CONGRATULATIONS
YOU HAVE ACQUIRED: GRAVITY JAIL
RANK: 2-STAR
TYPE: OCULAR AUGNTATION / CONSUMABLE
Another window. More information downloading straight into my brain.
GRAVITY JAIL
The Magical Eyes that Shackle. When consud, the item permanently fuses with your ocular system. Manifests as a glow in both eyes during active use. Allows you to increase gravitational force on any target or location within your line of sight.
Effect scales with energy expenditure.
Minimum: Double gravity on a single target.
Maximum: Unknown. Depends on user’s total reserves and control.
Range: Line of sight only.
Cooldown: None, but extended use causes ocular strain and potential temporary blindness.
CURRENT STATUS: Inactive. Item exists as a marble in inventory. Must be consud to activate.
Gravity manipulation.
Through my eyes.
That’s.
That’s actually broken.
I pulled the marble from my inventory. It materialized in my palm. Small. Black. Smooth. Warm to the touch. Glowing faintly from within.
Swallow it and I get permanent gravity powers.
Don’t swallow it and it sits in my inventory forever.
This isn’t a hard choice.
I put the marble in my mouth. Tasted like nothing. Like air made solid.
I swallowed.
The marble went down easy. Dissolved before it hit my stomach.
Then the pain started.
Fuck.
My eyes burned. Like soone had poured acid directly onto my retinas. I pressed the heels of my palms against my eye sockets. Tried not to scream.
The car kept moving. Marco said nothing. Privacy screen stayed up.
The burning intensified. Spread from my eyes into my temples. Down my optic nerves. Into my brain.
I could feel the marble’s energy rewiring my vision. Fusing with my ocular system. Changing sothing fundantal about how I saw the world.
Then it stopped.
Just. Stopped.
I lowered my hands. Blinked. Vision ca back blurry at first. Then sharp. Sharper than before.
I could see everything.
Every detail in the car’s leather interior. Every stitch. Every grain in the wood paneling. The individual dust particles floating in the air.
Jesus.
My phone buzzed. I looked down at the screen.
My reflection stared back.
My eyes glowed. Faint. Purple. Just enough to notice if soone looked closely.
That’s going to be a problem.
I blinked hard. Focused on turning it off.
The glow faded.
Ca back when I thought about using it.
Control.
I need control.
I looked at my phone. Focused. Thought about increasing the gravity around it.
The phone got heavier in my hand. Not by much. Maybe double.
I stopped focusing.
The weight returned to normal.
It works.
It actually works.
I pulled up my status screen again. Navigated to the abilities tab.
New section had appeared.
ACQUIRED ABILITIES
LIMINAL STEP - Rank B (Incomplete Integration)
Copied from Marilyn Cross. Current capability: Basic gate manifestation. Short-range transit only. Requires repeated contact for full integration. The system’s notes on "repeated contact" requirents suddenly felt like they’d been written by soone with a very particular sense of humor.
FUEGO - Rank 2-Star
Chant-activated fire arrow. High damage output. Slow wind-up. Stamina intensive. The kind of ability that looked impressive in demonstrations and got you killed in actual combat if you didn’t ti it perfectly.
GRAVITY JAIL - Rank 2-Star (Consumable - ACTIVATED)
Ocular augntation. Increases gravitational force on targets within line of sight. Effect scales with energy expenditure. The burning in my eyes made a lot more sense now. The marble hadn’t just given the ability. It had restructured my vision to support it.
Three abilities total.
Four if I counted Essence Drain.
And I’d been in this world for less than twenty-four hours.
The car slowed to a stop. We’d arrived.
I looked out the window at my building. Forty stories of glass and steel sitting in the middle of downtown Century City. The ocean was visible in the distance if you knew where to look. My condo took up the entire top floor because apparently Ro D’Angelo’s family believed in making a statent about everything.
Marco opened my door.
"Will you need the car again today, sir?"
"Yeah. Pick up at seven forty-five. I’ve got class at eight thirty."
"Of course."
I walked into the lobby. Doorman nodded. Didn’t ask questions. I took the private elevator up. Keyed in my code.
The doors opened directly into my apartnt.
Floor to ceiling windows. Open concept living room. Kitchen with appliances I’d never used. Hallway leading to three bedrooms. Master suite at the end.
Everything decorated in blacks and greys and whites. Minimalist. Expensive. Soulless.
This isn’t my place.
This is Ro D’Angelo’s place.
I’m just borrowing his life.
I walked to the master bedroom. Opened the closet. Rows of designer clothes I didn’t pick. Shoes I’d never worn. A watch collection worth more than most people’s cars.
I grabbed a fresh uniform. White shirt. Black pants. Navy blazer. The tie I’d probably never wear.
Shower. Quick. Hot. Washed away the last traces of ra’s dorm room.
Got dressed. Checked my reflection.
The heir to Angelo Corporation stared back at from the mirror. The white hair caught light like it had been professionally styled even though I’d done nothing but towel it dry. Heterochromia that looked deliberate rather than genetic. Sharp features arranged in a way that photographs well from any angle. This was the face that appeared in financial magazines next to articles about legacy admissions and corporate nepotism.
The face that was going to walk into Coastline Hero Academy in less than two hours and pretend yesterday hadn’t happened.
My phone buzzed against the marble counter.
Text from ra.
You better not be late to class. I’m not covering for you.
I picked up the phone. Read it twice.
There was sothing in the phrasing. Not the words themselves but the fact that she’d sent them at all. ra didn’t strike as soone who followed up on casual hookups with reminder texts. She struck as soone who decided what sothing was and operated accordingly.
Which ant she’d decided this was sothing.
That was going to be a problem eventually.
I grinned anyway.
Typed back.
Wouldn’t dream of it. See you in an hour.
Her response ca through imdiately.
You better.
No punctuation. No emoji. Just the two words and whatever weight she’d decided to load into them.
I pocketed the phone. Grabbed my bag from where I’d dropped it near the bedroom door. Headed back through the apartnt toward the elevator.
Marco was waiting in the lobby when I stepped out. Sa position as always. Sa posture. He opened the car door before I’d fully crossed the marble floor.
Professional didn’t cover it. This was the kind of service that ca from years of knowing exactly what was expected and delivering it without needing to be asked.
I slid into the back seat. The leather was cool against my back.
"Coastline Hero Academy. Main entrance."
"Of course, sir."
The car pulled smoothly into the morning traffic on Century Boulevard. I leaned back against the headrest. Let my eyes close.
One night.
One girl.
Three new abilities I still didn’t fully understand.
And a quest tir that had dropped by exactly two days, which ant the system was still counting. Still watching. Still holding the sword over my head.
I opened my eyes. Pulled up my status screen one more ti.
Just to confirm the numbers hadn’t changed in the last thirty minutes.
Just to see it written out in text I couldn’t deny.
STATUS
NA: Ro D’Angelo
TITLE: The Wrong Protagonist
HERO RATING: ★☆☆☆☆
PROTAGONIST %: 1.3%
MAIN ABILITIES
❖ ESSENCE DRAIN
❖ Liminal Step
❖ Gravity Jail
❖ Fuego
SUB ABILITIES
❖ VIRGIN KILLER [A-RANK]
❖ SPECIN [S-RANK]
❖ HARD TO KILL [S-RANK]
INVENTORY
❖ GACHA TICKET x0
❖ ITEMS: NONE
ACTIVE QUESTS
[MAIN] HAREM LORD - 698 days remaining
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