The Scumbag's Guide To Heroism novel Chapter 556

Chapter 556: 556 | Internal Betrayal

The ceiling tiles blurred together after a while. Ninety-six of them, arranged in a grid that someone had probably spent exactly zero seconds thinking about when they designed this building. Functional. Forgettable. The kind of thing you only noticed when you had nothing else to look at.

I had nothing else to look at.

The quiet was starting to get to me. Not in a horror movie way, despite what I’d texted Sloane. More like the quiet of a space that was supposed to be full and wasn’t. The absence of sound had weight to it. Pressure. Like the building itself was holding its breath, waiting for permission to exhale.

My phone sat on the nightstand where I’d left it. Silent. Sloane was probably in the car with Diane right now, doing that thing where she pretended not to be anxious while her mother pretended not to notice. The Fitzgerald women had an entire language built on what they didn’t say out loud.

I sat up.

Lying around wasn’t going to make the time pass faster. And besides, there was something I’d been putting off since I woke up. Something the System had been very patiently waiting for me to address.

I pulled up the interface.

〘 Status 〙

The familiar blue glow filled my vision, text scrolling across a display that only I could see. Name, attributes, skills, all the numbers that supposedly defined what I was capable of. The numbers looked the same as before. Mostly.

〘 Stamina Recovery Complete. Current Stamina: 100% 〙

Well. That was new. Four percent had become a hundred percent in the space of a few days, which meant Juno’s observations about my healing rate were accurate and also meant the System had been doing something behind the scenes that it hadn’t bothered to explain.

Par for the course.

〘 You have 3 unread notifications. 〙

I stared at that line for a long moment.

Three notifications. Sitting there since the incident, waiting for me to acknowledge them. The System had been unusually quiet during my recovery, which should have been a relief but instead felt like the calm before something I wasn’t going to enjoy.

I opened the first one.

〘 Quest Complete: Survive the Crucible 〙

〘 Reward: 2,500 SP 〙

〘 Bonus Objective Complete: Protect a heroine from lethal damage 〙

〘 Bonus Reward: 1,500 SP 〙

Four thousand points. Not bad for almost dying. The System had a particular sense of humor about these things. Risk your life protecting the girl you love from black fire that should have killed you both, receive currency that could be exchanged for random abilities through a gacha wheel. Very fair. Very balanced.

Second notification.

〘 New Passive Trait Unlocked: Pain Tolerance (Rare) 〙

〘 You have developed an enhanced capacity to function under physical duress. Pain still registers but no longer impairs cognitive or physical performance. Note: This does not mean you should seek out pain. This means your body has adapted to receiving it. The distinction matters. 〙

The System’s editorial commentary was getting more pointed. I filed that observation away and moved to the third notification.

〘 Heroine Bond Evolution: Sloane Fitzgerald 〙

〘 The bond has stabilized following the resonance event. New capability unlocked: Emotional Anchor (Passive). When within fifty meters of Sloane Fitzgerald, both parties receive a 10% resistance to fear, confusion, and despair effects. This bond cannot be severed by external means. It can only be weakened by internal betrayal. 〙

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