Chapter — 7

When the recalibration started, it wasn't anything like the previous time. Firstly, the feeling was more ephemeral; secondly, there was no pain. It felt more like being a spectator, witnessing the nanites throughout her nervous system shift and adapt to something inside her. What they actually did was still a mystery.

Without the overwhelming information dump and pain from the previous recalibration, she had a better gauge of the time the process took, and it couldn't have been more than a minute.

Her peculiar sense of being a spectator dissipated when the process concluded, and she regained full command of herself. There was no overt alteration, yet she sensed a subtle enhancement in her emotional equilibrium. Upon further introspection, she unearthed a new, intriguing element.

It was as if she was on the cusp of a new sense developing, one connected to her nanites and the System. It wasn't intrusive but more of a feeling in the background.

She sat up in bed, moving the pillow behind her back to lean against as she opened her status sheet.

「Takeda Rei:

Level: 1 [0 / 2000 Experience]

Body: 1

Mind: 8

Ego: 5

Perks: [...]

Skills: [...]

Perk Points: 2

Skill Points: 1」

A few things had changed since the last time she looked at it. Her level had increased to one, and the experience counter had shifted from showing [500 / 1000] experience to [0 / 2000]. It seemed that each level required more experience to reach.

Her body and mind attributes had remained the same, but [Ego] now displayed as having reached five.

With that increase, she'd also gained another [Perk Point], something she'd speculated about previously. It was either a fluke or every five attribute points in their respective category gained one such point. As her mind had already been well past five, she'd already had one point there since the beginning.

Rei hadn't used any of her perk points yet, so the [Perk] section remained empty. It was a different story when she focused on her [Skills].

「Skills:

[Strong Will, Level 1]」

The skill section now had one entry, her new skill. Rei was curious about how skills were earned. Did she only have to show a certain level of proficiency in said skill to obtain it, or did some other requirement have to be met?

She focused on the skill, and obligingly, its description showed up.

「[Strong Will]

Governing attribute: Ego

Description: Through emotional tribulations, you've managed to push on, gathering your will into a unified whole with a new purpose and determination. This skill will help keep that will from faltering.」

According to the description, it seems as if this skill will help me, what, increase my 'will's' fortitude? It's such a nebulous concept. How will this skill help me?

It was a bit confusing to Rei. Ultimately, though, she had decided to trust the System for now. Since that was the case, there was no reason to look much further into how it did things — at least for the moment.

Its governing attribute is [Ego]. Does that mean that leveling this skill will help me raise that attribute? Or does it work a different way? I suppose the skills description makes the skill fit under that attribute, but all the same...

She was a bit peeved at being so clueless about how her attributes worked. It once again pricked at her feeling of not being in absolute control over the things around her.

I wonder.

Rei could open the skill's description by focusing her will on it, so she speculated that perhaps, with her newly developing sense of the nanites and System, she could do something similar to her attributes.

It was worth a try in her eyes.

She set her mind to the task, intently focusing on the body attribute.

She tried to force her will upon it, straining her mind to keep her focus from shifting. Slowly, almost reluctantly, glimpses of information trickled into her.

The data appeared a bit scattered, and its cohesion was lacking. What Rei did glean was helpful, though.

So, the body attribute relates to all things physical. I can raise it by physical exercise. No, wait. I can exercise my organic parts to increase it.

If I replace parts of my body with cyberware, such as a limb, for example, I can still raise the attribute, but it requires a different approach, I think?

That makes some sense, as doing curls with a metal arm wouldn't build muscles if I don't have a 'real' bicep. Or why would that even matter? Muscles are muscles, synthetic or otherwise... this is all so confusing.

It wasn't clear, but the information she got was helpful nonetheless. Rei had inferred that physical exercise would raise the attribute, but she hadn't considered what would happen if she replaced her muscles with cybernetics. She still wasn't clear on that part, but at least she now knew something would happen.

She switched her focus to the mind attribute and repeated her efforts.

Hmm. [Mind] is a bit harder to grasp. It seems as if I can increase it by doing mental exercises, like puzzles, problem-solving, and... mental math? No, mental calculations seem more apt. It will result in a natural increase in that attribute. Wait, what's this?

She increased her efforts further, and bits of the information she sought presented itself.

Cyberware for increasing mental performance? So, these things exist? It looks like these augmentations can add static improvements to my attribute, but to really make use of them, I'll have to... use them for training?

Rei surmised that [Mind] could only be efficiently raised by dedicated training and pushing one's limits. It was fair, she supposed. She didn't exert any additional mental energy for more clarity as she'd already started getting a headache.

Wait... does this count as training?

It was an intriguing thought, but she left it alone to focus on the last attribute.

[Ego] is strange indeed. The attribute can be raised by... improving one's sense of self? Self-identity? Individuality? No, it doesn't quite fit.

There's something like that to it, but it isn't clear. There also seem to be some social aspects linked to it. Ugh, please don't tell me I have to become an extrovert to increase the attribute!

The ego attribute was the most unclear of all the attributes in the information it provided. Rei had some clues from her recent increase in it, as well as the skill that came from her efforts to get a grip on her turbulent emotions.

She set all that aside for now, however, as there was no real need to get a perfect understanding right then. It seemed to her that raising her ego attribute had somewhat increased her control over the System's functions, meaning she could try again in the future when that control solidified more.

What else changed? Oh, right. I gained one more perk point, but more notably, a skill point.

She barely had to apply any mental strength to understand the purpose of skill points. They were used to raise skill levels — as simple as that.

She did have to increase her effort to learn that skill levels were still raiseable without points, but raising them would become exponentially harder the further along they were.

Spending my skill point can wait until I have more skills or if my one and only skill refuses to level on its own. I have to spend my perk points, though. But not right this instant; my head is killing me.

Her headache had grown quite severe from all her efforts to glean information, but she found it a worthy trade. She now had a more concrete understanding of what she had to do to gain strength.

If my future fate under the Cyber Fangs seems bleak. I have to do everything I can to escape it — or, more accurately, overcome it. As that's the case, I can't afford to hold back in my training. Miyo and Ichiro will probably become suspicious once they see what I suspect to be a rather rapid improvement, but it can't be helped.

***

Two days of dedicated training later, it happened once more.

「Notice:

Body attribute has increased.

Body: 1 → 2

Received: 500 Experience」

Having been ready for something like this ever since she started her training, Rei focused as much of her mind as she could and mentally commanded:

STOP.

The notification flickered once, the neon-orange borders glitching, before the mental window vanished. Rei could still feel it in the back of her mind, like a persistent fly trying its best to be a nuisance.

Thank god that worked. The System says that the previous errors of the recalibration process have been resolved, and my recalibration of [Ego] seems to support that. But all the same, Miyo's right there.

Miyo was sitting on their couch, her eyes glazed over as she watched some drama show about mercenary — or operator, as they were more commonly known — with artificially suppressed emotions somehow falling in love with a prostitute.

At Miyo's insistence, Rei watched for about ten minutes before calling it quits and returning to her exercises.

"So, has he found out yet that the prostitute is a dude?" Rei said, taking a towel and cleaning her sweaty face with trembling arms that she didn't have to fake.

Miyo's head jerked a bit as if suddenly waking from torpor. "Huh? Ah, yes? Yeah, sure. He's now going on a rampage."

Rei suppressed a snort at her sister's apparent lack of interest in the show.

"You done with exercising for today? You're sweating like mad." Miyo stood up and moved closer to Rei, touching her red and somewhat sweaty forehead. She tsked and said, "Rei, you're pushing too hard. You're nearly burning up; you're so warm."

"Yeah, yeah." Rei swatted her hand away half-heartedly, a bit irritated at Miyo's constant nagging whenever she was home the last two days. She did appreciate someone caring, but it wouldn't change what she had to do.

Trying to shift the topic, she said, "I'm famished. Want to eat with me?"

She wasn't actually that hungry, but having learned from last time, she'd decided to stuff herself to bursting before ever allowing the body recalibration to begin.

"Hm, alright. I must go to work soon, but some food beforehand wouldn't hurt. You go shower as you won't be exercising more today, understood?"

"Alright already! Geez."

Rei began a slow shamble toward the bathroom. She had already shown her siblings that she could stand and walk, albeit with difficulty. After what they thought to be two weeks of dedicated rehabilitation, it wasn't strange that she could move about somewhat on her own.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

She was still careful to don baggy clothes — mostly sporting sweatpants and hoodies — to hide her body as best she could before her upcoming recalibration.

I have to at least make some effort to hide my changes. There's no guessing if WolfMosh or someone else in the Cyber Fangs has bugged my siblings' cyberware. They may even be watching out of their eyes whenever we meet. It creeps me out.

It was a troubling prospect, but based on what she'd read about Meshmagi's proven and speculated abilities, it wasn't out of the question. It all came down to how good they were.

***

After a speedy shower and a meal where Miyo looked askance at her due to the quick stuffing of her face, Rei bid farewell to her sister and moved to sit in her bedroom.

Now that Miyo is out and I've eaten as much as I possibly could, I guess it's time. I'm on the verge of throwing up anyway.

The notification process she had suppressed had severely taxed her mental energy, and it was a relief to finally let it go. As she did, the same thing with feeling like a spectator in her own body during her [Ego] recalibration happened once more.

Detached, she felt more than saw the uncountable number of nanites stop whatever they were doing and start on something new.

Rei hadn't been cognizant enough last time to observe the process, but now that she could, she noticed how most of the nanites present in her stomach started to replicate. She thought she also felt it happening elsewhere, but not nearly as often as in her center mass.

All the food she'd stuffed herself with and even some of the food her biological processes were in the middle of digesting were being consumed rapidly. She saw her bloated stomach shrink in real time and began to worry that she hadn't eaten enough.

It stopped, however, before she could begin to panic, and the newly replicated nanites began to move about onto their next task.

I can't discern the individual nanomachines, but it feels like more of them are covering every part of my body.

Their spread is also a bit more even, though most are still packed tightly around my nerves and brain. There are also some in my cybernetic eyes and neural link that I overlooked before. They don't seem to be doing much as of yet.

After the replication was done, the physical augmentation began. It was a bit unnerving to watch as the tiny machines tore her body apart at a microscopic level, only to rebuild it again, stronger than before. There was no pain this time, which Rei was quite thankful for now, as she could fully appreciate the damage and healing being repeated all across her physicality.

What concerned Rei was that her remaining storage of food was slowly but steadily depleting during this process, something she ought to have realized would happen. Her body couldn't rebuild itself without fuel, and she wanted to grit her teeth in frustration as whatever fat reserves she'd built started to dwindle.

My poor tits... They had barely started to regrow...

Rei wasn't really mad at going back to being flat as a board, as she knew it would be temporary. All the same, seeing them shrink still hurt her morale and vanity.

As soon as the process finished, Rei returned to herself and was immediately impressed by the changes she felt.

Immediately after being impressed, she had to bend over and clutch her stomach in pain as severe hunger gripped her core.

Fuuuck, still not enough food.

She hastily went to the kitchen and took out some packets of pre-cooked food that she heated.

Rei had subtly suggested over the past week that she wanted variety in her diet and used the nutritional recommendations from the rehab exercises to guide Miyo and Ichiro in bringing more food to the apartment. It had worked, and their storage was now fully stocked with easy-to-heat pre-cooked food.

These days, everyone who wasn't some important corporate executive lived on pre-cooked food, and no one at the middle or lower end of the economic ladder had the appliances at home to cook anything.

From what she'd read, Rei suspected that no apartment in their entire complex had a single kitchen appliance other than the device to heat food and a place to store said food.

Rei bounced on tip-toes as she waited the few seconds necessary for the food to heat before yanking it out. She found a pair of chopsticks she wasn't even sure were clean and devoured the bland noodle dish.

"Aaah, fuck yes." She moaned, having come up for air after finishing the entire container.

She grabbed another one and heated it before moving to the dinner table, kneeling on one of the cushions, and digging in once more.

The action repeated itself until she was once more filled to bursting but not so bloated as to become nauseous.

Rei covered her mouth as she burped, looking around for paper to clean herself up a bit.

Out of the corner of her vision, two yellow eyes scrutinized her with a hint of curiosity, much suspicion, and a bit of disdain.

"What, Sally?"

Sally didn't hiss at her but continued to stare unblinkingly.

Rei shrugged and began to look around for her target, only to snap her head back to the tiny cat as it almost seemed to do the same before zooming off to flop onto the couch.

I just imagined it. Sally didn't shrug snootily back at me.

***

Now fed and cleaned up, Rei lay on the couch, keeping a respectful distance toward her feline companion at the other end. She was still alone in the apartment, as not much time had passed since Miyo left.

To add some noise to the otherwise silent abode — discounting the muffled sounds of the bustling city outside and a pair of neighbors getting frisky — she'd started the practice of keeping the holographic display on with a news channel or the like.

It was more ads than any real content, but what she gathered when an actual news anchor was present clued her in on the new world's current general state. Even the ads gave some ideas on trends and what people sought in this day and age, and Rei found all of them strange or even bizarre.

An ad for a medical procedure to get the fluffiest feline, canine, or ursine ears on the market — according to the husky female voice doing the exposition — was playing in the background. Rei wasn't listening, though, having already seen the ad two times during the half-hour she'd sat in the living room.

In fact, Rei had been filtering out the noise for the past five minutes as she psyched herself up to finally do what she believed needed to be done.

It's now or never.

With a last struggle and internal sigh, she brought up her status sheet and focused on the section with her perk points.

「Perk Points: 2」

Hmm, I know that one of those perk points is for the mind attribute, and I guess the new one is for [Ego], but it's a bit confusing to not see it clearly displayed on the sheet.

Having a sudden brainwave and curious if she could, she focused her will and intent on the [Perk Point] section.

The task felt like arguing against someone too set in their ways as her mind strained to flex the rigidity out of the System and allow her desires to be realized. Eventually, though, something gave, and with a flicker, the section changed.

「Perk Points: [Mind 1, Ego 1]」

Ah, much better.

Her repeated — if minor — successes altering the System or, at least, influencing its processes buoyed her spirits and gave her the illusion of a thread of control.

Now, which to choose first...

Her first thought was to pick a mind perk first, as she'd gotten that way before the other, but upon a few more seconds of consideration, she changed her mind.

There sure are some amazing perks for the mind attribute, but I haven't even glanced at what [Ego] can offer me. And not to mention how much the recent [Ego] recalibration did for me...

She still didn't understand how a skill such as [Strong Will] worked, but she hoped the perks would enlighten her.

[Ego] first, then [Mind]. If I can do both in one day.

Taking a deep breath, she focused on the perk point of her choosing and immediately felt a flood of information flow into her. It was similar to when she'd checked the other attribute point, but the perks listed were quite different.

Perks for the mind attribute had unsurprisingly been focused primarily on mind-enhancing or mind-altering abilities. [Ego] perks were, on the other hand, much broader in scope.

She saw perks for social aspects, such as [Harmless] that made people see you as less of a threat; [Etiquette] that gave you a basic yet instinctive understanding of the appropriate etiquette to employ on different people or during different circumstances; and even something like [Many Faces] which would enable you to adopt various personas to either imitate others or construct new identities without effort.

Even more prevalent among the [Ego] perks were those related to oneself, and Rei wasn't particularly surprised by this.

There were perks such as [Adaptable], which would make one's sense of self more fluid, allowing one to easily incorporate new aspects into one's identity without as much struggle as Rei had faced when merging two lives into one; [Enigmatic], which, from Rei's understanding, made one's actions and thoughts less easy to interpret to others; and [Fearless], which removed any sense of fear from one's person, for good or ill.

Of course, the list included considerably more perks for [Ego], and many were grayed out due to missing prerequisites or some other reason.

Even with so many choices, Rei had narrowed down her selection.

Her list had come down to [Indomitable], [Harmless], and [Enigmatic] — her reasoning being that both [Harmless] and [Enigmatic] would allow her to better plot an escape from the Cyber Fangs together with her siblings or, even better, a way to neutralize the threat.

The [Indomitable] perk would further strengthen her will, which she thought might help her cope with her near future and make her more in control over the Samurai System — both valuable assets.

She experienced some terror at the prospect of choosing any of the perks, even as tantalizing as their promise of power was, but Rei stuffed those feelings to the back of her mind with copious amounts of her will.

Rei couldn't allow fear to cloud her judgment. She felt she needed to be as impartial as possible when making her decisions, and logical thinking gave her an epiphany.

She'd gotten a glimpse of another perk but dismissed it out of hand due to its unmistakable connotations.

Scrolling through the list until she found it, she studied its purpose with a fresh perspective.

It was called [Merciless], and as Rei had suspected, it made her less emotionally vulnerable to acts of cruelty — either performed by her or on her — but also made her less hesitant about doing what she thought was needed, even making it feel rewarding.

In other words, it increased her apathy yet paradoxically made it easier for her to perform actions aligned with her purpose and goals.

As much as she hated to admit it, [Merciless] fit her well enough that taking it wouldn't change who she was on a fundamental level.

From what she remembered as the old Rei, she had needed to become ruthless and decisive to survive, trampling others to get ahead or even just survive. Her last act as Agnes also showed her capacity for cruelty when it came down to her own survival, sacrificing her own digital children for the merest chance of escape.

Although Agnes had shown that capacity, the current Rei didn't think it would be enough in her present situation. Her partial resolution of the internal conflict between two lives and the [Ego] recalibration had made it clear that the majority of her sense of self was still influenced by Agnes' identity.

Will I have what it takes to take a life if it becomes necessary? What if it comes down to a fight, and my senior brothers and sisters side with WolfMosh? Could I sever all ties and murder them in cold blood, or would I hesitate and suffer for it?

Rei could barely remember the people in her hypothetical scenario, but there was a clear doubt in her heart.

This doubt I feel now is the hesitation that will rear its ugly head when it is time to act.

Rei moved her glazed eyes toward the window, her eyes slowly refocusing as she gazed upon the bustling cityscape. The sudden doubt she'd instilled in herself with dark thoughts made it clear that she wasn't as ready for this new life yet as she'd deluded herself into believing.

Just from the few fragments of memories of her time as the old Rei told her that the world was perhaps uglier than it had ever been. Humanities efforts to reach higher had likewise allowed some to reach deeper, uncovering things in the human psyche that were meant to be forever buried.

She stood up and walked toward the window, her eyes upon the sea of humanity in this tiny corner of Tokyo, Zone 8.

The wide alley below lacked any road, forcing people to walk or use less spacious modes of transportation. Some sections between high-rises were built like this, encouraging foot traffic where markets and shops could sprout without roads to interfere. In these cases, like with AC #2032, vehicles had to take the skyways, their ramps going into parking spaces built into the complex on the higher floors.

This meant that Rei hadn't even been outside the complex when arriving — the cab having dropped them off on the floors above before they took an elevator down to their apartment floor.

Now, for the first time, she really looked at the outside world, trying to decipher what she saw and make sense of what her scattered memories told her.

Holographic advertisements for sex, drugs, violence, and other vices joined the flickering neon lights from stalls and shop signs flashing enticingly to every passerby. The vibrant colors refracted beautifully in the heavy downpour — the puddles intermittently visible through the throngs of bodies sometimes reflecting into Rei's apartment.

Rei didn't know how long she stood there, but she witnessed what she thought were two thefts and one assault, even with the poor visibility.

Then, she saw one visibly cybernetically enhanced man grab a young woman no older than Rei by the wrist, his fingers deftly plucking something from her hand as she struggled to free herself. Rei couldn't see her face, but her frantic movements conveyed desperation.

The man re-slotted what Rei realized was a data shard back into his neck. It could have contained anything, from family photos to a stack of credits or another obscure currency. Rei knew that those who didn't want their purchases tracked by corporations used cred-shards as a replacement for cash.

Did that ragged-looking woman try to steal it?

Then, without any hesitation, the heavily augmented man closed his fist and punched the woman in the face with his free arm, releasing her as she dropped. Her face was caved in, the cranial structure wholly shattered.

Some heads flicked in their direction, but the man simply turned and walked away. No one bothered to check on the woman, and soon, the flow of bodies just passed around her limp form, stepping over the blood now tainting the puddle beneath.

Rei, transfixed by the horrific scene of casual public murder, could only stare, her eyes growing colder as she watched every person that passed, some not even glancing at the corpse.

She watched as some street kids — not dissimilar to the woman in apparel, only much younger — ran towards the body and started stripping it for valuables. One boy even took the woman's shirt, leaving her bare chest and torso exposed to the rain as they scarpered, having gotten little but still seemingly pleased if Rei judged by the spring in their steps.

She knew she couldn't condemn the kids for their actions. Those at the bottom had to do whatever they could to stay alive. To thrive at the bottom, there were those who had no limits in how deep they sunk into depravity.

Still, her thoughts couldn't help but linger on the casual acceptance of the reality that seemingly everyone had adopted, and Rei watched as a duo of some sort of corporate security finally showed up and grabbed the now-stripped corpse.

They merely dragged it to the entrance to an alley with multiple dumpsters, laboring in the rain as they pushed the shell of a recently alive human being down among the trash, their gestures no less animated as they continued to talk about something.

Rei felt bile rise in her throat as the man fondled one of the exposed breasts while laughing to his companion before casually walking away.

There was no sign of them investigating the cause behind the woman's state.

No sign of any distress or remorse.

No sign that anyone cared.

Rei clenched her fist and gritted her teeth.

With the barest hint of hesitation on my part, that could be me.

She blacked out before she even hit the floor, having accepted the perk she thought necessary for her continued survival.