[Skill book: Intimidation (Uncommon)
Description: Add half your INT score to any intimidation attempts.]
[Would you like to learn this skill for 4Sp? Y\N]
Mentally pressing yes, the black leather book with a green shine surrounding it become motes of light, entering Aki and allowing for a warmth similar to the time he'd distributed points to his status.
Like he'd expected, this was a skill similar to 'corrupted mind' rather than the ones he'd been learning.
Patting his body as he opened his status screen, Aki noted he didn't actually feel any difference in his physic, but 'something', clearly magic, had been changed inside of him, gotten more refined as it passed the F+ threshold.
Luckily he'd been on the look out for drops, though there hadn't been any at this point, it turned out that skill books were indestructible against 'Strong' rank attacks, likely because they'd been generated by the system itself or the like, though he'd not try his luck on something like this even if he got a useless book since the first panel he ever saw indicated there would be a player driven economy at the very least.
At least nothing had happened after he received the notification that said he'd killed the leader of the gang he'd been attacking, so he could just wait out for the secondary explosion, which did end up happening, as he looted the corpses and cars far away from the burning ones, even taking the chance to try and fill his own tank of gasoline through the method he'd seen.
Turns out, Sponge Bob had not been so wrong about his technique, but there were better ways.
Now, how many more gang lords would it take till they came for him?
*****
Five. The answer was five. After four days and a half, that's the amount of loot he'd manage to obtain. There had only been one other quest, one where he took down an entire camp of cannibals. That'd been where he'd taken his first surprise hit, but otherwise, it'd been unremarkable if not for the amount of skills that leveled by then, his impromptu first aid to the bullet gash on his side still itching, but the skill gained from the experience was quite good. Besides the 'Knife +1' the boss had dropped, he'd simply restocked his ammo and explosives supplies by the end of the thing.
When an army jeep with several soldiers approached his hiding spot and used a megaphone to tell him there was a sniper gunning for him, he did not act surprised, instead setting down his machine gun and wolfing down his diner as he slowly went down the building's stairs, meeting men pointing even better weapons at him while he held his bean can and spoon up, following the orders and slowly setting them down, kneeling down on both legs and hands behind his head.
He screamed for someone to gather his stuff, but overall was rather cooperative.
Getting to camp wasted a couple of hours in which Aki was unable to sleep, which he'd been planing on when they got to him, but the serious soldiers didn't try anything on the way and didn't have any trouble putting him in a holding cell.
At this point of the game, he really couldn't give a shit about the lack of bedding and just slept over his arm, the rather well off young man having rapidly gotten used to such after the tiredness of his body could not be staved off with system induced improvements.
"RISE AND SHINE SCUM!"
Immediately, Aki awoke and activated his morning 'Incentive', his still asleep arm pumping with blood as it moved towards his boot with his sit up movement, the palm of his hand already on a small knife before he realised that'd been the general wake up call for the barracks he stood close to. His guard, however, stood surprised at his action and scrumbled to point the gun in his hands at him.
"Hands in the air and drop the knife!"
*Clank*
He could have likely have thrown the knife before the guard aimed thanks to his complete surprise, but his throwing skills were still shit even if dexterity was now his second highest attribute, so there was no guarantee he would not hit the bars or a shoulder instead of the head.
Which didn't have anything to do with the situation, because he dropped the knife the moment he recalled the situation. If he killed a soldier not just his plan would go down the drain, but he'd be executed horribly no doubt.
The brief pulse of spiritual energy had him quite awake however, so the next moments of being hit in the head and searched again were quite irritating. Had the one holding a gun to his head not been twitchy, he might've cracked a joke about being taken to dinner first. Instead, he remained silent through the search, his other three boot knives finally being taken out and a superior officer coming to see what was happening, raising him up after being briefed on the situation.
The smaller man seemed properly irritated thought, as if he was not a whole head smaller than the one he snarled towards.
"And when were you going to talk about those prisoner? Do i have to throw you in the pits for you to understand your situation?!"
"Negative sir! I intended to inform my guard in the morning, but we both overreacted to the awakening call and one routine led to another sir!" Aki answered, starring forward instead of at the forehead of the man barking at him.
He was looked at funny and there was some tongue lashing, but he could endure something like that easily enough. One of the few things his nationality brought him was the ability to curse well, so he even had a whole comeback to the guy in front of him that would never get to be used, but his resistance was also nothing to scoff at.
By the end of it, however, his guard was looking at him with pity. Was the pipsqueak considered good at this? He wouldn't last a minute against a young master from that family of lawyers or that big dicked scholarship student!
It was only after breakfast, a tasteless sludge with some vegetables he had to force down his gullet, that someone actually took him to an interrogation cell. That was quite good since he only had some forty two hours till the tutorial ended, and his attempts at raising his attributes without gaining or leveling up skills were utterly underwhelming, a measly point in strength, which was now his lowest attribute. Though that point made him reach F+.
Half an hour of meditation, he was trying to get the skill but it'd still not come, was all it took for someone that seemed to be of high patent came for him
"Sir." He nodded, his hands cuffed to a bar on the metal table.
"Did you fail your country's military exam or something of the like young man?" Asked the old man as he sat across him, getting another nod after he took his cap off and looked Aki in the eyes.
"Then i got fed up with university, found some guys with similar thinking, one of them knew how to make a company, our group got a small contract to help stabilise the area. When we got here it was already a warzone, so we were only able to wipe a few dissidents before someone ambushed us and i became the only survivor. Decided to keep going." He shrugged.
"My condolences." Grunted the old man.
"Don't mind. Not having anyone to watch my back made me a bit smarter on my feet."
"Even though you are in such situation?"
"I kept at the frey knowing full well the military would get to me. Being alone is nice and all for my wallet, but the bonus of any mercenary contract is inversely proportional to the chances of one getting back to get it. I need someone to back me up at least, and working with people of similar interest but few personal is certainly the best i will get." He shrugged his shoulders.
"What makes you think we are in such situation?" Frowned the major?
"Sir, have you ever heard that in no point in time the rate of rapid propelling is considered adequate?" He smirked to the older man's scheudenfraugh.
"I have now, what of it?"
"I would like to offer my services as a one man squad. To help the rear forces to secure the area and foster relations with the spread communities by bettering security. While you offer weapons and rations for only one unit, plus intel on targets you may have, there is little to no chance of me being an effective spy or saboteur as long as my knowledge of the camp and troops is kept at a minimum. As for what I get? Reputation, my first closed contract, a potential connection, maybe even a recommendation if I surpass your expectations." Aki slowly explained, no hurry in his words, nor did he press for an answer as the man in front of him sat in silence for a while.
"I will pass this through the commander. For now, you will be returned to your cell." The old man decided, calling in someone to get the mercenary where he should be after getting a nod from the same man.
Aki could not have resisted even if he wanted though. His INT had just hit 26, meaning he had reached E grade with it.
While the gain of clarity when reaching 21 had been big, it'd been nothing ground breaking, and he'd written that as all it looked like to enter a new grade. He was apparently plenty wrong.
His memory was sharper, thinking faster, new ideas popped out more easily. Like his brain had been clogged until now and suddenly something disintegrated, making said brain brand new again or something of the like.
While he'd not been expecting this, the faster thought process certainly was helpful, nevermind there was a good chance this 'unclogging' had helped with his reaction time and the longevity of his nerves.
Though it'd been neither an upgrade to dexterity or strength, he was pretty sure there was a minor change in his control too, meaning maybe intelligence allowed for a better commanding of speed and power.
There was only one thing he could do now. Figure out how to cultivate. Or at least reinforce his body with his mana since it had been sitting there without a twitch unless he tried one of his self thaught, half assed techniques.
After reading so many fantasy novels and feeling his energy every time his spirit had improved, Aki had been able to scrounge up a technique for each stat, all uncommon skills, which turned out to give two points to every related stat as he agitated, spread and launched his energy, gaining a knowledge skill about the use of energy.
Basically, he'd reached the level of a baby protagonist. Now came the balancing act.
The first thing he did after reaching his cell was to enter a meditative pose and try his best to keep his energy flow on his limbs as fast as possible, then disperse and hold a cloud of energy outside his limbs.
He'd tried the same thing before, sans a skill to launch a ball of energy with his hits, but now the task was hard instead if impossible. His irritation soon gave way to focus, which was disturbed only by bouts of mirth as he came closer and closer to his goal. It was only three hours later that he stood up, not because he'd succeeded, but because someone knocked on his cell.
When he turned to stare at it's entrance, he was positively surprised to see the same man that had 'questioned' him now opening his cell.
"The commander agreed to your proposal. You will be dispatched immediately. Your things are in your car, I will take you to the garage and debrief you on your mission." The old man said, getting a smile and a salute.
{You have unlocked a special event! Due to the way it was unlocked, you cannot choose to accept or not, nor your faction. Current faction: Conservative party (central military camp of X city).
Main mission update. Time remaining in the tutorial: 6:14:49:56.
Description: Help the military camp to the best of your ability while raising your reputation.}