The look in her eyes could affect any man. But Midas is not like any other man.
Midas smiled, but did not answer and merely put his hands up, saying "Look, we're sorry. Since you've already dealt with him, then all we can do is thank you and apologise for our negligence in this matter. We sincerely apologise. If we had ended him earlier, he would not have disturbed you. Please forgive us, okay?"
"By the way, did you kill him?" said Midas with an apologetic chuckle.
"Do you really think Helga would--" said the brown haired girl, but before she could continue speaking up for Helga, the woman raised her hand and shook her head signifying that there was no need for the fuss.
"So you guys did this?" asked Helga, looking at the carnage. Three bodies were writhing on the floor, while their friend that was previously turned into a popsicle couldn't even move properly.
Previously he had merely watched with trembling limbs while his new buddies were annihilated by these two. He felt ashamed back then, especially since he is the weakest with a D Rank Gift that wasn't even combat related. Now, when he saw the blue haired Ice beauty again, he started visibly trembling, wanting to be as far as possible away from this walking disaster.
Why did he have to want to join those girls in their bath? He tried his luck and ended up getting turned into a popsicle. Just thinking about it ran shivers down his spine. All he could do was remove himself and try to nurse his friends back to health. Hopefully they wouldn't despise him that much after remembering what happened.
Midas also looked at the cowardly guy and smiled, turning back and saying "I guess we have something in common."
"I guess we do." said Helga, who smiled somewhat. Looking at the scurrying little pervert, she sneered and looked away as if keeping her eyes on him would dirty her.
At that moment, the people who were watching from the sides, seeing that the tension had been eased somewhat, approached and started making merry.
"Woah, you guys are strong!"
"Yeah. What was that?! That was insane!"
"Those racist pieces of trash deserved it."
"Fuck yeah. I wish I could've been the one to smack them up a bit."
"Yeah, the guy named Julio is super strong, and fast. He went zoom, then boom, then bam, and suddenly two people were on the floor."
Julio scratched his head and laughed shyly.
"Bro, who are you? Most people didn't notice, but I saw that you knew these guy's Skills before they used them. You were able to tell your friend exactly how to deal with the attacks." asked someone while fixing his glasses with his index and middle fingers like an anime character.
"Wait really? Woah, that's super powerful."
"Is it like that Appraisal Skill in Japanese Manga?"
Midas merely smiled and said, "Well, I've seen them before. It's not really a big deal."
Helga watched all this with the plainest face. None of the people there knew what was happening in her head. She and her group proceeded to start walking away from the scene back towards the Shrine. The girls did not forget to send unfriendly glares at Midas on their way.
Midas watched them leave with an odd look on his face. There were so many strong people around.
So annoying.
Midas and Julio and the rest of the people who were waiting for the flowers to complete whatever they were doing approached the clearing and saw one of the most beautiful scenes.
*Shhh**glug glug**Shwaaaa*
The river was wide and slow-running, winding its way through the grass in the clearing. The water's clear and cold surface reflected the rays of the early morning sun, and the sound of the water rushing over the rocks is a constant in the air.
The forest's trees were tall and green, and the sunshine running through the leaves cast dancing shadows on the water. The waterfall on the right most side was a beautiful sight in the morning light, with the water crashing down over the rocks in a powerful torrent.
The spray from the waterfall hung in the air, radiating rainbow lights that made the place seem more magical than anything in the world.
This was a place of peace and tranquillity, and a great place to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life if Midas ever found himself back in the real world. But now, Midas found himself in this place filled with uncertainty and panic.
He had to adapt as fast as possible.
Right next to the river was a snow mountain… which was probably the wolf. Midas saw that the wolf was incapacitated and realised that at this rate, the wolf might die.
Not to mention the fact that the wounds Midas and Julio had inflicted were bleeding in a perhaps fatal way, it was now cold and could suffer from hypothermia. Midas hesitated for a moment, but ended up shaking his head and approaching the wolf.
"What are you doing?" asked Julio, to which Midas responded:
"This guy is going to die if we just leave him like this."
And like that, they spent several minutes digging the wolf out. After completely digging him out, they placed him on the ground in some sunlight, hoping that maybe he could warm up. At this moment, they watched as the Wolf turned back into a human again, with all its scars now healed up.
Midas clicked his tongue at those regenerative properties. Actually, the whole battle had been perfectly scripted by Midas, with the hopes of maximising his chances of winning.
If even one part of the plan had gone awry, things could have turned out much more different. Midas was grateful that Julio trusted him enough to follow his advice back there, otherwise who knows what could have happened.
After dealing with the unconscious wolf man, Midas and Julio approached the river and used their water bottles to scoop up some water to drink. Although Julio was sceptical, Midas just went for it and drank the water. Julio shook his head, saying, "Didn't people just bathe here?"
"Beautiful people just bathed here. Very beautiful people. I've never tasted water that was so sweet. You should try it, Julio!" said Midas while nodding his head with an ecstatic look on his face.
Julio, seeing Midas' enjoyment plastered on his face, went ahead and drank the water. After sampling it and slapping his mouth together to get a nice taste of it, he said "Hey!! You said it was sweet!!" to which Midas laughed.
Everyone all around was staring at Midas and Julio with jealousy. When did these guys find the time to make wooden bottles??
Someone approached them and asked "Hey, where did you guys get the water bottles?"
The man had brown hair, with a golden brown skin complexion typically seen in people that occupy the Mediterranean. His height was 1.75 meters and his build was lean. He stood in front of Midas and Julio casually while wearing a white shirt and jeans.
'Clean image. Clean presentation. Is he a salesman?'
"We made them ourselves," said Midas.
"Really, could you make one for me too?" asked the guy with a genuine smile on his face. Midas looked closely at him and the prompt his [Divine Database] gave him and thought to himself 'Huh, a Conman?'
————————————
Identity Found |
Name: Aydin Kaplan
DOB: 2001/07/10
Sex: Male
ID Number: 010710998775611
Nationality: Turkey
…
————————————|
————————————
Arrest Report |
Crime: Fraud
Previous Crimes: Theft, Forgery, Extortion
…
————————————|
' Haha, he's definitely something special. He stole money through online scams and forged credit card details from his victims. Also it says he started doing this stuff at the age of 13? I really like him.' thought Midas and decided to test him out.
"We could but, as you can see, we're in a bit of a situation. The only way to ensure mutual survival is mutual cooperation. Why don't you join us and be our comrade, I could fashion one for you in a few hours." said Midas.
The man stood there with his hand scratching his chin, seemingly thinking about the offer. Midas took that moment to do his favourite thing nowadays.
' [Eye of Judgement] '
————————————
Index || Network | Statistics |
—————
Earth Name: Aydin Kaplan
AC: 8,900
Gift: Gift of Mimicry (A Rank)
—————>
The Gift of Mimicry (A Rank) |
[Your ability to embody the world and its principles is unmatched. There is nothing you cannot replicate.]
Skills: [Shapeshifting(Lv. 1)], [Evolution(Lv. 1)], [Adoptive Memory(Lv. 1)]
————————————
Shapeshifting (Level 1) |
[Turn into a previously touched target with some conditions while inheriting the target's abilities.]
————————————|
————————————
Evolution (Lv. 1) |
[Enhance traits of previously mimicked abilities and embody them in new forms]
————————————|
————————————
Adoptive Memory (Lv. 1) |
[Remember some Skills and Natural Abilities of previously mimicked forms with some conditions]
Skill Bank: [Fireball(Lv. 1)], [SpeedUp(Lv. 1)]
————————————|
<—————
Conditions and States:
—————>
Nature: Chaotic Neutral
Trait: Silver Tongue
Mental: Machiavellian Personality, Paranoid Personality
Physical: -
<—————
Stats:
—————>
Dexterity (Agility, Flexibility) → 1.0
Strength (Speed, Power) → 1.4
Constitution (Endurance, Health) → 1.1
Intelligence (Memory, Reasoning) → 3.9
Charisma (Charm, Persuasion) → 3.2
Wisdom (Intuition, Adaptability) → 2.1
Spirit (Mental State, Character) → 4.7
<—————
————————————|
The man nodded to himself and reached out his hand for a handshake with Midas before saying "Okay, it'll be nice cooperating with you from now on."
'Oh, would you look at this guy… Cute.' thought Midas. This Con-man wanted to copy his skills.
At this moment, Midas was somewhat annoyed. Why do all the super powerful skills land up with everyone else? All he had was his powerful brain and his devilishly handsome face. Seeing this guy blatantly try this shit right in front of him, Midas felt like the universe was playing a joke on him..
Midas looked at him and said, "I'm wondering what conditions there are to activate your Skills… Is it Stat supremacy or maybe Skill rank supremacy… Tell me, which one is it?"
"..."
After a moment of silence, the man pulled his arm away gracefully and said, "Hahaha, What do you mean?"
Midas merely shook his head and said to him, "Don't worry, I understand. You're in a new place, a scary place, and you're trying to get as many advantages as possible, am I right?"
Midas paused as if to let his words sink in and then continued, saying "You saw what happened and heard what all those people said and figured that I might be useful to your goals. I get it. There's nothing wrong with that."
"So you know... You really do have an Appraisal skill don't you..." said the man, now stepping back apprehensively having seen how Midas and Julio dealt with those guys. Midas laughed and said:
"Hey, why are you getting so shy? I didn't mean any harm or foul. I just want to be friends, that's all. And no, I don't have an Appraisal skill, but I do know where you can get one."
Midas then reached out his hands in a form of handshake and said, "My name is Midas. What's yours?"
"..." now Aydin was beyond confused. If Midas knew that holding out his hands could allow him to copy his Skills, then why would he do it? Was this a trap? Was it a test? He said he wants to be friends, what does that even mean?
Aydin was now thinking about every angle as he always did in life. People were untrustworthy, and he figured he was better off on his own. He just could not figure this guy out right now.
Who would willingly walk into flames, knowing that they would get burned? Aydin thought this far and figured, 'Well, if he wants to give me his Index viewing skill so badly, then I will gladly help him out.'
Aydin reached out his hands and grabbed Midas. They looked at each other and Aydin said, "I'm Aydin. It's nice to meet you too, my friend." while activating his Skill.
At this moment, Aydin was expecting that wonderful but frightening feeling again where he was inheriting information straight into his body. It was an exhilarating feeling. He waited and waited… and… Nothing.
Aydin's eyes popped wide open. What? There was someone who could counter his Skill?
Midas merely smiled and asked "Did it work? Or do you need more time?"
"How are you doing this?" asked Aydin. Was this guy an S Ranker perhaps? He had never stolen from an S Ranker before because he had no idea where he could even find one. He was honestly still learning the conditions of his Skill's activation and inactivation conditions. This was the first time in three attempts that it had failed.
"I guess it didn't work huh… Well, I didn't do much. I just figured it wouldn't work."
Julio, having watched from the side this whole time, asked confusedly "You guys, what are you talking about?"
"Julio, meet our new friend. He's gonna hang out with us from now on. His name is Aydin." said Midas, but when he looked closer at Julio, he realised that Julio's stomach was slightly distended, probably due to Julio drinking way too much water.
'I look away for one second and this guy gets pregnant.'
"Oh Aydin! Welcome to the best team!" exclaimed Julio with his thumbs up. Aydin was still trying to figure out what was happening. Now he was friends with these two guys? When did he become friends with them?
Midas handed his own water bottle to Aydin and said to him, "For now, drink. I'm sure you must be thirsty right?"
Aydin merely shook his head and grabbed the bottle. He downed the contents and breathed out a refreshed breath of air. This was some good water, although not as sweet as he had overheard Midas make it out to be.
Midas continued speaking, saying, "I know you might be a bit flustered, but I'm sure if you think about it, you'll realise that hanging out with us would not be a bad deal for you. I can give you targets which you can use your Skills on, and you can use those Skills to help us out from time to time. Anyway, I'm oversimplifying it, but you get the gist right? Let's all be friends."
"Midas, didn't you say something about some rocks for some knives or tools?" asked Julio to which Midas said:
"Oh yea!!! I totally forgot about that. I'll grab some nice rocks and then we'll go back to the South where we'll build a camp for ourselves."
"That's gonna be fun! Do you need help?" said Julio with some palpable excitement in his voice and Midas replied promptly. It was almost as if what happened 5 to 10 minutes ago had never happened.
Aydin watched all this and decided that it might not be a bad idea to hang out with these weirdos. At least for now. He'd use them for all their worth until he made something of himself, and then he would throw them away when they became useless to him.