episode_0043

The towel had literally turned into gold.

After steadying my trembling arms, I approached the towel—no, the now-golden lump—and lifted it with my bare hands.

It was heavy.

Unimaginably so for what was once a towel.

“…Reality manipulation.”

This personality truly lives up to its name.

A hacker who mocks the world.

Who would’ve thought it literally possessed the ability to hack reality?

An utterly terrifying power.

No, of course it would be. Just off the top of my head, there are dozens of ways to utilize this personality.

Like turning the ground beneath an enemy into void.

Or altering the floor’s surface into saltwater to conduct electricity.

Or summoning a heavy lump of metal in midair to crush an enemy’s skull.

A personality with power no different from that of a god.

But where there is light, there must also be shadow.

Even the seemingly invincible Hacker personality has its weaknesses.

Not just a few—quite a lot, actually.

First, the duration of its ability.

The Hacker’s reality-hacking has an ambiguous time limit.

At its shortest, it lasts mere seconds; at its longest, a few minutes. And the longer the hacked state is maintained, the more my mana drains away.

That’s right.

This guy’s a mana-guzzler too.

Like the Fallen Monk personality, the Hacker suffers from a chronic lack of mana.

In short, it’s impossible to turn rocks into gold and scam people by selling them.

By the same logic, if I hacked a rock into delicious food to fill my stomach, the food would just revert back to a rock inside me.

So, material gains through the Hacker personality are somewhat limited.

And the second weakness: usage permissions.

The Hacker can hack virtually any material in the world.

Provided I have enough mana, that is.

The higher the mana density of the target material, the more of my own mana is consumed in hacking it.

Similarly, the higher the mana density of the material I’m trying to create, the more mana is required for the hack.

In short, hacking an enemy’s heart into stone and saying, “Yeah, you’re dead,” isn’t exactly easy.

Of course, it’d be possible against someone far weaker than me, but against such opponents, there are far more efficient ways to kill them than hacking their hearts directly.

Just restraining them and dropping a spike from midair would consume way less mana than an instant-death cheat.

And the final weakness: an exceptionally frail body.

“Seriously, what a weakling.”

Though I’ve acquired countless personalities so far, the Hacker’s physical abilities are worse than any other.

In fact, I suspect it’s even weaker than my base state without any personality equipped.

At best, it’s on par with an average adult male.

Some might wonder, “Huh? For a hacker, isn’t adult male-level physical specs already pretty good?” But we must remember that this Hacker personality isn’t 1-star, nor 2-star—it’s a 3-star personality.

A personality that’s all-in on its unique ability, with everything else sacrificed.

Unlike the first impression of being able to do anything, the deeper you dig, the more limitations you find.

If not utilized properly, it’s a useless personality that can’t do anything right. But if its true potential is unleashed, it’s a cheat-like personality capable of overcoming any obstacle.

“Gotta use my head wisely.”

From now on, whenever I have time, I should brainstorm various strategies and tactics using the Hacker personality.

Ah, of course, while also sneaking in some web novel reading.

Who knows? I might get some inspiration.

“Ah, it’s back.”

Just then, the hacked towel slowly reverted from gold to its original form.

The duration I’d set for the hack must have expired.

“Come to think of it, what happens if I un-equip the personality before the hack duration ends?”

This question isn’t something my ingrained knowledge can easily answer.

Might as well test it right away.

I typed on the translucent rainbow keyboard:

/input: setMaterial(“TV”, “silver”) /timer: 180s /run: shiftReality()

Then I pressed Enter. The large TV in front of me transformed into silver.

Along with it came a faint headache.

Clearly, the larger the volume of the hacked material, the more mana it consumes.

This time, it drained at least three times more mana than hacking the towel.

Now, what if I un-equip the personality in this state?

“Ah, it’s reverting.”

The TV slowly returned to its original material.

So, switching to another personality after wreaking havoc with the Hacker is impossible, huh?

My dream of trapping an enemy in the ground and then mercilessly slapping their philtrum with the Fallen Monk personality is shattered.

“What a shame.”

Clicking my tongue in disappointment, I slowly stretched and changed into outdoor clothes.

Now that I’ve checked all my personalities, I’ll head to the mart to finish up my daily quests.

The reason for going to the mart is simple.

“Serena… pretty sure she liked pasta, right?”

To pack a lunchbox and finally break the ice with Serena.

“Finally, I’ll get to talk to her properly.”

The number of times I’ve actually had a proper conversation with Serena, my best girl, can be counted on one hand.

Was it just a lack of opportunity?

No.

I’ve tried hard to talk to her.

“Nice weather today, huh?” “Are you following the classes okay?” “What do you usually do after school?”

I’ve made countless attempts to strike up a natural conversation, but all ended in failure.

Serena, as always, would smile gently and effortlessly shut down the conversation.

In other words, she couldn’t be bothered to engage with me.

Is it because Serena is mean-spirited and treats me that way?

Well, I don’t think so.

She doesn’t push me away because she dislikes me—she just doesn’t feel the need to build any deeper relationship with me, so she keeps me at arm’s length.

Thus, she’s drawn an invisible line between us, just as she does with others.

We’re acquaintances, but not quite friends.

And I’m curious.

Why does she have no interest in people?

No, not just people—why does she have no interest in anything in this world?

Aside from her sole hobby, gourmet food, she shows no interest in anything else.

She doesn’t seek friends to share emotions with.

She has no academic passion to learn anything.

She doesn’t hone the talent everyone envies.

She doesn’t even care for media that could give her quick dopamine hits.

The desires every living person in this world harbors—the desire to grow stronger, to be noticed, to become capable, to improve—

Those natural desires don’t exist in Serena.

She does nothing. She wants nothing.

But even someone like her couldn’t have been born indifferent to everything.

There must be some event that changed her.

I want to know the reason she became this way.

The reason is simple.

Because she’s my best girl.

Doesn’t everyone want to know everything about their favorite character?

Since Serena’s story ended before it could properly unfold, I’ll just have to find out myself.

And also—

“I want to see it at least once.”

While playing Infinite End, I often imagined:

What if Serena had honed her insane talent?

Her swordsmanship is unparalleled in Infinite End’s world—no one comes close.

If someone as gifted as her trained seriously, what then?

I can confidently say she’d surpass not just the protagonist, Karen, but even Eirin.

Who wouldn’t want to see that?

Their best girl becoming the strongest in the world.

I’m no different.

I want to see Serena, after training herself, cleaving a massive Corruptor in half with the greatsword she always carries on her back.

So, I’ll guide her to take an interest in self-improvement.

If I can make Serena train because of me, I’d gain an invincible ally—no downside there.

To do that, I first need to close the distance between my unremarkable self and her.

I need to imprint myself as someone special in her eyes.

And so, I’ll try luring her with food.

After all, the only thing she cares about is gourmet cuisine.

“Perfect timing—I even have the Chef personality now.”

What if a classmate of hers could create delicacies unmatched in this world?

She can’t not be interested.

This is a guaranteed win.

“Heh.”

Marveling at my own brilliant idea, I headed for the front door.

Then, to leave for the mart, I turned the knob and—

Bzzzt!

My smartphone, silent until now, suddenly buzzed loudly.

What’s this about?