The Ability Steal System

Magic Weapon

"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 also gain experience, and I want you to accompany me, "With a broad smile, Connor explained his intention, making Felix scowl and grip his daggers tightly.

"You want me to go hunting with you after you sent someone to follow me; what do you think I am? A mercenary?" Felix demanded angrily, coming forward to face Conner, but the guard halted him, staring at him carefully after sensing a slight wave of Felix's killing intent.

"Okay, now that I think of it, my actions might have been a tad bit too suspicious; on that note, I sincerely apologize for my previous actions. I'll try to be a little bit less weird in the future." Connor apologized with his signature smile which only Felix more irritated

"Listen to me ‘Young Master Connor’, there is no future, this ends here, you’re going to have to forgive me, as I don't intend to make any friends at the moment." Felix scoffed and turned to walk away, but the guard stopped him. Felix was tempted to fight him and see what would happen, but he shook his head; he didn’t want the situation to escalate beyond its current point.

"Let him go if he wants to; he's not a prisoner," Connor replied to his guard, who scowled and gave Felix a quick look before releasing him.

"I would like you to reconsider; we could be pretty good allies" When Felix heard Connor’s words, he froze for a moment before turning around.

"Did you change your mind?" Connor asked, flashing his signature smile.

"What's the catch?" Felix looked at the guard and questioned inquisitively, preparing to flee if they attempted anything. Felix's opponent this time was an Esper of the E+ rank, thus a F rank like himself couldn't bridge the gap between the two ranks.

"Oh, you think I am doing all this for something. Yes, I am. I want to know why someone like you is wanted by Shadow, Mr. Felix." With a sly smirk, Connor responded to Felix's shift in attitude. Before Connor could blink, all he saw was a flash of light.

CLANG

Felix's eyes grew icy and wary as he heard the sound of metal hitting metal. The guard had stopped his attack, he was right, there was no way Connor could be hit while the guard was present.

"How are you aware of who I am? Do you work for Shadow?' Felix inquired darkly, clutching the dagger and preparing to strike.

"As I previously said, forgive me for my rudeness, after our encounter at the inn, I sent a scout to dig into your background, and discovered something quite interesting, I was surprised to find out that you were a bookshop owner, it surprised me because a bookshop owner couldn't have such skills, so I deduced that you were probably hiding from someone, and took up the ruse of a bookshop owner to stay hidden, but unfortunately you were discovered and now you are being hunted down by them, maybe because you stole something from them or you offended someone" Connor shared his findings with a sly grin to Felix whose expression shifted after hearing Connor out.

‘Such precise deduction, even though some of the information is incorrect, to be able to determine so much from just that information, perhaps that's his ability—’deduction’; If he were on Earth, he would be among the greatest investigators. Now I have to determine if he is an ally or an enemy.’ Felix pondered. He was taken aback by what he had just heard and wondered how someone could have figured it out so quickly. This was also actually the only explanation which made sense. However, he also understood that, with the support of a large family like the Alexander Family, he would have unique resources at his disposal.

"I won't inquire once more; do you work for Shadow?" Felix waited for Connor’s next choice of words, ready to make his move while striving to maintain a facade of ease, even as his heart raced furiously in his chest.

"No, if that's what you want to hear, I rather hate them to the core. The Alexander family and Shadow are blood rivals. Shadow played a role in my mother's assassination, and since then, they have been arch enemies of my Alexander family.” Connor replied, and for the first time, Connor showed a serious expression. Felix could tell that he wasn't bluffing because, for someone like Connor, who wore his emotions on his sleeves, it would be difficult for him to fake such an expression.

"And why should I trust you?" Felix asked cautiously, without lowering his guard since he knew better than to do so in this situation, and because he found it difficult to put his trust in someone as suspicious as Connor.

"You shouldn't, because I don't trust you, we can part ways or become allies. It’s all up to you. After I speak with my father, the Alexander family can provide you with protection. In exchange, you assist us in the battle against Shadow." With a serious expression on his face, Connor responded. He then moved forward to extend an invitation to shake hands with Felix, who was taken aback that such a gesture was also found here.

"Okay, I will trust you for now, but try anything, and I won’t spare you. When do you plan on making the trip?" Felix let out a breath, then moved to give Connor whose expression brightened, a firm handshake.

"Good, we leave in 2 days; you will meet me at the edge of the forest at sunrise." Felix seemed to have made a lasting effect on Connor, as he smiled briefly before turning around and walking off with his guard.

"Okay, but next time, don't send someone to tail me." Felix grinned back and walked away as well.

**********************************************************

Felix got up early the following morning and went straight to his usual workout. All his past battles had taught him the importance of having a strong body, and that if he let his physical training lag, he would be left behind. While training, Felix received a notification while experiencing a cool stream of energy strengthening his body during the training.

"Ding"

[Your strength has increased by one point.]

After giving it some thought, Felix recalled the beast blood he had consumed. This made sense to him as beast blood was utilized by Espers to fortify their bodies, and the remaining blood in his body was what had subsequently been transformed into mana.

Once his workout was over, he relaxed and had a bath. He then walked down to have breakfast before going back to his room to sleep.

Felix awoke in the afternoon feeling rejuvenated. It was his first peaceful sleep since coming to this world, and he was aware that he might not have another opportunity to experience something like that in the near future.

It took him a while to realize how unbelievable everything was—he had been reincarnated and was now living in a world found in manga and Eastern Fantasy novels—but he handled it so calmly as he looked out the window, watching the people outside go about their daily lives. He knew that others would need much longer to come to terms with the fact that they had been reincarnated.

"Does that imply that this world has been around for a long time? It could also mean that someone visited our universe from over here. Since I have been able to get here there must be another method to return to Earth, if my logic is correct, then there must be a means of returning to my wife and child." Felix's ideas swirled around in his head, becoming more and more improbable until, at the end, he laughed, realizing that he was overanalyzing.

His objective at the moment was just to survive; if there was a means to return, it would not be accessible to him at his current level.

"It's time to see what's so special about this dagger," Felix said pulling out the plain-looking weapon he had purchased from the weapon store.

The dagger appeared to be an ordinary dagger, but as soon as he saw it at the shop, his gut told him it wasn't normal. He always trusted his instincts because they had saved his skin numerous times in his previous life, and this suspicion was further supported when the attendant gave the history of the dagger.

[You've used the "Analyze" skill].

[Broken magical weapon].

[Class: A]

[Synopsis]

[This weapon was formerly magical, but for reasons that are unclear, it was sealed, turning it into an F rank.]

"A magic weapon..." Felix said in disbelief, unable to believe what he was seeing. The former Felix had read about magic weapons; it was said that they were at a rank higher than SSS and were used by powerful Espers. Magic weapons were weapons of mass destruction, and even the Wind continent, which he was currently in, only had one magic weapon, and it was kept in the Imperial palace under strict supervision. There were other human-inhabited continents; it was said that the light race was the strongest. They were also the main force suppressing the demons, who were on par with the light race.

"In an E rank beast forest, what was a magic weapon doing there? Was the magic weapon just hidden in the forest, or is there something else hidden there that caused even someone with a magic weapon to enter? There are a ton of hypotheses about it that I will have to verify when I go there." Felix remarked and his determination to get stronger hardened. After placing the magic weapon in his storage ring, he took out the Kreed's corpse and set it on the ground.

"Hmm, why were you following me?" Felix muttered while observing the dead body for any clues, he initially suspected Shadow. However, after giving it some thought, he abandoned the theory because, despite Shadow being an underground assassination organization, they were still an essential component of the forces defending the continent.

In an instant, he recalled a warning the system had given him: "You must become stronger quickly, for a war is approaching." At that moment, everything fell into place; it would seem that they were also, somehow familiar with the book, though he couldn't discern how, so he opted to disregard it since it was just a guess.

After further inspection, he decapitated the body and removed the poisoned guard's body. He then applied some of the red powder he had obtained from the first assassin to the two bodies, and in an instant, both of them withered and disintegrated. He returned to training for the remainder of the day, adding two points to his speed and one point to his strength.

The second day went by quite fast, and finally it was the day of the expedition, he got up early, trained, freshened himself up, and then went back to his room to get ready.

He was ready by sunrise and departed before anyone could see him. Just in case there were spies around, he made a few detours and turned down various alleys to mislead them.

Upon arriving, he spotted Connor with a group of individuals he assumed to be his friends. Each of them had a guard with them, and Connor was with the same guard that Felix stole his ability. When they saw him, they all cast interested glances at him.

"I apologize for keeping you all waiting," Felix murmured to them while also secretly observing them. The guards were all F+ ranks, with the exception of Connor's guard, who was an E+ rank.

"Ah, so you are the one we've been anticipating; eat my fist twerp." A proud friend of Connor's stepped forward and delivered a punch directly at Felix, who deftly avoided the punch, yet the arrogant man, unable to restrain his speed, stumbled over a stone and collided with the tree ahead of him. Upon rising, his face was swollen to an alarming degree, resembling that of a pig, and an imprint of his face was left on the tree.

"You, you...how dare you, Fred, teach him a lesson." The arrogant man shouted at his guard, who was bewildered, as Felix had not committed any kind of offense. He had struck first, and Felix hadn't even laid a single finger on him. The guard felt a sense of relief as Connor stepped forward to defend Felix; otherwise, the situation could have escalated into bullying, causing him to lose face.

"George, are you truly this cowardly? You initiated the confrontation, and he didn't retaliate, yet now you seek vengeance; you ought to be grateful he refrained from countering, or you might have faced far more severe injuries." The man with the swollen face let out a snort and turned away, yet the others were taken aback by Connor's words, as he was known for his honesty regarding such matters.

"Hello, my name is Frank; it's a pleasure to meet you." One of Connors's friends approached with a smile, extending his hand for a handshake.

"I’m Felix; it’s a pleasure to meet you as well" Felix smiled and clasped his hand firmly.

"Red, nice to meet you." Another red-haired friend of Connors approached and extended his hand.

"George." The last companion of Connors, possessing blue eyes, spoke as they exchanged handshakes. Felix was immediately drawn to him, as he mirrored his own silent and icy demeanor. It was consistently those who had this attitude that turned out to be the strongest.

"Now that we have introduced ourselves, let's move forward." With a grin, Connor approached the guards stationed at the beast forest, presenting them with his jade slip.

"Okay, you may go in but be careful; there have been some reports about a new rank E Beast King." With a kind nod, the guard let them enter the woodland.

Some minutes after they went in, 4 gray-cloaked and 3 purple-cloaked figures appeared and were asked by the guards to show identification.

"Pardon me for not being able to recognize you; please forgive me for my blindness," The guard uttered with terror, his face pale, as he received the card from the purple-cloaked figure in the lead.

"Who were they?" Curious, the other guard inquired after the cloaked figures had departed; he had never witnessed his partner looking so terrified.

"Have you ever heard of Shadow?" The other security officer inquired, his voice trembling.

The cloaked figures were moving within the forest with rapid speed through the jungle.

"The Alexander family has offered assistance to the target, but that shouldn't change anything; kill them all and get rid of the target at all costs," The prominent figure wearing a purple cloak stated in a voice that could send shivers down the spine. They then went on to follow the group.