25 Chapter 25. New Card
[Item: Chicken Wings]
[Effect: Relieving cravings.]
[Introduction: Ba da ba ba ba. I'm lovin' it is this the place to eat. At the end of the day, to relieve the stress, we add a little play. Ba da ba ba ba. I'm lovin' it.]
Ignoring the aforementioned introduction with the suspicious audio feature, Ryan turned his attention to the card that was revealed in the treasure chest.
The D-level card was black with a little metallic luster, very much in keeping with its [Black Iron Treasure Chest] origins.
[D-level card -- Wesley Gibson]
[Skills: Curved Ballistics, Adrenaline Acceleration.]
[Background: Wesley, an unremarkable office worker, was told that his father had been killed. After an unexpected shootout in the city, he was pursued by a hitman. In desperation, he joined the Fraternity, an assassin organisation. After brutal training, he sets out on a path of revenge full of intrigue and calculation.]
[Remarks: Do you believe that bullets can turn corners?]
'As expected, the extraordinary abilities are gradually involved from the D-level cards onwards.'
The result of opening the chest wasn't good or bad, and while it didn't yield the highly powerful cards, Ryan needed most, at least it wasn't too disappointing.
[Curved Ballistics] is from the movie "Wanted". The principle presented in the movie was a technique to extend the effective range of a firearm by using the curved swooping kinetic energy after the bullet exits the chamber and the trajectory reaches its peak.
Although the principle was bullshit, if we don't look into its flawed principle, this curving bullet trajectory technique could be regarded as a superior ability, especially in the face of opponents who couldn't resist bullets.
As long as it was used properly.
...
Over the next few days, Ryan followed the aftermath of the events regarding the race while silently getting used to the new card's abilities.
The racing incident, which the NYPD deliberately covered up, didn't really make any major headlines.
The day after the incident, Tony, one of the parties involved, returned to his high-profile life of pleasure, dominating the news and entertainment gossip pages, seemingly unaffected by the previous incident.
If Ryan hadn't swiped so many reputation points from him earlier, he might have been fooled by the carefree attitude he displayed.
Although, every now and then, the thought of going back to Tony for another collection flashed through his mind.
But after some thought, Ryan decided to suppress the thought that had crossed his mind. He was well aware that there was a limit to everything, especially when it was clear that SHIELD existed, and Ryan had no guarantee that his earlier move to provoke Tony hadn't caught SHIELD's attention.
With or without it, Ryan didn't want to take the risk.
At least at this stage, Ryan didn't want to have any premature contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. until he was strong enough.
Even if, on the surface, S.H.I.E.L.D. appeared to be a defender of humanity in the future, Ryan would never forget that it was still a secret organisation belonging to America and one that had been infiltrated by Hydra.
The idea of an agency that specialises in infiltrating a rival organisation being infiltrated by a rival organisation sounds like a bad joke any way you slice it.
On the contrary, the joke was the current state of SHIELD.
Forget about SHIELD, and put your attention back to Ryan's experiment on the new card's ability.
These days, Ryan had basically mastered the use of [Wesley Gibson]'s skills.
In general, [Wesley Gibson]'s skill was different from [Ah Xing]'s powerful Mighty Steel Leg in that it required a special weapon, namely a gun, to be used with it. Although there was this natural limitation, if he could get a gun, he would be able to use it as effectively as, and perhaps even more effectively than, [Ah Xing]'s Mighty Steel Leg to some extent.
After all, Mighty Steel Leg, as powerful as it may be, was ultimately a close-combat skill.
[Curved Ballistics] was a different story. Even if Ryan's bullets currently didn't have the ability to do the inhuman 360-degree spin like Fox at the end of the movie...
But a 180-degree curve bullet was still a very dangerous attack. After all, from a realistic point of view, who would have thought that a bullet could turn around and come back?
Moreover, even without the amazing Curved Ballistics, Wesley's other skill [Adrenalin Acceleration] had surprised Ryan in the past few days and even surpassed his surprise from the [Curved Ballistics] to some extent.
[Adrenaline Acceleration], as the words suggested, simply meant that the adrenal glands in someone's body would cause their heart rate to accelerate. Under normal circumstances, this phenomenon was short-lived and extremely easy to cause serious harm to the body. However, on Ryan, who possessed [Weasley Gibson]'s body, when his heart rate would rise to 400 beats per minute, everything in front of him would seem slower, and he could even see the wings of flies flying in the air easily.
Such a scenario reminded Ryan of the conversation between the villain Sloan and Wesley in the movie, calling this ability a gift.
From that point of view, Wesley's [Adrenalin Acceleration] skill should be a passive skill, just like [Baby]'s tinnitus and [Hiroshi Nohara]'s foot odour.
It enabled Ryan to have the same physique as Wesley and could withstand the side effects of the rapid heartbeat, which also gave him super dynamic visual acuity and quick reflexes.
Sure enough, D-level cards were just different.
Looking at the [Wesley Gibson] card and thinking about the [Baby] and [Hiroshi Nohara], which were E-level cards, Ryan fully understood the saying, you get what you pay for. Compared with those two side-effect skills that had no benefits, the passive skill [Adrenal Acceleration] from [Wesley Gibson] was what a passive ability should be.
Meanwhile, at the same time, Ryan glanced at the data panel that was back to single-digit reputation points due to the previous unboxing.
He silently shed tears of poverty. 'Indeed, no matter in what world, the truth that it takes money to get stronger applies.'
Although money wasn't the thing that made Ryan stronger, but reputation points, the principal was still the same.
...
Thud --
"Hey, is there anyone in?"
At this time, just as Ryan was worried about his reputation points drained...
The door of his shop was roughly pushed open, and a low, raspy voice sounded.
