My vision faded till I once again found myself transported to an interface space. And yet, this one was different than what I was used to. I stood in a graveyard on a hill, one covered in a dark fog. The entire place, and even myself for that matter, was leached of saturation. It was like I was looking at an ancient black-and-white movie.
Far off in the distance came the cries of crows, and yet I felt an immense amount of danger as I stared at the darkness surrounding the hill. The sense of danger far exceeded the levels of insulting Fox’s Grace, and I was sure I would die if I headed out.
The graves around me were weird. Both in the sense that I had never actually visited a graveyard and that they were nameless. No, not nameless. Rather the names covering the gravestones were obscured by the dense fog. Items, thousands if not tens of thousands were scattered around in the darkness of the hill. They were hard to make out, but I spotted everything from a shiny toy car to an ancient longsword. 'Course, every item was the same faded gray hues.
A chill went up my spine as nightly air breezed by, carrying with it a feeling of dread. I glanced up, spotting the moon. It was full and glowing red. The moon was one of the only spots of color in the entire space.
A withered tree sat in the middle of the hill, with little red crystals dangling from its branches. A liquid, almost like liquified ruby, surrounded the tree in a mote. It was oddly beautiful, if not for the eerie ambiance about the place.
For a brief moment, I considered activating Aetherial Perception, and yet Insight almost screamed at me that it was foolish. That I would most assuredly die if I tried to look further into the things in this graveyard.
Just when I was wondering what to do, the fog condensed, the darkness converging, and covered a section just in front of the tree. Then the fog left just as quickly, leaving behind a massive wheel similar to the ones I had seen in a game show. Red text was written along the rim of the wheel, and yet I couldn’t understand any of it. Crow’s Wheel of Wares if I had to guess.
With no other prompting, I slowly edged towards the wheel, feeling a small amount of rapidly vanishing comfort in the fact nothing had jumped out yet. I stretched out a hand, feeling revolted as it turned to just bones as it neared the wheel. I whipped my hand out, thankfully returning to flesh and blood after distancing from the wheel.
The only path was forward, so I ignored the bone effect and grasped the edge of the black and red wheel. Immediately, I felt a chill roll down my spine. I was already committed though, so I pulled as hard as I could before backing up. If I was sitting, I would be on the edge of my seat as I watched the red and black blur together.
The wheel spun, each tick of the pin against the black and red blur sounded like the eternal ticking of death ever approaching. I had chills down my spine the entire time until the ticking slowly came to a stop. I still couldn’t read what it said, but that didn’t matter as the interface popped into my vision.
「Crow’s Wheel of Wares
Was that… good? It sounded weird. I looked around the dim graveyard once more as the fog began to coalesce upon me. Insight caught my attention, and I looked up into the tree. A crow, massive in size, sat upon the branches. Eight glowing red eyes met mine with a cold, calculative glare. Fear overcame me, and I found myself flinching away just as the dark fog covered my body entirely.
Then I was back on my bed, my heart pounding with the unmistakable weight of absolute terror. It took quite a while to calm down, especially considering I saw the eye every time I closed my own.
A weight sat upon my chest, drawing my attention once the insatiable terror faded. A canteen, black and bespeckled with what looked to be rubies sat there. It was shaped in such a way as to look like the wings of a crow were wrapped around the thing.
I took it in my hand, immediately causing a window to pop up into my view.
「Crow’s Canteen of Chaos
A magic item… part of me wanted to hide the thing and never look at it again, but the other part recognized the usefulness of the canteen. The name didn’t help at all in my unease at the rather luxurious-looking canteen.
I picked it up and shook it slightly, hearing liquid slosh around inside. Popping the lid, I could see water slowly filling it up as it condensed alongside the walls of the canteen. It was a slow-moving process, one that would take a day according to the item’s description.
I moved over to my fridge and pulled out a pop, pouring a little of it into the container. The rubies decorating the item flashed with a crimson glow, though nothing else seemed to change. Physically, at least. Mentally, I felt as though I could interact with an invisible menu while holding it. Right now, there were just two options, though I could see how the item could grow to hundreds if I dedicated some time to it. It was a good reason to stay hydrated at least.
Too bad there was no easy way to carry it around- a shadow condensed around my hand, and by the time it faded so did the canteen. With a simple thought, similar to how I summoned and hid the interface window, the canteen reappeared.
Unfortunately, I couldn't just sit around and play with the gifts of the interface, or gifts of Crow, which I didn’t even want to think about. I sighed and tossed the canteen back into the shadow before grabbing the bag of tools and heading down to my bike. It was really about time I fixed the damn thing. It was practically a dirt bike and had been super cheap when I bought it, so it’s not surprising that it might be broken.
The first thing I did was check the battery with a multimeter. It was reading above twelve volts, so it wasn’t dead, or really in danger of dying anytime soon. I used it almost daily, so there was no chance for parasitic drain to kick in.
Then I went and manually checked all the fuses to make sure nothing was blown while I had the multimeter out. It was a bit awkward at first, but I eventually found the right way to stick both ends of the device onto the fuses’ two sides.
It was neither of those, so then I decided to check the thermoelectric semiconductors that helped power the thing and found sand clogging up the connection points between the AE3 tank and the semiconductors themselves. It was such a simple thing, and yet it was screwing with my bike to such an extent. So annoying.
Disconnecting the semiconductors was an absolute bitch, but then actually cleaning them went fairly well. I looked it up to be sure, and I could just use soapy water to clean off the bits and bobs of the device. I left it to dry for a few hours while I looked through the screamstream on my phone.
A few interesting things were coming up, such as superstars Thus, Crack
Oasis was also going to come into Aythryn City at some point, which was bound to raise tensions as the group annually did. Something about the opportunity to have fresh, non-synthetic food drove people up the walls. ‘Course, Oasis was more than prepared to flatline anyone gonk enough to try and raid them.
Something more interesting was the supposed arrival date of the Sentinel Corporation Supercarrier Phalanx was in just three days. It might be interesting to go look at it, which seemed to be a common consensus amongst most people according to the article. I had never seen a supercarrier, and it would be a good experience. It would also give me an idea of how truly fucked I would be if they ever discovered I had their stolen research.
Speaking of stolen research, I had decided just to leave it behind my fridge’s liner till I got a higher-level Tech and could understand the blueprints. The research was obviously precious, and I didn’t want to just burn it and be done. No. It could be another leg up just like the interface. Who knows? Once my Tech reaches a higher level, I might actually be able to build some of the devices myself.
Before long, the parts dried and I took them back out to my bike. It was even more annoying to put the thermoelectric semiconductors back onto the vehicle, and I even nicked my hand more times than I would’ve liked with the clamps. I wiped the sweat from my brow and looked at a job well done.
One thing left to do. I straddled it and kicked on the ignition, hearing it purr to life underneath me on the first try. I drove around the Ryu Container Yard once, feeling no choppiness or chugging of the thermoelectric chamber. It ran as good as new, if not better.
I looked at the message in stunned surprise. I wasn’t expecting to get such a thing from such a simple task. Maybe I was wrong about the conditions of leveling a skill? I had assumed it was only through a gig that I could get them up, but maybe it’s anytime I complete a project? Hmm… this requires more testing. Maybe I should head back to the range and shoot a thousand shots or something. My skills with weapons were trash as is.
There were other skills I was more interested in though. Specifically, Evasion. I hadn’t had much of a look at it, but just the thought of dodging bullets was quite exciting. Assuming it got to that level, of course.
“You finally fix that bike of yours, dearie?” A cracked voice asked as I shut my bike off.
I looked over to see my neighbor, the elderly woman who lives below me, standing at the door of her container. Granny Smith. “Yes, ma’am.” My parents had heavily promoted respecting elders back when they were still around.
She smiled, showing her wrinkles’ wrinkles flapping around with effort. “That's great! Do you think you could fix something for me? I’ll pay, of course.”
I don’t have anything else going on today. “I can take a look at it.”
“C’mon in then.” She backed away from the door, allowing me into her cargo container. I walked in without delay, catching that scent that was particular to the elderly.
Her container was like mine, exactly so considering they were manufactured the same way, and yet looked nothing like mine. Whereas mine was very barebones, hers was filled to the brim with furniture, decorations, and small collectibles. Noticeably, most of the decorations had to do with knights, seeing as kite shields and swords of all kinds were strapped to the walls. A massive TV dominated the space, only contested by an equally sized couch covered in blankets.
“My TV stopped working just an hour ago… such a bummer too since my favorite show was on.” The elderly woman said as she moved to the couch and took a seat.
“Really?” I asked, only half paying attention as I made sure the thing was plugged in.
“Yeah… you know, your mikata really liked my show. It's been a long time since I last watched a show with someone…”
Friend? Oh right, Iris hung out with the older woman while I slaved away to look at evidence. “I’m glad you enjoyed her company.” I surely hadn’t. I started to attempt to diagnose the TV’s issues. It wasn’t turning on, so that was clearly the problem.
Granny Smith chuckled to herself, though the chuckle sounded more sad than anything. “Funny. She reminded me a lot of my grandson, back before he…”
It wasn’t the cords, at least I didn’t think so. They were all in one piece, and my multimeter didn’t show any issues. I pulled out an electric tester pin and tested the outlet itself only to see it not working. “He?” I asked, half paying attention.
The old woman sighed deeply, causing me to look over at her. Her shoulders were slumped as if she bore the weight of the world. “He left to fight the Dune Walkers… avenge his parents and all that. Haven’t seen him since.”
Damn, that sucks. To outlive two of your generations… “Is he alive?”
Granny Smith shrugged. “I didn’t get a message from the FSA, so I sure hope so. It's been nearly ten years though...”
How sad. I hadn’t interacted with her much, but she had always been a kind person. To spend your days idly waiting, hoping for your relative to reach out… maybe I could help out? Uncle Ezra was quite high up in the ranks, so maybe he could pull the file and see where Granny Smith’s grandson was.
“What was his name?” I pulled off the outlet cover and spotted the issue. Some of the wires had been frayed probably due to exposure to the elements.
“My little Eddie. Edward Franz Smith.” She said in a voice I recognized to carry some pretty heavy emotion.
“I’ll keep an ear out for him,” I said as I fixed the outlet. It was a minor thing, all things considered. Far easier than most things shown to me in the initial acquisition of Tech.
「Request - Suspicious Disappearance
That didn’t bode well. I really, really hope this isn’t anything more to this than just a quick investigation… yet the request suggested the entire opposite. Why would the entities behind the interface be interested in a simple disappearance?
The television flickered to life as Granny Smith excitedly clapped her hands together, the clap sounding more like bone on bone than skin on skin. “Oh! You fixed it. Thank you, kid! How much do I owe you?”
I shook my head as I gathered my tools back up. “Nothing. Thank you for looking out for my bike all these years.”
“Are you sure? I’m not hurting for money too badly.” She said as she pulled out her phone to send over money.
My feet smoothly carried me to the door. “I’m sure, ma’am. I appreciate the offer though.”
“Right… Well, good night then, dearie.”
“Good night,” I said as I backed out the door. It was ‘bout time I started to look into this guy a bit further…