The Gang's Next Generation of Enforcers

Five people sat around the dining table. Because their identities and status had changed, they no longer had to eat black bread in a pitch-dark room.

Their living arrangements had changed as well. As reserve members of the gang, they now had a cleaner house. It was still a communal sleeping area, but at least they had beds.

"All right, you lot! After dinner, wash yourselves clean and change into new clothes. Training continues tomorrow." Anke walked behind Mel Carlo and gave the others their instructions.

Mel Carlo said nothing and silently stuffed bread into his mouth. On the very first day, he had practiced [Flying Blade] a thousand times. If he could maintain that amount of training every day, the skill's proficiency would reach its peak in just ten days.

After dinner, Mel Carlo fetched a bucket of hot water and began washing himself. For so long, all he had wanted was to get clean and be rid of filth and lice.

After bathing, Mel Carlo threw his tattered clothes into the pile of firewood. He watched the flames while wearing a new set of clothes. They were a little too big, but he had rolled up the sleeves.

"Mel, did you burn your old clothes?" Akai came over to Mel Carlo, unable to understand. He had only just gotten new clothes—couldn't the old ones still be worn after washing and mending them?

"What a waste," Lily agreed.

"There's nothing to regret. Those dirty old clothes might still be hiding lice. Better burn them. There'll be new clothes in the future."

"Burn them." Chubby did not think too much about it and tossed his old clothes into the fire.

Lily did not follow their lead. She thought that even if she could not wear them, she could at least give the clothes to other children.

Not everyone was as lucky as they were, chosen to become the gang's next generation of enforcers.

The sudden change in their lives left the children feeling lost. Only Mel Carlo was different.

He did not think spending his entire life in a place like this would be a good thing. No matter what, he had to leave himself a way out. His life could not be held in someone else's hands.

He rolled his neck and stretched his body. There was still one final task for today: five uses of [Steal]. Once he had used up most of his MP, he could get a good night's sleep.

The five of them returned to the room. Chubby happily rolled around on the bed with his friend, while Mel Carlo looked at Lily.

"Lily, can you help me practice?"

"Mm." The girl nodded, her gray hair seeming warm in the firelight.

By now, he had figured out that if he repeated an action ten times and the skill could be learned, he would gain that skill. These were all skills that had appeared in the game, and that was very important.

Effort +5

Proficiency +5

[Steal] Proficiency 15/10000

Current Effort: 93

The exhaustion from depleted MP swiftly hit him. Mel Carlo's vision blurred, and after returning the hairpin in his hand, he lay down on the bed and fell asleep immediately.

Using up MP five times felt worse than practicing four times, but Mel Carlo knew his limit was six. He did not push his MP to the limit because he still needed to get up normally the next day.

When he woke up again the next day, Mel Carlo had originally intended to practice [Flying Blade] a thousand times. But the soreness in his arms made him abandon that idea. The aftereffects of overtraining were more brutal than he had imagined.

He could only reduce the amount of training. He had planned to max out [Flying Blade] in ten days, but at this pace, with only a little over three hundred repetitions a day, it would probably take a month.

He continued doing fifty [Back Hop] repetitions so he would not injure his leg muscles.

After the two exercises, Mel Carlo rested for ten minutes before beginning to practice the [Assassin's Breathing Technique]. Whenever he used it, he felt as though his mind became more focused. One minute added ten points of proficiency and effort; if he kept it up for an hour, he could gain six hundred points.

"Mel! Mel! Let's go find something to eat. Bread and porridge are still nowhere near as good as meat." Chubby kept shouting at Mel, who was sitting cross-legged and training.

"Can't you see I'm practicing? Go by yourself! I have to train for a full hour." Mel Carlo was a little irritated. He did not like being disturbed. He had a clear goal, and he had to accomplish it.

The unnamed fifth person stopped Chubby. "Better not disturb Mel. How about we go into the sewers and catch rats?"

"Akai, are you coming too?" Chubby turned to Akai.

Akai was holding a wooden stick and practicing slashing motions. After pausing briefly, he glanced at Mel. "You guys go ahead. Mel is training, so I can't fall behind either!"

Lily had no interest in catching rats at all. She gripped a wooden stick and practiced, having realized that she was not particularly good at slashing.

After Chubby led the others away, the courtyard seemed to grow quiet. The beggars had all gone out to beg. Aside from Mel, their kind of training would not produce results in the short term.

After an hour of practice, Mel Carlo stopped.

"Maybe I need to change my way of thinking. Perhaps the Assassin's Breathing Technique can be maxed out the fastest." Mel muttered to himself, then quickly shook his head. "No, this skill isn't very useful to me for now. I should put the training on hold."

He looked at the system panel.

[Flying Blade] Proficiency 1320/10000

[Dagger Attack] Proficiency 1321/10000

[Back Hop] Proficiency 101/10000

[Assassin's Breathing Technique] 610/10000

Current Effort: 1343.

"Next is this morning's [Steal] practice."

As before, Mel Carlo went to find Lily. This skill would randomly steal an item from the target, but as his proficiency increased, perhaps the chances of successfully stealing what he wanted would increase as well.

If he was truly exhausted, he could just sleep. Now, he wanted to see whether the [Assassin's Breathing Technique] could ease the side effects of overusing MP.

After using [Steal] five times, the mental exhaustion came over him, and his blue bar was nearly empty. He could use it once more at most, but if his MP was truly drained, he would probably faint on the spot.

[Assassin's Breathing Technique]

Mel Carlo began using the Assassin's Breathing Technique. It actually seemed to help a little. Mental fatigue was different from physical fatigue. Although overusing MP brought some physical exhaustion, it was not entirely physical, and the rhythm of his breathing technique was not disrupted.

"It works. My mind is more focused. If I keep this up, maybe I won't have to sleep while waiting for my MP to recover." Mel Carlo was trying to squeeze every last bit out of himself. Sleep less, train more, become stronger faster—his growth rate would increase as well.

He continuously maintained the [Assassin's Breathing Technique]. The only drawback was that each cycle took six seconds. The rhythm was too slow, and the points came too slowly. No matter what, he could not make it faster.

One thing was clear: MP recovered very slowly, even more slowly than in the game. In the game, he could use blue potions to restore MP, but now he could only wait.