Now that I knew what everyone had as their final ‘setup,’ I started my final session with the bed. I had 6,335.09 Achievement, and I was pretty comfortable spending down to about 200 if needed.

  This time, I focused on the ‘Hints’ button in the bed’s menu.

  A moment later, 100 Achievement disappeared, leaving me with 6,235. I grimaced as a slight feeling of loss gnawed at my mind, but a moment later, a new System message appeared, distracting me.

  A new menu appeared, with a list of my Keyword Abilities. There were only three listed. {Echoes of the Deep}, {Eldritch Soul}, and {Endless Hunger of the Ocean}. I thought about it for a moment. Did I want advice for all three Abilities? I had originally only planned to get advice about {Echoes of the Deep}. I hesitated, before I decided to wait and see. I would first check how useful these 'hints' were, and then go from there.

  I selected {Echoes of the Deep}. A new series of questions appeared. This time, they appeared almost like an essay-response test question. They asked me about what I wanted my Ability to look like in the future. It also asked me how many people I was reincarnating with, what they excelled at, and what they planned to do with their own abilities. I frowned. The form was way more in-depth than I had expected. That wasn't a bad thing, though. It meant that the AI was designed to take my question seriously.

  I filled out the form before a new popup appeared. This time, it didn’t ask me what I wanted my Ability to be - it provided a lot of more in-depth questions about my Ability. What issues I had run into in previous worlds. How I earned Achievement in each life so far. Whether I tended to fight a lot when I reincarnated, and whether I tended to fight monsters or humans. There were two dozen questions that went into exhaustive detail about my experiences with my Ability.

  The questions made me think about what I was looking for. I loved a lot of aspects of {Echoes of the Deep}, but it also had some major weaknesses I wanted to cover.

  I had thought for a while that the ‘best’ path forward for me was to focus on Souls. They were a big part of what I felt was missing from the Ability. Right now, I couldn’t heal any soul-related injuries, and I barely understood how souls worked in the first place. I also felt that souls were important for our development. The Market itself was based on souls, and although I hated some parts of the Market, I also admired some parts of it. The level of strength and freedom Market residents had previously enjoyed seemed amazing to me. Even though I didn't want to turn into a soulless monster who eradicated world after world, I wanted my friends to enjoy safety and freedom. The Market had achieved that, before it was destroyed. If I wanted to keep my friends safe, learning about Souls was critical to achieving the same level of freedom the previous Market had.

  However, after the bed's AI spent a few minutes processing my request, it didn't recommend that I study souls, much to my surprise. It offered a suggestion for how I could get my Ability to evolve to focus on souls, but that wasn't all it suggested.

  I frowned. The bed had provided more than I had expected. One was a direct pathway to my goal, which was what I had expected. The bed AI's other suggestion was... interesting. Was focusing on the Eldritch actually a better path? The AI had mentioned that companies were always looking to hire good Eldritch users, and that was no longer relevant. The bed's AI might be recommending the Eldritch path due to the interests of a long-dead company, rather than my own well-being. However, it did seem to have a compelling argument that the Eldritch path was a good one. In addition, I was interested in pathways that had 'more potential.' Since keyword Abilities were so important, and so limited, I wanted to get as much as I could out of each one.

  There was, however, a problem. I didn't understand how I 'should' get started on either path.

  "Umm... bed AI, would you go into greater detail about how I could start working on either recommendation? I would like a list of possible steps for how to get what I want. How would I even extract Achievement from my soul without help from something like a cash register from the Market?" I asked. I was a bit worried that the AI wasn't going to give me any more detail, but luckily, I got a response.

  After reading the AI’s explanation, I grinned.

  This was… this was amazing. This was everything I had been hoping for, and then far more. It gave me valuable insight into how Achievement worked, and how a lot of the Market operated. It was like a crash course on the underlying principles of... well, everything in the Market. It also gave me a path to learn soul manipulation.

  “What about gaining some control over the Eldritch?” I asked the bed. “Why do you recommend that?”

  To my disappointment, the explanation this time was much less detailed.

  A few moments later, the System screen closed. It was apparently done giving me tips. I was more than happy with my purchase. I debated spending another 100 Achievement to get hints on my other Abilities… but I wasn’t sure if I needed them. When it came to my 'main' magic System, I wanted a clear direction to go in. Something that would maximize the potential of each Evolution. However, my other two Abilities were mostly a method of supporting my main Ability. They didn't need to be 'optimized.' Instead, it might make more sense to let them organically grow to fit my needs. That way, I would never have a build filled with Abilities that didn't work together. If my intended 'organic growth' didn't work, I could use the bed's hints next time we returned to the Market.

  Thus, with the 'Hints' settled, I turned my attention towards the final thing I wanted.

  A few new Spatial abilities. It was time to finish messing with my Abilities, and then finish shopping with the Skill bed.

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