Stage

  Description: Spatial Favouritism, Set Construction, Scene Reconfiguration, Environmental Authority

  “I have no idea what that means,” I told the two women clinging to me after reading out the description for Stage. Aurin shrugged against my side, and Vivi let out a contemplative hum. “Gonna do one of those searches in an attempt to illustrate what's possible.”

  Things to highlight the potential use of the Stage Manifest through its exclusive use for less than 500 Dust. That I would actually use. Advertise to me, basically, why should I bother buying anything that uses Stage from you? Like, really sell it to me specifically.

  Sometimes you write something into a search engine and halfway through realize it doesn’t quite fit what you want, and then you start adding qualifiers to the point that it no longer looks like what you were searching for in the first place. And in those times, you just have to roll with the punches, accept your fate and submit the query.

  Aurin sniggered out a laugh from next to me as I added the fourth sentence to the search. I went to elbow her only for the slight shifting of my body to drive a lance of pain up my leg. I spent the next few seconds hiding that fact from my expression before checking the results.

  The first item was… huh. An exit sign that, when placed over a door, made it lead to the primary entrance to a building. By placing the sign and going through the door, you will find yourself standing outside the front door to the building.

  I could see a number of uses for that. No prison shall ever hold me again, unless I'm kept in a single, exitless room.

  I read it aloud for Vivi, but she didn't seem impressed, “If there's a wall, I can typically just go through there. Unless the building has a weird spatial anomaly applied to it, then I can see that being useful.”

  “Oh yeah, very inconspicuous. I'm sure nobody would notice the hole leading from the core of a megastructure to the exterior,” I replied before moving on.

  Next was a non-corporeal item in the form of an idea; I assumed this was going to be a theme with my manifests. Which was nice, being able to carry around anomalous objects in my head was a lot more convenient than shoving them in my pockets.

  This idea could then be spoken into the world around me, where it would lock onto the environment within one hundred metres. Within the area of effect, several people could be designated as priority characters. For the next thirty minutes, these priority characters would have an advantage in anything they try to do. The winds of luck would blow their way such that any action involving probability would have a better outcome.

  I had to assume this is what it meant by Spatial Favouritism. The idea that space itself will favour certain outcomes.

  This wouldn't help me if someone like Vivi decided to end my life, but giving my enemies the aiming capabilities of the bad guys in a movie would absolutely be useful. There were probably other potential interactions as well, like socialization, which was mostly based on probability, that would absolutely be affected.

  The last unique example it gave me was a coin. When the coin hit the floor, no matter where it landed, the scene would change to one that had been stored in the coin. It was only single-use, but I could alter the saved scene to be whatever I wanted it to be. Within reason, whatever that meant.

  From there, it was just a long list of items that did exactly what ‘environmental authority’ sounded like. They changed the environment in some way, either adding or removing parts of the scene or potentially even shifting the people present by adding or removing characters.

  I wasn't sure where the removed people would go, as the item listing didn't actually say that part. There were also significant limitations on who I could add, because it had to be plausible for someone to appear on stage; otherwise, the effect would do nothing. Or at least that was a limitation if I only spent five hundred Dust. I didn’t dare search beyond that amount, otherwise I knew I’d end up buying an expensive item that was functionally useless outside of a very specific purpose in which it was completely game-changing.

  My mind whirred with possibilities. While this wouldn’t give me any stopping power, I didn’t think anything I could buy would ever do that. This let me do something better. Set up a scene and manipulate it on the fly with my Aspect. Which meant I was no longer constrained to just altering people; I could also alter the stage I stood upon.

  “Lame, when would any of this ever be useful?” Vivi questioned as she pawed my shoulder, I shoved her off me into the dirt and used my System to see what was taking Aisling and Makesi so long, ignoring her screech of indignation.

  Ren: Hey, where are you two? Vivi and I have been awake for a while now. Are we going to close the rift any time soon?

  Ren: I’d come look for you but… well, you know.

  Makesi: On our way back now. Took a while to track down the rift. Is Vivi stable?

  That made sense. The trial, if you could even call it one, had gone rather poorly until I helped Xinyu breakthrough to a higher realm of cultivation. Not that I even knew if cultivation realms even applied to her or not

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Where did she go anyway? She was supposed to follow me, wasn't she?

  Ah, well, I’m sure she'll show up somewhere.

  Looking over at Vivi, she was lying on the ground in the fetal position, grumbling under her breath.

  Ren: Yup, she’s doing fine. Cya soon.

  Closing the System, I leaned back against the last standing wall of what had been a house that had been half dismantled before it was hit by a speeding Vivi and let out a long breath. Within a few minutes, footsteps were audible approaching along the broken stone tile.

  When Aisling rounded the corner, followed by Makesi, I waved my one free arm at them.

  “So what now? Are you gonna carry me over to the rift so I can get in on the reward or what?” I had no idea what the guidelines for closing them were. All I knew was that Makesi was closely involved.

  “Given the current conditions of the rift, we aren't on a time limit. I believe it may be worth getting you mobile again before we proceed,” Makesi replied. A large metal case appeared in front of him a moment later that he caught out of the air. “I would recommend buying one of the higher quality anesthetics before we proceed.”

  “We uh, performing a field amputation?” I asked.

  “You have an interface installed, no? That should be fairly easy to connect to given it was given the same dose that your brain was when you were touched by Dust. Do you have any preferences for a new leg?” he replied, unpacking the metal case that was filled with surgical equipment. “Before you ask, I'm certified by the REB to act as an interdimensional prostheticist.”

  I had never considered that I might one day have more cyberware installed than a basic interface. It was normally only the incredibly wealthy that got a chance to add chrome to their bodies. Or titanium I guess if you didn't want to get all cyberpunk about it. Adding actual chromium to your body in the form of implants would be a terrible idea.

  The only reason interfaces were free as well was so Atlas could track every citizen that was forced to get the free version given out at birth.

  “He gave me a new arm once, the thing was pretty snazzy once I started integrating some of my Manifests. Warp, especially, I could knock a bitch unconscious from half a kilometre away,” Vivi said, having transferred herself from the ground to hanging backwards off the wall at some point. Her almost simultaneously manic and depressive state seemed to be finally clearing up, “Something about how it's linked to your body means Stats apply… not that I think you'd have that problem. Your clothes look like you're ready to go on stage at an interplanetary opera.”

  “Uhh, right, okay, well I'm not doing this just out in the open,” I replied, opening up my System to make a purchase. I was happy to get a fancy new cybernetic leg, but even I had standards.

  Both for the leg and where I had it installed.

  “Oh don't worry, the tools are anomalously capable of preventing infection. We could perform this in a fetid swamp, and you'd—” Makesi started only to pause when the world around us changed. He was suddenly wearing the garb of a surgeon alongside Aisling, Aurin and Vivi were offstage somewhere.

  “There, this will last until the end of the operation. Oh, and the best part is it came with these!” I reached over the side of the table and pulled an injector vial designed for the port on the back of my head. Little vials of liquid heaven, Makesi said I could choose my preference, and it would be these ten out of ten times.

  Of course, I already made sure I couldn't feel pain while the operation took place. This was all for a very reasonable price, too. It seems that the fact that a necessary operation taking place in a theatre was on theme enough that it didn't require overwriting that much of reality.

  -250 Dust

  Dust: 1143

  “That is an interesting level of environmental control. Did you just restrict the other two from the room entirely?” Makesi asked, moving his box of tools to the table.

  “Oh, yeah, they should be outside somewhere. I couldn't forcefully remove them for the price I paid but Vivi was no longer psychotic so I figured she would accept. And was proven right apparently,“ I replied, then tapped my finger on the vial in my hand suggestively.

  “Okay, before we begin, do you know what you'd like for your leg's properties? If not, you might want to take the opportunity to search right now while I'm getting ready,” he added while Aisling helped him assemble what appeared to be a bone saw.

  “If we're doing this I want both legs replaced. Otherwise it will look weird,” I said before getting lost in The Stream, ignoring what sounded like a confused response.

  Dual cybernetic leg replacements that will hook up to my mind without fuss and that Makesi can easily work with. Looking for unique effects that blend both Showbill and Stage. Maximum cost of 1100 Dust.

  I was going to get more Dust as soon as we closed the rift so spending some now wasn’t that much of a problem.

  It took a little while of scrolling, because these were going to be my legs, obviously, I was going to be picky about them, but eventually I found exactly what I was looking for.

  A pair of cybernetic legs that enhanced my ability to be where I wanted to be, both physically and emotionally. Just by standing, I would convey a sense of authority to those around me, and while moving, the environment would cooperate with me, making my path far easier to traverse than it otherwise would have been.

  They would also make anyone who perceived me walking think I was doing it with regal poise. It would actually cost Dust to have that effect removed for some reason.

  I purchased the legs, which came in the form of lithe-looking feet and legs that appeared to have a soft external shell made of ivory, with gold accents. They also came with a pair of yellow heeled boots that were way fancier than they had any right to be. As if they were made for royalty in eighteenth century France.

  It didn’t say the order would come with those, but I wasn’t complaining about being given expensive footwear for free.

  -1100 Dust

  Dust: 43

  “Alright! I’m ready. Are you all good on your end, doc?” I asked Makesi.

  “You seem a lot less disturbed at the idea of losing your legs than I thought you would be,” he muttered.

  “Why would I want weak flesh-based legs?” I asked incredulously before inserting the tube into the slot on the back of my neck and depressing the plunger. My mind swirled away into an ocean of bliss for the second time today, my last sensation being pressure on the top of my leg as Makesi started sawing.

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