I immediately stand up, getting fresh air and cough the water out.

Yuck!

I wipe the water running down my face and grab the walls of the bathtub, yes, I would just call it a bathtub.

Now… where is my bath towel?

Tch. Whatever.

I ignite my body into flame, excluding my feet, and hop off to the bathroom floor.

Oh. There is a new floor mat.

… Why did they get a brown one? That just reminds me of terrible memories…

I end up gazing at the ‘shitter’.

Whatever, I walk out of the bathroom and then realize something that causes me to stop dead in my tracks in absolute shock.

I don’t have extra clothes! Damn it… I also don’t want to put on that filthy clothes.

I have to ask Yuen to get me some…

I intensify my flames, making the image of my body have absolute zero resemblance to a woman’s.

Neat, now I don’t feel that naked. I still feel so, but at least it is just an image thing, if that makes sense?

It makes sense, I think.

It does.

Yes, it does.

***

POV: Yuen.

I kick the floor as I dance to the song in my memory.

Dan… da dannn! Da da da dan! Da…. Den!

Then I start to hear the sound of flames and feel a change in the temperature.

Something is on fire…?

I instantly use my surveillance spider skill, creating hundreds of spiders that are connected to my sight and hearing.

They crawl in the direction of the flames that are making their way down to me.

Of course, I could just check what it is by myself, but who says I want to do all that? I want the easiest and laziest way out of a problem, always.

The spiders lock their eyes on… a walking bipedal being made of flame?!

The creature looks at the emerging spider with surprise, then I hear their voice. “Damn it! YUEN! STOP THIS SPIDER SHIT!”

Huh?! How do they know me?!

I quickly open the door to make a run for it, but as soon as I do, they are suddenly in front of me.

Damn it!

I leap back and raise my voice, “You think I am afraid of you? Whoever you are?! I will make you know, and fear the glory of I, one of the royal guards!”

I immediately palm the ground. And with a grin, I pull my hand back. With that notion, a massive and grotesque spider, composed of a gross liquidized green matter, is generated.

It stands in front of me, twice my height and over 2 meters in width.

The person points to it and forms words, but it is now harder to hear since the roaring of the flames gets worse.

Not that it matters—

The flames on the head blow out, and a blonde-haired girl’s face is revealed.

It honestly looks like the fire around her body is some kind of weird fire bulky armor.

“Honestly, what the hell? Was this some kind of trick?!” I shout, demanding an answer.

With an annoyed expression, she says, “That was dumb of me, I admit. I forgot about the face stuff. Anyway, I require your assistance?”

“No, first explain why the hell can you now control fire?”

She raises an eyebrow as if my question confuses her. I am not being stupid here!

She then makes an ‘aha’ sound before saying, “I see, I see. You don’t really pay attention. That’s… just my second skill.”

…

Oh right…. These freaks can gain multiple skills…

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I hide my jealousy as I ask, “What do you want? Why are you on fire? What if you set this…”

I notice her feet aren’t on fire. She could control it?

I continue, “What do you want?”

“Shirt and pants. Need them.”

“Huh?” I ask, confused.

“I want clothes.”

“Oh… that’s why you are on fire… you are naked.”

“I am fire! My body is on fire! I am not naked! You can’t even see shit!”

“No no. This has to be some kind of public indecency. You're some kind of exhibitionist?"

"Huh?"

"Yes yes. I see now. Absolutely disgusting behavior."

“Dude… just get me some clothes.”

I click my tongue and drop my acting. “Yeah yeah whatever. It will take a while, though.”

I take a step out of the door, activate my skill and send tennis-ball size spiders out.

She asks. “You can control them from a faraway distance? And where are they heading for the clothes? It can’t be a shop, right? Because how would they pay?”

I lean against the wall and cross my arms. “Don’t worry about that. I have my ways.”

***

Moving at fast speeds, a collective of over 100 spiders spread out to the city, searching for clothing shops.

While moving about, the flowmans that come across them often stop to let them through.

They don’t panic or anything. They simply think: “Yuen.”

Then finally, a single spider stops moving. It locks 8 of its eyes on a clothes stall owned by a young man.

He notices the spider and looks at it weirdly. “Huh? I think I saw this thing before… stealing cookies.”

Then from all over, a ridiculous number of those spiders appear, locked on him.

“What the…” he mutters.

Those near him, a couple of customers that were interested in the clothes immediately take steps back, looking on in concern.

“The royal guards want you…?” one of them asks as they look at the bag of clothes they had just purchased before dropping it. “I didn’t know this was stolen goods!”

One by one, those who purchased fled, and those that were planning on buying left immediately too.

The man called to them. “It’s not! This is a trick! A misunderstanding!”

But he is too late as the spiders take not only the dropped purchased clothes but also start to climb up his stall, moving towards the clothes there too.

The man tries to protect it, crushing the spiders, but is vastly outnumbered. And before he knows it, his stall becomes empty.

The spiders take everything and run with it.

“Come back!” he chases after them, but it is pointless as he can’t even get back a single piece of clothing.

With his hands and knees on the ground, he looks on in sorrow. Tears run down his face as he mutters, “I will get my revenge… I will make you payyy!”

And on that day… Jackson the ripper is born.

***

POV: Lumine.

After a short while, the big spiders return… with a lot of dresses, pants, shirts, undergarments, coats, hats, skirts, and scarfs.

“How the hell did they get all that?"

He says smugly. “I am a man of many talents. People see my spiders and allow them to do as they please.”

He then says with a finger snap. “I am somewhat well known and respected.”

Wait… something about that doesn’t add up.

I ask, “I thought you said that asking someone about their skill was rude? Doesn’t that mean you are supposed to keep it a secret?”

“Yeah, so?”

“So… if everyone links the spiders to you, doesn’t that mean your skill card is known by all?”

He laughs awkwardly. “Ha… No… It… It…”

He freezes. He isn’t even blinking. It is as if he becomes a statue.

I use the time to take the clothes back to our living quarters. I don a simple red pants with spear designs and a weird long white shirt that reaches my knees.

Even when I return to him, he is still lost. I even contemplate leaving him here.

I fit an odd glass slipper into my feet and was about to leave the building before he finally broke his curse.

He stammers. “No… no! That can’t be. It’s… just that they must think I am related to it, not that it’s mine. Like, maybe I use a friend’s skill because, as a royal guard, I must be super secretive. Yes, that’s what they think!”

I roll my eyes before saying. “I am sure that’s true. But I need to request something.”

“What’s that?” he asks as he looks through the doorframe, like he is on the run.

Perhaps he is now paranoid. I wonder why... Not really.

“The Gervmu route. Take me there, please,” I request.

He looks at me like I have lost my mind. “Wait what? What? Huh? What? What?”

“Stop asking what! I will appreciate it if you take me there. I would ask Yamanda, but she is far gone.”

He thinks about it, but then shakes his head. “That sounds like too much work for me.”

I grab his shoulders and stare into his eyes. “What are your desires, mortal?”

‘The hell are you on?”

“Cocaine, meth, a lot of stuff you don’t wanna know about.”

“What the hell are thos—“

“Hard drugs. Super strong stuff from my divine dimension.”

At first, he looks at me like I am stupid, then thinks about it. “What do I want… a house on a beautiful piece of land for my wife and kids.”

“Oh…”

I didn’t expect him to have a family.

I say, “Um…. Wouldn’t your wife want you to choose something far simpler?”

He smiles. “Oh nah. I don’t have a wife.”

“Huh? But… you just said that… You want a nice piece of land for your wife and kids.” I am confused to an insane degree.

“Yeah, I want that land now. But I also plan to get a family in the future, you know?”

But…. Huh. I mean, okay I guess?

I say, “Okay… But let’s be more grounded. Like, what’s something more important now.”

“Uhhh… I guess it would be to have a successful date? I mean, I have only been on 1,132 dates in my life and I am 24, so that seems to be weird to me.”

What the…

I take a step back from him, completely baffled. “That’s a joke, right? That can’t be true… that’s impossible!”

He shakes his head with his hands on his waist. “I know, right? Like, I am sexy as hell. Got nice money and so damn humble. Like, I am the definition of a catch.”

There is definitely something wrong with your head, that is what.

Still, that means I could capitalize on him.

I say, “I can couch you on your future date. I will tell you what to buy her, where to take her, what to say to her!”

“Eh? Why the hell would I need help with that?”

“Because you suck at it?”

“I do not!” He takes a step forward.

I too take a step forward. “Then explain all the failures?”

“It’s kinda common sense, actually.” His fingers drum on his head. “They simply thought, ‘wow! This guy has accomplished so much! I can’t date something as beautiful, divine, blessed and special like that.’’’

He smiles to himself. “It’s so easy. Tch tch—“

I grab his hand and pull him out of the building. “Stop the coping, and take me to the route and I will help you have a successful date!”

He pulls his hand.

With contempt, he looks at me then back at the building. “I… fine! I am only joining you so that you don’t get hurt!”

“But, you are bringing me to the destination, not joining me.”

“Lalalala! Follow me!” He locks the reality defenders building and then runs towards the city gates at full speed.

What a bastard… he is more excited than me.

I run after him. As I sprint forth, I summon my life card and take in a deep breath.

There is a skill I need which is going to consume all the skill points I have… It is called pseudo-resurrection.

I know it sounds bad! But the resurrection skill costs over 300 skill points. Besides, biases and desires affect skills.

I am going to resurrect them by desiring it really hard.