"Interesting resonance..." Luthor murmured, his voice barely audible over the wind.

  I stood motionless in the shadows. My mind was racing a mile a minute. Calcuting probabilities... Direct confrontation: 0%. Stealth theft in my current state: 15%.

  Too much risk. I decided to retreat. That fragment was lost, but there were other fish in the sea.

  I turned around slowly to look for another target, pcing all my care into every step. But fate, with its cruel sense of humor, pyed a dirty trick on me.

  The tip of my sneaker struck a rusty soda can hidden among the debris.

  Cck!

  The metallic sound reverberated in the silence like a gunshot. In that instant, the reality of the system hit me: this was what it meant to have [Stealth: Level 1 (Mediocre)]. A rookie mistake that would cost me my life.

  One of Luthor's bodyguards whipped his head around instantly, his weapon rising with military precision.

  "Who goes there?"

  The blinding light of a tactical fshlight swept in my direction, erasing the darkness. Panic tried to climb up my throat, urging my child legs to run blindly, but my cold mind crushed it in one blow.

  If I ran, they would shoot me. I needed to be faster. I needed to be undetectable. Now.

  I opened my Status menu with a desperate thought. I had the 5 Stat Points I earned by killing the soldier and the 2,000 gold in my virtual pocket. There was no time to hesitate.

  [Quick Assignment Confirmed] Agility: Level 1 ? Level 4 (Young Athlete). [-3 Points] Perception: Level 1 ? Level 3 (Good). [-2 Points] Strength: Level 1.6 (Mediocre). Intelligence: Level 5 (Professional).

  Ding! [Attribute Synergy Detected] Thanks to the drastic increase in Agility and Perception, your body has better assimited concealment techniques. Stealth (Lv. 1) ? Stealth (Lv. 2): Now you know how to move better. Dampens the sound of breathing and light footsteps by an additional 30%. Bonus: Skill [Basic Parkour] acquired as a consequence of the new agility.

  There was no time to celebrate or smile. The fshlight beam was milliseconds away from finding me.

  Level 2 wasn't enough to fool an elite bodyguard at this distance. I needed more, I thought as I backed away from the light.

  [Skill Upgrade] Spending 340 Gold... Stealth (Lv. 2) ? Stealth (Lv. 3 - Advanced): Effect: [Shadow Step]. Noise suppression at 60%. Your silhouette becomes fuzzy and difficult for the human eye to focus on in low light conditions.

  I felt an electric jolt run through my body. My muscles tensed, compacted, and reorganized in microseconds. The pain was sharp but fleeting.

  Suddenly, the world seemed to move a little slower. I could hear the guard's heartbeat, the hum of the fshlight.

  When the light swept the spot where I had been a fraction of a second earlier, there was no one there anymore.

  I had slipped into the side shadows with a liquid fluidity that no 11-year-old child should possess. My feet, now light as feathers, found purchase on a colpsed wall and propelled me upward without making a sound.

  "False arm, Mr. Luthor," the guard said, rexing his stance but not lowering his weapon. "Probably a rat."

  "Don't interrupt me for rodents," Lex snapped, without even looking up from his sample.

  I moved away from there, controlling my breathing to make it imperceptible thanks to Level 3. My heart was pounding, but a tense smile crossed my face. That was close. Too close.

  As my pulse stabilized, I looked at my remaining gold bance and frowned. The expense had been necessary, but painful.

  'It's an economic trap,' I analyzed quickly. 'The decimals and levels seem cheap at first, an easy hook. But the mathematical projection is terrifying: ter on, buying a single decimal in the "Professional" rank will cost a fortune. And in "Supernatural"? Don't even think about it. It would be unaffordable.'

  I clenched my fist, feeling the reality of the system.

  'If I want to reach the top, I have to save. I have to find a way to raise my Stats on my own, through training and pain. The system's gold must be my st resort, a panic button for desperate cases like this, not my daily routine.'

  With that renewed determination not to become dependent, I secured the tenth fragment in another nearby building without issues. It was easy now.

  Ding! [Quest "The Looter's Ambition" Phase 1 Completed] Do you wish to finish here and cim your rewards?

  I was about to say yes. I already had what I wanted. But then, the text on the screen changed. The blue letters flickered and turned a deep red, almost bloody.

  [The True Test of Greed] A true vilin never settles. A vilin wants it all. The System has detected 5 more high-purity fragments in the zone.

  New Objective: Collect 15 fragments in total.

  Enhanced Reward:

  Split Inventory: Ability to store "Inert Matter" and "Living Beings" separately.

  Inventory X2: Increases size to 10x10.

  Module for Tactical Map [Threat Radar]: Visualize enemy vision cones and plot safe routes in real-time.

  Title: "Bold Thief".

  My eyes gleamed with pure greed. Storage for living beings? That changed the rules of the game completely.

  I could break someone out of a maximum-security prison, kidnap a high-value target right in front of their bodyguards, or hide a small personal army in my pocket.

  It was a power too great to ignore.

  Besides, the Threat Radar was the guarantee I needed. Without it, leaving this perimeter with full pockets would be suicide; with it, it would be child's py.

  "I'll do it," I whispered.

  I moved fast and without fear, dodging patrols thanks to my new upgrades. I picked up four more fragments. I felt unstoppable.

  But when I checked the map to locate the st one, number 15... the blue dot was moving.

  I returned to the previous spot with a bad feeling.

  From my hiding pce, I saw him. Lex Luthor was closing a reinforced lead briefcase. The system confirmed it for me: he was storing that specific fragment. He was leaving.

  It was that one or nothing.

  I bit my lip. If they saw me, my face would be etched into Luthor's photographic mind forever. I would be public enemy number one before even starting my career.

  I needed to hide, to erase my identity.

  I opened the System Store for the first time, looking for a desperate solution.

  [Store - Consumables Section] Shadow Mask (Disposable): 350 Gold. Description: Blurs facial features, alters voice, and erases biological traces that could track you. Undetectable by conventional cameras. Lasts 8 minutes.

  It was expensive. Painfully expensive for my current finances. But the reward of the "Living Beings" inventory was worth every coin.

  "Buy," I ordered mentally.

  A dark substance, cold like liquid smoke, covered my face. Instantly, the system interface confirmed the change. I felt light, indistinct... like a specter.

  Luthor closed the briefcase, sealing the st fragment. "Let's go. Stark Industries already sent their drones, I don't want to run into them."

  His bodyguards rexed for just a second to open the armored vehicle door.

  Now.

  I activated my Stealth, taking advantage of their confidence and the wind noise; I became a shadow that slipped behind them.

  I approached the guard on the right. With a calcuted movement, I brushed against his gun holster.

  Inventory: Store.

  The weight of the weapon disappeared from his waist, leaving him confused.

  Inventory: Equip.

  In a split second, the A.R.G.U.S. soldier's pistol—which I had already left with the safety off inside the Inventory—materialized in my right hand. Everything was silent, fluid, lethal.

  The man didn't even notice he was disarmed until I raised the barrel. "Goodbye," I thought.

  The first shot was point-bnk, straight to the back of the neck. Impossible to miss.

  BANG!

  The guard dropped like a sack of rocks, but I paid the price. A dry crack echoed in my right wrist, followed by blinding pain. The recoil of a military weapon in the hands of an 11-year-old kid was a ruthless bitch. I felt like I had dislocated the joint.

  The second guard spun around, reaching for his own weapon. I was going to die. My child body wouldn't withstand another shot.

  'System, Strength! Now! Spend gold until you give me the strength of a normal teenager!' I screamed mentally, cursing internally for having to burn my savings while still stuck in this hornets' nest.

  [Quick Attribute Upgrade] Spending 250 Gold... Strength: Level 1 (Mediocre) ? Level 2.1 (Normal Teenager)

  A sudden heat flooded my arms, as if I had been injected with adrenaline and cement into my veins. My muscle fibers tensed all at once.

  My right hand, throbbing with pain and useless, dropped the pistol. I caught it in mid-air with my left. The weapon, which previously weighed like an anvil, now felt manageable.

  I gritted my teeth, ignoring the tears of pain welling up under the mask, and fired.

  BANG! BANG!

  That damn kick again. The recoil shook my left wrist violently, but thanks to the upgrade, the bone held. It was painful, but tolerable.

  The second guard colpsed from the impacts to his chest. However, I didn't see blood gush; they were wearing vests. I couldn't risk it.

  I approached quickly and shot him once more, straight to the head.

  Taking advantage of my Stealth level, I slipped in a fluid motion toward young Luthor, who had just spun around with his eyes wide open, filled with absolute horror at seeing his men executed by a small shadow.

  I aimed at his forehead with the still-smoking weapon, while my right hand—still throbbing—touched the briefcase hanging from his hand.

  Inventory: Store.

  The briefcase vanished from his grip, leaving him holding thin air.

  For a millisecond, time stopped. A dark idea, befitting the Vilin System, crossed my mind: What if I kill him right here? What rewards would the future archenemy of Superman yield?

  But my Threat Radar fshed furiously red in my peripheral vision. Soldiers. Many of them. They were coming here, attracted by the gunshots. If I stayed to finish him off, they would surround me.

  I quickly positioned myself behind Luthor, using him briefly as a human shield against the soldiers appearing around the corner.

  I bought a fragmentation grenade and two smoke bombs for 150 Gold.

  My hands were full: one with the gun and the other holding Lex. I pressed the pistol barrel against the nape of his neck to ensure he didn't move, released his shoulder for an instant, and made the grenade appear in my free hand.

  Without thinking, acting on pure muscle memory from the action movies I watched in my other life, I brought the pin to my mouth and bit down to pull hard.

  I expected the sharp pain of my teeth breaking—I knew that in the real world, it takes brute force to pull the pin, aside from the twist—but the pin slid out with absurd smoothness, almost lubricated.

  'Comic book physics? Works for me,' I thought ironically, spitting out the metal.

  I threw the grenade toward the group of soldiers and, immediately after, tossed a smoke bomb at my own feet.

  But before the smoke swallowed me, I looked at Lex. I couldn't let him leave intact.

  'Maybe the System pays extra for damaging the boss,' I thought greedily. I had to try to get that reward.

  I pulled the trigger twice, aiming at his torso, a pce where I couldn't miss.

  BANG! BANG!

  Two dry impacts. Lex screamed and fell backward, the air leaving his lungs violently.

  "Kevr bulletproof vest," I deduced, seeing no massive immediate bloodstains, just the brutal impact that surely broke a couple of ribs. "Paranoid bastard, always prepared."

  Better this way. I didn't kill him, but I ensured he would remember this day every time he breathed in pain for the next month.

  "FIRE!" I heard a soldier shout.

  The grenade detonated. BOOM!

  I took advantage of the chaos and the curtain of gray smoke to run in a zigzag toward the ruins. My wrists burned as if I had fire in my veins; it was hard to move my fingers normally, but adrenaline was a powerful anesthetic.

  "My sample!" Lex's cry of fury resonated behind me, a mix of pure rage and agonizing pain. "I want that damn freak! KILL HIM!"

  Bullets started smashing against the concrete around me, kicking up dust and splinters. I threw the second smoke bomb to cover my trail.

  Suddenly, I felt a hot blow to my shoulder, like a giant wasp sting.

  A bullet had hit me, but I ignored it and kept running, using my Tactical Map to find blind spots.

  As I ran, a strange sensation came from my Inventory. Analyze Item: Briefcase.

  Checking it mentally, I realized the briefcase didn't just contain the fragment. There was an active electronic signal. A GPS.

  "Interesting," I whispered while devising a pn.

  Without slowing down, I extracted the GPS from the briefcase—from inside the Inventory—and shoved it into my physical pocket.

  Then I looked at the map. The red dots, previously scattered guarding the perimeter, were now converging on me like an enraged swarm. They knew where I was.

  I had to get rid of it, but I wasn't just going to throw it away. I was going to use it.