It took another two days before Nichol was allowed to be discharged from the hospital and during the entire extent of his confinement, aside from the people from RD, he was also visited twice by his friend Denzel and his Mom, though in both occasions they could not stay long to accompany him due to their own difficulties as well, primarily his Dad’s treatment, and then once by Mr. Drew.

Though on Mr. Drew’s part, his visit has another objective aside from gratitude and checking his wellbeing.

“Soldiers wants to recruit you.” Was what he said. And they’re offering a handsome signing bonus too, he also added.

Well that was to be expected. He already proved his capability as a Ranger after he singlehandedly defeated a Level 4 Werewolf despite being a newly awakened Level 1. His Rank is also more or less irrelevant because he’s a Specialist-type. Any decent guild would covet such a diamond in the rough especially Soldiers right now after losing three Level 2 Rangers.

Still, despite the offer, his reply was to give him time to adjust to everything first before he can give a decision especially that his registration is even still under process.

Mr. Drew empathized with him but of course, that was just an excuse.

Regaining the memories of his former life and affixing it to the life that he had in this era, Nichol developed a total dislike over the idea of working under an organization again. Whether it’s a Guild, a company, etc., he has no desire to ever be part of any network again that will just exploit him.

In this era, it is his life, his rule. He’s sick and tired of it being otherwise.

Unfortunately, there’s one network which he can never ditch no matter what.

The Akashic System…

______________________________

[ONE ABOVE ALL | Level 1]

*The Power of Your Mind is Limitless*

Each Skill Level-Up will develop your Cerebral Capacity by 10%.

One Above All is a maturing-type Innate Skill. Instead of adapting the Ranger’s Level, it independently advance to the next Level after a certain period of time.

Countdown before Level 2: 24 days, 18 hours, 10 minutes, 50 seconds

For your body to endure the 20% Cerebral Capacity, you must enhance your Stats to the following minimum:

25 Strength, 20 Dexterity, 30 Vitality

Failure may result to DEATH due to the disparity between your Physical State and Cerebral Capacity.

______________________________

…and that deadly inconvenience brought by the Innate Skill it had awakened in him.

When Nichol discovered this, he was furious and cursed the Akashic System.

______________________________

[Status Window]

Name: Nichol Schade

Age: 18

Condition: Healthy

Level: 1 [Mana: 12]

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 11

Vitality: 13

Intelligence: [unidentifiable]

Innate Skill(s): [SENTINEL], [ONE ABOVE ALL]

______________________________

Everything was already perfect. Sen is back, he’s free, the world is still in a bad shape but at least it’s not in ruins. He’d awakened into a Ranger, placing him among the privileged. Then though he and Sen had lost their former abilities – he no longer have his Answer Sense and he’s not as smart as before too while Sen is no different to an A.I. pet right now – with a little improvement, they can either be outstanding weapon developers or information brokers. Either way, they can make a fortune and live the life they never had.

But then this came along, the only flaw to their promising future.

One Above All is great and all and Nichol could foresee the might it can display once it reaches the higher tiers, but to force them to bet their lives to tread this path is too much to ask!

Nichol acknowledged this reality eventually but prior to that, he was sour for hours. Then, the first thing he did after recomposing himself was to devise the most efficient path to resolve this ordeal. For starters was physical exercises while he was still confined in the hospital. The increase to his Strength Stat was a meagre couple hundredth decimal but progress is progress regardless how small especially under that situation.

However now that he’s out, the real operation will commence and his prospect to achieve his objectives is towards the business of the most indispensable commodity known to man.

Information.

Aside from physical exercises while he was still confined in the hospital, Nichol had also explored the strength and limitations of Sen at his current state.

As it turns out, Sen’s level as an Innate Skill does not actually dictate the extent of his functions. What it dictates, on the other hand, are the exact functions he can execute.

Just like any A.I. or supercomputer ever created, they are programmed for an specific function and the extent of that function is dependent to the number of their processing power or in other words, the number of their servers.

Right now, Sen’s sole server is Nichol and the processing power he can provide is insufficient for Sen to extend his reaches. They needed something that can. Something more powerful, bigger.

That’s why they’re about to infiltrate OreTech (Oregon Technologies), the Data Center responsible for the computer systems for 30% of Oregon’s hospitals and pharmacies including the hospital where Nichol was confined. These establishments are high-end and more importantly, high-performing, due to the Maze related injuries and casualties, so the amount of servers OreTech provide are plenty.

As for Sen’s available functions at his current level as a Level 1, thanks to the Akashic System’s unscientific influence, Sen has [CONNECT] as his Passive function which grants him the ability to wirelessly piggyback to all forms of electronics. His only limit is the strength of his servers.

The other two are [LIBRA] and [SHAMBLES].

Libra allows them to scan everything within their field of vision and appraise details from everything that’s within sight, while Shambles, the same ability they exercised during the Level 4 Werewolf incident, enables them to disassemble and reassemble electronics in a telekinetic manner.

Unfortunately, in this intel gig they’re cooking, Sen doesn’t have the crucial Analysis function yet which would have allowed him to simultaneously sort and analyse the immense amount of feeds that they could gather, enabling them to anticipate several forthcoming events.

Hence, they would have to rely to the alternative for now which is doing it manually.

“Shambles!”

Nichol activated Shambles and the scraps and batteries on his hand was rearranged into a robot sparrow which he sent to the OreTech building. Once it successfully infiltrated the establishment, it stealthily glided, evading the rotating securities and surveillance cameras, to reach a computer unit. Accomplishing that, it proceeded to the final phase which is to Connect Sen into their system.

When Sen reached their servers and the connection was successfully established, the recoil of plugging themselves into an immense cluster of processing power was akin to being hammered on the head, jerking Nichol to curse, “Fuck!”

-Are you alright? (Sentinel)

Sen worriedly asked when Nichol grabbed his head all of the sudden.

“Yeah I’m fine,” Nichol replied after gasping. “Let’s go now.”

He ordered the robot sparrow to self-destruct and they head next to the nearest junkyard.

Ideas and innovations progressed mankind to new heights but in the end, they are nothing but immaterial daydreams if there are no raw materials that can physically manifest them. For others, it’s a gigantic pain in the ass. They needed people, massive funds, and connections to manifest their ideas but for Nichol, the privilege granted to him by his Innates exempts him of those difficulties and hence, even the scraps from a junkyard are more than enough for him.

It’s also practical since he doesn’t have much money anyway.

After paying the junkyard’s keeper, he is given an hour to take whatever he can carry and Nichol head immediately to the section where the cars, gadgets, and game consoles are piled. With Shambles, Nichol was also able to collect the parts he needed without the unnecessary excesses.

When he was done, his bag and the cart he brought were filled to the brim. Then finally, he head home.