Chapter 52: No.52: Stage Two {3}; Conning the Con Artist
Mildly surprised on seeing the information now displayed before him, as well as the photo attached next to his name, Bruce stared at the screen.
The picture was now that of the delinquent-like expression he’d just made a few seconds ago.
’Hmm! Gotta hand it to them. They sure do work fast.’
Pleased with the result, Bruce watched as the receptionist transferred the holographic Hunter ID displayed on the screen directly to his OmniBand.
This enabled him to easily replicate a holographic replica of his Hunter ID on command from his OmniBand.
The information displayed on the ID was that of the registered information of the former Bruce’s Ability and the data related to it, while also updating his photo and now registering him as a Novice Hunter.
Glancing once more at the ’Ability’ displayed on the screen, Bruce briefly recalled that, based on his memories, the former Bruce indeed had such an Ability.
However, the previous Bruce had disregarded it as useless to him a long time ago and hadn’t used it for years now since he initially Awakened the Ability, at least till recently.
After all, the Ability was a strange kind that gave him a random stroke of luck that could only be used once a week before the next usage.
Though intriguing at first, the former Bruce soon came to know that the so-called luck that he’d eventually end up receiving was practically useless to him.
Being anything from finding a coin at the roadside to getting caught in a lucky Pervert situation, where he’d get a flash of a random girl’s panties from a sudden unexplainable breeze lifting up her skirt for no explicable reason.
Other than that, there were other random strokes of luck that occurred upon activation of the Ability.
But, as it mostly activated at random, and the time at which the actual stroke of luck occurred was unpredictable, with him even being unaware if it had already worked or the luck was just a coincidence instead, the former Bruce had deemed it useless.
That, and the fact that it was practically useless in a battle, which meant nearly everything for an Awakened.
As power easily decided one’s fate in this world, and having an Ability that didn’t help increase one’s chances against the monsters outside, coupled with a body that was displeasing to look at, it made sense why the previous Bruce had been gloomy and depressed most of the time, as his future was practically set in stone to be average at best no matter how hard he tried.
Understanding this, Bruce sighed inwardly before shaking away any more negative thoughts as he decided to focus on the task at hand instead.
Walking towards a different section, upon thanking the receptionist for aiding with his Hunter Licence registration, Bruce went on to purchase a number of different things from other sections of the Association which sold items relating to Hunter activities.
Buying anything that he deemed necessary, while also purchasing things that were eye-catching but practically useless for anything other than to seemingly grab one’s attention, yet ended up costing a lot to buy.
However, he made sure to only spend within the amount he’d loaned from the loansharks, ensuring not to spend a dime more than what he borrowed.
As he did, he eventually found himself wandering towards the lower sections of the Association Building.
These parts were a bit less crowded than the upper sections, as most of the items and people manning the products displayed here were shady, to say the least.
Taking a glance at the name displayed on the LED marquee, Bruce vaguely understood why this was so.
The name was vaguely readable, with most of the letters now fading and having dulled out from poor maintenance of the LED marquee from probably years of neglect, simply read...
Dark Sections
"Even the name’s sketchy."
Muttering to himself on noticing this, Bruce appeared oblivious as he casually strolled into the Dark Sections of the Hunter Association.
His flashy equipment and naive expression easily attracted the attention of everyone around him, as he now had an expensive sword resting in the scabbard on his waist, while a great shield that looked more like it served better to attract attention than to actually be used in a battle.
Making him seem like a spoilt rich kid that had no idea where he’d just wandered into.
On noticing this, most of the shopkeepers and shop assistants nearby quickly swarmed him, trying to get him to buy items from their shops.
However, on reaching most of them, Bruce found their items barely pleasing to the eye, much less usable in a fight.
Yet, the stalls tried selling them at an absurd price that nearly made his mask of a spoilt rich brat fall off for a second.
Composing himself soon after upon calming down a bit, Bruce casually rejected the items, stating they didn’t look useful.
With that, he browsed through a number of different stalls and rundown shops in the Section, but failed to find anything of interest that would seem even remotely believable for someone like him to purchase at this point.
About to leave, his attention got drawn by a short, scruffy-looking man.
Waving towards Bruce, the man audibly whispered in a harsh, grating voice.
"Hey, kid! Why don’t you come over here for a bit? I promise to make it worth your while."
Hearing the words of the short man, with an unkempt appearance, which sounded like a shady man trying to lure a kid into his van, Bruce hesitated for a bit before following nonetheless.
Even if the figure wanted to try anything funky, Bruce doubted the former would attempt such within the Association grounds, as they tended to be strict about such things.
’Then again, it doesn’t really make sense for them to tolerate such activities in their main building to begin with. Even if they did keep it in the lower sections.’
Mildly confused as to why they’d go through such trouble to begin with, he decided there was likely a reason that he hadn’t thought of yet, so he simply pushed the thought aside for now.
Upon entering the figure’s shop, which appeared to be fairly more appealing than the rest of the others in this section, Bruce browsed the items as he did.
However, though fairly better than most of the others around, the items here didn’t really seem useful either.
Before he could decide on leaving, though, a particular item caught his attention as he walked towards a spherical item that was placed on a tiny podium of sorts.
Cushioned on a silky red cloth, the spherical item pulsed with a sort of unstable energy as though on the verge of an explosion, yet didn’t seem to explode anytime soon.
Noticing Bruce’s attention was piqued, a subtle smirk appeared on the scruffy man’s face as he followed with a practiced line.
"Oh ho! Sharp eyes for one so young."
His smile widening into what was intended to be a pleasant smile, but ended up being irritating to look at, the short man nimbly walked towards the item with a surprisingly quick pace for his short legs.
His hands hovering over the item as he explained.
"This right here is one of my most prized possessions! An item said to be capable of easily pulverising an entire herd of hundreds... No. Thousands! Of Mutants and Ghouls in a single blast, killing everything in sight. This is by far the most destructive weapon you’ll ever come across in your entire life."
The scrawny man continued as he went on to spout a number of made-up BS, going on and on about how impressive the item was supposed to be.
Having lost track of what the little man was spouting at some point, Bruce’s mind was preoccupied with a different thought entirely.
’I wonder where I’ve seen that mark before.’
Staring at an insignia carved onto the surface of the spherical item, it took a moment for Bruce to finally recall where he’d initially seen it.
’Isn’t it the same marking as the one on Summer’s earrings I bought for her a few days ago?’
Realising this, he concluded that it was indeed the same emblem as the one on Summer’s earrings.
But as those were a lot smaller and barely noticeable, with the design being a bit more intricate than this one, it took him a while to notice.
Upon recalling the initial words the scrawny man used to describe this item, Bruce smirked inwardly at a thought.
’Perfect. Just what I wanted to hear!’
Pleased on finally achieving what he intended on visiting this section to begin with, Bruce simply asked with a pleasant smile plastered on his face.
"How much for the glowing sphere?"