Over the course of months, Hanshin had been doing the routine of falling unconscious to train. Since Lee had to still clean up the wreck of a tower with the rest of the ranked Talented, Hanshin had time.
Hong Kong is almost back to normal, except for the rubble of the tower in the middle of the city.
Ishaan had been out of the hospital for quite some time and has been visiting Hanshin a lot. But what Ishaan didn't know was, that what Hanshin experienced from the cult was destroying him from the inside.
Slowly, but surely, Hanshin was going insane.
Hanshin rushed towards the wooden doll. Gripping the wooden sword tightly, Hanshin swerved with elegance as the wooden doll charged toward him.
The wooden doll snapped backward and threw the sword in Hanshin's direction. But when the sword was about to hit him, Hanshin disappeared. He reappeared behind the doll and SNAP. The doll's head fell limp.
"Great job. Your arms would be finished growing in the real world at this point." Lucifer said, with his flames pulsing in different colors.
For the past month, Lucifer and Hanshin had been getting along, despite Lucifer being the tower boss. Turns out, he is a copy of the fallen angel Lucifer's soul. When he was born into this world, he was already heading for Earth. We will call Lucifer's copied soul Luci.
Lucifer intended to use Luci as a weapon to destroy Earth slowly because he wanted to take revenge against the human that ridiculed him, the Saint Emperor, but he has long gone from this world. So he targeted Earth instead.
Luci also revealed to Hanshin that he can utilise the skills he got in exchange for his eye and face. As shown earlier when he disappeared, he sacrificed one coin to use the skill. To obtain more coins, Hanshin needed a job. And a forger, as a production class is perfect.
Unfortunately, Hanshin is still in hospital, so he cannot do anything yet.
(You have leveled up!)
(New skill!)
After defeating the wooden doll once again, Hanshin had leveled up to Level 10.
(Blinded By Gold)
(Berserker Skill)
(The user goes into a craze after using the skill.)
Atk+ 100
Cost: 10
One coin is very precious in this new world, so using this skill will cost a lot. Hanshin grumbled because he didn't have any coins left. He had to leave the hospital as soon as possible.
Hanshin woke up and checked his stats. It was the same. "What a relief." Hanshin thought.
Then he slowly devolved into maniacal laughter. He was still suffering from the aftereffects of the event. Hanshin was moved to the psychiatric ward so as to not disturb the others when having a breakdown.
In Hanshin's eyes, the walls had become flesh and eyes were staring at him. Then the cult members came out, with twisted grins and rotten flesh.
Hanshin quickly grabbed the pills and stuffed two in his mouth. A cold chill came down on him and he gasped for air.
"Sh*t... I need to get out of here." Hanshin mumbled.
"You can go after today." The doctor said after hearing about Hanshin's mental breakdown. But Hanshin knew that the doctor wanted to kick him out to free up space.
His days in the ward were horrible. Nurses treated him poorly, and the doctors would beat some of their mentally unstable clients to vent frustration on them. That included Hanshin.
The only happiness he got was when Lee, Ishaan, and Luci talk to him.
This was an apocalypse. Since the law doesn't exist anymore, anyone could do anything they wanted. Hanshin was disgusted at this undisguised evil.
He felt guilty for being a spoiled child when his parents were still in this world. The regret he got when they died was immense.
In this new life, he had to protect everyone from this savage, cruel and cold world. This was a world where the strong rule over the weak. Lee and Ishaan were exceptions.
Hanshin stayed in Lee's place after he left the hospital. The walls of the bedroom were covered with posters of T.B.S, the famous boy band in Korea. Hanshin couldn't help but get jealous of T.B.S for having his friend swoon over the boy band.
Lee realised Hanshin had grown distant and cold towards her because he didn't talk much after his first mental breakdown.
-
Anger washed over Hanshin. Since Lee had been getting weaker after losing the tower's influence, she had been kicked around by her fellow rankers.
She had been enduring these hits from the rankers, and each time Hanshin saw Ishaan carry her back, her face bruised and battered, rage would take over him.
He was only level 10, but he can already fight against a wooden doll as powerful as Lee.
The reason he was cold towards his friends was because he had to train, and during this time, as Luci stated, emotions would disrupt his training.
But he was ready. The training would have to be done later. Luci had given him something that would help.
"Who's that skinny little ass?" A brown-skinned, silver-haired man with a good physique asked. He was wearing a bulletproof vest with jeans.
Hanshin had infiltrated the worker's place, posing as a worker. This is a place where the workers mine for treasures from the ruins of the tower. Lee and Ishaan were also helping, but the rest of the rankers were just lazily sitting around. Since technology has returned, a lot of rankers didn't come.
"Get a move on! You're weaker than us now, Lee." Lee was slapped by the silver-haired man. Blood dripped from her face. "Stop it, Eugene!" Ishaan drew his sword.
"Geez, you so-called righteous people are so damn annoying!" The ranker named Eugene said. He and a redhead woman charged at him. Eugene snarled and began to transform. His hair grew longer, silver hair grew from his body, and his face grew into a wolf. He outgrew his clothes, which were torn off by Eugene's growing claws.
Eugene's skill was a werewolf. Perfect for a tanker.
The redhead threw a fireball after fireball at Lee as she defended herself with her scythe blades. Hanshin looked from the side. He was seething.
"Calm down," Hanshin told himself. "You are here to observe the rankers who hit Lee and fight them later."
"Charlotte! You traitor! If only I haven't asked a forger to create the sorcerer for you!" Lee said. The redhead named Charlotte's smirked.
"Sorcerer?" Hanshin thought. "Didn't see that in the selection menu at the start."
Ishaan was already bruised because he was the weakest out of the top-rankers. The hideous monster that was transformed from Eugene threw Ishaan in Hanshin's direction.
Hanshin caught him before he could hit the rubble. Ishaan was about to say thanks when he noticed that the "worker" was Hanshin.
"Shush! Ishaan, run for no-" Hanshin was hit by a boulder made from the rubble.
Eugene's face was curled into a sneer. Hanshin's worker hat flew from his face, and his deformed face was revealed. Almost at the same time, Lee screamed as she began to freeze up from Charlotte's ice magic.
"Disgusting. I'm shocked people like you are allowed to live." Hanshin's eye lit up with energy. He took out the item that Luci gave him. A mask that covers the deformed part of his face and is used to control his powers.
Eugene noticed Hanshin and shouted, " Oh! You're that skinny new guy I saw! What can a Level 10 do to me?" Eugene's sneer was even more huge. "Your face looks like maggots ate it."
BANG!
Charlotte's limp body went flying. She hit a wall and blood was dripping from her head. And in her spot, was Hanshin, fist hissing with smoke.
Eugene looked at Hanshin. Then he fell to his knees.
"Charlotte was one of our strongest rankers around! How did a mere worker like him defeat a top ranker?"
Hanshin put on the mask.
"Now, shall we begin?" Hanshin looked at Eugene. A crazed smile painted across his face.