Lenny woke up early that morning. He'd asked the system to wake him up at four AM and been surprised when it had agreed. The night before, he had explained the broad strokes of his ability to James and got an agreement that he would be able to use some of his metal scraps and tech for further enhancements, as long as he let him observe the process. It felt a little intrusive, but objectively, Lenny seemed to have the better end of the deal.
Besides, it would not be easy to get large amounts of steel without buying or stealing weapons, neither of which he was in a position to do, so the deal was made and all that was left was for Lenny to acquire some spirit cores. With his significant increase in essence, the upgrades tab was now showing a few more enhancement options available and he felt like he was lagging behind. The 3D representation of himself had more areas that these modifications could be applied also, including conspicuously his skull.
He still wanted to prioritise the metacarpal plating, which was slightly misleading, as the modification only really covered the knuckle part of the bone where it met the fingers. He did notice however that there was now a left and right arrow either side of the default material 'steel', allowing him to select through some different options. Due to the small amount of material required for each fist, a single scavenger core would be sufficient to plate both, which felt like a small blessing.
He knew that these modifications and further stat increases from training were an important part of getting strong enough to meet the first condition required to learn about his system: become strong enough to survive on the beast planets.
The possibility of making his first prey tier weapon had also occurred to him, but after remembering how tough his previous fight had been with the prey who was already gravely injured, he dismissed the idea of facing one solo as not yet worth the risk versus reward. At least not yet.
After sneaking out of his bunk and throwing some more clothes on, Lenny made his way towards the large Prism building. It was dark out and still too early for anyone to be around and so he decided to take a quick jog through the snow.
As the Prism came into view, he could see its sister building more clearly, the target of his expedition: The Jade Garden. Its glass dome reflected the moonlight like shards of broken mirror. It gave the clinical cold grey concrete exterior an element of softening to its otherwise severe façade.
As he compacted the soft snow under foot, leaving boot prints, Lenny began to wonder if this was really such a good idea. What if he got caught? Something insignificant tying it back to him. Or worse, he could be killed? Nothing would stop him from going back to his room right now, getting back into bed, and enjoying a lie in. That's what Sundays were for, right?
However, there were several things that made him reject this course of action. Firstly, he was sick of being so weak. He'd tasted a moment of power back in Section 41, when most of those around him had lacked an ability. At least before they were attacked by the House of Cards. Then he came here, and it felt like the scales had been reset, putting him back into a position of an ant amongst titans. Secondly, if he really did want to find out more about his system, even this might not be enough. Sure, they would be travelling to one of the beast planets for their team expeditions, but nothing was to say it would be the right one. Plus, would he even get an opportunity to be on his own and find who he was supposed to be meeting. He didn't even have a name or a location, but he figured the system would give what he needed when the time came.
He scanned the panel in front of the door.
"Scanning," said the system. "You have the capacity to override this lock, do you wish to do so? Yes / No."
"Yes," Lenny replied.
"System overriding…"
Just then the door opened with a whoosh. However, unlike before, the lights were off and the long concrete walkway in front of him had an eerie feeling that made him want to turn back. Lenny had always been a survivor, and his fight-or-flight response was kicking in hard, telling him that this strange place was unsafe.
"System, can you do anything about the lights?"
"I can, but doing so will bring slightly more attention to the facility. Are you sure you wish to do so?"
"Yes," he said firmly.
The lights came on, the halogen bulbs above lighting the area with a gentle hum. Lenny wasted no time and travelled down the passageway to the end of the corridor till he was greeted by the thick metal doorway that belonged on a submarine.
"System, scan."
"Scanning… A duratanium door made by Spirit Tech Industries, capable of enduring a large amount of impact. The door has an electronic override system, do you wish to open? Yes / No."
Lenny paused for a moment.
"Do you wish to override? Yes / No."
"Yes," said Lenny. The heavy door released, swinging open, and revealing the large open area inside full of vegetation. It was darker than the hallway, but a combination of some emergency lighting and the moonlight and stars shining down from above gave the area enough visibility to see clearly what was going on once he had given his eyes a moment to adjust.
He could see the many cells of spirit beasts around the border of the room. There must have been eighty on the first floor alone, full of scavengers, and the same again on the row above with prey inside instead. Lenny did not want to think about the predators beneath them, hopefully the limits of what the facility stored, and instead walked around using his scan.
"Steel Silkworm… string affinity. Crushing Caterpillar… transformation affinity. Black Scavenger Bird… wind affinity."
That's when Lenny stopped. He brought up his affinity tab in the UI.
"Affinities: sonar plus four, alteration plus one, wind plus one. Wind selected. Like all affinities, the user will gain a slight resistance to this form of attacks as well as a small reduction in cost when using spirit armour or weapons of this type."
Lenny thought back to that day he got his first prey tier spirit core. He inwardly thanked Harry, then said: "System, unlock door."