Exiting the backmost train car 50 times in a row, I very much appreciate my first new Sonar-accessible architecture in a week.

  For the first time in nearly that long, it also reaches other people. So many people…

  They’re all streaming out of one of the hundreds of other cars further up on this train, albeit with less efficient coordination than myself.

  Not that the other end of the train is anywhere near Sonar-range. But this past month, I have learned to understand patterns. Which is why, based on the sample size on this platform alone, it’s safe to conclude that everyone across the entire train station is looking at me. And perhaps just as many more in the city beyond.

  They all seem to be craning their necks to get a load of the Level Five Hero who took up an entire train car all the way from Central. Many of those also seem to be actively learning that it was actually crammed with a metric ton of Common armor sets that all together, aren’t even worth what they themselves are wearing. But that’s okay. I’d prefer if they didn’t feel bad for their mistake.

  In the interest of not ruining their day further, I quickly stop polluting their visage with such poor-quality equipment and promptly leave the train platform. From there, I spread myself out from the station, and across the city in as tight and wide of a net as I can manage with 50 threads.

  Just after the body carrying my head finishes walking straight through to the other end of Horus, my minimap fills in with the entire traversable area, surrounded by a sheer cliff. There’s just the single blank spot in the middle where I am to understand that one such as me is not allowed and should go away or be killed in five seconds. But that’s fine. I now understand exactly where I can go, as well as where I should.

  So naturally, I head straight there through what I now thoroughly understand to be the royal capital of the Gale Kingdom. Horus the city sits atop an elemental wind falcon the size of whatever a ‘continent’ is. The falcon is also named Horus. Or rather, the city is named after the falcon. The same goes for the largest, farthest region of the Gale Kingdom encompassing its nesting grounds.

  As well as the last month of the year. And the letter ‘H’ in H-Day.

  64 seconds per minute, 64 minutes per hour, 32 hours per day, 8 days per week, 4 weeks per month, and 8 months per 256-day year. Apparently, the seconds and years on Earth are almost an exact match to the Gamesphere. But everything in between is that much lengthier to compensate, months being the standout as 50% longer than their Earth counterparts.

  Not that I understand that as anything like a ‘context’. There are also four years per cycle. But cycles don’t seem to have an Earth equivalent. Perhaps a ‘presidency’? But that doesn’t sound quite right based on what I’m hearing.

  It’s just that no one in this apparently ‘Ancient Chinese Style’ metropolis seems to talk about anything but the time, the weather, and exactly where they’re currently standing. So I’ve learned a great deal about all three of these things since I left the train station. And of those, only time seems subject to change. Not that I understand how the sky can be both clear and blue at the same time.

  But before I can find out more, the conversations I’m overhearing always shift into being about a headless suit of armor walking around and creeping them out. I already knew about that though.

  So, moving on from each in turn, I gather myself and descend a massive winding staircase that seems to spiral downward all around the city. An assumption that appears correct based on the ever-present sheer cliff along its right edge.

  Some people pass me by while ascending the same stairs. The first of these involves a lot of awkward shuffling as both the ascending woman and myself try to correct for each other again and again in a surprisingly jumbled mess for the addition of just one person.

  Once that’s behind all of me, I resolve to avoid such things going forward by following myself in a single-file line down the outermost edge of the staircase.

  But one man still takes issue with my behavior. “Hey asshole, I can’t see the view-”

  Mid-word, he pushes the body holding my head off the edge of the staircase.

  [ COMMON ACTION: RECALL HEAD ]

  Head safely away, the armor falls from Horus the city, into Horus the bird. Within said bird, my body is cut to infinitesimally smaller and smaller shards that entirely disappear before making it anywhere near the ground of Horus the outermost region of the Gale Kingdom.

  Having been sliced far past the point of disintegration, I lose all ten of that body’s allocated HP as it immediately vaporizes on contact with Horus.

  [ HP: 566/576 ]

  In order to avoid angering others by inadvertently disrespecting additional unknown customs, I move my head to join the body in my room currently watching anime. It certainly doesn’t help that the concept of ‘customs’ still illudes me. Civetta explained it to me several times, but it still makes no sense.

  Thankfully, it seems the angry man simply doesn’t like empty helmets because he leaves the rest of me alone while I follow myself down the stairs.

  One episode of Naruto later, I reach the bottom.

  I’m still not sure why Oneshot insisted I watch Naruto and nothing else after he teleported me to Central Station, but there you are. With all he’s helped me, I don’t need a reason to fulfill almost any request. Let alone this one, which I quite enjoy given the relatable powerset of the protagonist.

  For the first time since I left him to board the train, someone asks me a question. “Hey, you can’t… Wait, are these all you?”

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  [ COMMON ACTION: RECALL HEAD ]

  Head appearing in my hand nearest the temple guard, I rotate my wrist in a nod.

  Sighing, the guard does the opposite. “Sorry, I can only let one of you through. You’ll want that to be the copy holding your head, I’m guessing?”

  Reversing his reversal, I nod again.

  [ ARMOR DISMISSED: 48 ]

  [ HP: 96/576 ]

  The man’s eyes widen as all but one of my bodies crumbles to dust that itself disappears before it can fully fall to the ground or be blown away. and I lose over 80% of my HP.

  He just gapes in what even I can tell is horror at the sight of me losing over 80% of my HP at once.

  Gulping, he stutters out some additional information. “That… They could’ve waited… You didn’t have to… Are you okay?”

  Oh. I actually didn’t know that. “Very well.”

  [ COMMON ACTION: SUMMON ARMOR 1 ]

  He blinks at my newly re-summoned armor. “Aaand what’s that for?”

  “To wait.”

  “I… I see… Well, as long as it’s only one of you, come on through.” He seems unconvinced that I am ‘very well’ at all, but nonetheless waves me into the apparently ostentatious antechamber, through to a glass box at the center of a massive, many-petaled flower.

  At least I think it’s glass. It certainly interferes with my Sonar like glass does. After it drops through the center of the flower, I can’t really tell what’s going on the outside of the box.

  When it finally opens again, I immediately realize there’s room enough to be comfortable. And I was in the box long enough for my HP to regenerate to full on its own. So there’s no longer any reason not to alleviate the situation.

  [ RARE ACTION: SUMMON ARMOR 3 ]

  [ RARE ACTION: SUMMON ARMOR 3 ]

  [ RARE ACTION: SUMMON ARMOR 3 ]

  [ RARE ACTION: SUMMON ARMOR 3 ]

  [ RARE ACTION: SUMMON ARMOR 3 ]

  [ RARE ACTION: SUMMON ARMOR 3 ]

  [ RARE ACTION: SUMMON ARMOR 2 ]

  [ RARE ACTION: SUMMON ARMOR 2 ]

  My MP may be nearly empty now, but that’s a small price to pay to be whole again. For every armor that I have active at a time, I feel the smallest ease of pressure in my mind. I’m glad to be rid of it, even if I tend not to notice it’s there until it’s gone. Aside from the vaguely incomplete feeling I’m left with until that many armors are summoned again.

  But now they are. All of me minus the body in my room, the Raid, and a few other places besides the entrance where I was stopped by that man. But now that I’ve exited… Where am I?

  There doesn’t seem to be anything. Not even the ground. I only know it’s there because so much of me is standing on it.

  [ COMMUNION INVITE: HORUS — ACCEPT? ]

  ‘Communion’? That’s not how you spell ‘attunement’. I think… I’m not exactly an expert at spelling.

  But I accept right away just to be sure. And that’s when I see him. I actually see him. In the same way I see System-assisted media.

  Except instead of a disembodied viewing rectangle, in front of me, all around, and what it turns out I’m standing on, is, in fact, an inconceivably large falcon. Green wind swirls in chaotic yet orderly feather patterns. Like each is its own wide, flat tornado that stretches to something closer to the radius of a hurricane on its flat side.

  Not that I have much experience with any such weather event. But Civetta taught me many things in our weeks together, including general sizes and shapes of natural disasters. Overall, I’m not sure what’s bigger between this falcon, and one of Your tetrahedrons.

  But immediately knowing which of the two I prefer, I nod to Horus in acknowledgement.

  Horus seems to like my nodding. In fact, he reciprocates. Even standing directly on his seemingly solid wind-made beak, my Sonar picks up no change.

  It’s only thanks to the communion that I can discern the colossal falcon’s head-bobs.

  All of my bodies almost automatically nod to whatever a ‘rhythm’ is. I don’t try to make them do that. But I also don’t try to make them stop.

  The big bird doesn’t ask a question.

  I don’t offer an answer.

  Eventually, he chirps.

  [ ATTUNEMENT INVITE: HORUS — ACCEPT? ]

  Oh. So those are different words after all. I accept this one too. Since boarding that train, I never had any other intention.

  [ ATTUNEMENT GAINED: GALE ]

  [ MOVEMENT BLESSING LOST: VAULT ]

  [ MOVEMENT BLESSING GAINED: GALE FORCE — EFFECT: DIRECT AND SUSTAIN A LOCALIZED JET STREAM STRONG ENOUGH TO ALLOW YOU TO FLOAT ]

  [ POWER BLESSING LOST: DASH ]

  [ POWER BLESSING GAINED: GALE BALL — EFFECT 1: FORM A BALL OF COMPACTED WIND IN YOUR HAND THAT DOES LARGE FORCE DAMAGE, BUT NO PHYSICAL OR MAGICAL DAMAGE — EFFECT 2: DAMAGE DEALT ON IMPACT WITH ANY OBSTACLE DEPENDS ON FORCE APPLIED, DISTANCE TRAVELED, OBJECTS HIT, AND THEIR OVERALL MOVABILITY — RESTRICTION: HAND MUST BE AN OPEN AND EMPTY PALM ]

  [ COMPOUNDING EFFICACY UPDATED — MULTIPLICATIVE: FIRE — ADDITIVE: FROST, JUICY, VOID — SUBTRACTIVE: GALE, SHINE, SURGE — DIVISIONARY: QUAKE ]

  [ CLASHING EFFICACY UPDATED — ULTRA EFFECTIVE: FROST — SUPER EFFECTIVE: SHINE, VOID — EFFECTIVE: GALE, QUAKE — NOT VERY EFFECTIVE: FIRE, SURGE — INEFFECTIVE: JUICY ]

  [ ATTUNEMENT MILESTONE REACHED: 2 — CHOSEN OF HORUS ]

  [ MOVEMENT BLESSING UPDATED: GALE FORCE — EFFECT: LOCALIZED JET STREAM MAY NOW BE MADE STRONG ENOUGH TO ALLOW YOU TO FLY ]

  [ POWER BLESSING UPDATED: GALE BALL — EFFECT 1: INFLICTS MAGICAL WIND DAMAGE ON TOP OF FORCE DAMAGE — EFFECT 2: FORCE DAMAGE INCREASED TO MASSIVE ]

  [ ATTUNEMENT MILESTONE REACHED: 3 — PROPHET OF HORUS ]

  [ MOVEMENT BLESSING UPDATED: GALE FORCE — EFFECT: LOCALIZED JET STREAM MAY NOW BE MADE STRONG ENOUGH TO ALLOW YOU TO SOAR ]

  [ POWER BLESSING UPDATED: GALE BALL — EFFECT 1: WIND DAMAGE INCREASED TO LARGE — EFFECT 2: FORCE DAMAGE INCREASED TO COLOSSAL ]

  Ah. I believe I now know the reason for Oneshot’s choice in my media consumption.