[Profession: Adventurer (Beginner, Unselected Career Path)
Title: Court Rebel (Higher chance of gaining favor from the underground streets)
Stamina: 0.3/0.3
Intelligence: 1.2/1.3
Spirit: 0.4/0.6
Health: 10/60
Experience: 6/100
Free Attribute Points: 1
Skills: Minstrel Performance (Beginner 10%); Stranger in a Strange Land (Passive 40%); Tactical Dagger Usage (Master); Compound Creation (Beginner 70%)
Companion: Wild Hound (Level 1 40%)
Status: Severely Ill and Weakened]
Wayne glanced at his status panel and without hesitation allocated his single attribute point to Stamina.
His greatest weakness right now was stamina. Though his health was also low, it could recover gradually. With a maximum stamina of only 0.3, he couldn't even kill a chicken. Last night, he'd nearly been kicked to death by a seagull—this had to be improved!
As the attribute point vanished, his stamina immediately changed to [Stamina: 1.3/1.3].
Wayne instantly felt power surging through his limbs!
Previously, he could barely stand steadily. After walking for so long last night, he'd almost collapsed from exhaustion. Now he could feel his muscles filling with strength and vitality.
He was no longer plagued by that sickly weakness. He could move freely, just like a normal person.
No, he even exceeded the average person's 0.3 stamina value.
Wayne felt strength in his lungs too—when he coughed up blood now, it sprayed farther than before. That's what real strength felt like.
His health also increased by one point, reaching 11/60.
It seemed that with improved stamina, his body could absorb medication more effectively.
Just then, Mike and David signaled for him to stay quiet before slipping out of the tent.
Clearly, they were determined to protect Wayne and ready to shoulder this burden for him.
Through a gap in the tent, Wayne saw three unfriendly Latino men standing outside.
The leader had a skull tattoo on his face, while the two behind him were the tank-top guy and gold-tooth guy from that night.
Both still bore slap marks on their faces, their expressions filled with frustration and anger.
[Side Quest: Old John's Debt. The deceased Old John owed a debt to the Two-Headed Ogre Tribe. You've been identified as the debtor, and it appears this won't be easily resolved.]
Mike looked at the three men and shook his head:
"Bro, I don't know what you're talking about. What white boy? I hate White Devils the most—you must have heard wrong."
As he spoke, he glanced toward several tents at the nearby street corner.
The skull-tattooed leader, wearing a windbreaker, stepped forward expressionlessly until he was almost nose-to-nose with Mike, saying:
"Don't lie to the East Side Brothers, or not even God can save you, black boy. Open your damn tent."
David tried to rush forward but was pinned to the ground by gold-tooth and tank-top.
Mike remained completely unfazed, standing his ground while staring directly into the skull-tattooed man's eyes, saying:
"This is my private territory, no one is allowed inside. My uncle is sick and needs rest."
His figure was somewhat slender—the tattooed man was nearly one and a half times as burly as Mike—as if he could be snapped in two at any moment.
Hearing Mike's words, the tattooed man was first taken aback, then burst into loud laughter:
"You pathetic rats, your territory? Hahahaha!"
Then he abruptly reached out, grabbing Mike by the collar, and said grimly:
"Kid, move aside now, or I'll knock every one of your teeth out!"
He could feel the black kid trembling with nervousness in his grip, yet still putting up a brave front, which made him want to laugh.
From that single tug, he had already gauged the other's strength—just an ordinary drifter. Though somewhat muscular, it was nothing compared to someone like him who worked out regularly.
Beating up street drifters was a decent form of exercise.
Inside the tent, Wayne saw simplified attributes for Mike and David appear under the [Bond] option on the panel before him:
[Goblin Mike: Strength 1.4; Intelligence 1.1; Spirit 0.9; HP 100]
[Goblin David: Strength 1.5; Intelligence 1.0; Spirit 0.8; HP 100]
[Bond from Wandering Goblin: Temporarily enhance a specific attribute of the bonded (10 minutes)]
Without hesitation, Wayne made his choice.
Strength enhancement!
Instantly, both of their strength attributes doubled!
[Goblin Mike: Strength 2.8]
[Goblin David: Strength 3.0]
Mike, who had been unable to break free from the collar grip, suddenly felt the tattooed man's strength seemed to diminish.
He quickly struggled with force, shoving hard against the other's chest. With a "thud," he actually pushed the tattooed man stumbling back, nearly falling.
Enraged, the tattooed man charged forward, throwing a punch at Mike, but Mike caught the fist with his left hand and followed with a right hook, knocking him to the ground.
Mike stared at his own fist in disbelief.
He now realized it wasn't that the other's strength had weakened—it was his own that had grown!
"Get... off me!" David, pinned to the ground, roared, suddenly throwing off Gold-Tooth and Tank-Top, then pouncing on them like a madman, wrestling fiercely.
The tattooed man touched his cheek, spat out a bloody phlegm, stood up, and looked at Mike with a grin:
"Not bad, black kid. You're stronger than you look, but it's over now."
As he spoke, the tattooed man reached behind his back and pulled out a handgun, cocking it with a crisp "click," and aimed it at Mike.
David, who had been wrestling with the other two, abruptly stopped—Gold-Tooth now held a revolver pointed at him.
Facing the gun barrel, Mike trembled all over.
On the streets of America, caliber was justice. Confronting that caliber, the innate fear of death seized everyone instantly.
Swaying with each step, the tattooed man raised his weapon and slowly advanced toward Mike, saying:
"You son of a bitch, you can throw another punch at me. Go on, do it, or it'll be my turn."
"Stop!" A sharp shout cut through as Wayne emerged from the tent, stepped in front of the tattooed man, pushed Mike aside, and said, "Cough... You were looking for me, weren't you? I'm right here."
The sleeping puppy Wicket rushed out of the tent and stood in front of Wayne, barking at the tattooed man.
[Side Quest: Old John's Debt]
[You encountered a lethal attack from a Two-Headed Ogre Elite. Resolving/Counterattacking will grant rewards]
[Heading to the Two-Headed Ogre's lair may yield unexpected gains]
Both the gold-toothed man and the tank top man were startled upon seeing Wayne. The gold-toothed man said resentfully:
"Wayne, it really is you! You lied to us! You betrayed Bang Jack!"
Last night, they had dutifully returned to report that Old John had run off on his own. But then Big Daddy obtained the transaction records from several corpse collection companies for last night, which included Old John's body.
That's when they realized Wayne had deceived them.
Wayne shrugged and said with a laugh:
"Ahem... Sorry brothers, I did lie. But if I hadn't done that last night, you would've killed me on the spot."
The gold-toothed man clenched his gold teeth and nodded:
"True."
Given the situation last night, one corpse was a sale, two corpses were also a sale. If not for Wayne's words, they wouldn't have been interested in a sickly vagrant who seemed ready to cough himself to death at any moment.
The gold-toothed man continued:
"But you still shouldn't have lied to me... shouldn't have lied to me and Paul. We're your fans, after all..."
Wayne nodded, then turned to the tattooed man:
"Old John took too many Enhancement Drugs and died... ahem... He nearly killed me, so I sold his body for a few hundred bucks. The rest has nothing to do with me. I can explain it to Big Daddy... ahem... Put away your gun. This has nothing to do with my two brothers."
The tattooed man looked Wayne up and down, grinning viciously:
"Not bad, but I've changed my mind now..."
He gestured with his gun toward Mike and David:
"Both of them are coming with me."
Wayne glanced at his panel, selected the tattooed man from the side quest, and a string of text immediately appeared:
[Dick, Two-Headed Ogre Elite, from the mountainous regions of southern Colombia, raised by the kind Aunt Valentina, superstitious believer in Voodooism]
It was the tattooed man's profile. Though brief, it struck right at the core.
Wayne raised an eyebrow and said:
"Dick, Aunt Valentina taught you to be kind. Have you forgotten? Ahem... Take me to see Big Daddy."
Tattooed man Dick was stunned by Wayne's words, staring at him as if he'd seen a ghost, muttering:
"How do you know..."
Just then, footsteps approached as five or six armed Black men suddenly rushed out from the street corner, aiming their guns at the three Latinos. The lead Black man wearing a gold chain shouted:
"You motherfucking bastards! This is Blood Gang territory! Are you trying to start a war with the Blood Gang!?"
[You've become involved in the conflict between the Goblin Tribe and the Two-Headed Ogre Tribe. Resolving the conflict will grant rewards]