Sweltering rays of light rained down onto groups of men and women standing outside the building, with Diver and Ive taking the forefront, making Viscus wonder why this was apparently so important. Ive did tell him that it was a "big project," but for what, the blond didn't know.

No one was fiddling with a scroll. At least, no one he could see, but the situation made him wish he had something from home to play with. Boredom couldn't be alleviated, not in the slightest, and not a single person told him who they were waiting for, which made him especially more irritated.

To his right, a yawn came from the cyan eyed man, mimicked by some people to their annoyance. If Viscus could hazard a guess, they probably stayed up late, which made him realize it's been a long while since he felt any degree of exhaustion that lived for more than 20 minutes. There was a certain satisfaction of having a good night's rest that he missed, an ability that he lost in favor of endless energy.

Finding nothing to look at, he chose to open his status screen, and that caused him to grimace. His fights of yesterday only sprung him halfway past level 8, with a silver lining being his skills thankfully improving further, but nothing more. There was still so much till he could reach a satisfactory level, least of which was level 10.

His semblance was inching closer day by day, but there was still a piece of him that worried greatly. Semblances, unique powers that could help one defy reality even more than Aura already did, were hit or miss at times. There was no telling whether he would get the invulnerability he oh-so desired, or a semblance that allowed him to microwave food faster, or worse.

At the end of the day, Viscus was at the mercy of chance and the System. If both found him unworthy, then he would be on his own in that regard. Already, he had Mana, which was a game changer on its own, and, at first glance, there was no limit to its usage beyond his own imagination and MP.

While exercising and meditating in the hotel, he would always contemplate on his next moves, and how he would go about using his powers. Most flexible was Mana, obviously seeming, but many times he would rouse it into a certain shape or desired action, only to have the bundle in his hands fizzle out, both draining him and leading to nowhere but failure.

For that, he couldn't help but feel glad that his [Mana Bomb] and [Mana Barrier] succeeded, otherwise he only saw himself 6 feet under. Still, he was barely closer to a level that would let him face combatants touted as the greatest in their fields, and that was excluding the monsters he was destined to face in the future.

The Gamer's hands clenched, anxiety rising. In spite of all of that, here he was, standing early in the morning, when he should have been training, and waiting for a project that would serve him scraps for his future plans. Every coming thought reached one singular conclusion - that he was wasting time. But patience had to be held true, otherwise he would lose access to both a mentor and the resources he was currently allowed.

Tricky tapped Viscus on the shoulder, breaking him out of his thoughts, "What?"

"I know you kinda don't want to be here, I can see it in your eyes, but," he yawned. "Everyone is gathered here for a reason."

"I could be inside dismantling things and learning, rather than standing in the sun doing nothing," Viscus huffed. "And I don't even know what I could do in helping you guys work on a van."

"'A' van?" Tricky looked confused.

Viscus's brow twitched, annoyance seeping through his eyes, "I clearly remember Ive telling me it was a single van."

"Well-"

Sound of rumbling engines tore them away from the conversation, and Viscus held back a groan when he was greeted with not one, not two, but 4 black vans riddled with bullet holes, shattered windows, and caved sheets. The fact that the vans were armored meant that whatever had them in their current state was quite violent, and the mechanics, and by extension Viscus, had to work on fixing them.

Tricky whistled, "Dang, they really weren't exaggerating when they said they got banged up hard, huh."

The vans were led inside the building where they each were each planted somewhere with available equipment. Viscus followed Tricky where they and a group of other mechanics surrounded a van. Out of it came two people wearing black bands with blue stripes of varying amounts. One had two stripes of blue while the other had three, but the bands were all the Gamer needed to know to have his eyes narrowed and his posture wound tight.

Thankfully, the Blues gangsters were only here for business, and the mechanics wordlessly began fixing the van. Tricky was among the first to start working, but Viscus just stared for a few minutes before someone hollered at him to come help. The best the blond could do, however, was carry and move things - an easy task with his heightened strength and stamina, and fortunately providing him with a point of STR to sweeten the deal.

But no bonus points could remove the bitterness swirling in the Gamer's mouth. Every minute had him grit his teeth and move, otherwise he would have broken something not his.

"A learning opportunity, he said," he grumbled in his mind. "A waste of time, it is."

Regardless of the blond's feelings, the mechanics worked under the watchful eyes of the Blues like a well-oiled machine - excluding the outlier in the shape of Viscus.

Curious, he paused for a moment to look at Tricky. Him and the other mechanics had replaced pieces of the van, then the cyan eyed mechanic started welding armor onto it. While doing so, other mechanics were toying with other parts of the van, and here was Viscus staring at them with a large hunk of metal in his arms.

Slowly, the blond lowered the piece of metal onto the ground and snuck next to Tricky, taking care not to startle the man while the blowtorch was turned on. It took a minute before the man paused, giving Viscus the chance to speak.

"Hey Tricky, do you think I can do something else other than hauling?" Viscus said, startling the mechanic regardless.

"Oum, you scared me. Um," the man nearly dropped his blowtorch before raising his welding mask. "I'm not sure? I would try and find you something to do, but this is important and we can't really mess up here. Maybe next time?"

Disappointed, Viscus nodded and left the man to his work. Once he stood up and went to grab the piece of metal, his eyes met one of the Blues', and Viscus noticed the gangster freezing in place. They both stared at each other for a few seconds with the gangster elbowing his companion, and soon it turned into a 2v1 staring session.

The Gamer tensed, rousing his Mana in case a fight would be coming soon while putting his hand halfway into his inventory. One of the gangsters deemed it safe to walk up to him, though the man was smart enough to not cross a meter from Viscus.

"Were you captured by the Ravagers around 10 days ago?" The gangster asked and the Gamer's eyes narrowed.

"..I was, what's it to you?" To that, the gangster raised his hands, offering peace.

"Our brothers spoke about you. About how you saved them from being taken away," the gangster said with sincerity in his voice, confusing Viscus.

While he did "save" them, it was only a byproduct of his own escape. In fact, he didn't actually try to help them to remove the zip ties, just opening the van and leaving them to do whatever they wanted.

"I see," Viscus slowly nodded and relaxed his body. "Happy to help?"

The man nodded and went back to stand next to his colleague, and Viscus ignored them in favor of assisting the mechanics. He didn't want to speak to the Blues at all. Frankly put, he hated them, especially their gang leader and his dog faunus friend. Just remembering the scene had him grind his teeth midway through handing an item to Tricky.

Soon enough, hours passed, and all he gained for his efforts was a total of one stat point in STR, and a subskill called [Welding] standing at a measly 2%. Viscus didn't know whether to laugh, groan, or both at this waste of time. But sacrifices had to be made. And in his case, always.

Irrespective of his feelings, the Blues found the gang's work on the vans satisfactory, then they left without much of a fanfare. That didn't stop the mechanics starting to celebrate for a job well done - a celebration that Viscus simply couldn't enjoy. He didn't have time for this, so he tried to excuse himself to hole up in Tricky's workshop.

That was until he felt an arm hook itself around his neck. Every fiber of the blond tensed, and his mind rang of alarms at the unknown grab. Hurriedly, he roused his Aura and slipped away from the assailant, shoving him as he stepped away to observe his opponent.

Only to find a mechanic tripping and falling to the ground from the push. Viscus quickly regained clarity as the man started groaning, and he dropped his stance in favor of blinking at the guy. The blond heard the fanfare stop, causing him to sweep his gaze only to find everyone around staring at them.

"The hell, man!" The man said as one of his friends helped him up. Viscus could feel the confusion in the air and a hint of aggression seep out of the crowd.

Viscus's eyes narrowed, "I'm not really a fan of being grabbed."

"You didn't have to throw me to the ground! Could've broken something!" A snarl escaped the man, and Viscus tensed in response.

"Hey, hey! Calm down," Ive and Diver split the crowd and stood between the two. "Nothing happened, right? Viscus, B?"

The Gamer didn't respond, and it didn't take a professional to know that he was staring daggers at the tripped man, and the man was glaring in kind. That standoff only existed for 10 seconds before their line of sight was blocked by Ive standing in front of Viscus and Diver taking the helm in front of the tripped man.

"Care to explain?" Ive's gaze held some heat, which made Viscus tense further.

"I don't like to be held," it reminded him of when he was kidnapped.

"And he didn't know, so calm down. It's not his fault, alright? We're all friends here."

Viscus noticed the tripped man disappearing into the crowd, and it was then he took a deep breath and unwound. "Okay. Alright, I'm sorry."

Ive was about to tap the blond on the shoulder before a glare made him pause midair. "Let's relax for a bit after some hard work, yeah? Tricky!"

The shout alerted the cyan eyed mechanic who found his way through the crowd. "What's up?"

"Why don't you spend some time with Viscus, help him unwind? He looks a bit tired and tense."

Mock saluting, the mechanic hurried the blond, and they walked between the crowd where Viscus spotted a few narrowed eyes trailing him, but he didn't have to worry for long before they were outside the warehouse where a scant few were sitting in plastic chairs. The sun was softer, and there were a few refreshing breezes, but he wasn't allowed to enjoy the atmosphere for long.

Immediately, Viscus enjoyed a blast of sand to the face, causing him to cough and splatter before he was dragged and was handed a can of soda as soon as he was seated. "So!"

"So..?" Viscus popped the can open, taking care to prevent sand from entering his drink, and for that, Tricky chuckled.

"Not a fan of the local spice, huh?" Question marks seemingly floated around Viscus, making the mechanic laugh harder. "The sand."

"Not really. It's already taken a drink away from me once, simply whisking it away in the wind, can you believe that?" Viscus grumbled, and Tricky nodded in understanding.

"Happens to the best of us, V. So, I got a question in me that I wanted to ask, you clear on that?"

Nodding slowly, the mechanic continued, "So, while checking at the Blues, I saw you give them a mean stare as you worked. Got history with them?"

"Yeah. I hate these guys."

"Woah, for real? They're pretty loved by most people. What happened?"

Viscus debated for a few seconds before shaking his head, not feeling like responding to that question. To his credit, Tricky took that in stride and took a big gulp of his soda. The fact that he practically drank the entire thing in one gulp scared Viscus, and reminded him of his friend back home.

Sighing, the blond took a small sip of his own, grimacing as he felt grains on his tongue.

"Lemme tell you a story, V," Tricky started as he placed the can on the ground. "I'm gonna guess you're from Atlas? Vale?"

When Viscus gave no concrete answer, Tricky continued, "Anyway, let me tell you about the Blues, it's really interesting!"

"Around 5 years ago, the Blues had just started. It was a really small gang, but they were ferocious!" Tricky waved in the air. "First, they started by taking down one of the more infamous gangs, it was called the Black Crabs, if I remember correctly? They were terrible."

He clicked his tongue, "I remember hearing about what they did. If not muscling their way in the streets, then demanding money and respect for no reason, and even selling drugs would make you hate them. Not a fan of these, I won't lie, but as soon as the Blues were formed, the Black Crabs went from one of the greats to one of the dead in a single day, it was wild!"

"And that should make me like them more? They're a gang," Viscus snapped. "They go around killing and intimidating people."

"And?" That made Viscus's eyes narrow.

"And what?"

"V, the Blues are like angels compared to many others. I don't know what happened between you and them, but they didn't look like they hated you. In fact, they seemed thankful for something? I didn't really hear." Trickly tilted his head, but Viscus shook his.

"It was nothing."

"Well, what I want to say is that the Brothers sent the Blues to save Vacuo. I imagine you haven't been here for long, but believe me when I say the places owned by the Blues are like light vs the other gangs' dark!"

Viscus didn't know how to say it kindly, but he simply didn't care. The Blues were a gang, and gangs were never great things to society. Every single thug he met at night always responded in the same manner. Instant aggression and intimidation, and he would have probably ended up penniless if not dead had he not had the powers of the System.

The mechanic's shoulders sagged when he realized he wasn't getting through to Viscus, but his expression changed as if a light bulb lit above his head, "Alright!" He stood up suddenly.

The blond's eyes furrowed in question, so the orange haired mechanic raised one finger, "Gimme a min."

Blasting into the warehouse, Tricky left Viscus to his own devices, and allowed him to take a deep breath and relax. Something about the mechanic rubbed Viscus wrong, but he didn't know what. Regardless, he was given a brief period with no one to bother him, and time to think on his next actions.

Given that the mechanics were probably wary of him, he wouldn't be able to go in and practice his [Crafting] in Tricky's workshop. He wasn't sure whether to blame himself or the man, but the man's grab was uncalled for. There definitely was something wrong with their acting overly familiar, that's for sure.

Taking a deep breath, Viscus fell into the usual pace of his meditation, feeling his body relax and his non-dulled emotions regress back into a manageable level. He was broken out of it once Tricky came back with a scroll in his hands, and a shine coming from his eyes.

"This is my old scroll. I've taken pictures of some places before and after the Blues came in, wanna see?"

Viscus, in fact, did not want to see, but when the scroll was shoved into his face, he had no other option but to watch the screen in front of him. The scroll was clearly showing its age, with its handles looking scratched and the UI taking time to load and move the pictures, but Tricky was speaking truth.

The streets looked vastly different in the before and after pictures, like when he had first wandered into the Blues' territory. Still, that dissuaded him not from his view on the gangs, and the mechanic slunk off after realizing nothing was working.

As the mechanic sat on his plastic chair, Viscus stood up from his own, having had enough. "I'll go back home for now, Tricky."

"Aw, man. Alright.. See you tomorrow, and don't forget to message me?"

The blond nodded and took off, his mind busy as he thought about his next actions, but there wasn't much to think about. Train, prepare, and hunt. And maybe after that, he would pop out a scroll and search for ways to disassemble guns.

Because if the mechanics weren't going to help him and were going to waste his time with "big projects," then he might as well experiment on his own. It wasn't like anything was different. He was in this alone, and they were making use of him as he was using them.

Time was ticking, and even if it was still a year and a half away, it was still just that. A year and a half. Where the cast had years and decades of experience, the main targets had centuries of preparation and experience. And he was supposed to contest that in one and a half.

Even with his times 4 multiplier for his skills - even with the System's assistance - he couldn't help but worry greatly for his future. But all he could do was act. Act and grow stronger, lest all this was for naught. Lest he lost his chance to go home, and his family lost him permanently - he didn't have time to waste.

He recalled the way the Hoarders' boss handled him, and that made him gulp. The way he was manhandled, the weakness as he was held up in the air, limp and powerless to act, and how he was courting death with every combat encounter.

Viscus's footsteps quickened as he ran back to the hotel, his prospects looking bleaker than ever with his teeth clattering, and in the people's eyes, a blond was reflected. One that was hurrying, one that shoved any who stood in his way, one that only had one thing on his mind.

And with it, a single feeling marring his face.

Terror.

Time, Viscus. Time is ticking.

Pasta would like to pre-emptively apologize as I'll barely be able to write for upcoming month. Exams, blasted things, are looming over my plate.

Other than that, I think this chapter should paint Viscus a certain way, and clarify some other things, like Mana and its application.

Of note, last chapter I made a calculation error that might extend to a few chapters prior with regards to MP, its regen, and by extension AP and its regen. There are some values that I don't know how they came to be, but by this release, at least last chapter's should be fixed.

In any case, there's still more story planned ahead, so stay tuned.

Have a good day, and I hope you had some great meals (Dragged Along included).