2 Criminal

Having eaten the dark eyeball, Ethan felt his body completely change, he was now stronger than before, it could be said he was now superhuman when it came to his strength, speed, and vitality.

But even then, this was not the most important part of having eaten the eyeball. No, the most important part was the fact that he now possessed all the memories of the dead man. From the moment of the man's time as a child to every action he did in his life, it was like having lived a second life for Ethan.

'Beyonders, so that's how it is.' When Ethan was still on Earth, he didn't really have the time to read novels, but he knew about a Chinese web novel called 'Lord of The Mysteries', even if he never really had the time to read it, he recalled the term Beyonder was from it, and that's because his son was an aficionado for that novel, he just loved it too much.

However, now, having obtained all the memories from the dead man, he perfectly understood about the world he was in. This was a world full of powerful people that called themselves Beyonders, these people had incredibly strange abilities, being able to do a variety of things, and now, he was one of them.

'After eating the 'Beyonder Characteristic', this was the term the dead man used to describe it, I am now a Sequence 9 Beyonder, a 'Criminal'.' Criminals were Beyonders with strong bodies, keen instincts, and a variety of criminal abilities, like being able to use a variety of weapons equally well.

Other than that, they were also consumed by their own desires to commit crimes, losing themselves in the process.

"Sigh… Seriously, of all the Beyonder pathways there are, I had to end up being one of the most terrible ones. How am I supposed to live my life as a Criminal?"

The interesting thing was that Ethan did not feel any inability to contain his desires to commit crimes, there were some, but they were in his control.

'There's probably something wrong about me, in the dead man's memories there was nothing about acquiring the previous person's memories from just eating their Beyonder characteristic.'

Ethan realized that he might be more special than he thought in this world, which might be why he was not yet consumed by unrestrained desires.

'Charles died from his injuries after a battle against official Beyonders of the Church of Steam and Machinery. Which means they will soon use divination to ascertain his location, it's best to leave this place immediately.'

The dead man was a Beyonder from the Blood Santfy Sect, nothing major, just a common member that got very rare information from a few official Beyonders he was able to kill.

Ethan, with the memories of the dead man known as Charles Rouqueford, finally left the bloody scene. He knew that there were methods that could be used to track him down since he now had Charles' things.

But now that he was prepared for such things, he could just leave this place and go somewhere else, considering that this was just a Sequence 9 Beyonder, he doubted the Churches would send demigods to track him down.

On the other hand, not wanting to attract unnecessary attention to himself, Ethan would use the 1800 pounds that were now in his possession from Charles to buy new clothes and burn his previous ones.

'You can never be too careful.' Following the streets to Cherwood Borough, Ethan intended to go to the store of a not very known tailor, he would use his abilities as a Criminal to break into the place and steal a set of clothes, leaving a few pounds on the counter to pay for it.

…

One or two hours later.

Being in front of the tailoring store, Ethan used his Criminal gifts to enter the place without being noticed by the sleeping guard.

After entering, he first tried looking for something like a bathroom, after finding one, he immediately used the sink to clean himself from all the dirt and blood that now adorned his body. And as the bathroom didn't have a mirror, he couldn't even look at his facial features and appearance yet.

After cleaning himself, which took no less than 15 mins, he went to a stand with many suits on it, choosing four different sets, he 'stole' them and left, without forgetting to leave 80 pounds on the counter, even when his instincts told him to simply rob the place and not care about it.

Leaving the tailoring store, Ethan went to a secluded alley and unclothed himself, putting on one of the sets he 'stole'.

It was composed of a black tailcoat with silver embroidery made from high-quality velvet fabric, trousers, supple black leather boots reaching just above the ankles, and a top hat made from fine black felt.

After adorning himself with the high-quality clothing, Ethan went to one of the metal barrels that were on the side of the alley, probably used to dispatch trash, and threw Charles previous clothes inside, after igniting a handkerchief and putting it above the clothes, he immediately left.

The fire that started wasn't anything major per se, but it could still attract others, something Ethan did not want to see at all.

Traveling the streets of Cherwood Borough, Ethan took the most optimal route to a 24 hour open hotel called Rosewood Rest Hotel.

Coming to the hotel's front, there was still a source of light in it, but no patrons could be seen at first glance, only a young male attendant with blonde hair and blue eyes could be seen at the counter, he was reading what seemed to be a magazine.

Entering the hotel, Ethan came to the front counter and succinctly asked, "Good evening, is there a room available for booking right now? I wish to stay here for a few days."

"Uhh… sure, there's a room available on the second floor, room 203. The night's stay is 3 soli." The young man was a bit surprised that someone would actually come in the middle of the night to book a room, after all, it was already past 2:00am.

Doing some quick mental calculations, Ethan responded, "I'll book it for a week. I only have pounds on me, have you got any change?"

"You don't need to trouble yourself too much, sir, 1 pound and the room is yours." The attendant didn't seem to care too much about a mere 1 soli.

Hearing that, Ethan then proceeded to produce 1 pound from his tailcoat's inner pocket. Giving the pound to the young man, he awaited for his keys and instructions so as to reach his room.

The young man very professionally took out a metal key from a drawer on the counter. After writing on a notebook by his side for eight seconds or so, he put the notebook and pen in front of Ethan and asked him, "Please sign your name here sir."

Seeing Ethan finishing signing his name, the attendant gave him the key and politely said, "Room 203 is the second one on the right on the second floor, there are 3 bathrooms at the end of the hallway of the second and first floors. Have a nice stay, sir."

"Thank you very much." Now in possession of the keys, the only thing Ethan wanted was to lie on a comfortable bed and rest for the rest of the evening.

However, as he still didn't know what he looked like, after climbing the stairs he went directly to the bathroom, choosing one of the three doors, Ethan was finally able to see his own appearance.

He had surprisingly well kept, but still dirty long black hair that came to his shoulders, with multiple white stripes giving it a flair of age, a week long black beard that required trimming, green eyes, pale skin that had signs of once being very smooth, a straight nose, defined lip borders and a broad forehead.

Such appearance could very well be seen as attractive if it weren't for the hair and beard that required some attention and the skin that seemed not very nourished.

'There's a bathtub in this bathroom, I think I should take a real bath here, I don't look like a person that would have such an expensive suit…' After thinking for a bit, Ethan turned on the gas meter to warm the bathtub's water and turned on the faucet.

Unclothing himself once more, Ethan used various herbs and extracts available at the locked drawers, paying 1 pound to get access to the full extent of the drawer. I need to get some change soon, I can't keep buying things with pounds like this, what will I do with so many bath products?

Taking an hour long bath, Ethan left the bathtub and dried himself. Adorning his set of clothes soon after. His appearance was now even better than before, his long hair that required attention was now very clean and smooth, his beard, even when still untrimmed, was now perfectly clear, and his body that had a very faint lingering smell of soil and blood, now had the smell of vanilla on it.

'I can finally be called a true gentleman.' After lampooning himself for a bit, Ethan left the bathroom and went to his own room.

Using the key to enter, the sight inside surprised Ethan. The room's interior had walls wearing rich, textured wallpaper of black color, the crimson moonlight gently filtering through elegant, red velvet curtains. A plush carpet cushioning each step, leading to tastefully crafted furnishings—a mahogany writing desk, a cozy chaise lounge by the fireplace and a big bed draped in crisp linens.

The place screamed an air of elegance, while not being ostentatious at the same time. Nice place, the expensive fee was worth it at least.

It should be recalled that 1 pound for a week is the same as 52 pounds a year, which is already enough to rent a house in a middle-class neighborhood in Backlund, so the hotel's fee can be seen as quite expensive indeed.

Putting the stolen sets of clothes, which were folded in packs, that he was carrying right until now into the wardrobe at the side of the desk, Ethan directed his tired body in the bed's direction.

Falling head first into the soft bed, he fell into sleep the moment his head touched the pillow.