'I'm such a fucking asshole...' I sighed as I slumped into my chair, leaning back with a heavy sigh. I couldn't help but loath myself for what I did today, and I'm not talking about killing the Russian mercenary.

I lost control and beat the man to death, but I did it in self-defense, and he had it coming for going after me. It's how I reacted to the whole situation and what I did afterward that made me feel bad.

I didn't feel anything, no panic, no guilt, nothing, as I began thoroughly wiping any evidence and even used my new archetype power on a camera to wipe out the dock's entire network along with the cameras' footage.

Doing that, I made sure no solid proof of my presence remained. There was still the matter of the thugs I beat up and the civilians doing grunt work for Black Mask, but none of them saw me kill KGbeast or whatever his name was.

I did all of this without hesitation, but when it came to disposing of the body, I hesitated, and it wasn't for the right reasons. The mercenary's body was a literal treasure trove of technology, with countless cybernetic enhancements, and I couldn't bring myself to let it rot in some ditch.

Instead of letting the man rest in peace and giving him a proper burial or simply incinerating his body, I stored it in my inventory to study it later and reverse engineer the technology when I had the means and knowledge to do it.

'It's already done... there's no use brooding over it now...' I sighed, letting go of that line of thought as I turned to my system to see what new notifications popped up.

[+3 levels to the Brawling skill]

[Brawling (level 29)]

[+2 levels to the Acrobatics skill]

[Acrobatics (level 10)]

[+3 levels to the Programmer class]

[Programmer (level 5)]

[+9 stat points]

[You have finished the quest: Enter The Dragon III]

...

Enter The Dragon III:

Your teacher has given you the mission of clearing out a warehouse crawling with heavily armed thugs.

Primary Objective: clear out the warehouse (success).

Bonus Objective 1: take out all opponents (success).

Bonus Objective 2: don't get shot (success).

Bonus Objective 3: defeat the KGbeast (success).

Rewards:

Primary Objective: +5 skill levels to the Brawling Skill

Bonus Objective 1: random equipment

Bonus Objective 2: random equipment

Bonus Objective 3: unique random weapon

...

[Would you like to accept the rewards now? Yes/No]

'All objectives complete...' I smiled, feeling my mood improve as I suddenly remembered that I'd finally finished the quest perfectly with no failed objectives.

I'd already finished two other similar quests, but I failed all bonus objectives in the first and only finished one in the second, and although it didn't bother me at the time, it still felt good to finish the last one perfectly.

I contently sighed and turned to the quest's rewards, my eyes drawn to the third bonus objective's reward.

'Unique...?' I wondered, tilting my head, but I decided that thinking about it won't do me any good since I could see myself once I accepted the rewards.

'Accept.'

[+5 levels to the Brawling skill]

[Brawling (level 34)]

[+3 levels to the Programmer class]

[Progarammer (level 8)]

[+9 stat points]

[Randomizing equipment...]

[You have received the following pieces of equipment: (Riot Headgear) (Bowie knife) (Ebony & Ivory)]

[Riot Headgear: a cutting-edge, bulletproof, shock-absorbent military-grade helmet that comes fully equipped with an advanced air filtering system, night vision, and a tactical flashlight]

'Kind of looks like the ranger armor helmet from fallout new vegas...' I mused, inspecting the helmet as I held it in my hand. It looked like a soldier's helmet but with a gas mask, red lenses for eye protection, and a flashlight above the left ear area. It would fully cover my head should I wear it.

There were two air filters at the side of the helmet where the cheek area would be, with two tubes coming out of it and connecting to the slight protrusion that would cover my nose and mouth.

It was what I needed right now since my face was my vulnerability as my trench coat didn't cover it, and I often had to cover it with my hand in the middle of a fight, which was pretty inconvenient.

And if it's as advanced as the system said, then it should be able to filter out the nasty gasses like the stuff Harley used on me, which my gas mask couldn't handle. Anything other than those two benefits was a bonus.

'I wonder if the system is giving me what I need...?' I mused, quickly dropping the subject and moving on to the next piece of equipment.

[Bowie knife: a regular old sharp knife, a bit overpriced and cool looking, but that's it]

'No kidding...' I couldn't help but snort in amusement as I held the knife in my hand. It had a shiny steel blade that gave me a clear view of my own reflection and a wooden handle with brown leather wrapping around it.

It was probably the most useless thing the system ever gave me, but I knew I'd eventually get something like this since the rewards were supposedly random.

[Ebony & Ivory: a trademark pair of heavily customized semi-automatic M1911-style handguns designed to fire condensed energy projectiles (the pistols absorb energy directly from the user, and the wielder may control the lethality of the shots through the energy input)]

[Ebony has been modified for long-distance targeting and comfort, while the right-handed white gun, Ivory, was custom built for rapid firing and fast draws]

I whistled, raising an eyebrow as a pair of familiar guns appeared in my hand, one black, the other steel white. Both pistols had depictions of a woman, black-haired on Ebony and white-haired on Ivory on the outward-facing sides.

Looking at the nostalgic weapons, I had the sudden urge to take them out and try them immediately, but I pushed it down since I was tired and had no energy left.

'I might have to pick up the Gunman class next just for these pistols...' I mused, smiling as I put my finger on Ebony's trigger, sensing it trying to draw energy from me.

The pistols probably worked on the same energy I used to activate, giving me one more reason to invest stat points into my Spirit attribute.

'Speaking of that...' I mused, turning to my character screen. My spirit attribute was currently 41, and the quest rewards, along with the natural level-ups, had given me a surplus of 18 stat points.

'Might as well...' I shrugged as I invested 9 points into my spirit attribute, raising it to 50.

[Due to reaching a milestone in your Spirit attribute, your soul has evolved, and you have unlocked a new perk: (Energy Concentration)]

[Energy Concentration: The power to focus one's energy into any point of the body to perform attacks, techniques, or spells (if they are trained in the arcane arts)]

I froze as I felt a current of heat coursing through my body, giving me a sensation of vigor and energy stampeding through my every vein. I closed my eyes in concentration and reached out to the heat, and it responded by flooding towards my finger.

"Huh, neat..." I muttered, my eyes glued to my finger as it let out an intense golden light that was bright enough to light up my darkroom, causing me to grin at the new addition to my arsenal.

'I can already imagine the cool shit I'd pull off with this new power...'

...

Roman Sionis was the new, undisputed, absolute crime lord of Gotham City. He was everything this city deserved — and more. He was the darkness that filled the heart of every living soul in this sordid little town, including the blackest and most twisted of them all.

The mask destroyed his identity, creating another. It recreated Roman, and through the sublimation of personality, his inhibitions died, his nature altered—his deeper drives and more primitive instincts rising to the surface.

As Roman Sionis, he was weak, but as the Black Mask, there was no one stronger.

Black Mask didn't have any superpower or fancy ninja training. Such things weren't worth a tinker's damn. The only thing that counted was whether or not you had the will to do what needed to be done.

And it's that exact will that separated Black Mask from the rabble in Gotham city, what allowed him to climb into the position of the undisputed crime lord of the grim city.

Or so Roman Sionis, better known as Black Mask thought of himself. Whether such thoughts were facts or the narcissistic ramblings of s mad man, nobody knew, and even if they did, very few people would dare disagree with Black Mask to his face.

"What do you mean KGbeast hasn't reported back?" Black Mask asked, his tone eerily cold as he stared into eyes of the man standing in front of him, causing the latter to gulp nervously.

"I specifically instructed you to take some men and escort him into the docks..." Black Mask added, gently tabbing his finger at the chair's armrest, and the face of the man in front of him lost color with every tab and word.

"H-he refused to let us escort him and even killed one of our boys..." the man stutteringly replied, uncomfortably adjusting the collar of his shirt as he began sweating profusely.

"But we found witnesses. They reveled that Harley Quinn, and an unknown masked man attacked the warehouse..." the man quickly added in a panic, desperately trying to show his use when he saw Black Mask's finger stop tabbing.

"I see," Black Mask remarked in a neutral tone as he casually pulled out a gun from his pocket and shot the man dead. "Find Harley Quinn and bring her to me," he added, turning to the bodyguard standing beside him, unphased by the sight of the man he shot as the body fell to the ground, spewing blood on the expensive Persian rug.

"And send someone to clean this filth..."

 

---

 

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