As Silas was killed, a system notification chimed in Victor's mind:
[Tactical Master (Blue) acquired.]
Seeing the alert, Victor finally understood why Silas had dominated the entire fight, he had a Blue talent.
Victor ignored the prompt and tried to stand, but his legs immediately gave out. The earlier burst of speed used to kill Silas had drained his energy completely, leaving his lower body numb and hollow.
After ten minutes of heavy breathing, he managed to recover enough strength to pull himself up. Leaning heavily against the wall of garbage for support, he limped back into his hideout. There, he retrieved the food and water he had hidden away, consuming them very fast.
Once finished, Victor leaned back and closed his eyes, slipping into a deep, heavy sleep driven by his exhaustion and injuries.
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After a long rest, Victor opened his eyes slowly, feeling surprisingly refreshed. He checked his injuries and saw that most had disappeared; only the deep stab wound from Gaffer and the heavy bruising on his ribs remained.
Looking toward the cave entrance, he saw the sun hanging high in the sky and realized he had slept for nearly an entire day.
Victor opened his status panel to check the new talent he got from Silas.
[Tactical Master (Blue)]
Description : Congratulations, you've upgraded from "panicked flailing" to "pretentious math." This talent turns a chaotic brawl into a predictable spreadsheet, mapping out your opponent's weight shifts and inevitable failures as clear tactical vectors. You now have the privilege of seeing exactly how you're going to be hit before it actually happens.
Staring at the description, Victor understood its true power, especially in a world where every fight was a battle of wits.
With just this single Blue talent, Silas had dominated the entire fight. Despite Victor possessing multiple Green talents, he had been unable to face Silas head-on. If Silas had taken the battle seriously from the start, Victor would be a corpse.
After that, Victor sat back down and thought about how to escape Meteor City.
He had decided to leave, but he had no idea how to get out of the dumping grounds. He realized he would have to gather information first.
With his goal set, Victor stood up and left his hideout. He walked toward his usual scavenging grounds, scanning the rusted mounds for anything of value. After fifteen minutes, he unearthed a VHS tape and tucked it into his bag. Suddenly, a shadow stretched over his, and he realized someone was standing directly behind him.
Victor turned to see a familiar, pale face Gale, a local scavenger whose life Victor had once saved. While Gale was useless in a fight, his ability to gather information was unmatched, even if most of it was mindless gossip.
Victor turned back to the trash without a word.
"Hey, at least show some expression," Gale complained, sitting down beside him.
Victor stopped and sighed. "I know you won't stop annoying me until you've spilled your secrets. Fine, I'm listening."
Gale checked their surroundings, then leaned in and whispered, "I heard many geniuses have emerged in Meteor City lately."
"I've heard that already," Victor said.
Gale's eyes lit up with excitement. "Uvogin crushed another gang and took over their mountain. They say a girl our age just joined his crew. Also, the Wolf Gang? Completely wiped out. Their leader went missing, so the rivals moved in and finished them off."
Victor felt a flicker of surprise. He knew the Wolf Gang would fall after he killed Silas, but he hadn't expected it to happen so fast. Victor's face quickly returned to normal, the Wolf Gang meant nothing to him now.
"I need you to do something for me," Victor said, looking Gale in the eye.
"Say it."
"I want to know how to get out of Meteor City."
Gale was stunned for a moment, but then he looked at Victor's strength and nodded. Only the abandoned or the wanted lived here, it was natural to want to leave this dumping ground
"There are two ways out," Gale said seriously. "One is through the underworld. The other is through the Elders."
"Wait, I also heard there's another option," Gale added, looking puzzled. "Someone is looking for powerful butlers, but I don't know who they're for."
Victor quickly dismissed the last option. He wasn't sure if the Zoldycks were recruiting, but he didn't want to find out. Being a Zoldyck butler was like a death sentence. Usually, the only way to leave that job was in a body bag. He still remembered how Hisoka had killed Gotoh, and it was Illumi who had planned it.
"Do you know anything about the mafia recruiting lately?" Victor asked.
Gale replied, "I heard a gang from the outside is coming in a month. I'll look around and tell you the time and place."
Victor was happy with that. He kept scavenging and found two more VHS tapes. They had no labels, so he put them in his bag and walked toward the Exchange Station.
As he walked, he heard a familiar sound Clatter-clatter... bang!
Victor saw Phinks riding a bike with Feitan on the back. The bike stopped right in front of him. Phinks gave a scary grin and said, "I heard you have something nice. Why don't you lend it to me?"
Victor looked at Phinks and then at the cold-eyed Feitan. "I only give things to people I know," Victor said.
Victor stayed alert. He noticed Feitan move slightly and realized an attack was coming. Suddenly, Feitan vanished from his seat and swung a wooden bat at Victor.
Victor was ready. He pulled out his knife and blocked the bat.
Feitan was surprised. "You are the first one to block my attack," he said.
Feitan disappeared again, moving even faster this time. Victor watched Feitan's body carefully. He could tell Feitan was aiming for his left hand where there was already an injury. Victor pretended he didn't see it.
Feitan smiled, thinking he had won. "Got you!" he whispered.
He swung the bat at Victor's left hand from a blind spot. At the very last second, Victor ducked. He swung his knife at Feitan's chest, which was wide open.
Feitan saw the knife coming, but he was moving too fast to stop.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, a stone hit Victor's knife. The force of the stone pushed the knife away. Feitan used the chance to jump back.
Victor stood in a defensive pose, watching the two boys. Phinks, who had thrown the stone, looked at Victor for a moment. "Fei, let's go," he said.
Feitan got back on the bike and they drove away. Victor didn't try to stop them. He knew that anyone who could throw a stone that hard was much stronger than him for now.
Suddenly, his screen updated:
[Aura Intuition (Purple)] acquired.
[Ghost Rhythm (Purple)] acquired.
Victor was surprised. He thought the fight didn't count because Phinks interrupted it. But the system decided he had defeated Feitan. It felt like his easiest win for such high-level talents.
On the bike, Feitan was angry. "Why did you stop me? Together, we could have killed him."
Phinks kept driving. "If we stayed, one of us might have died. Didn't you notice? He was reading you like a book. Before you even moved, he knew what you were going to do. Only someone who has fought countless battles can do that."
He shook his head. "We don't need to risk our lives for some old VHS tapes. In Meteor City, survival is the only thing that matters. We can find tapes somewhere else."
Then, they disappeared into the distance.