BCST 33

BANG—!

A loud horn slammed into my ears.

The same brilliant light.

But I soon realized it was a different light than before.

A car’s headlights.

Looking around, I noticed I was somehow standing in the middle of the road.

Did that guy move me?

“Hey—! Fuck, what are you doing blocking the road! You wanna die?!”

Meanwhile, a man rolled down his window and started swearing.

A glance upward showed the sign: “Yuin TAXI.”

I didn’t have ID, and after I’d been dumped here I’d used taxis often, so the car’s design looked familiar.

“You fucking bastard. If you’re drunk you should just go home and lie down, why mess with other people’s business—oh, blood, blood!?”

The driver froze when he saw the blood spreading and congealing across my face.

Maybe he couldn’t see it earlier because of the bright beams from the headlights?

Perfect timing.

“Go to Sector 56.”

Step.

When I said that and opened the rear door, the driver who was watching paled.

He clearly felt he’d picked the wrong passenger.

“S-shit, I ain’t doing business with you, you bastard.”

Even then his mouth kept working.

But.

Crackle—!

“Do it.”

“……Y-yes.”

I shot a thin arcane blast from my hand, and thankfully the taxi driver started treating me with caution.

Of course I knew how I looked, and how ordinary citizens feared people with abilities.

Normally I might have sympathized with his feelings, but—

Flop.

“Tell me exactly which district this is.”

“F-five— I was on Oaklands Parkway in Sector 58, sir.”

So it wasn’t very far from Neuroteca 58.

After confirming our location, I leaned into the backseat, closed my eyes slowly, and spoke.

“…Step on it.”

“…Yes.”

Realizing I was out of immediate danger, my tension eased and an overwhelming fatigue and aches crawled through every corner of my body.

My overworked senses were staging a strike and demanding rest.

I closed the only sense I could shut off myself—my sight—gave in to lethargy, and left one last instruction to the taxi driver.

“…I’ll tip well. Wake me when we arrive.”

“Yes!”

That was my last memory before reaching the motel.

Trying to sleep halfway only makes things worse.

I trudged up to my room feeling as if my head were caked with waterlogged mud.

I’d tossed a single coin to the taxi driver who had safely delivered me, so he’d probably been happy.

But right now, getting rest even a minute faster was worth far more than petty calculations about money.

I collapsed onto the bed without properly washing.

…I feel like I’ll pass out right away.

“Ugh.”

But even if I was about to conk out, I still had to do the obligatory step.

Check my rewards.

Snap!

[Sub Quest – The Sealed BD of Neuroteca 58]

A sealed BD at the BD experience center “Neuroteca 58” in Sector 58 has been restored, and strange incidents have begun.

Investigate the cause and eliminate the danger.

*Reward – Ability Points 20p (Complete)

Twenty points, huh.

An insane amount.

Of course I’d been exposed to ridiculously dangerous situations to get it.

Still, thanks to that I could splurge somewhat when choosing traits this time.

Anyway, that’s one thing.

There was another thing I had to check.

Lying on the bed, I reluctantly raised my right arm.

I opened my eyes and looked at my forearm.

Specifically, at the place where the “Artist Behind” had latched on.

Ugh.

I couldn’t see anything with the naked eye.

Even when I touched it, there was no noticeable snag.

So it wasn’t on the surface in a transparent state—it must have either burrowed into my body or infiltrated my mental image apart from the flesh.

“…….”

There was no longer any point in panicking that some weird thing had embedded itself in me.

After all, this body wasn’t originally mine.

If I hadn’t known the truth about this game, I might earlier have efficiently abandoned this meat-suit and fully cybernetized my body—I hadn’t been particularly attached to it.

So having something parasitic in my mind was gross, but not entirely surprising.

Besides, I’d already realized my mind had changed since committing my first murder.

Mind and body complement each other.

If my body had changed, it was only natural my mind would be affected, too.

Still, the thought of it made me feel sick.

Damn it.

Where had I left my original self?

Probably back when I first fell here and sucked on those sludge nutrient packs that even dogs wouldn’t eat.

That industrial-trash taste had surely tainted my soul as well.

I muttered to myself, smirked, and focused my mind again.

Once I tried to interact, I could quickly recognize the umbra.

But this time, for some reason, deeper access was tightly blocked.

I intuitively sensed why.

This thing had overexerted itself.

Just before ownership transferred to me, it had already gone berserk and produced a phenomenon kind of like a violent outburst.

It had even teleported me when it was on the verge of barely touching the one who contracted with me.

It had used so much overdrive that a rest period was natural.

But I felt that this rest wouldn’t be long.

Wait a moment.

What’s this…?

Suddenly I felt there were unfamiliar things inside the “Artist Behind.”

Little beads embedded within it.

They were the souls harvested alongside the “Artist Behind” as the manifested world collapsed.

They were the souls of those who had died at Neuroteca 58.

And even the soul of Payneuf.

For a second I was stunned by the unexpected acquisition.

I quickly arranged my thoughts.

This was definitely usable material.

After all, I’m a necromancer, sort of.

Having that thought lined up, I quickly revised my plan for traits and couldn’t help but think of those people.

Especially the woman I’d never dreamed of meeting there.

Sonia Lopez.

Meeting one of the Legion, the nomad criminal group that appears across Neo-Arkam City, in a place like that—who would have thought?

Even now, it’s hard to believe I survived encountering such a name at my current level.

A year in the future her rank would already be Level 8.

It’s not easy to raise rank higher and higher; so Sonia Lopez at present was likely already Rank 8.

And I, who’d only just reached Rank 3, had survived meeting someone Rank 8…

It was pure luck.

Of course, there had been unexpected help.

Namely, the umbra I’d acquired—the “Artist Behind” and the “Unknown Man.”

The outline of that man’s identity was coming into focus.

Since he called Sonia a comrade, he was likely a member of the Legion.

But even I, who knew most Legion members, had a hard time guessing his identity.

There was limited information, and no member matched this man’s situation.

The Legion often replaced members, and being a long-standing criminal organization, I couldn’t know every detail.

Although I usually knew the contents of most COCs, I still didn’t know this man’s identity.

But the important thing was that he had shown me some favor.

That was probably because the “Artist Behind” who favored me had been embodied through that man, and I had been influenced by it.

Why did it like me? I wondered, but I already knew the answer.

It was probably because of the trait “Cthulhu’s Second Tentacle.”

Both of them were of non-Earth origin, so perhaps they were homesick for others from their world.

They were sharing the pain of kindred suffering.

Thinking more about that trait wouldn’t yield an answer, so I dropped the thought.

Now it was time to end this ordeal.

With a whopping 20 points, it was time to pick traits.

As the thought of choosing traits surfaced, lights glittered in the darkness.

Last time, a skill/stat tree that let me choose skills and stats had appeared, but this time other stars shone as well, including that one.

Symbols for [Spider] and [It] that had appeared after my last rank-up glimmered.

[It]’s skills only start at Rank 5, so I didn’t need to check that.

So [Spider]?

Originally I’d thought to learn a decent skill there, but the situation had changed.

I needed to pick something that made good use of what I’d gained.

And above all, I felt the most urgent need was to fix my own weakness.

Weakness.

I never imagined I’d feel this right after rising to Rank 3.

At least until facing Payneuf I’d felt something like enjoyment.

A swordsman on par with me.

Though life-threatening, I’d been excited at the thought of fighting using my improved specs.

But then I’d met an overwhelmingly strong opponent—Sonia—and that feeling shattered into pieces.

I’d been arrogant.

And above all, I realized how flimsy my fundamentals were.

The sensory overload I felt there?

I experienced it when I came out of that manifested world.

Now I understood why she’d used her umbra’s help.

Probably the “Artist Behind,” which had shown me favor, had granted me superior sensory abilities through that man.

And if I’d been fighting mutants and had been low on health or mana?

No matter how much environmental buff I’d had, I wouldn’t have come out alive like I did.

So now what I cared about was stats, not skills.

When pushed to the limit, casting even a single lifesaving spell became too hard.

My original body specs had basically been near Rank 2 across the board.

So when I’d been Rank 1 I hadn’t invested much.

The only thing I’d opened with the first point at Rank 1 was [Senses], which needed to be unlocked separately.

But checking my stats now after a long time, my previously uneven stats had evened out.

Body-related stats had mostly surpassed Rank 2, and most magic-related stats were already Rank 3, with some heading toward Rank 4.

So… I needed to lay the groundwork.

Raise [Strength], [Dexterity], [Endurance]—the stats still lingering at Rank 2—up to Rank 3.

Likewise, bring the magic stats that were Rank 2 up to Rank 3.

Among them, two stats were already mid-tier Rank 3.

[Magic Power] and [Mana Capacity].

Essential for someone who is a mage.

I’d thought my mana capacity was ample, but because I used fusion magic, it wasn’t enough.

Also, [Magic Power]—the sense of manipulating higher-dimensional magic I’d used still lingered at my fingertips.

It might be important to raise those stats quickly so I didn’t lose that sensation.

Therefore, I’d push those two stats up to Rank 4.

[Unallocated Ability Points 8p]

So that much remained…?

I’d spent a whopping 12 points, dumping them all into stats.

The biggest beneficiary was [Senses], whose potential I’d felt strongly this time.

I’d raised it from the difficult-to-train Rank 1 level up to Rank 3.

I looked forward to how it would perform.

With distribution complete, I turned my gaze to the next place.

A skill tree to pick skills unfolded.

Eight points left.

Might as well blow them all here, right?