Once again, Ruth seemed to be the one causing him problems. It was almost as if Ruth had a death wish now. Zefer did not want to kill anyone just yet, let alone a student of the Academy, but it looked like things were not going his way.
"I am busy," Zefer said as he turned from the group before him to go in the opposite direction; however, it seemed like a few more large dudes stepped out of hiding. It was as if they had been waiting for some kind of queue or something, but there they were.
And just like the stereotypical criminal, they had grins across their faces. One cracked his knuckles, another rolled his shoulders, and one smashed his fist into the palm of his hands a few times. It was like they were trying their best to be menacing or something.
Of course, this would have worked on anyone else; however, Zefer was unamused, not even frightened, more so, bored. Sadly, the shopping people decided to mind their own business, as an average citizen would when something uncomfortable happened. Nevertheless, Zefer did not expect help from strangers.
"If I say yes, will you let me finish my shopping and check out? I have some groceries here that will go bad if I leave them out." Zefer said with boredom in his voice.
Ruth's brow twitched with annoyance since he had not seen an ounce of fear in Zefer. "You've humiliated me for the last time, bastard. Just because you gained some sort of power doesn't make you better than me, let alone any of us. You are nothing more than a filthy, Zero." Ruth thought to himself.
One of the men approached Zefer and smashed his cart into the ground, destroying not only the cart but everything inside of it. "There, now you don't have to worry about your grocies, let's go." The man said with a wide grin. He was merely flexing his power, muscles, and strength; however, Zefer was unamused.
"Great. Now I have to regather everything." Zefer thought to himself with a sigh before looking at the man. "Lead the way." Zefer said, and all seven men plus Ruth left the store only to move out back in the darkness of the alley.
Once they were there, they surrounded Zefer, and one of the men pushed Zefer up against the wall. "Now then punk, let's talk about what you did to my little brother. I hear you have been causing him some trouble. What's with that?" The man who flexed his power earlier said as he stood before Zefer, towering over him, trying to look as intimidating as possible.
"I wonder." Zefer shrugged with a clueless expression. He knew what these people were after, but he decided to mess with them since they ruined his grocery shopping. Of course, as he did this, he went ahead and gauged everyone's stats.
--------------------------
Name: Simon Gutter
Mana Pool: 450
Level: 10
Rank: D-
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Class: Earth Specialist
Coins: 10,753
Affinity: Enemy
Status: Healthy
Stats-
Strength: 10
Endurance: 25
Agility: 10
Wisdom: 8
Intelligence: 45
Luck: 0
Charm: 5
--------------------------
The guy's name was Simon Gutter, and the guy was level 10. His Rank was D-. His stats were laughable for someone who was twenty-nine, almost about to hit thirty. Unlike when he looked at Maven's stats, Simon's did not come up with question marks. This information told him that it had nothing to do with the person's level, but perhaps it had something to do with their Rank.
Zefer was now curious about the Level portion. What did level determine compared to Rank? Maven was a level 6 but was a Peak C Rank. His [Insightful Eye] showed him next to nothing about her stats; however, this guy was level 10, but barely even a D Rank. All of his stats were visible, laughable, but visible.
Zefer decided to look at the others and saw they were roughly the same or less than Simon in stats, but their average was level 5. Once again, Zefer wondered what factored into a level.
Everyone started at level one at birth, and typically people did not reach level 2 until high school; levels 3 and 4 came during their graduation years. The problem was, no one knew what factored into level gains. Even the creator of this system, Rina Valintine, said she did not know. During an interview one day, someone asked about the level system. Rina said that the entire system was operated by a knowledgeable self-learning A.I. program since it would be too much for humanity to handle.
She said that the system factored into level-ups and what came with them. Therefore, she wouldn't know unless she went into the system and looked into it. Someone asked her if she would do it, and she replied with, "When I get the time." It had been years since that day, and no one received an answer. No one even cared to look into it anymore either, and therefore the question remained unanswered.
However, Zefer was now curious, considering it affected his own system. Nevertheless, that would need to wait since Simon tried to punch Zefer in the face without warning.
Zefer's stats overall, not counting them in individual groups, were superior to Simon's. Not to mention, he had skills he could use, and so he used one of them right off the bat.
Zefer brought his arm up to block the punch, and just as he timed the block to damn near perfection, a ping sounded off inside of his head. It wasn't the usual annoying Ding, but rather it sounded like a satisfying click.
Zefer figured this was the system telling him that he used his [Perfect Guard] and counterattacked with a punch of his own. His fist came around so fast that it was almost like Simon never touched him since there was no delay.
The fist connected with Simon's gut, and the man took several steps back with a groan as he held his stomach, wondering what had just happened. "If you are going to jump me then do it already." Zefer sighed with a bored expression as he let his arms fall to his side, waiting for someone else to approach him.
It felt like many minutes passed before someone finally decided to take action; however, instead of using their Magic or approaching Zefer, they pulled out a pocket knife and flipped it open. "Really?" Zefer thought as he eyed the small blade.
"Oh wow, it's eight against one and this guy still pulls out a weapon. His dick is probably as small as that blade." Ina said something since she had been watching this entire time. "Hey, Zefer, why not challenge them to a death match? It's legal right?" Ina added.
"That would be pointless. They would decline anyways. Even if they feel humilation, they will just try to kill me and never tell anyone." Zefer replied.
"So, why not just kill them? It should be in self defense, right?" Ina added, but surprisingly Zefer never replied to her. She figured he would either say yes or no, or something along those lines, but he did not say a word. "Umm... Zefer?" Ina spoke up once again.
"The world isn't as righteous or fair as you would believe. Even if it is seven against one, chances are, with my past and the entire city knowing who I am, the court will just put me on death row." Zefer explained.
Ina didn't know what to say about this, it indeed seemed unfair and twisted even, but this only showed her even more why this city needed to be burned to the ground.
"Alright, brat. Let's see what you can do!" The man with the knife finally made a move. He charged towards Zefer like a rabid beast, showing he honestly had no idea how to use his weapon. Zefer was still unamused as he watched the man throw out his striking arm when the moment was right. The man figured Zefer was stunned with fear since he had yet to move or say a word.
Alas, that wasn't the case. Zefer prepared to try and learn a new skill, wanting to see if he could learn Disarm or something, but just as he was about to move, someone shouted. "STOP!"
A moment later, a well-built yet beautiful-looking brunette woman dropped from the sky and smacked the attacker's hand away, only to disarm him then perform a swift and smooth take down all in one motion.
Simon, Ruth and the other men were shocked by what had just happened. Even Zefer was surprised. He didn't expect anyone to come to his rescue, let alone the person being Maven Sears herself.
"There goes my opportunity," Zefer said to himself with an internal sigh; however, he felt he had learned something. Not particular with the system, but just by watching what Maven did.
However, just as he was about to brush it aside, that annoying ding appeared in his head and a message appeared before him.
[Skill Learned! Observational Mimicry Lv. Max]