New Skill

Before heading to sleep, as Bleacher had recommended me, I wanted to pay one last visit to Gray.

After looking around, I found him in a room marked as the infirmary.

I stepped inside the room and instantly was met with a grave energy emitting from the area. It was a gloomy feeling. One that made you want to leave immediately.

At first, I was confused.

Where could such a presence be coming from?

But when I noticed the countless gang members lying on makeshift beds, wincing and moaning in pain, I quickly found my answer.

"Sealer... SEALER!" A shirtless man called out as he lay on the bed with a bloody wound through his stomach. "I'm gonna die here!"

"Shut the fuck up, Jaxon!" Another familiar voice shouted in response. "He's treating me at the moment."

"Ahhhh! Why don't we have more healers? I know we're Heartless, but we need some people with goodwill around here."

There was a lot to take in, but I quickly grasped the state of the infirmary.

A man in white medical gear, plastic gloves and a white face mask was standing over a man on a bed.

The medic's hands were hovering over a man's face. Someone that I had recognised.

Gray.

As he lay on the bed, still wearing his bloodied black jumper and joggers, his eye was being worked on by who I guessed was a healer.

Green, calming energy seeped from the medic palms and slowly worked on healing the wound on Gray's face.

It had been cleaned and was no longer dripping with blood. But the surrounding area where his face had once held brown skin was now pink and fleshy.

The eye was certainly gone, there was no doubt about that, but the healer worked to minimise damage.

I found myself standing there, gawking at the uses of magic.

This world is truly incredible... Where do these powers even come from?

"Red, what you doing here?"

Gray's voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I noticed the man now staring at me with his one eye. A grim expression was spread across his face.

He was angry, but it didn't seem directed towards me.

I walked over to the man, getting a closer look at his mangled eye.

It took all I could to stop myself from wincing.

"Just wanted to come and check on you, man," I replied sincerely. "That patrol was... Something."

Gray nodded his head in response, which made him wince.

"Please hold still!" The medic called out as he continued to use his magic. "You'll mess up the healing process."

I was also given a closer look at the medic.

Underneath his medical mask, I could see that he was a man with golden skin. His hair was black and was tied back into a ponytail. I guessed he was around the same age as me, eighteen.

He had been called Sealer, which I assume was his alias.

Perhaps related to his healing ability?

"You don't need to check on me." Gray suddenly said in a dismissive tone, clearly not wanting to speak. "It's just an eye. Leave and let me rest."

The words hung in silence for a moment.

Just an eye...

There was hurt behind the words, even if he refused to show it.

But as Bleacher said, the gang life was rough. Gray knew this first-hand after losing his best friend at a young age.

At least he could be grateful that he still had his life.

I just wish I knew where his anger was directed towards.

Without saying another word, I did as the man said. He seemed to be fine, anger aside, so I knew that I could leave him.

The headquarters were still bustling with activity, despite being late at night.

It was the way gangs worked on earth as well. Loitering around in groups at night and getting up to mischief.

But in StoneCity, or at least The Heartless, gang members seemed to be less of a nuisance.

Rather than bringing tasteless trouble to the streets, I felt that these guys had a purpose.

Maybe they were like that on Earth as well, and I just never noticed.

That was a thought I would save for another day.

As I made it to the sleeping area, I wasted no time before falling asleep in the room with many other gang members.

Heavy snores sounded through the room, but I was too tired from the day's events to let it stop me from falling asleep.

And I did so with a smile on my face.

After all, I had survived my first night in a foreign world.

———

[Progress to Tier 2]

|———|————————|

25%

[Core Skill Unlocked]

— Dance of Swords I —

After landing an initial strike with a bladed weapon, whether blocked or not, the user enters a combo stance. Each subsequent attack within the chain doubles in speed, making them increasingly difficult to evade. The effect lasts for up to three consecutive strikes and cancels if the combo is broken.

———

As I woke up the next morning, my mind was instantly filled with new understandings of myself.

Not only had I unlocked a new powerful skill, but I had also progressed 25% through tier 1 already!

It must have been from my initiation fight.

I noticed that next to both of my skills was an (I) symbol, which I took to be the Roman numerals for the number 'one'.

Does that mean that my skills can be levelled as well?

Alongside the new skill, I felt that my body was stronger than it was before.

It was like all physical movements took less energy, and were more efficient.

As I rose to my feet, preparing to test it out, I noticed loud chatter coming from a distant room.

The sleeping area was mostly empty, but those who were still there hurriedly put their clothes on and headed towards the commotion.

I should probably go check that out as well...

Following suit, I put on my red shirt and black jeans. There was a mirror in the room, and I noticed there were bags under my black eyes, and my bright red hair was now spiky and messy.

Perhaps I was more tired than I expected.

My glass shard from yesterday was still in my pocket, reminding me that I would need to get an actual weapon soon.

After making my way outside, and travelling towards the noise, I was brought to the top floor of the abandoned mall.

Everybody was gathered there, which I found surprising, considering the top floor was reserved for The Ten Pains. This was pointed out to me during my tour.

It seemed that whatever happened, was serious enough for the rules to be abandoned for now.

I pushed my way through the crowd, who were growing increasingly angry at whatever lay on the other side.

"I can't believe it. He's dead!"

"He's actually dead."

My ears piqued at the near chatter, which only made me more desperate to see what was going on.

And once I finally made my way to the front of the crowd, I was given sight of a room with an open door.

My arms fell loosely to my side, and my eyes widened in disbelief.

In what seemed to be a sleeping room, blood was scattered messily around the floor and walls. The lights of the room flickered, highlighting three corpses that scattered across the floor, clearly killed by a blade.

They wore blue camo military outfits, unlike any I had yet to see in StoneCity.

But what had caused the commotion, was the man that sat on the chair, blood dripping from a wound where a knife lay lodged in his skull.

His head hung forward, looking down at the floor involuntarily, and his arms hung loosely by his side, a familiar knife resting in his right hand.

But I did not need to see his face to know who he was. The blonde hair was enough.

It was Bleacher.

Bleacher had been murdered.