He stared at the numbers.
Then blinked.
Then stared again.
"…Yeah, no. Fuck that."
The symbiote's surface rippled as he leaned back in his seat, one tendril scratching the side of his head.
"I was given fifty points… five-zero… not five thousand, not fifty thousand—fifty."
He jabbed a tendril at the floating panel like it personally offended him.
"And you're asking for two hundred and fifty for a full purchase?"
"Even the loans are insane… if it was just 25 now and 46 later, that would've been fine, but there's fine print saying if I don't pay it in two weeks, I'll get rising interest and be stripped of my powers?"
He narrowed his eyes at the interest rates.
"…This system's just a loan shark at that point."
He closed his eyes and took a breath.
"Alright… next."
"Show me Gwen."
[Interface Switching…]
The panel shimmered, reorganizing itself into a different girl's panel. To his surprise, it didn't show a nerdy girl but a high school cheerleader.
His eyes looked her over before landing on the number.
Silence.
"…A million."
He didn't move.
Didn't blink.
"…One. Million. Action Points."
The symbiote's lips twitched.
Then stretched.
Then snapped into a full, incredulous smile.
"Hahahaha—no. No, that's hilarious."
He pointed at the screen again.
"I don't even have one percent of that."
He leaned closer, reading the description more carefully.
"Full Anodite potential… pure energy form… mana manipulation on a cosmic scale…"
He exhaled slowly.
"…Yeah. That tracks."
He paused.
"…Still bullshit."
He waved the panel away.
"Next. Danielle."
[Interface Switching…]
This time, the layout shifted again—cooler tones, ghostly hues, translucent overlays.
A silhouette flickered in and out of phase.
This was an indicator that his other cousin was already at work in her superhero career, but not enough to have become widespread enough for the original Ben to have heard of her.
Then the prices appeared.
He scanned the top first.
Full Ghost Form: 500,000 Action Points
"…Half a million."
He didn't even react this time.
Just nodded slowly.
"Sure. Why not. At this point, I'd be disappointed if it was cheaper."
But then—
His eyes dropped lower.
And that's when things got interesting.
Ghost Transformation: 200,000
Intangibility: 100,000
Possession: 10,000
Flight / Levitation: 500
Ghost Rays: 700
Ecto-Energy Barriers: 1,000
Ghost Sense: 100
Invisibility: 1,000
He paused.
Then leaned in.
He tapped the cheaper abilities one by one.
"Five hundred… seven hundred… one hundred…"
His mind started moving fast.
"Ghost Sense for awareness… Flight…"
"Maybe Ghost Rays…"
He waved the panel slightly, thinking.
His gaze locked onto Ghost Sense: 100.
"…I still can't afford the cheapest thing on this list."
"…Wow. I'm actually poor."
Ben leaned his head back and laughed.
"Alright, okay… calm down."
"Step one—earn more points."
"Step two—stop looking at things I can't afford before I get depressed."
He dismissed the panel halfway—
The system said he would get Action Points at the end of its weekly deadline based on the actions he committed. So by the end of this week, he should have a high number of Action Points to pay back any loans if he picked just the rifle and hair bullet Quirk.
"…Wait."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
A slow, dangerous smile crept across his face.
"…Loans exist."
Ben glanced back at the system.
"…And if this thing is willing to loan out quirks…"
"…If it can loan out powers…"
"…then I wonder if it does the same for knowledge."
His eyes flicked back to the interface.
"Search—Maddie Fenton."
[Interface Panel Switching…]
The display restructured again—cleaner this time, more academic. Less raw power, more organized data.
Files.
Categories.
Disciplines.
Then—
A list appeared.
Basic Ghost Tech Knowledge (Amateur)
Common Ghost Tech Knowledge (Apprentice)
Uncommon Ghost Tech Knowledge (Adept)
Advanced Ghost Tech Knowledge (Expert)
He scanned it, his expression shifting from curiosity to interest.
"…Now this is different."
"No flashy transformations… no overpriced cosmic nonsense…"
"Just straight-up information."
He rubbed his chin, thinking.
"Knowledge scales better long-term anyway… no compatibility issues or energy drain…"
His gaze drifted slightly.
"…and no one can take it away once it's in your head."
Her panel ranged from the hundreds to the thousands, but the lowest basic knowledge was at sixty Action Points—and that gave him hope.
"Show me Jack Fenton."
[Interface Updating…]
The panel shifted again, this time less refined.
Messier.
Chaotic.
It showed a picture of a middle-aged man in his office, paused mid-scribble on a whiteboard. Schematics overlapped each other. Notes were crammed into margins. Some diagrams looked like genius.
Others looked like they were designed to explode.
He grinned.
"…This is it. The knowledge of a madman should be the cheapest~."
Basic Ghost Tech Knowledge (Adept)
Cost: 47 Action Points
Type: Loan Available
His grin slowly spread.
"…Adept level… for fourty."
He leaned back.
"That's almost everything I have…"
A hint of hesitation swelled in him.
Then he scoffed.
"…But compared to everything else I've seen?"
"This is a steal."
He tapped the option.
"Take the loan."
[Processing…]
[Character Sheet Cartridge Applied]
[Jack Fenton — Basic Ghost Tech Knowledge (Adept) — Loan Activated]
For a split second—
Nothing happened.
Then—
"—!"
His entire body froze.
A violent surge hit his mind.
Not pain—
But pressure.
Information flooded in all at once.
Theories.
Design logic.
Energy conversion principles.
Ectoplasmic behavior models.
His vision flickered as layered schematics overlaid reality itself.
Containment units.
Spectral destabilizers.
Improvised weapon systems.
Half-finished blueprints that shouldn't work—
But somehow did.
"…What the—"
His voice came out strained.
Mechanics unfolded in his thoughts like second nature.
How to build.
How to modify.
How to weaponize.
How to improve.
Ectoplasm wasn't just "ghost energy" anymore—
It had flow rates.
Density states.
Reactive properties under emotional stimuli.
His breathing slowed.
Then steadied.
Then—
He exhaled.
"…Hah…"
A low, almost disbelieving laugh escaped him.
"…Okay."
His eyes opened fully now, sharper than before.
"Okay… this is good."
He raised a hand, staring at it as if expecting to see blueprints etched into his skin.
"I could build something with this…"
"Not top-tier yet… but enough to matter."
His grin returned—wider this time, more grounded.
"Way better investment than hair bullets."
He rolled his shoulders slightly, adjusting to the lingering influx of knowledge.
"…Might even let me cheat my way into higher-tier stuff later."
A pause.
Then he smirked.
"…Jack Fenton, you absolute madman."
He glanced back at the system.
"Alright…"
"Now we're actually playing the game."
[WARNING: A multi-fire armed assault has been launched at your lamp's exterior! If it breaks, you will lose access to your lamp space and the Sparking Zero Menu.]
Alert! Alert! Alert!
He chuckled.
"It seems someone doesn't like me much on the outside."
"Fine, let's deal with that before I search West City for Capsule Corp. I might not be a genius, but with the destructive ghost-hunting theories drilled into my head, it would be plain stupidity not to get myself a lab."
He grinned, a vortex of silver clouds rushing into the mall.
But to make sure that changed, he needed to stop whoever was firing rounds at his lamp—and what better way to fend them off than with fire in return?
He did have three points left.
Loan 1% — Rifle + Hair Bullets (Quirk Type: Emitter) (1%)Initial Cost: 3 Action Points
The system confirmed the transaction, a faint hum vibrating through the lamp-space as the quirk synced with his genetic interface.
The vortex of silver clouds twisted, stretching toward him, his mind already calculating angles, trajectories, and contingencies.
His tendrils split into organic rifle heads.
The newly bought quirk mutated, struggling to find which appendage to manifest from his symbiotic frame—resulting in several tendrils reshaping into multiple firearms.
The Action Point ledger updated, showing a temporary debt and the quirk's integration:
Quirk Acquired: Rifle + Hair Bullets (Emitter-Type)
AP Balance: 0
Ben flexed his symbiote form, silver tendrils lashing, ready for whatever arrived next.
—
Townsville, Monday, May 18th, 2005
4:58 PM
"What is this thing?! It's taking high-caliber rounds like they're nothing!" an armed soldier shouted, backing away from the barricade.
—bang! bang! bang! bang!—
Bullets rang through the air, all aimed at a single figure.
"RAAORRRR!!!"
"This is my BOOKSTORE! MINE! MINE! MINE!!" Fuzzy Lumpkins screamed, his fur burning bright red as his muscles coiled.
He rose up after loading his shotgun from behind an overturned desk.
His finger pulled the trigger, blasting out through the storefront—firing at the battalion of soldiers sent to stop his rampage.
"Get out! Get out! Get out!!"
He yelled as two soldiers rushed in, diving behind a bookshelf.
"Cover!!" one of them shouted, yanking the pin from his grenade and hurling it toward the center of the room—
"GET OUT OF MY PROPERTY—!!!"
Fuzzy screamed, not noticing the grenade flying straight at him—
BOOOOM!!!
A violent explosion tore the table he was hiding behind into splinters, erupting in a cloud of smoke and gunpowder.
"—AHHHHH!!!!"
The two soldiers had already ducked for cover the moment it was thrown, leaving the oblivious Fuzzy Lumpkins to take the full force of the blast.