Rise Of The Hoarder

“Uarghhhhhhh!!!”

The wounded man’s voice still filled the air, and it was ticking me off at this point.

Who would have thought that he wasn’t even the real deal and was just some faker who most likely wanted to impress Larry with his bravado.

He must have thought that doing so would secure him a higher standing with their ‘hero’ when they got to the Camp of their dreams.

‘I can be useful when it counts, so watch me, Larry!’ That must have been what he was thinking at the time.

Looking at him now, though, he had no semblance of dignity left.

Using my fast-paced movement, I swiftly closed the distance between us, tapping him lightly.

He instantly vanished, disappearing into [Subspace] in a flash.

This caused even more shocked cries from the crowd.

‘Good grief, will the noise of this stupid mob ever end?’

“W-what did you just do?!” The people cried, widening their eyes as they stared at me fearfully.

“Oh, I suppose you guys don’t know about it… my Gift, that is.” My eyes moved to Larry who had been silent the whole time._.

“I see, so you faked your Gift to us back then…?” Larry said, now narrowing his eyes at me.

I smiled, shrugging a little. He caught on quickly.

“The Aura ability you used back then must have been a Skill, then. The way you make things appear and disappear must be your Gift.”

“Bingo. You’re smarter than I gave you credit for.” I said to him.

Larry didn’t respond, seeming to be thinking about a lot of things.

At this point, the unease of the masses had peaked, and they couldn’t bear it anymore.

“Larry, you know what’s going on, don’t you?”

“Didn’t your team bring him in? Why is he doing this?”

“Larry, please help us!”

They cried out.

The already impatient man sharply turned to the crowd, and with a menacing glare, he barked at them.

“Zip it, retards! I’m thinking!”

The sudden reverberation of Larry’s voice, coupled with the expression he gave, appeared to have an immediate effect on the sound, sending chills down their spine.

The murmurs were banished, and quietness was restored.

He heaved a deep sigh and turned to look at me. His face looked serious and resolute.

“Jeremy, who are you exactly?” Larry suddenly asked.

‘Welp, that’s a surprise!’ My mind rang.

Of all the things I thought he would ask, that didn’t appear even once.

“You… you’re a High-leveled Gifted, aren’t you?”

My eyes bulged the moment he said this. I quickly changed my face back to normal in order not to seem startled, but his question was spot-on.

‘Does he have a Skill that allows him to see hidden truths, like Charles?’

‘No, that can’t be it!’ I quickly dismissed the thought.

From the records Charles gave me, Larry didn’t have any Skill of that kind. Plus, if he had known earlier, I was certain his attitude toward me would have given it away at some point.

Also, just now, it appeared as though he was deliberating and piecing things together. Even now, he wasn’t entirely sure of himself. So he was most likely taking the most rational route in his guess.

‘The question is… why does he think I am a High-Leveled Gifted?’

“Judging from your silence, I must be right. I’m sure you’re wondering how I know all this. If you cooperate, I’ll fill you in on it.” Larry said, now giving a confident smile.

“Tsk,” It appeared I was a little too late in masking my surprise.

I really have to work on maintaining a poker face, since every now and then my real reactions have been leaking out.

Still, just because he surprised me for a moment, Larry already had a mistaken assumption that he had an advantage.

‘Hehe, big mistake!’

>FWOOOOSHH<

I sent two of my daggers his way, watching what his reaction would be. He caught their movements with his eye, as though already expecting that I would pull something like this off.

Nimbly moving, he evaded their strikes.

‘So he had been hiding these skills when he was with Ana’s party, eh?’ I smiled in observation.

I launched four more daggers to see what he would do, with each appearing at separate locations.

Seeing that he was somewhat trapped, Larry made use of what appeared to be a Skill. His body slightly glowed black and he sifted through the daggers, successfully avoiding any hit at all.

Not losing any momentum, he dashed to my location in an attempt to stop me from spamming any more weapons.

I noticed that his speed drastically increased. It must have been the effect of another Skill.

‘For his level, he should have about three skill slots. Looks like he has two Active Skills, just like Charles saw.

One allowed him to phase through objects like a shadow, and the other granted him a boost in speed.

He closed the distance between us with ease and used his body augmenting Gift to create sharp claws on his hand to slash me.

His idea wasn’t flawed, and to be honest, even Ana would have had a difficult time dealing with an opponent like him if he fought seriously. However, we were not evenly matched at all.

“<Aura>”

I didn’t bother dodging his attack, but instead I let him make his hit.

>KRIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!<

Like metals scraping against themselves, his claws couldn’t get through my aura, and sparks were sent flying as a result.

This made his eyes bulge in shock. He seemed to quickly grasp that any further action would be meaningless, so he made to retreat, leaping backward.

It was too bad that I was faster, with or without the activation of his <Sprint> Skill.

>FWOOOSH< I swiftly appeared behind him and flicked my fingers while generating a crimson spark of power.

>KPA!!!<

My spark which was directed to his back, made an impact as he was propelled to the front and crashed into the ground.

“Ah… Ow…” He groaned, slowly rising from the floor that he had crashed into.

I watched in slight amusement, a little impressed with his durability and pain tolerance. His Level was very inferior when compared to mine, but he was able to get right up after receiving a hit from me.

‘I suppose not everything is about Levels…’

It wasn’t like I was going all-out, but still… Larry was quite a stubborn guy.

“I think… we should stop fighting.” He suddenly said.

A wide grin formed on his face. It wasn’t an offer resulting from fear, since I could sense something peculiar coming from his eyes as he spoke.

Rather it was, CONFIDENCE!