Dear Heroes, I really am a Villain-Chapter 43: System Level 3

Looking happily at his Villain Score, which continued to rise nonstop from all the recognition he was getting as a villain across the city, Maximilian decided it was time to check on the request Shadow Thief had asked him to complete.

Since last night, he had fallen asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, completely exhausted after shaking off Photon Fury. As a result, he hadn’t had a chance to review anything. This was the first time he had come close to completing a request from the soul within the system, and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of anticipation for whatever reward might be waiting.

He took out the helmet from the night before and plugged a cable from its port into one of the data storage units stacked on his rack.

Looking up at the tall rack, he made a mental note: he needed to find time to set up a proper data room. If not, those storage units would eventually eat up all the space in his bedroom.

Maximilian then turned to the system screen.

System Level: 2

Energy Needed Till Next Level: 13/10

Accumulated Energy: 11

"Atherna, you can upgrade it to Level 3 now. I’m ready," Maximilian said as he pressed Enter on the keyboard, beginning the transfer of data from his armor’s storage unit to his main PC’s storage drives.

[Ok! o(>ω<)o] Atherna cheerfully reponded.

A progress bar appeared on the system UI and began running. Judging from the speed, it looked like the data transfer would finish first.

After five minutes, the transfer was complete. Maximilian immediately began reviewing the data he had copied from Luther’s PC the night before.

"Hmm... election campaign itinerary, guest list, security details for the public speech, names of the security teams, police officers who’ll support him, and so on and so forth..." Maximilian murmured as he skimmed through the files.

An hour passed as he sifted through the information. Most of it was standard data from a typical politician running an election campaign. Sure, there were some juicy tidbits, like... lists of UEC officers and cops in Luther’s pocket, but that was expected. It was the kind of dirt you’d expect to find in the data of a crooked politician. Nothing surprising.

Still, maybe this data was enough to ruin Luther’s campaign?

No... That was impossible. The guy was as slippery as an eel. There’s no way this amount of evidence could take him down. At best, it would tarnish his reputation... cause some headlines, maybe stir public opinion... but that’s it. Nowhere near enough to send him to jail.

Even so, something felt off to Maximilian. Nothing had changed in the system. No new prompts. No updates. No reaction.

Speaking of the system—he glanced back at the upgrade progress bar once again.

...98%

...99%

System Upgrade Completed!

"Oooh? Let me see what changed?" Maximilian

—

System Data/Interface

Greatest Super Villain System

Host Name: Maximilian Sterling Graham

System Level: 3

Energy Needed Till Next Level: 3/20

Accumulated Energy: 11

Villain Score: 128571

Skills

- Blood Mongoose Abilities & Skill Set [Full Assimilation]

- Shadow Thief Abilities & Skill Set [Full Assimilation]

Abilities

Evolution Factor:

- A&*#@-Error__???

- Frenzy Trance: When injured, the body initiates enhanced regeneration to heal the injury. During this effect, the host experiences intense rage, which increases corresponding to the severity of the injury. While in a rage state, all physical capabilities—such as strength and reflexes—increase to three times their normal levels.

- Shadow Sphere: This ability has two functions:

- Darkness Emission: Emits darkness in a spherical radius of up to 50 meters.

- Dark Shield: Emits darkness in a spherical radius of up to 5 meters, which reduces incoming kinetic force by 25%.

Body/Physique

Peak Human Physique

Cool Down Till Next Trial: 312:15:12

Storage [100x100 cubic meters]

- Glasses of Ordinarity x 1

- Various Weapons & Heavy Weapons

- Various Ammos and Ordnances

Additional Feature

- GPS Real-time Map [Detection Range 2000 meters]

- Shop [Tri-Weekly Discount Unlock]

- Loyalty Scanning

- Power Sharing [25 Villain Points/hour for each ability or 1 Energy block per day]

- Quest & Last Wish Request Check

- 3D Map (Locked)

- More to come...

—

Seeing the newly upgraded system and its various functions, Maximilian felt like he was about to get dizzy... so many things had changed! But the one feature that stood out the most was the new option to check the Last Wish Requests.

Without further ado, Maximilian tapped the button.

— Blood Mongoose’s Last Wish —

Description:

Blood Mongoose had a daughter. He wanted to know how she is doing and, if possible, ensure that she is safe and happy.

Time Limit: None

Primary Objective: Check on Rebecca Lane (Prescott)

Bonus Objective: Make sure she is safe and living a happy life

Reward: Blood Mongoose’s EF Potential Upgrade

Bonus Reward: Blood Mongoose’s EF Potential Maximization

— Shadow Thief’s Last Wish —

Description:

Shadow Thief held an unreconcilable grudge against Luther Rook. However, he never intended for you to kill him, that would be too dangerous. His only wish is for you to ruin Luther’s plans.

Time Limit: None

Primary Objective: Steal the data from Luther Rook’s personal computer

Bonus Objective: Ensure Luther Rook’s career is ruined, or that he stays dead

Reward: Shadow Thief’s EF Potential Upgrade

Bonus Reward: Shadow Thief’s EF Potential Maximization

—

Maximilian frowned after reading the quest objectives... It raised a few questions. For example: "Make sure Rebecca is safe and living a happy life." What kind of objective was that? Did he need to take care of her for the rest of her life? What am I? A nanny?

Also... "Steal the data from Luther Rook’s personal computer." He’d already done that, so why wasn’t there any sign of completion? Shouldn’t something have popped up to tell him the main objective was finished?

And lastly... "Or that he stays dead?" What was that supposed to mean? Did Luther not stay dead if he got killed?

[So this guy doesn’t die if he’s killed, huh? I thought that logic could be used everywhere. (◕ヮ◕) ]

Atherna joked.

"Sigh... Stop with your weeb-inducing jokes, Athel," Maximilian said tiredly.

[Says the weeb who wanted to be ’the storm’ and waved that weebstick you bought from Amazon all over your manhole of a room, until it broke your window and you got scolded by your dad. (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ ]

Maximilian’s face flushed with embarrassment.

"Fine! I wanted to be the storm! Even now, I want a katana and the skill to use it without cutting myself up! Happy now!?" Maximilian suddenly burst out, pushed over the edge by Atherna’s trolling.

(≧▽≦)

"Ahhhh, now I regret ever bringing you to my house!" he groaned, clutching his face in both hands in despair.

He had once brought Atherna, who at the time still went by Eleanor to his house and introduced her to his family. Ever since then, she’d known all his dark secrets and most embarrassing moments.

[Don’t be depressed, Max... I think maybe in a year or two, we can go back there again.] Atherna said, a hopeful tone in her voice.

"Wait... you mean...?"

[I can feel it, Max. Even though the system is still too low-level to initiate a multiversal travel function, I know it’s possible. But it has to be way higher... maybe level 10 or 12. I’m not sure... I can only vaguely sense it right now.]

"I see..." Maximilian nodded with a small smile.

He missed his home. He didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye to his family. How was his daughter holding up? He hoped she wasn’t being bullied by that bitch... or that bastard of a man who was her blood father.

Maximilian shifted his attention back to the system objectives... Maybe the mission wasn’t complete yet. Maybe Shadow Thief didn’t know which one was the real personal computer, and what he stole had just been a decoy.

He recalled the layout of the penthouse. He had checked everywhere, even using the visor from his helmet to scan all electrical signals, and saw no sign of a hidden system... unless—

Maximilian suddenly remembered the tablet he had taken from Luther’s bathroom. He quickly pulled it out and tried to turn it on.

Please enter your password.

The tablet was locked. Maximilian immediately set it up and began cracking it, using everything he’d learned from Shadow Thief’s skill and techniques.

After a grueling effort of more than three hours, with his fingers tapping furiously and sweat pouring down his forehead like a waterfall, he finally cracked the password.

"Open sesame..." Maximilian muttered as he opened the file on the tablet. What he saw left him completely stunned.

"...God... What the hell..."

— Meanwhile – City Center —

By noon, the city center finally had electricity restored. This was the first time the central district of the Arkadia City-State had experienced a blackout of such magnitude.

Police cars and various vehicles from the UEC were parked in the condominium lot where Luther’s penthouse was located. Officers and investigators from multiple UEC organizations were checking every floor to ensure that no bombs had been left behind by the intruder from the night before.