I imagined I'd no longer have to live off of $5 Taco Bell craving boxes at some point when I started taking these jobs, but here we are.

Winning these jobs have been worth it so far, at least. Managed to refine my paper folding abilities to create a protective barrier with the texture/qualities of Papier-mâché-- so the next time a mountain lion tries to bite my head off, I'll be a little more prepared.

Still, I need to figure out my money situation sooner or later. I'm finished with high school in only a few months-- which translates to only a few more jobs-- so I'll need to get actually employed eventually. I'm sure my talents could land me basically anywhere I wanted, but I doubt there's anything that'll pay me enough for just making origami all day. Maybe I'll do some handyman work in the mean time?

I also doubt these jobs will keep transporting me to wherever the location is for free. It'll be much easier if I'm just able to buy a plane ticket wherever I need to go, so my objective should at least be to cover those expenses.

Life's changed a lot in just the past month.

Sometime after the job, Viktor contacted me about some sort of business venture he needed some funding for. At first, I thought he was just trying to scam me out of some money, but as it turns out, he's trying to start some sort of Contractor base of operations. I agreed to help him check out and renovate the place on the condition that he paid for my flight and stay there.

Goshen, Indiana is an awful shit hole, but Viktor's right in that it's a hotspot for insane supernatural shit. There's not even a local police force anymore, just warring biker gangs running the streets (one of which is the Sons of Salem). Pretty wild.

After I got to the farm, I met with Viktor's business partner for this venture-- a mysterious man named Guy Webber-- who's honestly a pretty respectable figure. Not only is he a world class scientist, but he's also a genius in his own right. And also apparently a wizard or something? He immediately handed me five hundred bucks and told me he'd cover any expenses needed for cleaning up the place when I arrived, so he's clearly got an eye for fellow talent at least.

Speaking of, the location. It's some run down farm on the outskirts of town, full of broken junk and walls that are barely holding together. Even with my skill, it took a week to get up to code-- but you know what they say about fixer uppers. Some gang members stalked us during the night at some point, but Guy managed to do his (figurative) magic to take care of them.

Despite everyone contributing a bunch of money out of their own pockets, we had still came up short for our initial payment for the farm. We ended up having to agree to a deal in the end to make up for the last portion, but afterward, we were in the clear. That let us focus our efforts on converting the farm into an energy farm with a mixture of my knowledge, Guy's science, and Viktor's technology put together, so now the place pays for itself!

Oh yeah, we also had a boy's night afterward with some of the other Contractors invited (including Lawrence and a tattoo artist named Gull, who fixed my burn marks and gave me a magic goose tattoo) and killed a cryptid Chain Raccoon or something. Was pretty cool, and the reward was an insane $100,000 total (that we split amongst ourselves). Pretty sure this is the most amount of money I've had in my bank account, period, which is... Mind boggling. Out of all the ways I could've started hitting it big, I never expected killing monster raccoons would be one of them.

I'll be staying at this farm for longer than I anticipated, on account of Viktor apparently now being wanted and needing to live in a hole I made for him. I'll probably move in permanently at some point, which'll be a pain, but for now? Life's been turning out pretty good. 

Time flies. More life changes. Now I'm finally eighteen, which means I finally get some legal independence.

First thing off the chopping block was simply getting a job. Can't really do much without any actual personal income, after all. I debated just doing some handyman or repair work initially, but with my talents? I decided to actually start making money off my art.

Surprisingly, when you're one of the greatest artisans in the world, it's not long until people's eyes notice your portfolio and start paying what it's worth. Even landed a stable job as a designer for an indie game company, which is pretty sweet.

Next thing was actually budgeting the money I got. A lifetime of poor spending habits has admittedly resulted in some... less than stellar decision making, but I've managed to figure out a good enough plan for my finances. Enough to get my by at least.

Last thing was officially moving out into the Farm. Guy offered to let me stay there for free, permanently, which makes sense-- considering I've basically renovated the entire place-- but nonetheless, I'm grateful to finally have a place of my 'own' to stay-- and especially a place to work on my designs.

I think I'm finally making a breakthrough on these Trifold Frames I've been sketching out... Should have them all ready in time for the next job.

Went home feeling pretty stellar again, if a little greasy. At least I have my own shower now. Life on the Farm's actually pretty nice...

Speaking of, now that I've officially set up shop here, I figured it's time to start really focusing on producing some more works. These Trifold Frames might just be my magnum opus thus far, but I've got plenty of designs left to bring to life.

Right now, I think I'll start with something 'simpler,' if you can call it that-- a spring-loaded melee weapon should only require a bit of careful folding, right? Most important part should just be learning how to wield it effectively, really.

So, I worked on making some a couple regular blades of my own and got to practicing. A few mini lessons here:

Lesson 1: Know the properties of your tools. Understanding everything from its weight, structure, and strengths elevates your ability to use them tremendously. Sticking to weapons I create myself should help with this.

Lesson 2: Having multiple arms actually makes dual wielding pretty effectively. Or in this case, hexa-wielding? More weapons working together means more angles you can attack from, as well as more ways you can defend yourself.

Lesson 3: Don't ask Viktor to shoot at you even after you figure out you can actually straight up parry bullets through some testing. Was definitely a closer call than I would've liked, even with six blades to defend myself with.

I'm betting I'll get the inspiration needed to finish making some actually impressive weapons after this next job. Just have to keep winning and all.

I made it back to The Farm, still in a fugue state. It felt wrong that we were the ones left alive, walking home, after everything that happened.

Ended up getting wasted with Viktor and Mr. Webber. Viktor brushed it off as usual-- he's already apparently gotten over his trauma from surviving shootouts and running into IEDs and whatever other shit he's pulled as a mercenary. It's like that asshole lives and dies for this shit.

Mr. Webber was a little more sympathetic. He shared some of the messed up stuff that's gotten to him from doing all these jobs, and I learned a little more about what he used to actually do.

Still... that night, and every night after that, I felt Sean's spirit haunting my soul-- that moment replaying in my head endlessly...

Bankston reached out to me after, and invited me to some sort of gathering with his other colleagues. He held... mock trials? As strange as it sounds... but it was a good outlet for everyone to release what's happened to them after all these jobs.

Since then, the hauntings have stopped... but that moment is still etched into my memory permanently. Wherever you ended up, Sean, I hope you can watch me. I'm going to make sure your sacrifice doesn't go to waste. I'm going to make you proud.

A lot's changed in the past month.

I received a call from Mr. Polk, Bankston, and a few of their associates out of the blue. They offered a million dollars if I agreed to work for their new organization, The Firm, and move from The Farm...

Needless to say, I flew out that afternoon. I mean, can you blame me? For one, Goshen Indiana sucks. I cannot fathom why Viktor decided that this would be the best base of operations for his crew. Secondly, it's not like I was abandoning The Farm. Nothing in the deal we made prevented me from lending a hand to them whenever I wanted, so why not take it?

Viktor felt otherwise though. That asshole. Pushes me around and brushes my ideas off constantly, and now he's complaining about betrayal and backstabbing? Guess he can finish all the refurnishing for the Farm himself.

At the very least, now I have my own place. And it's pretty spacious too... Beats living in that overcrowded apartment I started out in... definitely beats sleeping in a tent on the streets, too.

I think I'm finally starting to make it.

(Oh, and Mr. Polk and Mr. Bankston are pretty cool employers so far. Hopefully I get on a job with them again soon.)

I flew Ms. Lanie back after the job was done. I guess it’s a little hard to travel alone when you’re a dog…

Talking with her made me reflect on some things, though. I guess talking to a literal therapy dog will do that. Was what I did during that job... kinda messed up?

...No, I don't think so. It's not like I left anyone behind at any point. Especially after last job, could you blame me for prioritizing completing the objective first? An opportunity's an opportunity. The moment one presents itself to you, you take it.

That mentality is what got me into these Contracts in the first place. It's what got me into the Farm, and it's how I climbed up to being in The Firm.

And it's been paying off. After that job, I've been able to use my origami to create grand, monumental pieces in mere seconds-- the way I've always dreamed of doing.

I'm finally getting to the point that I've always dreamed of... the rewards and recognition I've always deserved. What's wrong with acknowledging that?

That marks my tenth victory for these Contracts. According to those Powers At Be and Harbingers from a couple jobs back, that’s apparently some sort of promotion?

Whatever I achieved has been a strange change of pace, though. I fell asleep that night while working on some new pieces, and when I woke up, I had... somehow merged with all the paper that was surrounding me? It collected into the vague shape of my silhouette, and I could feel my... essence, for a lack of better term, within every single sheet of paper.

I was able to switch back and forth with enough ease, fortunately, but still... pretty weird getting used to. I guess that means I can expect a few more physiological changes from here on out.

I'll also likely have to anticipate an increase in the difficulty and scale of these jobs if I've been promoted to some kind of new bracket. Of course, that shouldn't be any issue for me... How much harder could the next mission be?

Well, unsurprisingly, not a lot changed after that disaster of a job.

I dropped off Brenning’s stuff to the Valentines Association like he asked. Bastard better come back to pick up his stuff again later.

As for Vance, we had a brief conversation with one another on the way back. I think both of us recognized how badly we messed things up… and both of us were determined not to repeat the same mistakes. If I keep working with him on more of these jobs, hopefully things will work out better.

I spent most of my time at home trying to perfect the design of the wings I’ve been working on, but it hasn’t resulted in much. If I want to get these done in any sort of reasonable time frame, I guess I’ll just have to keep getting inspiration from coming out on top on these Contracts… but what else is new.

Next job better come soon.

It took some time, but I finally finished the design of my wings.

Before taking these jobs, the idea of someday soaring through the sky using my own art was only that. A dream in my head. Something I'd never get the opportunity to bring into fruition.

Now? With the resources I have, it's just a matter of finding the right inspiration and sparing the time to work on it.

Adopting a modular design for the wings turned out to be the key for making them as efficient as they are now. I ended up extending the wingspan and size of the design so that it takes up more space-- in exchange, I'm able integrate far feathers into the wings. With over double the amount of feathers, there's much more surface area to channel the user's power. Since of the feathers are perfectly identical, it's even able to repair itself midflight in the event of any damage.

I should have enough to piece together a few of these and offer them to some of the Firm. In fact, it's probably only a matter of time until other people decide to take interest in these...

I've been stretched a little thin over the past month, but that's not to say things haven't been good.

My body seems to be shifting more and more from emerging victorious on these jobs now. I may or may not have accidentally nicked my hands while trying to add spikes on the hide of mythical dinosaur-hide armor for Lanie... but even if it did happen, the cuts ended up mending themselves without any scarring-- so who's to say it happened in the first place?

Speaking of, I also worked on tailoring Lanie a new wardrobe. While I wouldn't say fashion is my area of expertise, I would say I am capable of producing the highest caliber dog suits in the world. I'm able to use the materials I conjure from my blueprints as well now, which makes the process all the more easier. In the end, I offered it all to her pro bono-- the opportunity in it of itself was more than enough for payment this time, and apparently, I had a few more rewards lined up for me...

---

[I'll go in depth over doing Offr / interaction with Guy / murder mystery help / town work later]

I’ve been perfecting my Origami as of late.

Seems like the Firm has finally recognized how useful it is for infrastructure, so I’ve been put in charge of city planning, constructing buildings, etc. 'Head of Operational Integrity' is the official title I've been given-- definitely a step up from the basic security duty they put me under before at least...

I can't believe how accurate Sim City is to actual city planning. I worked with Bankston to pitch my work as the result of some sort of experimental, fast acting 3D printer to the town council... they'll realize the truth when we finish turning this place in the Battlegrounds.

Before that though, we needed to finish a few things-- creating the bunker, apartment housing for the workers we'd hire, etc. It's been a lot of work, but it's good practice.

And in the end, it was worth it. Mr. Polk surprised me with a chance to work with Satoshi Kamiya himself after everything it was done. It's a little surreal finally getting to work with other origami artists like myself... a little refreshing actually. It's been a while since I've been able to wholeheartedly dedicate myself to origami again.

Work's been good. Hopefully the next job is even better.

Now that the... incident, is a little further behind me, I've decided to write down where I plan on building the rest of my monuments. It's been in my head for a long time now, but now that I've learned this teleportation business (closer to quantum/spatial folding, technically), I figured it was best to write it down at this point.

I'll put one down when we finally finish opening the Battlegrounds. Probably a new obelisk? A tower overlooking the rest of the town would be fairly symbolic. Plus, it's in a... slightly more protected place than the previous one.

Beyond that, it'd be smart to place some across the United States. A massive fountain in the Grand Canyon, a couple animal pieces in some national parks-- maybe a slide in Niagara Falls so people can have some fun interacting with it.

Other than that, of course I've got to do some works for the rest of the world. Those ghost cities in China could use some refurnishing... and I've still got to construct that Gundam in the Scottish Isles for Sean. Maybe I'll go big and put something on the moon?

I'll have to put aside some time from all the Firm work I've been doing, but I'm close to finally making my impact on the world.

It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these.

A lot's happened since... Viktor and Lanie passed. It'd been a long time since I'd met with either of them, but it still felt... surreal. At least Lanie managed to make an impact on the world before she passed. Viktor? Well, I'm sure he went out guns blazing.

Firm work has been keeping me busy as usual, along with the commission work from Mr. Webber. We're close to finally opening the Battlegrounds to the public, and I've planned out my new obelisk for the occasion. I should have the time to invest in the rest of my monuments afterwards...

Other than that, I've done a lot of networking and trading. I can see why Viktor basically sold his soul to this Offr stuff. My suit's gotten an array of upgrades since my last job, so I should be more than prepared.

Speaking of, my cranes have been chirping a lot more at me as of late. I should probably clear my schedule for the next few days...

I've been working on a lot of new geometric studies in preparation for my larger scale monuments. While I may already be one of the greatest geniuses alive and my art may very well be beyond anything the world has seen... the road to perfection never ends. There's always something to improve on.

Continuing to endlessly practice the designs I've already mastered, as well as creating more and more complex, innovative patterns... it's how I get better, meditate on my place in the universe, and remember why I continue to do these jobs.

I think I've managed to put a bit of that conceptualization in my newer works, that ability to take in the world and understand it. So, I decided to put them up for offer publicly again, and... well, it seems like the rest of the Contractor community sees the same thing! I'm being contacted by peers of peers at this point to strike deals.

What else can I say, other than that I deserve it?

I finally finished my first real monument. Repurposed the obelisk as Battlegrounds Tower, a beacon for safe haven to the supernatural. It’s not necessarily a complex design, but sometimes there’s beauty to be found in simple geometry.

The construction process was fairly straightforward. Used the same strategy for most of the other buildings I’d architected in the town, covering it up and finishing it in the dark. I finished it before sunrise, and the total time I actually spent erecting it must have been less than a minute. But, the finished product was pretty decent. Caught the attention of a few reporters, news stations, and internet sleuths at the very least.

The interior is empty at the moment, and it doesn’t do much other than serve as a keystone for one of my spatial pieces. I still have the plans and blueprints to make it into the wizard’s tower I was going to shape it into to match the town’s development…

But at this point, I think it’ll stay hollow.

My mom used to say she gave me the name 'Bryan' because I'd someday grow up to become someone noble. I always just figured she wanted to give me a generic American name to match with my dad's surname and fit in with everyone else, but the thought of rising beyond my station and reaching nobility never left my mind.

At some point, I think I conflated becoming 'noble' and 'royal' with living in wealth and luxury. I mean, that's certainly still part of it. But now that I've reached this point, I've started to realize that this wasn't the type of nobility my mother was imagining for me.

After everything I've done for the Firm and throughout my career, I started to assume that being truly 'noble' was something out of my reach. In all fairness, the only people I've actually killed outright are a couple who were trying to eat me (technically assisted, in any case) and some rich rapist guy. But, the things I've witnessed throughout this past year have... certainly warped my perspective of things.

I'm still not sure how seriously I'm going to take this superhero team thing. Originally, I figured it'd just be an excuse to network with more people and have some extra muscle at my disposal... but it seems like there's some real potential for good here? We all work pretty well together, none of us are totally ruthless murderers, and a few of us are actually kinda decent as people?

Logistically, things also check out way more than I would've expected. The moon base was barely an issue between my talents and everyone else pitching in. We cover each other's weaknesses pretty well. And we actually have a method of... well, doing good, changing the world for the better, rehabilitating evil. Most superhero stories are just about beating up the bad guy, but we? We can do more.

...I'm not sure. It'd be nice to be good for once, sure. But when I was standing on the moon for the first time, with the entire planet in view...

I wasn't certain whether or not my disappointment stemmed from how above all of if it I'd become, or if it was from the fact that I had barely felt anything.

...I guess this is just what it means to be at the on the throne.