Chapter 33: Ch73. Slight of hand - 3
Beep
[CONGRATULATIONS!]
[EMERGENCY QUEST COMPLETED!]
[THE REWARD IS BEING CALCULATED]
[3... 2... 1... CALCULATIONS COMPLETE!]
[REWARDS FOR THE QUEST: UNIQUE SKILL - Quick Fingers; Stat Points x4]
The system window appeared in front of Kurt with the information, but as he read in passing, the fight unfolded in front of his eyes, and less than ten seconds later, the MD agent was on the floor, his skin covered in sweat, and his clothes nothing but tatters.
"GO ON... WITH IT... AND KILL ME... AT ONCE... YOU SCALED BASTARD!" Collins tried to shout, but his voice was nothing but a loud, panting hush.
Rhegal didn’t reply, though. Octavius walked towards the agent and crouched in front of him.
"He won’t kill you." Octavius grabbed the man’s chin. "In fact, I would. But it wouldn’t be well received by the media, now of you’d be so kind, stay down and watch how your reckless act reverberates."
Octavius let go of the agent’s chin, got up, and walked back towards Rhegal’s side.
The president’s bodyguards all raised their guns at the same time.
"N-NO SUDDEN MOVEMENTS!" One stuttered.
"Enough." The president said, raising his hand.
"But... Sir..." The bodyguard who stuttered turned to face his employer.
"You all saw what happened, right?" The president smiled. "And I said... Enough."
The bodyguard lowered his head.
"Yes, sir." And all the president’s men lowered their weapons.
***
The next morning, everything the TV and the internet knew was the fight that broke out from an attempt against the life of the Ishir ambassador.
Headlines like *ARE WE HEADING TOWARDS WAR?*, or *THE ALLIANCE WITH THE ISHIR STARTS WITH A RIGHT HOOK TO THE RIBS!* followed by an iconic and very well timed picture of Octavius landing a blow to the MD agent’s torso were all around.
And there were even a few notes about how if it weren’t for Octavius’ son, Kurt Blake, war would’ve surely broke out.
-And judging by the state of the MD agent after what looked more like a child’s play to ambassador Rhegal than a fight, mankind would’ve had a very hard time, even with the most powerful guilds fighting against them.- One of the notes said.
But Kurt wasn’t very interested in the news.
He did read some articles, though. Even more because after that, reporters just wouldn’t stop swarming the manor.
Lunch would be served soon, but Kurt was more interested in the holographic window in front of his eyes at the moment, in the secrecy of his room.
Sitting in front of his computer, just so that if Octavius ended up entering Kurt’s room unannounced, the boy would have an excuse for talking to himself.
His brows went up as his eyes ran more carefully through the words in the translucent black window.
[CONGRATULATIONS!]
[EMERGENCY QUEST COMPLETED!]
[THE REWARD IS BEING CALCULATED]
[3... 2... 1... CALCULATIONS COMPLETE!]
[REWARDS FOR THE QUEST: UNIQUE SKILL - Quick Fingers; Stat Points x4]
Kurt raised his brow to the words, slightly confused.
’When did the system begin to speak as if it really was a gaming system? And why does it sound so friendly?’
As soon as he thought about the questions, the words on the window became glitched for a few seconds, but came back to normal soon after, raising Kurt’s suspicions even more.
’Well, shit. Anyway... Full data window!’
And the window appeared before him with a beep.
[NAME: Kurt Blake]
[AGE: 15]
[LEVEL: 01]
[CLASS: ???]
[STAMINA: 100]
[HP: 105]
[MP: 50]
[BASIC STATS]
[UNDISTRIBUTED STAT POINTS: 04]
[Strength: 10
Agility: 12
Dexterity: 12
Perception: 12
Intelligence: 05
Vigor: 15]
[SKILLS]
[Quick fingers LVL 01
****** ***
****** ****
***** **** ** * ******** ****]
Despite the seemingly glitched skills, that were probably like that because of what the older version of Kurt did inside the system, everything else was pretty clear, which felt familiar to Kurt, because of the way his older version’s memories fitted into his own.
"Alright, let’s check it out." Kurt spoke in an enthused hush, thinking of the skill he just recently acquired.
[SKILL – QUICK FINGERS]
[UNIQUE SKILL - PASSIVE]
[DESCRIPTION: Allows the user to exert better control over his hands’ movements, increasing the ability of wielding instruments.]
[Permanent +2 in Dexterity stat]
"Sweet..."
The permanent increase in his [DEXTERITY] made him remember what happened when he was chasing the man in the burgundy suit, when just by focusing and moving around like that increased his [PERCEPTION] and his [DEXTERITY], so he scrolled back up a bit and checked his stats.
As Kurt looked at the information, he felt at the same time disappointed and mindful of his reality.
He had woken up from a two-year coma just a few weeks before, and despite him having awakened, it was obvious that his body was in no condition to fight even the lowest ranked wielder.
And the his stats data only confirmed the fact.
He went to the quests window and re-read his current quest, [AN EYE FOR AN EYE], feeling the memories of his first encounter with whoever that son of Rhegal was in his muscles, in his bones.
The system acting bugged after Kurt had woken up, even if just for a few moments, had saved his life, and his heart tightened in his chest at the thought of depending on it to have his life saved.
When in his older version’s memories, it clearly wanted something completely different, and Kurt knew why now.
He didn’t trust the system like his previous version did, but after what happened during the president’s press conference, the boy had an idea that he wanted to try as soon as he had some free time.
And that day, after lunch, when he would have the training room all to himself, felt like the perfect opportunity.
After lunch, Octavius went back to the guild’s headquarters, taking the reporters with him and leaving the manor much more silent and calm.
Kurt grabbed a few light clothes, got changed, and went straight to the training room.
When he arrived there, feeling for the first time how long it had been since the last time he set foot there, the memory of his previous version hit him with full force.
Everything was just like that when the younger Kurt watched the [MEMORY FRAGMENT].
"And to think that ’I’ fought Quintus and almost died by his hands here... How can two worlds be so diametrically opposites...?"
With that thought and the all the memories in mind, he laid chest down to the floor and started doing some push-ups.
One, two, three, four, and he slowly went on.
As the strength in his arms started to fade, he counted fifteen with a smile on his face.
It wasn’t much, but it was already further than a regular with no gym history would go.
He rested up for one minute, and went back at it with everything he had.
Kurt’s arms began aching, his back and shoulders burned, but when he counted twenty, he heard the beep in his mind, and an even greater smile spread out through his lips.
[STRENGTH INCREASED BY 01]
A grin spread through Kurt’s lips, and with renewed determination, he thought.
’Let’s see how far I can push myself...’
Kurt’s arms ached like hell, but as he rolled on the floor and faced the ceiling, he had a bright smile on his face.
"It works... Hell, it works..."
He didn’t notice that, due to his physical condition, he spent several seconds to get each push-up done, but it didn’t matter to him.
When he finally exhausted every and each fiber of his being, even though the sun was setting in the horizon, he had already received at least five notifications from the system...
