Claire spent the rest of the day playing on her laptop, doing her best not to think about reality. Though Road of the Banished had a skill levelling system clearly designed after real world Classes, it was still different enough to keep her mind off of her own life.

  She got interrupted by a knock on her door. Her parents learned long ago that it was in their best interest not to barge in without warning her.

  When she got up to open it, she was met with her father's easygoing smile. Does he really not know how awkward talking to him is for me? She had the discussion with him before, many times. How the degendered language he used to not outright misgender her felt uncomfortable for both of them.

  "I heard you got your Class today. I'm proud of you-" he interrupted himself before he used the "S" word. "I'm proud of you."

  Claire just nodded in response.

  "So, what'd you get?"

  She thought for a moment, wondering how much she wanted to say to him. "I can make deals that can't be broken by the people who signed them."

  Her dad raised an eyebrow. "I never knew you had an interest in law."

  Classes being assigned based on a person's personality and interests was common knowledge, so it was understandable for him to infer that.

  "I don't like uncertainty. When people can't decide to give something up nor commit to it." She responded, staring pointedly into his eyes.

  She didn't elaborate beyond that, which she knew made her a hypocrite. But that was the thing: she hated the quality in herself, too.

  If he understood what she was getting at, he pretended not to.

  "Well, did you use your stuff yet? I know I couldn't hold myself back to test my abilities out when I got them." He said, raising his palm up to chest level, and a spark of electricity danced on his skin.

  "No", she tried saying, but an overwhelming wave of pain poured straight out of her soul.

  Her curse stopped her from lying. But she didn't make any deals, so that was true! Wait. He asked if she "used her stuff yet", then also clarified he meant abilities. And she got to test her lie detection earlier. And come to think of it, any time she spoke, those words would be infused with subtle mind magic. So she used her Perk, and therefore the true answer was "yes". She didn't realise it at the time, but her subconscious must have picked up on it.

  Meanwhile, her father put a hand on her shoulder gently. "Hey, Ethan, everything alright?"

  She blinked. Oh, the curse feedback made her stumble back a bit, so he got worried. Worried enough to forget their tenuous compromise about how he would refer to her.

  "My name is Claire. And yes, I'm fine, there are just... some other things I don't want to talk with you about."

  "Sorry, I just forgot myself..." he looked genuinely embarrassed, and she didn't feel her Perk activate, so that was really a slip up.

  It didn't really matter to her. It would have been easier for him if he had just accepted she was a woman, and not man he has to pretend to consider a woman. She didn't force the mental gymnastics onto him.

  "Wait, what could be so bad that you don't want to talk about it? Did you get some kind of... dark themed Class?"

  She wanted to write him off. She wanted to just move out, even if it she wound up on the streets, to not have to deal with this charade.

  She took a deep breath.

  "Dad. I have a proposal. We can sign a contract. I will give you all the information I have on my Class, Skills, and Perks. I will trust you again, think of you as my father again. But you will consider me your daughter, call me by my name, and stop telling others 'your son is just confused'."

  That was it. Her olive branch. To return to the respect they once had for each other. If he didn't take it, she would know his bigoted views were more important to him than their relationship.

  "How... what?"

  "The contract is magically binding. You would never slip up with pronouns again. You get your child back, and I get my dad back."

  Claire ripped out a page out of a notebook she had laying on one of the shelves, grabbed a pen from in between her bed pillows, and wrote down the contract. The terms were exactly as she had proposed. With the wording of her Skill, she knew even the potentially mind-altering parts would take effect. She moved with purpose as she put the words on the paper. This was it. The moment of truth.

  As she signed the makeshift document on the bottom, she felt a foreign instinct take over, and she followed it. Parts of her being flexed, which she only in retrospect identified as her mana channels, and magical energy poured from her soul and into the paper. Her signature shimmered with light for a moment. But she could feel the ability was in some way incomplete. Her father had to sign it too.

  Speaking of, dad was just standing in the doorway, staring at her anxiously.

  She handed the page and the pen to him.

  "The ball is in your court now."

  He read the contract over. Then again, slower. Then he looked at her again.

  "This... you really don't trust me anymore?"

  "Ever since you refused to call me my name, yes. Did I really not make it clear?"

  "I guess i was just... thinking it was a phase. A delayed teenage rebellion. That and... Claire."

  "I didn't get my ID changed for a laugh."

  He grimaced.

  "To think I'd have to sign a contract to get my child back..."

  With a quick flourish, his name was on the page. His signature glowed briefly, just as hers did. Claire felt more mana drain from her, this time being pulled out instead of willingly used. It wasn't unpleasant on its own, but the knowledge se wasn't the one controlling it was.

  But it was well worth it. He pulled through.

  Contract officiated. You can check the details in the Contracts section of your System.

  Immediately, she felt something shift in her mind. She looked at her father, her dad, and all the awkwardness she had when speaking to him before had evaporated.

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  He, too, seemed elated. His own inner conflict had been resolved.

  "Dad?"

  "Yes?"

  "What's my name?"

  "Claire."

  And she knew he truly believed that.

  --

  "...so I thought I'd get a job at a law firm, or maybe a court, and have a portion of my pay be in Soul Power instead of cash."

  Claire had, as per the contract, laid out everything she knew about her Class and her abilities to her dad. He was a bit concerned about the "demonic" aspect, but Claire reminded him that many Classed would gain inhuman characteristics due to their abilities.

  "Why not police work? Interrogating suspects and the like."

  "Fuck cops. I can stomach working as witness verification in court, because that means I can personally assure the trial is more fair, but frankly the only reason I want to be anywhere near government entities is to learn how to manage loopholes and the like."

  "When did you get so radicalised?" He asked, though his tone was jovial.

  "Becoming a minority makes it hard to trust the establishment. We've made progress, but there is still lots to fix."

  "Like?"

  "It's late, I don't have it in me to discuss communist theory."

  He chuckled. "Yeah, I'm pretty tired too. You'd think just making electricity and putting it into a wire would be straightforward, but we gotta constantly adjust the voltage to meet the demands, make sure nothing got too damaged to function, oh, and the manager's an asshat. He has no fucking clue what our work entails. I swear, one of these days Carl will get too heated and zap the bastard."

  She smiled. It really was just like the old times. Her dad and she had a relationship somewhere between parent and child and that of two old friends. Relaxed, but respectful. And now, the dynamic was back.

  "Ok, I said I wasn't gonna lay out theory, so I'll just ask: do you have a union?"

  "I think so? Didn't really check. I think I'm gonna do that tomorrow." He yawned. "Yeah, I'll head to bed now. Good night, daughter."

  "Good night, dad."

  As her dad left the room, Claire felt tears forming in her eyes. She rarely cried, and even more rare was her crying from happiness.

  Sure, a small part of her felt bad about basically mind controlling her dad. Another part reasoned she got mind controlled as well in return, to which that first one was sceptical whether that made the situation better.

  At the end of the day, magic made ethics a complicated beast, and she never considered herself a saint. Her dad finally chose to accept her as her daughter. He needed magic to pull it off, but he took the deal, and they were both better off for it.

  The roiling of her inner discussions continued on for hours until she finally lost consciousness.

  --

  "Okay. I can do this. Okay. Alright. Deep breaths. We can do this. Alright. Alright."

  Claire was standing face to face with her anathema. The dreaded sentinel standing between her and the pathway to economic prosperity. She used to shrivel up at the very mention of the beast, but today, she stared in its face valiantly.

  The name of her foe was engraved in the title of the text document: Curriculum Vitae.

  It helped greatly that she finally had something worthwhile to put into it. Yes, for most positions Class status was supposed to be ignored, but there were some tasks that were literally impossible to accomplish without the use of magic. For those jobs, you had to have a relevant ability to even apply.

  She didn't neglect to mention her curse. One might think that including an obvious shortcoming in her resume was a bad move, and ordinarily that would be the case. But she would rather weed out any positions like lawyer or secretary, where lying is outright a requirement. Plus, while it was a curse for her, many employers would surely appreciate someone who couldn't lie to them.

  ...unless they were one of those bosses who thought they wanted the truth, while in reality they just wanted to be reassured in their already held positions.

  Oh dear.

  Well, she still thought it would be better to get it out of the way now. It's not like playing up her capabilities would do her any good. She wasn't the only lie detector out there, and there were divination devices on the market that could approximate people's abilities by scanning them. None of those were foolproof, as there were abilities that could mess with divination. Except for her cursed ability, of course.

  ...what would happen if she met someone who had something like "you are immune to divination, regardless of its power"? How does the System resolve unstoppable force meeting an immovable object?

  She just hoped she would never have to find out.

  Finally, the gruelling ordeal was done, and she could release the CV into the internet job market. Few clicks later, and it was done.

  She was honestly surprised how quickly she had managed to will herself to do this. Maybe the combination of her awakening and the mending of her relationship with dad gave her the motivation. There was a sense of drive in her that felt alien. She wanted to grow her abilities. Though she couldn't even see the options available to her until she could afford at least one of them. That quirk of the System was annoying. She wanted to plan ahead, to theorycraft her future development.

  She took some time to check a few of the job listings the website she was using had suggested, but it only showed positions not restricted to awakened - and therefore ones she was actually relatively underqualified for. It seemed it was on the employers to check if the abilities of the prospective hire suited their needs.

  This will take a while.

  She felt restless. It happened occasionally, she would bounce her legs and feel the need to move around. It was really annoying when it happened as she was tired, but currently, she was feeling pretry well. She decided to go on a walk. Summer had just started, so the seasonal ice cream shop opened. She could go buy some.

  She grabbed her wallet from the desk. Her financial situation was... complicated. Her parents gave her some money occasionally, but for the most part, she would live off of whatever was currently in the fridge. She didn't have the heart to buy anything "big" with their money. "Big" like clothing that fit her tastes. Clothing was surprisingly expensive.

  Ice cream was still within what she considered reasonable, though, so she left thw apartment and made her way down the stairs of the complex.

  The day was beautiful. There were no clouds, the sun shined brightly, and a gentle breeze ensured the heat didn't get unbearable.

  She sighed with contentment. It was a good day.

  Few minutes later, she reached the ice cream shop. As she sat down on a nearby bench to consume the prize, her phone rang.

  The number wasn't any of her contacts. A scam? Or maybe... a job offer? But this fast?

  "Hello...?" She answered the call.

  "Hello, do you know Claire Black, from a JobSeek ad?"

  "Speaking."

  "Oh. Okay. My name is Blair Connor. I'm calling on behalf of Draxon Incorporated, our director wants to talk to you about a potential job offer."

  "When?"

  "He said you can come in any time between 9 AM and 6 PM, and I'm to let you into his office."

  "Uhh, like, today?" She asked with worry. She had already spent her spoons placing the listing in the first place!

  "He would prefer you come as soon as possible, but any day this week is fine."

  Phew.

  "Okay, I will probably get there tomorrow. Could you text me the address?"

  "Of course. Have a good day, um, ma'am."

  "Likewise."

  When the call ended, Claire stared at the phone for a while. She almost forgot about the caramel flavoured goodness in her other hand.

  Holy shit. I've got a job! Well, an interview, at least!

  On her way home, she looked up Draxon Inc. on her phone. It was apparently a tech company that was producing equipment for Breach exploration. While dangerous, delving into a stable Breach was both possible and potentially very profitable, as the materials within were potent for magical crafting or had exotic properties compared to ordinary substances.

  Breach exploration was only really pursued within the last five years, when one Henry Draxon invented a machine that could determine whether a Breach was stable, and persist for years, or unstable, meaning it would collapse without warning within a few hours after manifesting. Draxon soon improved the device further, and now, the Draxon Breach Analyser was an indispensable tool for first responders of Breach Containment. The man used the capital from the invention to start his own company, which now made products for the very niche he created.

  And now, the genius inventor wanted to hire her.

  She generally had very little respect for large business owners. She despised the wealthy on principle, and especially those who created their empire by selling weapons. But if any billionaire could claim to have earned their money, Draxon would be the prime candidate. To this day, he was directly involved in the R&D department of his company, and if someone else managed to make an innovation before he did, he actually credited them and gave them all the resources and staff they needed to develop the idea, as well as a substantial raise.

  Which made his offer all the more perplexing. He took care of his employees, but because of that the retention rate was high, and so Draxon Inc. only had opening when they were building a new department. And after a look at their website, nothing of the sort was happening.

  Besides, she was no engineer. She was a high school dropout. Her abilities were strong, sure, but they had nothing to do with production or design of magitech.

  But despite that, the director clearly wanted her hired quickly. What was Draxon up to?