Once the thugs ran away, Dante heaved a sigh and looked around. The street was empty, save for the few rats hanging here and there. Some had the altercation between him and those two, but since it was nothing out of the ordinary, they soon lost interest.
Just to be safe, Dante made a show of returning his gun to its armpit holster, but while it was out of sight, it disappeared completely, returning to Volcan’s storage.
’This is really convenient.’ He thought, a hint of a smile finding its way to his lips.
[I am glad that you like it.] Volcan sounded a little more pleased than usual.
In the four days since the incident in Caligo’s underground shelter, Volcan had been working on a custom interface that would allow Dante to use his functions with a single thought instead of having to ask every time. The AI found inspiration in some video games and copied their solutions, creating several functions that can be activated through the same mental commands used to control a NIM.
So far, Dante’s favorite was the new equipment function. On the bottom left corner of his field of view was a small icon displaying the letter E. As he walked, Dante focused on the icon and summoned a new screen. At its center was a simplified drawing of a person wearing the same clothes as him, and surrounding it were several small boxes, each with a line connecting it to one of the drawing’s body parts.
Each of the smaller boxes contained an icon with a simplified logo; the two connected to his upper half had the icons of a shirt and a jacket, while the one connected to his legs had the icon of a pair of pants. The one linked to his feet had a shoe icon, and though there was one connected to his head, it remained empty.
The boxes connected to his hands were a little different. Instead of a clothing item, both had the icon of a pistol. Focusing on the one on the right caused it to blink, and an instant later, a new window appeared showing a 3D rendition of the gun he had used earlier.
’You know, this alone is worthy of being a Level 2 superpower.’ Dante thought.
[I believe that depends on the equipped item.] Volcan replied.
The AI called the small boxes Equipment Slots. By assigning each one an item, Dante could then take it out with a simple thought. For example, by assigning a gun to his right hand, he could produce it out of thin air and cause it to disappear in an instant, bypassing the delay that comes with having to scan an item before sending it to the Storage.
Being able to carry things around without anyone noticing can be considered a superpower, but being able to produce weapons out of nothing and hide them as if they never existed went far beyond that. It was like a deadly magic trick a skilled assassin would perform to kill his targets in the open.
Dante would have preferred to be able to bypass having to equip things and just take out whatever item he wants with just a thought, but what made that impossible was his own human brain and its limited ability to interface with VOLCAN -the relic- having to rely on a NIM as a proxy.
Still, even with that limitation, Dante knew he would be able to do a lot more than what he was capable of before. Even if he were to hold back on using Volcan’s armors, he would have far less trouble finishing his gig, and for the time being, that’s all that matters.
It was already 20:00 by the time Dante made it to Nightsun and the district was already fully awake. The streets were much noisier and far more crowded. Some were done with their jobs for the day and came out to play, while others were night owls who slept through the day and went out to party.
With the constant chatter, the blaring horns, and the loud music, one would find it hard to hear anything specific while wandering the lively streets. The only constant was the voices of workers shouting the names and services of their shops in hopes of attracting some customers.
Dante walked a familiar route, not bothering with anything vying for his attention from the sides. He had long since learned to ignore all the colorful neon signs, thousands of which were stacked along the streets and on the buildings above.
Every now and then, his nose would catch one of the strong aromas wafting from the restaurants, or the wandering food cart, but his stomach was full of Nobara’s cooking, and until he made the dreaded bathroom trip that inevitably follows a very spicy meal, no more food would be entering his mouth.
Making his way to Joystreet, Dante ignored the few Dolls trying to sell him the promise of a good time and headed straight for his destination, Triple Jackpot.
The arcade/casino was full to the brim with every slot machine taken.
The players didn’t look as enthusiastic as one would expect from a bunch of gamblers. They stared at the flashing screens and blinking lights with absentminded expressions, listening to the looping tunes while inserting a coin every once in a while.
Dante walked to the back where an old arcade machine stood, a piece of paper with the words "out of order" plastered on its screen. Putting his hands in his pockets and produced three tokens, taken out of Volcan’s storage, of course. Inserting them into the machine one after the other, he waited a few seconds for the door down the hall to open.
Boris peeked his head out, and seeing who it was in front of the old arcade machine.
"You could just send a text, you know?"
"And where is the fun in that?" Dante replied with a shrug.
Grumbling something under his breath, the fat man opened the door and moved aside to let him pass.