《Quantum Thief》 Prologue "AND STAY OUT!" *SLAM* I can''t believe it. I CAN''T FUCKING BELIEVE IT! They kicked me out! ME! "SHIT FUCK %^&*# #!@(& ######$#@&" I kinda black out for a moment there. When I come to I was back in my bed. I can only deny reality for so long as I can hear Dad stomping around in the living room. I try to see what caused this to happen. Looking around I see to bright blue boxes in the corner of my vision.
Congratulations!
You have awoken the [Wide Range Teleport] ability!
Testing Moral Alignment...
You have the [Chaotic Neutral] Alignment!
You have Awoken as a Villain!
Name: Jason Viler Supervillain Name:
Class: Lv:1
Villain Rank: G
Powers: [Wide Range Teleport]
Skills:
Huh?!? I awakened right now? Wow, I didn''t even have to train up a skill to get access to the status screen. I''m one of the lucky bastards who get special powers with a strong emotion. Well Jason, first things first, it doesn''t look like anyone will be in my room for a while, so I got some time on my hands. "Wide Range Teleport" I whisper aloud.
[Wide Range Teleport] : can teleport 1km at will. Bypass all non-power based wards and barriers. Must have place in sight or mind. Destination must be in open air or low-pressure water to activate, teleport to the closest available area if blocked.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "Hmm" It looks like I can work with this. HAHAHA, who am I kidding this is just fucking great! I always knew I was never Hero Material, but I never would have guessed I would be a natural born villain. I just knew I was never going to get a job, that would just be tooboring. Getting back to reality I grab my old school backpack and empty it out. I stuff a change of clothes and look around my room for anything of use or value. I quickly pick up my laptop, (you never know how useful google can be) my life savings, ($23.78) my gaming console and controllers, (hopefully $150 at a pawn shop) and a bottle of water with a bag of beef jerky. Well, as sad as it is, that is everything useful I can carry in my room, but before I leave I think I can get a little ''compensation'' for all the years of chores I did for my parents. Only a little though; I still love the old fuckers after all. I try to teleport in my room to see if it makes any noise. It doesn''t, so I take a risk and teleport into the walk-in pantry. While carefully listening I loot the pantry for any food I can eat without preparation. I get a couple of cans of ravioli and a box of snack cakes. I confirm that my siblings are in the living room and mom is busy in the kitchen, with the shower running in the master bathroom I now know where everyone in the house is. I take a couple more water bottles and teleport in the master bedroom and try to find what I''m looking for. I see Dad''s clothes in front of the bathroom door, and a hunting knife on the table. I take the knife off the table and strap the sheath to my belt loop. I quietly make my way to the pile of clothes, wary of that old hero''s ears, take his wallet out of his pants and find 34 dollars for the keeping. Flipping the bird in the old man''s direction one last time I teleport 1km away next to a suburb street. Ignoring the startled cat I sit down on the side street to think of what I need to do to live my new life. Well I need to find a map, so I can find a way to get to villain controlled country, otherwise it would be a lot more complicated for me to fence my loot and raise my villain rank. The closest villain controlled area is the Sovereign Empire. Dramatic name I know, but all Villain run areas are like that. It''s most of California, about half of Nevada and little of Arizona and Mexico. Well, the closest major city to me is Las Vegas, but that is still more than 2000km away from this Oklahoma shit hole I find myself in. With a place in mind I do what any self-respecting villain in my shoes would do; I visit my local library! Loot list: $57.78 Gaming console Clothes Food Knife Ch. 1 Our budding villain made his way through the countryside teleporting through backyards, wooded areas, and alongside open road, finally making his way to what passes for a town around these parts. I lament the fact that ever since the Super Villain Gaia unleashed his powers on the world most rural areas have been expanded from 40-85%. Though this area was in the sticks anyways, it''s a special feeling to be 5 hours away from any type of non-pioneering cities. I could try to start my life as a villain in a start-up city, but I''d be more likely to be mugged or press-ganged than find a reliable buyer for contraband. Those places are also much to close to law-abiding lands to be safe for a thief to relax. One wrong theft and I get either capes or an S.W.A.T. team on my tail. Much better to stick close to the more organized side of crime. I''d hate for my father to get wind of my actions either; the old man was an A-rank Hero before he retired. I would have to flee the continent to escape his grasp, as traveling deep into Villain controlled territory is much to dangerous for my tastes. Getting out of my head, I enter the pawn shop of the little town I''m in to sell my console. Since it doesn''t have the [stolen] status on it, I don''t have to worry about getting outed as a thief just yet. At least this state is against forced appraisals and has the Villain Rights Laws in effect, so I won''t be dragged to jail for having Villain on my status. Still, it''s best to be hush-hush about these things. I get $120 for my console and buy an old pair of binoculars ($5) while I case the joint. When I see that the clothes section is not in view of the camera and the clerk, I thank him and leave the store. Turning into an alley, I teleport when I am sure no one can see me. I quickly steal a ski-mask, gloves, and a pair of sun-glasses. Seeing nothing else of value while staying out of sight I pop back in the alley and continue through it. Coming onto a street I remember I silently walk the streets until I see the library. Sitting down in the courtyard I check to see if I am in Wi-Fi range. Seeing as I am I boot up my fairly new laptop and check to see that it''s 6pm, if it wasn''t the summer than it would be dark out. I see when the buses run and see that the closest bus stop is at a gas station on the edge of town. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ??I get out the jerky and snack cakes and eat while I do some online sleuthing to make a plan. 20 minutes later I finish my plan and my meal. Down a bag of jerky and half a box of cakes I walk to the edge of town while washing my food down with some water. I get to my destination at 7:30 and consider my options. Heroes and Villains don''t just fight each other for control, if they did that then the government would have beaten them all down before the system even initialized. You see, across the entire world, there are system generated Heroes and Villains Guilds. These Guilds employ people to either uphold justice or to commit misdeeds. They give our guests that either make it easier to obtain skills or give out system coins. These system coins can be traded for various skills, weapons, armors, tools, and very rarely, even powers! These Guilds are positioned in various buildings across the world, even in a few caves. They are usually locked up when one pops up in an area controlled by an opposing faction. Which is why I need to go to villain controlled country ASAP. Las Vegas is one of the few villain controlled cities that make enough money from gambling and tourism that it still maintains law on the streets and peace between gangs. All villain controlled city fencers, which are basically criminal pawn shops. If I steal from pioneer cities and sell in Vegas, then I should be safe enough. As I was musing over my life, time passes. As darkness falls I pop up to the roof of the gas station. After an hour of waiting I see the bus that I was waiting for. I let the people exit, and as new people are boarding I teleport into the back of the bus, no one saw me do it and I don''t see any cameras at all on the bus. When people see me on the bus they assume I am one of the few people on the bus that stayed on, waiting to get off at another stop. As the bus departs I get ready to sleep as I ponder where I can find a gun on the road, as there is no way in hell that I''m going into villain territory without a piece. Loot List: $172.78 Binoculars Clothes Food Knife Ch. 2 After the day and half ride I am at the last bastion of law-abiding society. If you can call this gang-ridden frontier town that. The only thing that sits this desert hell-hole apart from anything leagues around it is that it is the last U.S. sanctioned city before the Empire. Like most towns around villain territory, the police don''t even operate around here. Instead, they have an organization called "The Watch". "The Watch" is basically just a bunch of vigilante corps, sometimes they seem worse than the gangs. Especially the gangs that take "protection money" from the locals and then keep the peace. Knowing that the local gangs are more disciplined than the local militia I start following the first Watch member I see. After a half hour of shadowing the man, I see him enter a public bathroom. Noting an empty room in an abandoned building I confidently enter after him 2 minutes after him. Seeing that he is in a stall I put on my ski mask and enter the stall next to him. I yoink his cheap pistol out of the holster on his pants. One quick teleport later and I''m in the abandoned building, after quickly putting away my new gun and my ski mask, I see the dope I doped run into the street yelling things like: "JUST WAIT TILL I FIND YOU JACKASS" and "YOU CAN''T RUN FROM THE WATCH" Hah. What is that guy? He reminds me of an NPC from that retro game I played called Skyedge or Earthrim or something. Three teleports later and I''m a ghost. Well, anyway, I find myself with two problems: I''m out of food and am unwilling to pay the outrageous price that gang charges for a ride into Vegas. While I should be able to steal something for myself to eat, the way into the city is the bigger problem. It would be possible for me to just teleport myself across, but I don''t know how many times I can teleport without winding myself. If this was the old days I could just do that and find out what my limits are, but with heroes and villains repeating great feats one after another you never know what genetically modified creature or fantasy monsters are out there. Even ignoring whatever abominations are out there, there are still good old-fashioned bandits and psychopaths out in the wild areas. Hell, Villain Countries and City-States support them, stating that they are better than what would be there otherwise. Now, I know what you''re thinking, why don''t you just sneak onto the bus, like you were doing before? Well you didn''t see 18 heavily armed guards vigorously check every passenger for hidden bombs, nor did you see the heavily armored bus strapped with artificer tech to detect intruders and powers activating. You sure as hell didn''t see the GIANT ASS RAIL GUN on the top of the bus. At least I assume it''s a rail gun, could be a laser cannon for all I know. You can never tell with artificer tech. You can tell it''s artificer tech because it''s so sloppy looking; no artisan would ever make something like that. I know I''m going off on a tangent here, but there are 2 types of techy supers: artificers and artisans. Artisans make super tech for some of the richest people on earth and have degrees that I would probably never even get close to achieving. Artificers are usually on crack, and have the ability to control tech in one way or another. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ??Back on track, that rail-cannon looks well-used to me, signifying that whatever is waiting on the road is dangerous enough to use a rail cannon. It also proves that threats like that are common enough to wear down a laser-gun. I would never want to see any of the monsters that I''ve seen on YouTube. Just thinking about a ghoul-ghoul (a radiation-type ghoul that was turned undead by an undead-type ghoul) sends shivers down my spine, never mind a whole horde of them. If I want to protect myself I''ll need more than a slightly rusted pistol that looks like it''s been used all the way back in the old days. I don''t actually know all that much about the pistol, except that it uses 9 mm ammo and it fits in my hand nicely. So Jason, lets make a to-do list: 1. Acquire 9 mm ammo (5/x) 2. Test to see if I can teleport something 1 km upwards then teleport myself downwards 3. Get something to eat. 4. Find out if I have a limit on the amount of teleports I have available. With nothing better to do, I decide to test out number 3 immediately. You see, I have a strange 2nd sense when it comes to my teleportation ability. I know that I can only teleport things that I or any living thing that I am touching can carry. Which means that I am no good against the undead and robots, well big robots anyway. So, theoretically I can just do this to kill anything I want to. I pick up a rock and teleport skywards, and I teleport down a back a bit, and sure enough, about 20 seconds later the rock falls and makes a noticeable crater in the ground. I teleport away to stake out my next "job". Wary of what will happen if I steal from something from a business under protection of a gang, I head to where the watch has a strong presence. Looking for food, I spot a pizzeria that seems to be having a slow business day. When I see the clerk head into the kitchen I quickly nab a box that was awaiting pickup and skedaddle. After I finish lunch, I go to start #1 on my list. I arrive at the local Watch HQ. There are cameras everywhere, with a motion detector sprinkled about now and then. Not wanting to be detected, I teleport to the top of a 5-story apartment building nearby. After checking to see if there is nothing here to spot me I case the joint with my binoculars, best $5 I ever spent. I spy 2 places of interest inside the HQ: the armory and the contraband hold. Both places have small windows I can see parts of the room in, but I can''t see enough to know if there are cameras or people in the room. Looking closer, both windows have bars on them and motion sensors under them, but they have no cameras near and there are no guards on this side of the building at all. I smile to myself. "Heh, looks like I''ll get to try that out after all." Loot List: $172.79 (I found a penny on the ground!) Binoculars Clothes Knife Pistol Ch. 3 Night "hehehe" I still can''t believe the old "sheets on motion sensors" trick worked! Once I get access to the windows I notice that there are no inner security measures. Ha! I bet they never expected anyone to get this far without them noticing. Readjusting my mask, shades, and gloves, I teleport in the corner of the armory and check for security on the other side of the wall. Seeing none I rela-- NO! A relaxed thief is a dead thief. Keep your tension Jason, you''ll need to stay vigilant for this. I look around the room again and see that the guns are behind a caged shelf. Tch. Seeing all of that heavy ordinance reminds me of what I need to cross the desert. If I those artificer shotguns and a couple of those grenades I''d even be able to take on a dreaded ghoul-ghoul. Well, maybe I could if I could take out its feet and pick it up before it gores me to death. I''d still lose in an all-out fight. No wonder it takes a B-rank to go mono a mono with one. Going back to the task at hand, I look around the room, noting that the only things here besides the shelves are several boxes labeled AMMO and a metal table. Oh, and I see a watch-branded duffle bag on the floor, convenient. After checking that there was no tracking device in the bag, I use my knife to pry open one of the boxes and see the holy grail. Not a literal holy grail of course, there''s a few of those around, but I''m not talented enough to steal those *yet*. What I really see is boxes of assorted ammo, with a few smoke grenades and a bag labeled *Spare Clips* for variety, I guess. I take the smoke grenades, clips, and 5 boxes of 9 mm ammo with 2 boxes of shotgun shells and put it all in my new bag. I''ll keep the ammo in the bag with me for personal use and move the ammo boxes into that abandoned building from before. Taking the loot, I teleport to the abandoned building and note that I need a good flashlight, after making sure no one was there I put all 7 boxes in a corner, cover them with an extra sheet, and teleport back to the roof. Seeing as the shelf had alarms on it and was too big to carry, I move to the window of the contraband room, as the room was still semi-dark I teleport into the corner and inspect the room. I see no other security measures and focus on the rest of the room. There is a window into a brightly lit hallway, but I don''t see or hear anyone close. There is a large metal door with a bio-hazard sign on it, I note that both the doors to the other rooms have alarms on them, I suppose that they take the security of this place seriously. It''s a shame that they never considered teleportation when designing this system. It''s not a common ability, but one that they should be prepared for. Hell, if I tried this at some gang hideout, then I''d get my motherfucking head blown off from some automated artificer construct. I guess it sucks for them that artificer tech is looked down on as villain tech. They can only rely on ordinary tech that is cheaply created at power-fueled factories or super expensive artisan tech. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ??While thinking about things that don''t really affect me right now; I show an amazing ability to multi-task that was groomed with over a decade of video games. I search the premises for anything valuable with drivel in my head and an ear out for visitors. "I swear I have ADD or something¡­" I stuffed everything that caught my interest in my bags and made out like a bandit. Which I am *not*, thank you very much. Bandits are those savages that live on the fringes of society killing and raping as they please. The only reason they survive is that the monsters they keep away can do more damage than they ever could. What I do requires *much* more finesse. Well, this task was rather easy, they even put all the loot in little labeled plastic baggies. I put the sheets back in the laundry area where I got them. Lamenting my lack of ability to steal any poison or drugs that would be in the bio hazard room, I go to sleep on a hammock (that I stole) in my new base inside the old abandoned building. It sure helps this place is hard to get into without teleporting. Loot List: $173.04 (I found a quarter in the laundry room!) Binoculars Clothes Knife Pistol Bunch of crappy guns (SELL) Police Carbine (9 mm) (KEEP) Sawed-off shotgun (KEEP) Assorted jewelry (SELL) Ammo (bag) (KEEP) Ammo (boxes) (SELL) Artificer energy shield (KEEP) Random Artificer tech (SELL) Knifes (SELL) Smuggled "Blood Dome" DVD''s (SELL) Drug paraphernalia (bongs, pipes, clean needles, and a fucking hookah) (SELL) Bag of 38 Gang related magic rings (non-labeled, found in false bottom, hush hush) (INVESTIGATE) Ch. 4 I wake up to find that the city, which I now know to be called Wayside, in an uproar. Stretching, I get up to look around the city to either find a place to sell my loot safely or a place to keep my loot safely until I can find a way to travel the desert safely. The watch has its presence everywhere. Looks like they are trying to smoke me out of hiding. Feeling the need to learn more about the situation I tail one of the larger groups of watch members. They go from the middle of watch territory into the territory of a gang whose colors are gold and white. While I might not know the name of the gang, it''s clear that this does not happen often. Judging by the looks of the faces of the gang members, they''re getting ready for war. The watch stops at what looks like a concrete fort in the middle of the city slums. Hmm... The buildings around this place are too tall for me to hear them talking, and there are to many obvious heroes and villains for me to sleuth around successfully. I hear that the [Aura Detection] skill comes naturally after 3-6 months after awakening. There are 4 heroes the watch''s side and 3 villains on the gang''s side, and that''s just the ones that are showing themselves. Anyone who''s smart would make themselves look like one of their regular goons and use [Hide Aura]. Speaking of which, there is a crowd of normal people gathering in front of the brewing confrontation. Taking off my gloves and ski mask, I head down into a secluded spot then make my way into the crowd with my sunglasses on. One of the heroes walks in front of one of his group and yells up at the top of the wall. "BY THE ORDER OF THE WATCH, WE ARE HERE TO INSPECT THIS FACILITY FOR CONTRABAND." Hero "Contraband? That''s the black market. Everything they have in there is contraband." Crowd Member #1 "They''d never go that far for some contraband, something special must have happened." Crowd Member #2 After a couple of minutes someone runs in from the fort and seemingly tells them to let them in. While they do so, it seems like that will not be the end of it, and the watch will suffer retributions from the gangs of this area. Well, looking at the state of the city, there are going to be conflicts between gangs and the watch all over the place. After looking around the city some more I find out 2 things. The watch seems to be hitting every fence and pawn shop in town, all of them looking for the same items, which I can infer are what I looted from them. I also find out where the gang members that wear the rings turf is at. The gang, whose colors are red and blue, are called the Magisters. They seem to focus on the arcane more than the other gangs around here. Of course, they still have what everyone else has, it''s just they seem to be headed by a magic-type villain. Now, I may be wrong, but those rings seem like the only thing I stole to warrant such a response. I want to just confront one of them and tell them what I found, but if I''m wrong about them being important then I run the risk of the watch finding out about me. I need to find out what they actually do before I go to negotiate prices. Hell, if these things are important then I might just give the rings to them and ask them to point me in the direction of a place to sell my loot without finding myself in a watch lock-up. As I''m teleporting around the area, looking around for a place that normal citizens and gang-members drink together, I hear something directly behind me. Startled, I teleport upwards and get ready to teleport several times to escape. I... I CAN''T MOVE SON OF A- "Who are you?" ??? "I am Jason Viler, a newly awakened villain." Jason "Okay then Jason, tell me why you have so many of our celestial rings on you." Magister Villain? Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ??"I do not know what celestial rings are." Jason "Damned buggy-ass spell. Why do you have about 40 red glowing rings in your backpack there?" Magister Villain "I stole them from Watch HQ, and am currently trying to find out what they are." Jason "Is that so..." MV "Yes." Jason "..." MV *** When I wake up the second time today, I am in a much worse off position. I''m tied up in a chair in the middle of what looks to be an empty room, with a guard that looks like a half naked punk-rocker chick. While she dosen''t look bad, it''s bad news for me as only hookers or supers wear outfits like that, and I don''t think that they were *that* happy with me bringing them back the rings. Well Jason, lets try to figure this out. I remember nothing after I was immobilized in the air, but seeing as I am still alive, I must have passed some sort of criteria. They are accomplished enough in the field of magic that they can catch me 1 km up in the air, so they must know some basic hypnotism spells. Well, at least this isn''t a torture chamber, I hope. My captor sees me looking around the cell. "Oh, you''re awake. Judging from the look of yah, you been overthinking a few things." Super "..." Jason "Sociable, ain''t ya? Well, considering you got caught by one of the resident guardians, you might just be shocked. I''m sure that you''ll be fine in a minute. You''ll have to, you''re gonna meet a local magistrate real soon." "..." Jason "Ha, don''t worry he won''t bite. You''re being received as a guest. The only reason that you''re tied up is that you don''t go and grab your weapons over there in the corner and assume the worst in us. Hell, the only reason I''m here at all is so you can''t just teleport outta here and call it a day." Super "..and why would that be a problem?" Jason "He speaks! Here I thought you were mute or something. What? Don''t give me that look, you took all the time in the world to respond to me. Well, It''s a problem because a magistrate wants to repay you for what you''ve done. Do you know what a big deal that is?" Super "No I don''t, I don''t take it upon myself to memorize every gang hierarchy out there, also do you have a name? I''m tired of calling you prostitute villain in my head." Jason "Hoh, I see you have a mouth on you there, my super name is SureShot. I think you need to say what you think aloud, if how often you talk to others is any indication." SureShot "I think you need to put on a pair of pants, bitch. How do you even know how often I talk to people, I''ve been awake for all of 60 seconds here." Jason "Hah, you sound like my dad. Let me ask you a question, how long do you think you''ve been under? We''ve gotten everything we need from you." SureShot "5 hours 46 Minutes if my mental wards are to be believed, also you never got anything I consider important, it you got everything you needed from me, than you didn''t need anything that I cared to hide from you." Jason She looks confused at that. That''s understandable, it would take an s-rank to get my mental wards to the point that they are, one of the benefits of coming from a prominent family, I suppose. That and the combat training, I should be getting some skills from that sometime soon, as long as I start killing some mooks out in the desert. SureShot starts to talk again but is interrupted by a man in a red robe with blue accents. From my scouting I already know that the people are of a fairly high position. "Hello, Jason, I am a mage sent down here to bring you to the magister of this branch. Magister Oliver wishes to reward you for your services for our organization. Gather your belongings and follow me." Loot List: $173.04 Binoculars Knife Pistol (9 mm) Police Carbine (9 mm) Sawed-off Ammo Energy Shield Assorted Sellable loot Ch. 5 Two villains are sitting across from one another in a cozy office with magical looking lights and constructs floating around. While one villain clearly has more prestige and power than the other, it does not appear to concern the other villain in the least as they both lounge in the office''s armchairs. "While I find it a pleasure to meet you like this, I must ask. What''s with all the guards? I''d understand if you had them in the room with you, but they''re just standing in the next room." Jason "It''s just a precaution really, they usually leave someone in here with me, but we make sure that important meetings are private." Oliver "Oh, and I qualify? Those rings must have been more important than I suspected." Jason "Yes, they are celestial rings. The rings record the date and cause of the member that is wearing it. They are also almost indestructible and tell us when they are destroyed. Bringing us back such a large cache of them is a very serious matter. None of the timestamps on the rings match known deaths of our members, and all the deaths suggest that they were either taken out by surprise or were executed." Oliver "Well, that''s serious and all that, but why am I here? I was never told why you would be meeting with me." Jason "It''s tradition, we always repay favors here. It helps foster business and build connections, and honor is something that sets us apart from the raider gangs out in the wilderness. This should be the point at which you ask for your boon." Oliver "Woah, that''s putting me on the spot. Luckily, I''m in no shortage in of things I want. I need a place to sell my loot from the watch job, a place to buy equipment and supplies for my trek to Vegas, and I want some extra cash as a reward. I also want to be able to come back to the place when I want to sell more shit I get my hands on." Jason The magistrate looks at me and starts laughing. "You are really underestimating the value of the rings you''ve gifted us. Very well, you will have your demands met, but take these, they will help you on your journey through the wastelands." Oliver Saying so, he tosses me three orbs and starts rummaging through his desk. While I inspect the orbs, he starts writing something down on his notepad. While I don''t know what is in the orbs, I know what they are. Every child on the planet knows what a skill orb is and how you can only get them at guilds. These are probably more expensive than my whole haul. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ??"Here, go to the address on that note and tell them you''ll be a regular. Your money should be ready at the counter at the front door, and Mr. Viler, have a nice day." Oliver After getting a pleasant surprise of $5000 and moving to a private rooftop I take out the skill orbs and mentally will them to reveal their contents to me.
Iron Skin 1: Harden skin by 10% for each rank
Mana Perception 1: Increase ability to detect magic with each rank
Haste: Use Mana to activate spell on command
Woah, these skills are sought after enough that they each cost more than the 5 grand. Iron skin and mana perception are sought after by beginners as they are useful throughout your entire career. That''s still less expensive than skills that let you skip incantations and spell construction. I learn the skills and continue towards the address written on the note. After haggling with the man at the corrupt pawn shop I get him to give me $1500 for all of my sellable loot. Afterwards, I look around the shop for anything that might help me survive the wasteland. I find a fancy combat armor with an array of options that''s priced at $6300. A bit pricey, but I''ll take it. As I walk out of the store with the full-body armor, I realize that I''ll no longer need my mask and sunglasses, but I''ll keep them anyways. I read the list of body armor functions as I walk past a mob of gang-members organizing a raid on Watch HQ. Seeing as that is not an isolated occurrence, I take my leave of Wayside and set out to Vegas 1 km at a time. List of Combat Armour Functions: 1. +200 defense 2. Temperature Control 3. Muffled Movements 4. Combat Hologram 5. Assisted Movement Loot List: $373.04 Combat Armour Binoculars Knife Pistol (9 mm) Police Carbine (9 mm) Sawed-off shotgun Energy Shield Ammo Ch. 6 A man appears in a derelict trucker stop that hasn''t had anyone in for decades. The man then immediately starts wheezing and cursing up a storm. "... Cough ... FUCK, GOD*#&(@ (#*@(# Cough @#&# #Y&#(" After I recover a bit I think over my journey to get here. I traveled just over 200 km if my count is correct. It would not be as nearly as hard of a journey if I could stay on the road the entire time, but almost every passing vehicle would take potshots at me as soon as they saw me. Even that is more friendly that the reception I see the bandit camps give visitors, first time I saw a lynching in real life, that made me glad I wasn''t stupid enough to reveal myself to them looking for a ride. Still, looking for a ride seems like the way to go, seeing as I only got 200 km down before I had to stop for a rest. The only problem with that is that every single vehicle looks like it has tech to detect hidden visitors, along with enough firepower to kill me in an instant. My only real saving grace is that it has been less than 10 minutes get this far. Once I get my endurance, or whatever fucking stat that manages this power, up I should be able to cross this desert in less than an hour. But I can''t do that right now as stopping for more than a couple seconds in this godforsaken place is suicide. I never got injured, but in ten minutes I ran into 2 bandit patrols 3 monster nests and a dungeon. Any one of those could have ended me if not for [Wide Range Teleport]. As if proving my point I saw a herd of what looks like mutated goblins charging straight at my impromptu hideout. Even though there are well over 100 of them I decide to hold my ground as they look decidedly not bullet-proof, and I don''t want to go out into that wasteland unprepared. Sighing I head into the building to set up defenses and almost lost my head as I dodge the fire of a standing turret that was guarding the interior. I teleport behind it and teleport it to where the door of the building used to be. Abandoning the interior in fear of traps I teleport to the roof of the building, which I saw from above already and should be clear. I quietly cast Haste on myself and set myself behind an old bleached metal sign. Taking the carbine from my back with the ease of a man who was trained with firearms for most of his life, I take all 15 shots of my magazine as fast as the gun will allow. 15 mutated goblins suddenly find themselves with an extra hole in their heads. Under the effect of Haste, I fire 3 more magazines before disgusting little things finally made it to the range of the turret. When I see the heavy machine-gun turret fell them with a vengeance, it makes me wish that they were the bigger and stronger type of mutants, instead of the little freak shows down there. While trying to forget that sight, I fire my last two loaded mags flawlessly and take the time to see how many goblins there are left. I''m shocked as I see a veritable horde of over 600 goblins attempting to lay waste to the little trucker stop. That size of horde is nowhere near what I expected to fight, especially when you consider the 300 bodies on the ground. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ??I quickly teleport skywards to checking for more reinforcements, seeing as there are none I decisively teleported behind the two goblin shamans I spotted and pulled the trigger of my shotgun twice. That seemed to make the main horde more desperate to break through the turret and get inside the building. I noted were the ranged contingent of goblins are. They only had slings and short bows, but were still going to be the hardest goblins to deal with. Drawing my knife and pistol, I wait until the turret stops firing and cast Haste while activating assisted movement on my armor. I focus on the mindset my family to have while in combat not stopping to contemplating anything while moving through the goblins like a man possessed. I fire 7 rounds into different goblins and slice through 4 of them while feeling almost no resistance at all. Using my body I slog through the goblins in various ways and teleport away before the mass of goblins attacking the trucker stop can even react. While contemplating what to do with the rest of the goblins I hear a huge amount of gunfire downstairs and see half of the group attacking the building running away. Ignoring the footsteps of some robot things downstairs I drink a water bottle and eat some sausages I snagged in a house at Wayside. It''s a shame I didn''t get to see the notifications from the battle, my first battle should have unlocked some skills that I had trained my entire life for. *** "Woah there man, your gonna need to undergo a purification spell if you want to go any farther than this." City Guard "Is it free?" Jason "Ha, for you man, sure." After I get cleaned of assorted grime and gore, I step into the city and immediately head towards the Villains Guild, and the start of my new life. Loot List: $373.04 Combat Armour Binoculars Knife Pistol (9 mm) Police Carbine (9 mm) Sawed-off shotgun Energy Shield Ammo Stash of jewelry I "found" Ch. 7 The way Vegas is now laid out is nowhere near what I assume it was. There couldn''t have this many floating buildings around, and that gorge would normally be very off-putting for potential settlers. I also remember being told that several parts of this city has been blown up and reconstructed using superpowers and magic. Ignoring various casinos, drug dens, gang hideouts, and whore houses, I walk towards the local Villain guild hall. The old cathedral had been cleared out when the system''s guild opened here. This is so exciting! I''ll finally get to see what my sta- "Hey punk! Where do thin- huh!? Where did he go?" Thug ts are! I trained my whole life before my family discovered that I wouldn''t awaken as a hero and stopped respecting me. The thought of my wonder kid of a brother already having 5 times my stats despite being 6 years younger than me is quite infuriating. Finally, entering through the doors of the guild, I see groups of obvious thugs and criminal types jostling people dressed like what you would see in Saturday cartoons. Taking the vibe of crowd I feel like this situation would devolve into a massive 100-way gang war if the system didn''t instantly shut-down any kind of fight in the guild halls. If the system didn''t make the duel system then there would be a lot more people hiding out here than there already is. As it is, only people who have confidence in winning a 1-on-1 fight every hour get to hide from larger organizations here. But enough of that! I''m here to get my card and choose my class. I walk behind a guy in a thick blue fur coat and carrying a back-pack style freeze ray on his back in the new registrations line. It strikes me how ridiculous everyone here looks, then I reconsider my opinion as I''m currently wearing an all black combat suit that doesn''t show one bit of my skin. Wasting my time while in line, I observe my villain compatriots and feel a little under-equipped. As hard as that is to feel while in a combat suit and equipped with 3 guns, it''s how I feel when faced with some crazy things that some people here have with them. Now I know why no one gave me a second look while I was walking here. Is that a quadruple rocket-launcher!? What would you need that for in such close quarters? Is that your power? After having to wait for another 20 minutes I make it to the front desk. "Hello, welcome to the Villain Guild, fledgling villain! Do you wish to register today?" Android "Yeah, and I want a stat board too. I don''t have a phone to use the app on." Jason "Excellent! You need to pay the $100 dollar fee and place your finger on this needle." "Fucking highway robbery... Fine..." Walking out of the Villain Guild with a complementary band-aid on my finger, I don''t even look at the quest postings. Ignoring the fact that most of what''s on there is reprehensible garbage, you would have to be a lot stronger than I am now to complete anything worthwhile on that board. I''m not going to be the Guild''s lapdog either. I only registered there to check my stats and choose my class. Speaking of which...
Name:Jason Viler Class: Choose
Level: 1+ [100/100] Villain Rank: F
Villain name: N/A
Skills/Spells: Iron Body 1 [A] This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.Mana Sensing 2 [P] Haste [S] Minor Spell Casting 2 [P] Gun Handling 5 [P] Rifle Handling 4 [P] Pistol Handling 3 [P] Sniping 6 [P] Knife Welding 3 [P] Martial Arts 4 [P] Constitution 1 [P] Strength 1 [P] Speed 1 [P] Powers: Wide-Range Teleport [A]
So, those are my skills, huh? Little underwhelming if I do say so myself. I trained my whole life for this, but that''s all I get? Well, it''s only from one battle. The problem being that I don''t plan on being put in many life threatening situations. While I can rely on stealing things and ambush tactics to raise my level and stats. Without actual training and live combat situations my skills will stagnate. Which sucks, as I try to avoid both things quasi-religiously. "Sigh, enough stalling, time to see just how unbalanced my stats are."
Power: E
Body: F
Dexterity: C
Mind: D
Mana: B
Mana Power: D
Mana Regen: C
Charisma: G
Luck: A
I was just guessing, so I shouldn''t feel surprised when I was wrong. Only 9 stat values? My younger brother probably more than 5 times as me. Don''t get me wrong, most people would kill me if they heard that while seeing my stats, but I was raised to meet different standards. Standards which I failed horribly to meet, of course. Most people have 6 or so stats, with their top stat being C grade. Underachievers get about 3 stats, and a top stat around D level. Anyone below that generally dosen''t awaken, super or otherwise. On the other hand, my extended family considers anyone who doesn''t have 15 stat values and at least 1 or 2 S grade stats a failure. So when you compare my sorry ass to my brother, the prodigy of the entire Viler "Clan", I don''t really compare favorably. Last I''ve heard he has a SS grade stat and at least 4 S grade stats. This still doesn''t stack up to a A-Grade hero, but you have to remember he''s a GODDAMN TEENAGER. He has- "There you are you fuckin'' punk, how dare ya act like that to me. Oh, you don''t feel like talking to me huhhhh~. Well at least look at us when we beat you litt- OH FOR FUC-" Thug his whole life ahead of him, my parents treat him like he will become an S or SS class hero. Which as annoying as it is, knowing his potential is probably true. Okay Jason, time to get back on track. I''ve heard being absent-minded is good training for your mind stat but this is just ridiculous. Let''s make a list of things I want to accomplish. 1. Get at least a rare grade class. 2. Raise my level. 3. Get better gear. 4. Get a Villain Name. 5. First immortality. 6. Then the bitches. (A/N TFS ref. FTW) Hah, that looks good enough for goals, looking at the class list there is no suitable class for me to have yet. Only one thing to do then, kill and steal until I get a suitable class. Loot List: $273.04 Combat Armour Binoculars Knife Pistol (9 mm) Police Carbine (9 mm) Sawed-off shotgun Energy Shield Ammo Stash of jewelry Ch. 8 Outskirts of the new age slums of Las Vegas. An area with little order at all. It''s more ruins with military outposts to keep desert monsters out than a city. It''s not like I''m here to steal from them, though. I would have to be suicidal to fight the ruling class of a major villain city. I have nowhere near enough power to do that, yet. Just walking past some craters that were left by the on-call villains is enough to put me off. That''s one thing hero cities have over villain cities. Heroes put much more consideration towards collateral damage than any villain ever would. Well, never mind all that, I''m here to deal with one of the local gangs in this area. From what I hear, "Gang" is a very generous term for these people. They station themselves outside the city limits and take care of any monsters that are foolish to come near them themselves. That''s the idea anyway, they only have a few low-grade villains and a mid-grade villain as a leader. Given that they''re a bunch of psychos, it''s sometimes hard to tell if a dead body here was caused by a monster or a gangster. I arrive near the main compound of the gang-bangers, bypassing a few patrols and several smaller camps. There is no real money in those areas. While taking care not to be seen, I spot several areas in the compound that are bound to have some good loot in them. Having scouted out the location, I start checking abandoned houses within a half mile of the joint. After almost tripping 3 traps and what looked like a homeless man almost giving me a heart attack, no way in hell was an actual homeless man *ANYWHERE* near this place, I managed to find an abandoned house with a locked basement. Finding an old flashlight, my mind was brought back to some old YouTube videos I''ve watched in the past. Using the flashlight, some cloth, glue, and other odds and ends that were coincidently in the basement, (I blame Luck A) I manage to create a homemade silencer for 9 mm ammunition. After that, I go through a whole list of objective to ready myself for the operation. I- 1. Stole mattresses from an old drug den and put it in the basement. 2. Find another hidden place to put my stash on the opposite side of the joint. 3. Gathered (Stole) Cheap alcohol, gasoline, cooking oil, discarded salamander glands, and an old flare. 4. Sold jewelry ($1000) and bought ($200), mana charged, mana activated, re-breather and installed it in my armor. (Self) 5. Identified 5 enemy supers, and their combat potential. Saw their leaders house. 6. Made a list of hot spots to steal from. 1. Armory 2. Drug den/Drug storage Stolen novel; please report. 3. Artificers workshop 4. Alchemists workshop 5. Elite barracks 6. Bar/Alcohol Storage 7. Loot storage 8. Slave Pen (Not the slaves themselves, they are way too bad of a condition for a legal sale. Illegal sale way to ??sketchy for me. The electric slave collars/trackers, auto turrets, and the medical/augmentation station on the other hand, are fair game) 9. Leaders Villa 10. Medic tent 7. Found military outpost to drop slaves near. 8. Bought ($250) 2 stamina potions to use power longer. 9. Tracked Guards routes and found Guard outpost. 10. Waited till nightfall. At nightfall, I moved into camp. After watching the 1000+ Gangster camp for over 8 hours, I had lost any sympathy for them. It would be better if I don''t describe what they did, but I was desensitized to this stuff a long time ago. They raped and tortured slaves, killed and burned prisoners, not necessarily in that order. They even killed dogs and other animals. To be entirely honest, I had killed people for less. They like to think my families training camps don''t breed villains, but the intense violence and authoritarian style teaching makes 20-30% of all students turn to villainy annually. They don''t care about breaking the students as long as they can continue to churn out A-S rank heroes. Enough of that talk though, I stopped caring about right or wrong a long time ago. I won''t kill them for the wrongs they committed; I will kill them because they have things that I want, and no one will care that they die. They would be on the chopping block already due to them blatantly ignoring the Ice Queens laws and being aggressive to the Watch. Starting with the guards on the watch-tower, I teleported behind him, touched him, teleported him to the basement, stabbed him, looted his body and teleported to the next target. My knife sliced through his neck nearly effortlessly, the bed would stop me from tracking blood around the compound, the potions would keep me up and running through the night, and the night would stop people from noticing guards disappearing silently. The distinct lack of guards would make it so no one would notice me killing the people around my hotspots. Not the most subtle of plans, but a decent enough plan for a guy who and teleport a mile away at a moments notice. I even have a silenced pistol for when my arm gets tired. It''s going to be a long, but profitable, night. Loot List: $823.04 Combat Armour Binoculars Knife Silencer (9 mm) Pistol (9 mm) Police Carbine (9 mm) Sawed-off shotgun 2 Stamina Potions Energy Shield Ammo Flammables Ch. 9 Killing is something I''ve been conditioned to do. It was never the intention of the academy to make killers out students, but there were several courses that taught us to not hesitate when lives depend on it. The "Heroes of New Age Academy" has many controversial policies, such policies include, but are not limited to, disregarding hostages in villain standoffs, using mental attacks to raise mental defenses, students killing of death-row inmates, and live combat training. Many people had opposed the extreme training and conditioning of young super heroes in this facility, but none of those people had either SS rank supers or multiple billionaires backing them up. All this means is that I felt nothing as the 73rd and final patrolling guard fell to the floor of this nondescript basement. I took all the valuables off the corpse and put them in my duffle bag. Seeing as the duffle bag was full, I took it and teleported to my new stash location. It looks to be an old speakeasy. All the furniture looked like they had been sitting there for decades, but, after checking for valuables, all I cared about was that it had plenty of space, was sealed off, and no one came around this area of the ruins. After teleporting more than 140 times, I was starting to feel the fatigue, though I guess killing over 70 people was never easy. I''ve killed the guards on patrol first, as they almost never reported in, but could alert the entire camp if they spotted me. I need to silence the guard HQ next, as they could notice the radio silence any time now. The problem in my plan, and pain in my ass, is that there is a meta in guard HQ keeping everyone in line. If everyone here is actually on edge and aware of their surroundings, then my job is going to be made much harder. This one building is more professional than every other spot in the complex. If I could be sure of what skills or, not fuckin likely, powers this villain has, my job would be much easier. I swear, once this job is over, I''ll invest in getting an undetectable appraisal device in my combat armor. I''ll just have to take a risk as it is, but it still a very manageable risk. I see no meta tech on him, no spells coming from mana sense, no way in hell that this guy is one of the people that can just fight off what I''m about to do to him, and a slim chance that he has a power counters mine. There is no chance of this guy being a hired merc either. No matter how organized they are, they act the same as all the other members of... whatever they call this gang. I ready my shotgun and teleport him when no one''s looking. 15 teleports and 2 seconds later where 3 miles above the desert. I blast him straight in the back, and, as he is falling, I teleport myself above him and shoot again. As I wait on the ground I reload my shotgun. Only amateurs don''t confirm the kill, about 30 seconds later, I see an explosion of pink mist and sand somewhere to the left of me. With that done, I head back to HQ and my basement of horrors finds another 50ish bodies in it. After emptying out my bag full of schmucks personal belongings again, I finally hit my first hotspot. Situated near the middle of the compound in what used to a shop of some kind, is the armory. The only defense in this hotspot is brick walls and a locked metal gate. I find over 1000 handheld pistols, 500+ rifles, 200+ grenades, 100+ spell scrolls, 14 magic rods, 3 magic rings, 2 plasma bolters, and a rocket launcher. This is only the projectile weapons. I also find 800+ clubs, knives, swords, spears. There are also several mines, planted explosives, sigils, and artificer explosives. Hmm... none of these weapons are of the non-lethal variety. Guess despite all the slaves, these guys aren''t very into taking prisoners. This is still odd though... you''d expect to find an odd taser or smoke-bomb somewhere. Guess they''re planning a war or something, doesn''t look good for them though, anything that you''d need this much firepower for, you''d need better people than these mooks. They''d probably be much worse off after I steal all their shit though. All the stuff I just listed takes up a little under 1/4 of the building. The rest is stacked with crates and bags of ammo. Using some doodad I picked up at the guard HQ, I found over 10 trackers in the crates. I''m glad I killed the guards first, would have hated to be found out like that. After deactivating the trackers I threw them in a bag, along with the gizmo. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.Feeling winded after so much teleporting and combat, I sat down to drink one of the stamina potions. I''d underestimated just how much energy it took to get a clean kill each and every time, not to mention the mental effort it took to be in both "combat mode" and "stealth mode" all the time. It would be so much harder without this knife, apparently it was from my fathers A rank da.. "HOLY FUCKING SHIT" Jason "WHAT DID THEY PUT IN THIS, STEM CELLS AND METH!?" !!! inside voice, inside voice "It feels like I just skydived after getting a full body massage and chugging a mug of liquid caffeine." !!! Wait Jason, don''t talk at all. I came to in an empty armory. I had to teleport back to the stash just to check if I had moved everything to the right place. Everything from the armory was ordered in neat little rows, and the boxes were stacked in order from smallest to largest. The weapons and loot from the guards were there as well. It was so orderly that I almost didn''t think it was me that did it. Looking at the moon, I determined that not even twenty minutes had passed. I mentally reviewed the order of the hotspots to hit and why. 1. Loot Storage - There shouldn''t be anyone there at this time of night, I want to get as much stolen as possible if I get found. 2. Elite Barracks - I want to be in there when they are still asleep. Their most dangerous backup would come from here. 3. Medic Tent - High Value equipment, Low Security target. 4. Bar/Alcohol Storage - Want to get in when they''re all good and sloshed, but before they start to leave. 5. Alchemists workshop - High security target. Save it for later in the night. 6. Artificers workshop - " 7. Drug den/Drug storage - " 8. Slave Pen - If slave make a ruckus, I will be outed. If authorities come to investigate, I will be outed. 9. Leaders Villa - Not sure if I can take him in a fight. Will try to assassinate or lure him out of house to steal everything. Loot List: Gang Base Loot Stash $823.04 Combat Armour Binoculars Knife Silencer (9 mm) Pistol (9 mm) Police Carbine (9 mm) Sawed-off shotgun Stamina Potion Energy Shield Ammo Flammables Ch. 10 There wasn''t anyone in loot storage. This place wasn''t open until morning, because it''s used as a place to secure loot gained in raiding and monster hunting parties. Everything here probably went to the leader as his personal wealth, to do as he pleases with. The building was at the gate of the compound, for easy access of returning thugs. It didn''t even take 20 minutes for me to move everything back to my stash in my hyped up state. I counted plenty of non-perishable foods and monster parts. There was also some assorted trade goods and auto parts. Hell, I even got some cool looking furniture. I was most excited about the cache of cash and gold, though. They must have been saving up for quite a while, to get that much. Unlucky for them, and it looks like they even paid their thugs from that cache. I''m even more excited to rob that bar and drug den, if they have all that money on them. I stop myself from anticipating the scores and teleport myself on the roof of the elite barracks. On the roof of the barracks I have a great view of the regular barracks a few buildings over. Judging from their clothes and guns, the only purpose those goons have is to act as foot soldiers to stave off monster surges and enemy gang attacks, and even then, they only fill in the numbers. I''d imagine that the elites still do the most damage in those scenarios, even with how outnumbered they are by the goons. They''re probably going to desert after the morning comes, even if I stop right now. If I stop now they''d still have way less money and firepower. They''d even have lost a meta, and I know that guy was a meta, you don''t wear those kinds of clothes and still get respect from your subordinates otherwise. Losing a single villain alone, would put a gang like this on edge for a week. They''d still survive though. The authority of a mid-rank villain doesn''t go away that easy. I''d also imagine that the criminals in the elite barracks would be a lot more loyal than low-level goons. That won''t matter soon though. Looking at the placing of the beds in this place, I can tell that there are 3 different groups of people here. The guards that happened to be on day-shift were sleeping here in bunk beds. There were raiders who went out into the desert or other hostile territory for a profit. While most of the guards slept for their shift tomorrow, there was a large portion of them out in what was considered their nighttime district. While most of the people slept in the communal areas there were a series of rooms set off for people who were obvious metas. The guard meta had his own room at the outpost, nothing special in it, but there were 6 rooms with luxurious items within. 3 of those 6 rooms had occupants. 2 were sleeping in their beds, while one was fucking someone in theirs. That puts several dents in my plans. First off, an awake meta was much more dangerous than an asleep meta. You could never tell what a persons power was just by looking at them. While it was unlikely that they got a power as OP as mine, a person with a power was almost always stronger than a person without one, if only because they leveled quicker. The only reason I could go toe to toe with these low-level villains was because of years of specialized training and resources. If I couldn''t actually teleport people, I wouldn''t be anywhere near strong enough to take this place on. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. The bigger problem would be that I don''t know which one is the actual meta is. They both seem to be gang members, and they both seem to be *ahem* "enjoying" it. If I kill the wrong one first I''d tip off the meta, and if I decide to teleport them both, and they end up BOTH being metas; I''d end up more fucked than they are. I''ll have to kill them last, as they are being loud and the walls here seem to be rather thin. After a few moments of analyzing, I start to kill anyone that''s awake in an order where I wouldn''t be noticed. After that I teleport to a sleeping meta and teleport him to the kill zone. He wakes up immediately and dies just as fast. "Jeez, man. Almost gave me a heart attack, you did." Jason The other meta dies in his sleep. None of the had anything on them as they were about to go to sleep, but the armaments the raiders had by their beds would punch holes straight through my armor and shield. I might make more money here than at the armory. The work was quick and gruesome. Besides having a few schmucks almost walk in on me, they weren''t able to resist at all, there were no problems at all. The horror room now had over 300 bodies in it. If I don''t get rid of them at the end of the night, one hell of a monster would come from there. It had been over 20 minutes but wannabe Bonnie and Clyde over there were still going at it. I thought of a plan for them while doing my work. Grabbing something from my stash, I teleport right in front of them and started teleporting them over 40 times. In their "condition", the 5 seconds it took me to do that felt like an instant. Part of me wanted to see their faces as the mine went off, but another part of me was like "Woah, that''s really morbid. Maybe I should find a therapist." Now all that''s left to do is collect all the loot from the barracks. Loot List: Gang Base Loot Stash $823.04 Combat Armour Binoculars Knife Silencer (9 mm) Pistol (9 mm) Police Carbine (9 mm) Sawed-off shotgun Stamina Potion Energy Shield Ammo Flammables Ch. 11 Inside the barracks was a treasure trove of advanced firepower. I found several guns that were better than my current models. My 9 mm was replaced by a nuclear-powered plasma pistol and my carbine was replaced with an artificer assault rifle. Upon close inspection, it seems that the rifle takes any kind of bullet and transforms them into a meta-bullet with some kind of meta-tech. I''m not entirely sure, but guns of this caliber generally are able to break the sound barrier and pierce the armors of conventional tanks like it''s not even there. The sheer amount of meta-tech available to these thugs showed that the artificer''s workshop was pretty active, and would make for a good target. The large amount of firepower was offset by a shocking lack armor. I mean, what are the chances I find a good semi-auto shotgun over a decent helmet? They even had a skill orb. It''s unprofessional, that''s what it is. So many people think that they''re immortal, and that they don''t need any armor. There are so many good guns and skill orbs you can get for the same price as a decent set of armor. I''m probably going to spend a large amount of this loot to upgrade the base materials and functionality of my armor. Getting all of this loot to my stash is getting tiresome, but it''s too early in the job to drink my other stamina potion. Hopefully there is not very many people left in my other hotspots. I probably only have a few hundred teleports left in me. After moving all the loot and replacing some of my gear, I move on to the medic tent. In the tent are 30 or so injured gang members being looked over by some guy who looks more like a doctor than a meta-human. I spare no time and no foes. They all get put in my basement and I snag some valuable medical apparatuses, some medi-gel, drugs, and cash from the place. In no time at all I''m at the big bar I spotted before. There look to be several hundred people in this place, so killing them all isn''t going to work. I could do it if I had more time, another potion, or if this was the last place for me to rob. As it is, I steal some of the best bottles of wine they have, a half-dozen barrels of goodish beer, and a safe holding their profits. There doesn''t look to be anything good in the crowd anyway. There are considerably fewer people in the drug-den, but damn, this place is better guarded than the guard headquarters. There are guards that are as well-equipped the raiders from before. This means that they are meant to do more than "keep the peace" and keeping watch like the other guards. I guess they had problem with their members becoming addicts and raiding the supply. I had to silence a guard watching monitors and disable 3 automated security systems. After avoiding their deadly security I had to keep myself away from a villain that was on guard and obviously had some detection based ability, based on his movements. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.??My time was well rewarded. I made off with several boxes, syringes, and bottles of "stuff". I''ll have to get it all appraised, a white powder and a green herb could be anything nowadays. I also opened another safe full of money, gold, and jewels. It was where the profits were stored, like the other safe. The main venue of the place was to well guarded for me to hit without alerting the whole compound, so I moved on to the alchemist''s workshop. There was no one actually in here this time, but I had no idea what was going on in here. After taking anything that looked remotely close to alchemy, I moved on to the artificer''s workshop, finding it similarly empty. Taking the time to disable yet another security system, I proceed to take everything that wasn''t nailed down to the floor, and quite a few things that were. Having took a few classes in school, I know a few things about advanced tech to disable all the trackers and not blow myself up on all the traps this paranoid fuck left around. Groaning at the task ahead of myself, I teleport myself to the slave pen. I can''t get myself to call it anything else after seeing the condition of the slaves. This might have made me angry earlier, but after the mental strain of killing so many people and the physical strain of teleporting so much, I can''t bring myself to it. Wanting to get this all over with, I drink the stamina potion, and in order, kill/loot the 50+ slavers, teleport the 300+ slave twice, to the nearest outpost, and steal the extensive gear keeping them locked up. I need to hurry now, the night is starting to get lighter, people in the compound are starting to notice something is wrong, and villains from the city could show up any second to investigate the slaves. Luckily, I only have one spot left to hit. I teleport on top of the leader''s villa. Instantly getting a chilling feeling, I teleport a mile upwards just in time to see the leader''s villa burst into flames and a missile fly straight towards me. "Wait a second, THAT''S NOT A MISSILE!" Jason "BEEN A WHILE SINCE I HAD A GOOD FIGHT BOY, I HOPE YOU CAN ENTERTAIN ME!" Leader Loot List: Gang Base Loot Stash $823.04 Combat Armour Binoculars Knife Plasma Pistol Artificer Assault Rifle Semi-Auto Combat Shotgun Energy Shield Ammo Flammables Ch. 12 "Haste!" Jason Okay Jason, let''s think about this; do I kill this guy or not. I only have a short amount of time before he gets to me, so I have to think fast. Quick points. 1. I can still sell this stuff without killing him. It might make it harder, but I can still do it. 2. He is stronger than I am. He might not be able to hit me with me teleporting, but if his resistance skills are high enough, I won''t be able to hurt him. Judging by the speed he''s going, he has most of his bases covered. 3. If no one actually capitalizes on his gang''s newfound weakness, they would come back with a vengeance at me. Going by his strength, none of the smaller gangs around here could take him on. He''s as strong as the bigger gang''s aces. If he formed this gang by his own strength and gain followers with power, then this raid might not be the death sentence it could be. "Leeeeetttt''sss gooooooooo fuuuuuuuuckkeeeeeeerrr----!!!" Leader I braced myself and teleported myself downwards. I fell a story or two when contemplating my next move. With my suit I barely felt anything, but if I want to fight aerial battles in the future, I need to get myself some kind of deployable platform to stand on. I''ll keep gathering kinetic energy otherwise, it might hurt, but it beats falling the full mile. Wait, mile? My skill description says km. If I''d been thinking half a mile and full mile, but trying to go half my maximum range and all my range, have I been going km or miles? I have to test later. For now, let''s get back to the list, because he just spotted me. 4. There looks to be nothing left of the leader''s villa. I might find a valuable statue or a safe or something, but it looks like most of the good shit has burned down. Ugh, I just noticed the screams, looks like he had company when set the house on fire. Crazy bastard. 5. If he is still in good condition, he might be able to go take the slaves back. It is Illegal to keep slaves like that, but if he would have slaves in those conditions, he would easily just go take them back. I don''t know what the Ice Queen is doing, but she has crushed groups for doing this before. It''s easy to see why too. Heroes have literary led war parties to kill people who violate human rights just a little *too* much. Aw damn, that last point got to me the most. What''s the matter with you Jason? You''re a villain, act like it. You''re not supposed to have feelings. This was never about vigilantism. I would have killed them just as I killed the others if they had stood in my way. I shouldn''t have sympathy for someone I''d kill if I had too. Maybe it''s because of the fact that the afterlife has been confirmed to exist that I kill so easily. Maybe it''s because of the fact that I was fucked up by corrupt heroes that I turned to villainy, but I won''t allow my titles to control me. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.??"*Sigh*, my emotions are going to get me killed one day." "IIII GGOOOTTT YOOOOUUUU NOOOWWWWW~~~" "Heh, but not before they get you killed." I dodge at the last second, reappearing behind him, I unload all the 12 shots in the clip of my new assault rifle. Despite being buffeted by wind and heat of the last attack, I hit every shot. 1 shot hit in the base of the neck, 3 shots hit him in the skull, 3 shots hit him in the middle of his back, 2 shots hit the back of his knees, 2 shots sever his achilles tendons, and one shot hits him directly in his junk. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~~~" The bullets are either trapped in powerful muscles or deflected of strong bones. The wounds quickly turn into fire and reform with him being perfectly fine. Okay, so he''s more powerful than a tank and can regenerate faster than a troll. Seeing a wave of flame approach, I teleport upwards and am treated to a wonderful view of the extensive grounds of the villa go up in flames. Kicking my shield and temperature control in overdrive, I activate my re-breather go straight in front of him. Despite my precautions, it is still quite hot, but not as hot as whatshisface felt when I shot 2 plasma bolts straight into his eyes. Despite his healing abilities, getting plasma out of his face will take a minute or two. With his sight gone he had no chance to see the rocket that came his way. The blast was smaller than the initial blast caused by the villain rocketing up to my position but was more intense. "Haha, he wasn''t so tough, I think he might have caused more chaos than me with all that fire he was throwing around." "Learn to gloat after you''ve confirmed the body, boy." With that the leader of the gang put his bloodied fist through my face. Some part of loved seeing his face when he realized he punched a hologram. I teleported away as soon as I put the cryo-bomb on his back. In one blast, the fires across the compound were put out and the temperature dropped by some 50 ¡ãF. After putting some holes in an ice sculpture, I return to the Basement of Horrors? to finish my business here. I''d say I killed about 400 to 500 people and put them here. This could end up a B rank monster if not properly. I can''t deal with it properly. So I put a hole into the floor of the house and started pouring the flammables into it. I spread the liquids all over the place. Combined with the salamander glands and alchemical solutions, the authorities should be able to clean up the bones in no time. After the basement door was blocked off I threw the flare into the hole and teleported away. I could see the flame a whole *mile* kilometer away. Now for the hardest part of any mission. Finding a buyer! Loot List: Gang Base Loot Stash $823.04 Combat Armour Binoculars Knife Plasma Pistol Artificer Assault Rifle Semi-Auto Combat Shotgun Energy Shield Ammo