Honkai Impact: The Eroge Chapter 4 - First Blood

Once again, I made a quick check to confirm that there wasn't anything I'd forgotten.

It was 10:30 AM, nearly a day after I'd first met Ai-Chan and Theresa and over 24 hours since I got sent to this world. After the latter had been humiliated to the point of fleeing, I had spent the rest of the day preparing for the upcoming Mission I had. That meant a multitude of things; going over the mission details with a fine-toothed comb, making sure all the supplies and fuel necessary were properly stocked, studying up on standard Schicksal operating procedures as well as tactics, trying to get a read on the Valkyries involved through what was on their files, and last but certainly not least, figuring out how the Game actually worked.

For all my complaints about it, I already seen for myself time and time again that it was good at what it did; otherwise, there was no way I'd have been able to form a rapport with Himeko, Theresa or Ai-Chan so quickly, if at all. It didn't provide me with what I wanted, sure, but that didn't mean it didn't provide anything. And as a titular Gamer, it was my job to figure out everything I could squeeze out of it as well as how I could apply these things in a manner beneficial to myself.

The Game was my trump card, the only thing that made me special in any way and more importantly, the only tool I was given to survive this world. Not taking the time to try and understand it would be the height of fallacy.

Until now, I hadn't been able to do so mainly because I'd been stuck studying up on the basics of what I should know as a Captain in order to avoid immediately blowing my cover and preparing for how to deal with the immediate threat that had been my 'job interview' of sorts- which took up all my time because I couldn't actually activate the Game's Time-Stop feature at will. But that was over now, and after I completed all of my mission prep, I decided that it was more important to understand the Game better as opposed to focusing on my practical duties any further.

That could wait until I completed the Mission, and saw for myself what I needed to improve on the most in order to cover my ass.

Anyways, my information gathering session ended up being more fruitful than I expected it to be, much to my pleasant surprise. It was almost anticlimactic how forthcoming the Game was with the details of how it worked, even giving me a Beginner's Guide in the form of an actual pamphlet that materialized into of existence and disappeared after I finished reading it.

Of course, it didn't yield all of its secrets (it was only a Beginner's Guide, after all), but the knowledge that I did receive was more than enough for me to work with at the present time. Important details such as how Stats worked, how Dialogue Options worked, and so on were now known to me, to say nothing of the summaries of two new Skills I had unlocked, and that gave me a lot of ideas.

So many, in fact, that the Game had ended up actually giving me a notepad feature so that I could mentally record them without having to physically write anything down and potentially risk blowing my cover. It might have seemed like an exaggeration, but the truth was that no amount of paranoia was too great in this world when it came to keeping things hidden. Even if you ignore the likes of cheat items like Fenghuang Down, which allowed the user to look at another's memories and even modify their mind without them ever knowing (which had to be my biggest nightmare, especially because one of the two users of this Divine Key was none other than my one-sided nemesis, Otto, who had a history of abusing its power), Ai-Chan had already proven that privacy was a thing of the past.

Honestly, I had to thank Theresa for taking the fall and inadvertently letting me know how little Ai-Chan valued personal space. Her sacrifice had made me aware of what was currently the greatest risk to my operational security.

Sure, at least officially there weren't any surveillance devices in the Captain's Quarters, but I wasn't about to trust that blindly especially when this entire organization had a history of doing things under the table. That was why as I was analyzing the Game and planning, I pretended to read one of the Captaincy Course books on my laptop, something I resolved to do going forward as well.

Speaking of which, I already knew my online activity was basically in the public domain no matter what kind of privacy tricks I used so long as I was within St. Freya's borders, though that wasn't really much of a loss to me because I didn't really have any questionable internet habits in the first place. The only NSFW content I ever interacted with was the occasional fan art that showed up in my Reddit feed- something I didn't exactly need to worry about anymore since it no longer existed.

Bottom line was that with the addition of the notepad feature, I genuinely didn't have to worry about anything as far as my off-duty privacy went beyond Fenghuang Down. But if I ever ended up in a situation where it was used on me, I was screwed either way, so there was no point thinking about it further. Even if the Eroge Protagonist Skill gave me resistance to mental influences (one of the few questions that wasn't actually answered by the Beginner's Guide), nothing was stopping either Fu Hua or Otto from just killing me once they found out their mind alteration didn't work.

Which was preferable to me, because getting my mind messed with or being outright brainwashed had to be one of my biggest fears.

Simulated Bad Ends aside, it took me well into the night in order to complete all of my work, though I was still well rested thanks to a nifty quirk of the Game that had been partially revealed by the Guide.

That is to say, the Stamina and Sleep Systems.

I hadn't noticed because I hadn't really exerted myself in any manner earlier, but I actually had a Stamina Bar in the corner of my vision, on the opposite side of the little heart I had to focus on to open the Menu manually. According to the Beginner's Guide, it was meant primarily for determining how long I could perform… certain activities, and was primarily influenced by the Charm Stat. However, as I saw for myself, it was also expended whenever I was doing anything strenuous normally and was more of an indicator of my overall condition. Apparently, losing all my Stamina would make me lose consciousness and render me more vulnerable, something I didn't want to even consider the implications of.

It was moments like these that really made me take a step back and look at what my life had become, before inevitably snapping back to reality because there was nothing I could do about it.

Fortunately, I had discovered something of an exploit when it came to the Stamina Bar- it could be increased artificially, without requiring sleep or rest via substances like coffee or candy, a trait that was not mentioned in the Beginner's Guide. It was something I had learned by pure chance when I went to make myself a cup since I was working late, and then realized my Stamina Bar was increasing minutely with every sip. I'd gone around for the next fifteen minutes testing just about everything, and found out that while sugary foods could increase Stamina, there was nothing that beat out coffee.

The real interesting thing though was that I actually physically felt the increase in Stamina, my awareness and energy levels increasing significantly in a way normal caffeine could never replicate. When I increased the Stamina Bar back to 100%, I genuinely felt like I'd just rolled out of bed after a full night's sleep.

Honestly, out of all the abilities the Game gave me access to, this was the first one that felt like a genuine superpower, especially to a former doctor like me.

Eventually though, I finished up and went to bed at around 2 in the morning- which led to my next major discovery in the Sleep System. The Guide had mentioned that my sleeping hours would be fixed barring certain Events, but it was still a shock when I tucked myself in and nearly lost consciousness instantaneously after closing my eyes, waking up what felt like mere seconds later to see that four hours had passed and that it was now 6 AM.

Not to say it was an unfulfilling nap, because my Stamina Bar had been replenished and I felt great despite getting a less than ideal (or healthy) amount of sleep, but it was still somewhat of a shock to me. No dreams, nothing- just close eyes and open them 10 seconds later to the crack of dawn.

Still reeling from my surprise, I went through my morning ritual in kind of a daze before sitting down to revise what I'd learned for a few hours and run through some scenarios in my head, especially with regard to a certain unexpected variable that had me feeling queasy. That eventually led me to where I was now, psyching myself up and making sure I had everything ready.

After a few more minutes, realizing that I'd done everything I could within my power to prepare for what was to come and that the rest just boiled down to luck, I looked at myself one more time in the mirror.

The unfamiliar, uniform-clad redheaded man looking back at me grimaced.

'Here goes nothing, Nemo…'

Frankly speaking, no amount of preparation was ever going to make me actually confident about something I had neither the training or experience to feasibly pull off.

Oh well. No use complaining, because the only option I had left was to bite the bullet.

Tearing my gaze away from the mirror, I adjusted my collar one last time before placing my Schicksal-brand peaked cap on my head and strolling out of my room, trying to portray the image of being much more confident than I felt.

Sure, I may have been absolutely awful at concealing my true feelings from Himeko or Theresa, but they were special cases. The average person definitely wouldn't be able to smoke me out easily if I put some effort into it.

Adjusting my gait as I walked along to promote the image I was trying to give off, I walked towards the elevator and exhaled through my nose as I pressed the button to take me to the upper deck, ruthlessly crushing the butterflies in my stomach.

It was time to get to business.

The ride took a bit longer than when I went to the bridge, giving me a couple seconds more time to be mesmerized by the Hyperion's inner structure and how well everything seemed to mesh together seamlessly. Honestly, kudos to the designer and manufacturers, because it was beautiful.

When the elevator doors finally opened again, I had to take a moment to steady myself as the sudden winds nearly bowled me over, almost taking off my cap as well.

Fortunately, I'd expected that, so even as I blinked the sudden increase in sunlight away, a hand automatically reached up to slap my headgear back on as I strolled forward.

My destination- one of the six patrol ships that lined the deck, which kind of looked like Bullheads from RWBY except with the Schicksal logo plastered on the side, specifically the one closest to the elevator. Even in the case that I'd forgotten which one we would be taking, the three Valkyries standing next to one specific patrol ship would've been a dead give away considering there was no one else up here but us.

As I drew closer, all three of them snapped to attention and saluted me with military precision.

"Good Morning, Captain!" They chanted in unison, and slightly relieved, I responded in kind. I was kind of afraid they wouldn't know who I was and I'd end up embarrassing myself, but it was good to know that they at least knew who I was claiming to be.

"Good Morning, you three." I said, making sure my voice was clear of any inflection, and flashing a small smile (which I had practiced in the mirror for at least an hour). "I understand that this is highly unusual, but I hope you can forgive me for butting into your Mission."

And it was. Sure, Himeko might have suggested it, but it was still very odd for a Captain to be involved in a Mission that didn't require the use of their assigned vessel. Not to mention- Himeko likely hadn't mentioned the fact that it was her idea in the first place to anyone barring Theresa, so it would look like I just randomly decided to come along out of the blue as if it were a surprise inspection.

The Valkyrie in the middle stepped forward, the Squad Leader for this Mission, and spoke to me with an easy smile on her familiar face, while her compatriots merely stared at me, frozen in shock.

"Oh, it's no problem at all, Captain!" she said, green eyes meeting my own. "It's an honor to have you accompany us, Sir!"

The rest of her Squad nodded rapidly, showcasing an overall degree of deference that would've seemed odd to me in spite of my 'reputation'… if I hadn't read the description of a certain Skill I'd gained recently.

[Captain's Authority: A good Captain goes down with the ship, but a great Captain makes it soar to the greatest of heights! This Skill has different effects based on the lowest Stat Rank possessed. Currently, as you possess the lowest Stat Rank of 1, it increases all Stats by one Rank, up to a maximum of Rank 3. Activation Requirement - Must be on board the Hyperion or performing an official duty as a Captain. Boost Condition - N/A.]

Hands down, it was my favorite Skill out of the few I currently possessed, mainly because it was the only one that didn't require a Heroine to activate. Sure, it was niche in its own way, but unless something really out of the ordinary happened there would never be a time that the Skill remained inactive when I actually needed it.

The Buff to my Stats was also nothing to sneeze at.

Stats were something I'd paid close attention to when I was going through the Beginner's Guide, and that was because almost all of the Game's functions revolved around it. My Skills didn't actually have Levels like a normal videogame would, but instead just scaled off of my Stat Ranks. They also worked universally and not just on Heroines- which made them incredibly useful even independent of Skills. Those two effects alone made them a priority to investigate, and that was exactly what I did, gaining an understanding of how they worked as a result.

To begin, Stats couldn't just be raised infinitely like most of the Gamer abilities I'd read about in the past. They went from Rank 1 to Rank 5, and that was it. Not to say this made them any less significant, because according to the Guide the Ranks kind of went as follows;

Rank 1 - Average

Rank 2 - Very Good

Rank 3 - Peak Human

Rank 4 - Superhuman

Rank 5 - Godlike

Currently, my Stats were as follows;

[Dating Stats]

[Charisma: Rank 1 - Boring (11/50)]

[Charm: Rank 1 - Existent (19/50)]

[Wisdom: Rank 2 - Learned (0/100)]

Not very impressive, I know. But with the enhancement from Captain's Authority, I was essentially a pseudo Rank 2 in Charisma and Charm while a 3 in Wisdom.

Hence why the Valkyries were so respectful- while far from the level of someone like Himeko, I was giving off a certain aura thanks to my Stats being buffed, Charisma in particular that backed up my false rep.

It should be stated though, that just like what you'd expect from a Game, the effect Charisma had was reduced against people who had higher 'Stats' of their own- Theresa hadn't reacted at all to my Stat Buff, for example.

But your average Valkyrie certainly wasn't in the same ballpark as Little Miss Principal, of course. That was why two members of the Squad before me had practically locked up as if they were in the presence of royalty.

As for the third?

Well, that easily recognizable girl wasn't exactly an 'average' Valkyrie by any metric; she was none other than Wendy Harlacher, current B-Rank Valkyrie and the star of St. Freya Academy.

And also…

The future Herrscherr of Wind, a malevolent being filled with nothing but bitter hatred towards mankind.

Out of every profile I'd seen of the students attending St. Freya when I was scoping out who was assigned to this Mission with me, Wendy's name was the only one I'd immediately recognized.

Not because she was someone significant in this world plot-wise, but because she was one of the primary characters who got shafted due to the substandard early writing of Honkai Impact.

Long story short, the teenager in front of me was Theresa Apocalypse's greatest failure, which made it all the more tragic that her tale ultimately never meant anything narratively.

She'd originally been on a route similar to Durandal, a young Valkyrie with boundless talent on the fast-track to becoming an S-Rank Valkyrie. However, unlike her, Wendy hadn't been able to make it to that level, though due to no fault of her own.

In fact, it was her mentor who had kickstarted her downfall. Yes, our very own Theresa had ruined her life, though it wasn't intentional by any means.

Details were scarce for a number of reasons, but before Kiana and the squad pulled up to St. Freya, Wendy had studied under Theresa- which was pretty notable because Theresa never actually taught in St. Freya like Himeko did, meaning she had actually taken Wendy on as a direct disciple.

Eventually, she transferred to the Oceana Branch (which presided over New Zealand, where she was born according to her file) as an A-Rank Valkyrie, having fully graduated from St. Freya at that point in time. That on its own was nothing bad, as the Oceana Branch was fairly successful, but Theresa had recommended her for an experiment that involved implanting an item known as the Gem of Desire into Wendy. The idea was probably that she could learn to control the Gem's power, which would definitely shoot her into the level of an S-Rank, but unfortunately things played out in a way that neither of them expected.

The experiment failed, and rendered Wendy paraplegic.

Her career as a Valkyrie being forcibly cut short like that, not to mention her treatment by the Branch's personnel as nothing more than a living container for the Gem afterwards, had a profound effect on her. That is to say, she was driven to madness, eventually succumbing to the Gem's power and becoming the Herrscherr of the Wind thanks to her hatred of the very organization she was a part of.

Lots of things happened, she ended up becoming the first Boss of the game, and then got killed off unceremoniously offscreen by Anti-Entropy's singular bad egg, Cocolia.

She was then promptly forgotten by everyone, including the writers, which was the real tragedy if you asked me. It was a direct contrast to Himeko, whose death had a huge impact on the cast and caused them to develop the willpower to keep moving forward, especially in Kiana's case. Even Theresa and Bronya, who'd been directly impacted by her fate, literally never mentioned her again. No lore relevant to her was ever revealed either. As soon as her Boss Fight ended, that was all for her character. She just made a cameo as a Boss Fight in the final chapter of the story, and that was about it.

So how did I feel about working with her out of the blue like this, you might ask?

Nothing.

I really didn't feel anything, being completely neutral in this regard. The only difference, in my perspective, between her and the girls on either side of her was the fact that I actually knew a tiny bit about her beforehand, and that was pretty much it.

Sure, I felt bad for her because I knew of her miserable fate, but at the same time I didn't feel compelled to help her like I did for Himeko or Theresa. I knew nothing about her, and apart from being the first Herrscherr to be shown in-game she had no role in the fight to save the world from the Honkai. There was literally nothing I could gain from helping her- and so I wouldn't. It was definitely callous of me, but I didn't have the time or energy to spare for it.

You know how you're always told to first fasten your own oxygen mask on a plane before you do it for others? Well, it was the same concept. I had enough on my plate as is; there was no room in my mind for charity, especially because I'd definitely have to go out of my way if I wanted to help her.

So I would just interact with her just like any ordinary person, and that was that. Perhaps I would rescind this decision in the future if I manage to permanently stabilize my situation somehow, but until then she was getting the NPC treatment.

Sure, it was a cold, rational decision. I couldn't deny that. Some might even call it inhumane. But I didn't care, because from the beginning my number one priority had been my own survival. While I was trying my best to avoid hurting others in the process, that didn't mean I would go out of my way to help everyone who crossed my path just because I recognized them.

"The honor's all mine." I said easily, not betraying my train of thought in the least. "Shall we get going? The sooner we depart, the sooner we return, and I heard you girls have a test to prepare for tomorrow."

As expected of students, the three students flinched at the mention of the test, Wendy's smile creaking slightly into an expression far more pained.

I sympathized, considering I had been a student up until a day ago.

"Y-yes Captain." said Lacy, the flaxen-haired girl to Wendy's left as she pulled open the door to the Patrol Ship.

Hanabi, the black-haired girl to Wendy's right, also followed suit without so much as a word, although she gave me a short bow first before following her teammate into the vessel.

Wendy, on the other hand, frowned for a moment. The expression deepened when she checked something on her phone, and she looked up at me with an apologetic expression.

"There isn't a Pilot listed for this Mission, and no one has arrived yet…. I think there's been a mistake, Captain. I'm so sorry, I should've made sure everything was in order beforehand!"

She looked like she genuinely thought that the missing Pilot was her fault, and I moved to stop her before she could do a dogeza or something similar.

"No no, don't worry about it." I said. "You're actually looking at the Pilot right now."

And that was the unexpected variable I'd failed to predict earlier. As it turned out, the Patrol Ships were only designed to hold up to 4 people. That meant, of course, that if I were to opt into a Mission using said vehicles exclusively, usually lower Ranked Missions like this one, that meant I was replacing the Pilot and thus had to take over their duties.

It goes without saying that I'd never piloted an airborne craft in my life. I had a lot of experience driving motorboats, motorcycles and cars, but there was a world of difference between vehicles that traveled in 2 Dimensions and those that operated in 3-D. For obvious reasons.

"W-what?!" cried Wendy, looking at me with wide eyes. "Captain- you're our Pilot today?"

"That's right." I said, a small smile leaking through my normally stony expression at how flabbergasted she was. I could only imagine how she would have felt if she knew I'd never even taken the Patrol Ship an inch off the ground before. "You may not know this, but that's part of our training as Captains. One of the most important parts, actually. In the case of an emergency, it's our job to take the wheel, although situations like this can also call for it."

Training that I didn't actually get, of course, but what she didn't know wouldn't give her crippling anxiety.

But what I said was technically true. And it didn't just apply to the Patrol Ships- if something happened to Ai-Chan or the Operators, I was the one who was supposed to take charge of Piloting the Hyperion. It was probably the most actually Captain-like duty out of everything on my plate.

I'd hoped that I would get time to slowly learn how to fly, but since nothing in my life ever went the way I wanted it to for some reason, I was forced to become a Pilot literally the next day.

Not gonna lie- I almost had a mental breakdown when checked the Mission Details yesterday evening and realized I was gonna be driving.

It was, in a sense, the perfect trap. If I refused, not only would my skills be called into question, but there was a chance I'd be recognized as a fraud and expelled. If I didn't refuse, I'd kill not only myself but also the Valkyries with me because I had no idea how to actually drive a Patrol Ship, even if Ai-Chan assisted autopilot would handle a portion of it.

I was literally screwed either way, with no feasible third option available to me.

Honestly, it felt like a genuine Game Over. No matter how much I racked my brain, I just couldn't think of a way out of this.

And after almost 3 hours of fruitless contemplation, I finally felt like it was time to throw in the towel and just call Theresa in order to let her know I wouldn't go on the Mission.

But then, just as I was about to dial the number, a certain thought crossed my mind.

'Man, I don't think even Cooking's gonna get me out of this one.'

Then, I froze. Immediately dropping my phone on the desk, I reiterated the thought I'd just had- and realized I did in fact have a card left to play.

Skills.

The mainstay of any Gamer ability, regardless of genre.

My mind flashed back to the events of that afternoon, remembering how the power of the Cooking Skill turned my average cooking abilities into something Gordon Ramsey would approve of.

Applying that logic, perhaps there was a Skill I could unlock that would at least make me a passable pilot despite my lack of experience.

There were two problems though;

The first and most important was that the Skills I could gain weren't as unrestricted as the ones you'd see in ordinary Gamer media. I couldn't go for a small jog and gain a Sprint Skill, nor could I shoot a couple of guns and get Gun Mastery.

As you might imagine, the Skills I was allowed to get were all those that had some kind of romantic or relationship-deepening connotation, with nearly no exceptions barring my Captain's Authority, which was more akin to a Job Skill than something I'd gained manually. My other Skills, like Cooking or Headpat, were closer to the norm.

This led into issue No. 2; the fact that I couldn't activate my Skills without a Heroine being involved, with Captain's Authority once again being the sole exception. While this wasn't a problem when going on Missions with people like Theresa and Himeko, it ended up being a big one when going on Missions with ordinary Valkyries- such as the one I was currently participating in.

Fortunately, I'd been lucky enough to come up with a patchwork solution to both problems fairly quickly, which was why I felt confident enough to actually try and reassure Wendy now.

"Wow…" she said, looking at me with enough respect to make me feel self-conscious twice over. "I didn't know there was that much you have to learn to be a Captain. We've still got a long way to go, don't we?"

My smile was a little lopsided at that roundabout praise, though my following words was somewhat more honest than I'd intended it to be. "I wouldn't say that. We each have things we're good at and things we have to delegate to others. The most glaring example, of course, is that I'm practically worthless in a fight- so I'll be leaving that kind of thing to you girls."

Especially since combat Skills were off the table for me.

Wendy giggled at my reply, smiling widely. Looking at her now, you'd never think she was the same person who'd eventually become a bitter wreck and an enemy of Humanity.

"Well, that's what we're here for!" she said, heedless of my sudden burst of melancholy, placing her hands on her hips. "So you can count on the power of Dandelion Squad, Captain!"

The gesture did sort of fall flat because both her teammates were currently inside the Patrol Ship strapping themselves in, but I didn't particularly kind.

"I'll hold you to that, Miss Harlacher." I said, before adjusting my gloves. "Anyways, should we set off?"

My question seemed to have alerted Wendy to the fact that she'd technically been holding us up the last few minutes, and she sheepishly nodded her head before entering the Patrol Ship.

Alone again, I took a deep breath to steel myself. I had a plan, sure, but that didn't mean I wasn't nervous, especially considering that I was about to enter what could very well be my coffin if I wasn't careful.

Exhaling through my nose, I entered the craft and slid the door shut behind me, moving past the girls and planting myself firmly in the cockpit, eyes roaming over the controls before I fixed up my own harness and began going over the start-up sequence for the aircraft.

"Ai-Chan, we're ready to depart." I said finally, after about another 10 seconds of flipping switches pressing buttons, feeling the thrum of the aircraft's anti-gravity engines coming to life.

"All Clear, Captain!" she replied, transferring herself to the Patrol Ship, indicated by a smiling cabbage emblem appearing on the control panel. As it turned out, Ai-Chan's integration into the Hyperion's mainframe didn't mean that she could directly control systems not technically connected to the main ship itself. However, in order to counter this, small fragments of her core had been inserted in the form chips into all 6 of the Patrol Ships so that she could move herself between them and the Hyperion as required. Provided that they were in suitable range for the transfer to take place, of course.

According to the AI mascot in person, this was only necessary because of how much she'd been weakened after Theresa had fought her back in the ruin she'd been guarding. While Ai-Chan had no memory of that time or anything that came before it, as a mechanical lifeform she was inherently capable of knowing what her maximum capabilities were- or so she claimed, anyways. Over 90% of her core was rendered nonfunctional during their battle, and in order to repair it she needed Soulium- which was only the rarest and most valuable material in this world, hard to obtain even in Schicksal if you weren't a researcher working directly under the Overseer.

Anyways, even with Ai-Chan inhabiting the Patrol Ship, the Hyperion would still be fine; mainly because it wasn't even being operated, so the basic systems were more than enough to cover for her absence. Plus, the Operator Triplets were still on board and were more than well-equipped to handle any technical emergencies.

Theoretically, anyways. In truth, Ai-Chan had never transferred herself before because it wasn't deemed necessary by Theresa.

However, when it came to this particular Mission, she had refused to stay behind on the Hyperion.

Her reasoning?

As she put it, 'Where Captain goes, Ai-Chan follows!', a statement that was immediately elevated her to best friend status in my mind, especially because of how beneficial the action was to me.

It was her presence that gave me the confidence to finally tilt the steering mechanism and lift us off the ground.

Initially, my stomach dropped due to the sheer terror I felt at the insanity of what I was doing. Beads of sweat were beginning to already form at my brows despite all I'd done to steel myself, every part of me screaming to run for the hills.

But I held on, and the moment the Patrol Ship went more than a foot off the ground, a visible change came over me.

My back straightened immediately, and my eyes sharpened. My hands, which had felt numb merely seconds earlier, became leagues more responsive and coordinated. I suddenly became aware of the exact degree I needed to tilt the aircraft's yoke in order to make specific movements, and without hesitation applied this knowledge in order to seamlessly take off from the upper deck of the Hyperion, flying high into the air as if I'd been doing it my whole life.

This metamorphosis, of course, was the result of yet another Skill- one I'd gone out of my way to obtain in order to deal with this specific situation.

[Piloting: Who doesn't like a Joyride? This Skill increases the user's ability to operate all vehicles universally. The degree of enhancement is proportional to the Wisdom Stat. Activation Requirement - Must be driving a vehicle with a Heroine present. Boost Condition - Competition with another vehicle.]

Piloting was my solution to the issue of how I was going to fly an aircraft without any experience or training.

As mentioned earlier, the Skills I could get had to fit with the genre of my Gamer ability. It had taken a bit of brainstorming, but I remembered that in some of the older media I'd seen as a kid it was kind of a thing that going on a drive with your girlfriend was considered romantic, especially with motorcycles. I could've misread that completely of course, but it was still a lead that I was willing to follow thanks to a lack of other options.

That led me to the Patrol Ship the evening before, after giving Ai-Chan an excuse that I just wanted to make sure it was in working condition for the upcoming Mission.

My idea was that if I turned the Patrol Ship on and fiddled with the controls a bit, I could gain some kind of driving-related Skill.

Of course, it didn't work at first- though before I could denounce it as a lost cause I was able to accurately deduce why it wasn't working. And that was because I could only use, and more importantly, gain Skills only when a Heroine was involved.

I had gotten Cooking for making Theresa's lunch and Headpat had come from Ai-Chan. Therefore, I had to actually be riding with a Heroine before I could even attempt to gain the Skill.

Fortunately, the problem ended up solving itself before I even had to do anything, mainly because my trusty AI partner had showed up after being inspired by my 'meticulous checking' to see if the Autopilot was working properly. As it turned out, Ai-Chan possessing a vehicle was good enough for the Game, not only granting me the Piloting Skill but also counting towards its Activation Condition- which also served as a backup in case Wendy wasn't one of the 'Bonus Heroines' mentioned on that website that originally sucked me into this world (which seemed to be the case considering I hadn't gotten any Dialogue Options or anything for her).

The result? Well, thanks to my buffed Wisdom Stat increasing the Skill's efficacy, I was flying like I was in a certain Tom Cruise movie.

There were no bumps or rough patches- I could almost supernaturally sense turbulence before it came and automatically adjusted the steering to deal with it, leading to the Patrol Ship slicing even through heavy winds without so much as lurching.

Eventually, as the flight dragged on and Dandelion Squad began to chat quietly behind me, my level of confidence began to rise- so much so that I didn't even feel the need to switch on the autopilot.

A sense of freedom filled me as the stress I'd been building up was spirited away, leaving me feeling almost euphoric. I'd never been the type of person who got addicted to driving back in my old life, but the feeling of steering this ship through the air was genuinely bringing a smile to my face.

Unfortunately, as usual, I couldn't enjoy the feeling for long.

It was at about an hour and a half into our flight, while I was lending an ear to Ai-Chan's idle chatter as the girls discussed something I couldn't quite make out in hushed tones, that it happened.

"-So I accidentally jettisoned the Hyperion's escape pods, and one of them crashed into the school, right when Himeko was…. huh?"

Ai-Chan paused in the middle of one of her admittedly entertaining tales, her tone becoming somewhat confused.

"What's wrong?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

The question was answered not by Ai-Chan, but by the appearance of four red blips on the radar.

My eyes widened in shock, but before I could say anything, my hands automatically moved the steering yoke upwards, causing the Patrol Ship to suddenly jerk downwards.

Something exploded above us, right where we were mere seconds ago, and as the alarms began to go off and the members Dandelion Squad let out various sounds of surprise, Ai-Chan reiterated what it didn't take a genius to figure out- along with something I hadn't seen coming.

"Captain, we're under attack! Suspected Affiliation: Anti-Entropy!"