Today was sunday, and quite a sunny day in fact. My morning began with me feeling fresh as a daisy and energetic as a horse. I wanted to finish the boring stuff first, so I took out my laundry, cleaned the room and even went out to get some things to ready my disguise for later today.
Money was going to become a problem sooner rather than late, and I needed to make new arrangements. Maybe I really should be thinking about that job. With Deception Training I could probably lie about my experience and skill. It wasn't like they would know. Thought for later.
I was vastly more interested in getting my Magical Studies started. While I started reading, my Swift Learning ability kicking in to give me a boost. Peak Human Memory Capacity ensured I remembered as much as possible. While even the basic understanding I had from Weak Capabilities helped improve the learning process. All in all, I was learning at a vastly accelerated pace that would leave any normal human in dust.
As it turned out, Sigil Mage was far more complicated than I thought. Runes were such an extensive field of study that I had to take breaks and re-read some parts just to gain clear understanding. This was the basic stuff. The not-basic stuff had me so confused that my brain hurt.
At the start, it was just words. Really weird looking words with profound meaning, but words nonetheless. Then they got complicated. Mere lines and squiggles became geometric figures with far more complicated structures. It wasn't just physical depth to them, but the metaphysical depth too. Like they grew in more than one plane.
The advanced stuff bordered on some of the crazy stuff that I wasn't even sure was possible. I mean, writing a Rune in the on river of time. A Rune being a law syllable that dictates rules. Bending reality blah blah. Yup, I did not understand that one bit.
The most interesting part was using Abjuration Magic through the Rune acting as the medium. There were a ton of spell diagrams present in the book and memorizing a few wasn't that difficult.
I felt a connection form and knowledge descend. Did you know that all nouns in French have a gender? Well, I did. The power was called Multilingual and it just handed me all things I needed to understand and speak French the same way a native does. Weird, but I was already past the stage of squinting at the absurdity of my powers.
It wasn't that big an addition so I focused back on my magical training. A spell book was packed to the brim with spells but it came along with research topics, notes and illustration on variety of fields. As if to tell me that this wasn't the limit, that I could push past the boundaries this book was presenting so long as I really learned to magic. This was more than just an ability; this was knowledge.
I used the ink that I had brought from the market to draw a simple character on a sheet of paper. With my drawing skills I scribbled a good enough looking Rune and set the pen aside. It was the most basic ward Rune, but currently my limit.
Taking a deep breath to focus, I channeled my energy according to the Sigil Mage guide. There was no shining glow from my hand, but my whole body shivered from the cold that trailed up my spine. It was like the heat was leaving my body, and in turn filling it up with chill. I focused and the Rune started to glow.
A hazy shimmer glowed in the air, and the next second a distorted barrier the color of sea was erected right above the paper. I felt the drain and after about 15 seconds the barrier dissipated. While I did feel exhausted, it was something I could easily power through. Still an unpleasant feeling though.
I had a vague understanding of the barrier's strength thanks to being its hooked-up battery. But I didn't need to rely on my intuition to understand it was in fact quite weak. My knowledge of the magic helped me understand the composition of the barrier, its integrity and lifespan. It was quite a sad sight, but it was potential realized. If I were in Karmar-Taj, I would probably be one of those tea serving disciples.
Another thing of note was that paper crumbled into ash right after it was used, which just went to show the need for a good material surface to handle the forces of magic. Could I replicate the Mystic Arts with my Sigils? Food for thought.
It took me approximately twenty minutes to recover before I was able to cast my magic again. Quite a slow regeneration considering the meager amount of magic my body held. Unfortunately, I had no way to increase those reserves.
For about hours I spent testing the ward again and again. By the end I had burned through eight papers, and my latest barrier appeared far more stabilized than before. It was still 15 second long duration, but it at least worked the way it was supposed to.
I had wanted to try writing a Rune using my magic only, but the process proved far more difficult. My efficiency was such that before I even completed half the Rune, I would've burned through my reserves. Magic wasn't going to be a force-multiplier that I thought it would. It might provide a certain edge with defense and all, but beyond that it was useless for now.
I sat at the edge of my bed and closed my eyes. I recalled all the abilities I had, and what they provided me. To say that I had a lot of abilities would be an understatement, but most of them were pretty tame. Some couldn't even be called supernatural, they just fell into category of human level stuff. However, most of them showed a synergy between themselves that enhanced other abilities. Advanced Combat Training was the proof of it. It didn't just made me a good combatant, it also acted as the primer to sublimate all of my fighting skills. I wasn't just good at shooting arrows now, I had the same precision and accuracy in close combat fights. I couldn't just predict my targets location for the next shot, I could also trace their movements and respond accordingly.
My other abilities synergised similarly, like Swift Learning benefited from Peak Human Memory Capacity to allow me godly retention and faster learning speed. My Disguise Training benefited from my Deception Training in hiding my true identity or building a false one.
If I were to look at all of those, I could make a very good hero. I might not have the raw power of Spiderman to haul tons of weight, or the powerful senses of Daredevil. I did however, have the versatility to perform multiple fields at peak efficiency.
There was one ability however that I was barely using. It was intentional on my part, mostly due to the limitations it had and also due to my financial position. Basic Engineering Training was great at helping me understand any piece of mundane tech, but that understanding was limited to its usage and how the components came together. I didn't have what you might call the understanding of underlying principles at work. It wouldn't stop me from building a good device, if all I had to do was throw things together and hope they work. The only thing that stopped me was the lack of materials on that front.
That about summed up my powers excluding magic and mutant like powers. Both of them were quite limited for the time being. While they had potential to lift me to greater heights at the earliest, it was still too early to speak about the future. For now, I had to focus on creating a foundation based on my current powers. Besides, It's not like I was dealing with world ending threats, yet.
My whole potential was consumed to secure a slightly bigger star than the smaller ones. The power was called 'Dense Flesh'. Weird naming aside, it did grant me a denser flesh whether due to mineral or protein change or due to the tissue itself being thicker. It also shed light into the fact that my power didn't care about my consent.
Unlike Peak Human Strength, this power didn't come as stat buff, but as an actual change to my body. It was a bit concerning considering how my powers could mess with my body. What if I suddenly grew a third eye because my powers decided it was good to gain another perspective to look beyond the material world? Or what if I grew a pair or wings, how the heck would I hide them from others? It was a bit scary and made me reconsider this whole superhero shtick.
I shook my head and focused on my hand. It didn't look any different but I knew that most blunt impacts without sufficient force backing them would feel like a breeze. I could even withstand getting stabbed as long the weapon was small and the user wasn't a superhuman.
It was a welcome ability, especially considering my current durability.
Time was nearing night, and I had work to do.
My preferred method of disguise to infiltrate the Cottonmouth's gang was to become one of them. If this Cottonmouth guy had the slightest quality of leadership, he would certainly not trust me. But I had both my disguise and deception to carry me through. The wall breaker however was the document I had gotten from Morgan. It was my ticket inside.
I used the wig with bleached yellow hair, and a cream to create a rugged texture to my skin. My clothes were tight fitting jeans with holes everywhere, and tee with a middle-finger drawn on it. I complimented the entire look with a set of rings on both of my hands and looked in the mirror.
This was that angst teen look who thought being weird was cool and hanging out with punks showed your dominance over others. I was going to nail the role with my Deception Training; if only I had chosen to be an actor.
With the way I looked, I would come off as brash and arrogant youngster. Though that was exactly the story I was going with. It would help give the background as to where I got this set of documents. My lies would only carry me so far, after all.
I left me apartment when no one was in the hallway. There were no security cameras installed in this building, at least not yet. This was still 2010 and many old things stayed old. From there leaving the building was easy, even if people took extra measure to step away from me whenever possible. Thankfully there were no cops present. While I was sure the police wouldn't trouble an unknown, my looks were enough to trigger a watchful alarm.
It was exactly on last Sunday that I had roamed these streets and now here I was again. I passed by the common men and walked around the blocks. In one of these shit-stinking alleys, I was bound to run into a gang member.
"Hey, you know about Cottonmouth?" I asked one of the men lying wasted in a corner. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked as languid as I had seen 'em.
"What?" He frowned, and moved forward. "What did ya say?"
"Cottonmouth?" I repeated. "You know how I can meet him?"
He looked at me and then around. "I don't know man who you talking about." He lifted himself and walked off.
Failure number one, but there were plenty more to go. I stepped into dark spot, near the back of a walled-off alley where a group of men sat in a circle with a cup in the middle. There was a bunch of cash to the one side and I could deduce that they were playing some sort of game.
"Yo!" I announced my presence. "Sorry about disturbing ya all, but I'm looking to find Mr. Cottonmouth. Anybody know where I can find him?"
"Fuck off." The bald man said. "Leave before I make you stay here forever."
Wow, these people did not care about acting polite. I tried my hand at another group but faced similar situation. The next time I just introduced myself. Most of them thought I cam to buy drugs, but whenever I mentioned Cottonmouth, they would keep their mouths shut and not speak. Fear or loyalty? Honestly I didn't care, it was just pissing me off.
Then when the night grew thick, I stopped near a lamppost and turned my head up. Nothing but the dusky bleariness, all cosmological significance buried beneath the illumination of humanity. I was considering turning back home.
"You've been asking around." The voice came from another corner of the street. "Who are you and what do you want?"
I was surprised to find the owner of the voice as the sunglasses guy whom I had an altercation with. It would seem I was correct in my assumption at that time, and his admission hadn't been misinterpretation on my part. He still looked the same, except with a grim look on his face. This man did not seem happy and I wondered if I had contributed to that somehow.
"You with Cottonmouth?" I asked.
He squinted. "I heard you been asking anybody and everybody about Boss Cottonmouth." He said. "You got a death wish or something?"
"Information." I spoke and moved into the spotlight. "I got information for you boss that he might find interesting."
"Information?" He sneered. "About what? The size of your aunt's rump? Can't say my boss will be interested in hearing being informed about that."
There was no reason to feel anything over his childish taunts. Even I could tell that he was just bitter and angry. He seemed more of a teenager than I was trying to act.
I received a power called 'Static Cling' which let me produce an electrostatic charge using any part of my body to keep objects stuck. It would let me use my mask now without strings. And even if I somehow fell unconscious, the mask would keep clinging to my face. A small and useful power, no doubt.
Returning my attention back to the present, I sighed. "Listen dude, I ain't got no time play with ya, alright." I rubbed the bridge of nose. "If you ain't gonna let me talk with your boss, then forget it. The information about Morgan will stay with me, I got no problem with that."
I watched his reaction change from smug to curious. "Wait, Morgan?" He asked. "You got information about Morgan?"
"Yeah, I do." I nodded. "'Was hoping you'd let me talk your boss."
"What's the information?" He asked. "I can't let you waste boss' time if this news you got ain't worth shit."
"Can't tell ya." I shook my head. "But I can tell you this. The shit is real and worth it. And once more, I ain't loosing anything from walking away. I was just going to give this piece to the boss for free anyway."
"What makes you think you can just walk away?" He stepped forward. "I can just beat the crap out of you and then take the information for myself."
I frowned and looked around me. "You alone? You can try, no guarantee though."
"What?" He raised his head high, giving me a haughty look. "You can I need help to beat your skinny ass?"
"I thick you need help to get to the hospital." I wasn't backing down from this dick measuring contest. If he thought he could scare me, then I was overestimating his intelligence slightly.
"Fuck you." He spat. "If that information ain't worth it, I will gut you alive."
The man turned around and walked away. I watched for a brief moment before running to catch up. He was only testing me, it would seem. Was I a runt messing with something he didn't understand, or was i the real deal? Probably thought a mix of both. A punk with balls too big messing with forces he had no understanding of. I smiled.
.
.
.
If New York was the city that never slept in my previous world, then the New York in this world was quite similar just on steroids. Crime was an everyday occurrence that a decrease in activity would be more suspicious than a saturday morning apocalypse.
Harlem followed the stereotype to the tee, that even with the lack of world ending threats, the local culture was shaped by violence and crime. Gangs run amok, people getting injured in a shootout or worse dying. It had everything from pickpockets to drug and human traffickers.
The Rivals were a known variable in the underworld community for their strong backing and foresight of their leader. However after the capture of Nightshade, only Cottonmouth remained as the leading figure in this organization.
It was all I had been able to gather from the reports and mentions. There was no doubt more to all of this, like how Nightshade got caught and all, but a human mind could only process so much. If only I had a backyard A.I to keep me apprised of affairs in Harlem. Wishful thinking, I reckon.
The glasses man led me through the alleys to an abandoned house. It was a disposable spot no doubt, in case I was accompanied by teams of officers. I didn't care though, my plans ran deeper than this.
We arrived before the house and the man knocked. After about three seconds the door and we moved inside.
"Search him." The man told to one of the other guys standing near the door.
I frowned and raised a finger as he approached. "I don't got no firearm, just this alright." I removed a knife from my pocket and handed it to him.
"Still need to search you." He said. "Gang policy."
He was putting me in a tough spot. Either I relented and subjected myself to unreasonable demands which he would no doubt be smug about, or I resisted and gave him exactly what he needed to be more forceful. I had beat him before, I could it again. It wasn't that I was afraid, but instead the whole mission might fall in jeopardy.
"Let him in." A gruff voice called from behind. I turned to see the doors to the room open, and a man sitting behind the desk with a cigar in his mouth. "He just wants to have a talk."
"But boss—" The tall man meant to interject, but a glare from the moustache man shut him up.
"Come in." He motioned toward me. "And shut the door on your way."
I looked at the two men to see if they would oppose, but found them silent with head hung low. Walking into the room, I took a sweeping glance to check over everything. Normally such a fleeting memory would prove no use, but my memory was far more resilient and would allow me to recall each of these items in vivid clarity.
Closing the door behind me, I walked forward and took a seat. The man hadn't given me the permission, but I intended to go with a persona and I didn't mind holding up to that.
"You're not from Harlem?" He asked.
I nodded. "I moved in a couple months ago, with my uncle." A nice background story that would only hold till someone did some serious checking. "Then he kicked the bucket and left me alone."
"Hmm." He hummed. "Is that why you're here, to follow after your uncle?"
My confusion must've looked amusing somehow, because he leaned back and grinned. I felt unnerved looking at the rows of jagged teeth that lined his mouth.
I fished out the piece of paper from my pocket and set it on the table. "I got an offering. And I don't want anything for it."
And that's when my power decided that to make a connection. It was actually two powers but at the cost of one, I realized soon why that was the case. The first power was called 'Basic Computer Training' and it gave the normal amount of knowledge and training in use of computers. Like how to navigate interface, use standard software, save or delete files or connecting to networks. It was so basic that I already knew most if not all the knowledge it provided. I would guess that was the reason it was free.
The next power, the real power that actually cost me was called 'Advanced Computer Training'. Much like all the Training powers it built on the existence of previous power to advance. Unlike Basic Computer Training, this was the real deal. While I wasn't a computer wizard all of a sudden, I could create basic or intermediate-level programs in multiple programming languages.
I had enough knowledge to build simple applications or utilities. But much like my other powers, this proved why my powers were more generalized. I had a foundational understanding of cybersecurity that I could defend against low-level threats. It was fairly basic all things considered, but might've given me another job avenue to try out later.
Cottonmouth had picked the paper and was reading through it. Once he finished, he set it back and looked at me. "Where?" He asked.
I frowned to appear confused but quickly schooled my expression as if dreading the wrath I would provoke. "Hudson River Docks." I answered. "The leader forcefully recruited us homeless guys, yeah. Then the police came, and I made a run for it. But not before I got my hands on that. I could've returned, but my uncle probably felt more at peace that I didn't."
"You betrayed your boss?" He asked. There was no hate, disgust or amusement there, simple curiosity.
Shaking my head I sighed. "One of the men of Morgan's had a feud with my Uncle, shot him in the head. I hate that motherfucker."
"Hate." He said, then leaned back to take a draft. He exhaled the smoke and I almost frowned, but thankfully my Toxin Resistance meant I didn't need to care about second-hand smoke. "That's a strong word. Emotional and foolish."
Silence covered the room as the older man smoked in tranquility while I kept as quiet as possible. If only I wasn't so reserved about killing, and if only my goal wasn't more noble, I could've strung the bastard to death right there.
I had a particular aversion to drugs, and those who sold them. It always managed to rub me off the wrong way. It was one of the reasons why I didn't beat the shit out of Morgan when we first met. It was also the reason why I was going to such lengths to root out the whole empire.
After what happened three years ago, you could say I had a phobia for drugs. It was like seeing a cockroach and then proceeding to stomp on it with unmatched cruelty. Cottonmouth was a valuable cockroach however, so he needed to stay alive for a while.
"You don't want nothing for it." Cottonmouth broke the silence. "Is that right?"
I didn't answer right away, but mimed hesitation. Deception was an art of push and pull, you couldn't just blast your target with lies and hope it works. Instead, you create situations where your target needed to say something specific and then you will answer with your prepared lines. After all, it wasn't you who said it, it was him who asked.
"I got no home." I said. "I hate that Morgan bitch, and I would probably wind up dead in a river or something. So, if you got any use for me, I could relive my life just like how I'd always wanted."
"Cornell." He said. "The name is Cornell Cottonmouth, but I would prefer you calling me boss."
Hooked, I cheered inwardly. I did let out a smile for the man to see, and he nodded at that.
Cottonmouth tossed the paper back at me, and spoke. "I don't really care about that. Morgan tried to steal my merchandise, and I wouldn't rest until I got my share of his flesh. You will take that, and scour all the bases of that bastard as you can. Shades will keep you company."
He rang a bell on his desk and the door opened to reveal the tall sunglasses man still standing there.
"You've already met each other, I suppose." He said. "Shades, from now on you're to accompany..."
"Eddie." I pointed.
"...Eddie." He continued. "I'm giving you both an important mission. Complete this and you can both take a lovely vocation free of cost. What do you say?"
I looked at the man, who I now knew was called Shades. He looked at me with a frown plastered to his face, at least he had the decency to behave in front of his boss.
"I will do as you say, boss."
Cornell turned to me and I nodded. "Same here, boss."
And so began my life as a criminal.
.
.
.
Powers gained this chapter -
- Peak Human Swimming [100 PP] — You possess the swimming capability to match the highest level a human can attain, allowing you to swim underwater effortlessly and with control, efficiency, precision, and traction to reach a swim speed of 15-20 knots.
- Peak Human Strength [300 PP] — Your strength is at the peak of human capabilities with your muscles, bones, and organs being durable enough to endure your physical might.
You are capable of over-head lifting up to 1000 kg, and can bench-press up to 1500 kg.
- Secretion [200 PP] — You can produce small amounts of your Attribute Type from any gland on your body including claws, fangs, sweat, tears, and saliva without the Attribute Type produced being able to harm you.
- Toxin Resistance [100 PP] — Your body has a natural resistance to toxins soon, so that you are able to survive most to toxins and recover from any injury within a matter of hours.
- Basic Pilot Training [100 PP] — You have training on how to drive all mundane land based vehicles or animals with this knowledge updating each jump when application.
- Peak Human Vision [200 PP] — Your sense of sight has reached the highest limits possible for a mundane human with your vision at 20/5, this means that you can read writing at 20 feet away what the average human would need to be at least 5 feet to be able to read, you are also able to see comfortably in regular darkness.
- Abjuration Magic [300 PP] — This school of magic deals in protective spells and the suppression of others' magic. Magic of this school creates physical or magical barriers, negates magical or physical abilities, harms trespassers, or even banishes the target of the spell to another plane of existence.
- Deception Training [100 PP] — You have learned how to deceive, influence and manipulate others with this Training being able to be improved by the level of your Charisma Training by boosting the associated deception, speech and body language skills to a degree that you can even deceive those who have Lie Detection powers.
- Sigil Mage [300 PP] — Through the use of etchings, rune's and writings a sigil mage can craft arrays of varying durability in order to cast magic without the use of Somatic or Verbal components.
- Multilingual [100 PP] — With each purchase you have learned another mundane language including but not limited to including French, Chinese, German, Spanish and Japanese.
- Dense Flesh [200 PP] — Your skin is more durable than it ordinarily would be whether this is due to a mineral change in the tissue or merely that the tissue itself is thicker this will improve the resistance and durability against external attacks.
- Static Cling [100 PP] — Your body produces a static cling that you can use to keep hold of any small object using any part of your body. This also allows you to retain your mask even whilst unconscious.
- Basic Computer Training [Free] — You have had Computer Operation training allowing you to interface with computers and IT networks, with the knowledge on how to download and gather information from both physically connected networks or world wide networks.
- Advanced Computer Training [100 PP] (Requires Basic Computer Training) — You have had training in methods of Computer Analysis, Programming, Software development, coding and the possesses in creating instructions for computers to follow.