Sitting down in an empty booth of the small smoothie shop, the art group listens to Tokito's summary of his arduous journey since arriving at Sutra. 

Staring at the phone, the group sits quietly until finally.

"Pffffffttttt, HahaHa...." Bob laughs almost cause the table to turn over as he slams down heavily. "oh my gosh, Tokito! I totally bet your regretting not joining us on those game night binges, eh bro? It would've been worth your while to put down those books and watch our games, but noooo. And look where it got you - pffftt."

"Eish! Yoz 'crewed up on the first day too. Hambagae! And those jobs... Wha' you did was poor decision makin', mon." ~Fujo

" Wha-! .....You believe me?!" Tokito surprised voice rings out phone. He was honestly relieved that his friends believed him, since If someone told him 'I was kidnapped from my hospital bed, fixed up, and forced to live in a magical world to save half the populace' he'd call them crazy. So how come these guys trusted his story so easily.

Alberta's German accent bleeds through as she softly reminds him, "Your view of life is too bleak to utter tall tales. Besides, you can't joke." she slurps her kiba, "It would certainly explain some of the strange things happening over here...But on to the matter at hand.... You royally fucked up not utilizing your status and leveling properly." 

"Guah! Mudak!" Evgnei spews his Lebowski shake." You crazy! No asking for tutorial or use status points. Attempting to die fast my friend, then keep doing what you're doing! Novichok!"

   "Yeah, yeah. I'm a newbie and a screw up." Blatant in his mistakes, Tokito changes the subject, asking sarcastically, "Now, can the all powerful Dungeon & Dragon masters please save me by telling me what I need to do to maximize my survival rate?". 

""""....."""" The whole group nervously sips at their cups.

"Guys?"

"Dude, we'll try to help, but.... I don't know man." Bob gulps down his Gatorade strawberry banana smoothie. Finishing it off, he gets up from the table and throws his empty cup into the trash bin. Grabbing napkins to pass to everyone, he wipes his  mouth, says, "There's no  basic knowledge on your chosen races much less classes, so any poor approach could push you into worse straits. And you don't have save or rewind power. No going back and fixing things. If you mess up your class tree or die, that's it... and that's a great deal of responsibility your pushing on us."  

".... Listen guys. I'm a goner if I keep aimlessly developing with no goal, so work with me here! Show me the genius that powered your hard core grinding expertise in those Lizard Missions!" Tokito rallies the four on, while simultaneously making fun of their favorite game.  

""""It's Dragon Quest!"""" The four scream enraged at the insult, causing everyone in the smoothie shop to swivel in their direction. Embarrassed the four pick up their drinks, and at break neck speed, bound out the shop with flushed faces. However, before Bob could stuff his phone in his pocket, Tokito takes one last jab at his flustered friends.

".....And this is why your considered nerds and still single despite being in high school ."

""""SHUT IT!""""

 

---

      Calming down, the gamers recall little data in rpgs about Tokito races, and so split to their local library to uncover more info. on Djinns and elf hybrids. But little is discovered scouring book shelves and interweb. So Bob and Alberta relay the classic approach; max out all race traits and skills first before adding more jobs; emphasizing that good foundation is better than a leaning building. Evgeni and Fujo cut in asserting that status points and tutorials should be accessible from the system if he got stuck, as leveling through old fashioned grinding wasn't the best option in perilous crunches. With no other tips to offered the call is ended.

"Yeah....Ok... Thanks- Oh! And don't tell Gregorio you've been in contact with me. You know he'll tattle to his sister- Ah! And if you need to call me, wish for it. Hm. Talk to ya later." Tokito hangs up, then following his game pals instructions, enters his status page and tampers with his stats until a warning screen blares open.

Warning!

[Access denied]

[System must be in full operational capacity to unlock/level up race traits/skills]

[Please grant complete system activation to proceed]

 Pained for not inspecting his status and system more closely earlier, Tokito calls back to a certain chaos god whose been quiet this entire time, confronts it directly. "Calamity, care to explain?" His nerves irked at the prospect of being mislead by his supposed 'step parent'.

 "....I can't just tell you about the system child! There are rules." Calamity chides, " Any person or being born into a systematic universe have to figure out by themselves how to access it. To explain the system, would be like--- a mother bird cracking its younglings egg shell for it when its breaking out. Neither comes without repercussions." Calamity sighs echo heavily eliciting the entire orphans hideout to quake. Calamity disregards the shaking, but whispers as cob webs and dust fall onto its mouth." Besides, the system is a strong entity who if granted access to your status will put you completely at its mercy. Then again, it might be for the best to activate it. Despite numerous chances to level up without aid, your progress in researching skills and magic is so severely lacking, it astounds me that you were able to earn [heal]. However, be forewarned. Never trust the system. "

Tokito rubs his forehead agitated,"..... So I'm either damned by lack of experience and can only pray that my luck will keep me from dying. Or I can rely on a crazy reality bending power which will stalk me for the rest of my days and hope it won't kill me out of boredom....... meh, it won't be that different to government ruling, so why not." then presses [activate system operations]. 

[System access granted]

[System is activating]

[....]

[.....]

 

 

[System booting may take a couple minutes or several hours...]

 Deciding this would be a good time to fix hatter and exchange his jewelry bags content for the auction, Tokito rises off the bed, tells the children to stay in the room, and heads to Hatters office. Walking the dingy hall  of the orphans hideout,  Tokito pauses mid-step near the office door, his sharp hearing catching arguing whispers. Stepping quietly, he leans against the door and listens in on the conversation unfurling inside.

....

"Come on Hatty! Even a little bit of moolah will do." Strange male voice says.

"Noooo Lu-u-uxtin!" Hatter whispers sharply.

"C'mon! I know your good for it. Word around the moldun knickknacks is tha' a junker sold a nice pretty stone not too early this mornin'. An' the only junkers still walking on this side of the city is busktel bakery and you..." the cocky tone turns to pleading, "Hatty- I'll pay you back! You know I'm good for it!" The stranger voice pitches desperately.

"Fooor the la-a-a-ast tiiime. Nooooo!  I-I-I'm aaan Informant bro-o-o-ker, not a money lo-o-oaner. Get yooour mon-e-e-ey elsewheeere!" Relentless in his decision, Hatter points the stranger to the door.

" Damn it! I remember this rust bucket!" Harsh thumps head for the doorway.

Tokito scrambles out of the door slamming open, barely catching sight of a rats tail as a sprinting figure disappears fast down the hallway.  

Ignoring the unpleasant atmosphere that followed, Tokito enters the room to see Hatter fixing its suit in an uncomfortable fashion.

"Ah, beneeefactor! Sorry fooor that mi-i-inor distuuurbance. Ple-e-e-ease come in. Hooow can I-I-I help yooou?" Hatter invites, corrects a toppled chair for Tokito to sit in. 

Sitting down, Tokito plucks out his jewel bag from his space, and unloads its almost unending contents onto Hatters desk, proclaims solidly, "Sell all. Keep 30%." as a mound of jewels continues piling causing the desk to crack and wheeze in protest.  

Stunned by the rising stack of jewelry, Hatters gears rotate so vigorously that his jaw nearly snaps off, causing circuit and wires to poke from the sides of his mouth. "Stru- ch a. no on- Buy th-s." Unfortunately, his excitement destroys what's left of his talking mobility, leaving Tokito with no choice but to fix the automaton now.

Tokito quickly clutches the robots jaw to prevent further injury, telling Hatter to 'shut up' then swiftly checks its wiring. Finding gears with cracks and wiring caught betwixt them, Tokito saw he had his work cut out for him as he pushes Hatter to the floor.  Shutting it down under Calamity's directions his mind speculates repairing methods, 'Healing might put everything back to where it was, but that won't solve the underlying issue. I need to either locate a blue print or buy a robot to take apart and put it together again-'

'Child, quit being so complicated! Your an artisan and a dgin for chaos sakes! You have skills and acknowledgement in your status about fixing automatons! All you need to do is think about fixing Hatter and let your skills take over!' Calamity interrupts Tokito's turbulent thoughts.

'...We really need to discuss your social manners, cause this-this is gettin' ridiculous.' Tokito addresses Calamity about not telling him this sooner.

Letting go of all rationale thoughts, Tokito's hands move independently, carefully take Hatters skeletal frame apart piece by piece. Making sure to leave the brain box and mana heart alone, his hands set to work on repairing the belt, screws, cams, styluses and wires while drawing new diagrams. He then goes repairing the inner gear movement chains so the outer commanding styluses function without hiccups between receiving commands. Then a self repair and counter wearing scheme is sketched on the outer metal shell to prevent future cracking and rusting. Lastly he categorizes an adjustment on the leg rotation disk so transitioning to walking on smooth to tough bumpy surfaces will be easier. 

After three nail breaking painful hours, Tokito finishes casting a new network of mana strings connections, sits Hatter back on his armchair then reactivates it. Robotic eyes flutter open bewildered, "What's going on? Was I asleep?" Hatter hastily grabs its jaw upon realizing its missing stutter. Then seeing its hand cleaned and polished perceives that its body malfunction corrected within the frame of his unconsciousness. Connecting the dots, Hatter gazes up to the tall malnourished lad, buzzed with enquires of why he'd help it . But as a proper butler and business unit it only needed to know one thing, "what is it that you want?" As it knows, nothing comes without a price. No matter how good the intention were, people don't help other without wanting something in return. And it would be damned to leave a favor unturned for future trouble. 

Uncaring for the rude behavior directed his way, Tokito pushes forward the piles of jewel left neglected on its desk, "Sell jewels. You keep 30%. Buy me dungeon merchant permit."

Hatter examines the precious stones, answering hesitantly, "Getting a merchant dungeon permit won't be a problem. As for these....Only a few can be bartered off to the local pubs, but these gems are of extremely high quality. Selling all of them at one will draw too much attention to myself." Hatter goes on the pro and cons of how Tokito should peddling off slowly. "But if your in a rush for money,  putting majority of these up for auction would gain a greater hau-" But Hatter discontinues as the door opens. Turning around, Tokito sees a blue haired humanoid rat boy enter, noting that it was probably the same individual from earlier from his rat tail.

"Hatty, tell me where you got that sto-" The intruders words freeze in his throat. Sighting the gems piled high, the rat boys emotions fluster  causing his already agitated tail to move erratically, nearly knocking aside chairs and table as he reaches for the stones. Having none of the intruders attitude, in a blink of an eye Tokito grabs the rat boys out reached hand. The boy bites at the hand holding him, but is unable to as  Tokito jumps off the chair and manages to twist behind the intruders back. Arm contorting painfully, the boy yells as he fails to free himself, "Let go, damnit! You don't need all those, do ya?! C'mon, I just need 1- no- 2 months and I can pay you back!" The rat boy begs Tokito and Hatter.

Tokito uses [analyze]

 

Luxtin

Lv: 5

[Species: Humon/ Mouse Folk]

[Traits: Artistry (passive), Shrink lv2, squirm lv3, keen eyes, Deep Vocals lv Max]

[Titles: Diva]

[Job: Diva Lv 10{locked},  Illusionist Lv 8 {locked}, Thief lv 4]

[Skills: Cheer up Lv 8, Dancing Lv 5,Hypnotism lv3, Ventriloquism lv 1, blindness lv 2, Misdirection lv 3, mug lv 8, spell evasion lv 3]

 

 Bothered by the {locked} on the analysis job, Tokito questions Luxton,"Hmph!  Pay back me? With what?! Stolen money!" Tokito pushes Luxtin out of the room and shuts the door.

"Huh- how did you---Dude its not what you think!" Luxtin wobbles the handle and bangs on the door. "Listen! I've only used my skills on monsters and asshole nobles, but the moola I have aint enough." Sobbing, Luxtin leans on the door pleads, "I just need 1 stone. If I don't hurry my girl will be sold at auction to who knows where- and I just can't- please!? Hatty c'mon?!"

But Hatter sits still, unmoved by the pleas beyond the door, its only concern were the orphans in its charge.

Tokito on the other hand crack the door open a smidge. The crack was so small, that only see Luxtin's pupil could be seen from inside, but that was all Tokito needed for his [sense motive] to work. Tokito asked, "Why jobs locked?"

Hopeful, Luxtin goes to explain how his job came to be locked and girlfriend taken, "My girl and I are a singing duo who-" But was abruptly stopped.

"Get to point!" Tokito barks annoyed.

"... The guards at the wall charged us a higher price to enter than our travel expenses could afford. We got in after giving an IOU, but a debtor took a fancy to my love and... well here I am. My jobs supposedly were locked by 'the will of the gods' or that's at least what the council claim. Now I'm trying to get money however I can," Luxtin finishes his summary of events, watching and waiting for Tokito's reaction.

Unfortunately for Luxtin, getting involved is the last thing Tokito needed wanted. Too much attention will be going his way soon and  when he goes to the auction and it will only be worse when auctioning his jewelry. Saving some strangers girlfriend will only bring him unnecessary trouble.

 Sorry bro. But I can't just get involved willy-nilly even if it goes against my better moral-

 

Ding!

 

 

 

[Error]

 

Warning!

[You unveiled the system through unethical and shall be punished]

[All combat skills and magic are locked for 5 days]

Ding!

[Espied the system via unique feature and will be awarded]

 

What bull crap is this?! Why can't I ever get a break?!

With no other choice, Tokito comes a harsh conclusion that if he still wants to survive in this city, he'd need protection. He flings the door open and drags Luxtin inside. Towering over the half man/mouse, Tokito, "Want to save your girlfriend?"

Luxtin slightly shaken from being thrown around like a rag doll, nods.

"Protect me-" Then he throws up midsentence.