First Upgrade: Hitman
Author's note: Hey guys, we have some great news to share with you all! First of all, it's been exactly 2 months since we started uploading, and we're happy to announce that we've hit 100k readers! We honestly never expected our story to come this far; our original plan was just to publish what we had already written. However, receiving so many views and so much support has sparked a flame within us, and motivated us to write more, despite our tight schedules. In fact, we've completely derailed from our original story, which probably would've ended in 20 chapters, but instead plan to expand this into something bigger!
Furthermore, we are excited to announce that we have been contracted by WebNovel! Being contracted was one of the pre-requisites for the competition that we're participating in, the WebNovel Spirity Awards Spring 2020, and we are very grateful for this opportunity!
None of this would have been possible without features (Check out WSA Weekly #2 for an analysis of our first three chapters by our editor, Hao!) and the support of WebNovel, but of course the most important supporter of all was you, the reader!
We plan to slowly amp up our release schedule to twice a week so look forward to that! Also, we realize that Riley being the only character may get repetitive, but fret not! In the future we plan for Riley to receive his very own party so stay tuned for that!
As always, thank you guys for your support, and if you really like our story, please consider giving us gifts! WebNovel gives you several coins for being active, and with those coins, you're able to give us gifts, both to support us as authors, and also to support us in the competition. We'd appreciate it greatly if you do!
P.S. We read every single comment and review, and work hard to reply to most of them daily, so, do give us your feedback and we'd be happy to answer them!
Now, onto the chapter!
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After arriving home, Riley turned off <Incognito>, stripped off his clothing, and stepped into his bathroom. Looking in the mirror, Riley noticed that his face was bloody; there were bruises slowly forming around his face, and his gums were bleeding. His lower lip was cut, and his eyelids were swelling, making it hard for him to see. Looking around at his body, he started seeing several other bruises when he was tossed by the thug, and from the punches he had eaten. He even noticed a deep cut on his arm, when the thug over the counter had tried to stab him.
'Damn it… How am I going to explain this to mom when I visit her? Shit…"
Riley entered the shower and tried his best to clean his wounds up. While showering, Riley discovered more cuts and bruises from the stinging pain of scrubbing his body. After he was done, Riley dried himself up and realised that his clothes were stained. Sighing, he headed back to his room. As he was gathering up his clothes, Riley noticed that his clothes were perfectly fine; no cuts or scuffs, only blood stains.
'Oh, no damage? So when I equip my equipment from <Incognito>, it unequips my current clothes. That's cool I guess."
As he was carrying the stained clothes and towel to the washing machine, a notification appeared.
"Quest complete. Gained +2 'Vigilante' Class Points and 100 experience!"
"Experience: 114/269"
'Ah, guess the cops came and apprehended them. That's great then.'
Riley went to the basement, and threw his clothes and towel in the washing machine and switched it on. He then grabbed his first aid kit and started tending to his wounds: applying iodine on the cuts, and wrapping them with bandages.
After he had finished, he decided to take a nap. It was 4 in the afternoon, and Riley was fatigued out of his mind for two very good reasons: lack of sleep due to his warehouse stint, and being pummeled to the ground by a man twice his age. A nice nap would be just what he needed to forget everything that had happened.
Falling onto his bed, he set his alarm clock for 7, and fell asleep.
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*Ringggg* *Ringgggg*
Riley woke up feeling much better. He was completely refreshed and the pain seemed to have completely subsided. Riley walked over to the bathroom to check on his wounds. However, to his great surprise, every cut and bruise on his face and torso had magically disappeared.
'What? Was that entire quest just a dream? What the hell happened?'
Riley summoned his status and checked to make sure that his level and EXP matched what he remembered from the quest.
"Level: 11. EXP: 114/269"
'It adds up… so what's up with thi-'
Coming to a sudden realization, Riley facepalmed.
'Of course! [Virtual Body]!'
Excited, Riley pulled up the skill description.
"Grants the user a body which allows the user to live in the real world like a game. After sleeping in a bed, HP and MP are restored, and all status ailments are cured. The user will be able to sleep even if his body does not require it."
'Hmm, nowhere does it say it heals wounds. I guess it counts "status ailments" as wounds? That kinda makes sense… '
Riley double checked every nook and cranny of his body to make sure. Sure enough, all of his wounds were gone.
'So [Virtual Body] heals everything. Not gonna lie, that's completely overpowered.'
Smiling to himself, Riley got dressed and headed to the kitchen to reward himself for a job well done with some instant noodles.
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While eating his food, Riley pulled out his phone to do some research.
'One of the gangsters just now mentioned a guy called George Lombardi. Wonder if Google has anything on him.'
A basic search provided no help. Annoyed, Riley switched over to the news section and started scanning through the headlines. After a quick scroll, one headline caught his eye: "Police raid on local nightclub turns up no results, police ridiculed."
"Yesterday night at around 1 A.M., the police department reportedly raided local nightclub 'The Thorn'. After spending about two hours searching the building, the police left the scene with no arrests and no seizures to show for it.
'I'm not happy about this', said nightclub owner George Lombardi. 'The police had no right to come in here and disrupt my business like that. Now people might be less inclined to visit my establishment. I run an honest business here.'
A spokesperson for the local PD made a statement, saying that they had reason to believe that drugs and other illegal contraband were being exchanged within the premises of the nightclub."
Checking the date of the article, Riley noticed that the raid had happened only a few days ago.
'This can't be a coincidence. I have to find out more about this guy and his "honest business".'
He plugged "the thorn nightclub" into the Google search bar. The first link led to the nightclub's Facebook page. Riley clicked on it. The pinned post at the top brought a smile to his face.
"The Thorn will be hosting a masquerade party this Saturday from 10 P.M. to 4 A.M.!"
'Perfect. Now the question is, will I even be able to get in? I'm not exactly at legal drinking age yet.'
Just as he was thinking this, a Main Quest notification popped up.
"Main Quest - The Thorn: This nightclub is run by George Lombardi, one of the People's Brotherhood higher-ups. Infiltrate the nightclub and find out more about the People's Brotherhood."
"Prerequisite: Vigilante Equipment: Mask, must be level 3.
"Quest reward: 500 exp, <Incognito> Level 3"
'Interesting. That's the first time I've had a quest prerequisite tied to my level or equipment. Time to spend those class points that I saved up. Hopefully three is enough.'
Riley opened his class menu. He selected his mask and spent one point to level it up to two.
"Mask Level 2: UNIQUE Passive - Night vision unlocked!"
"Unlocked at Level 3 (2 Class Points): UNIQUE Passive - Imperceptible: You are now able to walk around in public with your mask on without raising suspicion, even in broad daylight. People are less likely to challenge you, allowing you to occasionally access potentially restricted locations (CHA bonus)."
'Just enough. Perfect. And I'm no betting man, but I bet that new passive is the one that'll get me into the nightclub.'
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As the blip on his minimap neared, Riley noticed a long queue ahead of him.
'I better put my disguise on before anyone notices.'
He glanced around to make sure nobody was looking, then activated <Incognito>. Immediately the mask, hoodie, and pants all materialized on his person.
As he got closer to the three-storey building, he gave it a quick look-over.
'There must be an office of some sort, and I'd be willing to bet that it's on the top floor.'
It was a relatively low-key building. The only decorations to speak of were some giant neon lights that spelled out "The Thorn" on a wall to the right of the entrance. Other than that, the only way you could tell it was a nightclub was from the dance music emanating from the inside.
'And the troves of drunk people coming in and out.'
Riley rolled his eyes.
'Time to get to work.'
After reaching the front of the queue, he nervously strolled up to the entrance, stopping just in front of the bouncer. Riley had never been clubbing before so he had no idea what to expect.
"Good evening. Nice weather we're having, eh?"
The bouncer silently raised an eyebrow as Riley gave him a nervous smile. After giving him the up-down, the bouncer nodded him through. Passing through the entrance, Riley breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
'That was way easier than I expected. Must be the power of the mask.'
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Patch 16.0
- Regular weekly update
Name: Riley Petesgeralt
Age: 16
Job: The Roleplayer
Class: Vigilante
Level: 11
HP: 250
MP: 220
EXP: 114/269
Strength: 27
Dexterity: 23
Vitality: 25
Intelligence: 29
Wisdom: 22
Charisma: 26
Luck: 20
Skills:
Roleplayer's Mind
Virtual Body
Analyze (Level 5)
Blunt Weapon Proficiency (Level 4)
Physical Endurance (Level 3)
The Cinderella Effect (Level 1)
Dodge Step (Level 2)
Counter Flip (Level 1)
Leg Sweep (Level 2)
Power Punch (Level 2)
Extreme Agility (Level 2)
Sense Danger (Level 2)
Trash Talk (Level 1)
Power Swing (Level 4)
Quick Draw (Level 1)
Minimap (Level 1)
Incognito (Level 2)
Equipment:
Vigilante's Mask (Level 3/5) (+2)
Vigilante's Cloak (Level 1/5)
Vigilante's Pants (Level 1/5)