Psi Blade.

It was impractical. While manifesting a blade made from pure psychic energy sounded cool, Oliver knew it wasn't a logical choice. Realistically, keeping a sword or other weapon in the warehouse just made more sense. He could easily pull the weapon out when needed and store it away again afterwards. The odds that something locked his access to the system warehouse was small and if something did manage to block it, he was probably screwed anyway. And rejecting this bid would allow him to pick up something else with more practical use.

But it sounded cool, and he wanted it.

He didn't bother to rationalize it to himself. While it would unlock the Psi sub-attribute, he knew that wasn't why he took it. It was a selfish choice, pure and simple, and he knew it. As much as he knew he needed to be serious and prepare for when things go wrong again, he also acknowledged a fact deep in his heart: If he wasn't enjoying life and happy, what was the point in doing any of this?

So he accepted the bid, and traded a pistol for a cool new Psi Blade ability.

Oliver pushed away the eager impulse to learn Psi Blade Manifestation that instant and quickly appraised the other trades he had made.

Tactical Personal Drone: This is a personal drone developed for small scale urban reconnaissance. Possesses flight and stealth capabilities. Stealth mode renders the drone virtually imperceptible visually, though sufficiently advance radar or magical detection may detect it. Internal battery is capable of sustaining up to four hours of flight, or up to thirty minutes of flight if the stealth drive is engaged, before recharging is required. Note – TPD can be linked to Host's cell phone for operational convenience, or linked to an integrated neural up-link(not included).

He was a little surprised when the buyer persisted in bidding again, but was ultimately glad they did. Even with the limited flight time, the drone looked to be incredibly useful. Oliver could easily imagine how much of a difference it could have made when they were attacked. Of course, it's possible it wouldn't have changed anything, but active intelligence should never be discounted.

Pinion Feather Pin: A small, black and gray pin in the shape of a feather. Enchanted to grant the wearer Slow Fall upon activation. 4 charges. This item draws in ambient mana passively, regained 1 charge per 24 hours(variable, based on mana density of current environment).

Slow Fall – Reduces falling speed drastically for 1 minute, allowing the user to land safely.

While not the most impressive item, Oliver couldn't pass it by. Aside from its rival bids being lackluster, there was potential to this item he didn't want to ignore. Increased Vitality or not, falling to death was still a real danger. Especially with magic, and other incredible things, quickly becoming his new reality. For all he knew, he could encounter some flying beast that would try to kill him by dropping him from an incredible height.

Or some asshole would try to throw him off a building. Neither option sounded very appealing to him.

Blood Aura Spell Tome: A grimoire used to teach the reader the spell Blood Aura. Single use. Requires Intelligence 18+ to use. (Blood Aura is a Rank 2 spell)

Blood Aura: An aura of blood surrounds the caster, draining health from all living creatures hostile to the caster within fifteen feet to heal the caster. Minor damage. Minor healing. Mana cost – 10/second while active. Note – Blood aura is invisible to those unable to perceive mana flows. May still be detected by individuals sensitive to natural auras.

Oliver nearly couldn't contain the excitement, and the frustration, he felt at receiving this tome. The potential for magic was right at the tips of his fingers... But still out of reach. As eager as he was to use it, he was still two points of Intelligence short. Thinking about all of his previous attribute increases, it was an easy bit of math.

15,000 credits to raise Intelligence from 16 to 18.

He grimaced as he looked over his remaining credit balance. The system tax on all these trades took most of his remaining credits, leaving him with less than a thousand to work with. And even if he wanted to run out to fill commissions that instant, he knew he couldn't. It was the middle of the night, and he was supposed to be protecting Sophia. Leaving her alone once may have been a calculated risk, but doing it again would just be foolish. Especially when the job should be over soon. He hoped.

Oliver banished those thoughts as he slipped quietly out of bed and into the small bathroom, locking the door behind himself. With a thought, he pulled the Psi Blade Manifestation Technique out of the system warehouse. The weight of the book caught him by surprise, and he understood why the system would refer to them as tomes or grimoires. Easily twice the size of even the heftiest book his college classes had required, its presence seemed to weigh on his mind as heavily as it did his hands.

His eyes were drawn to the intricately detailed cover. Made of a thick slab of wood he couldn't identify, it appeared to be hand carved. Complex swirls and ridges of different height and lengths curved along the surface, reminding him vaguely of an image from his old anatomy book of the human brain. Running his hand across the cover, he jerked it back suddenly with a hiss of pain.

His eyes widened at the sight of thin gashes, almost like paper cuts, running across his palm and fingers.

Turning his gaze back to the cover, it took him only a second to understand. Sharp edges lined each ridge, and many of them ended in a sharp point that was difficult to see without a closer inspection. The cover was literally designed to look like a mind made of blades.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“Fucking awesome.” Oliver whispered to himself.

Unwilling to wait any longer, he opened the tome to its first page... And froze in place at the sight of a new system prompt.

Psi Blade Manifestation Technique

Estimated Independent study time required to learn – 6 months

Activate System Assisted Integration? (Cost: 4,000 credits)

Estimated time required for System Assisted Integration – 2 hours

(Yes/No)

Oliver let out a disappointed sigh as he tossed the tome back in to the warehouse. Why couldn't it be like a video game? Just click on the tome and instantly learn a new spell or ability... It would have been too easy. While the assisted integration was similar, the fact that it cost more credits... Slowly, he pushed away the frustration at being stone-walled. While he wouldn't be able to try out the Psi Blade immediately, earning the credits required would just be another small goal he could accomplish quickly.

Though it did raise the question, would Blood Aura have a similar prompt? A similar time or cost to learn? Earning more credits suddenly had an even higher priority.

With those thoughts in the back of his mind, he moved on to his other new items. The Pinion Feather Pin didn't require much investigation. Similar to the Scarper Charm in activation, and a straight forward effect, it was easy to understand. He admired its elegant appearance for a moment before moving on.

The Tactical Personal Drone, or TPD for short, was not what he expected. Instead of the quad-copter, remote controlled image he had in mind... It was a silver sphere, roughly the size of a grapefruit. Its smooth, polished surface ran all the way around without a hint of an opening for a camera. Or a charging port. Oliver glanced blankly between the drone in one hand and his phone in the other.

“How the hell do I link the drone to my phone?”

The moment he muttered the words, the drone rotated in his hand and the phone screen lit up briefly with the words 'TPD Linked'. Seeing the new app simple labeled 'TPD' in the screen, he tapped on it. A grin spread across his face when the drone started hovering and the image of himself sitting in the bathroom appeared on his phone screen. With a quick examination, the drone controls seemed to function similar to a few flight sim phone games he had tried in the past, including a display for remaining battery life and a wire outline of the drone to display damage taken – which was thankfully still in the green, denoting it as undamaged.

And a small glowing button labeled 'Stealth Mode'. Oliver stared in amazement when the drone completely disappeared, right in front of his eyes. Only the crystal clear image display on his phone reassured him that the drone was still there. After a moment to marvel at the incredible drone, he turned off stealth and exited the app, plucking the drone from the air.

“Now how do I charge you?”

He almost laughed aloud when a small section of the sphere slid aside, revealing what looked like a standard USB charger cable.

“Seriously? Aliens use the same cables we do? Or is there some adaptive component to your design? Or... You know what, never mind. It doesn't matter. Why the hell am I talking to a drone anyway?” With a shake of his head, he made a mental note to keep the drone charged before storing it for later.

Only one item left, though he was a bit wary of this one.

Adaptive Stealth Armor, 'Lita' variant.

Nervous tension ran through Oliver as he considered this one. A strange and unknown living armor... What would happen? Would it morph into a bloodthirsty monster and devour all of humanity? Or would it simply protect him like the description said? He couldn't be sure, but some instinct deep inside told him it would be fine.

Probably.

With a deep breath to clear away his worries, he pulled it from the warehouse only to stare in confusion. It didn't look like armor at all. If anything, it just looked like a blob of black slime, slowly oozing through his fingers.

Until it moved.

The blob suddenly clung to his hand and started to flow up his arm. Oliver suppressed the panic that flashed through him and quickly removed his shirt as it draped across his shoulders and began to spread across his chest and back. In just seconds it covered his torso like a tight fitting black undershirt.

Then the pain hit him.

He ground his teeth as what felt like a large gauge nail was driven into his chest. A sense of weakness swept across him as he felt blood flowing out of him... and into the armor. Even getting shot hadn't hurt as much. But before he knew it, it was already over and the pain stopped. Though the way the armor shifted and writhed left him feeling unsettled.

It seemed... content, or perhaps pleased, with the taste of his blood.

Taking a moment to gather himself, Oliver examined it carefully. By all appearances, it was just a normal black shirt, nothing special to it.

“I don't know if you can understand me, Lita, but lets give this a go. Show me what you can do?”

The armor sat on his body, completely unresponsive. Oliver wracked his brain as he re-read the description. Not sentient... Maybe it could follow simple commands?

“Can you change your color to blue?”

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, as if suddenly understanding what he wanted, its color rapidly faded from black to midnight blue.

“Ok, not bad. How about a brighter shade, like teal?”

As Lita shifted colors once again, Oliver knew he would need to experiment with commands for a while tonight. Knowing the full abilities and potential of his new armor would be critical if he found himself in more dangerous situation.

And, with his track record, he fully expected it.