Chapter 2: The Parallel Pursuit
The streets of Seiryuu City were exactly as the "original" Satou described them: a chaotic, vibrant mess of stone, steam, and the smell of grilled meat. Thanks to my [Hawkeye] vision, I spotted him almost immediately.
There he was. Satou Pendragon. He looked like a standard, overworked salaryman in a black suit, staring at a fruit stall with the bewildered expression of a man who just realized his "vacation" is permanent.
'He's Level 310 right now,' I thought, my heart hammering against my ribs. 'If I can just graze his sleeve, I can pull enough data to retire from being a "Normal Human" forever.'
But I had to be careful. Satou has All Map Exploration. If I stood there staring, he'd see me as a red dot on his mini-map. I needed to be the "background noise."
I followed him at a distance, watching him meet Zena Marienteil for the first time. The scene played out like a script: the Zonmen family carriage, the fall, the rescue. While the crowd cheered for the "Hero" who saved the girl, I saw my opening.
Satou was distracted by Zena's gratitude. I moved through the crowd, using my [Sturdy Sprinter] trait to weave through gaps that didn't exist. As I "tripped" past him, I latched my hand onto his forearm for a solid two seconds.
[COPY] INITIALIZED.
TARGET: [UNKNOWN] (LEVEL 310).
WARNING: DATA OVERFLOW. EMERGENCY FILTERING...
COPIED: [Language Comprehension: All]
COPIED: [Inventory Expansion: Infinite]
COPIED: [Poker Face]
'YES!' I screamed internally, though my newly acquired [Poker Face] kept my expression as flat as a dead server. 'I just stole the universal translator and the bottomless bag. I don't need the Meteor Shower; I just need to be able to carry it!'
I ducked into an alley as Satou's head turned, his [Intuition] likely pinging that something had just happened.
I sat in the shadows, panting. I opened my Menu UI. The squiggles on the city signs suddenly snapped into clear text: [GATE INN - 2 COPPER/NIGHT].
'Perfect. Now I can actually read the quest markers. But there's a problem.' I have no money I'm going to die hunger,
I crouched in the alley like a discarded NPC prop, my back pressed against cold stone, my heart still speedrunning a panic attack.
'Okay. Inventory? Infinite. Language? Universal. Face? Permanently unimpressed,' I mentally ticked off. 'But gold? Zero. Calories? Critically low. Death by starvation is not an acceptable speedrun category.'
I peeked out into the street. Seiryuu City didn't care about my existential crisis. Vendors shouted, guards patrolled, adventurers swaggered like they owned the patch notes.
Then I saw it.
A short line forming near a wooden board nailed to the wall of a guild sub-branch.
TEMPORARY LABOR – SAME DAY PAY
'Ah yes,' I smiled internally. 'The universal tutorial quest.'
I straightened my posture, activated my best "competent but invisible" vibe, and joined the line.
The First Coin
The job was simple: unloading grain sacks at a riverside warehouse. Backbreaking work meant to filter out weaklings.
The foreman—a scarred middle-aged man with forearms like tree trunks—eyed me skeptically.
"You sure you're up for this, kid?"
I didn't answer. I just bent down, grabbed a sack, and lifted.
[Beast of Burden] activated automatically.
The sack rose like it weighed nothing.
The foreman blinked. Once. Twice.
"…Right. You're on dock duty."
Perfect.
I worked for exactly one hour. No more. No less. Long enough to look reliable. Short enough to avoid attention.
When the foreman slapped five copper coins into my palm, our skin brushed.
[COPY] Initialized.
Target: Human Male (Foreman).
Select Trait:
[Endurance Conditioning] / [Load Distribution] / [Pain Tolerance - Low]
'Load Distribution,' I selected instantly. 'If I'm going to steal strength, I want the efficient kind.'
[COPY] Successful.
I bowed politely and left before he could ask my name.
The Invisible Upgrade
In a quiet corner near the river, I opened my menu.
[SYNTHESIS]
[Physical Power - Mid] + [Load Distribution]
→ Result: [Efficient Strength (Passive)]
Effect: Reduces stamina cost of physical labor by 40%.
'Congratulations,' I told myself. 'You've optimized manual labor. Somewhere, an MMO designer just felt a disturbance in the Force.'
The Problem With Being Broke (Solved Poorly)
Five copper wasn't enough for food, lodging, and survival margin. I needed either:
More work
A hustle
Crime (soft version)
Option three won by a landslide.
Near the market square, I spotted a familiar archetype: a novice adventurer loudly bragging about his Rank F party's "future greatness" while flashing a cheap dagger.
He bumped into me.
Hard.
"Oh—sorry, man," he said quickly, already turning away.
Too late.
[COPY] Initialized.
Target: Human Male (Adventurer).
Select Trait:
[Dagger Proficiency - Low] / [Threat Detection] / [Minor Mana Sense]
'Threat Detection. Always Threat Detection.'
[COPY] Successful.
I didn't even synthesize it immediately. I just smiled.
Because now I could feel it.
The subtle prickle on my skin. The way my instincts tugged when someone's attention sharpened too much in my direction.
'So this is what paranoia feels like with stats,' I mused. 'I hate how useful it is.'
First Night in Seiryuu
I paid two copper for a stale meat bun and one copper for watered-down ale. Dinner of champions.
At the Gate Inn, the clerk barely glanced up as I slid two more copper across the counter.
"No trouble," he muttered. "Room's upstairs."
Inside the tiny room, I collapsed onto the bed like my bones had been forcibly uninstalled.
I opened my Status Panel.
Name: Sato Kaito
Level: 1
HP: 10/10
MP: 8/10
Traits / Skills:
[Efficient Strength (Passive)]
[Sturdy Sprinter]
[Hawkeye (Passive)]
[Threat Detection (Passive)]
[Poker Face]
[Language Comprehension: All]
[Infinite Storage]
I stared at it for a long moment.
'Satou got here by accident,' I thought. 'I got here by exploiting the onboarding process.'
I lay back, staring at the cracked ceiling.
'Tomorrow,' I decided, 'I stop being a laborer. I start hunting builds.'
Outside, Seiryuu City buzzed with life.
And somewhere not too far away, a certain overleveled salaryman was unknowingly casting the longest shadow in the kingdom.
I smiled.
"Sleep now," I whispered. "Patch later."