Chapter 172| Fine Print

Chapter 172: Chapter 172| Fine Print

Zane waved Sera off at the girls’ dorm gate and watched her cross the lawn with her hood up until the lamps swallowed her. Then he turned toward the boys’ block with his hands in his pockets and the whole day sitting on his shoulders.

’Man,’ he thought. ’What a day.’

『 System Note: The host handled it well. 』

’For sure,’ Zane thought, lifting his chin a little. ’I’m the one and only Zane Calloway.’

『 The system will not dispute that. It will also not inflate it. 』

He climbed the stairs two at a time and pushed the door of Room 714 open with his shoulder.

Dex sat at the desk with his laptop open and his headband pushed up into his hair, clicking through a folder with the concentration of a surgeon. On the screen, a girl in a tiny red bikini lay on a beach with her hands behind her head, her breasts doing most of the work in the frame. In the corner of the desktop, three more thumbnails of the same kind were stacked in a column.

"Oh, you’re back," Dex said, not looking away from the screen.

"Don’t remind me," Zane said, dropping his bag by the door. "It’s been a long day."

Zane glanced at the laptop. He wasn’t surprised. He wasn’t even disappointed.

"Had to update the layout," Dex said, with a satisfied smirk. He dragged one of the pictures onto the desktop and let it settle. "The collection never gets old, you know."

"That’s one word for it," Zane said.

He dropped onto his bed and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. For a minute the room was quiet except for Gerald’s wheeze and the faint click of Dex’s mouse. Then a thought surfaced, slow and a little guilty.

’It’s been a while since I checked Dex,’ he thought.

He lowered his hands.

’System. Dex’s familiarity.’

『 DEX — Familiarity: 100% 』

’A hundred,’ Zane thought. He considered it for a second and shrugged. ’Not surprised. If Maren can be at a hundred, then Dex, my pervy buddy, sure can.’

『 The system notes this is a stronger bond than most of the host’s romantic interests. 』

’Ewww,’ Zane thought, wrinkling his nose. ’That’s a rude thing to say about my love life.’

『 It is accurate. 』

Another line slid into view underneath, soft and gold.

『 FAMILIARITY CEILING REWARD — AVAILABLE 』

『 Source: Dex. Claim? 』

’Claim it,’ Zane thought.

『 Processing... 』

He waited for the usual wave. A new Sigil, a rank-up, a fat jump in output. Instead the notification flickered and shrank.

『 REWARD: Impact Breaker +5% output 』

『 Impact Breaker: B-rank 30% → B-rank 35% 』

『 System Note: The reward is minor. The source Sigil has already been developed close to its limit. 』

’Minor,’ Zane thought. ’A hundred percent of a friendship, and all I get is five.’

『 The system did not specify a conversion rate between friendship and output. 』

’Just give me whatever you’ve got,’ he muttered, and let it close.

Beneath it, so small he nearly missed it, a second notification sat in the corner of his vision. A grey box, no gold, no chime. He’d seen it once and slid right past it.

"You’re muttering," Dex said, glancing over his shoulder.

"Thinking," Zane said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Out loud, with your mouth." Dex raised an eyebrow.

"It’s a talent," Zane replied, with a straight face.

Dex snorted and went back to his wallpapers.

Zane stared at the grey box.

’Might as well see what this is,’ he thought.

He opened it.

『 KINETIC FORCE — OUTPUT CEILING NOT APPLIED 』

『 Source: Nyx Hale — Familiarity: 32% — Stranger tier 』

『 Tier ceiling: B-rank 40% 』

『 Current applied output: B-rank 20% (bonus only) 』

『 Apply tier ceiling? Host approval required. 』

Zane read it twice. The second time slower.

"What the fuck," he said out loud.

"What?" Dex asked, swivelling.

"Nothing. Stubbed my toe."

"You’re lying down."

"It was a mental toe."

Dex gave him a long, dubious look and turned back around.

’System,’ Zane thought. His jaw had gone tight. ’You intentionally made me start at zero percent?’

『 The system did not make the host start at zero. The system issued the notification at the moment of acquisition. The host dismissed it. 』

’I dismissed it?’

『 The host read "Output: 0%" and concluded that was the Sigil’s ceiling. The system does not apply tier ceilings without host approval. This was stated. 』

’It was stated in a box I never opened.’

『 The system is not responsible for the host’s ignorance. 』

’Damn,’ Zane thought, staring at the ceiling. ’Always unaccountable.’

『 The system is simply accurate. 』

He lay there for a second, rolling it around. Three weeks of sparring with Nyx at the bottom of the barrel. The sphere in Arena One. The three-second hold. All of it done with a Sigil that had been sitting at half what it could have been, because he hadn’t pressed a button.

『 The host should know the following improvement patterns in his sigils. 』

Tier. Familiarity Output ceiling

Stranger. Under 35%. 40%

Acquaintance. 35-70%. 60%

Genuinely close. 70%+. 90%

’Okay,’ he thought. ’Let me look at the number properly.’

He pulled up Nyx’s stat.

『 NYX HALE — Familiarity: 32% — Stranger tier 』

『 3% remaining to Acquaintance tier. 』

’Three,’ he thought. ’Still three.’

The grey box blinked again.

『 Apply tier ceiling to Kinetic Force? 』

『 Kinetic Force: B-rank 20% → B-rank 60% (40% tier ceiling + 20% bonus) 』

『 Yes / No 』

He stared at the sixty.

’Yes,’ he thought.

Heat bloomed in the middle of his chest. It wasn’t painful, but it was heavy, like someone had opened a door he’d been leaning on and the whole room behind it had come pouring through. The thin thread he’d been carrying for days thickened until it felt less like a thread and more like a rope.

He sat up.

『 KINETIC FORCE — B-rank 60% — Applied 』

’Sixty,’ Zane thought. ’It was always going to be sixty.’

『 It was always going to be forty. The reward is a separate matter. The host is welcome. 』

’I’m not thanking you.’

『 The system did not ask. 』

"Hey," Dex said.

Zane looked up.

Dex had turned around with a chip held between two fingers and a very small, very wicked grin. He’d clearly been planning this for a while.

"You’ve been weird all week," Dex said. "Let’s see if you’re still fast."

He flicked the chip.

It flew straight at Zane’s face.

Zane’s hand came up before he’d decided anything. A soft pressure folded out of his palm, quick and flat as a pane of glass, and the chip hit it, tilted, and slid along an invisible slope into the wall beside his head with a tiny crackle.

Neither of them said anything.

"Did you just dodge a chip?" Dex asked slowly.

"Reflexes."

"You didn’t dodge it. You didn’t move."

"Good reflexes."

"That’s not what I..." Dex stopped. He looked at the chip on the floor, then at Zane’s palm, then at Zane. The easy grin faded into something more careful. He’d looked at Zane that way in the cafeteria, and again on the east wall.

"Hmm," Dex said at last, scratching his jaw. "Maybe it was my eyes."

"Probably," Zane said, shrugging.

Dex turned back around and picked up his mouse. "Either way, if you ever want to tell me something say it out loud, I’ll be here with my bikini girls and no judgment."

Zane almost smiled. "Thanks, Dex."

"Don’t thank me," Dex said, not looking up. "Get a new wallpaper."

Zane lay back down.

On the ceiling, the lamplight slid its usual pale stripes. Gerald wheezed. The mouse clicked. Somewhere out there, Hollis had left a card on a crate, and a girl with a blue ponytail was counting down the days.

’Sixty percent,’ he thought. ’And three percent from Acquaintance.’

He tried to imagine what Nyx’s face would do when she saw what he could do now.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to.