"Good luck. We'll meet again if chance allows it."
As Yoo Sihyuk left I clenched and unclenched my fist.
When we were at the podium I was sizing him up and he was doing the same.
If we fought a million times, even with [The Prophet], I'd lose 100% of the time.
"So… that's a Master rank huh…" I muttered as I stepped off the stage, before my foot hit the floor I activated [The Prophet].
The world swarmed with shadows and stars, people and pieces dyed with moonlight.
So dim… they aren't that important. The people on stage shined the brightest.
The masses swarmed towards all of us as soon as we got off stage. I took a look and found the least crowded exit.
Then I deactivated [The Prophet] and slid behind my compatriots, letting people swarm them before fading out of the public eye.
The moment I put my hand on the handle, I caught Kim Suho looking at me through the swarm of associates.
His expression was quite funny as if questioning how I got past.
I just waved and left, heading to a cafe.
…
Once I made it to a suitable coffee shop, I ordered a chocolate twist and a cappuccino.
Turning to look for a table I accidentally made eye contact with someone, taking psychic damage in the process.
It was Yun Seung-Ah, the lady who I met at the museum.
"..."
"..."
I turned my gaze away naturally-
"Don't act like you don't know me!" She said, slightly flustered but still keeping up appearances.
"Come sit with us, I wanted to talk to you too."
Us?
I walked over and sat down beside the other person, Kim Hajin, who looked slightly more nervous now that I was here.
"Hello." I nodded and he nodded back.
"I really hit the jackpot, finding both of you here." She looked excited as her eyes formed arcs.
I looked blankly as her smile reminded me of a certain Senior's.
"Ahem, although I spent too much time looking for the two of you, it's good that you're both here."
She pulled out two business cards, I looked at it and then put it right next to the other 'business' card I received.
Hajin's eyes widened when he saw the other card.
"Pay it no mind." I cleared my throat and put my wallet away.
My food and coffee arrived as the two talked. I zoned out slightly and bit down on my chocolate twist, savouring the mix of chocolate, custard and cream wrapped inside a soft doughy exterior.
I saw Kim Hajin hand back the business card and raised an eyebrow but kept munching on my food.
"Eh? Um, Hajin cadet-nim? I think you're misunderstanding something. I'm interested in you, as the vice leader of a rank 1 guild.
I finished half of my doughy treat.
"I'm thankful for your interest, but only if it's real interest." Hajin replied.
He's pretty perceptive to her true nature. Maybe his gift isn't to do with guns and instead eyesight. Or is it part of his physique that I don't know much about.
"I'll be off. There's a lot I need to do. It's almost time for midterm exams, you see."
Hajin quickly left the shop.
At the same time, I finished my food and took a sip of coffee.
"How much trouble did you get in after viewing the museum security camera footage?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Eh? How did you-?" Yun Seung-Ah suffered a second shock.
"You were very obvious in your approach. That guy, Hajin. He's a bit sensitive to deception." I commented.
"I think you're a lot more troublesome in that aspect." Yun Seung-Ah sighed.
"By the way. What do you think?" Yun Seung-Ah asked, despite 'not having a lot of time', she sure is sticking around for a while.
I guess she was just pressuring for answers.
"About what?" I replied with a question of my own.
"The Djinn incident, you were quick to evacuate everyone to spots the Djinn never even looked towards."
"All I did was minimize damage."
"You pinned the Djinn's arm down. Did you know the gun was going to do damage? In normal circumstances, guns would never work."
I finished my coffee.
"It didn't matter if it did anything. The Djinn would be distracted for a moment, in that moment I'd cut its head off." I shrugged.
"You sure know how to make yourself desirable." Yun Seung-Ah chirped.
"Excuse me?" I blinked.
"I-I mean in the guild sense!" She raised her hands in fluster.
"Anyways, I'll give you a call if I need anything. If you want me in your guild, you'll have to earn me." I (tried to) let out a smirk, but ended up looking gloomy again.
"Anyways, thanks for the meal Yun Seung-Ah, I'll see you around."
I bowed and left, leaving Yun Seung-Ah to pay the bill.
"...heh, little brat. He's getting more and more interesting. This generation of Cube really is the cream of the crop."
…
When the reward money came rolling into my bank account I didn't waste any time before transferring it into a personal account and then waiting a few seconds before transferring it into an anonymous account.
I then swapped to my personal watch.
I had a plan, and… it was important that I be very careful about this.
I wanted to spend money to get an account on Violet Banquet. The reason I had to switch the money into my personal account and then to an anonymous account was simply because Violet Banquet was something Cube cadets were banned from.
Violet Banquet was a darknet website that every hero has had at least one interaction with. The reason the government overlooks it is because they literally cannot do anything about it. I mean they use it too, don't they?
Thinking such thoughts I navigated the web, almost choking at the price.
But begrudgingly, I had to create an account.
I'm seriously feeling the pinch on this investment…
Now the problem is… how should I make money with the skills I have?
After a long moment of silence, I sighed, realizing my skills don't suit my ambitions, I shut down my watch and leaned back.
"Well, I feel a little better now that I have a good source of opportunities."
…
I stood at the edge of a cliff, the night air swirling around me as I sat on a stone. I had on black cargo trousers, boots and shirt with a dark gray heavy duty jacket over top. My Short sword at my hip as the moon shone brightly.
I've been putting it off until now but I needed to test out my skills in the field before the midterms began.
The Field, located in Gangwon Province, Wonju Area. I had spent one of my precious free leave tickets on this trip so I had spent the entire evening here.
I was putting it off until now due to a single line of text, I looked over at the gray panel floating by my side.
=======================
[Minori Nii]
⊳Variable Stats
[Strength 7]
[Stamina 4.6]
[Speed 7.8]
[Perception 9 (+6)]
[Vitality 2 (+10)]
[Magic Power 4 (+4)]
⊳Invariable Stats
[Intelligence – 6.118]
[Perseverance – 2.63]
[Luck – Null]
[Charm – 6.118]
⊳Special Stats
[Magic Power control – 40%]
[Mental Power – 11%]
⊳Gift
「The Prophet and The Beast」[Spirit Attribute]
—The Prophet:
The ability to feel, defile and defy the future. All Dreams have meaning, especially yours.
–Starlight Seer:
Cover the world with shadow and stars, see the truth of past, present and future.
—The Beast
Generate fear in all that view your stride, have the will of a lord and the body of steel. Do not falter, trust in your senses, your instinct and your strength. Do not worry, you are still human.
⊳Arts
X
⊳Physique
[Blood Poison]
—Poison can only make you stronger. The stronger the poison the stronger your body becomes.
—Your blood contains and maintains the properties of poison.
—You can burn the poison in your body to increase your vitality.
—Overburning leads to sudden illness and iron deficiency.
—You become intoxicated when you drink blood.
=======================
Hold on…my vitality dropped! Is it because I've been drinking poison recently? Maybe I should stop.
After calming myself down I focused up.
"Do not worry, you are still human… I should follow its advice. Procrastination from the fear of the unknown is not good." I stood up and gripped my blade, I looked down onto the field, scanning for monsters to bully.
Once I spotted one, I nonchalantly stepped off the cliff, stabbing my blade into the wall to slow my descent.
An oversized bear, its thick brown fur covering every inch of its body.
The grassy field rustled loudly as I approached it without fear. It growled as it saw me, recognising me as a threat.
When in range I took a deep breath and activated [The Beast].
I felt my body heat up intensely, adrenaline pumped through my veins.
The bear, seeing my pause, charged towards me.
When it arrived in front of me I glared at it, the breath I was holding released in a huff of steam.
This wasn't bad, not bad at all.
I grinned, the corners of my mouth splitting my face in a wild madness.
The blade, I looked down at it and scoffed, tossing it to the side.
I don't need a toothpick right now.
I looked up at the bear who seemed to be considering backing off, it growled softly before roaring.
I threw myself at the bear, dashing forward with an impressive speed. My legs carried me faster than I thought before leaping onto the bear, white mana covered my hands like claws, it was prickly and jagged, stabbing into the face of the beast.
My claws clamped down gripping at its skull with full intention of turning it into slushy.
It shook its head to try and get me off, but my claws didn't let go, instead they gripped harder and harder. Crushing inwards as the bears let out pitiful whimpers.
I didn't stop.
The thing clawed at my coat as I felt something inside its skin crack. It went limp and stopped making noises.
I didn't stop.
Next was the squelching sound of flesh and blood falling out of ripped skin, my claws digging into the skull, feeling the warm gray matter and flesh against them.
I let out a sigh of disappointment as I looked at the blood of my hands.
They felt nice inside the corpse.
So I dug them into its stomach, ripping into its organs and playing in the blood.
All in all, it was pretty enjoyable, the sticky red blood tasted quite sweet too.
The warmth in my body slowly died down as I sat on the corpse of the beast, drenched in blood, wearing intestines around my neck like a necklace.
I glanced at the panel as it displayed a new move.
Note to self: Don't wear fancy clothes if I plan on using [Wild Blood].
So that was [Wild Blood], thankfully I tested it in the middle of the night when nobody was around.
So let's see, my physical power almost tripled, the bear seemed to fear me the moment I used [The Beast], I became blood drunk and a few changes in my appearance happened.
My blood became hotter, my senses became sharper, I think I became a little taller, and my enjoyment of gore also increased a little.
So all in all, my body became as strong as a beast in return for the rationality of one…
On the bright side of things, I did have a clear goal in mind… if I concentrated I might be able to retain my thought process.
Shaking my thoughts off, I took off the intestine necklace, grabbed my shortsword from the ground and put the massive bear on my back.
Gotta carry it back to sell it… my body is also a little numb after that.
…
Once I got back to Cube, I was dead tired.
My hair dripped with blood as my coat was cut up by the bear when I had ignored it in favour of crushing its skull.
I was covered in loose bits of bear as I walked towards the dorms.
At the dorms I made my way to the elevator and by coincidence saw a familiar face.
Yoo Yeonha just came out of the elevator and made eye contact with me.
Her eyes widened as her jaw dropped, as if she was about to yell.
"Kyaaaaaaahh! A ghost!" She screamed before running full speed towards the other side of the dorms.
"..." I silently made my way to the elevator and got in.
…I want to go to bed.