One unexpected benefit of Lucian's increased Vitality was that he needed much less sleep compared to the average person, which he discovered on his first night in Gotham.
He woke up in the restaurant after only four hours of sleep. It was still dark out - Gotham dark - which meant almost pitch black. He'd honestly expected the sun to have already risen by the time he awoke- not that he'd see the grand light-bringer, awakener of late risers -but the environment would have at least been brighter when it was out. From what he heard, 'morning' light in Gotham felt comparable to an overcast morning anywhere else.
In his old life, Lucian needed at least six hours of sleep to barely be functional. If he could push it, he'd even go for ten full hours of sleep to actually feel energized.
There was a little bit of whiplash upon learning that he now needed only four hours resting to feel like he'd slept for ten, but he wouldn't complain.
Completely refreshed and raring to go, Lucian had to hold back from doing "all the things" so early in the morning. Hell, it wasn't even morning. It was 2 am, for crying out loud.
'Maybe I'll start going out at night in a few days,' he thought to himself.
...
Lucian spent his first week getting familiar and comfortable with his new life.
During that time, he got closely acquainted with the restaurant's immediate area, as well as the routes he'd usually take when making deliveries. He learned how to ride a motorcycle, was taught 'street etiquette' by Inigo, and even made a few pleasant acquaintances.
There was an old lady who used to be a tailor, and she always ordered from Inigo's for breakfast and dinner. There was this middle-aged guy with a bad leg who ran a hotdog stand, and then there was also the owner of a nearby gym who was close friends with Mr. Suarez.
Once that first week and a day have passed, Lucian finally received his first quest from the program.
[ Notice. Your first quest has been decided. ]
'Oh shit, for real? Let's see it, then.'
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[[ Quest: Be Silly! Do Crimes! ]]
Description: Having familiarized yourself with the basics of living in Gotham city, it's time to start fitting in. Since you're not much better than the average joe right now, you can't quite be a hero or villain just yet. Instead, kick off with humble beginnings by doing basic crimes! Be it conventional crimes or vigilantism, completing your first act of either [or both!] will earn you some great rewards!
Time Limit: none
Objectives:
[1] Commit any act of crime.
[2] Commit an act of vigilantism.
Rewards:
[1] 100 EXP [bonuses may apply]
[2] 100 EXP [bonuses may apply]
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Deciding to do all the things as soon as he could, Lucian notified Mr. Suarez that he would be leaving right after his work shift ended at 7pm. He had to promise the balding, middle-aged man that he would still make it in time to get enough rest and clean up before the restaurant opened.
After some deliberation on Mr. Suarez' part, Lucian got his go-ahead, though his employer was still a little hesitant. Promising that he wouldn't compromise work, Lucian excitedly went out to spend some of the money he'd saved up over the week.
...
Stepping out of the restaurant through the back exit, Lucian had to brace himself. In his experience with small restaurants during his old life, the outside air would usually hit like a cool, fresh breeze after leaving the stuffy environment, as pleasant as the aromas were.
Down here in Gotham, the stuffy air was preferable to the stank and reek of trash, pest carcasses, and mud, mixed in with who knew what kinds of other fluids.
Lucian made his way out of the back alley as quickly as he could. At least the larger roads allowed for better ventilation, thus significantly thinning the unpleasant odors.
He made his way to a nearby convenience store to get some nutrient bars and water for his night out. Ah, how Lucian loved the smell of air conditioning. He'd also always been more sensitive to heat, so places being colder than room temperature was always a plus for him as well.
While he was there, he spotted some horror masks for trick-or-treaters and decided to get one for himself, picking out a particularly familiar-looking hockey mask. Luckily, it was already in the middle of October, so his purchase didn't seem at all out of place.
With his not-so-impressive clothes, being only a too-loose tank top and worn, baggy denim pants, the hockey mask's addition sold a convincing slasher villain look.
Afterwards, between 8 and 9 pm, Lucian went through some of the nicer parts of Gotham (meaning less crime competition) to steal some clothes. He wanted something that'd last, so going cheap on those with the little money he had really wouldn't do.
Lucian had to stake out a few places, and thankfully found some where nobody was home.
One of them was an apartment at the top of a three-floor building, with the clothes hanging out at the fire escapes to dry.
Seeing that the ladders had been pulled up, Lucian decided that this was a good opportunity to test One for All's power.
Lucian let the Quirk's energy permeate his entire body. Branching streaks of golden light appeared all over his body, seemingly sparkling with white glitter. They stayed there for barely a moment before disappearing.
Right then, Lucian felt his body temp seemingly rise and fall simultaneously. He felt significantly lighter, and even began to glow. There was also the feeling of his hair waving in nonexistent wind.
Thankfully, the light from One for All's empowerment wasn't that strong... Lucian hoped that nobody would really notice him. He never saw anyone around though, so the likelihood of being spotted was slim to none.
[ Notice. 2% of One for All's power is available to you. This boosts your physical attributes by 20% each. Please refer to the Matrix' information page in your UI for further details. ]
Gulping, Lucian braced himself before leaping up to the second floor's escape landing. He grabbed onto the railing and stamped one foot onto the grated metal platform, the other slipping off the edge.
The racket from this action made Lucian wince a little.
Pulling himself up and over was no problem once he'd gotten a decent grip with his hands, and he climbed the rest of the way up to the third floor's landing.
"Well, shit," Lucian exclaimed under his breath. 'Looks like I'll need more practice... that was easier than I thought, though. Acrobat's [Parkour] ability must've helped a lot, considering this is my first time...'
Lucian got up and dusted himself off before 'browsing' through his options. All of the clothes were basically dry.
'Shirts... jeans... nope. Ohh, nice dress shirt. I'll have to remember to met gore of those in the future... Stockings, huh? Must be a couple living here. Oh?'
When Lucian swept to the next few pieces of clothing hanging off the fire escape's frames, he hit the jackpot. 'Black hooded jacket! Zip-up, too. Comfortable, practical, and edgy. It's even the perfect size for me.'
Tempted to search for more stuff, Lucian found himself faced with even more temptation on his next sweep.
'Oh wow. Lingerie. Tempting, but it's clearly unused since the last wash. No point taking it.'
Lucian decided to leave behind the promiscuous bedwear and leapt back down from the fire escape's second floor level. He repeated the same sequence of actions with some variations until he ended up with deep grey camo-pattern cargo pants and heavy-duty work boots.
The former, he took from a fancier house. The latter was nicked off some unfinished construction site, just outside one of the makeshift quarters there.
Lucian even nicked some half-finger sports gloves from some poor drunk who got trashed and thrown out of a seedy bar, so that was great, too. They happened to be a size too big for him at the moment, but Lucian was sure that he'd grow into them with time.
[ Notice. "Quest: Be Silly! Do Crimes!" objective [1] completed. ]
[ Rewards: 100 EXP has been awarded. ]
[ Bonuses: 50 EXP for each additional item stolen. 150 additional EXP has been awarded. ]
[ EXP to next level: 750. Total EXP required: 1,000 ]
Satisfied with his stolen equipment and the program's notifications, Lucian grinned with a squee. "Now. Time to earn some extra mocket poney!"
Completely ignorant of his subconscious spoonerism, Lucian went off into the night at around 11 pm, making sure to constantly check the time since he promised to return between 12 and 1 am.
There really wasn't much going on around his workplace's immediate area, so he went off into other parts of Gotham for his crimefighting. The irony that he'd literally just crimed wasn't lost on him.
Regardless, Lucian didn't plan to do anything major; all he wanted for the night was to get his feet wet.
One crime toppled, and it was time to go home.
...
"That is one major asshole," Lucian mumbled to himself while observing some thug from a distance.
The criminal certainly looked the part, what with his stereotypical getup that would label him as 'cannon fodder' in most settings. He was coming onto some poor kid around Lucian's age, maybe a little younger, and was yelling something about money or whatnot.
Now that was just low.
Sighing, Lucian tightened his grip on a two-by-two he found, looking like a slasher movie villain, before making to sneak through the alley to help out a poor sod.
His footsteps were quiet thanks to his one level in Crime giving him the [Sneaky] ability, but they weren't completely soundless even though he managed to avoid every bit of litter along the way. Thankfully, the thug that he was targeting made a lot of cover noise for him to exploit.
Once Lucian had finally crossed the alley and neared his target from behind, the blinking alley lamp above them illuminated his honestly intimidating visage. He had to put a finger up to his mask to signal the harassment victim to keep quiet. Sadly, because he looked a whole lot like Jason Vorhees at the time, the gesture was in vain.
"B-behind you," the victim stuttered in warning to his assailant, inching backwards while unable to get up off his ass. Mud and other forms of watery grime clung to his skin and clothes, and there was also quite a bit on his face which matched some scratches and bruising.
Fortunately for Lucian, the warning went unheeded.
"Uh-huh... Right," the loudmouth assailant drawled, still brandishing a switchblade in the poor guy's face. "Just fork over the fuckin' money, or else I'll make sure you have a real good reason to never pay it back."
"Ew. Terrible line." Bonk!
Just like that, Lucian knocked out his target with a concussion. His technique was aided by his Brawler ability, [Non-Lethal Strike]. It wouldn't guarantee a knockout, but it completely prevented the user from accidentally killing a target.
Well, usually.
[Non-Lethal Strike] only prevented accidental killing blows, so it really wouldn't work if he used lethal attacks. It was also specified to never work with bladed weapons or firearms. Blunt weapons and unarmed strikes were the way to go, since they were a lot easier to control.
The moment Lucian's victim went down, a notification panel popped up in his field of vision.
[ Congratulations! ] the program notification beamed.
[ Quest: "Be Silly! Do Crimes!" objective [2] has been completed. ]
[ Rewards: 100 EXP has been awarded. ]
[ Notice! As a reward for your first non-lethal takedown, you have been awarded the requisite EXP to reach the next level from 0 EXP. EXP received during this level has been carried over towards progressing to the next. ]
[ EXP to next level: 750. Total EXP required: 1,100 ]
[ "Quest: Be Silly! Do Crimes!" has automatically been closed. ]
'Sick,' Lucian celebrated, dismissing the quest reward notification. In its place, the level-up notification popped up.
[ Level 6 rewards: ]
[ One for All benefit: Power, Vitality, and Agility attributes all increase by 1 point. ]
[ Progression performance rewards: Power, Vitality, and Agility attributes all increase by 1 point. ]
[ Raw level rewards: 5 free attribute points have been awarded. 1 unassigned level received. ]
After a short bout of absolute silence, Lucian's voice came out muffled through the hockey mask that covered his face. "Dude, I was trying to help you..."
He still had his two-by-two in hand which gripped the weapon tightly. His hood was also still pulled up over his head, with his messy brown hair peeking out around his neck.
Crawling backwards on his ass, the harassment victim snapped back, "Looking like that? Bullshit!"
He then scrambled onto his feet while Lucian watched. The guy picked up a brick to throw at his unappreciated rescuer. The attack hit nothing but air and the ground.
By the time Lucian looked back up from watching the improvised weapon sail pathetically through the air, the kid he rescued had already made a mad dash out of the alley.
"Oh, well... I tried." Lucian shrugged. "Heh. Not like I failed with what I wanted to do."
With random strangers out of the way, he went on to rummage through his quarry's belongings.
By the end of that encounter, he managed to loot a couple dozen dollars and change, a switchblade, a pair of brass knuckles, and a sweet leather jacket with padded shoulders. Each looted item apparently gave him 5 EXP, and every dollar provided 1, awarding him a total of 39 EXP.
[ EXP to next level: 711. Total EXP required: 1,100 ]
With the tiny treat he received from looting some random goon, Lucian turned over his new leather jacket and appreciated its appearance before slipping it on over his hoodie.
It was a size too big at the time, but like his gloves, he'd grow into it.
He took off his mask, hiding it under his leather jacket before jogging his way back 'home.'
With his 18 Agility and Vitality, both boosted to 21 each by One for All, Lucian would make it back to the restaurant with time to spare and won't even be winded.
...
The lock to the backdoor of Inigo Suarez' restaurant clicked open with Lucian's keys. The faint noise of the knob turning followed, and after that, the door creaked open just a little. Lucian's face peered in carefully in through the crack. Noting that he was completely alone in the unlit building, he slipped in and shut the door behind him, locking it once again.
"Home sweet home, I guess," he mumbled.
Lucian flicked on the kitchen lights, bathing the environment in a bluish white fluorescence. He picked up the battery lamp that he left on one of the counters and used it to light his way over to one of the corner benches.
He removed his leather jacket and hung it over the backrest of a nearby chair. His boots and holed socks came off next - he'd been using flipflops lent by Inigo until he got them - and they would be sitting under a table until morning. The cargo pants were folded neatly and placed onto the same seat that his jacket currently hung from. As for the hoodie, Lucian wrapped it over his backpack. It was decently fluffy, so he wanted to use it like a pillowcase.
By the end of it, Lucian was left wearing only thin shorts and his oversized tank top.
Once the clothing affair was over with, he whipped up a bowl of instant noodles that he bought on the way home, enhanced by some leftover meat and vegetables that Inigo set aside for him.
Just to be clear, it wasn't leftover from the customers' meals; they were offcuts from ingredients used in meals, or pieces that were deliberately skimmed for him by his coworkers.
The people who worked for Mr. Suarez turned out to be surprisingly considerate people.
Apart from that, the kitchen was actually really clean unlike Lucian expected, considering the scene he literally dropped in on during his first day. It turns out, the rats were released into the place by some dumbass kids who, for some reason, had some beef with Mr. Suarez.
"I should teach those fuckers a lesson once I unlock Blackwhip or Smokescreen," Lucian mumbled, peeking into One for All's information page from the program's UI.
– ৹ – ৹৹◎৹৹ – ৹ –
One for All
Passive Benefits:
[1] Increased growth rates for Power, Vitality, and Agility attributes.
[2] Increased potency when dealing with evildoers and embodiments of evil.
[3] Justice Sense: able to more easily detect when and where bad people are doing bad things.
Active Benefits:
[1] Full Cowling: Unleash 1% of One for All's power for every 10 attribute points you have when combining your Power and Vitality's totals.
Every 1% of One for All's power adds one 10% boost stack to your physical attributes [1% gives you a 10% boost, 3% gives 30%, and so on].
You can exceed 100% of One for All with Full Cowling, meaning that you have cultivated its power beyond what the previous holders have managed together.
[2] 100% Smash: Unleash an attack that temporarily multiplies your Power attribute by 1,000.
When used with Full Cowling, it adds your base Power * 1,000 on top of your base Power + FC-Boost.
-[ Vestiges ]-
Blackwhip [locked]
Danger Sense [locked]
Fa Jin [locked]
Float [locked]
Gearshift [locked]
Smokescreen [locked]
Notice. Vestiges can be unlocked at levels 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90.
– ৹ – ৹৹◎৹৹ – ৹ –
Just as well, after some consideration, Lucian put his 6th level into the Brawler class, and then put one point each into Power, Vitality, Agility, Mentality, and Spirit.
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Host: Lucian Albrecht
Blueprint: Quirk User: One for All
Level: 6
Classes: [Brawler - Level 3] ; [Acrobat - Level 2] ; [Criminal - Level 1]
-[ Attributes ]-
Power: 21
Vitality: 21
Agility: 21
Intellect: 15
Mentality: 16
Spirit: 17
Luck: 0
Free Attribute Points:
-[ Class Abilities ]-
Brawler:
[1] Street Fighting: You have a basic understanding of martial arts and can hold your own in a fight much better than the average joe. A rudimentary understanding of using improvised weapons included!
[2] Non-Lethal Strike: You've had enough experience in fighting to make sure that your attacks don't kill anyone you don't mean to.
[3] Minor Battle Instinct [new!]: You have developed a bit of a sixth sense for fighting. You can generally tell whether an individual is a better fighter than you or not, and you also intuitively understand how your own physical might compares to others.
Acrobat:
[1] Light-Footed: You are uncannily quick on your feet, and your footsteps do not betray you on unstable surfaces.
[2] Parkour: You have a talent for traversing obstacles and barely slip up in terrain that would be troublesome for most.
Criminal:
[1] Sneaky: Your footsteps become hushed such that your movements can only be heard in low-noise environments, or by people with exceptional auditory senses.
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