Revenge Mode Activated

As Mark raised his hand in defeat, he noticed Rubes' face hadn't changed. Instead, anger lived in his eyes as he charged toward Mark with clear intent to end this battle.

Mark tried to move out of the way, but his body seemed worse than he thought, as a backlash of pain from even the slight move prevented him from avoiding the upcoming attack. Rubes' punch connected once more at the stomach, and the force was much more significant than last time, pushing Mark back a little less than a meter and falling to the ground.

Mark noticed the damage notification and didn't know if he had to laugh or cry over his current situation. He opened his [Status] to make sure his calculations were correct.

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Mark - Lvl 12

Tier: D

Race: Human

HP: 1/155

SP: 3/95

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It was the first time his HP dropped at a single digit like that, and we were that close to death. He didn't know if 0 HP meant death, but he didn't plan to test it out.

He heard footsteps towards him, but he couldn't even turn his head to see who it was. Still, he was confident it was Rubes, as his <Beginner Tracker> still worked on him and didn't cost him any SP to keep it active.

"Let him be. He already surrendered, "Mark heard Sam shouting.

Next, he heard footsteps, which was confident that it belonged to Sam, as she seemed to move between him and Rubes.

That caused Rubes to stop his move, and after a couple of seconds of silence, more footsteps were heard, but they were heading further away.

"I wouldn't get too close to the Little Devil if I were you, agent. "

As Mark felt pitiful over the situation, he got into a few notifications.

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You got defeated by Rubes - The Free Will, so you will receive a penalty.

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Since you got beaten by someone over five times your level, you entered the <Revenge Mode>

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REVENGE MODE

Description: You have a target of great malaise and rivalry. Until you defeat that target or this mode ends, the mode will affect you as follows.

Effect 1: -90% on EXP rewards

Effect 2: -50% boost of any offensive effect dealt on anybody other than the target

Effect 3: +50% boost of any offensive effect dealt on the target

Effect 4: - 90% price on any Skills related to your target

Duration: 65 Days

Target: Rubes - The Free Will

Note: If you fail to end this mode by defeating the target, further penalties will be determined.

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Whenever Mark thought he had seen everything the System offered, something new came up. Even if that <Revenge Mode> was supposed to be a penalty, it had both good and bad coming with it.

He didn't like the first two effects, which made him weaker, but the fourth could save him a fortune of <Truck Points>.

He currently had 41 <Truck Points> left, which would be enough to get 7 to 10 different Advanced Skills or Master Grades. But he could also use his <Truck Points> to raise his skill level, which he hadn't done yet, as he considered it a waste.

If one Skill cost 4 points, for each level up, he would need to use 4 more <Truck Points>, but there was another way to use his <Truck Points> which saved him some. He could get a Skill at the max level of its Rank, which would cost him half the <Truck Points> it would typically have.

So for a D-Rank Skill that generally costs 4 <Truck Points> to unlock, he could get it at level 100 for 201 <Truck Points>, 4 to unlock it, and 198 for leveling it up 99 times. For a Skill that cost 5 Truck Points, the total cost was 302, as it rounded each level up at 3 <Truck Points> per level.

Of course, Mark didn't consider ever using that function, as it was still very costly. Even if he had trucked some people this past month, apparently, everyone was lower level than him, and he received no Truck Points.

From his discussion with Truck-kun, he knew that the difference between his level and his target was what he would receive as <Truck Points>. It surprised him that most average people weren't supposed to be more than level 10, making him wonder why Dr. Kiran was that much higher than him.

But now that he had the fourth effect of the <Revenge Mode>, he could get at least one or two decent Skills and have them in Max Level right away, saving him quite some time.

As Mark thought about checking his [Store] about which Skills were eligible to the effect of <Revenge Mode>, someone reached him.

"Are you ok?" a familiar voice said, and it didn't take long for the face of the one behind it to appear within Mark's sight.

It was Emerald, who seemed to be worried about him. Not that she had any affection for him, but the two had partnered enough in their work in the Research Department these past couple of weeks, and Emerald wasn't so hard to be befriended.

Mark wanted to speak, but he couldn't muster even enough strength to move his mouth to speak. This wasn't the first time that his SP was that low, but he had never had a similar problem like that.

'Is it an effect of having that low HP then? 'thought to himself.

Since Mark couldn't do anything, he closed his eyes, making it seem like he had passed out. However, his body was clearly in a state that it made sense, and since he couldn't communicate with others, it would be better for things to progress that way.

Soon he could feel someone lifting him up and moving him toward the infirmary. But, even in his current situation, he still could use his <Beginner Tracker>. He also could access some cameras that he had worked on these past days to have an 'open channel 'for him to access through his <Beginner Hacker> Skill.

The one who picked him up was one other Combat Department member, whom he had spared once or twice, and knew his name was James. However, he didn't know his family name and had no 'nickname 'appearing on notifications mentioning him, as he wasn't anywhere close to being a Transcendent Candidate.

He still wasn't confident if having a nickname like that meant that someone was a Transcendent Candidate or a Transcendent, as Sam had no such thing. She clearly should be one of the two as she had a particular Talent/ Skill, but no matter how many times Mark faced her, he only saw her full name on the notifications—- Samantha Taylor.

Mark had heard of the Taylor family, but it wasn't one enormous family like the Ranac family or even the Terret family. They exclusively worked in the clothing industry, and many famous dressmakers only worked with them. Still, the Taylor family's influence was minor compared to other families, and its history was too short, only a couple decades old.

Mark wanted to ask Sam how she came to work for the Organisation instead of following the family business, but he never found a splendid opportunity to do so. After all, he would have to explain how he came to know her family name, as she or anyone else ever mentioned it.

As they left Mark alone in the room, with just a nurse to ensure he was doing ok, he decided to check his [Store]. Fortunately, if he entered the 'Dark Room, 'he could see the [Store] and the other panels as clearly as when he was awake.

He kept looking through all the Skills and noticed that some of them had dropped both their unlock price and their 'Max Price. ' No price had any decimal and seemed like the System rounded up, meaning no cost was less than 1 <Truck Coin>.

Most that got discounted seemed to be related to charm, charisma, and manipulation, which Mark didn't think fit his style. But then he found two that he found interesting.

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STEALTH (D-Rank)

Description: The user has the ability to remain undetected, moving quietly and blending in with their surroundings.

Unlock Cost: 3 (Reduced to 1)

Max Unlock: 201 (Reduced to 21)

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BEGINNER LEADER (D-Rank)

Description: The user has the ability to inspire and guide others, effectively leading a team to success.

Unlock Cost: 5 (Reduced to 1)

Max Unlock: 302 (Reduced to 31)

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If it was before, Mark would think that the <Stealth> Skill was a much better choice, but now he wasn't that certain. Even if he hadn't reached a bottleneck of his strength yet, he had to admit working with a team was much better than working alone.

He didn't plan to make a party to head into <Dungeons> as he couldn't do so even if he wanted. According to Truck-kun, only the one who used the <Dungeon Crystal> could access the <Dungeon> through it, and even if he wanted, he couldn't do anything about it as he couldn't visit the <Dungeon> anymore. Its time was over just a few days ago in the end.

But he was going to be on a mission as part of a team, and even if he wasn't pointed as a leader, that didn't mean he couldn't prove himself to be one. So although the Skill was apparent that it helped during combat, they probably would face other obstacles that should be helpful too.

The <Stealth> was also going to be useful as they went there to gather any pieces of information without drawing attention to them.

Mark kept moving his gaze between the two options he had narrowed his search on and finally decided.

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You learned <Beginner Leader> at level 100

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