I ended up walking out of the Beacon of Knowledge with my wallet far lighter than when I had entered and a pile of books that would make a college Freshman weep. While I had seriously considered picking up If-Then-When-Why, the fact that it wasn't on the rotating stock left me at least somewhat hopeful that the book wouldn't be gone anytime soon. And if I did suddenly find myself with a ridiculous influx of credits shortly after setting up the Merchandising Options, I knew I could always find my way back to the store to scoop it up.

I popped into the resale shop, assuming I'd catch up with Swansong there only to have found she had already cleared out from there as well. Since I did still have just over 25,000 credits, I decided to take the moment there to see if I could find any other quick upgrades for my gear.

While they had been useful early on, I decided to replace my Serpent's Fang Bracers for a pair of bracers that I may have spent just a bit too much on. Though to be fair, the moment I saw them, it was hard not to spend 17,500 credits to scoop them up before they vanished because there was next to no way they'd still be in the shop if I decided to walk away from them.

"Fluxgrip Armguards. Diamond Tier Equippable Bracers. This pair of wristbands might look like a simple pair of cutoff compression wraps but don't let their simple nature fool you, there's more to them than meets the eye. +8 to Dexterity, +2 to Style, 10% increase to Intelligence. This item comes with the Reflex Sync feature."

"Reflex Sync. After perfectly dodging an attack (determined by reaction time and distance from the attack hitting you), the next ability you use within 1.5 seconds of the dodge has its Stamina cost refunded by 33% after utilizing it."

The 10% increase was nowhere near as powerful as the boost my Pendant was giving to my Luck and Dexterity, but between that and the feature, even putting a solid hurting on my wallet, Jon felt like it was a no brainer to pick up. At the end of the day, the Venomous Strike ability that came with the Serpent's Fang Bracers was nice, but I barely ever even remembered I had it.

While I could feel my stomach rumbling, we only had a bit over a half hour before the next tokens were going to spawn and I wanted to take care of the Merchandising Tutorial while I still had it on my mind and totally not because I was still wrapping my head around what had happened with Swansong.

"He fights giant robots like it's no big deal but a girl kisses-"

"Not now, Angie," I snapped as I walked up the hallway back toward the Guild Hall.

"He's an overthinker. Something trying to destroy the city is relatively easy to deal with, he just has to go and beat the shit out of it," Jon offered, pushing past my protest as I let out a low sigh.

"Not helping Codex."

"Never said I was. It's not high school anymore bud, sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind," he said.

As I crossed the threshold into the Guild Hall, the minimized Leveling notification at the side of my vision lit back up. Without wasting any time, I quickly added the new stat points, raising my Luck an additional 4 points, 3 points into my Intelligence to qualify me for all of the books I had purchased, and then after briefly considering what to do with the last point, I ended up placing it Ingenuity. After level 19, Catch Up once again bumped Toughness up, but after that it had tied up with both Style and Ingenuity, leaving the system to randomly pick from the three and finally settling on Style, bumping it up to 10.

Since it was still my lowest stat when equipped, even with the extra point, it was basically equivalent to adding two points into the stat. It might not have been much, especially since I had more or less ignored the stat that had once started as my second highest, but it was something.

My Level 20 Ability Augmentation window briefly opened before I dismissed it, wanting to apply all of my books before choosing a skill, just in case a new idea came to mind once I had the sudden influx of knowledge. I wandered my way up toward the bar where Mr. Gleibs worked meticulously, polishing the mahogany countertop to a perfect shine. The moment I could feel him within my zone of control he seemed to perk up, averting his eyes from his tasks as he looked up at me with a smile.

"Mr. Loophole, I see you've applied your stat points and… hmmm, you haven't utilized your Level 20 Augmentation but I'm not seeing a block on your identification either, I suppose that shouldn't be an issue then. The paperwork here will opt you in to the provided Merchandising Options, once signed you will proceed to your Merchandising Tutorial, where your assigned Merchandising Manager will walk you through the basics. As I mentioned earlier, we've received quite a few queries in regards to you already, I'm sure your Manager is quite eager to get started," he said, moving his cleaning supplies below the main counter. In the same moment, a flash of light passed over the countertop, revealing a single sheet of paper. As he stood back up, he waved a hand toward a door on the other side of the bar. "This is a Phased Door, stepping through it will bring you directly to your Manager's Office."

I eyed the single sheet of paper, a simple Opt-In form, curiously before looking up at Mr. Gleibs. "Does anyone not opt in to this? And… does it actually require a signature? Why not just let us use the hand scanner things that are over in the other shops?"

"Identity reasons for the most part," Mr. Gleibs said, leaning forward onto the counter and resting on his palms. "There are plenty of Augments on both sides of the moral spectrum that choose not to participate for a variety of reasons, a major one being that you become more public facing you as merchandise featuring your image appears, removing a bit of anonymity from you. That said, there are also plenty of Augments who participate in the game with more than one persona as well, which is why we have you sign utilizing your chosen name here. This will log your Merchandising Opt-In to the Loophole identity and only your Loophole identity. Some players fail to make a splash with one name in the public eye and attempt to start fresh with a new identity. Your Manager will be able to give you a better, more full explanation."

"That's… huh…" I said, finding myself trailing off.

"I've kinda wondered how they handled that ever since Angie first mentioned the merchandising stuff," Jon chimed in. "Augment Fighter 3 had both Shark Attack and Deep Crush, and the subreddits are almost entirely convinced those two are the same person."

"Huh, well I guess that's a thing," I muttered, staring down at the page before shrugging, grabbing a nearby pen, and scribbling the awkward looping signature I had only signed one other time so far. As soon as I lifted the pen, the paper vanished and Mr. Gleibs nodded appreciatively.

"Very good, if you'll proceed through the door, Mr…. ah… it looks like Mr. Winger has been assigned to handle your accounts moving forward. Given your standing, I'm not surprised they assigned you to one of the bigger guys and I certainly look forward to seeing what he does for you."

There was the audible sound of a lock clicking as the door highlighted on my interface, the label "Manager's Office" appearing in a display box next to it. While I had been anticipating Mr. Gleibs handling the process, it did make sense that he wasn't the only one in charge of doing so, especially since there still had to be a decent amount of Guardians that set up Merchandise. Almost as if to confirm my suspicion, the door opened, revealing a white portal as a man dressed in a sleek silver and green costume strolled out the door. He nodded to me briefly, lifting a hand toward the bar before turning toward the Squad Base off in the corner of the Hall. He had moved so quickly, I hadn't even thought to scan him before he vanished back into his own base.

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"Thank you Mr. Gleibs," I said, moving to turn away from the counter.

"Of course Mr. Loophole, and please, if you need anything else please don't hesitate to ask, you still haven't completed your first Job Board assignment, I'll be happy to guide you through the process when you and your team are ready," he explained quickly, though the way he turned back to the apparently never ending task of cleaning his already pristine bar suggested he wasn't intending on keeping the conversation going.

I moved my way quickly to the Manager's door before it could fully close, pushing it open and stepping through the portal. There had been a part of me that had remembered being hesitant about using these portals once, but they had quickly become a relatively normal part of my day to day life and I barely even felt the buzz that passed over my body as I passed through it.

The room I stepped into brought me up short as my head swiveled to take it all in. Even Jon seemed to be curious, murmuring something to Angie that I mostly ignored. I turned on my heel, looking to see where I had stepped out from and found a normal, almost cheap looking door in the place of the portal. The rest of the room felt very similar, with cheap wood paneling covering the walls, tons of pictures of a variety of Augments, all standing next to a short, rotund looking man with a wide smile on his face and a bad combover next to each one of them.

It was almost as if I walked into a cheaply rented space in a dingy strip mall right off the interstate in the middle of nowhere… that is… it would have been if it wasn't for the floor to ceiling window sitting directly behind the lone desk in the otherwise cluttered office. Much like when I had been brought to the Safe House that had been SnakeBite's makeshift prison, the window suggested we were at least 30 to 40 floors up, looking out over Central Park as morning fully kicked into gear.

The same man from the photos sat in a simple chair, wearing a dark brown suit with a bright blue tie. His attention focused on one of two laptops he had on his desk with a corded phone of all things tucked between his shoulder and head as he rapidly spoke into it, holding up a finger as if he had just noticed me.

"Paul Winger. This is a non-Sapient Friendly NPC. Paul is one of Infinite Ascension's top five Merchandising Managers, and no Loophole, we don't say that about every single one of them. I know, I know, you don't believe me, but this guy brags so much I'd be willing to bet he'll tell you that himself. Besides, you might have been ignoring it but Codex has been geeking out about the few other Augments he was able to recognize when you briefly looked at this guy's photo wall. The point is, you kicking ass and raising your reputation as high as you have so far means you need a bulldog of a manager, and Paul here is certainly up for the task."

Just as Angie finished up her surprisingly tame description of the man, he dropped the phone from his shoulder, deftly catching it and dropping it onto the receiver without ever looking away from his laptop. Only a moment later, he leaned back, weaving his hands together and stretching with a distinctively loud series of cracks coming as he did so. His chair swiveled, his head turning toward the window before he let out a bark of a laugh.

"Well now, ain't that one hell of a view," Paul said, turning his chair all the way to take it in before making the full circle, resting his hands on the desk before he waved toward the only other chair in the office. "Come on kid, have a seat. We've got people chomping at the bits for Loophole merchandise and I know you're a busy man, so let's get the basics knocked out and I can start getting you paid."

"What did you mean one hell of a view… isn't that just… always your view, Mr. Winger?" I asked, unable to help myself.

"Oh god, please kid, just call me Paul. And jeez, don't I wish," he replied with a laugh, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. "That's just a fancy screen. We Managers do a lot of work and have a lot of insider knowledge on you Augments, this smoke and mirrors is just done to give whoever we're working with a bit of familiarity without clueing them in on where we actually keep our offices."

"Huh… I guess that makes sense… sort of," I said, though I wasn't really quite sure if it did. "So um… What exactly does this entail now anyway? I signed the form with Mr. Gleibs and figured that would just get things in motion, do I have to actually like… design stuff?"

"Oh please kid, we got people for that. Though we will look to you for input on just where you want to take your overall image since it is your image that we are selling. Remember at the end of the day, I work for you and it's my goal to put out merchandise that appeals to what you like, though admittedly we do aim to be a little less generic than your face on a Wheaties box or just a shirt that screams LOOPHOLE on it," he said with a smirk that told me this was a joke he'd used more than a few times. "Now this is gonna be a bit of a spiel, so try to hold your questions for the end so I don't get tripped up, sound good?"

"Sounds good," I agreed, waving for him to continue.

"Perfect, this is why I work with you high rankers, you guys might not be able to follow the deeper stuff sometimes, but you got your heads on straight and can keep your eye on the prize. Not to mention you know how to listen when needed," Paul said with an appreciative nod, though Jon let out a bark of a laugh.

"Guess that means he doesn't know I'm working behind the scenes. Oh well, not like there was gonna be any Codex merch anyway."

"Okay, now let's get a few things clear right from the get go. That outfit you're wearing right now? It's already starting to get stupidly recognizable, great choice going with that burnt orange. I don't mean it to be insulting, but not a lot of Augments are running around looking like a traffic cone and yet somehow this look you've got is really working for folks," he started and Angie let out a grunt of approval.

"You're welcome," was all she said before Paul continued.

"Now, I'm sure Mr. Gleibs told you when you signed your Opt-In, but that specific contract is good only for the Loophole identity, which means you have to be recognizable as Loophole in order to better sell your merch. Now that you've been opted in, there are two direct items in your gear that have already been marked as what the system refers to as Iconic. You did have a third item, but I can see you went and replaced them with something slightly more comfortable looking. Luckily I don't think we've ever been able to do great boot tie-ins for Augment merch, so getting rid of those gaudy white things before you rose too high into fame was probably for the best."

"I really hope you're taking notes," I muttered internally and Jon let out a laugh.

"I am, now be quiet."

"Now, when an item becomes designated as Iconic, it will gain that feature and several new factors come into play. I don't really care about all the nitty gritty of what most of that means, but I will lay out the two main important factors where I'm concerned with that specific designation," Paul said, leaning back into his chair and holding up his fingers one at a time as he listed them off. "First, once an item becomes Iconic it becomes a unique item directly to you, meaning anyone with a similar piece of gear will have it modified into something similar but not quite exactly the same, the item will also become unsellable and locked to you. Second, while you can still choose to wear a different piece of gear, doing so will end up creating issues with your merchandise sales in rather large ways. Sure, some people like to buy comics with The First in his original outfit, but that's only once it becomes retro and until you can establish a new look… well trust me kid, there's a reason people revolt whenever their favorite snack decides to rebrand itself without warning."

"I don't know if this guy knows what he's talking about, Codex is the snack in this group, not Loophole," Angie said. I was just about to snap at her when she barrelled forward. "Paul here probably won't mention it since it's not sales related, but that Iconic feature is also meant to help keep gear viable and competitive against new potential gear you might find, we can talk about it more a bit later."

"The main point here kid, as nice as it might be to change out your gear every single time a new shiny piece of armor appears, it's in all of our best interest if you don't change something without warning. I can make variant looks work, I just need to be able to market it right, y'know?" he asked.

"I… suppose all of that makes sense… I think?" I said, admittedly more curious about Angie's tease about the Iconic feature than I was about the sales aspects. "Wait… you said I had two pieces of gear? So what, my jacket and my… gloves?"

"The mask," he said, reaching up and tapping at his cheekbones. "Coordination in gear is one of the quickest ways to mark a piece of gear as Iconic and those two . Only six pieces of gear in your loadout can receive this designation, and the more pieces you have, the higher profit margins we can get. Understand?"

"Yeah, I think so," I said again and Paul let out a laugh.

"You'll get the hang of it and don't worry if you don't, they tend to assign me the Augments that are a bit denser than others, even if they are stupidly powerful, so I'm used to navigating things for you guys," he said, sitting up straight and shuffling some papers around. "Now, where do we want to start, posters… or t-shirts?"

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