086 THE MESSAGE BOARD
Damen stared at the Ring of Power spinning slowly in his palm.
"Should I assimilate it… or train with the ring first?"
According to the description, the ring could be used to train the Sonic Wave meta without being consumed. But once he used Assimilate, the ring would be destroyed — its power permanently fused into him.
He hesitated.
"If I train from scratch, it might take weeks or longer. And who knows what hidden requirements it has to unlock before I could use the skill?"
In the end, impatience won. He pressed "Assimilate."
The ring flared to life.
For a moment, it pulsed like a miniature sun — then collapsed into threads of light that pierced into his body. Damen gasped as the energy tore through him, stripping the artifact down to its essence before embedding itself within his body.
He stood up, stretching out his hand to test it.
A faint hum filled the air—then BOOM!
A deafening sonic blast erupted from his palm, shaking the walls and shattering every glass object in his apartment. The windows exploded outward. The furniture trembled.
The echo rolled across the entire building.
Damen froze. "Damnit… I can't use this inside residential buildings."
Outside, panicked voices rose. His neighbors shouted and screamed. Windows cracked in adjacent rooms.
Quickly, he swept the floor, cleaning up shards of glass.
"When the building manager came knocking to ask questions, I'll shrug and play innocent," he planned in his head.
Later, after the commotion died down, he finally collapsed on his bed. He opened his phone to check his stats—then blinked in disbelief.
Name: Damen Dark
Strength Rank: D Meta Rank: E
Strength: 152 Charm: 92 Meta: 93 Command: 93 Blood: 53 Armor: 102
His Blood and Armor stats had spiked by thirty points.
"What the—? I didn't kill anyone…"
He frowned, scrolling through the app. The timing was clear: the surge had occurred right after he assimilated the ring.
"So, assimilating the Ring of Power boosts my Blood stat? But why?"
He leaned back, thinking thoughtfully, "This tells me one thing — In the future, I shouldn't assimilate anything without planning. Even a good thing might kill me if I'm careless."
-----
"We've interrogated the gangster who attacked you yesterday," Dorin said. "His name's Green Crab—part of a local gang cell."
"Did you learn anything about that message board he mentioned?" Damen asked.
"Yes," Dorin nodded. "According to him, the message board appeared around a year ago. It gives out missions to local thugs- usually to beat up someone. Your name showed up on it, so they came after you."
Damen frowned. "You think they're connected to the Order of the Black Cockerel?"
Lander shook his head. "No. These gangsters are too crude to be assassins from the Order. More likely you've made enemies beyond Shawn Zetheris."
"What do they get for following the board's orders? Do they get paid or something?" Damen asked.
"I asked him that," Dorin said. "He claimed they didn't receive money. They received artifacts—items that could boost their meta powers, even unlock meta skills."
"Meta artifacts?" Damen echoed, feigning surprise at the word.
Lander reached into a drawer and pulled out a small box. Inside lay a ring. Damen's pulse quickened. He recognized it instantly—a Ring of Power.
"What is this?" he asked, keeping his voice steady.
"We found it on a corpse after a gang war," Dorin said. "Green Crab mentioned the same kind of ring being given as a reward.. or loan."
Damen's gaze lingered on it.
He knew that ring—it had belonged to Big Boss. He'd left it on the man's body on purpose after killing him, wanting nothing more to do with the gangs.
"What does it do?" Damen asked.
"It functions like a training meta chip," Dorin explained, "except it can be reused by different people. Those who complete missions from the board can keep it for a time, but they must return it afterward."
A thought hit Damen hard. "So, the board's handing out these rings to help ordinary gangsters develop meta skills? Someone's arming the streets with meta powers?"
Lander crossed his arms, his expression darkening. "Exactly. There's more to this scheme—something bigger, more organized than it looks. We don't yet know how far it reaches, or who's behind it." He paused, then added, "But now we have a lead."
-----
Damen followed Green Crab into a narrow back alley in the slums of Melrose City. Normal folks never came here—afraid of being robbed or worse. The city didn't care about this place either; it was a sore spot they'd rather forget, walled off from the clean, shining districts.
Here, the gangs thrived.
"Erm… boss," Green Crab said suddenly, glancing over his shoulder. "They asked me about my ring… I didn't tell them you took it."
Damen arched a brow. "Oh? Why not?"
Green Crab lowered his head, silent.
He didn't need to answer. Damen already knew. The man was terrified of him—he'd seen Damen kill two of his friends with his bare hands. Even after Damen stole his cash and the Ring of Power, he hadn't dared to fight back.
"You did well," Damen said flatly.
Green Crab smiled nervously, like a loyal underling, hoping for approval. They walked until a large, abandoned warehouse loomed ahead.
A guard stood by the entrance. He eyed them, grinning. "Green Crab—bringing a pawn for the sacrifice?"
"Yeah, yeah," Green Crab muttered, waving him off as they slipped inside.
Once they were out of earshot, Damen asked quietly, "What does he mean by 'pawn'?"
Green Crab hesitated. "You'll… you'll understand later, when the Prophet comes for the sacrifice ceremony."
"Prophet?" Damen repeated. "Who's that?"
"He's the one who gives out the rewards for completing missions from the message board," Green Crab said, his voice trembling.
Inside, the warehouse was packed with people wearing dark cloaks and pointed hats. The air was thick with incense and whispers. Damen's eyes swept across the crowd—this wasn't a street gang anymore.
It was a cult.
"So, some kind of cult's infiltrated the local gangs," Damen murmured into his comms while he turned on his body cams.
"Affirmative," Dorin's voice replied through his earpiece. "We're collecting all the footage right now for evidence."
Tiny cameras hidden in Damen's jacket streamed everything live once he turned them on.
He took out his phone, and began scanning the room. The readings made him pause. These people weren't weak. Their meta signatures reached Rank E… even Rank D.
"How did these gangsters grow so fast? he wondered. Do they have a mining app like me?"