Namira was completely shocked by the sight.
Her mind was a blend of confusion and curiosity as to why Viktor did those things earlier.
Little did she anticipate him to be doing this.
It dawned on her; his act earlier of gaining a black eye and ripping his clothes was to create a pathetic facade in order to lower Baron and his group's wariness in order for him to get close, and because of that—none of them anticipated Viktor to do any deadly ploy.
No matter how she looked at this, the usual Viktor shouldn't be capable of doing this.
It has been two years since she was dispatched to keep an eye on Viktor when he was exiled from the family, and she has never seen him standing up for himself. Normally—Viktor always had this meek and helpless demeanor to escape sticky problems.
He always resorted to apologizing and silently received any disrespect if it came to it.
Killing Baron and his group was completely out of character.
Not only was it out of character, but it should also be impossible for him to do.
Viktor never received any training or enhancements as the family deemed giving him any of it a waste of resources, thus—he shouldn't be capable of handling a gun like that. He also did it without any hesitation as if he was used to killing.
From Namira's perspective, this is implausible—but it happened right in front of her eyes.
After killing Baron and his group, Viktor strode over their lifeless bodies.
He seemed to be deliberately forcing himself to not look down at the corpses and instead, he checked if the coast was clear. Passersby and homeless people caught his eye but they paid little heed to his actions, engrossed in their own affairs.
"Right, I forgot that I'm in the Red Jackals' territory," Viktor mused to himself.
In this place, people dying in the gutters are normal.
⌠Killed a superhuman cyber rank enemy, obtained 10 Cyber Points⌡
⌠Level up!⌡
⌠Level up!⌡
⌠Level...⌡
⌠Congratulations, the host has reached level 8⌡
⌠All stats have been increased accordingly and will be displayed upon reaching level 10⌡
Suddenly, numerous notifications appeared, displaying his gains from the kills he did.
Viktor killed six people, and it seemed akin to the experience gains that happened in games, he managed to reach level 8. But a furrow etched across his brow—as he realized, that he'd only accrued points from one instead of all of them.
Confused about this, he decided to inspect the bodies.
"Let's see here," Hesitantly, Viktor tried looking at the mess he made but instantly averted his gaze away again. "Okay, I still can't look at it. Namira, dispatch their bodies please, and don't forget to loot them, alright?"
Although he wanted to check why he only gained points from one kill, he couldn't.
It seemed his devious part followed him to this life.
Upon hearing this, Namira pointed at herself, "You want me to clean this up?"
"I know who you are, remember? Something like this should be easy for you," He replied.
Not even waiting for Namira to answer, he walked past her and went straight to the bedroom.
Realizing that she was left by Viktor to clean the mess, her lips twisted ruefully as she could not help but exhale sharply in disbelief. It was usually the other way around—with Viktor the one to clean up her mess, but not this time it seemed.
On the other hand, Viktor lay on the bed and rubbed his face forcefully.
Despite being inside the body of another person, he was still having trouble with blood.
Even the sight of it was enough to ignite his bloodlust.
Looking at his hand, he realized that there was a trickle of blood, Baron's blood he presumed that got smeared onto his hand. Almost instantly, he wiped it onto the bedsheet, and calmed his nerves by regulating his breath.
Just then, a dinging sound rang in his mind before a panel appeared.
His mission was completed.
⌠Congratulations, Sub Mission: First Victims has been completed⌡
⌠Host has gained the rewards: D-grade Skill Card Selection, 1.000 Mana, and Cyber Points⌡
As Viktor concluded the sub-mission, his senses were suddenly seized by the appearance of two rotating brown cards that appeared out of thin air, spinning before his eyes. He surmised that he was the sole witness to this phenomenon, "These must be the selections,"
Soon, the two cards revealed their information.
⌠Pick one of the two skills⌡
...
⌠Basic Firearm Proficiency⌡
Grade: D
Description: A skill that enables handling, aiming, and firing of firearms—along with reloading and simple maintenance. Hosts can use all types of guns and similar weapons with moderate accuracy and effectiveness at close to mid-range distances.
⌠Basic Martial Art Proficiency⌡
Grade: D
Description: A skill that covers basic hand-to-hand combat arts, that includes strikes, blocks, and simple grappling maneuvers. Hosts can defend themselves in unarmed combat scenes— and have a slight advantage over untrained opponents.
...
"I could gain skills like this instead of learning it? Great," Viktor smiled at the sight.
He was planning on training, as this was a new body, and definitely would not have the same properties that he would like to have as he did in his previous life. But it seems like there was no need as the System gave him a shortcut.
Reading the two options, the choice was instantly clear in his mind.
Not even needing time to think, Viktor instantly picked the Basic Firearm Proficiency.
Of course, martial arts are useful—it was in fact quite useful for the like of Meta-humans who were relying more on their physique to fight. Enhancements made them superhumanly strong and combat suits protected them from projectiles, so guns are not supreme anymore.
But even then, Viktor chose Novice Firearm Proficiency because it was convenient.
Hand-to-hand combat would expose him to blood, guns, on the other hand, would not.
It is cleaner, and Viktor is quite fond of cleanliness.
After picking his choice, the card glowed brightly—blinding Viktor for a brief moment.
Upon receding, the cards disappeared from his vision, and Viktor could see that the entirety of his body—more specifically his nerves were glowing with neon blue lights. His body felt a little bit different—and he reckoned that it was the Nove Firearm Proficiency skill working its magic.
Before he could do anything, countless panels flooded his vision instantly.
⌠Plasma Gun Proficiency: 20%⌡
⌠Shotgun Proficiency: 20%⌡
⌠Sniper Rifle Proficiency: 20%⌡
⌠Revolver...⌡
⌠Grenade Launcher...⌡
"Oh, so that's how it works," Viktor mused, his eyes sparkling at the sight.
Under the effect of the Basic Firearm Proficiency skill, all of his guns' proficiencies shot up to 20%. He expected to be instantly proficient, but it was not the case, he would still need to go and do the heavy lifting of training to max his proficiencies.
Not as expected but good enough, it saved him the trouble of starting from scratch.
Even though he remembered how to use all guns, this body does not.
Just like earlier when he held the gun, it felt unfamiliar despite knowing how to operate it.
It didn't matter though since he was firing close targets.
As he was inspecting his rewards, Namira barged inside, sweating.
On her hands were a couple of watches and guns.
Dropping them all to the ground, she looked at Viktor dead in the eyes, "I've done what you asked me to do—so now, it's your turn to return the favor. How can you act like that? I have never seen you act that well, not to mention, you never killed anyone before!"
"It doesn't work like that," Viktor chuckled and sat up. "This is your mess from the start"
Not even paying attention to Namira, Viktor went to check the loot.
Activating each one of the watches, his eyes sparkled, "Wooh! 5,000 credits total? Nice!"
In contrast to the secured credit watches prevalent in Cyber Assault territory—the ones here didn't have any semblance of security so anyone could access them. The Red Jackals' turf—stayed true to their beliefs, and that is survival of the fittest.
If somebody can't safeguard their credit watches, then they are not worthy to have them.
Checking the guns, all of them are meager, but they will do for now.
"Just tell me, are you acting weak to escape home?" Namira asked again.
But instead of answering her question—Viktor replied with another command, "Go and wait outside until I come out if you want to know the answer. If you so much as moaned, I would not tell you anything,"
"Wha-?" Namira was once again, at a loss for words.
However, before she knew it, she was already kicked out of the bedroom.
On the other hand, Viktor stretched his hands as he was preparing to test out all features.
Aside from issuing missions—and also, allowing him to physically become stronger, through level-ups, the main features of the Systems are the following: Modification—and Simulation, both seemed to be essential features.
"Tell me again about the Modification," Viktor mused and squatted at the pile of guns.
⌠Affirmative⌡
⌠The modification feature is an advanced reality augmentation tool—that enables the host to enhance firearms through the use of cyber points. Every aspect can be upgraded, and would be maxed up to five levels but varied from weapon to weapon. Other aspects of the host also could be upgraded by this feature such as Nexus, potentials, skills, and spells⌡
Reading this, Viktor grabbed a simple revolver and saw a panel pop out.
...
⌠Byte Revolver⌡
Weapon type: Firearm - Revolver
Grade: E
Compatibility: 5%
Elements: -
Stats: Power [2] Range [1] Precision [2] Stealth [-2] Durability [1] Ability [0]
...
Inspecting the information on the revolver, Viktor found that it was quite straightforward.
"So, we have got weapon type, grade, elements—and stats all up for modification with this feature—but what's compatibility? And what is with this stealth stat? Does it actually mean stealth?" He muttered, asking the System about this.
⌠Compatibility represents the host's compatibility in wielding a Revolver-type weapon⌡
⌠Stealth stat, in this case, is the sound produced by the weapon⌡
Upon reading the System's answers, Viktor nodded in understanding.
But his mind instantly fixed on the compatibility which was quite intriguing as if it was stated there, then there's a chance to modify it. Maybe the grade is only the summary of the overall stats of the weapon, but compatibility is a vastly different matter.
"Can I somehow alter the compatibility?" He asked, confirming if it was really possible.
It was when the answer appeared that he smiled.
⌠Yes, increasing the compatibility is possible through the use of points⌡
⌠Higher compatibility means the host would be able to master said weapon faster⌡
Just the fact that he could increase the compatibility was a savory feature.
Viktor found this feature was quite overpowered as compatibility should've been the talent of a person to wield a specific weapon. However, in his case, he didn't need to have the talent—he only needed points to have this 'talent'.
Now that he knew of the modification feature, he was curious about the simulation feature.
⌠Does the host want to use Cyber or Mana points to access the simulation area?⌡
"Cyber...?" Viktor replied in confusion.
⌠Affirmative⌡
⌠500 Cyber Points have been deducted⌡
However, after he said that he got instantly knocked out on the spot.