Tenner couldn’t tell if it was the perk-sickness or the rancid smell of The Wonderful Yellow’s bathroom that kept him throwing up.

He’d slept for three hours and kneeling in front of the graffiti-covered toilet felt like three more.

Wiping his face, he got up. Throwing up sucked and he did a lot of it since getting the CHEK. The bathroom door opened into the backrooms -- he navigated them to the meeting room with the crystal.

Chisel, satisfied, tapped the keypad on the table and screens appeared in his vision, brighter than they’d always been.

[Congratulations! Private job completed! Reward: 150C$]

[Congratulations! LVL up | Reward: +3 Intelligence; +2 Luck; +2 Strength; +5 Endurance; +2 Eyesight; +2 Charisma | Extra features | Increased natural regeneration by 20% | + to All Perks]

[Congratulations! Gained perk: Private Eye]

[Congratulations! Upgraded perk: Predator III now Predator IV ]

[Congratulations! Gained perk: Elevated]

[Congratulations! LVL up | Reward: +1 Intelligence; +2 Luck; +3 Strength; +2 Endurance; +2 Eyesight; +1 Charisma | Extra features | Increased natural regeneration by 5% | + to All Perks]

“Can I use your secret passage today?” Tenner asked. “Or tonight? I thought I would do more jobs for you, but this Realm is beyond saving…”

Chisel sighed, signaled for one of her henches to take the lootbag and sipped on coffee in a pint--a drink Tenner had seen on TV. “Calm down, boy,” she said. “You finished the job. Many don’t. The product’s in good condition and you are too… Mostly!”

“But I need to get out of here.”

“Understand, the priest is only scaring--”

“No!” Tenner slammed his foot on the ground. “Nothing can scare me. But there’s a damn priest and a bounty hunter after me. I can’t become the greatest in a place where half the weapons are pointed at me and every pair of eyes is staring…” He trailed off and observed his surroundings.

The bar’s backrooms were in check. Employees minded their business, keeping the place running. It always seemed like a safe spot, but experience had proven quite the opposite. Chisel tried drinking more of the coffee, but only the last remaining drop entered her mouth.

“No need to look around -- I know it’s safe. And everything we say is private.”

“And I know that’s wrong.” Tenner hissed.

Chisel’s face contorted into a “what did you see on that job?” look. Yet she kept her lips sealed and a moment later, sighed those words away. “You’re facing a classic problem, boy.” She put the pint down. “You’re a rat in a cage and the cage is on fire.”

“Rat?” Tenner mumbled. I don’t care about my problems -- I need to get out of here.

“Cool off, it’s a metaphor. I’ve never really been in a situation like yours, but the mastermind world has many equivalents. I’ll help you.”

She’s gonna have me do another damn job for her, Tenner thought. She’ll promise it’ll be the last one every time. Finally, instead of letting me out of this Realm, she’ll call Kristus.

“The only help I need is a way out of this Realm. Or CHEK Extensions. Or lots of credits.”

“Sorry, I can’t let you use our passages, but thinking I am and those thoughts are leading me to something interesting.”

Tenner dropped his hand to the table. “I can’t put off being screwed. Guess I’ll have to face those screwdrivers face to face…”

“You can run and stay, boy. Just because you’re hunted doesn’t mean you have to hunt back. A journey as dangerous as killing the priest leaving the Realm is. No matter what, you have to build your stats.”

“I said I can’t go out on the streets.”

“And you don’t need to fix others’ relationships by hunting street bounties. Ultimates exist and I’ll lead you to one.”

“Ultimates?” Tenner’s brow furrowed. He kept the question of what favor he’d have to do to get Chisel’s offering silent, but the answer would come soon. It had to.

“When you finish a contract you get a message like ‘minor public bounty claimed’, right? Well, ‘Ultimate’ is short for ‘Ultimate private bounty claimed’. As you guess, they’re pretty hard. And they don’t appear on the worldwide nor the nearby bounties screen -- twentieth level masterminds assign them personally.”

“I should find high level masterminds and do their Ultimates?”

“Blackglove was already notorious when he did his first.”

“Blackglove?”

Gi had mentioned the name, as well as the streets.

“A legendary bounty hunter,” Chisel said. “Actually, more than that. He’s the bounty hunter and a name so great most don’t speak it because everything about it has been said. That’s your competition.”

Who I need to kill to remove soon to be from soon to be greatest bounty hunter.

“You, with your current level, won’t even get accepted by a mastermind for a chance at a quick death. So you’ll hunt and build yourself up where Kristus can’t see,” she continued. “Say hello to the slums. They’ll be your friend.” She put a chip on the table.

“A map?”

“Of Realm 224. I marked the spot in the slums, a fortress you can take down, and a few other places of interest, like where some contracts hide.”

Well? Tenner stared at her for a while. What do you need from me?

But Chisel stayed quiet. In fact, she started being uncomfortable. “What?” she snapped. “Got questions?”

“This is free?”

“I don’t see a price tag on it or a scanner in my hand.”

“Got a thing and don’t even have to do a job. Yay,” Tenner said then watched her reaction. Chisel nodded. What the fuck? He leaned back in his chair. “Alright -- why are you helping me?!” Is this compensation for lying to me about the passage out of the Realm?

“Because… You proved yourself as someone trustworthy. Someone to who I can give a gift without regretting it.” She scratched her short hair. “Gi’s a great friend and I guess he brought in someone who could be another. Don’t get me wrong, you’re both still absolutely off the fucking rails, but that I can overlook -- it’s not exactly like this world’s sane either.”

A gift.Just a gift. Damn weird. Tenner thought and slid the chip under his belt. “I haven’t seen Gi around in a while…”

“He’s in deep shit and I’m scheming to save my bar. Chaos doesn’t lend a lot of free time.”

An overview of the whole city started glowing in his view. Finally, a smile formed on his face.

“If you want it connected to your CHEK, ask Gi -- I ain’t a craftswoman.”

Tenner scanned the city, zooming into the details of the smallest buildings. The map was by far better than the one showcasing Realm 349s under-mechanisms. Even a large part of the streets were color coded: the gray ones marked worthless alleys and calm passages, red let Tenner know that the street tended to be crowded and purple meant danger, whilst a spectrum of other shades represented specific scenarios.

“May you draw all aces.” Tenner hurried to his feet. From his lungs, up his throat and out of his mouth, a “thanks” came out. It burned his tongue but cheered up the mastermind.

Tenner exited the backroom and stopped in front of a table. There sat Sam Doctor, pint in hand, arguing with himself.

“Use Tenshot’s tab. Should be big. Though I’m not sure if you’ll get drinks if you come at four in the morning.”

“Good fucking news!” The hench slammed his pint on the table. His voice changed. “It’s not good fucking news -- you’re an alcoholic.” He froze and his normal tone returned. “Don’t you call me an alcoholic you dumbass. A free fucking drink is a free drink.” He tapped Tenner’s shoulder and jogged to the counter.

After a moment, Tenner decided to sit at the counter too. A few of the seats were unoccupied--The Wonderful Yellow was more bearable early in the evening, before a sea of drunks and runaways flooded the bar, then soon, its floors with vomit. Also, working with a rebellious stomach was a bad idea.

The green-haired bartender hopped in front of Tenner. Her nimble hands cleared away a stack of empty bottles and pints from the counter. Last time he’d seen her, she was as far from such a bartending machine as a person could be.

“Name’s Grace. Whatcha want?” She asked.

“Food,” Tenner said.

“Any food?”

“Any.”

Grace crouched and rummaged under the counter. A scanner scanned Tenner, taking away a few credits from his balance -- the bartender stood up and plopped down a red can of Super Nutrition.

Tenner gripped the warm metal. As the can opened, it shifted into a plate under the blob of food it contained.

“I’ve seen you a few times,” she said, filling up someone else’s drink. “Always with Chisel.”

“I’ve seen you too,” Tenner spoke with a mouth full of food. “Wasted on the ground.”

“Eh, well when you get a job like this, you tend to abuse the bonuses you get. Just like my brother used to…” she trailed off, focusing on something in the distance.

“He went a little overboard?”

“I… guess? Haven’t seen him in a while,” the bartender said. “In two years-- forget it, I shouldn’t have said that. Want a drink with your meal?”

Tenner shook his head. “What’s his name?”

“Why would you want to know?”

“I might know him. Bounty hunters travel more than bartenders.”

“You really think you know a Cauldron?” Grace looked sideways at Tenner.

“Absolutely not.” Tenner finished his quick meal and wiped his mouth. “Maybe one day I will.” He turned around in his seat. Deja vu struck him. For a moment, Tenner sat with his jaw dropped before the memory returned: he sat in this exact same spot when Gi pulled that prank on him and they had to run away from Chisel’s presence.

But the deja vu was from something else. That’s it. Tenner hiked towards the exit. At that moment, a shady individual with a hooded suit crashed into him. Or better put, Tenner crashed into them -- the damn lunarist sat at a table, minding his business.

The collision resulted in a quick onslaught of curses and the falling of the individual to the ground. The shady person struggled to stand up for a moment then faced Tenner.

“You a got a problem--”

Heart throbbing, Tenner pulled the man closer and whispered.

“Tell Kristus to shove that cross so deep his own ass that his eyes glow blue and wish him good luck finding me now. He’ll need it. But not as much as he’ll need when we face off again.”

The man scoffed. Tenner let go of his white CHEK, hanging from his neck, and left the bar The feeling of tons of gazes landed on his back. He observed The Bars closely. Nobody else followed him and nobody waited behind dark corners. His eyes focused on the flickering map.

As he crept to the slums, he opened his character screen.

[Name: Tenner

Username: Tenshot

Class: Bounty Hunter

Health: 377

Money: 60C$

LVL: 6

LVL EXP: 7

BP: --

Intelligence: 11

Charisma: 6

Luck: 13 (+1)

Eyesight: 11 (+6)

Reaction: 5 (+6)

(-)Dexterity: 7

(-)Stealth: 6 (+5)

(-)Strength: 10

(-)Endurance: 7 (+1)]

[Perks]

[Way of the Door Opener II (?)

Bonus: +1 Reaction; +8% chance to succeed in picking a lock; A greater understanding of opening doors]

[Fate Is My Weapon II (?)

Bonus: +1 Luck; 2% chance to impair surrounding CHEK’s physical skills; The ability to do the impossible]

[Predator IV (?)

Bonus: + 5 Stealth; -20% to the sound of footsteps; Being can achieve ultra focused states]

[Tenshot (?)

???????; ?????]

[I Fight Or I Die I (?)

Bonus: + 1 Endurance; Being can survive 1 damage attacks without losing health; ?????]

[Crafty Hands For A Crafty Being I (?)

Bonus: 2% easier for a being to come up with a crafting]

[Animal Tamer I (?)

Bonus: 10% to Non-C creatures’ liking of being; Being can call creatures]

[Being vs. Machine = Being (?)

Bonus: 30% to the damage dealt by being to machines]

[True Sneakiness IX (?)

Bonus: 45 second +9 boost to Stealth when activated]

[Elevated (?)

??????; ?????]

[Private Eye (?)

Bonus: 20% to being’s perception of unusual occurrences]

[Still As Death’s Gaze (?)

Bonus: +500% to regeneration when activated

Debuff: Being must stare into death and be still]