Splatter!
Green Lizard blood rained down like mist, and with the falling blood came Noelle. Surveying the Border, she was pleasantly surprised to see how little it was damaged.
She turned her head to find Cane laying on the ground from exhaustion. Next to him, Krouse was jumping up and down, saying things like "Wow! That was so cool!" and "How did you think of using Steal like that!".
Cane was too tired to talk. While Chuck cleaned up the battlefield and went to repairing the turrets, Abel came up and offered Cane a potion.
"Don't drink it too quickly. The effect works better the slower it's assimilated," Offered Abel with a gentle smile.
"Thanks." Cane could only squeeze out that one word before he began to gulp down the drink. Despite what Abel told him, he was too thirsty and tired to worry about a weaker effect.
Noelle then drew close. Giving Cane a once-over, she nodded in approval.
"Nice guts. I think it's safe to say you're on the team, right?" She continued by asking curiously, "What did Krouse mean when he said "How did you think of using Steal like that?" to you?"
Feeling better, Cane sat up and replied. "I just used Steal on myself, creating a clone of my dagger. Then, after using the last resort function, I dissipated the clone and re-used Steal on myself."
This piqued Noelle's interest. She took a pistol from her waist and handed it to Cane. "Use Steal on yourself with this."
As Cane complied, another energy pistol appeared in his hand, with all 100 projectiles stored inside.
Seeing this, the team couldn't help but smile. What were the implications of Cane's ability?
First, it meant that Cane could never run out of ammunition.
Second, it meant that Cane could always have infinite weapons on hand instead of just 1.
It was an insane contribution to battlefields.
"Don't tell anyone that you have the Steal skill. This new method of usage should stay confidential." Thus ordered Noelle.
...
Cane was resting in his room, within the Border Control's main team dorms. As he stared at his hands, unbidden memories came back. The blood. The missing children.
I can't get distracted. The people here are nice, but I can't ever forget my true goal.
To kill The Wealthy Ones.
One had to be strong, knowledgeable and wealthy if they wanted to kill the richest people on the continent.
First, strength - to kill them, to kill their guards, to kill anyone they hire.
Second, knowledge - he still didn't know who did it, nor did he know where to find and kill any of them.
Finally, wealth - their power stemmed from their wealth too, not their strength. Some of The Wealthy Ones were regular humans, even. So, wealth was needed if he wanted to fight them on the same level.
Strength and wealth could come later. But knowledge?
"Hey Cane! I got your stuff!" Krouse scampered over holding some books and other things. There was a Monster Index, a book on fighting techniques, a phone, which Cane had only ever dreamed of holding, and a map of the Border section they patrolled.
There was even two months of minimum wage - 6,200 points - paid for every monster wave successfully defended.
Flipping open the Monster Index, he found the description for Lizard-Birds almost immediately.
[Lizard-Bird]
Rank: 2
Description:
When they fly, they are shaped similarly to birds, except for their lizard-like head. They have weaker defences and are covered in feathers during this period. Once a Lizard-Bird lands, the feathers morph into scales, their wings retract and their defence skyrockets. They also grow a pair of arms. They are immune to regular bullets during this phase.
Rank 2? If Lizard-Birds are only rank 2, then what was the rank 3 mentioned in the alarm? The thought alarmed Cane slightly, but he remembered that Noelle had come back uninjured, so he relaxed.
Knowledge? Cane glanced at the Monster Index.
Tick.
Strength? Cane then picked up the book on fighting techniques.
Tick.
And... wealth. Cane held those 6,200 points like his life depended on them. It was more money than he'd seen in his life.
It's a start, I guess.
...
The Wanderer was busy.
Very, very busy.
As an "author", he had to think up different enemies and conflicts for the "story" later on.
He was satisfied nonetheless, though. As far as Wanderer could tell, Cane had entered the rumoured "training arc" which the other Heavens always talked about. During this time, it would be the most boring and difficult experience. Most Heavens wouldn't even record it down for the story, rather opting for a "timeskip" instead.
While his MC was busy experiencing a dreaded "slice of life" period, The Wanderer was brewing plans in his brain for the future.
He needs a boss-fight sooner or later, right? Should I give him one when he becomes a Combatant rank Awakened?
Wanderer flipped through the Heavenly Story Guidebook.
An animal companion, perhaps?
Fortuitous encounters?
The infamous academy arc?
The Wanderer felt the need to create something unique. Something special. He didn't like to do work, but when he did, he had to be better than everyone else.
For now, I should increase my influence in Central Cities.
He had strength and knowledge, so the only thing Wanderer needed was money. And he knew a very easy way to obtain it.
...
Throughout the upper echelons of the city, a rumour began to spread. Someone, no, something had been slowly visiting every house of The Wealthy Ones and taking control of them.
Francis Stone had doubted these rumours. As one of The Wealthy Ones himself, he could vividly feel the extent of his power on a daily basis. He could kill anyone, anywhere. He could destroy any business he liked - as long as it had nothing to do with any of the other Wealthy Ones.
With hundreds of Master rank Awakened under his command, he held unimaginable power. Francis even had a World-Warrior bodyguard, known only as Ink.
There was simply no way for any of The Wealthy Ones to be taken control of. That's what Francis told himself every day.
But seeing the thing, the demon wrapped in a dark cloak slaughter his way through his army of Masters, he began to doubt himself instead.
"Who... WHO are you!" Francis shouted in fear. Frantically pointing at The Wanderer, he ordered Ink to attack.
"Ink! Kill him!"
No response.
Francis turned around, and to his horror, Ink's head had been severed off already.
When did it happen...
With a start, he looked back, only to find The Wanderer right in front of his face.
Slowly, inevitably, Wanderer drew his finger across Francis Stone's neck, severing it at a 49/51 split.
"Alright, how many do I have left?" The Wanderer opened his list, only to find that there were no more Wealthy Ones alive.
All of their belongings and assets had gone to him, naturally.
Now, the true owner of Central Cities, and the only Wealthy One left - Wanderer.
The Wanderer pondered for a moment, then got a great idea.
"Hey, anyone up there?" Called Wanderer through his mental channel.
"Yes? What do you want." It was High Heaven No. 3.
"I want Mind Control." The Wanderer began to explain himself. "I want to implant an end goal into Cane, because as you know, all MC's need an end goal. Otherwise, it'd just be a dreaded slice of life."
"...Fine."
As High Heaven No. 3 relented and Wanderer got his skill, The Wanderer had a perfect plan in mind.
I'm gonna implant in Cane a desire to own the Central Cities. That way, he can save other children who grew up like him.
Wanderer nodded to himself in satisfaction. Who didn't like a rags-to-riches story? Plus, as far as he knew, Cane was still a perfectly righteous person.
I'll implant the goal after two months, how about that.
There was no way that implanting a desire for wealth and ownership could ever go wrong, right?
While The Wanderer left the luxurious high-rise in which Francis used to live in, a bird flew about in the wind and hit the window.
As the bird slid off the window, feathers stuck to it in an interesting pattern, forming words.
They read: "Oh, yeah. That's definitely foreshadowing this time. Don't even try to hope that it's not."
...
It had been a month since Cane entered the Border Control's main team. During this time, he slowly learnt everyone's personalities, abilities and fighting styles.
Noelle was like a strict army officer on the outside, but she cared deeply about the team and defending the border. She had three abilities as an Apprentice Warrior. She could materialise cold weapons, she could gather energy into one huge blast, and she could double someone's strength, up to a maximum of 6 people.
Chuck was the oldest of the team. Despite only being a Supporter rank, he'd been on the border for so long that he was a member of the main team even before Noelle became the captain. He was in charge of the communication between the team via the earpieces, and he would usually set up a turret station and fight from there.
Abel was very quiet, but could talk for hours on end if the topic had anything to do with insects or potions. He rarely participated in combat. Instead, Abel had a special gun which shot needles filled with different potions, and would stay in the backlines to support the rest of the team.
Krouse was a bright and upbeat kid. He could use Attraction to distract monsters into heading his way. Krouse's second ability as an Apprentice Combatant was Shielding. He would usually lure monsters to himself before activating a shield to protect himself.
Cane? He'd gotten himself a fighting style too.
Cane could double his dagger or sabre to fight in close combat - something he'd gotten quite good at recently. He could also double his pistol for long-range combat. That was especially deadly, since he couldn't run out of ammunition as long as the original pistol wasn't used.
As the others in the team got to know Cane as well, there was one thing they could agree on.
Cane was a fast learner.