Passive Talent for stealing

Chapter 22

Despite cursing inwardly and feeling fear, the slender young man couldn't help but be tempted by the other party's proposition.

"What if just a few strands of hair could provide enough food for my sister?" the slender youth debated within himself.

As this thought crossed his mind, his doubtful expression became apparent to Ray.

Observing the other party's demeanor, Ray grew excited, but he saw an opportunity to continue negotiating.

"How about this…" Ray suddenly spoke, retrieving something from his storage ring.

"I'll come to you every week for hair, and in return, I'll provide you with meat and money worth one hundred units. How does that sound?"

Hearing Ray's offer, the thin young man grew even more skeptical.

It would be dishonest if the slender youth claimed that he didn't see the benefits. After all, it was just a few strands of hair. Moreover, finding a job was becoming increasingly difficult.

If he had to choose between adequately feeding his younger sibling with healthy, long hair or struggling to find a job, he would choose the former.

Observing the other party's excited expression, the thin youth reluctantly agreed.

"Okay, I agree…"

Upon hearing this, Ray happily handed over fresh deer hind legs to the other party.

Following that, Ray provided smoked meat and some money as payment to settle their arrangement.

Observing Ray's light-hearted and cheerful demeanor, the slender youth felt a twinge of regret. He even entertained the thought that the other party had intentionally set him up just to obtain his hair.

But there was nothing more to be said.

With payment in hand, the lanky young man felt too embarrassed to back out of his commitment.

As a result, a handful of hair was randomly cut and handed over to Ray.

Ray, without much thought, put on gloves and a mask before accepting the slender youth's hair.

Ray's serious expression briefly convinced the thin youth that what he had heard was true. However, upon further reflection, his fear only intensified. He couldn't shake the notion that Ray was exceptionally skilled at fulfilling his fetishes, willing to spend significant amounts of money on equipment and "purchasing" himself.

After closing the zipper of the pouch he had brought along, Ray smiled kindly and uttered a few words.

Watching Ray's retreating figure from a distance, the thin youth could only breathe a sigh of relief, yet worry still lingered in his heart.

However, upon seeing the meat and money in his hands, the slender young man ceased overthinking and could only find solace in the fact that there was something worth eating.

With that, he hurriedly rushed into the house to prepare a meal.

...

Ray, in a cheerful mood, finally arrived home after his walk.

Upon entering the living room, Ray encountered two little boys engrossed in play and reading.

Although they didn't appear overly thrilled, their attitude was notably better than the previous week.

Spotting Ray's return, the two little boys eagerly ran towards him with their tiny feet.

"Yeyyyy, brother is home!" Haruza exclaimed excitedly.

Esubi, who was less boisterous than Haruza, also seemed content and relieved upon seeing Ray's arrival.

"Hey, do you misbehave when I'm not at home?" Ray asked, putting on a stern face.

"No, no. We are well-behaved!" Haruza quickly replied.

"Yes, that's right! We even read the book about the rabbit and the turtle that our brother gave us. It's very thrilling!" Esubi chimed in confidently.

"Yeah, I like reading the Tortoise and the Hare book. I'm glad the tortoise wins..." Haruza added with enthusiasm.

The two little boys chirped excitedly in response to Ray's question. After some light conversation, Ray finally gave them the statues he had made. There were only two male deer and two female deer, forming a family with two children.

Ray also provided wild berries and nuts for the two little ones to eat, while making sure to keep some meat and fish for his own needs. As Ray was almost finished storing the meat in the kitchen, a surprised exclamation came from a woman.

"Oh, my God! What's wrong with your neck?" Yuvra exclaimed in worry.

Hearing his mother's familiar concerned voice, Ray realized that he had forgotten something important. "Ahh, it's just a small wound..."

"Is that true?" Yuvra looked doubtful as she saw the pile of venison in front of her.

"Yes," Ray started to reassure his mother, but he was interrupted by her anxious actions. Yuvra unwrapped the bandage around Ray's neck and saw several deep wounds, causing her to almost cry.

Ray blushed from being scolded by his mother for so long, but he still felt a warm feeling as Yuvra treated his neck wound. After the treatment was done, Ray returned to his room.

Despite being scolded, Ray felt a sense of happiness. He took a shower and rested for a while. After dinner, he went back to the attic to work on various tasks.

Ray retrieved the hair from his storage ring and activated his copy talent. Once the talent activation was complete, Ray ordered the Tesseract to scan for the activated talent. Regular insights began to appear in Ray's mind, bringing a happy smile to his face.

These hairs would save Ray from misunderstandings and unnecessary problems in the future. The [A rank Hidden Long Arm] was a passive talent that camouflaged the user's movements while stealing. Ray confirmed that the previous thin youth had not used this talent to steal, but there was another active talent that was equally useful.

Though Ray still needed to learn how to use his hands effectively, he was glad to have an added layer of deterrence as he explored the potential of his passive talent. With the previous thin youth's hair taken care of, Ray turned his attention to researching alchemy sundries on the internet.

As someone from Earth, Ray's curiosity about chemistry in other worlds grew. He hoped that his memories of chemistry from his old world would be of great help as he ventured further into this field.

After browsing for a while, Ray became certain that alchemy was indeed similar to what some novels described. However, as he gained a deeper understanding, Ray also realized that alchemy wasn't devoid of logical principles. Instead, it was the lack of knowledge and differences in matter that prevented people on Earth from completing their periodic table.

With a basic understanding of alchemy, Ray retrieved the corpses of two king-type monsters: the deer leader and the alpha wolf. He had forgotten about these monster corpses until he saw the alchemy materials, realizing he had the necessary ingredients to create deer antlers through alchemy.

Ray meticulously separated each important part of the deer, including the antlers, essence core, flesh, skin, and even the internal organs. He felt a tinge of regret that the Stag had no passive talent, so he turned his attention to the wolf's corpse instead.

Without making any cuts or alterations to the wolf's corpse, Ray focused on finding the core in hopes of testing his luck. After struggling for a while due to the wolf's hard skull, Ray finally managed to extract a pea-sized gray core.

Closing his eyes, Ray activated the B-level passive talent he had long dreamed of. A substantial amount of red smoke emanated from his body, carrying a strong sense of bloodlust and leadership charisma. Sensing the changes around him, Ray could only smile with happiness.

The recently used passive talent was called [Charisma of the Alpha, Rank B]. It was similar to the passive talent possessed by Xiao Bai but to mimic the touch of a wolf and exude the characteristics of an alpha wolf. The aura emitted by this passive talent exuded a strong leadership quality.

Ray imagined the tremendous momentum he could build if both the [B-level Tiger Intent] and [B-level Alpha Charisma] passive talents were activated simultaneously.

While Ray was captivated by his new toy, he sensed something was amiss with the wolf's body in front of him. The activation of both the [B-level Tiger Intent] and [Charisma of the Alpha, Rank B] passive talents didn't simply amount to one plus one. Faintly, he felt another sensation arising from the merging of two different yet similar materials.

As indicated by the two passive talents, there shouldn't be any foreign object occupying the wolf's body. Driven by curiosity, Ray followed the instincts granted by the intent-based passive talents and started to make incisions on the wolf's body.

Soon after, he discovered a black stone lodged in the wolf's stomach. Intrigued, Ray instinctively grabbed the object. However, what happened next terrified him. The strong resistance felt through the transmission of the [B-level Tiger Intent] and [Charisma of the Alpha, Rank B] passive talents startled him, causing every hair on Ray's body to stand on end in response to the grape-sized object in his hand.