Planning

Staring at the Smith and Wesson Model 29 in the display case, a slight sense of frustration washed over me. Knowing that it only costs one grand, which i could afford with the two grand i have, i still hesitated. Could i really make it through the month with only a thousand bucks to my name? A month that didn't even halfway pass? 

As i left the gun store, the familiar smell of the city, exhaust fumes, greeted me. Looking uo and seeing the slightly cloudy sky, i decided I'd try to make the most of my day off. 

After an hour spent loitering around and doing basically nothing, I stopped. I can't really have fun when im under pressure to get stronger, nor am i used to just leisurely going around doing nothing. Plus, i do still think that, looking at my system window, i can get somewhere in this life.

Sitting down in a nearby cafe and ordering myself a coffee, i kept looking at the system window while pretending to look outside. Let's go back a day, shall we? 

Yesterday, before i went to sleep, i asked the system how much experience points or whatever i needed to level up. 

<Youre currently a third of the way to your first level up.>

"Uh, can i not just make you show a progress bar?" 

With a ding sound coming from it, "At 41/100 huh? How much was the kill worth?" I asked while closing my eyes. 

<A 30 average human is worth experience.>

Hearing that, i was once again starting to question my humanity, or whatever the hell is left of it. 

A human life...was worth only 30 experience? 

Only now grasping the amounts of people i needed to kill if i wanted to grow stronger, i was slowly starting to doubt my resolve. Would it really be a good ending for me? Could my conscience endure it, knowing im making fathers lose their sons, mothers their children. 

With the shitty justifications of calling them no name mobs, or trying to dehumanise them by saying that this world wasn't real and whatnot, i ate dinner. 

With such thoughts plaguing my mind, i went to sleep yesterday. Even when i woke up, i had a belly full of questions for myself. So trying to forget them, i used escapism in the form of entertainment. Yet the problem would come back, and ruin both my enjoyment, no matter how momentary, and my mood itself. 

Presently, looking at the system window, i decided id see every skill that i can get quickly in detail. 

The three big categories are close range, mid range and long range.

 They each have special weapons that seem to have some insane benefit like moving faster during Focus or having the ability to automatically reload themselves. 

For now, considering that i would be up against humans, i went for mid range tree. No point going for a shotgun that can cut people clean in half, or a rifle specialised for sniping, neither of which i could get soon. A bullet to the head solving most of my problems is what made me take the it over the others. 

And the first skill in the middle tree was not half bad for a protracted shootout. 

<Control >

While aiming down a revolvers sights your Perception is increased by 5% and you experience 50% less recoil.

Being a passive skill, it was always active, which was really nice to know i wouldn't need to spend precious time in <Focus > to have this active. 

Now then, as i decided on what im getting first, i switched focus. To the main issue currently and in my previous life. 

Cash. 

I will need an inordinate amount of cash to keep myself supplied with guns and ammo. Not only that, i will probably need some sort of income stream if i want to keep myself afloat, due to the police pay being just... Decent. 

Thinking up to here, i was thinking how to get money. A proper cop cannot take money from criminals, no matter what. Asset forfeiture laws, or something, they call it. The government basically pockets it, or more specifically, the government agency that seized it pockets it. So if i was to seize a million in illegal cash... I would get scraps. 

I needed to get said cash on my own, without pissing off the good ol' IRS. Only death and taxes are mandatory, you know? 

Thinking up to this point, other than killing off people and robbing whatever cash i can find, then going through black markets for whatever i need, theres not much else i can do. Im not rich enough to start a company, so even if i do have an idea to make something decent i would still need cash to get kickstarted. Gambling? Not a snowballs chance in hell, I've seen enough victims of that in my previous life. 

As i left the cafe, going around to think about this a little bit more, it seemed like a decent idea overall. Mulling over my plans, then finally coming up with something that seemed half decent, to me at least, i headed back home. 

As night fell, i was ready to go out of my house, not as a law enforcement offcer, but as a vigilante. Having a pair of rubber gloves on my hands that would prevent fingerprints, and my entire hair covered by a net so no strands would be left behind... I looked a bit odd didn't i? 

Wearing dark clothes that would help you blend into the night, i headed out, hopeful that my preparations help not leave behind any evidence. 

I was about as ready as i could be for my stupid plan. 

Leaving the house i took in the sight of Brooklyn at night, a neon jungle with countless shimmering lights interwoven. Not used to a brightly lit city, a country rat like me found it weirder that there's still plenty of people around. 

Those same neon lights, and those same faceless people masked one of the most dangerous cities in America. While Kingpins massive network was one of the biggest leaders of organised crime, there were a multitude of other villains at large. 

My plan for now was simple,try to get into trouble. Patrol around the city blocks next to mine to find if i can come accross anything. 

And if luck wasn't on my side, well, i investigated a small gangs base less than two blocks away from where i live. If i don't do anything myself they would get to taste the big boys, the SWAT, soon enough. They are properly trained to take an armed gang on compared to little old me...

However, if i don't find anything going on within the next hour, i would go knock on their door. A dozen men versus only one me, sounds mildly insane right?

Well, I'm insane for doing this anyway, and i can't sit idly either knowing that the end of the world is approaching. 

... And that i could be one of those who end up getting snapped by the purple dumbass. Worse stiill, what if due to my meddling in the timeline with even the tiniest of events, he ends up winning? 

Like that, i kept patrolling the area around my apartment for the next two hours, trying to encounter any crime to both help people get out of trouble and get myself some cash.