The wind was howling, passing through the mountains to create a nice sound, which reminded Prometheus of a musician he had heard one of the scientists listen to back on Earth. He was out, alone, in a seemingly random empty spot some distance away from the General's fortress. It was around twenty minutes from the Iulan Kingdom's border, as he was told. A bit more than a week had passed since he had learned [Introspection], one in which he had finally learned the three basic Soul techniques, [Enhancement], [Influence Bolt], and [Soul cloaking]. Theo was currently using the third one, as he was on an important mission for the General. Thanks to one of the two rings given to him, his Soul now looked identical to the one required for this mission.

He thought back to what the tree monster had told him; "I need you to get an artifact from a research outpost, managed by the Kingdom. Since the mission isn't a top priority, and since we have no one else available for this, you'll be the one to go. I've captured one of the researchers, so you can use his identity to infiltrate the place. The artifact you're looking for looks like this," The General had then showed him an apple-sized three-pointed star, almost resembling a shuriken, "As long as you play the part, no one will suspect you. Just tell them that you need to interact with the artifact, put it in your inventory quickly, and run. Inventory is a rare enough skill that they won't suspect you'll have it, not quickly enough at least."

Prometheus had been provided with information on the identity and personality of the man he had to impersonate. He was now 'Senior Researcher Blaze', an old but energetic man that had spent his whole life researching the ways of the Soul and new technology related to it. He was a bit of a reclusive man, but that didn't lessen any of the passion he felt for his job. The shapeshifter took the form of an old man, with a thin build, wearing a brown lab coat made of leather. As he couldn't make any facial characteristics, he made a gas mask using glass and plastic, which he could now form thanks to his tier up, that covered his head completely. He then took out the small badge that the General had given him, which would let him get inside the outpost.

Without wasting more time, the weak old man walked up to a seemingly random stone on the ground, completely identical to many others, if not for a tiny marking on the side of it. Prometheus lowered his badge right over it and a sound slowly appeared next to him, with a metal door popping into existence soon after. A simple portal would have sufficed. And it would have been cooler.

Prometheus swung open the doorway and stepped through, recognizing the building from the General's description; "The building is made completely out of metal, probably because the Technician assigned to the construction and maintenance was a Metal technician or a subcategory of that," Prometheus had asked what 'Technician' meant, as it seemed different from what he knew based on context. The General had then said, "They're just a title that the humans use for above-average individuals who can use techniques of a certain element particularly well. They're usually used as artillery soldiers or construction workers based on the specific element."

A large hallway stood in front of him, filled with many pieces of enchanted machinery. The first one was a decontamination machine, which bathed his body in various cleaning agents from the ceiling. The next one was an identity identification booth where he had to present his badge to a tired-looking guard and answer three questions related to the individual associated with the badge.

"Name and purpose," said the guard, not bothering to look at him. He had a deck of cards drawn out on a table near them.

"Blaze Rodrick. I work here." Prometheus said using a voice-masker enchanted into the other ring on his hand. Theo's robotic voice would have destroyed his cover.

The guard lifted his gaze to look at Prometheus, settling on the gas mask. "What is that?"

"A new invention of mine. It helps me breathe in dirty environments. I'm just testing it out." Technically, that wasn't a lie. The General had instructed him not to lie, as the guards had lie detection skills.

The guard stood still for a moment before yawning and nodding at Prometheus, gesturing him to continue onward.

Do people have to do this every time they get inside this building? I would go crazy after a week. Maybe researchers live here so they don't need to get through this too often.

The hallway then ended in a reception area, where two other hallways ran on opposite sides of the room. Prometheus stepped up to the smiling woman on the desk, reciting the exact words he had been given, "Good morning Janine, how are you?"

She snapped her eyes at him at the mention of her name and struggled for a moment to identify him, but when she looked at his 'fake Soul' she recognized him.

"Oh, good morning Mister Blaze! I am doing good, thanks. How can I help you today?"

"I need to talk to Alyx, do you know where she is?" He asked, letting his Acting skill guide him forward.

"She's in room 42-F, conducting some experiments, I think," she replied while pointing to the hallway on the right.

Theo nodded and thanked her, moving forward to the right, watching each door and the symbols above each. They looked somewhat familiar but he still couldn't read them. Unlike the spoken language used in the kingdom, he hadn't had enough exposure to the written version of it for his translation algorithms to work. The language used in that bandit's diary after he had arrived in this world wasn't the same one.

Low-rank Acting leveled up to lvl 2!

Thankfully, he knew that the people here used a decimal system to count, so he simply walked over to the forty-second room. There were three doors with the same number, so he entered each one to look for the researcher.

In the second one, he found the person he was looking for, Junior Researcher Alyx Crema. Brown, short hair covered her head, and her skin was snow white. She wore a similar leather lab coat, observing a vial with a glowing liquid inside of it, resting on a stone platform, waist-high. When Theo closed the door, she turned to look at him, confused, before looking at his Soul. She then smiled and ran at him with a stone tablet in hand. I guess people here recognize each other by their Souls?

"Rick, Rick! Look at this!" She showed him the stone tablet she was holding, full of weird writings he couldn't understand. Various bars and gauges held a small amount of Influence, and they moved slowly as if they were digital measuring systems.

"What about it?" he asked in confusion.

"The Fountain has begun increasing its output capacity! It started after I tweaked some Input strands in its first pole, but after that, all the other axis began.." The woman continued on an explanation, going into detail about how she had increased the Fountain's 'output capacity'. He knew that that was the artifact's name, the one he was looking for.

"Let me see the Fountain." She nodded excitedly, running to the back of the room, where a large window showed a room full of water on the other side, with the three-pointed shuriken floating in the middle of it. Alyx pointed at it, her smile so wide that the dark bags under her eyes were barely noticeable.

Prometheus walked closer, inspecting the artifact. I need to get inside the room.

"I need to get inside of the room. I want to check something."

Her smile disappeared and a frown replaced it, worrying Theo. Did I mess up?!

"I would need to drain the whole room, which would take a couple of hours at the minimum. Why do you want to do it?" She asked in confusion. "Actually, what's that mask on your face? I've never seen anything like that."

"Just an invention that I'm testing out, don't worry about it." He said, not answering the first question. Her frown deepened, making Theo worry even more.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Alyx nodded slightly and moved to a side of the room, where she touched a table in a precise sequence, causing openings inside the flooded room to release the water, slowly but surely. The two spent the next couple of hours making small talk, with her asking more and more personal questions, her frown deepening with each one. Before the room dried out completely, she got up from her chair and walked out, saying she had to go to the bathroom. When the water exited the room, leaving the artifact alone on the white, sterile ground, an entrance automatically opened near the window, letting Theo walk inside. The artifact was slightly smaller than his palm and was made of a strange material that emitted cold air. Prometheus put it in his inventory and moved to leave, stopping to stare at a detail in the chamber. A small dent in the metal wall was ruining the smoothness of the surface, so Theo took out his Hungry Toolbox, an item he had gotten from the System that ate and maintained every tool he gave to it in perfect condition, and took out a large hammer to put the dent back into place. Nodding at the result, he put the toolbox back into his inventory and went for the door to leave.

Alyx entered before he could do that, followed by the Guard he had seen at the entrance, who was holding a vial of grey liquid in his right hand.

Theo stopped in his tracks, observing the two people in front of him.

"Rodrick, where's the Fountain?" Alyx said as she glanced at the window.

"I don't know." Said Prometheus, failing to come up with a better response.

The Guard sighed deeply and moved in front of him, holding his vial up to him, "Please drink this, sir. It will tell us if you're lying, or if you aren't who you say you are. Lie detection skills aren't infallible, unfortunately. If you have nothing to hide, you don't have to worry."

Prometheus studied the Guard's Soul, noticing its strength. He's probably a tier six, equivalent to other Guards I've seen. Can I take him on?

Theo studied his own form, unsuited for combat. I don't think I can. Not like this. I don't want to attract too much attention, so I can't use a tribulation. The General told me to be subtle.

He took the vial, studying it closer. He couldn't discern anything about it.

Fuck it. Let's roll.

Prometheus flexed his Soul, ready to use [Enhancement] over all his body to increase his strength. He immediately threw the vial at the man's face with impressive speed, and the Guard didn't expect such a move, who now had his vision blocked by the shattered glass and liquid. Before his opponent could react, Prometheus ran out of the room, dodging other people in the hallways, who were throwing surprised yelps at him.

Before he reached the exit, he had already shifted into an armored cheeta form, using his [Cellular Surge] technique to speed up the process. Running through the exit door revealed that it was locked, with a loud alarm sound coming from many parts of the building. He ran up to the closest clerk, the one at the reception desk, yelling, "Unlock the door"!

She hesitated, backing away from him slowly. He pounced on her, repeating the same phrase, louder. She started sobbing and pressed a red button on her desk. The door unlocked, and Theo ran out, finding himself out of the building, into the plains made of gravel outside.

Before he could run off, the guard exited the door as well, holding the classic simple spear, that he had seen many other guards have.

This is a good opportunity to try out my Soul ability.

Prometheus had spent the last week refining his Soul ability and techniques. For that reason, he felt ready to use it. He used [Introspection] and said to his Soul, "He looks promising, let's use it."

"Sure thing, dumbass. Let's go." Replied his Soul in turn.

His Influence flew out of his Soul and moved to cover the Guard's body, creating a floating symbol above his head. The man tried swatting the Influence but was unsuccessful. Prometheus stepped forward and swiped at the man with his claw, which bounced off the spear. I need to get that spear off of him, maybe that'll force him to use his Soul ability.

The two individuals spent the next few minutes circling each other, neither of them wanting to take a risk. Prometheus jumped forward and bit down on the spear's head, which was enchanted to be sharper and stronger. The shapeshifter tried his best to get it out of the man's grasp, but the Guard proved to be too strong for that, as he kicked Theo away.

His ability required him to fight his opponent one-on-one, that's why he had asked to go on this mission alone. The spearman poked at the armored cheetah multiple times, his strikes shaking Theo to his Core. Prometheus was much stronger than the last time he had been in a fight, so he held on, waiting for the right opportunity.

Since he had reached tier three, his techniques had all gotten stronger. He could shapeshift in less than half a minute now with the Soul technique, so he shifted a blade into his front paw, catching the man by surprise. The blade cut into the man's arm, and Theo used the opportunity to make his paws into hands, grabbing onto the spear and pulling it away.

Theo put it into his inventory, so the man couldn't access it anymore. That's it, show me your Soul ability!

Unfortunately, the man did not in fact use his Soul ability. The Guard used a combination of [Enhancment] and other techniques he had never seen to make his strikes much faster and stronger. Prometheus couldn't dodge all of them, but his exoskeleton was strong enough to negate most of the damage. Other surprising blades shifting into random body parts allowed Theo to inflict many small cuts, which were significant due to the number of them. The man jumped backward, creating distance between the two, before cupping his hands together. Prometheus observed expectantly, hoping to see the man using his ability.

A flash of light escaped from the man's hands, and a deck of cards appeared inside of them. A game-based ability?

The Guard took out a card and threw it in the air, which spun enough to allow Theo to see the other face. Chains?

Chains erupted from the ground, slithering around The's limbs, holding him in place. He simply removed his legs from his body and immediately shifted new ones, escaping from them. The man widened his eyes, as he clearly didn't expect Theo to escape so easily. He threw another card in the air, one which had a symbol he didn't recognize. The man smiled.

The guard's Soul exploded with power, Influence flowing out of it like a raging river. Multiple strikes hit Theo so fast that he couldn't see any of them, so he tried his best by protecting himself with Influence. Another minute of the man barraging Theo with flashing strikes, and his Soul returned to normal. A temporary boost?

The Guard retreated, throwing another card in the air. This one had the silhouette of a person with a red 'X' on its left arm. Immediately after, the man clicked his tongue and shouted a word, which sounded angry. His left arm immediately after fell limp on his side, becoming useless. Theo's opponent retreated immediately, running back to reach the door to the research outpost. He's retreating. Is he stalling to let the negative effect be extinguished? Prometheus sprinted as much as he could in his cheetah form, using [Enhancement] to go even faster. He reached his opponent in an instant, tackling him to the ground. So, he conjures up a deck of cards that can have positive but also negative random effects.

The mark above the man didn't change, meaning that Theo hadn't understood the ability completely. Before doing anything else, he broke the man's arms and legs to prevent him from escaping and walked on top of him. Blood was freely flowing out of his wounds, and he looked at Theo with a snarl and nervous eyes, darting around his surroundings.

"How does your ability work?" He asked the man.

"As if I would tell you, monster!"

A shifted blade allowed Theo to cleanly chop the man's arms off, who began screaming in pain and crawling away from the shapeshifter. He moved to chop off the legs too but the man shouted, "Wait, I'll tell you! Stop!"

Prometheus stopped his limb-blade one millimeter from the man's leg and looked at him expectantly. The guard gulped and began talking with a stutter, "If I tell you, will you...will you spare my life?"

"I'll think about it. Now speak."

The guard nodded shakily, and replied, "I can create a deck of cards that can be good or bad, at random. The result is never the same, so I never know what comes next. I can activate the card by throwing the card in the air with my hands. Without them, I can't activate them,"

Theo looked up at the mark above the man's head. It still wasn't glowing. He's hiding something.

"Look, I'll show you," The man conjured another deck of cards, as the first one had disappeared, above his foot.

"See? It's not working without my hands."

A small glint flashed in the guard's eyes, which Theo found curious. He's about to die. What's that look of determination? Is it despair? I can't tell.

A smile erupted on the injured man's face, eyes widened to madness.

"One last gamble!" He shouted, kicking his left foot upwards, making the deck of cards fly toward his own face. It flew as one coherent block, not spreading the cards around. Theo didn't move, observing carefully. The Guard bit into the deck, moving his tongue in a way to take out a single card, spitting it out, and activating it.

Ah, I see. He doesn't necessarily need to use his hands to activate the cards. The mark that Theo had applied on the man suddenly glowed brightly, indicating that Prometheus' ability's condition had been triggered.

The flying card rotated around the air, and the man looked at it like an alcoholic in withdrawal would look at a bottle of their favorite drink. It had the drawing of a man flexing his body, looking like a bodybuilder.

What's that?

The Guard's wounds closed up immediately, and his muscles swelled dangerously, like balloons. Theo was worried that the man's muscles would explode, but they didn't, thankfully.

His opponent got up in a rush of speed, a combination of focus and madness mixed in his face. A kick flew at Theo, who decided to use [Enhancement] to block it. It wasn't enough. Theo's armor shattered in a thousand pieces as he was sent flying hundreds of meters, bouncing off of the ground with a disgusting 'crunch'. It must be temporary, like the other cards. I need to buy time.

In less than ten seconds, Theo made his body much lighter, and he formed a couple of wings on his back, flying upwards. He began circling his opponent, who was following with his eyes. A realization appeared in the man's mind, as he finally understood that he was going to die soon. Theo easily avoided the man's desperate attempts to jump at him, allowing the card's effect to finally run out.

The man fell down and began losing blood once again, at death's door. I need to hurry up, my ability won't work if he's dead.

Prometheus dropped on the man's chest, pressing a paw on his head.

"It's time," he said to his own Soul.

"Right. Here we go," It replied back.

Strands of Influence from Theo's Soul snaked their way down to his paw and into the man's body, wrapping tightly around the weakened Soul. They then began squeezing, compressing it more and more. A loud scream erupted from the man's mouth, much louder than a dying man should be able to produce. At a certain point, the screaming disappeared. On top of the Guard's chest rested a single, unassuming USB stick, with playing cards drawn on its plastic cover. Theo grabbed it and nodded, watching it disappear into his own Soul.

Before leaving, he absorbed the biomass from the corpse, not wanting to waste the free material. Prometheus then returned to the fortress with the artifact, and a new weapon in his arsenal. The shapeshifter smiled with his feline face, thinking, I made good progress today. I need to get much stronger if I want to escape the Army's reach with my owners.