Nouveau Semi Riche

The two of them traded conjectures as he approached the city. The walls of New London loomed over him the closer he got to them. They cast a shadow that covered him from 70 meters away. It was the definition of Imposing.

The angle of the light from the sun had something to do with it, but the walls were indeed tall. They were 50 meters tall, to be exact. From what he heard, a particularly powerful hero had spent a few weeks erecting the whole thing by himself. 

The walls were made of thick pillars that were aligned so that two of them needed to be breached in order to bypass the walls. Each pillar is 50 meters long on the surface. There's more of them beneath the ground. Each one is also 1 meter thick and broad. So the wall is 2 meters thick. 

Despite the imposing walls, the security was lacking. The gates were wild open. They were like that at all times too. Anyone can just come in or leave anytime they want. 

Not many were coming in because very few leave after entering. As for those leaving, there were fewer than those coming in. He blended right into the scant crowd.

Wrath mentioned something about how the security was just right because the people who really mattered wouldn't be stopped by a wall, a gate, or some turrets. Wrath claimed not even a tank can stop the truly dangerous people. 

Kelvin was really paying attention. His body and mind were relaxing now that he had returned to somewhere safe. The only thing on his mind right now is a warm bed and some good food he doesn't need to kill his taste buds to eat. 

He eventually got home. He collapsed on the bed immediately and slept for 10 hours. Then he had a shower and ate. Only then did he pick up his terminal to report the situation. 

Apparently, someone had beat him to the punch and reported Red Dream. The Thunderstorm Villain League was asking for his report on the mission and to confirm the accusations. 

He wrote a brief message about how Red Dream didn't make all the information available on the terminal and how the information she gave them was a lie. He emphasized that she started the gang war in order to absorb the Blue Crystal gang and so tried to kill her hired help to keep them quiet about it. 

He mentioned that the Blue Crystal gang didn't even know that there was a war. All they knew was that Red Dream had been harassing them, and then she sent someone to attack them. That lured most of their guards out of the base, which allowed the hired help to help her pave the way. 

He asked for compensation for the mission, citing the difficulty of the mission, the casualty rate, the fact that his boss tried to kill him, and his struggle to survive in the wilds without food and water because of her pursuit. 

He reviewed the message while Wrath offered advice on what to write. When he was satisfied with it, he sent the message to them. He received a message immediately. 

He clicked on the message only to realize that it was a compensation of 1,000,000 dollars. The sight made him jump up in excitement.

He said excitedly, "I'm rich."

Wrath rolled his eyes and said, "What a noon."

Kelvin didn't care. "I know it is nothing to you, and you have seen more than this before, but not everyone can rob banks."

Wrath said smugly, "It is indeed nothing I haven't seen. But it is worse than that. You worked for 760k of that money. The compensation for everything else you went through is just 240k. Tell me, was your suffering worth only 240k?"

That question doused his excitement like a bucket of water on a stove. He had indeed worked for 760,000 of it. He killed Mirage and Fainter, both of them worth $300k each. Then he killed 8 guards of the Blue Crystal gang.

That is apart from the goons of Red Dream that he killed, the other villains he had to kill when Haze turned them on him, the poison villainess who he killed by mistake, the wild beasts, and incursion zombies he had to kill for survival. 

When his unfair treatment at the hands of Red Dream and his suffering in the wilds for five days are included, 1 million seems too little as compensation for what he went through. 

But he wasn't too disappointed. He said, "It is part of the risk of the job. Besides, I have already learned this lesson. Missions are more difficult than I expected."

Wrath patted his shoulders and encouraged him. "Don't worry, in time you will have more money than you could spend."

He replied without looking away from the terminal. "I know."

He was looking at the offers for the mission he put up. There were a lot of them for him to go through.

The people who saw his mission replied with a message about the ability of the target that fit his requirements. He can then decide to pay for the information they have on that target. 

There were a lot of the messages, so he was soon excited again. Unfortunately, his mood took a nosedive when he found out that most of the target's abilities were useless. 

Not only were all of them betas, their abilities were weak and useless, such as the ability to make bubbles, talk to animals, or communicate with machines.

There were some odd ones, like the ability to put people to sleep by singing to them or the ability to see through sound waves instead of through the eyes.

These two abilities could be useful, but they were not worth it to give up a slot for. He wouldn't take them even if they were free and on his doorstep. So he certainly won't pay for information on their wielders.