"Are you alright?" High Heaven No. 4 raised an eyebrow as she peered down at The Wanderer.
He was curled up into a tiny ball in the corner of his office - the one in The Capital.
Hearing High Heaven No. 4's words, he gritted his teeth and shouted up at her.
"What do YOU think, huh? One of my clones died here a few days ago, without even being able to tell the other clones why! How could I possibly be calm!"
Wanderer began trying to chew his fingernails, only to realise that he was still wearing a mask and couldn't put anything into his mouth. He promptly decided to start chewing his mask instead.
In the Heavenly Realm, High Heaven No. 4 could only take on a helpless smile.
"Well, that's the point of your punishment, isn't it? You're mortal now. You need to accept that, and make the most of what you have! Be positive - it's not like we took any of your previous abilities, and we even gave you more abilities."
The Wanderer listened on with a sulking expression. He cut off the mental channel, even though he knew she could reopen it at any time she wanted, which made it a pointless gesture.
Feeling his clone die had genuinely been a terrifying experience for him. Wanderer had never died before - not before he became Heaven, most certainly not when he'd still been Heaven.
He let out a bitter laugh.
"So, it turns out there are still things that can kill me in this world, huh? How strong even am I? Discounting my abilities, which are definitely too crazy for the world, my physique... should be around World-Warrior level? Of course, I need to activate my muscles in order to achieve that. Otherwise I'm probably around Warrior rank."
The Wanderer opened the files containing the info on Story World 2093. He specifically checked the Central Cities.
"Ahh, I see how it is."
In the continent of the Central Cities, different abilities had different ranks in terms of power and rarity. That is, of course - if there were enough variants to categorise them.
Wow, what a wall of text. Let me see if I can summarise it...?
The most common ability type were transformation abilities. Naturally that didn't mean it was the weakest category, as there were very strong variants within it. However, it did mean that most of them were either weak or average.
Transformation abilities were simple: you could transform either a part of your body or your entire body. It could be transformed into some element, or it could be transformed into some animal.
Being the most common type, there were a wide variety of variants. There was Stone Skin, which could turn your skin into stone - a very weak ability. Then there could be something like Tiger Transformation, which was powerful enough to match with rank 4 monsters.
There were so many that even the subcategories had subcategories! For one, a subcategory of transformation skills was animal transformation. Within animal transformation, each species had it's own subcategory!
The second most common ability type was arms type. People with arms type abilities could summon weapons - something like Noelle's Weapon Formation was quite common. Isaac's Army Surplus could also be included within the arms category.
The third most common was energy manipulation type. It could be Alex's Fire/Wind Control, it could be Binding Words (from Noelle's scumbag dad) and it also included Noelle's Energy Blast.
The fourth type of skill were action skills. These were things that normal people could do, turned into an ability and made more powerful. It didn't have to be for attack - it could be something like James' Conceal. Cane's very own Steal and Stealth skills also lay under this category.
The fifth type were buffing skills. This was one of the rarest, directly allowing someone to either strengthen themselves or others under certain conditions. Chuck's Hardening, Noelle's Power Boost, Dalton's Battle Song, Cane's Hidden Strength, Rake's Rush and James' Desperation were all types of buffing skills.
This category also had extremely rare skills - Susie's Heal, for instance. Dalton's Blind was also a type of buffing skill, under the subcategory of a debuff skill. Cane, Rake and James all had a different rare subcategory - physique buffing skills - which allowed for one's physique to grow more powerful under certain conditions.
The sixth type were summoning skills. This category was interesting - they were rare skills, but generally weak. Susie's Summon was the most common type within the summon category. For different people, even though they all had the same Summon, the animal and rank would be different.
Contract skills were also under this category, which were much more common. But still weak.
Then there were the second rarest kind of skill - mental type skills. Krouse's Attraction, Cassidy's Nightmare, Cane's Divine Treasure Eyes: these could all be counted. The Wanderer's Illusion Control, Mind Control and Mental Manipulation were also of this type.
Finally, the rarest category were law skills. A spatial skill like Cane's Hiding Spot was considered a law skill. Anything to do with time, space or other fundamentals of the world were under this category.
Other than that, every other skill could be put under miscellaneous if they didn't fit those categories. Something like Innate Luck, for example.
The Wanderer frowned.
So, my skills are mostly all at the second rarest, second most powerful rank? And I've got World-Warrior strength...
How strong was his opponent, to have killed him even with all that???
In that moment, Wanderer made up his mind.
"Even though I can tell there's some sort of conspiracy, I'm not gonna look into it further. I'm only a mortal now... I'll just make Cane stronger and make him explore this conspiracy for me instead!"
As they say, curiosity killed the cat.
And I ain't no cat!
…
Ding!
The store's bell rang out in a cheerful tune as Cane entered.
It was a recently opened business, the 514th grocery store to be opened up within the district. Although it called itself a grocery store, it was more similar to a general store - with food, clothes and other useful items.
The clerk's absent-minded face snapped over to Cane's location, startled for a moment. As Cane turned to face him, he noticed something strange...
The clerk's eyes were grey.
"Welcome to the new store! Wow, you must be my first customer of today?" The clerk smiled gently. "My name is Ling Anhua. Have a look around the store for whatever you need."
Cane peered at the man's face curiously. Then, activating Hidden Strength, he came to a sudden realisation. His strength had doubled, despite the man looking straight at him.
Oh. This guy is blind??
... Wait.
Cane thought back to what he'd done the first time he received Hidden Strength. He also thought back to what he'd done after the rank up within the Inner Cities, when he'd broken the promise he made to himself.
All this time... why didn't I think of just finding a blind man!!! Damn it!
A wave of embarrassment swept over Cane's body. Did that mean... he never needed to gouge the eyes out from those children??? He could've... simply found a blind man.
But quickly, the embarrassment disappeared. Cane soon came up with a few arguments to defend himself.
No, no. I needed strength quickly, and naturally blind people are rare to find. Plus, children have their whole lives ahead of themselves, while adults are already halfway to the grave! I need my Hidden Strength marks to last for a long time.
He did indeed need strength quickly the first time - he needed to get revenge on Senhei, for example, and he'd also been blinded by rage. How could he have thought of finding a naturally blind person to mark?
But then... what about the second time?
Cane also found a justification, almost as quickly as the first time.
Well, it was all because I already blinded a child the first time, wasn't it? So I didn't think of doing things any other way - which technically makes both times okay, right?
Right?
"Hey, are you gonna keep standing there?" At that moment, Cane's thoughts were cut short by Ling Anhua's interjection. Cane looked up, slightly startled.
"How did you know I was still in the same spot?"
"I didn't hear you move anywhere else..."
Ohh, right.
It could be said that Cane wasn't very intelligent at all. Most of his intellect went to different ways he could exploit his skills. Other than that, the remaining portion of his brain went to hunting tactics.
For example...
Cane took out a taser from his Hiding Spot. He stared at it for a moment. Since when did I have this?
Outside, a bird swooped down on someone's book and ripped out a piece of the page. The piece of paper read "Chapter 22".
Curious, he turned it on and zapped himself.
Vzsst!
Crap.
10 seconds later, Cane's muscles relaxed and freed him from paralysation. He stared at the taser in shock. Considering that he was already as powerful as an Apprentice Master, the taser in his hands was exceedingly powerful!
Hmm... to be honest, my Plasma Pistols will be able to hurt Nick, but the area of effect isn't great. I seem to remember that electricity works well against water or something? And Nick IS just a bunch of mist now...
But enough side-tracking. Cane had an actual purpose in coming to the store.
He turned and grabbed two items - sunglasses and a powerful 100 SPF sunscreen. He placed the two items on the counter.
"I'd like these two items, please. The sunglasses and the 100 SPF sunscreen."
Hmm... actually...
He turned and picked up one more - a battery-powered megaphone.
"This one as well."
Cane then took a look at Ling Anhua's eyes. For some reason, it looked like ghosts were swimming around in the whites of his eyes.
Creepy...
"Oh, right! You should buy sunglasses for yourself as well."
Looking at the man's blind face, Cane nodded and added it as an afterthought.
With that, Cane payed for the items and left.