For a long second nobody moved
It was extremely strange Hank reflected savoring his hot fury’s satisfaction how it seemed that improving people’s Intelligence and physical reaction speed only seemed to make them react more slowly to things that truly surprised them Take this fool of a man for example Since he hadn’t put points into Endurance or Vitality he had to have either Reaction or Intelligence right
Finally the man reacted releasing a gurgling wail that continued far beyond what was comfortable to listen to Hank bit back a grin
You’ve got your violence ’ He told himself specifically the hotheaded half of himself Let it go ’
Grumbling that part of him settled back
What the fuck have you done The woman said gasping as she rushed over to her companion We We
15 year old was almost drooling his eyes moving from the gun to Hank’s face to the wound on the man’s face Coughing slightly Hank holstered his pistol with the same smooth greasy movements Ever since he had obtained his Gunslinger Class getting weapons in and out of things was no problem for him even though none of his Skills seemed to be directly related to it Perhaps it was due to Gunslinger’s Instincts
We will be fucking lodging a complaint The woman said her eyes red as she glared at Hank The wounded man had produced a Healing Potion and drank it Very quickly the flesh grew back and he joined her to glare at him
Hank couldn’t help it now a grin spreading across his face like a wildfire on a dry prairie Be careful you don’t threaten me too much now lest you end up scaring me into lodging a bullet into you two I won’t be nice with my aim this time neither
Hah you might be a Tier 3 citizen but that doesn’t mean you can ignore the law The man said his eyes narrowed You’re lucky that I wasn’t seriously injured We will both be heading out with the secondary expedition in thre days when the Zone opens up and connects to the wider world Colonel Radford is our commander and if he
Snorting Hank turned away This wasn’t worth his time Honestly it would save him the trouble of tracking down that little shit Radford if these punks would send him Hank’s way but he doubted Radford would take the bait
Grabbing the kid’s elbows he steered him away over towards the cracked and dented vehicle After muttering threats at Hank’s back the two left clearly somewhat spooked by the dozens of people recording their actions on their cellphones Although it wasn’t much videos of Hank easily wounding the man would go online where Ghost could access it
Once that data was entered into Ghost’s evaluation the man would have a much harder time raising his citizenry tier Adding more pointless arguing would be doubly harmful Smart like a smelly fox he was Hank reflected
This is bullshit The kid whispered looking at his car Apparently some of the wonder from seeing Hank’s revolver had worn off and he was back on to the damage to his Manatech I had to save up for so long to buy this And now
Don’t worry kid Hank said offering a small object to the kid Those two decided to kindly drop this over yonder Must be as repayment
My name isn’t kid its huh The kid started in a huff then his eyes widened when he noticed the cube that Hank was offering him It was heavy and glossy clearly an expensive material something that could only be obtained in a high Level Dungeon Even Hank didn’t know what it was but he knew enough to guess that it would be probably worth enough to compensate the kid for the damage
How The kid began taking the cube of metal and Hank just waved his long graceful fingers
Fast hands And anyway these are just small fries They might be Tier 2 but they are fresh promotions or else they wouldn’t be in the secondary expedition under Radford Careful where you sell that though both because they might be on the lookout for where they lost it and because other people might take advantage of you Good luck kid
Hank turned and began to walk away fully intending to go home and take a long bath but of course life wasn’t that simple for Hank It hadn’t been for years
Hey Wait I’m not a kid my name’s Tony What’s yours The kid had to hurry to catch up with him hovering around his elbow as he walked
Hank Hank said simply lengthening his stride to leave him behind
But it seemed that Agility was a part of the kid’s Class and a lot of it because he was surprisingly capable at keeping up with Hank And although it was annoying it wasn’t so bad that Hank was gonna launch himself into a dead sprint to lose a kid
His cell phone began to buzz causing Hank to stop up short The kid didn’t react in time and slammed into Hank bouncing harmlessly off with a loud grunt Hank looked at his phone
Alan Howard
Hank answered the phone Heya brother How about you fuck off
Chapter 483
Hank pulled the brim of his hat lower and leaned back in his seat Outside the train the landscape blurred past the Manatech launching their tiny vehicle at such speeds that distance or at least the distance that was within the confines of the Zone meant nothing
Although Hank’s brother was a giant dick he had something that Hank wanted so Hank was unwillingly dragged from the Class C City that Hank called home Mottles towards one of the two Class A Cities in their Zone East Providence Of the two Hank would much rather travel to West Providence which was the technological hub upon which their whole Zone turned meanwhile Hanks current jaunt would take him to the political capital
More than anything else Hank hated politics He hated the posing he hated the rhetoric he hated the quick shifts between enemies and allies that happened so quickly that it wasn’t even worth the time to grow close to anyone
Humans were built on connections with others Hank believed And he believed that politics was the practice of self mutilation of genuine and personal connections It all left a very bitter taste in his mouth
But Hank supposed he should consider himself somewhat lucky The early days after the arrival of the System were chaotic and dangerous Even though the upper echelons of humanity had been warned and had concentrated weapons scientists and supplies in this one location it had still been touch and go for a while in the week that followed Although soldiers had been warned that a great enemy would be coming they expected soldiers or tanks or planes
They didn’t expect demons or chimera or fucking goblins
During that time Hank hadn’t known about the oncoming storm he had just gotten lucky to be stationed as a park ranger near his nation’s capital At the time he was just a hiking enthusiast who loved the sights and smells of the country and his brother was a nobody working as a clerk for a Senator from the South
And now
Hank sighed and shook his head angrily When one of the train’s attendants walked past he raised a hand and mimed taking a shot She smiled politely and nodded even though there was thinly veiled judgement in her eyes Hank didn’t care he just hoped she knew to bring him whiskey Maybe he should have mimed sipping it
But then he would have been dishonest wouldn’t he
While the soldiers and the politicians were struggling to remain in control of their tiny fiefdoms during the initial monster incursions the scientists had holed themselves up in what would become West Providence and begun to experiment Very quickly they realized they could gain Levels in strange almost abstract Skills like Scientific Theory and Organic Chemistry and they pushed a lot of boundaries in those first weeks frothing at the mouth in the presence of this tangible progress
Very quickly there were many deaths and accidents but there was also progress Plasma weaponry manatech and power suits were just a few of their more widely known inventions There were huge jumps in farming and pharmaceutical technologies which would have been worth billions of dollars in the past but now were relatively useless due to the positive benefits of the System
But of course the greatest contribution of West Providence and the reason that they maintained their status as a Class A City despite pressure from East Providence was due to Ghost