RavensDagger

  Chapter Sixty-Three - Level Ups!

  Sharp was vibrating all the way home. So much so that she forgot to flirt--painfully--with the girls before we darted away.

  She had a good reason for it.

  "I had two level-ups!" she said. Then, before I could ask the obvious question, she spilled the answer out. "Combat levelled up! I'm at four!"

  "That's good," I said. Not too surprising either, she'd done a bit of running and gunning back there, and the situation overall was definitely a more combat-oriented one. The increase made sense. "And the rest?" There had to be more. She wouldn't be this hyped up for just one small step.

  Sharp's grin was so wide it almost looked painful. "Protagonist!"

  I tried to raise my brows at that, but it was a little tricky as a cat. Still, that was an impressive skill to increase. "Protagonist, huh? That's one of the weirder skills." And the only skill Sharp had that I cked. Instead, I had the rather bizarre Cat skill.

  I made Sharp wait until we were back home before allowing her to look into her skills. She tore through the house, feeding the kitties, cleaning the litter, petting everyone, and basically rushing through her chores like a woman possessed.

  In under twenty minutes she was done with everything, even heating some lunch up in the microwave. She sat down on the couch, then stared at me with demanding eyes.

  "Yes, yes, we can start now," I said.

  It was kind of cute, how eager she was to start looking over her skills. Not that I'd ever tell her that. Sharp had a small heap of notecards with her already, and she started to scribble on them with her tongue pinched between her lips. She set down one card, this one covered in a crudely drawn grid where she'd written the names of all the skills she had avaible. Twenty-One in all, I noticed.

  All According to KeikakuYour Reflection. It Knows.Power Through Love and RageBerserkFinal Episode PrivilegeOne Liner ExecutionYou Are the Chapter TitleFriendship Is My PowerQuiet Main Character EnergyCheat Code ReflexesLimit BreakerRetcon Immunity01010011 01101000 01100101 01101100 01101100[Redacted]Training Montage MasterDeus Ex MachinaMid-Season Power-UpUnskippableDestiny's ChosenNarrative AuthorityVoice of an Actor"That's a pretty rge selection," I said.

  "Yup!" Sharp agreed. "Here, the first one!"

  All According to KeikakuWhat? How could you have predicted that?! You devious mastermind!

  That was... certainly a description. "Aren't these supposed to have helpful descriptions?" I asked.

  "You'd think, right? This one's better, at least," she said as she finished writing the second card and setting it down. She was recreating the grid on the table.

  BerserkYou are always exactly as strong as the situation demands. If the battle needs you to be an unstoppable force, you become one. If the story requires you to shatter the sky with a single punch, the sky had it coming.

  "I think this one makes me strong," she said simply.

  "There's an implication beyond that," I said. "A berserker is often someone who gives up intelligence in pursuit of madness-empowered strength. This might be a poor choice."

  You Are the Chapter Title –An attack is unched.You smile knowingly.The screen goes bck.

  "Uh," Sharp said.

  "Yeah," I agreed. Two weird perks within the first three. This one wasn't even in alphabetical order as all the others were.

  "This one's a bit cooler," Sharp said as she pced down another card. She'd already made a star on this one.

  Cheat Code ReflexesBdes halt an inch from your skin. Bullets pass through the space you occupied before you even moved. You are not dodging. You are refusing to be hit. As long as you're monologuing, you are unhurtable.

  I nodded. This was more in line with what I expected. A powerful buff, to be sure. There had to be some sort of limit to it, right? Otherwise, this was very strong. Sharp could be made to memorize a few monologues from films and books. Even someone like her could do that much.

  Dramatic TimingThe battle never ends anticlimactically. If your sword swing needs one final arc before connecting, the vilin will live just long enough to receive it. The moment the fight feels perfectly cinematic, the world lets it end.

  "No," I said.

  "Why not?" Sharp asked.

  "Because drama is the st thing you want in this line of work. Drama means that people are paying attention. What you want is to leave not even a crumb of evidence that you were ever involved in anything. Drama is the opposite of that."

  Sharp pouted, but didn't compin. "Uh... I don't know what this next one is?"

  "Is it not in English?" I asked.

  "It's just numbers. Ones and zeroes?"

  I blinked at that, then had Sharp write it down anyway. The result was...

  01010011 01101000 01100101 01101100 0110110001001001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01101101 01100101 00101110

  It took a moment, and an online binary converter, to figure out what the name and text even said. Shell It's me.

  "I don't know what that one means, but I think we can skip it," Sharp said.

  "Agreed."

  Deus Ex MachinaAt the st possible moment, in the most impossible way, you are saved. Maybe by an ally. Maybe by sheer dumb luck. Maybe by something that should not exist. The world is invested in you. It won't let you die yet.

  Now that one had potential! A perk that would literally bail Sharp out of trouble at the st minute? It wasn't something she'd want to rely on, but at the same time, it would be invaluable when it did activate.

  It was a get-out-of-death-free card, of a sort.

  "We're marking this one with a star, right?" Sharp asked.

  "Oh, definitely," I said.

  "I could tell from the way your tail twitched."

  I gred. My tail did no such thing.

  Destiny's ChosenTreasure, legendary weapons, fated encounters—they all happen to you. People will travel the world searching for an artifact, only for you to find it in a ditch while looking for snacks.

  "This one starred too!" Sharp said.

  I read it, then read it again. "No. And before you compin, think about it. You get into enough trouble as it is. This one says nothing about saving you from the consequences of getting into more trouble. Do you know how many destined heroes suffer until their very st, painful moments?"

  Sharp grumbled, but didn't put a star on that one before moving on to the next.

  Your Reflection. It Knows.It's there. Do not think about it.

  "Nope, nopity nope," Sharp said. That one got turned around and pced words-first onto the table.

  Honestly, a good and healthy response.

  Final Episode PrivilegeThe moment the grand finale nears, the rules change. You stop taking sting injuries. Your enemies hesitate when they should attack. The music swells. You are no longer pying the game. You are pying the ending.

  "Is this better?"

  I sighed. "Barely."

  She put a star on it with a smug, self-satisfied smile.

  Friendship Is My PowerEvery ally, every person who believes in you directly makes you stronger. Their faith is a shield, their admiration a bde sharper than any steel. The moment a vilin respects you, they have already lost.

  "Now this is an interesting perk," I said. "But one that would require, and forgive the terminology, a whole different build. If you were significantly more charismatic, then this kind of ability could change things in a big way. A populist politician with this perk in their back pocket would become a force to be reckoned with, but I don't believe the... five people who know you care enough to make the mentioned shield unbreakable or that 'bde' any sharper than a butter knife."

  Sharp didn't say anything for a while, then sighed. "You could have been nicer about it," she said.

  "It's still a decent option. It's basically a tiny boost, but a free one, with no obvious negative repercussions."

  Limit BreakerYou are told you can't. You are told it's impossible. The moment you must surpass your limits, they cease to exist. You are not limited. You never were. You just didn't know yet.

  "Most obvious star ever," Sharp said.

  I had some ideas, but she was mostly right, so I allowed it.

  "And the next one is just redacted," she said. "That's its name, Redacted, with brackets. The description is a bck bar. Uh, like this."

  [Redacted]

  Wow, you actually went and tried to read this? What did you expect?

  "I imagine that it's probably best to leave that one well alone, then," I said.

  "Kinda tempted to grab it anyway," Sharp said. "It's like a gacha!"

  "No." I said.

  Mid-Season Power-UpIf you are backed into a corner when all hope is lost, you awaken. The power-up shouldn't be there, but it is. The reason? Irrelevant. The moment was right, and that's all that matters.

  Another easy star, even if this one was probably lower priority than some of the others. This was... an interesting set of potential perks so far, and we were only about halfway through them.

  ***