《System Wars: Here Comes the Heroes》


 An Ordinary Day...

    The separation of hero and villain is simple because it''s based on purpose.


    But what separates a hero from a normal person?


    Is it being smarter than them?


    Is it being more powerful than them?


    Or is it a matter of wealth?


    The answer, unsurprisingly, factors none of these


    What separates a hero from a normal person is whether they have the courage to do what others are afraid to do.


    Consequences be damned.


    - The words of a veteran at the funeral of a man who died saving him and fifty-three others.


    San Francisco.


    A city that was the focal point for the Gold Rush, for the Hippie Movement, and countless other points in history that it has become more well-known than most other cities in the entire US of A.


    In modern times, this city has become a hub for practically everyone, regardless of their origins or social class.


    Rich, poor, creatively inclined, or techbro, it didn''t matter; all could find a home here in this great city by the bay, and all could have a chance to make a living that was worth a damn.


    But whether or not they could find these opportunities was another question entirely.


    For example...


    "Okay, that was three General Tsao''s chicken combo platters, one Queen Cola, and two Pixie refreshers and a bunch of fortune cookies...all for one guy...must be nice to be rich," a young man muttered to himself as he marked the delivery order complete in his SprintEater app. "Now where to next?"


    This man, sitting in the driver seat of a serviceable hybrid car from the late 2010s, was a young twenty-something by the name of Stanford Kirby, or SK for short.


    And by every conceivable metric, he was...ordinary.


    "Somebody wants to order Mexican half way across the city," SK muttered while checking through the map of potential customers. "Oh, this guy wants Thai...wait, I think the counter lady who owns that place still has beef with me about the time I called her out for using expired mushrooms in the pad thai...better to avoid that."


    He was born into a middle-class family; he was also a talented artist that had zero following on any major social media site, and despite having a college degree, he couldn''t find a job worth a damn.


    Whether this lack of a solid job was due to a combination of corporate greed he couldn''t contest, the fact he didn''t know who he had to suck up to in order to get a permanent job at any of those aforementioned corporations, or because he didn''t really want to work in an office his whole life was unclear.


    "Okay, this one sounds good! Indian food to be delivered to the Hunter''s Point Naval shipyard. Perfect."


    What was clear though was that he wanted to become the next Stan Lee... or Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson.


    Either way, he wanted to make the next great superhero comic.


    "Hmmm, should i try sketching a pirate-based hero or a battleship-themed one later?" SK thought to himself, inspired by the location he was going to be driving to shortly, as he made the drive over to an Indian place he had never heard of before called "Desi and Daal."


    Now, the thing about making comic books, especially superhero ones, is that the major publishers of this genre were rather... stuck in their ways.


    Instead of wanting to take a gamble in creating new intellectual properties and invest in indie writers and artists to make something new, they would rather force them into reinventing tried and true franchise winners so that they could minimize risk while maximizing profits.


    The independent online publishing scene wasn''t much better either, as his comics never seemed to catch on like those at the top of the leaderboards. Then again, it probably didn''t help that his update schedule was irregular at best.


    Regardless, this inability to get noticed led to a situation where SK could not grow as a comic book artist and was forced to take up gig jobs in order to stay afloat.


    "One Mung Daal with extra garlic naan, ready to go!"


    "Thanks!"


    But the funny thing about becoming a popular content creator is that a good chunk of their success was based on luck and opportunity.


    And in just a matter of moments, SK''s luck was about to take a turn for the worst... but lead to a very interesting opportunity.


    Of course, whether or not he was willing to take this opportunity was a different matter altogether.


    ¡­


    By the time SK arrived at the shipyard, the mid-afternoon sun had long been replaced with the light of a full moon and a whole mess of stars.


    "Okay, this is the spot," SK concluded as he saw his little driver icon arrive at the pinned point on his map. "And this place looks incredibly haunted, great."


    He was just about to leave his car and drop off the food directly to the guy at the security booth, but stopped himself when he noticed something rather strange.


    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    ''Wait a minute. Why am I alone?''


    The security booth that had placed the order was completely empty, at a time when it should''ve been occupied.


    "Hmm¡­"


    The logical part of SK assumed that the booth was empty because the security guard had probably gone to the bathroom at this time.


    While the emotional part of SK assumed he had been pranked again and would have to mark this order as being lost.


    "Screw it," SK eventually sighed as he grabbed the food bag and got out of the car.


    SK had concluded that the smart move in this situation was to just drop off the order and go home.


    BOOM!


    "Oh, what the hell?!"


    Unfortunately, life had other ideas.


    Just as SK was about to drop off the food and scurry back to his car like a scared rodent, the sound of a nearby explosion caught him by surprise and subsequently floored him.


    Thankfully, he made sure to drop off the food beforehand, so he didn''t get a facefull of burning hot curry.


    Unfortunately, this gave him the opportunity to fill his nostrils with the scent of the sea being mixed with burning piles of metal and scorched property. In fact, he could even make out the sight of a billowing smoke column in the distance.


    "Okay, not my problem."


    Picking himself up, SK came to one logical conclusion: he had to get as far away as possible, as quickly as possible.


    "I gotta ignore that," SK told himself as he began to walk away from the booth and back to his car. "I gotta ignore that and-"


    "H-help..."


    "Huh?"


    "Help..."


    Just as SK was about to leave the area, he heard a subtle yell for help echoing across the empty shipyard.


    "I can''t..."


    "Somebody...help..."


    "..."


    When SK was young, he once played a game about a theoretical physicist being forced to become a hero.


    That game opened with a very peculiar line about how being the wrong man in the right place could make all the difference in the world.


    "I really shouldn''t¡­"


    For all intents and purposes, SK was nowhere near qualified to assist in a possible emergency. As such, going towards an explosion and helping a random stranger was definitely not something he should''ve done.


    "I really, REALLY shouldn''t¡­"


    Which is why he surprised himself, when he found himself running towards that cry for help.


    ''New plan! Call the police, get that person safe and...probably clock out of SprintEater while I''m at it...''


    ¡­Meanwhile, through the electric eyes of an outside observer...


    "Well, this is interesting."


    "Hmm? What is?"


    "Take a look at monitor SF-008. Tell me, what do you see?"


    "Hmmm... it appears to be a User of the Arcanis System going up against a User of the Machina System. Nothing too spectacular about that."


    "I''m not talking about them; I''m talking about that guy right there. The young man who is way in over their head."


    "Oh, now I see...wait, why are you surprised by this? He could easily just be another User looking to cut in."


    "See, I thought that too, until I saw where he was going."


    "Towards the wrecked shipping containers full of goods? I estimate half of them to be at least be retailing for hundreds of-"


    "No, towards the injured security guard that caught up in the crossfire. How many people do you know would be willing to help a total stranger like that?"


    "Quite a few people, actually."


    "How many of them are paid to save lives like that?"


    "..."


    "Exactly."


    "So what? You think we have ourselves a proper hero on our hands or something? Someone to do the right thing no matter the danger?"


    "Maybe."


    "Seems idealistic."


    "Well¡­ In a world as cynical as ours, where megalomaniacs with too much power are the ones making the shots, I can''t help but root for the guy who''s just trying to do the right thing, you know?"

 An Extraordinary Moment

    [Scanning for suitable host candidates...three individuals found.]


    [Determining compatibility...ERROR. Two of three candidates are determined to be hosts for Systems Arcana and System Machina, removed from list.]


    [Determining compatibility of third candidate...unsuitable.]


    [Returning hiber-Fourth candidate detected.]


    [Determining suitability...]


    ...


    ''Oh, what the hell am I doing?'' SK asked himself as he walked deeper into the shipyard.


    He had actually wanted to run away, every fiber of his being telling him it was a bad idea to even get remotely close to that rising plume of smoke.


    SK was already taking a chance running this far in, and he honestly didn''t know whether he was going to make things better or worse.


    Eventually though, trouble found him first.


    ''Where the hell is that-''


    FWOOM!


    "Whoa!"


    "Haha! You missed it!"


    Moments before he could take another step, a giant jet of fire had blasted right past him and almost burned his eyebrows right off. When he turned to see where the flames came from, he saw that the fires had burned right through a large shipping container to his left.


    "Holy-"


    SK was all set to curse his heart out, but stopped once he realized that would probably draw attention to himself in a situation that definitely didn''t need it. Thankfully, he stopped himself before he got caught.


    That stated, he decided to push the envelope a bit by deciding to poke his head out so that he could stare through the newly melted hole.


    Only to be left absolutely speechless, as he found himself staring at what appeared to be a huge robotic being that had Bunsen burner-shaped limbs and a rock troll.


    Making the whole thing even more surreal was the fact that both gigantic beings were clearly being directed by people. At least, SK assumed that was the case due to the literal glowing marks on the foreheads of both people matching the glowing symbols on both monsters, the fact that they aesthetically matched their respective monsters, and the fact that these grade A a-holes started bragging like they were in a Saturday morning cartoon.


    Seriously.


    "Give it up, magic man!" The man dressed like a knock-off scientist shouted in a sarcastic tone of voice. "My BB-09 is going to turn your puny little ''rock troll'' into ashes! The meteor belongs to the Chemist''s Guild."


    "Chemist''s Guild?"


    "Go suck a lemon, you two-bit hack fraud!" The man dressed like a mix between a hobo and a druid roared back. "The treasure belongs to the Titan''s Heel. Trobol, crush his wind-up toy! [Boulder Blitz]!"


    ROAR!"


    What the fuck did he just say?"


    As soon as the hobo druid said whatever he just said, the rock troll suddenly began to glow with a weird light before summoning a whole bunch of boulders. With a roar and a swing, the rock troll launched the boulders towards the Bunsen burner robot.


    "Still not giving up? Fine! BB-09! [High Fire Saber]!"


    FWOOM!


    In response to this barrage of boulders, the Bunsen burner robot began to emit jets of flame from its arms like sabers and slashed through the boulders like a hot knife through butter.


    Well, a jet of flame melting through a boulder.


    However, this wasn''t the end of the conflict.


    "Please! You think a bunch of rocks is going to be enough to take down my BB-09?!," the scientist knock-off howled with maniacal laughter...up until he noticed the rock troll was now within punching distance of his giant robot.


    "Eh?"


    "[Heavy Hammer]!"


    POW!"GAH!"


    The rock troll rushed forward during the boulder barrage and slammed a heavy, glowing fist directly into the bunsen burner robot''s torso, sending the mechanical monstrosity flying into a stack of shipping containers.


    "BB-09!"


    "Told you, you hack! Nobody can beat my Trobol!"


    "You stupid-!"


    ''Okay, so I definitely need to avoid the crazy people controlling literal monsters,'' SK determined while mentally digesting everything he had just witnessed and sitting back down into his hiding spot. ''Granted, with my luck, that means-''


    "H-help. Somebody...help!"


    "Of course..."


    While the hobo druid and fake scientist were proxy pounding the snot out of each other, their collateral damage had led to unintended casualties.


    That unintended casualty came in the form of a middle-aged man, dressed in a worker uniform, being trapped underneath a pile of debris.


    It took SK all of two seconds to put together that a stray attack from these knuckleheads must''ve gone wide, knocked open a shipping container, and dumped its contents on top of the guy.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Needless to say, these two were so wrapped up in their stupid feud to notice that the guy was injured. Or worse, they were probably going to kill the guy after they were done trying to kill each other.


    Those with power had a tendency to ignore those without, after all.


    ''Okay, crap, this is way more out of my depth than I thought,'' SK realized as he flicked his gaze between the trapped man and the brawling monsters. ''I definitely need to call somebody, because I can''t...I can''t...''


    "Somebody...help..."


    At this exact moment, SK remembered something that he repressed a long time ago.


    Back when he was a teenager back in high school, a horribly common tragedy occurred.


    Someone, a kid who he had never met before, had decided to turn their shared house of learning into a firing range.


    That said, SK was fairly certain he was going to die.


    A lot of people thought they were going to die that day, actually.


    But surprisingly, no one did.


    That madman, the shooter, was about to open fire on a group of kids, and a teacher who had failed to evacuate in time got cornered in the cafeteria. But before he could create yet another tragedy in a long string of them, someone actually did something.


    Before anyone could even comprehend what had just occurred, an upperclassman of SK''s and the shooter had straight up tackled the latter before he could fire off a shot, knocking the shooter onto his ass and kicking the gun away.


    "He''s down! Someone call the cops!"


    After that, the rest unfolded rather peacefully.


    The shooter was arrested by the cops; that upperclassman was simultaneously praised and reprimanded, and life went on.


    But something about that day stuck with SK.


    It is as the fact that the upperclassmen he remembered were, arguably, the least likely to do something that heroic.


    The man was huge in an unhealthy way, unsociable, and straight up weird. And yet, he did something that everyone else was too afraid to do.


    He got up and saved the day.


    That was the moment SK learned something important about the world.


    Sometimes, you won''t be the right person for the job, but you might be the only one who can do something, and that can make a massive difference.


    ''Screw it!''


    Which was why SK threw caution to the wind and made a run for the injured worker.


    Thankfully, the scientist and the hobo druid were still in the middle of directing their monsters into trying to kill each other, so they weren''t paying attention to SK''s movements.


    "H-help me, pl-"


    "I know, I know! I heard you the first time," SK interrupted.


    As such, SK managed to get the worker''s side and began to remove the debris off of him, armfuls at a time.


    ''One, two! One, two!''


    Eventually, he managed to clear enough debris to see that the worker''s leg got caught under a particularly heavy-looking treasure box-looking thing.


    ''Okay, this is probably a lot lighter than it-HOLY SHIT!''


    Evidently, the treasure box was the heaviest thing in the entire pile of debris he had to clear.


    ''What the hell is in this thing?!''


    If SK had to give a comparison to what he was attempting to lift with anything he lifted before, he felt as if he was trying to lift a bowling ball made of lead and mercury.


    ''How the hell do I-wait, duh!''


    Eventually though, he figured out that he could probably make the whole box significantly lighter if he just dumped the contents out before attempting to move the box.


    Unfortunately, this realization came with a bout of good luck that was immediately followed by a bout of bad luck.


    In terms of good luck, the box turned out to be unlocked this entire time.


    "Yes!" SK shouted with glee as he flipped open the box''s lid.


    In terms of bad luck, though, the battling between the rock troll and the Bunsen burner robot had gotten intense to the point that the latter had launched a fireball that had gone wide.


    And was aimed in SK''s direction.


    By the time it mentally registered, he was in the line of fire; he had already opened the box lid, and his facial expression went from being joyous to being fearful for his life.


    "Oh shit!"


    As the fireball got closer, SK''s life began to flash before his eyes¡ªor at least, that''s what he thought.


    In reality, the inside of the box started glowing like a lantern!


    "What the-?!"


    ...


    [Suitability...approved. Activating contract space.]

 _____ System

    "AAAAAAAAaaaahhh...wait, what?"


    SK was...mostly...prepared to face his death with a modicum of courage and fear the moment he saw the giant fireball fly in his direction.


    However, before the inevitable happened and he ended up a barbecued person, time had suddenly stopped.


    "O...kay..."


    It took a couple of moments for SK to process his surroundings, but once he did, he couldn''t help but be shocked.


    To his immediate right, a ball of flames the size of a minivan was about to impact him.


    Directly beneath him, the trapped worker he was trying to rescue had a look of frozen terror on his face as he realized he was about to become barbecue as opposed to being rescued.


    Beyond the fireball, SK could make out that the rock troll had tackled the Bunsen burner robot while the latter was in the middle of firing their attack, hence the stray shot.


    Making everything more absurd, the light produced by both the robot and the shipyard itself made it so that he could see that even the waves had become frozen in place.


    "I wonder..."


    Out of curiosity, SK attempted to step away from his current position and succeeded on the first attempt.


    "Huh. I wonder if... yeah. The waves are frozen too, great...," SK said to himself as he used his current freedom to walk to the edge of the shipyard and back again.


    This all culminated into one question in SK''s mind.


    "Why is everything frozen except for me?"


    [I believe it''s more accurate to ask, who made everything frozen.]


    "What the-WHOA!"


    Startled by the voice, SK understandably jumped in place before darting his head about to figure out where the voice was coming from.


    [Over here.]


    "Oh."


    Following the voice, he eventually settled his eyes on the giant box he had attempted to dump moments ago. Granted, the box''s contents were now glowing.


    Then again, it was possible that the contents were already glowing, and this was the first time he had a chance to properly observe the aforementioned contents.


    Either way, SK found himself staring at an open, glowing treasure box.


    [Are you just going to keep standing there or what? Get over here.]


    "Of course the box talks!"


    Correction, a talking glowing treasure box.


    With the distinct feeling that he was going to be stuck in this frozen limbo unless he actually did as the box instructed, SK made his way over to it and peered inside.


    "What the..."


    SK wasn''t sure he was staring at this point in time, but he was pretty sure that this must be how people feel when they see angels...or Lovecraftian deities.


    Either way, he was confused as all hell at what he was staring at.


    And its explanation didn''t really provide much clarity either.


    [Congratulations, would-be User, you have been chosen to become the host for the _______ System. Please provide a name to this System in order to complete the contract and determine how your power will develop.]


    As soon as these words were shared, a holographic panel and a keypad appeared before SK''s eyes. However, he didn''t immediately fill in the blanks as he had a lot of questions.


    Well, one big question.


    "I...beg your pardon?" SK asked as he was absolutely befuddled at what he just heard. "Would you mind providing me a bit more context?"


    [...]


    "Hello?"


    [Context to what?]


    "Huh?"


    [Context to what exactly?,] the System with no name expanded. [Did you want additional context on what will happen if you name me or context as to why you have been chosen to be a User?]


    "Uh...both?"


    [Acknowledged. Providing an information panel on what will happen when this system has been named.]


    The keypad and display screen disappeared and were quickly replaced with an informational panel that read as follows:.


    ...


    Congratulations, User! By naming this System you have been granted access to a fragment of reality that will enable you to rewrite the rules of your world.


    However, depending on how the System is named, the abilities, services and items you will be able to access will change.


    For example, if you decide to name the System the "Athlete System", you will be able to use it to become a top tier athlete and even become a god of physical prowess.


    If you name the System the "Firearm System", you''ll be able to learn skills related to the manufacturing and usage of items related to firearms. This can range from simple cannons to bioweapons that shoot acidic teeth.


    You could even name it the Angel System and become able to summon, control, and turn yourself into an angelic being that is capable of channeling the wrath and purity of heaven.


    Be sure to choose your name wisely, because once it''s in place, the change will be permanent.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Disclaimer: Certain names have already been claimed and will be unavailable for use.


    ...


    "Well, that''s a lot of pressure," SK observed with widened eyes of pure terror.


    One minute, he was about to become a live reenactment of the victims of Pompeii. The next minute, he was going to gain access to¡­technically unlimited power.


    This kind of tone shift had the ability to cause one''s mind to suddenly stutter, especially when nearly endless choice paralysis was involved.


    SK was familiar with the concept of "systems" from popular media; hell, he attempted to illustrate a comic about it once, but he never thought they were actually a real thing to worry about.


    ''So I could do something as silly as an Ice Cream System and you''d help me make excellent ice cream, or as absurd as a Kaiju Creation System and I''d be able to make giant kaiju¡­,'' SK realized. "Wait, maybe someone already did that. Uh...mildly relevant question. Are the guys controlling those giant monsters System Users too? Are they hosts?"


    [Yes and no. Those two are able to use the System''s power, but they''re not hosts. They''re additional users that have been invited by the System hosts. The one controlling the Rock Troll is a user of the Arcana System, while the one controlling the Bunsen Burner Mark Three is a user of the Machina System.]


    "Arcanis and Machina?


    [High magic and High Science.]


    "Oh¡­thank you for explaining."


    [No worries.]


    At this revelation, SK mentally checked off doing a mech-related or a monster-related system since the rules of the panel stated he wasn''t allowed to use them anyway.


    ''Wait a minute...''


    Before SK got fully wrapped in the whole System mystique, he still needed an answer to an even more important question.


    "Why me? If you haven''t noticed, I don''t exactly look like the type that can wield unlimited power competently...well, I don''t need competency to become a politician, but still..."


    [Allow me to answer your question, with my own,] the nameless System responded. [Why did you risk your life to save that man?]


    "Who? Him?"


    [Yes.]


    "What about him?"


    [This man has no bearing on your life, a complete and total stranger in name and appearance. And yet, despite all these factors against getting involved, you rushed in and risked your life to try and save him. Why?]


    "Because it was the right thing to do," SK answered without even a hint of hesitation. "Man''s probably important to somebody, and I hate to imagine someone having to cry over a closed casket with zero closure."


    [And that right there, is why you were chosen.]


    "Huh?"


    [The amount of humans in this world with that level of altruistic behavior is rare. Some people are downright sociopathic and greedy, backstabbing and tearing down others for no good reason. A majority of humans will simply sympathize and move on, doing nothing all the while. And others will simply follow whomever has the strongest personality with no thought or regard about the consequences. Being able to truly throw yourself into danger, to be able to risk your life to save your fellow man, consequences be damned¡ªthat''s behavior that should be rewarded more often. Don''t you think?]


    "Saving my fellow man...huh."


    As these words sank into SK''s head, the input panel appeared before him again, flashing the exact same words.


    But his focus was just on one part of the whole thing.


    _____ System.


    "So...I can type anything in here, right? And then you''ll...adjust yourself accordingly?"


    [This System will gain the capabilities necessary to facilitate the growth, creation and services of your desired path. All you need to do is fill it in.]


    "Okay then... doing the right thing, no matter what...huh."


    Placing his hand on the keyboard panel, SK delicately typed in a single word.


    A word that carried more meaning to him than any other.


    "Superhero".


    [You wish to designate this System as the "Superhero System". Is this correct?]


    "Yes."


    [Acknowledged.]


    As soon as this exchange was given, the panel disappeared, and a sound like a giant heartbeat echoed from the box.


    A heartbeat that synced up with SK''s.


    Shortly after, the young man found himself being overwhelmed with both a surge of information and a surge of energy.


    And now he knew exactly what to do with it.


    [Superhero System has been created. As you are the first host and contractor, you have been given a Miracle Grade Familiar Creation Ticket. Do you wish to use it now?]


    "Yes."


    [Acknowledged.]


    The next thing SK knew, a platinum-colored ticket flew out of the treasure box and towards his hands.


    In one motion, he ripped the ticket apart and created... a miracle.

 Making Miracles Takes Time

    RIP!


    The moment SK ripped apart the platinum-colored ticket in his hand, his entire perception of reality began to warp once more.


    [Miracle Grade Familiar Creation Ticket has been used. Any familiar created at this time will be given maximum growth potential and be bestowed with a complete suite of skills appropriate for their build and design,] the System informed SK as the warping continued for what felt like minutes until it finally settled.


    Instead of staring at the frozen scene of a troll and a giant robot tearing each other to shreds, with a stray fireball hurtling towards his direction, he was now staring at something akin to a blank canvas of reality.


    Standing before him was a plain white space that was just begging to be filled with ink, paint, and pencils, all coming together to make a unified whole.


    What exactly that whole looked like, well... SK had a couple of ideas; he just needed the right tools to do so.


    And the Superhero System knew exactly what he needed.


    [Scanning the user''s mind... scanning complete.]


    [Providing the necessary UI for the user to maximize their potential creation.]


    The edges of the blank canvas began to warp and distort until manifesting into the shape of a drafting desk with each of the little indents and holes being filled with all the pencils, pens and paintbrushes that SK used whenever he started to get into the zone with his drawings.


    Right now, he was feeling that he was in that zone.


    "Alright, should I do one of the characters I already drafted ahead of time or make something new?" SK asked himself as he picked up one of the pencils next to the blank canvas.


    The pencil felt like it had the correct weight and feel to it, but SK could detect that there was something...extraordinary to it.


    "Quick question, is there a time limit or do I have time to rework, erase and make the necessary edits for this first Familiar of mine?" SK asked the System in a tone of voice that was significantly more confident than it sounded moments ago.


    [Due to time being paused, the user will have free reign to design their familiar however they wish. It should be noted though that once the Familiar has been created, time will resume in the exact moment that the user first entered the Contract Space.]


    "Meaning¡­"


    [You''re going to get a face full of fireballs unless you and your familiar are properly prepared.]


    "Right on."


    Understanding the assignment now, SK decided to file away the idea of making a brand new superhero right this moment and reference one of his older draft designs.


    This would''ve been the moment where he would whip out his trusty sketchbook and start referencing one of them, but he never brought it with him during work.


    So he had to rely on his memory instead. Granted, his memory wasn''t the greatest in the world¡­but he got the feeling it wasn''t going to be an issue.


    "Alright, let''s start with a sketch-whoa!"


    As soon as he took his pencil to the floating canvas, the general shape of a human figure made of several circles and ovals appeared before his eyes.


    It was like he was staring at the drawn version of one of those poseable figures that some artists used when they didn''t have a human model to work with.


    The build of this figure was quite androgynous, all things considered.


    If SK so desired, he could easily change the shape to be more feminine or more masculine with just a couple more outlines.


    "Do I make my first superhero familiar, a guy, girl, neither, or both? Wait, if this is going to be the first superhero in existence, then I have to base him on the first superhero in existence," SK eventually concluded as he began drawing again.


    In the blink of an eye, the shapeless figure took on a more masculine appearance, with a wide chest, muscular arms, strong shoulders, and robust legs. Even added a cape in the back.


    "Hmm, maybe I should make it shorter... there."


    Now that he had the general shape in mind, SK now needed to come up with the theme.


    The nice thing about superheroes is that they could literally be based on anything and have any power.


    The bad thing about superheroes is that they could literally be based on anything and have any power.


    Needless to say, SK was struck with the worst kind of paralysis: choice paralysis.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    "Do I make the familiar based on one of my older or newer draft designs?"


    As an avid consumer of popular culture and niche geek hobbies, SK had made it a point to try and design heroes that didn''t just follow the sensibilities and principles of the current Dark Era of Comics, but the past eras as well.


    SK had drafted independent superhero designs that reflected the idealism of the Golden Era, the contemporary explorations of the Silver Era, and the more realistic issues of the Bronze Era.


    As a creative exercise, he even tried to see how superheroes would look during the Victorian era of comics and Platinum era of comics.


    "Should I do Construcikong? V8? Or maybe I should do Captain Plasma? But none of those guys are particularly good at defense. Wait a minute.


    The more he thought about the dozens upon dozens of character drafts he had drawn over the years, he thought back to the very first superhero he drew when he was a child.


    SK wasn''t sure what was going on through his head at the time, but he did remember having done a back-to-back marathon of a certain superhero movie franchise that had been going on since the late 2000s.


    The memories of those movies blended with his childhood obsession with fairy tales at the time, so he drew a knight-themed superhero who ended up becoming his imaginary friend.


    He thought it was clever at the time because he had yet to see a proper knight-themed superhero in any of the movies and shows he watched on streaming channels. Evidently, when he discovered that there had been other knight-themed superheroes in the past, he felt a little crestfallen at the fact that he didn''t do something completely original.


    That said, that idea of a shining knight coming in to save the day with nothing more than a shield and a whole lot of courage never really left him.


    "Huh¡­"


    And right now, he had a golden opportunity to bring to life that old imaginary friend.


    "What was his name again? Golden Knight? Silver Knight? No, it was... Platiknight. That was it! Platiknight!"


    Once he remembered the name of this old childhood idea, SK quickly swapped out his pencil for a pen and paintbrush and began to strike at the canvas with even more vigor than before.


    He first drew out a classic looking knight that was kitted out in full plate armour, had a billowing blue cape and a large kite shield.


    Looking over the design though, he couldn''t help but be a little disappointed with what he had come up with.


    "I don''t know what the hell I am going to be facing in the future, but I just know that a normal knight isn''t going to be enough to deal with the dangers ahead. Especially if that psychotic scientist and his hobo friend are anything to go off of," SK concluded. "Then I might as well have a bit more fun with this."


    Having a feeling that his future foes were going to consist of even more absurd monsters and machines, SK added a couple more embellishments to Platikngiht''s design to make it obvious that he was a mix of both high science and high magic.


    A magitech knight!


    Now that he had finished the main body, though, SK couldn''t help but to think that the shield he had drafted looked a bit weak and primitive in comparison.


    "Hmm¡­what if I do this instead?"


    With the wave of an eraser and the scribbling of several more pencils and pens, SK replaced the kite shield with a circular one that was more uniform with the platinum magitek armor that Platiknight was now wearing.


    Not only that, but he also added several designer notes in the corners that shared his ideas on what kind of abilities he wanted Platiknight to have.


    Little did he know, the System was paying very close attention to this particular detail.


    "Okay, I think I''m done," SK concluded as he placed away the drawing tools. "Now what do I-"


    [User''s completion of the task of Familiar Creation has been acknowledged. The System will now be using the design to create the User''s first superhero. The System will also be using the user''s notes as a guideline to what skills should be bestowed to the familiar.]


    As soon as this announcement was made, the white canvas carrying Platiknight''s design began to merge with reality until the only thing remaining was that aforementioned design now floating in the air.


    "Oh...cool."


    [Familiar creation has been completed. Please note that future creation sessions will require the usage of materials and skill crystals. Now standby for canvas break.]


    "Wait, what was that about materials? Also what''s a canvas bre-?"


    CRACK!"Holy-!"


    The next thing SK knew, Platiknight''s design started to become significantly more...three-dimensional.

 A Literal Knight in Shining Armor

    [Warning. Once the familiar has finished becoming a part of reality, time will resume. Be prepared for the consequences.


    "Right...wait a minute, is he going to be fully manifested before or after that fireball makes contact? That''s kind of important."


    [You''ll see.]


    "Why are you needlessly ominous?"


    ¡­


    For as long as humanity has been a thing, there has always been a hidden war between two systems of power.


    The Arcanis System, which encouraged people to embrace the mysteries of magic and provided its hosts power in the form of [Demon Creation], the ability to bring to life the nightmares, dreams, and beliefs of humanity''s past and superstitions.


    The Machina System, which forces people to look forward and understand the truths of the world in order to perfect the power of {Mecha Creation], mechanical constructs that are an embodiment of the thousand tomorrows that humanity could achieve.


    Users of these two systems were referred to as magi and mechanists, respectively, and both sides absolutely hated each other with passion.


    They were firm believers that their respective systems were exactly what humanity needed to progress and made it a point to secure the precious resources needed to empower these aforementioned systems so that they could reach unimaginable heights.


    However, or perhaps this was a feature, these resources were always sources of conflict for the users of these two systems.


    Meaning exchanges like this...


    "Bah! You cheating hobo, take your fireballs like a man!"


    "You''re one to talk, four eyes! Why don''t you take your skull crushing like a good little sacrifice and die?!"


    ...were rather common and usually led to a lot of collateral damage and unnecessary casualties.


    "Trobol, [Pebble Barrage]!"


    "ROAR!"


    On one side of this particular conflict, representing the Arcanis System, was Bjorn, a magi that looked like a homeless druid, whose familiar took the form of a rock troll, a subspecies of troll known for their tough, rock-like skin and ability to manipulate the earth through magical means.


    "Pebbles? Really? [BB-09, turn those pebbles into molten slag!]


    FWOOSH!


    On the other, representing the Machina System, was a mechanist named Farran. His familiar choice was a humanoid robot with Bunsen burner-like flamethrower arms and had the model designation of BB-09.


    These two were sent by their respective leaders to retrieve some mysterious box from this shipyard, with very little information on its contents other than the fact that it was on a need-to-know basis.


    Under normal circumstances, this mission should''ve been handled very quietly, with no witnesses or incidents. But then these two idiots ran into each other.


    What followed was an insane battle that destroyed several million dollars worth of goods and almost the life of a random civilian.


    Keyword: almost.


    During the battle between troll and machine, the latter launched a fireball that was narrowly avoided by the former. Both magi and mechanists had noticed that the attack was about to impact what appeared to be two random mortals, but they didn''t care.


    They had grown beyond the concerns of mortal men and had only to worry about


    BOOM!


    "What the hell?"*2


    However, just as they were going to ignore the soon-to-be pile of ashes, Bjork and Farran both felt a sudden surge of energy that was both familiar and foreign at the same time.


    It was familiar in the sense that it was very similar to the energies that were released whenever they summoned their own familiars, but foreign in the sense that neither of them could recognize the system that this newly summoned familiar belonged to.


    This revelation was so incredibly shocking that they both stopped their fight to turn their attention towards the source of this surge. Only to realize it was coming from the spot those two mortals were hanging around.


    "What the..."


    "Is that...a shield?"


    ¡­Switching perspectives¡­


    "Okay, cool. Good to know that the shield actually works... sweet mother of mercy, I saw my life flash before my eyes," SK spat out in a moment of pure stress.


    One moment, SK and the dock worker were about to become piles of standing ashes in a horrible recreation of Pompeii. Next, their bacon was saved by the sudden appearance of a literal superhero.


    To be more precise, moments before the fireball made contact, Platiknight had finished manifesting in reality with the fireball mere inches from hitting his armored face.


    The system had done an excellent job in bringing to life Platiknight''s design, down to the fully articulated shining armor, the billowing blue cape, and the massive circular shield.


    If one were to merely glance at this knight, they would assume that his armor was made of untested steel or silver.


    In reality, from the top of his armored head to the bottom of his armored boots, this super hero was covered in a special type of platinum alloy.


    "Are you two alright?" Platiknight asked in an assuring tone of voice that was dripping with heroic charisma.


    "You can talk?! Wait, not the time."


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Realizing that shit was still hot, SK made moves to extract himself and the injured security guard from the battlefield.


    "Can you handle things here?" SK asked as he settled the injured man onto his shoulder. s


    "Of course."


    "Cool," SK confirmed before running as fast as he could.


    Just in time too, as the hobo and the mad scientist had decided to turn their attention towards Platiknight.


    "Hey!"


    ¡­Perspective shift again.


    Confused and mildly threatened by the presence of the platinum-covered knight, Farran and Bjorn temporarily stopped fighting each other and had their familiars accompany them to figure out what this guy''s deal was.


    Despite the fact that they were accompanied by a giant flamethrowing robot and a rock troll, the magi and mechanist couldn''t help but feel oddly intimidated by the shield-wielding warrior.


    "Who or what the hell are you?" Farran shouted. "You don''t look like a mecha."


    "And you definitely don''t look like a demon," Bjorn added.


    "So who the hell are you?!" *2


    Funnily enough, they were about to regret asking this question for more than one reason.


    "Who am I? Who am I?!," the knight shouted in an even louder voice as he began to lift the shield off of the ground and swung it to his right to expose his full body to the staring mechanist and magi.


    "I am the precious metal paragon! The unbreakable Paladin who protects all against the forces of evil! The shining shield of hope in the darkness of despair!" the knight announced while performing a series of heroic poses.


    "I am Platiknight! Now prepare yourselves to face justice."


    "What the..."


    Farran and Bjorn were understandably confused at this flashy behavior for a hot minute before they got their heads back into the moment.


    This shiny weirdo had clearly just declared himself to be a threat, and as proper System users, they had to respond in kind.


    "Face justice? Ha!" Farran laughed.


    "Boy, we''re beyond the petty scales of mortal justice," Bjorn followed up. "Trobol! Wreck this shiny tinker toy!"


    ROAR!


    The rock troll let out a bellowing roar before it went charging at Platiknight. In its mind, it didn''t need to use any abilities or strategies because he clearly had the size advantage, which meant he definitely had the strength advantage too.


    Most mortals would''ve run away in fear at the sight of the galumphing troll, but Platiknight didn''t. Instead, he entered a bow-legged stance and readied his shield.


    "Platinum..."


    With zero hesitation, the rock troll swung one of its massive arms, ready to send this knight flying with a single punch...


    "....COUNTER!"


    BOOM!


    "Grr?"


    "Impossible!"


    ...only to be rendered thoroughly confused as Platiknight intercepted his punch with a swing of his platinum shield and sent him flying instead. Making matters worse, the rock troll''s arm had collapsed upon itself before he was sent into a pile of shipping containers.


    "Brutish barbarism is no match for my Platinum Aegis!" Platiknight declared. "As long as there is someone to protect, it will never break!"


    "Trobol!" Bjorn shouted before he turned and ran to go and check on his injured familiar, leaving Farran alone to deal with Platiknight.


    Not that he minded.


    "See, this is why you don''t use brute force," the mechanist chided with a click of his tongue. "For situations like this, it''s much more efficient to use FIRE! BB-09! [Scorching Spray]!"


    FUWAH!


    The Bunsen burner robot proceeded to release a series of hisses and clicks as its flamethrower arms began to glow an unusual color moments before releasing twin jets of flames that superheated the air and melted concrete as it blazed towards Platiknight, who reacted to the attack by throwing his shield forward once more!


    "Platinum Guard!"


    KA-FWOOSH


    "Ha! Direct Hit!"


    BWOOM!


    "Wait, what?"


    Moments before the jets of flame made contact, Platiknight''s shield released a blue burst of energy before expanding and blocking the flames entirely. The shining sentinel wasn''t even mildly warmed by the attack.


    "Please! My melting point is too high for the flames of villainy to melt!" Platiknight declared while maintaining his shield. "Now get ready for a Platinum Rush!"


    As soon as Plaitknight said these words, a hidden mechanism built into his shield began to activate...


    Ka-chunk!


    WHIRRRRR!!!!


    ...that caused his shield to spin while still attached to his arm.


    And while the shield spun, the flames that were engulfing him began to abate little by little. After all, flames can''t exist in a vacuum.


    "Uh oh¡­"

 Platinum Finish!

    "Okay, dude, you just rest up here for now," SK said as soothingly as possible as he placed the injured, now unconscious man in the back of his car. "I''d call you an ambulance, but I get the feeling your insurance is as bad as mine."


    The man in question had passed out once they were out of danger, with adrenaline and fear being the only things keeping him conscious at the time.


    "For now, just rest. I''ll be sure to drop you off at a hospital once we''re done¡ªone that''s in your network, I hope."


    Once SK made sure the injured civilian was secured, he turned his attention back towards the shipyard and ran back to the fray.


    It wouldn''t make sense for an operator to not be by their hero''s side at their moment of triumph after all.


    ''Wonder if there''s a more granular way for me to check Platiknight''s status other than this vague connection I got with him...''


    [Suggestion, acknowledged. Adjusting user''s point of view to include status windows and a health tracker.]


    "Oh, right. I have a System."


    ...Meanwhile...


    "BB-09! Turn up the heat!," Farran shouted as soon as he realized the danger he was about to face.


    Click! Click!


    Knowing full well that things would go sideways the moment Platiknight got close, the Bunsen burner robot did as it was ordered and loosened the limiters in his arms to release an even more intense jet of flames.


    But this turned out to be for naught.


    Platiknight''s spinning shield was still snuffing out the flames as they were making contact with him, rendering the whole attack pointless.


    "Hmmm! I suppose you must be unable to hear me over all of these flames, otherwise you would''ve heard that this attack of yours was useless," Platiknight boasted. "I guess I''ll have to tell you up close and personal!"


    STOMP!


    STOMP!


    STOMP!


    "Are you kidding me?!"


    Despite being blasted with flames that were hot enough to melt the very concrete it was flying over, Platiknight fearlessly walked towards the Bunsen burner robot, with every step pushing against several gallons of molten concrete.


    The molten concrete should''ve been doing more than mildly slowing down Platiknight''s stride, he should''ve been ankle deep and melting into a puddle of slag.


    Instead, the platinum covered knight kept stomping forward with purpose.


    That purpose?


    Smashing the giant fire spitting robot in front of them and punishing this mechanist for the trouble they had caused!


    "PLATINUM..."


    "Stay away... STAY AWAY!¡± Farran shouted as he pulled out a weapon that resembled an oversized futuristic shotgun out of nowhere.


    "...PUNCH!"


    KAPOW!"GRK!"


    Before he could fire off a bead though, Platiknight punched forward and released a powerful shockwave that blasted away both the robot and the mechanist back with enough force to almost knock them into a pile of shipping containers.


    Emphasis on almost.


    [Mud Snare!]


    "Oh ho?"


    Splat! Splat!


    Before the duo could make contact with the shipping containers and get buried under a mountain of metal and pain, a wall of mud suddenly manifested behind them and put a brake on their forward momentum.


    "Caught ya!"


    This action confused Farran, as he was pretty certain that they were trying to kill each other moments ago. Evidently, this feeling was so confusing that the mechanist couldn''t help but make his confusion known while removing the mud off of himself and his robot.


    "Did you just save me?" Farran asked in confusion as he got to his feet, wiping mud off of his clothes with a special spray he kept on hand. "Why?"


    "As much as I hate you and your godless machine," Bjorn answered with suppressed distaste. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I don''t know who or what spawned that shiny tinker toy, but I know that neither of us will be able to defeat it without working together. So with that in mind, let''s try working together until he''s defeated. Agreed?"


    "That...is a logical conclusion," Farran agreed. "Let''s do this."


    Click, click!


    "Groar!"


    Reflecting the will of their masters, the Bunsen burner robot and the rock troll took on fighting stances once more, but in a manner that clearly showed a more cooperative attitude. Especially when the former willingly placed itself in front of the latter and took a squatted position.


    "Let''s combine our powers and turn this bastard into slag! [Grand Mountain]!"


    "I get the idea! [Pure Ignition]!"


    As they declared the name of these attacks, thick threads of energy manifested from their torsos and connected the two System users to their respective familiars.


    A surge of power raged through the familiars, empowering them and their attacks.


    GROAR!Using this surge of power, the rock troll summoned a giant mountain that appeared to be made of a particularly valuable type of black rock that was once used to power engines all over the world.


    FWOOSHOnce the mountain had formed, the Bunsen burner robot released a hissing noise as it released bright blue flames that burned a thousand times hotter than its normal flames and engulfed the mountain in its blaze.


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    Evidently, their big combination attack basically consisted of throwing a giant burning rock at Platiknight.


    "Die, tinker toy!"


    "Get crushed!"


    In the face of this burning boulder of death, Platiknight didn''t cower, shriek, or run. Instead, he readied his shield once more and took on a defiant stance.


    "Haha! You think a mere ember will be enough to smother my heroic spirit?! Come and test it!"


    ...Perspective Switch Time...


    [Warning! Warning! Superhero: Platiknight is in danger of being destroyed.]


    [Superhero: Platiknight is in danger of being destroyed.]


    "Oh fuck me sideways!"


    It had only taken SK about five minutes to drop off the injured man in his car and come back to the battlefield, however, a lot had changed between now and then.


    Firstly, the System has apparently heard his thoughts in regards to wanting to see how his hero was faring and gave him the ability to see a more active status window.


    Second, while he wasn''t entirely sure how it happened, Platiknight had apparently trounced these dastards so badly that he forced them to work together in an attempt to launch a combined finishing move.


    A move that looked absurd, but was dangerous enough that the System decided to issue a warning.


    Perhaps it was also willing to offer advice.


    "Okay, that''s bad, how do I help him?," SK asked in a panicked tone of voice.


    In sharp contrast, the System provided three options in the form of a series status windows.


    [Option 1: Cry.]


    "Oh ha ha, very funny."


    [Option 2: Run.]


    "Not doing that and I swear you''re messing with me at this point."


    [Option 3: Break out the big guns.]


    "That''s more like it! Wait, how do I do that?"


    Once this question was posed, a new window appeared in SK''s vision.


    It was Platiknight''s status screen, but there was something...glaringly obvious about it near the bottom of the screen.


    ______________


    [Familiar Status Window.]


    [Name: Platiknight.]


    [Status: Healthy.]


    [Description: A hero from a place beyond the boundaries of space and time, Platiknight is a warrior with a hunger for truth, a thirst for justice and a heart of platinum. Armed with an enchanted shield made by an armor maker from the dawn of time and platinum armor forged by a weaponsmith from the unseen future, Platiknight stands ready to be the ultimate shield and guardian of the weak and needy. That said, the special armor he wears to fight evil is not actually made of platinum.]


    [Equipment: Platinum Armor of the Goddess of Justice Version Alpha, Divine Platinum Aegis.]


    [Abilities: Platinum Punch, Platinum Kick, Platinum Counter, Platinum Guard.]


    [ULTIMATE ABILITY: PLATINUM COMET CRUSH]


    __________________


    "I get the feeling I''m supposed to press on this bold piece of text. I''m going to press on this bold piece of text. Boop!"


    As soon as SK pressed the text, he immediately felt the connection between himself and Platiknight suddenly surge in strength before he felt some unknown power inside him get transferred over to Platiknight.


    Whatever this energy was, it caused the platinum paragon to start glowing with a dark blue aura.


    "Oh, I see where this is going."


    ¡­


    "This power! It''s surging through every part of my being!" Platiknight suddenly declared while literally glowing with a dark blue aura. "It''s time to end this battle with a platinum finish!"


    "Oh big talk, tin soldier!" Farrun taunted. "But let''s see you handle this!"


    [Extinction Impact!] *2


    Under the direction of their respective masters, the rock troll and Bunsen robot worked together to throw their giant burning mountain of coal directly towards Platiknight.


    It was honestly an impressive display of friendship and cooperation¡ªtoo bad it was about to be shattered into pieces.


    As soon as the meteor started coming towards him, Platiknight began redirecting the energy surging through him into his legs and shield.


    "PLATINUM!"


    With a mighty yell and a powerful jump towards the meteor, Platiknight used his spinning shield to drill right through the burning boulder made of coal until he reached the top of it.


    "COMET!"


    With that next declaration, Platiknight detached his shield from his arm and tossed it towards the space between himself and the burning coal mountain. As the shield got into place, it quintupled in size until it was big enough to crush a car.


    "CRASH!"


    And with that final yell, Platiknight performed a diving kick directly into the shield he had just detached.


    Needless to say, the ones at the receiving end of this attack weren''t happy to see this development in the slightest.


    "Oh shit!"

 A Reuniting Vow

    KABOOM!"Groar!"


    FWISH!


    Due to their combined attack having been destroyed by Platiknight, the rock troll and Bunsen burner robot were stunned due to the energetic backlash produced by such an event.


    As such, they were positively helpless as the giant shield of Platiknight came crashing down on them, and it didn''t help that this giant slab of metal was being accelerated by the shining knight''s kick.


    Now, this would''ve been the part where Platiknight''s attack rendered the rock troll into a bloody pile of rubble and the Bunsen burner robot into a pile of burnt scrap metal, but that didn''t really happen.


    As familiars contracted to a magi and a mechanist, respectively, the two aforementioned monstrous beings were unable to truly die unless their contractors died.


    That didn''t stop them from feeling the pain of death though as they exploded into showers of energy that returned to their respective masters.


    "Trobol! Ah!"


    "BB-09, no!"


    Not only that, but because of the nature of their contracts, Bjorn and Farran had to face the consequences of allowing their familiars to be defeated. And that consequence came in the form of contract-based feedback that shocked the two users down to their very core and forced them to feel the last moments of their respective familiars before being defeated.


    "Guh..."


    "Buh..."


    Needless to say, the sheer shock of the pain they were feeling had battered them to the brink of unconsciousness. But before its sweet embrace could take them, their respective Systems had decided to deliver them some terrible news.


    [Alert! Familiar: Trobol has been defeated. Applying appropriate penalties to Arcanis User: Bjorn. A recording of your defeat has been sent to your guild leader for appropriate judgement.]


    [Alert! Familiar: BB-09 has been defeated. Applying appropriate penalties to Machina User: Farran. A recording of your defeat has been sent to your guild leader for appropriate judgement.]


    "Shit..."


    "Dammit..."


    The shock of this announcement was enough to push the two of them over the edge, as they understood that the reaction to this news was going to be... less than pleasant.


    Not that the instigator of this reaction was aware, though. He was too busy being shocked that the System''s advice had actually worked.


    "Holy shit...you weren''t kidding about that being his super move..." SK muttered in disbelief at the sight of Platiknight''s victory.


    [No duh,] the Superhero System replied with a smug-sounding window of text. [Props to you though, user. I didn''t expect your energy reserves to be this deep.]


    "Really? I feel drained as a motherfucker though."


    SK didn''t know if it was mana, spiritual energy, life energy, qi, aether, or whatever, all he knew was that when Platiknight performed his Platinum Comet Crash, the power necessary to activate it came from his energy reserves.


    He was fairly tempted to pass out right there and then, but he needed to be conscious for two reasons.


    First, he had to drive that security guard over to a hospital.


    Second, and more importantly, he wanted to properly introduce himself to Platiknight. After all, their first meeting was anything but proper.


    "So...what''s his deal exactly? Is he summoned from another world or..."


    [Why don''t you just ask him yourself?]


    "Oh...right."


    With this in mind, SK opted to finally approach the shining knight as he stood in the aftermath of his victory.


    Standing amidst the flaming wreckage and over the defeated System users, Platiknight made for a rather gallant figure.


    Almost intimidatingly so.


    However, this didn''t stop SK from getting into speaking distance with Platiknight, but once he did, he realized that speaking wasn''t necessary.


    He could feel that his soul was quite literally connected to this superhero and that this bond was a two-way street.


    SK could feel and know what Platiknight was thinking at any given moment, and Platiknight could feel and know what SK was thinking at any given moment too.


    But this didn''t stop the literal knight in shining armor from making a display of loyalty appropriate for someone of his station.


    "So, I guess we don''t need to-"


    Ka-clink


    "Whoa!"


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Before SK could even convey a thought or a word, Platiknight had already scooped him up for a hug.


    From an outside perspective looking in, SK looked like a teddy bear in comparison.


    "Haha! It''s been a long time, my liege!" Platiknight said in a warm tone of voice. "I can''t believe how much you have grown! I remember when you were just a chubby little thing that was no bigger than a turnip! Actually, I think that was her majesty''s nickname for you!"


    "Wait, wait, wait! What?!"


    When SK was informed that the System was bringing his imaginary friend/first superhero to life, he had assumed it was just going to be one of those situations where the being created was an entirely unique being that just so happened to look like how he designed them.


    So the fact that Platiknight just dropped information that only SK and his mother would know about implied that Platiknight, this Platiknight, was actually his imaginary friend given real life.


    Needless to say, SK was confused and needed answers.


    "System, what the hell is going on?" SK asked while trying to wriggle out of the bear hug he was in.


    Unfortunately, the System had decided that now was the best time for it to go silent.


    Thankfully, Platiknight was willing to provide answers in its stead.


    "Ah, right. I should probably explain myself and do this properly."


    Once he had finished hugging SK, the six-foot-tall superhero knight placed him standing on the ground before taking a knee and using his shield as a support instead of a sword.


    "From the depths of your mind, I was given form, but through the [Superhero System], I was given life and a chance to change the world to suit your vision."


    "Oh, that kind of makes... Wait a minute, what was that last statement?"


    "And I swear here and now to be your shield and hammer. To serve as your guiding light and guardian until the end of time itself," the knightly superhero continued without missing a beat.


    Understanding that he was probably not going to get any answers at this time, SK decided to keep his mouth shut and let Platiknight finish... whatever he was doing.


    Platiknight stood to his full height after saying his earlier words and knocked an armored fist against his chest plate in order to add emphasis to his next and final statement of the evening.


    "I am Platiknight, the Precious Metal Paragon!" the hero announced while raising his fist into the air. "And I promise to be able to protect you this time."


    As soon as he said this, Platiknight transformed into wisps of blueish energy that circled in the air for a bit before surging towards SK''s hands.


    "Holy-!"


    The next thing SK knew, he found himself holding a long, thin card that had a stylized image of Platiknight on one side and a stylized shield emblem featuring his intitials...until the card disappeared from his hands.


    He was worried for a split second that the first superhero he ever created had disappeared into some parallel dimension, until he saw the System status windows explaining that Platiknight was simply resting after exerting himself this evening.


    If he ever wanted to see him again, all he had to do was pull out his card and summon him.


    After that, SK let out a massive sigh of relief.


    "Holy hell, I seriously thought I was going to die this evening...didn''t expect...all of this."


    Looking past the unconscious weirdos that were controlling those monsters from earlier, SK could see that the entire shipyard was now a great big mess.


    A mess that SK was ill-equipped to handle at this time.


    That was, until he realized that he had yet to check the rewards he had received just moments ago after Platiknight''s victory.


    "Oh hey, maybe there''s something in those rewards that were mentioned earlier that can help clean this all up."


    With this in mind, SK focused his mind and summoned the System''s windows so that he could review exactly what this system could do.


    Of course, he still had to pass through all of the recent notification messages.


    ...


    [Notice! The user has defeated Farran of the Machina System. Ability points and rewards have been sent to the user''s inbox. Please retrieve at your earliest convenience.]


    [Notice! User has defeated Bjorn of the Arcanis System. Ability points and rewards have been sent to the user''s inbox. Please retrieve at your earliest convenience.]


    [Notice! The user has managed to defeat two opponents that were above the user''s current level. Additional rewards have been sent to the inbox, along with a title. Please retrieve both at your earliest convenience.]


    [Notice! Due to the user and the familiar having extreme compatibility, new features and items have been unlocked. Please review these unlocks at your earliest convenience.]


    ...


    "Oh, I should probably wait until I''m somewhere safer before looking over this stuff... meaning I''m going to have to leave this mess behind...oh boy..."

 Gotta love Butterflies...

    "Ah¡­screw it! I''m just going to drop off that injured man in the back of my car at the nearest hospital and go home," SK eventually concluded as he realized that looking over a new reality-defying System could be postponed at a later time.


    This decision to go and find someplace private to do all of this new bookkeeping was prudent but ultimately useless.


    While waiting until he was somewhere safe would help with making him not appear crazy in public, in his immediate vicinity, his prior actions had already been reported to the relevant parties.


    ______Somewhere where the mountain''s scraped the skies _________


    Nestled in a little valley of pine trees sat a biker bar known as Bigfoot''s Rest.


    This bar was fairly typical in the eyes of the world.


    It was a small, wooden building that was host to a tiny stage, a sizable bar that was lined with liquor but mostly sold beer from the tap, a couple of pool tables, and a jukebox that looked both timeless and out of place.


    However, there were two interconnected reasons why this place was fairly atypical to the rest of the world.


    Living up to its namesake, the bar was decorated with a strange collection of items and photographs that were related to the famous cryptid known as Bigfoot.


    The photographs in question were actually the biggest draw for the biker bar, due to the fact that these were the highest quality photos of Bigfoot that anyone had ever seen.


    Of course, many people couldn''t help but to doubt such photos due to how infamously elusive Bigfoot was.


    At least, that was the case for anyone who didn''t have access to the Arcanis System.


    The second facet that made Bigfoot''s Rest stand out was the fact that it was actually the home base of operations for a group known as Titan''s Heel.


    "Alright, Heelers! Who is ready for round sixteen?!"


    "Wooo!"


    Titan''s Heel was, in the eyes of the mundane world, a biker gang that had been operating for a little over three years.


    Their members varied in terms of background and builds, but they all shared the same trait of driving bikes that were modified to have massive tires. Hence the name, Titan''s Heel.


    However, this wasn''t the only reason why they called themselves by this name.


    In reality, Titan''s Heel was one of the many organizations found around the world that were composed entirely of System Users.


    Colloquially known as guilds, these organizations tended to focus on a particular aspect of trait of whatever System they had pledged their allegiance to.


    The Titan''s Heel guild, for example, specialized in users who made use of giant-type familiars such as trolls, ogres, cyclopes, ettins, and sasquatches.


    In fact, the reason why the bar was decorated the way it was, called the way it was, was because of the leader of Titan''s Heel, Alexander Yankis.


    "Barkeep! Another round for me and my brothers!," Alexander shouted while still nursing a keg of ale like it was a mug.


    "You got it, boss!"


    Alexander was, for lack of a better word here, a big motherfucker.


    Standing a little under seven feet tall, even when sitting, the leader of Titan''s Heel was as giant as the familiars that he and his guildmates were contracted to.


    Live big, laugh big, rage big¡ªthat was Titan''s Heel way.


    Bing-Bong!


    "Eh?"


    However, when he received a certain notification from the Arcanis System, his reaction to this news was going to be... unusually muted.


    "What''s up, boss? Did something happen?" one of the Titan''s Heel bikers asked when he saw the notification screen appear before their leader''s face.


    "Just a System notification, boys. It said Bjorn was defeated and that a video has been sent to me to evaluate his performance."


    "Bjorn? Is he the guy who insists on dressing like a hobo despite it covering up his member''s jacket?" Another biker asked while gesturing to his own.


    "That''s the one," Alexander confirmed. "Now, let''s see why the System deemed it necessary for me to review this...eh?"


    It only took Alexander a couple of seconds to get through the notification windows and reach the video/report that the System wanted him to see, but what he saw was enough to render him confused and a little speechless.


    "Boss? What''s wrong?"


    "No way..."


    As a guild leader, Alexander had seen many reports of both victory and defeat, to the point that a lot of these reports became pretty redundant and could be easily predicted by just watching the first few moments of the fight.


    However, this latest defeat report was anything but standard for Alexander.


    After all, he hadn''t heard of this Superhero System before, and he had never seen someone so brazen and bold as to fight both an Arcanis User and a Machina User at the same time and win.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "What the fuck?"


    The sight of this strange familiar named Platiknight alone was enough to push Alexander into shock, so the playback of this warrior pounding Bjorn black and blue made that feeling even worse.


    Needless to say, this reaction of silence didn''t go unnoticed by his men.


    "B-boss? Are you okay?"


    An uncharacteristic silence befell the normally rowdy group as they waited for their leader to speak. Thankfully, it didn''t take long.


    "Send someone to San Francisco as soon as possible," Alexander commanded. "I''ll deliver the details to his System inbox once they''re on their way."


    "Huh? Oh! Right away, boss!"


    The bikers had only seen their boss get this quiet one other time, and that one other time was why they had to move their headquarters into the middle of a pine forest.


    "What''s up with the boss?"


    "I don''t know."


    ____Somewhere where the chemicals of life boiled together in primordial waters____


    "Interesting...very interesting..."


    Deep in a swamp somewhere, where the mosquitoes bred like crazy and the humidity was enough to cause one''s skin to break out into hives, sat a strange-looking laboratory with an emblem on it that read, "Properly of the Chemist''s Union".


    This laboratory was one of the ones used by scientists whenever they needed to do field research in places that were less than pleasant, to say the least.


    However, unlike those normal labs, this one was filled with scientists manipulating strange-looking robots, and the interior resembled a laboratory that was more akin to one found in a secret military bunker.


    The design of these robots varied from looking like wind-up toys to being hyper-futuristic floating companions, but that was fine.


    After all, the Machina System encouraged its users to be as creative yet scientifically accurate with their familiars.


    And the one leading this particular lab or weirdos was a man named Professor Bovorich.


    Now Bovorich was once an acclaimed chemist from Eastern Europe, but had come to the Americas in order to work for a university that had a sketchy background, to say the least.


    His reasons for doing so were unclear to the wider world, but it allowed him to basically go anywhere and do anything as long as he was paying for it out of his own pocket.


    And when one happens to reap the benefits of being a guild leader for a System, such a thing was trivial to say the least.


    That said, his guildmaster duties required him to look over everything and determine whether he needed to reward or punish his subordinates for their decisions.


    This was a boring but necessary procedure.


    However, this boredom was soon broken when he came across a report about one of his lower-ranking members, an eccentric named Farran, being defeated.


    Reports of victory and defeat were normal, especially when the Arcanis System Users were involved, but this defeat report was... an anomaly.


    Because the report and accompanying video detailed that not only was the Arcanis User defeated alongside Bovorich''s subordinate, but that the winner of this bout was a User of neither the Arcanis or Machina System.


    Instead, the User in question had a brand new System he had never heard of before.


    The Superhero System.


    "Most intriguing..." Bovorich commented one last time as he rewatched the video. Once he had done so though, he immediately activated a voice call feature in his System''s interface.


    Click.


    Ring-ring!


    Ring-ring!


    Click


    "Shadow Investigators Incorporated, how can we assist in your spying endeavors on this fine evening?"


    "I would like to order an investigation package on a person of interest that has appeared in one of my guild reports."


    " Acknowledged. Please send an attachment message to the address alongside a verbal confirmation of the target''s location."


    "San Francisco."


    "Confirmed. Your investigation package will be delivered by the end of the week."


    "Good."


    With his business completed, Bovorich dismissed all of the System windows except for the video showcasing Farran''s defeat.


    "A Superhero System...so childish, even more so than those magi, and yet... so very, very interesting," Bovorich commented as he got to the part where Platiknight destroyed Farran''s mech alongside the rock troll.


    "I wonder, what kind of person is able to make use of a System like this?"

 ...and the Weirdos Who Watch Them

    "I am Platiknight! Now prepare yourselves to face justice!"


    Ka-chink! Vrrr! Ka-chink!


    "I am Platiknight! Now prepare yourselves to face justice!"


    Ka-chink! Vrrr! Ka-chink!


    "I am Platiknight! Now prepare yourselves to face justice!"


    Ka-chink.


    "Unbelievable¡­"


    Nestled deep within a busy cityscape sat a most unremarkable office building. It was single-story, connected to two other businesses, and the only indication that the place existed was a shared sign that marked it as [Guardian Organics].


    On the surface, this company was an organic food company that ran over a thousand grocery stores across the planet. In reality, it was the front for an organization that monitored the activities of people known as "Users" and the strange "Systems" that provided them their powers, covered up their existence, and nothing more.


    In the past, they had tried to regulate and restrict these Users from abusing their powers multiple times, but to no avail. The cost was simply too great, and the payoff was often too little.


    But at this moment, in an unremarkable cubicle occupied by a mousy office woman with unkempt bangs, a miracle was being replayed on her work laptop''s monitor.


    "This... is unprecedented!" the woman eventually declared, standing up and swiftly grabbing her laptop off the table. "I have to tell the chief, now."


    With a purposeful stride, the woman walked right past her fellow office workers, who themselves were busy reviewing footage of Users clashing against one another. Their footage, however, was considered relatively routine. So seeing how this coworker of theirs was walking with such purpose was enough to get them to turn their gaze away from their monitors for a couple of moments to see what the all the fuss was about.


    "Hey, Cybil! Why are you walking like you got a hellhound on your ass?"


    "Because I think I just witnessed a miracle."


    "Like how that magic-wielding User made it rain toads on that poor village?"


    "I mean a real one!"


    ¡­One purposeful stride later...


    "Damn it¡­ damn it!"


    In an office overlooking an office space, a middle-aged, balding man with a stern face was cursing and slamming his fist against a polished, dark wood desk as he stared at the charts and figures on his computer. Crunching this data down to its barest components, the message conveyed was that the number of users of both System "A" and System "M" had risen dramatically over the past few months, more so than it had in the past ten years.


    The last time such a spike occurred, a globe-spanning conflict almost wiped out half of the entire world. This was back before nuclear weapons were officially acknowledged.


    It had been many decades since that dark time in human history, and now they were threatening to come back. Only this time, the end result would definitely be for keeps.


    A heavy sigh escaped the man''s lips as he pressed his hands against his forehead and began to make a silent prayer.


    "Heavens above, please... send me a miracle."


    BAM!


    "Chief Willard, I have a miracle to show you!"


    "Wait, what?"


    The bald man known as Chief Willard had prayed like this multiple times before but had usually been met with silence and more tragedies. So the fact one of his subordinates came charging in at the exact moment he needed a miracle was incredibly coincidental.


    Then again, working this job had made him realize that coincidences were merely facets of fate intersecting... or something like that. He was told this by a user who fancied themselves a fortune teller.


    "Cybil, would you mind telling me why you decided to barge into my office?"


    "HERE!"


    "WHOA!"


    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Before Chief Willard could finish his question, Cybil had already placed her laptop onto her superior''s incredibly expensive desk and began to play the footage she had been rewatching for the past hour or so.


    The initial part of the footage played out in a typical manner, at least by the agency''s standards. A user in control of a rock troll was fighting a user that was controlling a robot with a proclivity for fire, and during the scuffle, an innocent bystander got caught up and was almost killed.


    So far, Willard wasn''t impressed.


    "Okay, why are you saying this is a miracle? It looks pretty standard to me."


    "Just keep watching!"


    This battle went on for a couple more moments until something unusual happened.


    "What the hell?"


    Off to the side of this ongoing battle, a young man with glasses and a hoodie had snuck into the area and tried to make his way over to the injured bystander. Needless to say, Willard couldn''t make out a good reason as to why this young man was risking his neck.


    Shortly after the man had made it to the bystander''s side, the absolute worst outcome had occurred. One of the attacks launched by the robot had suddenly gone wide and was about to turn this brave young man and injured bystander into burnt piles of¡ª


    BAM!


    "What the hell?"


    "See? Miracle!"


    Only that didn''t happen.


    Instead, right before Willard''s very eyes and moments before the fireball made impact, the young man had summoned a familiar that took the form of a shining knight armed with a giant shield.


    Now, Willard had seen familiar summonings before, but this one was different from those prior experiences because of one specific little detail.


    Every familiar, regardless of their maker of build, carried a symbol somewhere on their body that denoted which System had created them.


    Familiars created with System "A" always had this strange circular array imprinted somewhere on their body, while all the familiars created with System "M" had a cog-wheel-shaped emblem printed on them.


    The only issue in finding this emblem was that it required the usage of specially made lenses to be seen, hence why they could be used on everything from cameras to glasses.


    With this detail in mind, this unusual knight in shining armor carried neither of these identifying marks on his person. Instead, blazing like a bright beacon in the center of his chest was a logo that looked like a shield with a stylized "SK" in its center.


    This could only mean one thing.


    "A new system has appeared," Chief Willard stated while looking absolutely shellshocked.


    "Yes, Chief," Cybil agreed. "And this time, I think we might be able to work with this one."


    "Oh? Why?"


    Cybil didn''t answer her superior at this moment because she decided it would be more impactful for the precious metal paragon to explain it himself.


    "Who am I? Who am I?! I am the precious metal paragon! The unbreakable Paladin who protects all against the forces of evil! The shining shield of hope in the darkness of despair!"


    After making this bold declaration, the knight in shining armor prepared for battle.


    "I am Platiknight! Now prepare to face justice!"


    And from there, things went absolutely pear-shaped for the two Users who had started this whole debacle.


    "Oh, this next part is my favorite," Cybil commented.


    "Next part?"


    "PLATINUM COMET CRASH!"


    "Oh."


    In all honesty, the moment Willard saw Platiknight finish off the two familiars with an empowered shield charge, he felt as if he had just finished watching an old superhero cartoon from his childhood.


    And just, like in those halcyon days of his, he felt something he hadn''t felt in a long time.


    Hope.


    "Cybil, do you know who this mysterious young man is?," Willard asked after rewinding the footage back to when Platiknight was first summoned and playing it from there.


    "Unfortunately, no," Cybil sighed. "But I get the feeling that he might be able to help us deal with¡­you know."


    "I agree," Willard nodded while watching the footage playback to the point where Platiknight defeated the enemy familiars. "In that case, do you happen to know where exactly this battle took place?"


    "That, I can tell you," Cybil nodded. "This footage happened less than an hour ago, in San Francisco."


    "San Francisco?" Willard repeated in an amused tone of voice. "The home of the counterculture revolution and the same city that had once been the beacon of hopes and dreams of striking it rich during the Gold Rush...how appropriate."


    After making this comment, Willard motioned for Cybil to take back her laptop before he gave his next set of orders.


    "Cybil, I want you to take a team to San Francisco and track this young man down. Once you do, report back to me. Go and do it now."


    "Of course, sir," Cybil nodded and bowed before leaving the office.


    Once Willard was alone, he let out his second sigh for this evening.


    But this one was now filled with hope.


    "Looks like the tides of change are finally coming..."


    ...Now back to a certain city that was home to a golden bridge made of red-painted steel...


    "Phew... what a crazy ass night," SK sighed as soon as he managed to get back to his apartment and finally unwind for a bit. "Now then... do I put in the effort to actually get ready for bed or do I just pass out on the couch like a lazy bum?"


    As soon as he asked himself this question, he received an alert window from his new system.


    [Daily Quest: Proper Hygiene has been activated.]


    "What the fuck?"


    Evidently, the system had a better idea of what he should be doing with his time.

 Book Keeping Time

    Through sheer luck, happenstance, financial assistance, and being related to a landowner in San Francisco, SK managed to secure a single-bedroom apartment that was quite affordable given his erratic income.


    Meaning, he more or less had the freedom to openly question the weird daily quest that the Superhero System had just manifested in front of his eyes without having to worry about a nosey landlord or a roommate suddenly barging in on him.


    Well, he also technically had an on again, off again "girlfriend," but she wasn''t in the country at the moment, but that wasn''t important right now.


    [Daily Quest: Proper Hygiene.]


    Description: A proper hero must be a good influence, and that requires walking the talk. Prepare for bed properly and wash away your troubles for the day.


    Objectives:


    Brush your teeth: 0/2 min.


    Shower: 0/1


    [Reward: Free bed upgrade ticket and an ability point.]


    [Penalty for failure: You''re going to have to visit the dentist in six months... also, nausea for twelve hours.]


    [Note: Subsequent assignments of this quest will have a different award.]


    ...


    "I...don''t know how to feel about this quest...or the mention of subsequent assignments," SK thought aloud as he stared at the status window in front of him. "But... you know what? I''m curious about this bed upgrade, so sure. Might as well see this through."


    It took a grand total of ten minutes for SK to brush, wash up, and put on a comfortable set of pajamas. Evidently, following the System''s Daily Quest turned out to be a good idea, as SK felt significantly more refreshed than he did moments ago.


    "Well, that was nice."


    Once he had finished washing up and entered his bedroom, SK heard a notification bell in his ears moments before a new System window appeared in his field of vision.


    [Ding! Daily Quest: Proper Hygiene has been completed.]


    [One ability point has been added to the user''s unused points pool.]


    [Bed upgrade ticket has been added to the user''s inventory.]. Please use it by ripping the ticket over the desired bed to upgrade its quality.]


    "Inventory?"


    As soon as he posed this question, an inventory screen replaced the quest completion screen.


    "Ah, neat."


    The inventory screen in question wasn''t like the item slots of RPGs, where each slot could multiple stacks of a particular item, but was more like the inventory slots that were seen in action RPGs and a certain series of famous survival horror games.


    "Huh..."


    At this time, the inventory screen contained three gift boxes that each filled a two-by-two slot and a single ticket taking up a slot.


    "I''m just going to take a massive guess here and..."


    Zwip


    "Yup."


    SK guessed that the windows appearing before his eyes were either thought controlled, touch enabled, or both.


    With this in mind, SK figured that he could just physically reach into the inventory screen and pull out the item.


    This turned out to be the case, but came with the trade-off of feeling like his arm was getting tickled by a thousand tiny feathers.


    Thankfully, it didn''t take him too long to pull out a little golden ticket with the picture of a bed printed on it.


    "Okay, now I just rip it over my bed." SK repeated to himself as he began to hold the ticket over the bed.


    SK''s bed was an old spring mattress that he had taken with him through both high school and college. While it wasn''t exactly the most comfortable thing in existence, it was still usable.


    "I wonder how this is going to work." SK asked himself as he ripped the ticket.


    As soon as it had been torn in two, the ticket in SK''s hand began to turn into particles of light that gently fell down onto the bed and merged with it.


    The bed then began to glow with a gentle golden light...right before physically twisting and changing itself in a manner that was not too pleasing to the ears.


    "Ow, my hearing..."


    This entire process only took about thirty seconds before the bed settled back down and stopped glowing to reveal what changes had taken place.


    "Huh."


    Evidently, SK has severely underestimated how extensive the bed upgrade was exactly.


    One moment, he was staring at a beaten-up mattress resting in a simple wooden bed frame.


    The next moment, he found himself staring at a high-tech smart bed with a foam mattress that automatically adjusted itself for maximum comfort. The bed even came with a down comforter, silk bed sheets, and a cooling pillow.


    Needless to say, this was possibly the most comfortable bed in all of existence.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    "It''s like sleeping on a cloud made of money and dreams," SK commented as he got cozy in bed, after plugging in to charge his phone for the evening, of course. "System...how did you pull this off?]


    SK had posed this question with the expectation that the System wouldn''t answer, which was why he was surprised when it did.


    [The Superhero System is able to manipulate small facets of reality so that you, the user, can always be in their peak condition. Whether that involves incentives or mildly questionable surgery, I exist to help you break through the chains of normalcy and reach a level that can touch even the domain of the gods... hypothetically, of course.]


    "Huh...well, if giant robots, demons, and I guess superheroes now can be real, gods can be too," SK commented as he began to drift off to sleep. "Well...whatever the case...good night."


    [Good night.]


    Sleep came surprisingly easy to SK, especially since he burned off a lot of energy, almost dying no less than an hour or so ago.


    But as he slept, the System was still wide awake.


    After all, it needed to know who exactly it was going to be working with for the foreseeable future. And nothing was more informative than snooping around someone''s smartphone.


    As if manipulated by invisible hands, SK''s smartphone suddenly flared to life and began to flash through a series of apps and screens.


    [Alright, user, what kind of situation are we dealing with here...oh my.]


    Evidently, whatever this System had found, it began to understand exactly what SK needed to do first.


    More or less.


    ...Eight hours of sleep later...


    ''Huh...I guess I wasn''t hallucinating or dreaming last night...neat.''


    When SK rose from his slumber, a feeling of uncertainty woke up inside him.


    Stumbling upon what was essentially a monster movie gone wrong, followed up by him gaining a System with the ability to summon superheroes, sounded absolutely ludicrous.


    But, once he realized he was still laying in that ultra-high-tech bed that came from a System reward, he realized that everything that happened last night was absolutely real.


    Ding-dong!


    [Good morning!]


    "Oh. Hey."


    And if that wasn''t proof enough, the System reaffirmed their existence by summoning several windows for SK to read.


    "Okay, so I see one, two, three quest windows, with one marked as a daily. A reminder notification to claim my inventory prizes, and...wait, is that a status window? Why does it say one of two?"


    [Aside from Familiar: Platiknight, User: SK also has a status window to help determine overall health and abilities.]


    "Huh...well, now I''m plain curious."


    Focusing on the status window, the other windows were minimized so that SK could get a clear view of how the System viewed him.


    Needless to say, it wasn''t great.


    ...


    [Name: Stanford "SK" Kirby]


    [Job: None]


    [Description: A young man who''s trying to figure out his way in the world. Desires to become a comic book artist who will change the world.]


    [Stats:


    Note: Scale is from 0 to 100, based on baseline mortals


    Strength: 35


    Endurance: 30


    Intellect: 55


    Agility: 25


    Charisma: 40


    Connection: 20


    Ability Pool: 11


    Skills: Heroic Heart, Drawing III, Writing II, Cooking I, Driving II


    Evaluation: User can at least work a customer service job, but definitely needs to lift bro.]


    ...


    "Okay, I''m not going to argue that I definitely need to work out more," SK commented while poking at his doughy body. "But what the hell are these skills? Also, what does the Connection score represent?"


    [Skills are based on the user''s experience and reflect what kind of information and action is easily accessible at any given time,] a dialogue help window explained.


    [Connection refers to the user''s ability to coordinate with their familiars. The higher the score, the more familiar the user can control at any given time.]


    "Huh...that makes a lot of sense..."


    Staring at his current ability scores, SK remembered that some of the rewards he earned last night included ability points. Which meant he could use those to make his abilities less...crappy.


    "Wait, didn''t the System say that Platiknight also has..."


    Tap, tap


    "Yup."


    Navigating the windows, SK pulled up Platiknight''s stat screen and was presented a sheet very similar to his own.


    The only difference was that instead of "Connection", he had "Connection Cost".


    And that he had an elemental attribute.


    "Huh..."

 Reward Time!

    Familiar Name: Platiknight


    Attribute: Metal/Light


    Description: A shining knight from beyond time and space, they''re considered the perfect picture of a proper paragon.


    Stats:


    Note: Familiar scaling is impossible to calculate by mortal standards, so a ranking system is used instead.


    Strength: A


    Endurance: A


    Intellect: B


    Agility: B


    Charisma: A


    Connection Cost: 5


    Equipment: Platinum Armor of the Goddess of Justice, Divine Platinum Aegis.


    Skills: Platinum Attack Collection


    Ultimate Skill: PLATINUM COMET CRUSH!


    ...


    "Okay, so the ultimate ability is just written in bold font by default. Good to know," SK commented while looking over Platiknight''s status screen.


    "Wait, I wonder if I can actually..." SK trailed off before sticking his hand into the status screen and pulling out Platiknight''s card.


    "So that''s where he went."


    Last night, SK had learned that familiars like Platiknight didn''t stay permanently summoned on his level of reality.


    Instead, they would transform into cards after their tasks were done and could be stored in the System Space if needed.


    SK had initially believed them to be stored in the inventory or some menu option labeled "Familiars," but was thoroughly disappointed when he couldn''t find him in the former or an option named the latter. Evidently, it did sort of make sense for the card to be stored in the status screen, though.


    "Wait...why can''t I just summon Platiknight directly through the System?"


    [There will be moments where certain features of the System, or the System itself, will become disabled. As such, any familiars that the User contract with must be summonable in these situations.]


    "Okay, that makes sense...wait additional?"


    [Your Connection Score determines how many familiars you can have active at any one time, while the Connection Cost determines how much of your Familiar quota can be used.]


    "Uh..."


    It took SK a minute to wrap his head around what the System was talking about, but a light off when it did.


    "Oh! So if I got a Connection Score of 20, that means I can summon Platiknight alongside any other familiars as long as their combined cost doesn''t exceed my score...right?"


    [Exactly.]


    "Cool."


    SK was oddly excited over the idea of being able to summon his own superhero team, but he needed to figure out how to raise his Connection stat.


    ...


    Wait a minute.


    "Didn''t I receive exactly that late last night?" SK asked himself as he remembered his inventory.


    After placing Platiknight''s card off to the side, SK summoned forth the inventory screen to be placed right next to the Status window.


    Staring at his face were three unopened gift boxes, sitting in his inventory, waiting to be opened.


    "Sweet...wait, is this an individual box roulette deal or can I mass open them in one go?"


    [Loot Box rules; just click them all at once,] a System window explained.


    "Sweet."


    Sliding his finger across the three boxes, animations of them opening one after the other occurred before their delicious contents populated the inventory.


    After each item was added, several notification windows appeared one after the other.


    ...


    [Thermochemistry Skill Crystal (II) has been added to inventory.]


    [Ability point ticket: +5 Intellect has been added to inventory.]


    [Additional Reward: Bronze Familiar Ticket has been added.]


    ...


    [Rock Body Skill Crystal (II) has been added to inventory.]


    [Ability point ticket: +10 Endurance has been added to inventory.]


    [Additional Reward: Bronze Familiar Ticket has been added.]


    ...


    [Title: Star Reacher has been bestowed upon the user. Please equip in the status window in order to activate the benefits.]


    [Ability Point ticket: +10 Free points has been added to inventory.]


    [Additional Reward: Silver Familiar Ticket has been added.]


    ...


    "Okay, the ability point tickets are self-explanatory...speaking of..."


    SK quickly reached into the inventory window and pulled out the tickets in order to rip and activate them.


    ...


    [Endurance: 30 -> 40]


    [Intelligence: 55 -> 60]


    [Ability Pool: 11 -> 21]


    ...


    "Huh...I figured there would be more body tingles involved...and I''m definitely going to need to apply those points later...actually, let''s apply them now."


    ...


    Connection: 20-> 41


    ...


    "There, now I have wiggle room in case I end up with familiars that have a high connection cost. Now then, what''s up with these crystals and tickets?"


    As soon as he asked this question, SK was presented with two more screens.


    [Skill Crystals: Can be consumed by the user to bestow them with abilities, or use during Familiar Creation.]


    [Familiar Tickets: Can be consumed to condense the energies of the universe to create new familiars. The quality of the ticket will determine the starting potential of created familiars.]


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    [Note: Using the tickets without the input of skill crystals or other materials will lead to a complete randomization in terms of abilities and skill. Please gamble at your own peril.]


    "Huh...sounds a bit like a gacha but with a touch more customizability...but also a little fucked up in the sense I''m making superheroes that have actual rarities and rankings."


    [User''s phone contain several games where this is the case; as well, pop culture categorizes heroes as being A, B or C-list.]


    "I...want to argue against that, but I can''t seem to...hmm."


    To be completely honest, SK was very tempted at this moment to use all three of his tickets right now to make some new superheroes.


    Maybe even use those Skill Crystals to make sure these heroes had some specific powersets.


    But ultimately, he decided against it for a very good reason.


    "That note mentioned materials, and I get the feeling that I''m definitely going to need whatever constitutes materials before I decide to do anything with these tickets...for now, I might as well check through what else this System can do...oh, wait!"


    Before doing anything further, SK pulled up his status screen again and noticed that something additional was added in the space directly above his name. It was just a single textbox that read: "Title".


    "Ok, that wasn''t there before..." SK mumbled before tapping on the title and determining why he was given one called "Star Reacher".


    Evidently, it wasn''t entirely absurd, but it was a little... embarrassing, to say the least.


    On the plus side, the benefit it gave was quite good.


    ...


    Title: Star Reacher


    Description: A title earned by those who are willing to risk their lives to reach above their stations and touch upon the heavens, especially if they were wholly unqualified to do so.


    Effect:


    10% increase in all ability scores.


    Material acquisition luck increased.


    Possible miracle effects when confronting enemies that are objectively more powerful than the user.


    ...


    "Okay, so I equip it like this...drop-down menu, nice...and done."


    As soon as he locked in his new title, SK visibly shivered.


    "Oh, there are the body tingles."


    In this moment, SK could literally feel his body getting stronger, faster, tougher, smarter, and just a bit bigger as the effect of his new title ran it''s course.


    Once the tingling had finished, SK was officially done with all of the pending reward and status stuff he wanted to address before doing anything else.


    "Alright, now let''s see if there was anything else I should be doing."


    With a wave of his hand, SK dismissed the inventory and status windows before summoning the original menu screen he had seen before.


    ...


    Quests(!)


    Status


    Inventory


    Store(!)


    Realms(!)


    ...


    "Huh... okay, I''m going to check out the quests first because something in my soul tells me that both the [Store] and [Realms] are going to cost me some form of vague currency that I probably don''t have," SK determined as he clicked on the [Quest] option.


    Three new windows appeared before his eyes as soon as he clicked on them, of which one had the word [Daily] included.


    ...


    Quest: Practice Makes Perfect [Daily]


    Description: A healthy body means a healthy mind. Maintaining regular exercising habits will help you improve.


    Objectives:


    1. Run for two miles.


    2. Do 100 jumping jacks.


    3. Do 100 squats.


    4. Do either 100 pull-ups or push-ups.


    5. Or their equivalents


    Reward: 5 ability points added to Strength, Endurance, and Agility. One item box (1-5 stars)


    Warning: Failure to complete this goal will lead to a penalty.


    ...


    "Okay, I''ve seen enough popular System media to know what that means, so it looks like I''ll be exercising after looking through the rest of these quests."


    ...


    Quest: Realm Walk


    Description: Reality is less like a uniform sheet and more or like a patchwork quilt of a million things. Exploring these realms will be an eye-opening experience.


    Objective:


    Explore one realm or world beyond the home world (0/1)


    Reward: Realm Exploration Tickets*5, 2000G, Material Boxes*5


    ...


    Quest: Heroic Deed


    Description: A superhero is someone who can make miracles, not just choices. Go out there and prove it.


    Objective:


    Perform a heroic deed (0/1)


    Reward: Gold Grade Familiar Ticket*5, Hero Training Facility Feature Unlock, Hero Dispatch Feature Unlock, Monetary compensation proportional to the size of the heroic deed performed.


    ...


    "Okay, that has got to be the vaguest fucking quest objective in the history of quests," SK concluded while reading over the final quest in his log.


    "What constitutes a heroic deed anyway?"

 Opportunity likes to knock

    "And when I came to, I woke up here in the hospital. That''s about it."


    "I see..."


    "You really don''t remember who brought you here? Nothing at all?"


    "Nope. All I know is that if I can ever figure it out, I owe that guy a drink."


    "Hmm."


    In the private room of a hospital named after a saint, a pair of detectives were interviewing an injured security guard who was just about forty years old.


    These two detectives were known as Senior Detective Gerard Parker and Junior Detective Aleks Petrikor.


    "Thank you for your time, Mister Bolonski."


    "We wish you a speedy recovery."


    "Don''t mention it."


    Late last night, the San Francisco Police Department received a very strange anonymous tip about an incident occurring at Hunter''s Point Naval shipyard.


    Several dozen shipping containers and their contents had been destroyed by what appeared to be a freak accident that somehow combined a napalm bomb with a tornado but with zero casualties.


    Sort of.


    When uniformed officers arrived at the scene, they had found a pair of unconscious men that they had brought into custody since neither appeared to be visibly injured.


    Afterwards, forensic teams would then discover that there was an injured security guard, named Robert Bolonski, who had been witness to the whole event, and a single stolen item... maybe.


    They had discovered what appeared to be the remains of an old treasure box imported from Asia. The curious thing about this box, though, was that no document seemed to record anything about there being anything inside it. The only manifesto related to it was that it was purchased from an antique shop, and that was it.


    Regardless, since the injured security guard was the closest thing to a lead they got, SFPD figured it would be wise to assign some detectives to the case.


    Unfortunately for these detectives, their lead was sounding a little crazy.


    "What do you think, rookie?" Detective Parker asked his junior as they entered the hospital elevator to leave. "Do you think Mister Bolonski is telling the truth or tripping on something hard?"


    "The nurses said his tox screens were clean, but...his story sounds absolutely insane," Detective Petrikor replied. "I mean...giant robots, trolls, and a literal knight in shining armor all fighting against each other in some kind of nightmare royale? Sounds like something out of a comic book or a movie."


    "It does, doesn''t it?"


    "Yeah...oh! Any word on the state of those suspects?"


    "Nothing yet," Detective Parker answered with a sigh. "But I get the distinctive feeling that neither of them will be talking worth a damn either. That hobo was rocking the colors of an infamous biker gang from the Midwest, while the scientist had a logo related to one of the biggest chemical companies on the East Coast. I wouldn''t be surprised if lawyers for both magically appeared out of nowhere the moment we started asking questions."


    "Does that mean we''re at a dead end?" Petrikor asked, with a slight sense of defeatism in his tone.


    "Not exactly...we just need to find one more suspect."


    "Another suspect? Who?"


    At this question, Detective Parker had pulled out his phone and began to watch footage he had acquired from the security systems at the docks. Unfortunately, the quality was quite grainy and a good chunk of it was missing due to the camera being absolutely wrecked by the time the police got to it, but the footage that remained contained evidence that an explosion of some kind occurred the vening prior and that a young man had decided to go running towards it.


    It didn''t take the detective too much to figure out why this fool was running into danger in the first place. Not after that interview; he had no less than five minutes ago.


    "Why, the young man who decided to play hero last night, of course..."


    ...Now back to that aforementioned man...


    *Knock-knock*


    "Huh?"


    At this moment in time, SK had spent only about ten or so minutes looking through all the inventory, status, and quest-related menus in regards to his new system. Not only that, but he made sure to brush and get ready for the day.


    He was just about to open up the [Realms] tab when an unexpected knock came from his front door.


    Thanks to the way his apartment was designed, SK could get a clear view from his bed to the front door of his apartment, as well as a little bit of the kitchen and living room, and could hear whatever anyone had to say from his apartment door.


    *Knock-knock*


    "Hmmm."


    Now the presence of someone knocking at his door, especially this early in the morning, was weird to SK for multiple reasons.


    First and foremost, SK had no roommates, so the chance that person knocking at his door was someone he knew was already low to begin with.


    Second, SK knew his neighbors to some extent and knew they had no reason to be knocking at his door. He wasn''t close enough to any of them that he could trust him with something like a subscription service, but he was familiar enough with them to know that they worked in the morning and weren''t home until late in the evening.


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Once again, the chances of him knowing the mysterious knocker had grown smaller.


    *Knock-knock*


    This left friends, and the ones SK had weren''t the type to suddenly just come knocking...wait a minute...


    "I only know one person in the world who would come knocking at my door this early in the morning," SK concluded. "And if it''s them... I''m going to have to get dressed."


    Now knowing who was knocking at his door, SK quickly changed out of his pajamas and switched to a pair of comfortable pants and a jacket that could survive any type of weather. He also made sure to pack several power banks for his phone, because he was definitely going to need them for himself and the friend knocking at his door.


    "Alright, let''s do this...wait!"


    But before he did anything further, he made sure to grab Platiknight''s card and placed it in his pocket.


    "Okay, now I''m ready."


    Once he was physically ready, mostly mentally prepared, SK opened the door.


    *Knock-knock*


    "Heyo."


    "Finally!" A short woman with short hair exclaimed as she walked through the now open door of SK''s apartment. "What took you so long?"


    "I was getting dressed."


    "Right," she said in a flat tone of voice while eyeing up SK''s outfit. "Well, whatever. I need your assistance today."


    "You know my rate."


    "Of course."


    The woman barging into SK''s apartment this bright morning was a woman who went by the name of Rachel Reyes.


    Reyes was a friend of SK''s from back when they were in college together, with the former being an ex-girlfriend of the latter''s roommate at the time.


    The two kept in contact with one another after graduating due to not only this tangential relationship but also the two of them having similar life goals with one another.


    More specifically, Reyes wanted to become an independent news influencer, which fell in the sphere of "independent content creation."


    Unlike SK, though, Reyes was a bit more successful. This was mildly annoying to deal with some days, but other times, it was surprisingly profitable. Then again, that might''ve been due to the fact that he charged her five hundred dollars to be her chauffeur for the day.


    "So what''s the deal, Reyes? Did you want me to drive you around Golden Gate Park again? Or do you want me to drive you through Chinatown again?"


    "Neither! My intrepid chauffeur," Rachel exclaimed while pulling her phone from her purse. "We''re actually going to be interviewing an up-and-coming street fortune teller who operates in Japan Town!"


    "Say what?"


    Without explaining anything further, Rachel tapped a couple of buttons on her screen and pulled out a local news article.


    Correction, she pulled out an article from a local gossip paper.


    "Take a look."


    "Hmm."


    ¡­


    Japan Town is Now Home to Mysterious Fortuneteller with a 100% FATAL prediction rate.


    Situated in a sleepy corner of Japan Town, right next to a boba shop called the Sleeping Jasmine, is a rather innocuous-looking shop.


    While the shop itself isn''t much to look at, the fortune-teller inside is actually quite the looker herself.


    Claiming to hail from a long line of fortunetellers, Madam Myster had spent much of her life traveling throughout Europe in order to learn of the hundreds of ways people have attempted to predict the future in order to refine her art to its absolute limit.


    But the fortunes she tells are not for those who fear death.


    Many of the fortunes she usually tells are dubious to say the least, as all fortunes are, but this is where things get weird.


    Several eyewitness accounts claim that they were present for the fortune reading of their friends, and each one of them was told that a great misfortune would befall them soon..unless they took certain actions to prevent these aforeseen tragedies from happening in the first place.


    Some took her advice seriously and didn''t fall to ruin, but there were others who doubted her words and paid a price.


    One woman was told to stop using a particular brand of shampoo but didn''t. Now, she''s completely bald because the company that made the shampoo changed the formula, and she turned out to be allergic. Thankfully, her hair is now growing back but its never gonna be the same.


    Another was told to put up his dog for adoption to prevent heartbreak but didn''t. Shortly after, that dog was killed in a crossfire during a shoot-off at a hostage situation. That dog was buried with honors by the SFPD.


    Lastly, one man was told to delete a number from his phone or face a fatal end but didn''t. The next day, his wife was arrested for stabbing him fifty-two times in the chest. Apparently, he had been cheating on her with her brother.


    Either way, it is highly recommended that if you go and visit Madam Myster, that you do exactly what she says or the consequences could be dire.

 Fortune or Fooey

    "So? What do you think? Don''t you think this would make an excellent video?"


    "Hmmm."


    Had it been any other day, SK would''ve put on a fake smile and told Rachel that this fortune-teller was probably full of animal excrement.


    However, after the evening he had last night, SK was more than open to the idea that this fortune-teller was legit.


    If anything, they were probably one of those Arcanis System Users.


    ''Man, it''d be great if I could just ask the System about this sort of thing,'' SK thought to himself. Immediately after this thought popped into his head though, a transparent blue System window appeared in his field of vision and over Rachel''s face.


    [You do remember I am connected to your thoughts and these windows are only visible to you, right?]


    "Pfft!"


    "Huh?"


    SK''s puff of air was meant to express his surprise at this turn of events, but he knew better than to mention the existence of a reality-defying System thing to one of his closest friends this early in his life. As such, he decided to tell a little white lie.


    "What was that?" Rachel asked, confused by the sudden puff of air.


    "Nothing," SK lied. "Just¡­finding it unbelievable that there can be a fortune teller out there with a one hundred percent accuracy rate. Think she can tell me some lottery numbers?"


    "Oh. Wait, I thought you disliked gambling."


    "Several million dollars is several million dollars. I ain''t looking a gift horse like that in the mouth anytime soon."


    "Fair enough."


    "Now then, shall we go?"


    "Yes!"


    Once SK and Rachel were on their way to the former''s car, SK began to have a mental conversation with his System. To be more precise, SK was transmitting thoughts to the System, while the System itself responded via blue text boxes.


    ¡­


    ''Okay, I''m going to be honest; I kind of forgot that you were connected to my mind.''


    [Really? We''ve known each other for an evening, slept in that specially crafted bed, and spent the last twenty minutes or so parsing through my menu screens, and you forgot that I am telepathically linked to you? For shame¡­]


    ''I¡­you are surprisingly articulate for...actually, what the fuck are you exactly?''


    himself[I''m a System. The Superhero System, no less.]


    ''Yeseenut¡­you''re not going to give me a clear answer on this, are you?''


    [Nope!]


    ''Great. Alright, can you at least tell me if this fortune teller we''re about to meet is another User? Because the gossip article seemed to imply that.''


    [Error! Error! System is unable to determine this possibility without being in at least ten feet of the hypothetical user.]


    ''Distance thing, got it. Man, I hope this fortune-teller is just eerily accurate and not another User¡­''''


    ¡­Meanwhile¡­


    In a little shop hidden in a city block, next to a boba shop, two women were having a transaction across a small table that was covered in a satin cloth and decorated with a crystal ball.


    On one side was a middle-aged woman with a frumpy hairstyle, thick glasses, and a sundress that seemed to fit wrongly despite being the right size. This woman was known as Victoria Bartleby, and she was wondering whether or not her current boyfriend was her soulmate.


    "Well? What do your cards say? Do I have a shot at true love?"


    "Hmmm¡­"


    Sitting across from her was a comely woman dressed in a face veil and wearing a robe that radiated that mystique and wonder that usually came with being a fortune-teller. This lady was known as Miss Myster to the wider world, and she had just finished her tarot reading for Miss Bartleby.


    And judging from the way her eyes looked as she went over the cards, the reading was quite strange.


    "Well¡­" Miss Myster trailed off for dramatic effect before explaining the reading to Miss Bartleby. "The cards seem to suggest that you are indeed close to your soulmate; its just... odd."


    "Odd?" Miss Bartleby repeated. "Odd how?"


    "You may find this hard to believe, but it''s actually possible for someone to have multiple soul mates and even have them change over the course of a lifetime. This is because our souls are not static objects but dynamic ones. Even the smallest stimuli can cause one''s soul to drastically change," Miss Myster explained. "Tell me something. Has an old flame or relationship suddenly made itself known to you again?"


    At this question, Miss Bartleby let out a gasp.


    "My ex-boyfriend, Alonzo!" Miss Bartleby exclaimed. "He called me last night, saying that he was a fool for eloping with my sister and that he wanted me back."


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    "I-really?"


    "Yes."


    "Huh¡­Well then, that makes this next part easier to tell you. Right now, your soul is in flux, and you have been presented with a choice between two possible soulmates. Do you wish to reignite that old spark with Alonzo, or do you feel that your soulmate is none other than your current boyfriend, Richard?"


    "I¡­I¡­don''t know," Miss Bartleby honestly answered as she looked down at her hands in shame. With a sigh, she eventually got up from her seat and made her way to the exit.


    "Thank you, Miss Myster. You have given me a lot to think about."


    "Anytime."


    Miss Bartleby left the shop with a brooding look and slightly sullen demeanor, as she had hoped that Miss Myster would be able to give her some guidance.


    The painfully hilarious thing about this moment, though, was that Miss Myster could''ve definitely provided her with a clear answer and told her who her actual soulmate was. But alas, Miss Myster couldn''t do that because it would''ve gone against the quest that the System had bestowed upon her.


    And she had been working very hard to meet its demands.


    [Ding! Quest Complete.]


    [Number of relationships muddled: 5/5]


    [The rewards have been sent to the user''s inventory. Please review at your earliest convenience.]


    "Fucking finally," Miss Myster spat out in a voice that sounded significantly more curt than the mysteriously soothing voice that she had used moments ago. "If I had to hear one more daffy bird complain about their relationship for another minute, I was going to-tsk!-no¡­no¡­you gave up that life a long time ago."


    Now that she had finished the quest, Miss Myster wasted no time in opening up her inventory screen and claiming the reward box to see what she earned for completing this quest.


    Evidently, she wasn''t all too impressed.


    [One spool of Fate Thread (Inferior) has been added to the inventory.]


    [One Bronze Familiar Creation Ticket has been added to the inventory.]


    [700Gs has been added to the inventory.]


    "Seriously?! That''s it? After all of that work and all of that effort in mucking up all of those lovebirds, just so I can get this chump change of a reward?! Bah! BAH!" Miss Myster cursed before taking a deep breath to center herself. "Forget it; I just need to fulfill my weekly quest. At least that one pays better."


    Hearing her thoughts, her System quickly summoned forth the screen detailing her weekly quest and reminded her of what she had to do.


    ¡­


    [Weekly Quest: Assured Fortune]


    [Objective: Weave fate for a customer so that certain outcomes are guranteed. Be sure to include instructions on how to avoid this fate. Otherwise, be sure to fulfill the fortune in whatever way possible]


    [Fate Force: 0/1]


    ¡­


    "Now I just need the right customer to come my way," Miss Myster concluded once she finished reading her weekly reminder and dismissing the quest screen.


    Flicking her wrist, Miss Myster manifested a strange-looking card between her fingers with a weird symbol printed on one side and a demonic-looking bird on the other. Printed in neat cursive on the bottom of the picture was a name that read, "Fletcher the Strix."


    "Come on out, Fletcher. Mama needs your help."


    HOO! HOO!


    Releasing the card from her fingers, Miss Myster summoned forth a rather nasty-looking owl that had clearly seen better days. However, if one were to gaze into the eyes of this foul fowl, they would notice that its eyes looked a little too intelligent for a bird of his size. In fact, if one were to look into them, they would notice that it would feel as if one was staring into the eyes of another human being.


    "Fletcher, honey, I need you to go out there and bring me someone who needs our guidance. Okay?"


    "Hoo! Hoo!"


    "Good."


    Miss Myster didn''t move from her seat as her familiar, Fletcher the Strix, flew out of her shop, phasing through the walls and windows like a ghost and ascending into the airspace above San Francisco.


    The demonic-looking owl swept its gaze over the busy city streets before identifying a possible target of his mistress''s machinations.


    Eventually, the strix found exactly who they were looking for.


    "Hoo! Hoo!"


    Youngsters were always his master''s favorite; they always made for the most tragic of news stories that were just so... entertaining.

 Low Res Bird

    "Why do I keep forgetting that the parking around here is godawful?" Rachel complained as she got out of the car.


    "Because you pay me to drive you around whenever you decide to visit the city," SK replied as he exited the car as well and loaded up the parking meter. "Especially since our public transit system hasn''t had an overhaul in years."


    "Fair point. Hey, keep watch of my stuff while I get prepared here, okay?"


    "I know, I know."


    The drive from SK''s apartment building to Japantown was a little under ten to fifteen minutes. However, this estimation was made before traffic and parking were factored in.


    Once SK factored in these two variables, the aforementioned ten-minute drive would quickly balloon into being a twenty- to thirty-minute drive with the added frustration of other people trying to drive around him. Needless to say, all of this traffic crap was the exact reason why SK charged his friend money to be her chaffeur for the day.


    ''Wait... is this why I have [Driving] as a skill on my status screen?'' SK thought to himself as he waited for Rachel to finish her preparations.


    Rachel''s preparations weren''t anything too absurd for an independent journalist influencer of her size; she simply applied some light make-up to her face and attached her phone to a specially made phone gimbal that doubled as a powerbank. Once everything was in place, Rachel pressed record and turned on the charm that rocketed her to several thousand paying subscribers.


    "Hi everybody! Welcome back to ''Rey of Truth.'' My name is Rey-Rey, and I am here to illuminate your life with knowledge."


    ''Oh dear heavens above, why do I keep forgetting how much I hate that intro?'' SK mentally groaned as he watched his friend do a live version of her semi-famous introduction.


    "Today, we''re going to be visiting, interviewing, and getting a reading done by a famous fortune-teller that has been making headlines, Miss Myster," Rachel told her audience with all the flair and bluster she could muster.


    ''Why do I get the feeling I''m about to get sucked into that aforementioned reading?'' SK thought to himself as he watched his friend continue to vamp for her audience. ''Wait a minute, what the fuck is that?''


    As Rachel continued to put on her performance for her digital audience, SK noticed that circling above both of their heads was a weird-looking bird.


    Now, as a native to the city of San Francisco, SK was used to seeing birds circling above his head, such as seagulls and falcons.


    In this case, though, he couldn''t help but be a little suspicious.


    Because the longer he stared at the bird circling above his and Rachel''s head, the more and more he began to notice that it looked oddly... low resolution, for a lack of a better word.


    If SK had to make a comparison, he felt as if he were staring at a low polygraphic model of a bird from the late 90s being placed into a game created in the late 2010s. It didn''t look right, but at the same time, he couldn''t really pinpoint why.


    Unfortunately, SK couldn''t spend any more time staring at this strange bird because Rey-Rey had just finished her latest video''s introduction and was now ready to go and meet Miss Myster for realsies.


    This meant that SK was now on camera duty until further notice.


    "Make sure you get all of my clickbait angles as we enter the shop."


    "And your clickbait angles are the ones that involve your butt being subtly off to the left?"


    "Amen."


    ¡­One Quick walk to the shop later¡­


    "Oooh, this place is so¡­mystical."


    "That''s¡­not wrong."


    The moment they walked into the fortune-telling shop, SK had wanted to make a snarky comment about the fact that the place was incredibly cliche. But after the night he had last night, he knew better than to mock a place that may very well be the den of another one of those Arcanis System guys.


    That stated, neither SK nor Rachel could spot the head nor tail of the mysterious owner of this shop. Whether or not that was a good thing was highly debatable at this point in time.


    ''I really hope this Miss Myster chick isn''t anything like that hobo wizard guy.''


    "Hello? Anybody here?" Rachel called out in that oddly fearless way that all influencers seemed to have.


    "I''m in the inner room, my dears," a voice that was alluring as spice-infused honey called out from past a bead curtain-blocked door. "Don''t be strangers now, I know why you''re already here."


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    "Well then, it''d be rude to keep a lady waiting," Rachel said while exaggerating her expression a tad for the camera.


    As for SK, he simply followed along with the camera pointed in Rachel''s direction. As well, he made sure to finally ask the Superhero System, the question that had been burning in the back of his mind this entire time.


    ¡­


    ''Well? Is this Miss Myster another User?''


    [Pbbt! Pbbt! Error! Error! User level is too low to enable enemy detection. Please fulfill quests until the user has reached the appropriate level.]


    ''Seriously?!''


    ¡­


    "Oh wow! You are way prettier than how the news articles describe you to be," Rachel exclaimed with shock.


    "I get that a lot."


    The moment SK and Rachel entered into what appeared to be the fortune-teller''s actual place of work, they were greeted with the vision of a comely woman with raven hair, green cat-like eyes, sunkissed skin, and dressed in an outfit that appeared to be made of indigo silk and decorated with stars.


    In other words, the picture perfect definition of a mysterious soothsayer that was definitely more trouble than they let on.


    ''I guess this is Miss Myster."


    "Oh! Wait, I forgot, my name is-"


    "You''re¡­Rey-Rey, aren''t you?," Miss Myster interrupted. "You''re here to interview me for your show, yes?"


    At this question, Rey-Rey let out an audible gasp.


    "Oh my dear heavens, you are able to see the future!"


    "No, no. Nothing like that," Miss Myster laughed as she dismissed the claim. "I am simply a fan of your show. I really enjoyed that interview you did with that Chinese chef you did down in Redwood City."


    "Mister Chau''s Lotus Bowls?"


    "That''s the one!"


    "Oh! I love meeting my fans, especially when they just so happened to be my next interviewee!" Rey-Rey exclaimed with delight.


    "Well, I hope that whatever answers I give can be enlightening to you and your viewers."


    After this pleasant exchange of greetings, Rey-Rey proceeded to ask a series of questions that were answered with as much information as Miss Myster was willing to give, which was quite a lot.


    In the span of fifteen or so minutes, Miss Myster explained that she had originally started off as an archeology student pursuing a doctorate before falling in love with the art of fortune-telling while traveling through Romania. After that, she traveled through parts of Europe, parts of China, and parts of the Middle East in order to perfect her craft by studying under various master soothsayers.


    Incidentally, some of this information was already known via prior discussions people had with the fortune-teller being shared online, but it was always nice to get confirmation on whether or not these conversations were true.


    Eventually, though, Rey-Rey got to the main meat of her arrival.


    "Well, this is all truly fascinating, Miss Myster. But¡­ since you are a master fortune-teller, do you think that I could..."


    "Get a fortune told?" Miss Myster finished with a smile in her voice. "But of course. In fact, I''ll make it for free."


    "Yay!"


    "And you know what? Just because I''m in such a great mood, I''ll also give your cameraman over there a free fortune reading as well," Miss Myster said in a magnanimous tone while looking over at SK.


    Evidently, SK wasn''t expecting to be called out like this and was a little flabbergasted at this turn of events.


    "Tell me, young man, what is your name?"


    "Me? Uh, Stanford technically, but most people call me SK."


    "Really? Nobody ever calls you Stan?" Miss Myster asked in a teasing voice.


    "Only one person."


    "Ah, SK it is then," Miss Myster capitulated before gesturing SK to pull up a chair at her table.


    "Now, would you two like me to read your fortunes together or one at a time?"


    "One at a time. Please!" Rachel answered before SK could provide any input. "


    "Very well."


    Once she was given the go-ahead, Miss Myster extracted from beneath her table, a set of tarot cards.


    "Now then, how would you like for me to read your cards? A cross-formation that can read not only your past, present, and future but also your potential and reason? Or would you prefer a simple three-card spread that forgoes those last two pieces of information?"


    "Well, they do say knowing too much can cause one''s plans to deviate...but I just have to know! Give me the five-card spread, please!"


    "A good choice."

 Ominous Reading

    As soon as Rachel gave her answer, Miss Myster proceeded to fan out her tarot cards on top of the table, giving both her and SK a clear view of the design printed on the back of the cards.


    ''Huh...now that''s a peculiar design,'' SK thought to himself the moment he saw these cards.


    SK had seen tarot cards before, and a majority of them usually had suns or moons printed on them in order to make them feel mystical but not offending.


    Printed on the back of these particular tarot cards were several intricate circles and sigils that gave SK an iffy feeling in his stomach.


    Rachel, on the other hand, didn''t share these same icky feelings.


    "Oooh! These cards are so interesting!"


    "Thank you. One of my teachers in Europe bestowed on me these cards after I had finished my tutelage with them," Miss Myter explained. "Now then, would you kindly choose five cards from the deck without looking and hand me all but one?"


    "Of course!"


    Following Miss Myster''s directions, Rachel selected five cards that were nowhere near next to each other, shuffled them in her hand without looking, and handed all but one to the fortune-teller.


    Once the cards were in her hand, Miss Myster proceeded to place the four cards in such a way that an obvious empty space was located between them.


    "Now place the card in your hand in the center, face-up."


    "Okay...oh wow!"


    The card Rachel had placed in the center was titled "The Sun" and depicted a woman curled into a ball in the center of a sun that was shining down on a dark green forest filled with various animals that were looking upward. In a strange way, it was as if the animals were worshipping the sun.


    "This card represents you, Rey-Rey," Miss Myster informed the influence. "The Sun represents joy, optimism, and truth. An appropriate card, wouldn''t you say?"


    "OMG! Its so me," Rachel proclaimed with joy as she shook SK''s arm with excitement, much to the latter''s chagrin.


    ''Okay, that''s probably a coincidence,'' SK told himself as he stared at the card and noticed that something about the animals seemed off. ''Why are they a different artstyle from the woman on the sun?''


    "Now with that out of the way, let''s look into your past to see what led to the current you," Madam Myster said as she placed a delicate hand on the card to the left of "The Sun", and flipped it over for all to see.


    On this card was text that indicated it to be the "Page of Cups," and accompanying this was a drawing of a young woman who appeared to be dressed in a poofy outfit and carrying a cup in one hand. Oddly enough, this woman looked remarkably similar to the woman drawn in the "Sun" card.


    "This card represents the dreamer... Is it safe to say that before your current lot in life, you were someone who imagined living a thousand different lifetimes?"


    "Yes!" Rachel answered excitedly. "I always dreamt of being a news reporter as a child, but I realized later that it was much more fulfilling to be a content creator instead. I don''t have to answer to any executive or studio as an independent creator."


    "Ah, then that would certainly explain this next card," Miss Myster said with a knowing tone as she flipped over the card directly beneath the center card. "This card represents your reason as to why you are where you currently are."


    This time the card was upside down, but it depicted the image of an old man dressed in elaborate robes and seated on a throne with the accompanying text reading "The Hierophant." Once again, this old man strangely resembled the young women in the other two cards.


    And once again, there were some weird features to it that made the whole thing appear strange in SK''s eyes.


    "That card¡­why¡­he looks like my old man," Rachel quietly said in alarm.


    ''And there''s a strange-looking snake thing writhing around at his feet,'' SK mentally commented.


    "The Hierophant usually represents tradition and conformity, but the reverse position represents rebellion and subversion," Miss Myster explained. "Is it safe to say that part of the reason for you being a livestreaming journalist is due to wanting to rebel against something or someone? Perhaps¡­your father?"


    "Y-yes," Rachel admitted in a quiet voice. "Dad always said that content creation was for idiots and fools. I wanted to prove him wrong."


    "I see," Miss Myster nodded sagely. "A noble goal if ever there was one, with the potential to lead to magnificent rewards."


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Shortly after making this claim, Miss Myster flipped the top card and revealed it to be "The Chariott." Once again, the woman drawn on the card was strangely similar to the other cards, but this time she was depicted riding a chariot... being pulled by some very weird-looking dragonic beasts that looked very out of place.


    ''Okay, there''s definitely something wrong with these cards,'' SK eventually realized when he noticed that this last card definitely looked like his friend, Rachel. ''I don''t need the System to know that this bitch is a hundred and ten percent suspicious.''


    "This card represents victory and triumph," Miss Myster said with an assuring tone. "Your path has the potential for greatness.To reach heights unimaginable by your father and to receive rewards greater than what either of you had ever thought of achieving."


    "That''s...that''s amazing!" Rachel honestly cried. "If that''s the case, then that means my future is bright! Right?"


    "..."


    "Right...?"


    The tone of the reading suddenly took on a more sinister tone as Miss Myster went silent and paused before hovering her hand over the final card to the right of the center one.


    She didn''t even say a single fucking word as she flipped over the card and revealed the card titled "The Tower."


    Just like before, there was an image of a woman that resembled the previous cards (and Rachel), but she wasn''t the focus this time.


    Instead, the card''s focus was the massive tower being struck by lightning and the woman plummeting to her demise.


    In most versions of this card, the tower is depicted looming over a cliff. But in this version, the tower was shown looming over a pit of monsters.


    ''"Why am I... falling?" Rachel asked in a tone of voice that sounded distant and strange.


    "The Tower card represents disaster and sudden change. In your near future, I see a possible tragedy that will irreversibly change your life and knock you away from your potential," Miss Myster said, her voice now sounding oddly magnified.


    "But there is a way to avoid this fate."


    "Really? How?"


    As soon as Rachel asked this question, Miss Myster''s expression became even more serious.


    "Delete your channel."


    "W-what?"


    "I see that in the near future, that your channel will lead you into controversy, tragedy and a near brush with death," Miss Myster elaborated. "However, if you don''t upload anything and delete your channel in the next twenty-four hours, you''ll be able to avoid it. You will, unfortunately, have to start from zero again."


    "B-but I just hit three hundred thousand subscribers and I have worked on this channel for three years now! I can''t just delete all of that hard work for nothing," Rachel cried. "Isn''t there any other way?"


    At this question Miss Myster released a dark laugh.


    "Do you know how many times this question has been asked before? No, there is no other way to change your fate unless I show you the way," Miss Myster answered in a strangely condescending tone. "So unless you want to end up getting injured, you should heed my advice and-"


    BAM!


    "That''s...enough."


    Finally getting tired of what he was hearing, SK slammed his hand on the table and interrupted Miss Myster before she could continue.


    At the same time, Rachel looked as if she had just broken out of a trance.


    "What the? What just happened?"


    Unnoticed by her and SK at this moment though, the cards on the table had changed.


    They were no longer showing people with specific features, by faceless figures instead.


    "Nothing you need to worry about, Rey-Rey," SK answered with a measured voice. "But I think we''re done here."


    ...One angry pay and stom-off later...


    "Hmmm."


    As soon as the young man and woman left, Miss Myster summoned the System UI and navigated to her Familiar screen.


    Once there, she flicked through the menus before settling on a familiar that was named, "Gremlin".


    With the same delicacy she read her tarot cards, Miss Myster pulled out the gremlin''s familiar card and activated it.


    "Oh Gamble, my dear, please make sure our lovely little lady there gets some... high quality footage for her channel."


    Moments after activating the card, a small electric blue demon appeared to replace it.


    "Kekeke! Whatever you wish, Mistress!" Gamble the Gremlin snickered before turning into electricity and jumping into the wires.


    "And now we wait for the quest to be fulfilled..."

 Gratitude before tragedy...psych!

    [Hmmm. It appears my first user is more driven by his heart than his head. Let''s see if this pans out for him.]


    ¡­


    ''Ah hell, why the fuck did I do that?'' SK mentally lamented as he continued to lead Rachel away from the fortune-teller shop and the boba shop right next to it.


    Their original plan was to get boba after the fortune-telling, but with the way everything went down in there no less than five minutes ago, getting liquid sugar was the last thing on their minds.


    "Hey."


    "Huh?"


    Eventually, SK came to a sudden stop because Rachel had decided now was the time to stop. She signaled by fully stopping her stride.


    "I''m guessing you''re upset that I put a stop to your vid-"


    "Thanks for doing that."


    "Huh?"


    SK was fully expecting to get scolded for interjecting how he did and ruining Rachel''s video, so he was a touch flabbergasted when she offered gratitude instead.


    "Uh... you''re welcome?"


    "You don''t know why I''m thanking you, do you?"


    "Not in the slightest, no."


    At this honest admission, Rachel let out a small laugh.


    "Just like in college, always acting before realizing why," Rachel quietly mumbled in a pleased tone of voice.


    "What was that?"


    "Nothing, nothing," Rachel answered. "I was just thanking you for defending my channel.


    "Oh. Well," SK trailed off while leaning his head off to the side for a moment before correcting his posture. "I know you put in a hell of a lot of work into it, and I would hate to have some crazy fortune-teller convince you to throw it all the way for something so... uncertain."


    "Right, you hate gambling," Rachel nodded.


    "Yup."


    "Yet you love gacha games and collecting booster packs."


    "...that''s why I hate gambling."


    "Fair enough."


    This lighthearted conversation did much to defuse the tense atmosphere that had plagued the young duo just moments ago. Unfortunately, it came with one unfortunate side effect.


    Groaaa


    "Ah."


    It made them hungry.


    "I just remembered that we skipped breakfast to get over here, huh?" SK realized as he rubbed his belly in discomfort.


    "Well, I didn''t want to risk there being a line at the fortune-teller''s shop," Rachel defended herself. "Come on, I think there''s a ramen place near here that would make an excellent video concept."


    "How so?"


    "They''re one of the few places that do fish-head ramen."


    "Really?"


    With their minds now focused on food, SK and Rachel began to walk through the streets of Japantown, all while blissfully unaware that something was stalking them.


    "Oh, hand me the gimbal and my phone. I''m going to record the walk to the ramen place."


    ¡­


    ''And there are the magic words,'' Gamble chuckled as soon as he saw his target take the gimbal and start recording herself. ''Now then, what kind of accident would be the most appropriate... Ah! A true classic.''


    ¡­


    Aside from the Golden Gate Bridge, one of the most iconic things to see in the city of San Francisco were the Cable Cars, one of the last manually operated cable car systems in all of existence.


    Using these cable cars, one can go all over San Francisco in a reasonable time frame at a more than reasonable price. And as an added bonus, one wouldn''t have to worry about parking.


    However, these cable cars weren''t without faults.


    Out of all the mass transportation systems in the US, cable cars were responsible for most of them.


    Due to the age and scarcity of these cable cars, finding the parts necessary to repair and maintain them makes for quite the herculean task.


    For example, the cable car connecting Japantown was notoriously old, with its brake system being about ten years out of date. Luckily, the car was set for a tune-up bright and early tomorrow morning.


    But today, the cable car was still in operation and was just about to brake on top of a hill overlooking Japantown''s center.


    And it was the perfect place for a gremlin to cause some mischief.


    "Attention! Attention! We will be approaching Japantown in ten minutes. Please make sure to bring all of your belongings, or they will be stolen by elves that live under the seats," the cable car operator said in jest over a loudspeaker, unaware that a strange being made of electricity and magic had snuck into the car via the electrical wiring of the rails.


    ''No elves in these seats, just me. Gamble!,'' the bright blue gremlin mentally laughed as he began to travel the car''s wiring.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    In the 20th century, humanity invented a modern-day fairy known as the gremlin. These creatures were used as the scapegoat for airplane malfunctions.


    However, in more modern times, they have long since been believed to cause electrical issues in general.


    From computer glitches to phones suddenly going black to whole smart cars suddenly slamming into a whale, gremlins had gone from a mild nuisance to a modern issue.


    And in this modern era, it is very easy for any old gremlin to mess with an electrical system that was younger than them.


    ''Time to go for a ride!'' Gamble exclaimed before using their abilities to break the cable car''s brake system.


    "Huh? Hey, wait!"


    Unfortunately(?), he had done so while no one was operating the vehicle.


    Watching from a nearby lamp post after releasing the brakes, Gamble had a mildly annoyed expression on his little face.


    ''Oh well, I guess we''ll just physically traumatize one person instead of many people... at least the resulting emotional trauma will be worth it!''


    ¡­


    "What''s up, everybody? Rey-Rey here with a special bonus video! " Rachel exclaimed as she held the gimbal and phone in selfie mode.


    With a professional smile and a cheerful demeanor, Rachel appeared to have completely expelled the malaise that was caused by the fortune-teller just moments ago. This, in turn, caused her to run ahead of SK, so that they could get some better angles and lighting for her video.


    Seeing his friend act in this way, he couldn''t help but feel a little jealous.


    ''Man, I wish I could just bounce back after a bad day like,'' SKKRRRTTTT''¡ªwhat the shit?''


    Right when SK and Rachel were about to cross a street via a crosswalk, the sound of metal scrapping against metal and concrete ripped through the air and grabbed the former''s attention.


    "HOLY SHIT!"


    Barrelling towards the crosswalk and jumping off the crest of a hill two blocks away from the crosswalk was a wild cable car.


    While SK wasn''t sure why this empty cable car wasn''t properly parked, he was certain about one thing.


    In a couple of moments, his friend Rachel was about to be splattered by the cable car.


    When Rachel had walked ahead of SK earlier to keep recording her video, she had unknowingly walked right into the middle of the crosswalk when the runaway cable car had just cleared the first hill.


    "Huh? AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"


    It took her far too long to realize the danger she was in and far too long to realize what she had to do to escape this situation.


    But...this was the perfect time for a hero to come and save the day.


    "RACHEL!" SK shouted as he ran ahead to try and knock her out of the way, only to realize that he wasn''t going to make it in time. However, this was also when the Superhero System decided to remind him that he had a better option.


    [You have a hero in your pocket. Summon him!]


    "RIGHT!"


    Heeding the System''s words, SK drew the card he had stuffed in his pocket earlier and instinctively threw it in Rachel''s direction. As the card flew forward, it began to glow with a silver and blue light.


    "Do not fear my liege!" SK heard Platiknight say in his mind. "It''s time for a platinum rescue!"


    As soon as these words were said, the card had fully transformed into a charging Platiknight.


    ...


    "Holy shit!"


    "Runaway car!"


    "Hey girlie, get out of the way!"


    Many people had noticed the runaway cable car as it started rolling down the hill and made sure to get out of the way before anything terrible happened to them. Unfortunately, this didn''t apply to everybody.


    ''Oh, I''m going to die here,'' Rachel thought to herself as a wild cablecar came barreling towards her. ''Just like that crazy fortune-teller said!''


    In this exact moment, Rachel felt as if the universe was playing a rather cruel trick on her.


    Just because she didn''t want to listen to a fortune-teller and delete what was essentially her life''s work, she was now going to pay the ultimate pr-


    "Platinum Aegis, deploy!"


    "What?!"


    Moments before she was going to get turned into a pancake, a literal knight in shining armor suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a giant shield that shined like platinum and intercepted the cable car before it could make impact.


    "Fear not, milady! I shall make sure no harm shall befall you!"


    But Platiknight didn''t simply block the cable car with his shield. Instead, he went above and beyond...at SK''s instructions.

 Platinum Rescue!

    ''So, what''s the plan here, Platiknight?'' SK asked as soon as he felt his mental connection with the superhero knight reactivate.


    He was given the run-down on how this worked last night in the form of a massive surge of information directly to the brain, but he didn''t really think about the implications until he actually summoned Platiknight for real again.


    Once he was out, it felt oddly nice being able to communicate with someone at the speed of thought. Even if that speed was mildly marred by the ongoing danger of death.


    ''I''m going to use my shield to block the cablecar! It may get destroyed in the process, but the damsel in distress will no longer be in distress!'' Platiknight mentally declared as he began to slam his shield into the ground.


    At a glance, this was a fine idea, but SK had a better one in mind.


    ''I mean, that makes sense, but I also don''t want that to leave too much of a trail...I have an idea, but it''s going to sound weird and probably require a lot of finesse on your part. Think you can do it?''


    At this question, SK soon felt a great surge of confidence coming through his connection with Platiknight.


    ''Gladly!''


    ...Now to the actual rescue...


    As Platiknight slammed his shield into the ground, he didn''t jam it straight down into the ground to have it act like a wall.


    Instead, he had jammed it into the ground at an angle and into the grooves of the cable car''s tracks.This action made his giant shield act like a ramp instead of a wall.


    So, instead of the cable car crashing into Platiknight''s shield and causing massive property damage in exchange for someone''s life, Platiknight''s shield was used to lift the entire vehicle off of the ground and into the air.


    However, it would be foolish for a hero of Platiknight''s caliber to merely leave it at that.


    As the cable car went up Platiknight''s shield, the shining knight proceeded to lift his shield off in the ground in that same moment and began to spin the shield around while the cable car was still atop it!


    The purpose of this action wasn''t just for Platiknight to show off, but as a means for him to disperse all of the momentum that the cable car gained while it was barreling down the hill. However, this was an incredibly delicate dance on his part.


    If he spun his shield too or too quickly, the cable car atop could spin out of control and fly away in a wild direction, impacting a building, a car, or worse.


    Back and forth, Platiknight spun the shield and cable car, moving it in a way that mimicked movement upon a flat surface. This caused the vehicle to rapidly lose increasingly more energy until it eventually came to a stop.


    It should be noted that while this was happening, Rachel was staring at Platiknight with a starstruck look and feeling as if the whole world was moving in slow motion.


    "And...done!" Platiknight declared before turning his attention to Rachel, who was still staring at him in that way people with puppy crushes stare at the ones they like. "Young lady, I suggest you go towards one of the sidewalks now."


    "Huh? Oh. Right," Rachel replied once her brain finally caught up to the fact that she was rescued by a literal knight in shining armor.


    Once the cable car was completely still on Platiknight''s shield and Rachel walked back to the sidewalk she had initially stepped away from to rejoin, the shining knight of a man proceeded to place the cable car down on the ground as delicately as one would place a dried flower into a teapot, making sure that the car was positioned in such a way that there was no risk of it suddenly running loose again.


    ...


    ''The task is done, my liege. Should I return to your side now?,'' Platiknight asked after saving the day.


    ''Not yet,'' SK answered. ''Got to keep up appearances and hide my identity for now, so... do what they do in the comics and fly away.''


    ''At once.''


    [Ding! User has completed the Quest: Perform a Heroic Deed. Rewards has been sent to user''s inbox; please review at your earliest convenience.]


    ''Oh shit, that counted? Sweet.''


    ...


    "What the..."


    "Holy shit..."


    "Who...who the heck is that?"


    Now that the crisis had past, passerbys who initially stopped to record the possible tragedy were now recording the fact that a literal superhero had manifested out of nowhere and pulled off a feat of heroics that put most movies and comic books to shame.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    However, they didn''t have a chance to record for much longer.


    Without saying another word, the knight-like superhero with a massive shield suddenly leaped into the air and away from the scene, disappearing over the city skyline and away from prying eyes and recording camera phones.


    Some of the people who were recording attempted to chase after the armored hero, only to realize that they''re legs were not conducive for such activities and that the crowd of people they had to go through wasn''t worth the effort.


    As for the damsel in distress who just got rescued, she was currently still in "shock and awe" mode.


    After listening to the knight''s instructions and getting off the street, Rachel was simply standing stunned out of her mind. Evidently, she hadn''t even realized that she had recorded the whole thing and that her phone-gimbal combo was still in her hands.


    Granted, that little fact was about to change real fast.


    "Rachel! Rachel! Are you okay?"


    At this point in time, SK had "managed" to finally reunite with the still-frozen Rachel so that he could ask whether or not she was actually okay.


    "Rachel? Are you cognizant?" SK asked as he was about to reach towards her and mildly shake her.


    Only to be beaten to the punch by her suddenly turning and grabbing his shoulders instead.


    "Whoa!"


    "Did you see that?" Rachel asked in a manic voice. "Did you see that?!"


    "The fact that you got rescued by an eight-foot slab of meat, metal, and chivalry?" SK asked in his best attempt at a deadpan voice. "Yes, yes, I did."


    "A superhero! A real superhero just appeared and¡ªWAIT A MINUTE!"


    After shaking SK for a solid minute, Rachel proceeded to release the poor man before switching back to her phone.


    "Please tell me I-YES!"


    It took about ten seconds for Rachel to confirm that she had managed to record the whole incident on her phone and even less time to skip through footage to get to the part where Platiknight was spinning the cable car over his head like it was a pizza.


    "Uh... Rachel? Are you okay?"


    It was also at this moment that SK saw Rachel show an expression he had only seen on rabid K-pop fans during a world tour concert.


    "Oh, I am more than okay, SK. Do you know why?"


    "Why?"


    "Because I''m about to go viral as the first ever person to be saved by an IRL superhero!" Rachel exclaimed. "Meaning I need you to drive me back home. Now!"


    After making this declaration, Rachel began to walk back towards the car like a woman possessed.


    That is, until SK pointed out something rather important.


    "Wait, but what about lunch?"


    "...oh yeah."


    And with that reminder, SK and Rachel began to walk back towards the ramen shop.


    "Man, almost dying really makes one forget about their appetite," Rachel commented as they walked.


    "I thought it was the other way around."


    "Bah! You know what I mean."


    ...Meanwhile, in the inner sanctum of a certain fortune-telling shop of a certain psycho bitch...


    [Beep! Beep! Timer for weekly quest has expired; refreshing now.]


    "WHAT THE FUCK?!" Miss Myster shouted as she slammed her hands against her fortune-telling table in protest to her System''s turnover. "This should''ve been in the bag!"


    After she had sent Gamble the Gremlin to go and ensure little Miss Journalist was on a collision course with destiny, she had sent out Fletcher the Strix to go and spy on the inevitable conclusion.


    At least, it was supposed to be an inevitable conclusion.


    Instead, she got to witness through the eyes of her pet demon owl as some shiny metal do-gooder appeared out of nowhere, saving the day and ruining her weekly quest streak.


    And making things even more annoying, that same shiny metal asshole disappeared so quickly from the scene that she couldn''t even send Fletcher to tail him.


    Meaning she had to do things the old-fashioned way.


    "Alright, fucker, you want to ruin my quest streak, huh? Well, I''m about to ruin your whole damn life," Miss Myster bitterly vowed while activating the Familiar section of her System.


    Through a series of prompts, she quickly dismissed Fletcher and Gamble from the material plane in order to summon one of her bigger and more dangerous familiars. One that had the ability to track, no less.


    "Alright, Mortis, time to make mama proud..."

 Incoming Attack Dog.

    "Well, that was better than I anticipated," SK commented after he and Rachel left the ramen shop with bellies full of noodles, meat, and lightly greasy soup. "Did you want to get footage for dessert stuff too, or..."


    "Nah, too busy reviewing the superhero footage," Rachel replied with an obsessive tint to her voice. "I need to publish a video about this incident tonight!"


    "Figured as much," SK sighed.


    Throughout their entire lunch, Rachel had been obsessively watching the footage of Platiknight saving her over and over again. Whether this was due to Rachel having a deep desire to know who Platiknight was or due to the aforementioned independent social media journalist being absolutely smitten with the eight-foot super knight was unknown to SK, but he did know he had complicated feelings over the matter.


    SK felt it was oddly validating to know that one of the superheroes he had created had become such a potent object of desire. However, he was also mildly afraid that he had accidentally created an unforeseen monster of obsession, the likes of which usually led to a psychopathic stalking superfan being born, or an archnemesis.


    Between the two, SK hoped it was more of the former than the latter.


    ''My liege.''


    ''Huh?''


    As the thought of his friend from college turning into a stalker flitted through his head, SK eventually felt the mental tug of Platiknight wanting to contact him.


    ...


    ''My liege, do you still need me to hide away?''


    ''I think you''re good now. Meet me at the location I''m about to transmit to you, okay?''


    ''Of course. my liege, but it will take me about ten minutes to get there.''


    ''Hmmm. Rachel will probably get suspicious if I just stand around and wait for you to come for ten minutes. Never mind, just meet me back at home after I drop her off at home.''


    ''Very well. I will use this time to explore the city and familiarize myself with the locations of interest. I''ll be sure to keep myself out of sight from the citizenry.''


    ''Alright.''


    ...


    "Its good thing the System did that information dump about familiars; otherwise, I wouldn''t be able to coordinate like this with Platiknight," SK accidentally muttered aloud.


    "What was that?"


    Thankfully, he said it quietly enough that his friend Rachel wasn''t able to hear anything. Then again, that might''ve been due to the fact that she was still watching the footage of her own rescue on loop.


    "Nothing," SK answered as quickly as possible to deflect Rachel''s question. "You wanted to call it early tonight, yeah?"


    "Yes please."


    ''Good, because I definitely need to explore those rewarded features when I get home,'' SK quietly thought to himself as the two began walking back to his car. ''Hopefully nothing happens tonight to impede that.''


    Unfortunately for SK, he wasn''t going to have a quiet night tonight.


    While he was in the process of dropping off his friend at her home and while Platiknight was making his way back to SK''s home, a certain fortune-teller had started the process of tracking the latter down.


    And she was very determined to do so.


    ¡­Meanwhile, with all the subtle hinting of a freight train¡­


    After most of the pedestrians had cleared away from the site of the cable car incident, Miss Myster used that as an opportunity to close up her store early and go figure out who or what the knight in shining armor that ruined her streak was exactly.


    More specifically, she made use of a familiar that took on the form of a large black dog that she lovingly named Mortis.


    "Come on, Mortis. Come on, boy. Find that stupid knight''s scent."


    "Sniff, sniff."


    The dog-shaped familiar sniffed around the crosswalk where that knight appeared, registering the scent deep within itself.


    "Grrr..."


    Once he had a lock on the scent, Mortis began to release a low growling sound that sounded like an eighteen-wheeler truck''s engine and point his master towards the direction where that scent was even stronger. Upon hearing this unnevering sound and seeing this behavior, Miss Myster let out a wicked grin.


    "Good boy, Mortis," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "Now, let''s go find these fools, and if there''s anything left of them after we destroy them, you can gnaw on them."


    At the promise of delicious corpse scraps, Mortis''s growl became a little deeper.


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    "Of course, we should probably wait until it gets a little darker. We wouldn''t want anyone to see what we''re about to do, after all..."


    ¡­Several hours later...


    "Oof, what a drive," SK sighed as he finally parked his car at his apartment''s parking lot after driving for more than two hours straight.


    Rachel lived in a town that was a solid twenty minutes outside of San Francisco''s borders, which didn''t sound on the surface, but that estimation was done without including rush hour traffic and the car accidents that could occur during such a time.


    Through sheer luck, SK managed to get to Rachel''s place in under twenty minutes.


    But through sheer bad luck, SK was forced to drive through traffic that was crawling at a literal snail''s pace.


    By the time SK had gotten home, the sun had already set, and the first few glimmering stars began to form against the darkening sky.


    ''Platiknight, sorry for taking so long. Are you here?''


    ''I am, my liege.''


    On the plus side, by the time he had gotten back home, Platiknight was already home and waiting for him too.


    To be more precise, the platinum-armored superhero was waiting on the rooftop of SK''s apartment building.


    The moment SK stepped out of his car, Platiknight descended from the roof in order to properly greet him in person.


    "Hey, Platiknight. You have fun on your little adventure today?"


    "Mostly, my liege," Platiknight began to answer. "Although I couldn''t help but notice that the city''s infrastructure and civic services needed a bit of-LOOK OUT!"


    "Huh?"


    "AWOOO!"


    "WHOA!"


    Before Platiknight could finish giving his answer to SK, a giant black dog the size of a bear suddenly appeared out of nowhere and lunged at the latter with its toothy maw wide open.


    If this dog managed to take a bite out of SK, then SK was going to be in for a world of hurt...or at the very least, he was going to be missing his head.


    "Holy¡ª!"


    "Platinum Aegis!"


    Thankfully, Platiknight managed to get between SK and the giant demon dog in time and knock the former away with his shield.


    The lunging dog proceeded to chomp at the air before being pushed back by Platiknight''s shield and forced to jump backwards several feet away.


    Once the dog had landed on its feet, it began to actively growl and look for an attack angle that avoided Platiknight''s pesky shield.


    "My liege, get behind me!" Platiknight declared while taking on a fighting stance and keeping his shield ready.


    SK needed no prompting now that his life was on the line again, but he did have one question he wanted answers to.


    "What the fuck is that thing?!"


    Unfortunately, he was going to get that answer from someone he really didn''t want to get it from.


    "If you''re wondering who he is, his name is Mortis," a voice like spiced honey called out to SK and Platiknight. "But if you want to know what he is, he''s a creature known as a barghest, an omen of death that takes the form of a dog. Isn''t he lovely?"


    "That voice..." SK muttered as he turned his head towards the direction he heard it coming from.


    Walking towards him, Platiknight and the Barghest, known as Mortis, were a comely fortuneteller with a condescending look in her eyes.


    Needless to say, it was Miss Myster.


    "You know, I thought something about you felt wrong to my sixth senses when we first met, but I just couldn''t figure out what it was," Miss Myster said in a mocking tone. "But now I know what it was. You''re a User, aren''t you?"


    "Yeah, and from the look of it, so are you," SK retorted. "Is that why you''re able to predict the future so accurately?"


    "Predict...yes, you could say that my access to my System is how I am able to''see'' the future," Miss Myster said with a sarcastic tone. "But you of all people should know how we''re able to do a bit more than passive little actions like that. After all, you prevented one of my ''fortunes'', from coming true this very afternoon."


    "What are you¡ªoh."


    It took SK all of two seconds to put together that this crazy fortune-teller was the reason why his friend almost got splattered by a cable car and ended up as another statistic in a long history of cable car accidents.


    Not only that, but she was probably responsible for all those other stories of her fortunes always leading to injury or worse.


    Needless to say, he wasn''t very happy about this realization once it had all clicked together.

 Hunting Dog

    "You''ve been sending out your familiars to go and force your predictions to come true.That''s why they say you have a hundred percent accuracy rating. You just say shit and force it to happen!" SK shouted in an indignant tone.


    Technically speaking, SK wasn''t truly affected by revelation since he never had a reading, but that didn''t stop him from feeling insulted for the sake of all the people hurt by this fucked-up scheme.


    In response to his shouting, Miss Myster simply started to slow clap.


    "Wow, so smart," Miss Myster taunted in a sarcastic voice. "But yeah, no shit Sherlock, don''t you know it''s easier to predict a fire when you''re the arsonist?"


    "That... is a disturbingly specific turn of phrase."


    "And besides, I always give my customers a way to avoid their fate. It''s not my fault that they don''t listen and decide to make themselves into my entertainment for the week."


    "Wait, what?"


    "Also, do you know how much more work it is to try and have someone''s fortune be positive and come true?" Miss Myster continued to monologue. "I can''t rig the lottery every time someone asks to be rich or help them find true love every time someone asks for help with finding a soulmate. Neither of those are my domain, and I''d rather not step on the toes of Users more powerful than myself if I can help it."


    "Okay, can you at least elaborate on that last bit?" SK asked, getting the distinct feeling he just heard an important piece of information about the world. But alas, Miss Myster wasn''t interested in elucidating the truth of the world with SK, as she was too busy talking about herself.


    "Either way, love-"


    "Or just ignore me; that''s cool too."


    "-you and your little knight friend there ruined my fortune for this week and fucked up my streak counter. For that, you have to die now. Sorry about that."


    "Hold up," SK spat out in disbelief. "You''re going to kill me over the fact that I fucked up your weekly quest by... not letting your familiars possibly kill someone? Seriously?!"


    "Mortis, feel free to eat them now," Miss Myster casually ordered while turning away from the scene and ignoring SK''s fury.


    "Your disregard for the lives of others is awful!" SK yelled as he attempted to go after Miss Myster. However, Platiknight pulled him back at the last minute before he could get out of his reach.


    "No, my liege! It''s too dangerous right now."


    "Why?!"


    "AWWOOOOOOO!"


    "That''s why!"


    As soon as the barghest was given the go-ahead, the massive dog-like beast let out an ear-piercing howl that, surprisingly, didn''t shatter any windows. Instead, the beast''s howl had somehow knocked out the power around the city block that SK''s apartment was located on, plunging the area in complete darkness.


    The only source of light at this point was the moon, the stars, and the glowing metal that composed Platiknight''s armor and shield.


    "Where did that vile dog monster disappear to?" Platiknight asked aloud while still sticking close to SK''s side.


    "I don''t know, but we have to go back to back, now," SK quickly ordered.


    SK had seen this trick being pulled off before in movies, anime, and comicbooks, so he knew that the best way to counter this crap was to either light up the area like there was a festival going on or lessen the amount of possible blindspots by going back-to-back with a partner, especially if that partner happened to be a superhero with reflexes quicker than lightning and strength that went beyond that of an elephant''s.


    That being said, they refused to wait and allow the demon dog of a crazy fortune teller to maul them to death.


    "Platiknight, in a straight fight against that barghest, do you think you could win?"


    "Of course!" Platiknight proclaimed with confidence. "No agent of vile villainy can best me!"


    "Alright, so I guess that means we just need to find him first," SK concluded. "Which I guess makes this plan A."


    "Plan A?"


    "Don''t worry about it. Now let''s see if we can spot this thing!"


    Despite the darkness, though, both SK and Platiknight could still hear various sounds coming from the barghest. Unfortunately, the sounds were coming from all over the place.


    They could hear the sound of massive claws and nails scrapping against concrete coming from one direction, only to have their attention stolen by the sound of growls and panting coming from the complete opposite direction.


    The beast was everywhere and nowhere at the same time, and unfortunately for the duo, this meant that he could attack from any direction as well.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "GROAA!"


    "Over here!"


    "PLATINUM AEGIS!"


    "Bao!"


    Mortis attempted to pounce on SK from the darkness but was stopped by Platiknight''s shield once more.


    This would''ve been the part where Platiknight would follow up with an attack of his own, but the moment the barghest was no longer in contact with the former''s shield, it disappeared back into the darkness.


    This exact same exchange happened a few more times, with the barghest failing to land a hit and Platiknight only being able to guard against the attacks and not much else.


    In other words, they were in a stalemate, and something had to change; SK just wasn''t sure what it was yet.


    "My liege, I can keep defending against these attacks for as long as needed," Plaitknight informed SK. "But if nothing changes soon, we''ll be here all night. I can handle it, but¡­"


    "Yeah, I know, the longer we keep playing defensive like this, the more likely they get in a lucky hit and I lose my head or something worse," SK finished for Platiknight. "Which is why we''re going with plan B."


    "Plan B?"


    "Plan B," SK repeated as he took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself. "When you get the signal, you''re going to use Platinum Rush and body this puppy into a building."


    As part of the information dump SK received the night before, SK learned that during a battle between Users and Familiars, it was a viable strategy to go for the former over the latter. However, the chances of being able to perform such a strategy were rather slim due to a combination of the Familiars innate protective instinct and the Users usually having some form of equipment or skill that made them less squishy and vulnerable.


    In this case, however, it was a very viable strategy because SK was a newly minted User of a System.


    "Alright, Platiknight. I''m counting on you!"


    "My liege? MY LIEGE!"


    Therefore, when SK literally leaped backwards to make himself appear as vulnerable as possible, Mortis the Barghest took that as an opportunity to rush in and attempt to bite down on SK''s head.


    Unfortunately, the oversized mutt had not only revealed himself but also perfectly positioned himself to get absolutely bodied by Platiknight''s next attack.


    An attack that moved way fucking faster than Mortis''s ability to bite.


    "PLATINUM RUSH!"


    POW!


    "Whine!"


    As soon as Platiknight declared his attack, his entire body and shield began to glow with a blue light before he rushed forward and tackled the shield into Mortis, sending the bastard dog flying into a building.


    Bang!


    From the sound of the impact, the building proved sturdier than Mortis.


    "Holy shit, it worked!" SK exclaimed as he kept falling backwards.


    "Uh oh."


    "I got you!"


    Thankfully, Platiknight managed to catch him before he impacted the pavement. Although SK could feel through his bond with Platiknight that he wasn''t exactly pleased with how things got to this point.


    "My liege, I hope you know that what you did was incredibly dangerous."


    "I know, and I''m sorry."


    "Please don''t risk your life to try and create an opening like that again."


    "I can honestly say¡­I make no promises," SK retorted. "By the way is that dog dead?"


    "I don''t know, my liege. But I don''t hear it moving around anymore."


    ¡­Meanwhile, at a spot overlooking the battlefield¡­


    "BAH! Fucking hell," Miss Myster cursed as she coughed up blood from the familiar feedback effect. "That a little shit! He used himself as bait...who the fuck does that?!"


    After Miss Myster had Mortis knock out the lights, she made use of a skill claimed from a ticket to reposition herself someplace where she could watch carnage unfold without being noticed.


    This meant that she had a frontrow view of SK and Platiknight reversing the situation against her biggest beatstick of a familiar.


    Needless to say, and even foregoing the damage she felt from the feedback, she wasn''t happy about this turn of events.


    "Alright, motherfuckers. Game on," Miss Myster declared while summoning her System interface. Quicker than the blink of an eye, Miss Myster pulled up her [Inventory] and pulled out an energy drink that the System identified as being a "Connection Booster Shot."


    "Bottoms up!"


    As soon as she drank the bottle, she could literally feel her [Connection] stat triple in value.


    "Now then, let''s turn this duel into a proper slaughter!" Miss Myster declared as she navigated to her [Familiar] screen and pulled out two more cards.


    "Go and join your brother, now..."

 From a duel to a 3 vs. 1!

    *Bachunk!*


    "Oh hey, power''s back on...by the way, as much as I find it oddly comfortable to be dipped like this, could you stand me up, please?"


    "Of course, my liege."


    SK was feeling rather good about this victory that he and Platiknight had managed to achieve tonight.


    The two of them had managed to defeat a dangerous foe by working together like proper allies and would soon be rewarded for their act of justice.


    After all, it would be really fucked up if the System didn''t recognize the fact that they had put a stop to the dastardly deeds of a fake fortuneteller.


    Therefore, once he was back on his feet, he was fully ready for the reward screen messages and to go back and just--


    [Emergency Quest has been activated.]


    "Say what?"


    [Emergency Quest: Fight for your life has been activated.]


    "Oh shit."


    [Description: Sometimes in life, you end up fighting foes who just won''t take their defeat gracefully, necessitating a full-on beatdown.]


    [Objective: Defeat enemy Familiars (0/3)]


    [Reward: Moment Appropriate Skill Crystal, One Random Skill Crystal, Financial compensation for the therapy sessions that are sure to follow.]


    [Penalty: None, because they''re going to kill you.]


    "Wait a minute, shouldn''t that counter be reading one of-"


    "AWOOOO!"


    "Damnit."


    Mortis the Barghest leaped out of a bush that was directly adjacent to the building he just impacted, as evident by the bloodstain on the brickwork directly behind the aforesaid foliage.


    A vicious glint of a hate-filled grudge burned behind his crimson eyes, but the battered beast didn''t attack just yet.


    Instead, he patiently stood there in an attack position as he was joined by his two other companions.


    "Skreeee!"


    "Hahah! Looks like we''re having a real party now!"


    Descending from above, a squat yellow goblin creature came flying in while holding on to the claws of a strange demonic owl.


    The duo, however, did not flock to Mortis''s side.


    Instead, the yellow goblin creatures jumped off of the demon owl''s claws, turned into a bolt of lightning, struck one of the streetlights, temporarily merged with it, and then manifested right on top of the bulb.


    As for the demonic owl, it simply landed on top of a car that was equidistant from the goblin and the barghest.


    "My liege..."


    "I know, Platiknight. I know."


    SK and Platiknight were now totally surrounded.


    "Man, you must''ve pissed off the boss something fierce if you got her to pull out all the stops to summon all of us at once," the yellow goblin creature declared to SK and Platiknight.


    "Of course they have someone that can talk," SK groaned. "Great..."


    A small part of SK hoped in this moment that this goblin creature wasn''t as verbose as it''s master. Unfortunately, the little yellow shitstain of a monster was equally verbose.


    "Now, we know who you are and you know who Mortis is, so I''m going to just introduce myself and my feathered friend here," the goblin continued, ignoring SK''s obvious display of annoyance. "I am Gamble the Gremlin, and she is Fletcher the Strix."


    In response to her name being shared, Fletcher released a low gargling sound that sounded like the equivalent of shoving a rat down a garbage disposal.


    "I thought owls were supposed to go ''hoot-hoot''," SK commented with obvious fear and disgust in voice at the sound of this demon owl''s demented cry.


    "Anyways," Gamble continued, "our usual responsibility pertains to us causing misfortune for others. But tonight, and tonight only, we''re going to be doing something special and ripping you and the action over there into tiny little pieces! Don''t take it personal; we''re just following orders. Now, die! Malfunction Bolt!"


    Before either of his two companions could rush in to attack, Gamble made the opening move by raising a clawed hand into the air and summoning a ball of lightning inside of it. Once it had fully formed, the lighting ball began to siphon power from several cars and street lamps in the area before being thrown by Gamble directly towards Platiknight and SK.


    "Oh balls!" SK cursed.


    "I got it!" Platiknight assured SK. "Platinum Counter!"


    ...


    ''My liege, when I counter the attack, I need you to drop to the ground and immediately roll backwards and get into your apartment.''


    ''What? Why?''


    ''Just trust me.''


    ...


    Before the lighting ball could make contact, Platiknight channeled energy into his shield and smacked the lighting ball right back at Gamble with nearly double the force than what was launched at him.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Whoa!"


    Unfortunately, Platiknight''s counter had missed due to Gamble realizing the danger and dropping down from his perch on the street lamp to start dangling from it instead like a monkey on a tree branch.


    "What are you mugs standing around for?!" Gamble shouted. "Get him!"


    "RUFF!"


    "SKREE!"


    Heeding Gamble''s call to action, Fletcher and Mortis rushed in to attack Platiknight, with the former going high and the latter going low.


    "WOOF!"


    "Foul hound! Begone! Platinum Shield Smash!"


    Bam!


    "Whine!"


    Mortis was the first to attack Platiknight, lunging at the armored superhero in an attempt to bite down on his shiny metal neck. Unfortunately, Platiknight was still faster than he was, so Mortis got nothing but a shield smash to the jaw for his troubles.


    "SKREE!"


    "Huh? Bah!"


    On the flip side, this attack also left Platiknight open for a follow-up attack from Fletcher.


    The strix had purposely hung back so that it could get a clear shot at slashing at Platiknight''s exposed back when the knight attacked Mortis.


    "That''s the ticket! My turn!" Gamble shouted as he climbed back on top of the street lamp. "Spark Spark Barrage!"


    Gamble proceeded to drain even more electricity in the area before condensing the power into his grubby little claws and directing it towards Platiknight''s direction.


    Bolts of electricity began to fall on Platiknight like arrows one after the other, forcing the precious metal paragon to direct his shield against it.


    Under ideal circumstances, Platiknight could''ve tanked these attacks until Gamble ran out of electricity.


    However, these were less than ideal circumstances.


    "Foul cretin! How dare you-"


    "WOOF!"


    "SKREE!"


    "-ah!"


    With the shield directed towards the lighting barrage, this left Platiknight''s back wide open to Mortis and Fletcher, who took that opportunity to strike.


    Long, obvious but shallow scratches formed on Platiknight''s armor after this second assault, which did wonders to boost the morale of the monsters. After all, this was an obvious sign that their attacks were working.


    All they needed was a little more time and focus.


    Unfortunately, this focus came at a cost.


    If they had just taken the time to pivot their gazes elsewhere, they would''ve noticed that SK was no longer on the immediate battlefield.


    In fact, they probably would''ve noticed that when Platiknight countered Gamble''s opening salvo, SK had dropped and roll in order to sneak into his apartment at Platiknight''s instructions.


    As for the reason why he did so, well...he wasn''t event sure himself.


    ...Switching POV...


    "Alright," SK began to think aloud as he snuck into his apartment and closed the door behind him. "Why the fuck did Platiknight tell me to get back to my apartment?"


    A part of SK had assumed Platiknight had told him to sneak away so that he could get out of the line of fire, which made sense but also seemed out of character.


    Platiknight was made to be the bold defender, with the complete confidence to defend the innocent regardless of the situation.


    "There has to be another reason why I got asked to...hold up."


    In the exact moment SK was about to ask himself as to why he was up here, his eyes landed on the computer desktop and tablet he used whenever he drew his comics and designed his superheroes.


    "Oh. OH!"


    Once it had mentally clicked, SK summoned the System interface, sped through the menu items until he got to the inventory screen, and rapidly jammed his hand into that floating blue screen of hope.


    "Gah! Tingles!"


    After he extracted his hand from the inventory, he saw that he was now holding a shiny golden ticket.


    "Alright, you ill omens. You motherfuckers wanna make this into a numbers game?" SK cursed as he mentally prepared himself to tear the golden ticket in two. "Then game on!"


    CHHHRIP!


    As soon as SK tore the ticket in two, he could feel the energy from the ticket cause the world around him to slow down...


    ..Meanwhile...


    "Ring! Ring!" *ka-chak* "911, what''s your emergency?"


    "Hi, I think there''s something bad going on at my neighbor''s building."


    "Okay, can you please elaborate on that? Is this medical related, law enforcement, or a fire emergency?"


    "The power for their block just went down out of nowhere while the rest of the area is completely fine, and I think I either heard something loud like a-"


    BANG!


    "THAT!"


    "Understood ma''am. We''ll be sending over a police car to check out the disturbance. Have a lovely rest of your evening."

 Tin Badge

    "Alright, I just need to grab one of my sketchbooks, reference a design in that, and just...hang on a minute...where''s the canvas thingie?"


    When SK ripped the Golden Familiar Creation Ticket in half, he was expecting the work conditions to be similar to last time, albeit slightly worse conditions given that he was using a ticket that was noticeably weaker than the Miracle Grade Familiar Ticket.


    Instead, as his mind and body readjusted to working in that strange space again, he quickly realized that the canvas and tools he was waiting to work with weren''t present. There wasn''t even that strange blank space in reality like last time.


    For all intents and purposes, SK was just inside of a time-stopped version of his apartment and nothing else.


    SK was all set to freak out at this point, until he remembered something important that he forgot about over the course of the day.


    "Wait...the System panels mentioned last time that-"Ping!"-ah, there we go."


    Before SK could remind himself of the requirements, the System already did it for him.


    [Notice: When the User makes use of familiar creation tickets below the miracle grade, the User must provide the appropriate materials needed to create additional superheroes.]


    [Appropriate materials: Items infused with mana, Skill Crystals, Items of sufficiently advanced technology and items that carry deep meaning.]


    "Okay, that is a... vague ass list," SK commented after reading over the appropriate materials screen. "I know I got those two Skill Crystals, but I get the distinct feeling that they won''t be enough to..."


    *Ding!*


    "There we go."


    [Notice: While the User can use the Skill Crystals to create a new familiar at this time, the resulting creation will not be able to absorb the full power of the familiar creation ticket and will be considered what the User knows as a "glass cannon." It is highly recommended for the user to find more solid materials to take the place of the Skill Crystals. Granted, the Skill Crystal can still be used to empower the familiar.]


    "Of course you''re gonna do me like that," SK complained with a sigh. "Alright, let''s see if I got something in here that can count as material...whatever that vaguely fucking means."


    Immediately, SK dismissed the notion of making use of any items that contained mana or any items that were considered "sufficiently advanced".


    He didn''t have any of the former, at least he thought he didn''t have any of the former, and he was fairly certain whatever items he had that were considered "sufficiently advanced" would get destroyed in the process of making his new hero.


    Therefore, he settled in trying to figure out whether or not he had any items that carried "meaning".


    Again, whatever that meant.


    "Meaningful items...alright, I''m just gonna take a wild guess and say one of the things over here might work?"


    SK made his way over to his shelf of collectables and began to search through it to find anything that the System would accept as appropriate material.


    As it turned out...sort of.


    ...


    [Item: Mint Condition First Edition Action Figure of King Plumber.]


    [Description: A figure that was first printed in the 1980s to capitalize on the King Plumber videogames. Comes with three power plungers and a miniature comic book.]


    [Maximum Familiar quality: Bronze]


    ...


    [Item: Empty Can of Special Movie Edition ShoreBlitz Cream Soda.]


    [Description: In the summer of 1998, the ShoreBlitz soda company decided to release a special edition soda can in collaboration with Alligator Productions when they released the movie, "Bolbo''s Big Adventure". That movie bombed hard, but the soda sold well.]


    [Maximum Familiar Quality: Silver]


    ...


    [Item: Vinyl Record of the Sky Riders soundtrack]


    [Description: A 1975 printing of the original soundtrack used for the anime, Sky Riders. A mix between orchestral rock and power metal, the soundtrack was praised for its unique take on the genre mash up and is a staple for gym programs all over Japan.]


    [Maximum Familiar Quality: Silver]


    ...


    "Okay, good to know that my collection of random crap are usable for familiar creation, but they''re all okay at best...godsdammit."


    On the one hand, SK was oddly happy that he apparently had an entire shelf full of meaningful items.


    On the other, he was pissed that he had nothing that seemed to reach the level of Gold Quality.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "Fuck! Ow!" SK cursed as he threw his hands in the hands in defeat before accidentally smacking his hand against his shelf of collectables, and knocking things off it.


    Thankfully the time stop effect kicked in before anything impacted the ground.


    "Ah crap, I gottta clean that up later," SK griped as he stared at the mess of items floating in the air. "Huh. At least it knocked loose some items that I haven''t thought about in years...wait a minute, what''s this?"


    Amongst the items frozen in the air, SK saw a tin badge shaped like a star surrounded by circle with the words, "Wild West Hero", written on the side.


    "I haven''t thought about this thing in years," he mumbled while staring at the badge. "My very first collectable reward."


    Back when SK was in middle school, he was a big fan of a trading card game called "Deadman''s Hands".


    He loved collecting the cards, but he never had anyone to play with.


    But then one day, his dad took him to a public play event for the game, where he got his ass handed to him in six out of ten matches.


    It was still one of his fondest childhood memories.


    As a token for that day though, he earned himself this collectable badge made of real tin.


    Even after he gave away his cards, he still hung on to this badge.


    "Huh...I wonder."


    Plucking the badge out of the air, the System window appeared once more.


    But this time, the rating was what he was looking for.


    ...


    [Item: Deadman''s Hand Tin Tournament Badge]


    [Description: In the days of the Wild West, lawbringers known as the Marshalls would wear badges made of tin as a symbol of authority. This idea was taken to its extreme limit in the setting of Deadman''s Hand, where tin badges were status symbols and a sign of divine power. This badge is giveaway item for people who played the game in tournament settings.]


    [Maximum Familiar Quality: Gold]


    ...


    "Huh...I guess items with meaning means stuff that''s really important to me," SK realized as he held the badge in the palm of his hands. "Sometimes you got to give something to get something...alright, fine."


    Coming to a decision, SK picked his badge from his palm and held it aloft.


    "Hey System! I saw the window, how do I use this to make a new superhero?"


    As soon as SK asked this question, a prompt window appeared before him.


    ...


    [User has chosen to use the Deadman''s Hand Tin Tournament Badge as materials.]


    [Warning: Item will be destroyed in the process of hero creation.]


    [Yes/No].


    ...


    "Giving me one last chance to back out, huh?" SK asked aloud. "Well, I appreciate the offer, but..."


    With a quick twitch of his arm and a deep breath, SK selected the [Yes] option on the window in front of him.


    "It''d be kind of pointless for me to have this stuff if I''m going to die, right?"


    [Material has been selected and approved. Activating Familiar Canvas Space.]


    As soon as SK made his decision, the tin badge in his hand started glowing before it flew out of his hand to begin floating directly in front of him.


    Seconds later, the badge began to spin in place and dissolve before restructuring itself into that canvas SK saw the last time he did this. Only this time, he could feel that the tools that came with the canvas felt weaker on some fundamental level.


    "Alright, this ain''t too bad," SK observed as he picked up a pen from the palette and held it in his hands. "I guess I can start-hey, wait!"


    Before he began putting pen to the canvas and started designing, SK activated his Inventory screen.


    "How do I use these Skill Crystals for Familiar Creation?"


    [Skill crystal can be extracted from the inventory at any time to bestow skills upon the user or familiar. During Familiar Creation, the user simply has to extract the crystal and crush it over the canvas.]


    "Before or after I make the design?"


    [Before.]


    "Figured."


    Reaching into the Inventory, SK pulled out the [Thermodynamics (II)] skill crystal and crushed it like he would a sugar candy and sprinkled it over the canvas.


    While he wasn''t able to see physical change in the canvas once he applied the crystal, he did feel qualitative change occur.


    "Okay, I need someone who can cover Platiknight''s back from afar while he gets locked in close quarters combat" SK told himself. "And the material I''m using is a tin badge...I know exactly what kind of hero I need."


    With this thought in mind, SK first drew a big cowboy hat with a tin star attached to it.


    "Giddy up, rawhide..."

 Tin Stars and Big Irons

    "And...done!" SK proclaimed as he pocketed the pen and stared at the completed canvas before him. "I have really got to stop making heroes in the middle of a conflict, though."


    After several grueling minutes of drawing, redrawing, and painting, SK had finished creating his second superhero.


    On the canvas before SK at this time was a cowboy-themed superhero, with his name written at the very top of the page, that was armed with a pair of slightly exaggerated revolvers that he had named "Fate and Fortune."


    There was a non-zero chance that he named the revolvers as such due to the current situation.


    "Okay, System! I''m done!" SK called out. "Where''s the-"


    *Ding!*


    "Ah, there it is."


    [The user''s declaration of completion has been acknowledged. Skills based on the materials, design, and crystals will be bestowed upon the created familiar. Time will resume immediately after canvas break.]


    [Please stand-by for Canvas Break.]


    As soon as those last few words appeared on the system''s windows, a pair of rugged leather boots had already manifested out of nowhere and began to take their first steps on SK''s floors. These boots were soon followed by a sleek black cowboy hat, that was decorated with a tin star, a brass facemask, a leather cowboy outfit and the person that these clothes were attached to.


    As time began to move once more, the newly minted cowboy hero, with the swagger of a man unable to die, made his voice heard.


    "Hoo boy! Sounds like there''s a bit of a tussle going on outside, Sheriff. I guess it''s time for me to get to work. Mind if I go through that there window?"


    "Huh? Oh yeah, you can-wait!"


    Before agreeing to his newest friend''s request, SK made moves to open his apartment''s window to the outside first.


    "I cannot afford to replace a broken window right now; thank you very much!"


    Once his path to the battlefield had opened itself, the cowboy hero took off on a running start.


    "Much obliged, Sheriff. YEE-HAW!"


    ...Now back to the fighting...


    "Ha! Hiyah! Hurrah!"


    "SKREE!"


    "GROAA!"


    "DIE!"


    Despite clearly being outnumbered, Platiknight was proving himself quite capable of fighting a giant demon dog, a freaky death owl, and a gremlin, all at the same time.


    However, he couldn''t keep this up for long.


    Even though Platiknigh''s armor and shield were both incredibly tough, the trio of monsters had managed to consistently leave scratches at specific spots all over the shining knight''s body. Little by little, they were breaking his shell and were just about to attack his soft and squishy innards.


    "Look alive, you lot!" Gamble the Gremlin called out to his companions. "I can already see this shiny toy of ours is finally running out of juice. Once he''s out of batteries, you two go in for the kill!"


    "Woof!"


    "Skree!"


    "I would like to see you dastards try!" Platiknight shouted, only mildly putting up a confident front.


    "Actually, let''s see if I can short circuit him first!" Gamble suddenly declared as he began to gather electricity between his grubby yellow claws, this time from the buildings and the power grid they were all connected to. "[Lock Shock]!"


    KER-ZAP!


    "AAAAAAaaaaaaAAHHhhhHh!"


    A continuous stream of electricity began to pour out of Gamble''s hand and electrify Platiknight, freezing up the percious metal paragon and leaving him wide open for attacks of opportunity. Opportunities that both Mortis and Fletcher took full advantage of.


    "AWOOO!"


    "SKRA!"


    The monstrous omens of death and illness began to surge with power once they realized the opportunity before them, their claws glowing with dark and evil power.


    They didn''t use these types of attacks before because they didn''t want to waste it on trying to pierce through Platiknight''s shell, but now that he was significantly more vulnerable, they would be fools not to take this opportunity before them.


    "SKRA!"


    "GROA!"


    Mortis opted to charge from the front of Platiknight, wanting to rip at his neck, while Fletcher attacked from behind in order to go for the knight''s spine.


    The barghest and strix, however, were not going to be able to get either of their talons into Platiknight''s flesh at this time, because before either of them could get close enough, a brand new interloper entered the scene from an unexpected direction.


    "YEE-HAW!"


    From the third-floor window of a four-story apartment building, a cowboy dressed in dark leather suddenly took a dive out of it and began falling towards the spot directly behind the paralyzed Platiknight.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Evidently, the strix, the barghest and the gremlin weren''t expecting to see a cowboy taking a swandive out of a window.


    "What the fuck?!" Gamble shouted in disbelief at the sudden newcomer''s appearance and the fact that this crazy cowboy was about to hit the pavement headfirst.


    However, that wasn''t the case in the slightest.


    "Tumble Barrage!"


    As this unknown cowboy started falling to the ground, he pulled forth a pair of heavy-looking revolvers that would put most handcannons to shame and fired them both three times in a row, in different directions.


    BANG! BANG!


    The first two shots were shot to correct his position in the air; the force of the blasts literally caused him to rotate in the air long enough so that he was now upright and able to properly aim his pistols at Mortis and Fletcher.


    BANG! BANG!


    "SKREE?!"


    "ARUF?!"


    The next two shots were fired directly at the strix in the air and the barghest on the ground.


    The former bullet took a path slightly above the diving strix before suddenly changing direction mid-air, piercing right through Fletcher''s wing and causing the rotten bird to let out a shriek of pain as he went tumbling to the ground.


    As for the latter bullet, it immediately did some serious damage as it pierced through the barghest''s right front leg before impacting the ground at just the right angle that pieces of pavement were knocked upward and sent flying into the barghest''s left rear leg. Mortis was sent tumbling over to his right and forced to faceplant into another wall. The bullet wound and sudden sharpnel being the reason why he took such a ferocious dive.


    BANG! BANG!


    "GAH! MY CLAWS!"


    As for the last two shots fired from the mysterious desperado''s guns, they were both fired in Gamble''s direction and lined up to pierce through the dead center of both of his paws, cutting the electrical charge coming out of them and releasing the paralysis that was holding Platiknight hostage.


    "Woo! Now ain''t that quite the sight! Six shots is all I needed to turn this bout around! Lucky me," the cowboy shouted before blowing the smoke coming from his pistols. After he had done so, he twirled and holstered one of them so that he could give Platiknight a helping hand getting back on his feet.


    "You doing okay, fancypants?" the cowboy asked in a well-meaning voice. "Sorry, I couldn''t assist sooner; I was created less than a minute ago."


    "I am alright, my leather-clad friend," Platiknight answered while taking the cowboy''s hand. "My name is Platiknight, and you?"


    "Me? Well you can call me-"


    "YOU BASTARD!" Gamble shouted, interrupting the cowboy''s introduction. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU MANAGE TO INJURE ME?!"


    Smoke and blood were leaking from the gremlin''s paws as sputtering bolts of electricity arced between the shattered claws.


    Gamble knew full well that mundane firearms had no effect on him and that only the accursed tools of the Machina System were able to even scratch him. So the fact that some random cowboy that radiated an aura similar to Platiknight was able to injure him was...wait a minute.


    "Oh fuck! You''re another one of those heroes, aren''t you?" Gamble shouted in painful realization. "Who the hell are you?"


    In response to this question, the cowboy in leather turned to his shining knight of a counterpart and shrugged before walking forward and making a bit of a show of his introduction.


    "Well, since you so kindly requested that I give you my moniker, I might as well oblige," the cowboy said as if he were a posh gentleman. "I could say something like I''m the fast gunslinger since Wyatt Earp or Billy the Kid, but that would be bragging. I could say I''m a bounty hunter who hungers for justice, but that would be a lie since I do this for free. I could even say I was the smartest man on the frontier since I know my way around gunpowder better than a miner, but that ain''t exactly a high bar."


    At this last word, the cowboy clicked his boots together and flicked a finger at the tin star that decorated his hat.


    "But above all of that, I was a Tin Star, and that''s what you can call me," Tin Star declared as he leveled his pistols at Gamble. "Now reach for the sky; you''re under arrest."


    ...Meanwhile...


    "Hey, are you sure we''re heading in the right direction? I''ve been to this neighborhood before, and the amount of times I''ve been called here for actual crimes has been close to zero."


    "Yes, I''m sure. The dispatch said it was this way, so this way we will go."


    "If you say so."

 Combining Powers

    Meanwhile, on the rooftop overlooking the battle...


    "BAH! Again with this?!" Miss Myster shouted in disbelief at the sight of a superhero cowboy calling themselves Tin Star. "Where the hell did this second familiar come from?!"


    To say Miss Myster was pissed at this sudden turn of events would be an understatement.


    One minute, her band of ill omens was just about to turn Platiknight into a pile of scrap metal. The next minute, her precious familiars were getting used as target practice by a Billy the Kid meets Wyatt Earp knock-off.


    Making matters worse, because of the item she used to make it possible for her to summon more than one familiar at a time, she was now feeling the feedback of all three of her familiars getting injured at the same time.


    Her left shoulder, her left thigh, her right forearm, and both of her hands felt as if they had been shot through a revolver. However, there were no physical wounds present.


    Familiar pain feedback just made the user feel any damage their familiar felt, but not actually inflict it. On top of that, the reason why she was feeling it now instead of earlier, when Mortis was getting shield smashed, was due to the fact that familiar pain feedback scales with the amount of familiars present.


    In other words, if Mortis was the only one getting shot at this time, Miss Myster wouldn''t have felt a thing.


    "Wait a minute..."


    Soon after Miss Myster realized that most of her pain was due to the number of familiars she had fighting out on the field, she also realized that that annoying young man who was Platiknight''s master had just sent out another familiar.


    A familiar that looked significantly squisiher, probably had crappy close combat skills, and was more than likely to crumble after getting punched the stomach at least once.


    In other words, she saw an opportunity to end this battle in a timely manner.


    ''Forget the knight; aim for the cowboy!'' Miss Myster mentally commanded. ''Once you take out the gunslinger, the other will be a sitting duck! And just to make sure, its time to go big!''


    Immediately after making this statement to her familiars, Miss Myster summoned forth the System windows and pulled up the Familiar windows for Mortis, Gamble, and Fletcher. With a quick swipe of her fingers, she activated all three of their Ultimate Skills one after the other.


    When she did this, though, she was under the impression that each of their own unique ultimates would go off one at a time, since she had never summoned multiple familiars at the same time.


    Instead, after activating all three of their ultimates, a window alert she had never seen before had appeared before her eyes.


    [Three Ultimate Skills with similar attributes have been activated at the same time. Combining all three skills to perform the Ultimate Combination Skill: Wild Hunt of Misfortune.]


    "Holy shit! I should''ve invested in summoning more than one familiar at a time way sooner!


    ...Now back to the fight...


    "Whoa..." SK trailed off after closing his open window and staring at the battle unfolding below his apartment building. "Looks like we''re going to have a proper showdown...damn, I wish it was sunset right now."


    At this moment in time, the tension on the battlefield had become thick enough to stab in the back multiple times.


    Tin Star''s arrival had thrown the entire battle theater into disarray due to his sudden barrage of bullets managing to deal damage to all three of Miss Myster''s familiars.


    Platiknight had done an excellent job in keeping the three of them at bay, but the damage he was able to inflict on them was minimal due to their coordination abilities.


    Whenever Platiknight had attempted to go after one of the enemy familiars in a more focused manner, the other two would just keep nailing him with attacks to slow him down or just grab his attention.


    This was especially the case whenever he went after Gamble, as the tricky little gremlin would simply turn into electricity and move to an entirely different street lamp whenever Platiknight got close enough to punch the little creep. After missing his punch, he would then get attacked by Mortis and Fletcher.


    But now the tables had turned.


    Two on three still wasn''t a completely fair fight, but now the superheroes had a chance to turn this thing around.


    Or maybe even end it, assuming Gamble and his companions were willing to surrender.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Well? What''s it going to be, Pardner?"Tin Star asked. "You going to give up or not?"


    "You little-huh?"


    ''Forget the knight; aim for the cowboy!'' Gamble suddenly heard Miss Myster command inside of his mind, alongside Mortis and Fletcher.


    Gamble was all set to cuss out this cowboy and then blast him with lightning, which is why when the orders came from Miss Myster to focus all their attacks on him, the gremlin became rather delighted.


    ''And just to make sure, its time to go big!''


    Only for that delight to quickly turn into excitement as he felt a surge of power coursing through not only his body but the bodies of Fletcher and Mortis as well. Instinctually, they knew exactly what they were going to do and exactly how they were going to do it.


    "Okay, cowpoke," Gamble suddenly said with significantly more force than before. "You want me to reach for the skies, huh? Sure, I''ll do just that."


    As Gamble reached for the skies, power began to pour from his palms and into the clouds above, causing them to grow larger and darker until they were full-on storm clouds. "And now I''m going to bring down the thunder! Wild Hunt of Misfortune!"


    "SKREE!"


    "AWOOO!"


    Shortly after making this declaration, Gamble turned into a bolt of lightning and surged into the skies above, infusing himself into the newly formed storm clouds. After Gamble had fused with the storm clouds, two massive bolts of lighting fell from the sky and impacted both Fletcher and Mortis, empowering them with a dark energy that made them smell of ozone, fear, and fatal misfortune.


    Once they were fully charged with power, the two beasts rushed towards Platiknight and Tin Star with newly enhanced speed that made them appear as blurs. This action prompted Platiknight to pull out his shield once more and stand in front of Tin Star so that he could act as an interceptor.


    "Stand back, you foul beasts! Neither of you shall-huh?"


    Only to be thrown completely off once he saw that the strix and barghest had opted to start running literal circles around him and Tin Star.


    This encircling maneuver soon turned into a dark, vicious tornado that sparked with electricity and had the two superheroes completely trapped.


    But that was only the opening part of this move.


    From inside the tornado, Platiknight and Tin Star could see electricity taking on the forms of the heads of Gamble, Fletcher, and Mortis, one after the other.


    "WILD HUNT!" All three heads shouted in unison as they opened their mouths one after the other.


    From them poured out even more lightning constructs taking on the form of monstrous birds, monstrous hounds, and monstrous gremlins that all went rushing towards the eye of the tornado, where Platiknight and Tin Star were standing.


    Most people in this situation would probably start panicking or praying for mercy at the sight of all of these lightning monsters coming towards them. But when Platiknight and Tin Star saw these incoming monsters of lightning, they simply exchanged a few words and a mutual understanding.


    "I''ll go high; you go low?" Tin Star asked while reloading his pistols.


    "And when the opportunity comes, we break through!" Platiknight shouted as he slammed an armored gauntlet against his shield.


    "Amen!"


    "REEEE!"


    And it was with that declaration that the hordes of lightning monsters descended on the superhero duo in hopes of electrocuting them and turning them into burning corpses.


    "HAVE AT THEE!"


    "YEEHAW!"


    Only to be thoroughly disappointed as the heroes began taking down the lightning beasts with even better coordination than what the trio of monsters had displayed before.


    From above, lighting constructs shaped like Fletcher the strix were being shot out of the sky as Tin Star blasted at them, not with a hail of bullets but precisely controlled ones that took out scores of them at a time before bouncing off of each other and destroying lightning constructs that were closer to the ground.


    From below, vicious lightning wolves that were shaped like Mortis and nasty little gremlins shaped like Gamble were attempting to charge in but were thoroughly smashed by Platiknight and his massive shield. While it wasn''t as fancy as Tin Star''s bullets, this smash-and-spin tactic proved to work wonders.


    The superheroes were doing an excellent job in fighting off this tornado of misfortune, but they still needed a way out to end this fight for real.


    Thankfully, they had someone on the outside who had an idea.

 Blow Out

    "Oh balls, that is not good," SK said aloud as he stared at the tornado trapping his familiars.


    While he could feel that they were confident that they could weather the storm long enough to figure out a way to power through, SK had watched enough cartoons to know that encircling moves like this "Wild Hunt of Misfortune" needed to be broken through an unexpected method.


    Not necessarily because it was cool, but because the obvious methods were usually defended against.


    If Platiknight and Tin Star carelessly charged for the sides, they could either get electrocuted with the force of a thousand generators or sent flying up to the stratosphere because of the tornado. Alternatively, they could just get caught up in the wind funnel and then suffer death by a thousand clawmarks. Platiknight probably would''ve been fine at the end of this all, but Tin Star would definitely end up like shreded leather.


    "The ideal method would be to blow up the tornado from the inside, or maybe cause an earthquake? But I don''t know if Platiknight or Tin Star have enough power by themselves to-"


    *DING!*


    "-BWAH!"


    Just before SK could finish his observation about whether or not Platiknight and Tin Star could bust out of a spinning tornado of death and misfortune, the System decided to chime in.


    [Notice: When activating the Ultimate Skills of more than one active Familiar, there is a chance that the skills will combine and create a Combined Ultimate Skill instead. The power behind such a skill is not simple addition but instead , multiplicative and exponential.]


    "Well, that makes things easier," SK noted while pulling up Platiknight''s and Tin Star''s status screens. "So I guess I just... swipe right?"


    SWISH!


    [Multiple ultimate skills of similar attributes have been activated in sequence. Now activating Ultimate Combination Skill: Justice Burst.]


    ...Now back to the tornado outside...


    "How many have you smashed in, sir knight?" Tin Star asked after reloading his pistols for the seventh time this evening. "I think I''ve shot down at least three dozen of these birds by now!"


    BANG! BANG!


    "I think I''m at about eighteen-wait a moment!"


    BLAM!


    "Nineteen!"


    "Woo doggie, these varmints ain''t letting up."


    The actual number of lightning constructs that the two superheroes had destroyed was much higher than what they had counted so far, but they had only started doing so after they had taken out about three dozen of the bastards before now.


    Despite their words though, both Platiknight and Tin Star were basically running out of gas at this point and were just about to succumb to the onslaught of electrical bestial constructs.


    KERFWOOOM


    "WHOA NELLY!"


    "HUZZAH!"


    But then, like a bolt from the blue, the two metallic heroes received a surge of energy and an instinctual set of instructions that informed how they were going to get out of this mess and take out their opponents at the same time.


    It just required a little trust and a little more breathing room.


    "PLATINUM CHASER"


    POW! POW! POW! POW!


    "MAD BULLET DANCE!"


    Bang! Kaping! Bang!


    In less than five seconds, Platiknight had turned himself into a streak of platinum light that bounced between several of the groundbound lighting constructs and instantly dispersed them with several well-placed punches.


    At the same time, Tin Star unleashed two full salvos of specially made bullets that proceeded to pierce through their targets before suddenly changing directions, colliding into each other, and going off in other directions to keep piercing enemies and bouncing off of each other.


    Their combined efforts had cleared away the tornado''s center long enough for Platiknight''s and Tin Star''s next course of action.


    The precious metal paragon crouched to the ground and lifted his shield over his head, allowing Tin Star to use it as a platform.


    "Try to keep my ascension upwards on the straight and narrow, okay, partner?"


    "Have no fear, my tin friend!" Platiknight assured Tin Star as he began channeling his energy into the shield on his arm. "Your ride to the sky will be as smooth as a polished platinum breastplate! Now, PLATINUM CATAPAULT!"


    THOOM!


    "YIPEE KI-YAY!"


    Using his body and shield as a jump pad, Platiknight launched Tin Star upwards and out of the top of the monster-made tornado.


    "I''m only going to get one shot at this; I better not miss," Tin Star said to himself moments before reaching the apex of his ascent. Once he was up there, Tin Star readjusted himself in the air so that he could point his dual pistols at the tornado beneath him.


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    However, he wasn''t going to be using them in their current state as pistols for much longer.


    "Ultimate Skill: Frontier Spirit!"


    As soon as he made this declaration, the badge on Tin Star''s hat suddenly started glowing and began to release a torrent of energy that coursed through Tin Star''s body before flowing into the pistols in her hands.


    Once the revolvers were fully saturated with energy, the dual weapons quickly merged into becoming one oversized cannon that vaguely resmebled a revolver. However, the payload wasn''t going to be a normal cannon ball.


    "This next part is all up to you, sir knight!" Tin Star called down, despite the tornado making it impossible for Platiknight to hear anything. "Make sure to smash it at the right place and time."


    BOOM!


    From the barrel of this massive revolver cannon, Tin Star fired off a bullet the size of a hornet''s nest directly down the center of the tornado and directly at Platiknight.


    This would''ve been the part where Platiknight would literally rise to the challenge and punch the bullet with this shield in order to destroy the incoming attack, but that would only be the case if the attack was hostile.


    In this instance, the purpose of the attack was to take out everybody else.


    Platiknight stood his ground, readied his shield, and began to charge it up with the same amount of energy he would have used if he was going to use his Platinum Comet Crush.


    "Platinum Power Smash!"


    KABAM!


    Except this time, that power was combined with the power of teamwork.


    "Ultimate Combination Skill: Justice Burst!"


    The moment Platiknight smashed Tin Star''s bullet, he didn''t knock it back or deflect it.


    Instead, he used enough power to cause the bullet to literally explode into a cloud of shrapnel and force that went in every direction except his.


    The force of the explosion blew away the tornado itself as it impacted the enemy familiars and caused them to become momentarily stunned.


    This then led to the time getting torn to shreds by several dozen chunks of burning hot metal that were enhanced by the power of not one but two different superheroes.


    "AOO!"


    "BAKAWK!"


    "GYAAAH!"


    Needless to say, the power of such a combination was not minimal in the slightest, and the three enemy familiars were torn completely to shreds.


    [Notice: Mortis the Barghest has been defeated.]


    [Notice: Gamble the Gremlin has been defeated.]


    [Notice: Fletcher the Strix has been defeated.]


    However, the defeated familiars did not leave bloody and perforated body parts on the ground that would lead to uncomfortable questions with law enforcement and beyond.


    Instead, the three defeated familiars transformed into particles of colorful energy that flew back towards their master.


    Carrying with them not only the pain of defeat but a penalty that was going to be even more painful.


    ...Every battle has its losers...


    "No, no, no, no, no, NO!"


    ZAP!


    "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"


    As the energy particles that were her defeated familiars fused with her body, Miss Myster felt as if her entire body was being torn to shreds by a thousand pieces of burning hot metal several times over.


    However, this wasn''t the most painful part about this moment.


    Because shortly after her familiars returned to her, the System gave her a penalty message.


    [Notice: Due to the User''s incredible defeat, the System will become inaccessible to them for an amount of weeks equal to the amount of familiars defeated. Three familiars has been registered as defeated, so the user has been banned from using this System for the next three weeks.]


    "NOOOOOOO!"


    Such a punishment didn''t sound so bad on the surface, but keep in mind that this meant that Miss Myster no longer had access to quests, familiars, or items in her inventory.


    In other words, she had gone from wielding infinite power to being a mortal in an instant.


    Abrupt changes like this had a tendency to drive people a little insane.


    "You bastard..." Miss Myster mumbled while in the process of passing out. "I''ll get you...for this."


    ...Every battle has its winners...


    [Ding! Congratulations! You have managed to defeat an enemy User and their familiars in glorious combat!] The system informed SK shortly after the Justice Burst went off. [Appropriate rewards have been sent to your inventory. Please review at your earliest convenience.]


    "Woo! But also, holy fucking shit!" SK cursed as he released a massive sigh of relief. "Okay, with all that taken care of, I guess we can just call it a day...wait a minute, why do I see red and blue lights in the distance?"

 CLEAR OUT!

    "Oh crap, that''s the popo," SK realized belatedly once he saw a vehicle go over a distant hill. "Wait, it''s fine, the monsters are gone, and I can basically lie and say I was in my apartment the whole time... wait a minute¡­what about the others?!"


    ...Meanwhile...


    "Woo! That was a hell of a fireworks show, sir knight! You sure know how to throw one helluva punch!" Tin Star praised Platiknight as he landed next to the aforementioned knight of shining justice and holstered his pistols with a flourish. "Out of curiosity, did my bullet manage to scratch your shield?"


    "Worry not, my leather-clad cowboy companion," Platiknight declared. "My shield is ten times tougher than my armor! That''s why I use it to fight instead of wielding a weapon."


    "Huh, how very Captain Ameri-"


    ''Platiknight, Tin Star. Both of you need to get out of there, like right now,'' SK panickedly ordered his familiars while signaling them to get into the apartment.


    Evidently, he was so panicked right now that his ability to convey information telepathically was mildly compromised at the moment.


    "Eh? Why?"


    "Shouldn''t we retrieve the unconscious soothsayer first?"Tin Star pointed out. "Otherwise she might get loose and come back to fight us like a bad rash on a burning hot summer''s day."


    "An apt description."


    ''Sorry, but there''s no time for that. Right now the-''


    "PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR, NOW!"


    ''FUCK, ITS THE POLICE!''


    "You two! Put your hands in the air, now!"


    "What the fuck..."


    When the police officers of the SFPD arrived at the scene of the call, they weren''t expecting anything too crazy.


    The last time the SFPD were called to investigate a disturbance in this particular neighborhood, it was because someone thought the smell of barbecue coming from a food truck was actually someone cooking a person.


    They later found out that the caller was an old lady who forgot to take her meds after a twelve-hour horror movie marathon, all exclusively about cannibalism.


    But besides the grandmother confusing roast pork for roasted long pig, this neighborhood was incredibly quiet.


    Which is why when two cops rolled up and saw a six-foot-something fully armored knight armed with a shield the size of an armored car door standing side-by-side with a cowboy that appeared to be openly carrying a pair of heavily modified revolvers, the aforementioned duo of cops were positively shocked, to say the least.


    It also didn''t help that on their way to the scene, they had seen multiple flashes of lightning being accompanied by loud explosions of sound that definitely didn''t sound like thunder.


    "I said, hands in the air, now!" the cop repeated while pointing his police-issued pistol at the two superheroes, who couldn''t help but stare at them in disbelief.


    Therefore, it was a wonderful thing that they were able to communicate telepathically with each other; otherwise, they would''ve sounded extra crazy to these coppers.


    ¡­


    ''I must say, it is a heartwarming thing to see the local law enforcement uphold their duty despite obviously being afraid about who or what we are,'' Tin Star told Platiknight. ''The information package that I was given said that law enforcement nowadays seems more selfish than they were back in the days of the old West.''


    ''Indeed, my friend! Indeed!;'' Platiknight agreed. ''But I get the distinct feeling we won''t be able to talk to these fellows about the reason why we''re here.''


    ''Well, that, and I''m pretty sure the sheriff wouldn''t appreciate it if we accidentally brought too much attention to him. ''


    ''Should we just fly away?''


    ''Nah, that''ll attract an unnecessary amount of attention too,'' Tin Star sighed. ''I have an idea; just wait for my signal.''


    ''This seems to be a running trend tonight.''


    ¡­


    "Alright, now just walk over here slowly, and we can get your story at the station. After that-"


    "Rotten Egg Smoke Blast!"


    PATOOOSH


    "What the hell?!"


    "Ah, why does it smell like sewage?!"


    Just as the cops were about to slap handcuffs on Platiknight and Tin Star, the latter suddenly threw down a full moon cartridge filled with strange colored bullets. Once the bullets impacted the ground, an explosion of foul-smelling smoke filled their nostrils with the stench of rotten eggs while stinging vapors blinded them at the same time.


    As the cops were distracted by this sudden assault on the senses, Platiknight and Tin Star used this opportunity to get the hell out of there.


    ''Up here! Quickly!'' SK mentally commanded the two superheroes as he also wildly swung his arm out of his apartment window


    Stolen story; please report.


    ''At once, my liege!''


    ''Whatever you say, sheriff.''


    The knight and cowboy superheroes proceeded to make their way off of the city streets and disappear into SK''s apartment via that previously mentioned window.


    Once they had cleared the threshold, SK closed the window as quickly and as quietly as he physically could.


    By the time he had done just this, Tin Star''s smoke bomb had fully dissipated, and the SFPD cops had recovered from their senses getting all scrambled.


    "Bah! Huh?"


    "Where the hell did those two disappear to?"


    Needless to say, the two SFPD officers were now even more confused.


    "Alright, I can understand losing track of the cowboy in the leather outfit, since that guy looked skinny and fast," one cop told the other, "but how the hell did we lose a six-foot tall armored knight?!"


    "I don''t know, but I''m hoping the body cam footage can help us figure that out later. But for now, let''s just comb the neighborhood once over. Maybe they''re hiding somewhere close by."


    ...Now back to the apartment itself, that was incredibly close to the cops...


    "Holy crap, that was close," SK muttered as he stared down at the cops from his apartment window, watching them as they returned to their squad car and began patrolling the area. "Next time I end up fighting another User, I''m asking them if we can move our fight to an empty parking lot or something. Maybe a quarry."


    "I''m more partial to the quarry than the empty lot myself, sheriff. A lot more places to bounce my bullets off of," Tin Star commented.


    "The fight for justice can happen anywhere, but I suppose I''d prefer a proper arena for such bouts," Platiknight added.


    Immediately after they had returned to SK''s apartment, both Platiknight and Tin Star had retired themselves to SK''s sofa, stressing the piece of furniture due to their combined bulk and size.


    The superhero duo had earned this moment of respite after all the crap they had just gone through in the past ten minutes.


    "Oh, right. I should probably look through all the stuff we gained from defeating those psychotic-"


    "Pardon me, sheriff," Tin Star suddenly interrupted SK''s train of thought. "But do you happen to have anything that I can use to wet my whistle?"


    At this innocent question, SK developed a bewildered expression.


    "Wait a minute, you guys can eat, and...actually, let''s save that line of questioning for another day. I have several cans of root beer and pineapple soda in the fridge. You are free to grab either one."


    "Excellent!" Tin Star exclaimed before walking to the fridge. "I''m going to grab a can of pineapple soda. You want something, sir knight?"


    "Root beer, please."


    "Catch."


    SWISH


    Ker-Catch.


    "Much obliged!"


    "Anytime. Cheers!"


    "Cheers!"


    "Hmm."


    Seeing Platiknight and Tin Star get along made SK feel surprisingly at ease. After all, he had technically created them both with differing ideas of what constituted a superhero, so he was a little nervous about them clashing heads in that regard.


    Then again, it was a common practice in comics to have heroes of differing ideals gather under the unified banner of justice.


    ''Granted, I am going to need way more heroes if I want to do a full-on league of them," SK thought as he saw Platiknight and Tin Star share drinks.''Oh right, I should probably check his status.''


    For some dumb reason, the status windows for SK''s heroes didn''t seem to immediately pop up after their creation. Instead, he had to wait until after the fact to actually see what their abilities and stats were actually like.


    This time around, SK had tried to see if physically writing down what their attributes and abilities should be before they manifested would have an effect, and he wanted to see if that was the case. That and he was very curious how the skill crystal affected Tin Star''s existence.


    ''I grabbed that skill crystal from a giant robot with bunsen burner for hands, and yet Tin Star definitely doesn''t look like a science experiment gone wrong.''


    ¡­


    Familiar Name: Tin Star


    Attribute: Fire/Metal


    Description: An embodiment of the Heroes of the Old West, outlaw and sheriff wrapped into one.


    Stats:


    Note: Familiar scaling is impossible to calculate by mortal standards, so a ranking system is used instead.


    Strength: C


    Endurance: C


    Intellect: A


    Agility: A


    Charisma: A


    Connection Cost: 5


    Equipment: Tin Star of Bravery, Twin Colt Revolvers: Fate and Fortune


    Skills: Thermochemistry (II), Gun-Fu (III), Bullet Control, Unpredictable Luck


    Ultimate Skill: Frontier Spirit

 Failures and Cover-ups go hand-in-hand

    ''Huh...you know, it actually makes a lot of sense that Tin Star doesn''t have high strength or endurance, since I designed him with gunplay in mind,'' SK thought to himself as he looked over Tin Star''s status screen. ''Or are the lower stats due to the fact that he was made with a Gold Grade ticket as opposed to a Miracle Grade ticket like Platiknight? It boggles the mind.''


    Ding!


    "Huh?"


    Just as SK was trying to wrap his head around the exact process that was Familiar creation and this whole ticket gacha thing that the System had going on, he suddenly received a notification from the Superhero System.


    And it wasn''t a good notification.


    [Warning: User has failed to perform the daily quest or equivalent activities in an appropriate time frame.]


    [Please prepare yourself for the penalty.]


    "Oh...shit."


    In the mobile games SK would play, missing a daily quest wasn''t a bad thing per se; it just meant missing out on some daily resources.


    Meanwhile, in the comics SK read, the Systems that would exist in them would have rather absurd penalties for failing a quest like death, stat reduction, or being forced to fight to survive a hostile gauntlet.


    While he was fairly certain that the Supehero System wasn''t going to punish him too severely, he couldn''t help but feel nervous since this was his first proper quest failure.


    Thankfully, the punishment wasn''t too bad.


    Several tense seconds passed as SK waited for the System to dole out the punishment, only to be pleasantly surprised at the results.


    [The normal penalty has been lessened due to the mitigating factor that the user was almost killed by a psychotic fortune teller. Therefore, the User shall not be subjected to the Hellfire Gauntlet.]


    "Woo-hoo!"


    [However, the user will be forced to undergo electroshock therapy in order to stimulate the muscle tension necessary to make up for lost exercise time.]


    "Say what?"


    [Beginning the electrocution sequence in...three,two,one, ZAP ZAP!]


    KERZAP!


    "GAAHAHAHAAAA! WHY?!?!"


    Before SK could even request a moment to go and get ready for bed or lie down somewhere comfortable before getting electrocuted by the System, the System proceeded to pump several thousand volts of electricity throughout his entire body.


    At least SK thought it was several thousand volts of electricity; he honestly couldn''t tell because of the sheer amount of pain he was in.


    While this was happening, by the way, Platiknight and Tin Star were simply choosing to ignore their creator''s suffering while still sipping on his sodas.


    "You know, I feel bad that the fact that we''re just sitting while the sheriff does...that," Tin Star commented. "How are you doing, sheriff?"


    Incoherent screams of a man feeling his legs about to shoot lighting.


    "That tracks."


    "It is fine, my friend. Our liege will be coming out of this ordeal stronger and faster than before. We just need to be patient."


    "I suppose...oh yeah, speaking of patience, you think we waited long enough to go and check if those cops are gone? We still need to grab that fortune teller chick."


    "Indeed," Platiknight agreed. "Although, perhaps we should until our liege is done with his forced exercises."


    "EVERYTHNG IS TINGLING AND I DONT LIKE IT!"


    "Maybe a little after that."


    Unfortunately for Platiknight and Tin Star, life wasn''t going to stand still just for them.


    ...Meanwhile, across the street of SK''s apartment...


    As Miss Myster laid on top of the roof of an apartment building she had broken into, still unconscious from the fact that her familiars were defeated, something unexpected occur in the skies directly above her.


    "Notice: Unit-007 has detected a defeated User. Beginning identification process, now."


    Strange mechanical drones shaped like eggs with gyrocopter bits sticking out of the top, descended from the sky and began to analyze Mise Myster''s unconscious body via a special scanning tool that I as built inside of it.


    "Analyzing...analysis complete."


    "User Identity: Miss Myster has been confirmed."


    "User Status: Unconscious but alive."


    "Additional notice: Miss Myster''s connection to the Arcanis System has been suspended."


    "Reason for defeat: Inconclusive."


    "Calculated next course of action: Retrieve User and bring them back to base."


    Once the egg-shaped drone came to this conclusion, several dozen mechanic tentacles suddenly surged out from the bottom of this weird machine and grabbed the unconscious Miss Myster like she was a ragdoll.


    "Returning to base, now."


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Once she had been grabbed, the drone proceeded to ascend towards the sky and disappear into the night.


    Where they were heading nobody knew, save for the the controller of the drone.


    As to why they were being taken, well...some things are better learn from the mouths of others than from outside observations.


    "Sending message to base: Prepare medical pod one and interrogation chamber: Sympathy."


    Of course, not everyone needed to consult a direct source for information.


    ...Meanwhile, up the street from SK''s apartment...


    "Hey, are you okay?"


    "Dispatch, we have an unconscious body. We''re going to investigate whether or not the situation is live, over. Wait, why am I getting nothing but static?"


    When cops come across body on the streets, the reason for this discrepancy usually boiled down to two possibilities.


    The first possibility was that someone got in way over their heads and got knocked out due to either random acts of violence or substance abuse. While these weren''t necessarily reasons for getting arrested quite yet, they were reasons for them to start investigating an area for possible criminal elements.


    The second possibility was that the body on the street was a dead body, and that definitely necessitate the calling of additional law enforcement and a thorough investigation of the area.


    Murder was never a fun thing to look into, but it was a part of the job.


    However, because cops are usually mentally wrapping their heads around the idea that whatever they were investigating was probably the remnants of a crime after the fact, their guards at this time were usually lowered.


    Not enough to not notice people approaching them from various directions, but their guards were lowered just enough that they could get surprised by, say, a body on the ground turning out to be a live person.


    "Hey buddy, are you-"


    ZAP! ZAP!


    "GUH!"


    "BAH!"


    "Targets have been neutralized, I repeat. Targets have been neutralized."


    Just as the cops were about to check on the person laying on the street, that aformentioned person suddenly rolled over and blasted them both with an incredibly advanced stun gun that made the ones the cops were carrying look like wind-up toys by comparison.


    Needless to say, the two law enforcement agents were rendered unconscious once the electricity surged through them.


    "Eagle Eye, this is Porcupine. Tin badges have been neutralized. I repeat, tin badges have been neutralized. Over," the person pretending to be unconscious moments ago said through a comm radio on her wrist.


    "Porcupine, this is Eagle Eye. Confirming law enforcement neutralization and turning off the signal jammer. Be sure to retrieve the footage and adjust the scene. Over."


    "Copy that."


    The person calling themselves Porcupine proceeded to go over to the unconscious coppers and flip them on to their backs. Once they were on their backs, Porcupine proceeded to deactivate their body cams and remove the memory cards.


    Of course, she didn''t leave it at just that.


    From her pocket she extracted a stack of memory cards that looked exactly like the ones she had just pulled out.


    "Let''s see here; we got a wild dog attack, a drug bust gone wrong, a prostitution ring breakup, ah ha! Here it is, blackout robbery gets fooled."


    Once Porcupine had the memory cards in hand, they gently inserted the new ones while pocketing the ones they had just replaced.


    After that, Porcupine proceeded to drag the cops back into their car, seat them upright, and leave a little present in the shape of an air freshener on their dashboard. Granted, this air freshener was a little more advanced than the plastic stuff with a scented gel.


    "I think ten minutes should be enough for me to get out of dodge," Porcupine concluded after adjusting the timer on their "air freshener."


    "Okay now, have fun smelling the ammonia. Bye~"


    Once it was prepared, Porcupine proceeded to get out of the area and disappear into the night, dodging through several alleyways and making erratic turns before arriving to an a white van covered in graffiti.


    "Shave and a hair cut, two bits," Porcupine hummed as they knocked on the van''s backdoor.


    "You got the memory cards?" A man in the van asked as he opened the backdoor from inside.


    "Of course I got the cards," Porcupine replied. "Now can I ditch this hobo get-up? It smells bad, and I think whatever chemicals you used on this hat are starting to seep into my scalp."


    "I think we used mustard oil for the smell and look."


    "Oh, in that case, I''m keeping this on."


    "Fair enough."


    "Now then, let''s get a better look at these new offshoots."

 Every Good Base...

    "Ow," SK groaned while lying on his back while on the ground. "Why does my everything taste like lemons and ozone?"


    Ding!


    Immediately after SK asked this question, a System notification window appeared before his eyes.


    [Electroshock therapy will do that to the human body after being administered... sometimes.]


    "I think you''re lying to me, but I am also in too much pain to question that statement." SK retorted at the System''s faux uncertainity.


    While SK continued to lie on the ground, Platiknight and Tin Star went over to finally check on their creator.


    Due to their connection to both him and the System, they knew he wasn''t in any real danger of dying, so they hadn''t protested about the fact that he was being electrocuted.


    "Well, Sheriff, it''s been fun coming to life and everything, but I think it''s time for me and Platiknight to get some rest too."


    "Indeed, my liege! A proper hero needs to be fully rested when fighting for justice."


    "Yeah...that tracks," SK agreed while still laying on his back. "Wait, do you guys unsummon yourselves or what?"


    Ding!


    [To return a Familiar to their sealed state, please say the name of the familiar followed by the word "return. After which, they can be stored within the System space itself.]


    "Huh...that makes sense."


    Right now would''ve been the part where SK stood up, got back on his feet, and commanded the superheroes to return while looking at least somewhat dignified, but that didn''t happen.


    Instead, SK simply raised one of his arms and said, "Platiknight and Tin Star, return."


    "Until next time!"


    "Onwards!"


    Once the orders were given, Platiknight and Tin Star both turned into colorful particles before flying towards SK''s outreached hand and reforming into a pair of funky-looking trading cards.


    "Huh. They''re foiled."


    When SK designed Platiknight and Tin Star, he had done so with the idea of treating them as design sheets instead of full-on art pieces.


    This meant that the sheets in question were all the design elements, a 360 view, color palettes, and maybe some expressions off to the side, but that was about it.


    The art on these cards, though, was a lot more elaborate.


    Platiknight''s card depicted the precious metal paragon standing in a heroic pose while wielding his shield atop a sloped rock. Judging from the fact his dark blue cap was fluttering behind him, there must''ve been a warm spring wind blowing through the area he was in.


    Tin Star''s card, on the other hand, showed the vigilante of the Wild West in the midst of rappelling down a cliff while his pistols were aimed at the viewer. In all honesty, it reminded SK of an old Dead Hands trading card he used to own.


    "Beep, boop," SK mused while summoning the System''s inventory screen and placing the two Familiar cards back inside it.


    At least, that was the plan.


    Before he could finish storing the cards, a new alert window popped up.


    [Notice: User has unlocked the Hero Training Facility feature and the Hero Dispatch feature. Both of which can be accessed from the same screen.]


    ""Oh yeah¡­ I unlocked that after Platiknight saved Rachel.That makes a lot of sense, actually."


    [Would the user like to navigate over to the Hero Center now?]


    "Yeah, alright."


    After giving his consent, the System automatically dismissed the Inventory screen and switched over to what it called the Hero Center.


    "Huh."


    Based on the previous screens he had handled before, SK was expecting the Hero Center screen to be yet another series of menus and possibly a spreadsheet or two. Evidently, that wasn''t the case in the slightest.


    "Why is it¡­ empty?"


    The Hero Center, as the System called it, turned out to be a holographic map of... nothing. Hell, the only reason he could recognize it was a map was because he saw the longitude and latitude scales on the edges of the display window.


    A part of SK had assumed he was getting pranked for a hot minute, until the System piped up.


    [Notice: Before User can make use of the Hero Center and its features, they must first pick a location and building style.]


    "Oh?"


    Ding! Ding!


    Before SK''s eyes, a display screen showcasing a list of buildings appeared on his immediate right, while an area select screen manifested over the holographic map.


    "Ah, I get it now."


    From a certain crystal fortress located in the North Pole to an underground cavern filled with bats and even a literal space station that was armed to the teeth and had teleporters connected to every part of the known and unknown universe, every good superhero and superhero team needed a base of operations.


    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    And right now, the System was giving SK an opportunity to establish his own superhero sanctuary.


    "Hey, before I-"


    Ding!


    [Note that while the environment will be permanent when chosen, it is purely cosmetic. The main building and campus, though, can be upgraded and changed at anytime,] a system window explained before SK could finish asking his question.


    On the one hand, it was rather convenient that the System could anticipate his questions and fully address any concerns he may have had before he could actually ask them.


    On the other hand, well, it was kind of invasive.


    "Okay, you gotta stop reading my mind or whatever the hell it is you do exactly."


    [Stop being predictable,] the System fired back with a quick display window before dismissing it so that SK could focus on the task at hand.


    "Hmmm."


    Flipping through the environment screen, SK could see the holographic map actively change so that it could be a perfect match to whatever environment SK was looking at the time.


    "Okay, pretty standard stuff," SK mumbled while looking through the possible environments. "We got deserts, we got forests, we got mountains, we have lands made of candy, we have the endless abyss that can only exists in-between the dreams of ancient monsters...wait a minute, one of those sounded off."


    Eventually though, SK settled on one that was labeled "Laputa''s Remnant."


    The resulting holomap depicted an island being propelled high above an endless ocean via a mysterious ring that created a zero gravity effect.


    SK didn''t know if the ring was a result of magic or highly advanced science, but that might''ve been the point. Sometimes, a mysterious object could be both.


    "Alright, enough admiring the scenery," SK told himself. "Time to start building..."


    Like the environmental selection done immediately before this moment, all of the possible bases SK could build looked rather...basic.


    "I get that this is probably because I''m a noob and I won''t get access to the better stuff until later, but come on..."


    Some of the buildings he was looking through included fairly standard-looking skyscrapers, towers, academic-style buildings, mansions, pyramids, and entire underground facilities that would''ve turned the whole island into a secret base.


    Wait...


    "Huh...seems a bit iconoclastic, but...maybe this?"


    SK paused as he stared at the possible construction of the "Hero Cave" style of headquarters.


    It didn''t look bad and it did come from with the bonus of turning the entire floating island into a floating fortress, but something about that choice felt off to SK.


    "Underground bases work because they got a whole ass planet to work with as a means of defenses, maybe even a mountain at worst," SK told himself to better organize his thought. "If I use this, there''s a non-zero chance the structural integrity of the whole island would just go to shit because all of the underground chambers and tunnels. I know the System said this environmental factor was purely cosmetic, but is it?"


    After taking this question in mind, SK decided that the best choice wasn''t to build things inside of the floating island but to simply build on top and hope that future upgrades included additional islands or ways to reinforce the island so that he could go underground if necessary.


    But now that he only had to worry about what kind of building he wanted to place atop the island, this led to whole other internal debate.


    "Tower, castle, mansion, or an academic hall...wait, aren''t those last two technically the same?" SK asked himself as he remembered a certain superhero team of mutants that worked out of a school for mutants. "Ah, forget it...wait, is that a phonebooth? Do people still know what a phonebooth is?"


    Eventually, though, after much internal debating, SK settled on a Western-style fantasy castle that mostly matched the decor of the floating sky island.


    He had briefly thought of using one of the more Eastern-style palaces but thought against it since it felt kind of anachronistic having a knight and a cowboy use such a place as their base of operations.


    "Maybe if I can figure out a samurai-themed, monk-themed, or daoist-themed superhero... or I get really weird about it and do some of the more interesting monsters from Asian mythos..."

 ...Comes with a couple quirks

    "But enough about my musings; let''s finish making this place," SK sighed as he went back to fiddling with the System menus.


    A couple more button prompts, some minor emblem designing, and a skimming of a terms and conditions sheet later, SK had finished the easy part about building a base for his superheroes.


    Now came the part that has caused fear and dread in content creators since the first printing press was made: coming up with a name.


    "Shit," SK cursed as he stared at the dreaded text box and keyboard floating before his eyes.


    Every child in the world has probably dreamed about having a secret base where they could do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted.


    Needless to say, adults were no different.


    "Well, this is technically the secret base for my superheroes, but the principal is the same. More or less," SK mumbled to himself as he kept trying to think of a good name for the place...that wasn''t already in use.


    "I''m pretty sure I can call the place Laputa, but at the same time that feels incredibly lazy. I also feel a bit iffy in just calling this place ''The Sanctuary in the Sky'' or ''The Castle in the Sky... wait, are those names copyrighted? I hope not; those names are incredibly generic and can''t have any heavy legal protections because of that. At least I hope."


    Eventually though, after racking his brains for a hot minute, SK settled on a name that he knew was incredibly cheesy but also felt was appropriate given his situation: Miracle Maker Island.


    "Hmmm, doesn''t really roll off the tongue like Miracle Island, Miracle Castle, or even Miracle Manor," SK mused as he stared at the name he had written in the textbox. "But I''m fairy certain those were the names of a book series, a themepark, and a resort in that order, so fuck it. Miracle Maker Island it is."


    The reason why SK called this new base as such was due to the simple fact that he had honestly felt that this whole System thing was a miracle upon itself, and based on the fact that superheroes were supposed to be just that: miracle makers.


    Heroes make hard choices in times of trouble; superheroes make miracles happen in times of trouble.


    Regardless of sentimental thought, though, once he clicked through all of the confirmation screens, the System presented SK with the choice of wanting to add Platiknight and Tin Star to the island.


    "Well, that''s a no-brainer," SK said as he pressed the "accept" button.


    What followed after this was a short animation of Platiknight and Tin Star''s familiar cards being extracted from the Inventory before flying towards the holographic display of Miracle Maker Island.


    As soon as the cards were in the island''s airspace, they immediately transformed back into their respective superheroes.


    Sort of.


    "What in Sam Hill?!" Tin Star cried out.


    "Forsooth! A new location?" Platiknight exclaimed while landing on the island''s edge.


    "They''re so tiny!"


    When Platiknight and Tin Star appeared on the island, they didn''t appear in their full-sized heroic forms, rather, they took on these chibi forms that made them look like incredibly marketable plushies.


    A part of SK wanted to call out to see if they were able to hear him or if this was a long-distance display situation, but he decided against it. He wanted to see exactly how the duo would react to this situation without his presence being known.


    ''Feels like I''m watching a village sim playthrough,SK thought to himself as he watched his superheroes start to explore their surroundings.


    "Huh, it looks like there''s nothing but clouds and sky in every direction," Tin Star said to Platiknight as he looked over the edge of the island platform they had just landed on. "Also, it looks like this island is mechanical, like a real fancy clock."


    "That would explain the magnificent castle."


    "Castle?"


    Eventually, the duo of superdeformed superheroes finally noticed the main building of Miracle Maker Island and became awestruck as a result of seeing the castle.


    "Whoa."


    "A proper place to call home," Platiknight nodded in approval.


    Ding!


    "Whoa!"


    Eventually, while they were staring at the castle, a mini System window appeared before them.


    Ding


    "Ah."


    While a larger one appeared in front of SK.


    Written on both screens they read as follows:


    _________________________


    Welcome to the Hero Facility: Miracle Maker Island.


    This pocket dimension is designed to help facilitate the growth and recovery of the User and their heroes.


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    Right now, the current function of the facility is to help speed the recovery time of heroes as well as provide access to the [Hero Dispatch Station].


    Additional stations with different features can be constructed later on, once resource requirement and certain criteria are met.


    For the time being, though, please follow the drones to your personal quarters.


    _________________________


    "Quarters? We get rooms?"


    "Drones?"


    Bzzz! Bzzz!


    "Ah."


    Flying in at that exact moment were pair of flying drones that resembled a mix between a bumblebee and a spherical webcam.


    These drones flew in front of the duo of superheroes for a couple of moments to allow the latter to wrap their heads around the situation, before turning around and making movements that urged the heroes to follow them into the castle.


    "Well, shall we?" Tin Star asked as he began walking forward.


    "Let''s shall," Platiknight agreed.


    The two heroes followed the drones into the castle before them, leading to a grand hall that had a grand staircase that divided off to the left and right.


    Decorating the hall were multiple empty pedestals and a stained glass window depicting the planet Earth being supported by multiple, unique looking hands.


    From SK''s holographic overview of this location, he felt as if he was looking over an exquisitely detailed model of a museum that had yet to be filled.


    As the superheroes and SK admired the hall at completely different viewpoints, a new System window appeared once more.


    _________________________


    The main hall is the central hub for the Hero Facility.


    From here, the rest of the stations and rooms can be easily accessed.


    The pedestals are trophy displays that can be used to display items of interest that the User or heroes deem worthy of being displayed.


    Depending on the items being displayed at any given time, various effects can be instilled into the facility at large or to specific individuals if so desired.


    _________________________


    "Huh...I feel like this is probably gonna lead to another prompt if I ask, so I will save that for another time," SK commented under his breath after reading over the window of text.


    As for Platiknight and Tin Star, who finished reading their version of the aforewritten window, their reactions were mixed.


    "So we got a trophy room as our main hall...ain''t that a bit gawky?"


    "Nonsense!" Platiknight disagreed. "A display of this nature serves to remind ourselves and our future colleagues about the dangers we have faced in the past, inspire those in the future to do what''s right and serve as a means to treasure the present. Perhaps it''s a bit gaudy in a sense, but like my armor and your badge, they''re symbols of pride."


    "Huh...I guess that makes sense," Tin Star nodded. "Too bad we don''t have anything that can be used right now."


    Shortly after this conversation occurred, the drones led the two superheroes to quarters that were on opposite sides of the hall.


    "Hmmm."


    Whether this was intentional or not was unclear to SK''s point of view, but there was one thing that was clear to both him and the heroes about the latter''s private quarters.


    "How very...spacious."


    The rooms were mostly empty.


    Aside from what SK could make out to be a high-tech looking bed in the floor/wall and a small dining table with chairs, the rooms that the two heroes were given looked incredibly utilitarian in comparison to the luxurious castle exterior.


    "Plenty of exercise room!" Platiknight declared while walking to the center room and swinging his arms about.


    "Well, I guess I just have to fill this room like those trophy cases downstairs," Tin Star concluded after pacing the room once over.


    Despite their declarations though, SK could clearly see the feeling of disappointment appear on their super deformed faces.


    "Hmmm. Do I buy them furniture in my world and the System teleports it to them, or can I just make them like I can the familiars?" SK asked himself as he stared at the holographic display.


    As a mix of sympathy and the desire to make their rooms visually pleasing filled his soul, yet another System window appeared in his vision.


    [Would the User like to purchase upgrades for the Hero Facility now?]


    "Well, that''s convenient. Wait I don''t think I have the finances to support large furniture purchases right now."


    [...]


    "What?"


    Immediately after making this comment, the System threw up a reminder screen.


    [User has unclaimed reward boxes in the inventory. Please claim at your earliest convenience.]

 Fortune and Fame go hand-in-hand

    Following the System''s prompting once more, SK made his way back to the Inventory screen and began looking through his latest quest rewards.


    "Huh..."


    Evidently, the rewards he received were kind of weird.


    ___________


    Electrical Manipulation (I) Skill Crystal ¡Á1


    [Charlatan''s Tarot] ¡Á1


    Hunting Instinct - Hound Skill Crystal ¡Á1


    Bird''s Eye Skill Crystal ¡Á1


    ___________


    "I have no idea if my title actually affected what reward I received, but that''s not important right now," SK concluded after briefly looking through all the newly received items. "But let''s see the one that''s been bugging my brain for the better part of five hours."


    When SK had initially read that one of the rewards for the quest, [Perform a Heroic Deed], included monetary compensation, he was a bit skeptical.


    The value of money and goods varied from place to place, and he had no idea if this Superhero System understood the complexities of the global economy.


    Hell, for all he knew, the System could consider a hundred or so gold coins of questionable value as viable currency.


    Either way, as he stared at the box with the dubious name of [Maximum Compensation Case] and the even more dubious description that read, "The monetary compensation provided by this case has been calculated based on multiple real-world variables," he started to get nervous.


    "Fuck it."


    Eventually, after much internal debating, SK decided to pull the metaphorical trigger, tap on the box and accept the prompt asking whether or not he wanted to open it.


    "Alright, let''s see how much I...huh?"


    Evidently, the amount of money he had just received from saving his friend from an early death was significantly higher than he anticipated.


    By about three zeroes.


    _________


    500000Gs has been added to the user''s account.


    This money can be used to purchase items from the shop,upgrades for the Hero Facility or converted into any viable currency on whatever plane of existence the user is currently on.


    Based on the user''s current geo location data, 1G is the equivalent to $50 USD.


    Please spend responsibly.


    _________


    "What the fuck..."


    The moment SK saw this number and the explanation attached to it he did some very quick and dirty mental math.


    If he were to convert every single "G" in his System account currently, he would have a little over two million dollars credited to his bank account.


    This was the most amount of money he had ever handled or seen in his entire life, and he SK reacted appropriately.


    "What the fuck?!" SK shouted out of a mix of fear, joy, and absolute confusion. "System! I know you can hear me! Please explain to me how you calculated this reward value. I am incredibly curious!"


    Ding!


    Right on cue, a System window appeared before SK''s eyes, explaining everything¡­yet causing even more questions to manifest in his mind.


    ¡­


    [ The compensation calculated is based on the estimated cost of the collowing events occurring:]


    [1. The life insurance policy that was placed on the citizen/indie journalist known as Rachel when she started working and living on her own, estimated value: 100,000 Gs]


    2. The avoided cost of a funeral, multiple therapy sessions for multiple individuals and the parts necessary to repair and cleanse a streetcar with a body count attached to it, estimated value: 100,000 Gs


    3. The avoided cost of medical bills that could''ve occurred in the event that Rachel survived being impacted by a street car, especially after the insurance company denied the claim as being viable, estimated value: 50,000 Gs.


    [The thoroughly avoided political campaign and memes that would''ve spawned from this video going viral as opposed to the one of Platiknight saving the day, estimated value: 250,000 Gs and a massive sigh of relief. ]


    ¡­


    "Alright, the compensation now makes a lot of sense, but now I have questions," SK stated after reading through the System window. "If I ever had to cash out on these Gs, how would that manifest exactly? Like, will the money come in the form of a check from a shell company or will it come in the form of a treasure chest filled with gold bullions? Also, what the fuck was that last item on the list?"


    [Notice: Due to the user''s society relying predominantly on electronic methods of storing information, it is actually painfully easy for the System to credit such monetary gains directly to your account under through untraceable methods. Of which, none shall be mentioned for the purpose of plausible deniability.]


    "Okay...now back to the viral bit?"


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    [Sending push notification, now]


    Bing!


    "Ah."


    Checking his phone, SK was greeted by a push notification for the popular video sharing site, MeTube, that then directed him to a video titled, "HOLY SMOKES! A LITERAL KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR!"


    "Oh...bollocks."


    What followed after this acknowledgement of the notification was a string of video recordings of the moment Platiknight rushed in to save Rachel from her near death experience.


    The amount of views on these videos were higher than the money SK had received as compensation for the deed, and this realization caused his brain to more or less hitch...much to the annoyance of the System.


    "I...buh...huh?"


    [...]


    Realizing that this episode of SK''s might go on for longer than what was necessary, the System decided to take matters into its non-existent hands.


    [User has been found to be rendered mute and dumb due to information overload. Applying corrective electroshock therapy in order to correct the overload.]


    BZZZT!


    "GAH!"


    Several thousand volts of electricity coursed through SK for less than a second before he finally got his brain got back into working order and he was able to think and talk once more.


    "Please don''t do that again."


    [No promises.]


    Now that he was cognizant again, SK took this chance to look through the comments on the videos of Platiknight to determine just famous or infamous Platiknight had become from his moment with the streetcar.


    So far...it wasn''t good or bad.


    A lot of the comments were that of disbelief, a couple bot comments that tried to make a quick buck scamming people and several comments stating that this superhero rescue was nothing more than incredibly elaborate computer graphics or a prank.


    Either way, Platiknight was now famous... probably.


    "Huh...in the span of a day, I have achieved tangential fame and fortune," SK sardonically mused over the funny money he now had access to and the fact that a hero of his own creation had gone viral. "Wait, I was doing something before all this...right! The Hero Facility!"


    Smacking himself in the forehead for getting distracted, SK quickly called up the System interface and went back to the holographic display of Miracle Maker Island.


    "Ah, they''re still in their rooms."


    In the time it took SK to acquire the currency needed to upgrade the facility, SK assumed that Platiknight and Tin Star would''ve left their rooms at some point and explore the rest of the island, but that wasn''t the case.


    Instead, he was greeted by the sight of Platiknight performing some basic exercises in his empty room while Tin Star was taking a nap.


    "Huh...how utilitarian," SK commented at the sight. "Alright, how do I make their rooms less prison-like...?"


    This time around, the System didn''t provide any helpful (snarky) tip screens, leaving SK along to figure things out on his own.


    "What if I...ah ha!"


    Eventually, though, after much fiddling and button pressing, SK managed to pull up an option screen that read as follows.


    ...


    [Would the User like to purchase furniture and items for the facility themselves, or would they like to bestow their familiars with a set allowance and allow them to customize their own room?]


    ...


    "Well, this is a no-brainer," SK concluded as soon as he saw the options appear before him.


    Feeling generous, SK chose the latter one and bestowed upon his superhero familiars about 50,000 Gs each.


    In all honesty, SK could''ve bestowed the full 500,000 on them both, but he had the icky feeling in his stomach that he was going to be needing those funds at a later date.


    Ding! Ding!


    "What ho?"


    "What in tarnation?"


    The superdeformed superheroes were caught off guard by the System notification screens appearing before but quickly recovered after reading the message that they were being bestowed with an allowance.


    Shortly after they finished reading, literal bags of gold appeared before them.


    Needless to say, they were quite happy to receive the bags of money.


    "Huzzah! Funds to decorate my domain!"


    "Jackpot! I''m going to buy myself a nice cactus! Maybe three!"


    "D''awww, that''s adorable," SK commented as he watched his heroes go ga-ga over their loot.


    SK continued to watch the heroes for a couple more moments, enjoying the sight of them decorating their respective homes to be more aligned with their preferences.


    Eventually though, the two heroes had finished decorating and called it a night.


    Watching them go to bed, SK figured he would do the same.


    "Hopefully tomorrow will be less hectic," SK hoped.


    Spoiler alert: it was just the beginning.

 Body Cam Analysis

    The best and worst thing about big cities is that they never sleep.


    Whether it''s at a time when the sun is shining and beaming down over a bustling populace going about their day or at a time when the moon is out and acting as the only source of illumination for people who can''t sleep, there will always be some portion of the city that will be doing something.


    Even a condemned apartment building can serve as a hub for all sorts of activities.


    Like, say, the clandestine activities of an international secret agency, for example.


    ...


    On a city street located three blocks away from a sewage treatment plant was an abandoned hotel known as the Grand Jameson Hotel.


    Once upon a time, this hotel was once considered the rival to the famous Ritz Carlton Hotel and was even slated to replace it as the shining example for grand hotels everywhere.


    However, a couple of bad business decisions, an insurance scam involving the mafia, several drug busts, and some badly placed bets had turned the grand hotel into an abandoned lot that hadn''t been of use to anybody for a little over 80 years.


    In other words, it was the perfect spot to establish a safe house.


    Driving up to this abandoned lot was a strange, graffiti-covered van that was simultaneously very memorable and incredibly forgettable. Then again, that might''ve been due to the cognition hazards that were hidden in the patterns of the graffiti.


    Once the car was fully parked, a man and woman exited the vehicle in order to take a closer look at the building before them.


    If one were to see their expressions at this time, they would notice that the latter looked decisively unimpressed while the former just didn''t give a shit.


    "Are you sure this is the place? It looks like a dump," the woman complained while staring at the obvious signs of desecration and rot.


    "That''s the point," the man assured his counterpart as he opened up the van and pulled out a silver briefcase. "Also, since we''re here, we don''t have to refer to each other by codenames anymore."


    "D''awww, I was kind of growing fond of being called Porcupine," the woman teased with a smile.


    This unusual couple were known as Agent Armstad and Agent Olben, and these two were sent by a secret organization to the city of San Francisco for a singular purpose: to investigate the new System, its sole User and what kind of "offshoots" the System was capable of producing.


    "So, do you have a key to open this haunted hotel up or nah?" Agent Armstad asked as she noted the heavy padlock on the front.


    "You know we don''t need something like that," Agent Olben answered as he pulled out a weird cybernetic rod from his pockets.


    "I know, but still."


    With a press of a button, the rod began to remold itself until it resembled a key that looked to be a perfect fit for the padlock that kept the agents out of the hotel.


    "Ya know, I think I said this about a million times by now," Agent Armstad complained while Agent Olben opened the lock, "but I think it''s kind of bullshit that none of our gadgets are sound-based."


    "If you want to mount a mission to steal from the Noise Maker, be my guest," Agent Olben chided as soon as he removed the lock from the front door.


    "Yeah...no. I don''t have my ears and eyeballs exploding in my head."


    Entering the hotel''s lobby, the agents were greeted by the smell of dank wood, various types of fungi, and the sound of squeaking rodents running away from the unexpected humans.


    "Wow, it''s actually worse on the inside than outside. Honestly, I''m impressed," Agent Armstad joked while doing her best to not jump at the sight of a rat''s corpse being devoured by a colony of ants. "Please activate the cleaning thingie now."


    "I am," Agent Olben answered while opening the briefcase and extracting a gadget that resembled a high-tech puzzle cube.


    "Now then, if I remember the instructions correctly, I just need to do this...then this!"


    A couple of button presses and twists later, Agent Olben tossed the cube down to the ground, which then began to emit a bright green laser scanner that was accompanied by an artificial voice.


    [Scanning room...scan complete.]


    [Cleaning the room and activating the ultrafabricator function now.]


    The transforming puzzle box retracted its scanning light before switching over to a strange blue-colored light that swept through the hotel lobby and literally swept up all of the dust and grime in an instant.


    The puzzle box then retracted its scanning tools before opening and exposing a blue swirling portal to the outside world.


    Plink, plink, plink!


    Moments later, several high-end computers, electronic devices, and significantly better pieces of furniture came out of the portal and filled the newly refurbished hotel lobby.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    "Wait a minute... where''s the mini-fridge?" Agent Armstad asked once she saw all the furniture get expelled from the box.


    Plink!


    "Ah, there it is."


    Once the high-tech puzzle box finished transforming the abandoned hotel lobby into a respectable safe house space, Agent Armstad immediately took the opportunity to flop onto a refurbished couch and extract something to drink from the newly minted mini-fridge.


    As for Agent Olben, he made sure to recover the cube before getting to work.


    Making his way to one of the work computers, Olben pulled out the memory cards that Armstad stole from the cops and immediately plugged them into one of the reader slots.


    "Alright then, let''s see how different these heroes are in comparison to the demons and mechs," Olben mumbled to himself as he waited for the computer to extract the video files from the memory cards.


    Seconds later, Agent Olben found himself staring at the still video frames of a knight in shining armor wielding a huge shield and a cowboy armed with a pair of wicked-looking revolvers.


    "Huh...that''s new," Olben commented at the images.


    "Hmmm? What''s new"?


    Hearing her colleague''s unusual comment, Agent Armstad got off of the couch in order to see what had elicited such a response.


    "What''s got you-oh!"


    Evidently, she was caught off guard by the exact same thing as Agent Olben.


    "Wasn''t there only supposed to be one of these guys?" Agent Armstad asked.


    "Yup."


    "So...where did the cowboy come from?"


    "I don''t know..."


    Prior to this exact moment, Agents Olben and Armstad were given a mission briefing that detailed they were going to be doing an in-field investigation of an unknown System and its user, as well as any familiars, also known as "offshoots," within the organization that have been produced as a result of this newly formed contract.


    They were well aware of the knight in shining armor calling themselves Platiknight and had already keyed their instruments to pick up any electronic signals that had managed to cross this unusual offshoot''s path. Hence why they were able to ambush those cops and steal their body camera footage.


    What they weren''t expecting was the presence of a second one of these offshoots coming in the radically different form of what they can only describe as an exaggerated depiction of a cowboy from a Wild West movie.


    In all honesty, they couldn''t tell if they were more shocked at the cowboy''s appearance than at the fact that he existed in the first place.


    "Wait, so do we report about this new familiar or just leave it and focus on Platiknight?" Agent Armstad asked. "Because the former isn''t our main focus while the latter is."


    "Well...that cowboy is either an indicator that there is actually more than one User of this new System, or that the User in the report has more than one familiar," Agent Olben concluded. "So either way, we should probably complete a full analysis first."


    After coming to this conclusion, Agent Olben proceeded to activate a special program that began to break down the footage of Platiknight and the unknown cowboy and analyze every single bit of data that they could.


    Beep!


    The first bit of information that they managed to retrieve was the name of the cowboy.


    "It appears the name of this cowboy is...Tin Star," Agent Olben read aloud. "Odd name, but I think it''s supposed to be a reference to US marshals, if I had to guess?"


    "Right, the whole tin badge thing," Agent Armstad nodded. "I vaguely remember seeing those in those old cowboy movies...huh. You think it''s a coincidence that both this guy and Platiknight are familiars whose existence seems connected to metal?"


    Beep!


    "Judging from the fact that our program just determined that both of these offshoots are connected to the same user, probably not," Agent Olben replied.


    "Well, ain''t that convenient timing..."


    For the next few minutes, Agents Olben and Armstad continued to watch the computer as it continued to provide them with more and more data on the familiars recorded on the body cam footage.


    As this process continued, Agent Armstad decided that now was the time to ask a question that she had always asked on every other instance where the agency sent them to investigate a new user.


    "So...do you think this new user will be as psychotic as the rest?"


    Normally, Olben would answer "yes" or "probably."


    This time though, he answered with something different.


    "Honestly, I don''t know."


    "Huh...well, that''s refreshing."

 A Do-Nothing Day to do some Heroic Training

    [Notice: User is attempting to convert 1000 Gs into external currency.]


    [Is this correct?]


    "Yes," SK verbally answered while tapping the accept button before him.


    Bzzt-Bzzt


    Shortly after making this decision, he saw a push notification on his phone that $50,000 was credited to his bank account.


    "Holy shit, you weren''t exaggerating," SK noted in disbelief as soon as he saw the credited money. "I seriously thought you were messing with me."


    [This system does not exaggerate or make fun of its user,] the System replied in large text, with a slightly smaller text box adding, [Unless it''s exceptionally funny.]


    Evidently, this turned out to be unnecessary on the System''s part since SK was utterly enamored over suddenly having a bank account that didn''t have less than a hundred dollars in it for once.


    "Even if I pay off my rent and bills for the month, I''ll still have money leftover! Wait, am I rich now?" SK asked himself as he kept staring at the money in his account.


    After everything that had occurred yesterday, SK desire to do anything, beyond getting out of bed and feed himself, had essentially died.


    He needed time to truly relax and mentally digest everything he had gained and learned in the past two days, which would''ve been hard to do when a day job is involved.


    There''s nothing more energy-draining and soul-killing than having to work a job that barely pays enough to survive on a day-to-day basis.


    However, now that he had the System, SK would technically never have to work a day in his life.


    Sort of.


    He still had to do the daily quests, but those were more like errands than an actual job.


    "Welp! Now that I''m free to do anything today, I''m going to do nothing!" SK exclaimed before being reminded via a System window with an emoticon that there was actually something he needed to do.


    [o_o.]


    "Except my daily exercises."


    [Good boy.]


    "Please don''t electrocute me again."


    [No promises.]


    Under the threat of electrocution, SK prepared for the day as quickly as humanly possible and slapped on his rarely used exercise clothes.


    Once all of these little preparatory steps were resolved, SK was ready to go to his nearest park or gym and start exercising.


    "Alright! Let''s go out there and...wait a minute."


    Before he opened the door and mentally prepared himself to find parking during the morning rush, he realized something that he should''ve asked last night.


    "System...am I able to visit the Hero Facility in person? Can I access the place despite not being familiar? Can I do my exercises in there?"


    Ding!


    [Yes. As well, certain features can only be accessed by physically being in the Hero Facility.]


    "Well then..."


    With this information in hand, SK immediately summoned up the interface, navigated to the [Hero Facility] Section, and began muddling around the menus until he found what he was looking for.


    ...


    [Would the user like to explore the Hero Facility in person?]


    [Notice: Time dilation will be in effect. Twenty-four hours in the hero facility space will be equivalent to one hour in the user''s native world. Note that any time-sensitive quests will be keyed to the user''s home world, and will not be affected by the flow of time in other places.]


    [YES/NO]


    ...


    SK didn''t even say anything as he accepted the prompted window and immediately felt the effects of his decision.


    "I wonder how this is going to¡ª" POP!


    __One teleportation to another realm of existence later...__


    Pop!


    "-Go...oh."


    Before SK could even finish asking his question on how he was going to get sent to Miracle Maker Island, he found himself getting instantly teleported.


    Needless to say, he was incredibly confused...


    "Huh. I figured there would''ve been more fan-BLARGH!"


    ...and a little ill.


    "Ugh...at least the air smells clean as all hell," SK groaned while throwing up his guts. "I figured there would be an artificial smell."


    Once SK regained his bearings, he took a deep breath and began to take in the fact that he had just been teleported to another dimension.


    "Huh...just as nice as the hologram...maybe nicer."


    SK had done himself a service when he chose the [Sky Island] as the home base for his superheroes.


    Cloudy blue skies, fresh wind, and the smell of the ocean below did wonders at facilitating an aura of peace.


    The perfect place to get away from the madness of a world that was starting to become more and more unfamiliar by the day.


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Hmmm. Looks like I landed in the main courtyard...makes sense, I guess," SK thought aloud as he did some warm-up stretches.


    "Now then, should I complete my daily quest here?"


    BOOM!


    "Or go and check out the source of that explosion?"


    If SK had heard that sound outside of this inner sanctuary, he wouldn''t have acted so nonchalant about hearing an explosion.


    "Now then, I think I heard the explosion coming over there..."


    ...Meanwhile, at the site of the aforementioned explosion...


    "Is that all you got, sir knight?" Tin Star taunted while reloading his six-shooters.


    "Hardly, cowboy!" Platiknight declared while banging an armored fist against his chest. "I can go for at least ten more rounds!"


    "And I''ll be glad to have you prove it!"


    When Platiknight and Tin Star were sent to [Miracle Maker Island], they were a bit stumped at first.


    It was a bit jarring to go from a city street to the [REDACTED] and then get teleported to a sky island facility that almost seemed too idyllic to exist.


    However, once the duo claimed their rooms and made use of their allowance to decorate a bit, the two superheroes felt right at home.


    Then, when they found out that they had access to training facilities, they took to the place like fish to water.


    More specifically, they got excited at finding the open sparring arena.


    Whether it was due to their instincts as familiars or heroes was unknown, but Platiknight and Tin Star were determined to see how they would match-up against each other. As such, they spent the better part of the morning going at each other''s throats.


    So far the score was three to three.


    "Ready?"


    "Go!"


    "PLATINUM RUSH!"


    Platiknight opened the bout by charging towards Tin Star with their shield raised and shimmering blue energy empowering his stride.


    If this attack had made impact, Tin Star would''ve been sent flying out of the ring. And if he were a regular human, he''d be impacted with enough force to match an eighteen-wheeler at minimum.


    Thankfully, he was smarter than that.


    "High Noon Blast!"


    Pointing his pistols down to the ground, Tin Star proceeded to hop before shooting downwards and releasing a disproportionately large explosion beneath his feet.


    In layman''s terms, Tin Star did a rocket jump to avoid Platiknight''s shield charge and positioned himself over the shining warrior''s head.


    "Bullet Barrage!"


    With his position overhead, Tin Star released a rain of gunfire that. Threatened to perforate Platiknight''s armor and punch him full of holes.


    Platiknight, however, was faster than that.


    "Platinum Guard!"


    Before the bullets could pierce his head, shoulders, and torso, Platiknight lifted his shield upward and released an energy barrier that blocked the hail of bullets like an umbrella against the rain.


    To his credit, Tin Star did his best to keep firing as he landed on the side opposite of Platiknight. Unfortunately, Platiknight kept his guard up during the entire fall.


    "Man, are you a tortoise or something?" Tin Star complained after landing, rolling, and reloading his guns.


    "Indeed! Like the noble tortoise, my shield is unbreakable!" Platiknight declared.


    "Okay...then try blocking these! Hunting Bullets!"


    Tin Star infused his six-shooters with energy before firing off a pair of bullets that looked significantly larger and more intimidating than his regular bullets.


    "Ha! Is that all you got? Platinum Rush!"


    Deciding to go on the attack, Platiknight decided to charge shield first into the bullets.


    His logic being that his shield would not only block the bullets but also pulverize Tin Star on the other side.


    He was half-right in this assessment.


    POW!


    "Ha!"


    BANG!


    "Gya!"


    Platiknight managed to shield check Tin Star out of the ring and over the arena''s edge, but the bullets that the latter fired managed to nail Platiknight in the back.


    While Platiknight was charging, Tin Star''s bullets had curved around the former''s shield until they were aligned with Platiknight''s behind.


    The end result was both Cowboy and Knight being sent flying out of the ring.


    "Okay, now I understand why you don''t use a weapon," Tin Star said while nursing his nose. "That shield is a weapon."


    "Your bullet control is exquisite," Platiknight praised as soon as he got up from the floor and assisted Tin Star to his feet. "It''s good to know I can count on you to keep my back safe."


    "Likewise, partner."


    "Well, it''s good to see that you guys are getting along."

 Exercise first, Hero Work After

    "My liege!"


    "Sheriff."


    SK had entered the training field right around the time when Platiknight and Tin Star were going to begin their seventh sparring session.


    He had initially wanted to interrupt them and make his presence known, but figured it would be better to stay quiet and see how their sparring match panned out instead.


    A part of him had wanted to be able to give them advice on how they could improve their moves or how to exploit the other''s weaknesses, but he knew he was unqualified to do so at this moment in time.


    As the old saying went, a wise man knows when to say nothing, while a dumbass never learns to shut up.


    Which is why SK, after he had walked up to the superhero duo as they were getting off of the ground, simply shared some words of praise.


    "Remind me to take fighting lessons from you two later. I get the feeling I''m going to have to learn how to fight on my own sometime in the future."


    "Of course, my liege," Platiknight nodded.


    "What brings you to our neck of the woods, anyway?" Tin Star followed up.


    "Not much, trying to finish my daily exercise quest," SK answered. "Just wanted to check on you guys before doing so."


    "Makes sense to me," Tin Star nodded.


    "Did you want us to provide assistance?"


    "Nah, I''m good," SK politely declined. "I exercise at my own pace."


    "Of course."


    "Understandable."


    "Now then, I think I can go do my run over there?


    "Oh, wait, my liege," Platiknight interrupted. "After you finish your exercises, can you accompany us to the strange portal room that blocks us with a literal text wall that says we need your explicit approval to enter?"


    "Say what?"


    "We''ll tell you more about it after you finish exercising, Sheriff," Tin Star answered. "Healthy habits and all that; we''ll see you back here."


    "I...fair enough."


    And with that, SK went off to finish his daily quest.


    ...One exercise montage later...


    [Ding! Daily Quest has been completed and rewards will now be distributed.]


    Strength: 35->40


    Endurance: 40->45


    Agility: 25->30


    [One item box has been credited to the inventory; please open at your earliest convenience.]


    ...Followed by a short walk from the training field to the inner parts of the castle...


    "Oh wow, you guys weren''t kidding about the text wall," SK commented as soon as he saw the aforementioned portal room''s entrance.


    "I am not one to exaggerate, my liege," Platiknight replied. "I only emphasize."


    "I don''t think you''re using those words correctly, partner," Tin Star commented.


    When SK was informed about the wall of text, he was assuming it was just a weirdly large system window with an unnecessary amount of information typed in.


    Instead, he was greeted by a shimmering blue forcefield that was literally made of text.


    "Huh...I''m noticing scratch marks and bullet casings on the floor...did you guys try to break through this barrier with brute force?" SK asked as he rubbed his fingers against the ground.


    "Indeed, my liege!" Platiknight proclaimed with pride. "However, this barrier proves to be surprisingly strong against the forces of justice."


    "I will not lie, one of bullets ended up ricocheting off this barrier and almost brained me," Tin Star nonchalantly admitted. "Accidental suicide is a hell of a way to go."


    "Huh..."


    SK stared at the two superheroes with a perplexed look on his face, a little shocked at the sheer simplicity of their plan.


    ''I swear I wrote them smarter than that,'' SK thought to himself as he approached the barrier himself. ''I get the feeling that this is one of those things that requires me to be¡ª"


    Ding!


    ''There it is.''


    As soon as SK was close enough to throw a punch at the barrier, the literal wall of text suddenly began to change in front of his eyes and rearrange itself into a set of readable words.


    [User presence has been acknowledged.]


    [Activating the Hero Dispatch Feature, now.]


    "Oh, the other things I unlocked after the quest. Right."


    After displaying this message, the wall of text began to crumble and disappear into floating letters that then winked out of existence.


    With the way to the portal room now open, SK, Platiknight and Tin Star were soon washed over by a wave of strange energy that quickly disappeared.


    "Huh...that felt weird. Shot in the dark, but did either of you recognize whatever just washed over us?"


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "No."


    "Nay, my liege."


    "Figured. Alright, let''s go."


    Once they had gotten over the novel tingling that washed over their skin, the group entered the room to take a closer look at this so-called portal.


    From the entryway, one could see what appeared to be a swirling mess of energy floating within a strange metallic frame that seemed to be a slapdash mix of scientific and magical principles. However, once the group had gotten closer to the metal frame, they soon learned that it wasn''t actually a portal they were staring at this whole time.


    In reality, it was a map.


    "Hmm. On the one hand, I am disappointed that this isn''t a portal," Platiknight commented as he stared at the swirling map before him. "On the other, this is a very well-made map of the galaxy. My liege, may I explore the capabilities of this map?"


    "Yeah, sure," SK answered non-committaly, as most of his focus was directed towards the metallic frame the map was built into.


    "The Hero''s Map: Milky Way Galaxy Edition," SK read off of a label attached to the frame. "That...that bit after the colon scares me for some reason, and I''m not entirely sure why."


    "To be fair, Sheriff, you do have a bit of a panicky personality," Tin Star pointed out, his interest in the map waning after learning it wasn''t a portal.


    "That''s not wrong, but I do not appreciate being called out like this."


    DING!


    "Bah!" SK exclaimed while ducking out of intrinsic fear from the sudden chime ringing over his head, before noticing the System window before him. "Oh."


    "See?"


    The amount of text and information being presented at this moment was rather absurd, necessitating the usage of three separate windows, but the general gist of what was written is as follows.


    ...


    [The Heroic Dispatch Feature allows both the User and his Familiars to travel to other parts of the multiverse via the Hero''s Map Gateway.]


    [For a small amount of compensatio, the User and his Familiars will be able to travel, train, plunder and resolve quests in locations that are inaccessible through normal means.]


    [The gateway in its current state can only access worlds in the user''s immediate galaxy, as well as any realms that have anchored themselves to the user''s homeworld.]


    ...


    "Okay, I think I know how this works now," SK concluded after looking through the third and final System window. "Travelling costs money, travelling to quest locations doesn''t cost anything but can reward money instead, repeat ad nauseum. For now, I guess we should probably travel to somewhere safe as a means of testing the map and see where it can¡ª"


    [Superhero Quest location has been selected. As this is the first time the User or his familiars have made use of this feature, all available familiars and the User will be teleported.]


    "Huh? How did that happen?!" SK cried in alarm, getting his answer a couple moments later.


    "That would be because of me, my liege!" Platiknight answered. "The map showed me that innocents were in danger and that they were on a timer to despair. As such, I pressed my finger against their world on the map and well...you just heard the System explain."


    "I was going to stop him," Tin Star added. "But I figured that since we were going to another world anyways, it didn''t really matter who pressed it."


    "Y''all..."


    SK couldn''t even get all that made about the situation, since he has as going to activate the dispatch anyways, but he was still justifiably annoyed.


    "Can I at least get information about where we''re going and what we''re doing?"


    Ding!


    "Thank you!"


    ...


    Emergency Quest: Alien Invasion


    Description:


    The planet of Bendana-7, home to the Lumenlithic people, is being attacked by an armada of warriors from the Salbanbo Empire of a neighboring star system.


    The Salbanbo have sent a mix of slaver and wreckers to try and capture as many members of the populace to sell on black market


    Failing that, the Lumenlithic people have been known to have a special, unique crystal in place of a heart made of flesh and blood.


    These crystals are sometimes worth more than the Lumenlithic themselves.


    Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to stop this invasion and save the people of Bendana-7.


    Time to show the universe what a real superhero can do.


    Rewards:


    Calculated based on what deeds are accomplished.


    Opportunity to contract external alien as a superhero.


    ...


    "Huh...alright, let''s do this thing."

 Coming in Hot!

    "Wait, how exactly are we going to be entering this obvious warzone? Also, am I going to be forced to enter while wearing these clothes?" SK asked. "These are my exercise clothes, not my fighting clothes. Hell, I don''t even have those."


    [The Hero Dispatch Map will send the User and their Familiars to the exact point where they can make the biggest difference possible in the ongoing crisis,] the System explained. [As for the user''s current equipment, don''t worry. They shall be modified according to the location, and the user will have the ability to acquire equipment while exploring the designated realm/planet/plane.]


    "That makes sense, I think," SK mumbled as he read through the blurb. "Alright, lets-OOP!"


    Literal seconds after SK had finished reading the textbox, a giant spectral hand suddenly shot forward and grabbed him, Platiknight and Tin Star like they were action figures.


    The two superheroes looked oddly fine about this turn of events, but SK was freaking out.


    "What the fuck?! I thought we were going to get teleported again!"


    [Due to the interference present on the planet of Bendana-7, standard teleportation is currently inaccessible. As such, we will have to make use of a technique that has been used by superheroes since the dawn of the medium.]


    "The fuck does that mean?!"


    [Activating, Hero Landing protocol.]


    "MOTHER-!"


    _______ In a star system several thousand light years away... _______________


    Bendana-7.


    A planet that is 70% desert while the remaining 30% consists of rivers that crisscross the entire world. These rivers were deep enough that the midway point to their riverbeds had enough pressure to crush a diamond into dust.


    This planet is fairly inhospitable for most lifeforms, except for the native populace: the Lumenlithics.


    The Lumenlithics are a race of a silicon-based sapient life known for two things across the galaxy.


    First, their ability to manipulate light.


    Thanks to their unique structure, Lumenlithics are able to manipulate, concentrate, and emit various beams of light that can be as harmless as a yellow flashlight or as harmful as a gamma laser.


    Second, every single Lumenlithic is known to develop a unique crystal in their chest that holds everything about them.


    Carved by the sands of time and polished by the winds of change, this crystal makes it possible for a Lumenlithic to be brought back to life as long as it remains intact and buried in the earth.


    This quirk is actually how Lumenlithics reproduce, as each parent will literally donate a piece of their crystal, tie them together, and bury them in the ground to make a new life.


    Alternatively, these crystals could be extracted and refined into becoming the most powerful AI cores in existence, at the cost of the Lumenlithic''s sapience.


    Due to this innate cruelty, cores made of Lumenlithic crystals were essentially banned in most parts of civilized space. Unfortunately, due to the black market value of such cores being enough for someone to buy a whole planet at the low end, there were many lawless groups who were more than happy to snub such rules to go "mining" and there were even more legitimate organizations that would turn a blind eye in order to fund such operations.


    Many times when these operations occurred, the people of Bendana-7 would only have themselves to rely on in order to put a stop to these atrocities, and in just as many times, the casualties would number in the millions.


    It was a time of despair, desperation and pain.


    In other words, as dark as it sounded, it was the perfect time for heroes to make a difference.


    ...


    "Run! Get to the city! Get to the city!"


    "I can''t! My legs are¡ª"


    "Don''t worry, I''ll carry you; come on!"


    "GAH!"


    "Daddy, no!"


    On the outskirts of a crystal city, hundreds upon thousands of Lumenlithics were doing their best to run, fly, or drive as fast as they could to enter the city limits and attain sanctuary.


    Chasing after them though, riding in hovering tanks that resembled limbless spiders, was an army of cybernetically enhanced lizardmen.


    These bestial cyborgs were soldiers for the Salbanbo Empire, an interplanetary empire that was the worst parts of a theocracy, capitalism, and a monarchy all mixed into one foul combination.


    The Salbanbo Empire believed that profits and the ability to amass wealth were signs of divine favor, so they did everything in their power to do so.


    Whether it was trading bodies, bullets, or stimulants, as long as it kept their ledgers in the black, it was all permissable.


    As such, they were regular raiders of Bendana-7, and had ruthlessly calculated the most efficient ways to maximize their profit margins.


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


    By their models, they only needed to bring one large freighter/carrier ship, place it in middle atmosphere, and release a horde of their workers in specially made hover tanks to efficiently harvest the populace.


    The price of one of these tank teams was only 1/100th the price of a single unprocessed Lumenlithic crystal, meaning that each tank needed only one crystal to be considered profitable. However, the Salbanbo soldiers were opportunistic bastards.


    One of these aforementioned hover tanks was in the process of tailing a van carrying several fully grown Lumenlithics that were doing their best to blast them away with their innate laser attacks.


    But alas, the hover tanks had powerful energy shields installed.


    "Every blast the shield blocks is costing us 582 units," a Salbanbo soldier that had noticeably fancier cybernetics than the others in his tank noted. "Intelligence, what is the possible profit margin?"


    "The scanners state that there are five adult specimens in the vehicle in front of us. Their crystals should be fully ripened by now, and can be immediately processed once we return to the ship. Although, we can also make a neat sum if we capture them alive. The choice is yours, Manager."


    "Harvest it is," the Manager nodded. "Gunner, prepare the sonic miner!"


    "Expenditure, approved!"


    Mounted on the top of each hover tank was a strange weapon that looked like a weaponize amplifier that was controlled by a physical interface that connected it to the cybernetic skull implant of a Salbanbo soldier.


    "Preparing frequency...fire!"


    KEEEN!


    "AAAAAAAHHHH!"


    With a mental command, the Salbanbo soldier fired off a burst of sound that washed over the truck of Lumenlithics and vibrated their bodies until they crumbled into piles of rubble and gleaming crystals.


    "Activate the retrieveral vacuum!"


    "Sir, yes, sir!"


    Scenes similar to this moment were a distressingly common sight during these operations, to the point that many Lumenlithics found it pointless to try and interfere when someone gets captured.


    The only thing most people did when they saw these moments occur was to simply pray for a miracle.


    "Manager! The scanner is picking up another vehicle, and this one has juvenile specimen!"


    "Excellent!"


    ... Speaking of miracles...


    High above the skies of Bendana-7, above even the Salbanbo carrier, a strange event was taking place.


    A strange gold and blue metallic ring had appeared like a mirage and began to float in the air for a couple of moments before repositioning itself so that it was now parallel with the ground far beneath it.


    In the next moment, a strange energy began to condense in its center until a large shimmering blue portal had formed inside it.


    Immediately after this portal had formed, SK, Platiknight and Tin Star had fallen out of this newly formed portal and were now in freefall.


    On the plus side, SK''s exercise clothes had been swapped out for a fairly generic but serviceable superhero costume.


    "-FUCKER!" SK cursed as soon as he was released from the spectral giant hand that was holding him seconds ago. "Oh wait, I''m now freeFALLING, WHAT THE HELL?!"


    "Looks like we''re in for a ride, Sheriff," Tin Star joked.


    "Do not worry about the landing strategy, my liege," Platiknight assured SK. "I will make sure that we''ll land...hmmm?"


    Before Platiknight could finish his statement of assurance, he had suddenly stiffened up and began staring directly towards the ground. Not only that, but SK even saw that Tin Star had his attention elsewhere.


    "Platiknight? Tin Star? What are you two-oh, right!"


    SK was just about to ask what had gotten the shining knight all tensed up, until he remembered he could literally share his senses with him. Once he did, SK immediately put his mind into syncing with both of their visions.


    "Now let''s see what''s gotten you...oh...shit."


    As our heroes continued to rapidly fall to the ground, SK could see through Platiknight''s eyes that the situation down there wasn''t looking too good.


    At this moment, several large hovering tanks filled with cybernetic lizard soldiers were surrounding a sizeable convoy of rocky humanoids, like wolves encircling a flock of sheep.


    While at the same time, through Tin Star''s eyes, he could see that there was massive space ship ferrying an innumerable number of those tanks and lizards.


    At this moment, he could sense what priorities each of his hero had when it came to resolving this crisis.


    "Save the people or destroy the source of danger..."

 Crashing in Hotter

    [Activating innate skill: Heroic Heart]


    ...


    "...why not both?!"


    "Indeed, my liege!"


    "Hell yeah!"


    From where they were falling in, SK could determine that the surrounded civilians and the floating warship were too far apart for him and the superheroes to deal with them both in one fell swoop.


    In other words, now was the time to divide and conquer.


    "Tin Star, can you hijack, clear out, or destroy that warship? I get the feeling that''s one of the main objectives of this emergency quest," SK conveyed through his link with the pistol-packing vigilante.


    "No problem, Sheriff," Tin Star assured him. "I just need to find myself an opening. See you later!"


    Once he was given his orders, Tin Star proceeded to roll through the air until he was directly above the warship and pushed himself further.


    SK Had no idea how the cowboy was going to land, despite creating the man, but he had faith in him.


    It was a superhero''s duty to make miracles, after all.


    "Platiknight, we need to¡ª"


    "Rescue the civilians and stop the villains? No problem!" Platiknight exclaimed while preparing to use his [Platinum Aegis]. "Allow me to provide us with a landing platform!"


    "Actually, there''s something I want to try," SK said with an unusual amount of courage. "So prioritize protecting the people down there."


    "Are you sure?"


    Using the System interface, SK summoned the inventory and pulled out the [Rock Body II] skill crystal.


    ...


    [Item: Skill Crystal (Rock Body II)]


    Description:


    This is a skill crystal that bestows the upgraded version of the Rock Body skill to anyone, including the user itself.


    The Rock Body skill allows the users to turn their body into stone, sharply increasing their strength and defense at the cost of agility. The upgraded version allows the users to draw in external sources of earth to make their bodies bigger and stronger.


    There is a small chance that the skill crystal will bestow a weaker or stronger version of the skill.


    ...


    "I probably should''ve used this while somewhere significantly safer, but fuck it," SK concluded while holding the skill crystal. "If memoery serves me right, I just need to crush it."


    Crack!


    Soon after SK crushed the skill crystal, a surge of energy entered his body, and he felt as if his brain was on fire as a new ability embedded itself into his very being.


    And then did something weird.


    [Skill Crystal (Rock Body II) has been activated.]


    [Notice! The effect of the title: Star Reacher has been activated. The Rocky Body II skill will be upgraded into Gaia Guardian skill.]


    "Oh hell yeah!"


    As this new skill merged with his being, SK could feel his body growing in size and density.


    "Time for a hero landing!"


    ______ Landing zone imminent... __________


    "You monsters!"


    "Your view of us is irrelevant to the bottom line."


    "We are people! Not resources!"


    "Incorrect, everything is a resource, especially lives."


    "May the crystals damn your souls!"


    "The only divinity is profit."


    Surrounding a caravan of a hundred or so Lumenlithic civilains, a dozen or so salbanbo hover tanks and their crews had their weapons drawn and aimed at the huddling masses.


    None of the weapons they were using were energy-based, as lumenlithics were able to manipulate light and would be able to nullify or outright bend the beams back at the soldiers. Instead, every single Salbanbo soldier was armed with a sonic rifle that was able to launch a devasting pulse of kinetic energy in the form of weaponized sound.


    Needless to say, the ones with customized or more expensive-looking weapons and armor were the leaders of this army of money-grubbing bastards.


    And the one on top of this heap was known as Regional Manager Alpha-887.


    Like any good Regional Manager for the Salbanbo Empire, Alpha-887 was noticeably larger than the regular rank-and-file, had significantly more chrome and gold used in his implants, and had a personal firearm that was fully customized to his liking.


    Not only that, but this titanic lizard was sitting in a personalized hover tank that was just as gaudy as the chrome in his limbs.


    "Evaluator," Alpha-887 rumbled through a synthesized voicebox, "what is the possible profits from this harvest?"


    Seated on a tier below him, a salbanbo accountant began exercising his implanted eyes and brains in looking over the surrounded lumenlithics.


    "Initial estimates calculate the value of this harvest to be 801997266 units," the evaluator announced. "However, this estimation is based on incomplete data."


    "Oh?"


    In order to answer his superior''s query, the evaluator climbed to a higher level of the hover tank in order to point.


    "Two adult specimens are attempting to hide an adolescent. Noticeable interference."


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


    As soon as these words were shared, the aforentioned Lumenlithic family visibly braced themselves.


    From an outsider''s point of view, one could clearly see a pair of elderly lumenlithics attempting to cover up one that looked to be a young adult.


    Noticing this strange behavior, Alpha-887 released a synthetic growl before readying his weapon.


    "Activating extractor."


    Bwoom!


    "Ah!"


    "Bisma, no!"


    "Let her go, you foul cretin!"


    Alpha-887''s blaster released a beam of energy that bypassed the elder lumenlithics and captured the young female lumenlithic behind them.


    Retracting the beam, Alpha-887 brought the girl to his tank so that his evaluators could get a closer look.


    "Evaluator, calculate."


    "As you order."


    "You foul beasts! HA!"


    Inside of the barrier, the Lumenlithic woman attempted to blast through the barrier with a concentrated laser beam but failed to pierce through.


    The evaluator circled her twice over before finishing his task.


    "Calculation complete. Specimen appears to be a rare Astra Lumenlithic variant."


    "Oh? Interesting," Alpha-887 growled in a pleased tone.


    A majority of Lumenlithics develop their bodies based on the minerals of their homeworld, Bendana-7. However, like every planet in existence, Bendana-7 was occasionally struck by meteorites containing metals and minerals from off-world.


    When these meteors make impact, it is not an unusual sight to see Lumenlithics attempt to bury their loved ones'' crystals or their soon-to-be-formed children inside of these chunks of space rock.


    The Lumenlithic born from them are known as Astral Lumenlitics, and are said to be to develop abilities unusual for Lumenlithics due to the cosmic radiation innate to all meteors. Needless to say, this also meant that the AI cores refined from Astra Lumenlithic crsytals were dramatically different from regular ones.


    Not only that, but the Astral Lumenlithics were noticeably prettier than their regular counterparts.


    "Evaluator, how much of a return can we expect if we process her core?"


    "Twenty percent higher than what we estimated from previous calculations."


    "What if we sell her as a slave?"


    "Fifty percent increase."


    "And if I wished to keep her as a prize, but process the rest into cores?" Alpha-887 asked with unmasked desire in his eyes.


    Needless to say, the Lumenlithic woman shuddered at the feeling.


    "Calculating... thirty percent over the original estimation."


    "Good enough for me. Agents prepare to liquidate!"


    "Application, accepted."


    "No!"


    Heeding the orders of their executive, the Salbanbo soldiers readied their rifles and prepared to release sonic hell upon the Lumenlithics.


    In open defiance to their fate, several of the Lumenlithics attempted to blast the Salbanbo soldiers with whatever energy blasts they could muster, only for the attacks to fail due to their latter''s energy shields.


    "Ready..."


    In a few moments, the only things that were going to be left of them after this moment were going to be rubble and crystals.


    "...aim..."


    Now realizing the futility of this moment, many of the Lumenlithic civiliains simply lost all hope.


    "...FIRE!"


    At the executive''s command, hundreds of sonic rifles fired a flurry of sound bullets that...


    "I DON''T THINK SO! PLATINUM DOME!"


    THOOM


    PING! PING! PING!


    "What?!"


    ...did absolutely nothing because they were blocked by the sudden appearance of a dark blue energy shield dome that seemed to be generated by a strange circular device located at the top of it.


    Needless to say, everyone present was shocked out of their minds.


    "Incalculable!"


    "Wasted energy! Wasted units!"


    "By the Celestials..."


    "Where did this shield come from?"


    Clang!


    "Huh?"


    In the midst of all of this panicking and surprise, a strangely armored warrior landed on top of the dome with his legs in a bow stance, one of his fists touching the shield, while his other arm was spread open.


    The Lumenlithic couldn''t help but feel a sense of hopefulness from this sight for some odd reason, while the Salbanbo soldiers had this strange feeling of dread.


    "Evaluator!" Alpha-887 roared once he managed to get his wits back together. "Identify and evaluate. Who is this interloper, and what is he wearing?!"


    Granted, he only got his wits back once he realized that the strange armored warrior in front of him had more illustrious cybernetics than his own.


    "Calculating...ERROR! ERROR! I am unable to determine the identity and value of the target."


    "What? Elaborate!"


    "Armor appears to be composed of unknown platinum alloys and makes use of unidentified technologies," the evaluator explained. "This is an undiscovered intellectual property."


    "What?!"

 Contrasting quests

    [Notice: Quest Objectives has been identified.]


    [Defeat Salbanbo Contractors: 0/100]


    [Defeat Salbanbo Shift Managers: 0/23]


    [Defeat Salbanbo Regional Manager: 0/1]


    [Protect the Lumenlithic Civilians: 127/127]


    ''Alright, that''s not...too terrible of a quest,'' SK thought to himself as he saw the quest window. ''Let''s just hope this next part works as intended.''


    [Ping! Additional Quest Objective has been added: Make a Heroic Entrance]


    ''Say what?''


    ___________________


    "Interloper, identify yourself!" Alpha-887 shouted. "Why do you interfere with our business transaction?"


    Normally, the discovery of a previously unknown resource or the breakthrough of a new technology was a cause of celebration for the Salbanbo. After all, this just meant new and possibly lucrative sources of profit.


    However, when such moments of discovery were accompanied by would-be disruptors of profit acquisition, those jubliant feelings immediately sour into extreme bitterness.


    The type of bitterness that could only be washed with blood and freshly harvested organs.


    "I am known as Plaitknight," the shining armored warrior declared while banging his fist against his breastplate and realeasing an echoing sound that shook every hover tank in the area. "And the shield of justice cares not for ill-gotten gains that are earned from the suffering of others!"


    "Justice? Justice?!" Alpha-887 roared indignantly at that particular word, a sentinement echoed by his fellow Salbanbo salarysoldiers. "An abstract concept that gets in the way of profit! Limits gains! But easily bought. Name your price, Platiknight; this is your only opportunity for a bribe."


    "Bribe? Bribe?!" Platiknight repeated in an equally aghast tone like Alpha-887. "Justice has now price and will never bend, buckle, or yield to the coins of villainy!"


    "Ewww. An activist," the Salbanbo salarysoldiers sneered.


    "Are you truly rejecting this generous offer?" Alpha-887 asked in an unbelieving tone. "Do you not realize that you are outnumbered? That your resources are lacking in comparison to our own?''


    Emphasizing this point, the Salbanbo salarysoldiers beared their rifles and prepared to fire when ready.


    Just because their blasters failed to break the strange blue energy barrier didn''t mean they would fail to puncture a few holes through Platiknight, right?


    "A true hero is never alone!" Platiknight answered back with gusto while pointing a finger upwards.


    "Huh?"


    Following Platiknight''s prompting, Alpha-887 and his collective regiment looked up towards the sky...


    "What the-"


    BAM!


    "-GAH!"


    ...only to get completely blindsided when Alpha-887 and his hover tank got impacted by a giant boulder made of sand. The aforementioned Salbanbo regional manager was nearly flattened by the sand boulder, taking a surprising amount of damage as the coarse grains snuck into sensitive components and started to make a mess of things on a microscopic level that would roll into macroscopic damage. As for the previously mentioned hover tank, it was smashed into the ground by the sheer kinetic force of the sand boulder.


    The reactions to this sudden turn of events were rather mixed amongst the Salbanbo salary soldiers.


    "Regional Manager!"


    "Has his account been terminated?"


    "What a waste of assets!"


    "The insurance premiums alone will be outweigh the benefits!"


    "Wait, he''s alive!"


    While the reactions from the Lumenlithic weren''t as mixed.


    "Ha! Take that, stupid robo-lizard!"


    "May the magma take you!"


    "Wait...damnit! I think he''s still alive."


    However, both parties would soon be flabbergasted when they realized what had happened to the young Lumenlithic woman that was held captive by Alpha-887.


    "Wait! The asset has gone missing!"


    "Where did it go?"


    Rumble, rumble!


    "No way..."


    Once it had dawned on them that the sand boulder had somehow swallowed the young Lumenlithic woman, everyone''s eyes turned to see if she had perished from the impact.


    "Wait a minute, what the fuck?"


    Only to get gobsmacked as they saw the boulder of sand moving like a giant slime towards Platiknight''s energy shield.


    "Incoming payload!" the ball of sand called out with a clear voice. This new voice wasn''t as heroic-sounding as Platiknight''s voice, but one could sense a feeling of energetic righteousness laced within.


    "Prepare for entry!" Platiknight declared while subtly tapping his foot against his platinum shield.


    For a brief second, a small hole opened up in the barrier, allowing the ball of living sand to bump the edge and dump a Lumenlithic within its borders.


    More specifically, it was the Astral Lumenlithic woman that Alpha-887 had originally attempted to keep as a trophy.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Bisma! You''re okay!"


    "Buh, that was dizzying," Bisma muttered as she lay on the ground and attempted to get her bearings. "Wait, I''m not dead?"


    "Make way, make way!"


    A Lumenlithic dressed in medical garments quickly made their way over to Bisma''s side and performed a quick medical exam to determine that nothing had broken off or chipped after her capture and subsequent rescue. Once they had confirmed everything was okay, they asked the one question that was burning in everyone''s mind right now as they helped them get back on to their feet.


    "What the heck happened?"


    "I...think that the sandball just saved me."


    "The sandball? How?"


    "I don''t know..."


    Curiosity and disbelief now growing in the cores of all the Lumenlithic present, they directed their gazes towards the aforementioned sandball on the other side of the barrier protecting them.


    However, it wasn''t going to be a sandball for much longer.


    "How is that sandball not falling apart? It doesn''t make sense!"


    "The scanners can''t make head or tail of the ball either; this is an unpredictable market!"


    "Wait, something''s happening..."


    Before the eyes of the Lumenlithic people and the Salbanbo soldiers, the sandball suddenly began to wiggle and shake like an agitated water balloon about to explode.


    Hell, some of the Salbanbo soldiers and Lumenlithic civilains watching were expecting it to explode...up until a pair of giant arms manifested from the sandball and smashed down on to the ground, followed by the sandball lifting itself into the air and manifesting a pair of legs directly beneath it.


    The sandball then began to grow and reform itself until it had completely transformed into a giant golem made of sand, complete with hollow eyes that seemed to burn with rage.


    While this was happening, Alpha-887 managed to finally get back on to his feet with some assistance and address this second interloper.


    "What fresh loss is this?" Alpha-887 roared with fury over everything that happened in the last five or so minutes. "Who are you?!"


    "Who am I?" The sand golem rumbled in that same energetic voice from earlier as it stood up straight, in sharp contrast to his sand-like body. "I am the fury of defiled worlds, the hammer that swings against the knee of tyrants!"


    As the sand golem introduced himself to the increasingly fearful Salbanbo soldiers, he visibly grew bigger and bigger.


    "I am Gaia Mask! And I am here to put a stop to your villainy!"


    After making this declaration, Gaia Mask swung his fists down hard and absolutely cratered two of the hover tanks in a single blow.


    ...


    [Ding! Quest objective completed. A bonus will be credited at the end of the quest.]


    ''Oh good lord, that was embarassing...''


    [Oh, you know that felt good.]


    ''Yeah...and now I have to fight a whole bunch of cyborg lizards. Great.''


    ...Cue the eye catch...


    Skill: Gaia Guardian


    Description:


    A skill that allows one to tap into the power of the [Earth] element across the universe. As long as the user is surrounded by dirt, stone, metal, sand, or anything that can legally constitute as being [Earth], they can convert their body into a matching substance, simply coat their bodies with it, or absorb similar substances to enhance their size, strength, etcetera. This skill is most effective on planets where the user can place both their feet on the ground.


    ... Now to a completely different scene...


    [Notice: Quest Objectives has been identified.]


    [Take down the Salbanbo Freighter-Carrier: 0/1]


    [Free the hostages.]


    ...


    High above in the atmosphere, Tin Star had been given the task of bringing down an entire warship of bad guys all by his lonesome.


    ''Woo! Looks like I''m in for a hell of a rodeo!''


    While most other people would definitely balk at such an absurd demand, Tin Star was confident he could do it.


    After all, there wasn''t much difference between hijacking a train and hijacking a spaceship, right?


    ''Now let''s see, most ships usually got something like an exhaust port or maintenance...bingo!''


    From where Tin Star was falling, he could see that there was a small opening at the top where heat was being constantly expelled from the ship.


    In space, it served as a means of keeping the ship cool during transit.


    Down here in a planet''s atmosphere, though, it was nothing more than a fancy entrance.


    ''Alright, gotta time this just right...'' Tin Star thought to himself as he pulled his pistols and aimed it at the exhaust port. ''NOW!''


    BANG!


    Using his abilities, Tin Star significantly slowed his descent by causing the bullet in his gun to explode with much greater ferocity than normal. At the same time, the bullet had blasted open the exhaust port''s cover, allowing him to slide right into the starship.


    Now all he had to do was simply deal with the insides.

 Rampage

    The Salbanbo "High Yield"-Class Carrier-Freighter, or HY for short, is the main workhorse for the Salbanbo Empire''s navy because it had the highest usefulness-to-cost ratio that the Grand Accountants of the Forbidden Bank had managed to calculate to date.


    With a length of 700 meters and a width of 300 meters, the HY ships were able to house multiple regiments, work vehicles, and harvested materials with extra comfort.


    Granted, the living quarters are essentially multiple pod hotels stacked upon one another, but the salarysoldiers of Salbanbo understood it was all for the greater profit.


    However, there was a weird structural flaw to the HY ships that was never addressed due to the simple fact that it was too costly to fix.


    Every single HY ship in existence has their main thermal exhaust port located at the very top of the ship and was constructed in such a way that one could technically fire a well-placed missile and destroy the whole ship in an instant by blowing up the power reactor.


    Not only that, but this main thermal exhaust port actually branches out to the rest of the ship in order to move some of the heat around as a means of maintaining a relatively warm and comfortable work environment.


    But, this also meant that someone could technically scale the vent and go anywhere around the ship however they pleased.


    Of course, someone had to be absolutely insane to travel through a thermal exhaust in such a manner.


    ___________Speaking of insanity__________


    ''Hmmm, this vent is getting hotter and hotter the longer I travel down it,'' Tin Star observed as he kept diving downwards, feeling the wind whistling past him. ''I think I should probably bail before I hit that heat source.''


    During this descent, Tin Star noticed that there were multiple holes to his left and right that seemed to lead elsewhere. As to where those holes led to, he had no idea.


    ''Eenie, meanie, minnie-this one.''


    BANG!


    Figuring that one tunnel was as good as any other, Tin Star proceeded to fire off a bullet to his left and launch himself into a tunnel on his right and began rolling down it like he had just fallen down a large hill.


    Which wasn''t entirely inaccurate.


    ''Rolling, rolling, rolling. Rolling, rolling, rolling...''


    All good things had to come to an end though, as Tin Star eventually rolled right through a heating grate and into a large storage room.


    Clatter!


    To be more precise, Tin Star found himself parsing through a storage room that appeared to be designed for weapons and armor, which mostly consisted of mass-produced rifles, armor of questionable quality, helmets of even more questionable quality, and a whole mess of random gadgets.


    "Hmm."


    Lifting a rifle from the rack, Tin Star held it in his hands and began to mimic how he thought the Salbanbo soldiers made use of them. Thanks to his [Gun-Fu] skill, Tin Star had an innate sense on the benefits and drawbacks of any firearms he could get his hands on.


    As such, he was able to break down the SE-SR-ZX800 in a mere instant.


    "Energy-based magazine that carries an abysmal charge, so it necessitates someone to carry multiples. An adjustable power dial that controls the power of a sound-based projectile that''s most effective against solid pieces of armor and objects as opposed to composite and pieces, but it has a fatal flaw that causes the rifle to explode if subjected to a frequency above its safety threshold... hmmm."


    Tin Star wasn''t entirely sure why, but he had a feeling he had just jinxed a whole lot of random strangers.


    __________Cue the scene change...________


    "Blast him! Blast him!"


    BAM! BAM!


    "It''s not working! It''s not working!"


    BOOM!


    "My insurance premiums!"


    After Gaia Mask (SK), declared his intentions to the Salbanbo warriors, he immediately followed it with a rampage of epic proportions.


    Referencing several comic supervillains with amorphous bodies, Gaia Mask proceeded to stretch, expand, and harden their sandy limbs in order to inflict maximum damage against the Salbanbo soldiers and their hovertanks. On occasion, he would even pick up a hovertank and toss it like a toy car into another, causing additional collateral damage.


    During this rampage, Gaia Mask was worried about getting eviscerated by the sonic rifles that the Salbanbo were using to shatter the Lumenlithics. As it turned out though, he had nothing to worry about.


    "Weapons are ineffective! They were not designed to damage swarm-like beings!"


    "We need a different type of ammunition!"


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "We have no other types of ammunition!"


    The salbanbo weapons were apparently designed to destroy solid objects that were a uniform whole, and not collective piles of smaller objects, so the blasts of sand didn''t do much except tickle his body.


    Not only that, Gaia Mask learned a neat little trick partway through his rampage.


    "Possible road to profit: we maximize the power of the blasters!"


    "Agreed."


    PWEEEE!


    "Fire!"


    BOOM!


    "Crystal Guard!''


    BOOM!


    "Gah!"


    "My rifle insurance!"


    "Hah! Consider that the price for harvesting innocent people!" Gaia Mask roared as he dismissed the crystals on his back.


    "Haha! Well said, Gaia Mask!" Platiknight praised with his full chest.


    Using [Gaia Guardian], Gaia Mask was able to create crystal resonators across his body and amplify the soundwaves produced by the blasters.


    This sounded counterintuitive at first, but then SK realized that the blasters couldn''t handle being exposed to frequencies higher than some unknown limit.


    He wasn''t entirely sure what occurred, but the blasters became useless when subjected to the sounds produced by resonating crystals, with some even exploding in the process.


    Regardless, thanks to this development and the fact that the Salbanbo soldiers couldn''t do any meaningful damage to him, SK found himself having already finished about half of the objectives in regards to his latest quest.


    ''A dozen or so down, another dozen to go...''


    _____Now let''s change the scene back_____


    "Yeah, none of this stuff is going to fit my frame," Tin Star concluded after looking over the armor in the arsenal. "Let''s just practice stealth...and good old-fashioned burglary."


    Once he had confirmed it''d be easier to move in his current outfit, Tin Star proceeded to leave the arsenal via the automatic door after he had stolen a spare security key that was left in the arsenal.


    Checking to his left and right, he saw that the door was connected to a hallway that led to a dead end and a T-section that had indecipherable signage.


    "Damn," Tin Star cursed. "Why wasn''t I written with language skills in mind?"


    Pulling an old silver dollar from his pockets, Tin Star was about to flip to determine whether or should go left or right.


    "Heads I got left. Tails I go-"


    "BAAARRGGGHHH! LET ME OUT, YOU SLIMY BASTARDS! I''LL TURN YOUR INNARDS INTO STREAKMARKS AND YOUR BANKS INTO PARKING LOTS!"


    "What the hell?"


    That is, until he heard the screams of a cybernetic voice yelling obscenities and threats of violence. coming from the hall to his right.


    "Well, it sounds like there''s a party happening over here," Tin Star determined after hearing the ruckus.


    A few quick steps, some fast turns here and there followed by a well-timed somersault, and Tin Star eventually arrived at where the yelling was come from: a little room that appeared to be a prison hold of some kind.


    At least, that''s what he assumed when he saw a series of empty prison cells that made use of forcefield technology, with the only occupied one being guarded by a pair of nasty looking cyborg lizards armed with those shoddy sonic rifles.


    The source of the screaming was none other than this lone occupant, a strange looking cyborg humanoid with what appeared to be engine pipes sticking out of his backs, a speedometer over his heart and a pair of oversized technoboots that looked like they could walk any surface.


    At least, that''s what Tin Star assumed when he saw the cyborg run across his cell''s floors, walls, ceiling, and barrier door.


    Conveniently placed above the barrier was a monitor displaying the identity of the cyborg, alongside a list of crimes and a bounty price.


    ...


    Wanted: Nitropulse


    Bounty: 50000066 Units.


    Crimes:


    Galactic lane robbery


    Larceny


    Grand Larceny


    Salbanbo Insurance Fraud


    Dine-and-dashing


    Noise pollution.


    57+ Others.


    Description:


    A heavily modded Gaboren from the Leo Star Cluster. Took out a loan from the Salbanbo Bank of Commerce #774 and used the funds to install a highly experimental mental and physical accelerator.


    Reward to be claimed from the planet of Xelva-55, once handed over to the Grand Damiyo of the System.


    ...


    "Release me from this cell, you money-grubbing parasites! Or face my wrath!" Nitropulse roared as the engine in his chest began revving and roaring.


    "Cease wasting your voice units," the Salbanbo guard growled back. "You are overdrawing my patience."


    "Well then, I guess now is a bad time for me to tell you to reach for the sky, huh?"


    "Huh?!"


    "Where did this intruder come from?!"