High Heaven No. 2 watched from the Heavenly Realm as the two fools stared at each other below. The Wanderer had been in a stand-off with Cane for the past 10 minutes, both of them grinning like idiots and thinking about their future plans.
"Cough! Kiddo, break the silence. Do something." High Heaven No. 2 grew frustrated at the lack of movement from either of them, and felt the need to interject in the mental channel.
Finally snapping out of it, The Wanderer began to make his move. He slowly, softly, walked up to Cane. With a hint of Illusion Control and Frost Energy, he made the atmosphere seem mysterious and powerful. Cane couldn't help but gulp.
High Heaven No. 2 watched it all from above. Yes, that's right, kiddo. Just like the Heavenly Story Guidebook states, make yourself look like a mysterious mentor, and impart those skills.
High Heaven No. 2 chuckled softly, thinking to himself. Even though he's the biggest troublemaker in Heaven City, at least he isn't without skills. He'd never have become the youngest Heaven in the Heavenly Realm if not for that.
"So? Is there something you need, my child." Wanderer began to posture in a profound voice. Cane also snapped out of his reverie once he heard The Wanderer speak.
"Oh, right! As I said sir, what can I do in order to learn from you?" Cane's eyes began to shine. He wanted to become stronger, so he no longer would have to run from guards. He wanted to become stronger, in order to protect his adopted siblings. He needed to become stronger, to earn money, to live a life - to buy his sibling's lives back.
Hearing this, Wanderer's grin became wider. Not that Cane could see though, since the mask blocked the way.
"Yeah. Come with me - no requirements." With that, The Wanderer turned around with a flourish of his cloak.
Seeing this scene, High Heaven No. 2 smiled.
...
Wanderer opened up the mental channel as the pair walked to his "borrowed" hotel room.
"Hello? Anyone up there? I want two skill books - Divine Treasure Eyes and Innate Luck."
Almost immediately, the two skill books appeared in his hands. Stunned at the impressive customer service, The Wanderer promised in his heart to give the Heavenly Distribution Centre, a branch of the Management Bureau, a rating of 5 stars.
The two of them reached Wanderer's "borrowed" room. Cane was uncharacteristically quiet along the way. He marveled at the way the employees and guards seemed to not notice either of them as they practically sauntered their way through the hotel.
Once the pair had entered the room and the door was shut, The Wanderer turned around and displayed the two skill books in his hands. Without a further word, he activated Illusion Control and Frost Energy, causing a mysterious, divine atmosphere.
"Come closer, child. This won't hurt a bit." A lie. IT HURT SO MUCH when I first received Frost Energy...
Wanderer's thoughts flittered around his head as Cane drew closer. The moment he was within distance, The Wanderer directly pressed the two skill books into Cane's chest.
"AAAGGHHHH!!" Cane's voice tore through the air as the skills began to assimilate with his body. Wanderer quickly froze the water in the air and controlled it to stop vibrating. This move effectively nullified sound.
...
After some time had subsided, Cane's yells of pain finally stopped. Despite what he'd just gone through, Cane was only excited to try out his new skills.
Power in the Central Cities worked in a strange way. Power was gained through repeated action - exercise, combat, anything physical could lead to awakening. However, this was only after such action was repeated many times at a high intensity, over the course of years, or decades even. Self-awakening was considered slow, and rather pointless due to this.
There was also forced awakening. People of higher ranks could directly stimulate others to become an apprentice.
The ranks of strength were as follows:
Supporter, Combatant, Warrior, Master, and World-Warrior. An Apprentice was when someone underwent a pseudo rank-up.
Getting a forceful awakening as a normal person would make you an Apprentice Supporter. It led to a 50% physical strength increase, as well as the ability to use a skill. Skills were generated randomly and were painless because they were generated naturally.
The Wanderer's action of forcefully giving Cane skills before he'd even become an Apprentice was dangerous and painful, but would lead to much higher strength in the future.
After all, a person could only have a maximum of 5 skills. Forcefully injecting skills before awakening would let Cane have 2 extra skills at full strength. It was impossible for anyone else to do, as skill books couldn't be generated outside of the Heavenly Realm.
Boom! As Cane woke up, he almost immediately underwent an awakening at that moment. This time, it was peaceful - a comfortable, healing process. He naturally received his third skill. Steal.
"Huh? Where'd that stranger go..." Wanderer had already left without Cane noticing, revealing only a quiet, dark room.
Oh well, whatever. Let me see my skills!
Cane opened up his skill menu.
[Divine Treasure Eyes]
Eyes which can determine the value of a selected object based on how brightly it glows. Objects with a value of less than 10 points will not glow.
[Innate Luck]
Your luck increases dramatically. Your chances of certain things happening to you will increase or decrease based on your desire.
[Steal]
Creates a clone of the object you wish to steal. You must be within 2 metres of your target to clone it. After cloning the object, you may - at any time or distance - swap the clone with the original, before dispelling the clone.
Holy hell.
That was the only thought running through Cane's mind. Wasn't this... the perfect loadout for a thief like him??
Cane left through the door, only to be seen by the employees. The Wanderer's Illusion Control had already dissipated by then...
"AAHHH!" Cane broke into a sprint and escaped at full speed, though he was still smiling like an idiot. As he ran, he couldn't help but think, My life is finally starting to look up! One day, me and those kids back home will look back on these days and laugh, I'm sure.
The poster, the one which had flown off its tape earlier, blew in with the wind. It still read, "I hope that's not foreshadowing...".
...
It was pure chaos.
Upon re-entering the abandoned apartment complex in which Cane and his adopted siblings lived in, all Cane could see was chaos. Blood was spread out so far that it reached the ceilings. Not a body in sight. Only blood.
...What.
Blood dripped down from the walls, the ceiling. They gathered to form puddles and lakes.
No.
The clothes, food, toys of the children lay there still. But the children were gone.
HOW! THE CITY HAS ALWAYS HAD IT'S "NO KILL" RULE!
They were gone, and only their red toys and clothes remained.
They were undoubtedly killed. There was too much blood for it to be anything else.
The... No Kill rule...
The No Kill Rule. It was implemented by the Central Cities government. Billions of points were spent on the undertaking, and after decades it resulted in a network so wide it spanned the whole city.
The moment blood was spilt, it would seep into the floor material. Or, well, anything. Everything the city was made of had blood detectors. The moment even one drop touched the ground, automated drones and robotic law enforcement would be sent to the location.
This pushed murder statistics within the city down to a 0.5%. It had almost been fully abolished.
Almost.
Cane knew the moment he saw the devastation. He didn't want to admit it, but the "No Kill" rule wasn't perfect. There was one demographic of people who could evade the rule.
"The Wealthy Ones." Cane's eyes lit ablaze with a fury he'd never felt before. The Wealthy Ones were the richest in the city. They practically owned it.
Cane didn't know. He didn't know which of The Wealthy Ones had done it. He didn't know why they had done it. All he knew was that he'd make them pay.
But.
Without that mysterious stranger, without his family, without anywhere to go. What could he do?
As flies drank up the blood, Cane lost strength in his legs and fell onto the puddles with a splash.
He turned and lay on his back in the puddle, soaking in the blood and staring at the red ceiling. As an Apprentice Supporter, Cane no longer needed to eat or drink as often as normal humans. Even though he still had to.
...
For three days, Cane lay in the drying, dying lakes of blood. Whenever he was thirsty, he drank the blood. During those three days, as he lay unblinking, for hours on end, his EXP began to unknowingly rise. His act of staring, staring without a blink, strengthened his eyes.
[Divine Treasure Eyes has upgraded.]
Like a machine, he stood up slowly. The clothes on Cane's back had already dried and crusted into a brown-ish red. Even though Cane had only been a poor thief a few days ago, he'd gotten 3 skills and become an Apprentice Supporter in a stroke of fate.
In Central Cities, everyone knew the best way to increase strength. Combat.
The base of the city was always under attack from flying beasts. As Cane slowly changed his clothes, he left the building and put on the brightest smile he could muster. It was like nothing had happened.
Cane headed straight to the Border Control office to sign up. Along the way, something in him seemed to have changed. He didn't hesitate. He only pushed forward, a fire burning in his eyes.
...
Wanderer watched Cane from afar. Without knowing, the person he thought would be a righteous, kind MC was subtly changing right in front of him.
Why... Does Cane look kinda different?