Chapter 27
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'Your brother was really strict with you today.' Lily softy said.
'Yes. But his words were not wrong.' I said as I laid on top of the roof of one of the buildings and looked at the clear sky.
'How so?'
'Well, today when those guys came to… abduct Neha, if I had been a normal human, then they would have succeeded in doing so. I would probably have died in their hands and Neha would have been taken to the army camp, and suffer, just like the rest of those women.'
'But you're not a normal human anymore.'
'But I'm not that different either.' I shook my head 'If I had to fight that laundry woman-turned abnormal right now, when my Agility booster skill is recuperating, she would be able to kill me without much efforts.'
'So, do you think that you're nothing.'
'In the grand scale of things, yeah. I am not able to defeat even a single 2nd tier abnormal in my current state. And there are 43 of them in this town alone.'
'I don't even want to think about the how many 3rd tier abnormals are already lurking out there in the world. And I've not even mentioned the mutant beasts. As for the mutant trees… even their name gives me the chills now.'
'Then… what? You're going to roll over and die?'
'Of course not.' I said 'I'm going to become stronger.'
'Is that so.'
'Yes. And I'll start by eating these crystals.' I said and gulped down the twenty thumb sized yellow crystals at once.
Once the warm feeling faded away, I opened the hologram to take a look at my stats.
User name:- Ashok Singh Rana
Stats:-
Strength - 2.0
Agility - 2.0 (4.0) - Skill Recuperation penalty
Endurance - 2.0
Perception - 3.0 (2.0)
Mana - 0.2 (4.0) - Skill being used.
Skills:-
Agility Booster (2nd tier)- Skill recuperation time left= 7 hours 43 minutes 34 seconds, Advanced Vision (2nd tier)
Equipments:-
Basic Sword (2nd tier), Clipping Glove (1st tier), Basic Defensive Suit (2nd tier), Basic Helmet (2nd tier)
Wealth:-
None
'20 crystals only increased my perception by 1.0 point. Although I realized that it gets harder to progress, this still sucks.' I complained in my mind.
'Well, it'll worse later on.' Lily said with a giggle.
'Yeah. Thank you for nothing.' I said and focused on the Agility booster skill.
I had wanted to increase it's level. At this point, its take me around 12 hours to recuperate after using it once.
Using it four times would help me increase it by a level. But this was the first time. Are the skill recuperated, I would have to do it four more times before it could be upgraded.
12 hours. This might not seem like a very long time but in it this apocalyptic world, it was long enough for me to die several times.
Every time I used my Agility skill, it cuts my agility in half. Such a handicap would be very dangerous for just about anybody.
'Leveling up this skill really needs one to have strong mental fortitude.' I thought in my mind and then thought about my second skill.
Advanced Vision skill. Even since I upgraded it to level 2, it's mana consumption had decreased by half. Thus, using it for an hour, now consumed 0.3 points of my mana stat.
But since the recovery rate of my mana was 0.4 points with the 10% rule, I essentially lost none of my mana when using it anymore.
But when I used it's Night Vision option, that's a completely different beast altogether.
Using Night Vision for 2 minutes cost 0.1 mana points.
If I tried to use it continuously then my mana won't even last one and a half hour.
At this point, If I want to increase my Advanced Vision skill, then I would have to use the Night Vision for 10 hours.
'This is going to take a few days as well.' I sighed in my heart. 'Why is my life so hard.'
'I don't even know why you're complaining.' Lily said. 'Aren't you in a perfectly safe place right now. You can definitely take your time to increase your skills and stats.'
'Well… You're not wrong. Maybe my mindset got a bit off the road after listening to big bro's strict advice back there.' I smiled. 'But anyway, let's not think about these things anymore.' I said and closed the hologram.
'My Perception stat had reached 3.0 points. A 2nd tier Abnormal only has around 1.0 perception, so even if it is much stronger and faster than me, I still should have a 5-10% chance to win a fight against it.'
'Doesn't seem like a lot to me.' Lily said with a yawn.
'No you don't understand.' I shook my head and said. 'Back when I first met a 2nd tier Abnormal, I almost died from just one of it's attack. And when we were chased by that 2nd tier mutant monkey, I could only think about running away. But now…'
'Now things are different.' I said with a shine in my eyes. 'Now, even if I still might not be able to defeat them in a one on one, I would be of great help to Big bro.'
'And I'm not even mentioning the usage of my Agility booster skill. If I use that skill, then I…' I gulped and said 'Then I might even be able kill a few a them.'
'Lily' I suddenly said.
'What is it now?' she asked.
'I know what I should do.' I said with gleaming eyes.
'What?' she asked.
'Big bro wanted me to find out how many 2nd tier abnormals are inside in the town, he definitely wants to deal with them before he could starting cleaning up the 1st tier abnormals.'
'So…'
'Well… Don't you see. By the night falls, my Agility booster skill recuperation timer would have already stopped. At that time, I could use it to kill those 2nd tier abnormals. That would definitely help Big bro a lot, right.'
'I guess so.'
'Then that's definitely what I'm going to do.' I said as I waited in anticipation for the night to arrive.
—————
Raka checked all of the windows and doors once again. After he was sure that he had closed all of the entrances to his room properly, he finally laid down on the bed comfortably.
There was another woman beside him whom had forced to sleep with him. Although she was not very beautiful, as all the beautiful women had been taken to the army camp, she was still something. And something was always better than nothing.
On the first night, she had resisted him fiercely. In fact, she had resisted him so much that even he was starting to feel guilty about what he was doing.
On the second night, she still resisted, but her resistance had decreased significantly. Plus, she didn't cry like on the first night.
On this day, although she still didn't talk with him, she had already bent over in a pose so that he won't have to make any effort himself.
The speed at which humans adapted to their new situations always fascinated him.
He looked at her with a lustful gaze and started to undress him self but before he could enter her, he heard a sharp 'sheek' sound from behind him. As if something was being cut by a very sharp object.
All his hairs stood on end as he suddenly lunged toward the rifle kept beside the bed.
Although he didn't knew how to use it, others didn't know about that. They only knew that he had a rifle in his hands. And since he always looked so confident while carrying it, they automatically assumed that he must have known how to use it.
Otherwise why would the people from the army give it to him.
As he rushed for the rifle, he saw a black silhouette open his door and rush at him at an incredible speed. In fact, it was so fast that it could be termed as inhuman.
And before he could even register the situation in his head, he saw the black silhouette making two fast movements. But he realized that he was still safe.
He didn't knew what happened but assumed that the black silhouette had tried to attack him but… missed?
Although this situation seemed absurd to him, it didn't stop him from lunging at the rifle.
He picked up the rifle, and even though it seemed a bit lighter this time, he didn't have the time to check for the reason.
He turned to the black silhouette who had stopped by the bed for some unknown reason and shouted "Put your hands up. Or I'll shoot you."
It was the first time he saw the black silhouette perfectly.
It was not some ghost like he had previously assumed, but a man, wearing a sleek black suit, and a black helmet which matched perfectly with the suit.
And there was a sword in his hands. Raka felt weird in his heart when he saw that sword. After all, who uses a sword in this era. Not to mention such a shabby looking sword.
But Raka did not wanted to think too much about such things, as the man was not putting up his hands when he told him to do so. In fact, the man was calmly standing there with an air of superiority.
As if he was not pointing a gun but a banana at him.
This alarmed Raka greatly and he wondered if this man somehow knew that he did not know how to use a rifle.
Who told him about it? Was it Vivek. Had his closest friend betrayed him for power.
And what about the two bodyguards he had stationed outside. What happened to them. They must have definitely come to protect him after listening to so much commotion.
The fact that they have not come could only mean that either they've betrayed him or that they're dead.
"Don't look for your bodyguards." The man in the black said "They won't come."
Raka felt beads of sweat permeating in his forehead but he decided to go on with his bluff. After all, all of his power, and life was at stake here.
So he did not back down and said "I told you to put your hands in the air. Do you not understand what that means, you bastard."
"Put my hands in the air." The man scoffed "Why would I do that?"
"Because…" suddenly Raka realized that the rifle in his hands was not only light. But very light. So light that he felt that he was only holding on to a small part of it.
He looked down at his own rifle and didn't knew what kind of expression he should make anymore.
The thing in his hands was truly, on the handle and a bit of barrel of the rifle. Everything else was somehow missing from it. As if it had been cut away from the rest of the rifle.
He looked behind in dread and found the parts of the rifle that were missing beside his bed.
They were still lying in the same place where he had left them. In fact, if he kept the handle in his hand back to it's original place it would seem like the rifle could be used at any moment.
The cuts in the rifle were that clean.
He suddenly understood why this guy was standing so calmly in front of him. And why he would carry that sword. He also understood why the rifle felt so light when he picked it up.
But the more he understood, the worse he felt. At this moment, he finally understood that his life did not belong to him anymore.
"Here, keep this in your mouth." The said in a gentle voice and passed a shoe to him.
Raka was a bit surprised at this and wondered why he was being told to do such a stupid thing. Did that mysterious guy wanted to humiliate him. But if that's all he wanted to do to him then that was alright. At least he would live.
He held back his tears and put the shoe in his mouth. Putting a shoe in the mouth was always better than dying.
"Now give me your hand." The man said once again in his calm and gentle voice.
Although Raka was still confused, he brought his hand forward to the mysterious guy and prayed in his heart that something bad won't happen to him.
"Now remember. When I break your fingers, don't shout. Just bite the shoe tightly. Understand."
Raka was shocked when he heard this but before he could ask anything, a CRACKKK sound resounded in the room and he immediately felt an immense amount of pain in his left hand.
He wanted to shout and scream but the words he'd heard just now reverberated in his mind an he stifled his scream and bit on the shoe to decrease the pain that he felt.
"You're doing good." The man said in a gentle tone but this time Raka felt that the words were coming from him were the words of devil itself. After all, who says something like that after breaking someone's finger.
He looked at his left hand and realized that one of his fingers had bent at a strange angle.
He felt his eyes tear up from the pain and he mustered up his courage to ask "Why are you doing this?"
"You're asking me why I broke your finger?" The man asked gently.
"Mm…" Raka nodded his head in fear. The more he heard that gentle voice, the more fear he felt toward him.
"Simple." The man smiled and "You cursed at me. I don't like it when people curse at me."
"Huh!" Raka was surprised by this, but before he could ask anything else, he once again felt a sharp pain in his hands and this time, he bladder failed to hold on and his pants became wet in an instant.
But he didn't shout. He bit tightly on the shoe as if his life depended on it as he took fast and deep breaths.
"Good. I had not expected you to hold your scream. Seems like you have some perseverance in you." The man praised heartily and Raka felt like he should hate him by now. But no much he tried to hate him. He could not do it. Instead, he only felt terror in his heart.
"You might want to ask why I broke your finger again. Right?" the man calmly said.
"Mhm…" Raka nodded in fear. He could only hope that he would not lose another finger after getting the answer.
"That's because you pointed your rifle at me. Provided that it was only half a rifle, but you did it nonetheless. I don't like it when people point their guns at me. That's all there is to it."
Saying that, the mysterious man let go of Raka's hands and he could finally take a breath of relief.
"Would you not bring some tea for you guest?" the man suddenly said "Is this how you treat all you guests, Raka."
Raka felt a drop of sweat trickle down from his forehead. "I'll… I'll bring it right now." In fact, when he said that, he really meant to go to the kitchen and prepare some tea for this mysterious person.
The thought of running away didn't even crossed his mind as terror had clouded all of his judgements.
"Leave it be." The man said in a gentle tone. "My mood soured the moment you pointed your gun at me. I'm not interested in your tea anymore."
"Soo… Sorry. It was my mistake." Raka stuttered in fear and apologized.
"It's alright. I forgive you. Do you know why I would come here to meet you?" the man asked.
Raka felt like crying all of a sudden. Wasn't it because he sent his men to attack him and abduct the girl this morning.
He suddenly felt like bashing himself on the face with a shoe. Why would he have to try and go after such a person.
If he could go back in time then would definitely not make such a mistake again.
"Please. Tell me senior."
"I have a job for you and your subordinates Raka. If you do a good job then I might even give you some rewards."
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'Your brother was really strict with you today.' Lily softy said.
'Yes. But his words were not wrong.' I said as I laid on top of the roof of one of the buildings and looked at the clear sky.
'How so?'
'Well, today when those guys came to… abduct Neha, if I had been a normal human, then they would have succeeded in doing so. I would probably have died in their hands and Neha would have been taken to the army camp, and suffer, just like the rest of those women.'
'But you're not a normal human anymore.'
'But I'm not that different either.' I shook my head 'If I had to fight that laundry woman-turned abnormal right now, when my Agility booster skill is recuperating, she would be able to kill me without much efforts.'
'So, do you think that you're nothing.'
'In the grand scale of things, yeah. I am not able to defeat even a single 2nd tier abnormal in my current state. And there are 43 of them in this town alone.'
'I don't even want to think about the how many 3rd tier abnormals are already lurking out there in the world. And I've not even mentioned the mutant beasts. As for the mutant trees… even their name gives me the chills now.'
'Then… what? You're going to roll over and die?'
'Of course not.' I said 'I'm going to become stronger.'
'Is that so.'
'Yes. And I'll start by eating these crystals.' I said and gulped down the twenty thumb sized yellow crystals at once.
Once the warm feeling faded away, I opened the hologram to take a look at my stats.
User name:- Ashok Singh Rana
Stats:-
Strength - 2.0
Agility - 2.0 (4.0) - Skill Recuperation penalty
Endurance - 2.0
Perception - 3.0 (2.0)
Mana - 0.2 (4.0) - Skill being used.
Skills:-
Agility Booster (2nd tier)- Skill recuperation time left= 7 hours 43 minutes 34 seconds, Advanced Vision (2nd tier)
Equipments:-
Basic Sword (2nd tier), Clipping Glove (1st tier), Basic Defensive Suit (2nd tier), Basic Helmet (2nd tier)
Wealth:-
None
'20 crystals only increased my perception by 1.0 point. Although I realized that it gets harder to progress, this still sucks.' I complained in my mind.
'Well, it'll worse later on.' Lily said with a giggle.
'Yeah. Thank you for nothing.' I said and focused on the Agility booster skill.
I had wanted to increase it's level. At this point, its take me around 12 hours to recuperate after using it once.
Using it four times would help me increase it by a level. But this was the first time. Are the skill recuperated, I would have to do it four more times before it could be upgraded.
12 hours. This might not seem like a very long time but in it this apocalyptic world, it was long enough for me to die several times.
Every time I used my Agility skill, it cuts my agility in half. Such a handicap would be very dangerous for just about anybody.
'Leveling up this skill really needs one to have strong mental fortitude.' I thought in my mind and then thought about my second skill.
Advanced Vision skill. Even since I upgraded it to level 2, it's mana consumption had decreased by half. Thus, using it for an hour, now consumed 0.3 points of my mana stat.
But since the recovery rate of my mana was 0.4 points with the 10% rule, I essentially lost none of my mana when using it anymore.
But when I used it's Night Vision option, that's a completely different beast altogether.
Using Night Vision for 2 minutes cost 0.1 mana points.
If I tried to use it continuously then my mana won't even last one and a half hour.
At this point, If I want to increase my Advanced Vision skill, then I would have to use the Night Vision for 10 hours.
'This is going to take a few days as well.' I sighed in my heart. 'Why is my life so hard.'
'I don't even know why you're complaining.' Lily said. 'Aren't you in a perfectly safe place right now. You can definitely take your time to increase your skills and stats.'
'Well… You're not wrong. Maybe my mindset got a bit off the road after listening to big bro's strict advice back there.' I smiled. 'But anyway, let's not think about these things anymore.' I said and closed the hologram.
'My Perception stat had reached 3.0 points. A 2nd tier Abnormal only has around 1.0 perception, so even if it is much stronger and faster than me, I still should have a 5-10% chance to win a fight against it.'
'Doesn't seem like a lot to me.' Lily said with a yawn.
'No you don't understand.' I shook my head and said. 'Back when I first met a 2nd tier Abnormal, I almost died from just one of it's attack. And when we were chased by that 2nd tier mutant monkey, I could only think about running away. But now…'
'Now things are different.' I said with a shine in my eyes. 'Now, even if I still might not be able to defeat them in a one on one, I would be of great help to Big bro.'
'And I'm not even mentioning the usage of my Agility booster skill. If I use that skill, then I…' I gulped and said 'Then I might even be able kill a few a them.'
'Lily' I suddenly said.
'What is it now?' she asked.
'I know what I should do.' I said with gleaming eyes.
'What?' she asked.
'Big bro wanted me to find out how many 2nd tier abnormals are inside in the town, he definitely wants to deal with them before he could starting cleaning up the 1st tier abnormals.'
'So…'
'Well… Don't you see. By the night falls, my Agility booster skill recuperation timer would have already stopped. At that time, I could use it to kill those 2nd tier abnormals. That would definitely help Big bro a lot, right.'
'I guess so.'
'Then that's definitely what I'm going to do.' I said as I waited in anticipation for the night to arrive.
—————
Raka checked all of the windows and doors once again. After he was sure that he had closed all of the entrances to his room properly, he finally laid down on the bed comfortably.
There was another woman beside him whom had forced to sleep with him. Although she was not very beautiful, as all the beautiful women had been taken to the army camp, she was still something. And something was always better than nothing.
On the first night, she had resisted him fiercely. In fact, she had resisted him so much that even he was starting to feel guilty about what he was doing.
On the second night, she still resisted, but her resistance had decreased significantly. Plus, she didn't cry like on the first night.
On this day, although she still didn't talk with him, she had already bent over in a pose so that he won't have to make any effort himself.
The speed at which humans adapted to their new situations always fascinated him.
He looked at her with a lustful gaze and started to undress him self but before he could enter her, he heard a sharp 'sheek' sound from behind him. As if something was being cut by a very sharp object.
All his hairs stood on end as he suddenly lunged toward the rifle kept beside the bed.
Although he didn't knew how to use it, others didn't know about that. They only knew that he had a rifle in his hands. And since he always looked so confident while carrying it, they automatically assumed that he must have known how to use it.
Otherwise why would the people from the army give it to him.
As he rushed for the rifle, he saw a black silhouette open his door and rush at him at an incredible speed. In fact, it was so fast that it could be termed as inhuman.
And before he could even register the situation in his head, he saw the black silhouette making two fast movements. But he realized that he was still safe.
He didn't knew what happened but assumed that the black silhouette had tried to attack him but… missed?
Although this situation seemed absurd to him, it didn't stop him from lunging at the rifle.
He picked up the rifle, and even though it seemed a bit lighter this time, he didn't have the time to check for the reason.
He turned to the black silhouette who had stopped by the bed for some unknown reason and shouted "Put your hands up. Or I'll shoot you."
It was the first time he saw the black silhouette perfectly.
It was not some ghost like he had previously assumed, but a man, wearing a sleek black suit, and a black helmet which matched perfectly with the suit.
And there was a sword in his hands. Raka felt weird in his heart when he saw that sword. After all, who uses a sword in this era. Not to mention such a shabby looking sword.
But Raka did not wanted to think too much about such things, as the man was not putting up his hands when he told him to do so. In fact, the man was calmly standing there with an air of superiority.
As if he was not pointing a gun but a banana at him.
This alarmed Raka greatly and he wondered if this man somehow knew that he did not know how to use a rifle.
Who told him about it? Was it Vivek. Had his closest friend betrayed him for power.
And what about the two bodyguards he had stationed outside. What happened to them. They must have definitely come to protect him after listening to so much commotion.
The fact that they have not come could only mean that either they've betrayed him or that they're dead.
"Don't look for your bodyguards." The man in the black said "They won't come."
Raka felt beads of sweat permeating in his forehead but he decided to go on with his bluff. After all, all of his power, and life was at stake here.
So he did not back down and said "I told you to put your hands in the air. Do you not understand what that means, you bastard."
"Put my hands in the air." The man scoffed "Why would I do that?"
"Because…" suddenly Raka realized that the rifle in his hands was not only light. But very light. So light that he felt that he was only holding on to a small part of it.
He looked down at his own rifle and didn't knew what kind of expression he should make anymore.
The thing in his hands was truly, on the handle and a bit of barrel of the rifle. Everything else was somehow missing from it. As if it had been cut away from the rest of the rifle.
He looked behind in dread and found the parts of the rifle that were missing beside his bed.
They were still lying in the same place where he had left them. In fact, if he kept the handle in his hand back to it's original place it would seem like the rifle could be used at any moment.
The cuts in the rifle were that clean.
He suddenly understood why this guy was standing so calmly in front of him. And why he would carry that sword. He also understood why the rifle felt so light when he picked it up.
But the more he understood, the worse he felt. At this moment, he finally understood that his life did not belong to him anymore.
"Here, keep this in your mouth." The said in a gentle voice and passed a shoe to him.
Raka was a bit surprised at this and wondered why he was being told to do such a stupid thing. Did that mysterious guy wanted to humiliate him. But if that's all he wanted to do to him then that was alright. At least he would live.
He held back his tears and put the shoe in his mouth. Putting a shoe in the mouth was always better than dying.
"Now give me your hand." The man said once again in his calm and gentle voice.
Although Raka was still confused, he brought his hand forward to the mysterious guy and prayed in his heart that something bad won't happen to him.
"Now remember. When I break your fingers, don't shout. Just bite the shoe tightly. Understand."
Raka was shocked when he heard this but before he could ask anything, a CRACKKK sound resounded in the room and he immediately felt an immense amount of pain in his left hand.
He wanted to shout and scream but the words he'd heard just now reverberated in his mind an he stifled his scream and bit on the shoe to decrease the pain that he felt.
"You're doing good." The man said in a gentle tone but this time Raka felt that the words were coming from him were the words of devil itself. After all, who says something like that after breaking someone's finger.
He looked at his left hand and realized that one of his fingers had bent at a strange angle.
He felt his eyes tear up from the pain and he mustered up his courage to ask "Why are you doing this?"
"You're asking me why I broke your finger?" The man asked gently.
"Mm…" Raka nodded his head in fear. The more he heard that gentle voice, the more fear he felt toward him.
"Simple." The man smiled and "You cursed at me. I don't like it when people curse at me."
"Huh!" Raka was surprised by this, but before he could ask anything else, he once again felt a sharp pain in his hands and this time, he bladder failed to hold on and his pants became wet in an instant.
But he didn't shout. He bit tightly on the shoe as if his life depended on it as he took fast and deep breaths.
"Good. I had not expected you to hold your scream. Seems like you have some perseverance in you." The man praised heartily and Raka felt like he should hate him by now. But no much he tried to hate him. He could not do it. Instead, he only felt terror in his heart.
"You might want to ask why I broke your finger again. Right?" the man calmly said.
"Mhm…" Raka nodded in fear. He could only hope that he would not lose another finger after getting the answer.
"That's because you pointed your rifle at me. Provided that it was only half a rifle, but you did it nonetheless. I don't like it when people point their guns at me. That's all there is to it."
Saying that, the mysterious man let go of Raka's hands and he could finally take a breath of relief.
"Would you not bring some tea for you guest?" the man suddenly said "Is this how you treat all you guests, Raka."
Raka felt a drop of sweat trickle down from his forehead. "I'll… I'll bring it right now." In fact, when he said that, he really meant to go to the kitchen and prepare some tea for this mysterious person.
The thought of running away didn't even crossed his mind as terror had clouded all of his judgements.
"Leave it be." The man said in a gentle tone. "My mood soured the moment you pointed your gun at me. I'm not interested in your tea anymore."
"Soo… Sorry. It was my mistake." Raka stuttered in fear and apologized.
"It's alright. I forgive you. Do you know why I would come here to meet you?" the man asked.
Raka felt like crying all of a sudden. Wasn't it because he sent his men to attack him and abduct the girl this morning.
He suddenly felt like bashing himself on the face with a shoe. Why would he have to try and go after such a person.
If he could go back in time then would definitely not make such a mistake again.
"Please. Tell me senior."
"I have a job for you and your subordinates Raka. If you do a good job then I might even give you some rewards."
'Your brother was really strict with you today.' Lily softy said.'Yes. But his words were not wrong.' I said as I laid on top of the roof of one of the buildings and looked at the clear sky.'How so?''Well, today when those guys came to abduct Neha, if I had been a normal human, then they would have succeeded in doing so. I would probably have died in their hands and Neha would have been taken to the army camp, and suffer, just like the rest of those women.''But you're not a normal human anymore.''But I'm not that different either.' I shook my head 'If I had to fight that laundry woman-turned abnormal right now, when my Agility booster skill is recuperating, she would be able to kill me without much efforts.''So, do you think that you're nothing.''In the grand scale of things, yeah. I am not able to defeat even a single 2nd tier abnormal in my current state. And there are 43 of them in this town alone.''I don't even want to think about the how many 3rd tier abnormals are already lurking out there in the world. And I've not even mentioned the mutant beasts. As for the mutant trees even their name gives me the chills now.''Then what? You're going to roll over and die?''Of course not.' I said 'I'm going to become stronger.''Is that so.''Yes. And I'll start by eating these crystals.' I said and gulped down the twenty thumb sized yellow crystals at once.Once the warm feeling faded away, I opened the hologram to take a look at my stats.User name:- Ashok Singh RanaStats:-Strength - 2.0Agility - 2.0 4.0 - Skill Recuperation penaltyEndurance - 2.0Perception - 3.0 2.0Mana - 0.2 4.0 - Skill being used.Skills:-Agility Booster 2nd tier- Skill recuperation time left= 7 hours 43 minutes 34 seconds, Advanced Vision 2nd tierEquipments:-Basic Sword 2nd tier, Clipping Glove 1st tier, Basic Defensive Suit 2nd tier, Basic Helmet 2nd tierWealth:-None'20 crystals only increased my perception by 1.0 point. Although I realized that it gets harder to progress, this still sucks.' I complained in my mind.'Well, it'll worse later on.' Lily said with a giggle.'Yeah. Thank you for nothing.' I said and focused on the Agility booster skill.I had wanted to increase it's level. At this point, its take me around 12 hours to recuperate after using it once.Using it four times would help me increase it by a level. But this was the first time. Are the skill recuperated, I would have to do it four more times before it could be upgraded.12 hours. This might not seem like a very long time but in it this apocalyptic world, it was long enough for me to die several times.Every time I used my Agility skill, it cuts my agility in half. Such a handicap would be very dangerous for just about anybody.'Leveling up this skill really needs one to have strong mental fortitude.' I thought in my mind and then thought about my second skill.Advanced Vision skill. Even since I upgraded it to level 2, it's mana consumption had decreased by half. Thus, using it for an hour, now consumed 0.3 points of my mana stat.But since the recovery rate of my mana was 0.4 points with the 10% rule, I essentially lost none of my mana when using it anymore.But when I used it's Night Vision option, that's a completely different beast altogether.Using Night Vision for 2 minutes cost 0.1 mana points.If I tried to use it continuously then my mana won't even last one and a half hour.At this point, If I want to increase my Advanced Vision skill, then I would have to use the Night Vision for 10 hours.'This is going to take a few days as well.' I sighed in my heart. 'Why is my life so hard.''I don't even know why you're complaining.' Lily said. 'Aren't you in a perfectly safe place right now. You can definitely take your time to increase your skills and stats.''Well You're not wrong. Maybe my mindset got a bit off the road after listening to big bro's strict advice back there.' I smiled. 'But anyway, let's not think about these things anymore.' I said and closed the hologram.'My Perception stat had reached 3.0 points. A 2nd tier Abnormal only has around 1.0 perception, so even if it is much stronger and faster than me, I still should have a 5-10% chance to win a fight against it.''Doesn't seem like a lot to me.' Lily said with a yawn.'No you don't understand.' I shook my head and said. 'Back when I first met a 2nd tier Abnormal, I almost died from just one of it's attack. And when we were chased by that 2nd tier mutant monkey, I could only think about running away. But now''Now things are different.' I said with a shine in my eyes. 'Now, even if I still might not be able to defeat them in a one on one, I would be of great help to Big bro.''And I'm not even mentioning the usage of my Agility booster skill. If I use that skill, then I' I gulped and said 'Then I might even be able kill a few a them.''Lily' I suddenly said.'What is it now?' she asked.'I know what I should do.' I said with gleaming eyes.'What?' she asked.'Big bro wanted me to find out how many 2nd tier abnormals are inside in the town, he definitely wants to deal with them before he could starting cleaning up the 1st tier abnormals.''So''Well Don't you see. By the night falls, my Agility booster skill recuperation timer would have already stopped. At that time, I could use it to kill those 2nd tier abnormals. That would definitely help Big bro a lot, right.''I guess so.''Then that's definitely what I'm going to do.' I said as I waited in anticipation for the night to arrive.Raka checked all of the windows and doors once again. After he was sure that he had closed all of the entrances to his room properly, he finally laid down on the bed comfortably.There was another woman beside him whom had forced to sleep with him. Although she was not very beautiful, as all the beautiful women had been taken to the army camp, she was still something. And something was always better than nothing.On the first night, she had resisted him fiercely. In fact, she had resisted him so much that even he was starting to feel guilty about what he was doing.On the second night, she still resisted, but her resistance had decreased significantly. Plus, she didn't cry like on the first night.On this day, although she still didn't talk with him, she had already bent over in a pose so that he won't have to make any effort himself.The speed at which humans adapted to their new situations always fascinated him.He looked at her with a lustful gaze and started to undress him self but before he could enter her, he heard a sharp 'sheek' sound from behind him. As if something was being cut by a very sharp object.All his hairs stood on end as he suddenly lunged toward the rifle kept beside the bed.Although he didn't knew how to use it, others didn't know about that. They only knew that he had a rifle in his hands. And since he always looked so confident while carrying it, they automatically assumed that he must have known how to use it.Otherwise why would the people from the army give it to him.As he rushed for the rifle, he saw a black silhouette open his door and rush at him at an incredible speed. In fact, it was so fast that it could be termed as inhuman.And before he could even register the situation in his head, he saw the black silhouette making two fast movements. But he realized that he was still safe.He didn't knew what happened but assumed that the black silhouette had tried to attack him but missed?Although this situation seemed absurd to him, it didn't stop him from lunging at the rifle.He picked up the rifle, and even though it seemed a bit lighter this time, he didn't have the time to check for the reason.He turned to the black silhouette who had stopped by the bed for some unknown reason and shouted "Put your hands up. Or I'll shoot you."It was the first time he saw the black silhouette perfectly.It was not some ghost like he had previously assumed, but a man, wearing a sleek black suit, and a black helmet which matched perfectly with the suit.And there was a sword in his hands. Raka felt weird in his heart when he saw that sword. After all, who uses a sword in this era. Not to mention such a shabby looking sword.But Raka did not wanted to think too much about such things, as the man was not putting up his hands when he told him to do so. In fact, the man was calmly standing there with an air of superiority.As if he was not pointing a gun but a banana at him.This alarmed Raka greatly and he wondered if this man somehow knew that he did not know how to use a rifle.Who told him about it? Was it Vivek. Had his closest friend betrayed him for power.And what about the two bodyguards he had stationed outside. What happened to them. They must have definitely come to protect him after listening to so much commotion.The fact that they have not come could only mean that either they've betrayed him or that they're dead."Don't look for your bodyguards." The man in the black said "They won't come."Raka felt beads of sweat permeating in his forehead but he decided to go on with his bluff. After all, all of his power, and life was at stake here.So he did not back down and said "I told you to put your hands in the air. Do you not understand what that means, you bastard.""Put my hands in the air." The man scoffed "Why would I do that?""Because" suddenly Raka realized that the rifle in his hands was not only light. But very light. So light that he felt that he was only holding on to a small part of it.He looked down at his own rifle and didn't knew what kind of expression he should make anymore.The thing in his hands was truly, on the handle and a bit of barrel of the rifle. Everything else was somehow missing from it. As if it had been cut away from the rest of the rifle.He looked behind in dread and found the parts of the rifle that were missing beside his bed.They were still lying in the same place where he had left them. In fact, if he kept the handle in his hand back to it's original place it would seem like the rifle could be used at any moment.The cuts in the rifle were that clean.He suddenly understood why this guy was standing so calmly in front of him. And why he would carry that sword. He also understood why the rifle felt so light when he picked it up.But the more he understood, the worse he felt. At this moment, he finally understood that his life did not belong to him anymore."Here, keep this in your mouth." The said in a gentle voice and passed a shoe to him.Raka was a bit surprised at this and wondered why he was being told to do such a stupid thing. Did that mysterious guy wanted to humiliate him. But if that's all he wanted to do to him then that was alright. At least he would live.He held back his tears and put the shoe in his mouth. Putting a shoe in the mouth was always better than dying."Now give me your hand." The man said once again in his calm and gentle voice.Although Raka was still confused, he brought his hand forward to the mysterious guy and prayed in his heart that something bad won't happen to him."Now remember. When I break your fingers, don't shout. Just bite the shoe tightly. Understand."Raka was shocked when he heard this but before he could ask anything, a CRACKKK sound resounded in the room and he immediately felt an immense amount of pain in his left hand.He wanted to shout and scream but the words he'd heard just now reverberated in his mind an he stifled his scream and bit on the shoe to decrease the pain that he felt."You're doing good." The man said in a gentle tone but this time Raka felt that the words were coming from him were the words of devil itself. After all, who says something like that after breaking someone's finger.He looked at his left hand and realized that one of his fingers had bent at a strange angle.He felt his eyes tear up from the pain and he mustered up his courage to ask "Why are you doing this?""You're asking me why I broke your finger?" The man asked gently."Mm" Raka nodded his head in fear. The more he heard that gentle voice, the more fear he felt toward him."Simple." The man smiled and "You cursed at me. I don't like it when people curse at me.""Huh!" Raka was surprised by this, but before he could ask anything else, he once again felt a sharp pain in his hands and this time, he bladder failed to hold on and his pants became wet in an instant.But he didn't shout. He bit tightly on the shoe as if his life depended on it as he took fast and deep breaths."Good. I had not expected you to hold your scream. Seems like you have some perseverance in you." The man praised heartily and Raka felt like he should hate him by now. But no much he tried to hate him. He could not do it. Instead, he only felt terror in his heart."You might want to ask why I broke your finger again. Right?" the man calmly said."Mhm" Raka nodded in fear. He could only hope that he would not lose another finger after getting the answer."That's because you pointed your rifle at me. Provided that it was only half a rifle, but you did it nonetheless. I don't like it when people point their guns at me. That's all there is to it."Saying that, the mysterious man let go of Raka's hands and he could finally take a breath of relief."Would you not bring some tea for you guest?" the man suddenly said "Is this how you treat all you guests, Raka."Raka felt a drop of sweat trickle down from his forehead. "I'll I'll bring it right now." In fact, when he said that, he really meant to go to the kitchen and prepare some tea for this mysterious person.The thought of running away didn't even crossed his mind as terror had clouded all of his judgements."Leave it be." The man said in a gentle tone. "My mood soured the moment you pointed your gun at me. I'm not interested in your tea anymore.""Soo Sorry. It was my mistake." Raka stuttered in fear and apologized."It's alright. I forgive you. Do you know why I would come here to meet you?" the man asked.Raka felt like crying all of a sudden. Wasn't it because he sent his men to attack him and abduct the girl this morning.He suddenly felt like bashing himself on the face with a shoe. Why would he have to try and go after such a person.If he could go back in time then would definitely not make such a mistake again."Please. Tell me senior.""I have a job for you and your subordinates Raka. If you do a good job then I might even give you some rewards."
