Towel of Gold and a Plan for Serena

My favorite character's towel had literally turned into gold. Calming my trembling arms, I approached the towel—no, the lump of gold it had become—and picked it up with my own hands. It was heavy. Inconceivably so for a towel.

"...Reality Manipulation."

It lived up to its name. A hacker consciousness that mocked the world. To think it possessed the ability to literally hack reality. An astonishing power.

And rightly so, because even off the top of my head, there were dozens of ways to utilize this consciousness. Turn the ground around an enemy into a void. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Change the floor's surface to saltwater and send a current through it. Summon a massive hunk of heavy metal in midair and smash it onto their head. It was practically divine authority.

But where there's light, there's shadow. Even this seemingly invincible hacker consciousness had its weaknesses. And not just a few—quite a lot, actually.

First, the duration of the ability. The reality hack from the hacker consciousness had an ambiguous uptime. Shortest was a few seconds, longest a few minutes to maintain the hacked material's state, and in that time, my mana melted away proportionally.

This one's got mana premature ejaculation too.

Like the defrocked monk consciousness, the hacker one suffered from chronic mana shortage. I had plenty of mana, but the amount consumed to use the ability was enormous.

In short, turning a rock into gold, scamming someone, and selling it was impossible. By the same logic, hacking a rock into edible food to sate hunger would just turn it back into a rock in your stomach.

Thus, gaining material benefits from the hacker consciousness came with some difficulties.

Second weakness: usage permissions. The hacker consciousness could theoretically hack any material in the world. If mana allowed it. The higher the mana content of the target material, the more my mana it consumed to hack. Likewise, the higher the mana content of the material I wanted to create, the more my mana was required.

In one line: hacking an enemy's heart into stone and saying "die" was tricky. Sure, against something way below my level, but why bother when simpler methods were more efficient? Just restrain them lightly and drop spikes from above—it'd use way less mana than instant-death cheats.

And the final weakness: its uniquely frail body. Among all the consciousnesses I'd acquired so far, the hacker's physical stats were the lowest. Probably even weaker than my base state without any synchronization. At best, average adult male level.

Someone might go, "Huh? Hacker with adult male physical specs? Isn't that top-tier?" But remember, this hacker consciousness wasn't 1-star, not 2-star— it was 3-star. An extreme all-in on its unique ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ability.

Unlike the initial impression of omnipotence, the deeper you dug, the more fine details demanded careful consideration. Useless if mishandled, but a cheat consciousness that could overcome any obstacle if wielded right.

Gotta use my head.

I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have to brainstorm strategies and tactics utilizing the hacker consciousness whenever I had time. Oh, and sneak in some webnovels too. Might ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spark inspiration, right?

Ah, it's reverting.

At that moment, the hacked towel slowly reverted from gold to its original form. Probably hit the end of the set duration.

Come to think of it, what happens if I desync the consciousness before the hack duration ends?

This question stumped even the knowledge embedded in my mind. Might as well test it now.

I hit enter, and the large TV in front of me turned to silver. Along with a faint headache. Definitely, the bigger the volume of material, the more mana it guzzled. At least three times what the towel took.

Alright, now desync in this state?

Oh, it's reverting.

The TV slowly returned to its original material. So, switching consciousnesses mid-hack wasn't possible if you wanted the effect to stick. There went my dream of pinning an enemy in the floor and pulverizing their philtrum with the defrocked monk consciousness. I smacked my lips in regret, then stretched lazily and changed into my outing clothes.

Having reviewed all the consciousnesses, time to resume my daily quest and hit the mart.

Reason for the mart? Simple.

"Serena... she definitely liked pasta, right?"

To pack a bento to break the ice with Serena.

Finally, time to chat for real.

The number of times I'd properly talked with my favorite character, Serena, could be counted on one hand. Not for lack of chances? Wrong. I'd tried hard to talk to her. "Nice weather today, huh?" "Getting the lessons?" "What do you do after school?" Countless natural attempts, all failures.

Serena always smiled lazily and gracefully, cutting conversations short. In short, talking to me was too bothersome.

Was it because she was mean-spirited? Nah, I didn't think so. She wasn't pushing me away because she hated me—she just saw no need for a deeper relationship. So she drew an invisible line. Acquaintances, but not quite friends.

And I wondered why. Why did she show no interest in people? Or rather, in anything in the world.

Her only hobby was gourmet food; nothing else caught her eye. No friends to share emotions with. No thirst for knowledge. No honing of her enviable talents. Not even short dopamine hits from media.

The desires everyone has—to grow stronger, gain attention, become competent, improve—Serena lacked them all. She did nothing, wanted nothing.

But even she wasn't born that way. There had to be some incident that changed her. I wanted to know why.

Simple reason: she's my favorite character. Everyone wants to know everything about their fave, right? Since she died before her story ramped up in the game, I'd dig it out myself.

And.

"I wanna see it at least once."

Playing Insi End, I'd often imagined: what if Serena honed that insane talent?

Serena's swordsmanship talent was peerless in the Insi End world. If she trained diligently? She'd surpass not just protagonist Karen, but even Eirin.

Who wouldn't want to see their fave become the world's strongest? Me too.

I wanted to see self-trained Serena wielding her ever-present longsword, cleaving giant erosion entities in two.

So, I'd guide her toward self-improvement. If she actually trained because of me, I'd gain an unbeatable ally—no loss there.

First, close the gap between her and this unimpressive me. Make myself special to her.

Hence, tempt her with food. Her one interest: cuisine.

Perfect timing with the chef consciousness too.

A peerless delicacy from the same-class guy? She couldn't ignore that. This had to work.

"Heh."

Admiring my brilliant idea, I headed to the front door. Grabbed the handle to head to the mart—

Bzzz!

My smartphone, silent for a while, suddenly buzzed noisily. What now?