Infiltration

Eric stayed in the shadows for thirty minutes, waiting to see if soldiers were patrolling the training center. He didn't see anyone there.

'This is odd. I know this is where they store materials. I guess they don't expect anyone to take anything. How stupid.'

The only ones he saw were the ones walking the perimeter of the campus. Once they were out of sight, he decided to make his move.

< Shadow Step activated>

< - 5 RP>

< 69/84>

Now he was inside the training center. It was pitch black inside. But that didn't bother him at all thanks to his passive skill, night vision. He could see just fine in the dark. The pillars that were created the day before dividing the center into eight fighting areas were still there.

'Maybe why nobody watches this place is how dark it is in here. Most people would have to use some sort of light to see and that would be easily seen, which would alert the guards. But they never expected there to be someone like me.'

The military knew he could manipulate shadows but they didn't know the rest of his abilities, including his friends. He thought it would be good to keep this to himself. The less people know about what he was capable of the better.

He didn't teleport this time instead he quickly scurried to the other side of the building, still in the crouching position.

'Wow, I really can't hear my steps. This shadow camouflage is great. I should be able to go anywhere I want while at night.'

When he arrived to the other side he came upon a set of double doors. Seeing there was no light showing from underneath the door he reached for the hand and pulled, but it didn't move. That's when he noticed there were two locks on the door.

"Crap," he said under his breath.

'How am I going to deal with this? I could shadow step in but I've never been in there and can't see in. I could accidentally knock things over and alert the soldiers.'

"Grrrrrrr," he let out in frustration.

He stayed there in a squatting position trying to figure out another option. Biting the inside of his lower while he was thinking, an idea came to his mind.

'The shadow manipulation ability did say that the only limit was my imagination.'

He placed his cupped hand over one of the locks. He gathered the shadows and placed them into the lock. After the shadows filled the inside of the lock he commanded them to turn with his thoughts. He could hear a click.

"Yes, it worked," he said to himself.

< Congratulations! New ability acquired.>

< Shadow Lockpick>

< Cost: 10 RP>

<Description: Ability can pick any lock. Will cost more depending on the lock's complexity>

< 64/84 RP>

'Absolutely amazing. It's like destiny wants me to succeed.'

He placed his hand on the other lock and activated his new skill.

< Shadow Lock-pick activated>

< - 10 RP>

< 54/84 RP>

He opened one of the doors just enough for him to fit through. Once on the other side, he could see weapons stands holding weapons. They held different types of swords, spears, and bows. There were also manakins holding many types of armor. From medieval-looking types of armor to more modern pieces that look great.

He knew there would be this type of thing would be in here, but not this much. The room was wide and twice as long as it was wide, the manakins covered the walls and the weapon stands filled the center of the room.

'There is enough to arm a small army in here. I guess they are preparing for war after all.'

He stood up walking through the room looking and admiring all that was there. Using his San ability he could see the quality of the stats on the Items. He noticed that the armory had three sections. The first section was I for t near the door. The weapons and armor were at a normal base level or high base level.

All levels fall into three subcategories. For example, at the base level, you will have a low base level. Then the next stage above that is the normal-base level. After that is a high-base level. Each level has a low, normal, and high stage.

The other section of equipment had all three stages of the intermediate level. Towards the back there was a small section that also had all three stages but of the grand level. Intermediate is better than base level and grand level is better than intermediate.

Each stage would be twice as strong as the stage before. The normal-base level is twice as strong as the low-base level. The low-intermediate level would be twice as strong high-base level.

The thought of grabbing one of the weapons crossed his mind more than once while walking to the end of the room. The only reason that stopped him from taking one was it would be too noticeable if one went missing. It also would be too easy for them to find it on him. He didn't have anywhere he could put it, more like hide it.

'O well, maybe someday I'll get one of these high-level weapons.'

When he arrived at the end of the room he spotted the one thing he had been looking for. There were three metal chests 3 feet wide. They were beast gems. Since their military started to hand them out as rewards he knew they had a stash of them somewhere. His hunch was correct, they would store them in the training center.

He went down to one knee put his hand on each end of the lid and lifted. Once again something he had tried to open would not. He huffs out of frustration. Now he has a way to get past this but it was just inconvenient.

He placed his hand on the lock.

< Shadow Lock-pick activated>

< - 10 RP>

< 64/84 RP>

His ability made quick of the lock. He opened up the box. As the lid went up, the faint glow of beast gems shot out from the box like rays of sunshine coming through the clouds. There we several hundred of the little base-level beast gems.

'There you are. My prize for having to deal with this crap.'

He grabbed two and placed them in the palm of his hand. He kept glancing back and forth from the chest and to his hand.

'I could absorb the entire chest. No, no, no, you can't do that. That would only cause suspicion. You could do this about once a week and not cause any trouble. It would be hard for someone to keep track of so many. Don't be greedy Eric, that's how people get caught,' Eric thought to himself.

He reached back into the chest and pulled out one more and placed it into his hand.

'One more isn't greedy,' He thought trying to convince himself.

< Consume 3 beast gems>

< yes> < no>

The decision was easy and he also knew where he would allocate those stat points as well. The three beast gems began to glow a bright yellow. Then they started to mist away from his hands. Then his body began to glow faintly.

< 3 beast gems consumed.>

< + 6 stat points available>

< + 30 EXP>

< + 3% A.I. completion>

< + 3 attack>

< + 3 Dexterity>

< Current Stats>

< Attack 17>

< Defense 10>

< Dexterity 17>

< Stamina 14>

< Radiation 18>

< HP 55>

< RP 84>

< 310/640 EXP>

< A.I. 10% complete>

The feeling he had worked for was now here. Every time he leveled up or absorbed gems power would flow through him. The surge felt unbelievable to him. But that wasn't the only reason. Arlo is the reason.

'Now that I'm alone and can think, I'm not sure why I am so against him. Hmm. He did threaten to kill Alex, and he could have if he wanted to. I think that's the scariest part. Hmm. I also get a bad feeling from him every time I'm around him. I think something is off, so we are not doing anything to him, we're just making sure he doesn't do anything.'

Eric turned around and started walking toward the door to leave. He was taking this time to check out how his body had changed. He was much more lean and his muscles were defined. He was stronger and faster, along with being more nimble and agile.

He was twelve feet away from the door when he could see a light shine from underneath the door. The light traveled from one end of the door to the other.

'That must be a flashlight. They are looking for someone. How did they anyone was in there? O crap, it was when I absorbed the gems, they and I radiate light during that process. My shadow camouflage covered my glow, but they weren't covering the gems.'

"I know someone is in here. Show yourself, and the punishment will be lights. If I have to look for you, I will break something.'

'Jerk. Why did you have to harm someone? You're no better than a beast. Anyway, that's my cue.'

< Shadow Step activated>

< - 5 RP>

< 69/84>