"Haa...haa"
In Jay's backyard, now obscured by the setting sun, there was a young man lying on the ground, his cheeks were swollen and his forehead was a little red.
He was breathing heavily, but even in that state, his gaze showed a fiery determination, the kind you would see in a knight who would fight to his last breath for his kingdom.
Sitting on top of him, there was a girl with a rather disheveled ponytail, almost on the verge of losing its original shape. Although the look of the boy on the ground was intense, the girl did not lose in any way, her blue eyes radiating the confidence of a general that had won the war.
After having started to "fight", Jay had almost managed to undo Sarah's ponytail, but unfortunately, the mage Sarah was not an easy opponent at all, and although Jay fought bravely, the result was as expected, him on the ground, and Sarah on top of him with a cocky grin, reaffirming her victory.
"Haha, you look like a tomato." Said Sara as she looked at Jay's red cheeks.
Because of the "crash" that she had suffered earlier, Sarah focused primarily on leaving something similar to him.
"Well, you look like you just woke up-OUCH!"
Before he could finish his sentence, Jay was interrupted by a small pebble that hit his forehead hard, causing Jay's head to be pushed to the ground.
"That was easy, but, I won't deny that it was a good exercise, anyway, we've already spent a lot of time here, come on, let's go get something to eat~"
After saying that, she got up in a good mood due to her successful "revenge".
Then she lend Jay a hand to help him get up, although his cheeks were aching a bit, he wasn't angry or anything, just somewhat tired, and more importantly, he had managed to think of a few ways of utilizing his skill while "fighting" against her.
Heading inside the house, Jay momentarily ignored the tingling in his cheeks and opened the system interface to see how much his skill had improved after so many hours of training.
_____________________
[Skills]
Wind Control (D-): (1%)
Available Skills:
Currently there are no skills available to assimilate.
_____________________
'I spent all afternoon using it and I only got a 1% improvement...' Jay thought as he did a few calculations in his head, 'Even if I train all day...I would only get 3% at most...which means that I'll be able to reach 100% in...a little more than a month....that won't do...'
Even if he somehow managed to reach the 100% in less time, although he didn't know for certain if the skill would level up after that, even in that case it would only go up to the D rank, and there was no way he could survive the entrance exam if he only went with a skill in that rank.
'Fortunately there are still 2 months left...NO WAIT, NOW THERE IS ONLY ONE MONTH AND 3 WEEKS LEFT!'
Now in the living room, Jay collapsed on a couch realizing that the date of the exam was slowly approaching.
"I'm going to go take a shower, can you order something to eat?" Said Sarah as she walked up the stairs.
"Alright~" Jay lazily replied from the couch.
Now that he was alone, he got some parasites out because seeing them helped him relax a little, then he started to think about what he could do to make himself stronger.
"Haaa, I can't train my stats because they are already at the limit and improving the Wind Control skill will take too long...so what can I do...?" He said as he looked at the few parasites on his hand.
Because he didn't have much to do, he started checking every option in the system, trying to find something that could help him think.
However, he couldn't find anything no matter where he searched, so he simply closed the interface and ordered something to eat, but just as he was about to do so, the parasites in his hand entered his vision again.
"...Ahhhhh...I'm such an idiot, the answer was in front of me all this time!" He said with a bitter smile and hitting his face with his palm.
How had he gotten the ability to Control Wind?
How had he improved his body so quickly?
What was the advantage he had in this world of supers?
Was it his talent? His handsome face? His somewhat strong will that allowed him to train for hours on end?
Of course not! It was the system!
And it wasn't the Training System, nor the Strengthening System or anything else, it was the Parasyte System!
A system that gave him parasites that could infect Supers and assimilate their abilities!
So it was really obvious what he had to do.
"I... have to get more hosts!" He said as he got up from the couch with renewed enthusiasm, "Although...where could I find some...?"
However, before he could continue his thoughts, someone interrupted him.
"What did you say~?"
Hearing a girl's voice, Jay turned his head and saw Sarah coming down the stairs, fresh from the shower, instead of the sports outfit she was wearing a while ago, she had now put on pajamas similar to the one she had worn yesterday night.
"That was fast..."
"Well, to be honest I just used a cleansing spell, hehe."
Seeing her, Jay remembered that he hadn't ordered the food yet, so he quickly grabbed his smartwatch and ordered some food, Sarah on the other hand just sat on one of the couches and turned on the TV, tuning in to a news channel.
*Following the news, the crime rate in the outskirts of the city and in the South Zone has been increasing due to the lack of police and heroes, as we all know, recently a big confrontation occurred between the Heroes Association and the Laers Guild...*
"Woah, it's been going up a lot lately..." Said Sarah with a little concern in her voice.
"That's it!" Shouted Jay excited as he pointed at the TV, which was coincidentally showing some criminals escaping in a vehicle after robbing a pedestrian.
"That's what~?"
"The answer to my dilemma!"
"Could you please give me some context?" Sarah asked with a curious look on her face.
Seeing Sarah's expression, Jay sat down next to her and began his explanation:
"Well, you know that in order to use my ability, I need a host, right?"
Sarah nodded to Jay's question, then he continued, "But there's a problem, mostly a moral one, and that's that I can't just go around infecting anyone I see, first because I'm not really sure what effects my little ones will have on them in the long term and second because it will bring me more cons than pros."
"Obviously, if you were to do something like that, you're bound to get caught sooner or later, the Heroes and Hunters are very capable after all."
"Exactly, but let's say the people I infect are the people the Heroes have to deal with?" Jay said as he squinted and smiled.
Sarah then started thinking about it, if Jay used his skill on some villains or criminals, even though it was dangerous, no one would complain to the Heroes Association that he was taking advantage of the villains!
Villains was the name given to those supers who committed crimes, did not follow the law, caused havoc, etc.
Even in this era when the effects of the Great Proliferation were still being felt, there would always be people who would want to take advantage of their power to do illegal things, the most famous case in the country being the Laers Guild.
Fortunately, the world had adapted well since the beginning of the Great Proliferation, giving rise to several organizations in charge of maintaining order, one of these was the Heroes Association.
They were responsible for bringing villains to justice using Heroes, which were supers specifically trained to deal with other supers, and because they had the government as a backup, they were not afraid of any retaliation from any criminal group.
Thanks to their noble work, the villains were kept at bay, but of course, Jay was not a Hero, so he would have to face consequences if he messed with the wrong person.
"What if you get in trouble with some dangerous gang or even some Guild...?"
"I'll wear a costume!" He said as he put his hands in front of his face.
Although they were talking about something dangerous, Jay was more excited than worried.
However, what Sarah thought about this was different, Jay was not at all as strong as a Hero after all, so she couldn't help but worry, although that worry disappeared soon after because she definitely wasn't going to let him do something so dangerous...at least not alone.
"And what are you going to do when you find some criminal, blow on his face?" Said Sarah with a small mocking smile.
"Regarding that, I think I have the perfect way to attack, in fact, I wanted to see if you could help me with that...like giving me pointers or something." Said Jay while a small wind stream started gathering in his right hand.
Then, all the wind wrapped around his hand, as if it were a transparent glove that emanated a refreshing breeze, however, what was most striking was that at the tip of the fingers of this "glove", there were some small claws, which although made of wind, looked surprisingly sharp.
Then, he raised his hand so that Sarah could see it better.
"...So, what do you think~?" He said, happy that he could do it in the first try.