Chereads / Programmable Magic / Chapter 35 - Stalker

Chapter 35 - Stalker

After much trial and error I finally whipped up a cartridge program that seemed useable. It was quite the challenge to program since I only know code concerning movement, projectiles and cultivation. I had difficulties spawning regular sand to use as an abrasive substance and with creating the nozzle.

I just ended up creating a hollow 'wind' projectile in front of my palm without giving it any velocity or acceleration to serve as a nozzle. That's also the method I used to spawn sand. I recreated the high pressure effect by spawning a static, dense wind-projectile behind the water jet. A high pressure area is just compressed wind after all.

After fixing some syntax errors, I finally received a statistics window after I hit save:

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-Statistics-

Mana Price: 400 Mana/Use

Save

Edit

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So expensive! Should I make it less powerful?... No, I can't reprogram the cartridge, if I make it less powerful now, it'll basically be useless later on…

I can fire 5 explosions right now, I tested it just this morning by firing of some explosions on the roof. That would mean I have about 250 mana in my mana-pool currently… If I eat a lot, I think I can just about reach 700 mana within 2 weeks or so, that gives me barely enough to fire of a water cutter and activate shadow steps for 1 second…

It's not much, but it'll have to do.

Alright, stop doubting yourself Reo! Like it or not, you're doing this! I hit the save option on the semi-transparent window and decide to name the magic: Water Cutter, a pretty simple name, but it represents the magic well.

This magic will help me a lot during my 'job', it's stealthy yet powerful. I insert the cartridge into my chest and the following window pops up:

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-Orange Revealed Cartridge: Water Cuter-

Store

Eject

Analyze

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W-Wait a minute… Did I accidentally type Water CUTER instead of CUTTER!?

Fuck, that doesn't sound cool at all!

*SIGH* Whatever, let's just store the cartridge and never speak of it again…

[ORANGE] Water Cuter: (see Author's comment)

Now, only one problem remains, how should I 'take care' of this Thompson guy? I can't just go up to him and shoot him with Water Cuter- fuck, I mean cutter, right? His bodyguard would certainly not allow me to casually get close enough, furthermore, I don't really want to fight a professional Machia after I just depleted all my mana…

Come on Reo, you played the entire hitman trilogy! You should be able to come up with a plan… Poison him with a muffin? Wait, in the first place, would he even eat random muffins that he finds on the street?

He does visit this one food-stall every morning right? Maybe I should just poison that food! Where do you even buy poison from in the first place though? And how do I only poison his food… Should I really get a part time job at that food stall? Are they even hiring?!

No, I'm overthinking this, I still have 2 weeks left to finish the job, no need to rush. Let's first observe him for some time, I need to upgrade my mana-pool anyways.

I've been stalking Thompson for almost 2 weeks now, I'm nervous, just this morning I finally reached a mana-pool of 700, enough for my plan, that means I soon need to take action… *GULP*

I made sure to be extra careful when observing Thompson, I changed outfits every day and always kept a distance. I've been busy though, I sometimes even slept at old-guy Viktor's shop, he reluctantly accepted after I threatened to call up miss. Izumi, not that I have her number or anything though.

Unfortunately I didn't have the time, nor energy, to talk things over with Juniper… She still avoids me… Things with Sara are going better, but we still haven't made much progress…

Sacrificing my time and social connections didn't provide me with nothing though, I figured out Thompson's habits and finally devised a plan.

Apparently it's very hard to purchase fast-acting poison as a regular citizen, let alone an immigrant. Buying poison from the black-market will probably leave some traces behind too, knowing the connections of the Black Bear organization. Fast-acting Laxatives on the other hand, are much less regulated.

The food-stall Thompson visits almost every morning prepares his order a couple of minutes before he arrives, I'll just activate shadow steps sprinkle his kebab with some laxatives and hide myself in the nearest public bathroom.

It's a waste of a good kebab, but he only separates from his bodyguard when he's on the toilet. I noticed this when he went to the bathroom at the 'Bandit's Cave', his bodyguard would first check the stalls before Thompson entered and then he would wait at the entrance, but he would only sometimes check the stalls. I'm gambling on the hope that Thompson doesn't want to shit his pants and that he would want to go to the toilet as fast as possible.

I'll kill him while he's vulnerable and then simply exit the restroom through the back window.

Currently I'm nervously sitting on the toilet of the 'Bandit's Cave' while thinking over every little detail of my plan. This will probably be the last day of my stalking, I prepared a lot for this…

I look down at the small mouse in a jar I caught yesterday which I'm keeping in my trouser pocket, I thought I could maybe use him as a distraction or something? This isn't a cartoon though, maybe I prepared a bit too much…

I'm debating on whether I should just release the mouse or not, until I suddenly hear some knocking coupled with a blaring voice:

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

"Get out of there, right now!"