Vigilante: Stress Test

As Riley opened the door to his house, he heard the voice of his mom calling out to him: "Oh, welcome home Ri-"

Before she could even finish her sentence, Riley had dropped his bag and rushed in to give her a hug.

"I'm so glad you're home, mom."

"Aw, thanks Riley."

Riley let go and broke away, then smiled and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing good, honestly. It really wasn't that serious, I just needed to stay in the hospital for a few extra days so they could monitor me. Anyway, how are your studies? Have you been working hard while I was away?"

Riley scratched his head and decided to play it coy at her question.

"Haha… I think it's going well."

After a short chat with his mom, he hugged her one more time before heading back up to his room. Closing the door, he immediately dashed to his desk and pulled out the burner phone from his desk drawer. Flipping it open, he saw that there was a new text message.

"Hey Mr. R. Hope u had a good day at school. I'll give you a call @ 6pm. Got a task for you. Xoxo - Mr. X."

Having very rarely used flip phones, as they had been phased out before he had been allowed to own a mobile phone, Riley struggled to use the keypad. However, he was able to type out a proper response.

"Hey Mr. X. Sure thing. School was ok. Talk to u soon."

Checking the time, Riley saw that he had about three hours to kill before the call, and decided to head to the bookstore to get more skills. He realized from the past few missions that he had a lot to improve on, and after Mr. X's performance, he realized that he still had much to learn. After a shower and change of clothes, he put his backpack on and headed downstairs.

Hey mom, I'm off to the bookstore to get some books and I'll be studying at the library."

"Okay Riles. I'll be back late today, so grab some dinner while you're out. I've left some money on the counter top."

Riley grabbed the cash before heading out. Pulling up his status menu as he walked to the bookstore, Riley smiled in excitement as he looked at his new stats. Just like a kid on christmas day or a gamer who had just rolled a good drop, he couldn't wait to test himself in combat.

As he walked into the bookstore, Riley checked his wallet. He didn't have much money on him, so he had to be completely sure about his decision. Walking around the store, Riley picked up several books for inspection.

"You have obtained the skill book {Kicking for dummies}. Would you like to learn the skills?"

"You have obtained the skill book {Championship Fighting: Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defense}. Would you like to learn the skills?"

"You have obtained the skill book {U.S. Marine Close Combat Fighting Handbook}. Would you like to learn the skills?"

"You have obtained the skill book {Knot tying}. Would you like to learn the skills?"

"You have obtained the skill book {Long Range Shooting Handbook: Complete Beginner's Guide to Long Range Shooting}. Would you like to learn the skills?"

After he had finished browsing, he felt assured that he had made the right choice regarding his skill points. Obviously, there weren't any books for learning magic, which is why it wouldn't have been a good idea to invest in Intelligence or Wisdom. With that in mind, Riley knew which book he would pick up with his limited funds, and purchased the only book that would complement his current skill set.

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"Hey Mr. X"

"Hey Ri-, I mean, Mr. R, gotta make this quick. There's an important meeting happening soon that you should get in on. Don't worry, there won't be many people there — I'll be handling another trade at the other side of town. You just need to take them all out and call the police. I think there'll be around eight people in total? Think you can handle it?

As Mr. X was talking, a window popped up.

"Quest: Meeting Minutes. "

"Some members of the People's Brotherhood will be having a meeting. It's up to you to hamper their plans, whatever they might be."

"Quest conditions: Incapacitate everyone in the meeting, and ensure that they are arrested by the police."

"Quest rewards: +1 'Vigilante' Class Point. 200 EXP"

"Of course, who do you th-"

"Great! Got to go, I'll send ya the address soon."

As Mr. X hung up, Riley accepted the missed call and strolled to a nearby fast food joint whilst waiting for the Mr. X to send him the address.

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The time was now 9 pm, and Riley was casually strolling into a seemingly empty part of town. He had walked past several stores before identifying the address that Mr. X had sent to him, which was a pizzeria that had been shut down. However, looking up, Riley could see a faint light flickering in the second floor of the shop.

'Hmm, I don't think I should use the main entrance. Maybe the back door?'

Riley walked around the strip of stores before peering into the alley. Apart from the repulsive smell of rotten produce littered around an overflowing trash bin, Riley could not see any shady characters in the dimly-lit alleyway.

"<Incognito>."

After a short period of allowing his equipment to pixelate around him, Riley's vision instantly became much clearer, allowing him to spot two men hanging around near the backdoor of the pizzeria. Smiling to himself, Riley muttered, "Let's test the extents of my new-and-improved self."

Summoning his gun, Riley utilized the passive of his Vigilante's Shoes, [Shadow Walk], to slowly close the distance between him and the two men. Once he had closed enough distance without attracting their attention, he activated <Extreme Agility> and started sprinting towards them.

As he was charging, he placed his fully loaded gun at eye level and triggered <Bullet Time>. With the time-slow in effect, Riley was able to negate the shaking of his hands caused by his movement. With a swift motion, Riley shot four bullets, double tapping twice for each thug and aiming for their heads, hoping to take them out quickly. Although he knew that the bullets wouldn't necessarily pierce through their heads and kill them, he expected them to at least knock them out.

All four bullets found their mark. Although one of the thugs was immediately knocked out, the other was merely staggered. Without any further hesitation, Riley cast his newly learnt spell on the resisting target.

"<Bind>!"

"Active skill. "

"Mana cost: 50."

"Cooldown: 5 minutes."

"Pre-requisites: N/A."

"Description: Upon casting this spell, the user summons a lengthy amount of rope around the target that wraps and binds the target. While the spell is active, the target may attempt to avoid the spell. Works better on unconscious or tripped targets."

A set of ropes appeared below the standing thug and began surrounding him, starting with binding his legs tightly together before working its way upwards. Due to the fact that he had lost his balance, the rope easily enveloped his body.

As a last ditch effort the thug tried screaming for help, but before he could utter a single word,

Riley was already in front of him, using <Power Swing> to seal the deal.

With both thugs incapacitated, Riley walked up to the door and realized that it was locked. There were no windows around to peek inside, so Riley had to make a gambit. He cast <Thieves Gloves - Lockpick>, and a set of tools appeared in his hands.

"Picking time: 2 minutes"

"Accept or Decline?"

"Accept."

Upon accepting, Riley relaxed his body and allowed the system to do its thing. Similar to his previous experiments, the tools in his hands resembled a pick and an L-shaped wedge. His hand moved towards the lock, and just like before, he placed the wedge into the lower part of the key hole, and inserted the tip of the pick into the lock.

The rest happened just as expected: Riley's hand wiggled the pick through each pin, ensuring that the pin was pushed back into its place with a satisfying "click" before moving to the next. Upon "clicking" the last pin, the wedge pushed its way through, successfully unlocking the door.

A window popped up notifying Riley that the task was completed successfully, while both wedge and pick pixelated out of existence.

Once the task was complete, Riley drew his gun and, every so carefully, he twisted the knob and edged the door slightly ajar to peer inside. Peering in, he saw that there were three people inside who had their guns out and trained at the door. Instinctively, he cast <Shadow World> and immediately shut the door before jumping away. His instincts proved to be right; just as he had cast it, he heard the thugs on the other side emptying their magazines into the door while shouting profanities.

"What the fuck was that?!"

"Oi, come back here you!"

"After him!"

After a few seconds of intense gunfire, the torrent of bullets came to a stop and Riley could hear the sound of triggers clicking through the door. Taking advantage of the situation, Riley burst in before the thugs could reload their weapons.

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Patch 26.0

- Regular biweekly update

Name: Riley Petesgeralt

Age: 16

Job: The Roleplayer

Class: Vigilante

Level: 16

HP: 250

MP: 220

EXP: 138/400

Strength: 43

Dexterity: 46

Vitality: 25

Intelligence: 32

Wisdom: 22

Charisma: 26

Luck: 31

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 2)

Incognito (Level 4)

Bullet Party (Level 1)

Bullet Time (Level 1)

Bind (Level 1)

Equipment:

Vigilante's Mask (Level 3/5)

Vigilante's Cloak (Level 1/5)

Vigilante's Pants (Level 1/5)

Vigilante's Gloves (Level 1/5)

Vigilante's Shoes (Level 1/5)

Vigilante's Gun (Level 1/5)

Full set bonus unlocked: Shadow World