The pristine white room hummed with the sound of laser cutters and bone saws. Klein Moretti lay on the surgical table, his body spasming as the APG-Medical units rewrote his physiology.
Crunch.
It felt as if his bones were being ground to dust and then fused back together with molten lead. The pain was absolute, a physical assault that would have broken a lesser mind. But Klein was not a lesser mind. He was a Sequence 2 Angel. He divided the pain between thousands of Worms of Spirit.
He focused on the new sensation buzzing at the base of his skull he had just received. He activated its unique function: 'Self Sense'.
[Function 'Self Sense' activated.]
[Stabilizing Psyche...]
The pain didn't disappear, but it became... distant. It was data. A red alert on a dashboard. Klein observed his own agony from a third-person perspective, his ego wrapped in a cold, digital fortress. The 'Self' remained untouched, a calm island in a sea of torment. 'This technology... it is dangerously efficient. It mimics the dissociation of a high-sequence Beyonder without the risk of madness.'
—Stat Enhancement complete.
—Strength +3. Speed +3. Stamina +3. Perception +3. Vitality +3.
The robots retracted their instruments.
—Scanning for 'Trait' upgrade compatibility...
—Error. Subject's 'Traits' possess complexity beyond current technological understanding. Direct upgrade impossible.
Klein sat up, rolling his shoulders. He felt lighter, denser.
"You cannot upgrade my powers directly," Klein stated, not surprised. The mysteries of the gray fog were not something a machine could parse.
—Affirmative. Do you possess an external item or artifact you wish to enhance?
Klein hesitated.
Creeping Hunger.
The glove writhed slightly in the sterile air, hungering for the souls of the Players around it.
"This," Klein said. "Can you..?"
The APG unit scanned the artifact.
Red lasers meshed over the skin-glove.
—Analysis: Biological weapon with a parasitic consciousness. Heavily corrupted.
—Proposal: Install 'Sanity Firewall' and 'Mana-Bio Converter'. We can stabilize the hunger and digitize the soul interface.
—Estimated time: 9 Hours.
"Do it," Klein said, handing it over.
He glanced at the curtain next to his.
Kim Dokja was still inside.
He strained his ears, but the soundproofing was absolute.
However, his [Spirit Vision] picked up a tremor.
A deep, ominous vibration in the spiritual fabric of the room.
It felt like... a story being rewritten.
'He is facing his own trial,' Klein thought, suppressing the urge to intervene. 'I must trust in him.'
He had hours to kill.
Klein stepped out of the Upgrade Center, massaging his wrist.
Klein adjusted his [Bansy's Top Hat] and walked into the neon chaos of the Game Center.
The arcade was bustling.
Players shouted at screens, robots served drinks, and the air smelled of ozone and excitement.
"Games..." Klein murmured. In his previous life as Zhou Mingrui, he had enjoyed games. In this life... he had played a very different kind of game.
He sat down at a console marked [Virtual Reality: The Sniper].
He put on the headset.
For the next hour, The Fool played.
And he found, to his genuine surprise, that he was having fun. He wasn't a god here. He wasn't a leader of a secret organization. He was just a player with high reflexes and a lot of free time.
But as he moved to a claw machine, watching a young NPC girl cry because she couldn't grab a teddy bear, a thought struck him.
What was a miracle? Was it only reviving the dead or changing the weather? No. A miracle was granting a wish.
Klein watched the girl.
Her wish was simple.
I want that bear.
He tapped his fingers.
He didn't use his Beyonder powers directly.
He didn't summon a gust of wind with his air bullet.
He simply calculated the claw's grip strength, the angle of the drop, and the probability of the plushie slipping.
He inserted a coin.
He moved the claw.
Drop.
The claw grabbed the bear—not by the head, but by the tag, hooking it perfectly.
The bear fell into the chute.
Klein reached the crying girl.
"Excuse me, my name's Merlin Hermes, I would really like to fulfill your wish!"
The girl gasped, her tears vanishing instantly.
"Mister! You did it!" She looked at him as if he were a god.
Klein tipped his hat.
"A small trick."
[Your digestion of the 'Miracle Invoker' potion has increased a little.]
Klein paused.
He moved through the arcade.
He saw a Player struggling with a rhythm game, one note away from a high score that would grant him a points he desperately needed.
Klein casually bumped the machine at the exact microsecond required to register a 'Perfect' hit on a stuck button. The Player won.
"Yes! Finally!"
He saw a couple arguing over a broken vending machine. He didn't use magic. He didn't use a tool. He simply observed the machine with his 'Clown's' precision. He saw the jam. He saw the single, specific point of tension in the mechanism.
The Sweet Spot.
He raised his hand and slapped the side of the machine. It looked like a casual, frustrated gesture, a sleight-of-hand trick to mask the precision of the strike.
Thwack.
The machine whirred to life and dispensed two sodas instead of one.
[You acquired a new technique.]
===
「Sweet spot」(;3)
[Low rank] [Special attribute] [Static]
*Critical Correction
— Allows the user to locate the "Sweet Spot" of an object. By striking the identified point, the user can force a "Correction" or "Disruption" with minimal force.
*Note
—The effect is enhanced when disguised as a casual action.
===
"Um… Okay?"
That was the strangest technique he received so far.
After fulfilling simple wishes Klein could conclude the basics of Sequence 2 acting method.
'Act not as a God fulfilling the wishes of others, but as a person performing miracles for himself and others.'
He wasn't changing their fate.
He was just giving them a moment of luck.
A small miracle in a cruel tower.
With that he spent another 3 hours wandering through the floor as Merlin Hermes. Someone had problems with their backs. Someone simply wanted to see his loved ones.
By the time APG-365 messaged him, Klein felt a sense of satisfaction he hadn't felt in a long time.
[Current Digestion: 7%]
—Player Klein Moretti. Your item is ready.
Klein returned to the sterile room. The robot held out the glove. It no longer looked like human skin. It was sleek, matte black, with faint blue circuitry running through the material like veins. The mouth on the palm was gone, replaced by a metallic intake port.
[Hunger of the Digital Void]
[Rank: Unique (Modified)]
[Description: A twisted artifact of the Hanged Man pathway, re-engineered with advanced neuro-technology.]
Klein put it on.
It hummed. Instead of the maddening whispers of the True Creator. He heard... nothing.
Finally, he could give up strange ways of trying to seal or restrain this crazy glove.
A system window appeared in his vision.
[Sanity Firewall: Active. 342 malicious packets blocked.]
[Soul Storage:]
[File 1: Zombie][File 2: Baron of Corruption][File 3: Desire Apostle][File 4: Traveler]
It was clean. Efficient.
"And the hunger?" Klein asked.
—The [Mana Converter] is installed. It requires 1000V of electricity or one [Mana Crystal] per month of usage. We had supplied it for the next month.
Klein smiled. "Excellent."
He looked at the curtain next to him.
"How is he?"
—Subject Kim Dokja is undergoing a 'Function Trait Upgrade' of his advance chip. The procedure is... volatile. Estimated time: Unknown.
Klein frowned. He checked the time.
[New Arc Begins in: 30:54:13]
"Thirty hours..." Hajin had said they needed to reach Crevon (8th Floor).
Klein looked at the red gift box in his inventory.
There was a small note in the description.
*Note: You can open it upon reaching [8-3F]
'8-3F? Does he mean the third district of the 8th Floor? Or is it a code?' Klein was confused, but the instruction was clear: Go to the 8th Floor.
He looked at Dokja's curtain again.
He stepped forward, intending to peek inside, to ensure his companion was safe.
Whirrr.
Three robots with ??? Lv. blocked his path.
Their eyes glowed red.
—Restricted Area. Entry prohibited.
—Warning: Lethal force authorized.
Klein stopped.
His [Self Sense] calculated the odds.
Even with the new glove and his stats, fighting three high-level androids in a confined space was suicide.
"I understand," Klein said, stepping back.
He checked his funds.
He had earned about 2,100 Cash from the games he played in the arcade.
The ticket to the 8th Floor cost 10,000 Cash.
He was short.
"Exchange," Klein commanded the system.
[Exchange Rate: 1 TP = 10 Cash]
"Convert 800 TP."
[800 TP -> 8,000 Cash.]
[Transaction Complete.]
He bought the ticket. He stood at the elevator doors, looking back one last time at the Upgrade Center.
"Do not be late, Dokja," Klein whispered. "The story waits for no one."
He ripped the ticket.
Flash.
***
As Klein disappeared, a man in a pristine black coat stepped out. He looked weary, his existence vibrating.