An Unexpected Turn

"Shit! How am I supposed to handle all five of them at once?" Bowen exclaimed, feeling overwhelmed by the situation. Casper had been Bowen's steadfast companion, helping him successfully complete their missions through shared vision and valuable intel. Casper had been there for him through thick and thin, and Bowen couldn't bear the thought of leaving him behind, even if he was just a familiar. Determined to find a way to rescue Casper, Bowen considered his options. If only he had the invisibility coat with him, he could have used it to infiltrate unnoticed. But the coat was currently in possession of Baron's butler, and Bowen's chance to use it had slipped away. Lost in his troubled thoughts, Bowen suddenly felt a strong pull from his bracelet—it was the rat he had used to bother Renault.

Releasing the rat, Bowen watched as it scurried away, emitting high-pitched squeaks while staring at him. Curious about what the rat might be trying to communicate, Bowen turned to the system for assistance. "Can you translate what the rat is saying?" he asked.

The system replied, "The host needs to upgrade the system to unlock such advanced translation functions."

"Darn it! I can't even contract it as my familiar with my current soul power," Bowen muttered in frustration. As Bowen contemplated the rat's actions, it suddenly dashed across the main road. Bowen followed its trail and discovered it entering the dwelling where Casper was being held captive. "It must have detected Casper's presence," Bowen thought. "But what does it intend to do?"

Bowen asked Casper to continue sharing its vision with him. Inside the dwelling, he overheard a conversation among the captors. "Hey, don't you think we can sell this for a hefty sum? It would make reaching our target much easier," one of them suggested.

Another chimed in, "Why not sell him and divide the money among ourselves?"

"Or we could just make him our familiar."

"Fools! If anyone finds out about this, we'll be in deep trouble. We should present it directly to our boss," warned another.

While the rogues were engrossed in discussing how to handle Casper, Bowen noticed the rat silently entering the dwelling without making a sound. It climbed onto the table where food and wine were laid out and started spitting on each item. The rogues remained oblivious, focused on their inspection of Casper in the net. Quietly as it had come, the rat exited the dwelling.

"What have you done? Will this even help? I thought you had a way to rescue Casper, but... aargh! Forget it, why did I even believe in this rat?" Bowen vented his frustration to the rat that had appeared before him. After a while, a series of shouting and struggling sounds emanated from the dwelling.

Hey! Man i don't feel good. My stomach aaaah!

Ha ha, it seems like i should go to the bathroom. I will be going now.

Hey wait you be here i wanna go first.

stop why are you going ahead of us? Iam the first.

If you all go who will take care of the bird.

Leave it no one is going to come here anyways. A man's dignity is important.

Yoo, it smells move.

I can't control sorry bro I am in urgency.

Bowen witnessed all five rogues rushing outside, clutching their stomachs and behinds. Taking advantage of the chaos, Bowen quickly entered the dwelling and cut the mana net, releasing Casper.

"Ah, Master, thank you! I knew you would come. I'm sorry for putting you in danger," Casper expressed his gratitude.

"Don't worry, Casper. You should thank him instead," Bowen said, pointing to the rat.

"Squeak, squeakkkk... squeek! Do you see this now? I am stronger than you. Bow before me, you dumb bird," the rat proclaimed.

"Chip, chip... I was just unlucky today. Wait until we're inside the bracelet; I'll teach you a lesson," casper retorted.

"Squeak, squeak! Don't you know the meaning of gratitude?" the rat countered.

Bowen left Casper and the rat to argue as they pleased—a friendly quarrel between them. He then touched one of the meat pieces that had been contaminated by the rat's saliva and inspected it closely.

"System, analyze this for me," Bowen requested, holding up the boar meat infected with the mutant rat's saliva.

The system provided a report: "The boar meat is infected with rapela poison, causing severe diarrhea and rapid depletion of potassium levels. If left untreated, the victim will die within an hour due to severe potassium depletion."

"Ah! This is the poison I created. But how did this rat use my poison through its saliva?" Bowen wondered. Nevertheless, he had no regrets. He had successfully rescued Casper, which was his primary objective.

Quickly, Bowen, Casper, and the rat made their way out of Raven Gang's territory. Finally, Bowen reached the Sweet Treats shop, feeling refreshed after a bath, and he relaxed on his bed. Now he had two tasks at hand: making the Raven Gang rogues in his space bracelet confess their plans and finding out more about the rat.

Shaking his bracelet, with a thought the Raven Gang members collapsed one by one from the bracelet. Each member had their hands and legs severed, except for the wind magician with a slit throat. The room was filled with four half-alive bodies writhing in agony before the young six-year-old child.

Not wanting to waste time, Bowen got straight to the point. "Tell me all of your gang's plans," he demanded.

"Kill us! We won't betray our friends!" shouted one of the rogues.

Scratching his nose, Bowen said, "Seems like we'll have to do this the hard way." In an instant, he approached the rogue who had shouted, grabbing his chin to silence him. He then took one of Gia's pills and placed it in the rogue's mouth. Contrary to the rogue's belief that it was a poison pill, his body visibly started healing at a rapid rate. His limbs began to regrow, and a small smile appeared on the rogue's face as he thought he would regain his lost limbs.

However, before the rogue could fully rejoice, Bowen tied a piece of cloth around his mouth. He took out his bone blade, shocking everyone present, and began severing the regrown limbs. The rogue writhed in excruciating pain, with his limbs growing back only to be cut again and again. This painful process continued for a full ten minutes, with the rogue's limbs being cut almost a hundred times. Unable to voice his pain, the rogue could only emit muffled sounds mixed with tears and mucus. After seeing the effects of the pill wear off, Bowen tried to administer another one, forcing it into the rogue's mouth.

This time, the rogue immediately yielded. "Ple... please... I'll tell... I'll cooperate... no more... please..." he begged, his voice suppressed by the cloth. Tears streamed down his face.

"Great!" said Bowen with a smile, clapping his hands. He was tired of cutting the regrowing limbs and needed some rest. He glanced at the other three rogues, and they too started shouting, offering to spill all their secrets. Their loyalty to the gang amounted to very little in the end.

They began confessing to the crimes they had committed, their ongoing activities, their leader's orders, the amount of money they had embezzled, and the places they planned to loot and rob. From their confessions, Bowen learned interesting details, such as their lack of knowledge about their leader Deborah's connection to someone else. It seemed that the Baroness didn't want the risk of rumors spreading about her connection with the Raven Gang. Another important piece of information was that the list of villages and towns they planned to target did not include Bowen's birthplace, Barn Village. When Bowen specifically asked about this, they revealed they had received orders from their superiors not to touch Barn Village under any circumstances.

"Why Barn Village? What's special about it?" Bowen inquired. Only the wind magician, struggling to breathe, raised his trembling hand, hoping to save his own life.

"Tell me," Bowen insisted.

"Umm... yes... the Barn Chief... powerful... their connection... with the Tower," the wind magician managed to gasp out.

Bowen now recalled Renault boasting about how he would join the Tower during seeker's test in Allar. Everything fell into place. The Tower, a union of powerful rankers, was something the Raven Gang could never dream of touching. It consisted of SS rankers occupying top positions, supporting and protecting each member of the Tower.

Curious about Renault's family's connection to the Tower, Bowen decided to inquire later when he assumed the identity of Lord Fate. After extracting all the information he deemed less valuable, Bowen chose to end the rogues' suffering. After all, he was also human, and he couldn't find joy in someone else's pain.

He drew his bone blade and swiftly stabbed them in vital areas, causing them to die quickly and without much struggle. He made death easy.

Suddenly, he began receiving system notifications.

Host has killed a living person of Grimesphere in non-reaper mode. First-time killing... reward... ##@.....#@.. unknown energy detected %$#@$#$$$... error... error... energy... host... body... error... system suppressing... error... 4338665... factor... searching... Deleted anomaly... system absorbing excess energy... The system is undergoing an upgrade. It will shut down for a period of three days. See you soon, host!!!!

With that, the system fell silent, and Bowen was overcome with a sudden tiredness. He couldn't understand the reason behind this unexpected system upgrade.

As he contemplated the situation, Bowen realized that this was his first time killing someone in non-reaper mode. He hadn't anticipated that it would trigger the system's upgrade. He attempted to use his skills, but nothing worked except for his photographic memory. He couldn't even utilize Nova's cultivation technique or communicate with Casper. Fortunately, his space bracelet and other objects provided by the system still functioned properly.

"I should take three days to rest," Bowen thought. But first, he needed to clean up the bloody mess in his room. Oh! how he wished he could lie down and sleep right away.