The team of three hispanic grinders were speaking in Spanish to each other.
“Can’t we just keep one of the crystals for ourselves?” one of them said.
The other three eyed him suspiciously.
“And then you take the crystal and snitch on us and get us killed like that other group?” the other one said.
“I’ll have to report you to Fernando for saying that. I don’t want no trouble. You know he has that ‘truth’ skill,” the other one said.
“Fuck you two! Fucking bitches. Scared lil bitches,” the hispanic gang member said and reached for his knife. He was already planning on how he was going to lie about how the other two were killed by the three boogeymen.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Pop!
Two of the hispanics dropped. The one who suggested stealing the crystals was still alive and untouched.
He turned around and saw three guys with guns.
He dropped his knife and raised his hands and got on his knees.
“Por favor! No–”
Brian pistol-whipped him in the face.
Lucas held him down with his forearms while Jack tied him up.
“He smells like shit,” Jack said.
“No worse than you,” Lucas said.
“I wanna buy a suit like that Howard guy and some expensive cologne before we go back to that girl’s bar,” Jack said.
“I’m not buying any suits,” Brian said.
“If you wanna look like a broke boy then go ahead. But I’m investing my part of the 25 k we got. I gotta look sexy and smell sexy as fuck. Also gonna get a haircut,” Jack said.
“You gonna marry that girl or what? What was her name, Miranda?” Lucas said.
“Only time will tell,” Jack said poetically.
“Oh shit! Look at this! Jackpot!” Brian said while going through the hispanics’ stuff.
He held out five skill crystals.
The tied up hispanic on the ground saw Brian holding the crystals and started speaking rapidly in hispanic in a panicked way.
“No hablo Spanlish you dumb fuck. You’re in USA, not the border. Fucking speak English,” Jack said, and pistol-whipped him in the nose.
The hispanic took a deep breath. Then said, “Boss Fernando kill you all three. Stupid dumb.”
“Perhaps. But cancer could also kill me. Doesn’t mean I worry about it,” Brian said. “Okay, Lucas, you take three. Then I think that should make you even with me and Jack. And I take one and Jack takes one. Let’s pop these bad boys!” Brian said.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
They crushed all of them at once. Yellow energy flowed into all three of them.
Lucas got the following skills:
Changing car tires: Rank 1
Water Mana Affinity: Rank 1
Walking: Rank 1
Jack got the skill:
Pool: Rank 1
Brian got the skill:
Finnish: Rank 1
“Hei mitä kuuluu?” Brian said and laughed.
“You two better watch the fuck out next time we’re in a pool hall,” Jack said.
Lucas closed his eyes and tried to see if his new Water affinity had changed anything inside him. But he couldn’t sense anything. He tried using the external mana in the world on some water he got from his canteen, but nothing really happened.
“Okay, vamos! To the border with you again, Pedro!” Jack said.
After looting the camp the hispanics had set up, they started walking towards the border of the Grasshopper Monster zone. They had gagged their hostage. And they had no idea if his name was actually Pedro or not.
A few times they had to avoid other hispanic gangs. Brian led the way with his enhanced vision.
When they got to the border, they set up a camp and Jack started using his blueprint skill to design the new siege tower to fit Lucas as well. And make improvements to the previous design.
They tied the hostage to a tree. Lucas took a nap. And Brian started grinding in circles around the camp. This close to the border he spotted no hispanics.
The next day Jack finally finished making the new siege tower.
“So what do you think?” Jack said.
“Pretty cool. But… so what’s the plan anyways?” Lucas said.
“Eh… I’m not sure,” Jack said.
“What do you mean you’re not sure? And how we gonna use this hostage anyways?” Brian said.
“Ehm… I was thinking we get to the end of this zone with the siege tower. And then like tie a rope to him or something. And have him run into the third border of zones. And then… I dunno.” Jack said.
“Did you even think about the logistics for that? We don’t even know what monster is past this zone. And how you gonna get him all the way there? Is he gonna be in the siege tower with us? And what if the monster at the third border just kills him and then comes for us? We can barely take on the wolf monster or snake monster, and that’s with help from guns and this siege tower,” Brian said.
“Yeah. Ehm. I don’t know,” Jack said, and shrugged his shoulders.
Suddenly, a notification popped up in everyone’s head, including the hostage’s head.
Challenge: Kill 100 monsters in the inland border zone to the Grasshopper Monster zone.
Progress: 0/100
///////
Jack:
Knife Fighting: Rank 1
Knife Fighting: Rank 2
Python (programming language): Rank 1
Mana Generation: Rank 1
Sand to Glass Conversion Mana Blueprint: Rank 1
Healing Mana Blueprint: Rank 1
Origami: Rank 1
Enhanced Bodily Recovery: Rank 1
Speed Counting: Rank 1
Enemy Weakness Identification: Rank 1
Poetry: Rank 2
Blueprint visualizer: Rank 1
Mana Sense: Rank 1
Blunt Force Resistance: Rank 1
Pool: Rank 1
Brian:
Shield Defending: Rank 1
Marksmanship (pistol): Rank 1
Right Arm Increased Strength: Rank 1
Mana manipulation: Rank 1
Mana Sense: Rank 1
Enhanced Propriosense in Toes: Rank 1
Enhanced Bodily Recovery: Rank 1
Flame Shield Dispel: Rank 1
Cryptography: Rank 1
Enemy Pattern Recognition: Rank 1
Airplane Pilot: Rank 1
Mana Generation: Rank 1
Blunt Force Resistance: Rank 1
Finnish: Rank 1
Lucas:
Insect Movement Control: Rank 1
Enlarged Penis: Rank 1
Mana sense: Rank 1
Mana Manipulation: Rank 1
Surfing: Rank 1
Arithmetic: Rank 1
Chess: Rank 1
Human Interpersonal Non-verbal Bodily Social Behaviors Enhanced Perception: Rank 1
Blunt Force Resistance: Rank 1
Changing car tires: Rank 1
Water Mana Affinity: Rank 1
Walking: Rank 1