082 WHAT IS ON THE NU?
Dan watched, fascinated, as the liquid transford into pure ta energy, flowing seamlessly into his body. He could feel it—the subtle strengthening of his muscles, the hum of energy coursing through his veins.
"This… this is going to make things a lot easier," he muttered, a small grin forming.
Dan left the remaining containers for now and checked his stats on the mining app. To his surprise, his Strength had skyrocketed.
Na: Dan Dark
Rank: E
Strength: 86 | Charm: 63 | ta: 63 | Command: 63 | Blood: 21 | Armor: 70
Dan grinned. "This is fantastic. With the dicine and my app, I can level up my Strength in an instant."
He scanned another container of GenSyn Genomics and pressed Assimilate. The essence flowed rapidly into him. One by one, he finished all the containers.
"That's a half-year supply of Strength Promoter for over a hundred students… I wonder how strong I am now?"
He checked his stats again.
Strength: 152 | Charm: 63 | ta: 63 | Command: 63 | Blood: 21 | Armor: 70
A satisfied smile spread across his face. He collapsed onto the sofa and dozed off.
The next morning, he checked his stats once more.
Strength: 152 | Charm: 64 | ta: 65 | Command: 64 | Blood: 21 | Armor: 70
Strength Rank: D ta Rank: E
Dan did a quick calculation. While he slept, he had gained about four points from the Empowernt feature in his app—but they went to Charm, ta, and Command, but none to Strength.
He realized that Empowernt would not increase stats that were already beyond the base level of the next ta rank which was 120.
It was more efficient for him to improve his Strength independent of his Empowernt gains.
Dan stood up and examined his body.
At first glance, there wasn't much of a visual difference, but when he flexed his muscles, he imdiately felt a surge of tenacity and raw power.
With his Strength now at Rank D, he realized his fusion skill would naturally scale with this improvent. Effectively, with training, his fusion skill could reach a Rank D or a high Rank E, surpassing the limits of his current ta Rank.
[Note: Strength Rankings are distinct from ta Rankings. While both are asured nurically for ranking purposes, Strength acquired through elixir is not capped by the current ta rank, allowing it to grow independently.]
Dan's mind raced.
This ant his close-combat potential had just skyrocketed. Even without increasing his ta rank, his attacks would hit far harder than before.
------
Dan headed to Heroes' Gym, where Dorin had promised to modify one of the training simulators to help him refine his Montum Collapse skill.
"You'd better thank
for this," Dorin said, brushing so grease off her gloves. "It took
days of tinkering to make the simulator compatible with your weird ta skill."
Dan smirked. "You're the 'chanic' of the SIA. This is nothing for you… but yeah—thank you."
She crossed her arms. "So, how long are you planning to hole up in the gym this ti?"
"As long as I can," Dan said flatly. "Too many people want
dead if I step outside."
For the rest of the day, he imrsed himself in training.
Inside the simulator room, the AI threw every kind of opponent at him—brawlers, assassins, even ta-enhanced beasts.
By the ti he erged, sweat-soaked and breathing hard, he could feel it clearly: Montum Collapse had advanced once again.
-----
[In a restaurant downtown]
This was Shawn Zetheris's first ti going to a downtown diner. It wasn't his usual luxury spot — the room humd with the voices of middle-class patrons looking for their daily chow.
Tinny music and clattering cutlery filled the air.
"This place is too noisy. I can't hear a thing. Besides, for what I'm about to do I need privacy, what if soone overhears us?" Shawn complained.
"Don't worry about the crowd," his assistant said, calm as ever. "Dealing in plain sight is safer than dealing sowhere private. Nobody expects a deal with the Order of the Black Cockerel in a place like this."
The Order of the Black Cockerel is a secret society in lrose City known for efficient and rciless assassinations. Heroes and tas had been erased by them before anyone even noticed.
A waiter pointed to a recently cleaned table. "Your seat is over there. Take your order on the tablet yourself. This restaurant is self-service."
Shawn shrugged and wandered to the table, the tablet's screen blinking like a pale eye. "Now what? Will Black Cockerel's agent ets
here?" he asked.
The assistant smiled. "We don't et in person. We order and pay. That ensures complete anonymity."
Shawn stared at the tablet. It looked ordinary — no holographic food on display, just a nu of text and a pen tethered to the side.
"What is this? I write my own order?" he asked impatiently.
His assistant sat beside him, slowly pushing the tablet towards him.
"Yes sir," the assistant said. "People write their orders; the kitchen prepares the al. But for those who know the secret of this place, this is where wishes are fulfilled."
"You must be kidding ? A wish list?" Shawn muttered with disbelief.
Shawn hesitated, then wrote in blunt, shaky letters on the nu: Kill Dan Dark.
The words vanished as if eaten by the screen.
"Now what?" he asked.
"Now we pay," the assistant said.
A prompt blinked up on the tablet: "Do you want an assassination contract for Dan Dark? Y/N"
Shawn's hand hovered — then he typed Yes.
A bill appeared. OUR PRICE: ONE MILLION AURS. PLEASE PAY IN FULL.
"This is a scam?" Shawn muttered.
"This place is genuine," the assistant said. "It's the only way to reach the Order."
Shawn's hands trembled before whispering, "Are you sure nobody will find
here… putting a contract on Dan Dark? If words of this gets out… this will embarrass my family. Father will kill …"
"This is legitimate sir
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