Three days after the vigil, Adrian's ribs had mostly healed.
The ghost of the Crowd's compression still lingered whenever he twisted too sharply, but he used the downtime to dissect his Silver Card reward.
[STRAW DOLL TECHNIQUE (PARTIAL)]
[RESONANCE-BASED DAMAGE TRANSFER]
[REQUIRES PHYSICAL ANCHOR AND TARGET CONNECTION]
He knew enough to fill in the blanks the system left out. Nobara Kugisaki's signature style: hammer, nails, and a small effigy bound with cursed energy. Simple in concept, devastating in execution.
Except I don't have a custom hammer or nails. Time to figure out the mechanics the hard way.
He gathered materials from a new, discreet training lot Sophia had scouted—a smaller abandoned lot far from Reyes's radar. A length of scrap wood, rusted nails salvaged from a fallen fence, and a crude wooden doll carved with a pocketknife.
He decided to test the connection on himself first.
A small cut across his palm. A smear of blood onto the doll's carved chest. A thin, deliberate thread of cursed energy linking host and effigy.
Hands steady, he drove a rusted nail into the effigy's shoulder.
STAB!
Pain lanced through his own shoulder instantly—sharp, burning, and unmistakably real.
"Dammit," Adrian hissed, clutching his arm as blood welled beneath his shirt.
It works. It definitely works.
He spent the rest of the night refining the technique. He learned that the connection required a genuine catalyst—blood, hair, or residual energy. He realized the damage scaled with the volume of cursed energy wove into the nail, not just physical force.
By dawn, covered in minor self-inflicted wounds, the tactical advantage became clear.
A long-range damage option that bypasses physical defense. I can strike a core from fifty yards away without getting crushed.
He limped home past sunrise. Sophia received the heavily sanitized version: "The technique works, it's long-range, don't ask about the bruises."
Four days later, the package arrived.
Sophia found it on the diner's back step while taking out the morning trash. It was an unmarked wooden box wrapped in old-fashioned twine.
"This is either a bomb or something worse," Sophia said, holding it at arm's length as Adrian walked in for his pre-shift coffee. "I didn't open it."
Adrian flared his Six Eyes.
No explosives. No electronics. Just a faint, ancient pulse of contained cursed energy radiating from inside.
Someone sent me a cursed object. On purpose.
He carefully pried the lid open with cursed energy coiled in his palm.
Inside, resting on aged velvet, sat a tarnished silver hand mirror. Clouded beneath its glass was a swirling, unnatural darkness that moved independently of the room's light.
Tucked underneath was a typed note:
"I HEAR YOU'VE BEEN COLLECTING EXPERIENCES. I COLLECT SOMETHING SIMILAR. LET'S SEE WHAT YOU DO WITH THIS ONE."
Sophia stared at the shifting glass. "Adrian... what is that?"
"A test," Adrian muttered, closing the box. "Someone knows I fight these things. Someone who has the resources to source actual cursed objects."
That afternoon, Adrian met Reyes in the diner's back booth, the sealed box resting between them.
"No forced entry, no security footage," Reyes said, reviewing the diner's camera logs on a tablet. "Whoever dropped this knew the camera blind spots. This isn't an amateur."
"Is there chatter on your end?" Adrian asked. "Black-market artifacts?"
Reyes leaned back, rubbing his chin. "Rumors. Private collectors trading unclassified items post-invasion—alien tech, Chitauri debris, things my department can't identify. I thought it was just black-market noise. Clearly, I was wrong."
"Someone is profiling you, Adrian," Sophia warned, her arms crossed tight. "They know what you are."
Adrian turned the typed note over in his hands. "And they're waiting to see what I do next."
That night, Adrian locked the mirror inside a heavy fireproof safe in the apartment.
He sat in the dark, taking stock of his growing list of problems.
Anomaly Zero sleeping beneath the city. A surviving spirit taking notes on my fights. And now, an anonymous collector playing games with real cursed objects.
He checked his status window one last time before bed.
[GRADE 2 SORCERER]
[NEW TECHNIQUE: STRAW DOLL (PARTIAL)]
He had gained power, an ally in the DODC, and a new technique. But for the first time since waking up in this universe, Adrian felt like he was being watched by something far more dangerous than a mindless beast.
Outside, the city slept, unaware of the silent chess game beginning in its shadows.