The Ability Steal System

Kreed

Felix immediately left the store and went to an inn, where he reserved the most expensive room, placed an order for food, and picked out supplies to help him recuperate from his wounds.

Crime was the main credo of the slums; therefore, if someone showed up to an inn even with a dead body and bloody clothes, they were never there as long as they paid enough money.

Felix tended his wounds and consumed the food that had been given to him. "The reinforcements should have arrived by now, but since I didn't leave any tracks, as long as no one sold me out again, it would take some time before they could track me; that gives me enough time to get my things together and get stronger.”

"System, how do I become an F+ rank Esper?" Felix inquired the system.

[Every 10 levels promote you to the next rank so when you reach level 10, you will be promoted to an F+ rank Esper.]

[You have 7 more levels to be promoted to the next rank]

"That's a long way to go; I will think about it in the morning," Felix remarked before heading to bed to try to get some rest. He didn't realize how worn out he was until his body touched the bed. This was the first chance he had to finally unwind and recover, as he had been involved in multiple conflicts since arriving and hadn't received any appropriate rest. He would decide what to do the following morning.

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Felix got up early in the morning and worked out. After completing 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups, he practiced his dagger and hand-to-hand combat techniques, and by the time he finished, he was so exhausted that he needed to rest for two hours before he could move again.

Felix thought to himself, ‘Looks like this body is weaker than I thought; it's a wonder how I could survive yesterday.’ He got up and took a bath, then decided what to eat. After donning a dark cloak, he headed downstairs.

Felix slammed 30 F rank beast cores onto the counter and said, "I would like a shot of F rank beast blood; the stronger the better." When the people in the bar saw this, they began to harbor ill intentions towards him with some women even casting flirtatious glances at him. Despite this, Felix chose to ignore it all, knowing that there was no one in the bar to be afraid of because he had already evaluated every one of their strengths the moment he walked in.

Five guys appeared out of nowhere, and their captain declared to Felix, "Hey, give us 50 F rank beast cores or die."

"Oh, no, it's the Black Scorpion Gang; that man has no way of fleeing until he pays up," remarked a sympathetic man in the bar, his terrified eyes fixed on the group.

Another man looked at Felix, who was sitting there casually sipping the beast's blood without even bothering to spare them a glance. "I heard that they once fought against an F+ rank Esper and managed to get away; I feel pity for the man," said the other man, looking at Felix with pity.

"I support the Black Scorpion Gang, and I don't feel sorry for him; it's his fault that he decided to spend so much money in front of us," said another man who overheard the talk. He made fun of Felix's stupidity, but his remarks were really motivated by jealousy of Felix's wealth.

The captain angrily yelled, "Hey, didn't you hear me, or are you deaf?" He slammed a claw-like grip on Felix's shoulder, intending to break it.

"Take your hand off my shoulder before you lose it," Felix said icily as he felt the man's hand crushing his shoulder. He had ignored the group because he didn’t want to cause a scene. Who knew if some of Shadow's spies were around? Felix found the man's attitude and arrogance annoying, but if he unintentionally created a disturbance and they discovered his presence, the situation could escalate.

The captain shouted at Felix and tightened his grip. "You are courting death; who do—ARRG!" However, a moment later, he let out a scream of pain and held out a bloodied hand. The others turned to him, shocked to see his severed hand lying on the ground next to Felix, who appeared to have not moved and was engrossed in his drink.

His lackeys screamed in shock, "What the... how did... who did this?" they hadn't even witnessed what had happened.

With one hand pointing at Felix, who sat there drinking his beast blood, the commander angrily answered, "Get him; he did this to me, kill him." He then withdrew a special substance and sprinkled sprinkled it over his bleeding hand, which stopped the bleeding.

Upon hearing this, they looked to Felix in terror, they started to wonder if he was possibly a F+ rank Esper, or even worse, an E rank Esper, because to have pulled this off without having seen him move, this wasn’t something anyone below the E Rank could do. With this in mind, they backed away, exchanging terrified looks.

One of his fearful lackeys remarked to him, "Boss, what if he is an E rank Esper? We shouldn't offend someone like him."

The captain yelled, "I don't care, just kill him now!" in a fit of rage that caused his followers to exchange a quick look. They knew their leader would kill them if they left, but with their numbers they might defeat Felix. A foolish train of thought, but nevertheless, as they approached Felix, their greed overcame their fear.

Felix hissed icily, "Take one more step, and it’ll be your last." His murderous intent erupted like a volcano, sending the men reeling and making them forget any plans to attack.

The captain’s tone completely changed when Felix's killing intent hit him. Even though he wasn't previously aware, he wasn't foolish enough to ignore Felix's self-restraint. When he sensed the deadly intent of a highly skilled assassin with thousands of kills under his belt, he realized that Felix was a formidable opponent.

"Please, Senior; we did not realize that Senior was so strong. How about we compensate Senior to make up for our previous behavior?" The captain said in a respectful tone.

Felix said calmly, "Okay, 70 F rank beast cores" as his coldness and killing intent disappeared like the wind, like it had never been there in the first place.

Upon hearing Felix's request, the captain’s face paled, and he replied, "What! 70 F rank beast cores, Senior, please; we don't have that much cores."

Felix asked, "What did you just say?" For the first time, he stopped sipping the beast blood.

With a forced smile, the leader quickly handed Felix all of the cores he and his lackeys had, His eyes red from holding back his tears. He had no choice; he didn’t even want to attempt to envision what would happen to him if he irritated Felix.

"Good, now get out, and I never want to see your face again," Felix said in a composed manner. He then gathered the beast's cores and resumed drinking the blood, savoring it. Having gone through the purification process, he was surprised by how tasty it was.

The captain picked up his severed, bloody hand and replied, "Thank you, Senior. I'll never walk in front of you again" before taking off with his group.

The moment they departed, the inn fell silent like a cemetery. All of the guests, including the man who had formerly backed the Black Scorpion Gang, attempted to hide their breathing; the man was so terrified that he wet his trousers as his feet trembled beneath the table.

One person was an exception though. A young man sitting in the inn's corner had been watching Felix ever since the Black Scorpion Gang attempted to cause him problems. He was taken aback when the leader's hand was severed—not because he didn't see it, but because he did.

Felix had pulled his blade, hacked off his hand with a smooth motion, and sheathed it right away. These were the acts of a professional, and Felix's killing intent further supported this assertion, so he stood up and walked towards Felix.

"Who is that? Is he crazy, or does he just want to die?" A man in the inn whispered in shock upon observing the man's activities, wondering how brave he had to be to approach someone as terrifying as Felix after seeing the gruesome incident.

"Hello, my name is Connor; what is yours?" The man calmly introduced himself to Felix. However, Felix remained silent and continued to sip the beast blood.

Connor smiled and said, "Oh, you don't need to tell; this Senior must be here for the 'White Jade tournament,' right?" This time, Connor noticed that Felix paused a little at the mention of the event.

Felix hesitated, recalling from the previous Felix's memories of the annual competition that pitted talents from all over the continent against one another in their home cities to see who was the strongest.

There were two phases to the tournament: the hunting competition took place in the first stage, and the martial arts competition was the second stage.

"So this Senior is here for the tournament; I'm here for that as well, and I hope we can help each other when the time comes," Connor said, realizing that he would not be receiving a response. With a smile, he stood up and departed the inn. Felix was surprised by his actions and wondered why, but he dismissed it, knowing that strange people of all kinds existed here.

‘I must definitely compete in the tournament; this is the only chance that I have to leave this place, but first I have to make some preparations,’ Felix thought to himself. After finishing his drink, he returned to his room.

"Oh my, he's gone. I wonder who he was," A woman in the inn said to her friend.

Another man glanced at the man who had pissed himself and exclaimed with disgust, "What is that smell?"

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"Let's try this," Felix said as he sat on his bed and held an F rank beast core.

He relaxed while grasping the core and attempted to sense the energy within. Once he had done so, he applied the method he was aware of to absorb it. He guided the mana toward his hand by using his mana to draw it there and then used it to absorb it. As the mana permeated his palm, he felt a cool stream of energy travel through his hands and then spread throughout his body.

"Ding"

[You have gained 50xp]

After ten minutes, the energy stream stopped, indicating its exhaustion. He peered at the core, which had transformed into a hollow shell.

Felix thought to himself, ‘So F rank beast cores give 50xp, and I need 140xp to level up, meaning I need to absorb 3 more F rank beast cores to level up.’ After doing the math, he took out more cores to absorb, and the beast blood facilitated the process. Felix levelled up 20 minutes later, as his ability to absorb energy from the cores grew with the number of cores he ingested.

"Ding"

[You have reached level 4, and acquired an extra stat point, all of your stats have improved by one.].

"That was easy, but the expense is too high for long-term use. To advance to an F+ rank Esper, I need 3,400xp. It's no wonder most Espers take a long amount of time to advance. It seems that killing monsters is the best way to level up, but I won't be allowed into the F rank beast forest. I guess I have to disregard that for now, at least until I find a solution. Now I need weapons," Felix said as he got out of bed. He showered and then departed from the inn.

Felix walked through the streets and remarked, "Now to find the weapons store." He halted abruptly, looked over his shoulder at an alley, scowled, shook his head, and carried on looking for the weapon store.

A man with cold sweat on his face materialized shortly after he departed. "Did he notice me...No, he couldn't have; it must have been a fluke," the man said to himself, sounding uncertain and perplexed. He let out a sigh and followed Felix's path. A short while later, he noticed Felix turning into an alleyway, so he hastily followed, but Felix soon vanished from view. "Where did he go? Did I make a mistake? He was right there; I have to report back" the man said. His gut was telling him something was wrong, so he quickly turned to leave. As soon as he turned, he met face-to-face with Felix, like he had just materialized out of thin air.

"Looking for me? When I first sensed you, I thought it was a mistake, but as you followed me, I knew that you were using a skill." Felix replied with a smile while fiddling with his blade. The man's pupils contracted in dread; he had heard of Felix's infamy.

The man quickly turned to run away once he saw Felix approaching, but before he could move, a dagger shot out from behind him and struck the ground in front of him, stopping him dead in his tracks. Then, a cold voice echoed from behind him, while slamming him against the wall and instantly emptying all his weapons from his pockets. He turned to face Felix, who again moved and slammed him against the opposite wall in the alley.

"I never gave you permission to leave; now if you answer my question, I won't hurt you, but if you try anything funny, don't blame me for being ruthless," Felix commented coldly as he pressed his dagger, which he had taken back from the ground, against the man's throat.

The man responded, "Alright, I will answer all your questions accurately," while feeling the chill of the dagger's blade pressed against his neck. Understanding the danger posed by the man before him, he recognized the threat of violence that loomed if he were to defy him. Thus, he made the decision to comply with his commands without a moment's pause.

"Who instructed you to follow me?" Felix released his grip on the man and inquired, yet his blade remained poised, prepared to slice his throat should he attempt any treachery.

"My second young master sent me to tail you; he said that he thought you were interesting," The terrified guy said, his gaze straying to the dagger, which was positioned such that a single, clean stroke would instantly slash his throat.

"He sent you to tail me... because he thought I was interesting? Who’s your master?" Felix echoed the man's statement angrily. Despite his anger, Felix composed himself and carried on with his investigation.

"His name is Master Connor." The man shuddered in terror, realizing Felix had grown irate. He silently begged that Felix wouldn't cut his throat by mistake.

"Connor?" Felix thought to himself as he lowered his dagger.

"Wasn't that the guy from the inn?" Felix recognized the name fairly quickly because it had only happened a few hours before.

Felix asked the man who appeared to have cooled down, after he had lowered his dagger "How strong is he and what family is he from?"

With a hint of pride, the guy answered, "He is a F+ rank Esper from the Alexander Family."

Felix discovered details about the Alexander family through the memories of the previous Felix. "Alexander Family? Wait a minute, isn't their patriarch an SS rank Esper?" Felix asked.

According to the memories of Felix, the Alexander Family was one of the most powerful families on the continent, with branches spread throughout the cities and slums. They were thought to be descended from shapeshifters, and only their pure-blooded offspring were able to activate the shapeshifting power.

"Why is the second young master of the Alexander Family in Tarus?” Felix questioned the man with a suspicious gaze, the presence of a person associated with one of the most powerful families on the continent in the slums was indeed cause for concern.

With tears in his eyes, the man begged, "Please don't kill me. I am sorry, but even I don't know."

Felix replied, staring coldly straight into the man's eye as he cowered in front of him, "I already told you, if you answer all my questions, I won't kill you, so why are you afraid? I want you to give Connor a message; tell him that I don't care how powerful he is; I hate being tailed and monitored, so if he finds me interesting, he can tell me himself, but if I find anyone tailing me again, I will kill the person and send his head to him as a present in a box, with some nice roses on the side. This is my warning to him, and trust me, I never warn twice."

"Oo..kay, I’ll give him your message" The man stammered in fear when he saw Felix raise his dagger.

Felix grinned and added, "You can go; I have some business to take care of." He then turned and glanced in a certain direction.

"Have you heard enough? Did you actually think you could escape my senses?" Felix said with a vicious sneer, he then hurled his dagger in a specific direction at a frightening speed; moments later, a humanoid body with a dagger embedded in its head materialize.

[You have killed an F+ rank Kreed and gained 200xp and 400 system points]