Chocolate

"Chubby, what's your name?" Mel Carlo asked, looking at Chubby, who was carrying him on his back.

Although their first meeting had not been pleasant, fighting over food out of hunger in that situation was not some great evil.

Now that they had spent more time together, they had naturally become more familiar with each other. Yet he had never asked Chubby's name, and Chubby had never mentioned it himself. Nor had he heard anyone else call him by one.

Now that they had some free time, Mel Carlo decided to ask.

"I don't know. Other people call me Fatty or Wild Boar. I don't know what my name is."

"Is that so?" Mel Carlo was momentarily speechless. He had considered the possibility of someone not having a name, but it was truly too miserable. "Then do you want to give yourself a name? A name you choose yourself."

"Yes! I want to be called Chocolate!"

Lily and Akai, who were nearby, turned their heads in confusion as well. "Why? Isn't that something you eat?"

"Yeah. I saw some before—Chocolate that fell from a noble's carriage. After tasting it, I felt like there was nothing in the world more delicious than Chocolate." Chubby continued, the expression on his face clearly sincere. He really liked that name.

Chocolate was chocolate. Still, it was better than being called Wild Boar, which sounded more like a nickname.

Mel Carlo said nothing more and accepted the name. No matter what, Chubby had chosen it himself.

As they neared the gang's courtyard, Mel Carlo spoke up. "All right, Chocolate, put me down. I'll walk in myself."

"Mm." Chocolate put Mel Carlo down, and the group entered the courtyard together.

Anke, who had been taken away before, had already returned. He had officially taken over this area, and he was now the head of this gang-controlled street.

The worry in Mel Carlo's heart eased considerably. If the scarred man before him truly had no other designs on him, then there was no need to be so urgent about escaping.

Of course he cared about what an Apostle was. There was no need for a nobody like Anke to make up a lie just to fool him.

"All right, pay up, then go wash yourselves." Anke looked at the four people entering the courtyard, his gaze lingering mostly on Mel Carlo.

"Wash?" Mel Carlo's gaze hesitated slightly.

Although he knew Anke was treating him favorably, Anke was completely different from the previous boss, which still felt somewhat strange for the moment.

"Mm. I can tell you care a lot about cleanliness." Anke had never stopped observing Mel Carlo. The more he observed, the more certain he became of his suspicions.

Because unlike the others, he had truly witnessed the birth of an Apostle. That sudden sense of unfamiliarity was like another person taking up residence inside someone's body, yet that person was still that same person. Otherwise, there would have been more than just a single scar on his face.

But so many years had passed. Some people even believed a Sub-dragon species monster had attacked the village, and no one had ever believed him. He had done everything he could to investigate the Apostles, but his status limited the information he could access.

How could a minor gang boss possibly investigate a legendary powerful existence?

After taking a hot bath, Mel Carlo collapsed onto the straw to rest. Since Anke could now openly favor him, it meant he had obtained the authority to manage this area.

Within the gang, there were many minor bosses like him. Each of them managed an area, which also served as a source of income for the gang.

"Lily, can I try something?" Mel Carlo suddenly asked.

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"What is it?"

"I want to steal something from you. Can you hide that hairpin on yourself?"

"Steal?" Lily was a little dazed. Steal something from her? But if it was stealing, why was he telling her about it?

He had acquired this skill too recently to properly test whether it was the same as in the game. The most important things were its randomness, range, and success rate.

"Mm, I need your help. You can put some other small things on yourself too."

Lily put away the hairpin, then picked up some pebbles and sweetgrass from the ground. She still had some copper Oren on her. After checking Mel Carlo again, she said, "Can we start now?"

"Mm, thanks." Mel Carlo activated [Steal].

Skill check successful: [Steal obtained 1 Oren], [Proficiency +1, Steal proficiency 2/10000], [Effort points +1].

Looking at the copper coin in his hand, the randomness was indeed too strong. He had clearly wanted to steal the hairpin just now, but he had ended up with a copper coin instead.

At this rate, ten thousand uses of [Steal] would max out the skill. Using the skill consumed MP. With his current mana, he could only use Steal five times at most before needing to wait for his magic power to slowly recover.

The game menu still showed no numerical values, and the system had not issued any quests. This system looked like a half-finished product. The only numbers he could see were the bare level and the red and blue bars.

The lottery page seemed to have changed. [Effort points: 2]. A single draw required 10 effort points, while ten draws required 100. He did not even know what the prizes were.

A lottery without a guarantee would be classified as gambling. If a game company dared to make something like that, it would probably be torn apart by angry players.

"Mel, how did you take it?" Lily stared at Mel with wide eyes.

"Mm, it's a skill. But keep it secret, okay?"

"Okay." Lily nodded. She had heard of such things before, but there was nowhere for people like them to learn skills, and no one was willing to teach them.

So he must have secretly learned it when no one else knew.

Mel Carlo returned the 1 Oren he had stolen to Lily, then continued trying. Lily was also happy to help him.

Over the next four attempts at stealing, Mel Carlo successfully got what he wanted only once. But the skill itself had never failed. At the same level, it seemed failure was not so easy.

His remaining mana was barely enough for a sixth use, but fatigue had already swept over him. After exhausting his magic power, what he felt most was mental exhaustion. He could sense that if he used the skill one more time, he might pass out on the spot.

Having tested it this far, Mel Carlo was not about to keep forcing himself. Its current usable range was one meter. Once proficiency was maxed out, it might reach ten meters.

Also, each use of the skill required a ten-second interval. The game had the same cooldown setting, but in this world, it felt more like physical discomfort caused by mana consumption. If he could overcome that, or if the skill's proficiency reached 10000, the cooldown might drop to zero.

That was good news too. A zero-cooldown skill was something even games would not dare to imagine. In the game, proficiency relied on skill points. Each level gave five skill points, but maxing a skill required thirty points. For balance, the game would never allow no cooldown.

But in this world, anything was possible.

Including the time needed for mana recovery, he could use the skill five times in the morning, wait for his mana to recover, then use it five more times in the afternoon before sleeping.

He could practice about ten times a day, but it would take a thousand days to max out the skill, assuming nothing unexpected happened. That was nearly three years.

It seemed he still needed to try learning other skills. Not every skill consumed so much mana.

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