One piece : Talent reset system

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Inside the enclosed, vast playground, a group of children was running in circles. Their ages varied, from as young as three or four to as old as thirteen or fourteen.

Among them was Ryuusaki, a reincarnated soul from Earth, who had the misfortune of becoming one of them.

Ryuusaki was six years old, born into an ordinary family in the world of pirates. Unfortunately, his parents passed away, his village was attacked by pirates, and then he was passed around by traffickers, eventually being sold to the intelligence agency of the World Government.

Ryuusaki was certain he had been bought by the intelligence agency because he saw familiar faces among the children.

There were two kids in particular that Ryuusaki recognized. One was a young Kaku, whose long nose was unmistakable. The other was a little girl named Kalifa. Ryuusaki, confident in his own sharp eye, was sure of her identity. These two would later become members of CP9.

"Another one down, huh!"

Nearby, a young boy collapsed from exhaustion. A tall man in a black suit approached, speaking coldly, "I'll give you five seconds. Stand up immediately."

But the boy had already fallen into a deep sleep, with no response.

"Shigan!"

A bloody hole appeared in the boy's neck. After a few spasms, he was dead.

This was the intelligence agency—cold and ruthless. The selection process for intelligence agents was entirely different from that of soldiers. If a soldier didn't make the cut, they could withdraw. But for intelligence agents, once you were in, there was no way out; it was a highly classified profession.

In the world of pirates, there was no such thing as a qualification stone. For the intelligence agency, determining whether a child was suitable was simple. They made them run, endlessly, until only those with strong physical stamina or great willpower survived.

From the first day, the children fully experienced what it meant to be cold-blooded. The selectors dealt with those who collapsed in front of all the children.

In three days, more than half of the over a hundred children had been eliminated.

The remaining children continued running in silence, seemingly accustomed to the routine. Life or death—those were the simple rules.

Gone was any innocence or naivety, replaced only by the cruel reality and the instinct to survive.

Ryuusaki didn't want to die. As breathing became increasingly difficult and dizziness frequently set in, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to keep going.

He followed closely behind Kalifa. Ryuusaki knew that mere survival instinct wasn't enough to stay alive. He needed something else to motivate himself—something like Kalifa, with her swaying little figure in front of him.

Hatred, greed, lust, anger—any of these would do. For the sake of survival, even if they didn't exist, he had to create them.

Yet even with that, Ryuusaki felt he was reaching his limit. His talents were genuinely poor. Through the innate talent reset system, Ryuusaki could see his own attributes compared to others.

Among all the children, Kaku had the strongest basic physical stamina.

Kaku's talents:

- Talent: Basic Physical Stamina (92)

- Talent: Basic Strength (93)

Kalifa's talents:

- Talent: Basic Physical Stamina (76)

- Talent: Basic Strength (64)

But Ryuusaki's talents were:

- Talent: Basic Strength (3)

- Talent: Basic Physical Stamina (5)

Weak, too weak! Out of everyone, Ryuusaki was the weakest, with talent scores only in the single digits, while others had at least two digits.

Even if Ryuusaki reset his talents and added all 3 points from Basic Strength to Basic Physical Stamina, he would still only have 8 points—still in the single digits.

With a thud, Ryuusaki collapsed to the ground.

"Another one down... Hm? Still struggling? I'll give you ten seconds. Stand up immediately!"

The man in the black suit walked over, expressionless.

"Damn it, my legs won't move!"

Ryuusaki's mind was still conscious, but his body wouldn't obey. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stand up. His entire body began to tremble from exhaustion.

Ryuusaki almost crawled, desperately clinging to life. He didn't want to die—not before he had even had a chance to woo a girl in the pirate world.

He grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground. Suddenly, a phrase he had once read online came to mind: "You don't have to become the Pirate King, you don't have to win over the Empress, but Momonosuke must die."

That's right!

Just thinking of that little brat Momonosuke made Ryuusaki furious.

Momonosuke must die!

Fueled by this anger, he managed to get back on his feet, driven by a surge of rage.

"Oh? Not bad, those eyes!"

The man in the black suit nodded in approval. He appreciated anyone who could stand up after collapsing.

He took out a file and began flipping through it, which contained detailed information on this batch of children.

Several of the children's pictures and names had already been crossed out in red, indicating they had been eliminated—dealt with.

Those who hadn't been crossed out were still alive.

"I see, so your name is Ryuusaki!"

The man in the black suit folded the file behind his back, paying a bit more attention to Ryuusaki. He particularly liked the murderous intent he had seen in Ryuusaki's eyes earlier. The World Government sought only cold-blooded tools, heartless executioners.

As the sun set, the day's running finally came to an end.

No one knew if they would have to continue tomorrow, but at least for now, they could rest.

The exhausted children collapsed to the ground, some gasping for breath, others immediately falling asleep.

As for Ryuusaki, still holding onto his anger, he picked up a small stone and hurled it at a distant tree. A cry of pain followed; it hit someone, though who it was, Ryuusaki couldn't be sure.

"Congratulations, Host. You have unlocked the Shooting Talent."

"Huh?"

Hearing the mechanical voice, Ryuusaki paused, then quickly checked his talents.

Sure enough, there were two new additions.

- Talent: Basic Shooting (8)

- Talent: Throwing (4)

Ryuusaki was puzzled. He had thought his talents were limited to Basic Strength and Basic Physical Stamina, but it turned out he had others as well.

"Hey, kid, was it you who threw that at me?"

A boy, taller than Ryuusaki, walked over, glaring at him angrily.

"Uh—sorry, I didn't mean to."

"Didn't mean to? So, you did it on purpose?"

Before Ryuusaki could react, the taller boy swung his fist at him.

When Ryuusaki finally realized what was happening, he was furious. *What the hell? What kind of logic is that?* He thought. *You want a fight? Bring it on! Who's afraid of who!*

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