Turning around, I noted the fox was still sitting there. It tilted its head when I looked at it, but it was still failing to perceive my existence. Was it just a reaction to the changing sensory input of my attention, then? Interesting.

  I then looked at the others who had collapsed and noted that they all seemed to be having some kind of dream, which was probably how the trial was actually supposed to work, instead of my own cognition breaking down and trapping me in my own personally designed hell until I got over one of my insecurities.

  Yeah, that wasn't really a trial of virtue in my opinion.

  I checked Aurin's mental model quickly to ensure she was doing okay. Then closed and locked the box when I saw she was currently giddy with excitement.

  If that was her emotional state, then I wasn't in any rush to help them out.

  Unfortunately, I had more important things to worry about at the moment anyway. Such as the glowing box floating in front of me.

  The little screen was what appeared to be a contract with a little spot for my signature at the bottom.

  Scanning through the contract, I noted it looked both exactly like what I expected it would, and nothing like what I thought it might.

  The standard stuff was in here, signing would allow me to accept Contracts offered by the REB for a flat rate of Dust plus potential bonuses depending on the contract. I had to accept at least one Contract every 3590.641 days, so almost ten Earth years, in Nexus Standard Time, which was also known as one Tenure.

  There were conditions in which extra time was allowed between Contracts, such as in extenuating circumstances. There was a whole list of possible events where extra time was given, with the last being ‘as the REB sees fit to provide’.

  I'd have to ask Makesi how that worked, because they were definitely older than ten years old, but they definitely didn't meet any of those circumstances.

  Unless the world was within a few days of ending and they just hadn't bothered to inform me, the other cases didn't really apply.

  Unfortunately, he was stuck in a dream at the moment.

  I glanced over at him and took a look at his mental conceptualization, only to furrow my brows at what I saw. It was like his mental model had flipped. The savannah was filled with piles of corpses baking in the sun, and the office was empty of shadow people. I couldn't make out what species the corpses were. It was as if he couldn't decide. One moment, they were some kind of anthropomorphic birds, the next they were plant people, then something else in an endless shifting series.

  A single survivor dragged itself across the surface of the savannah, its body covered in wounds that never remained consistent over time, heading towards the horizon but never quite making it. Just walking on forever forward.

  That was kind of bleak and definitely a representation of trauma. I kind of wanted to hug the guy and tell him everything would be okay.

  Well, if I wanted his advice, I kind of needed him awake. Might as well see if I could insert myself into his trial and help him out.

  I walked over and squatted down next to where he lay, then started whispering aloud while I rolled him face up, “The lone survivor on their endless march through the wastes realized they weren’t quite as alone as he thought he was. The newest recruit, Ren, had survived and was ready to follow him on his journeys into the future.” One of the corpses near the survivor opened its eyes, and it was me. I pushed myself off the ground to join him walking across the savannah. The survivor didn’t even glance my way.

  I pulled Makesi’s eyes open and peered directly into them, then tried to sink into his mind, only for him to rebuff me violently. The survivor lashed out, decapitating my analogue. There was a flash in my vision, and pain lanced through my eyes.

  Hissing, I bent over and blinked, trying to get the burning feeling in my eyes to go away. I felt warm blood drip down from my tear ducts for the second time over the past few days.

  Except, unlike last time, I could see his mental model, so it wasn’t some kind of overload of information. His mental model just fucking cut my head off, likely out of some kind of trauma-based response.

  I could force the issue… maybe. But the cost would be immense, and he might break me in return while I was waiting for it to wear off.

  Vivi was right, lucidity wasn't a great cost for directly working with a cognitively affecting entity, which apparently includes some people. It left me vulnerable and unable to respond to backlash when I spent too much.

  With a sigh, I looked over the Contract again.

  All in all, it wasn't that bad. Like, sure, they would own my soul, but at least I got vacation time.

  I’d also learn how to speak in System Default, which I assume is what Vivi and Makesi were speaking when I first met Makesi.

  Holding my hand up, a pen appeared in it as if it had always been there. I signed my one and only name on the dotted line.

  A bright flash of light blinded me as a loud crack resounded through the air.

  Through my body, I felt lines of pleasure rushing through my skin towards my head. Looking down at myself, I was covered in little golden lines. They didn’t follow any sort of pattern that I understood.

  There was a rush in my head, and a wave of vertigo washed over me. The screen floating in front of me changed its wording.

  SYSTEM INSTALLATION

  Please wait for integration of newly discovered Archetype.

  With a click, I felt something hook itself into the back of my eyes, and the screen flickered again. It was now written in a language that I had never seen before but could understand without issue.

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  System Console

  Name: Ren

  Archetype: Noememetic Architect (Eunoic)

  Grade: 0 (0/10000)

  Charisma (Glamour): 1

  Venust: 0

  Noesis: 0

  Entelechy: 0

  Dust: 1962

  Lives: 2

  Weight: 0/1

  Uhh, wow, those are incredibly specific stats. That made sense because they were determined by my Archetype, not by the System itself.

  I understood inherently what each of them did, as the technical definitions came with the language they were written in. I honestly had no idea how I would even translate most of them into English unless you started randomly grabbing Greek and Latin words, but even then, you wouldn’t get a full picture.

  The only obvious one was Charisma, which was the only Stat I actually had any points in at the moment. An oversimplification of what it did was that it made people like me more, with an extra specifier that it functioned only as a glamour. This altered the Stat slightly, primarily by boosting its power, but added an activation restriction. It's a shame the restriction was eye contact. It was like the Stat was specifically designed for me to never use it.

  I also knew why Aurin couldn’t tell me about it initially anymore. Glamoured individuals couldn’t let anyone know they were glamoured unless they were certain the other person already knew, working sort of like a geas would in fantasy media. The only way to break that restriction was for some kind of condition to be met… I suppose I know what that condition is.

  Venust was sort of like a Stat that increased my attractiveness, but it also functioned as a physical enhancement. There wasn’t much technical jargon attached to this one, but to sum it up, you could call it ‘the attractiveness of being physically gifted’. The Stat pulled on what I found attractive to base itself on, while the physical enhancements were just alterations to the laws of physics.

  My eyes went to Aurin. That was going to be a teeny tiny problem. I had used my set of preferences for her after all… I mean, why would I use anyone else’s?

  Noesis was the capability of my mind to process information. The main thing I was interested in was how it would increase how lucid I was. Meaning I could use my Aspect more, and regain myself faster. It also sped up my information processing, improved pattern recognition, and made it so I could understand knowledge that would otherwise unravel my mind and leave me a shuddering husk of a person.

  I decided to just ignore that last part for the moment.

  Entelechy… didn’t have a System definition? Or, well, I shouldn’t say it doesn’t have one, it’s just ‘power to alter thought’ wasn’t really a definition compared to the other ones that were basically entire field guides stuffed into the meaning of words. I mean, I think I had a rough idea of what that meant based on how my Aspect worked, but I’d need to play around with it.

  The other parts of the menu were either not important at the moment or were obvious as to what they did. I intuitively understood how to use my System already, so with just a thought, I paid one thousand Dust to buy four Stat points. They went for two hundred and fifty Dust each at the moment, but scaled up in cost as I hit certain milestones, then I applied them in a way that ensured I wasn’t fucking myself over in the future, but would also help me out right now.

  System Console

  Name: Ren

  Archetype: Noememetic Architect (Eunoic)

  Grade: 0 (1000/10000)

  Charisma (Glamour): 1

  Venust: 1

  Noesis: 2

  Entelechy: 1

  Dust: 962

  Lives: 2

  Weight: 0/5

  I didn’t feel any change wash over me when I hit accept, and the points were applied. Looking down at myself, the first thing I noted was how my skin was softer. Like way softer. That was going to get weird when my Venust got high enough and I became a supernaturally soft squishy toy of a person.

  I dropped and did a few push-ups just to test how my body had changed, and immediately felt odd because I was actually capable of holding proper form. I couldn’t do this… ever. This was only a single point in the Stat.

  I wished I had a mirror to see how my appearance had changed.

  A window appeared in front of me offering a mirror for ten Dust, but if I bought it within the next minute, I’d get it half off.

  I hadn't really realized what signing the Contract actually meant until now.

  My hand went to my belt, I unholstered the gun and put it in my mouth, then I closed my eyes and debated with myself whether anything was worth it anymore. After a moment, I put it back. I still had another Life after all, so it wouldn’t even be permanent. I wanted to cry, but couldn’t seem to do anything but let out a choked sob. Why did I sign up for this? The contract didn’t mention I’d receive fucking ads in real life forever now.

  How do the others tolerate this sort of existence?

  I accepted the purchase for the mirror with three seconds remaining on the timer. The moment I did so, I could feel where it would pop into existence, so I held my hand out to catch it. To be fair, it was a decently made hand mirror.

  Dust: 957

  Looking at my reflection, I felt my body lock up and dropped the mirror by accident. My first purchase from The Stream smashed on the ground where it fell.

  Holy shit, I’m so cute!

  I picked up the largest shard that remained of the mirror and looked into it again. Squeezing my own face, I just sat there for a moment, staring into my own eyes. I couldn’t even glamour myself; it was just that I didn’t even know how to process what I was seeing.

  It was like I was pulled beyond what should be physically possible on an attractiveness scale into the realm of the supernatural. This was going to be a problem because I didn’t look like a normal person anymore. I was absolutely going to get kidnapped at some point.

  God, Aurin isn’t going to be able to keep her hands off me.

  I shoved the thrill that information made me feel down, which happened far more effectively than usual. My mind snapped into exactly the frame I wanted it to be in an instant.

  Maybe these enhancements were worth the random pop-up ads invading my life.

  I glanced at Aurin and processed that she was doing fine in an instant, without even opening the box that contained her mind. Then, looking back at Makesi, I kneeled next to him again. I still wanted his advice on smoothing over the transition to being a Contractor.

  Looking at his mind, I realized there was a trivially easy solution to the problem that I couldn’t even spot before. It was like my mind couldn’t comprehend how to do this until I added the extra points into Noesis.

  Reaching in, I flipped the savannah into the office space. Corpses poured down from the ceiling and transmuted into shadows the moment they hit the ground. The shadows immediately got back to work.

  “It’s Ren’s first day at work,” I said, and watched myself pop into existence in the office the instant I spoke.

  Then I dove inside, ready to help him out with whatever reality he was experiencing. I felt absolutely no resistance on my way in.

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