Chapter 67: Calm Before The Storm
Bernardo sat on the edge of a bare mattress in a dark room, facing the twin brothers. Nathan was perched on a small chest of drawers near the side of the bed, staring across the room at his twin, Nigel, who occupied a stiff wooden chair directly opposite Bernardo.
"Okay, so most people will be at Times Square when the festival starts," Bernardo explained, keeping his voice low. "The crowds will be massively distracted. Meanwhile, we will be moving through the residential areas, hitting every house we can. And we have to make absolutely sure we don't get caught by the guards."
"You remember the rules, right?" Nigel said, his eyes locking onto Bernardo.
Bernardo met Nigel's gaze, his expression darkening into a serious scowl. "If one of us gets caught, we keep our mouths shut."
"Yeah," Nathan interjected from the dresser. "But how are we even supposed to trust you when you've already ratted us out once before?"
Bernardo let out a heavy, frustrated sigh. "I only did that because you guys betrayed me. You left me behind that day to get caught to save your own skin."
Nathan groaned, standing up from the drawers. "This shit again. I told you, that was your own fault. What the fuck did you expect us to do?"
"Guys," Nigel interrupted sharply, raising a hand. "Let's just focus on the mission before this escalates and we get kicked out of the inn entirely."
A tense silence fell over the room for a moment. Bernardo finally shifted his gaze back to Nigel. "Alright. Like I said, the vast majority of people will be at Times Square. We make sure to target the uncrowded, wealthy sectors and avoid the patrol routes. Whatever happens, do not get caught. However... if you do run into a guard, and you're absolutely sure you can take them on, kill them before they can warn the others."
"The guards here are pretty weak," Nigel scoffed. "I heard most of them aren't even C-Rank. It'll be pretty easy to take them down."
"Yeah, in a one-on-one fight maybe," Nathan countered. "But those guys mostly work in pairs or groups of three."
"I can take them on," Nigel said confidently.
"Pfft... yeah, right. If they were a bunch of E-Ranks," Nathan muttered.
"I can fight off D-Ranks, too! It's not like any of those street guards have ultimate skills."
"Yeah, but you can't always rely on that."
"He's right," Bernardo said, cutting off the argument. "You need to save your mana for actual desperate situations. We all do. We have to make sure we're fully prepared for anything."
"Yeah," both brothers muttered in unison.
***
In that very same inn, Tyler was sitting rigidly on his bed, utterly dumbfounded by what the system had just told him. The sheer implication of the message had stolen the breath right out of his lungs.
"But... why?" he whispered to the empty room. He grabbed his head with both hands, his elbows resting on his knees as he stared blankly at the floorboards.
*Shit. I thought the quest was a one-time thing,* he thought, his pulse racing. *But this thing saw that I cooperated, and now it's just going to use that to its advantage. It's going to force more quests on me. Dammit!*
The blue system text vanished and he let out a long, shaky sigh. "Well, at least the rewards were pretty big."
Another mental panel seamlessly replaced the last one, displaying his current stats. It was time to allocate his hard-earned extra points. He remembered how closely the last mission had brought both him and James to death's door. *Is it going to give me another quest as dangerous as the last one? And if I refuse to do it... is it going to threaten to kill me again?*
Dangerous, terrifying thoughts raced through his mind. He already knew exactly what the system was capable of, he remembered the agonizing pain and the sheer, mind-bending terror he had felt when the system was glitching. He remembered how the physical world around him had cracked and stuttered, breaking apart as if his reality was nothing more than a corrupted video game.
It led to a horrifying new question: *Am I seeing the world through the system's gaze?*
Of course, the system itself was glitching out, but why was he physically seeing the world that way? Why was the world itself cracking? A sudden, vivid memory flashed in his mind, seeing half of James's head lagging a few feet behind his body, briefly exposing his inner skull and skeleton. A cold chill violently ran down his spine.
He shook his head hard, physically trying to dislodge the sickening thought.
*I'm overthinking this. I just need to allocate my stats so I can survive whatever comes next.*
He focused his mind, checking his available balance. He had exactly 55 extra stat points to spend. He reviewed his current attributes, strategizing his next move.
He remembered his brief clash with Gary. He remembered the terrifying, surgical precision and blinding speed of the man's fist. Even though Tyler was technically faster and stronger, he didn't ever want a lethal strike like that landing on him. *I'll amp up my speed by 15 points first.*
[AGI: 177 >> 192]
*Hmm... should I just add 8 more so it reaches a flat 200? Maybe I'll get an achievement for crossing that threshold.*
[AGI: 192 >> 200]
Immediately, a notification flared in his mind:
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: THE FASTEST D-RANK ALIVE!]
[THE USER HAS REACHED 200 POINTS IN AGILITY, MAKING THEM THE FASTEST D-RANK ALIVE. +5 EXTRA STAT POINTS.]
"Wow, nice," Tyler said aloud, a wide grin finally breaking through his anxiety. "Wait, so this means that if any of my stats actually hit 200, I'll automatically get an achievement and a reward. I should just target the ones closest to 200."
He shifted his focus to his health pool.
[HP: 184 >> 200]
*Right, now let's see,* Tyler thought. The system responded instantly:
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: A COWARD OF DEATH.]
[THE USER HAS REACHED 200 POINTS IN HEALTH, SIGNIFICANTLY DECREASING THEIR CHANCES OF DEATH. +5 EXTRA STAT POINTS.]
"Okay... that's a bit insulting," Tyler muttered, his brow twitching. "But at least I got the points. It's not like anybody actually 'wants' to die."
*Alright, on to the next one.* He reviewed his remaining points. *They're all about the same now, but Strength is a bit higher, so... I should dump the rest into it. I should have about 26... or 24 points left.*
[STR: 172 >> 198]
*Oh, damn. I actually thought it would hit 200. I guess my math was off,* Tyler thought.
He stood up from the mattress, slowly opening and closing his fists. The physical change was immediate. His muscles hadn't grown visibly larger or bulkier, but they felt drastically denser. His entire frame felt coiled, spring-loaded, and brimming with explosive confidence.
He dropped into a loose fighting stance and thrust a sharp jab forward. His fist tore through the air with an impossible, blinding speed, the sheer force of the motion whipping his own hair backward.
*Wow,* he thought, his eyes wide. *It's funny how I don't just get faster when I increase my agility. I feel like my entire body has become completely flexible.*
To test the theory, he lifted his right leg, drawing his knee tight to his chest. Without a second thought, he snapped his leg straight up into the air, extending it into an almost perfect 180-degree vertical split toward the ceiling. He held the impossible pose for a second before dropping his foot back to the floorboards. He felt absolutely nothing but a minor, barely noticeable strain in his hamstring.
*This feels awesome... it kind of feels like cheating.*
His smile stretched wider across his face as he looked down at his fists. He chuckled quietly to himself. *I'm definitely stronger.*
His thoughts drifted to the silver-haired girl, the one who had called him a coward, the one who had robbed him and James in the forest. He didn't know how big of a coincidence it was that Kai had just happened to run into her and draw her portrait, but standing here now, Tyler was absolutely certain of one thing.
He was stronger than her.