"Not only can he summon ninjas, but he's fairly strong himself?" Kingpin watched the video his men had sent over, watching the two super soldiers he had used as bait get beaten up without feeling a ripple of emotion.
Only when he saw Luke evade the hidden sniper's bullet through some unknown means did Kingpin's expression change slightly. "Then he's far stronger than I estimated."
Turning off the video, Kingpin looked at Bullseye, who was playing with cards at one side of the room. "This superhuman is pretty capable. Go try recruiting him and see if you can bring him in. If that really doesn't work, kill him."
Kingpin had great confidence in his top assassin, and Bullseye shared that confidence. He sent the playing cards in his hand flying. They circled the room several times before embedding themselves in the very center of the target beside the door.
"Oh, right. Lanco's operation failed and put me in a difficult position. Send his family down to keep him company," Kingpin continued, as though he had only happened to remember.
Bullseye did not stop walking. Instead, he hurried out even faster, afraid someone might beat him to it.
Luke made his way to a hotel, booked a room using his S.H.I.E.L.D. credentials, and even received a thirty-percent discount. "I didn't think this thing would actually bring up any information."
Looking at the card in his hand, Luke recalled how swiping it earlier had actually brought up information on the computer, along with a thirty-percent discount. He was thoroughly satisfied.
Fine, a job it is. I don't have anything else to do anyway. With a salary, I won't have to run out robbing gangs every day. I'll just have to watch out for Hydra, though there's no need to be afraid. If things get dangerous, I can escape straight into the Shadow World.
Luke opened the system and discovered that his energy cap had risen to over three hundred in just one day. Sure enough, the further an idle game progressed, the faster its numbers rose. He bought a few Ninja Soldiers, bringing their number to one hundred, and the system informed him that he needed to purchase an upgrade before he could buy any more Ninja Soldiers.
There it is, the stat boost every idle game has!
Luke's eyes lit up as he looked at the option. The reason numbers in late-game idle games could reach hundreds of millions, trillions, and quadrillions was that these purchasable stat boosts appeared once the number of units reached a certain threshold.
After buying one, the units' abilities would receive a direct twofold boost. For example, the Ninja Soldiers currently mined dimensional energy at a rate of 0.1. After the upgrade, that would double to 0.2, and another doubling would make it 0.4. It was outright exponential growth.
Judging by the mining speed, he would probably have to wait until the next day to buy the stat boost. Luke decided to get some sleep first and buy it when he woke up.
Time always passed especially quickly while sleeping. He closed his eyes, and the next day arrived.
After opening his eyes, Luke lazed in bed for quite a while before remembering what had happened the night before. He opened the system, found that he had enough energy, and purchased the stat boost without hesitation.
A tingling sensation welled up inside him, leaving Luke sprawled lazily on the bed again. Once it passed, he received a system notification. "Host's physical attributes successfully enhanced. The strength of unlocked options will increase based on the host's attributes."
?
Do the Ninja Soldiers' physical attributes depend on mine? Luke opened the system. A Ninja Soldier's current mining speed was 0.2 per second, and a new option had unlocked: Blade Soldiers.
Blade Soldiers were a troop type Demon Rasu had summoned before. Their hands and feet were sharp and conical, they moved nimbly, and they excelled at one-on-one combat. Uncle's chi spell also had no effect on them. A single soldier from this army was strong enough to take on many people on Jackie Chan's side alone. Had Tohru's new magic not destroyed them at the crucial moment, Jackie Chan and the others' adventures might have ended there.
Adding one Blade Soldier required five Ninja Soldiers and fifty energy, which worked out to somewhere around a hundred energy apiece.
Luke tried buying a Blade Soldier and summoned him. The Blade Soldier wore a black outfit with a face covering and had red, V-shaped eyes. All five fingers on each hand were extremely sharp and no less durable than a Ninja Soldier's katana. His feet were like pointed spikes that could pierce a wall with a little force, allowing him to walk along walls as though they were level ground.
How did Luke learn the Blade Soldier's exact stats? By having the Ninja Soldiers fight him, of course.
Practical testing showed that it took five Ninja Soldiers to barely fight one Blade Soldier to a draw. But that was only a draw. Killing the Blade Soldier would cost several Ninja Soldiers.
The Ninja Soldiers' stats had also improved considerably. Their physical attributes had doubled, and their movements and reactions were more agile. Then if my physical attributes match Captain America's in the future, wouldn't that mean I'd have a squad of Captain Americas?
Satisfied, Luke put away the Blade Soldier. Seeing that he had over four hundred energy left, he simply bought three more Blade Soldiers, then brought the number of Ninja Soldiers back up to one hundred to keep it a round number.
He still had thirty-odd energy left, but Luke did not intend to spend it. He could also use energy to attack directly, and the more energy he kept in reserve, the stronger the attack he could unleash.
Watching the Blade Soldiers mine at a rate of one point per minute, Luke was very pleased. His little mining squad was growing ever stronger.
Suddenly noticing all the holes around him left by the Shadow Army's infighting, Luke's face fell. This was going to cost him quite a bit again. He might as well pay Kingpin a visit.
Having decided that his daily routine would now consist of eating, sleeping, and beating up Kingpin, Luke left the hotel after paying the full repair costs.
After leaving the hotel, Luke was about to contact Coulson for the locations of some of Kingpin's bases, but Coulson called him first.
Looking at the number on the phone, Luke glanced around, trying to spot the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents watching him, but he did not notice anyone unusual.
They were professionals, after all, while he was still an unremarkable "ordinary person." Unhappy about it, Luke nevertheless answered the call, only for Coulson's voice to come from behind him.
Luke looked back and found Coulson standing right behind him, though he had not noticed him earlier. Reminding himself not to underestimate these agents, Luke said to Coulson:
"Do you agents get your expenses reimbursed? Calling when you're this close?"
Coulson smiled. "We do have an allowance, and we can make calls for free. As our security consultant, you're naturally entitled to that privilege too."
After a pause, he added, "Of course, I'd suggest using your work ID to get a SIM card first, then activating the privilege. Otherwise, it'll be a problem if the owner reclaims this number."
Luke looked at the phone in his hand, which belonged to some unlucky soul, shrugged, and tossed it into a trash can.
As though he had expected this, Coulson took out a phone and handed it to Luke. Luke raised an eyebrow at him, but there was no reason to turn down a freebie.
Once Luke took the phone, Coulson gestured for him to get into the car, and Luke casually settled into the passenger seat.
After getting into the car with Coulson, Luke asked, "What do you need me for? Don't tell me I joined yesterday and have to head into the field today?"
Looking ahead, Coulson spoke as he drove. "First, we need to register you. You can disclose a little about your abilities. Otherwise, it'll be hard to assign you missions."
"Besides, as a security consultant, you won't actually need to go into the field most of the time. You'll only need to complete some of the more dangerous missions."
Coulson drove Luke to the Triskelion headquarters, and Luke looked around as he followed him inside.
In his previous life, he had always been very curious about classified strongholds like this, wondering whether alien objects and superhumans could be seen everywhere.
To his disappointment, however, the place looked just like an ordinary company. Clerks moved between rooms handling all sorts of documents, and only the Special Operations Team members who occasionally passed by made it seem at all unusual.
Following Coulson into a room, Luke sat down at a table, and Coulson handed him a form.
The form only asked Luke to fill in his name and abilities. Luke promptly wrote that he could summon Ninja Soldiers and handed it straight back to Coulson.
Coulson took the form and looked at the large sheet of paper, which contained just one ability, described in such vague terms.
Setting the form down helplessly, Coulson looked at Luke.
"Perhaps I should clarify something first. Normally, before asking for your help, we conduct a review. We'll only approach you if your strength and the type of abilities you possess are sufficient to handle the difficulty we're facing."
After a pause, Coulson pushed the form back in front of Luke.
"Simply put, the more abilities you write down, and the more detailed you make them, the more work we'll ask you to help with, and the more you'll be paid." "Why didn't you say so sooner!"
Luke snatched the form back, lowered his head, and began writing rapidly. Watching him write at speed, Coulson nodded in satisfaction.
Luke kept his head lowered so Coulson could not see his expression, his thoughts constantly turning.
I definitely can't write down all my abilities. I'll have to leave some out. I need to think this through.
In the end, he described the Ninja Soldiers' abilities as exceptional skill and unlimited regeneration, concealing their ability to turn into shadows around him. He also left out the new troop type, the Blade Soldiers.
Then Luke gave himself the identity of a summoner without listing any abilities for himself.
Seeing that Luke had padded it out to half a page, Coulson nodded in satisfaction without reading it closely.
"Wait here for a moment. I'll go classify your abilities, and afterward I'll take you for an ability test."
"I get it. You're worried about people making false claims." Luke smiled and, watching Coulson stride out of the room, took out the phone Coulson had given him earlier.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had definitely left some backdoor on this phone, but there was no need to be overly nervous. He could store a few things in the Shadow World anyway. When the time came, he could simply stuff the phone into the Shadow World. If S.H.I.E.L.D. could still contact it then, he would admit defeat!
After he had spent quite a while playing the brick-breaker game built into the brick of a phone, Coulson finally returned, though his expression was not very good.
Coulson looked helplessly at Luke enjoying his game, then at the form in his hand. He really did feel like crying, but had no tears.
He had thought Luke possessed all sorts of abilities, but after going off to classify them, he found that aside from summoning Ninja Soldiers, they were all conventional abilities like physical enhancement.
In the end, there were only a scant few abilities once they were classified. Sighing as he looked at Luke, Coulson could hardly ask him to write more. He could only lead him out of the room toward the ability-testing room.
Luke followed Coulson to a room where several people in white coats were chatting. Upon seeing the two arrive, they got straight to work without any fuss.
The white coats were very professional and had Luke step onto a running track.
"We'll test your hundred-meter speed first." One of the white coats took out Luke's ability record, which contained information on some of his abilities. They used this to determine what tests were needed.
Luke did not hide his level in this regard. He would have plenty of opportunities to enhance his physique in the future anyway. If he exposed a little now, that information would become obsolete before long.
After some ordinary tests established that Luke's physical attributes were equivalent to those of two ordinary people, or 1.2 agents, the white coats asked him to summon a Ninja Soldier.
Luke summoned a Ninja Soldier, and the white coats approached to examine him. They seemed more curious about the Ninja Soldier.
After discussing how the Ninja Soldier had appeared, the white coats tested his various attributes.
Somewhat dissatisfied with such superficial testing, one white coat asked some questions. Upon learning that the Ninja Soldier had unlimited stamina and could regenerate endlessly, he promptly pulled out a rifle and opened fire on him.
Watching the gray-haired white coat blaze away with the gun, Luke silently summoned two Ninja Soldiers to stand in front of him, afraid the man might fail to control the recoil and put a round or two into him.
The Ninja Soldier sliced bullets apart with his katana, holding out under rifle fire for nearly five seconds before being shot dead. Luke was very satisfied.
The previous night, these ninjas had been unable to defend well against rifle fire, blocking only the first one or two bullets. Now they could hold out for so long, so Luke was naturally delighted.
Once they had tested every ability Luke had listed, the white coats wrote down the specific details of his abilities and made two copies. One went to Coulson for the records, and the other went to Luke.
Coulson then took Luke to have a couple of photos taken and entered his information into the system. With that, the ability testing came to an end.
There was nothing else for Luke to do here, and Coulson planned to drive him back to Hell's Kitchen.
Before you continue