Upgrading Skills

The next day Michael woke up and immediately turned on the news. The reporter was talking about the heist at the MGM Grand that happened yesterday. The vault was found empty in the General Manager's house; Vincent Benedict was currently being detained for further questioning. Authorities believed that Vincent was the mastermind behind the heist, they figured he was doing it for the insurance money. They just could not figure out how he got the vault to his house.

Michael laughed at Vincent's bleak future. He was definitely going to prison and would lose everything he ever worked for.

"You got what you deserved Vincent; have fun in prison. Don't drop the soap" Michael wished Vincent farewell. He was confident the heist could not be traced to him. He was invisible the whole time and as a precaution, he was wearing a mask and gloves.

Michael then turned his attention to his spoils of war. He harvested $162 million dollars from the casino and another $6 million from Vincent's secret stash. He could not use the casino money outside because the authorities would try to track it by the serial numbers. Vincent's money was safe to use since it was a secret undocumented stash.

Michael transferred all the casino money into credits and checked his stats.

Name: Michael Rodriguez

Strength: 7.9

Intelligence: 8.4

Stamina: 7.6

Agility: 7.6

Status: Healthy

Credits: 162,530,000

It had only been three months since he broke through to Advanced rank so he still had a lot of training to do before reaching Supreme tier. He finally had enough credits to upgrade some skills. Michael did not hesitate and upgraded the ones he thought were most useful right now.

[ Congratulations Host for finally upgrading your skills:

Intermediate Regeneration (10 million credits): Greatly accelerates your healing speed. Rapidly heals broken bones and deep cuts.

Intermediate Body Armoring (10 million credits): Toughens up your body making it resistant to all physical weapons and small caliber bullets.

Intermediate Disguise (10 million credits): Allows you to change your skin color and hair color at will, in addition to your face.

Intermediate Enhanced Vision (10 million credits): Grants Night Vision mode that can be toggled on for full night vision.

Intermediate Animal Instincts (10 million credits): Your instincts are sharper and will detect danger much more efficiently.

Intermediate Toxin Resistance (10 million credits): Increases innate resistance to poisons and venom. Automatic Immunity to weaker toxins.

Intermediate Disease Resistance (10 million credits): Your immune system is now resistant to all non-lethal diseases. It has a higher chance of fighting off lethal diseases.

Intermediate Stock Market Analysis (10 million credits): You have much better intuition on stocks and their future trends.

Intermediate Persuasion (10 million credits): Increases chances of persuading others decisions and opinions.

Deducting 90 million credits. Remaining Credits: 72,530,000 ]

Michael was already in bed so he went to sleep to let the system make the changes to his body. He woke in the afternoon and ate Baked Lobster tails from his inventory. Maybe he should visit all the buffet restaurants in America. Michael chuckled and dismissed the idea. It was not worth drawing all the attention.

Michael turned his attention to his new skills. The best ones are probably Regeneration and body armoring. He felt much safer now; However, he frowned at the cost of upgrading them to Advanced tier. Each skill costs 100 million credits to upgrade, He did not even want to think of the cost of upgrading to Supreme tier.

Michael then turned his attention to the mission tab. He checked the mission details and realized he could submit it as completed anytime.

[Confirm Mission Completion? Yes/No]

" Yes" Michael confirmed.

[Mission 2: Defending an Emperor's Dignity

Mission Results: The MGM Grand has taken a severe beating and will have to file for bankruptcy. Vincent Benedict has lost nearly all his wealth and is now facing multiple criminal charges.

You have chosen to stay in the shadows and therefore your enemies do not know you were the reason for their fall. There are many ways to be an emperor; the emperor that stays in the shadows gets to avoid paperwork and assassinations. While the emperor who goes public gets fame and love from citizens. Think carefully about what kind of emperor you wish to be.

Rewards: Unlocks new items in General goods store. ]

Michael was surprised by the advice the System gave. He never really thought that there were different kinds of emperors. Michael knew he was far too shy to hold open speeches and kiss babies. However, if he tries to use a figurehead then he would have to risk rebellion. Michael decided to save all his problems for Future Michael. He was nowhere near close to building an empire anyways.

Michael turned his attention to the mission rewards. Opening the General goods store, he noticed an Armory section. It contained many different types of Military equipment from guns to body armors.

"System can I not just buy guns from outside? These guns seem a bit pricey." Michael asked. He didn't really know where to buy guns in real life but he knew that with the right amount of money; one can buy anything in America. The store merchandise seemed a bit more expensive.

[The equipment sold by the store is much more durable and reliable compared to outside equipment. Besides buying large quantities of arms in the real world will put you in the spotlight of many different government agencies. Perhaps once you have properly established your Empire it might not be a problem; however, in the beginning, you will need to be secretive when buying weapons.]

"Well, it is nice to know I can build an army secretly anytime I want." Michael thought to himself. He bought some new firearms: a high powered sniper rifle for long distance shooting, a fully automatic machine gun for shredding enemies, a 50 cal Desert Eagle for getting up close and personal with people he did not like, and finally a fully automatic shotgun for fun. Michael also bought fully body armor just in case. He already had the body armor skill but it does not hurt to have more armor.

Michael decided to head back to Texas. He had enough of casinos; Michael wanted to start his own business and earn money through his own hard work. He decided to drive to Texas this time. He needs to deposit the cash from Vincent to his bank account; however, he cannot just deposit $6 million at once so he needs to stop at multiple banks along the way and deposit in small amounts to avoid suspicion.

Michael started packing; Well he just put everything in his inventory and he was done. He pulled out his truck in a remote street and started his journey back home. The drive back to Briarcliff would take 20 hours in a straight drive.

On the road, Michael thought about his future plans. He planned on going to college since he had the money; He could build his business and attend college at the same time. Honestly, Michael could use his high intelligence to easily pass all the exams so he did not even have to attend his classes. However, he wanted to enjoy the college experience.

The road trip ended up taking four days because of the constant stops at banks. As he drove into Briarcliff he realized that the town did not change one bit. It was him who changed during the past half year. Michael reminisced over his past adventures and looked forward to the future.