The shortcut wasn't that bad. It wasn't great by any means, but it wasn't that bad. The road was covered in potholes and cracks, but at least there wasn't any traffic. I could gun down the road as fast as my bike could go, and as long as I was looking out ahead, it wasn't too hard to sway past the worst of the holes. There were a few branches along the road that had me slowing down, but it wasn't all bad. So, I made it back, and it only took me an hour and fifty-five minutes. Eh... not bad. I was saving a half-hour, at least. And I did have to stop to refuel along the way which ate up a solid couple of minutes. So yeah, I could make it to and from Podunky in... way too long. Read complete version only at novｅlfire.net I had to tackle a pretty complicated portal, one that I'd probably not be able to enter until after it breached, unlike that River Rats portal with the goblins. And orcs were just tougher to fight as well. It was a good thing I'd wasted all of my horny energy on multiple loops with Fran, because I think this week was going to be spent prepping for the loops that I'd be doing later. First, I'd need to find a good way to get closer, then set a new Save somewhere closer to Podunky. There was nothing for it. I rode back into the city, then made my way through the early evening traffic to home, only stopping once along the way to order six burgers. I could reheat those through the week, they'd still be good. Getting home, I kicked off my boots, tossed my jacket to the floor, then made baby noises at Mister Couchtop who sauntered over and meowled at me, demanding to know where I was. "I'm sorry baby," I said as I picked him to stuff my face into him. "Mommy was gone getting her hella laid. Trust me, you'd understand if you still had your balls." "That's right," I agreed to whatever he said. I set him down, purring like an engine, and refilled his bowl. Then it was time for Operation: Research Week! First, I took off my pants. They wouldn't be needed for this. Then I found fresh undies, because I'd forgotten I wasn't wearing any. Now properly equipped, I dove right into it. First, Synthcorp and their whole deal. I knew there would be a recall, but it hadn't been issued yet. They had been getting fabulous reviews lately on something they were calling their A-line of higher-end synthetic magical meats. Apparently, the taste was nearly identical to pork, and there was a decently high dose of magic. Higher than anyone else could achieve in any synthetic meats. Yeah, I was starting to see where that was going. There weren't mulching cockroaches to make their meat, this was orc meat. It had to be. Their quick response had to be a part of that too. But why the Storm Chasers? The Storm Chasers were an offshoot of Bright Lightning, a guild based in Fortress ENE. The guild had a couple of B-rankers, a few Cs, and mostly they did security work. So tackling higher-end portals. The Storm Chasers were their D-rank division, for taking out C and below ranked portals. A bit of digging, using both company names as keywords, did bring up a few things. The current CFO of Bright Lightning was the former CAO of Synthcorp ENE. I had no idea what those acronyms meant, but they started with 'C' so they had to be important. That wasn't the only link between the two branches. It wasn't uncommon to have famous rankers on products as endorsements. After all, plenty of C-rankers were mini celebrities, and corps did love having a pretty face to put on a product. I... might have bought some Louise-branded Luna Corp merch at some point, and she was just a C-ranker for a minor corp. Synthcorp had been using the faces of some C and a B-ranker from the Bright Lightning guild. Former Storm Chasers. Great. They were buddies. I switched over and watched some videos about both, but was only half-paying attention. At around seven or so, the recall came in, and this time I was paying enough attention to see that they were recalling the A-line products. Called it. There were people online spouting bullshit already, but there was a rumour going around, linking the recall to the orc breach since it happened in the same town as one of their factories. And it was being quashed in real time. Crazy. I'd never really seen shit get censored in front of my eyes, but there it was. Entire comment threads disappearing with a refresh. Wild. But none of my damned business. My goal here was twofold again: Make 'Deadline' a name that people recognized so that I could use that rep later (there was no way I'd ever be strong enough to take out some C-rankers in only eight months. Let alone B and A-rankers. So I needed social power first). And gain some experience in combat and from the portal world. I wasn't going to hit C-rank by sitting on my ass. And so I proceeded to spend the next week sitting on my ass. Mostly I filled my days watching the news with one ear while doing other shit in my apartment. I practiced Shadow Bolt every day, and eventually ordered a chronometre. At first, it took me seven seconds to cast, which... yeah, not good. Plus I had to focus the whole time. By the end of the week, I was down to two seconds, and I could kinda listen to the news at the same time. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Live practice would help, I bet. But I only had so much magic to work with, and it drained quickly. A dozen bolts and I was done. I also tried to practice my cantrips a few times each, though I didn't have time... or the inclination to go outside, to practice with Grasping Growth. Soothe Minor Pain came in clutch by the mid-week when my monthly factory reset week kicked in. I'd have to live through that twice, huh? I wondered if this would still be an issue as a C-ranker. Weren't they supposed to have perfect bodies or some bullshit? Whatever. The spell kicked ass, and I owed Dharti a cold beer or... warm tea or whatever one of these days. By the time the next Sunday rolled around, I was cranky and annoyed, but it hadn't been a bad week overall. I had a heap of notes to memorize... and a biiit of a problem. Because my last Save was a week ago... in Ojou's apartment. I could remember most of the things that made her tick and twitch, but I'm pretty sure I could improve on some things. At the same time, with the benefit of being slightly less horny and not being in the moment, I could see how it was kind of creepy, a little bit? Eh... whatever. She was totally okay with a fling even in the first loops where my excuses were flimsy as hell. She wanted it, I wanted it, we were grown women, and the only thing that should be gnawing at my conscience was how I was going to ruin sex for her the way she'd ruined good food for me with that restaurant. Nothing since had tasted even a fraction as good. Anyway. I decided not to focus on that and quashed any parallels to Louise that my stupid brain came up with. I needed Fran on my side, and this seemed as good a way as any. My only other issue was taking notes on what happened this week, because there was a lot to remember, and my Save wasn't at home where I had a notebook. I'd have to write it all on a burner phone and email it to a burner email, which I did have in the wings, so it wasn't all bad. The list was mercifully short though. -> Huge glitch in the city-wide metro. Its AI went on the fritz. Definitely something being covered up, and Brightbarrow Interlink were definitely involved somehow. That was it for Sunday, so it wasn't all bad. Maybe a quiet day for training or something? I think Natalie was free that day, so maybe I could do a run to the gym and practice my martial arts a little? -> Prison custodian union goes on strike. -> Security sweep along one of the channels discovered a colony of selkie in the water. Minor D-rank breach, but a surprisingly benign one? The custodian thing wasn't too surprising. The city refused to cover the medical care of some of the prison guards who were injured because of some the jailbreak. The custodians didn't like that. The breach... eh, too open, and too many people knew about it and were profiting from it. The monsters were violent, but willing to negotiate. So some locals had set up a trade of sorts, going in, trading, then leaving. Until the portal breached. It was probably not something I'd get involved with. -> Rolling brownouts along outer districts, including home. -> Two C-rankers were injured in a portal in the inner city. From Seraph. Egg on their face. Seraph's thing was a big deal. It was all over the news. C-rankers getting hurt wasn't uncommon, but two in one raid was a sign that shit went sideways, and no one could afford to lose guild-affiliated C-rankers. -> City-wide breach drill test. Half the system didn't work, and the sirens pissed off three quarters of the city. -> Monthly bloodbath. Boring day. Stained my favourite chair, but I guess I didn't stain any pants, so I win some, I lose some. -> Small fry gang in the west-end outer district starts a pissing match. Pizza place over there is burned down. -> Bloody Violet livestreams himself taking on that same portal that hurt those two C-rankers. Clears it in no time and looks fucking awesome doing it. The gang thing wasn't worth much note, except... -> Seraph hold a big gala thing. Ojou showed up. Seemed lame, but could be worth noting. -> Some fuckos from that same small fry gang try to hold the gala hostage, but their strongest is a doped-up C-ranker, and there's like, five C-rankers at the event. -> Bright Barrow drone crashed in the middle of a park. -> E-rank portal opens up on the edge of town. Took four hours for someone to decide to close it. Could be a good spot to hit for practice. Just E-rank, but looked relatively easy? Soloing it could be worth the experience and magic energy. And that was it. It was currently Sunday the 6th, at... noon-ish, and neither fuck nor all had happened. So, with a last deep breath and a quick-re-read of my notes, I Reloaded.