Soulless Players

Steve's financial asset is one of the greatest advantages he has. With this, Steve could create a battleground favorable to him, either in weaponry or human resources.

'But he's too reliant on his money and borrowing other powers,' Philip contemplated. After observing Steve, Philip knew that Steve was weak in terms of direct confrontation with his enemies.

'This makes it even easier,' Philip narrowed his eyes dangerously and entered the Recruitment Office.

Philip had already anticipated that Steve would hire more personnel. After all, his bluff had almost wiped out all the mercenaries he hired in the past.

In the end, although Steve wasn't agreeable to hiring more mercenaries after what they did in the forest, he had no choice as this was the only avenue for quick employment, perfect for whatever he was being careful of.

As for Philip, It was easy for him to be a mercenary and create a clean record. The office and the town were so small that the employees were susceptible to bribes and under-the-table transactions.

All he had to do was offer half of his payment and a little bit of manipulation.

Everything worked as planned, but when Philip saw Steve enter the office, his body slightly trembled at the existence of another person.

'Is he an idiot?!' Philip cussed internally, not believing Steve to make a huge mistake.

Philip glanced at the man walking near Steve. His forehead furrowed at the conspicuous dangerous aura the man was emitting.

As a spy in his past life, he was also good at determining whether others were similar to him, especially when they were amateurs.

'I'm sure he's strong, like that man in the forest.' Philip was indeed surprised by the man, but after mulling for a moment, he nodded his head in understanding.

'Of course, someone is coming to Steve. After all, the strange man was nowhere to be found.' Philip thought. After not finding the person who cut his leg, he determined that the person was out of service after being hit by a freakin' thunder.

With this, Philip was glad as his espionage became easier with one less enemy. But the arrival of another man troubled Philip whether to continue with his plan or not.

'Should I step back for a while or not?' Philip thought.

'No! It's now or never.' Philip decided. He knew that if he would never move today, it would be more difficult to find Steve in the future.

After all, why were powerful people gathered around Steve? Of course, they had a hidden agenda.

Philip couldn't let them do it as he needed Steve to know about the game.

Having steeled his mind, Philip continued his plan, acting like a serious and dedicated bodyguard.

***

A couple of hours later, when they arrived at the railway station.

'I'm going to ride this?!' Philip complained internally as he examined the red locomotive he had seen in the past but never rode it. If ever the company chose to travel with it, it would be his first time and was especially scared by its behemoth appearance.

When the train began to move, Philip flinched nervously. But when he noticed Steve gazing at him with a confused look, he quickly acted back to his persona.

This acting continued with Steve and Loen's confrontation. Later, he finally confirmed Steve's actual power.

'So I'm right. His power lies in his sight, possibly seeing the strength of people…'

But seeing that Steve panicked and Loen acted like he wanted to devour Steve, he interfered, eventually gaining the trust of Steve.

In the end, without any effort, Steve whispered the 'magic word' that Philip wanted to know,

"Open System."

Philip widened his eyes in disbelief at how careless Steve acted. He thought he needed to threaten Steve first, never in his plan did he expect that Steve was too open in saying the word.

'How did I almost lose my life to this idiot?' When Philip was busy dissing Steve in his head, he noticed Steve trembled.

Shortly, Loen entered like nothing had happened and Steve was acting suspiciously. He gazed at Loen, the surroundings, and him.

'Why is he acting like that?' Philip curiously mulled over. Steve was acting as if death was in front of him.

"Excuse me for a moment as I'm going to the restroom for a minute."

Steve's politeness even made him more weirded out by the situation.

He followed Steve out, and it was then all the mysterious incidents happened to them.

***

Philip had no other reason to protect Steve and endanger his life with the monsters running after them. He could just leave Steve behind and jump out from the train.

After all, he finally knew the 'magic word'. All he had to do was say it with his own mouth to confirm its authenticity.

However, if he whispered the word in Steve's presence near him, he might be caught by Steve's power.

'I am still uncertain what benefits will come upon saying the magic word. There's a possibility that it will make me stronger,' Philip murmured and decided, 'I have to be careful.'

'From what Loen has been acting earlier, he is surely after the peculiar abilities that Steve has. Meaning, an ability of a player.'

If that was the case, Philip needed to hide his relationship with Steve. Like his Auntie Marissa 'possibly' knowing about the existence of the game, he was also sure that there were a lot of residents who were after the players.

After all, this was related to the possible destruction of their world.

Philip had no way of knowing what Loen's real purpose was. All he had to do was to be careful not only with him but also with other people.

It was then Philip decided to continue acting like Steve's bodyguard until he was no longer under Steve's field of sight.

Philip didn't need to wait longer as a mud wall quickly separated him from Steve.

It was then he grabbed the briefcase that Steve left behind, slammed it on the monster, and climbed up to the train's rooftop.

After this quick action, Philip finally whispered the word,

"Open System."

Philip's ears were quickly bombarded with the sound of a bell ringing continuously as a holographic panel appeared before his eyes.

Surprised, he almost fell down from the roof of the carriage. This phenomenon was too unreal to him.

When he calmed himself out, he focused his sight on what was written on the panel.

Ting!

— I n i t i a t i n g S y s t e m —

Ting!

[Congratulations on being a Player, 88!]

Loading…

Ting!

Name: Philip Mckenzie

Story: The Misery behind the history of Britannia

Profession: Undercover Agent

Level: 0 (0/100)

Stats:

Physique: 30 [>]

Mental: 12

Mana: 0

Spirit: 0

Attributable Points: 0

Karma: 0

Uniqueness: Mystique Identities - Active (Lv. 1)

-Transformed physical body to the body the player is familiar with.

______________

Quests: …

Inventory: …

Log: …

???:

…

_____________

Ting!

[Hidden Quest Complete!]

[Hidden Quest Complete!]

…

[Level Up!]

+ 5 Attributable Stats

[Level Up!]

+ 5 Attributable Stats

….

Ting!

[Chain Quest: Growing Up! (1)]

—Drink milk every day (0/8)

—Reward: 1 Experience Point

….

....

....

The bell continuously rang until Philip felt his ears go numb. The panel also underwent a lot of changes Philip's eyes couldn't follow.

It was only when it stopped then Philip read its contents, especially the stats, and uniqueness.

Level: 9 (100800/102300)

Stats:

Physique: 30 [>]

Mental: 12

Mana: 0

Spirit: 0

Attributable Points: 53

Karma: -2

Uniqueness: Mystique Identities - Active (Lv. 1)

-Transformed physical body to the body the player is familiar with.

'Insane…' Philip was astonished. Aside from the powerful medicine and mud monsters, this holographic panel had greatly surprised him. His eyes couldn't believe that the world had more mystical things to offer him.

'So I am not limited to transforming to my old body.' Philip pondered while looking at his Uniqueness. Aside from surveying Steve, he also tested his ability, especially on its limitations.

After two days of tests, he finally knew that he could only transform eight hours a day.

'What's this?' Philip asked curiously as he gazed at the arrow near his physique. He tried to click it and a new panel window appeared in the air.

[Currently in a transformed state. Base Physique changed from 9 to 30.]

'Ohh, I see…' Philip nodded in agreement. It was to be expected that his physical strength changed as his body now was of an adult.

Philip then moved his sight toward the source of the continuous ringing of the bell.

[Log: +49]

'How about this?' Philip clicked it and a new panel window appeared on the side.

[Survive 1 year: +100 Exp]

[Level Up (1): +5 Attributable Stats]

[Survive 2 years: +100 Exp]

…

[Use Uniqueness without System's Support: +10000 Exp (>)]

[Level Up (6): +5 Attributable Stats]

…

[Hidden Quest: Escape forced fate. +10000 Exp (>)]

[Level Up (7): +5 Attributable Stats]

…

[Hidden Quest: The fool who forgets his destiny. +80000 Exp, +8… (>)]

[Level Up (8): +5 Attributable Stats]

[Level Up (9): +5 Attributable Stats]

…

'Quest?' Philip's interest quickly piqued at this word. He knew the thing he lacked the most was strength. If this strange window would help him to achieve it, then he had to comply with whatever it ordered.

______________

Mission: Kill a player

Reward: 5 Attributable Stat Points, 1 Experience level-up card, 1 Uniqueness level-up card, Steal Player's Uniqueness

______________

But after seeing the first quest, his eyes quickly flickered in greed. He gazed at the metallic roof he was sitting on as if trying to look at what was beneath it.

After a short while, he stood up and ran toward the other end of the rooftop.