Viscus stepped out of the clothing store with a frown on his face. He looked at himself, then at the floating screen in front of him, specifically on a certain number that was lower than he liked. His lien was at 105, and it filled him with great pain. Money was scarce, so he had to use it wisely. And through that wisdom, his heart called out to him while tearing up at his previous appearance.

The night prior, he had only bought a black shirt, but he couldn't live with oversized pants and disgusting shoes. Once he checked in with the cashier, his heart calmed down after donning green shorts and black sneakers that finally felt fitting, but his heart, the same one that called for a wardrobe change, began complaining after seeing the number go down.

When he was in a corner in the store, a suggestion entered his mind. "What if I just nabbed the clothes, put them in the inventory, and left?"

The idea was there, and would have worked had his morals not stabbed him right in the heart. When he put the shorts in the inventory, he realized that he just could do it, that he could live practically without buying a thing.

But would he hurt those who hadn't hurt him? It wasn't the shop's fault that he was poor, and it wasn't as if he actually had nothing to spend with. He had to hold onto what remained of his morals tightly. A murderer he accepted, but a thief, a man who took what was rightly not his, was where he would draw the line. At least, that was what he wished to adhere to. Some might say he was already past the line of holding onto morals, but he still had to try.

As he walked away from the shop and aimlessly explored the streets, he began thinking about his current situation. He had a couple more days at the hotel, enough food to live comfortably for a while more, and clothes that he could actually wear knowing they didn't come from some unknown location.

If only these were the end of his issues. Lien was a clear number one, and power was the second highest on his priority list. The corners of his eyes caught grocery shops, loose market stalls, and men hidden in the shadows. These were all options for him, options that would allow him to live in this cursed city.

He looked at the grocery store and began imagining himself working there. Days passing by while earning meager amounts of money, but honest work nonetheless.

Then he looked at the stalls, and he spotted ones featuring accessories, food, and even clothes, and he remembered his [Creator's Blessing]. He could find a craft to work on and make money through it, but it still needed him to have something to work with in the first place, and for people to be interested in his work.

Then the man hiding in the corner, acting nonchalant while smoke wafted around him. Viscus even noticed a group of men hiding deeper within the alley, which meant that if he wanted to beat the man up and take what he had, he would have to fight these men too.

A small inkling of an idea to join them was quickly squashed, feeling his body revolting at the idea.

If he played his cards right, he could take them all on, and even train his combat skills including his Aura and his usage of Mana, but he still felt hesitant. The blond was in no rush to make the decision, time for thinking still available.

So he decided to observe, to watch what Vacuo had to offer. If it had any.

Buildings passed by in a flash, some colorful, some still retaining their red brick exterior. Some tall, some only two stories high. Shops, restaurants, and bars dotted around the place, and Viscus only noticed strangeness within the air as the sun ray graded into shadow.

Confused, he raised his head and couldn't help but stare wide eyes and a gaping mouth. A monolith compared to all that stood around, a pyramid higher than any building he walked past, surrounded by walls like that of a castle, looking even sturdier than the ones surrounding Vacuo from the outside.

He stood in its shadow, and it was then he recognized the structure. The huntsman academy, the den of men with powers to topple armies of grimm, a place that screamed safety. Shade Academy.

Nervously, he looked around him and he noticed a change in demographic. Whereas it was a rarity to see a person strutting around with a weapon on their body, at that moment he noticed three separate groups of huntsmen just idling about.

He gulped, then tried checking their levels. Two groups held an average of 40, and the last one stood at a whopping average of 70 levels. He slowly backed away, and summoned the status screen once more.

[Level : 3 (10.5/110 EXP)]

Beforehand, Viscus knew that he had a lot ahead of him, but to see that students had levels of 40 and higher, and that, he assumed, the final group was made up of actual graduated huntsmen. Cold sweat ran down his back, and he headed to the hotel with mixed emotions.

Most prominent of which: Fear.

He may have been nervous. He may have been angry. But most of all, afraid.

In just one year, the System expected him to become strong enough to battle the cast, who are prodigies, and the big bosses themselves, the King and the Queen.

His hands felt clammy, his body felt cold in the heat, and then he felt nothing.

Whatever he was feeling melted into the void, and he recognized what had happened. The System thought he was overreacting and sucked away all of his emotions, until he was left with nothing.

"This is fine." He spoke out loud, "I can do it."

The room door closed with a click, and he quickly clambered onto the bed. Until he found a way to level up, his skills and stats were the only avenues for improvement. Easiest of which were the Mana related abilities, and [Meditation].

He would play around with them, learn the intricacies of his abilities and the extent of what they offered, and once the sun set, he would walk into some shady alley and earn himself some experience.

Viscus had to do it. He had to stop being a coward and clinging to that which would kill him. He resolved himself the night prior, and he had to act on that promise. He had to.

So he closed his eyes and began the process, and night came in a flash.

-CEM-

Dissatisfied, if unfairly so, Viscus walked down the street close to where he was captured. If the amount of eyes lasering him from the corners were of any meaning, then he was close to where he wanted to be.

His attempt at raising his skills ended with him maxing out [Meditation] at level 20, which meant no more improvement on that front, and his mana related skills barely improved. None of them raised by a single level, but he began to feel more attuned to manipulating the magic. Unfortunately, his Mana pool was pathetic, so he was only able to use it in quick bursts.

While working on his skills, he began thinking on how he would focus his improvement in the future. Quickly, the classic plan of pumping all of his stats into his magic propped up in his mind, but another idea argued against it. Focusing instead on his physical stats and abilities had merits that magic lacked, starting with the fact that he was already getting stacked in the strength department.

Mana would become easier as time went by, but there was no denying that he didn't have the luxury of time or space to practice his magical skills. He didn't even have an ability to create an illusory world, so there was no time dilation or easy avenue for training.

Sighing, his eye caught smoke in an alley ahead of him. "This is it." He psyched himself, then took a deep breath while inserting his hand into the inventory.

Seconds later and he was walking with a white mask donned on his face, featureless and providing some measure of protection, less in the physical department and more on the identity aspect.

He hid his hand behind his back as he approached the skulking group, the weapon's glint out of sight. Four men stood huddled around each other, but one noticed Viscus's movements and alerted his friends.

"What do we have here?" The apparent leader of the group stepped up toward Viscus, though still inside the alley. The blond didn't reply, the only reactions they noticed were the narrowed brown eyes and tense movements.

Noticing the signs, the smoker stomped on his cigarette and they all began approaching Viscus, but he wouldn't let them circle him, not like before. His heart began pumping, and a distinct feeling of calmness washed over him. He could do it. He had to.

And he lunged.

The first man in front of him widened his eyes at the speed of the attack, hastily raising his arms to block or deflect, but the arms instead began seeping blood. Viscus slashed and hurried footsteps sounded closer to the blond, forcing him to back away.

The man, the leader, stepped back with his bleeding arms, a grimace on his face. "Get that bastard!"

From the Gamer's right, the man who was previously smoking went for a punch, but Viscus was prepared for it. Rather than dodge backward, the blond jumped into the man's personal space and stabbed directly into the thug's neck. The man couldn't react fast enough before his neck was spurting blood in spades, and he fell to the ground with a gurgle.

[+12 XP]

The Gamer turned toward the remaining three, and he was surprised to see fear in their eyes. They were staring at their fallen comrade, their bodies shivering. It made Viscus hesitate for a brief moment, but he clenched his teeth and raised his dagger toward them. That was the only moment of respite he was going to give them.

With the leader still cradling his bleeding arms and one man down, the remaining two actually took two steps back on Viscus's approach, but they were destined to go down as well. He jumped on one of the men while brandishing his dagger, but the enemy's fear turned into courage as Viscus found a fist speeding toward him.

The hit landed, causing the blond to stagger back and anger to flare. In the stun, the man hurried to steal the dagger from Viscus's hand, finding success in the action. The blond recovered with a scowl a second later, and opted to go in without hesitation.

Wherever the man attacked with the dagger, it slid off the Aura surrounding Viscus with a green glow, and the man's eyes widened in realization.

"He has Aura!" The words shook the men, and, near instantly, they began turning on their tails.

Grimacing under the mask, Viscus rushed to beat the man in front of him, and he stood no chance when the Gamer began using his mana to enhance his attacks. One of the punches Viscus threw even came in contact with the dagger, causing its blade to snap and the man to throw what remained toward the blond.

It nearly hit Viscus in the eye, but with a quick dodge and an uppercut, the man in front of him fell to the ground, groaning and clutching his body in pain. Taking a deep breath, Viscus's feet came close to the man's neck.

"I have to do it." He whispered to himself, "I need to do it."

Viscus closed his eyes and directed his head away, his teeth clattering. Heartbeats thumped in his throat, then he put strength to his leg.

And his foot smashed down, a loud and meaty crunch following.

[+16.5 XP]

Viscus slowly stepped back to observe his handiwork, his breaths shaky. Two men on the ground below him, one with blood pooling around his head, the other with a crushed neck. It was brutal, and Viscus felt no joy in these actions.

His shivering hands clenched tightly, then he began gathering his loot from the corpses with a stomach on the verge of evacuating all it held. It was for that reason he forewent eating hours prior, but he didn't have it in him to applaud himself for the action.

The only items he found were packs of cigarettes and around 150 more lien. Viscus threw the packs away and stored the lien, a deep sigh escaping him. Even though he was barely touched the entire fight, he felt weak, but he had to stay strong.

"These aren't good people." He mumbled to himself as he stared at the stars above. "They had it coming."

He glanced at the alley and reassured himself, "The way they reacted to me approaching. They knew."

As he was about to leave the scene, however, he heard loud footsteps echoing toward him. His eyes widened when he found the two escapees running at him with three more men in tow. He quickly debated whether he had the ability to fight them or not, and he retreated a couple steps back before the urge to level up erased any hesitation.

The steps slowed down as they took in the scene in front of them, and the one standing ahead, the new leader, scowled deeply at Viscus. "You killed them. You killed my men."

The blond still opted to move back even further, taking as much time as he could to plan out his next action. They quickly noticed what he was doing and rushed at him, roaring in anger. "I'll kill you!"

In an instant, a pistol appeared into Viscus's hand and soon a gunshot shook the entire street. The blond's aim was shaky, but one of the men dropped on the ground while clutching his thigh, red coloring his hand. Before Viscus could take his next shot, the new leader moved with speed unlike the rest and shoved the Gamer's hand away before kneeing him in the stomach.

Aura blunted the blow, but Viscus still groaned and hurried to aim at the man. Before his gun could even come close to his opponent, his body was shoved forward into a punch, the pincer doing a number on his Aura.

Quickly, he pocketed the gun and focused on the fight, ducking a haymaker and swiping the enemy's legs. The man fell with an undignified yell, and Viscus had to roll away from a kick coming from behind. He stood up and saw 3 men try to surround him, the man with bleeding arms standing back.

While recovering, Viscus found his back to the alley, and an idea came to his mind. He backed into it, and saw the thugs' eyes glinting. Just as he was getting out of their view, he noticed them pulling the tripped thug up while the rest went after him. Their steps hastened and their hearts quickened-

Until they couldn't see him anymore.

"He ran behind the wall, it's a dead end there. Quick!" The new leader ordered and they moved, taking careful steps.

Once they were halfway into the alley, a sound nearly burst their eardrums, and they found one of them clutching his chest. Two more gunshots followed, the dark alley briefly lighting up, and the man fell with a thud.

Their slow steps turned into a mad rush to avenge their friend until they were face to face with the masked blond. No words were spoken as all but one lunged toward the Gamer, bloodthirst coloring their eyes.

One shot was all it took before Viscus was out of ammo, and he clicked his tongue as both shots missed. He pocketed the gun and raised his arms in preparation for the brawl.

The first guy aimed at the mask, his punch quick, but Viscus's reaction quicker. The arm was parried and a counter to the man's face followed, his nose crunching. Viscus didn't stop there, instead shooting an empowered kick to the man's leg, and the alley echoed with a crack. The man yelled as he fell to the ground, his leg bent in an abnormal direction.

A second later and Viscus felt a fist impact the mask, but a careful mana shield around his face mitigated nearly the entirety of the attack. He let down the shield to conserve the quickly dwindling mana pool and countered with a haymaker of his own, but the man blocked the attack.

That was his mistake, however, as his own forearm cracked just like the other man's leg, and Viscus rocketed another punch with his other arm. The blow landed and the man shot sideways toward the ground, yet Viscus was surprised when another punch zoomed toward his face.

The blond couldn't react in time and his Aura absorbed the hit, but it left him stunned for a second. That second was all the man needed to grab his shoulders and throw him away from the dead end, the move briefly confusing Viscus until he found himself tripped and falling toward the ground back first.

Once he was on the ground, a gunshot thundered and he felt a sharp pain in his head, so he hurried to recover, but one of the men straddled on top of him and began attacking with fury and desire for blood.

[MP : 7/62
AP : 21/122]

Viscus was running out of Aura, forcing him to act quick. With his superhuman strength, he shoved the man off of him and moved erratically in fear of the gunfire. Taking note of the shooter's location, he rushed at him in a zigzag, though hearing footsteps follow behind him.

The shooter, the man with bleeding arms, tried to hit Viscus, but a wild dodge allowed the blond to get in range of an empowered attack, the punch breaking through the man's hasty guard and nearly caving his face in. The opponent flew a meter away from the blow, but Viscus couldn't rest yet.

Huffing, he turned to the remaining man. He noticed his opponent's shaky limbs, and Viscus realized his own were doing the same. The difference was that Viscus stood with confidence, with desperation, a deep seated desire to live, against his opponent's fearful stance.

As Viscus began circling, his foot bumped into an item, a gun, and his eyes glowed. His opponent noticed what he was about to do and ran toward him, but Viscus quickly swiped the gun off the ground and aimed it toward the approaching man.

The shot hit him in the leg, and the other in the stomach. The man then fell, and Viscus came closer to finish the job.

"N-no, plea-"

A gunshot was the last sound that resonated in the alley, and Viscus stood as the sole victor of the fight. Notifications swarmed his vision, but he ignored them in favor of dealing with the rest of the incapacitated men. He pocketed the gun and went to each of the still breathing men, and dealt the final blow with anger in his eyes.

And the fight was over.

[Level : 4 (7/140 EXP)]

He felt nauseous, weak, and exhausted, but it was done. He was the aggressor, not the victim. He was the predator, and they were his prey. And for his efforts, he gained rewards. Their lives for his own. Yet, beyond all these feelings, there was a spark, an ember of satisfaction: he lived.

Viscus huffed, but a cold laugh burst out of his mouth. He fell to the ground on his bottom, and looked at the moon above. Shattered and broken, a shadow of its former self, yet it still lived, its light reflected off his now bloodied mask with a tiny chill in the air. The blond clutched his face with both hands, his own arms heavy and threatening to drop, but he knew time for rest had not yet come.

He stood up and began looting the men. And he promised himself, once he was done, he was going to go back to his hotel to wash up, and hopefully get himself new clothes with the looted lien. He felt disgusted at both his actions and the bloodied clothes he was wearing, and he hoped the laundromat could somehow clean the bloodstains.

Regardless, the fight bore fruit, and he was one step closer to the quest's completion.

He wished there was another way to do it, another way to advance the quest without bloodshed and stress. Unfortunately, he couldn't see himself fighting any Grimm in his current state.

He stared at the moon, wishing that all of this was a dream. That all of his actions were imaginary and without consequence. Then his gaze went back to the ground and the bodies strewn around him.

He wished, but sand was the only response.

Poor Viscus.. Oh poor Viscus.

Pasta would like to tackle two items today, first of which is the illusionary world create or whatever it was called (forgive me, all I remember is ID). I wanted to describe it in the story if possible, but at this current moment, I don't know how, so I'll mention it here. You may skip ahead if that matters not to you.

So, ID create, why am I not using it? Many reasons, but the biggest two are: world and balance. Now you might say Pasta has already ruined balance by giving Viscus the traits, but you have to keep in mind we have a time limit here. What about "world", what do I mean by that? Basically, I want to play around with Remnant. I put Viscus in Remnant, and I'll play with Viscus in Remnant, and not some unknown throwaway "world" that might actually just ruin the pacing and reduce my chances of building Remnant. To tackle balance again, there was an aspect of this skill that made time dilation and practically gave the original Gamer the opportunity to farm mobs for xp and money at his own pace. We don't drop Lien here from anything, only physical loot, and even that is from Grimm only.

Next I wanted to mention was a story that was a really interesting read. Featuring: The song of her heart by Elderfire1

Do check it out, but for now, take care, and don't let the tomatoes bite. They make quite a mess.