After two weeks, I cleared six different Class-1 Ruins and one Class-2 earning me a value of 550 souls that I still held onto. A total of seven days was spent clearing ruins but the time in between that was spent practicing Penelope’s Dance, studying rune inscription, or going for a run to increase my endurance. I didn’t pay attention to much of anything else that went on in the background, not that there would be any news that concerned me.

“That reminds me.” I wiped the sweat from my forehead with a towel before I unsummoned Wilma’s War Scythe.

I didn’t get a chance to let my father know I was officially a Gifted. Although we had grown distant over the years, there were no bad feelings between us. It’s just the death of my mother had put us in a place where we couldn’t quite figure out how to move on, I guess. I’m sure my obsession with dead things didn’t really help either.

I dialed his number but only got a voicemail in the end. Without much to say, I just summed up what had happened while leaving out the worrisome parts like the fact I nearly died the first time I entered a ruin.

Just as I was about to put my phone away, it vibrated and a message appeared on the screen.

[Hey, are you in any condition to attempt another Class-3 Ruin?]

I almost thought it would be my father, but it was Jameson and it seemed that his group was ready to give it another go.

[Sure, just let me know the time.] I replied back before storing my phone away and heading out.

I donned a sweatsuit and grabbed a pair of earbuds before starting my run. While Penelope’s Dance was great for improving my physical constitution, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try other forms of exercise.

I’m not exactly sure how far I ran but since it usually took me an hour to complete it, I assumed it was a fair distance.

I began my jog while admiring the scenery as usual.

…

A busy street was filled with those who seemed to be preoccupied with some other task. The monotonous routine of daily life certainly had its charms. A peaceful was likely to be the most comforting one if you asked a common person.

But with one scream, the image of peace was shattered. The passing crowds turned their eyes to the source and they were immediately filled with the shock that would elicit verbalized panic. A thin ape-like creature with a jaw filled with crooked teeth used its small bestial eyes to scan the crowd that seemed to be frozen in place. Behind, there was a sewer grate pushed ajar, clearly, the location where it emerged from. It let out a strange, high-pitched, laugh that would come from the mouth of a hyena as it turned its eyes to the sewer.

More of the creatures began to emerge as their numbers increased. From two to six and then to twelve of the bipedal creatures with odd features.

The first one to emerge opened its mouth and licked its lips as the crowd began to slowly back away. Was it fear that paralyzed them? No, countless evacuations drills that had to perform since grade school were now a reflex. It was always said that in case of running into a hostile creature, back away slowly, stay quiet, stay calm, and do not look away. If any of those rules were violated, it could cause a violent reaction that would put the bystanders in even more danger.

A standoff occurred where even the vehicles on the street were at a complete halt. In the eyes of those reddish monsters, they didn’t have the number advantage and the “prey” in front of them didn’t seem very scared. A little over a minute, that’s how long it would take for them to completely abandoned the attack.

Unfortunately, a small child began to cry as her parents tried to calm her. And everyone’s eyes drifted toward the source, including the creatures that emerged. They let out a simultaneous set of cries before one began to step forward.

“No, no, no.” The mother tightly held onto her husband and daughter as it began its approach.

There were those who would want to help, sure, but they could do nothing against the monsters that stood before them.

The creature approached with a ferocious grin on its face and just as it was about to take further action a stop sign was swung toward it. Strangely enough, the stop sign seemed to hold an unexpected amount of power as it sliced a few centimeters into the creatures neck.

Once again, the nervous gazes of the pedestrians were forced to a different point. The end of the stop sign was held by a young man in a grey sweatsuit. His eyes were narrowed into a fierce glare while his mouth curled into a faint, confident, grin.

…

I couldn’t help but smile after sneak attacking the Imp who seemed surprised at the stop sign lodged in his neck. I didn’t have time to show off so I hurriedly pulled the stop sign back and spun it before striking the Imp with the end of the pole which still had a piece of concrete attached to it.

My current weapon was pulled out of the ground and hastily covered in two temporary runes, Sharpness and Weighted Edge. Although I could use other runes, a stop sign wasn’t a real weapon to begin with and I didn’t plan on using it for long. I twisted the sign once more and slammed it into the Imp to make sure it was dead.

“Thank you for your sacrifice,” I mumbled as I touched the corpse.

Its skin began to boil, before falling off in the form of lumps of congealed fat, hair, skin, muscle, and blood, revealing a skeleton that rose to its feet with a soft clattering sound.

“Take this.” I handed it the stop sign which it accepted without raising a fuss.

After it received my present, I grabbed ahold of one its arms and pulled it from the skeletal body. I swung it downward and it abruptly elongated, taking the form of Wilma’s War Scythe. I paid no mind to the spectators and dipped my fingers into the lump of blood and flesh at my feet and began hastily writing my temporary runes, Bleeding and Sharpness. The runic letters began to glow for a few seconds before the blood dried.

Through the entire exchange, I kept my eyes on the group of Imps in front of me. I had heard of them, like a few other monsters, and they were very aggressive but cautious as well, usually harassing something until they knew how strong it was. On top of that, they were an agile bunch, so I would have to move fast.

“Well?” I asked aloud as I began to spin the war scythe. “If you don’t come over here, we’re going over there.”

With a thought, the one-armed skeleton began moving forward with the stop sign in its hands, causing the Imps to take distance. One of them seemed to have some semblance of intelligence as he threw a stone, hitting the skull of my Skeleton Warrior and making him come to a complete stop.

I had long since discovered the problem with my ability to raise a basic Skeleton Warrior. Well, I should say problems as there were many. For one, it was basically remote controlled, able to carry out simple instructions. If I thought attack, it would move forward and make an undisciplined swing indefinitely unless another order was given. Another big problem was that each time it received damage, it would pause before continuing as if nothing happened. I didn’t want to say I was ripped off, but I was ripped off. That’s the main reason I had yet to invest my souls into anything, but this wasn’t the time to think about it.

The Imps laughed in disbelief as if they couldn’t believe they were fearful of such a weak enemy and began to mercilessly pelt my skeletal companion with whatever they could grab.

It left a perfect opening for me as I rushed forward, jumping from car roof to car roof before leaping off and making a wide-swing with my war scythe, beheading an Imp with surprising ease. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I used my momentum to turn my body and stabbed the tip of the war scythe into the chest of another Imp that cried out as copious amounts of blood began to pour from out from the small wound. I didn’t strike an artery or vein, it’s just the Bleeding Rune caused a good amount of damage with little effort.

However, my effort wasn’t enough to kill it and it’s companions were already pouncing on me. Or rather, they were attempting to pounce on me. I simply sidestepped, pivoted, or twisted my body away, while sending a counterattack or two.

I struck an Imp with the flat side of the war scythe blade before turning the sharp edge to it and lopping its arm off in the process. I rotated the war scythe and stabbed the end of the staff into its eye socket before pulling it back.

With another one dead, I felt a surge of energy and began to move even faster. My battle wasn’t perfect and I received a few scratches and cuts but was able to ignore them. Though, the same didn’t apply to my opponents as one Imp bit into my arm and immediately began to regret it. It let out a hoarse cry as my blood began to sear its skin. I didn’t take time to gloat and instead split its head open with the blade of the war scythe before moving onto the last few targets who were attempting to escape.

I breathed heavily as the fighting came to a stop and the effects of Soul Siphon began to wear off. The euphoric sensation that came from the fight had gone along with the burst of strength and speed and my wounds began to ache.

“Geez.” I huffed out before leaning onto my war scythe and catching my breath.

My grey sweatsuit was now covered in a mixture of sweat and blood from both me and my enemies.

I almost let my thoughts wander until a loud applause began to fill my ears. The spectators who probably figured out I was a Gifted pretty easily, observed the fight from a safe distance and even took pictures and videos of me while I fought.

I was stunned and a little annoyed by their reaction, to be honest.

Once they knew a Gifted was taking care of the situation, they turned from frightful bystanders to the crowd enjoying a good show. The average person seemed to have come to the understanding that Gifted were all powerful when that simply wasn’t the case. If it was the same Casper from a few weeks ago, the one who had just started practicing Penelope’s Dance, we’d all be dead.

“Whatever, I guess it sort of worked out in the end.” I shrugged and tossed the war scythe aside which caused it to crumble into bone fragments.

I had spent at least ten minutes fighting, so I knew that a guild and a team of police officers as well as EMTs on the way. With that in mind, I waved at the crowd with a wry smile before taking a seat on the curb.

At first, I was under the impression that Soul Siphon restored my stamina to some extent when in reality, it essentially delayed my exhaustion which now began to set in.

“I’m sure it would be fine if I just closed my eyes for a bit.” I grinned under the warm rays of the sun while doing my best to ignore the stench of blood that filled the air.

“Clear the way! Clear the way!”

I didn’t even have to open my eyes to know that those voices were members of some guild followed by a team of police ready to evacuate the area and provide assistance. I could imagine their surprise as they arrived only to find everything dealt with.

I ignored the pain of my wounds and stood up. I was really hoping that I wouldn’t have to deal with much paperwork.