The Ability Steal System

Camouflage

‘Who’s he? Which family is he from? How powerful is he?’ As the manager, who had the power to destroy his entire family if he so desired, attended to Felix, the proud man's thoughts continued to race. He was not alone in this thought.

‘Oh no. Who have I just offended?’ The store employee, who had treated Felix disrespectfully, realized with terror that she had made a grave mistake.

"Thank you, sir; is that all?" The manager smiled and asked, but he was secretly taken aback. He too had a storage ring, but it had been acquired through special means, and he was also surprised by Felix's composure when speaking to him; he was used to people treating him with respect and fear, but this man showed no fear. This action sparked his curiosity, and it appeared that his intuition was correct.

"No, I’d also like to buy a high-level bow in addition to these items," Felix responded coolly and grinned as he accepted all of the neatly wrapped daggers and put them in his storage ring. The manager's kind behavior toward him had improved Felix's opinion of him.

Normally, Felix should have been cautious, but he sensed a friendly demeanor from the manager; with his high perception, he could sense that the man before him meant no harm and was actually trying to form positive relations. Felix could sense that the manager was far stronger than him and seeing him show this amount of respect only meant that he knew something about his identity. Felix therefore intended to go with the flow and follow his intuition, and in the event that he was mistaken, he had a backup plan.

"Okay, sir, right this way." Grinning broadly, the manager led Felix up to the second floor.

"Let's go; we have nothing else to do here," the proud man said before walking out of the shop, not bothering to wait for the beautiful woman or his guard, his demeanor clearly showing that he was scared. He did not intend to wait for Felix to come back and meet him, but he promised himself that he would definitely get revenge—a fool’s mindset.

"What about my dagger?" The beautiful woman expressed her displeasure and hurried to catch up with the proud man, who pretended not to hear her because he was more concerned with saving his own skin.

Felix was immediately struck by the aura of the weapons when he walked inside the weapons shop on the second floor. There were daggers, swords, whips, gauntlets, and other weapons he had never seen before.

"Wow, did you collect all this?" Felix asked, his eyes wide with wonder at each weapon.

"No, it was obtained by the owner of the shop.” The manager answered, shaking his head.

"Oh, and who might that be?" Felix questioned as he studied a dagger bearing several runes; reaching his hands towards it, its surface began to glow slightly.

"He is the patriarch of the Alexander family in the capital; I work for him, selling low-level items that fit the needs of those here." The manager replied with a chuckle, observing Felix halt for a fraction of a second after hearing the name, before returning to normal.

‘Connor’ As Felix heard the manager's remarks, this name came to mind. It seemed that Connor was responsible for the manager's courteous demeanor, but since it worked in his favor, Felix chose not to think about it too much and concentrated on his main reason for being there.

"This dagger was made from the claws of a Savage Blazing Cheetah, right?" Felix asked the manager; he was finally reaping the benefits of the seemingly pointless job of his body's last occupant. His seemingly limitless knowledge proved useful.

"Yes, I see that you are interested in daggers. This is a special one that I made myself from the fangs of a Dark Scaled Two-Headed Cobra; it delivers a lethal dose of poison that paralyzes and then kills any beast or human below the D rank, even if it's a small cut. It costs 150 E rank beast cores." Grinning, the manager explained, pulling out a black dagger that emitted a sinister, unsettling energy.

"I will take it; do you have any other daggers of the same rank and also a bow?" Felix grinned in response and waved his hand to reveal a bag filled with 100 E rank beast cores, which he gave to the manager along with the dagger.

"It seems like I underestimated you, sir." The manager said, grinning broadly and adopting a more dignified attitude. He proceeded to a special cabinet and removed two daggers, a bow, and numerous arrows.

"Yeah, people tend to do that a lot, and it normally doesn't end well for them." Felix responded with a smile that made the manager wonder whether he was joking or not.

"I created this bow using the bones of an E+ rank Lightening Snake King and the arrows from the bones of E rank Lightening snakes, it’ll all cost 500 E rank beast cores. I also made this dagger from the claws of an E+ rank two-horned one-eyed Zed Eagle; it costs 200 E rank beast cores. This last dagger, one of my best creations, it’s made from the fang of an E+ rank Purple Winged Vampire Bat; it draws blood from anyone it cuts, strengthening it. It costs 800 E rank beast cores, but because you are making such a large purchase, I will give you a discount; the total cost will be 1,200 E rank beast cores.

The manager grinned widely, thinking of how much money he had just made. By this point, he had grown even more interested in Felix and was curious as to how an F rank Esper could be so wealthy, but he wouldn't inquire because it wasn't his place.

"Thanks for the discount; here's the money" Felix happily gave the manager the money and got the weapons, finally, he was done with his shopping.

"It was nice doing business with you, sir. If you ever need any more high-grade weapons in the slums, you can visit me for a good discount. This is a jade slip that will give you a VIP seat at any auction house in the slums, as well as any black-market auctions. I’ll forward you the details of an upcoming auction at the Black Hawk auction house; I hope to see you there.” The manager notified Felix, handing him the jade slip, with an amicable smile.

"Thanks; if I ever need any quality weapons, I’ll make sure to drop by." Felix thanked him for the slip and made his way out of the second floor. When he got to the last floor, he saw that everyone in the store had turned to stare at him with fear and curiosity. He ignored them all and walked out of the store. As soon as he left, he felt a strong killing intent emanating from the shop across from him, he cast a discreet glance and was taken aback to find the proud man’s guard fixating on him with a palpable sense of hostility, which Felix perceived instantly, despite the guard's efforts to conceal it.

"What a fool! He's probably going to try something; it's no problem; I was already intending to test my new daggers." Felix smiled and strode off, formulating devious plans in his head as he pretended not to see the guard following him from a distance. Felix thought of ways to handle the situation as he was walking. He didn't want to turn into a cold-blooded killer who killed anyone who dared to cross him; after all, he had only been here for two days and had already killed over six people. The last thing he needed after his transition was to attract unwanted attention.

Felix made a rapid plan and chose his next course of action. He turned back, and the guard, as if on cue, noticed his gaze and paused in surprise, waiting to see what would come next. Felix's eyes widened in shock and terror as he met the guards. He spun around and hurried into an empty, deserted alleyway. Observing his startled reaction, the guard chuckled and ran after him, a menacing thought beginning to form in his mind.

"You can run... but you can't hide," The guard taunted Felix after walking into the alleyway and finding it empty. It was like Felix had disappeared into thin air, but he knew Felix was trying to throw him off and was likely hiding in some secluded corner.

"I will find yo... arrg." The guard, focused on locating Felix, suddenly felt a sharp object pierce his ribs. He quickly turned, jumped to the side, and clutched his wounded side. As he raised his gaze, Felix stood before him.

"Damn you." When the guard realized he had been tricked, he cursed. Felix had ambushed him from behind by tricking him into lowering his guard. The guard frowned as he looked at the wound, realizing that Felix had just attempted to weaken him rather than kill him.

"I don't know who you are or how I have offended you, but I have no desire to take your life. If you choose to retreat now, I might consider sparing you." Felix stated, subsequently taking out the blood-absorbing dagger and placing the dagger he was holding into his storage ring.

"Hahaha, do you really think that you can kill me? You only managed to stab me because I was careless." The guard replied in a cruel tone as he raised his sword to strike Felix, but all of a sudden he felt his body weaken. His finger lost all feeling, and as a result, his sword fell to the ground.

"Ding"

[The E rank stealth ability "Camouflage" has been detected by the system.]

[Would you like to steal it? It costs 800 points.]

Felix acknowledged the system’s request with a nod. He then swiftly and carefully scanned the entire area with his senses, sensing something but acting normally. He turned to face the guard, who was shivering and twitching on the ground.

"ARRG, what did you do to me?" The guard gave a few painful shouts before appearing to lose the power to scream as he stammered, and his voice came out as a loud blur.

"That is the poison of a dark-scaled, two-headed cobra. I am sure you know how lethal its poison is; no one crosses with me and gets away with it, and when I am done with you, I’ll hunt down your master and his whole family." Felix spoke coldly before he strode over to the guard, who was staring at him in anguish.

Felix now understood that as long as he continued to pardon people, his life would never be safe. For this reason, he had resolved to deal ruthlessly with everyone who threatened him; there was no turning back now. After a minute, the guard's body stopped moving, Felix paused briefly before approaching to loot all of the valuables, including the sword.

He placed the body and the valuables in his dimension ring, which was beginning to fill up; he needed to make some room.

"Are you done watching? You better show yourself, unless you want to end up like him." Felix turned and said, drawing two daggers and assumed a defensive stance, his demeanor became cold and unyielding.

With a guard's hand on his shoulder, Connor appeared and grinned, "It seems Dan was right; you possess powerful senses, just what I need. However, you must explain how you vanished like that; it was incredible."

"You know, I'm starting to get tired of you," Felix said with a cold chuckle as he approached Connor. Connor's guard, seeing this tried to stop Felix, but Connor halted him.

“What do you think about Xavier's skills? Nice, huh? It's a camouflage skill," Connor grinned, pointing to his guard, who was staring at Felix calmly and waiting to attack if Felix did anything. The guard's presence prevented Felix from strangling Connor earlier because he sensed that he was in no position to overcome the well-trained guard.

"Yeah, it’s really handy. What do you want?" Felix asked with a cold smile, chuckling to himself as he thought about how he would use his newfound ability.

"Okay, straight to the point, I see that you're a straightforward person; I would be making a trip to the F rank beast forest to hunt and gain experience, and I want you to accompany me," Connor said with a broad smile, causing Felix to scowl and gripped his daggers tightly.