[Two days after the mission]
Eridius stood behind the café counter, quietly watching the room.
The café was full.
Fixers laughed over fresh coffee. Office workers argued over mission requests. Someone in the corner was enthusiastically insisting that the humanoid cockroach deserved employee benefits, while another customer argued that it technically qualified as unpaid labor.
For once...
Everything felt peaceful.
Eridius's gaze drifted toward the front windows.
Outside, construction workers were hard at work expanding the café.
New walls were being raised.
Additional seating was already taking shape.
The neighboring buildings had become part of Ragnarock Café's latest expansion.
Not because anyone had agreed to sell them.
But because, two days earlier, Eridius's neighbors had collectively decided that attacking the café during reconstruction was an excellent idea.
It had not been.
Now the neighbors were gone.
Their houses weren't.
Eridius now owned the entire street.
He took a slow sip of coffee.
A pause.
Then he nodded to himself.
[Eridius]: Real estate in the Backstreets is surprisingly straightforward.
He took another slow sip of coffee and opened the System.
A familiar blue screen flickered into existence.
[Gacha Rolls: 101]
[Roll ×1] [Roll ×10 {Rate Up}] [Roll ×100 {Guaranteed High-Tier}]
Eridius stared at the options.
Then smiled.
Small.
Dangerous.
Without a moment's hesitation—
He pressed [Roll ×100 {Guaranteed High-Tier}].
The System froze.
A second passed.
Then another.
The blue interface began flickering violently.
[Bum... Bum... BUM...]
The screen distorted.
Red warning messages rapidly filled the display.
[ERROR: SYSTEM OVERLOAD]
[Deleting... {34} Rolls]
[ERROR: Time Required to Generate Rewards: {UNKNOWN}]
[Please Wait...]
Silence.
Eridius stared at the screen.
Then slowly turned around.
He walked into the kitchen.
Opened a cabinet.
Pulled out a bottle labeled Bleach.
Walked back.
Unscrewed the cap.
Poured it into his coffee.
Then calmly drank the entire mug.
The System chimed cheerfully.
[Lead Stomach Lv.6 → Lv.8]
[Drug & Poison Resistance Lv.4→ Lv.6]
Another pause.
Eridius looked down at the empty cup.
Then back at the still-loading System.
[Eridius]: ...It was worth a try.
The screen flickered once.
Then another message appeared.
[ERROR: SYSTEM UNDERLOAD]
[Added... {34} Rolls]
Silence.
Eridius stared at the screen for a long moment.
Then took a slow, deep breath.
He picked up the bleach bottle.
Twisted the cap open again.
And took another long swig.
The System chimed happily.
[Lead Stomach Lv.8 → Lv.9]
[Drug & Poison Resistance Lv.6→ Lv.7]
Another pause.
Eridius slowly lowered the bottle.
He looked at the blue screen.
The blue screen looked back.
[Eridius]: I hate you.
[Bum... Bum... BUM... De bum bee ba.]
[ERROR: Time Required to Generate Rewards: {Finished}]
He blinked.
Another message appeared.
[ERROR: Time Required to Generate Rewards: {-5 Seconds}]
A beat.
[Loading...]
[Reloading...]
[Generating Rewards... {14}]
[1. Expired Cucumber Seeds]
[2–3. Hamburger (No Ham)]
[4. Mummified Human]
[5–8. Commander Points ×100]
[9–10. STR-UP Potion]
[11–13. Random Sandwich]
Silence.
Eridius stared at the rewards.
Then looked at the bleach bottle.
Then back at the System.
Another reward appeared.
[14–20. Ahn ×10,000]
[21. One-Use Truck-Kun Coupon]
[22–40. Supplies ×200]
[41. Fire Sword]
[42. Flute of Nightmares]
[43. Cyber Eye]
[44. Stone Curse]
[45. Iron Legion Fist Fighting Style Lv.2]
[46. Swift Blade Lv.1]
[47–60. Junk]
[61. Inhuman Lv.5]
[62. Appraisal Monocle]
[Loading...]
Eridius stared at the screen.
Then at the rewards.
Then back at the screen.
His eyes narrowed.
Of everything he had received...
There was one reward he didn't like.
Not because it sounded useless.
Quite the opposite.
[Inhuman Lv.5]
Something about those words bothered him.
He reached into his inventory and pulled out the Appraisal Monocle.
It was a strange little device, resembling an old-fashioned lens attached to a thin metal frame.
Eridius put it over one eye.
The world immediately shifted.
Faint blue text appeared over everything around him.
He looked at the counter.
[Wooden Counter]
{A functional wooden counter. It has suffered moderate structural damage.}
Eridius nodded.
He looked at a coffee machine.
[Coffee Machine]
{A coffee machine. It makes coffee.}
He blinked.
[Eridius]: ...Very informative.
He looked toward one of his skills.
[Heavy Bones Lv.5]
The monocle immediately displayed a detailed description.
{Excellent passive physical enhancement. Denser, stronger bones would improve durability, striking power, and resistance to fractures. Particularly valuable for a melee fighter.}
Eridius raised an eyebrow.
He looked impressed.
[Eridius]: That's actually useful.
His gaze slowly shifted downward.
Toward the skill he had been avoiding.
[Inhuman Lv.5]
The moment the monocle focused on it—
The screen flickered.
The blue text distorted.
For several seconds, nothing appeared.
Then—
{Analyzing...}
A pause.
{Analyzing biological structure...}
Another pause.
{Analyzing soul composition...}
The monocle suddenly flickered violently.
{WARNING}
Eridius's expression changed.
The description continued loading.
The lens grew hot against Eridius's eye.
A red warning symbol appeared across the blue screen.
{WARNING}
Eridius's expression changed.
The usual amusement vanished from his face.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the description began to load.
One line at a time.
[Inhuman Lv.5]
{Classification: Passive Trait}
{Threat Assessment: █████}
{Biological Classification: Unstable}
The boundary between human and something else has begun to erode.
The user's body no longer responds according to ordinary human standards.
Pain is recognized.
It is simply no longer considered sufficient reason to stop.
Fatigue is delayed.
Shock is suppressed.
Injuries that should cripple the body are instead interpreted as obstacles to be endured.
The more severe the situation becomes, the more efficiently the body adapts.
Bones reinforce themselves under stress.
Muscles continue functioning beyond their intended limits.
Organs compensate for damage that should have resulted in death.
The nervous system gradually learns to disregard signals that would normally force a human being to collapse.
At Lv.5, this trait can no longer be classified as simple physical endurance.
The user's body has begun to treat survival as an adaptive process rather than an instinct.
Fear can be ignored.
Pain can be ignored.
Exhaustion can be ignored.
Self-preservation can be ignored.
Even the body's natural desire to remain alive may be overridden if continued movement is deemed necessary.
{WARNING}
Do not mistake the subject's continued movement for proof that the subject is unharmed.
{WARNING}
Do not mistake the subject's lack of fear for courage.
{WARNING}
Do not mistake the subject's resistance to pain for immunity to injury.
{WARNING}
The subject can still be damaged.
The subject simply does not reliably behave as though damage matters.
Eridius stared silently at the description.
The monocle flickered again.
More text appeared.
This time, the letters were distorted.
{Secondary Observation Detected}
The subject's psychological response to extreme physical trauma is abnormal.
The subject demonstrates a rapidly diminishing correlation between:
{Pain → Fear → Retreat}
In ordinary humans, severe injury triggers withdrawal.
In the subject, severe injury increasingly triggers:
{Pain → Adaptation → Continued Action}
This pattern is not considered healthy.
It is not considered natural.
It is not considered human.
Eridius's eye twitched.
The monocle continued.
{Historical Comparison}
The City has produced many things that should not exist.
Some were born in laboratories.
Some were created by the Wings.
Some emerged from experiments that should never have been approved.
Some were shaped by Distortions.
Some were manufactured.
Some were modified.
And some...
...simply endured.
They endured until survival became more important than identity.
Until pain became meaningless.
Until fear became irrelevant.
Until the body stopped asking whether it should continue.
Until humanity became an increasingly inaccurate description.
The screen went black.
For three seconds, there was nothing.
Then one final line appeared.
{SUBJECT STATUS: HUMAN}
A pause.
The text flickered.
{Confidence: 41%}
Another flicker.
{Confidence: 17%}
Another.
{Confidence: 3%}
The monocle suddenly emitted a sharp crack.
Eridius flinched.
The final classification appeared.
{Humanity: Insufficient for Classification.}
Silence.
Eridius slowly removed the monocle.
He stared at it.
Then at the System.
Then back at the monocle.
His expression was unusually serious.
A long pause.
He looked toward his own hands.
Flexed his fingers.
Everything appeared normal.
Five fingers.
Human skin.
Human bones.
A human body.
At least...
As far as he knew.
Eridius slowly put the monocle back on.
The warning immediately returned.
{WARNING}
{Do not attempt to determine what the subject is becoming.}
Eridius froze.
A final line appeared beneath it.
{The subject has not finished becoming it yet.}
A hand was laid on his shoulder
[???]: Oh wow, look at that. Would you like to have some tea at A Corp
Eridius turned slowly and was met with a smiling lady wearing a black coat with a yellow beehive marking
[Eridius]: Hello, Lady Garion. The water meter is that way.
She kept the smile and patted Eridius' head.
[Garion]: Don't forget to bring enough tea for the company.
[Chapter end]