savant worked to keep track of how he was moving, the stance he was taking and filing it all away for later. I could barely suppress a smile. A form of clairvoyance and accelerated learning.

Oh yea. We were cooking with gas.

However, Loremaster wasn't exactly a mind-reader. Yes it could tell when he was attacking, but it couldn't tell what he was throwing. A lesson that I very quickly learnt as a hook punch caught my side and I stumbled away. Nursing the blow, I let out a breath while Savant was processing everything I was seeing.

Savant's Understanding wasn't absorbing how to box, but it was also figuring out exactly how to box like James. His fighting style, the way he moved, the punches he would throw, all of it was being integrated into a mental model of the man.

Yes, Loremaster couldn't predict what came next. But Savant could. Coupled with my extensive memories of training with Crane style and what would have been a match in James' favour due to his much better physique and actual experience became a little more even. I still did get hit with the occasional blindside or sudden switch-up, like when I had expected an uppercut but he suddenly switched into a gut punch that knocked the wind out of me. But the longer I fought, the more Savant had to work with and the more robust my defense became.

"I've seen enough." James said rather matter-of-factly and my heart rate skyrocketed. Those were never words you ever wanna hear in a fight. Dropping his guard, he walked over and tossed his gloves aside. "Are you some sort of fighting prodigy?"

The Celestial Forge threw out its tendril again and missed a Star on the Small-Scale Mundane Supplies Constellation.

Ah. "I guess you could say that." I lied immediately. Excessive humbleness was a form of arrogance. Shrugging, I pulled off my gear. "I don't exactly know what I'm doing though."

"Fair. It's hard to tell what you're doing if you only do it instinctively." James reached over to grab a water bottle. "You were predicting my moves and intentions even before I struck. It wasn't perfect, but that slight edge made our spar a lot more even." He took a drink and let out a sigh. "However, there were some issues with your form."

James made a so-so movement with his hand. "It's kinda like your movements aren't tailored to your body, like you were expecting yourself to be stronger. I noticed it a lot when you deflected my attacks specifically, when my arm didn't move as much as you expected to and you drove more power when you realized that. It's a small thing but in a fight, every small thing matters. You probably need to work out more to get more explosive power behind your deflections and really force your opponent's attacks aside."

"Another thing is that your body isn't fit enough. You were flagging at the end there right?" I nodded shamefully. "Thought so. Honestly, if you can build up your muscles and endurance, I expect you to put up a pretty decent fight."

"Ah… but I really only signed up for… like gym use and boxing coaching." I pointed at the reception counter.

"No personal training?" James narrowed his eyes. "Not to say that it's bad… but personally, having a good personal trainer, especially when you're starting out, can be great for your future growth. Think of it like building up a strong foundation early on. With a good base, you can progress much further before plateauing."

I nodded in understanding. I was kinda hoping that I could just research a bunch of nutritional content and use Savant's to just cruise me along. "Yea but… I don't think I have the funds for a personal trainer along with everything else…?"

James snorted. "Bah, I'll be your personal trainer. And before you say anything, consider it a sort of… investment into your future. I expect a good showing from you alright?" I nodded slowly as the man clapped me on the back. Was this really Brian's father?

"Come on. Class will be starting soon." James pushed me aside. "And be sure to get some proper gym clothes next time."

A/N: PRT invites, another Lisa 'coincidental' meet (not my favorite section of this chapter but October Nixia had placed it in and I'm stuck reaping the consequences), and gym. Because we all need a little Brat in a CF fic. Also gym membership pricing is horrible to look up. Boxing gyms doubly so. Is it by session? By class? 1 Month period? Separate to the gym? Or a part of it? It felt like every gym I looked at had a different pricing model. And we get to my favorite portion of this fic. Perk interactions!

New Perk:

-Pixie Dust (Peter Pan) (100CP)

Most if not all fairies constantly produce the magical substance of fairy dust around their body, such that a trail follows wherever you fly. People and even objects as large as ships, when covered in the sparkling dust, gain the ability to fly. However, while inanimate things can fly without any challenge, people wishing to fly must have sincere faith and happy, carefree emotions. You can constantly emit pixie dust at will and even surround you with a cloud of fairy dust. The perk also enables you to breathe easily without choking on pixie dust or other particles, such that you could breathe and talk even with smoke all around you. If you are not a fairy, you will be looked at quite strangely by others, but things are often strange in Neverland so that's hardly a bad thing.



Chapter 8


The boxing class was informative to say the least. Using Savant, I was growing at a rate much faster than anyone else in class. It reached the point where James basically set me aside to do some muscle training rather than wasting my time rehashing points that I already knew. And I remembered why I had never hit the gym in my previous life.

God was it tiring. James set me up with a basic PT plan to follow which felt like ass to complete. Bench pressing, curling, blah blah blah. Everything to build up my arms and chest first. Then we could work on core muscles and legs in another session. Although I very much hated every second of it, I gritted my teeth and pushed through since the payoff of True Hero Potential was too good to pass up.

Grabbing a bottle of water, I took a drink and curled my lips slightly at my sweat-drenched shirt. James dismissed the rest of the students before walking over to me. "How was your first lesson?" He looked a little smug when he said it.

"More PT than I expected." I stretched my arms, hoping to work out the soreness in them. Despite the fact that I spent a good hour working out, I was slightly surprised that I didn't feel as tired as I should be. "I expect this would be a regular thing?"

James shrugged. "At the rate you're going, it's better that you build your muscle compared to practicing your movements. You should also probably keep up this training outside of my lessons as well."

Nodding, I said my thanks as I made my way to the showers. Rinsing myself off, I washed the sweat off my clothes, squeezing them dry and then rinsing it again before I pulled them on. The waterlogged fabric clung to my skin and weighed me down. Perfect. It was time to conduct a little experiment. With Painted On, I made them completely sheer, which meant they were now perfectly translucent.

Painted On only affected the clothes I was wearing and it controlled things like how form-fitting it was, the way it supported my body, and the thickness. Not entirely useful, being little more than a cosmetic power but they were some applications I could think of with more durable fabrics. Right now, I was testing specifically its thickness-altering ability.

With completely sheer clothes, fabric had to be removed. That was simply how sheer clothes were, the fabric had to be so thin that light could pass through. Now with that I had turned my clothes sheer, all that water that was absorbed into the fabric suddenly no longer had fabric to hold it. And it all splattered to the floor.

An unconscious smile came to my face. Forcing Painted On into overdrive, I made my clothes as thin as I possibly could. Water splattered to the ground until there was nothing left then I released the power. Immediately my clothes popped back to their normal size and the remaining water was spread through every fiber. Suddenly instead of an incredibly wet and clammy shirt, I had one that only felt a little damp.

Though now I had to explain how my clothes became so dry…

I wetted my back and armpits with water and pulled on the shirt again. Eh. Good enough.

Walking out of the gym, I checked my phone for any notifications. Claire had sent me an address again, this time set somewhere down South, close to Captain's Hill. It was also at this moment that I forgot that I didn't have a way to contact Amaya. A grimace formed on my face before I put it out of my head.

I still had a bit of time before my meet-up so I went back to my home. When the bus stopped, I took a brief glance around for any suspicious figures who were hanging around. It wouldn't be too out of the question to find some plainclothes PRT trooper stalking me or something. But I didn't see anyone. Looking up, I didn't see anyone else either so I made my way inside.

Amaya glanced over to me while she fiddled with the excess components from yesterday's shopping run. I raised an eyebrow as she flicked a switch and her finger slowly and rather jerkily extended. For a moment, I wondered why she was working on Regent's bodyjacking instead of Laserdream's blasts. Then I remembered she didn't exactly have the components to make a prototype of Laserdream's powers while also having my taser prototype lying around. Shutting the door behind me, I took a moment to take a deep breath. "You tinkered with my prototype?"

"Mhm." She nodded before flicking the switch again. Immediately, the tension in her finger dropped and her finger went slack. Flexing the muscle, she shook her hand before turning her attention back to me. "The target can still resist it so I'll have to refine it." Her voice was a little calmer, without much of the lilt or tone that she had used to tease me earlier. Raising her arm above her head, she arched her back as she stretched out.

"Huh." At a glance, Hammer Jammer could tell what she had done to refine my prototype, altering the components in order to increase its precision. "How did you manage to make it target the nerves so precisely?." Stepping past her, I went to the closet to grab a fresh set of clothes.

"I didn't. I made it target my nerves specifically. Much easier than trying to compose a method of mapping out a target's nervous system and-" As I pulled off my shirt while listening to her explanation, I suddenly felt a cold aura grasping onto my back.

Shooting a glance at her, I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine. Licking her lips, she looked an awful lot like a snake who caught sight of her prey. Looking up at me, she laughed slightly. "And I'd like to think that I'm quite brazen." An almost too-wide smile broke across her face. "Are you perhaps… inviting me for something?"

I swallowed hard. Thank god, I had Carnal Artist. Even if I wasn't exactly prepared to have sex with a woman that the Forge practically created for me, at the very least I didn't become a blushing mess whenever something sexual comes up. A response formed on the very tip of my tongue. Literally my power helped me to come up with a perfect response to get her riled up as well.

And I knew, for a fact, that if I said it, my neighbours would not be having a good night's sleep. Amaya… was clearly attractive but it wasn't exactly like I was in love with her. I basically knew her for all of half a day and let's not get into the existential crisis of fucking a woman that literally didn't exist until I got the Lab Partner perk. However, my dick saw a pretty woman and my brain had to take a back seat. But I had other and more important things to do than sex. Like getting more funds and building my tech.

A look of amusement crossed her face as she watched my inner turmoil between using Carnal Artist and seeing how far we could go, and swallowing my horniness. Eventually, I called upon my Solar memories to cool myself off, though it did nothing for downstairs. "I'll take a rain check on that. Maybe a date first?"

Amaya looked fairly amused at my response, with a slight grin dancing across her face. Getting off the seat, she wrapped herself around my chest, her arms snaking around my back and one hand running up through my hair. "Is there no way I can convince you~?"

Okay, now she was definitely fucking with me. There was no way she couldn't feel it pressing against her chest just like how her breasts were pressing into my chest. Clearing my throat, I carefully extricated myself from her grasp. "I got a meeting with Cranial in a bit. And there's no way I'm making it if we start."

Laughing, Amaya covered her mouth slightly with her fingers. "Sure then. I'll be sure to hold you to that." She took a step back. "Anyway, to continue my explanation, before I was so… rudely interrupted." Amaya flashed a smile. "It's much easier to make the prototype target my nerves specifically. Rather than dealing with the monumental task of generalizing it to many many tiny variations throughout every human for now."

Huh. I nodded in understanding. That made sense. If the device was a little off, that might cause some other nerve to fire rather than the one being targeted. And there was currently no real way to differentiate between things like sensory and motor nerves so- Wait a fucking minute.

Did that mean Amaya knew the position of her entire nervous system? I shot a look at her and she simply smiled back. Blinking, I narrowed my eyes slightly. No, that made no sense. She probably just did something similar to a TENS unit. I took a breath. Let's go with that. Much less headaches that way.

"What about the laser gloves?" I asked.

Amaya leaned back and hummed slightly. Reaching over to a stack of papers, she handed them to me. "Here you go. I have most of the calculations done for generating the hard light constructs. Unfortunately, these are all theoretical for now. Anything further would require a practical design." She stated matter-of-factly as I was busy processing her papers. "Unless of course, you can let me into the Toybox dimension to do some testing?"

I paused for a moment. If I could convince them to recruit or at least let Amaya come along, she would have a proper research environment that would vastly increase her effectiveness. On the other hand, they had literally just recruited me so I doubted I could call in such a big favour without some amount of suspicion.

"Best not to. Perhaps once I earned a little more trust from them." I replied. "But if you wanna go out in general then I'm not opposed to that. Though that hair might stand out."

Amaya twirled a lock between her fingers. "I'll handle it." She winked as she kept her prototype into… a hidden compartment? When did that get there? Catching my look of surprise, she slid it shut. "It's part of the table design." A moment passed as the two of us stared at each other. After realizing that she wasn't going to elaborate, I turned and opened the door. Stepping out, Amaya followed me out which made my heart rate skyrocket.

Grabbing her wrist, I pulled her back inside before shutting the door. Taking a few deep breaths, I took a look at her. She was pressed against the wall, her wrist in my hand as her crotch pressed against my thigh. Judging by the look on her face… this wasn't exactly entirely accidental.

"Amaya…" I took a deep breath… I could feel my eyebrow twitch as my annoyance bubbled to the surface. "What are you doing?"

Amaya had a sly grin on her face. "Nothing, Master. I'm just heading out like you said I could." Releasing her, she rubbed her wrist with her other hand. I thought I had gripped her too hard but she didn't seem to mind it, still keeping that self-assured smile on her face.

I took another deep breath. "You're definitely screwing with me." I shook my head as I tried to leave and yet again Amaya followed right behind me. Cursing quietly, I shut the door and stared into her eyes. "What are you up to? Seriously."

"Well… since you have so graciously allowed me to go out," She leaned in closer. "I was thinking of heading out with my favourite Master." She still had that light smile dancing across her face.

"I'm your only Master." I stated dully. "And you-" I pinched the bridge of my nose. "You… want something." Loremaster was definitely picking that up. As well as something sexual underneath that… "For fuck's… If it's something sexual again, I'll tie you down to the bed." Amaya tried her best to look innocent but Loremaster saw right through her.

"Fu-" I took a deep breath. "Fine. Whatever." I shook my head. "I'll deal with it later tonight." I started. "Will that be good enough?"

Amaya looked satisfied with that and nodded. Coughing lightly, I took another breath. "In that case, wait for a while after I leave before you do. And before you ask, please don't stalk me." Amaya nodded her head while still wearing a smile on her face. Narrowing my eyes, I wondered for a moment if she did all of that just to get my word to deal with her urges. The very next question was if she actually liked me enough to go on a date or if she was 'programmed', for lack of a better term, to do so.

However, I was spared from that very philosophical debate when the Celestial Forge awakened. The length of energy was about as long as it was when I got Machine Madness and Lab Partner so hopefully I got something good.

And it was. Latching onto a Star in the Safety Quality Constellation, the perk I got was extremely relevant since I was just on my way to Toybox. 'Qu-it It' allowed me to black box my technology, in a manner of speaking of course. It wasn't a complete denial of any attempts to research my tech but I could easily implant failsafes into tech that I made, allowing me to remotely destroy it and deny people access to them.

And it wasn't just 'my' tech. But also anyone who derived their tech from me. So even if they did reverse engineer it, I could still disrupt its function since it was still 'my tech' in a sense. This would be… extremely useful.

It also meant I had to redesign the taser and goggles to accommodate the new features. Maybe not the goggles since they were my mask but the taser definitely.

Amaya snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Are you done reviewing your new perk?" She leaned her back against the wall. "You still need to meet with Toybox, right?"

"Ah." I quickly checked the time. It would be cutting it close, but I could make it if I rushed. "Good call. I'll see you later- Ah. Before I forget." I hurriedly wrote down my phone number and passed her some money. "Here. In case anything comes up. See you!" I exited my room and made my way down to the bus stop again.


Captain's Hill. It was originally supposed to be a suburban area for the rich, having a good view of the cityscape and docks from its position. However when Leviathan appeared and investors started pulling out rapidly from the economy, suddenly the mayor had to pull funding from somewhere to keep the city afloat. And Captain's Hill was one of the first on the chopping block.

Outside of the initial houses and some stores, much of it was barebones infrastructure along with the flattened land that was supposed to be used for houses. I had the briefest idea of setting up the would-be 'Celestial Forge team' here and immediately killed it. That was so far out into the future that it wasn't even funny. For now at least.

Glancing around, I spotted Claire leaning against a lamppost. Walking over, she gave a short wave. "This way." She jerked a thumb to one of the temporary storehouses that was built for the construction workers. Slipping between the buildings, she pressed down on Dodge's portal maker and a new hole of reality was torn open.

"After you." I shot her an unimpressed look and walked in. Following behind me, we entered Claire's office, rather than heading through the living room. Sitting on the opposite side of her desk, she finished out a piece of paper and handed it to me.

"Straight to business?" I remarked as I looked over the contract. It was signed by both Toybox and the client, a cape by the name Steelstrike. They hammered out much of the fine details, including the specifications of the equipment they wanted which was really the most important part of it. A large-scale signal disruptor… with a mile radius and pseudo-portability. It didn't have to be a handheld thingamajig, but it needed to be moveable by a person.

"Anything to tell me about Steelstrike?" I cocked my head. "General history… incident reports?"

Claire raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"I need it to know how much effort I should put in." I shrugged. "And besides, you probably did your own background check right? I doubt you would take a special contract for any Tom, Dick, and Harry that passes through your email."

A wry smile appeared on her face. "Here you go." She pulled out another file. This time it was labeled as 'Iron Fist'. Skimming through it, I got the gist of their operations. A small-ish villain team out in Charleston with the ideal of 'ruling through power' and vying to be the Al Capone of their city to hopefully reduce crime rates.

Well… I doubt they would succeed but more power to them I suppose.

Steelstrike was their leader, along with a Thinker, Shaker, and Blaster. I briefly skimmed their profiles, I didn't think they would be too important.

"Noble cause though a questionable way of doing it." I curled my lip. "You said I could work in your workshop for the time being?"

Claire nodded. "Yea. Until we can get yours, up and running." She was already heading to the door when I remembered something.

"Ah, that reminds me." I snapped my fingers. "What do you mean by that?" Claire glanced at me in confusion. "Preparing my workshop. I doubt you would be creating an entirely new workshop for me from scratch right? That would be extremely expensive for all the specialty machines and materials…"

"Oh that…" Claire nodded. "You're right. We instead grab one of our old workshops from a previous tinker and pull out all the tinkertech that will screw you over using Toy Soldier's suits. It'll take a day or two but you'll have your own personal lab soon enough."

"And what if they rejoin Toybox?" I frowned. I didn't know what I was expecting but this wasn't it.

Claire shrugged. "Then we move another workshop's tinkertech out and move theirs in." She shook her head. "Though when people leave, they usually bring their stuff with them. We just do a cursory scan to ensure that no remnant tinkertech remains. And if there is, we'll chuck them into a temporary dimension and contact them to see if they still want it" She said with a slight laugh. "Anyway, come on. I have to point out what you can and can't touch."

Following a step behind Claire, we headed to the workshop hallway, saying a few greetings to some of the other tinkers who were relaxing. Including Grace who was making another cake, this time looking more like a sunset rather than flowers.

Stopping in front of a door, Claire walked in and showed off her workshop. "Welcome to Casa de Cranial." The first thing was that there were a surprising amount of wires and seats with an electric chair helmet above them. Lining the close wall was a massive desktop with six screens in a two-by-three set up with the desk a little farther back to encapsulate the entire thing.

The screens were flickering, showing off a dizzying amount of code as command prompts were open, ran, and closed. Catching a brief look, I saw a few lines of text but they were all pretty much gibberish to me. "What's it doing?" I pointed at it.

"Scanning and reformatting memories." Claire replied. "Think of it as generalizing memories, making it a little more natural during implantation." Making a 'ehh' face at her, she sighed with a small smile and continued. "Like… it won't feel like the memory was slotted in but simply bubbling up to the surface. Lesser problems that way."

Following the wires, the computer was connected to a room filled with several servers, all busy humming away. Judging by the cables linking the two, I guessed that it was her database of extracted memories. Speaking my findings to her, Claire nodded. "Kinda. Half of it is for memory storage and the other half is for personal use."

"What would you need that would require a set of servers?" I asked in confusion. Glancing at her face blushed a little before she awkwardly continued.

"R-right. So ground rules. Don't sit on any of the seats with a neural scanner above them." She pointed at the torture helmet. "Don't touch any panels connected to a seat with a neural scanner. Don't touch the computer either." She glanced around the room. "That should be it… but if there's anything you're unsure of, ask me first. Got it?" I nodded quickly.

"That's nice and all, but what's that doing there?" I pointed to the far corner of the room where a seat was lying under a massive mess of machinery and wires. If the other looked like torture chairs, this looked like something out of a supervillain's lair, where the hero would be strapped in while the evil scientist stood in his observation deck, monologuing about how the hero had come so close yet utterly failed.

"Itsh not that bad…" Claire murmured. And I realised I said that last bit out loud. Pouting at me, she stared into my eyes and I suddenly felt really bad.

Coughing awkwardly, I pointed to the evil superweapon. "So… uh. What's that all about?"

"It was supposed to be a machine that could extract a person's entire mind out of their body and turn it into a… digital copy of sorts." She let out a sigh. "It was supposed to be a massive accomplishment and sort of… usher in a new age for Toybox but I couldn't get it to work."

That sounded… awfully familiar. "So you wanted to sell… immortality." I summarised while having a completely unimpressed look.

Claire tilted her head from side to side with a sheepish smile on her face. "When you put it that way…" She cleared her throat awkwardly. "Well… I couldn't get it to work anyway. There's far too many parts in it to even start figuring out what's wrong with it so it's there collecting dust."

That's… that's the Soulkiller. I wasn't sure if it killed the original after making the copy but it was effectively the same thing. It would have been more of a surprise if it didn't make so much sense. Of course the tinker that specializes in neurology, brains and memory would make the goddamn Soulkiller. Why wouldn't they? It was simply the logical extreme of such a tech tree.

Though in creating digital copies of human brains, you were effectively turning them into AIs. Or I guess the better term would be Digital Intelligence rather than Artificial? And the entities didn't exactly like having AIs running amok and screwing with their experiment. Just look at Andrew Richter and Dragon.

It was probably a good thing it was never completed. I doubt the Simurgh would take such a device very lightly.

Walking to the back of the room, Claire unlocked the door to the actual workshop portion of the workshop and there was all the high end stuff too, not just a simple manual lathe, or drill press. We were talking about plasma cutters, CNC machines, 3D printers, injection molds, and more. I licked my lips in anticipation.

"I don't suppose my final workshop will look like this, will it?" I raised an eyebrow. Claire gave me a knowing smile that told me everything. "Thought so."

"I'll leave it to you to figure out how you want to fulfill their order." Claire started heading out. "I've also sent you a file that has the instructions to use all the machines here. Try to follow the safety guidelines and don't lose any fingers." She shook her phone and gave me a smile before ducking through the door.

A notification pinged on my phone and it was a pdf file containing exactly what Claire told me. Giving it a brief skim through, Savant automatically filed all the information away. Taking a deep breath, I cleared my mind to focus on the task at hand.

The request wasn't… too difficult. I had Leet's own signal jammer as a jumping off point to start from. Hammer Jammer drew quite a bit of insights from it, though due to how tinkertech was structured with Space Worm Bullshit the exact mechanics was still out of my reach. Ah well, I should be able to fulfill their request anyway.

The Celestial Forge spun up again. The shortened length of energy reached and missed a Star on the Smut Tech Constellation. Unfortunate.

Even though it was part of the Lewd and very Smutty Constellations, I much preferred having more perks rather than less.

Anyway, the idea was simple enough that I didn't spend too much time working on it. Hammer Jammer did most of the heavy lifting providing the design for such a contraption. Picking up a pencil and paper, I started sketching out the outline for the device. It would be on the larger side, being more of a tower that would be set up at a location rather than an easy gadget. In fact, the gadget version of it should only be able to disrupt a single room rather than several blocks.

In order to have it reach the ranges specified, it would require a size similar to a backpack or a suitcase that unfolded into the jammer tower. Of course it would also require some method to transmit the jamming signals and a way to receive incoming signals… And of course a method to bypass common protection methods against signal jammers.

It wouldn't be much of a tinkertech signal jammer if a bit of modern ingenuity could render it useless, would it? The final bit was a remote failsafe… A small grimace broke out. I would need some way to trigger my own failsafe without having my own creation disrupt the signal. Some sort of special frequency that it didn't disrupt? But then if someone stumbled upon it, they could use that to send signals out.

Hm. Well, let's think about it later.

An hour or so to finalise the design and I was wishing very hard that I had a design power. I did look up some articles on how to make my design look more aesthetically pleasing to look at. However, Hammer Jammer still won out in the end. Ah well, so long as it worked I guess it would be fine…

Taking a deep breath, I let the memories of my Solar self wash over me instead of drawing a thin line dividing the two of us. Using Solar Me's experience in a similar workshop environment, hopefully I could get into a better head space for creating my contraption. I could feel my perception subtly but also very distinctly shift from a more 'human' viewpoint, to a more 'Solar' view. Immediately, my lips curled in disgust as I looked upon the workshop.

"Primitive." Blinking, I took a deep breath as I immediately started pushing those thoughts away. "Okay… Maybe that's a bit too much integration." Eventually, I settled on an uneasy sort of balance before I cracked my joints to relax myself. Pulling up a modelling program, I started creating the CAD for all of the important parts to allow it to fold into a small, dense package to be carried around.

While that was being worked on, I also drafted up a list of components and their specifications to be requested from Toybox. Once it was approved, I could get to work on the internals while the frame was being milled. Oh and I guess since I actually had some money, given that Steelstrike paid an upfront fee, I also ordered some metal plates and sensors to create my arm shield and phone.

A soft sigh escaped my lips. Compared to the taser or goggles, this was certainly a step up in complexity. Yet it didn't feel too bad, I suppose. Saving the first file, I opened a new one and started working on the rest of the pieces.


A/N: Finally tinkering.

Also a lot of Amaya's own research and development will be happening off-screen. Just a little heads-up.

New Perk:

-Qu-it It (Irredeemable/Incorruptible) (300CP)

Your understanding of the technology that you have created or understood to the point where you can consider it 'yours' is so great that you find it almost trivial to come up with methods to use that understanding to deny the benefits of that technology to others who have either appropriated it or developed it in parallel. Your understanding of your own created teleportation technology may be so great you can destroy an entire galaxy spanning network of teleporters based on your tech all with the push of a button. However you cannot do this for technology in the hands of those who were the source of the technology, no matter how well you understand it or feel possessive of it, not by the means of this perk at any rate.



Chapter 9


Stepping out of the workshop for a little break, I saw a few new faces sitting in the living room. A mousy-looking, lean man with a pair of round spectacles who was looking over something at the dining table. And a young-ish girl who was leaning against the kitchen counter drinking some brown liquid.

The door slid shut behind me which caught the attention of the two of them. The girl raised her glass into the air. "So you're the new blood?" Compared to her appearance, her voice was a little on the low side. Spinning around, she was wearing a loose-hanging tank-top with her bra and modest cleavage rather visibly showing as she leaned forward. Her brown hair was long, falling down past her shoulders, and framing either side of her face.

Coughing at the sudden sight, I nodded. "Name's Nathan. Or Erstein in costume. And you?"

"I'm Mariebelle or Bauble. And he's Lloyd or Big Rig." The man shot a glance at me and gave a brief nod. "He doesn't talk very much." I nodded in understanding. Looking over his shoulder, it was an architectural blueprint for a rather large building, easily enough to rival a skyscraper but wide enough to cover a full city block. Some sort of megacomplex?

Turning my attention back to Marie, she pulled herself back up. "I heard you already have a contract?"

"Yeah. Just waiting for the CNCs to finish the rest of the frame. Then I can start assembling it all together." I replied while looking back down the hallway. A neat little feature of the Toybox phone was that it could link up with any machine in the workshop and send you a little notification when it was down. Unfortunately, it only worked within the same dimension or between linked dimensions in this case. "Is it that strange?"

Marie frowned slightly. "Yup." She tapped her glass twice on the counter. "Most of the time, it usually takes a month or so before the contracts would start coming in… Lemme guess, you have a vaguer specialty right?" I nodded carefully.

"Knew it. There's no way you could land a contract so quickly." She chugged the rest of the liquid in her cup. "My first contract took about… 3 months?" She glanced at Lloyd who nodded. "Not a lot of demand for glass work unfortunately. But it paid really well when I got it. Could finally buy the components to really make some specialty wares."

"What… was it?" I hesitantly asked.

Marie perked up slightly. "Oh! It was to outfit the entire Houston PRT building with bulletproof glass. Like proper bulletproof glass, not just bullet resistant. Plus they had to pay whenever they needed me to come down to do some checks and maintenance." She leaned back and stared into the ceiling. "It was practically free money."

"'Was'?" I furrowed my brow.

"Yea." She nodded with a frown on her face. "Unfortunately the Nine rolled through. Although she didn't manage to break it entirely… she had bulletproof glass to wield around." Her lips pressed into a thin line. "But luckily she lost it during the next hit against a hero from Austin." She shrugged. "So now most of my contracts come from outside the USA. Too risky to give Shatterbird tinkertech glass, I guess." She rolled her eyes, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

I could see why that would be a major issue. "Can't you make glass that won't be affected by Shatterbird's powers though?" I mean, it should be within the Shard's capabilities right? Like Amy managed to create relay bugs to extend Taylor's range while also screwing with her by creating a feedback loop within the insect. So clearly there could be some interactivity between powers with a certain commonality.

Marie shrugged. "I could." She admitted. "However, it's not like anyone would be willing to test it for me right?" She raised an eyebrow. Right, just because you said so, doesn't mean people would be willing to believe you. But that could be something… especially if I ever had to deal with the Nine.

I mean, of course I will sooner or later.

My stomach let out a low growl, signalling the reason why I came out in the first place. Grabbing a cup noodle packet out from the cupboard, I quickly made myself one and waited. In the meantime, Marie continued the conversation, moving to other topics than the Slaughterhouse Nine of all things.

She mostly shared some Toybox horror stories. Attempts to kidnap a member of Toybox, attempts to cheat them out of their rightful payment. Although they were pretty rare, there were the occasional villains who thought they could pull a fast one on one of the longest running tinker collective in the world.

And everytime they tried to do so, Toybox's 'hit team' was deployed. It was apparently composed of her, Toy Soldier, and Pyrotechnical. Pyro handled precision strikes which was an odd role for him, but given that his specialty also covered guns, I guess that made sense. Toy Soldier was their… soldier, getting in guns blazing and taking down the target. And Bauble was their 'fuck everything in that direction' button. Due to her glassware bombs, she could literally glass an entire area excluding organic material.

Although you would be fine, your guns, portion of your clothes, the floor and walls were now all glass. And god forbid that the glass pillar that was holding the roof over your head suddenly shattered under the weight.

And even if everything was still standing, you still had to deal with Toy Soldier and Pyrotechnical blowing through the base and scattering glass shards everywhere. Take a wrong step and suddenly you were bleeding out on the ground.

"Sounds like an important job." I remarked as I started slurping down my noodles. "Ah!" I pulled my lips away. "Still hot."

"It is." Marie nodded. "Can't make it seem that Toybox can be pushed around easily." A ping sounded from her pocket. Taking a quick look at it, she set the glass in the sink. "I have to go now. See you later, Nathan." She gave me a small wave while walking down the 'Facilities' hallway.

A few minutes later, while I was eating my dinner for the day, the sound of a door closing caught my attention. Walking out of the room was Bauble, or at least, I think it was Bauble. Her black hair was tied into a bun with a full face mask and what looked to be a three-piece suit that covered every inch of her body. I said 'looked to be' since it was so incredibly hard to see what it actually was.

The entire thing was composed of glass shards, all moving and shimmering with every step she took. I could vaguely tell when one piece ended and the next began but it all blended into one another. When the light shone down on her, it seemed to glow as it reflected and refracted within every shard. Even when she stepped into the darkness, the indirect light still caused it to brighten slightly.

Stopping just before the door, Bauble shot a glance at me before walking off.

"That's her costume?" I muttered after she left.

"Not really." Lloyd replied. My eyes flickered towards him. He was still staring at his blueprint, while he typed out some notes onto his phone. "That's her combat suit which she only brings out during those 'hit team' outings." I bit my lip. Jesus christ.

"And I'm assuming those glass shards are also made from that bulletproof glass she provided to Houston PRT?"

Lloyd nodded. "An improved version but yes." Right. Just because the bullet didn't pierce, it didn't mean that all the force was suddenly gone. The impact would just be transferred through the glass into her body if there weren't any Shard shenanigans screwing with the physics. I wouldn't be surprised if the glass she made also somehow turned kinetic impacts into light.

Hm. I frowned slightly. Actually glassware was pretty interesting once you start looking at it from the perspective of light and reflection/refraction and not just glass. Kakine from To Aru had wings that could take incoming light and turn them into lasers. And well, if you could reflect light, why not other forms of energy? Kinetic? Heat? Electricity?

Maybe not that less one but the other two were a distinct possibility.

"What about you?" I moved over to take a look at his blueprints. "What are you up to?"

He looked up from his blueprint. "I would prefer it if you didn't talk to me." He said in a rather flat tone before returning to his contemplation. A weird sort of stance given that he was sitting out in the living room rather than in his own office or something.

However, my thoughts were interrupted as the Celestial Forge awakened once more. The tendril of energy missed, barely missing its target on the Lewd Resources Constellation. If my estimates served… the next time it spun up, it should be around the same length as the time when I got Lab Partner. Which meant I was going to be seeing a very strong power sooner or later.

Putting aside Big Rig's words, I finished off the rest of my meal while keeping an eye on his work. From the looks of it, the building looked like a combination of a mall, flat and penthouse all squished into one. The basement levels even had a design of a subway station underneath allowing for quick access to it.

His specialty was drones that built buildings right? It was readily apparent from how it was designed in the first place, with each 'section' being divorce from each other. Much easier for drones to build small sections rather than combining all of it together and forcing the swarm to construct everything all at once.

A small detail, hard to spot if you were just giving it a quick once over but played into his specialty perfectly.

Finishing off the rest of my dinner for the day, I headed back and started working on the framework of the signal disruptor. With Savant's Understanding, it was easy enough to figure out how it was all supposed to assemble together. Gears clicked into place, and motors were slotted and screwed down.

It should be robust enough to handle most impacts really. And most of the external components were for the thing to fold up in the first place. At worst, you would have to lift it up via two handles on the side but four people, it should be manageable. I idly wondered if there was a Star for mechashift engineering.

I mean, there should be one right? Mechashift weaponry was like the ultimate 'cool' weapon. I would be surprised if the Forge didn't have it.

Anyway, while fixing up the base, my phone beeped as the rest of the frame was complete. Collecting the finished metal plates, I spent some time with a sander to smooth out some of the nicks and bumpiness. Finally, I started fitting the upper half of the jammer.

I also learnt quite a bit about how 'Qu-It It' specifically worked. Instead of a simple 'failsafe', like a self-destruct button or something, the design for the failsafe was a little something integrated into the very components of anything I built. It was practically impossible to copy the components at all without also copying the failsafe as well. So any tech that used or was derived from it was still under 'me'. You would have to design your own tech without any input from me or inspiration from my tech in order to be rid of it.

And given how Shards worked… I highly doubt it. If I could somehow inject just a tiny piece of highly integral components into the Shards, and those components were spread to every other tinker power… I could reasonably destroy every piece of tinkertech with the snap of my fingers. Literally every tinker would be beholden to me and my whims.

…. I could neutralise the Simurgh's tinkertech with that as well. Since she usually uses other tinkers' components to create her own stuff, anything she built would blow up on my command. An entertaining thought but also holy shit how do I even begin to try to pull that off?

Additionally, anything that could reasonably be understood by me also could be affected by this perk, allowing me to create shit that could fuck over other machines if I understood it enough. And it wasn't 'owned' by the creator of said technology. Which raised an interesting question.

Was tinkertech 'owned' by the tinkers who created them or the Shards behind them?

Or was it not even the Shards but the worlds that the Shards stole them from? Because as it was rather explicitly stated, Shards weren't the most creative or innovative of species.

Well… It was probably worth exploring that avenue. Though I doubt I would be able to do much… If I wanted to deal with the highly specific integral components, I would need actual hands-on research to figure them out. And sabotaging more 'basic' technology was well within my power, however, it was also not really worth the time to do so. Like sure I could create something that disrupted radio waves, but so could everybody else with enough time and understanding.

I let out a sigh. Well, if I ever needed to do so, I at the very least had the option to do so.

Once all the components were in place, I installed all the relevant software that would actually make the thing function instead of being an oversized corner decoration. And then tested the folding system. Pressing a small button on the side of the contraption, motors whirred to life as the gears started pulling everything together. Each component slid over one another and I kept an eye out for any wires that might tangle together in the mess.

After making sure that it didn't tear itself apart, I fitted the metal plating over it and welded and riveted everything into place. Folding it back up, I sent a notification to Cranial that I was done with the contract.

"Already? Did you spend the night working on it?" She sent over, with a few emoticons to show her shock.

"Wasn't that complex." Not with Hammer Jammer working on full throttle. "When will we meet with Iron Fist?"

"It'll depend. I'll mark their contract as complete and once they receive a notification, they'll send us a time and place to collect it." An unknown timing? That's fine then. I could work on my personal projects in the meantime. Rapping my knuckles on the signal jammer, I walked over to the set of plates that I had machined out a little earlier.

The arm shield was easy enough. A simple reader mechanism, similar to what I used for my visor/goggles, allowed me to control its deployment with the flex of my arm. According to the specifications, the metal plates could withstand quite a bit. Barring a direct punch from say Glory Girl, it should handle most things thrown my way.

But given its size… it very much wasn't meant to. It was more to protect my chest as well as a parrying shield of sorts, deflecting attacks and punches. Combined with Savant's ability to 'predict' attacks in a way, and suddenly, it meant I could create openings to retreat while using my taser to shock my opponent.

And best of all, due to its relatively simple design, even if Hammer Jammer wanted to screw with its appearance, it couldn't, leaving me with a sleek-ish shield. Just don't look at its underside.

The phone detector was going to be the worst though. Not because of ignorance on how Shard worked, but mostly on how to create a detector that can detect how Shards specifically worked.

Shards were lazy. Stupidly so since everything they did was by some form dimension shifting or quantum bullshit. I believe Alexandria's body was in a state of quantum lock? Well, specifically it was 'stasis'. Kaiser was likely pulling metal from a dimension full of it, Shadow Stalker was doing something similar to the Endbringers and shunting her mass to a separate dimension.

However, these were all possibilities which Machine Madness didn't like. So like any good conspiracy theorist, it was up to me to find evidence to prove my point rather than proving my point through evidence.

Designing a sensor for specifically sensing dimensional rifts wasn't exactly easy. Hammer Jammer was working slower than usual at designing such an item. Not completely useless though, just taking a bit longer to pull up the relevant material and creating the blueprint components. Savant was pulling all this information out and filing it away but I noticed something interesting.

Compared to say electrical engineering from when I made my taser, or robotics when I made my visor, the principles Hammer Jammer was calling upon when it made the sensor was a lot fewer and a lot less comprehensive. Frowning slightly, I stopped it and pulled back to view the blueprint as a whole.

Narrowing my eyes, I couldn't understand bits and pieces of the design laid out before me. But it wasn't like tinkertech where certain reality-bending effects are placed in order for it to work as intended, these components fundamentally couldn't work. Circuitry that did nothing, components that did one thing but on closer inspection did a completely different thing, wires that fed into thin air. Hammer Jammer was working at full throttle yet, it was just spinning in place and barely inching forward.

The principles it provided were mostly focused on how to punch a hole in reality. And from that was trying to figure out how to detect things that were emitted from that hole. However, since Hammer Jammer wasn't exactly a research power, it only connected a few lines before going kaput.

It was a strange sort of reality check, telling me that my perks weren't completely omnipotent. Hammer Jammer could help with gadgets and contraptions but there was an upper limit to the type of tech it could produce. And I suppose there were limits to things like Machine Madness and Qu-It It as well. Though I doubt finding those limits would require some serious heavy-lifting.

I could use some other more basic sensors but it wouldn't be as… comprehensive? Compared to just looking at how Shards were fucking with reality. Well, I guess that wouldn't be too much of a problem. Machine Madness didn't exactly care about the exact and precise details of how a power worked.

Letting out a breath, I was about to start working on the sensors when I had to fight back a yawn. Checking my phone, it was already nearing midnight. Well… I guess I should head back home and check on Amaya as well…

Walking out, I saw most of Toybox in the living room. Calling out to Claire, I asked. "Hey, could I get back to Brockton? Gotta head home now."

"What's the occasion?" Claire asked with a smirk as we made our way to the entrance hall.

I shrugged. "Nothing much. A little personal stuff." I replied with a small forced smile.

Claire raised her hands in surrender. "I won't pry if you're uncomfortable about it. Just remember if you need us, you can always call Toybox." She opened a portal back to Captain's Hill.

Nodding, I stepped straight through. "Thanks. I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Call me when the meeting is decided." Claire gave me a thumbs-up before stepping back through the portal and closed it behind her. Checking my messages, I quickly skimmed through them. A little spam… A notification from Johnny saying that the interview was scheduled to be tomorrow afternoon. I shot a quick affirmative back. The next was from an unknown number.

"Amaya here. Just got off a talk with a PRT officer. Managed to deny any accusations and stating that I'm a normal human. Though he still looked a little suspicious even when leaving. Doubt they made the connection with you though."

Then another message. "A few Empire members were following me. Be careful." Last sent two hours ago.

Panic slowly bubbled up in my chest. Ah shit. Did she immediately get captured by the Empire of all people? Amaya did have strikingly green hair which was a massive flag in Brockton Bay. With the sheer gang presence in practically every inch of the city, it was a good idea to not dye your hair, lest you attract less-than-savoury attention.

Well maybe the PRT was keeping an eye on her and stopped it from happening? There was a PRT officer talking to me earlier in the day and now to Amaya later at night. What was the saying? 'Once is an accident, twice is a pattern, and thrice is enemy action.' A strange little coincidence. Both times could be played off as an accident. The first was that the PRT legitimately wanted me to clarify my testimony, and the second… Well, Amaya's hair was pretty stand out compared to most people.

Calling the number, it unfortunately didn't go through for one reason or another and a bubbling feeling of dread crept up. I didn't think that Amaya would be dead. With her being part of the Forge, I should be able to tell if she died right? Pressing my lips into a thin line, I shook my head. She was a genius and could probably Tony Stark her way out of a capture situation.

Sighing, I shook my head. There was no way that I would be sleeping well tonight without knowing Amaya's current situation.

Hopping onto a bus, I tried to not let my mind wander too much as I sat through the twisting streets, only barely luminated by the streetlights. Moving through Downtown, the bus lurched as it made a sharp turn. Luckily, there weren't many people taking the bus at midnight so it was a relatively quick trip.

"Attention. Attention." The driver shouted out. "Due to a cape robbery on Jackson Street, we'll be taking a longer route to the next attention. We apologize for the inconvenience. I repeat…"

The Celestial Forge spun up again, this time missing a swing at the… I kid you not Breeding Constellation. I didn't know if I should be happy that it missed or frustrated that it was missing. Right now it was definitely as long as Lab Partner and Machine Madness. If it still somehow missed its next Star… Something was dying.

I don't know what. But something was dying.

Getting off at my station, I hurried up the stairs to my apartment and practically barged into my room. And stared at an Amaya that was currently in a state of undress, her clothes hanging off my table, chair and on the floor. While the blanket was pulled up to cover her nose. Based on how the blanket was folding up, her other hand was busy downstairs.

Pulling the cloth down, the scientist's face was beet red. Shutting the door behind me, I swallowed my saliva and took a deep breath. And wrinkled my nose at the stench of sex that lingered in the air.

"Amaya…" I muttered, my relief quickly fading rapidly as another emotion took the forefront. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The greenette laughed nervously. "Umm-"

"Telling me that the PRT interrogated you, saying that you were stalked by the Empire, and then not providing a status update?" I stared at her unimpressed. She told me just enough for me to think the worst while also having enough there to have some deniability. Given that the Forge provided her with my own knowledge, it wouldn't be too hard for her to predict how I would react once I got it. "Are you trying to get me to fuck you?"

"N-no!" Her face was getting more flushed and she was breathing a little harder now. I didn't need Loremaster to tell me that she was not only lying, but getting hornier from it. Fine then. I'll indulge her tonight. "I-"

Walking forward, I leaned over the bed, bracing myself against the backboard and letting Carnal Artist take the flow. "Shhh…. You wanted this." I swear to god that she had heart-eyes right now. "So. Reap the seeds you've sown."

With a sharp tug, I pulled off the blanket, revealing her smooth bare body to the world. Her thighs were glistening with juices, staining the sheets underneath. Letting out a low growl, I grabbed her shoulders and flipped her onto her front. Almost instinctively, her ass raised onto the air as she buried her face into the pillow.

"Not even the decency to put a fucking towel underneath? Are you kidding me?" My hand raised and gave her pert butt a quick smack. Amaya moaned into the pillow, muffling much of the noise. Her pussy was already red, preparing for its penetration. Grabbing a cheek, I gave it an experimental squeeze and pull. It was soft but had a decent resistance to it.

Letting it go, I used my hand to brush against her pussy lips, scooping up a decent amount of her quim in the process. Amaya mewled and tried to push back in a vain attempt to try to get my fingers to penetrate her. However I pulled back, keeping my fingers lightly dancing around her entrance. Her breaths were coming quick and shallow as her hips bucked back and forth, trying in desperation to feel better.

"No." I gave her butt another spank. A clean crisp sound echoed through the room followed by Amaya gasping at the sudden hit. "This is your punishment." I leaned down, close to her ear. "You aren't supposed to be rewarded during a punishment, are you?" Amaya shook her head slightly as she kept her head pressed against the pillow. Her face was slightly turned for her eye to look up at me. I could hear her breathing heavily as I struck all her buttons to make her even more aroused.

Continuing my teasing, my fingers danced around her lower half, tracing small circles in her inner thighs that made her rub her legs together. My knuckles brushed against her swollen lips, making her instinctively push backwards into me before quickly righting herself. A grin broke out on my face as I continued playing with her.

My other hand traced light lines over her back and arched spine, brushing and stroking her, teasing the ridges of her sides and perky breasts and nipples. Her gasps, and muffled mewls and moans were music to my ear. Brushing past her slit again, Amaya stared at me, her eyes filled with need. With a smile still on my face, I used my index finger to tease the entrance with feather-light touches.

And finally, my finger 'slipped' and flicked a small hard nub.

The sudden, powerful stimulus made Amaya arched her back. Her head craned up and a loud and long sensual moan echoed in the room. Wincing slightly, my neighbours were not going to be happy with me. But Amaya didn't seem to care. Breathing heavily, she rolled onto her side before raising her leg.

"P-please… Master… !" She begged. However, I had other plans.

Pulling my fingers away, quite a bit of liquid had collected on them. Grabbing her head, I gently turned her face to look at me fully before placing them in front of her. "Clean it." Automatically, Amaya's mouth opened and enveloped my fingers.

Her tongue wrapped around each digit, licking and wrapping around them to suck all of her juices off. My dick twitched in my pants as I pulled my hand away. Wiping the saliva on her bare skin, I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her off the bed.

Kneeling on the floor, Amaya licked her lips before reaching up to my trousers. Conceding it, I allowed her to drop my pants and underwear, revealing a reasonably large erection that slapped onto her face. Her eyes were lidded slightly as she took in a deep breath. One hand drifted to her vagina and I quickly grabbed her arm.

"What did I say?" A flash of awareness passed over Amaya and her hands quickly flew away from her crotch.

"I'm sorry, Master." She fell into a dogeza. "Please punish me as you see fit." She was falling into her role rather quickly.

"Get up and suck my cock." I snapped my fingers. Jerking upright, her hands came up to try and grab it but I smacked them away lightly. "Did I say you could use your hands?" The slut shook her head. "Good that you know. Continue."

Amaya pressed her lips against the tip of my penis before opening it slightly and sliding down. Her throat easily engulfed my entire length, her nose pressing into the base as she deepthroated me with ease. Leaning back slightly, I gasped as she proved definitively that she had no gag reflex at all. Holding that position for a few seconds, her tongue wrapped around my shaft, stimulating the glans and ridges before she started blowing me earnestly.

Her head bobbed up and down, making sure that her teeth didn't accidentally scrape against my sensitive flesh. Her hands were clasped behind her back as she varied every movement. Sometimes she would suck and slowly pull up to the tip. Or clean each side of my shaft with her tongue.

Taking deep breaths, Carnal Artist was the only thing that kept me from blowing my load too early under her assault. On the other hand, Amaya was slowly getting better by the moment. Her eyes were locked onto my face, only rarely flickering to my dick when she changed her form. Whenever she found something that made me gasp in pleasure, she would focus on it, refining her technique with each passing second.

"Stop." I gritted out. Amaya immediately pulled herself off my dick. "I think you deserve a little reward." Her eyes widened as she started nodding. "However, I need to make sure that you understand what you did wrong." I lifted my leg and started grinding the top of my foot against her pussy, slowly and lightly enough to prevent her from getting off on it, but hard and fast enough that she could truly feel it.

"Yes. Yes!" Amaya half-moaned out. "I promise not to do it again." She gasped out, as if she had ran a marathon. Frowning, I shrugged my shoulders. She was probably too deep in lust to answer properly.

"Get on the bed." Amaya practically threw herself onto it. Rolling onto her back, she lifted her legs such that her knees were next to her ears, presenting herself fully to me. Grabbing her hips, I rubbed my shaft onto her pussy, making sure it was slick with her juices. Lining it up, I bent down close to her. Her breath mixed with mine as we stared into each other's eyes. Lifting her head up slightly, she pulled me into a kiss before I thrusted straight into her.

I encountered a slight amount of resistance as I broke her hymen. Bottoming out, her walls spasmed as she was finally filled up to the brim after I teased her for so long. Without even waiting for her to recover, I started thrusting into her at a rapid pace. Her walls kept squeezing irregularly, as her nails dug into my back. Prolonging the kiss, she moaned into my mouth as her hips jerked and bucked with each thrust.

Pulling me close, her walls tightened, squeezing hard around my shaft. However, I kept going, using Carnal Artist to push back my orgasm despite her pussy desperately trying to milk it out of me. Breaking the kiss, Amaya's body was wound up like a spring as her eyes widened in alarm. "M-master~ Please~! I-it's too much!"

I could feel her walls tighten again and her face went slack, her tongue lolling out as her eyes rolled up into the back of her head, as a second orgasm crashed down on her. Her arms were barely hanging onto my neck as I bent down to kiss her once more. Her mouth automatically opened but put her no resistance as my tongue pushed into hers and struck her sensitive spots.

Unable to hold it back any longer, and my body flagging hard, I pulled out and spurted my load over Amaya's body. The white fluid landed on her belly, breasts and even up to her face as I rode out my orgasm. Shimmying up to her face, I dangled my cock in front of her lips and by instinct, Amaya opened her mouth and took it in, her tongue cleaning off her juices and remnant cum.

After a few moments, I pulled away from her greedy mouth and walked over to grab some towels to clean up. But seeing Amaya lying prone on the bed, my dick twitched slightly in excitement. However, it was late and I was seriously getting tired. Cleaning up most of our collective fluids, I opened the window slightly to air out the room despite the winter chill. Wrapping the two of us in the blanket, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

A/N: Sex scene? Sex scene. Feels a bit fast but… but I'm too lazy to actually change it. And if you don't like it, don't worry… The next… *checks backlog* ten chapters at the very least won't have anymore sexy times. Un/fortunately. I'm also not very experienced writing smut so… yup.

No new perks this chapter.



Chapter 10


Waking up the next morning, I noticed that I was distinctly less warm than when I had gone to bed. Rubbing the gunk from my eyes, Amaya was sitting at the foot of the bed with her hair done up in a ponytail, holding a steaming cup in her hands. She shot a glance at me before shifting her body to reveal that she wasn't wearing anything else other than her lab coat and glasses.

"Good morning, Master." She greeted rather nonchalantly with a pair of knowing eyes. "Did you have a good rest?"

"Ah- Um…" I narrowed my eyes slightly. "Yes?"

"Good." She seemed to preen a little.

"Care to explain your behaviour last night…?" I asked as I threw the blanket off and washed up.

Amaya kicked back. "Nope." She said rather simply. Staring at her, I waited for a moment for her to respond. Catching my look, she smiled and cocked her head slightly, pretending if she didn't know what I was talking about. Frowning slightly, I shook my head and finished up in the bathroom.

I continued staring at her completely unimpressed. After we held that for a minute or so, she sighed. "Well… I was feeling fairly pent up…" She sidled up next to me. "Due to a certain… someone's action. And I needed him to take responsibility." She stepped back with a slight grin on her face. Loremaster told me that she was half-joking and half-serious, though nothing about which was which.

The Celestial Forge spun up again. This time reaching for the Smut Vehicles Constellation. I didn't know how it would work for sex-based vehicles. But what I wasn't expecting was a tank. Just a tank. I couldn't pin down which type of tank it was, but I had a tank now.

Amaya snapped her fingers, pulling my attention back to her. Mumbling a tired apology, a spike was driven through my heart as she pouted. "Your new perks are nice and all but it's rude to be distracted during a conversation." Stretching her back, I quickly glanced away and took a deep breath. "Anyway, I need to use the toilet. Unless you're into that?" Her lips quirked up slightly.

I shot an unimpressed look at her. She smiled back. Was sex really that good for her? Frowning slightly, I watched her enter the bathroom as well and shut the door behind her. Shaking my head, I turned my attention to the smaller Motes that I had received which were the reason why I was so excited.

I finally got my pocket dimension. It wasn't much really, just a garage to stick my tank in, as well as a magic key that could connect a door to my pocket garage. The key was also backed by the Forge so it couldn't be stolen, couldn't be used by anyone else unless I specifically allowed them to, and the enchantment/magic that allowed it to connect to my pocket dimension could not be copied as well. Plus, my pocket dimension could also only allow authorized people to access it.

It was GLORIOUS.

The garage itself was also pretty barebones. With only some tools to help perform basic maintenance and shelf. But fuck it, I had it now and nothing in this world could ever take that away from me.

Not sure what I would ever need a tank of all things for. Well, if I ever needed to assault a base, I could pull it out of my back pocket I suppose.

As I was contemplating my new garage, Amaya walked out of the bathroom looking decent. Mostly just by pulling on some underwear. I grimaced as I took a deep breath to calm myself down. "I'll still be waiting for that date you promised me." She remarked as she took a seat at my table.

"You still want that?" I muttered as I looked over her shoulder. On it was a list of components and materials she detailed out, along with a set of specialty tools.

"What can I say? I'm a sucker for a romantic date." Her voice dropped a little lower as she spoke. I raised an eyebrow at her while she continued smirking at me. "And a pretty face doesn't hurt as well." She grabbed the paper from the stack from the top of the stack. This was definitely not there before. "Here. The first half is for your laser gloves. The second half is for the neuraljack."

"When did you write this? I was pretty sure this wasn't part of the papers you handed to me yesterday?" I frowned.

"Just this morning while you were asleep." She stretched her arms above her head. Her lab coat lifted off her body slightly, revealing a little more of her chest. Catching my gaze, she let her arms drop, making the coat poof up slightly and letting her nips slip out. I physically tore my eyes away and folded the paper away. "Post-sex clarity works wonders on the brain, don't you know?"

"I thought it was post-nut clarity." I murmured. Clearing my throat, I started drafting a Toybox request. Though the lack of funds would put it on hold until I actually had the money to place the order. "Pass me the designs will you?" Another sheaf of papers was handed to me.

Looking over both of them, the laser gloves looked a lot less complete compared to the neuraljack. Which was further coupled with the larger variety in components than the relatively modest list of the neuraljack's. "Looks like you still need some time with the laser gloves?" Amaya raised an eyebrow. "Ah right. The prototype." I nodded.

"Indeed." She nodded. "Your taser was a good inspiration for inducing electric shocks directly into the nervous system from a distance. Though I'll need some time to figure out a solution to some of the… issues with the design."

"Like metal, and humidity messing with the charges." I muttered. "Didn't think it'd be much of a problem when I made it." I tapped my foot against the ground. "Wouldn't that also make it perfect for directly shorting circuitry in tinkertech?" I cocked my head.

Amaya nodded. "It could." She admitted. "However, don't count on it. This is sending incredibly precise and controlled electrical charges directly into the nerves to control someone's body. To compensate for the precision, the total power would naturally be lower. It would be able to fry simple circuits, but don't expect anything if it's hardened against EMPs. Or hardened in general." She added almost as an afterthought.

I shrugged. You couldn't have everything in life I suppose. "The prototype blueprints for the hard light projectors are done, I see." Looking over the notes, nothing really stood out to my powers as 'wrong' so I guess it was fine?

Amaya gave a brief nod to the note in my hands as she tapped her fingers on the table. "Though whether or not they work is a different story. They should work, but we'll need to do some testing to ensure that they don't accidentally blow up or something." She sighed sadly. "Though I would need some time to miniaturize them."

"Good good." I nodded. "Do you have anything to do today?" I asked as I made my way to the door.

Amaya tilted her head at me in confusion. "A new project?"

"Nah." I produced the Magic Key. "Let's go see our new pocket dimension."

Immediately, Amaya hopped to her feet. Tapping the Key against the door knob, Loremaster could see how the magic wrapped around the wood, invading its matter before settling in. A weird sort of view but I didn't care for it too much. I don't think I particularly needed to know how the key granted me access to my Pocket Dimension. Turning the handle, I swung it open to the small-ish garage that was provided for me.

A bare concrete floor, dull walls, a single metal shelf sat in the corner with a toolbox on it. The tank looked cool though. Silverish metal plating, a massive barrel on the front as well as a machine gun on top. Rapping my knuckles on the plating, I walked around the entire thing. Large treads, and enough presence to probably make people brown their pants if it came barreling down towards them.

Amaya didn't look too impressed though. Then again this wasn't some hyperfuturistic tank made in the 44th century. I didn't think so anyway.

Hopping inside, there were two types of ammunition for the tank gun already stored inside. Armor Piercing, and High Explosives. Both types had an automatic-loading mechanism that would allow the cannon operator to freely switch between rounds depending on the situation. The dude inside was just there to keep an eye on it so it didn't jam.

The machine gun on top was also filled with regular bullets, with a belt feeding into the chamber and plates on either side to protect them from the errant bullet or two.

"Yup. It's a tank alright." I muttered as I shot a glance at Amaya. "See anything that we could glean from this?"

Amaya hummed as she tapped a finger to her chin. "This armour, is it steel?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Dunno. My Specialization doesn't exactly allow me to figure out a material by sight." I gave it a good smack and winced slightly at its strength. "Got something metallic on you?"

Staring at me, she flapped her lab coat, showing off her bra and panties. "Right." I hopped out and went to the toolbox. Inside were a variety of screwdrivers, hammers, wrenches and spanners, blah blah blah. Would have been useful about 3 days ago, wouldn't it? I pressed my lips into a thin line.

Spinning the hammer through the air, I reared back and gave the plate a good swing. Only for my hammer to ping off it with a loud and crisp sound. Amaya opened her mouth to say something but I held a hand up. "Wait." I narrowed my eyes slightly and gave it a few more swings.

"Nope. No idea what this metal is." I gave it another smack. "But I can tell you that it isn't steel. Or the usual steel used for this type of armour."

"How did you figure that out?" Amaya asked as she peered over the plating. "Unless Scientific Specialization also gave you the precise noise when smacking it with a hammer?"

"That's exactly right." I gave her a smile as she threw up her hands in exasperation.

"I-" She started before cutting herself off. "Whatever." She made a loop around the armoured vehicle before asking. "Do you think we can harvest this metal for our own uses?"

"Doubt it." I shook my head. "We have no idea if the Forge will replace the tank if we purposefully destroy it." The question was 'Is the reclamation of the tank's plating worth losing the tank, either permanently or temporarily?' Probably not. And it's a tank. I kinda wanna keep it.

She shrugged her shoulders. "That's fair."

Unfortunately, there wasn't much else to look at in the tank. If it was a bit more advanced, we might have gotten some technology from it but it was very much just a tank. A very reliable and very robust tank, built to last and withstand most things thrown at it. Whether 'a Dragon' counts as part of 'most things' remains to be seen.

I spent a little longer testing the ammo feed system, seeing how it worked and how it was made to not get jammed. Amaya excused herself and left after a while, telling me she would be tinkering the neuraljack system with the remaining electronics I had lying around.

Which reminded me, she still didn't have a legal identity as far as I knew. She did say that she was working on it but… maybe I could help speed it along? After last night, I was getting a little nervous living with an effective ghost.

There were really only three options available right now. The first was contacting the Number Man. Yes, the agent of Cauldron, former Slaughterhouse Nine member, Number Man. As an integral part of the criminal banking system, Number Man also had a variety of other sub-services available. One of which was the creation of a fake identity for you to use your ill-gotten funds in public without much hassle.

This was of course the most immediate solution to my problem. But also had one teeny tiny problem.

I was contacting Cauldron. To create an identity. For my supergenius Lab Partner.

It was a terrible idea on several levels.

The next was waiting until Simurgh blew through Canberra and introducing Amaya as part of the Endbringer refugee program. A bit more manageable but had the issue of waiting for almost two months for said attack to occur.

The last and least reliable was waiting until I got an AI or hacking perk to create my own fake identity for Amaya to use.

And it wasn't like I could just get her a driving license. Although it would serve well for most uses. Any and every background check, even a cursory one would immediately flag her as an unknown. And suddenly we had to answer very awkward questions that I didn't want to answer. What a headache…

I also transferred my taser and visor-goggles into the pocket dimension itself. No need to worry about pesky landlords barging in. I should also bring my shield over… Ah fuck, I forgot the shield back in Toybox. My lips pressed into a pained smile. A secondary benefit of having a pocket dimension. All my stuff would be in one central place.

"Maybe I should buy a coat rack? A drawer to stow my costume away in?" I hummed and hawed for a bit as I tried to think of things to put around the garage. Nothing too big, since the tank was taking up much of the floor space. Maybe a rail system above to slide boxes into? Well maybe for longer-term storage. Things to think about.

Stepping out of my pocket dimension, I closed it and shot a look at Amaya who was fiddling with my old taser prototype. A short zap and her arm spasmed as it extended. I knew it hurt, it usually comes with the territory of being shocked. However, Amaya barely made a sound despite the jolt. Frowning, she used a pair of thin pliers to pull out one of the resistors and slipped in a new one.

The Celestial Forge shot out its tendril while I was staring at Amaya. It barely missed a Star on the Metallurgy Crafting Constellation before returning back into dormancy.

"I'm heading out to grab us some brunch." I said as I grabbed my wallet and keys. "Any specific preference?"

Humming, Amaya didn't even look up from her papers. "Chinese." She commented offhandedly. It seemed like she was trying to find the difference between my implementation and her own. Well, it didn't seem like identification was a pressing issue anyway.

A weird smile formed on my face. Sure… but any Asian place worth their salt was in ABB territory. Pulling out my phone, I looked like a good place that wouldn't be neck-deep in gang territory. Picking out one, I went out the door and… grabbed a PRT letter from the letter box. Another request for me to come in… I tossed it aside and continued making my way to Chinatown. Plus, I got to see how the ABB operated in this world. A win-win situation all around.


The Asian district of Brockton Bay was primarily East Asian, think Japanese and Chinese people. Despite being called 'Chinatown', it definitely had that Japan influence from the Kyushu refugees. Hawker stores wafting out savoury aromas, sat next to the odd fortune teller or traditional clothing store. It was loud, bustling, and surprisingly crowded in the middle of the day.

There was still the odd gang tag or so. A giant dragon spray painted on the side of a building, ABB coloured lanterns and tags hung quite openly on the doors or sides of the stores, most likely denoting who was paying the protection fee. Standing amongst the crowd were several people in rather clean attire, all wearing gang colours on their sleeves. Their heads swiveled back and forth through the crowd, as if waiting for any excuse to jump into action.

" Excuse me. Sorry." I pushed past the crowd, apologizing along the way as I explored the street. I guess it couldn't be all gang violence and fights. It was hard to earn money if the businesses didn't get any customers. Turning the corner, I walked further into Chinatown, taking note of how much the crowd thinned after the first few streets.

" Mister, the main street is that way." A group of ABB gangsters walked up and pointed to the direction I had come from. However, they didn't… look like the usual ABB gangers. Less streetwear and a little more formal with no exposed weapons. The one who spoke was flanked by another three, wearing similar attire with ABB colours.

Some sort of cleaner and sleeker ABB? Well it wasn't like the gang was one unified whole. They kinda reminded me of the Enforcers on the Boardwalk. Glancing to the side, I didn't see anything that should have stopped me but I decided to engage with them for a moment. It wasn't like there was an ABB meeting here or something.

" Apologies, but I was on my way to a store. If I could pass… " I tried stepping to the side but they stopped me again. Stepping closer, I quickly took a few steps back to maintain our distance.

Okay. So they were definitely blocking me off from somewhere. Frowning, I tried the other direction but they still cut me off. Taking a deep breath, I backed away slowly. " That's fine but could I buy some takeout for a friend of mine?" I pointed at the noodle store behind them that had a few people sitting around.

" Leave now." So something was up with that store specifically.

Humming, I nodded. " That's fine. I can wait." I moved to the side when one of the gang members shouted after me.

" Hey! Can't you understand?" He stepped forward angrily and tried to shove me. Using Crane style, I redirected the force of push past me, sending him stumbling. Growling, he reached into his shirt and pulled out a collapsible baton. Extending it, he slowly made his way towards me. " Oh now, you've done it… "

Glancing at the others, they just stood around and shook their heads. The main leader crossed his arms and looked fairly relaxed. It didn't seem like they were going to join in for some reason. Well that was a relief. I didn't think I could handle a 1v5 without any weapons.

Turning my attention to the guy I was fighting, I kept the distance and watched his movements. From my time against James in the gym, Savant's Understanding was also applicable in a fight. I just didn't quite pay attention to it during my fight against Leet. All the small details, little quirks in his 'style' if you could even call it that, Savant picked up and allowed me to see clearly.

He stamped his foot against the ground whenever he went for a downwards strike. He often overextended easily when lunging for a strike. His stance was too unbalanced when he swung. All his mistakes and habits were clear for me to see. And his movements became easy to read.

A block here. A redirect there. There were, of course, some sudden surprises but my 'experience' with Crane style allowed me to handle them. Mostly. I still got hit on the off-chance he pulled something so stupid that I didn't expect it. But the rest was still within my capabilities to defend.

And, of course, against my practical stonewall, he got more frustrated which made him even easier to read. Since he was the aggressor, I wasn't as tired as when I was facing Leet or James, mostly focusing on my footwork to position myself in better positions to prevent follow-up strikes.

" You slippery bastard!" He swung again, lunging forward to catch my arm. I guess it was time to end this. Stepping forward, his wrist struck my forearm instead. His eyes widened as I suddenly entered his guard after spending much of the 'fight' dancing and retreating away. My left hand grabbed his wrist before I wrenched his entire arm around.

Twisting it, he quickly let go of the baton before I got him into an armlock. If I applied a little bit more pressure, I would snap his arm like a twig.

After all, the fastest way to stop a fight if one had already started was to make sure the other person couldn't fight anymore.

The other gang members took a step forward. " Mister, I apologize for the inconvenience. Could you please let our member go? We'll ensure that he is punished according to our rules." I narrowed my eyes. I didn't think the ABB would be so… reasonable. I was half expecting them to simply jump in after I took down the first one.

Glancing between the other four, I shook my head. Relenting, I released the lock and pushed the man away. Tumbling to the ground, he stood up and dusted himself off. Glaring at me, he swiped his baton off the ground before two others quickly flanked him. Grabbing his arms, he roughly shrugged them off before following them away.

" I didn't think the ABB would be this peaceful." I remarked as they turned the corner and left my line of sight. Turning to the first guy, he smiled lightly.

" It is simply the first step. Anyway, you will still have to-" He started before he was cut off.

" Wait." A voice cut through the air. One of the customers of the noodle store I had pointed to stood up. A muscular man with a sleeve tattoo with a tanktop and jeans. Walking over, I bit the inside of my cheek as I saw the outline of a pistol tucked into his waistband. " What's your name?"

" Nathan Leong." I replied. He seemed like a pretty important person. Walking over, he was well within range for me to disable him before he could draw his gun.

" I'm Chan Loujun. Lieutenant of the ABB's Chinatown cell." He replied. " Come take a seat." He motioned for me to follow. Shooting a glance at the two gangsters, they relaxed and started backing away slightly. Definitely a big boss then.

Following behind him, I took a seat opposite him. Turning around, Loujun called out. " Boss! A bowl of fishball noodles for my friend here." Looking back at me, he leaned back slightly in his chair. " You have good skills. What martial art was that?"

Was that what caught his attention? " An altered form of the White Crane Style." I half-lied. Well Crane Style definitely had some inspiration from the actual martial art 'Fujian White Crane' but it was made for Solars in the first place.

Nodding, Loujun took a bite from the bowl in front of him. Leaning back, he said rather simply. " Come work for me."

" No." Was my immediate reply. Dealing with Toybox contracts, exercising, plus the soon-to-be Dockworker job, plus juggling my own personal Forge projects? Joining the ABB, even to spy which would be a horrible idea, would stretch my time out beyond what I could reasonably handle.

Loujun nodded as he took another bite. A waitress walked over and set a bowl of steaming noodles in front of me. Picking up the chopsticks, I was about to start eating when I saw a flash of movement from him.

Snapping my head back, Loujun raised his hand up in a surrender pose before setting them back down on the table. " Jumpy are we?"

" You can never be too careful." I replied as I watched his hands. Taking a bite from the noodles, I was surprised at how good it was.

" A good attitude to have." Loujun nodded. " See. I've been a lieutenant in Chinatown for several years now. And unlike my coworkers, I understand the need for both fear and respect. The others… They shoot people, beat up shopkeepers to scare them. But they are merely copying Lung's actions without understanding them. And even Lung himself only rules through fear."

I raised an eyebrow as Loujun started talking for seemingly no apparent reason. Was this normal? " However, fear only works for as long as you remain the most fearful thing. Once people lose their fear in you, you lose your strength." He continued. " And I'm afraid that the ABB will lose that fear soon."

" Are you not afraid of your co-workers ratting you out to Lung?" I asked with a slight frown. Saying that people won't fear the ABB was pretty much the same as saying people won't fear Lung. And that was the same as committing suicide.

"Who dares? No one in Chinatown dares tell on me since I guaranteed them such protections. And my cell is one of the most profitable in the ABB so even if they did, I'm too valuable to lose." He said with a laugh. " Only a fool will kill me. And Lung is no fool."

" But back to the topic at hand. The Empire is encroaching fast. Their numbers grow with each day, rallying around their Nazi ideology and their Cape numbers easily quadruple of our own. And what does the ABB have? Fear within and fear without. Divided. Chasing petty power and money when threats loom barely a few streets away. Soon the fear of the Empire will outweigh the fear of the ABB, and our numbers will be crippled because of it."

" And why are you telling me this? In hopes that I'll join you and restructure the whole organization?" I raised an eyebrow.

Luojun laughed again. " Restructure? Only if I can convince Lung of it. However, the Dragon rarely participates in gang politics. However, there is a way to do so. And that will be to make my co-workers… retire from their position and instate someone actually useful there. The ABB requires more than just propped-up bullies, people to rally behind and around just like the Empire does, and not just the mere threat of the Dragon keeping them at bay. It is already clear that they do not fear him as much as people think they do."

" I doubt the ABB's less than legal businesses are helping your noble pursuit." I remarked.

Luojun nodded his head. " An unfortunate matter. However, just as my cell draws in much profit from the businesses I run, the others draw profit from the businesses they run. I cannot stop that without overstepping my boundaries and being killed by Lung. Unless the drugs and brothels stop earning money, or Lung himself intervenes, it will persist. And both are unlikely to happen."

The Celestial Forge awakened in the middle of our conversation. Another perk, similar to Lab Partner or Machine Madness in terms of energy consumption. The Star was from the Smut Facilities Constellation and was pretty much an expansion to my garage.

Secret Base was… a secret base. It was a pseudo-pocket dimension/physical space that was simultaneously connected to the Celestial Forge's pocket dimension and reality which meant it also had all the protections that the Pocket Dimension already had. I could access the rest of the pocket dimension by entering it but I could also return to it via my Magic Key if I wanted to. Furthermore, whenever I was in a city, town or something similar, my secret base would follow me to that place. So long as there was nobody inside when the move actually happened.

The base itself was pretty much a hideout for a team. Inside it was practically a full penthouse, with enough space and stocked supplies for a full group of six or so to crash. It was also hidden from any enemy, making it perfectly safe plus some sort of special detection system for 'monsters' and 'magical energy'.

Which was great. The apartment was getting a bit… small for me and Amaya.

I turned my attention back to Luojun. " A noble goal. However, I'm still not willing to join. It is far too risky. You'd be making enemies across all of the ABB if you haven't already and Lung would kill you, and likely all of your accomplices, if you were caught. The risk is too great for me."

He frowned a little. " Understandable. Such a mindset is unfortunately too common in Brockton Bay." Reaching towards a bag, he pulled out a card and handed it to me. " But I do hope you will change your mind."

Looking at it, it looked pretty official, though it was just a symbol, name and phone number. Glancing back at Luojun, I rested my arms against the table. " I'm surprised you didn't try to browbeat me into joining."

" I prefer to make people join out of free will rather than coercion. Less chance of getting backstabbed that way." He explained. I nodded in understanding. That made sense. " I won't hold you for any longer." He stood up and walked over to the two gang members. Saying something that I couldn't quite hear, they nodded and made their way to a car and left.

Finishing the rest of my meal, I ordered takeout and started heading back to Amaya. Although I wouldn't be touching the ABB for a while, Luojun looked to have a good head on his shoulders. Probably more than the rest of the lieutenants combined. Working with him to try and take over the ABB was a possibility.

He wasn't in it for the power but for the betterment of the community which was a rare thing. Brockton Bay wasn't a shithole for nothing… Well clearly, he failed in the original timeline, given that I didn't hear anything about him from canon. If I gave him enough power, he could subvert and influence the growth of the organization. Or start a civil war within the ABB and cause them to implode.

An idea for another time, I suppose.

A/N: Not sure how I feel about this chapter. The first half being after-sex/morning after talk. Plus editing to ensure Amaya acts like how I want her to act while still ensuring I didn't accidentally break anything in the next few chapters. And the second half establishing ABB factional differences. Two… quite different tones to say the least. Ah well. Hoped you enjoyed it anyway.

Also all the italics are spoken in Chinese in case you didn't realize it. There really isn't a reason why it couldn't be normal text but it just felt weird without it.

Yes. I have added a pocket dimension because I don't want the Forge to summon a tank in the middle of the street. Yes it's not from the Personal Reality Supplement because I don't want to dilute my rolls even further. Yes, I know Access Key is a thing. I'm condensing all the Personal Reality Supplement stuff into its own little Free Motes that will be granted as needed.

QnA:

Can Nathan expand his Pocket Dimension?

No. He only has whatever floor space given to him via the Database and Facilities Constellation, and some Toolbox Stars. So no hollowing out a Volcano for a training space. If he needs extra space, he's going to have to put it in the real world like the rest of us. Or in Toybox. Whatever. There are also no additional perks that can expand the Pocket Dimension comprehensively so no Loft, Basement, so on and so forth.

Can Nathan close the Pocket Dimension with him inside it?

For the first half? No. He cannot close the gate with him inside since that would lock him out of the real world. HOWEVER, with Secret Base, his Pocket Dimension is now half inside reality, which adds permanent doors into and out of his base. So now he can open and close gates made with the Key so long as Secret Base remains attached to reality. This also means if someone finds his base, he's going to have to relocate real fast because those doors can't be altered or closed.

Remaining Points: 100

New Perks:

-Tank It (Rance 03) (300 CP)

Well, it's time to take out the big guns. How big you ask? Big as a tank. Because that's what this is, a frigging tank. Works without fuel, is surprisingly fast and can carry more ammunition than you would expect. It could be a good idea to use it in this war. But you can also sell it for some money for whores. Just saying.

-Garage (Personal Pocket Dimension) (FREE)*

A small garage to store your first vehicle. And second. And third. Whenever you get a new vehicle from the Forge, this little place will expand to accommodate it. Plus any tools required to perform basic maintenance for the given vehicle will also be provided.

-Magic Key (Personal Pocket Dimension) (FREE)*

A small gold key that connects any door to your pocket dimension. By tapping it against a door, the door will become a gateway to your pocket dimension. To remove the connection, all you have to do is think about removing it, isolating your dimension once more. However, you cannot do this while still inside your pocket dimension, thereby trapping yourself inside. You may choose which facility the door will open to as well just by thinking of the place you wish to access. This key cannot be stolen or taken from you, always finding its way back into your pocket whenever you wish.

-Secret Base (Submission Sailor Moon) (400 CP)

Though they use Hikawa Shrine more often, the Senshi's actual secret base is the hidden room under the local arcade. This is a similar sort of secret base, a hidden location large and well-furnished enough for a whole team of Senshi to crash for the night. This place is off the radar of all your enemies and it's a great place to lie low if you've just had an unsettling defeat or just want to get away from ordinary school girl life for a while. In addition to the furnishings of a large upscale apartment this place also has some old tech left over from the Moon Kingdom, like Ami's Mercury Computer, which can detect monsters and sources of magical energy across the whole city, though things that are very well-hidden can confuse its readings, telling you that something is out there but not where exactly.



Chapter 11


Delivering lunch to Amaya, I was already on my way out again. This time wearing a formal suit and trousers as well as a nice pair of shoes. Why did I have it? Just in case I was invited to any formal events during University. Too bad 'I' didn't get much use out of it before I dropped out. Amaya gave me a little thumbs-up when I showed it off, so I guess I looked nice in it.

Taking a bus to the Union building, I could tell that it had seen better days. The paint was peeling, revealing the brickwork underneath. The lights looked two decades out of date, and rust pretty much coated every piece exposed of metal. The occasional waves crashing against the beach punctuated the silence that surrounded me.

Glancing around, I checked the location to confirm that I was indeed in the right spot before making my way in.

The building's interior certainly looked better than the outside. At the very least it felt like an office building and not like a dump or something. The paint wasn't peeling, there was the smell of an air freshener in the room and it generally looked pretty clean. A Dockworker sitting at the receptionist counter caught sight of me and choked back a laugh.

"You're here for the interview?" He asked as he sat up. Nodding, I furrowed my brow in confusion. Yea, the DWU wasn't exactly a multi-national company but… come on, dressing up for an interview was still standard, no?

"Just down the corridor. Second door to the left." He gestured in the air as well. "And loosen up. We've heard great things from Johnny." He grinned as he patted me on the back. Just my luck, I was the subject of gossip in the Union as well. Here's to hoping that my achievements weren't embellished too much.

Giving a brief thanks, I followed his directions and knocked on the door twice. "Come in." Danny's voice came from behind. Opening the door, I walked into his office, my heart pounding away. Look at me, I could go hand-to-hand with a supervillain and I was getting nervous in an interview. Taking a deep breath, I called upon my Solar memories to calm myself down.

"Good morning, Mister Hebert." I greeted as I took a brief glance around the room. The room was fairly compact, with a few filing cabinets lining the walls as well as drawers. The table was set in front of the window, with a computer on my right side and the name plaque right in front of me.

"Please, call me Danny. Mister Hebert was my father." I let out an amused breath as I sat down. Exchanging smiles, I reached into my bag and pulled out my resumé before handing it to him. Letting out a breath, I waited for Danny to start the interview.

"Well… this is mostly just a formality." He set the paper down. "As a Dockworker, you don't need a specialised skill set like engineering or calculus. I'm mostly looking at your attitude and personality when you're coming in for an interview. And given that Johnny gave you glowing praise after the mall attack, I think you'll do just fine."

Oh. Huh. I… guess that made sense? "So… what should we do now?"

Danny shuffled some papers around and handed my resumé back. "Well, now we will discuss your hours and salary. I heard from Johnny that you're planning to go back to university?"

"Ah yes." I nodded. I did say that, didn't I? Well, this was mostly to get closer to Taylor so I didn't particularly care about the money. I could earn a lot more for a lot less work by just selling shit on Toybox. "Just to tide over while I get my life back together."

Danny nodded in understanding. "I won't pry." He assured me. "I'll put you as a part-time worker?" I nodded. "Okay. I'll put you in at a 20 hour work week and at base $25 per hour…" He typed into the computer. "Are you fine starting this week?" I nodded again. "Great. I'll put you in for a four hour shift tomorrow… It'll just be like an orientation, help you get to know about the things we do here, the schedules we have and all that."

I took a glance at the picture on his desk. A group of three that I assume was Danny, Annette, and Taylor at some sort of amusement park. A large rollercoaster was behind them and they were all holding cotton candy in their hands. Catching my look, he glanced over and smiled. "Cute, isn't she?"

I nodded. "Your daughter?" I prompted. If I wanted to get closer to Taylor, I needed some believable reason to meet with her regularly. Similar to Crystal and Lisa to be honest. Lisa will find me, given that her entire power was pulling information out of her ass. If she wanted to meet me, she would find a way to do so.

Crystal though… Hm. Something I'll need to correct. Maybe if I could get her phone number as well? I'll have to find her though without looking like some sort of stalker.

"Yep. Her name's Taylor." Danny smiled sadly as he looked over the picture. "This was taken over a decade ago. We went to the state fair up in Boston for a family vacation. She was practically vibrating in the car, full of excitement." He let out a soft sigh before setting it back. "I'll start rambling if I continue," he said with a laugh. "Don't mind me."

"Over a decade? Then she's what? 16… 17 years old now?" I curled my lip slightly.

"She's fifteen this year actually." Danny corrected me. "Still in high school."

"Ah, I see. Doing well hopefully?" I asked as I sat a little forward in my chair.

Danny tilted his head and bit his lip. "I… uh…" He trailed off awkwardly. "I think so. She doesn't bring up any problems with school. Though I do get the occasional call that she was truant." He smiled. "But that's teenagers, am I right? I remember when I was her age, I would sneak out of school to head to the arcade to play some rounds on the machines. And then sneak back in during lunch." He laughed. Loremaster picked up some level of denial between his words, an unwillingness to face reality.

But I wasn't about to call him out on it. "Have you talked to her about it?"

"I've tried but… well, it didn't really go very well." He shook his head. "Nevermind. I think that'll be all. Thanks for coming." He turned to face me fully.

"Um actually." I started. "Since I'm here. Why not show me around?" I vaguely gestured to the building around me.

Danny cocked his head. "I… don't think that's a good idea. Those are some nice clothes and the Docks aren't exactly the cleanest of places. We'll prepare a uniform for you to wear onsite tomorrow." I nodded in understanding. Unfortunate. I was hoping to strike up a conversation with him as we walked around. But I guess that wasn't in the cards anymore.

Standing up, I thanked Danny for his time before making my way out. I didn't have anything else to do here so I started making my way back home. As I made my way to the bus stop, I checked my phone. It was a Monday.

School was probably starting…

Oh. School was probably starting.

I pivoted and took the bus to Winslow instead. I didn't even need to walk into the building. Just call the police from a phone booth nearby. I just hoped that no butterflies occurred that didn't absolutely screw over Taylor.

As I sat in the bus, I realised something incredibly important. That I was a fucking asshole.

Despite the fact that I knew, for a fact, the Taylor was going to get shoved into a locker full of biohazardous waste. I pretty much waited until she triggered in order to 'save her'. I could have done this at any point in the last two days. It was literally a phone call to spare her the pain of suffocating in blood and shit. And yet I waited until she got her powers because that was the 'Taylor' I wanted.

And the worst part was that I didn't really care that I did it.

I didn't know if it was my Solar memories acting as a sort of buffer between me and my actions. The Solar me killed quite a number of people and had centuries of experiences. Or if it was the Celestial Forge itself or something else entirely. However, whatever the case was, I simply didn't care that I had practically sentenced a girl to one of the worst types of experiences ever.

And I felt worse about that than my actual inaction in the first place.

The Celestial Forge awakened once more. This time it's tendril stretched towards the Clothing Skills Constellation and missed.

Letting out a sigh, I tapped my foot impatiently. I kinda wanted to make the call now using my Toybox phone. It was capable of preventing tracing and ensured privacy… but I decided against it. It had to be believable that someone called instead of a mysterious stranger. The former meant that the police would think it was a concerned individual. The latter felt like a cape taking an interest in the girl.

Checking Winslow's schedule (thank god for publicly accessible records), I found that school wasn't starting today. But tomorrow since New Year's landed on a weekend, the actual 'holiday' for students was moved to the first Monday.

Oh hey, Iron Fist's meeting was scheduled… Wait later.

So great, Taylor wasn't stuck in the locker. But… that still left me with the decision of whether I should call her and prevent the trigger event from happening. It sounded scummy, given that there was one very obvious 'right' choice and one obvious 'wrong' choice, but I wanted to weigh the pros and cons of both decisions.

The pros of leaving her to trigger. I would have access to the main character. A girl who was incredibly dangerous despite only being able to control bugs and survived in situations that she should have died in. With more tech and some proper guidance, she would easily be the most terrifying non-human master on the East Coast.

The cons was that I had to actually recruit the girl. I already had an in with my job at the DWU but Taylor was naturally shy, insecure, and highly suspicious after Emma's betrayal. The best way would be doing something like what Lisa did. Instead of me approaching her, I had to make her approach me. I also had to deal with her tendency to escalate situations and make her get a handle on her emotions rather than just shunting it into her swarm.

Therapy. Obviously. But I wasn't sure about her escalation drive (rather than a conflict drive). Was it part of her personality? A bit of emotion manipulation via Queenie? Or both in tandem?

As for the pros and cons of leaving her to not trigger. It was that I didn't have to deal with any of that. The locker would be cleaned out but that might also intensify the bullying on Taylor. Without the 'pillar' of having powers and wanting to be a hero, she may just keep spiraling until she hits rock bottom. And at that point, she might just trigger anyway with a much worse power depending on the circumstance.

At the very least, Insect Master Taylor was in a comatose state for a few weeks and woke up in the hospital. A relatively safe place with her father. If she triggered in the middle of school, while being bullied… At best it would have some sort of simple Mover power, having the desire to 'escape' from her current situation in the immediate. Though from what I knew of Queen Adminstrator, that possibility was close to zero. At worst she became Khepri straight off the bat which meant an immediate kill order.

A fairer idea between the two extremes may be a similar Master/Thinker combo like in canon but with a Mover component. I wasn't sure how that Mover aspect would manifest. Perhaps the ability to literally shift her mind between people in the immediate area? Stupid idea. What the hell was that?

Anyway, there was no way I could protect her from any future attempts of bullying. The Locker only worked since it was there fermenting across winter break. The best idea would be somehow acting as her Pillar similarly like how her powers did in canon. But again that meant recruitment. Except this time, she didn't have that 'heroic' inclination that would make her walk into my arms for free.

Likely I would have to reveal my identity for one reason or another. But that came with its own host of problems that I didn't want to think about for now.

Okay. Pros.

No Insect Master Taylor.

Cons.

I might get something much much worse if I didn't intervene anyway to stop her from triggering due to bullying.

I let out a sigh. And again there wasn't any guarantee that she would trigger. There was also a chance that Taylor might decide to off herself. A possibility that I didn't particularly like to think about.

What was the saying? 'One in the hand is worth two in the bush'? By intervening, Taylor would also have still suffered through 2 to 3 weeks of intensified bullying as the Trio made up for their failed prank. At the very least, the Locker would be over soon if I reported it a little later and there was also the 2 to 3 weeks where Taylor remained comatose as her brain parsed the massive amount of information from her bugs.

Then again, 2 to 3 weeks was a long time. Even in the three days I had been here, I already had 2.5 times the perks than when I had started. Assuming I got about 3 perks per day, discounting all the failed connections, two weeks would mean about 42 new perks of varying amounts of heights.

Including missed attempts, I had a current average of about 9 attempts per day which meant a massive 126 attempts, with the Celestial Forge being able to reach higher and higher Stars every time until it got a hit.

Looking at it from this way, I could probably have enough strength to recruit Taylor the moment she got out of her coma. However, protecting and supporting Taylor would take a while especially with my current capabilities outstripping my resources.

Then so be it. Taylor was going to get shoved into that locker. I felt terrible about it but weighing the options, it was the best decision I could make. Letting out a sigh, it felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest and I could breathe a little easier now. Looking at the bus announcement, it was a few more stations until we hit Winslow.

Well, there wasn't anything to do there I suppose. I quickly tried to think about what to do next. The bus route also went a little further to Brockton Bay University which was an option and I could meet up with Crystal. Would that be weird?

I glanced down at my clothes. Yea, it would be. People might misconstrue it as a date or something. PHO would absolutely blow the fuck up from it. A regular guy caught up in a villain attack and rose up to be a leader and a hot superheroine? The shippers would be eating well and I don't think I needed that right now.

Maybe another day then. I hummed. The next option would be to scout out my secret base. I knew where it was since it subsumed an abandoned Endbringer shelter close to Captain's Hill though I would have to change buses…

Sure. Let's do it. Switching buses, I took a bus to the shelter. Plus, Toybox seemed to like meeting me there, given the many abandoned structures and sparseness of anyone around. It would definitely cut down on the travel time required to meet them. Perhaps if we got a little bit closer, I could set up a direct Toybox portal within my base.

Thoughts for another day, I suppose.

Staring out the window, I let out a sigh as I considered the sheer number of things I needed to do. Build my Erstein costume and equipment, handle Taylor and Lisa, get closer to Crystal to get in with New Wave to scan their powers, do Toybox things until I was established enough to leave…

What a headache…


Getting off at Captain's Hill, I took a rather roundabout route to my base. Due to the incomplete infrastructure, there weren't many of the city's CCTVs to see me outside of those on the main road. It would look like I walked out of the area of the CCTVs surveillance range and that was that.

Slipping down the sewer grate, I reached the subdoor of the Endbringer shelter. A maintenance door that would usually lead to some machinery that was supposed to keep everyone inside alive while the entire place was sealed air tight. A prudent decision given that the most likely Endbringer to strike Brockton was Leviathan.

Shutting the door behind me, I walked through the maintenance tunnels to the life support systems. Or where they should be anyway. Once again after funding to Captain's Hill, not even any life support was provided. Though the air circulation and lights worked I noted absently. I wondered if they were due to the shelter itself or if it was from my power.

Exiting the life support room, I walked out to a rather nice living room. Despite the fact that it was a 'base', it apparently didn't stop my power from tricking it out. Smooth polished wood floors, a lovely U-shaped couch connected to a TV displaying the entirety of the city, a full-sized kitchen with all the appliances you would expect inside one. And a large rectangular dining table capable of seating six people.

The bedrooms were a little on the cozy side, but had enough space if you were creative with it. There were white beds, sheets tucked tightly as well as tables, chairs, closets and nightstands. Pretty much the important furniture that one might expect in a bedroom. There was also a larger master bedroom with a king-sized bed and more decadent furniture though it was similarly plain.

The bathrooms were also stocked with all the toiletries one would expect. Toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, blah blah blah. I even found tampons tucked under the sink. All of it was still in their plastic packaging though, which raised a certain question in my head. Where the hell was the Forge pulling all of this from?

Created as part of the base? Or did a few stalls suddenly 'misplace' a few of their stock?

Anyway, there was also a shower and a tub in both bathrooms. Both of which were big enough to fit at least four people comfortably and possibly a bit more with some squeezing. I didn't need to guess what Amaya's immediate proposition was when she saw this.

Outside of that there was also a washing machine and dryer. So I didn't have to spend my quarters on those washing machine stores. I furrowed my brow in confusion as a thought appeared in my head.

Where was all the water and electricity powering this place coming from? The main power grid? That was definitely not right. If it was, the government would be able to tax me on this and that would jeopardize the point of a secret base. I didn't see any generators or water purification plants when I came in so… I guess the Forge was just pulling it from somewhere?

Hm.

There was also a Wi-Fi connection here. A brief check saw that there was a decent firewall and inbuilt VPN that altered IP addresses every 24 hours. Not particularly secure but better than nothing. At the very least it should dissuade the usual script-kiddies and black-hat from trying and moving onto easier targets. However, it wasn't about to be beating off dedicated assaults on the base.

Maybe I should make a proper modem to connect to the internet. I took a breath. Maybe I should start keeping a to-do list as well to keep track of all the things I have to do.

A knock came from the main door before it opened and the green-haired scientist sautered in, wearing some casual clothes along with her lab coat and usual clothes. My bag was slung across her back as she skipped into the room and tossed it aside.

"Hm. I thought I would arrive here first." Amaya remarked as she shut the door behind her.

The Celestial Forge awakened. However, instead of striking out to only the Lewd Constellations, the 19 were excluded from this awakening. This time the tendril extended towards the Enchanting Skills Constellation, the same one that I got Loremaster from.

This time I got one, right next to the Star that gave me Loremaster actually. Magic Style: Enchantment. The ability to enchant things, molding magic and infusing it into living or inanimate objects to grant them strong traits.

There were also a few Motes that compounded with this effect. The first was Magic. Literally just granting me a mana pool for me to draw on as well as being fueled by emotions. Stronger emotions generate stronger effects… And of course the power of love and friendship being the strongest emotion.

The other two were Magic Power and Magic Skill. Magic Power was the amount of magic I had in my system to use. Which… wasn't a lot right now. It says that I'll be able to hold up a few minutes in a fight. Though I expected if I paced myself, I was pretty certain that I could stretch it out a bit longer. And Magic Skill was simply how skilled I was at using my magic.

Right now it was about as good as a highschool student. I knew the basics and intermediate stuff and was decent enough to use them competently and reliably but any advanced applications were out of my reach for now.

I would definitely have to test this out soon. Enchanting was pretty much a free upgrade to all of my equipment. And the only thing it would cost was my time.

I pulled my attention away from the Forge. "What. So you can masturbate naked in front of me when I arrive again?" I deadpanned as the scientist skipped over to the dining table. Looking inside, she had brought some of my dirty clothes as well as some fresh clothes for the two of us. Well, for me anyway since it was my clothes.

"Why? Did you enjoy it?" Amaya hooked her arms around my neck and purred. Pulling her off me, she pouted slightly before hauling the clothes to the laundry room and chucked them in.

"Immensely." I drawled with no small amount of sarcasm. "Just don't expect it to be a regular thing." Amaya took a step back as the washing machine spun up. Her clothes were gone, again, being thrown in with the rest of it, including her underwear. Biting my lip, I glanced away as the only thing that covered Amaya was her lab coat.

"You were saying?" She smiled as she stood right in front of me.

Blinking, I shook my head and tore my eyes away. "How many sets of clothes do you have?"

Amaya blinked and frowned. "Mmm… Just the one. Why?"

"Get some better underwear." I shot back with a grin. Pouting slightly, she stared at me as if she was trying to decide on something. Breaking into a mischievous smile, she nodded and spun on her heel.

She walked back and called out to me. "So you don't like my underwear?"

Immediately, I felt a disturbance in the Force. "Why do you ask…?"

"No reason." Whirling around, Amaya was now sporting nothing but her lab coat. Smiling a Cheshire grin, I buried my face into my hands and let out a long groan. "I'll be in my room if you need me." Grabbing a stack of papers from my bag that I recognized were our notes, she walked into one of the bedrooms in the base. "Oh and I'll be sure to get some 'better underwear' as you put it." Amaya made it a point to flash me again before shutting the door behind her.

I took a breath to calm myself down. Honestly, was she an Evil Genius or a Horny Genius? Anyway, A. I still had things to do, and B. My reaction was probably what she wanted anyway. Let's not get too carried away now. I shot a glance at the door and waited for her to burst back out or something.

With that small reminder out of the way, I turned my attention to my phone. Leaning by the couch, I briefly skimmed through the messages I received. Well, just the one really that I had ignored earlier. Iron Fist had finalized the meeting time and place. Apparently it was done a little past midnight for me, so I was fast asleep when the notification arrived.

I didn't care too much about the location given that we would be sent over via one of Dodge's portals. It was some isolated forest area near the outskirts of Charleston a little past sunset. I would be expected to participate for obvious reasons, but I was also assigned two of Toybox's hit squad members during the exchange. Specifically Toy Soldier and Bauble.

Purely out of safety concerns. Most of the time, Toybox wouldn't do such a thing because they would have equipment that would protect them, or at the very least stall the attackers until they could retreat. But since I got a contract so early without any equipment while also having no access to the Toybox dimension currently, I needed some back up.

Assuming nothing terrible happens, like Behemoth suddenly bursting through the ground, I should be fine.

I also sent Amaya's list of components into the Toybox system. An estimated amount of money was returned and after approval, Toybox would start sourcing all the components I needed. Most of it should be in stock, given that Amaya made sure that she didn't name a horribly specific component.

I tucked my phone away. Anyway, I had a new power, and it was a lot safer to test than Cult of the Gun.

Going to the kitchen, I grabbed a knife. Taking a deep breath, I 'felt around' for my mana. Gun magic already helped me quite a bit with finding 'where' my mana was so it didn't take long for me to find it. Drawing it out, it definitely felt different to gun magic where it felt like it was only begrudgingly following my orders. This mana was… dumber? I guess? It didn't have any desires compared to gun magic which only wanted to turn things into guns.

Well then, let's try my first enchantment. A simple durability enchantment would be useful for a knife right? Pushing my magic into the blade, Loremaster helped with seeing how the enchant seeped into the metal, the structure the magic took in order for the enchantment to hold, and more. It was enlightening to say the least.

Filing it away, I lifted the knife up and inspected it. It didn't look too different to a normal knife, except maybe that it glowed a little? Though it was far too bright to tell. Looking around, I walked outside for a bit and grabbed a small rock. Bringing it back inside, I took the knife to it and started blunting the knife as best as I could with it.

Pulling back, I saw that a good amount of rock dust was ground off. But upon checking the blade, it was still sharp. Surprisingly so. Unfortunately I didn't check how sharp it was beforehand, but judging by how it glided through paper… I guessed it didn't particularly matter.

And this was a proper enchanting power unlike Cult of the Gun so… I guess I was training with it.

Grabbing a bunch of tools from the garage, I started enchanting them one by one with an enchantment that I thought would make it most effective. Which mostly meant slapping a durability and maybe one extra enchantment on it. However, despite its simplicity, this single enchantment training was pulling triple duty.

Firstly, it was training Loremaster. It was firing on all cylinders since this was what this perk was meant to do in the first place and therefore, with the help of Savant, I was rapidly figuring out the inner workings of enchantment with this magic.

Secondly, it was improving my magic. Just straight up, improving magic all across the board. From my control, to the size of my Magic Power, everything. Why? True Hero Potential. The more I trained with something, the better and stronger it became, and since True Hero Potential also gave a small boost to growth, so I was improving my magic at a fairly noticeable rate. Not a lot. But noticeable.

Thirdly, I was improving my Magic Skill though this was more of a side effect of the above two. With Loremaster improving, I could see deeper and unravel the method of which Enchantment was… enchanting an object. And with Savant and Loremaster together, I could spot small or slight inefficiencies with the enchantment and tweak it to be better. This doesn't usually work, requiring several disenchantments and re-enchantments before I got it right. But that allowed Loremaster to view what had gone wrong.

Which then improved Loremaster a little bit more. Which allowed my Magic Skill to be better. And it became a self-reinforcing cycle as all my perks worked in tandem to improve all the other perks. And with my slowly growing Magic Power, I could even start infusing stronger enchantments by burning a little more Magic Power into it. Small steps that compounded with each other to become stupidly effective.

God I felt like a Gamer, grinding out stupidly tedious work for EXP and stat points. If I had a System, maybe I would be able to see Loremaster reaching level 3 or something.

There was also Machine Madness sitting in the back of my mind, looking at all of these enchantments and figuring out exactly how to create devices to replicate them. Not sure when I could ever need specific devices for boosting durability or sharpness but… I guess I have the option if I ever needed it now. Though I could always just use Enchantment for the same effect…

Of course, I couldn't keep enchanting indefinitely. Although my Magic Power was increasing with True Hero, I still needed time for it to recharge. In which case, I sat down, closed my eyes and tried to absorb more Magic faster.

Absorbing mana, or in this case 'Ethernano', was a bit harder than I had expected. Gun magic didn't exactly require mana. It only took a sliver to have the enchantment take effect and I doubted I could run out given that it was directly from the Forge rather than my body. So unlike pulling mana from my body, I had zero frame of reference as to absorbing Ethernano in the first place.

Well, I started with trying to draw mana from my body. Feeling out within myself to find the Ethernano 'storage' within myself. It was extremely empty, given that I had spent the last few minutes enchanting knives, whisks, and spoons. However, I could feel Ethernano and how tiny bits of it were being absorbed through my body and into the 'storage'.

So it wasn't generated from within the body. Or at least not entirely. Turning my awareness out, my 'vision' of my body was blocked as I pushed my magic sense outwards. And was surprised at the Ethernano that was simply floating around in the atmosphere and running through the earth. Some Ethernano lingered around me and were absorbed on occasion but it didn't look like it was going any faster.

Okay. So… how do I accelerate the absorption of Ethernano?

Maybe something from cultivation novels? If I could create a vortex that pulled Ethernano towards me, wouldn't that increase the rate of absorption? It also might overload my body with such particles…

It was worth a shot I suppose. The first would be trying to figure out what affected the movement of Ethernano. I did, obviously, with how I could pull out the particles to enchant objects. However, could that also be applied to particles outside my body?

Testing it gave me… mixed results. Yes, I could pull mana nearby to increase absorption rate but it was a short range and it wasn't like Ethernano was rapidly being sucked in to fill that void. There was no movement from particles farther away plus the concentration required to do so gave me a slight headache.

Moving slightly, I could 'see' that Ethernano did try its best to refill my empty spot. After watching for a few minutes, the concentration of particles was about the same as the rest of the environment. So at the very least, it tried to fill in the vacuum if there was one.

I tried multiple ideas for trying to increase my absorption of Ethernano. Circulating my magic within me? No. Circulating magic outside of me? No. Ran around the area sucking as much Ethernano as I could? Did work. But it also gave me a splitting headache and I slammed my toe on a sofa leg so… No.

In the end, I decided the best, and probably safest way until further notice was just sitting and absorbing Ethernano passively. Until I had a better idea of how it worked or got inspired, there wasn't much else I could do.

After my magic reserves were restored to a usable state, I started my enchanting grind again on the rest of the utensils and tools we had stocked in the secret base.

The Celestial Forge awakened. Again. This time I got a perk from the Time Constellation called 'Slacking Off'. Didn't do much but whenever I was doing work, I could take a little bit of time for myself. This applied to jobs but also personal projects, so although it would take the same amount of time to do something, I could slack off a little bit while still completing it on time.

As a treat.

Not… terribly good I suppose. But it was better than nothing.

Hm. If it worked like that… couldn't I also work on two projects within the same timing? Like if it normally took 4 hours for a project, now I could work for 3.5 hours and spend the extra 30 minutes saved on another right? It wasn't a lot, but spread over all the things I do… like designing blueprints while working at the Dockworkers' Union, during the construction of devices and gadgets…

Although small, it would add up over the course of days or weeks. Assuming I don't get any other perk that accelerates my work.

Hm.

Ah well. I was going to spend the rest of my time working on my enchanting training until it was time to leave. Not much else I could do right now anyway…

Wait, wouldn't Slacking Off also work on this as well?

A/N: Unfortunately that bit with the ABB subplot isn't that well received but it also doesn't matter for the near future. So don't worry about it. For now at least. Got that job with DWU, Taylor's trigger is going to happen (Whoops, who could have ever known?), exploring the Secret Base, and also that sweet sweet Perk Comboing. That's what I write this for babyyyy.

New Perks:

-Magic Style: Enchantment (Fairy Tail) (200CP)

It's time to choose the Magical Styles that you have already learned upon entering this world. Whilst most magical styles can be learned with time and effort and the right teacher or source of knowledge, buying them here will allow them to benefit from the skill that Magic Skill ranks grant as well as allow access to extremely rare or lost magics or magics that require certain traits to use. A list of the magics that can be bought as well as their costs can be found at the end of the jump document. It should be noted that some Magic Styles will not be purchasable through this option. Most of these are Holder Type magics, which all deal with magical items that are offered for purchase in the item section, and some are simply Caster Type magics that are too unique and either offered as part of a separate perk or not at all. This may change in the future as the series progresses or not.

-Magic (Fairy Tail) (FREE)*

Ethernano is the source of energy that runs through our world of Earthland and from the bodies of those native to this place. It's what allows us all to accomplish the act known as Magic, casting spells and the like. Not everyone has the ability to use magic but you're one of those lucky ones, like about a tenth of Earthland's population. How powerful and talented you are, along with what magic you know already, will be decided below.

Before we go on, the most important thing to know about magic in this world is that it is more than just a source of energy like what you get from food and more than just a power that you study and practice with to use in battle like a gun or martial arts. It is part of you, ebbing and flowing as you do. When your heart soars and your soul burns hot, your magic will answer with a leap and a bound in might. Intense emotions can colour and enhance magical power, sometimes to massive extents, and no emotion is greater at this than love. Both friendship and romance, the magic of this world responds in purest form to these emotions and what makes you feel them. Some say that this might even be the true source of all magic in the world, the love that let us come so far.

-Magic Power: Rank 1 (Fairy Tail) (FREE)*

You have the innate potential to be a Mage and to use Magic, that's for certain. But not all Wizards are equal to each other. The amount of Magical Power you have and can use is different for every person. It can be trained and improved over time but that'll take effort and time. The ranks below are made on the assumption that you are human, being a race with more innate magic will increase the benefits of various ranks as well. It is important to note that, in general, magical power generally translates into physical power, though it is unclear whether this is a natural

boost or the effect of basic and easy to learn enhancement magic that most mages make use of. You begin with Rank 1 for free.

Rank 1

The average for any combat capable Wizard. You're certainly able to fight and no normal humans are likely to stand up to you at first but you'll be tired after a few minutes and don't expect to be blowing up houses. Levy McGarden and Lucy Heartfilia at the start of the Fairy Tail series are examples of this level.

-Magic Skill: Rank 1 (Fairy Tail) (FREE)*

Magical Power is not the only thing that governs your overall might. Any fool can fling about his energy like a brute but only with skill and knowledge will a sorceress be able to use her magic to its utmost limit. This option describes the talent for magic in general you have as well as the specific training in any Styles you have bought from the start. Magic Skill applies to all Magic Styles you have bought with the option following this one, not to ones you learn in the future, though higher ranks of this option will grant greater skill with magic as a whole as well. You can choose how exactly your Skill manifests for your Styles, such as if you want to focus in a certain area. You might want to be an Ice Mage that focuses on Make Magic to create tools or creatures from Ice, rather than manipulate Ice directly.

Rank 1

You know your magics and how to use them but many of the advanced moves and tricks are still hidden from you. You're an effective combatant using your magic and so long as they're not stronger than you in Magical Power, you'll have a good chance of winning against your peers. Grey Fullbuster at the start of the series is an example of this.

-Slacking Off (Generic Factory) (200CP)

You will always find some time where you can slack off while working without harming your performance. This doesn't actually reduce the amount of time you need to be at work, just the amount of time you need to be doing work.

Remaining Points: 0



Chapter 12


As it turns out? Yep, Slacking Off even worked on training. Though it was mostly just allowing me to pull more Ethernano in my body during the downtime.

"Well, I'm heading off." I called out as I slid the visor-goggles over my face. I also took the liberty of pulling on Amaya's lab coat and stowing the taser in my waistband. Unfortunately, no protective gear but I don't think my first hand-off should go to absolute shit.

I let out a sigh. Murphy better fucking not take that as a challenge as well!

Amaya was sitting on the couch looking up at the television we had and flicking through it idly. "And bring me my components as well." She called out as I reached the door. "I can't make your gloves or neuraljack without them."

"Right right." I nodded as I stepped out. It felt a little weird, given that this was pretty much the first time I was 'in-costume' so to speak. An idle thought passed through my head. What if I leaned more into browns, tans and beiges? Like Vill-V? It would be hilarious with Amaya being my current Mobius-expy.

Hm. Well, I would see how my cards fell.

Moving to the meeting point, Bauble was the one who met me this time instead of Cranial. She was in her glass suit, shimmering slightly in the evening light. Situated a little further in Captain's Hill, we ducked into the incomplete construction of a gas station. Motioning for me to follow, we entered the staff office before stopping.

"Here." She tossed a small device into my hands. Inspecting it, I immediately recognized it as one of Dodge's portalmakers. Before I could ask, Bauble explained it to me. "That connects you with your lab and the entrance hall. Just be sure to flick the switch on the back in order to pick which portal you wanna open to." Frowning slightly, it felt a little less convenient than my Magic Key. With that I could just think about which portal I wanted to open and it would do so.

Hmm… Actually, if Cranial worked with Dodge, I was sure that they could recreate something similar.

Glancing at Bauble, she crossed her arms. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

Oh huh. I pressed the button and a portal was torn open. "Nice. Let's go then."

"So how do I choose where my portal exits from?" I asked while we moved to my Cranial's workshop.

Bauble took a moment to look at me. "You don't. Dodge's portal opens up at the exact same place as it closed, geolocked of course. Wouldn't want to exit 200km in the middle of space, would you?" She smiled slightly. Or at least I think she smiled. It was hard to tell under the shimmering glass face plate.

Entering Cranial workshop, I grabbed my stuff. Strapping the shield onto my sleeve, I tested the deployment system one last time and gave a brief nod. It would be awkward if I couldn't expand the shield if things went to shit. Loading the jammer onto a dolly, we quickly transferred it to my workshop.

My workshop was a bit barren compared to Cranial's. It still had the usual automated machining… machines, though there were clear spots where a large machine once occupied. However, it looked fairly complete for a standard workshop. "I'm guessing those machines had tinkertech in them?" I pointed to one of the clean spots in the room.

Bauble nodded. "Yup." I nodded as we wheeled the jammer to one corner of the room. Most likely the tinker in question improved the device for one reason or another. So it had to be replaced or it would break down sooner or later. Unfortunate since I would like to take a look at more tinkertech.

I glanced at Bauble who was leaning against the wall. Staring at the glass, my eyes widened slightly as I felt Loremaster working on her glass. The glass was enchanted? Not quite. But there was definitely something that was altering the fundamental properties of glass. And that was good enough for Loremaster to start working on it.

Obviously the Shard was the one driving the 'enchantment', that much I could tell even without the perk. However, Loremaster was peeling back the layers to the enchantment with ease. There wasn't any 'mana' or 'magic' that was animating the enchantment, instead Loremaster was sensing a more basic form of energy.

It was hard to describe, but it wasn't like my Ethernano or gun magic. Those two had a sense of… physicality to them in a way. They floated, could be manipulated, absorbed and pushed around, etc. They existed. However, this didn't have anything similar. It was a pure form of energy that encompassed the entire structure of the glass.

"Hey, my eyes are up here." Bauble called out, breaking me out of my trance. I bit back my annoyance at being interrupted. She didn't know so I had no right to be angry. Glancing up, I couldn't exactly see her face, but Loremaster told me she wasn't exactly angry.

"Sorry. Your glass was simply too pretty to look away from." I deflected with a little help from Carnal Artist. "How does it work? I heard from Lloyd that it's an improved version of your bulletproof glass?"

"Mhm." She nodded. "Bulletproof, Shatterbird-proof, and inertia-dampening all in one." She ran her hands down either side. "Can't tell you too much on how it works but if you're interested it would cost you." Her mask shifted as she leaned a little closer.

I pressed my lips together. "Maybe another time. When I'm not spending all my money on building all the equipment I need." I gestured to the two boxes of components that Amaya ordered. Most of it was there, though the wiring she asked for was about 100 meters short. Not sure why she needed so much, but you could never go wrong with more wiring than less.

"Fair." Bauble nodded.

The door slid open and Toy Soldier walked out. It was small, around my height, with two guns fitted into his forearms as well as several noticeable seams that most likely carried a variety of weapons and equipment. Its optics was covered by a red pane of glass that glowed slightly as it locked eyes with me. The 'Adam' armour.

Although the most recognizable suit of Toy Soldier's was affectionately called the 'Kaijubuster', it was far too big and too impractical for most uses. Instead that was kept on the back for specialized jobs that required it. For more regular uses, he had several suits for different occasions, such as the 'Condor' for high speed travel, 'Rhino' for small-scale demolition and battle, and the aforementioned 'Adam' as the all-rounder.

"Is everything set?" His voice was altered by the suit, practically making his voice unrecognizable.

"All's good." Bauble gave him the thumbs-up.

Toy Soldier walked over to the jammer and easily picked it up. Lifting a hand, a portal opened in front of us without any warning. I guess he integrated his portalmaker with his suit? Would make sense, wouldn't it?

Stepping through, we were in the middle of the woods in near complete darkness. The only light source was from the portal behind us. Toy Soldier gave a brief look around, his optics glowing faintly before shaking his head.

"They aren't here yet." He muttered as he set the jammer down. I couldn't quite tell how he was feeling about it. Loremaster generally picked up a sense of annoyance and relief simultaneously. Bauble leaned against one of the trees, her glass glittering slightly.

"Erstein, you'll be handling the handover for tonight. Don't worry about screwing anything up. We'll be here to smooth it over." He spoke as he placed his hands on his hips.

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence." I deadpanned as I followed next to him.

Letting out a huff, Toy Soldier shook his head. "I remember my first handover. It was with Pyro and a former Toybox member, Haven. The bastard we were trading with tried to cheat me out of my payment for some bogus reason. Nearly went to blows over that." Toy Soldier reminisced. "And I was a… three month member at that point? Pyro and Haven had to act as mediators. Luckily it was settled peacefully."

"Who were you meeting with anyway?" I frowned. "Don't seem very smart, pissing off Toybox like that."

Toy Soldier shrugged. "Washington Elite." He replied simply. My eyes widened as I nodded. No idea who was in the Washington Elite but from his tone of voice, it sounded pretty important. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that this is your first time doing a handover in general right? It's bound to be nerve-racking, especially against a villain team. So don't worry too much about it."

"Why do I have to do the handover in the first place?" I kept my voice neutral so I didn't sound like I was complaining. "Wouldn't it be better if I watched you do it and then took the lead in a later contract?"

Toy Soldier nodded. "Perhaps. If this wasn't your contract, we might have done what you have suggested. But since this is yours, you must be the one to do the handoff. It's a matter of appearance and reputation. You cannot build your name if you only tinker in your workshop all day." It made some amount of sense. I didn't mind it too much anyway.

Toy Soldier suddenly snapped his eyes up. Following his gaze, I zoomed into the woods and saw two pinpricks of light approaching rapidly. I couldn't quite make out what it was but Toy Soldier answered my unspoken question. "Heads up. They're arriving."

Bauble and Toy Soldier positioned themselves on my flanks, standing slightly behind so I was clearly at the forefront. As the jeep approached, Toy Soldier spoke slightly softer. "Some words of advice, try to act like you've been active for longer than you look." I shot a glance at him before nodding.

Coming to a stop, the doors popped open and the members of Iron Fist stepped out. And they were really pushing the theme of mobsters. All of them wore similar clothing to everyone else. A tailored grey suit and tie, long trousers and leather shoes, fedoras and matte black full-face masks. Honestly, outside of a few tiny differences in their appearance and build, it was hard to tell who was who.

Stepping forward, the person that I assumed was Steelstrike took the lead. "I presume you have the device ready?" His voice rumbled out, slightly muffled by the mask. He made it a point to look past me, and towards Toy Soldier and Bauble. The bastard… Was he doing this on purpose? Loremaster seemed to think so.

The Celestial Forge shot out its newly generated energy out to the Lewd Magic Constellation and failed as expected.

Steelstrike's power was a Brute with a Mover subcomponent. He could 'snap' his body into a certain position, going from a standing position into a haymaker in an instant, and transferring all that force straight into your body. These 'snaps' allowed him to throw much stronger hits than any person should reasonably do as well as giving him some amount of durability when the 'snap' occurs so he didn't shatter every bone in his hand on impact.

His Mover rating was when his 'snap' also displaced him ever so slightly. By linking several snaps all at once, he could zip around the battlefield in an instant and land heavy blows. He could even do a rudimentary 'flight' effect by having his displacement go upwards.

Out of every member of Iron Fist, Steelstrike was the most dangerous here. The Thinker, according to PRT files, was support Thinker, coordinating their strikes. However, they nearly never took to the field themselves. The Shaker was a telekinetic, though only capable of large-scale force application. And the Blaster was a laser blaster but with finer control in exchange for power.

Stepping forward, I crossed my arms. "Exactly according to your specifications." I gestured to the folded up device. "Everything in a 1 mile radius won't be able to send anything in or out."

"How do I know it works?" He spoke with no small amount of arrogance.

I shot a glance at Toy Soldier out of the corner of my eye. He didn't move a finger so I guess he was trusting me to take the lead. "Toybox guarantee. Or if you would prefer, you can test it yourself." I turned to look at Toy fully. Nodding his head, he walked over and pressed the clearly marked button to activate the machinery. Motors whirred to life and panels and gears slid over each other as the jammer was deployed.

A low whistle came from one of the Iron Fist members. And Steelstrike snapped his head towards them. Literally. One moment he was looking at me, the next he was staring at his team. I could sense Toy Soldier and Bauble tense up slightly as he did so. Turning back to the jammer, he walked around it before fiddling with the controls. "Intuitive design…" He muttered as the machine came to life. Pulling out a phone, he checked the signal. "Good. It works." He nodded in approval before deactivating it.

Walking back in front of me, he crossed his arms. "I have something else to add before we move on to your payment." Weird… I shot a glance to my seniors before giving my signal to continue. "Iron Fist will be moving against the gangs in Charleston soon. We would like Toybox to decline any contract requests from the Right Hand, and Unity Hall."

"You're talking about an exclusivity contract." Toy Soldier rumbled. Stepping forward, he extended a hand out. "Unfortunately, this is outside the realm of a simple contract. We will need to discuss with the rest of the Toybox's tinkers before a decision can be made."

Steelstrike shook his head. "I would prefer it if we could come to an agreement now."

"Impossible. Like I said, we will need to discuss this with the rest of Toybox beforehand." Toy Soldier crossed his arms, his optics flashed red in the darkness.

Steelstrike frowned slightly. "How much would it cost for an exclusivity contract with Toybox?"

"Far more than you can afford with your dinky little gang." Bauble called out. Glancing behind me, she pulled out two grenade-looking objects and took a step forward. "Pay up. Now." Somehow I got the feeling that this wasn't going to end well. For any of us here.

A tense silence hung in the air as Bauble made the first move towards escalation. Taking a deep breath, I tensed up my legs to launch myself backwards if anything went horribly wrong. Nodding, Steelstrike took a step back and motioned to one of the others. "There's no need to be so rude. Flare?" The one named Flare nodded and took out his phone. Typing something into it, I got a notification a few seconds later from an unknown number. The rest of the money had been deposited into my Toybox bank account using Number Man's services.

"We don't want Toybox as our enemy so how about we part ways here. Please, contact us once you've made your decision." Steelstrike took a step back. Oh? Common sense? In Worm? Well colour me surprised. I was completely expecting for us to come to blows.

We watched as they deactivated and moved the jammer back to the jeep and quickly drove off. Letting out a sigh, Bauble and I returned to the Toybox dimension while Toy Soldier relocated the portal. Collapsing onto a chair in my workshop, I pulled off my visor and tossed it aside. Bauble removed her mask as well and set it on the table while she hopped on.

"Not bad. You did well." She cocked her head. "All the way until they decided to spring an exclusivity with us, but that's pretty rare. Most of the time, they would send it through the proper channels and won't simply bring it up out of the blue."

I let out a sigh as I leaned back in my chair. "God. What the hell was that? I thought we would come to blows in a moment!" I gave an astonished look at Bauble.

Mariebelle nodded. "Well, sometimes you need a good threat to get villains going." I swear you could have worded that a lot better. "And it seems like that Steelstrike has a good head on his shoulders. His team might actually go farther than just a small-time antihero team with aspirations." She shot a glance at me. "Were you nervous?"

Nervous? I blew out some air. I didn't really feel… nervous? Well I still did, but my Solar memories gave me enough of a buffer that such emotions didn't dominate my thoughts. "Kinda. Not entirely though. There was no way that they were foolish enough to betray Toybox. Not with the two of you there I suppose." I shot a look at the glassware tinker.

"What a charmer." Marie joked, eliciting an amused huff from me. "Anyway, before you go spending all your newfound wealth on more components, do keep in mind that $25,000 will be deducted for Toybox operations." I nodded, though the sting of losing that much money annoyed me slightly.

"Gotcha." I nodded. "Don't worry about it. I'll budget my shopping list accordingly." I paused for a moment. "Say, are you going to even consider Steelstrike's offer?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Firstly, it's 'we', not 'you'." Oh right, I was part of Toybox. Whoops. Marie continued. "The exclusivity contract?" I nodded my head. "Nah. Highly unlikely. One of those contracts will run you about easily anywhere from $500,000 to over a million dollars in cost depending on the size of the contract."

My eyes suddenly got very big. "And it isn't really an exclusivity contract but rather an 'excluding' contract. You tell us which group you want us to not trade with, and we'll 'blacklist' them." She put 'blacklist' in heavy quotations. "And we normally charge through the nose for such contracts so bigger groups can't just throw money at us until we become effectively another tinker group. Opportunity costs, it's called." Marie gave a short bark of laughter.

"For a small group like Iron Fist, there is no way that they were getting enough money to buy the other groups' exclusion." Marie shook her head. "Anyway, I have some other things to do now. See ya, Nate." She said as she shot a glance at her phone. Waving goodbye, I watched as she left my workshop.

Her mask was left on my table. Was that on purpose…? I glanced at the door, waiting for a moment for her to return. After a few minutes, I decided that it was fair game, walking over to pick it up. It was rigid, and entirely made from glass. The inner side had no visible mechanism that would attach it securely to the face. Running my finger on the edge, there wasn't any suction or static pad that would hold it in place. Interesting but not really important right now.

I wanted to crack how the glass worked, pun not intended. The formless energy was much clearer now that I had it in my hands and could physically inspect it as well. Grabbing my visor, I used the lens to get a close-up view of the glass. Scientific Specialization told me that, visually at least, this glass had no discernible difference to normal tempered glass. Yea, it was structured differently, but that difference shouldn't make it bulletproof.

Not entirely unexpected, given that it was Shard bullshit that made tinkertech work in the first place. A thought bubbled up to the surface of my mind. If this was just regular glass, then… didn't that mean Bauble basically ran around in see-through clothes? Well I guess not entirely transparent given how it was either too bright or too dark to see what was underneath.

Something that I guessed was on purpose.

Anyway, this weird energy that Loremaster was picking up on was useful for the phone analyser thingy. I paused for a moment as I tried to think of a good name for it… The… Portable Shard… Fluctuations… Sensor… Array. The PSFSA!

I would have to work on that, I think.

I grabbed the components from my workshop and started working on a possible prototype for such a device. Hammer Jammer worked well enough to try and figure it out but it wasn't entirely in its wheelhouse, like designing a device that could sense dimensional fluctuations. And Machine Madness wasn't helping at all for rather obvious reasons.

I let out a sigh and I racked my brain, poking and prodding all my design perks to try and tease out a principle or insight that I could use. I was pretty sure I could ask Amaya to work on it, but I didn't think it was worth it. Her talents could be put to better use than asking her to create a sensor for an energy that she herself couldn't even detect.

Which reminded me to deposit her components. Using my key, I opened a door to the living room and tossed the components onto the table and knocked on her bedroom door before returning.

With that done, I continued bashing my head against the wall. The weight of the mask was the same as what one would expect from normal glass so this energy wasn't exerting any form of force on it. Or all its extra resultant forces ended with a zero. Picking up a hammer, I hesitated for a moment on whether I should smash it.

It was Marie's and not mine after all…

But I decided for it. If it couldn't take a simple hammer blow, I was doing her a favour.

I swung the hammer down and a loud bang echoed through the room. With Loremaster, I could 'see' the fluctuations in the enchantment as it activated to handle the sudden impact. Touching it immediately after, I couldn't feel any difference on the impact site or on the mask at all. Was it shunting the energy into a separate dimension?

Frowning, I swung the hammer down a few more times in rapid succession. And stumbled back as my arm was sent flying back on the third swing. Massaging my hand, I could feel the shock being transmitted back through my arm. Was that how it worked?

I rested another tool on the forehead of the mask. Lining up my hit, I raised my hammer up and struck it squarely on the nose. And saw as the tool bounced up higher than expected from such a fall and fell over off the table.

So those fluctuations were the Shard redirecting kinetic energy outwards. I nodded in understanding. Testing a few more strikes, I kept a close eye on how the fluctuations rippled out from the impact site. So as long as I struck the mask in the same way, the fluctuations would always ripple out the same way which made my life so much easier. Using that with Loremaster, I could see how the 'enchantment' worked to create such an effect.

And I could then cross-reference that with how the glass was structured to figure out how it was supposed to work. The glass was supposed to reflect any kinetic energy that impacted it. When struck, the energy would be split and then reflected out bit by bit back out towards the 'front'. Which was the 'front' was up to how the glass was structured in the first place. The enchantment simply altered the physical properties of the glass itself to create the effect.

The Celestial Forge spun up. This time hitting the Breeding Constellation. 'Ready to Pop' cut down on pregnancy times down to a single month as well as removing any penalties for fighting while pregnant. Not sure how… useful that is but I guess it was better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

Anyway, moving on, back to the glass. This meant that not only was the impact prevented from reaching the surface underneath, the previous impact could be used to dissipate the next impact, making each successive hit weaker as more energy rebounded back.

With the effect and the basic outline of how the enchantment was structured using Loremaster, there were three questions that immediately came to mind. First was 'Could I replicate this effect with my own Enchantment perk?' and the answer was a definitive maybe. I would probably need a few tests and experiments but my gut feeling was a 'yes'.

The second was 'Could I replicate this effect with Machine Madness?' and the answer was a definitive yes. I had a full(ish) understanding of how the enchantment worked, with Loremaster and Savant working in tandem to figure it out. And that was enough. If I could incorporate it into the armour, my defensive capability would skyrocket in strength.

The third was 'Could I now replicate this glass specifically?' and it was another 'maybe'. Machine Madness could help with portions of it, but since it was a material rather than a device or being, I would need a perk that specifically dealt with the creation of new material or armour before I could start properly. However… Since 'being' wasn't out of the question, any artificial robot could also share a similar effect.

Well… even if I couldn't I could just keep it in my back pocket. When I get a material crafting perk, I would love to have a vibranium substitute.

I leaned back and nodded in contentment. I should look at tinkertech more often if I could derive this much benefit from it.

"Are you done with my mask?" Marie called out from behind me, making me jump in my seat.

Whirling around, the glass tinker had changed into a more comfortable loungewear, with lounge pants and a loose and oversized shirt. Glancing at the mask, I set down my tools and gingerly handed the mask back to her. "Um… sorry. I got a little too interested in the material."

A slight smile seemed to dance across her face. "Hm. What did you manage to get from it?"

"Well…" I considered for a moment to tell her everything I managed to get from it but decided against it. I don't think she would be able to use most of it anyway. Especially the information around 'energy structures' and magic enchantments. "It's reflecting and dissipating kinetic impacts so it becomes incredibly durable…" I recited my findings without touching on the metaphysical stuff from Shards. "Though, I thought it was bulletproof glass? I was expecting some sort of enhanced durability or something similar." I muttered as I stared at it.

"Well, it was safer to create something that reflects and refracts kinetic energy rather than improving the durability of glass. For enhanced durability, I did make something with the principles of a Prince Rupert's Drop, but the sheer pressure and forces acting on the glass made it impossible to scale up. Even a slight failure in its construction would cause it to explode in your face." Marie shrugged. "Though I did get it to work in the end. It's actually the main glass I use for the front armour paneling."

Huh. "So… you can combo the kinetic redirection with Prince Rupert's armour to safely take blows?"

She grinned slightly as she shrugged her shoulders again. "Pretty much. The defensive properties of both make it near impossible to shatter." Marie spun on her heel and started making her way to the door. "Anyway, don't make it a habit. Ask first before messing with another tinker's stuff." She twirled the mask on her finger as she glanced back at me. "Never know what little tricks they put in to prevent people from messing with them."

"Gotcha." I nodded as she left. Letting out a sigh, I wanted to get to work on my new insights but held myself back. Now that I had access to a workshop, and all my stuff… Let's implement Qu-It It 'blackboxing' onto all my gear. Then perhaps we could work on some other things on my to-do list…

A/N: Nathan gets cash now. And finally something to use Machine Madness on without needing that overly complex piece of machine he calls a sensor array…

Thinking what type of 'tech' Bauble should be able to make was a fun exercise. Sort of moving away from the literal idea of a 'glass cannon' and giving her a robust costume instead. Though her entire existence still gets nerfed by the mere presence of Shatterbird.

Perks gained:

-Ready To Pop (Fate/Whore Order) (100 CP)

The members of the mafia and yakuza seem to have a minor obsession with breeding Scathach and the other female Servants. If Scathach is to be believed, then in the year and change that she's been doing this, she's had over 600 kids. Even accounting for the time loop that Luluhawa was in for a while, that's still somewhere between one and two kids per day, every day of the jump. And then you realize that this probably didn't start one day one, something like six months in is more accurate. Due to a couple of different things overlapping on themselves, you (or the women you impregnant) now have a very accelerated pregnancy, a mere month instead of nine. Additionally, said pregnancy lacks a great deal of the drawbacks a normal one would come with. You could even go onto the battlefield while heavily pregnant and the kid would be fine.

Remaining Points: 100



Chapter 13


I took a step back and cracked my knuckles in satisfaction. Now all my current stuff had 'Qu-It It's certified failsafes installed, similar in function to my signal jammer. With a quick snap of my fingers (and a specialized signal broadcast) they would all malfunction and self-destruct. Dangerous if they went off while I was wearing it? Sure. But I would be a fool if I didn't take steps to ensure my safety.

The PSFSA was coming along nicely. With the extra fifty thousand dollars, I could order some nicer and detailed sensors that would work within a phone. It would just take a while to get here, needing to be shipped to one of Toybox's shell companies, then moved into the main dimension before I could get my hands on it. However, it should be here by the end of tomorrow.

Otherwise, most of the internals were done with the exception of the sensors. Right now, I was working on the custom OS and program that would take all that sensor data and turn it into less of a number vomit. Linux still, thankfully, existed in this world since everybody needed an OS to use and a free, customizable, open-source OS was inevitable in such a case.

Using my prior knowledge of dealing with such a thing, I could draft a reasonably usable version. Nothing too complex though. Operating systems weren't my specialty in my previous life. I just wanted it so no one was siphoning my data for some nefarious purposes. Or report me and have the PRT rap-tap-tapping at my door.

The actual application to handle all the inputs was my current problem. Translating sensor data and making it actually nice to look at wasn't easy. It had to handle a variety of wildly different power expressions while still being sort of responsive and dynamic. Hammer Jammer was… sort of helping? Not entirely but it was working well with generating the codes that would standardise sensor output data which would help immensely later on.

Furthermore, there were two additional problems that I was handling at the same time. Mainly battery life and cooling. With improved sensors, meant a bigger power draw which meant that my dinky phone battery was not up for the task. Which meant I needed an improved battery that could store larger amounts of electricity.

And with improved sensors meant that there was more heat generated as an unfortunate trade off. Although I did ensure to pick those that weren't gonna fry my components, it was still liable to heat up rapidly unless minimally used which defeated the point of the thing in the first place. So I had to make a proper cooling system so I would scald myself while handling it. Or set something on fire due to the heat it was putting off.

Slacking Off was putting in good work, allowing me to work on both of my newly discovered problems while still keeping on pace to complete the app.

Battery was pretty much done after two breaks with Hammer Jammer providing the blueprints easily. The structure, materials, and the principles all fell within the capabilities of humanity. Somewhat. The actual machine that made such batteries was… a bit more complex, but after running through the shopping list, I could afford it. Just a mere $4000 to build a small prototype of it.

The cooling system was a bit more complex since I didn't quite have the space to shove a fan or liquid-cooled system into my phone. Normally phones are thin enough that the heat generated would quickly dissipate, using the backplate itself as a form of conduction cooling, similar to a heatsink. So my first idea was to simply make a metal that could conduct heat away quicker.

It wasn't exactly easy.

Hammer Jammer had a few ideas to create such a material, being important when overheating was a major problem in components. However, they required a specialized forge that could deal with the resulting alloy. Who knew that if you created a highly heat-conductive metal, it became incredibly hard to forge with?

The next idea was to chill the components themselves using Stilling. Yes. That Stilling. Yes, I said I didn't want to use it so as to not piss off Scion or the Shards. But I wouldn't be using the Golden Light Stilling. But merely the principle of Stilling to cool the components down. A sort of counterwave that reduced the temperature of components?

Nah. Nope. I'm still fucking terrified of the Simurgh.

The final idea was an external pack that did the cooling for me. It would be big, bulky and slightly noisy but it didn't touch on Stilling. However, if I was going to chuck it into my bag and never look at it outside of the base then… Did it matter?

My answer was a resounding 'no'. And so I designed the blueprints for it, using my ever-faithful Hammer Jammer to help me with it.

A knock came from my workshop door. "Come in!" I called out without really looking up from my computer. The bit of the app that handled all the input data was almost done now. Afterwards, it would be creating the dynamic infographics and UI and we were pretty much done. Though I would probably have to keep updating it as I encountered powers that PSFSA couldn't account for and small Quality of Life improvements that I wanted.

The door slid open and Claire walked in with the smell of freshly(?) cooked cup noodles wafting through the air. My stomach gurgled, awakening after a long slumber to demand sustenance. Leaning back, I finished up the last few lines of code before I gratefully took her offering into my hands. "Thanks."

"What are you working on?" Claire asked as she looked over the code editor I had open. I didn't really see the need to stop her from doing so. Firstly, that would make me look suspicious as hell. And secondly, I had zero comments or explanations and nothing on screen made any sense without context. And as someone who had to review and refactor code before, understanding someone else's code with comments was already a massive pain in the ass.

"Nothing much. Just some app for a project I'm working on." I explained. "Supposed to take in sensor data and output a readable infographic." Conveniently leaving out the fact that this was supposed to detect parahuman power expression. I took a slurp of my noodles. Delicious.

Claire nodded her head. "That seems useful. But it looks like you're programming it from the ground up. Can't you just take existing code and work on it from there?" She asked with a slight frown.

"Nah. Prefer it to have it done in-house. You know how it is." I shrugged my shoulders. "Anyway, why did you come in? If it's about a new contract, then tell them that I'm taking a break." I joked as I swayed back and forth in my chair.

"Pftt… You wish." Claire rested against the edge of the table. "Can't a senior check in on the newbie? Is that so wrong?" She raised an eyebrow in amusement. Shrugging my shoulders, I continued eating. "How are you settling into your workshop?"

"Horrendously." I shook my head. "You made me taste the ambrosia of a properly kitted workshop and tore it all away for… this." I vaguely gestured to the machines behind me. "Monsters, the whole lot of you." My voice dripped with sarcasm, eliciting a stifled giggle from Claire as her shoulders shook.

"Yea, it was all part of our master plan to keep you in Toybox forever." She deadpanned in reply.

"Jokes aside, it looks pretty well stocked. Can't really see a machine that I would need that isn't here. Though then again, I won't notice when I need a machine until I… y'know… actually need it." I scanned through the room and both Machine Madness and Hammer Jammer didn't point out any incredibly fundamental mill that I needed that wasn't here.

The Celestial Forge awakened. This time missing the Safety Quality Constellation. Not… incredibly bad, Qu-It It was already pretty good.

"That's good to hear." She nodded. We sort of devolved into tinker talk, exchanging a few ideas and insights between each other. Strangely enough, while I was chatting with Claire, I kinda felt like the Forge and tinker powers worked similarly enough. Both were essentially giant databases connected to puny humans that granted us knowledge far beyond what humanity should have.

However, the Celestial Forge seemingly didn't have a conflict drive or any hard limits on what I could work on. Plus, it had powers that were only tangentially related to crafting, like 'Tank It' or 'Painted On'.

Claire's knowledge sounded impressive enough, talking a bit on how her equipment worked, though Hammer Jammer, with the weird sort of knowledge abuse loophole I used, did pick up on some missing information between the lines. Key pieces of information that were integral to the creation of similar devices. It was incredibly well done too. If I was just listening to it, without the Forge, I might have believed her words without a second thought. Even neurologists, who specialized in the same field, might not have picked up on it.

Tricky tricky. And Claire didn't even look like she had noticed that as well. And she was the one reading more books on the subject.

I hesitated for a moment, considering if I should fill in the gaps for her. But in the end I decided against it. Tinker powers still worked with or without the information I provided, and it would only cast more suspicion on me and my specialty. I doubt the Shard behind Claire would care but just in case, let's not do it.

Finishing up my dinner, we walked out and tossed our rubbish into Maverick's Dedicated Disposal Dimension, or DDD for short. An entirely separate dimension that Maverick disabled on the regular, wiping the Dimension from existence and anything within it as well. A terrifying thought to be certain.

"Are you heading back to tinker some more?" Claire asked.

"Nah. I need to rest my brain for a moment." I replied. Well not really, but since I was outside there was something else that I wanted to look at before I continued programming. Walking down the Facilities hallway, I found the Archive doorway and stepped right on through.

The Archives wasn't a long hallway of filing cabinets, thankfully, but a frankly massive server room that was being kept cool by occasional jets of clear liquid being shot up before immediately evaporating. Walking up to a terminal, I logged in using my Toybox details before looking up the Archive for Automata.

Automata, or Clarence Patrick, was a mass production tinker with a focus on long assembly lines that could produce any product, from resource collection to the sale aisle. Mostly his own designs though, like mass-produced computers, servers, industrial components, and more. In fact, during his time in Toybox, they experienced the biggest boom in recruitment as he single-handedly solved the resource crisis most tinkers usually had. And in doing so, turning Toybox into an incredibly attractive team to join.

It was this era of Toybox that it received its big swing up from a small group of ragtag tinker rogues into a proper and well-established 'neutral(ish)' faction.

His sub-ability was reducing the complexity of tinkertech items such that his production lines could handle the unique components required in tinkertech creations. And in doing so, usually 'solved' or otherwise shine a dim light into the black box that was tinkertech.

Much of the file was more on his works that he sold as a tinker of Toybox. He had zero contracts to his name, preferring that all his production lines be kept in-house and being unwilling to set them up for any other group. Perfectly understandable given how desirable his power was.

There was an additional file called 'Automata and Masamune: The Ultimate Tinkertech Combo', which was written by the man himself. It was just thought experiments for him to see what the two of them could do. Automata's simplification process mostly meant that much of the blackboxed tech was replaced with simpler components, allowing for his mass-production. About 20% decreased performance, which was an 'incredible success' according to the comments, in exchange for 25% higher maintenance costs due to the restructuring of internals to handle new tech that it wasn't made to handle. If he worked with the original tinker during the redesign, that cost could be reduced to about 15%.

This was compared to Masamune who could retain most of the tinkertech's performance with only a slight increase in maintenance costs. Though it took a much longer time for him to 'process' it compared to Automata. Automata then comments that the two, if working together, might crack the black box around tinkertech.

Except that whenever he planned to meet the man, something always popped up that demanded his attention. Fatal malfunctions in production lines, sudden attacks on his facilities, all of it culminating in the eruption of the Machine Army.

Interesting. I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. Definitely a Simmy plot then. Even he seemed to think so, though that only made him more determined to meet Masamune at least once which only accelerated the amount of 'coincidences' that struck him.

Simmy was truly terrifying. I sniffed and gave a small bow to his courage against impossible odds. Pulling up his notes instead, there were a mix of plans and blueprints still saved on the servers, one of which was called the 'Abandoned Metal Reclamation Project'. It was one that looked at massive amounts of abandoned technology, junkyards and scrap metal across the world and made plans to use them to make newer components, either for the 'Eagleton Full Automation Project' or for Toybox itself. And one of the considered locations was the Boat Graveyard in Brockton Bay.

Hm… I could feel a smile break across my face. That was definitely a way to get Danny on my side. The plans were pretty detailed as well with many of them already fully fleshed out and only required the actual construction of his designs with an estimated date ranging from 3 to 6 months for each location.

There were a few other projects though none of them were as detailed or as complete as the 'AMR' Project. I tried looking at the details of the EFA project but that one was locked behind Automata's biometrics. And the man was dead.

I could try to bypass the encryption but I decided against it. Although I would get good insight into the Machine Army, there wasn't much of a point. It was probably contaminated with Simurgh's tampering to cause the S-class threat in the first place and I wasn't about to fight the Machine Army just yet. It was better to just let it lie.

As for the rest of the Archives, much of it were the blueprints that contained insights as to how he made his assembly lines and the machinery he used. Although most of it was useless right now due to clear tinkertech used in their construction. Without the actual tinker making it, all of them would just be expensive showpieces gathering dust. However, Automata helped immensely by providing descriptions on each component and their function within the machine.

Which made it infinitely easier for me to use Hammer Jammer on it since, unlike Leet's tech which was already constructed and therefore required more creative methods to find out exact the function and principles behind each components and replace them, these blueprints had everything already explained and Hammer Jammer could just use its own knowledge to make its own to replace them.

I could now make assembly lines. Very cool.

I tried to look at some other tinkers' profiles but found that they were locked behind biometrics so that was a bust. Instead, I started looking through my own profile. Which was pretty barebones. My name and background was on there but outside of that there wasn't anything else. Nothing that I particularly cared about.

The file was created by Cranial which I had noted. Although I couldn't access files, I could see that most profiles were created by the neurology tinker after she had joined which was a pretty interesting note. Was she the one in-charge of handling recruitments? It would seem to be so, no?

I put it out of my mind for now. Filling most of it out, I made sure to keep my powers vague, only listing out the things that I did do rather than everything I could. WIth that out of the way, I made a mental note to put the AMR project on my long-term goals list. A steady supply of metal into my production lines would be nice to have.

Assuming that the Forge didn't just give me an infinite supply of mundane metals anyway. I don't think that was a perk actually.

Eh. Whatever.

There wasn't anything else in the Archive, so I left afterwards. Making my way back to the lab, I wanted to continue working on my program but saw the time in Brockton. Letting out a long sigh, I wondered for a moment if I should skip sleep and finish this as soon as possible. Debating it for a moment, I shook my head.

Grabbing my stuff, I opened a portal back to Brockton, then used my key to just walk into my secret base. Closing the key behind me, I realised something rather important. Since the secret base was half in my pocket dimension and half outside of it, it bypassed a very important restriction to my pocket dimension. That I couldn't seal off all portals while inside since that would effectively trap me in my own pocket dimension.

However, with the secret base, the pocket dimension had permanent portals out so portals made from my key could all be closed. In essence, there was practically no method of finding me once I stepped through the portal unless you also knew where my secret base was.

Nice.

Though I probably needed to make some security to protect this place. Maybe a turret or something? Eh… I'll figure it out. It wasn't like someone was going to dip into the sewers and check an old abandoned incomplete Endbringer shelter.

Walking into the living room, my shin suddenly jerked before I tripped and stumbled on seemingly nothing. Cursing, I took a deep breath. After a moment of thought, I called out. "Amaya! What the hell?!"

The greenette poked her head out, wearing a set of lingerie like she promised. Sheer black lace with garter belts and stockings, only barely covering her nipples and privates. Grabbing her lab coat from me, she threw it on which only made her look even sexier with the whole 'sexy scientist' getup. In her hands was a staff or scepter made of steel and exposed components though it was very much half-finished.

"Like it? I got the neuraljack working." She hummed as she twirled the terrifying piece of technology in her hands like a marching band's baton.

"And what of the laser gloves?" I muttered as I picked myself back up. "I was pretty sure I stated that was to be your main project?"

Amaya pouted slightly. "Do you think I am so unprofessional that I didn't get it working before starting on my own personal project?"

I leveled an unimpressed look at her. Then down at her choice of, or rather lack thereof, clothing. Then back at her.

"W-well-!" Amaya stuttered slightly. "I am unprofessional like that but I definitely don't skimp on projects!" She pulled out what looked to be a cannon of some sort. Even just looking at it, I felt like I shouldn't stand too close to it. "The first is the hard light projector. I had to test it to ensure that all my calculations were correct but once I did everything just fell into place." She looked quite proud of herself as she said so. "The power draw is a bit much but it's enough to push even your tank around slightly."

Blinking, I watched as she set it aside and pulled out a pair of circuitry and wires. "These are the miniature forms." She tossed them over to me. Taking a look at them, Hammer Jammer was pulling out all sorts of information from it which was quickly being sorted away by Savant.

"I'm surprised you could de-energize photons like that." I muttered. By slowing them down, they could gain just enough mass to start attracting and binding to other de-energized photons, forming something similar to a clump of molecules. Coupled with a large amount of photons from a light source and you had a 'bullet' made from hard light. It was pretty much completed, with Hammer Jammer pointing out a few points where it could be 'repaired' which really just meant that entire components were missing.

"Since everything is working as expected, I just need to spend some time refining it." Amaya stretched her neck. "Then install it onto the gloves to get your laser gloves ready. However, they aren't perfect for now, I'll still have to refine the technology and work on the next version of it. The most major problem that I need to handle is the efficiency problem, with about 40% of the photons produced being turned into hard light. The rest simply dissipates as regular light into the environment, creating a rather prominent glow around the emitters and the laser itself."

The Celestial Forge awakened once again, cutting us both off. The tendril reached up and missed a Star on the Lewd Facilities Constellation.

Pointing at the circuitboard, she continued her explanation. "This is an onboard CPU that looks at finger positioning and speed of hand movement during firing. Slower movements are stronger than fast sweeps, and palm blasts are weaker than fists." Amaya said. "This should allow you to control the lethality of your blast. Though, according to my calculations, the weakest strike will still be equivalent to a professional boxer's punch, so be careful where you aim."

"Nice work…" I nodded as I inspected the item. "If you need it, you can use my workshop to finish the rest of the design if you need it." I glanced at Amaya who was rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"How nice of you." She said drolly while smiling. "Though wouldn't Toybox have something to detect if someone unauthorized accessed the remote? I mean, that would be the most basic of security features right?"

"Of course." I paused for a moment. "Though I don't think you could give them too much credit. The Slaughterhouse Nine did manage to break into their super secure dimension with like only 3 members." Shrugging, I tossed the remote aside.

"Still, I think you could do it? I mean, so long as you went straight to the workshop and didn't take the front entrance, I don't see why you couldn't?" I pursed my lips. "Right?" Since the remote can open straight into my workshop, I didn't have to worry as much about Amaya getting spotted. So as long as she ducked out of sight if anyone came by, I don't think they'd be able to notice her.

"Hm." Amaya hummed for a moment. "Sure thing then!"

I suddenly felt like I made a terrible decision. "Just be sure to respect their privacy." I added as I stared at Amaya. Seeing her smile serenely, it didn't help to calm my nerves. "Anyway! And what about the neuraljack?" I shot a glance at the baton. "I see you fixed the… precision problem?"

"Not really." Amaya shrugged and waved it aside. "But it works." She lazily flicked the staff again and my forearm had a sensation of pins and needles, as well as warmth, before suddenly spasming. "It still requires some refinement. It's pretty obvious when the neuraljack activates since it's also firing the nerves related to touch and other sensations. And also I need it to disrupt signals from the owner so you can't fight it. But it can cause sudden muscle spasms like Regent usually does." She twirled the staff around in her hands.

Well… I don't think she would be puppeting bodies around anytime soon.

"Any ideas on how to fix it?" I asked.

"Nope!" Amaya replied happily. "I'm going to have to keep testing this for now." She twirled the baton before flicking it again, causing her leg to jerk on the sofa.

"Al… right then." I nodded. "Now that we have some actual offensive power. I think we can consider heading to the Boat Graveyard or the junkyard nearby." I said as I moved all the excess items away. "I can harvest some metal and components that we could probably use for future projects there."

"As opposed to just calling in Toybox?" Amaya remarked as she took a seat on the couch.

"Well…" I grimaced. "I mean, the small stuff adds up. I could order all my metal from Toybox but… the Boat Graveyard is right there? And I could just toss all the metal into the workshop anyway to process later." I narrowed my eyes slightly and made a 'duh' face.

Amaya raised an eyebrow at me. "Does your workshop even have a forge to reclaim metal in the first place?"

"No…" I eventually answered. "But it's an investment."

"So instead of paying some… $60 to $100 every time you need steel. You're going to pay $400 for a forge and spend… How many hours processing your reclaimed steel?" Amaya crossed her arms. "Even if it's free, your time is just as valuable, you know? Research, designing… actually creating your projects?"

"Like I said, it's an investment. Plus the Forge has an entire Constellation built to accelerate the creation process. What might take a few hours now may take… half a minute down the road." I replied. "Like the saying goes 'It's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."

Amaya shrugged her shoulders, unwilling to continue the conversation. Well, half of it was training Reclaimer, the other half was testing my equipment against some live targets. Though guns might still be a problem. I was still very squishy other than my shield. Though I could hang back and snipe people with my lasers…

Oh god. I was a New Wave member.

Flight with Fairy Dust, crimson lasers… PHO is going to fucking explode with theories if I was ever caught on camera.

With the zoom function of my visor, I could stay pretty high up in the air while I sniped people from cruising altitude. They wouldn't even see it coming and I doubt most people could counterattack. Maybe Victor but he was definitely not as maneuverable as me in the air. Keeping a track on me would be impossible at a certain range so as long as I kept moving.

Okay okay okay. I clapped my hands together. I could go out and test my sniping skills. No facing guns, or otherwise long-ranged attackers. And added to my ever growing backlog of equipment that I needed to make were a few new things.

The first was the Kinetic Redirector, the technology I got after figuring out how Bauble's glass worked. By attaching it to something, any force could be redirected throughout and out of an object to make it a lot more resilient. And it would be good for two things. The first was my overcoat and the second was my shield.

The next thing was making the rest of my costume. A navy blue or maybe brown trench coat and top hat, reinforced obviously to handle getting shot at. I considered what sort of tech I should incorporate into it. A slight smile crept into my face as I remembered the bowler hat from 'Meet the Robinsons'. Yea… that will do.

Six legs in a hexagonal formation, with clawed tips to hook into the surface and enough power to really get a grip on concrete. A single optic for me to see through. The internals should be light and barebones since I was carrying this on my head. A CPU for and maybe some RAM… a battery pack to power it. And of course USB plugs and ports to interface with technology and upload or download data.

Most of it would be hollow but it shouldn't weigh more than 1.5kg. A bit heavy but with True Hero Potential, it shouldn't be a problem after the first… week or so.

The trenchcoat would need to have the kinetic redistributor incorporated directly into the suit. But other than that, it was a dark brown and tan piece of clothing that I would probably pull off a store shelf at some point. There wasn't much else I could think to shove into it. Or at least none that came to mind.

And the last bit would be a communication device. Shouldn't be that hard. Earpieces were a dime a dozen and making a specialized one to bypass most forms of interference and interception were well within Hammer Jammer's specialty.

Though… It means that I would need to spend tomorrow morning in the workshop. Again.

My head sank. I thought tinkers were supposed to be like 'suit of armour in a cave with scraps', not… spending hours slaving away in a workshop. Letting out a sigh, I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Well… I guess I couldn't do much about it for now. Stretching my back, I bid Amaya good night for heading to bed.

A/N: Happy New Year! We're now finally starting to head into the 'Make Costume' part of the story. It only took… far far too long to get here. Please send help.

No new Perks.

Current Points: 300



Chapter 14


The next morning, Amaya greeted me with the smell of freshly brewed coffee and bacon and eggs. She had forwent the lingerie from last night, instead choosing a tank top, tied off at her waist, as well as a pair of lounge pants. She was also wearing a plain black apron with a black chibi snake with green accents sporting an apron and chef's hat, with the words "Infinite Ouro-berries!" as it dumped a bunch of berries onto some pancakes.

Blinking, I took a deep breath and shoved all the very difficult questions into the back of my mind. It was cute and, frankly, it was good enough for me.

"Morning…" I bit back a yawn. "Does the base stock food as well?" I cocked my head as I cracked the fridge open. And yup, there was a fairly good selection of fruits, vegetables, meats and other ingredients to make… almost anything. There wasn't any highly specific stuff, like there was beef but not Wagyu nor was there anything rare like alligator meat. Pretty much only whatever you could find at a large grocery store.

I wondered for a moment if I had to restock it or if the Forge automatically restocked it for me. I drummed my fingers on the side of the fridge before making a note to conduct the experiment before I went to bed. Shutting it, Amaya had prepared a plate for me as well.

"Thanks." I sat down and started eating. "You know how to cook as well?"

Shrugging, she sat opposite me. "It's not particularly hard." she replied off-handedly.

An awkward silence passed by the two of us. It felt kinda weird to have some small talk after we pretty much fucked on the day we met. Though it didn't seem like Amaya particularly cared. "Say…" I started. "Do you have prior memories before you were summoned by the Forge?" I asked as I took another bite.

"Of course." She replied without really looking up from her plate. "It's a bit disorientating since I know that I'm a creation of the Forge, yet have a full life and memories behind me."

"Can… I ask what… happened?" I narrowed my eyes slightly.

Amaya leaned back as she drummed her fingers on the table. Opening her mouth, she shrugged and brushed over it rather quickly. "Oh you know the type. Genius saviour appears, people pile too much pressure, and the genius wipes the world out. The usual story." She rolled her hand in a circle as if she didn't just say she killed her world.

"I'm sorry." I pressed my hands together. "You said 'wipes the world out'?"

Amaya nodded. "Yup. Tentacle monsters, biovats to ensure stable population growth via IVF procedures, tentacle farms that convert biomatter into a slurry that is pumped directly into the stomach…" My eyes widened more and more as she listed off rather horrifying descriptions of her… inventions.

Evil genius indeed. And not just that. She fought the world. And won. Granted she told me that doing something similar would be near-impossible. Much of her world ran on her technology, which meant that with a snap of her fingers, she activated a bunch of backdoors that turned everyone's tech against them. Which accelerated her world's decline as they were set back to pretty much early industrial age weaponry.

"It would take a few years if you wanted to do something similar." Amaya hummed. "But it would be much easier with perks like Qu-It It since it not only works on your creations but anyone inspired or basing their creations off yours. But I don't think you would want that I suppose?"

"No…?!" I furrowed my eyebrows at her in confusion. "I prefer my world not overrun by tentacle monsters." A thought did pop into my mind however. "Though I suppose we could sell it for a good price. There's bound to be some people into tentacles."

"Including you?" Amaya remarked with a smile.

I was really tempted to grab something to throw at her. "Shut it." I muttered. Strangely, despite the fact that yes she was terrifying and yes she practically conquered her world, I wasn't feeling scared of her. Not in the 'I'm using my Solar memories to calm myself down' sort of way, but in the same way I knew of her loyalty to me. The Forge was preventing me from feeling scared of her in the first place.

An… interesting discovery. I frowned as I quickly ran through my head. The same with the fact that I easily accepted the fact that I didn't particularly care about her kidnapping people. Just that she didn't kidnap innocents so the authorities didn't come down on us. Savant's Understanding pulled that out of my mind and looked over it.

In the moment… I thought it was fine. Savant's Understanding could even point out why I allowed her to do so in the first place. Flipping back before I got her perk, I wouldn't even entertain such an idea in the first place. Looking at both thought processes, there were still both 'mine' but one rationalized away 'kidnapping' people and the other wouldn't.

I took a deep breath. This was interesting. The Forge could already implant memories without any rhyme nor reason. Savant's Understanding proved that much with my Solar memories. However this was definitely a step up from simple memories.

The Celestial Forge came to life, though I was unsure if it was to disrupt my train of thoughts, or if it was actually awakening. The coil of energy launched and missed on the Lewd Magi-Tech Constellation. Of three stars. Two of which were in range!

It was a TWO IN THREE CHANCE!! HOW DID YOU MISS IT?!!?

I took a deep breath. Focus. Focus. The Celestial Forge wasn't alive. It couldn't fuck you over. Though I was starting to doubt that statement.

Right now, the Forge was very much altering the way I thought, making me sort of glaze over the fact that Amaya was A. stupidly dangerous and B. actually evil. However, it wasn't like I could stop it. Although I was aware of it now, it wasn't just a matter of shifting my perspective on it. I physically couldn't make myself perceive Amaya as 'evil' despite the fact that she actually was .

The same thing happened with the Forge. Although I now knew the Celestial Forge was altering my thoughts, I couldn't bring myself to view 'it' as evil or corrupt. Nor could I really think of a way to get rid of its influence. Not in the 'It's so out of my power that I can't' but in the 'I cannot even begin to formulate any plan to do so'. Any attempt slipped off my brain despite the fact that I had an entire perk dedicated to perfect recollection.

And because I didn't view it as a concern, I couldn't even have this remain in my mind as a threat to keep track of. It was simply an 'interest'.

But then again, was it a problem in the first place? If I treated Amaya as evil, wouldn't that be a self-fulfilling prophecy? I treat her badly since she was 'evil', she treats me badly though still forced to follow me due to the Forge's entrenched loyalty, and because of that, I treat her even worse…

I let out a sigh. There wasn't going anywhere. I would only drive myself closer to insanity if I kept spinning around in circles like this. Plus it wasn't like there was any way for me to differentiate what was 'me' and what was 'the Forge' in the first place. Even with Savant's Understanding pulling up all my memories, all of them were still made by 'me'.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Amaya asked as she finished her meal. Blinking, I realised that I had barely started on mine, too consumed by my revelation to do so.

"Nothing. It's not something we can deal with anyway." I shook my head and continued eating.

"Zion?" Amaya asked in confusion.

Shaking my head, I clapped my hands together. "An. Ny. Way. Do you have any plans for the day?" I very awkwardly changed the subject, putting my revelation aside for now. "I would think that staying cooped up in the base wouldn't be very interesting."

Humming, she frowned slightly but didn't push. "I was thinking of continuing work on the neuraljack." Amaya stirred her coffee idly as her eyes stared into the distance. "Unless you have something that would attract my attention?"

I tried to think of something but most of the projects I was working on could be handled by my perks. Most of them actually. "Not really…?" Although I could probably pass it to Amaya to handle, like say the construction of the in-ear communicator. But the kinetic redirector had to be done by me. "Actually… Give me a moment." I grabbed a piece of paper and translated the blueprint over. "Could you handle this for me? All the components have been ordered already. Just collect them from my workshop."

"I thought you wanted to ask Toybox first if I could enter?" Amaya grinned mockingly.

"Well." I set my finished plate aside. "It's better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission, right? And besides, I was mostly worried that you'd be spotted by them while walking in and out of the main entrance hall." I tossed the remote over. "And I believe you will follow my orders to stay out of sight and don't do anything harmful to the others inside?"

Amaya's smile looked wicked. "Absolutely. You can trust me, Master."

If it wasn't for the fact that loyalty was enforced, I would definitely be running as far and as fast as I could in the other direction.

"What about you?" She asked as she tucked the blueprint away. "I believe you have your first shift at the Dockworkers' today?"

"Mhm." I nodded. "I was planning to do some further tinkering in the workshop. The sensor program for parahuman power expression is almost done. Plus, I need to start working on a defensive option for my Erstein costume." I shrugged.

"I thought you were working on Glory Girl's barrier?" Amaya cocked her head.

"Nah." I smiled slightly. "Got something pretty cool." I wrote out the findings that Machine Madness provided once I learnt how Bauble's glass worked. "Kinetic redirection." I grinned slightly as I showed it off.

Amaya hummed as she looked over it. "Huh. Huh…" She bent lower and started muttering to herself. After a few moments, she turned her attention back to me. "Altering the physical composition of items to make vibrations rebound and reflect away, decreasing force dealt to the actual material. Interesting… I think you could make something similar to Accelerator's vector shield with this?"

I narrowed my eyes as I looked it over. "I think so? But the problem is that it's stuck working on exclusively physical contact. So it can never be an inherent aura that forms around a person like Accelerator does. At best, I could do something like redirecting melee attacks back into the attacker or into the ground. Plus not to mention the fact you'd need some sort of filter system to handle what is and isn't a threat." I raised an eyebrow as I stared at Amaya. "Unless, of course, you wanna work on that instead?"

Amaya's eyes drifted away as her brain started running into overdrive. Muttering rapidly, I could vaguely catch the words 'energy transfer', 'matrices', and 'target' as she tried her best at creating a vague replica of Accelerator's greatest defense.

"I'll have to make some prototypes." Amaya murmured. "Give me a moment." She stalked off. Drinking a cup of water, I watched as Amaya returned with a list of components. "I need these components to test it." Not… exorbitantly expensive, though definitely more than both the neuraljack and laser gloves combined.

"There. It should be coming… soon-ish." I tilted my head from side to side. Turning to Amaya, she was staring at my notes and figuring out how to expand it out into a full body redirector. "Just remember that the laser gloves still need to be completed!" I called out to her. She gave me a slight nod in return and waved me aside. Seeing that she was now indisposed, I grabbed the dishes and chucked them into the dishwasher.

Well, given that Amaya had something that caught her attention, it was now back to me to create the in-ear communicator. Hopping back into my workshop, a new box of components was sitting on my desk. Pulling out some of the stuff that I needed, I started work on the communicator rather quickly.

Hammer Jammer worked like a charm, guiding my movements and allowing me to create several at once, though the signature 'Hammer Jammer' style did bleed through slightly. But with something so small, there really wasn't anything to do about it since there wasn't enough space for bells and whistles without compromising its design. And the Forge didn't half-ass things. Mostly anyway.

During the breaks, I also started work on the kinetic redirector. Though I would probably still work on the sensor to get Glory Girl's and Shielder's abilities. It would be incredible if I could have the redirector work with those defensive mechanisms as well, increasing their durability by multiple folds.

Sighing, I picked up the communicator and slipped it into my ear. It was a bit uncomfortable, but it worked about as well as any communicator you could find on the market. High-powered jamming and interference still messed with it, but anything weaker would be bypassed. Not bad for about two hours worth of work.

There were also another two set off to the side that hooked up to the exact same network, allowing the wearers to communicate with each other. Plus a few extra features like switching channels, and a signal booster for emergency situations. Though that last bit would burn out the transmitter in the process.

Humming, I looked over my latest piece of equipment in my defensive arsenal. The kinetic redirector worked exactly like the Shard's ability. However, there was a little more… variety with my creation compared to it. The Shard simulated the force redistribution based on its own knowledge of how such a phenomenon should occur.

However, with Machine Madness, it didn't particularly care that it was supposed to be a simulation of physics. It just cared that it was a supernatural phenomenon that I understood. As such I could play around with the conditions as I wanted.

But first, to test the limits of such a device.

The small little device I had sat on the table with two probes connecting it to a sheet of steel. Once activated, the proof-of-concept kinetic redirector would grant the effects to the sheet, allowing me to test the limits of the device. Well, in theory anyway.

Flicking the switch, a soft beep rang throughout the room as the redirector started up. The first setting was the default one, i.e. simply reflecting and refracting kinetic energy imparted into the object. Raising my hammer, I took a deep breath and swung it as hard as I could downwards.

The impact rattled the table and sent the hammer straight back up. Blinking, I went ahead to check the sheet for any deformities, only to find that nothing had happened. Well, it wasn't unexpected. I doubted if anything I could make would fail, assuming I made them correctly of course. Next was to see how much of this kinetic energy could be withstood by the small device.

Bringing it to a drill, I set the sheet down and started trying to drill into the sheet, driving the drill bit into the face of the metal. However, the only thing that happened was the drill bit, and the metal, jumping and sliding around as the kinetic energy was redirected out of the sheet or even back up into the drill. Without the ability to impart kinetic energy, the drill couldn't start removing material to make the hole.

Same with several other machines. A lathe didn't do much, waterjet broke on the surface, a hydraulic press didn't do anything either. Kinetic energy simply traveled through the material before getting pushed back out. Although for the hydraulic press, the kinetic energy made it shoot out from the press, dislodging its connection to the device and smashing into smithereens against the wall.

I made a request to repair it.

But yea, most things wouldn't be able to break an item with the kinetic redirector active. Or at least, most mundane things wouldn't. Testing it a few more times on other varying pieces of steel, I did slowly manage to figure out what were the limits of the device and the effect it produced.

The first was that the device had an upper limit of kinetic energy that could be redirected at any given time. I stuck it inside a CNC machine with the biggest, heaviest mill bit I could find and spun it up as high as I could. The components in the redirector burnt out and the metal was indeed cut. With a little bit of calculations, pretty much anything short of a train crash or a Brute would burn out this dinky little thing.

And once I got a more robust device running, that limit should increase.

The second was that the material itself had to be able to withstand the energy travelling through it. A normal piece of cloth would tear itself apart despite the kinetic redirector being active. There were ways to mitigate it though such as elongating the time and dragging out the energy moving through the fabric at any given time. However, that could only do so much since altering physical composition of the material wasn't exactly affecting the movement of energy too much. And making the redirector do such a thing placed an unnecessary strain on the internals.

The Celestial Forge awakened yet again. This time, it grasped a fairly low Star on the Biotech Crafting Constellation. Or I guess it was a pair of Stars? Binary Stars? In the Forge? An… interesting set up.

The first Star was-

My thoughts were cut off as a ripple ran through my body, a weird feeling of rapid degeneration and regeneration as every single cell seemed to scream in pain. My mouth opened but no sound came out as I was washed with the feeling of absolute agony. Every pore felt like thousands of whitehot needles were being shoved into it, my eyes couldn't stand the sight of sunlight, but I couldn't move an inch to stop it.

I didn't know how much time passed but when I came to, I had fallen to the ground as my skin and body felt cooler. Sucking in a deep breath, I took a look back at my newly acquired perks.

Grafting was the first one, granting my body access to something called 'Gourmet Cells'. Firstly was an increase in recovery and regeneration rate which was much obliged. Although I wasn't sure what the limit on that was. But something told me that I shouldn't be taking shotgun shells to my brain.

It also gave me an extremely comprehensive boost to all my physical stats. Strength, speed, endurance, stamina, and what have you. This was stacked with the boost provided by True Hero Potential so I was pretty much a peak athlete now. Not enough to be 'superhuman' but I could generally outdo most normal people in any physical category. Not to mention that Gourmet Cells gave me a leaner, fitter, and more muscular body. A small aesthetic boost but combined with the 'Beautiful and Terrible' Mote, I was looking like someone straight out a male model magazine.

Unfortunately, this also meant that my cells had a much higher base energy demand. In fact, I was feeling a little hungry right about now despite having eaten breakfast. Although, I could feel that I could go on for a little longer without eating. In any case, if I couldn't fulfill my new body's energy needs, my new cells were going to cannibalize my body for energy.

I wonder what was the most calorie dense thing I could get in the Bay… It was probably Fugly's, wasn't it?

The second was a little more concerning. The ability to graft human, animal, or even plants to my body to gain their abilities. Humans were the easiest but the latter two required a skilled surgeon to do the grafting.

I… was pretty happy with my own body. Thank you very much. Although having eagle vision or gorilla muscles wouldn't hurt either…

I let out a sigh. No. Let's not experiment on my own body. Yet

The second perk was something called 'Gourmet Cells', which allowed me to receive either three speedy injections to give anyone Gourmet Cells, in exchange for a high likelihood of death, or have a bottle of pills- Who am I kidding? Give me the damn injections.

Although the pills were technically 'safer', this was the Celestial Forge we were talking about. In the five years it took for pills to work, I could have easily collected enough perks to turn the injections non-lethal. There was literally no point in the pills.

The second half of the second perk was a little more interesting though. It allowed me to harvest my own Gourmet Cells (or any source of said Cells for that matter) to turn into more pills or injections. Which was an interesting ability no doubt. With this, I could reasonably become a very fearsome leader of a superhuman army.

Which… Hm. Could be the basis of another identity. Stack a few regeneration items and perks and suddenly I would be an unkillable monster.

Anyway, I wouldn't be touching the injections or its creation any time soon. Mainly because they required trial and error and I wasn't established enough to waste my time on such a thing. Maybe Amaya might be interested? Bah, who am I kidding? The evil genius would jump at the chance to give her tentacle monsters the ability of 'Grafting'.

The final perk was a Mote. 'Inspirational Pull' allowed me to have an instinctive sense of ingredients and their purpose as well as guiding me to similar ingredients. Although it decreased in effectiveness the more ingredients I found. Furthermore, it improved my memory regarding ingredients and their uses.

Not like that last part was any useful. I already had Savant's Understanding giving me a perfect recall for any piece of information I wanted… Of course that was assuming I remembered it in the first place.

Turning my attention back to my problem, I put the new perk out of my mind for now. The easiest way was of course making the threads stronger. Seamstress was a Toybox contact but… I took a look at the price for what I was asking and… well… it wasn't exactly within budget. I had the briefest of ideas to somehow use my newly acquired Gourmet Cells to weave into silk. Before remembering, no I didn't know how to do that in the first place.

Spider silk would be a good stopgap measure in the meantime but Taylor hasn't exactly triggered yet.

I paused for a moment. Or actually… she has, hasn't she?

Hmm… Maybe I should make the call now? I took a look at the time… Nope, I was probably too late. Whoops. I stepped back into my base, dragging my equipment to shove into one of the empty rooms. Checking my phone, I started scrolling through the news and… yup. First headline of the day. 'Girl Found Shoved in Locker Full of Waste'.

Blah blah blah, the girl was found in a locker full of what was described as 'biohazardous waste'… Biologists were brought in to describe what was found as well as the dangers such a thing would inflict upon a normal person. Things like 'high likelihood of infection', 'toxic shock', and 'attempted murder' were thrown around as the news sensationalized and dramatized as much as they possibly could.

I doubt for a moment that it would matter. The PRT would inevitably crack down on it once Sophia Hess's participation came to light. And everything would be swept under the rug.

However… I licked my lips in anticipation. This powder keg could blow up quite easily. After a few days, when the investigation stalled due to 'PRT intervention', I could pose as an anonymous account and post on the PHO board. Pretending to be part of the posse who grew a conscience, namedrop the Trio and not-so-subtly imply that the PRT stepped in to halt the intervention.

I leaned back in my chair as an amused smile danced across my face. Yea… Yea that will do just nicely. The boards would be absolutely rife with speculation. And what was the saying? 'One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.' If the hospital also came out with the information that Taylor was in a coma as well… It was all coming together.

Of course, I doubt it would actually do anything substantial. The PRT ENE would come under fire for sure, and Piggot would no doubt have to come out to make some sort of statement to appease the crowd. Shadow Stalker would likely be 'transferred' to another location due to some sort of PR reason. And life in Brockton Bay chugged along.

Well, consider it my apology to you, Taylor Hebert. I tossed aside the kinetic redirector proof-of-concept. I could run back into the workshop to finish the proper design and implement it into my stuff… But since I was out of the workshop anyway, let's go and train. I needed some time to think about how to fix the clothing issue and A True Hero's Potential wasn't gonna manifest itself anyway.

But first, second breakfast. The drawback of Gourmet Cells was already rearing its ugly head.

When I went into the gym, I found that the number of people taking up boxing had dropped drastically, leaving only two other people still taking the course. Well, two that were also 'beginners'. There were still a few who were a lot more advanced than us still working out. The rest though likely refunded the course. James didn't seem to care though, simply asking us to get ready and warm up.

Shooting a brief glance around, I did see a young-looking girl sitting by the benches who looked bored out of her mind. Catching my look, she cocked her head to the side while I stared at her. I… think she looked familiar? She was really pretty, with black hair that fell a little past her shoulders with a purple streak through her hair. Though she didn't look like she was dressed like she was supposed to be here, with ripped denim shorts, fishnet stockings and a tube top that accentuated her large breasts.


That's Aisha.

Brian's sister… and James' daughter.

My immediate second thought was 'That's thirteen?' Huh. I turned my attention to James as he called us to attention. The first ten minutes was him touching on some points that he had talked about in the previous lesson and checking our progress before moving onto the actual lesson. Which was footwork. Entirely footwork actually. In his words, it was better to learn to dodge first before learning how to throw a punch.

After the first hour, I pretty much had a handle on it and was sent off for more physical training. Grabbing the piece of paper from his hands, I went ahead and started familiarizing myself with equipment needed.

As I got to working out how the equipment worked, I spotted Aisha walking up to me with a certain air of smugness around her. Though I wouldn't put it at the same rank as Lisa's smugness. Lisa's smugness was more… solid in a way, backed by her power and knowledge that she was the smartest in the room. Aisha's was more surface level in that sense. There was nothing supporting her smugness except pure confidence.

"Need some help, big guy?" She grinned as I fiddled with the weights.

"I'm good." I coughed lightly as I slid the weights into place and started working on the first rep of the day. And it was light. Incredibly so. The combination of Gourmet Cells and True Hero was making 35 kg leg press feel like an easy warm-up. So I slid on a few heavier weights and started feeling the strain.

I could probably go even higher but I didn't really need to. What-

"I'd never seen you here before." Aisha rudely interrupted my thoughts. However, I hid my annoyance in my breathing as I lowered the plate and continued my reps. "You new here?"

I nodded as I let out a long breath. "Just joined pretty recently. Heard that a professional boxer was here and decided to join." I kept some amount of attention on Aisha so she didn't interrupt my thoughts once more.

Anyway, what I wanted to do was train my control. Right now, I needed to get used to the sudden increase in strength, lest I accidentally shattered something I meant to hold. So I was going to use this opportunity to figure out how to not accidentally throw 20kg weights around like it was nothing. Better now, than while on the street and accidentally punching someone's jaw off.

The other thing I wondered about was how did the boost for True Hero Potential worked? Like if I trained strength, would only the portions I trained become stronger or will my entire body become stronger?

"And he has you on PT instead?" Aisha said as she sat beside me, watching me rest between sets. "Doesn't sound like you got your money's worth."

I shrugged my shoulders as best as I could before starting on my next set. "Well… ! Apparently my skills were good enough that there wasn't a need to train… ! And it would be better for me to do this… !" I grunted between each rep.

Aisha flitted around me as I became her new distraction. Loremaster helpfully provided that she was similar to Lisa in that she mostly only approached out of curiosity. I also remembered that she has ADHD so the best and fastest way to get rid of her was to be as boring as possible. Not that it was particularly easy.

The girl practically needled me for a reaction. At the very least she had some sense to not mess with me while I was working with heavy weights. "Say, why did you stare at me?" She asked while having the most shit-eating grin on her face. "Could you be a-"

My eyes flickered to the side with the most deadpan stare I could muster while supporting a rather heavy weight on my legs. Aisha cut herself off with a chuckle. "I'm just joking. Don't get your panties in a twist." Rolling my eyes, I continued with my training while only throwing out the occasional bait to keep the girl's attention.

Aisha had one of the strongest Stranger powers in Worm. The ability to wipe information, both from people's mind and digital storage was massive. Coupled with Machine Madness, I could practically wipe people's memories of certain events or people if needed. If I got something that could implant memories as well… that would just make it perfect, wouldn't it?

So getting into her good graces shouldn't be that bad. Once I got into something she was interested in, mainly the cartoon she was watching, and got her ranting, I mostly let her keep going while providing the occasional question to keep her going. It was like listening to a podcast during your workout. Except it was an underage girl, cursing like a sailor at the writers for making two characters get together and disregarding seasons of prior build up.

"It's like they caved into audience demands!" Aisha growled out as she made a motion like wringing a towel. "Like Bella and Stella literally had no major scenes together! They practically didn't talk themselves into a relationship, and cOnViNiEnTLy forgot that Stella had a trauma to work out and Bella already had a good partner! One that she spent a full season with!" Ah. I see that this world apparently had its own version of RWBY too.

The Celestial Forge spun up once again. This time I got another Star on the same rank as Machine Madness and Lab Partner from the Magical Database Constellation. Which seemed a little out of place for something called the Celestial Forge and not the Celestial Grimoire but I wasn't complaining. The Star also emptied out all the energy stored in the Forge, so I guess I wasn't going to get anything for the next two Awakenings.

The perk was called 'Notes of Thoth', a series of notes written by the Egyptian God of Writing, Knowledge, and Magic himself. It contained information about different plains, monsters, spirits, gods, and more, and I could use all of that to craft my own spells. It was stored in a new section of the base, an Egyptian style library with several shelves containing all the notes provided by the perk.

There were also two additional Motes. The first was 'Traditions' which allowed me to speak and understand every form of Egyptian and hieroglyphic. Plus, the appeasement of Egyptian gods as well as a broad understanding of the myths surrounding them. A lot of… mehness here. But I guess if I didn't wanna get smote, I would have to live with it.

The second was Magical Specializations. Similar to Magic Style: Enchantment, this granted me a Specialization in an aspect of Egyptian magic. That wasn't to say I couldn't use any other magic such as the absolute bullshit that was the Divine Words and Duat, but I immediately had several years of training and knowledge of said path downloaded straight into my brain. As for the others, I would have to learn them the old-fashioned way.

However, I only really had one option. Statuary Magic-

"Yoooo…." A hand snapped its fingers in front of me. "Are you even listening?"

I blinked and was pulled out of my musing. Ah right, Aisha was still here. Briefly, I quickly recalled whatever she had ranted about and responded accordingly. "Sorry, I just got a little caught up in my thoughts."

Aisha motioned to the machine. And I had also realised I had stopped in the middle of my reps. Whoops. Clearing my throat awkwardly, I kept going while I probed Aisha a little to get her to chat a bit more.

Hearing footsteps, I craned my neck a little to see James walking over with a towel draped across his neck. Everyone else was busy practicing drills or something else, leaving him with some time to check on me. Stopping just beside me, he shot a glance at Aisha with… something there. A weird mix of disappointment, anger, and resignation, coupled with… some other emotions that I couldn't put a finger on.

"I see you've gotten acquainted with my daughter." He spoke with a tone that didn't say much and reiterated the emotions that Loremaster was picking up. "How is your PT?" He crossed his arms and I kinda felt like I was standing in front of a teacher, asking me if I was having a good day. Terrible. 0/10. Wouldn't recommend it.

"Good. Good." I let myself off the machine. "Umm, upped the weights since they weren't quite heavy enough for me."

James nodded. "Alright. Lesson's over. You can either continue or leave now." Glancing back at Aisha, she had gone strangely quiet. Well, I knew that the two of them weren't exactly on the best of terms. Plus Brian was working with the Undersiders to get custody. So… hm… I didn't know enough to work out what was actually wrong. James wasn't exactly mentioned a whole lot across the story.

"Got it." Flexing my muscles, I was slightly surprised that I wasn't too sore. More of a… general ache throughout my entire body despite the fact that I was really only working out one section of my body. It was probably the effect of Gourmet Cells boosting my regeneration I suppose… Wait, wouldn't that mean I could work out harder and faster? Which accelerated the growth of True Hero Potential?

Man, I love it when the Celestial Forge's perks reinforced each other.

Spoiler: New Perks!

-Grafting Gourmet Cells (Toriko) (200CP)

Grafting (Toriko) (100CP)

With the impressive recovery and regenerative abilities of Gourmet Cells, your body can transcend the limits of biology. With this you can now graft human body parts to yourself with a hundred percent success rate and be able to use them effectively. Even more, you can graft the parts of other species and even plants onto your body to gain their abilities though a talented surgeon is still required.

Gourmet Cells (Toriko) (100CP)

You acquire either 3 Injections of Gourmet Cells capable of granting Gourmet Cells in a matter of hours or enough Gourmet Pills to grant 3 people Gourmet Cells over the course of a 5 year period through daily ingestion. Injections are a quick way to power up but very few survive the process while Pills have a significantly higher success rate but take time. Acquiring either grants you the ability to harvest Gourmet Cells and create your own Injections and Pills with trial and error. Plants and animals can both be injected or given pills so you may attempt to gather more cells at a later date.

Inspirational Pull (Toriko) (FREE)*

You can find use of any ingredients in line of sight. You will find a slight pull towards the next one if it will match the one you found first. Effect dramatically weakens after finding the next two ingredients. And also it improves memory in regard to ingredients. Post-jump will help in finding parts/compounds and improve memory.

-Notes of Thoth (Kane Chronicles) (400CP)

When Thoth, the god of writing; knowledge; and magic, was young, he traveled to the far reaches of the Duat, researching the natures and mechanics of those regions, as well as the spirits and gods that called those places home. His field notes - and the many powers and dangerous spells that resulted from them, later became known as the Book of Thoth. By purchasing this, you gain a collection of his notes about the nature of gods, spirits, and other dimensions and planes of existence in this setting, which could be used to invent many of the spells the Book contained for yourself. Post-jump, these notes will update to include the local versions of such things in new settings.

Traditions (Kane Chronicles) (FREE)*

You are knowledgeable in the ways of the mythology of the Egyptian pantheon. You can speak Ancient to Modern Egyptian and read the various kinds of hieroglyphics, know the proper ways to honor the gods, and have an encyclopedic grasp of the mythos.

Magical Specialization: Statuary (Kane Chronicles) (FREE)*

The true worth of every magician is their path specialization. You have come to possess knowledge, you have a few years of training in a path specialization of your choice, enough to make you an expert though you are still many years from being a master. A list of canon specializations will be at the notes section at the bottom of the jump. This perk can be taken multiple times.

Remaining Points: 0



Chapter 15


Finishing up in the gym, I was walking out without a speck of soreness on my body. Just took a warm shower and let Gourmet Cells do all the regeneration for me. Although by the end of it, I was feeling quite hungry. Not that it should be a surprise I suppose. It wasn't like Gourmet Cells pulled mass from nothing.

Heading back home was a fairly easy experience. Taking a bus ride back to my actual home to not raise too many suspicions, I stuck my portal in the closet door and stepped right on through back into my secret base. Until my lease ended at the end of January, I had to at least give the impression that I was living in my single-room apartment.

Amaya wasn't anywhere to be seen. Clicking the portalmaker, I gave a brief check around my workshop and I saw her busy tinkering with some components in the workshop. A stand was set up with a few wires trailing some else. Hefting a beanbag in her hand, Amaya reeled back and punted it straight at the stand.

I held my breath for a moment before it simply sailed through without any harm. Frowning in annoyance, Amaya grabbed a brick instead and launched it. The brick soared through the air before it struck the stand and was immediately sent flying back at her. Ducking her head with practiced ease, the brick flew overhead and landed on a mat set up behind her.

"Ah, you're back." Amaya spoke up. "Your gloves are there on the table." She gestured towards it while still looking at the stand. They looked like two futuristic gauntlets, with a shiny metal plate exterior, reminiscent of knight's gauntlets mixed with Iron Man. Walking over, I slipped them on and was surprised at how comfortable they were despite the mess of wires and plates on them. Granted, there were some restrictions in my hands but not as much as I was expecting.

Lifting my hand, I shot off a quick, weak blast against the wall. The hard light cylinder slammed into it before breaking apart like a water hose and quickly fading away. Shooting a few more quick blasts and I found that they were pretty responsive to my commands with little to no recoil. And the recoil that I was experiencing was minimal enough that I could hold it steady without issue.

"Nice." I nodded as I slipped them off. "Good work." Amaya stole a glance at me and preened slightly. "What about the vector shield? Got it working?" I walked over and looked at the device hooked up to the stand. I was impressed at how quickly she managed to recreate my kinetic redirector. Her version was a little bigger and more complete, without any of Hammer Jammer's annoying design choices. Though it looked like my prototype was disassembled and reassembled multiple times on the corner. Not like it mattered since it was just a prototype.

Turning to me, she shot another glance at the stand before making a 'so-so' gesture. "Kinda. I got a usable version of your… kinetic redirector working." She said with a slightly disgusted look. "However, it works on exclusively physical contact." Her eyes narrowed in annoyance. "And it's proving stubborn to alter."

"What seems to be the issue?" I cocked my head as I inspected the stand.

"Your machine is altering the structure on a molecular level, changing the 'density'," Amaya made rather large air quotes around the word, "of the object it's attached to. Originally I wanted it to work on your body directly but that quickly didn't end well."

I would sure hope so. I don't think having strong vibrations travelling and bouncing around in my body was a good idea.

"So instead, I tried to pull the effect outside of the object into an aura similar to Accelerator's AIM field." Amaya stated. "But doing so is like pulling teeth. I'm not sure which perk is stubbornly resisting the altering of the design, but it's being a pain in the ass. I manage to do so anyway, but the power drain and computational load skyrockets when dealing with gases." She threw another beanbag, this time nailing the stand and sending it flying back.

Humming, I tried to ask Machine Madness for help. And it spun around for a moment, with blueprints and designs springing to mind before being discarded. Bits and pieces of each device being pulled out to add to a new device before useless parts were stripped away once again and replaced with other components. I quickly realised that I was looking at an 'evolution' of a device in real time.

Like Amaya said, creating a 'vector shield' in the air was difficult given that air itself was constantly moving and changing.

But there was a way to do it.

"What if we… didn't pull the kinetic redirection away from the object the device it's attached to." I suggested.

Amaya turned to look at me, her eyes furrowed. "Lemme guess, you want to project that effect into the object coming directly at the person." She replied. Nodding, I prompted Machine Madness for a possible blueprint. And it responded in kind. The resulting device was large and nauseatingly complex. The first problem was actually projecting such an effect to an object not directly attached to the components made to alter the physical properties in the first place.

The second was actually causing the object coming at you to change directions. Remember, this device wasn't affecting vectors but more of the vibrations caused by kinetic impacts. Technically, yes it was 'reflecting and refracting' kinetic energy due to the movements of the molecules in the waves of the vibration. But not vectors.

Which meant it was going to have to be creative in altering physical composition to make the object suddenly change direction without imparting another force on it. Newton's Laws of Motion? What was that?

Therefore what ended up coming out was something so dumb and complex that it was the size of a small bus and had the power draw of a skyscraper to run all of its calculations.

Amaya must have caught my face since she shot a knowing smile at me. "See why it's difficult?"

"Says you." I shot back with an annoyed grimace. "What was the description of 'A Stroke of Genius'? 'The laws of science may seem hard and inflexible to others but in your hands they bend and flex like a stripper on a pole'?"

Amaya shrugged her shoulders. "I said 'difficult', not 'impossible'." She had the absolute smuggest smile on her face, rivaling Lisa's in terms of smugness. "Sketch the blueprint Machine Madness for me. It'll be good to use your power as a jumping off point for me."

Well, I guess that… I let out a sigh. "Fine." I walked over to the table. "Y'know I was planning to cook something for lunch given that we have a proper kitchen now. Pass you an offer to join me to help or something…" I shot a look over to her.

"That's sweet of you." Amaya used what I was going to refer to her 'teasing flirt' voice. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her come closer and wrap her arms around my shoulders as she brought her mouth closer to my ear. "Perhaps we could do that for dinner?" She purred into my ear.

Her breath tickled my ear as she pressed herself into my back. "Mmm… Since you're doing so much for me… Should I give you a reward?" Her hands crept down, reaching lower and lower. Using my free hand, I grabbed her wrists to stop her advance.

"Stop. I already told you. Date first." I shot a glance over my shoulder to see her pouting face.

Crossing her arms, Amaya pulled away and I let her hands slip away. "But we already went all the way…"

"After you made me very worried for your wellbeing and I came back to you masturbating on the bed." I shot back with a slight frown. "Hell, I don't even know how you sent me those texts in the first place. What the hell?"

Amaya made a slight 'o' with her lips and I was reminded of her blowjob with no help from Savant as it provided a very vivid memory. I could feel my blood pooling in my crotch. "Oh that. I bought a prepaid phone with the money you gave me."

A prepaid… alright. I conceded that made some sense. "Still you pissed me off enough and made me have angry sex with you. Like fine. Whatever. I'm still holding to that promise of a date first." I leveled a finger at Amaya.

"Is that a challenge I hear?" Amaya licked her lips as she stared at me.

I suddenly didn't feel very comfortable being near her. Raising my eyebrows, I shifted my seat ever so slowly and carefully away from her. "Maybe…?" Amaya's face broke out into a wide grin. "Hold up. Ground rules. First, both of us must consent to it. So no somnophilia, using the neuraljack or anything like that." Amaya immediately pouted. Nail on the head I suppose. "Secondly, you cannot use the same tactic as the first time, tricking me that you're in danger and then revealing that you're actually fine and presenting yourself or something. Got it?"

I racked my head for a moment. "And… you have three days to do it. I'll go on a date with you in three days. If you manage to win and get me to fuck you in three days, you win. Else, I win." I finished.

Amaya's eyes glimmered with excitement. No doubt her Stroke of Genius was now focused on trying to win this little game.

The Celestial Forge awakened, breaking the both of us out of our train of thoughts. However, due to my luck and the drainage of all the energy from the previous roll, the Forge missed its grasp on the Aides Constellation.

Amaya pouted as the tendril of energy slinked back. "Aww… I wanted a friend." She grinned at me as she said so. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I breathed a soft sigh of relief. I don't think I could handle another Amaya.

The green-haired woman leaned against the table as I sketched the blueprint Machine Madness provided. "Say…" Amaya spoke up as she watched me. "What were you going to put these devices on?"

"The shield." I raised my left hand, "and my trench coat. But kinetic redirection inside fabrics would tear it apart so…" I shrugged my shoulders. "Can't help with that."

"Couldn't you just… reinforce it with magic then?" Amaya said. My sketch stopped for a moment as I remembered that yes, I had magic now. And I buried my face into my hands as I let out a long sigh, expelling as much air as I could from my lungs. Glancing at Amaya, she let out a small smile as she ruffled my hair. "It happens to the best of us."

Welp. I guess I needed to test that idea out then.

The afternoon was spent between sketching and preparing lunch. Well, Amaya was preparing lunch while I used Slacking Off to buy some time to help out. She wasn't particularly against it, but did say that I should spend the time gained from Slacking Off on some other project rather than lunch. But I insisted otherwise. After all, I now needed a lot more food to get through the day. Luckily this place restocked itself every so often so I wouldn't put a dent in my funds just simply trying to survive.

Inspirational Pull helped out a lot more than expected as well. I didn't think it would be too useful when cooking a meal but it did pick out better ingredients that would mesh with the dish we were trying to make. In the end, the fried noodles that we prepared tasted so much better than my memories provided.

"Hmm…" Amaya hummed while she looked over the veritable pile of noodles I was consuming. Despite tasting good, they still lacked a little… something. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but it felt like it was lacking somewhat. "Do you think I should make a high-calorie snack bar for you?"

Glancing over, I nodded. Swallowing the noodles, I set the empty bowl to the side. "Yea… but it's not like we have any biotech to work with to even start. We'll have to make do with store-bought for now." I started working on my fourth bowl for the afternoon. Reaching over, I handed the stack of papers over. "Here's the design that you wanted."

Amaya raised an eyebrow as she looked over the dizzying amount of information. Flipping through it, she nodded her head. "I can work with this." She nodded. "I'll be in my room if you need me." She grabbed her bowl and shuffled off, her eyes glued to the machinery and circuitry I had provided.

Finishing lunch, I made my way back to the workshop. I still had some time before I needed to go in for my first day in the Union. So I might as well get the kinetic redirector over with and finally start on the hat tonight when I return.

And Amaya was right. Using Enchantment magic to settle a simple durability boost, I hooked up the piece of fabric to the kinetic redirector Amaya had made. And lo and behold! When I applied a ludicrous amount of kinetic energy to hit via high speed hammer, the fabric didn't blow apart like before.

Testing it for a bit longer, the upper limit of the fabric was actually a lot higher than I had expected. I placed it at around the same level as the steel I was testing earlier. However, I did find another small issue.

When attached to the device, fabrics became a lot more stiff.

Large movements, such as picking up the steel and fabric and moving it around, weren't affected by kinetic redirection since it wasn't really 'vibrations' that moved the object, but the entire object moving all at once. Same with throwing, tossing or other large movements that acted upon the entire object rather than just a portion of it. Which made sense. If it stopped all types of kinetic energy, you'd have an immovable object which served zero purpose.

However, small movements, like say moving around the fabric did activate the kinetic redirection, making fabrics stiffer and harder to deform. It didn't particularly matter with metal since you didn't want it to deform in the first place but the flexibility of fabric was a bit more important.

I let out a breath. Making it such that there was a threshold before the redirection effect activated was the easiest solution that came to mind. However, there was a small problem with that. Needles, technically, didn't need a lot of kinetic energy to harm me. Same thing with a lot of small, sharp things. Which fell into Amaya's problem of 'filtering out what is and isn't harmful to a person'. And frankly, I couldn't be fucked to bash my head against that wall.

Instead, I tried something a little more… esoteric in nature. Layering another enchantment on top of the durability enchantment already present on the fabric. Since the original kinetic redirection was technically an enchantment, it was surprisingly easy for me to use Loremaster and Magic Skill to translate it over to a proper enchantment.

Of course, I had to finagle with the magic quite a bit, cutting corners and haphazardly linking mana together, but I got it working. The enchantment wasn't exactly pretty but it would do for now and acted pretty similarly to Machine Madness's version. Except instead of altering physical properties, this was just straight up magic.

Just magic. Kinetic energy just bounced around and out of the fabric it was tied to. No need to worry about pesky things like density or virtual mass, it just did the thing I wanted it to. Which saved me quite a number of headaches. The problem of 'fabric tearing itself if impact was too strong' was still a problem though if I didn't have the durability enchantment on.

This version of kinetic redirection also didn't affect the flexibility of clothes thankfully. Why? I couldn't quite tell you. Looking at both, they should do the exact same thing but one affected clothes flexibility while another didn't. Plus, the magical version had a lower limit on the redirection threshold, with energy 'bleeding through' the fabric if the impact was strong enough.

However, unlike Machine Madness, the enchantment stayed and continued to work, unlike the machine version which burnt out.

I guess this was the side effect of translating the Shard's effect into two very different bases? It made some sense I suppose.

With that out of the way, I settled on how to integrate the kinetic redirection effect into my equipment. Shield gets the machine version while clothes get the magic version plus a durability enhancement. I made a note of it and stuck it on the fridge as well as on the table of my workshop so I didn't forget.

The shield was easy enough. I used some extra components and the prototype redirector from this morning to get a working version up and running. It wasn't too difficult, especially since Amaya had ripped it apart for me anyway so I could replan its internals. Combined with the insights I could glean from Amaya's own interpretation of my stuff, Machine Madness and Hammer Jammer worked perfectly in tandem to make a more streamlined and efficient version of the one from this morning.

It still required quite a bit of power, but hey it was all good. Attaching it to the shield was a bit harder since it was quite the bulky item and the shield wasn't exactly spacious. However, I did manage to slide it into position, where it wouldn't press uncomfortably into my arms while still being at the center of the shield.

Testing its deployment capabilities, it was a tad slower given that I was using pistons to effectively launch the plates on either side. However, it was an easy redesign to render that small problem moot. And by easy redesign, I meant completely redoing the internals so the kinetic energy of the launcher fell into the 'moving the entire thing at once' rather than 'slamming a piston into it so hard it popped out'.

I threw the redesigned parts into the CNC machine to be milled before I changed and headed back through the closet door to start heading to the Dockworkers' Union. Danny did say a uniform would be provided so I brought a ziplock bag along and a decently sized backpack along to shove my clothes in before heading out.

"Excuse me." A pair of PRT officers interrupted my path out. The first was a short-haired tomboyish woman, standing a head shorter than me. The second was a taller man with light brown hair and a slight smile on his face. "Are you Nathan Leong who lives in this building?"

I took a breath. "Who's asking?"

"My name is Ethan Jones." The man took a step forward and extended a hand. "And this is my partner in more ways than one, Gwen Jones." He pointedly ignored her scowl. "We're here on behalf of the PRT." I shook his hands in response. Ethan… Assault? Kinda looks like him based on the fanart I had seen. And I assumed that the tomboy was Battery. I was a little wary being next to two Protectorate members, especially two of the fastest members.

I idly removed the portal to my base in my closet. "And what can I do for you two?" I pulled my hand away from Ethan and took a step back.

"Perhaps we should take this talk inside." Ethan said. "It's about the attack on Saturday."

"I'm afraid I'll have to take a raincheck." I tried to step past them. "If I delay any longer, I'll be late for work."

"At the Dockworkers' Union?" Ethan interrupted. "We've already called ahead. We have some time right now." He had an easygoing smile on his face. I could keep pushing, but it seemed like they covered their bases with this. Preventing me from using the Union to ignore them, sending Assault and Battery to chase me if I ran, I wouldn't be too surprised if a few hidden PRT vans were set up around the block to keep an eye on me.

A tense pause passed as I spotted a few cameras pointing at me. Well, I was certain I should probably bring this to a more private location. "Please follow me then." I made my way back up. Unlocking the door to my room, I allowed them inside before shutting the door behind me. The two heroes took a look around before motioning for them to sit down.

"So… what is it that the PRT wants with me?" I asked as I took a look at the two of them. Loremaster got a general sense of duty from Gwen, while Ethan was a bit more looser and less uptight. However, both of them were here for a specific reason. A mix of apprehension while clearly being deliberate with their actions.

"We would like you to come with us into the PRT HQ." Gwen said. "You're not in trouble or under arrest, but we do need you to come with us."

I shook my head. "I already told the previous guy that came in, I already gave my statement and there's nothing I could say that wasn't said then." If there was one thing that I knew when dealing with someone with more authority than you, just act clueless. They won't know what to do if you don't say anything.

"Sir, we have reason to suspect that you're in danger." Gwen said. An interesting proposal but I wasn't quite sure where they were going with this. "We cannot say much else due to safety and privacy concerns so we wish to bring you to the PRT HQ so we can tell you the full story." She said with gravitas. Loremaster said that she truly believed what she was saying though Ethan was a little more skeptical.

The Celestial Forge awakened and missed a swing on the Smut Protection Constellation. I frowned slightly. At this rate, I was gonna get another 'Lab Partner' or something.

Taking a deep breath, I bit my lip. The only few real dangers I knew of was Coil from Lisa, though I doubted he would do anything for now. Or that he did and I managed to slip away in his other timelines. The other was of course Leet and his accomplice Uber, but Uber didn't know my identity and Leet was arrested. However, it wasn't like I could simply deny such a thing without looking too suspicious.

After all, the PRT walking up to you and telling you that you're in danger raised several concerns. Most of them parahuman.

I weighed the decision in my mind. The best option was to simply go with them. However, walking into the lion's den wasn't particularly what I wanted right now. On the other hand, I couldn't brush aside such a statement without some amount of suspicion. And if they already think that I was a parahuman, brushing it aside might only intensify the concerns. At the very least, if they try to trap me in, I could use my key to walk straight out.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded. "Alright then. Let's head to the PRT HQ and see what you have to say."

Heading to the PRT building, it was just as the story described. A lot of barred windows on its exterior with a giant logo with the letters 'P.R.T' hanging on the front. The car I was sitting in was pretty comfortable, all black leather and nice headrests which were a plush Assault and Battery. Nice joke, I suppose.

The car pulled into the gantry manned by two PRT officers. Rolling down the windows, Ethan handed his card to the officer. "Just bringing in Mr Nathan here." He jabbed a finger to the back. Peering inside, he took a look before nodding.

"Let them in!" The guard called out. The barrier lifted and the car trudged down into the underground carpark. The tinted windows plus the pisspoor lighting made it hard to make out the outside but I was pretty sure I could spot Armsmaster's motorcycle as well as a large amount of standardized PRT vans.

Pulling to a stop, the three of us got off and they led me to an elevator. Scanning his keycard, Ethan jabbed the button bringing us to the twelfth floor. Glancing at me, he asked. "Have you ever been into the PRT HQ?"

"Not really. I mean everyone's been here and anything on the tours can be found on PHO anyway." I shrugged. "I never saw the point." I replied. Ethan nodded as he listened to my answer.

"That's fair I suppose." Ethan turned around and started walking backwards. "Say, when this is over, what do you think of an exclusive private tour, courtesy of me? Hell, I might even let you see some parts that aren't exclusive to the public." He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows which made Gwen jab his side again.

"Kidding. Kidding." He staggered and walked a bit drunkenly. "Mostly." He added before immediately dodging Gwen's next hit. "Think about it would you?" Although his words were a bit offhanded, I did pick up some amount of… hmm desperation wasn't quite the right word for it. But a sort of urgency to push me to accept.

It was a good disguise for a recruitment pitch. Most likely they were planning to spring the fact that I was the one who defeated Leet on me, cite a low survival rate for independent heroes, and then use the tour to show off their resources and toss me a recruitment pitch. Let's see how much I got correct.

"Right this way." Ethan opened the door into a relatively brightly lit room, with a single table with two chairs on opposite sides, as well as a one-way mirror on one of the walls. Walking in, Ethan shut the door behind me as I took a seat on a chair.

"If this is an interrogation, I would like to call for a lawyer." I called out in the empty room as I took a seat. Due to how the mirror was placed, they were facing the door as well, so slipping out wouldn't be perfect unless I could blind them as well. Glancing up, I could spot seams along the ceiling, probably containment foam launchers.

The chair was a little uncomfortable and stiffer than what I would have liked. The ventilation was a little too loud. And the lights, a little harsh. Frowning, I waited patiently before a new set of faces arrived. This time it was the recognizable… face wasn't the right word. The recognizable… visage of Miss Militia, with her stars and stripes bandanna and form-hugging army fatigues.

Following alongside her was another PRT officer who walked in wearing a formal suit and tie with a certain confidence in his movements. Sitting down opposite me, the man looked over a file he was carrying in his hands. "Do you want some water…? Tea? Coffee?"

I shook my head. "I'm good, thanks."

"No worries, no worries." He replied. "I hope the ride here wasn't too bumpy." I wanted to slap this dude across the face. His words felt like they had a second meaning to them. Or something that he was implying and expecting me to understand. God, it was like talking to Lisa but at least Lisa was pretty to look at. This guy just felt slimy to talk to, like he would scam a grandma of all her cash if he could.

"Your name is Nathan Leong, yes?" I nodded my head. "Yes. My name is Hubert Limbourgh and this is, of course, Miss Militia. We have brought you here because we believe that you're in danger. I believe you remember the Uber and Leet attack last Saturday?"

"Yes. I should remember. I participated in it." I replied. "Please get to the point. It's my first day today and I would prefer to get this over with now."

"Mr Leong, it is our belief that you ended the attack early by defeating Leet. I don't think I need to tell you that a parahuman acting-" I raised a hand to cut him off.

Clearing my throat, I shook my head. "I'm sorry but I'm not a parahuman."

Hubert had a bit of a brittle smile. "Mr Leong, it is in both our best interest that you don't lie. The PRT-"

I cut him off again. "And once again I'm telling you, I'm not a parahuman." I glanced at both of them. "I believe that there are two growths in every parahuman brain? Check it if you don't believe me. I don't have either of them." I spoke with conviction, channeling a little of my Solar memories.

Hubert cleared his throat and shot a glance at Miss Militia. The second-in-command of the PRT nodded and started speaking. "Mr Leong, do you remember any highly stressful day before the 1st of January? Any blackouts or fainting spells?"

I thought for a moment. A token amount of time so I didn't seem too eager before I replied. "Nope."

"None at all?" Miss Militia spoke.

"Nope." I confirmed.

I had a distinct feeling that I threw a wrench into their plans. "If that's all you brought me here for, then I'm afraid that this is a waste of my time." I stood up suddenly. Walking to the door, I reached for the knob and I heard Miss Militia's voice interrupt my steps.

"Although you may not be a parahuman, we have reason to believe that you are the one who took down Leet." Turning around, I stared at the Gun Hero.

"And how do you think I managed to take down a tinker without any powers? Although Uber and Leet are jokes in the community, there are still parahumans at the end of the day." I shook my head as I raised my hands. "I'm not that dumb to run and confront them without any equipment."

The three of us sat (I stood) in silence. Staring at the one-way mirror, I tried to think what the people behind could be doing. I mean Armsmaster should be there. He had the lie detector after all that would be useful for verifying my statements. Maybe the director if they seriously considered recruiting me. And maybe some other people. Not sure who though.

A voice crackled to life over the speaker. "Mr Leong, we have reason to believe that you are indeed the one who took down Leet." Another trooper came in and slid a file over. Looking over it, I used my Solar memories to keep myself calm. They were getting really annoyed that I kept standing them up, huh?

"Interesting theory. However, I can confirm that it's false." I replied as I turned the file over to them. "If you read my testimony, I moved through this hallway," I continued from the last point of view to a bathroom. "I hid on top of the walls of the cubicles, out of sight of any roaming robots. This… path that you had drawn out for me is ludicrous at best."

"We also have testimonies from your team members that you were not with them-" My face broke into no small amount of annoyance.

"We split up at the end of the stream? What are you even insinuating?" I frowned at the one-way mirror.

"…. most of the group managed to regroup afterwards. Leaving you conspicuously absent."

"That's bullshit. I talked with Johnny afterwards and he only met up with two other people out of the six of us. Even if you said that, there would still be another person to account for." I shot back while keeping myself calm.

"We verified her location and she was not close to the-"

I crossed my arms and stared at the mirror. "And you believe her testimony but cast doubt on mine? I believe the phrase you're looking for is 'double standard'."

I didn't bother to respond to the rest of their arguments. Although it was fairly alarming how much they managed to dig up. However, it wasn't like they could do anything about me. I said I wasn't, that this was all coincidences, and they legally speaking couldn't force me into the Protectorate. Unless they wanted to drum up some phony charges and hold them over my head unless I joined…

But what were the chances of that happening? I'm sure they aren't that idiotic to possibly burn a bridge to a possible hero.

I was pretty sure we were coming up to half an hour and my ears were getting a bit sore from all the blabbering. I scanned across the entire mirror. Shaking my head, I headed towards the door. "This is a waste of time. I shouldn't have come here. It's clear that you have a conclusion and are cherry-picking evidence to lead towards it."

Walking out, two PRT troopers grabbed my arms to prevent me from going any further. I didn't struggle out of their grip but I carefully pushed them off. "Let me out of here."

They paused for a moment as if listening for orders. "Understood. We'll escort you to the entrance." The two troopers led me to a different elevator before pressing the first floor button. Heading down, the ride was uneventful as the doors opened and I stepped out into the open lobby of the PRT building.

Shooting a glance behind me, I walked out of the building and took a bus to the Docks. Assholes. At the very least, drive me to my job.

"Nathan!" A man walked over as I made my way to the DWU building. "I thought the PRT said you had to come in for something?" From his nametag, this was apparently Kurt. The friend of Danny's.

I nodded. "Yea. Had to come in to clarify my testimony or something." I lied through my teeth.

The Celestial Forge spun up again. This time… missing a swing at the Lewd Magic Constellation. I took a deep breath. No. This can't be real…

"I see. Yea… I think Johnny and his daughter had to do something similar as well." They did? Huh. They probably didn't get accused of being the one who beat up Leet so… Hm… "Come right this way." He led me to the second floor before pushing a door open. The smell of dust and lemon air freshener mixed together in a way that made me wish I could actually forget things.

"Here's your new uniform. Three sets. Two to wear on alternate days and one for emergencies." I raised my eyebrow and I gave them a look over. High-vis stripes, with white and blue colour scheme. As well as a hardhat. Though I only received one.

"Oh thanks." I bowed my head slightly. "Umm… by the way, I didn't see Danny while I was coming in?" I asked out of false curiosity.

Kurt frowned slightly. "Family emergency unfortunately. He didn't say much more than that." Well then… I guess I would have to wait until he returned until I could broach the subject with him. Was there a point though? I mean, I could buy something as a 'get well soon' gift for Taylor. Would that be weird? I felt like it would be weird. But also if I have a decent relationship with Danny, then maybe not?

We would see, I suppose.

Changing into my uniform, I tossed my bag into the locker before heading out with Kurt to take a familiarizing tour around what was considered to be the 'Dockworkers' Union Territory'. The Docks weren't usually gang infested. The major player was the ABB but there were Empire stashes and Merchant drug dens as well due to the abandonment of factories and warehouses that made for great bases.

The DWU's work was mostly handling the occasional shipments made to the Docks via trucks. Due to the Docks being so overrun, they had to rely on the DWU to take all the goods off them and then ship them to the respective businesses. A much easier set up than say having a fleet of vans heading from the major port or distribution center to every business in Brockton Bay and racking up a massive amount of costs. Why do that when the Dockworkers could handle that final stretch of distribution for you?

It wasn't like there was anything else for them to do with their shipping industry gutted.

Which was also the part of the reason why gangs wanted the DWU out. If they could take over such a business, it would be hundreds of times easier for them to smuggle things in and out of the city. However, it also made things difficult since the gangs relied on said distribution for their own businesses, and would never allow another gang to control that. In essence, they begrudgingly allowed the existence of the Union since it was better than another gang.

"So your job is to keep track of the warehouse inventory, and what gets shipped in and out." Kurt explained as we headed into one of the warehouses I was helping out in. "Your warehouse manager is Franklin, just follow his lead and you can't do anything wrong." He patted me on the back.

Franklin was a nice guy and briefly explained what was going on. Due to the gang-ridden area, and the relative distance of the warehouses to the main building, they did occasionally get some 'jokers' who decided that they should rob the DWU.

"Though if it ever happens… here." He tossed me an airhorn. "Just give it a nice long press and they'll scamper off in a heartbeat."

"And… What if they don't?" I raised an eyebrow and I slid it into my Union-provided toolbelt.

"Well…" Franklin shifted around to reveal a pistol stowed in his trousers. "They will."

Suppressing a cough, I nodded my head as he pointed out how to keep track of each product stored in the building. "Not afraid of the gangs retaliating?"

He scoffed and pulled his face into a sneer. "Retaliating? For what? If they hit the warehouses, guess what businesses would start doing? Lobbying for the removal of gangs from the Docks. Without our service finishing that last few miles of distribution for the companies, suddenly their bottomline is hurt. And in America, the bottomline is everything for a company." Franklin shook his head. "The gangs aren't stupid. Except for maybe the Merchants." He added as an afterthought.

Eventually, Franklin finished up his explanation of my duties and left me on my own. Well, I can't say it was fulfilling since it was kinda menial work. With Savant helping with memory, I could easily keep track and memorise everything in the area, even with trucks occasionally coming in to load up a new shipment.

In the meantime, I spent the rest of my time using Hammer Jammer to do some detail on Erstein's hat. I let out a sigh in the mind-numbing boredom of the warehouse. Was it too much to ask for a villain attack right now?

A/N: Not particularly happy with this chapter. Unfortunately.

No new Perks.



Chapter 16


Unfortunately the first day wasn't very eventful. Mostly because the person I was looking for (Danny) was likely taking care of a comatose Taylor and being depressed over it. Unfortunately I couldn't do much about it while sitting in the middle of a warehouse, keeping track of deliveries and stock.

I could head into my secret base… but that would be a bit awkward to explain. Plus there wasn't any method I had currently on hand to keep track of things outside of my base other than leaving the door connecting my base to the warehouse conspicuously open. So I decided against that.

What I could do was finally, FINALLY, take a look at Notes of Thoth and my Motes.

Notes of Thoth, as I could remember from Kane Chronicles, was really important. For one specific reason.

Shadow Execration.

An execration was a simple spell. You have a smaller representation of the target and you destroy that in order to erase the main target. Essentially a voodoo spell. The spell could also act as a generator for more magical power as well, acting as a sacrifice to cast a larger more expensive spell.

So there were a few things for an execration to work. The first was a representation of the target which was usually a shabti or wax figurine of the target in question or maybe an object associated with the target. The second, as far as I could remember, was the target's secret name or ren which was the representation of a person's soul. Knowing it allowed the user to have total control over the person.

By calling out and naming the target, and shattering the shabti, you would wipe the target from existence, destroying the physical form and even their souls. A near complete annihilation.

Against Gods, it obviously wouldn't work. But the Shadow Execration was a small step up.

Everything in existence has a shadow, their legacy, their mark on the world. In Egyptian mythology, if you didn't have a sheut, you couldn't exist. You left no mark on the world. You weren't anything at all. So instead of just using the ren, you could also use their sheut or shadow. And wipe them perfectly out of existence. You could not return from a Shadow Execration since in the eyes of the universe, you simply didn't exist anymore.

This was what could kill even the gods themselves. And what was found in the Book of Thoth in the Kane Chronicle trilogy. Given that my Notes also seem to 'update to include the local versions of such things in new settings', 'such things' referring to 'the nature of gods, spirits, and other dimensions and planes of existence', I would have to expect that Zion, Eden, and the Shards, were also… part of that, no?

Including Shardspace! Probably… Though I barely read Ward past like the first arc… But let's not worry about that.

Well, I would have to research how to conduct an execration first. Firstly, I wasn't sure if the ren was strictly necessary or was simply to bolster the effectiveness of the execration. Or if I could forgo the ren if I had the sheut already. The second bit was finding where Zion's sheut was, or if it had one in the first place.

The gods usually hid their sheut since the Shadow Execration was so goddamn terrifying but in a world where Egyptian Magic literally didn't exist until the Celestial Forge rolled around, I doubt that anyone actually bothered with hiding their sheut. Though I wondered if I needed to pull from Zion's main extradimensional mass, or if his avatar would work.

I would think that the avatar would work since it was merely an extension of its main body, right?

Like, you wouldn't consider your finger a separate part from your body.

The third… well it wasn't as big of a problem as the previous two but it was still an important issue. And that was the magic energy required to perform an execration. Generally speaking, the more powerful the being that you were trying to execrate, the larger the amount of magic needed to cast said execration.

And Zion… was very powerful indeed.

At best, I die burning up all my lifeforce to finish the chant, killing both of us at the same time. Not ideal.

At worst, I die even before I finish the execration. Whoops. That would be a bit of a problem.

Luckily, I had a little something called True Hero Potential that upped my limits on magic and mana the more I used it. Plus, now that I got a third magic perk, I was starting to feel that the mana pools of each perk were combining with one another. The pool from Enchantment had combined with the pool I got from the Kane Chronicle Mote, which combined with Cult of the Gun's gun magic. The final result was a magic pool that was bigger than all of them individually. And THP was applying a boost on each magic pool individually, further compounding the effect and making my mana pool much larger.

Man. Shouldn't this be called like 'Celestial Throne' or something?

Welp, I had a way to kill Zion that didn't require either a giant fuckoff superweapon that annihilates universes, or Emotional Damage. Cool.

Alright, back to Magic Specialization. Statuary Magic was the magic related to the crafting of statues. Duh. However, it was much better than one might think. A master of Statuary Magic could create shabti so realistic that people might forget that they were fake. Or be able to create shabtis on the fly for spells, such as the aforementioned execration spell or other forms of sympathetic magic.

And I believe the final application was the mass deployment of armies. By using wax figurines and shabtis as representation of armies on a map, you could use sympathetic magic and move the figurines in order to rapidly reposition your soldiers in real time.

In essence, it was a mix of Golemancy and Voodoo magic mixed together.

Huh. If that was the case, I could be a necessity in the Endbringer fights. Imagine a wave coming and I could wave my hand and suddenly everyone was under the protection of a shielder. Or immediately pull out a group of capes when their Simurgh limit was approaching.

I… still need to deal with her, don't I…

Checking the time, the clock ticked over and I quickly clocked out for the day. Saying my goodbyes to the others, I headed back home, only vaguely aware of the fact that a car was following behind me. Looking out the window of the bus, I kept an eye on it out of the corner of my eye.

On the bus ride, the Celestial Forge spun up again. I clasped my hands together as the Forge spun up and reached its tendril out into the Lewd Constellations again… And it fucking missed! Gah fuck!

The tendril reached for one of the higher Stars from the Lewd Tech Constellation. Missing by double its length from its previous awakening. I pressed my lips together and took a deep breath. There wasn't a time where I had this many failed awakenings in a row before…

Heading up to my room, I opened the door to my base again. Waiting for a few moments to ensure that the agents didn't suddenly barge into my room, I walked straight into my secret base. Glancing over at Amaya, she was pouring over the blueprints from Machine Madness and creating her own set of notes by the side. At a glance, I could already tell that it was dense enough to count as a memetic hazard by itself.

"Oh, you're back." Amaya spoke up without even looking up from the papers. Her tone of voice was rather bland, without any of her teasing voice that I had grown to associate with her. "Your blueprints are rather interesting. They don't quite break the laws of physics yet. Instead, they alter the physical weight on specific points to generate moments to alter the trajectories of objects, causing them to spin out of the way. It's certainly a creative application of the effect of altering physical composition to affect kinetic energy."

I raised an eyebrow. "So it's useless for you?" I cocked my head.

"Not quite. There are some parts that I could repurpose for what you requested." She highlighted and scribbled a note on her paper. "Especially the projection of the composition altering effect from the device itself."

I… Hmm… I don't think I was used to this Amaya… "Do you need any… help?"

"Dinner would be preferable." Amaya said without even the slightest hint of a double entendre. Well, the entire interaction would be a lot better if Amaya wasn't just wearing her lab coat and underwear.

Prepping a quick dinner, we ate while Amaya continued to pour over the schematics. Compared to her flirty side, she looked a lot prettier like this. Her hair was tied up into a messy bun, glasses askew slightly on her face, only half-paying attention to her food as she tried to eat as quickly as possible while still retaining full attention to her work.

Maybe I should throw her more of these sorts of work then.

Leaving Amaya to her work, I got back into the workshop with a goal in mind. Complete my costume.

Much of it was simply whatever you could pull off the rack from a thrift store really. Jeans, a decent button down, a brown long coat that reached down to your ankles, whatever. And a holster for an airsoft gun for my taser. I didn't really have a perk that helped with armour, sue me. Or the Forge. Whichever was to blame.

However, I had gotten quite a number of perks in the meantime. Firstly, Magic Style: Enchantment. It was ridiculously easy for me to weave in a decent durability boost so I didn't just die the moment I got shot in the chest. Or stab in the gut. Or one of the hundred other ways to die in this damn city. I considered weaving in the kinetic redirect enchantment as well but I wasn't sure how it might interact with so many enchantments touching each other.

Preferably I would like to apply the enchantment over my entire body but I wasn't quite sure how to do that. At best, kinetic impacts would simply ripple out into my coat and expelled out. At worst, they would collect between layers and into specific points and I would vibrate apart. So until then, only the outermost layer would have the enchantment.

That was the clothes done. Along with a pair of proper hiking boots but I guess running shoes would have to do for now. The next part was the top hat which I was going to have to make.

There was a knock at the door as I was looking through the blueprint in my head and figuring out what I needed to make it. Calling for them to enter, the door slid open. Looking over, Claire stepped in with a slight smile on her face. "What's up?" I asked as she walked over with a slip of paper in her hands.

"Here. Take a look." Claire handed it to me. Raising an eyebrow, I took it in my hands and skimmed over it. It mostly looked like a bunch of ideas about how to market my debut as a new Toybox tinker, most likely using Toybox's NLP AI to do so.

"For my debut?" I pressed my lips together.

"Yup." Claire replied happily. "What do you think?"

Some focused on what they knew were within my capabilities, mainly the signal jamming, others were more vague and focused on my appearance. The former was a bit too… restricting. I mean, only creating signal-based 'tinkertech' sounded like a pain in the ass. However the latter had its own issues. Mainly that people generally liked having an understanding of what they were getting into.

The Iron Fist team didn't really specify and they were lucky enough to hit me. However, people attracted to Toybox wouldn't send contracts to a dude who they didn't know the capabilities of. So if I wanted to get some lucrative contracts, I was going to have to show a little bit of my hand.

I considered for a moment to sell some equipment based on powers that I could reasonably acquire. Split my stock into tinkertech but relatively normal, think of the usual things like my arm shields, the odd gadget like maybe a radio interceptor to hijack PRT signals, or whatever. Things that would be beneficial for teams to have.

And then 'Powered' tinkertech. So instead of regular smoke grenades, imagine smoke grenades based on Grue's smoke. Consumables only. And I would just churn out a stock of like 500 or so, set a stupidly high price and work off that for the month. Then next month do the same… so on and so forth.

Of course that would require people knowing that I was indeed a power tinker but… let's not worry about that for now.

"Let's go with this one." I pointed to a vague-ish plan. It didn't quite explain my powers but painted a fairly broad picture. Nothing concrete but would drum up quite the mystique and suspense.

Claire nodded. "Sure! Will you be ready by next week?"

I tilted my head from side to side. "Depends. What do I need to prepare?"

"Not much. Maybe a list of products… Your costume preferably. And maybe some physical version of your products to put on our catalogue." Claire explained. "You don't have to worry about making too many products at once if you're worried about that. Most of our work is made to order anyway."

I nodded. Although Toybox didn't really have a rule that members couldn't infringe on each other's niches, it was mostly frowned upon. At least if you do so without alerting the other party first. Signals and transmission was obviously a niche that wasn't being fulfilled right now, as were things like escape tools, and electronic warfare.

So my three products would be my in-ear communicator I had made earlier, something to escape… like a visual obfuscator or glittery smoke bombs, and something that could disable cameras or alarm systems from a distance. Some of which I could also use actually. Plus maybe the kinetic redirector as my first 'Powered' product.

Was giving people the 'kinetic redirector' supremely dumb? Perhaps. Was it actively detrimental to me? Not really.

I had Qu-it It to guard against any attempts to use it against me. A snap of my fingers and suddenly anything they were relying on was rendered useless. So I wasn't too worried. It would be more worrying if tinkers used their own brains (and Shards) to create their own version of said kinetic redirector without somehow using my product as a base. But I highly doubt it.

Claire turned to leave but she snapped her fingers just before she reached the door. "Oh, right! I've been meaning to ask you." She spun around on her heel. "Do you wanna participate in the Toybox game night?"

"The… Toybox game night?" I echoed in confusion.

"Well officially it's the 'Toybox Weekly Team Enrichment and Bonding Exercise'." Claire placed the name in heavy air quotes. "But basically we play games for a night and have fun. It's this Friday if you wanna join."

A slightly confused look settled over my face. "I mean… sure? I don't see why not?" I replied.

She clapped her hands together. "Great! I'll see you then." She walked out of my workshop without another word.

Swallowing, I turned my attention back to my top hat, though I also briefly ran through all the people that I have met or wanted to meet. There was Taylor, Aisha and Lisa from the Undersiders, or at least would be in the Undersiders, Crystal from New Wave, and now Claire, Grace and Marie from Toybox.

Which was a concerning number of girls to handle all at once. I could strike Taylor off since she was taking a nap in Brockton Bay General Hospital. Aisha was only during my gym sessions. Lisa would find me if she needed me. Crystal was the only one from Brockton that I wanted to actively meet for now. As for the others…. I think I would probably just go with the flow. Yea. Much easier on my brain.

Sending my list of requested material to Toybox servers, I would have to wait for about a day for it to be delivered. In the meantime, I guess I could just chill in Toybox's lounge. Deepening bonds and all that jazz.

Stepping out of my workshop, I was surprised to see only Grace again, working on another cake. Walking over, I took a seat by the counter while watching her work. Spinning the cake around, Grace placed a series of perfectly sized teardrops along the side while only paying a token amount of attention to my presence.

After finishing the first layer, she pulled back slightly and smiled at me. "Good morning, Nathan!" She gave me a brief wave before pausing. "Or I guess it's night right now in Brockton right?" She tilted her head slightly.

"Eh. Anything works. It's not like Toybox has a day-night cycle." I replied. "Nice to see you again, Grace." I said without really paying attention to my words, mostly using Carnal Artist but reeled super far back. The part of the effect of Carnal Artist made me a better flirt but keep it on a tight leash and I could reasonably use it as a charisma boosting power. Except that I have to keep an eye on it so I didn't accidentally drop a suggestive comment when I didn't mean to.

"You're working on another cake?" I asked as I looked at the dessert. Nodding, Grace switched her red icing to an orange one. "Are you like a patissier or something?" I asked as she continued to place perfectly sized and evenly spaced teardrops.

"Something like that." Grace replied as she finished. Smiling, she glanced over to me. "I was actually a patissier before I triggered. Worked at a cake shop in New York before Behemoth attacked." Her smile turned a little brittle.

Behemoth attack? But that was in…. 1994. "Does that mean you're-" I was abruptly and rudely cut off as Grace took a swing with her icing covered fingers. Dodging back, it narrowly brushed against my cheek as I leaned out of the way of her attack on my appearance. Grace hefted the bag of icing in her hands as she moved to yellow now.

"Nathan." Her voice was icily calm. "Don't you know that it's rude to ask a lady her age?"

But I… I took a breath before reeling myself in. "Ah… you look really pretty…?" I awkwardly deflected.

The Celestial Forge awakened. And I got a staff. Just a staff. One that improves spells when I used it. It could change form to some other spellcasting equipment and improve its appearance as I did so. It could even teleport straight into my hand, bypassing the need to walk around with a large stick all of the time. However it didn't even have the decency to improve its strength as well.

What a waste. At least it broke the streak of failed attachments…

"Mmm. Thank you." Grace replied as I suppressed my disappointment. Turning back to her, I wondered how old she was. At first, I thought she was around her mid-twenties given that she looked that old. Her skin was smooth and didn't have a lot of wrinkles, plus her body was fit and toned. Assuming she went straight after highschool, that was still around 4 years at minimum to become a trained patissier. So she was around her late thirties, early forties right now?

"So um… your specialty is in cryogenics right?" I awkwardly changed the subject.

Grace nodded. "That's right." As Glace, she provided cryogenic freezing technology literally centuries ahead of anything else on the planet. Most of the time, the people who bought her pods were hospitals, who could freeze patients until the correct surgeon/donor organ arrived or while a certain medical procedure had to be done while the patient was kept in suspended animation, or the dying super rich who wanted immortality and were willing to wait for it.

And of course just selling the pods wasn't enough. As with all tinkertech, there was a need for aftercare services which formed a massive bulk of most Toybox's passive income. And Grace's cryopods made up the largest portion of that income, with a lot of the rich and famous families paying top dollar to ensure that their cryopods were walking as if they were brand new.

I wonder if I could take a look at her tech and produce a freeze ray… I shook my head to dislodge that thought. Nevermind, there were better ways to deal with water.

"So… what made you join Toybox?" I asked. If I remembered correctly… she joined prior to Cranial… around 1998?

Grace took a moment to think about it. "Bureaucracy mostly. I joined the New York Protectorate after Behemoth rampaged through and it was a living nightmare." She shook her head. "Every piece of tinkertech had to go through seven different rounds of testing, documentation… Although Legend could help push through most of the hoops, any sort of technology needed to be vetted until it was 'safe'." Her lips curled into a distasteful frown.

"By the time my first cryopod was rolled out, it was six months late and I had a new design out that needed to go through the same song and dance again. However, when it came to roll out my designs for PRT internal use… suddenly it was streamlined, only taking a month before it was approved in several PRT Headquarters around the country." Grace bitterly replied.

Yikes. That was… Hm. Yea, I could see why she left.

"I don't suppose if I go trawling through the internet I might find your previous identity?" I cocked my head as I watched her continue adding rainbow scales. It was strangely hypnotizing.

Grace shook her head. "It was Chiono but you won't find it anywhere on the PRT's or Protectorate websites though. I think… the only mention of me is on PHO now? When I received a medal from the President after using my technology to save those affected by the lingering radiation in New York."

Furrowing my eyebrows, I asked, "Why are you only mentioned there?"

Grace giggled slightly. "Well, I officially resigned in November 1997. Then Glace appeared in January of next year and… it didn't take a genius to figure out what happened. My PRT identity was quietly struck from all official media and taken off websites."

"How…" I tried to think of the appropriate word to use. "Petty."

"Right??" Grace whirled to look at me. "I know it's not exactly 'good' to go straight into a quote-unquote 'villain' group immediately after leaving the Protectorate, but you know how many things I made for them in the four years I was there?" She slammed her hands on the countertop as she stared at me. "So many! I had cryopods obviously, but I developed chemicals to induce a hibernant state to preserve the body, handheld portable miniature body preservation devices, devices to temporarily shut down specific parts of the body…" She started listing several pieces of tinkertech off and I was surprised that the Protectorate somehow fumbled this badly on such a valuable tinker.

"I single handedly brought the fatality rate across the city down by 43% by the time I left. At the very least, recognize that I helped instead of wiping me off the record!" She must have been bottling that up for a while if she was ranting that much about it. I also made a careful note to not ask how much that fatality rate was originally or how much it rebounded after she had left as all her tinkertech started shorting out.

"So… you left to join Toybox because of bureaucracy stopping your tinkertech from reaching the people who need it?" I summarized as Grace panted slightly after finishing her rant. Running her clean fingers through her hair, she nodded. "But isn't it harder now for your tinkertech to enter hospitals and the like?" I cocked my head.

"It depends." Grace shrugged her shoulders. "European and Oceania hospitals generally have looser restrictions so they can afford having cryopods, Canadian hospitals often send a proper request through the Guild which has less red tape to sift through. And American hospitals just use them under the table with the PRT of their cities closing an eye in the meantime."

"Wow. The PRT closing an eye to the use of tinkertech?" My eyes widened in surprise. "Wouldn't think I would live to see the day."

Grace cracked a small smile. "Mhm. The hospitals, when they receive my cryopods, immediately put them into constant use, cycling patients in and out while they handle transplants or other procedures. The PRT can't revoke them since they are in constant use, the hospitals profit from them, and the public will crucify the director if they try to forcefully seize them." She had the most satisfied smile on her face as she explained it.

"Although, they did try to do it once though. I believe it was the… Jacksonville PRT? A PRT squad broke into the Florida Memorial Hospital in order to seize the cryopods there…" A smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she reminisced. "Unfortunately, they triggered the alarm and the cryopods shunted the freezing agent out into the room they were in. If I remembered correctly, 3 agents were incapacitated, 4 had frostbite, and all of them had cold burns."

"What happened then?"

Grace shrugged. "Nothing much. Since they were in the hospital already, they were brought to the ER while the PRT director immediately started running damage control, making it sound like it was a rogue operation done 'for the safety of the public in mind'." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "No one believed it of course, and the team was fired and the leader transferred out."

I paused for a moment as I digested that. "Wait, you said the hospitals earn a profit right? Aren't hospitals notorious for charging stupidly high prices on everything that isn't under insurance? How do you make sure people who need it can afford it?"

Grace smiled, or I guess 'bared her teeth' would be more accurate. "If they don't, I'll simply make sure they understand that the patients should be their priority." There was no emotion behind it, an absolute chill that made a shiver run down my spine. Blinking, I nodded and decided to move the conversation along.

Eventually, the conversation veered away from Grace's tinkertech, but I made a mental note to never get on her bad side. But cryogenics definitely sounded interesting. If anything, it sounded like her specialty wasn't quite cryogenics, but on 'preservation'. Technology that could maintain the current state of the object it was acting on. But the moment had passed and it was far too awkward to bring it up now.

A/N: Egyptian Magic could be a whole fic on its own, so naturally what Nathan thinks could be possible may not be actually be so.

Spoiler: New Perks Trusty Staff (Lewd Magic Isekai) (100 CP) What self-respecting wizard goes anywhere without his staff in hand?… no, his other staff. The one that shoots fireballs. This is a pretty standard wooden staff, carved from oak or some other type of wood that channels magic easily, and it gives a small but noticeable boost to any spells cast through it. It may look rather plain at first glance but as you level up its appearance will evolve with you, though it doesn't grow in strength unless you put some extra work into reinforcing its enchantments. If you'd rather have a wand or an athame or a spellbook or something you can turn this item into one of those instead, but regardless of what you pick it can always be summoned to your hand if you're ever parted from it.

Spoiler: New Perks

Remaining Points: 400



Chapter 17


After my conversation with Grace, she excused herself to handle some of her Toybox work, leaving me to my lonesome.

Unfortunately.

Luckily, I really had no lack of things to do. Mainly, I was starting work on all the programming stuff that was required in all my projects. Mainly the Hat which required an entirely custom made program to handle movement, activation and deactivation, blah blah blah, and also the actual program to control said hat as it moved around. Plus there was the code and kernel for my phone sensor to enable Machine Madness.

I started working on the hat first since that was going to be done tomorrow at the latest and I kinda want to run around in a superhero costume for the first time in… four days. And the first day really didn't count since that attack was more… fostered upon me rather than running around.

As shit as Worm was… it was still a superhero world and I wanna have my superhero debut dammit!

Hammer Jammer's specialty with gadgets wasn't really helping a lot with coding the program. It did smooth over a lot of the rougher patches of code, but I still had to mostly rely on my previous understanding on programming to actually get the bulk of it completed. At the very least, Worm did have the usual languages I was familiar with so I didn't have to learn an entirely new programming language.

With Slacking Off, I did slowly finish up with the program for the phone sensor. It wasn't done but it shouldn't take more than an hour to complete. As for the hat program… there wasn't anything to really test it on. Without the actual physical mechanisms, the most I could do was look through the code I had written and ensure nothing would crash the program.

Letting out a sigh, I put it out of my head. I would need to test it anyway tomorrow when I uploaded it to the Hat. If that was the case, there was no point in bashing my head into the wall.

Heading back to my secret base, I walked past Amaya who was sleeping at her desk in her room. Notes and sketches filled the available space on the desk's top, making it hard to move without disturbing something as I moved by. The blueprints I provided for her sat in front, displayed prominently over everything.

At just a glance, I could feel a slight headache coming on as Savant's Understanding tried to parse the densely-packed information displayed before me. It wasn't impossible but this was definitely a half-day dedicated task rather than a brief skim.

Hooking my arms underneath the sleeping scientist, I carried her over to the rather sparse bed and set her down on it. Throwing the blanket over her, I decided against packing up her notes and left for my own bed. No point pissing her off by sorting her notes wrong or something I'm sure.

The next morning, I woke up before Amaya and finally had the time to prepare a decent breakfast. This time opting for some french toast and black pepper ham. Honestly, Inspirational Pull was doing pretty well in the kitchen, allowing me to pick up ingredients that I wouldn't think to go together.

Of course actually cooking it was another thing entirely. It just provided what ingredients should go together and the cooking method… but not the actual cooking skill. But Savant made up for that along with some precision Googling. Though I did have to throw some portions out in the process.

Ah well. Can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, Jack.

The Celestial Forge spun up, once again latching onto the Lewd Magic Constellation. This Perk was called Master of Rituals and it… felt like it was doing quite a number of things all at once.

The first was a simple improvement to the rituals I was performing. Simple rituals became basically trivial while the larger and more complex rituals became more likely to succeed. The second was a resource conserver, allowing me to get away with using less ritual offerings when summoning supernatural beings and/or replacing it with other offerings. Like blood or virginity. Though I will still need a life sacrifice when summoning greater demons.

The last and final boost was a time saving boost not unlike Slacking Off. Instead of allowing me to cram more into the same amount of time, it just straight up shortened the time it took for rituals to complete. Rituals that usually would take days would be shortened to hours and hours to minutes.

An entirely comprehensive boost that was comparable in energy to awaken to other Stars like Reclaimer and Loremaster. Which felt… off. Like the power of these things was way off.

Also unfortunately, I didn't exactly have any summoning rituals or rituals in general to use this on. I technically had Notes of Thoth but I hadn't gotten around to look at them so…. Womp womp.

Though… I do remember that one magician from the Index series. She used her own act of casting spells to empower the spell she was casting, basically stacking the power with the power of every single one of her previous attempts. Could I do something similar? Do a simple task as a 'ritual' of sorts until Master of Ritual activated and allowed me to do it in a blink?

Probably not but it was an interesting thought.

Amaya crawled out of bed, still a bit tired as she fought back a yawn. Sitting down at the table, I set her plate down as her head bounced on the table. Letting out a long groan, she tucked her hair back as she looked at my chest. "Machine Madness is dumb."

"Care to elaborate?" I replied as I started working on my meal.

"The contraption that you had… devised is working at an extremely high complexity but also it entirely because it is uncreative in its application." Amaya started. "It works because it is only using the information you had given me before, altering physical properties to alter the transmission of force. Think of it as trying to create an elevator but only using slopes. You could make it work but the resulting creation is awfully complex, with several design solutions and jury-rigs entirely made to make the slope do a thing that it wasn't meant to do."

"In order to slim it down into something that could actually be moved around, I need some more time to figure out what can and should be removed and what I can add. The best I can reasonably come up with is using the projection to alter and create moments within the material, making them veer off course. However, that's not exactly sending attacks back at the opponent is it? Personally, it would honestly be better if you just had something that could act on energy or vectors themselves to replicate Accelerator's vector shield." Amaya sighed as she started working on her breakfast.

"Throwing in the towel?" I remarked as I raised an eyebrow.

Cursing under her breath, Amaya leveled a fork at me. "Who do you think you're talking to, Master? If such a small thing could stump me, I wouldn't be called a genius, would I? I'll definitely get it working by the end of the week."

After a bit of conversation, the two of us went our separate ways. Amaya continued work on the kinetic shield and I headed into the workshop to start on my final piece of my costume. The components for the hat had arrived. Several motors to drive the crawling legs, the computer circuitry, transmitters and receivers, cameras, etc. Hauling it to the workshop, I started pulling them out and working on making the final piece to my costume.

The hat was my infiltrator/databank. It would sneak into enemy hideouts, be able to take pictures, survey the scene, and perhaps connect to computers or servers to grab information. After all, I couldn't all be 'guns blazing, Russian stealth'. As such, it did need to be somewhat stealthy.

Hammer Jammer did have some ideas for a sort of 'attention obfuscator'. Something that makes a person's attention simply glaze over when staring at an object. However, the power draw would be pretty substantial without a proper power source. With a usual high capacity lithium battery, we were talking for about half an hour or so of movement.

So instead, I just went for the tried and true method of simply staying out of people's sight. Black and dark grays to blend into the shadows, along with some fabric along the outside to make sure that it didn't make any noise when bumping into things and to muffle the sound of the internals. The six prong sharp legs should be able to grip onto most surfaces and, if the need arose, be stabbed straight into the skull.

Though I hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

The main body was made of metal to give it a form of rigidity and some resistance to getting knocked around. However, since this was going onto my head, it also couldn't be too heavy or my neck would be protesting before long. Plus, it should prevent the jostling of the more delicate components inside.

For the cooling system, I opted for a liquid-cooled version coupled with Hammer Jammer to decrease noise. I didn't need a sound-based homing beacon on my hat as it ran around trying to surveil the scene. Coupled with a cooling tower and it should keep things from burning up, assuming I didn't overuse it.

The camera was of course stylishly placed at the center of the top hat. And by stylishly I mean carefully incorporated so it blended with the mishmash of crudeness that was the Hammer Jammer stylistic choices. It, at the very least, didn't obscure anything so I guess that was a good point.

After making sure that yes I could receive camera feeds, I plugged into the inboard CPU and started installing all the software that should make it work. The ability to move around, activate and deactivate, blah blah blah, all things that any good robot should have. It also used the same encryption as Toybox's phones so it should be pretty difficult to intercept.

Qu-it It was also applied to the entire construction so pretty much any part you look at could be disabled with just a thought. And you couldn't even salvage it without my failsafes infiltrating your work. Honestly out of all the things I had, this hat and the kinetic redirectors probably were the most important thing to blackbox here.

All in all, the entire construction from start to finish took around 3 and a half hours. Plus using Slacking Off, I managed to get some extra time to finish up the programs for the phone sensor. Brilliant. I love it when everything comes together just right.

Uploading the software into it, I booted it up and waited for a moment as the hat came to life. The six legs extended out before clinking on the metal table top. Waiting for a moment, I was half-expecting it to suddenly tear itself apart as a fatal error suddenly cropped up. However… My worries were unfounded.

"Great. Let's start the testing…" I started commanding it around using my phone. The little hatbot scurried off the table and started running around all over the place like a drugged-up rat. Little tinks echoed through the workshop as it ran around across the floors and up the walls. It was light enough that its legs could provide a good grip on the walls but climbing on the ceiling proved a little too much for the little guy.

Its jump height was also a bit low… It was honestly easier for it to climb up the side rather than jump anywhere. It could barely clear half a foot off the ground with all of its legs. The camera stabilizer also worked just fine and its legs were stable enough to allow it to lean and look around without toppling over.

Running through a full check, I couldn't really see anything that was horribly horribly wrong with my code… Which probably meant that there was something horribly horribly wrong that I didn't see. Checking through it, I did find a few small errors throughout the program. Nothing too big but would definitely cause problems if left unaddressed.

Squinting, I tried to look for more errors but couldn't find much of anything else.

"Great, it's done then." I clapped my hands together as I deactivated it.

Hat? Check.

Clothes? Check.

Visor? Check.

Taser and laser gloves? Check.

Shield? Check.

Everything I wanted for my first real outing was done. Holy shit. It was over.

A sense of pride and accomplishment built in my chest as I looked over the table carrying all my stuff. And I couldn't go out right now because I had to come in at the DWU in the afternoon. My lips pressed into a thin line as I contemplated the fact that I had to spend another four goddamn hours doing nothing! Curse you past me for getting a job!

Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

There was always something to do with the Forge… Perhaps… I could play around with Cult of the Gun a bit more? I mean research. Research. Definitely not playing around with a magic that turns everything into a bang bang gun. Nope.

I tried using Cult of the Gun on smaller objects for the most part, but there really wasn't much in terms of a size limit when it came to Cult of the Gun. At least, I didn't think so anyway. I could do my job and then 'slack' with power testing for the rest of the day I suppose. I had a few hours left until lunchtime. I guess I could head off and do something.

Leaning back against my chair, I thought about what I wanted to do. Lisa was an option. Though I would rather not meet up with her, as she had shown, she could find me anyway using her power. I basically had to throw her a bone occasionally or she would meet me on her terms. The second option was heading to Brockton Bay University and starting to chat with Crystal. My face heated up a bit as I remembered how my previous interaction ended…

But the phone sensor was coming along nicely, needing to fix a few more problems that I was going to put off due to the alarming rate of my funds dropping. I mean I could still do it… just that it would empty out all my cash in doing so.

Until then, I could start working to get a sensor close to Eric and the other members of New Wave.

The last option was working on my Toybox products. I mean… they aren't particularly complex. And like two of them were pretty much done… The vision obfuscator was… hm. Hammer Jammer brought up a decent design, using the principle that light was somehow both a photon and wave to create 'interference fields' that blur light in a given area.

It was on the more expensive side… but that just meant I could sell it for a higher price. And Toybox wasn't exactly the 'bargain bin, dollar store for all your tinkertech needs'. Plus, since it's a product I was planning on selling, it was reimbursed! Hallelujah!

As for the alarm system disabler… that one was a bit more complex. Hammer Jammer… did provide some plans but those were usually specific to the type of system you were disabling. The camera disabler won't affect the tripwires, the tripwire disabler won't affect the pressure sensors, so on and so forth. There were ways to shut down portions of the system all at once but that would often trip the alarm anyway since… y'know the security guard would notice half the security system suddenly failing.

The Celestial Forge awakened again and I hoped it was something actually useful. It was also excluding the Lewd Constellations which was a plus. The tendril attached to a rather low Star on the Small Scale Magical Supplies Constellation, like Fairy Dust.

This one was Noh Masks. A set of masks (duh) depicting a good selection of people of different ages, and backgrounds. Put them on and suddenly people would believe that I was the person being depicted on the mask. It wouldn't even matter that I wore it right in front of everyone. Though it said that 'people with paranormal capabilities may see through it', so I don't think it would work on Thinkers.

The last bit also seemed to make me believe that I could alter the mask as well. I would imagine if I could do so, I may be able to take the place of specific people. Like taking over Thomas Calvert, or Alexandria… Hm.

Of course there were small problems I could think of. Firstly, do the masks work through things like cameras? I would think so but I wouldn't want to try my luck infiltrating the PRT HQ or something. Secondly, does the mask make people… skim over certain behavioral quirks? If I wore an old man mask and started doing backflips and breaking steel, would it force people to still believe that I was a frail old man anyway? Or will their perception change to take it into account?

It was useful for infiltration for sure but definitely not something to be relied on…

Putting the masks out of my mind, I made a note to do some testing with Amaya later on in the day. Back to my alarm deactivator, combining all of them was possible as well but made it far too unwieldy and complex to use. I needed a more general disabler for all different types of security systems without somehow tripping the alarms or easily detected. With that, Hammer Jammer did provide something but also not precisely what I wanted.

Working on similar principles to my signal jammer and taser, I was provided a 'signal looper' of sorts. Once attached to a security system's network, it effectively played the same information over and over again. Cameras would play back the same minute or so, pressure pads would feed the same readings, so on and so forth. Of course activating it at the incorrect time would cause a mess of problems, like seeing the same person round the corner over and over, but it would work.

I drew up a simple design. It was a pack of sorts, strapped to your waist and hooked up to the system. Once in, it would 'scan' incoming information and copy it before looping it. Obviously, I needed to add something to allow someone to alter what was looping… I sighed as I realised I would need to program something again….

Ah well…

Hopping up, I shot a glance at the time. It was about 11… I wonder if Amaya was done with her research…

As I was about to leave, a knock came from my workshop door. "Come in!" I called out.

Grace poked her head through the door, her platinum hair trailing down behind her. "Do you want some cake?"

I needed a moment to register her words. "Ah. Um… Sure?"

Narrowing her eyes slightly at me, she tilted her head a little more, making it parallel to the ground. "Is that a question?"

"Nono. Yea, sure. I'll have some cake." I forced a smile onto my face and nodded. There goes my normal lunch…

Grace broke into a smile. "Great! Come out and I'll cut you a slice." She quickly ducked back behind the door. Frowning, I walked out and saw that Claire, Jamie, and Maverick were already happily eating away. Glancing to the side, I saw that a slice was already cut out and laying by the side.

Skipping over, Grace grabbed it and handed it to me. "Here, this's yours."

Jamie waved me over as I found a place to sit down. Leaning over, he pointed his fork at me. "If it isn't Nathan! You've been pretty busy, huh?"

A confused smile appeared on my face as I sat down. "Umm… I guess so?"

"You don't sound very sure of yourself." Jamie laughed. "But I guess it's what happens when you suddenly get a windfall of fifty grand, huh?"

I blinked before I realised what he was talking about. "Yea. Yeah. I guess so?"

Jamie nodded. "Yup. I remember when I first joined Toybox. Getting my own workshop… I think I had to be dragged out by Logistician." I remember seeing that name when I was browsing around in Toybox's archives. Seeing my confused face, Jamie clarified. "As right, Logistician was one of our founding members. Had a specialty in mass rapid transportation."

"Anyway, just be sure to pace yourself." He patted me on the shoulder. "Tinkering is fun and all but if you rush too much, you still can burn yourself out. And trust me, you don't want to tinker while burnt out." He suppressed a shudder.

Maverick piped up in between mouthfuls of cake. "What are you working on anyway? You've pretty much been ordering stuff since you've arrived."

"Ah…" I thought about how to answer for a moment. "The usual stuff for a tinker. Costume, equipment, and the like. Plus some stuff to sell in Toybox. Nothing too special." I shrugged.

Maverick sat up, wide-eyed as he stared at me. "Can I see?"

Humming, I thought about it for a moment. I guess it wouldn't be too much of a problem if I showed it off. "Sure. Give me a moment." Heading back to the workshop, I started pulling on each piece of my costume. It didn't matter if they were a little big, or flabby since Painted On could alter them to fit perfectly.

It could even alter specific parts of a piece of clothing, so I could alter the sleeve on my trench coat in such a way that the shield wouldn't chaff or wrinkle it. Slipping on the laser gloves, I pulled on the visor and hat and tried moving around in my full suit. The hat was a little heavy, and definitely weighed quite a bit but I was quickly getting used to keeping it balanced.

Hopping and jumping didn't feel terrible and I could reasonably run without feeling like my neck was about to tear wide open. Unfortunately there wasn't a mirror so I made do with a pane of clear plastic from my CNC machine to check my reflection.

Honestly… it looked pretty half-cobbled together. The obvious unifying idea was Hammer Jammer's crude design. Coupled with the clean and rather plain-looking clothes that made up the rest of my costume, it certainly looked like a mad inventor-esque. However it felt a little lacking in a way that I couldn't quite place my finger on.

Perhaps the others could shine a light on it.

Heading back out, I could see several eyes widen as I walked down the hallway. It kinda felt like I was walking down the runway of some sort of weird tinker fashion show. Tugging and straightening out the coat, I glanced between them. "So? Here it is."

Jamie nodded his head. "Not-"

Maverick leapt up, "That's so cool!" Almost dropping the cake that he fumbled and set on the table. He shot a sheepish smile at Grace before looking over at my costume. "This is so much better than my first costume."

Jamie, Claire and Grace all had wry smiles on their faces. "Isn't most first costumes just whatever clothes you have plus whatever tinkertech you could cobble together?" I asked as Maverick circled around me, particularly focusing on my gauntlets.

"Pretty much. But most of the time it's usually one or two pieces. For Toybox debuts… it's usually a full costume but often after a week or so of tinkering." Jamie confirmed. "But yours doesn't look too terrible for a first design. Certainly has that steampunk charm." He cracked a half-smile as he tapped the corner of his eye.

"Right right." I shrugged. "What about you two?" I looked over at Grace and Claire.

Claire nodded. "It… definitely would work as a first design. But the gloves look strikingly different compared to the rest of your look. Why is that?"

I shot a look at the gloves which were sleek and almost like knight's gauntlets in that sense. Compared to the brown and bronze of my other equipment, it was strikingly bright and clean which struck a contrast between it and the rest of my stuff. Right, Amaya was the one who designed and made this, obviously she wouldn't have the same design quirks as Hammer Jammer.

"Uh…" I tried to think of a good lie. "I haven't gotten around to making it match with the rest of this…" I gestured up and down my body. "I was thinking of a bronze coating over it? And perhaps a little extra pizazz across the length to make it match." I shrugged. "Not sure where to start really."

The four of them continued their critique of my costume for the most part, suggestions for certain improvements or equipment that might help. Bouncing a few ideas between us, I did get the idea to incorporate a form of hidden weapon somewhere in my costume. With the varied specialties, there were quite a number of suggestions that might be helpful somewhere down the line. Like Cranial's neurolink or Glace's emergency preservation system.

Eventually, it petered out and I could leave to change back to more normal clothes. Chatting for a while longer, we finished our cake and moved onto lunch. Which was some Mexican food that Jamie's portal was parked nearby. It was mostly small talk about fairly inane topics but it was quite enjoyable.

"Ah, I think it's time for me to head out now." I stood up as everyone bid their goodbyes. Bowing slightly, I responded in kind as I walked back to my workshop. Stepping through the portal back to my base, I spotted Amaya taking a nap on the sofa, her hair spilling across the cushions while more papers filled with notes were splayed over the table in front of her.

Sighing, I shook my head and tossed a blanket over and placed a paperweight over her notes. At the very least make sure your stuff doesn't get messed up when you rest. Grabbing my bag, I started heading to the Docks for my shift to start.

A/N: Debut SoonTM

Spoiler: New Perks Master of Rituals (Bible Black) (200 CP)
Spoiler: New Perks

In this world, Rituals are the path to great power or works. Spending hours chanting and preparing a sacrifice for the ritual, culminating in a result that will either greatly empower the occultists involved or screw them royally (if the summoned demon isn't cooperative). With this, all of your basic rituals will succeed with little effort. Grand Rituals will have an even greater chance of success than normal. On top of this, any ritualistic offerings will always appease the spirit, demon, or devil you are invoking. You are even able to get away with a lesser offering for most of your rituals, with a necessary life offering being replaced with an offering of blood or virginity if the need arises. Summoning the Devil or a Greater spirit will always require a life offering/sacrifice though. All rituals will take less time than they would have before, with day-long rituals being satisfied in hours or hour-long rituals in minutes.

Noh Mask (Golden Sky Stories) (200CP)

A set of masks depicting people of different ages, Kabuki actors commonly switch between these masks to depict themselves as different characters during a play. In such a fashion, a single actor may become multiple people, though this is really more of a testament to the actor's skill. When worn these masks will make others believe you are the individual depicted in the mask. This swap occurs seamlessly even if you put the mask on in front of people, but be wary that individuals with paranormal abilities may be able to see through it.

You may customize these masks accordingly, but be wary that the masks can be rather sensitive, so it is best that you leave it to an artist to make a proper modification - or it could lead to some rather peculiar situations if your artistic capacity happens to be… sub-par.

Remaining Points: 200



Chapter 18


Work was boring.

So I spent my time working on increasing my knowledge of my perks!

An unfortunate side effect of running around tinkering, chatting with people, and just generally living life, was that I didn't quite have a lot of time dealing with the Stars the Forge bestowed upon me. Such as Cult of the Gun and Pixie Dust which was what I was planning to use while working.

Walking around the warehouse, I did use Cult of the Gun on a variety of objects. Mostly on things that were out of sight of the cameras and weren't easy to spot.

My main base of operations was in the backroom, where most of the 'warehouse' stuff was stored. The cameras here were busted but the Union didn't particularly care since A. the backroom didn't contain anything important and B. there was a camera covering the area around the entrance anyway. So in essence, what was the point? Inside were palettes, ladders, and the like that would be regularly used and needed a place to chuck them in the meantime. Plus a small armchair for the would-be slacker to relax in. Placing my hand on the wood, I let gun magic seep into the wood.

The palette folded, bending without breaking the wood until it became a tube-like object with a handle near the front. Looking at it, I was reminded of a rocket launcher based on its vague design. Hell, the aiming reticle on its side and it looked like I needed to carry it on my shoulder to fire it.

The Celestial Forge awakened once again. This time missing a swing at the Magical Database Constellation once again. Bleh.

But other than that, the first thing I noticed was that the transformation was based on the rate at which gun magic entered the body it was affecting. I didn't really notice since I was mostly working on small things around my room but with larger objects, it was really noticeable.

The second thing was that I was losing mana fast. The transformation rate was exactly the same looking at my memories. And for that to be true, the rate of gun magic entering the object was faster, which drew most of my mana. It took up… maybe 20% of my mana to convert the palette over the course of 3 seconds.

Which… was a problem.

Namely because I also had Egyptian magic in me, mixing with all the other magics I had acquired. And Egyptian magic had a small, rather unfortunate caveat.

If you ran out of mana while casting magic, it would happily burn your lifeforce to fuel the spell.

Now, I wasn't too sure if that applied to all my magics now, or if this effect was exclusive to Egyptian magic. However, I wasn't exactly keen to check.

Withdrawing the magic also didn't restore my magic, just making it disperse into the atmosphere without much effort. Unfortunate but I wasn't really expecting it to be possible anyway. Taking a short walk around, I tested gun magic on a few other items, ensuring that I topped up on mana in-between tests.

The second item was a wooden chair, which folded in on itself to form a four-barreled gun of some sort? I definitely wasn't willing to pull the trigger on this one. Mainly because multiple barrels either meant 'shotgun' or 'gatling gun' and neither was exactly a silent weapon. As the legs formed into barrels, the seat and backrest turned into a handle to be carried from the top and back… and yep it was a minigun.

What the fuck.

Moving onto a ladder, it became a railgun. I doubted it was an actual railgun but there were two 'rails' and the steps flattened out to a platform of some sort. And the last was a sofa… and the less said about that the better. I doubt anything could survive being shot at by that thing if it was what I thought it was.

Anyway from my testing, 'Conversion to Gun' was the main point of this power. From the palette, chair, ladders, and the sofa, all of them took forms that would allow me to carry it like a 'gun'.

The hypothesis I had in my mind was that the mana drain was contingent on two things. First obviously is the size of the object. But the second was how different the object was from a 'gun-shape'. The reason for this was due to the fact that the ladder took the least amount of mana, about 20% like the palette. However, it was also cheaper than something like the chair which was smaller and cost me about 40% of my mana.

But it could also be completely arbitrary. I already knew that gun magic was semi-sentient with a form of will that could decide how to convert things into 'guns'. What was to say that it was simply fucking with me?

The second hypothesis was that generally the larger the object being converted, the more dangerous and destructive the resulting weapon. Comparing the 'sock-pistol' and 'pen-pistol' of my previous testing to the 'rocket launcher', 'minigun', and 'railgun' of today's testing… I was inclined to believe it.

A frown appeared on my face and I contemplated a thought that popped into my head. Assuming I could grow my mana pool to accommodate it, wouldn't it be possible to convert things like buildings and ships into guns? And if that was the case, couldn't I get Toy Soldier to use those weapons with his 'Kaijubuster' suit?

I couldn't see why that wouldn't be possible. But that would be absolutely terrifying, no? Like imagine a mech suit grabbing a building, tearing it off the ground and firing entire rooms at the enemy. You'd be taking psychological damage from just the sheer awesomeness of it, no??

But I don't think it would be in the cards for now. A building was massive and the mana cost to convert even a small one would be ludicrously high. But it was something to dream about for now.

Maybe I should just grab a new suit and start converting everything into gun as I rampaged through a gang's territory… I quirked a lip as I thought about it. Oh man, the PRT would not be happy about a second, more villainous Miss Militia running around, would they? Aw man, that meant I had to do it now.

Ok. Ok. I made a note of it. Just throw on a set of indistinct clothes with reinforcement and durability enchantments and start running. No need for anything too fancy or too noticeable.

Yea… it would be limit testing at its finest.

Putting Cult of the Gun out of my mind, I turned my attention to Pixie Dust instead.

I haven't touched this power ever since I got it but it certainly felt powerful. Just the power of flight and making other things fly was pretty busted. Taking a deep breath, I flicked the mental switch that kept it off since its bestowment.

Immediately, golden light shimmered and floated around my body. Closing my eyes, I sent a command to 'go up' and I could feel the weight leaving my feet. Slowly and ever slower, I drifted up until my feet couldn't touch the floor. Opening my eyes, I gave my fingers a quick flex as I stood a good 10 cm or so off the ground and my clothes shimmered and fluttered in the air.

Well 'stood' was a strong word. It was more like drifting in anti-gravity as I slowly drifted to a parallel position with the ground. Sending another mental command, I could move left and right without any force being applied to my body. Just a simple 'move left' and 'move right' and I would drift left and right as needed.

….Huh…. Altering direction without a discernible force acting on the body.

Pixie Dust didn't… apply a force. Not conventionally at least. It was hard to explain but I don't think that the millions and billions of tiny magic particles were 'pushing' me around to get me to move. Which meant if Amaya studied it, she might be able to get the kinetic shield working…

I need to send a bottle to her.

Well maybe not now… After work. I still wanted to play around with Pixie Dust for now.

The dust itself wasn't being shed from my body. More like appearing around me and drifting around me like an aura. Which meant that if I didn't want the world to detect my presence or have multiple identities, I was going to need to develop other ways of getting around.

Flexing my body, I quickly reorientated myself to a standing position. Testing my movement with Pixie Dust, it was pretty much an intent-based movement as I gathered that much. There wasn't really a limit to how I could move, so as long as I could comprehend how to move it and that it was physically possible.

Things like inertia still affected me though as I violently learnt. So I couldn't stop on a dime and still needed to slow down to a stop. Another thing was that Pixie Dust was shedded constantly but there was a minimum amount of it still needed to even start making something float. It wasn't like you could spend a pinch to get a ship flying, right? So flying around wouldn't cause cars to start flying or some shit like that. Not to mention that active Pixie Dust consumed itself fast enough that it would be used long before it reached any item nearby.

Landing on the ground, I released my Pixie Dust. For a few moments after I stopped my 'production', the Dust continued to fall from my body and disappear into the air. At the very least, I wouldn't have to worry about any Tinkers accidentally finding Pixie Dust to a certain extent of course. Since this was from a Supply Constellation, there was a way to harvest it.

Pixie Dust was… kinda volatile. It wanted to be used and when activated it would keep going until it ran out. So if I imbued a thing with it, I couldn't stop it until the Dust animating it stopped as well. It wasn't too much of a problem if you just threw it onto an object and wanted it to go immediately. However, collecting it was a little bit of a pain.

You needed someone to 'stabilize' the Dust before keeping it, else the Dust would just animate whatever you were putting it in and suddenly you had a floating vial of rapidly-depleting Pixie Dust. Imbuing it with a little will, I could stop it from consuming itself and stay in a stable state. And with a little bit of intent, you could activate it once more and start making things float around.

Scattering the stable Dust, it didn't blow up thankfully nor did it suddenly reignite which was useful. But it did mean that stable Pixie Dust could be stolen. I cocked my head. Well, it shouldn't be a problem if I kept it within my base and Toybox I suppose?

I swiped my finger across the scattered Dust and activated it. The activated Dust quickly started a chain reaction that activated the other stable Dust I had produced until the entire pile burnt away. The table it was on was too heavy to animate with such a small amount of Dust so they simply stayed there, glittering with a golden light until it burnt out.

Well, there were other applications of Pixie Dust that I could think of such as decreasing the weight of heavy objects. Assuming that I could apply Pixie Dust to portions of an object rather than a whole object, massive structures that wouldn't work due to their slow, cumbersome weight could suddenly be agile superweapons. The Cyberskeleton from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners came to mind.

Actually, let's try a few things.

First! Could I produce Pixie Dust from a specific portion of my body rather than my entire body?

The answer was yes. I could produce it from specific portions of my body like hands, feet, etc. However, I won't be able to fly. Instead they pretty much became weightless and I could throw punches and kicks like nobody's business. Unfortunately, 'weightless' didn't mean that my weight actually became zero. It just meant any force acting on it treated it as practically zero weight. Which meant that kinetic energy was higher due to a higher velocity. And Newton's Third Law made itself known to me.

My fist cracked against the brick wall with a rather concerning noise before my arm was sent flying back. Taking a deep breath, I took a deep breath and let out a long and pained whine. Good thing Gourmet Cells gave me boosted durability. Flexing my fingers, I checked that my bones were still intact before continuing.

Okay. That was good to know. Forces affecting the Dusted object treated the object as 'weightless' but forces imparted by the Dusted object treated the object as 'non-weightless'. The impact of my fist on the wall had the kinetic energy of my actual fist moving at said speed, and the normal reaction force imparted that same energy back into my fist which sent it flying back.

Cool.

There was probably something that could be done there. A high speed railcannon? A 'weightless' 600kg iron bullet moving at hypersonic speed would probably take out most people. Any form of mass drivers really would become insanely powerful by sheer virtue of it, plus it would decrease the energy actually required to get the heavy object to a destructive speed, meaning less time working on maintenance on delicate parts and less gunpowder/electricity/insert-favourite-propellent-here used.

The Celestial Forge awakened once again. This time hitting a perk from the Magitech Skills Constellation called Technomage. Which allowed me to make magic and technology play nice together and not screw each other over. Examples included 'taking a fictional OS and making it in real life' and 'grey goo from magic tissue'.

Not sure where I could be applying this. I mean, there was Egyptian Magic and Enchantment but… Hmm… Maybe I could do something with Statuary Magic? But nothing immediately came to mind

Also, what the fuck Forge? Another magic perk?? Like the past 5 perks were pretty much ALL magic. What the hell? I thought this was the Celestial Forge, not the Celestial Grimoire??

Letting out a sigh, I grimaced and put it out of my mind. The Forge does as the Forge will do. Though my theory that it had no will was declining rapidly at this point.

Anyway! Pretty much anything that was too hard to move with inertia could be moved with this application of Pixie Dust. Disaster relief? I might have to pre-prepare a bunch of vials for Endbringer aftermath. That would certainly be helpful. Maybe not for Simurgh in February but Behemoth and Leviathan? It would be a godsend for the Search and Rescue parahumans.

And it wasn't particularly difficult for me to produce it. Huh.

Anyway… Secondly! And something that I probably would have to conduct in my workshop rather than in this dingy little place was testing how much Pixie Dust it took to negate the weight of 1 gram of material. Did the amount of material affect the amount of Pixie Dust needed to negate its weight? So on and so forth.

Of course there was just the rather obvious solution of dumping all the Dust onto it and hoping for the best. But if I was to incorporate this into machinery, I probably need to keep track of how long it would take before I had to restock it. Honestly thinking about it, I would probably have to develop some sort of specialized formula for such a thing, plotting graphs for the volume, mass, and time and… god I already hate that.

Shaking my head, I checked the time and saw that another shipment should be pulling up soon enough. Exiting from the backroom, I stretched my back and started preparing to receive it while practicing control by applying a small amount of Pixie Dust along my body. Not enough for the effect to be visible, but enough that I was slightly lighter and faster than usual. It would be useful while True Hero Potential was boosting my strength growth and mitigate any control issues that might arise.

After work, I placed a portal near the Docks and took the long way back to my room. Reentering my base, I checked in on Amaya who was making… good-ish progress. Her notes covered a whole wall as she gnawed on the end cap, muttering to herself. Snapping my fingers, I got her attention, breaking her out of her musing. Scowling, she stared at me for a moment before getting up.

"You're back." She stated rather dully. "Is there something you wanna tell me?"

"Mhm." I nodded as I motioned for her to come out of her room. "Lemme show you."

Activating Pixie Dust, I hovered in the air as I showed off my flight by floating in every direction without moving my body. Humming to herself, Amaya narrowed her eyes as she pulled out a fresh set of paper.

"Could you head left again then right?" She started giving me instructions on how to move, looping around before making me snap around on a dime. Writing some notes on her paper, she cocked her head as she continued testing my movements.

"Oh- OH!?" She clapped her hands together. "I see! Thanks, Master!" The scientist practically threw herself onto me. Hastily deactivating Pixie Dust to not snap my spine, I caught her as she pulled me into a hug and darted off to her new findings. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and shook my head.

I wasn't sure what she found out, but clearly she had put two and two together. I made a note to check in on her to ensure that she didn't work through the night or something but judging by her eyes, I was pretty sure that she would be done with the kinetic shield sooner rather than later. I also brought out a few bottles and stocked up on some Pixie Dust and set them aside before heading into my workshop.

Today was finally the day I could go out as a… hero? Villain? A Cape. I guess I could strike one thing off my bucket list. Unfortunately, there was no epic suit up sequence as I carefully pulled on my equipment and ensured that nothing chaffed, or snagged, or otherwise rubbed against my body the wrong way.

Adjusting it with Painted On, I gave one last check to ensure that all my equipment was working just right. With that out of the way, I headed through the portal I made earlier and slipped into the Docks. Wiping the portal away, I let Pixie Dust activate and floated onto one of the rooftops.

That golden aura was going to get really annoying, really quickly. But alas, I didn't have a good movement option for now. Using it on its most subdued level, I hopped from roof to roof, making my way out of the Union's 'territory'.

Unfortunately, it wasn't like the gangs were illuminating entire warehouses, notifying everyone of their presence. I had to check each house individually in the hopes that one of them had some sort of gang operation. Armoury, drug storage or whatever. Occasionally I did spot a ravehouse, with enough bass that I could feel it but there wasn't really a need to break it up.

Plus, there didn't look to be any Merchants so I just made an anonymous report and moved on.

Heading to another warehouse, I landed on the roof and felt like it was a little more promising. A group of dealers moving sacks of what I assumed to be some sort of illegal drug. But all I really saw was a white powder which didn't really narrow it down. One of the boxes, a man cut lines and took a deep snort before staggering back.

Well. I guess it wasn't 'flour'.

Raising a palm, I restricted the power and blasted a red beam straight through the opening and sent the man breaking his back against the wall. The box exploded into splinters while the bags inside split and spilled their contents onto the floor. Using Pixie Dust, I kicked out and out of the way as one of the men looked up. A cry of 'Cape!' resounded through the warehouse before the gunshots started.

'Well… Let's go another way… ' I thought to myself as the men inside started shouting profanities at me. Using Pixie, I hovered just outside a window as I watched all the men slowly gather, guns pointed at the skylight.

"Don't stop shooting until I hear them drop!" One of the men, likely the boss, shouted. Without much thinking, the men nodded and continued squeezing the trigger. Shaking my head, I leaned against the outer wall and waited. If they were so kind as to empty their guns, who am I to stop them?

Peeking out through the window again, I heard the first reload and I unleashed another crimson blast. This time the man was face-planted into the ground from the force of the hit. Heading out of the way, even more shots erupted as the men kept firing. Holes appeared into corrugated steel as the gangsters blasted in the vague general direction I was in.

This repeated a few more times, floating around and siding a point where I could pick one off one by one.

"Idiots!" The leader shouted as the fourth one was sniped, his body blown back and sent crashing into the wall. "Catch him outside!"

Not… the best idea either.

Floating back to the roof, I watched as they rushed out and looked up to see two crimson lights staring right back at them. Releasing, I blasted them into the dirt and swept around, ensuring that I caught them all in the blast. All of them were groaning on the ground but I kept one palm ready to shoot as I walked on their states.

Relieving them of their money and guns, I counted six guns and a variety of makeshift melee weapons. I made a note to buy some zip ties or something since I didn't have anything to really tie them up with. I considered breaking their legs but I decided against that. Instead, I did the same thing I did with Leet, stripping them and tying them up with their own clothes.

"Get your fucking han-" His words were cut off as I unleashed a stronger red beam that tore through a wall of the warehouse. Literally tearing through. I could see the rough edges of the material shearing apart as well as a good portion into the warehouse as the beam continued on, breaking apart everything along the way.

They quickly quieted down after that.

Ensuring that running and escaping wouldn't be easy for them, I stood at the door and thought for a moment. I wasn't too sure what to do with the crates of drugs either… I didn't have much use for them and disposal wasn't exactly easy.

The best I could do was jury rigging the electrical system to start an electric fire… After walking around to ensure that it was cleared of any more Merchant members (There were three who were too high to do anything and one hiding who I blasted), I shorted the system and watched as the warehouse went up in flames.

I even used my laser blasts to break apart the crates to ensure that the fire was really spreading.

Tying the rest up, I made a report and took a quick fly around to ensure that the drugs were indeed burning away before flying to the next warehouse.

However, finding warehouses with actual gang activities was surprisingly difficult. It was mostly homeless people using the abandoned buildings as a place to sleep or just empty. I did find another drug warehouse which I did the same thing to. Sniping the more dangerous individuals, tying them all up and burning the place down.

Eventually, my path brought me to the Boat Graveyard. And it was definitely a Boat Graveyard. Originally a drydock, most of the ships here were laid to waste away, corroded by the passage of time and the seawater that enveloped their sides. However, there were a good portion of them still above water.

Scientific Specialization could finally show its worth in this instance. With a material science specialization, I flew around, marking out sections that could be reclaimed safely and sections that would cause the entire thing to collapse in on itself if I took it out. Furthermore, I had a general sense of what was salvageable in a reasonable timeframe and what would take far too much effort.

Combined with Savant's Understanding to keep track of it all, I essentially split the entire ship into a giant unblock puzzle. Now was to carefully-

And… it tore through the metal. Huh.

As it turned out, fist produced a much stronger blast than expected. Then again, there was rotting metal so it wasn't really winning any prizes in 'structural integrity'. Controlling my next blasts a little more carefully, I managed to blast apart some metal sheets. Using Pixie Dust, I nulled the weight of them and chucked them onto the road to move later.

A few hours later and the entire top section of the ship was gone, with most of the salvageable metal acquired and the rest at the bottom of the ship. Reclaimer even helped by picking out the more valuable 'not as badly corroded metal' the ship's hull. Humming to myself, I landed back on shore with my haul. Taking a quick look, I continued trimming down the metal with more lasers, removing all the parts that looked too troublesome to deal with.

The Celestial Forge awakened while I was cleaning up. Smithing. Just Smithing. From the Metallurgy Constellation. A wide smile broke on my face. This was just fucking perfect wasn't it? Originally this metal was going to be used as a casing for my projects but since the Forge was kind enough to give me a forging perk… Why shouldn't I use it?

Unfortunately, this was stuck to rather… primitive equipment. Swords, shields, and armour. The armour sounded useful but a sword? Ehhh… Maybe not. It was also a partial design perk given that anything that I smithed also would look 'beautiful' according to the description. Maybe a magic knight sort of build? Though I would likely have to train True Hero Potential to a much higher level than I was currently. As well as improve Enchantment.

Humming in contentment, I started chucking metal into my workshop. I would think about it afterwards. From a quick estimate, there were about 70 or so kilograms of reclaimed metal of varying pieces which I thought was a pretty good haul. Certainly would take some time to salvage but… it's fine. I still had a bit of cash to set up a simple forge.

Though… the ventilation was going to be a pain…

Let's not think about that.

Anyway, it took quite a bit of effort and time to break down even just a portion of a ship. Ensuring things didn't collapse in on itself, making sure that I could move the metal to shore… It was approaching midnight now… I hummed for a moment. I think I could keep going for another hour or so?

Shutting the portal, I floated up into the air and glanced around for a moment. Before a rather loud, rather disgusting squelch reached my ears. Dodging around, I watched as a rather large mound of trash and scrap metal swung overhead and slammed into the ground.

A mess of trash and waste slowly got up, less of a 'golem' and more of a slime with a humanoid torso. Mush's voice echoed out from the hulking mass with no small amount of annoyance. "You didn't think your little light show wouldn't attract any attention? You're on Merchant territory, bitch! Pay your-"

I cut him off as a blast of crimson light slammed into his torso. He had braced his arms in front, blocking most of the damage but bits and pieces of his 'suit' were blasted away. "Finally. I thought you were all too high to notice." I called back as I flew into the air, gloves glowing with power.

"Come on! Let's have some fun!"

A/N: 100k words and we finally get the cape debut. Whoop-de-doo.

Spoiler: New Perks

-Technomage (Libriomancer) (200CP)

While not a magic user per se you have the unique ability to make magic and technology play along together in just the right kind of way. Perhaps you can take a fictional operating system out of a book and install it on a real computer. Or create a self replicating swarm of nanomachines from a sliver of magically created tissue. Whatever it is, you can do it and are likely to be the envy of your magical peers.

-Smithing (Thundercats 2011) (200CP)

The ancient art of working with metal to forge weapons and armor. You know how to make beautiful equipment that can survive countless battles and you could even forge a legendary weapon if you dedicated enough time to it, although it'd probably take at least several years to complete.

Points Remaining: 100



Chapter 19


Mush was… depressingly easy. A slow, rather plodding hulking mass versus a fast, maneuverable and long-ranged flyer? I could literally just hover above him and rain down light bolts until the man stopped moving.

Although, despite being part of the Merchants, Mush wasn't completely stupid. By leveraging his weight and arms, he could lift heavy objects and chuck them at me. Though they were by no means fast enough to actually pose a threat. And if he tried to spin around to gather enough speed, it was easy for me to snipe his arms and make them snap, sending the weights flying through the street.

"Man. I thought you'd be… harder?" I muttered as I continued raining down blasts upon blast on him. I was keeping it to mostly weaker strikes since the stronger ones are likely to punch through the squishy flesh underneath. However, the weaker blasts also didn't seem to be doing much in terms of damage.

Another mass of trash flew into the air and a quick strafe made it soar over my head. Clenching my fists, I unleashed a blast that punched straight through Mush's shoulder, sending broken fragments everywhere. The arm connected to it fell off and Mush yelled out a cry of anger. Frowning slightly, I watched as junk slowly recomposed and pulled themselves into a new limb.

Though I guess I could applaud his tenacity. He was really trying to sell the fact that he was trying to attack me to prevent me from noticing the ambush.

Oh right. There was an ambush. Did I mention that?

Like I mentioned above, I was his worst match up given that I could reasonably stay out of reach while raining hell on him. So there must be another reason why he was fighting me. Loremaster provided that he also really wasn't putting his all into the fight despite his words and actions. So then why wasn't he?

He was saving his strength then. For what? Either because he was injured but that couldn't be right. If he was, then he wouldn't pick a fight in the first place. Or he was waiting for reinforcements. I found that the latter was the more likely scenario. So, while fighting and flying around, I kept an eye on the surroundings.

With Savant's Understanding granting perfect recall, I could easily spot and pick out small differences in the surroundings and use them to figure out the position of all the 'hidden' helpers. So far there were only four over the course of five minutes. I thought there'd be more but I guess these few were just in the area I suppose.

Dodging another ball of trash, I knew that it would take at least another seven seconds before he could gather enough mass to throw another trash ball, and another six to bring it to speed to actually be a threat. Making note of all the hidden Merchants, I quickly fired off short beams of light to those locations.

Two were caught off-guard as the laser blasts punched straight through their hidey-holes. The force rocketing them back and slamming their bodies into ventilation shafts and cracking rather painfully against concrete. One was peeking out and dodge immediately as I fired. He did manage to get away slightly, though the beam caught his leg instead and snapped the knee with a sickening crack.

The last Merchant was the most unfortunate, like the previous one, he saw the attack coming and moved out of cover. But not entirely. Instead he raised his pistol in an attempt to fire back, only for the laser blasts to catch him straight in the arm. Fortunately, it was a palm blast rather than fists like the previous two. Unfortunately, it still caused his arms to collapse and pull the trigger.

I grimaced as the gunshot echoed out through the air. A thin line sliced across his cheek as his pants rapidly darkened. Staring at him, he looked straight at me before sprinting away, his gun forgotten on the rooftop.

Glancing at my fists, I let out a low whistle. "Okay… fist blasts are still stronger than I thought." I was pretty sure they weren't dead. Most of the force of the blast should have bled off when breaking the walls between it and them. However, there wasn't any guarantee that they wouldn't just bleed out on the rooftops.

Their screams echoed through the relative silence of the Boat Graveyard, earning the ire of the current parahuman with me. "You bastard! You'll pay for this!" Mush launched another boulder of trash at me. "The Merchants will-"

I hovered a little lower before hitting the trash heap with a double fist blast. The combined force pierced straight through and caused it to crumble apart long before it could strike me. "Buddy. Pal. You're the one who attacked me. I was minding-" I blasted another trash pile apart. "-my own business here."

Now that the ambush was thoroughly broken, I now needed to ensure that they didn't die. Would be pretty annoying if the PRT labeled me as a villain because of it. But now I had to take down Mush non-lethally as well.

Well, bashing my metaphorical head against the wall wasn't going to make this any faster. Dodging around, I kept to Mush's blindspot while pulling out my taser. Taking a few potshots, bits and pieces of his covering were blown apart, revealing a rather exposed man underneath. Looping around, I tried to tase the man but trash kept breaking the link between the taser and his skin.

He was instinctively pulling trash to cover himself even while being shocked… I continued to circle around, while occasionally tasing Mush when I spotted an opportunity.

"You fucker! I'll be sure to drug you up and feed you to the fucking-" Another blast to cut him off, this time I swept my laser across his body, carving a trench across his 'armour' and pushing him back. Stowing my taser away, I took advantage of his momentary disorientation. Shooting forward, I used my gloves to knock away bits and pieces of his armour as well as any errant attacks coming my way.

Stopping just before his body, I pointed my palms directly at Mush's main body. "See ya." I muttered as I activated both gloves. The resulting blast slammed into the center mass of Mush's golem body, before pushing through and expelling his rather pudgy-looking human form out. Without Mush to hold its form, the trash monster rapidly crumbled apart.

Hovering over, I looked over Mush's body and grimaced. Pink-skinned goblin indeed. How the hell did genetics even make this? My lips curled in disgust from the stank as well. It felt like ten times worse than a garbage bin and it seemed entrenched in his body as well. The man was naked as well which I wasn't sure was better or worse for me.

At the very least, he wasn't showing his junk in the air.

He looked pretty out of it as well. Nudging him with my foot showed no reaction and I wasn't really willing to touch him more than I should. His chest was still rising and falling too so he wasn't dead. Pulling out my taser, I shot Mush a few times and his body shook but no response either.

Good.

Checking on the gangsters, most of them were still alive. The two who were slammed into other objects on the rooftop were gone. The broken leg dude had crawled a distance away but gave up moving any further. And the piss boy had run off somewhere. There was a thin trail of… fluids leading out but I wasn't about to follow that right now.

Landing by the broken leg dude, I raised an eyebrow as he pointed a gun at me. I kept my Pixie Dust up the moment I sensed any intention to harm and my gloves kept glowing with crimson light as I floated closer to him. "Are you serious?" I asked dully. "Drop your weapon."

The man swallowed. I could feel him getting unnerved and so I just needed to put a little bit more pressure onto him and…

He shivered and tossed the gun aside. "I surrender!"

Good. I picked up the gun and tossed it aside, skidding across the rooftop. Not gonna touch a junkie's gun. Looking back over to him, I tried to figure out what to do with him. I had zero medical skills and the knee was jutting out of his skin at an awkward angle. But outside of a thin trickle of blood, it didn't seem like he was bleeding too badly. The man took deep breaths as he stared up at me in fear. Cocking my head, I felt his fear spike as I pulled out my phone and dialed the emergency hotline.

"911, what's your emergency?" The operator's voice came over the phone.

"I got a cape fight, down by the Boat Graveyard. Someone's knee broke at an angle and is jutting out of the skin…" I trailed off.

"You're the one who broke it!!" The man rather loudly screamed.

"And you're the one who tried to ambush me with guns. I'm well within my rights of self-defense." I replied. "Anyway, I'll need an ambulance and maybe a police car." I rattled off the address and hung up.

Turning back to the man, I was about to tell him to stay put when I heard a loud engine noise in the distance. And it was getting louder by the second. Narrowing my eyes, I took back up to the air and quickly scanned around.

The Celestial Forge awakened yet again. Latching onto the lowest star of the Lewd Magi-Tech Constellation, I got 'Research'. Just research. Which improved my ability in mixing Magic and technology. Well, when I eventually got around to dealing with Thoth's Notes, I was going to be quite busy I suppose.

My eyes quickly caught sight of what could be reasonably described as an affront to vehicle design. Eight wheels, four large and four small, with a chassis that looked to be three different chassi(? chassises?) welded together like a Frankenstein's Monster and an engine that didn't so much as 'rumble' as it did alert everybody within a four block radius of its presence.

Not to mention the weaponry. Just from a glance, there was something like a tank cannon jutting out from the top as well as several machine guns and enough spikes to put a porcupine to shame. Grimacing, I quickly started circling around as the cannon swung around to take aim at me.

"You limpdick-" I tuned out the voice of Skidmark as he started shouting through what I expected was a speaker system somehow embedded into the vehicle itself. Taking aim, I maxed the output of the gloves and unleashed a bright crimson beam that slammed into the… vehicle's shield. A shimmering blue dome appeared around the vehicle, causing the beam to break apart and scatter or slide off without any visible damage.

Skidding to a halt, the entire vehicle lifted up slightly as the momentum carried it before collapsing back down. I could hear the suspension system absolutely dying as it bounced on its springs and every part of my body prickled at the sound of metal screeching. Throwing a few more short beams, the forcefield rendered it mostly ineffective.

"I need to figure out how it works then." I muttered to myself.

A small group of Merchants spilled out from the vehicle, and quickly ran over to the pile of trash I left Mush in. Cursing, I was sorely tempted to stop them but I didn't particularly care about Mush given his power set. Instead, I was a lot more interested in Squealer's car. And maybe Squealer herself.

A vehicle based tinker, coupled with my Forge-given tank, sounded like a great match. And would certainly give my tank a lot of staying power in higher-tier fights. Like say in major battles with highly destructive abilities being thrown around.

But first, dealing with the vehicle itself.

The shield was the biggest problem. Currently, my best weapon against it wasn't doing much to it, and if that was the case, I doubted my taser would do any better. Dodging the main tank cannon, I saw the air ripple for a moment before it slammed straight into my body.

An incredibly loud and destructive boom rocked my head, knocking me out of the air and deafening me to the world. Wincing, I reached up to feel a trickle of blood running down the side of my ears. Working my jaw, I could feel Gourmet Cells repairing the damage as vague noises started to fill the absolute silence.

Okay, so they had a sonic cannon. Not sure where that came from…

With Pixie Dust, I immediately started moving the moment I had recovered enough to do so. Just a second later, another ripple impacted the area I was in, kicking up dust but otherwise incredibly hard to spot. Skidmark was shouting… something, though I wasn't paying too much attention to it. He was probably gloating about 'his' sonic cannon as if it wasn't Squealer who made it.

Getting in close, several guns pointed towards me but swept my hard light beam across the surface, knocking all of them awry. Spinning around, I launched another sweep towards the Merchant team who was recovering Mush, knocking them onto the ground. Glancing at the massive tank-truck, I dodged out of the way as it suddenly barreled through and punched a new hole in the warehouse behind me. Watching it pull out, the tank barrel spun around and reoriented itself as best as it could at me.

However, by sticking closer, it was impossible for its barrels to aim directly at me. Instead, Squealer had to constantly try and reposition herself. However with Pixie Dust's maneuverability I could easily stay close like a fly on a glue trap.

Wait… That wasn't quite right…

Ah whatever, it was hard to get rid of me.

Anyway, I grabbed onto the underside of the vehicle which was a lot less protected. I could tell that the metal here was a lot thinner compared to the shell above me. And for good reason. Why would anyone even try to strike a massive tinker behemoth from below? Who would even dare go underneath such a thing? Plus with a decent clearance and high speed, it would be pretty hard to strike it with a mine. Assuming that Squealer didn't already put in anti-mine countermeasures.

Charging up my glove, I started blasting hardlight beams straight into the underside. However, surprisingly enough, the hardlight only dented the metal underside rather than punch straight through it. Taking another aim, my body lurched as the vehicle suddenly accelerated, taking me with it.

Hanging on for dear life, I cursed in my heart that I didn't have any inertia dampening effects as Squealer swerved and drifted in a vain attempt to get me to dislodge. Turning off Pixie Dust wasn't an option since the sudden turns would definitely force me off, but keeping it on wasn't an option either. If I kept it on, the constantly shifting directions would pretty much pulp my brain in my skull as it constantly rapidly accelerated and slammed into a halt.

I had to restrict the Pixie Dust to keep my body light enough so I could actually hold myself in place and yet keep my body heavy enough to not get flung around like a ragdoll. While I was handling that, I was still also blasting into the underside, watching the metal give out slightly more with each attack.

The vehicle proceeded to barrel through several more warehouses, blowing apart steel and sending debris underneath the wheels that I had to dodge. Pressing against the underside, I continued to force the metal to give way as I kept an eye on all the shit that was heading towards me.

"Cocksucking piece of-" Oh I guess Squealer had joined in the screaming match. The metal groaned and finally gave out. And I started blasting apart all the more delicate machinery inside.

Immediately I could feel the vehicle suddenly die in terms of power. The wheels lost their transmission from the engine, suspensions suddenly gave out, and all sorts of failures piled upon one another. Including the shaft that allowed the driver to steer.

The hulking mass, without any of its wheels, lost grip on the road and started sliding across the road. I could exactly see where we were going but I stuck close as the kinetic energy bled off. The sound of a hatch opening caught my attention before two people struck the asphalt. Pressing my hand to the vehicle, I started applying Pixie Dust across the surface of it, negating some of its weight before flying out from underneath.

A small thing, but I didn't want to get caught by one of its wheels and suddenly have a lung punctured in four different places.

Landing on the ground, Skidmark was already layering his acceleration layers on the ground while Squealer was… doing something. And like I had learnt from Leet, a tinker without their equipment was a sitting duck. So instead of waiting around and learning what the hell she was doing, I raised my hand and fired off a quick blast at whatever she was holding in her hands and at Skidmark.

I remembered that Skidmark's power had some ridiculous potential, capable of even stopping Endbringers from moving with enough layers on the ground. However a small problem with it was the set up needed to actually create a strong enough field. I wasn't sure if it would affect hard light. I expect so given that it could also deflect bullets which wouldn't be touching the field directly, plus hard light actually has some 'mass' to move around in the first place.

However, we wouldn't be finding out today as Skidmark was forced to dodge out of the way while Squealer, who wasn't quite paying attention, was struck by the beam. A loud crack echoed out as she screamed in pain and dropped her device onto the floor. Sending a few more beams at Skidmark, he was forced to keep dodging or be struck down.

Unfortunately, I had zero restraining device, so I had to keep my attention split between Skiddy and Squealer. And with Squealer already injured and basically fangless, I decided it was easier for me to keep her in place with a threat of another hard light blast versus Skidmark who was relatively healthy. Or at least as healthy as a drug addict could be.

"You'll pay for this! The Merchants will make your-" I cut him off with another crimson blast, not really giving a shit about whether it struck him or not. But it spooked him enough that he scurried off.

Turning my attention back to Squealer, I took a glance over her clothes. Or I guess her… well not really lack thereof. She reminded me quite a bit of Amaya with a general disregard for clothing. Though it certainly felt like Squealer was doing it out of a lack of proper clothing rather than any actual desire to show off.

She was wearing a torn crop top that was very clearly ripped open from the front to expose her sizable breasts. Her once-white bra was poking out from underneath, stained with black streaks and splotchy and discoloured in others. She was also wearing ripped jeans, again with holes revealing stained panties underneath and looked to be held together by… well not hopes and dreams. Maybe crack and delusions? The only thing that looked serviceable was a toolbelt that hung around her waist carrying wrenches, pliers, and other tools and parts to jury rig repairs.

As for her mask… it was a shitty domino mask that barely clung to her face and caked with dirt.

All in all, it was a pitiful display.

"… limp-dicked shitface!" Her chipmunk-esque voice reminded me of Harley Quinn. If Harley Quinn was drugged to the gills and also insufferable to listen to. It also made her a lot less threatening, sounding more like an overgrown child throwing a tantrum with words she heard her parents used.

I seriously reconsidered if I should bother with her.

However, before I could make a decision, I spotted two people flying through the air. Both wore white suits but one went with a clear violet and indigo accent while the other had a red and magenta accent. Floating down, I recognized the red girl as Crystal while the other was likely her mother, Sarah.

They also looked really alike. As one should probably expect from a mother-daughter duo. Sarah looked a little different than when I had met her in the mall, her hair was done up a little differently, with a hairband and her fringe falling over one of her eyes. And her bodysuit was tight against her body, showing off her curves rather prominently.

Lady Photon on the other hand had short cropped hair stopping just past her chin as opposed to her daughter's longer hair which stopped well past her shoulders. Her suit was also slightly different, looking a little more padded and her body looked a lot more mature with wider hips and a more motherly look to them.

"You're the one who called?" Lady Photon asked me as she gave me a quick once over.

"That's right. My name is Erstein." I replied. I could see Crystal stiffen slightly as I spoke, clearly recognizing my voice. Looking over, I zoomed in slightly to her face before retracting. "And of course, Lady Photon and Laserdream of the New Wave?"

The Celestial Forge awakened as we were made our brief greetings. Fumble Spotter was a perk from the Safety Quality Constellation and it made me capable of idiot-proofing my creations. Some weird abuse or exploit in my devices? Not anymore. Unclear or generally confusing controls? Nope! You could reasonably get a five year old to operate it. Though personally, I wouldn't recommend that at all.

However, something weird occurred with the Celestial Forge as all the energy was pulled out. Something called… "Remnant Energy Purging"? The Celestial Forge's platform hummed for a moment before spitting out a sudden length of energy.

What the fuck?

I… guess I have more energy to work with now.

Laserdream had pulled out some zipties to bind Squealer with while Lady Photon gave me the whole spiel about being a solo cape, blah blah blah. I was only half paying attention to it while she talked. Nodding along, I waited until it was over to respond.

"I understand. However, I won't be joining the Protectorate for the time being." I replied easily.

Lady Photon nodded. "I understand. Just know that the offer still stands in the future." Nodding, that was the end of the conversation. Glancing over to Laserdream, our eyes met and I stared at her for a moment before looking away. Crystal didn't seem to be the type to be confrontational about secret identities, and I doubt she would tell anyone about her suspicion.

In any case, it did throw a slight wrench into my plans to get closer to her. Or maybe not? It was hard to tell.

Heading over to the wreck of Squealer's vehicle, I saw Laserdream float slightly behind me. Glancing at her, I stopped just before the mess of metal and asked, "Keeping a watch on me?"

Laserdream took a moment to respond. "N-no! Uh- Just… um…"

"Just joking, don't worry about it." I walked over to the chassis and looked over the tangle of pipes, pistons, and valves that formed the engine. Poking around, Hammer Jammer slowly started to decipher the components while Reclaimer peered through to find any and everything that might be useful, either for research or repurposing. "Say, you're in university right?"

"Um… yea?" Laserdream floated a good distance away from me.

"Is it fine to stay up this late?" I vaguely gestured to the sky. "Does BBU even have an exception for 'cape business' or will they mark you as absent if you don't come in?"

Laserdream hummed for a moment, thinking if she should reply or not. "Well… tomorrow I don't have any morning classes so I can afford to sleep in. And as for absenteeism, I can get excused if there's an emergency call from the PRT, like a large-scale villain attack or something similar. Other than that, it would be my fault for not managing my time well." She shrugged.

"Ah, I see." I nodded. "No special exemption for being a superhero?" I cocked my head slightly as Laserdream shook her head. "Unfortunate."

We made some small talk as I was pouring over Squealer's ride. The tinkertech behind it was quite intriguing. Especially with the way the Shard altered certain materials to create the shield generator and other esoteric phenomena. Unfortunately, I wouldn't have time to truly research it until I got it back to a workshop, if the sirens were to tell me anything.

I nodded and replied to another one of Laserdream's questions almost offhandedly as I reached into the engine and ripped out a component. And watched as coolant for the radiator started leaking out. "Hm." Hammer Jammer took this new information into account as I started dismantling the engine block.

Seeing that I was starting to break down the vehicle, Laserdream piped up. "Its policy that unknown tinkertech should be left alone until they can safely remove it from the premises to a safer testing are- what did you just do?!" She yelled in surprise as my gloves lit up and punched the bolts holding the engine in place into metal shrapnel. Along with a portion of the engine. I should probably tell Amaya to fix that.

Without the bolts holding a portion of the engine in place, half of it sagged down as the metal of the engine groaned in protest. Half a second later, the metal gave out as the engine sheared itself in half and plummeted straight to the ground with a loud bang. Luckily, Lady Photon had escorted Squealer away so she didn't have to see me butchering her ride.

"So about that policy…" I glanced over to Laserdream who sighed and shook her head. "I don't suppose you'll report me?"

Laserdream bit her lip. "Well…" She shook her head. "If you're willing to join the hero's side." She tried to sound a little confident. "I'm sure I could close an eye for you."

"Hah!" I broke into a wide smile. A sudden and evil thought popped into my mind that I immediately decided to act on. Channeling a little Carnal Artist, I leaned in close to Crystal's face. Enough that she would feel my breath tickling her ears. "I might take you on that offer, Laserdream."

Pulling back, I used the key to link the car door to my base and immediately close the link after I came in. Collapsing onto the floor, I took in a deep breath as I looked over the haul of Squealer's materials that I had brought with me.

"Tomorrow. I'll handle it tomorrow."

A/N: Introducing a new mechanic! Called Remnant Energy Purging. Essentially due to how I do edits to the chapters, there is a discrepancy between how many points is owned and how many points should be 'in circulation' to speak. So this would close that gap. Somewhat. It won't happen very often and won't produce more than 100-200CP per activation so don't worry about any stupidly large Point dump for seemingly nowhere.

In universe, its the Forge clearing its system of any small remnant energy that it has accumulated within the System. Hence the name.

Spoiler: New Perks

-Research (100cp) (Rance 02)

Spoiler: New Perks

Magic, a force that works over completely different laws than the normal physics of the world. You know the value of it, but are also aware of the wonders in technology. As such you, in secret from the rest of the students, have been advancing in the research of mixing the advancing technology and magic. Learning the best ways to fuse both to create something more powerful.

-Fumble Spotter (Generic Cubicle) (200CP)

You excel at finding odd ways in which your products might be used or misused that could lead them to fail, and in devising ways to fix them before they ever become issues. You are also adept at making the proper usage for your products obvious in their design.

Remaning Points: 200CP