Chapter Forty-Six - Techie

As soon as we crossed the wide ditch behind the warehouse to use the shrubbery Sharp and I were both hit with a couple of notifications. I couldn't see her own, obviously, but that didn't stop me from knowing that she'd received something. Her gasp, in time with my own pop-up, was an easy enough tell.

Tech Has Levelled Up!

Tech 2 > 3

Cool Has Levelled Up!

Cool 1 > 2

Two level ups at the same time. I considered it for a moment, but they kind of made sense. Tech likely came from the creation of those Molotovs. That had required some technical knowledge and a bit of research. It didn't surprise me that creating tools of the trade fell into the broad categorization of 'Tech' as a skill.

The Cool level up was less expected. Perhaps that had come as a reward for keeping calm? Or just giving Sharp instructions.

"What did you receive, as far as levels?" I asked.

"Body went up to four," Sharp said.

Reasonable. She'd been training physically a fair bit lately. It seemed like whatever system governed things generally rewarded novel experiences more than constant practice, though we had determined that practice would pay out eventually as well, it just took significantly longer.

"And tech went up to five!" Sharp squealed. "Ohhh, that's a lot of options."

Another skill hitting the perk threshold! Actually, that was her second, confirming that skills needed to hit level five to unlock a perk.

I was worried that there might be something like an incremental gain system, where each subsequent skill-up would require more effort. Maybe only unlocking the second perk as a skill hit six, then seven, and so on. But no, it seemed as though things were a little more reasonable.

"Let's make it back home first. This isn't actually a mission-accomplished until we're safe and the money is in our account."

"Right," Sharp said. She scooped me up, then we quickly made our way out of the area while the warehouse went up in flames behind us. I could see the shadowy forms of the gangsters we'd left behind trying their best to put out the fire with waving coats, but it was already too great for them to control. I imagined that firefighters would be showing up soon. I doubted that the gang could afford that kind of service, but some of the other buildings nearby might have fire-insurance on tap.

"Let's get home," I said.

Of course, we didn't just take a taxi from there. That would have been foolish. Instead we walked for some ways, took an auto-taxi from the industrial area towards home, then got off a town away. From there, Sharp and I both changed clothes and I hid in her coat as she took a night bus to the town I was from then we took a second auto-taxi from another provider to get home.

I could tell that Sharp was basically shaking to start poking at her perks, but we held off. First, we had to reassure the cats that we were back, then feed them, cook something up for ourselves (I barely trusted Sharp to microwave things, so I kept an eye on her as she cooked) and finally, once all that was done, I insisted on a shower and a change into something more comfortable.

I think if I pushed it back any more than that, however, Sharp was going to explode.

"Alright," I said as I sat down across from Sharp. "How many options are we working with, here?"

"Uhm twenty-one," Sharp said. "There's a lot more, but they're greyed-out."

So, similar to my Cat options. Actually, there were fewer of them, but maybe that was because Tech relied more on previous experience? I wasn't sure. "Okay, well, list them out."

Sharp started to rattle out the options, and I quickly stopped her and had her write them out instead. I had a decent memory, but not for twenty-plus distinct names.

Adaptive Oracle DaemonF0rge Patchwork Guru Aegis Sight Digital Cloak Phantom in the Shell Assembly Storm Energy Efficient Pockets Athena's Shield Elysiumian Rust Whisperer Black Ice Breaker Failsafe Scrap Alchemist Chimera Modder Mechwright's Grace Signal Spike Chronos' Custodian Panoptic Snow Crasher

I took a deep breath as I scanned through the completed list. "Some of these sound like they have potential," I said.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"They sound awesome!" Sharp said with obvious, giddy energy. "I'm gonna be so cool. I want that Daemon one!"

"Let's take this one step at a time," I suggested. "Do you mind writing out what they do? Then mark out those that interest you the most." I didn't have the right to tell her which ability to pick, that was to be her choice, but that didn't mean I couldn't guide her a little, or try to.

Sharp nodded quickly and started to scratch down the information she had on the first few skills.

Adaptive Oracle

Prescience in programming. Understand the impacts and affects of any program as they are being modified.

I... didn't know enough about programming to tell if that was good, but any sort of prescience seemed good to me. We didn't do much programming, however. Honestly, this seemed like a somewhat underwhelming start, which led me to suspect that this was stronger than it looked from its description alone.

Aegis Sight

To defend requires sight. See into ranges beyond human limits. Heat and electrical energy become visible.

Thermal and some sort of electrical vision? That was interesting. It was definitely beyond what any normal human could do unaugmented... but there were cybernetic eyes that could do this. I was loathed to encourage Sharp to pick up a perk that could be replaced by a pair of expensive but available eyes.

Assembly Storm

Assemble pre-designed devices and equipment in a storm. Become a whirlwind of creation.

How literal was that? It could be useful, in specific situations.

Athena's Shield

Create a temporary barrier.

Alright. That description was sparse, but still intriguing. The fact that it used the name of a historical, mythological goddess didn't go amiss.

Black Ice Breaker

Hack and break through even the most toughened and dangerous of counter-intrusion software. As subtle as a shot to the face, but just as unstoppable.

If Sharp was a hacker, then this would be a good choice. Too many of them got caught up in some unfamiliar corporate black ice and got themselves killed.

"Anything jumping out at you so far?" I asked.

"That shield one, maybe? I'll put a little star next to it! I think it could be cool, like magic!"

I supposed. Thought this wasn't the Magic perk, so was it technological?

"This one's neat," Sharp said as she bent down and wrote down another.

Chimera Modder

Gain an instinctual understanding of the tech and biology of anything you've killed. Add these modifications to your own tech. Become a fusion of form and function.

That did sound potent. We'd need to experiment with the definition of 'kill' there, but if I was reading it correctly, this was a perk that would let Sharp gain knowledge on how to make things as long as she destroyed those things first. That, and knowledge of how to combine what she knew together.

That was a lot of potential, though all locked away behind having to kill. I could live with that.

Sharp hummed, made a little star next to that one, then moved on to write the next.

Chronos' Custodian

Time moves on, but not evenly. The life of devices you use are prolonged. Bend time to slow decay.

Literal time magic. Or tech so far gone it was a moot point. That was incredible... only it seemed extremely limited in scope.

"Oh, I like this one too!" Sharp said.

DaemonF0rge

Pr0gr@m @ h0st 0ƒ l0y@l min!0ns w!th !nst!nct!v€ 3@$€ t0 c@rr¥ 0ut ¥0ur d@rk d€s!r€s!

"Is it... actually written out like that?" I asked.

"Yup! I'm putting a star next to this one too!"

Digital Cloak

Fading circuits hum,

Whispers lost in silent waves,

Shadows drift unseen.

Okay, so this one was a poem. Great. I suspected that this meant that Sharp's digital signature would be hidden and confused, but I couldn't be certain when the description was a damned haiku.

Energy Efficient

You use less energy to accomplish the same tasks.

How very vague. "You might want to star that one too. It doesn't specify just electrical energy. It could also mean metabolic, and if so, that's a useful side benefit."

"Okay, but we're only halfway through!"

"We have all night," I assured her. "Let's settle in and check the rest, then we can sleep on which one to pick."

I had to admit, Sharp's growing impatience was amusing.

***