Predicament

After a while, Rash received a notification about the completion of the mission, which means the children were rescued. And the disguise skill disappeared from the skills list.

Rash sighed with regret at the loss of the unique skill, yet he was also eager to see the rewards he would receive.

....

<Congratulations You have successfully completed the rescue mission.>

<Mission Rewards: Rescued 3 hostages and eliminated two enemies>

<30 XP ~ +1 for all attributes>

<Weapon skill level 1 acquired>

<Disguise skill level 1 acquired>

<Inventory Level 1 acquired>

...

* Weapon skill: Passive skill, which enables you to learn and use weapons with less time and greater efficiency. The skill gives potential energy to the weapons, gifting them extra damage when attacking. Gives a weapon +20% extra damage, the higher the skill level, the higher the value.

* Disguise skill: Activate skill, which gives you the ability to change your appearance to any human character you imagine. The skill consumes 10 MP / 1 min.

* Inventory: Special skill, which enables you to store and recover the items. The Inventory contains 20 storage slots that will increase with the skill level rise.

....

"Ooh... this time, there are a lot of rewards." Rash chirped joyfully when he saw the number of rewards, especially the return of the skill of disguising again.

Experience points and the augmentation of all the attributes by one point are already enough. The extra things made him feel like an impressive achievement. Especially since they are all very useful skills for his condition.

Rash has never been an ability user in the past, and he knows very little about the subject. However, he knew that learning new skills is difficult. A person needs time to learn a certain skill, and he has to put effort and money towards that, but for him, the matter is different.

He gave a quick check on weapons' skill and disguise skill before moving over to the Inventory. This skill made him curious about it.

When he activated the skill, his inner consciousness moved into a strange, room-like space. Its walls were made of gray fog, and its size does not exceed a small room. The area contained many specific cells that looked like shelves. Rash counted to find exactly twenty slots. 'Is this?' He asked himself, when he saw the safe Nightmare taken in one slot. Also, the intelligent stigma that he got from his elimination of the Gallus monster was placed in another slot.

"So... this is where Nightmare is hiding things?" Rash did not demand an explanation to find out about the skill or how it works.

After speculating the place for some time, he pulled the stigma out to appear outside in the area he wanted, on the palm of his hand, then he put it back again.

For a few times he tried the same thing, "Hehe.... like magic," he smiled mischievously. Imagine how many things he could do with that skill?

"This skill is very special," said Nightmare briefly, who was watching from the side the whole time. His words attracted the attention of Rash, who focused, "This ability depends on forming your own space in which you can place your own things. It is very similar to the pocket dimension tools used by abilities users to store their equipment. Except, it is much better and contains a larger room and you can use it freely."

'Pocket dimension?' Rash overheard some of his classmates talking about their owning this sort of tools and saw some of them as well, yet he never knew its purpose or usage. Now he understood it somehow, and that never made him disappointed. The pocket dimension is a tool and its special ability makes it unique, but it remains just a tool. As soon as its owner loses it, this means he will lose its contents, but the matter hugely different with him. The skill in itself is somewhat similar to the tool, but better, and he won't be worried about losing it because it's connected to his body.

This made him wonder again, "What is Nightmare exactly and how can he do all this?" Alas, he knows it's futile even if he asked, so he saved his breath. This did not prevent him from inquiring about other things that baffled him, "Aren't the rewards too many this time? I think I would have been very convinced just for disguise skill alone?" He asked about the subject.

"Well... About this I want to tell you one more thing." Nightmare said; a look of pity in his eyes, "In fact, the previous mission was not normal. The people you encountered were part of a larger gang and thwarting their plans could lead to drag several other people involved. Well, that also means that you are on their lists now, and they will strive to catch you."

"Eeh... what do you mean, no one will suspect me, right? ...because I did not show my identity once throughout the mission." Rash was very confident this time, and as long as there was no trace left, he would be fine.

"It is true you were careful, but when searching for a suspect, there is a lot that can be done. One of them is to track you through your skills, the money that you stole from the place and also the safe has a tracking device as long as you take it out of the Inventory, this will lead to your place." Nightmare explained more on the topic.

His words caused Rash to reconsider things, 'Nightmare is right, I have to be more careful from now on.' He thought to himself and acknowledged he is in real trouble. If anyone finds out the things he does. Not only will the gang catch him but the government as well, even if somehow he saved the children, but he killed people too. By doing this, he exceeded the authority of the government and acted by himself, and the world is proceeding according to organized rules that prohibit behavior randomly for any reason.

Rash sighed again. He couldn't do anything about it now. When he accepted the mission, he thought it might somehow be finished without killing someone. However, he was very naïve, and things developed quickly after that.

.....

Rash slept outside for about two hours at one station. Sleeping outside is not new to him, and he has done it many times in the past.

The sun rays that were appearing from among the tall buildings made him wake up. The rampage of the city did not calm down all time, but it intensified with the rising of the day.

He opened his eyes. And what happened last night is still running on in his mind until this moment. He got up from the place where he slept, slouching, his muscles slightly stiff because of his seated sleeping.

Rash stood and stretched his limbs a little, then went to the public bathroom to meet his needs and wash his face. Then he left to search for something to eat.

While he was walking in the city immersed in his thoughts, he suddenly noticed many people whispering and pointing towards him with changed faces. Rash turned to the other side to see what was going on, but there were other people who were looking at him as well. He felt there was something wrong and a bad feeling aroused because of that. 'Why is everyone staring at me like that? Is there something wrong?' He wanted to ask Nightmare, when he noticed the screen, and the scene on it almost gave him a heart attack.

"Damn... what is this? Why is my picture on screen?" A young boy like him had done a lot of crazy things yesterday, and he even killed two people. Seeing the ad made his face whiten with fear, the impact was too great to handle and this made him cursing hard between his teeth, "Nightmare, you damn bastard... we are doomed..."

Nightmare saw the ad even before Rash noticed, to react calmly and reassured, "It doesn't seem like a bad thing to me. There is a written note too."

Rash calmed down a little, perhaps it was haste judgment. He did not make a mistake yesterday, so maybe there is another explanation. Thus, he read what was written under the picture, [Note: Anyone who recognizes the boy in the picture, please inform the police of his whereabouts. The boy may be in an unstable condition, so please be careful when dealing with him.]

"Reporting my location.... an unstable condition... so that's why everyone was looking at me with strange faces since the morning," The guy felt that his ill luck had struck once more, he didn't even complete one day since he became an abilities' user. "Huh... and here I thought my luck smiled at last, so it's just an illusion, to ruin me for good... huh."

Rash shook his head in rejection. Now he has to run, to go into hiding. He doesn't want to be arrested and thrown in prison, or maybe it will be worse. Especially if they find out about what he did last night. So he ran among flocks of people. Some of them tried to stop him, but he was fast and used his movement skill to bypass many of them. As long as he does not overuse it, no one will suspect that he is an abilities' user.

He was searching for a barren place so he could change his shape and move to another area. Although he could not maintain the disguise skill for a long time, merely a little time would be good for an escape from the current predicament.

Unfortunately, he ran into a big obstacle before he could do that, "Hahaha… the person from the ad, you are here… hey… stop where you are, why are you running…" A hysterical laughter came from behind followed by a loud howler. He turned the edge of his eye to find out. A boy was sprinting after him. The high speed suggests that he is an ability user even before Rash finds out with the appraisal skill.

<Name: John Prado ~ Level 19>

"Damn… a weirdo dashing after me…" Rash bit hard on his teeth and gave his feet to the wind, like an arrow fleeing toward the public bridge. There is a river running through the city center and the bridge is close to its location. His only chance was to jump into the river.

The craziest thing is to stop and confront the boy behind him. The level difference between them is large from the beginning, and even if he can withstand it somehow, it is likely that someone has already informed the police, and they may arrive at any moment now.

The screams behind him did not stop, and Rash continued to run at full speed, even though he knew that his speed was not enough and the boy would catch in a short period.

John realized what Rash was intending to do when he saw him heading towards the bridge, which made him speed up more and more. Yet, he was still far away and the edge gradually drew closer. The weirdo raised his hand towards Rash and activated his inner energy to gather it in his palm, forming a small ball of fire. <Fireball> He squalled and then fired the ball toward the target. Rash heard his voice and activated the hero steps quickly and avoided into the side. The ball went beside him and smashed on the edge of the bridge.

He stopped and turned over towards the guy furiously, the use of skills is forbidden against ordinary people unless absolutely necessary. Attacking him by using skills is like using a pistol to stop a civilian from fleeing, a minor mistake, and it may kill him.

He took a deep breath. The distance he ran wasn't enough to make him pant, but he wanted to suppress his anger. He shrugged his shoulders violently and shouted loudly, "Are you crazy? You're using your skills against an ordinary person..." Referring to John for breaking laws. Well, nobody knows he's an ability user anyway, so his claim was true, and he could sue John too if he had evidence with him.

"Why not... if it means I'll be able to catch you?" John replied sedately, with a wide grin plastered on his face, "As long as security wants you, this means you are dangerous and being free may cause danger to civilians. This reason is enough to use my skills against you." John did not give face at all to Rash's claims and kept gradually approaching him in trying to hold and arrest him.