The satellment space folded him back in with the same clinical efficiency it had used to eject him: a soft hush of displaced air, the faint taste of ozone, a holo-map orbiting in the lounge. Ethan let the Panel wake against his skin and pulled up the private ledger—only visible to him—and checked the snapshot he took the moment he touched the exit node.
Snapshot — Pre-World Baseline (immediate before the three nodes):
• Strength: 32
• Agility: 17
• Endurance: 17
• Perception: 18
• Will: 16
• PP: 1,340
• Skills: Fold Slip (bound), Shadow Sense I (passive), Combat Rhythm I (temp chip)
• Traits: Eternal Multiplier Body (permanent)
He'd chosen those nodes deliberately: one to sharpen body (Teen Wolf), one to sharpen social reading (Twilight), and one to get the practical, exam-forged reflexes and coordination the Hunter × Hunter rookie node could provide. The Panel would process whatever he earned — and then multiply any Panel-origin gains by ×10. That was the rule; he'd learned to respect it.
---
Teen Wolf — the Field that Teaches Endurance
The forest node had been unkind and honest. Ethan tracked a wounded pack member across wind-swept ridges, kept watch through hours that felt like storms, and learned to read motion on a ground that tried to hide it.
Panel-logged raw rewards (Teen Wolf):
• Minor Endurance Capsule — base +2 Endurance
• Minor Perception Fragment — base +1 Perception
• Local minor trait: Pack Instinct (social/affinity) — base minor
• Temporary skill: Alpha Sense (movement edge; short windows)
Because these rewards came via the Panel, the System multiplied them:
Panel application (×10):
• Endurance: +2 ×10 → +20 Endurance (permanent)
• Perception: +1 ×10 → +10 Perception (permanent)
• Trait: Pack Instinct → Pack Instinct (Permanent, Minor) — improves team sync and cooperative reaction (+10% team-sync in close formation).
• Skill: Alpha Sense upgraded to Alpha Sense I (Bound, Passive) — subtle movement-vector detection in a ~20 m radius when actively tracking.
Immediate numeric change after Teen Wolf:
• Endurance: 17 → 37
• Perception: 18 → 28
PP reward (raw 30 PP → ×10) +300 PP.
---
Twilight — what social quietness teaches
Twilight gave him practice in masks, small lies, and how to steady voice and face when emotions tried to pull a scene apart. The node didn't hand out flashy powers — it taught composure.
Panel-logged raw rewards (Twilight):
• Minor Will Capsule — base +1 Will
• Minor Charisma/Influence fragment — base +1 (social read)
• Trait: Calm Veneer (minor)
• Temporary skill: Emotional Calibration (short)
Panel application (×10):
• Will: +1 ×10 → +10 Will (permanent)
• Charisma/Influence: +1 ×10 → consolidated into +10 Perception-equivalent social clarity (Panel merges social read into the Perception axis for usability)
• Trait: Calm Veneer → Calm Veneer (Permanent, Minor) — resists social manipulation and steadies voice under interrogation.
• Skill: Emotional Calibration → converted to Emotional Insight I (Bound, Active; cooldown) via an extraction (minor-ticket applied on exit).
Immediate numeric change after Twilight:
• Will: 16 → 26
• Perception: 28 → 38
PP reward (raw 20 PP → ×10) +200 PP.
---
Hunter × Hunter (Rookie Zones) — exam grit, reflex patterns
The HxH rookie node trained him in exam-like constraints: ledge balance, team rescue drills, and micro-reflex timing. Nothing mystical — just hard repetition in conditions that rewarded subtle economy of motion.
Panel-logged raw rewards (HxH rookie node):
• Minor Agility Capsule — base +2 Agility
• Minor Perception Fragment (tracking/reflex) — base +1 Perception
• Trait: Cliffmaster (minor; grip/coordination)
• Skill: Exam Reflexes (short, pattern recognition)
Panel application (×10):
• Agility: +2 ×10 → +20 Agility (permanent)
• Perception: +1 ×10 → +10 Perception (permanent)
• Trait: Cliffmaster → Cliffmaster (Permanent, Minor) — better grip, coordination on rough terrain (+small bonus to movement checks in precarious terrain).
• Skill: Exam Reflexes → bound as Exam Reflexes I (Bound, Passive) — pattern recognition for exam-style stressors (saves micro-timing).
Immediate numeric change after HxH node:
• Agility: 17 → 37
• Perception: 38 → 48
PP reward (raw 40 PP → ×10) +400 PP.
---
Totals — after visiting all three nodes (applied immediately)
Starting PP: 1,340
Added PP: Teen Wolf +300, Twilight +200, HxH +400
New PP: 1,340 + 300 + 200 + 400 = 2,240 PP
Stats — before → after:
• Strength: 32 → 32 (unchanged by these nodes)
• Agility: 17 → 37 (+20 from HxH)
• Endurance: 17 → 37 (+20 from Teen Wolf)
• Perception: 18 → 48 (+10 Teen Wolf, +10 Twilight, +10 HxH consolidated)
• Will: 16 → 26 (+10 Twilight)
New bound skills added:
• Alpha Sense I (Passive — movement-vector detection)
• Emotional Insight I (Active — micro-expression/emotional calibration)
• Exam Reflexes I (Passive — exam-pattern recognition)
New traits added (permanent, minor):
• Pack Instinct — team-affinity/coordination (+10% team sync)
• Calm Veneer — social composure / resist manipulation
• Cliffmaster — grip/coordination on harsh terrain
Panel-recorded summary: all three nodes processed and multiplied. Nothing flashy; everything usable and quiet.
---
The Merge Prompt — the Panel asks for body-time
Ethan expected the Panel to log and close. Instead a thin prompt appeared only in his private HUD: "Merge Panel into Host (subdermal integration). Confirm?"
The tooltip made the trade clear and clinical: lower external scan traceability, immediate mental-gesture access, internalized latency (instant Clear Mode), passive safety checks that prevented reckless extractions, and an increase in Talent calibration speed (+12% reported).
He paused. The Panel's interface explained there would be permanence: a subdermal module, invisible to scanners unless someone had specialized tools and cleared intent, and a small, non-invasive surgical-like assimilation performed by nanolattice (System procedure; no pain report guaranteed). It also promised full manual override by the Host.
He considered rules and privacy, how secrecy served the canon he'd promised not to break. The Panel had already done a lot; making it part of him reduced risk of public discovery. That was a practical advantage.
He accepted.
---
The Merge — what it felt like (concise and private)
The process was short and internal.
A thin warmth moved behind the skin of his left forearm where the Panel's edge had usually rested. He felt a cool thread of awareness sink into his mind: a line of icons along the edge of perception, no bright lights, no audible chimes. The UI folded from an external rectangle into a private ribbon he could call up by thought-gesture.
New Trait: Integrated Interface (Permanent) — subdermal Panel; mental-gesture access; passive reduction in external scan traceability.
Immediate mechanical benefits:
• Clear Mode latency → near-zero (internal mental activation)
• Passive auto-safe-checks on extractions enabled (safer pulls)
• Talent calibration speed +12% (progress toward Eternal Multiplier milestones accelerated)
• External scan profile reduced (harder for casual sweeps to detect the System tether)
The Panel's ledger ticked: "MERGE COMPLETE — Talent calibration +12%."
Ethan watched the Talent bar in the private HUD: it nudged upward. Where it had sat earlier at 86%, the merge added calibration synergy and the recent world experience fed in; the Panel displayed 92% progression toward the next undisclosed milestone.
---
Immediate follow-ups and quiet choices
He ran one short extraction conversion (used a Minor Ticket) to bind Combat Rhythm I permanently as a small convenience — it cost a little PP and a ticket but felt safe and rational. He left larger purchases alone. He bought a Temporal Anchor for a small PP cost (keeps a node bookmarked for safe re-entry), and kept the rest of his PP as margin.
Final numeric ledger (end of chapter):
• Strength: 32
• Agility: 37
• Endurance: 37
• Perception: 48
• Will: 26
• PP: ~2,240 (after small purchases and ticket use)
• Skills (bound): Fold Slip; Shadow Sense I; Alpha Sense I; Emotional Insight I; Exam Reflexes I; Combat Rhythm I (now bound)
• Traits: Eternal Multiplier Body; Pack Instinct; Calm Veneer; Cliffmaster; Integrated Interface
The Panel's private voice offered a final status line: "Host: Integration stable. Public discovery risk: low. Talent progression: 92%. Recommend training: Alpha Sense + Exam Reflexes calibration."
Ethan closed the private ribbon and let the silence of the satellment hub do the rest. He'd folded three worlds into muscle and habit; the Panel had folded into him. The change was practical, not dramatic. He was better. He was still anonymous. He had more to learn.
He rose, flexed his shoulders once, and walked to the small training bay connected to the hub. Quiet practice felt like the only honest next move — run micro-drills on Fold Slip, let Alpha Sense run against simulated motion, call Emotional Insight while watching neutral faces in the hub's observation pool. The calibration cycle would finish faster now, and the next milestone in the talent curve would be that much nearer.
He tapped a single message to Gon and Kurapika: Rest. I'll catch up. Training now. Short, un-showy, and true.
He would stay in the background of the arcs that mattered — for now. But he'd do it better, faster, and with the Panel finally quiet and inside him.