Chương 38: Entrance Test

August, 20th, Raccoon City.

(A/N: read the note for explanation)

Yesterday, I was pretty much stunned by the three adult's schemes. Just like how nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition, I didn't expect them to get me to school this early.

I was prepared to keep going solo for a month until the event passed or barely started without making any contact except carrying out my plans. In the last part of the plan; do not get involved with anyone except the main characters. It was actually a back up for my mentality. The enemy this time would mostly be the resident of Raccoon City. I didn't want to hesitate or feel bad when I started blasting their heads off.

Anyway, right now I was sitting in a family diner, alone. I was waiting for someone important to help me joining The Continental. Of course, it's John Wick. Who else would it be?

Last night, I went to the hotel to find him. The staff was startled when they saw a masked boy, looking for John Wick. I was planning to meet him at the hotel, but he wasn't there. Too bad John wasn't there, but I already expected he would be busy and sent a letter instead.

Claire and Chris didn't know I'm here right now. They thought I was going to the nearby park to play as usual. I couldn't let them know that I was planning to join The Continental. Especially, Claire, I don't know what she gonna do, but I wouldn't bet on it either.

Joining the Continental was mainly Regina's idea. First, the Continental didn't have any age requirements. As long as you can fulfill the mission, it didn't matter. The youngest member to ever join them, up to now, was a 10-year-old boy in Belarus, 5 years ago. Well, it would be broken soon though.

Second, Raccoon City was a small city. She predicted that in the past 10 years, the branch could only have around 10 active mercenaries, 15 if you count the retired one. That means a lot of unfinished tasks at the mission boards for me to gobble up.

Third, the Continental respected their contracted assassins and mercenaries' identity. Which means I could use an alias and hidden my face all the time. However, it would be hard to gain trust from the client.

And the last one, anyone who wanted to join them, needed a recommendation from an approved senior member. This was actually one of the reasons why the Continental had fewer members than I expected. Anyone they recommended would affect their reputation as well. If the recommended did so badly, then they will be implied by it too. Reputation was all that matters in the Continental.

Clink. clink.

The doorbell sound echoed all the way to the kitchen. He's here. Damn it, I'm getting nervous again. I already prepared hundreds of alibi and told Claire that I'm going home a bit late. I was prepared for hours of a showdown. She agreed, provided that it was before the sun goes down.

He took a seat in front of me. The restaurant wasn't crowded yet, but there were a few families having lunch here, so our meeting wasn't suspicious in their eyes.

I turned my eyes toward John Wick. Hmm? He seemed to be daydreaming. Is he okay?

"Mr. Wick?" I waved my hands in front of him to catch his attention.

"Oh.. right. What were we talking about again?" asked John feeling embarrassed.

"We haven't started yet, Mr. Wick." I wonder if he catches a cold or something. I took a deep breath and summon my courage. "I want to join the Continental."

"Okay."

"I knew you would refuse, but I will assure you that I am strong enou... huh?" as I was trying to throw my first justification, his earlier response finally registered in my head.

"Here. You can give this coin to the concierge, Marlo. But you still need to be tested."

"Huh... wait, why would you easily agree? You should have talked me out of it. Say, 'Listen here, you piece of shit...'"

"Language."

[Language.]

John and Regina's voice came out at the same time. "Okay, fine. I get it. Ahh... Don't you know? I stayed up late just to write this."

There were 5 pages full of my list of reasoning. Now that I think about it, I just waste my time. Thank God my body was enhanced with stats, I didn't need too much sleep.

"Uuh... that's it? I'll get going then." I said while taking the coin on the table and getting up. It's pretty underwhelming, but it doesn't feel bad.

"Wait. Let's have lunch, I haven't eaten anything since this morning," said John. Hmm... I already had Claire's lunchbox. What do I do?

"Okay, but nothing heavy, my Aunt already packed me a lunchbox. I don't want her to see any leftover." I replied while sitting down again.

We talk a bit more while having lunch. He keeps asking about my childhood. Man... I'm still in my childhood though. Although I like this man, he was still a stranger. So I just talked about things that were not too personal. After we finished, we decided to split up. I need to register as soon as possible.

An hour later, I was standing in front of the Continental Hotel's entrance. I was in my fully geared form. Since it was still noon, I turned the Hell's Chameleon Hooded Trenchcoat's (damn it's a long name) color to white. Wearing a dark outfit in a bright environment would just stick out like a sore thumb. I also deactivated Limbo and keep him in its bracelet form.

I fill the empty slots on the apparel section with normal clothing. Blue shirt, white long pants, and a simple black and white Vans shoes. I even wore a mask for this occasion, it was the Blue Ranger from the Mighty Morphin Power Ranger series. I can't find the red or the white one, it was sold out. Damn you, kids, who always wanted to be the leading MC.

The Hotel's interior didn't look too grand, but still acceptable for a city like Raccoon City. I was greeted by a tall robust man. I thought he was a security, but he was actually the concierge, Marlo. (Not Mario, but M.A.R.L.O.)

The passerby chuckled after looking at my outfit. They thought I was cosplaying. My deception worked out! But it's still kinda embarrassing. Thank god the mask covered my red face.

I take out the coin that John gave me earlier. The Concierge, still smiling, took it from my hand.

"What's the occasion, Sir." his tone suddenly turned respectful. The Hotel's staff were trained to be respectful to their customer, especially toward their members.

"I want to join the Continental. John Wick recommended me." I replied while showing the coin he gave me. This coin was used in every trade the Hotel did with the members, like information, weaponry, medication, etc. I saw him raising both of his brows. He didn't expect me to be this young.

"Ohh, I've been waiting for you. But, you still need to undergo testing, Sir. Please, follow me." said Marlo while leading me toward the special facility underground, prepared for member only.

'The people in this world really love underground buildings aren't they?' I thought in my mind.

There were two stages of tests, the first stage was a mock battle against Continental's men. They were not the members, but a special force only working for the Continental's benefit. This would test our adaptability in an unreasonable disadvantage. The Continental would only accept capable members. And the second stage would be one on one battle against one of the member.

We went inside a special elevator that was only for member's usage. After inserting the coin I gave him earlier, Marlo pressed the one and only button on the panel. The elevator moved down for a few seconds and then it stopped. When the door opened, I was amazed by the scale of their underground facility. There were shooting ground, weaponry shop and maintenance, lounge, gym and rings, a mini-bar, and a huge arena decorated with square-shaped houses and hand made obstacles where the first test would be done.

There are several members practicing here and there. Some also just came here to hang out or check for new firearms. Just like Regina said, there were only 5 official members here. The rest might be resting or doing missions, right now. They stopped whatever they were doing when they notice our arrival. The room turned silent, only whispering could be heard once in a while.

"Is that him? He's taller than I expected." said a topless muscular man who was stopping a shaking sandbag shaking that was caused by his punch.

"Yeah, they said John Wick recommended him." said a black woman wearing a sexy skin tight workout outfit. "You better train harder, Dean. She reminded me of the young Vanessa."

"Oh, please, Sammy. Vanessa was a monster in her prime. Don't disparage her legacy by comparing her with that kid."

The rest of the members also talked about me in their own way. However, I was too focused on the test and didn't hear what they were saying.

We moved toward the arena. Everything was already prepared, including my targets that were already lurking inside. Marlo led me toward a long desk in front of the entrance where multiple types of weapons were laid on it. Rifles, machine gun, sub-machine gun, pistols, knives, swords, batons, grenades. Everything was there, even a roll of metal wire.

"Please select your weapon of choice. Don't worry, the bullet we use here is not real and made with special paints that would mark your targets. The bullet was my precious invention. Although it resembled a real bullet it was only on the outer part. Everything except the cartridge case. The metal jacket was swapped with special plastic with less than 1 mm thickness that would pop upon impact, but strong enough to withstand the velocity of real bullets... not just that..."

"Marlo, not again!" shouted the sexy black woman from far away.

"Uhmm... I'm sorry... The sharp weapons were made blunt and coated with the paints in their sheath. The same was done with the blunt weapon, except they are a bit soft to protect our men. You can go all out however you want." explained Marlo while stepping aside, waiting for my decision.

"Then, I'll take everything," I replied. I wanted to test the new system's features. This was the perfect place to do it. Because the other members were still observing me, they heard what I said to Marlo.

"Haha... everything? How's he gonna take it?"

"Maybe with armpits, thigh, neck, and mouth. Man I wanted to learn from him." replied an old man with a cigar between his finger.

Everyone except Dean and Sammy laughed at my decision.

"This old people..." Dean watched the three laughing idiots behind her with a condescending face. His muscle started trembling.

"Just leave them be, Dean. Let those dinosaurs alone," said Dean. She was curious about my choice of weapon. 'This is John Wick's recommendation. He must have had a plan.'

Marlo didn't show any change in expression. It was rude for them to express their opinion to any members, so he just keeps it inside his heart and let me do as I want.

The Weapon Bar opened in front of me. The first ten slots were already equipped with the guns in my pocket, so I have to tap the (+) symbol at the corner of the bar to add another ten slots. I fill each one of the square slots with different types of weapons, from rifles to batons. Watching the weapons turning into black smoke and disappeared, all of the members' mouths opened wide while gasping.

"A... A mutant? After all these years, a new mutant finally joined our branch?" said the old man with a cigar between his fingers. He didn't notice the slipping cigar until it burned a hole on his crotch. "Ahh!! Shit!!"

"Dean... are you seeing this?" said Sammy, bewildered.

"Fuck... I need to lower my caffeine intake." said dean, half responding to Sammy's question. Even Marlo's eyes were turning wide.

After I was done with my preparation, I entered the arena. It wasn't that wide as it looked from outside. it was only 50x50 meters wide. A few seconds after, a voice was heard from the speakers installed in the arena. There's also CCTV's to monitor me all around the corner which will be broadcasted to all members in the hotel.

"There are 20 targets that you have to neutralize. You win if you could mark all of them with three streaks of paints. You lose, if the same would be done to you. It's pretty simple."

My first pick of weapons was the wire and grenades. I need to lay some trap, first.

"Too easy. Stealth." my body vanished from view after turning into black smoke.

There was a huge monitor installed outside the arena and each of the members' room. All of the members, including those that were resting in their room watched the broadcast. All of them had the same thing inside their mind, 'What the fuck is he?'

First, he made all of the weapons disappear. Now his body also disappeared. They started making their own guess about the kid's ability. The term Mutant wasn't foreign for them. Even half of the High Table's members were mutants.

"Holy fuck, whatever it is, that kid was made for this." a scrawny man with mustaches in a cowboy outfit interrupts everyone's thinking process. However, all of them just nodded, agreeing to him.

Back inside the Arena, I was done with my traps. Now was the time to engage in serious battles. I could have looked for them one by one, but it was a waste of time and energy.

Once a poor victim of mine walked in front of me, I took out a pistol and a knife. It didn't count as attacking, so I was still in stealth mode. I put the barrel on his forehead and wait.

1...

2...

3...

In three seconds, my Stealth automatically fades away with a flash of smoke, showing my body for the world to see. This was one of Stealth's rule. Even if I didn't pull the trigger, if I keep holding the barrel toward my target for three seconds, it would turn the stealth mode off.

Pang!

Head, neck, chest. Three streaks, he's out. I threw the knife on my left hand to my left, it scratches a mark on the next guy. It was too fast for him to evade. Before he could counter, I resummon the knife to my hand and throw it again toward him. Just as it makes another scratch, I repeat it once again, taking him out.

Another two came from behind me, but they didn't see the string on their knee pulling the safety pin on the grenade. It had a one-second delay, but it was enough the paint their whole back in yellow. A grenade blast counted as three streaks.

16 left. By now, the other targets must have heard the commotion. One by one they are coming in my direction. But only a few of them could make it. The traps I planted, keep triggering one by one. I switched toward a much more brutal approach. The knife and pistol fade into smokes after I threw it away. On my hands, two AK-47 took their place.

"Reinforcement..."

After drinking one MP potion to return my MP back to full and then reinforced the two AK-47s, including their 60 bullets.

It takes out all of my MP, leaving no points left to use.

<0/310>

It seems I need to find a way to increase my Mental Power. After the Reinforcement, my weapon got a good buff, but the bullet's buff intrigued me.

<AK-47 - Replica Paint Gun>

------

Two objects, but a different grade of effects. Is it because the size of the object? Or...

So anyway, I started blasting.

papapapapapapapapapapapa!

I didn't know where my targets were, but I didn't need to, since the bullets keep penetrating through the soft material of the square houses. I could hear occasional screaming and running footsteps and blasting traps.

After all the magazines were empty, I switched to an SMG and drink an MP potion. Now, I need to finish the last stranded targets. I turned to Stealth mode. I have two minutes until my MP is depleted to 0 again. The regeneration rate helped a bit since it actually restored my Mental Power at 5%/min, helping me to last longer.

It didn't take long until all of them were ousted. Before I turned Stealth mode off, I drank two potions to restore some of my MP. I need to prepare for the next stage.

"Sir, do you want to undergo the second stage right now?" asked Marlo from the speaker, officially ending the first stage.

"Yes!" I yelled.

"Okay, your next target would be a member of Continentals. Good luck, Sir," said Marlo.

I wonder who would be my opponent, well, as long as it's not John Wick. I think I will pass it. A few seconds later, I heard footsteps coming from behind me. As I turned my back, I saw the man. The legend.

John fucking Wick.

Ahh... shit... here we go again.

SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO
NightHowl

First I need to apologize because I wrote a wrong date. I wrote 'July, 15th' on a few chapter before which should have been 'August, 15th'

Second, this week my novel finally reach 1 mil view. Yayy... I didnt expect it to be this big. Thank you for everyone that has been reading this novel.

I will keep improving!!

Thanks to T02Nemesis for supporting me since day 1 and fallen_leaf. There's also H_Alex and pizza that helped me fix my grammar and some others I couldn't name

Thank you, everyone!!

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