Damien gazed at his reflection on the window of Kat’s car, his eyes pulsing with a bright blue glimmer. He straightened the formal black tie around his neck, then patted down the arm sleeves of his new suit. It was a perfect fit, and it helped him blend in with all the business people that surrounded him on the busy sidewalk.

“You know,” he said out loud, “when you said I’d be your boyfriend for the day, this isn’t what I had in mind.”

Kat’s reply came through in the voice channel in his head. “Oh, really? What exactly did you have in mind?”

Damien ignored the question, deciding he’d rather change the subject than disclose what he’d secretly hoped the favor would lead to. “Don’t get me wrong, I love to dress up as much as the next person, but I’d be more thrilled if you’d just tell me why we’re doing this.”

“I already told you, it’s part of the mission. Now can you stop asking so many questions and start blindly following orders?”

“Nope.” Damien retorted. “I’m gonna need more info than that. And where’s Marcus? Shouldn’t we utilize the whole gang if this mission is so important.”

“We need some subtlety and sophistication for this one, if you couldn’t already tell by the clothes. Marcus is a great guy, but he’s a buffoon. A lovable but not-so subtle buffoon.”

Damien couldn’t say much to refute that; the description was quite accurate. “You think I’ll be subtle enough?”

“Eh, you should be fine. All you gotta do is have some decent etiquette and not stand out like a sore thumb.”

“I’m sure I could do that.” Damien said, turning around to lean on the side of her sports car. “Now tell me, do you plan on coming out anytime soon?”

“Shouldn’t be much longer. Some of us gotta do a little more than put on a suit.”

Damien brushed off the comment and started impatiently drumming the tips his fingers on the car’s metal door. He spent the next few minutes watching people flock in and out of the high-end beauty department store in front of him, before being interrupted by a new message from Valerie. He opened it immediately.

Just confirmed that all the package contents were safely returned.

Well done. Consider yourself the newest Private Hire under my umbrella.

I’ll start shopping you around to my clients, though we’ll stick to the lower end ones for now.

But I’ve got a recommendation for you: Pick an alias. You don’t want to use your real name with these people.

I’ll send the payment over now.

A few seconds later, three separate notifications jumped into his view.

Quest Complete!

You have completed the quest: Retrieve Valerie’s Packages!

Level Up!

You have reached Level 4!

You have gained 1 Skill Point!

Way of the Samurai Mastery Level increased to Adept!

Received 2,000 Funds from Valerie.

Damien licked his lips at all the new treasures he’d unlocked, and he rushed to open the stats page on his T-Deck.

Stats

Level: 4

Reputation: Nobody

Strength: 11

Agility: 15

Durability:13

Technical: 9

Blades: 15

Firearms:7

Skill Points Available: 1

Skills Mastery Level Description Parry Adept

Deflect oncoming [Weak] projectiles and melee attacks. May exceed physical limits.

Adept Bonuses:

Focus Cost: -10%

Additional Effect: May parry [Blunt] weapons

Talents Mastery Level Effect S.S. Core

Rookie ???

Way of the Samurai Adept

[+1] Blades

[+10] Maximum Focus

Gain additional bonuses from Samurai gear

Adept Bonuses:

+15% additional bonuses from Samurai gear

May wear [Uncommon] rank Samurai gear with no penalties

Titles Description Pirate +25 Street Cred Traits Description - -

Damien went through the changes one by one, starting with the upgrade to the talent.

Looks like I got the same Adept bonuses that I saw earlier, he pondered. It would’ve been the same if I’d used my previous Skill Point on it. The fact that the Mastery Level increased without having to use another Skill Point, suggests that they can upgrade on their own; probably through use.

He turned his attention to the blinking text above which stated that he had an unused Skill Point remaining. This time, however, there were no arrows next to Parry and Way of the Samurai, which meant that he couldn’t increase their Mastery Level by another stage. When he held his gaze on the blinking text a little longer, a small window popped up stating that he needed two Skill Points to upgrade from Adept to the next stage. The S.S. Core still didn’t have an arrow next to it, leaving him without a target to use the Skill Point on.

I guess I’ll save it for later, he thought to himself. The important thing is that I finally got some money.

He swapped T-Deck interface with the GPI, noting a new line of text at the top that filled him great pleasure.

Funds: 2,000

The beautiful sight brought a wide grin to his face. Two thousand more and I can afford those shuriken... He stopped his mind from getting too ambitious. Well, maybe I should focus on saving up for food and shelter first…

Damien continued to internally revel at his earnings until he spotted Kat coming out of the beauty shop in front of him. She looked completely different from how she’d entered; her light jacket and pants now replaced with a streaming, deep blue dress that rippled at the bottom. Her shoulder-length hair was also done up in a graceful flow of black locks that barely went lower than her ears. She looked dignified and elegant; an image that clashed with his perception of her. Despite the mishmash, however, the look suited her quite well.

“Wow,” Damien said as she approached him. “I didn’t think you could pull off a classy look.”

She squinted her eyes at him. “What’s that supposed to be mean?”

“Nothing in particular. I just never pictured you in a dress is all.”

“Oh really? What did you picture me in?”

“Nothing at all,” Damien said in a tongue-in-cheek manner.

Her response came quick and flat. “Hilarious. You trying to get your ass kicked? I’ll do it even if I’m in a dress.”

“Somehow I don’t doubt that.” Damien said dismissively. “By the way, I just received the payment from Valerie. Want me to reimburse you for this suit?”

Kat waved away the question. “Don’t worry about it. Did she say anything about Zero?”

“Nope. Just told me to pick out an alias so that she could shop me to her clients.”

“I see. You got one in mind?”

“Didn’t have to think about it for more than a second. You can call me Ghost. That’s my street name from now on.”

“Ghost?”

“That’s right. Someone once said I was something like a ghost, since my personal information doesn’t exist.”

A light smile tugged at Kat’s mouth. “She sounds like an amazing person.”

“Eh,” Damien said with an unimpressed shrug. “She can be a little difficult, but she complimented my ass once, so I guess she’s alright.”

“Once again. Hilarious,” Kat said flatly before signaled for him to get up. “Let’s get going. We’re hitting up the north side today.”

Damien jerked to a stand. “Sweet, I haven’t been up there yet.” He turned to open the purple passenger door, but Kat interjected.

“Hold on. What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Get that ass of yours on the other side. You’re driving.”