’Status’

The thought was quickly followed with the blue block shaped screen that obscured his vision, flickering to life like something straight out of a game.

All his information appeared right before his eyes once again, but Nicholas gaze quickly shifted down to where he had left off from the last time.

[ABILITIES]

.✦ ݁˖ Charm: Ability grants the user CP (charm points) that can be distributed to any stats and increase users’ overall skills, Charm points are obtained from fans and admirers who love you! If fan is a hero, host can get the chance to copy heroes’ ability for a timeframe of 30 mins, this is limited to a slot of five heroes at a time. (Congrats great gooner!)

Nicholas let out a resigned sigh reading the last line, the soul of the previous Nick had truly left quite the reputation.

However, he couldn’t help but leave a deep frown as he saw the ability description on the system, ’An ability that requires admiration from others?’ It was genuinely a great ability, however considering the fact that he was a hitman... How was that meant to work? He never worked out in the open after all.

It was rather surprising that he was hit with such a flaw for his ability, but what was even more surprising was the second notification right underneath the first.

.✦ ݁˖ Void: The ability to completely nullify, cancel or annul the ability of any hero for 30 mins (A Hitman’s last wish)

Cooldown: 10 hours

Cooldown can be reversed with 100CP

Nicholas was genuinely surprised, it seemed the system had taken into consideration his last desire before he died.

’Truly touching... Although it would’ve been better if it tossed me into this world with a billion dollars and maybe a more noble start’ Nicholas couldn’t help but let out yet another disappointed sigh, safe to say... he still had to work to get his money.

Hearing the constant sighs of disappointment coming from him, Selena could no longer keep her curiosity, "You know, I’m really not pushing you to do any of this, you can just give up now and follow normal procedures" Selena said calmly, a smile forming on her lip.

"I never said you were pushing me either. I just thought it’s sad that I’ll have to make do with 60,000" Nicholas refuted with the disappointed look on his face.

Selena felt a vein pop out her neck, "Were you expecting more?!"

"Look ahead, I won’t get a billion if I die. And yes, if the association can offer more, I would go for that."

Selena quickly tore her gaze away from him, focusing on the road once more, narrowly dodging the car that zoomed past them.

"You’re nuts" She muttered under her voice.

"No, I’m not"

Selena let out a tired sigh, ’There’s no convincing this idiot, let’s get to the association first, we’ll see how long he can keep this act up’

An awkward silence filled the air between the two, but it didn’t last long as the car finally drove to a stop in front of the large dome shaped building ahead.

"This is the Hero association branch here in Detroit city, it’s beautiful right?" Selena asked with a smile as she stepped out the car.

It was a colosseum of a building, the entire space magnificent in its décor.

The glass dome covering the top of the building also seemed to be a display board, showing three dimensional figures of heroes, using their abilities and fighting infected villains. Nicholas was momentarily captivated by the scenery until it was quickly cut short replaced by an ad for a hero figurine.

"Indeed, it is, at least now we know where all the tax is going to" Nicholas replied bluntly, making Selena cough on her words.

"Do you only think about money?!"

He quickly lost interest in the dome display, it reminded him of the ads that popped up when watching videos on Youmax, even after paying for premium features.

"Well, if I had enough I wouldn’t"

Selena took a deep breath, ’I genuinely hope they beat the living daylight out of him’ Truthfully, she felt a mix of jealousy and frustration, she only started making a little above sixty thousand after getting promoted to A-rank supervisor. To think that some newbie would get the same pay as her! Heck even his audacity to even ask for that.

It was a playful threat at first, to make him backout, but now she was really looking forward to it.

Nicholas on the other hand, had his attention shifted to one of the many entrances where several people were moving in and out, much to his surprise... much of the population was more of normal civilians rather than heroes, like he had expected to see.

"Why so many people? Doesn’t that make the agency susceptible to infiltration?"

Selena followed his gaze to the children following their parents with figurines of their favorite heroes in their hands and the others still entering inside to get theirs.

"No one would dare do that, you’d be surprised to know how many heroes are on standby here... trying to attack here would be a death penalty"

Nicholas glanced at the crowd of people for a while longer before cutting his gaze away, "Well, they don’t necessarily need to fight... Information is a valuable asset"

"You’re not wrong, but the security on that too is strong, it’ll be difficult for just anyone to bypass... Let’s get inside and get your registration done"

Selena quickly walked towards another entrance, Nicholas following behind her.

As they reached the guards in front, she simply showed her badge, "He’s with me for registration" the two guards wearing shades turned their gaze towards Nicholas momentarily, then stepped aside allowing the two to pass.

"Coming through!" Right as they stepped inside, two flying heroes zoomed past them, their capes fluttering.

The inside was just as magnificent as the outside, if not more. But what immediately caught his attention was the sheer number of heroes. It was teeming with several heroes; for a moment, he thought he’d entered an airport for heroes.

"Stay close, so you don’t go missing," Selena said.

"I have no intention to go missing," he replied back bluntly. Selena silently rolled her eyes at his words.

The two quickly walked through the area, reaching the front where the receptionist was; seeing them approach, she greeted them with a soft smile.

"Supervisor Selena, welcome back."

"Good day, Dana. It’s great to see you here. I’m signing up a new hero. By his request, we want to run a UAT for direct entry to Rank B."

The receptionist, Dana, lifted a brow at Selena’s words. She threw a glance at Nicholas, her deep blue eyes locked on him with scrutiny. After a brief moment, she dragged her gaze back to Selena, giving an uneasy smile.

"It seems he has just awakened. Going for a UAT right now isn’t the best. Has he revealed his abilities?" Her voice was laced with worry; after all, an upgrade appraisal test (UAT) to Rank B wasn’t going to be an easy one.

The Association was rather strict with the people who got what rank, to avoid casualties during high-risk missions.

Selena let out a tired sigh. "No, he hasn’t revealed his abilities and has refused to. He says he won’t join the association if he doesn’t get sixty thousand as a pay check. It doesn’t matter, though. I already told him what he had to do to get that, and he was willing to do it.

Let’s find out if he can." Selena’s voice was flat with annoyance.

At this point, she had completely given up on advising the idiot.

Dana threw a glance at Nicholas, a wry smile climbing up her face.

’Does he even know what he’s opting for?’

"Well, sadly, I don’t think there are any B-rank heroes nearby now. There was an outbreak of impure beasts not too far from here, and most of them went out to deal with—"

"Took you two long enough. I was starting to think he decided to change his mind. Would’ve been the best choice, though." Bolt walked up to the counter as he spotted Selena with Nicholas again.

Selena turned her gaze to Dana. "I guess that solves the problem... Bolt, you’ll be taking on this newbie."

"Huh? How the heck did I get dragged into this?!" Bolt yelled, stunned.

"Dana, B-rank Hero Bolt will be the agent for the UAT for newbie Nicholas."

"Very well, allow me to prepare the test room," Dana replied calmly as she started processing the request on the system.

Nicholas turned his gaze to Bolt, who looked rather stunned by the on-the-spot decision that had been made without his consent.

’So, I’ll be facing the speedster?’

"Are you quitting now?" Selena asked, throwing him a stern gaze.

Nicholas looked back at her calmly. "That isn’t the important question right now, Supervisor. I believe you don’t expect a civilian to fight a hero with no advantage."

"Well, if you are not aware, a UAT isn’t carried out with an advantage of any sort."

"So you’re simply implying that I’m meant to go there and get beaten?"

’What the heck were you expecting when you said you wanted to fight a B-rank hero?’ Selena thought, glaring at Nicholas.

"..."

Before she could even reply, Bolt chimed in, "You know what? I actually find your guts amusing... I’ll take you on. With an unbending resolve like this, you have what it takes to make a good hero. Supervisor, I request that you allow him to pick a weapon or something of advantage to him."

Selena managed a calming sigh. ’It doesn’t matter—even if he has a weapon, there’s no way he’ll win against Bolt.’

"Alright, you can tell Dana what weapon or whatever you want," Selena said, shifting to the side.

Nicholas walked up to Dana, quietly telling her what he wanted.

He already knew his ability quite well, and with the system activating, it was no issue at all. But fighting against a speedster, there was just one more thing he needed to do, even if it required him to shamelessly lie about his abilities.

But there was no way he was going to lose 60k.

He was definitely winning that fight.