Lost Rain
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Outrun - Chapter 190
🕑 Added 2024-12-30 23:04:01 +0000 UTCI collapsed onto my small bed, a stroke of pure satisfaction running through me as I felt the soft mattress. I’d spent way too long letting the water brush over my skin, even going as far as to ignore the interface popping up in my vision until now. All for this moment of relaxation. Of being sand-free for the first time in a month. My hair had been particularly filled with the substance.
I relaxed for a while. Unfortunately, the world wouldn't wait for me like the interface would. I finally looked at the transparent screen. I’d been busy the past month, and it showed.
「Tech - 8>11」
「Stealth - 10>11」
「Perception - 8>10」
「Firearm - 5>9」
「First Aid - 4>5」
「Evasion - 4>6」
「Cleaning - 3>4」
「Brawling - 3>4」
There was a certain sense of satisfaction in seeing so many of my Skills level up. Especially the ones that leveled enough to get a new Perk. Firearms, Cleaning, and Brawling specifically. The latter two weren’t super useful for me, but getting a Firearms perk would always be helpful.
It was nice seeing a Skill get five levels in one go too. It’d been since I first got the interface that I saw such a jump in levels. As it turns out, spending hours fighting off a mindless horde of Dune Walkers was a quick way to power level. Not that I ever wanted to throw myself into such a situation again.
It looked like Tech might pass Stealth soon, which was just awesome. Seeing it only jump two levels confirmed that Skills grew much slower at higher levels. And significantly at that. I spent far more time doing Tech-related things than shooting a gun and yet it’d only grown two levels.
Still, it was only a matter of time till I hit level twelve in one of my Skills and earned that Interface Upgrade or whatever the eidolons called it. I’d hit my goal of getting Tech up to Stealth regardless. I was now free to dump my next Skill Point into either Tech or Stealth at the next opportunity.
And of course, I had my Perk Points I needed to spend before that. I had no idea if Brawling or Cleaning would be of any help with their Perks, but I had high hopes for a good Firearms Perk. Dexterity was already insane in its versatility.
Before heading into a two-day forced vacation, I left for my hidden speakeasy. For the most part, I spent the rest of the day repairing my broken gear and fixing any minor issues I noticed.
That mainly meant my drone and the gauntlets. The drone I’d disassembled to get into the Back Archives, so it needed to be rebuilt from the ground up. Not too difficult of a thing to do, but it required quite a bit of time for the SITCH to print my parts.
The gauntlets weren’t that bad by comparison. They still worked just fine, though I had one fix and one change I wanted to implement. The fix was for the slight issue of feeding electricity back through the gauntlet into me when I used them.
To get around that small issue, I incorporated a layer of insulation between my skin and the metal. I also adjusted the pressure plate system that the thing activated off of, fixing a spot where it connected back into the gauntlet when hit with sufficient force. I hadn't punched with full might when initially testing it, so I'd overlooked that particular issue.
I tested the gauntlets quite extensively for a few hours. I didn’t want a repeat of self-shocking during a fight. The last time I tested it, I didn’t put the gauntlets through enough stress. This time I made sure to check all my bases.
While I was here, I also started printing parts for a sentry gun. I’d drawn quite a few designs on the latest gig, so I just had to port them over to the SITCH’s built-in terminal. It was a bit of a time-consuming process, especially considering the complexity of some of the parts.
I ended up settling for a design I denoted as a Briefcase Sentries. The idea was that I could fit two of said Sentries into a small briefcase. They weren’t super powerful by any means. Their small size affected the caliber of their guns. The plan was to use them for either surprise attacks or for distractions though, so their caliber wouldn’t matter all that much.
Their design required a lot of folding parts and interlocking mechanisms to stay small, so it’d take four or five days for the SITCH to finish printing everything out. The mag feed for the turret—which I set to be overhead like the Raijin P-490 Lia and Hampton—alone would take half a day to print. For each turret.
Yeah, so I was basically done building stuff till all that finished printing. At least, building stuff with the SITCH. Could always make some plastic parts if I needed to, but I was down to just chill and relax for a week.
While I was here, I dropped off the bird parts from that Aether bird back in New Tress City. I also looked over the things with Aetherial Perception. Now that I was free of the city and that horrid entity, I was once more free to use my Perk.
Looking the stuff over, I couldn’t really tell much about it other than the fact it deeply resonated with the Aether. The feathers looked as though they were part of the Aether themselves, almost as if they were stuck between the two dimensions. I had high hopes for the feathers.
I’d definitely have to do quite a bit more research about everything related to entering the Aether before I messed with the stuff. I knew it was possible though. Aether Gates, while I knew next to nothing about them, were something that I’d heard about once or twice. Instantaneous travel through the Aeter, though there were only a few of them around the world.
Speaking of, eidolons? You’d be the best source of information regarding anything to do with the Aether. One of you want to throw me a bone? Just this once? I’d really appreciate it!
I waited a few moments. No reply. Figures, I wasn’t really expecting-
「Request - Echidna’s Shrine - Received
Visit Echidna’s shrine and offer a relic, enchanted item, Remnant, or Revenant.
Reward: Access to Aether Jumping documents」
Oh… Echidna, eh? I’ve uh- I’ve never heard of them. No offense. There were probably dozens of eidolons I hadn’t heard of all in all. What even is an Echidna? Ah, wait, thank you! I’ll definitely do that.
As for what Echdna wanted… there were a few I could offer. That revolver I took from my underground vault was one. Still didn’t know what it even did. Or I could offer that celestial compass. It looked fine but I wasn’t really sure if I’d ever get around to actually using it. At least, I hadn’t used it yet.
That could wait for later though. I looked up Echidna on the Net. Apparently, echidnas were a mammal covered in sharp quills. It looked a bit like an hedgehog and was one of two mammals that laid eggs.
As for Echidna the eidolon? She was one of the few eidolons who had a public working relationship with the corporate side of the world. Specifically, with Mystech. Apparently, she was well known for creating and modifying anything magical. She wouldn’t be a bad eidolon to get to know, even with her corporate relations.
I left my speakeasy, stopping by the gym to lift some weights on my way out. I had access, and I was here, so why not use the equipment? Sure, it wasn’t nearly as good as the Crusade’s equipment, which I also had access to. It was safe from the Inquisitor though! Or, at least, I hoped it was.
Unfortunately, that was basically it as far as outside activities went. I didn’t get paid until next week thanks to Athena having to find buyers for everything. With the SITCH busy, and my bank account momentarily low, I returned to my apartment and pulled up my stats.
「Name: Shiro Tsukuyomi
Traits: Fox’s Grace, Quick Healing, Insight
Free Perk Points: 1
Tracking - 7
Stalk
Tech - 11
Eidetic Schematic
Corvid
Stealth - 11
Fox’s Paw
Cold-Blooded
Sleight of Hand - 9
Hidden Hands
Ambidextrous
Perception - 10
Aetherial Perception
Technical Expertise
Net - 3
Melee Weapons - 5
Throwing Weapon Master
Intimidation - 3
Firearm - 9
Dexterity
1 Perk Point
First Aid - 5
Calming
Explosives - 1
Evasion - 6
Burst Step
Driving - 7
Land Vehicles
Deception - 8
Honest Face
Master of Disguise
Criminology - 7
Cues
Concealment - 8
Lethargic Presence
Hidden Weapon
Cleaning - 4
1 Perk Point
Brawling - 4
1 Perk Point
Accounting - 1」
Perks! Perks! Perks!
It was finally time to pick out a Perk. I laid down on my bed and settled in as I was sucked into the pavilion. The first Perk I wanted to grab up was for Cleaning. It was pure curiosity that drove me to it.
I arrived before the shelf, eagerly looking through the vast array of Cleaning-related Perks. Most of them were as I expected. Nothing too intriguing. Quite a few related to chemicals and cleaning with said chemicals. There was even one that would modify my body to generate chemicals instead of sweat, which was… interesting.
The idea of bleach or some acid pouring out of my skin was quite uncomfortable. It definitely had quite a bit of applications, but it wasn’t something I was necessarily interested in.
There were surprisingly few high-level Perks though. Almost every Perk I saw was achievable with the first Perk Point of Cleaning. It was almost as if no one had hit higher levels of Cleaning, so the eidolons never created higher-level Perks. That thought alone almost made me want to level Cleaning just to see what would happen.
Cleaning would be a skill I could power level too, though I wasn't sure if it was worth the time investment. I mean, I would be better off making stuff for Tech or going out on a heist. Speaking of heists, I was really looking forward to doing one. The gig with the Crimson Company hadn't quite scratched that itch- Focus up, Shiro! Perks now, plotting later.
Eventually, I settled on a Perk that wouldn’t provide any immediate benefits. Once I got the speakeasy up and actually running as a true bar though, it’d be nice to have.
「Squeaky Clean - Increase the atmosphere and mood of people in places you clean.」
Yeah, nothing too insane. Atmosphere and mood were two very important factors when it comes to bars though. With both good, people would be more willing to come back. Returning customers were paying customers.
Of course, that was in the future. I didn’t even own the building, let alone have everything needed to run a bar. It’d be a long time till then if I had to guess. But that was fine. Goals for the future were nice to have. It gave me direction past the day-to-day.
I took the scroll over to the easel and set it down. I was expecting a perfectly realistic painting, but what I found surprised me. It was a half-finished painting of a person cleaning the floor with a mop. Such a sight severely dropped my confidence in the perk. Was the effect half-finished too?
Unfortunately, I didn’t have long to think about it before I was kicked out of the pavilion and sent back to my apartment. It seemed it was one of the magical effect-type Perks as nothing too major happened. Which was nice.
Since it was an easy acquisition, I was more than happy to delve back into the Pavilion and pick another Perk. At least, that was until I heard my phone ring. Not my usual phone either. It was the Blue Crusade phone.
I reached for it as the screen flicked on, revealing five dozen missed calls from the inquisitor and two times as many text messages. The most recent was a minute ago and the one furthest back would’ve been a few days after I left the city. Did something go down?
I hesitantly reached for the phone and called the Inquisitor back.
Comments
Gardor
Oh I assumed she'd get sucked into something urgent and wouldn't be able to get more perks, cuz she'd be worried about being in a coma for two days. While I think her actually interfacing with the status might be a bit of a weak point, she still uses her system given skills and perks all the time, which is the more important aspect of a litrpg, imo. At least in a world where the system skills are different than the stuff other people can do. If any mage can cast fireball, and our special system having protagonist also has a fireball skill, I guess it wouldn't carry that much weight.
Lost Rain
The phone call was just a phone call. It’ll be over and onto spending more Perk Points next chapter. It was just starting the setup for the next arc after all the downtime over the next several chapters. And yes, the Perk Point used for Cleaning was a Cleaning specific Perk Point. It can only be spent on cleaning. I was going for more of a save the best for last mentality with the Perk Points where Cleaning was first, followed by Brawling, and Firearms. And then her sole Free Perk Point that could be spent on any Skill was going to be saved for once her Skills get higher level so Shiro can get a more reality bending Perk. Throwing Weapon Master is actually used quite a bit. I might need to be more specific every time it’s used though. Shiro throws stuff more frequently than you’d think. The Scouters alone are thrown every single time they’re used. That, and it would apply to anything throwable, such as grenades. The Perk just hasn’t had time to shine quite yet. As for the litRPG elements… yeah, they’re pretty weak in this story so far. I’m not the greatest at incorporating it. The Interface Upgrade will be coming after this next long arc, and I have quite a few more typical system interactions I want to incorporate that will hopefully put more RPG into the lit.
Gardor
Hmmmm...I never thought that she like, got a Perk Point she can use anywhere, I'm pretty sure they're specific to whichever skill she got to a four multiple. Or at least, a skill can only get one Perk at a multiple of four, so essentially the same thing, cuz there'd be no pojnt in saving them up. In other words, I think she got a "Cleaning Skill Perk Point", not a universal "Perk Point". So it's not like she had another option to spend that Perk Point on, it had to be spent on a cleaning Perk, so i dont think she "wasted" it. The choice she made to invest in cleaning, and ignore the skills readers (probably) care about more, and now getting sucked into crusade business and having to wait however many chapters for more system upgrades, is where I thought the littlest FU was.
lenkite
I don't even mind the Perk as long as she *commits* to her curiosity. Ie take a [Cleaning] job and then explicitly level up the skill to see what the higher level cleaning skills are. At-least she is a scholar/scientist then. But taking one and then not using it for months/years is an utterly criminal waste of a perk point.
Arkus86
And "chasing a lead on the Circle outside of signal range" is as good an excuse as she can get for missing all those calls and messages.
Gardor
She throws some stuff, her cameras and the cobbled together tech, I think the throwing weapon Perk helps with that. Or at least, I vaguely remember it helping when she was chucking things around near the spooky ghost box with the dead nomads. But yeah, does seem like a little bit of a "fuck you" to us commenters who expressed excitement for the upcoming status dump. "Excited for skill and point upgrades are ya? Here's a skill that's never used and isn't important, and a Perk for that skill that won't be relevant for months. Then the phone shes been ignoring will beep, so muahaha no more upgrades you you!". Unless she buys the building with the payment from this job, dunno how likely that is tho, a building has gotta be pretty expensive.
lenkite
Wait...she took a CLEANING perk that she had no use for presently ? Why pick such a useless perk. ? She doesn't even own an establishment. She is only barely paying for her rent and tech. She has already taken perks she never uses in this story. AFAIK "Throwing Weapon Master" was never used in this last mission. Frankly, the RPG part in his story is non-existent. More than a dozens chapters of a mission that had life and death stakes has been rewarded...with a single CLEANING perk. That is a major disappointment for all the anticipated payoff. Is she planning a career as a business owner ? They very rarely clean their establishments anyways. And if they do - that is a full-time career in running an establishment and she won't have any time to go on missions or build/service tech. I actually think you can just remove the litRPG aspect and just keep this a normal sci-fi story to avoid disappointing core, basic expectations which leads to reader grievance. It feels you were deliberately trolling your readers in this chapter.
Gardor
Yes, the rpg part of the lit! Sorta blue balled us tho. "Could always make some plastic parts if I needed to, but I was down to just chill and relax for a week. " -> sort of a character question, but what's she do for fun? Is tinkering with tech not her plan to relax? "I was now free to dump my next Skill Point into either Tech or Stealth at the next opportunity. And of course, I had my Perk Points I needed to spend before that" -> I understand that there's no real life or death urgency, but shouldn't she WANT to get more reality bending perks as soon as possible? Or to rush one of those skills to 12, and get whatever the upgrade is? It IS the next opportunity, at least before she called the crusade. How is she not super duper excited about this? She makes it seem like a chore to be delayed, rather than magic that'll immediately improve her life. It's the advantage that let her progress past barely scraping by in a junkyard to being a...whatever they call mercs in this world, probably not edgerunner.
Findell
Well the plant thing in that city will defintly intrest the Inquistor looking into Circle activities.
