Chapter Forty-Seven - Pick

Sharp wrote down the next few perks to pick from with the speed borne of someone who desperately wanted to get something done now. I think she was genuinely worried I'd send her to bed without picking anything if we weren't fast enough.

Of course, I wouldn't actually do that. She'd get her time to pick tonight. It wasn't like she needed a bedtime.

"Okay," Sharp said. "I wrote down the rest at the end of that row. Check these out."

I sat up straighter as she set a page down in front of me.

Elysiumian

All things have an afterlife, even the digital. Gain Lesser Authority over the electronic dead.

Lesser Authority? The capitalization suggested that was a proper thing but I had very few ideas what that could mean. The rest was only mildly concerning. I suspected this would give Sharp control of sorts over broken electronics. Maybe easier access to deleted files. This bordered on the magical.

Mechwright's Grace

When building mechanical devices you move with grace and efficiency. Learn with the ease of the truly talented.

That was just good. Sure, it didn't sound magical, but... well, I had opinions about 'talent' as a concept, but I could acknowledge that it existed, and gaining talent for building things was impressive, the added grace and efficiency was a fantastic bonus. If Sharp wanted to switch track from Edgerunner to mechanic, this would be a no-brainer, something to give her a constant boost until she gained another perk.

Panoptic

Instantly understand the entirety of any system one interfaces with. Beware the bite of knowing.

I worked my little kitty jaw. No. Too risky. It would be fantastic if Sharp were connecting to far older systems. Understanding old Dos-based things in their entirety would be impressive, but not impossible. Written down, they only took up as many pages as a small town library.

A modern system? Suddenly understanding several terabytes of raw information couldn't be healthy.

If she interfaced with the internet? There were parts of the internet that were literally magical nowadays, and some deep, dark areas that were cursed.

No, this would straight up fry Sharp's brain.

It might also... not, but I wasn't going to let her take that risk. Fortunately, she hadn't starred that one.

"Do any of these three jump out to you?" I asked.

"The Mechanical one is kinda neat. A bit boring though," Sharp said.

I considered it. "Star it. It's a valuable skill, even if it doesn't satisfy your flashy urges."

Sharp nodded, took the page, and made a cutesy little star next to Mechwright's Grace. "Here, look at these four in the meantime!"

I had another page placed before me with more text on it.

Pathwork Guru

If it works it ain't broke! Tape, glue, lubricate and patch! It will work.

I hummed. A sort of temporary repair skill? Or maybe not so temporary? The thing was, fixing something required knowledge on what was broken, exactly, and how to make that thing continue to function. Would this grant knowledge, or just let Sharp smack things into working for a little while longer? It wasn't bad in either case, just situational.

I didn't go into the field with gear liable to break, and if something could, then I brought backups.

If a gun jammed on me at the range a few times, then I'd buy another, better, gun. Needing to patch and fix things on the move was a terrible situation to be in.

Phantom in the Shell

Become invisible.

Well... okay. That was... good. No notes. Sharp had put a star on that one already.

Pockets

Now... where did I put that... ah, here it is! The tool I need is always in my pocket!

This one switched to first person, which was concerning, but it was also obscenely strong. "Sharp, out a star on this one too," I said as I patted it with a paw.

"Huh? Okay?"

Rust Whisperer

You can hear the tale of failure. That which is no longer extant in life speaks to you.

Strangely worded, in a way that I found slightly concerning, and with no redeeming quality, at least not compared to other skills.

"Do you have the others?" I asked.

"Yup, last three," Sharp said as she finished writing the final line and set the page down. She started to spread them all out.

I should have used cue cards for this.

Scrap Alchemist

Weave gold from straw. Gain an innate understanding of chemistry and a talent for the alchemical arts using common, everyday items and reagents.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

That was a good one. I wasn't deeply familiar with magic, but alchemy was one of those strange branches that I'd heard about here and there. I'd even purchased some things for a few jobs. Acids that worked impossibly fast, rapid cures for some ailments, potions that could temporarily make one seem more youthful...

Signal Spike

Jack up that signal! Temporarily make signals significantly stronger. Know your com codes!

Very niche. It could be useful for information gathering, but this was a problem that could be solved with some money. Likely not worth it.

Snow Crasher

Get good at music, movies, microcode and high-speed pizza delivery.

That.. okay, this could be good, depending on what 'get good' meant. Did it mean gain a talent for it? Three out of those four were actually useful. Music for timing and dexterity, microcode was just software, which was never too lost, and being good at high-speed deliveries was just handy for traversal.

I didn't know what being good at movies would help with.

"That one looks good, yeah, but I think a few before it were better, and it feels like we've starred too many already."

"Fair point," I said. "What are the options that stood out?"

Sharp wrote down seven options on a new page. "Athena's Shield, that's the one that would give me a shield. Chimera Modder, a bit icky but I'd be able to make stuff based on things I kill. DaemonF0rge, which I really like! It lets you make... uh, stuff? I think those are programs, right?"

"Hostile programs, yes," I said. "Like AI. the stupid sort, not an AGI, but a digital intelligence."

"Neat! And then Energy Efficient, to use less energy doing stuff. Mechwright's Grace, for getting a talent at making things and being good at it. Phantom in the Shell, which turns me invisible, and... Pockets."

"You can only pick one, so let's start eliminating. Do any of them stand out as weaker than the rest?"

"Energy Efficient sounds a bit lame," Sharp said. "Like, no, it's cool, but not that cool?"

"Fair enough," I said. "Scratch it off the list. Any others?"

Sharp winced. "Athena's Shield?"

I nodded. That was fair as well. It would probably be very situational.

"And Pockets. I don't know why you wanted to star that one."

There I disagreed with her. "What is a tool?" I asked. "Because in the Edgerunner trade, weapons are tools. Lockpicks, scanners, timepieces, explosives, detonators, and probably a dozen other items that don't come to mind immediately."

"Oh," Sharp said. She looked down at the list again. "Okay, I guess it can stay for now. Uh... Mechwright's Grace? I mean, it's cool, and useful, but also maybe not something an Edgerunner would need?"

I liked it, and would have it on my own shortlist, but I could see where she was coming from. "Fine, nix that one as well. That leaves four."

"I think... Chimera Modder is kind of gross," Sharp said.

""You do?" I asked. I supposed that I was a little more comfortable with the general idea around killing something for gain than Sharp was. It would take some time for her to come around and see life as a bit more... transactional. "Okay. I can see it having lots of potential, but maybe it'll come up again later."

"Yeah," Sharp said.

Too bad. It was the kind of skill that would be best to start with early, but that was fine.

"So... Pockets, which does sound kinda handy but also a bit... lame? Phantom in the Shell, and DaemonF0rge."

"I'd take Pockets in your place. I think you're underestimating its usefulness. On our last job, we had to go out to buy tools for all sorts of things. Imagine if we could skip that entire investment."

"I guess. But DaemonF0rge! That's so cool!"

"We don't have any of the material or equipment to get you started with coding. And no, you can't start Netrunning from my house. Do you have any idea how often low-level Netrunners get swatted by their competition, or bagged by corporations?" I'd been hired to do just that a few times.

"Aww... but... oh, fine. Phantom in the Shell?"

"Can't argue that invisibility isn't useful," I said plainly.

Sharp hesitated, then she thumped her feet repeatedly against the carpet like a petulant child. She scrunched her face up, waddled left and right, and then... "There!" she cried.

"You picked?" I asked.

"Yup! At random!"

I closed my eyes. This... this idiot. "What did you even get?" I asked.

Sharp grinned, then reached into a pocket, rooted around, and pulled out a fork. "Oh, this is gonna be neat!"

***