I stared at the criminal in front of me for a few seconds and smiled politely.
"Hmm... let me think. What if I impress you? What will I get for that?" - I purposefully stared at her gorgeous body.
It is not polite to do something like that to a stranger. But she started it first.
"What do you want?" - She narrowed her eyes.
"Ha-ha…How about you pay for a few of mine toys from Lee?" - Nothing out of the ordinary, of course. For example, you going to buy me some toys from Lee. I'll even take your word for it, and if you say you're not impressed, so be it.
"What will I get if can't do it?" - her lips parted in a smile.
"A good performance, and... I can't even say that…
"That's enough for me. It's a deal then." - She held out her hand, which I then shook.
[+++++++++++++++++++++++++++]
Situational quest changed: Show incredible skill.
Description: A beautiful girl is interested in how good you can be. And even ready to encourage you, if you can surprise her. How can you refuse to show off?
Goal: Impress the viewer with your shooting skills
Reward:
- +5 to charisma;
- The ability to buy any five weapons at someone else's expense.
Penalty: -10 to charisma.
[+++++++++++++++++++++++++++]
I blinked a couple of times in surprise, then smiled.
It turns out that the quest may change depending on my actions. Just do not confuse the line between the permitted intervention on my part to change the quest and the failure of the quest.
If she had given up on such actions or lost interest in me, would the quest have already been failed? Or does it all depend on my desire – I do an action to refuse, the quest is failed, and I do an action to change it, the quest changes? In any case, more examples of both are needed. The main thing is not to experiment when the penalty is really dangerous.
"Great, agreed!" - I grinned. - "Just wait five seconds."
I went to the settings on the dashboard in the corner of the shooting range, entered the password, and began to muddle with the functions, setting the necessary commands.
"You are feeling quite comfortable here ..." - she commented on my actions.
"I've known Lee for four years now. He helped me out a couple of times already and I helped him with some stuff as well. Somehow it ended up in such a way that he allows me to come to his house freely, he also looks in to visit me. And sometimes he asks to look after his house. So, I have access to some of its databases." - I said, putting my finger on the scanner. – "Of course, I have nothing to do with the dangerous stuff they are doing."
"Does he trust you that much? Is there any place in our business for such a free relationship? You're obviously not from the triad..." - she said.
"Maybe not in your case," - I said. – "As for me, I'm just a poor guy who sometimes needs a gun to relieve some built up stress."
"Aren't you from" - she didn't finish. Our conversation was interrupted by sound of an opening door, and it got the attention of all those who were in the same room with us earlier. Including Lee himself. It looks like they came to check the chosen guns. – "Anyway, it doesn't matter!" - the woman finished speaking, much more indifferently than a second earlier.
I didn't speak to her either, just looked at Lee and said.
"Little Lee, I hope you don't mind a little demonstration from me?"
"Oh, that's great!" - The Chinese Smiled. — I'll be very more than happy. I was thinking that the rest of us need to see what a good gun can do in the hands of a good shooter."
Lee said something to one of his minions, who nodded and ran away. Two minutes later, he returned with several dozen of different weapons. They were placed right in front of me.
Fortunately, I was already familiar with all these weapons. There was nothing unusual about it, and until ten years ago it was in service with the special forces. At that time, I had to get used to all these weapons. Plus, there are daily trips to the dungeons, where I have to finish off several dozen or even hundreds of monsters, and it is clear that I indeed have some experience.
I picked up the gun. And pressed the "Start Protocol".
The sounds of gunfire rang out one after another. Singles and Doubles. I didn't fire three bullets at a time.
Before I started, I messed around a bit with the settings of the most difficult mode on this site. Ordinary targets have been replaced with high-strength ones, and now to make a hole in each of them you need to hit the same point several times.
The difficulty itself was the speed with which you had to react. It takes a second for the target to rise, another half second for it to stand still, and then it goes down again. The shooting range consists of fifteen rows, and the target can appear from anywhere as they move.
The first weapon was left without ammunition. I immediately grabbed the second one and continued to shoot. It took me another couple of minutes to get it done, but I did everything perfectly.
After entering the settings, I finished the protocol. We were faced with fifteen targets made of special alloy, each with a hole in the same point.
"You have a very ... peculiar sense of humour." - The woman admitted it being really impressed. – "I don't know many people at whom all these powerful people will look with the horror they are looking at you."
I smiled at her and returned my gaze to the holes in the targets. They were punctured exactly two centimeters above the point where the legs joined.
One of the bandits sighed loudly. There were also those who subconsciously covered their groin with their hand. It has long been known that between the hand or this organ it is better to lose the first.
"Remember this method of negotiation if you have to deal with men. They are very sensitive to this kind of demonstration." - I smiled, switching to a more respectful tone.
"This is amazing, Victor!" - Lee exclaimed happily, clearly being pleased with the result.
For the next few minutes there was a hot discussion about the used weapons, and only an occasional glance was given me.
No messages from the system about a failed or completed quests were received. is it a failure? it's a shame, because my shooting skill is the result of my hard work and not due to the fact that I am a ranker, even though being a ranker, I don't get much bonuses. I would even say that I am "the most ordinary" when it comes to physical characteristics. Which means I am a weak one even for an E-ranker.
Why do I have such shooting skills? It's all about "Control," as the System calls it. At first, I thought it meant controlling some kind of energy. But I don't have any mana or any analogical energy. And a value of 20 points is too much for me not to even know about this energy.
I am not sure of my thoughts, but I have an assumption that control refers to the ability to control yourself in different situations. Or, the ability to control your body as you want – for example, non-shaking hands, correct grace, control of the length of the step. Based on my stats, it all fits together – after getting the E-rank, I lost the ability to improve in terms of strength or speed, and to survive, I focused on control.
After listening for a few minutes to the big men going about their business, I returned to what I had been interrupted from. The gun test.
I was again distracted at the most interesting moment – when I was moving on to a special weapon.
"So, your name is Victor, right?" - the woman spoke to me again, which probably took away my ten charisma points.
I rolled my eyes imperceptibly. Why is she bothering me? There are so many men here and many of them are the same age as her. I need to check my weapons here. I have a suspicion that the system will not save me from troubles in the dungeons.
"Yes, Victor." - I nodded.
"Are you an Adventurer, Victor?" — she continued to impose on me, without knowing it. – "An ordinary person can't boast of such skills."
I was silent for a few seconds. As expected, she understood at least this much.
"Yeah. E-ranker, to be precise."
She blinked several times being surprised.
"Come on, if you don't want to talk, don't talk. But you don't have to lie." - she said angrily.
I sighed. I'd shoot her for treating me like that, but you can't be sure of anything these days – maybe she's an S-ranked adventurer? And it quite possible to put an end to our business relationship with Lee – and if were to come true, this Chinese will definitively feed me to his pandas. He has already taught them to eat meat.
I took my wallet out of my pocket and took my id card out of my wallet. - "If you know about adventurers, then you should know about this too."
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Then she looked at me, then back at the card. – "It can't be!"
I shrugged and went back to choosing my guns.
[+++++++++++++++++++++++++++]
The quest "show incredible skill" has been successfully completed.
Reward:
+5 to charisma;
The chance to buy any five weapons from Lee at someone else's expense.
[+++++++++++++++++++++++++++]
I was slightly surprised seeing the quest I had completed. But I tried not to show it.
"Did you put up such a performance when you were just an E-rank adventurer?" - she shouted, drawing the attention of the extra spectators.
But the audience just looked at her with displeasure and went back to their business. Either they were too busy with their own affairs to hear what she specifically said, or E rankers were not worth of their attention.
"Is there a problem with that?" - subconsciously, I became more aggressive. I still get hurt when I am ignored.
"No,no, no!" - she quickly shook her head, holding out her hands in a conciliatory gesture, completely breaking out of the tough lady criminal image she had previously been putting up. – "I just thought it was really cool - that's all. E-ranked adventurers are almost no different from ordinary people." - yeah, I'm no different too – "So what you've shown is a sign of the real skill of an ordinary person. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"
I looked away, a little embarrassed. Damn, it feels good…
"Don't be fooled, Victor! Remember who you are, and how all these stories work out for you. Women can't be trusted, especially pretty women!"
Seems like self-hypnosis helped. As if I'll fall in love with a criminal who's more than ten years older than me, and my life will be all a bliss. No, instead it would full of unnecessary problems I don't need.
A few deep breaths with my eyes closed finally brought me back under control.
"I'm sorry, I'm a little complex about the rank, so my reaction was strange." - I said honestly. – "But let's continue the conversation a little later. I need to choose a weapon now – I'm going to a dungeon soon."
She silently walked away and waited for me to finish. I was once again convinced that this woman would be nothing but trouble. I am even assuming that she's some kind of high-ranking monster that wants to eat me. What? If this can happen with the main characters of different anime, then even more so it can happen with me. Only I will not gain any superpowers and will not beat up everyone... Okay, maybe now there is a chance, if I do not die in the process of levelling up, but yes, that is not the point.
I picked up a rather funny-shaped pistol first. It seems to be small, but because of the design, it feels like I put knuckles on my hand.
I pulled the trigger.
"Oh, you holy racoons. What is this, Lee?!"
I asked the question, and it was on everyone's tongue. The same type of target that I had to shoot a dozen bullets at the same point to get through, now has a hole in the chest as large as twenty centimetres. And this is with just one shot!
"I told you, a special kind of weapon." - The Chinese man's smile widened slightly. – "It uses the Soul Core to recharge, which replaces the monster's hearts and releases their power in a single destructive beam. The weakness of such weapons is the single shot. As you shoot, you need to insert a new Soul Core into a special section."
I swallowed my saliva.
"And what rank of Soul Core was placed in this weapon?"
"A core of the lowest quality, from an E-rank monster."
With such a weapon, I can even clear the d-ranked dungeons alone! Previously, the main problem for me was the Boss, but with this I…
"This Lady buys me this toy" - a grin crept across my face. - "I'll check the rest soon and tell you what else I need!" - There was a lot of enthusiasm in my voice.
"Hey, wait..." - the female benefactor tried to say something to me, but I waved her off.
I took up the "special" type of gun. Its structure and shape were equally strange, but I didn't care. I started shooting at targets.
This time the effect was quite different. The destructive power is many times weaker, but still much better than that of a regular machine gun. And, what is better - this automatic rifle also uses the Soul Cores, and the better the Core, the better the result and more ammunition.
I want ir!
The third. Fourth. Fifth. Sixth. Everything that I had picked up, I liked. That's what I need! With this I wil…
"That's enough!" The female gangster snapped me out of my thoughts. - "God damn Victor, can you hear me?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I was a little distracted." - I looked down guiltily. – "You want to tell me something? I hope that this weapon is not too expensive for you?" - I asked warily. The quest did not mention that there were restrictions in the choice.
"No, I'm not going back on my words." - she shook her head. – "But you should know before you buy it that these guns do not work in dungeons!"
I blinked a couple of times.
"What?"
"It's a very powerful weapon, but as you know, there's a line between Dungeons and Reality. For example, when moving from a dungeon to reality, the soul core lose more than fifty percent of its power. But there is also the opposite – in the dungeons, the Soul Core cannot be absorbed or processed. That is why if you try to use this weapon in the dungeon, it will simply explode in your hands. At best, you'll lose your arm, and at worst, your life."
I was silent for ten seconds the least. I just stared at an empty space. Then I looked at Lee, who nodded, confirming the cruel truth.
"Lee, send me someone with the usual order pack. I don't need more than that. The money... I'll give it to you later."
Having said these words, I left the refuge of the criminal without saying goodbye to anyone. There was only one word in my mind.
"SUUUUUCKS." - I said, heading home.
It was only after an hour that I remembered that I had forgotten to pick up the adventurer's card from that woman.
Totally sucks.