“Can I get the meal deal special and some orange juice?” I asked brightly. The teen on the other side of the counter with the weak smile looked ready to give up on life.

“I’m sorry, sir. Our fruit juice machine is broken. We’re working on as soon as possible!” he gave me a small bow. I shrugged.

“That’s fine, water is fine,” I said and the guy blinked.

“O-oh! Thank you for your understanding!” he said with relief. I blinked as Maria ordered a chicken salad and the despair returned.

“I’m so sorry but we’re still preparing-”

“A burger is fine,” she said kindly. Finding a family-owned business that was empty or didn’t charge an arm and leg was hard...

So we both agreed to just go to WcDonalds. I swear to go I nearly pissed myself at the name while Maria gave me confused looks.

The cashier’s eyes were wide and looked a little shocked.

“You are the best customers I’ve had in a long time,” he stated. I look at him as he applied his own worker discount for us.

“Who hurt you?” I asked in a worried tone.

“Life,” he said in a tone of light humour.

We took a booth that was pretty much isolated in the corner. Maria shook her head.

“These places crush their workers. Unreasonable hours with pay that’s just enough to make sure they come back. Offices are no better,” she frowned at her own bottle of water. I munched on the fries.

“In a paradise of intellect and world changers... someone has to clean the toilet,” I agreed sadly. I did not miss my own days of a retail worker. The fake manners where people could treat you as subhuman.

The darkness the endless shifts and no progress could bring to someone was heartbreaking

“Tell you what, we get an SSS Yellow and we’ll become the world's richest people and begin to change it all,” I mostly joked.

“Casual abuse of money is the root of evil. The moral thing to do is to build our own company and steal workers by offering much better work and environment and putting worker’s rights to defend themselves from horrid customers. I mean if we don’t need the money then it isn’t likely we’ll destroy people’s will to live by making stupid changes to increase ‘efficenty’,” she mused.

“Right... the moral thing,” I stared at her.

“God helps those who help themselves but the J-man understands that sometimes you have to build a business empire to free the wage slaves from the thumb of burger kings and clown tyrants,” she said seriously.

“You are so not getting anywhere near a Black Gem. I’d wake up one day to find the milk of human kindness is a currency and Girl’s are required to train in at least one deadly weapon for good credit,” I said deadpanned. We devoured our food as I began to tell her my gains from the fight.

PING was a nightmare but he was a good grinding stone if I ever saw one based on my results.

Fire Affinity has reached level 5! Fire skills much easier to handle from Gems and easier to learn in general. Will evolve in 5 levels. Energy has increased by 1!

Ice Affinity has reached level 4! Increased Ice control.

Barbed Tail has reached level 2! Increased range!

Parkour has reached level 7! Increased rebound distance and reduced damage from a fall. Skill will evolve in 3 levels.

Observe has reached level 6! Increased range and more understanding of unknown concepts.

Shield skill has reached level 5! All Shields now have slight improved durability.

Leadership has reached level 2! Increased awareness of followers.

Acid Cloak has reached level 4! Increased defence from enemy acid attacks

You have learned the skill ‘Pierce Resistance’!

Pierce Resistance. Physical. Passive. Lv.1: Gain improved defence against piercing weapons. Every 5 levels increased Physical by 1.

I eyed that one. I guess it must of developed when PING tried to bury his wires into my skin.

Shield Smash has reached level 4! Reduce stress on the shield.

Power Swing has reached level 5! Increased Damage. Increased crushing effect. Increased control to enable to hold a power charge for ten seconds.

Summon King has jumped from level 3 to level 7! Increased base power. Increased area effect of Purity. Increased Armor rating. Level 5 gives a passive ability.

King gained the ability of ‘Pure Heart’.

King can now channel his purifying aura into energy to grow and becoming a defender of people. His armor rises and his ability to hurt with his energy becomes available. Last 1 minute. Cooldown: 6 Hours.

Due to your developing bond with your summon, you have learned a new skill!

I was gaping as I was reading this. Maria was giddy as she fed curious tiny King pieces of her burger.

You have learned the skill: King Armour!

King Armour. Bond Skill. Energy. Rank F. Lv 1: Due to the bond between you and King, you can manipulate the summoning to make King into a basic set of chitin armour instead of summoning him. This armour has King’s armour rating and some of his stats get added to yours. This enables you to use ‘Pure Heart’ but the cooldown is increased to 24 hours even if King is summoned on his own. Cannot have both armour and King at the same time. Cost 50 sustain cost while Armour is active.

I stared at the thought of going around like a giant ant-man and fighting for justice. It would have to be some last-ditch effort or somewhere I felt strong because that sustain cost meant I would have 5 Energy to my name while it was on.

“You get so many cool upgrades! My Mouse form didn’t level or Haven since I didn’t use them but Prayer and my Bondage skill went way up. Prayer even said it was even ready to evolve! Bondage said that gave me some dexterity,” Maria listed.

She tilted her head.

“I was told that my summoned whip can be layered over items with a similar shape so I can boost the skill and still use my new chain,” she smiled.

“Besides that, I only got a new skill called ‘Throwing’. I guess it's from chucking all the mutant things out the window,” she finished up. I was glad to hear about her progress but advised to wait until she was going to sleep before upgrading the skill or back at the Tunnel.

“They feel worse than Gems,” I grimaced at the memory as I looked at my remaining windows.

By defeating the boss of the Malice Zone, PING, you have completed the Malice Zone: Midnight Trainyard. Zone is closed and Malice is lowered within all area of the ground.

By ignoring the laid out method to fighting PING (using a cart to launch range spells and damage the core at front), you activated the ‘End of the Line’ hidden fight by facing PING directly at his CPU wall.

You can now choose a reward for making a G-2 Malice Zone closer to a G-5!

-While within the trainyard be able to bring forth feral Gremlins to attack all they see. They will not attack you.

-Double down on attracting Good Spirits for more powerful growths that may even be beyond normal.

-Focus energy into the first seed planted on grounds by User. Instead of general growth, extra energy will flow to this seed. This seed will take on many properties and will no doubt be special.

I told Maria the options and she gave me a long look.

“Gremlins are demons. No to them. I’ve seen green growth. It’s not too bad now but if that really kicks off, you’ll have everyone from three blocks away seeing it and what if can’t grow out but has to grow up. A contained forest means you’ll have to ditch the area,” she pointed out.

“And a giant tree from a magic seed won’t?” I replied. Maria shrugged.

“Bury it in your tunnel. I doubt the System would make it a bitch to handle,” she shrugged.

“System, what rank would the seed basically be?” I asked and the System flickered.

Once energy begins to seep in, the Seed will be treated as a F-rank at minimal. It will also have potential for growth beyond this. The double spirits mean any growth is at their whims and they might help against Hollows or such but they might also be likely to seen as food by the Hollows.

System is merely saying that the Nature Spirits are mostly concerned about balance and their plants. If you aid them you would be most likely rewarded but System cannot known what they might offer.

“We can grow the garden and attract them by effort if we want but a mutant seed is kinda cool sounding,” Maria pointed out. Maria had been a huge help and I decided to get input from King.

He stared at me for a long time before he looked to Maria, agreeing with her. It was like he didn’t want his garden being taken from him by the spirits...

“Seed it is,” I clicked.

Awaiting chosen seed on site.

For defeating PING (End of Line Mode) you have Earned 300 EXP!

Maria’s eyes went glazed as her pupils glowed for a moment.

“Ding?” I asked and she blinked at me. I was still 441/500. Very close.

“Yeah, I’m just gotta do more Faith with two points and boost Dex with the last one,” she said, eyes still distant. She said this and blinked as faint screens I couldn’t read appeared. It seemed my Observe... was having some interesting passive effects or was that just Maria trusting me?

“Oh, it says I have 10 faith so I get to choose a path to focus on! Oh, I’ve been so damn excited to get one of these!” she giggled and read them out for me.

For someone who was on terms with the J-man, I expected a higher faith.

System gave me a window Maria couldn’t see.

Faith is about the ability to use and command their deities power, not about belief

“-path to develop along. Path one is called: Iron Maiden: It gives all my faith skills a damage bonus effect to unholy, sinful, and beings of darkness. It says I already have undead damage with faith and light!” she read and then moved on to the second one.

“The second path is called: The Avatar,” she said confused. I blinked.

“Every 3 levels I get a skill which allows me to use the Heavenly Host in battle. However, each being requires a certain action of me or rite of passage. I would be held to a strict set of moral codes,” she read.

“It does say its retroactive so I get one as I pick it,” she frowned and went quiet to look at her options.

“I can give you advice but this is your power and future. Take your time,” I said gently. Maria blew out a sigh.

“There’s a good reason we don’t look for Angels. They help us in dark times but they aren’t a being that we understand. If I bring one down, I could go mad or upset them if they think some humans is messing with the warriors of God. Most... don’t look like men and women with wings either,” she said and rubbed her nose.

“But if they would help... it would be like closer to God. I’d be working with the very Angels I pray to. I could use their wisdom or guidance,” she said as if weighing this up.

Maria shrugged.

“I wouldn’t mind doing extra damage but screw it. I wanna say I got the J-man in my corner and mean it,” she declared and I think she hit the second path.

There was a sudden stillness to the air.

“Enjoying your food and drinks?” the smiling teen from before asked. We looked up as everyone looked frozen in the joint. The boy from before also looked slightly different.

Outside the window, the world had frozen. Birds in mid-flight, cars stopped people like statues.

“Did you stop... time?” I asked wide-eyed. The boy smiled kindly.

“No, that would be an astronomical use of power which I don’t have. I just sped us up within a confined bubble so we’re moving much faster!” he announced. Maria was looking pale.

“You’re not the guy who served us, are you?” I decided to play along. The man touched the name tag which was said to be ‘Ginko’.

“Not exactly I just sort of borrowed his body for a short while. Do not worry, he gave consent which he’ll forget when I leave. Possession is a demon’s gig after all!” the boy chuckled and pulled a stool closer to sit at our table.

“I am Gabriel,” he introduced. Maria choked.

“The archangel?” she whispered. Gabriel grinned as if caught out.

“Not the one you know. One of the firsts fell a long time ago. I took up his virtue and the name is more like a title now. I was originally a man called ‘Gregory Hill’. Heaven is a complex place with many tiny little things. But enough of me. I came because we got an odd connection with our Virtues Armoury which was of the highest authorisation!” he said with amazement.

Maria was wide-eyed and I was also shocked. Greg or Gabriel tilted his head.

“I guessed telling you a fabled warrior like Gabriel is dead would be a shock but Maria Mercy, worry not. We continue the good fight in God’s light,” he promised her. He eyed something and frowned.

“I do not have much time. Co-soul sharing works the better good person is but my power will begin to harm the young man if I dally too long,” he warned and went on without waiting for a response.

“Heaven is an afterlife where the powerful can become angels. Their weapons are specialised armour called ‘Virtues’. We store most unused or broken ones in the Armoury. Maria Mercy, you suddenly developed clearance with our system to use these weapons which is why I had to rush down here to prevent... misuse and understand,” he frowned.

“Only the Lord can cut it now and so I decided to take it as a sign that you are picked by God for reasons not clear to us,” he stated.

“God is real? Like a person?” I leaned in. The man’s face was blank and the eyes... were solid white.

“It was before my time but God did one day walk among us. He will return and his words can still reach the highest of order but I must go. Understand we will be watching, Maria Mercy. These Virtues are not to be misused or they will bring terrible destruction,” he said, frowning even harder as he talked.

He stood and looked down with a sigh.

“I must go. This land is not welcoming to us and even now, I may be over stepping boundaries of our rights,” he grimaced.

“Curious children... I will return,” he said as if the conversation wasn’t what he expected.

Which was weird since we barely had said anything. The boy slumped as the world became alive once more.

Maria was staring, she was holding her cross. I turned to the waiting notification.

Soul scan rebuffed. Deemed too invasive. Ties to System hidden successfully from Holy charged spirit. Demonslayer888 accidentally covered and protected. System is clumsy. Attempts to hack and sever System access is now at 7670 attempts. Percent at success? System would have to waste an hour listing the zeros. Please enjoy your meal! Wasted food is a sin!

“I forget that you are a sort of God at times,” I mumbled as the confused server took our trash with a weak smile. I wanted to tip but I knew it could be offensive.

System is no God. She’s just a hard worker with a job to look after her User.

Maria was looking at the space Gabriel had been.

“Angels die... people become them? Weapons?” she said ever so quietly. Her eyes met mine.

“My Religion has been updated and no one told us,” she said in dismay then her smile appeared

“We have cool weapons now? Yes!” she fist-pumped into the air.

“Your stages of grief over the illusion of your faith passed fast,” I said amused. She shrugged.

“Fought demon train. Angel dude appeared. Life is a game but also real. Russ, I am dealing with bombshells like I am bomb shelter. I got backed up shock for fucking days,” she stated bluntly.

She stood up.

“I want another burger. Angel man super sped mine so it was cold,” she grumbled.

---

Maria’s earned skill was called ‘Sinseeker’. She had a look at it as I rushed I us out the area. I bought a bit more food and she tried it out once we got back to the Tunnel. In her hand, a golden eye on thin wings hovered. Maria’s own left eye was covered in a golden eye patch.

“It’s an angel drone’,” I said dryly. Maria hummed.

“It’s responsive to my thoughts. It’s picking up things like heat,” she said and played with it as if it were a new toy. I let her be distracted.

I was too focused on the idea of Heaven was playing with drones and could instantly detect us and appear.

“System, can we be tracked because of that skill?” I asked.

No. System’s initial connection was done perfectly but they tracked the last location of the outgoing source before System patched the security. Even if Maria uses her summons, the item will be lost through System process and appear to Maria. Only if used in a large amount and to a great extent will they be able to scan for it but System knows they cannot follow into a Malice Zone.

“If she uses it in the real world then shes a target,” I pointed out.

Levelling the skill improves spirit control and would rapidly mutate it to a version unknown to the Heavenly order. They cannot track what they do not have an understanding of.

Fair enough.

I had to imagine what would happen if I had a desire and means to train to be a Reaper... I might actually get connected to their gates or steal one of their nameless blades. It was basically what the System had just done to the Heavenly Order except Maria returned the item.

Not that I did. Using a tool where someone knows the name and power of the blade at any time while another power to erase names? It was basically asking to be bitchslapped by that arrogant Ichibei.

I didn’t like the man and I had no desire to use anything he named. I still felt rankled that Renji Abarai’s Zanpakuto spirit decided he wasn’t ready for the true Bankai but Ichibei spat on that right of Zabimaru and just told Renji it anyway.

But that was a long way away and even though I didn’t remember the true name, it was still annoying in a way but I knew the need for all the power at the time was important.

So no Zanpakuto for me.

It was one chain too many to that lot.

Maria cancelled the skill when I told of her of the tracking and having nothing better to do... she upgraded her Prayer skill.

Maria looked puzzled and then tried to smile. She fell backwards, unconscious a moment later and I went to her side in a panic as her eyes fluttered closed. I put her jacket under her head and wished I had some healing power...

I chewed an apple in thought. I could crush a gem and go for green? See if I get something? I chewed and chewed.

White gems... what did I need?

I had so many skills that I honestly needed more training than more skills but if the gems were there... maybe I should give one to King via Blue? He damn deserved it.

I threw my apple core over my shoulder as I pulled out one of the white gems. I went to squeeze for a Blue when I noticed something odd. The tunnel was... illuminated more than my Purity Stones normally did. I turned to see King melting the apple causing the seeds to fall out in mid-air and falling into one of the many holes he had dug out of boredom.

Apple seed planted. Energy gathering...

Oh no...

I swear to God and gods that if a talking snake came with this tree... I was going to set it on fire. A sprout appeared out the ground and shuddered.

“Oh that wasn’t too bad,” I mused. The trembling leaves went still and drooped before it cracked the ground and stretched up with a groaning creaking noise as green sprout turned to hardwood.

Branches went up air holes and leafs vined cross the ceiling until a solid smallish tree was in the middle of my tunnel.

You have grown: Apple Tree

This tree produces slightly magical apples as long as the ground is kept clean and it intakes clean water. May be fed odd magical ingredients to evolve it.

Well... my tunnel was looking pretty nice now. It also smelled of sweet apples.

On the downside. I now had a magical apple tree. It pretty much meant I was... rooted to this base to support it. King was looking at it and the mess it had caused. He chittered annoyed and went to clean up the dirt. The tree actually seemed to shiver as King was near.

“I’m going to call you ‘Cider’,” I decided. The tree just sprouted tiny little things that slowly swelled in size. That was when Maria woke up and saw what I had done.

“Oh God... was I out for 20 years?!” she demanded.

“I’m sorry, Maria. The system made me ageless. You missed 40 years and an Ice-age,” I said seriously. Maria touched her face in horror when she saw how smooth her skin was and saw me cracking up.

“Ass!” she roared and I had to run around my new tree to escape her chain.

“Come back here and let me shove an original sin up your ass!” she screamed.

I hoped she would scream this at a villain one day and I would be there to see it.

It would almost be worth risking the plot for it.