After staring at the corpses for a while, Victor dragged them outside his hideout and into the rain.
Once they were gone, he went back inside and sat on the cold ground to check his injuries.
His shoulder was badly bruised from the heavy hit, and his forearm was strained and swollen from blocking so many blows.
Victor felt a strange hollowness inside now that his adrenaline rush had passed.
He was in intense pain, but he kept his face calm and didn't show it. This was his first real fight in two lives, in his previous life, he had lived in a peaceful, modern society.
He took out some water to drink, then pulled out two pieces of hard bread and ate them until every crumb was gone.
After he was done eating, he closed his eyes and slept lightly to recover his energy.
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After three hours, Victor opened his eyes. He felt refreshed, and his stamina was almost fully recovered.
He checked his injuries and found that while the bruises were still there, the pain and swelling had gone down significantly.
After checking his injuries, he opened the status panel to look at the three new talents he had obtained from the scavengers who invaded his hideout.
The translucent screen flickered to life in front of him.
Name : Victor Kross
Age : 12
Talent : Scavenger (White), Pain Tolerance (White), Language Comprehension (White), Dirty Fighting (White), Robust Constitution (Green), Iron Gut (White), Brute Force (White), Vulture's Instinct (White), Nen Aptitude: Natural Talent (Green).
Victor focused on the three new talents he had acquired.
Brute Force (White)
Description: You now have the punching power of an angry teenager. It's not much, but at least your hits won't feel like a love tap anymore.
[Vulture's Instinct (White)]
Description: Your reflexes are now slightly better than a startled pigeon. You might actually see the next punch coming before it hits your face.
[Nen-Aptitude: Natural Talent (Green)]
Description: You aren't a god-tier monster, but you're at least a one-in-a-thousand 'fast learner.' You might actually figure out how to use nen in a few years, if you don't get stabbed first.
Seeing the third talent, Victor was finally in a good mood. At last, he had the talent required to learn Nen. Although it was only a "one in a thousand" aptitude and might still take a few years to master Nen, at least he now had the potential to do it.
In this world, not everyone possesses world-shattering talent like Gon and Killua. More than 99 percent of people live ordinary lives; very few can actually master Nen compared to the vast population.
While Victor was lost in his thoughts, a blue light flickered in the corner of his vision.
[System Notification: Fusible talent detected]
Seeing this prompt, Victor opened his System. He found that because he had collected survival and combat skills from his recent fight, he could now merge them into something much stronger.
[Brawler's Instinct (Green)]
Requires: Brute Force (White) + Dirty Fighting (White) + Vulture's Instinct (White)
Description: Stop fighting like a panicked child. This talent turns your messy scraps into a deadly rhythm. You'll hit harder, aim for the throat instinctively, and dodge before the enemy even swings. You're still a thug, but now you're a scary one.
[Wasteland Adaptation (Green)]
Requires: Iron Gut (White) + Scavenger (White) + Pain Tolerance (White)
Description: Congrats, you've officially evolved into a human cockroach. You can now treat a stabbing like a hiccup and find a 'gourmet' meal in a literal dumpster. You don't just live in the trash anymore; you're the mascot. Enjoy your cardboard crown, King of the Gutter.
Victor ignored the sarcastic descriptions and simply thought, "Fuse."
The system immediately processed the request, merging his basic white talents into two more powerful green ones.
Brawler's Instinct (Green) acquired.
Wasteland Adaptation (Green) acquired.
As Victor acquired both talents, his entire perspective of the hideout changed. Instead of looking at trash, his mind immediately mapped out escape routes, blind spots, and places where he could ambush his enemies.
His muscles, which were tense from his recent fight, relaxed completely. His hand, which was still shaking slightly due to the effects of adrenaline, stopped shaking entirely.
As he observed potential ambush spots, he found his hand reaching for the rusted knife instinctively.
The dryness in his throat from eating the hard bread vanished. His chest, which had felt stuffy from the industrial pollution in the garbage, cleared up, allowing him to breathe freely.
Even the stench that had made him feel disgusted didn't bother him anymore.
After Victor acquired his two new Green talents, he felt an intense, gnawing hunger. He quickly pulled out all the rations he had and devoured them.
Even after eating everything, he didn't feel full, though the hunger lessened considerably. Victor realized that because of his talents, his food consumption had increased drastically.
This might not have been a problem in another part of the world, but he was in Meteor City. Here, people kill for food.
If the three scavengers he killed were part of a gang, their allies might come looking for them, so Victor decided to move out.
His current location was on the outskirts of Meteor City. Deep within the city, there are human settlements and a church managed by the Elders of Meteor City.
He might be able to survive there, especially since he had recently heard rumors that many children were missing.
This was likely the work of human traffickers, so he decided to move toward the human settlements. Although he had acquired two new talents and felt more confident, he still didn't think he could face guns yet.
Those traffickers likely possessed advanced weapons if they were kidnapping children so openly in Meteor City.
So, Victor left his hideout and took a route from his memory, walking cautiously. Luckily, after walking for 40 minutes, he saw human settlements without encountering any threats along the way.
He noticed many shops made of scrap metal and sheds, and he saw many elderly people living there.
To his eyes, they seemed like normal elderly people, but his instincts were screaming at him as he felt many hidden gazes.
As he walked calmly, his hand hovered near his rusted knife. Suddenly, he noticed many children his own age moving in the same direction.
He stopped one boy and asked, "Where are you going?"
The boy looked Victor up and down. Seeing that Victor was about his age, his vigilance lessened, but he still replied cautiously. "We are going to the church. They provide a snack once a month for the children.'
Victor was surprised but asked, "Can I come with you?"
"Of course," the boy replied. "Every child of Meteor Street is welcome there." After saying that, the boy hurried off, leaving Victor behind.
Victor decided to go to the church; he hadn't eaten anything good since he arrived in this world. He followed the children, and as he moved forward, the shacks were replaced by small buildings.
After walking for ten minutes, he reached a large gate. As he entered, he saw trees and flowers surrounding a massive church. He also saw many graves.
Victor followed the others and saw a crowd of children gathered outside the church. They were surrounding an old man and a boy who looked slightly younger than Victor. The boy had messy black hair that lightly touched his eyebrows.
Victor felt the boy looked familiar. Suddenly, he heard a voice shout:
'Chrollo, give me one more snack!'
Hearing that name, Victor focused his gaze. He realized that this boy was Chrollo, the future leader of the Phantom Troupe.