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As soon as they heard the door closing, Max gave Little Dou a signal. He wanted to open the vault first.

It was the most useful of all the things that were in this room. Most of the items here would only stay in his inventory. Max couldn’t use them as they might be traced somewhere.

But money can never be used everywhere. No one would be able to trace it if Max doesn’t give others a chance to find him.

Another reason was he felt that he was starting to forget the numbers he memorized. Max hurried with Little Dou, going straight to their stations.

Both of them concentrated on unlocking the complex circular door. One at a time, they continued, slowly but surely.

The circular door has multiple locks that were connected to each other. If one lock failed to unlock, the door wouldn’t budge.

On its exterior, there were multiple looks, each having its different way of opening it. But in reality, it was only one lock. It’s either they can unlock everything, or they won’t unlock it.

Max felt what Little Dou went through at Xiao Ming’s room. It was the pressure and nervousness weighing down on their shoulders.

After a few moments of quietness with them doing their own work, both of them backed out, looked at each other, and sighed in relief.

Max took a step forward, reached out for the handle as he turned it clockwise. Metal scrapping sounded out as he turned it.

“Huuu.”

Max sweated on the metal wheel as he held it securely with his hand then pulled hard on it.

*creakkk*

“Hahaha! Little Dou we are now professional thieves!”

[Yeah! But I did a lot more!]

 

Little Dou laughed as her eyes shined. She was happy about them reaching this point and couldn’t wait to take all of this for themselves.

“Hahaha! We’re the only ones here, so all of this is ours!”

Everything around him was valuable. Max saw the treasures spread on the table to the money on the vault. He was only thinking about one thing: all of it will be theirs. Xiao Ming will deal with the rest.

“This is so heavy.”

“Hyah. Pull!”

“This is fine already.”

*Tock*

“No air? Is this pure steel? How was this made?”

“This vault is good stuff!”

“Hey, Little Dou should we also get this?”

“Actually no, no, we can’t. If we did, they would know that it was an Awakened if this thing disappears. We’re not Awakeneds, just professional thieves.

“Woohooo”

Max jumped on the stacks of money as he threw a handful of them to the air. The smell of money around him was incredible.

“We’re really rich now! I can’t get used to this!”

“Don’t worry. This is only the beginning. Our first goal was to have this city for ourselves. We’re going to dominate this city!”

“We’re taking over the entire underground world of this city to be the underground king!”

“Or maybe the school first? Whatever. I’ll definitely do it! I will run around the city more!”

“We can steal more of their businesses too! But we’ll take it one at a time.”

[That’s right! Dominate this city! Then we can move to some other place to find more women and get stronger a lot faster!]

 

Little Dou raised her fist, cheering for Max. It will be a long road to the top, and Little Dou knows that they have to try harder than how they were doing now.

*poof*

A large amount of money disappeared every time Max touched them. It was like his hands were erasing them from existence. Inventory is really convenient.

…

“This is the last one! Bye!”

*poof*

“Xiao Ming you’re in trouble now! Hahaha!”

The vault was left with nothing. Max thoroughly swept everything, leaving nothing inside. Max can visualize the contents of his Inventory, and the amount of money in there was unbelievable.

But Max wasn’t contented with just this. He remembered that he came here to make trouble for Xiao Ming and he would make the best out of it.

“Come Little Dou. We still have a lot of cleaning to do!”

[I will take the shiny stuff!]

 

Little Dou flew to the diamonds that she had been eyeing as Max went to the heavier ones. With one touch, the items disappeared.

Little Dou flew back with different gems on her arms. All of it disappeared to Max’s Inventory.

…

The warehouse was now empty except for the tables and the vault. Max and Little Dou looked satisfied. Their faces glowed with happiness. This night was eventful for them, gaining a lot of things in one go.

“Let’s write our name on the wall!”

“No not our real names! Our thieves group! Haha, in the future, I want influential people to shiver in fear when they hear this name!”

“Let’s take this chance to let them know who we are and who they will be dealing with in the future!”

[Un! A second identity? Let’s do it!]

 

[You can be Max in the morning and someone else at night!]

 

Little Dou liked the idea of having a second identity. Max can use it to fight enemies in another identity and also maybe socialize with other Awakeneds if he ever came across one.

“What name should we use?”

“Hmm. Shadow?”

“Shadow thieves. What do you think?”

[Shadow thieves! They will be everywhere!]

 

“Yes! They will be everywhere! We will be everywhere!”

Max got a random antique paintbrush from his Inventory and wrote those words on the wall. Max can already imagine what their faces would look like when they read it.

“There!”

“We have to leave now before the cart comes back.”

“We need to be far away when they get here!”

Max stopped his hand from reaching the door to ask Little Dou that was on his head about something.

“If we pull this door open, the guards would notice us? Also, wasn’t this door locked from the outside?”

[…]

 

“…”

[…]

 

“No worries. I’ve got this. We still have the Time Stop. We only need to think of the correct way to use it.”

“Should I do it?”

Max gave Little Dou a cheeky smile, implying something with his eyes.

[Up to you!]

 

Little Dou knew right away what he was talking about. She had been with Max for quite some time to understand what he meant to say.

A large and tall vase appeared in his arms. Max would make the loudest noise he could by throwing this vase to the door.

When they opened the door, Max would stop the time and make a run for it, straight out, back to his house.

Max had a target where he should throw the vase. It was at the vents on the ceiling. Max didn’t know where it was connected, but he wanted to poke a hole on it or destroy a part of it.

So they would think someone used that way to get in. The shadow thieves broke from the vents. If the vents weren’t connected anywhere, they would still be confused as to why it happened, and they will be back to knowing nothing.

“Hehehe. Ready?”

[Go!]

 

*CLANKKK*

‘That’s a big hole! Any time now.’

“What’s that?! Open this quick!”

When the door opened, Max stopped the time. He rapidly ran as fast as he can straight out of the hotel.

There were a lot of people back there. Even the Awakened was behind the door. Max continued running, having thirty seconds of Time Stop for himself.

Max ran outside the hotel, went farther and farther until he blended in the dark.

Without a doubt, Xiao Ming will severely suffer this time, and this won’t be the last.

 

 

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https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/19590/feralheart/chapter/397930/volume-17-chapter-2

 

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The cart once again got back after a long process of biddings. Since the guy pushing the cart had been in and out of the room, the guards allowed his entry with no delay.

All of them failed to notice someone else going inside along with him. Max successfully got in, yet he never lost focus. The next one will be the trickiest.

Just like Little Dou described, the room was small, and there were barely any lights. On the other side was a door, a large steel door.

Two buffed guards were standing on sides of it. The guy had to stand still in the middle as they checked various areas of his body.

This showed that they paid substantial attention not to let any unexpected problems to occur. Too bad they were ordinary people in the end. Not one of them was able to see another person in the same room as them.

If Xiao Ming were to station the Awakened in this room, it might give Max a harder time to sneak in as he had to be extra cautious with his movements and breathing. But with only these people, Max only needed to stay silent, and he would be fine.

Finally, their thorough inspection was done. They fiddled with the locks then turned the giant wheel in the middle as the two guards pulled the one feet thick door together.

As the guy pushed his cart in, Max relaxedly followed behind him. Surprisingly, it was easy getting up to this point.

Max halted his steps as he froze with his mouth wide open. Slowly, his expression started to change. His eyes shined as a broad smile crept across his face.

‘Hahaha! Little Dou do you see all this? We’re rich! We really made it! Look at all of this!’

Little Dou sat on Max’s head as they gazed at the fantastic scene before them. Different items were spread out on the tables.

Max became more excited when he saw the items that he had wanted to see. Pieces of jewelry that were appropriately arranged side by side, little bars of gold, and what seemed to be some rare metals and treasures.

There was enough space to fit more items in this space. It had shiny white and gold walls and floors that were smooth on his feet.

The items had tags on them and written in it were names and prices of it. The items were separated in two, one side where Max saw the jewels and gold. The other side was where the antiques like vases, paintings, and sculptures were located. There were also other unidentified materials with them.

[Max! There! There! Look!]

 

Little Dou pulled Max’s hair as she energetically pointed to the far distant area. Max turned to where Little Dou was looking.

It was quite far, but when Max saw it, he almost couldn’t contain his voice. His eyes widened as his body shook in delight.

‘Hahahaha! This! This is great!’

As they got closer, Max was able to see it more clearly. It was a humongous vault, more than ten feet in height but its width was many more times than that. It can be considered a small room.

This vault made Xiao Ming’s look like a small locker. Steel coated its exterior and seemed to have different layers of metals stuck together.

Max saw how the door is. It was about two feet thick. Max could clearly see it now as the guy was in the process of pulling it open.

‘So this is why they were strictly guarding this place? For a second, I thought Xiao Ming placed those guards outside for the auction items.’

‘But now I know the real reason why. Xiao Ming probably valued this greatly. What a huge vault. Do banks have something bigger than this? How much money would be there?’

‘Hmm. I guess that explains it. Xiao Ming only stationed guards on the entrance, thinking that no one can take this vault away.’

‘At least, no normal human can.’

The man left it halfway opened to push his cart inside. He then unlocked the one side of the compartment on his cart to unload a large amount of cash that he had gotten from the auction.

Though everyone can pay digitally, most people would still prefer a cash transaction, having to save money from the percentage discount for using cash.

That was what most people know. Few individuals take advantage of it to hide their earnings or wanted more secrecy from where their money came from, and cash was the easiest to hide.

There were also some who didn’t want anyone to find out their identity, or they might simply be a proxy for someone else.

‘What the f*ck!’

‘There’s so much!’

Max wasn’t much surprised anymore. He saw a lot of things today that he was numb from seeing a large amount of money stacked on top of each other.

The vault was full of money. It can be said that it only contained money. The entire vault was filled with stacks of cash that if Max dived on them, he would suffocate from the amount of money that will cover him. Even now, from the adequately arranged stacks, it was already taller than he was.

‘This is seriously crazy!’

‘Hahaha! Well, thanks for this, I guess?’

‘This is ours now!’

‘Before that, let’s see how he opened this thing.’

Max checked for a password or a code to learn how he could open this thing. Max moved closer to take a look. He wanted to be able to open it on his own since he won’t be able to secure what’s inside with this guy in here. And Max wasn’t sure whether he could get himself out if he allowed the guy to lock him in.

‘Little Dou, let’s find out how he opened this!’

Once the guy gets out, they can then start doing them a good deed of cleaning this whole place.

There were a lot of complications placed on the door. It has all sorts of mechanisms that even Max couldn’t understand.

But he won’t give up. Since this guy knows it, that would mean it won’t be that hard to remember. Max is an Awakened. He should have even the slightest bit of edge in memory and ability to learn.

‘So this goes like this?’

‘This turns like this.’

‘Little Dou, check that.’

‘The code for this is… And I should turn it this way.’

‘What’s this? Is this like a timer lock?’

‘They need to use this vault a few more times later, so this won’t be a problem.’

‘I’ll remember these codes, and you remember those?’

After checking everything, Max and Little Dou decided what they should remember. It wasn’t that hard as it looked. More like Max was new to this stuff, that’s why he had to study how it works.

Once they memorized the long sequence of codes, Max and Little Dou were ready to open it themselves. No one spoke to each other, not wanting to suddenly forget about the numbers. They only stared at the ceiling and focused.

…

*Kacha*

The sound of the door being locked can be heard as the guy went out. For security purposes, he was once again inspected. Even his cart was checked to see if he really left the money inside and took out only what he should.

Once he was cleared, they let him go. The guards went back to stand stationary at the side door. They didn’t know there was someone left inside, gobbling up all the good stuff that was supposed to be stored for safety.

 

 

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Good Morning:)

We continue with what happened last chapter.

Chapter 92

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TL: Parthios

ED: Wolfpup

 

Hey guys! Chapter 37 is now unlocked and the passwords for chapters 38-48 are available on my Patreon. You can also join my Discord.

And you can also see updates in character photos on my Discord.

Anyway,

• Chapter 37: The Magical Tournament (Unlocked)

And,

• Chapter 47: Rebecca’s System (Part-1) (Locked)
• Chapter 48: Rebecca’s System (Part-2)(Locked)

“Stop!” I quickly say.   

“See, skill and all is fine, but you cannot tell someone about your poison and point earning methods. You do know the reason for that, right?” I ask strongly.   

Telling someone the methods and poison is basically like tying a collar to your neck and giving its rope to another person.   

It can be exploited in so many ways…   

“I think he is right. You shouldn’t tell him about the poison, sister…” Aria says, agreeing with me.   

Wait, Aria knows!?   

“But it is the main cause of my problem and I trust that Jacob enough that he won’t do anything bad with the information…” Rebecca says while looking at me.   

“I-I obviously won’t but Rebecca—”  

“You saying that much is enough. Time is running out and only a few minutes are left till the barrier fades away, so, please let me speak. You both can ask what you want later…” she says, a bit urgently now.   

“… Fine,” Aria says.   

Damn…   

“I-I guess, okay…” I say reluctantly.   

“First, about my point earning methods. While I cannot tell you specifically what they are or the barrier will break but basically I think I can tell you that all of them are related to how much affectionate other people are to me…” Rebecca says.   

Affectionate?   

“Hmm…. you can think it like this; the more people like or love me, the more points I will gain,” she says.   

Really? That’s one really convenient system. Especially for someone like Rebecca.   

Her personality seems really good and on top of that, she is such an amazingly beautiful woman. Loads of guys must be in love with her…   

“I know, it must sound like a relatively easy system to you. When I myself read my point earning methods for the first time, I thought that as well… till I look at my poison,” she says.   

Damn… Her poison must be really bad to turn an amazing system like this into a mess…   

“But first, I think I should tell you about my third skill because it is related to my poison. Well, it is also a barrier skill like but it is a little different than the other skills.   

“While my first barrier prevents magic to come close to me and my second barrier prevents sound to come in or leave out, my third barrier acts directly upon the people around me…  

“It basically prevents other people from coming near me, thus, giving me protection from close range physical attacks. Well, I should mention that it is for all people except those who like me and do not have bad motives against me… ”  

“The way this skill works is a little different as well. Instead of just restricting their way to me or something, this skill creates a sense of extreme disgust against me inside their minds, so strong, that the runs away, the moment they come close enough to me.”  

“And also unlike other skills, this one is considerably more powerful seeing that my methods of earning points are related to the feeling of other people and this skill also affects the feelings of others…” Rebecca says.   

Hmm… Even though this one sounds a little bit strange but still, it should be really good in defense. I think Rebecca is—  

Wait…   

Fuck!!!  

I actually remember this one!   

On the night of the system ceremony when I lost control of my body because of the beast awakening and ran towards Rebecca to rape her, I remember that for a moment there when I got really close to her, a strange sort of strong disgust against Rebecca took me over. It was so bad that I dropped to the ground and almost puked.   

In fact, I would have liked nothing better to just run away from her at that moment… if my body would have listened to me.   

But still, why did Rebecca deployed this type of barrier while just taking a simple walk in the garden?   

I want to ask this to Rebecca but she is continuing to speak and well, she told me to ask questions later so…   

“Now, that you know about my third skill, I think I should tell you about my poison… And the reason for all my problems,” she tells me.   

Her voice is again starting to shake a bit again.   

“Because of the poison, my third skill is activated all the time. There is no way to stop it…”  

…  

“WHAT!? You are kidding, right!?” I ask loudly in extreme shock.   

“No, I am not,” Rebecca says while shaking her head.   

I can also see her eyes getting a little wet.   

“B-But isn’t this a combustible skill? Shouldn’t it disappear by itself after some time?” I ask.   

Rebecca shakes her head again.   

“It should but because of my poison, it is constantly fed with life points automatically. I lose around 3 to 5 life points daily because of it…” she tells me.   

3 to 5 life points daily…   

This is a really scary amount of life points to lose every day for a normal person…   

In fact, our situation is somewhat the same. It’s just that instead of three, I used to lose thousands of points every day before the glitch.  

“And this just the beginning of it. As I already told you, my point earning methods are dependent upon how much people like or love me but because of this poison…” Rebecca’s voice trails off.   

Because of this poison, no one can come close to her, let alone like or love her.   

“But then, how do you gain life points to survive?” I ask, a little confused.   

“About that… I told you that people who already like me and also don’t have ill intent for me in their minds can enter the barrier freely, right?   

“Actually, there is a list of people inside my system who are allowed to enter inside the barrier and I gain points through their help. Well, Aria is one of them and I gain most of my points through her. I also work at a restaurant where some of my close childhood friends are my colleagues. And well, I am somehow living off like this,” She tells me.   

Damn… It must be really tough and saddening for Rebecca. I cannot even imagine living if every other person I meet is disgusted by me and hate me…  

Rebecca is really a strong woman.  

Suddenly, a little pleasant smile forms on Rebecca’s face and she looks at me fondly.   

“And now, you are added to the list of people who likes me and don’t have any I’ll intent towards me. That is, you are my special person now,” she says.   

I feel my face getting hot.  

“Hey! Wait for a second. You won’t be giving any points to my sister! Me and her friends are enough!” Aria says angrily.   

“And anyway, now that I think about it, how did you even break through her barrier, huh? It is impossible for someone— Aaaah”  

*CRACK*  

Aria stops speaking as a small cracking sound comes out of nowhere… making all of us jump.  

“The anti-magic barrier is broken…” Rebecca announces, recovering first.   

“Well, can you not deploy it again?” I ask curiously.   

“No… not for some time,” she says.   

Damn… I wanted to ask a few more things. I think there is…  

Wait a second!   

Rebecca just told me about her system, right? Maybe I can also tell someone about mine inside this anti-magic barrier!   

I should ask if I can do that…   

“Hey, Rebecca, do you know—”  

“You still haven’t told us—”  

*BRRRRR*  

Me and Aria start to speak at once but are cut off by this sudden doorbell.   

……  

Fuck! Does anyone know how to murder a doorbell?  

“Who is here at this time? Were your friends going to come, Aria?” Rebecca asks.   

“No… We didn’t make any plans like that. And I have strictly told them to call me before coming to my house. Anyway, I will look who it is…”Aria answers while getting up from the bed.   

Quickly, she leaves the room and we hear the sound of her climbing down the stairs.   

Hmm… Why am I having this strange sort of feeling?   

“Jacob, I am feeling a bit weird. I think we should see who it is…” Rebecca says with a concerned face.   

Rebecca as well!?   

Hmm…  

I give Rebecca a simple nod.  

She gets up from the bed and we both leave the room together.   

The design of Rebecca’s house is such that the front door is visible from the stairs if you look to your left and there is a window (from which I got in) directly in front of the stairs.   

And true to this, me and Rebecca see the front door just after we climb down a few steps.   

And… standing there with an utterly shocked face is Aria…  

 And along with her…   

“YOU! What are you doing here!?” I say loudly in shock.  

 

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Wait… What!?   

“You want to tell me something about your system?” I ask, surprised.   

“Yes,” Rebecca answers seriously.   

“Your system, right?” I ask again, pressing on the word “system” just to make sure that what I am hearing is correct.   

“I know that it may be a bit surprising to you but yes, I will tell you about my system… As much as I can,” She answers.   

“Wait, you cannot do that! You know what will happen, right?” I ask while raising my voice slightly.   

“No, they won’t be able to trace me through magic. I mean, well, as long as I don’t tell you everything and be careful,” she answers.   

What!? For real!?   

There is a reason why no one reveals their system to others no matter how much they want to.   

While it is true that telling someone the full contents of your system can prove to be really fatal and even life-threatening in some cases and thus, it is internationally banned but still, there is no way each and every person will follow this, right?   

Someone is ought to break this law by themselves or maybe slip something out by mistake.   

But the reason why doing this is quite impossible is because magic is used to force this law for thousands of years ago.   

This magic temporarily takes away all the five senses of the body and also takes down the ability to speak or move, making it a complex yet powerful and effective thing.  

In fact, this magic is “Area of Effect” type and is spread through the world using the secondary system towers situated in numerous places and this is the reason why the authorities are informed of the location of the person in question whenever these types of incidents occur, almost immediately.   

And obviously, once the effect of this ancient magic wears down, heavy charges are placed against the person if he is found to be guilty.   

And well, this is why I am in disbelieve of what Rebecca just said… and it looks like I am not the only one.   

“Seriously!? You are going to tell him about your system!? He is a stranger and you don’t know anything about him!” Aria says in a shocked voice while walking closer to the bed.  

Rebecca turns to her and gives a small smile.   

“You know it is important for me as well, right? And I think he should know. I want to tell him…” Rebecca says.   

By how angry Aria is looking, I expected her to retort a little but for some reason, she doesn’t and sit down on the bed silent while giving me a conflicted yet angry glare.   

Rebecca also looks back at me with a strange sort of determination in her eyes.   

In the next moment, she closes her eyes for a few seconds and murmurs something to herself.  

“Jacob, my system is a barrier type…” She suddenly says.   

“No!” I shout out in surprise.   

I didn’t expect Rebecca to just tell this to me straight up and out of nowhere.   

I stare at Rebecca with a horrified look on my face, waiting for her to drop down on the bed or something… But it doesn’t happen.   

In fact, she only laughs a little seeing my extreme sort of reaction.   

“See? Nothing happened!” she says, continuing her smile.   

What the fuck?   

As she said, nothing has happened at all.  

“H-How?” I ask in utter shock.   

“I created an anti-magic barrier around us. It’s one of my skills,” Rebecca simply says.   

“You are telling me about your skills as well!? Is this for real!? And the anti-magic barrier? What is that!?” I ask, getting even more surprised.   

Rebecca takes a deep breath before speaking again…   

“I cannot specifically tell you everything because my anti-magic barrier is really weak and will last for only a few minutes at most or so but I will speak as much as I can…   

“Now, though I cannot tell you the name of my system, I will let you know about its basics first so you can understand when I tell you about my actual problems,” She says.   

What? Rebecca has problems with her system? 

“My system can be partially classified as a combat type as the skills provided by it are for physical defense. To tell this in an easier way, my skills are basically different types of barriers which I can deploy,” she continues.   

Really!? A combat type!? And barriers?   

Combat type systems are rare and at the same time, powerful. Even though humans mostly stay in level 1, but still, combat types are important enough to be a huge asset for the nation as their skills are really useful.  

In fact, if Rebecca wants, she could easily join the military with her system alone. Though her system skills will be checked there by professionals for proof, the information about it will be hidden under military level classification, so it’s fine.   

But well, Rebecca doesn’t look excited or proud of telling me this at all.   

“But the way I can use these barrier skills is a little different and complicated as my point consumption doesn’t work normally because of my poison,” she says.   

“Wait, what? Your point consumption doesn’t work properly?” I ask in shock.   

Please don’t tell me that Rebecca’s system has something similar to mine…  

“Well, though there is no problem with the consumption rate itself, my skills are not permanently buyable. They are like combustibles. I have to spend life points every time I have to use them,” She says.   

Combustible skills…   

These are not that common (especially among humans because of not leveling up) but I have heard about a fair amount of systems with them.   

In fact, combustibles have their own perks by being much more powerful than permanent skills. Though I agree, having all your skills combustible is a bit concerning…   

“And how many times have you used your skills?” I ask.   

“Including the one I just deployed, 5 times in total,” she answers.  

I don’t know why but Rebecca’s expressions turn a little strange.   

Well, anyway, that’s not too much or too less. It’s a fair number. Everyone tries their skills at least a few times.   

“And how many skills do you have?” I ask with a little shaking voice.   

To be honest, I feel really scared and excited at the same time asking someone about their system for the first time…   

“I have 3 skills/barriers which I can use as of now. First is the anti-magic barrier as you already know, second is a sound barrier and the third… the third… well…” Rebecca says while becoming a little nervous.   

Even Aria who was already uneasy about all this has become more so.   

“I completely understand if you don’t want to say, Rebecca,” I tell her firmly.   

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you,” She says quickly.   

“It’s just that I will have to explain a few things along with it. That is… my point earning methods and my… poison.” 

 

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“For now, check everything that’s happening down there. Make sure nothing will go wrong.”

Xue nodded to Xiao Ming as he walked out.

“…”

After the Awakened went out, Max carefully watched what Xiao Ming was going to do next.

“…”

Based on his estimates, there are only about two minutes left for his ten minutes Invisibility Potion.

Max could use another, but he would prefer it if he would use it before taking the auction items. If possible, he only wanted to use two Invisibility Potion since it is quite expensive, going for 500 Points each.

‘Little Dou, buy another Invisibility Potion. Just in case.’

Max intently watched if Xiao Ming was going to move, tightly holding the potion in his hand. Soon enough, Xiao Ming moved out of his bed.

He walked towards his bathroom after stretching his body. Max watched as he closed the door and figured that he turned the shower on, hearing the sounds of water streaming down.

“Quick! Where is it? We have to finish this as fast as we can!”

Max stood up as he looked at Little Dou. They were running out of time, and Max didn’t want to give anyone the slightest bit of information about who the robber was.

[This way!]

 

Little Dou flew to an ordinary painting sticking on the wall. She then pushed it to the side with the help of Max to expose the vault that was hiding behind it.

“It’s locked!”

Max turned the switch as he pulled, but it wasn’t bulging. They needed a long string of numbers to unlock it.

[I still remember it. Let me try!]

 

Little Dou clicked on a series of buttons. Her face became serious as she tried hard to remember what she saw a while ago.

Sometimes, Little Dou stopped clicking as she hesitated on clicking the next number, fearing that it was wrong. After making sure that she added the right code, Little Dou backed out and gave Max a signal to open it.

“Please work.”

Everything would be useless when this didn’t work. Max could try using some of his skills, but it would give away who was responsible even if it’s just a little bit, Max didn’t want to give any clue.

He wanted it to be a mystery for anyone that would investigate it, and if an Awakened joined the investigation, they still wouldn’t know who it was that did this.

*Click*

“Hahaha! Good job, Little Dou!”

[Hehehe! Of course! It wasn’t hard at all!]

 

Little Dou boasted as she was delighted that she was able to do it. She was nervous that she was wrong on a few numbers since she had a hard time memorizing it from how fast Xiao Ming typed it in.

For a second there, Little Dou thought that they would come here for nothing, almost felt like she wanted to cry.

After seeing Max successfully opening it, she internally heaved a sigh of relief as happiness burst insider her, feeling really proud of herself.

Both of them turned to look inside to see what was contained in it. Max’s eyes brightened, looking at the contents.

“This-! This is ours now!”

The vault was full of cash. Stacks of them filled his vault. It slowly disappeared whenever Max touched it with his hands.

Max was so happy that he bought the inventory. He had finally found a good use for it, proving that it was a good buy. He reached his hand in, touching the stacks of money, sweeping Xiao Ming’s vault clean.

Max was so excited that he didn’t notice some things hidden at the back of the vault. His hand only reached them as they all disappeared to his inventory.

After cleaning Xiao Ming’s vault, taking everything, even useless coins, and some other trash, Max closed the vault as silent as he could.

Placing everything the way they were before. Max and Little Dou hurriedly turn towards the door as they ran out of time.

Xiao Ming was still relaxing in the shower, not knowing that a good chunk of his money was just stolen by the person he thought was someone he could squish like a bug.

…

“We did it!”

[Yeah!]

 

Max and Little Dou high fived each other as Max’s invisibility disappeared. Max peeked down the stairs, seeing no one using it, made him loosen up.

They decided to go down after readying themselves. Max and Little Dou couldn’t stay long here in fear that Xiao Ming would go out and see them.

“What’s the plan?”

[There are a lot of guards down there! You have the invisibility but don’t hit anything. There’s still the wind if you move too fast!]

 

…

Max and Little Dou went down after Max drank another Invisibility Potion. There were a lot of people passing by the place they were at.

‘That’s a lot.’

There were more people now than there were a moment ago when they passed through here. Most of them seemed busy transporting fragile and valuable objects out of the warehouse.

Max wondered how much did they lose from going up to Xiao Ming’s room, but his feelings turned to excitement as he thought about how much he got from Xiao Ming and how much more would he get from this stacked warehouse full of rare treasures.

Max was having a hard time going in. The security of this place was so tight. There was barely any space between them for Max to rush in and open the door while being unnoticed.

There was also the wind they would feel if he rushed in, so he had to take it slow, which will make it several times harder.

Max still has the Time Stop that he could use, but he had to save one in case of emergency, and he didn’t want to use the remaining one just for this, feeling that he would need later.

‘Ahh! We would lose some good items if this were to continue. Hmm, we should hurry up.’

‘Hey, Little Dou what is inside this door?’

[That door?]

 

‘Yeah!’

[Another door!]

 

Seeing that Max wasn’t getting it, Little Dou explained more so he could get a picture in his mind.

[After you get in this door, there will be a small room! It’s dark in there! You will see two guards guarding another entrance that has some big locks on it!]

 

[After that was the warehouse! I only took a small peek so I don’t know more!]

 

‘Maybe wait for someone to get in when the next item was going to be brought out? Or maybe use a facemask to copy someone like Xiao Ming? No, that’s too risky.’

‘What now?’

The area Max and Little Dou were currently staying at was very secure. They were in the hallway before the entrance of the warehouse.

Max was crouching under a long decoration table at the side, above the table were tall vases with flowers in them. No one would randomly move it, making it a safe place for them.

[“It’s here!”]

 

Both of them spoke at the same time, seeing the familiar card closing in on them. Max got ready, knowing that this might be his only chance.

 

 

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“Hahaha!”

Xiao Ming turned back to the Awakened as he played with his fingers. Seriously looking at him in the eye,

“Continue doing a good job, and I’ll give you a lot more money. You are the only one left on my side. Don’t disappoint me.”

“I will, boss! Hmph, the last one must’ve run away. He doesn’t know what he’s losing. What an idiot!”

Xiao Ming smiled from the words of the Awakened. He didn’t know that if the Awakened were in the same position as the last one, he would not hesitate to run away either.

This Awakened was only sucking up to Xiao Ming. He knows that Xiao Ming loves to hear people complimenting him.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s blind not to see how lucky he was to work for me. Someone like him will not have a good future. He might even be dead by now.”

“Yes, he’s probably dead!”

‘Idiot! If he were as good as you said, it wouldn’t be easy for him to die. You know nothing about us at all.’

The Awakened stayed emotionless as he agreed with Xiao Ming. Xiao Ming believed that he was right about what he said, already pitying his last Awakened for not coming back.

‘The last guy who attacked us before, ran away?’

‘Did we scare him?’

Max didn’t expect the guy to use his head and choose to run away. Now he had nowhere to find him. He could be on the other side of the world now.

‘I guess he’s very lucky.’

‘It doesn’t matter. That guy is weak anyway. But if we see each other again…’

Max won’t try to find him, fully knowing that it would be almost impossible as the guy had a mask. He could be standing beside him, and he still wouldn’t know.

‘This guy should be stronger than the last two guys, right?’

‘His face looks plain. Does he not have any emotion?’

‘I wonder how long has he been familiarizing on how to use his skill properly?’

Max would never imagine that it wasn’t that long. This Awakened named Xue was alone, and no one was able to teach him how to do anything.

Xue was a former thug or at least one of their people. He was very young at that time, always being picked on by his fellow members.

As he was the weakest member, he could only shut his mouth and accept all of it, beatings, hunger, and many more exhausting chores.

This continued for days, weeks, months until he became used to every single one of it. Xue was angry, furious but he can’t do anything about it.

He had no one else to rely on. If he were to escape, there would be no place for him to go to. Someone once escaped but got caught in the end. He still remembers the last day he saw that guy before he disappeared.

Xue felt helpless, but inside there was this boiling anger building up. He doesn’t realize that his mind was changing into something cruel and vicious.

He unconsciously kept it in, waiting for the right time but never got it when something happened that he didn’t foresee.

One night their group had a territory fight with another. It was a mess. Everyone fought to kill the other, using anything they get their hands on.

Xue saw a lot of his fellow members bleeding from the hard hits that they have received. He was still young at that time, so he was very good at dodging others, but he was weak.

When they saw that they were losing, a lot of his fellow members escaped, running for their lives. It was only him that was surrounded.

He got beaten, beaten so hard that he was bleeding everywhere, and his entire body was hurting. This time, he blamed himself for even thinking that his fellow members or some of them that were nice to him would help.

But no, they used that chance to save their lives, running away, no one even looked back when they heard his shouts for help.

As he was used to beatings, as well as feeling the fury inside him, Xue forced himself to dodge and pushed his way out, while being in so much pain.

Xue didn’t remember much of what was happening, only that he was running and running and running, trying to go as far as he can until he was trapped in a dead-end with nowhere to go.

Xue heard loud footsteps behind him as he experienced changes in his mind.

It was as if he could see clearer and hear louder. Not only that, the last thing he remembers was his body blending on the wall. He became a wall.

Xue was still able to think even when he wasn’t able to move properly. He could also see those people chasing him, turning everything upside down to find him then soon went away when they assumed he wasn’t’ here.

After they went away, Xue didn’t know how, but he automatically changed back, feeling a sudden wave of weakness wash over him as if he would faint at any second.

This was the first time he felt like this. It wasn’t the pain; it was his body. He was slowly losing control of his body until everything went black.

When Xue woke up, it was already the next day. He can now move, except for some pains here and there.

This was when his life started to change. At first, he was surprised and somewhat scared that he became a monster.

But after some time, he started to think that it may not be as bad as it seemed. Every day, he would try to use his skill in small ways, turning parts of his body into something else.

From then on, as a kid, Xue entirely took advantage of his skill. Xue still remembers the first he stole some food from a store, the first time he was able to change his face, and the first stack of money he got from a rich person at a bar.

It continued for years. Xue was able to learn a lot of things, especially his limitations of not being able to maintain complex transformation for so long. He fainted a lot, but he was able to know more about his skills.

Xue then hit a roadblock. He can get everything he wanted, excluding the real good stuff like guarded treasures or a massive amount of money in one go.

Xue was getting more greedy by the day. That was when he took the chance to rob the largest bank in his city and failed miserably.

That was the first time Xue realized that he wasn’t that special. That night, he clearly remembered others a lot stronger than him, and they weren’t alone.

So he left his city to hide here. Xue never stopped his training while selling his services to rich people. He found it fun to do, freely earning money doing easy jobs.

Xue was still hopeful that one day, he would be the wealthiest person in this world. He was a greedy person and would not stop until he gets everything he wants.

For now, he would lay low and take things slower and safer.

 

 

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Hey guys! Chapter 36 is now unlocked and the passwords for chapters 37-46 are available on my Patreon. You can also join my Discord.

And you can also see updates in character photos on my Discord.

Anyway,

• Chapter 36: The Three Princesses (Unlocked)

And,