I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar wooden ceiling. I turned over to look for my phone but I didn't find it anywhere. That's when a cold wave of realization hit me.
'I'm not on Earth anymore...'
Turning my head around I recognized the room. It was the same one I was in when I followed that bartender and she popped my dislocated shoulder back in place.
Realizing I must have passed out from the shock I slowly sat up and moved my arm around slowly. I winced as I raised it above my shoulder but I didn't really have anything I could do about it. At least it moves.
I quickly left the room and made my way back to the bar. I wasn't sure how long I had been passed out but I needed to make the most of my time.
When I pushed the swinging door open I was greeted with a very different sight than earlier.
I was immediately hit with a wave of noise. The bar was now packed with patrons and there was even a small band playing on a stage I hadn't noticed earlier when it was dark.
Lights were turned on and people were being loud. Laughing, making crude jokes and gossiping. My eyes lingered on the sight for a few more moments before I turned my head and walked around the bar to where the bartender from earlier was serving drinks.
She saw me. Surprisingly she had a huge grin on her face.
"Well look who decided to join the party!"
Confused I checked behind me to see if she was talking about someone else but everyone was looking at me.
"Haha! I'm talking about you boy! Those city pigs showed up like you said! Micah happened to be there and when he heard what you said he trusted his instinct. He immediately moved everything out of the stash house and a few hours later they showed up to an empty warehouse!"
The bar erupted in laughter and someone picked me up from behind. They placed me on the counter and I felt a mug find it's way into my little hands. I had to hold it with both hands and even then my feeble little arms spilled some just because of the weight of the drink.
"To our little mouse! He really saved our asses tonight, but let's not have it go to his head! He's still a little rat!"
Cheers erupted and everyone raised their glasses before emptying their glasses.
"PWAAAHHH! Next round is free! From Micah!"
Another round of ear splitting cheers erupted. I looked down at my drink before thinking for a moment.
I had drank before, I used to even like it, but now I was in the body of a child.
'Is it okay to take a drink?'
However when I felt that my throat was super dry I decided to drink anyways. I threw my head back and downed the whole mug. I slammed the mug on the counter and let out a long sigh.
"You drink pretty good."
I turned my head to face a man walking towards me. He had a walking cane but I didn't let my guard down.
I knew who he was. He was actually the reason I even came here.
"Name is Micah. No need to be scared."
Micah Forrest.
The current leader of the Black Hound gang in the city of Drenched. The biggest drug distributor in the city and one of the most ruthless criminals in the city.
I shook his hand gently but the moment I touched his hand I felt a wave of electricity jolt through me.
[System awakened!]
[Talent: Absolute Status Application]
[Registered Affliction: Curse of Servitude]
[Curse nullified.]
I wasn't able to control my expression and I made a surprised look.
Micah noticed and I felt like time froze for a moment. His eyes turned cold and I felt like there was a blade pressed to my throat.
Then it all vanished.
The weight on my chest was lifted and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in.
"Sorry for the little test. You can't be too careful with people these days. If you had any sort of resistance to my mana I would have known you were someone who had been trained in magic and I would have killed you immediately."
I got chills as I looked at Micah who said that with a smile on his face. As if it was such a normal thing to say to a child.
'This is the world I live in now... At any moment I could be killed and it could be for as ridiculous of a reason as this...'
I was walking a tightrope now. One misstep and I could die.
I nodded to Micah's words and tried to change the subject.
"I'm glad I could help... Did the bartender happen to relay my request?"
Micah let go of my hand and sat next to me at the bar. Looking out towards the crowd.
"Olga told me. You want a job. To be honest, I don't have much use for a child."
My heart sank. I lowered my gaze to my mug. I had known that it would be hard to get into the Black Hound gang I hoped that with this event I could somehow make it in.
Reality hit me harder than I thought as I suddenly was overwhelmed by dejection and disappointment.
I didn't know what my next steps would be going forwards. A life of crime was all I knew. Even in my past life I had been a low level thug for a local gang. I tried to live a straight edge life a few times but it just wasn't meant for me.
I would always get into fights with my superiors over our silly egos and I just couldn't let myself get stepped on like that so I ended up escalating the situation more.
Now it looked like I would have to try again to make this straight and narrow path work again.
As I was lost in my thoughts I heard a cough from my side.
I turned and noticed the bartender, Olga, giving Micah a weird look. Turning my head I looked at Micah who scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Ugh... Fine... I don't like using kids because you guys are fucking useless. No help in a fight and you can't carry anything useful cause you're all weak as shit. But I guess I can have you do something for me that I have been playing around with."
I sat up straight and payed attention closely.
Micah saw my reaction and smirked lightly.
"It's nothing super lucrative but I run an orphanage nearby. We use it mostly as a front but I was playing with the idea of having the kids go out and collect information. Like how you overheard the guards talking about the raid today. Who the hell would be worried about their secrets being shared when it's just a kid listening?"
I nodded my head. It was a common thing in my past life to use children in this way. Beggars and the homeless are widely ignored. So they are able to listen in on conversations that they have no business hearing.
"Maybe you just got lucky or maybe you are meant for this sort of thing. I don't know, but I am willing to give you a chance to prove that you're worth something. Head to the orphanage and train the kids. I want them to start going out and starting to collect information. If you guys can bring me something useful you'll be rewarded."
"I'll do it!"
I immediately said. Micah was shocked by my sudden outburst but quickly laughed it off.
"Okay okay, calm down. If you can't produce anything meaningful within a week I'm going to have to let you go. You can maybe stay at the orphanage but I'm not going to take any information from you guys. I definitely won't be paying you either at that point."
I nodded my head vigorously. I understood that this was my chance and I had to make it work. I swore to myself to make it work somehow.
After telling me where it was Micah quickly left the bar with a few strong looking thugs. I knew better than to ask where he was going, but I also didn't care. I knew my job now. With my knowledge of the future I wasn't worried about being useful but I was worried about if I could gain any information that would be useful to Micah within the next week or not.
I only knew about the raid today because I really had heard it.
In game.
When you started the game there was a scene where you could overhear a couple of guards talking about a successful raid on the Black Hound's stash house in District 4.
I took the risk when I walked into the bar and revealed this information. I didn't know what the date of the raid was but I was hoping that it hadn't happened yet.
When Olga said they would test it I knew it hadn't happened yet. Then I was just hoping it would happen soon but it happened faster than I thought.
That also allowed me to figure out where I was in the timeline of the game.
Act 1 - Academy Enrollment
The main character would enter the Royal Academy in the city and that is where the majority of the first act would happen. It was basically a long tutorial so I didn't think it mattered if I missed it or not.
Of course I didn't think there was any way I could have possibly entered the school anyways.
I wouldn't have any influence on the main story but I didn't care. I didn't try to insert myself into the story like I'm some sort of main character. I just hoped to secure my place in this world and survive.
But the prompt from earlier still floated in my vision.
'A system.'
It wasn't even something I felt gratitude for having. It was the least whatever entity brought me here could give me as compensation for dragging me to this world without my consent.
I quickly focused on the panel in the corner of my vision and the screen expanded to fill my vision. It was a simple text box but the contents grabbed my interest.
[Absolute Status Application]
[Description: Status affects have a 100% chance to apply. Ignore resistances. Applied through physical touch.]
I almost fell off the counter as I read the description of my talent.
Strong. Absurdly so. It was an advantage I would abuse. I asked Olga where the orphanage was and quickly headed there. It was late in the day and I wanted to lie down for the night already.
The mental toll today was taking was wearing on me even though I had technically slept while passed out earlier.
Following Olga's directions I soon arrive at a large but dilapidated brick building. There was one window with light spilling from it. I exhaled a deep breath and knocked on the door with my little hands.
My fragile body protesting as I felt a light throbbing pain in my knuckles now.
I heard a bit of rattling metal before the door opened to reveal a large girl, about the same age as me, who crossed her arms and tried her best to sneer down her nose at me.
"What do you want, pip-squeak?"
I furrowed my eyebrows.
'Pip-squeak?'
I admit I was a small kid but that was still a bit of a stretch to call me that when she was barely taller than me. She was only really wider than me. A chunky kid. However she did seem oddly familiar and I couldn't place my finger on why.
Then it happened.
"I am Amelia Vurut! The Queen of The Slums!"
Anyone else would ignore the rambling of a delusional child but I realized where I remembered her from.
Amelia Vurut.
One of the 13 Faceless bosses.
But right now she was just an overweight child.
I felt a bad premonition creepy into my bones and it only got worse.
"Amelia, who are you talking to at the door?"
A thin but tall boy appeared behind her. He had black hair and looked like a delinquent already.
"Nigel, this kid showed up randomly knocking. He's not a kid from our turf so I was warning him of who he's messing with."
Nigel Hubert.
Another Faceless.
One Faceless in the same orphanage? Coincidence.
Two? It was possible. Not too unreasonable.
Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a small head of golden blonde hair draped over a small face with a large burn scar covering half her face.
She let out a small shriek before ducking behind the doorframe.
"Aye! Quit staring at Renae! You're making her feel bad about her... Just quit staring at her!"
Renae Gold. The Burning Witch... And...
A Faceless.
My talent. The fact that there were three Faceless at this orphanage. Then the nail in the coffin.
[Main Quest Activated: Rise of Luther Wright.]
[Goal: Create The Faceless Criminal Organization!]
"Fuck..."
....
"Did this asshole just say 'fuck' to me?!!!!"