BXBX NOVEL Chapter 12: An Invitation And A Title
"Oh," Charles said as he looked all over at the damages that had been done to the lounge before finally resting his sights on Kirk\'s body,
"We missed a lot, huh."
"Where have you been?" Tony asked.
"Well, with you and Henry gone, we had to move carefully. There was still a bunch of men shooting at us," Stefan said as he walked toward his sister. His eyes were on the acidic burn on her back,
"Triss—" he called in concern.
Triss made an effort to look at her wound but then managed to smile even though it was clear it still stung,
"I\'ll be fine."
Charles looked over at everyone in the lounge one by one before settling on Angus who looked slightly disappointed that they were late. He raised a hand and scratched the back of his head as he held out a looting bag,
"Heh Heh. We didn\'t just hang back for the fun of it. When there were no more men coming at us, we went back to the Passenger cars and shook people up for what they had to give.
The gunshots they had heard made them VERY cooperative."
The sound of extra loot lessened Angus\' disappointment a bit and also reminded him to ask for the Warlock\'s body to be searched,
"His kind always have good stuff," he said.
Tony stepped forward to perform the search and he spent an entire minute pulling out pockets and looking for hidden spots in the Warlock\'s robes because no matter how hard he searched, there was nothing to be found.
"That\'s strange," Angus mumbled.
It was so unlike a Warlock to have nothing at all.
Henry had already taking a seat by the window and looked out of it, perfectly calm with the loot the others were looking for securely in his Inventory. Not once did he think to share what he had.
The gang took seats in the lounge after that. They had finished slightly ahead of schedule so all they had to do now was wait for the intersection so they could hitch a ride on the train returning to the New Freudein.
Twenty minutes later, Henry was looking out the window when he received an notification from the System;
[You have received an Invitation]
\'Huh, all of a sudden?\' Henry thought, confused, \'An invitation from who?\'
He tapped the message and an envelope appeared and unfolded with a short message,
[The Great Craftsman, Elminster Eltugard issues you an Invitation.
Will you accept?]
Henry was only more confused. He didn\'t know anyone called Elminster and could not understand why they would issue him an Invitation. Also, an Invitation to where? And why or how did they issue the Invitation to him through the System?
While Henry was engrossed with the Invitation, Tony took the seat right across from him,
"Are you bothered by something?"
"Huh?" Henry said as he looked at Tony, "Why do you ask?"
"Your brows are all scrunched together," Tony said.
"Hmm, It\'s nothing."
"If you say so," Tony said and then lowered his voice,
"So when did you get so good with the gun?"
Henry\'s right eye twitched,
"I\'ve always been a good shot?"
"You shot yourself last week," Tony pointed out.
"A slight goof. No one is perfect," Henry said with a brazen face.
Tony frowned, his voice still low,
"But you ARE. At least, you HAVE been \'perfect\' all day. No one who can make so many successful shots, shoots themselves on a goof."
\'Ah, so suspicious!\' Henry thought while holding the bridge of his nose.
"So what are you saying?" He asked slowly, "Are you suggesting I just suddenly got good?"
Tony held his gaze,
"No, I noticed some level of Experience in your actions. You\'ve been good for a while…"
Henry frowned and said nothing but Tony wasn\'t done,
"… But, someone as good as you are, silently letting himself get seen as weak… Quietly shovelling horse-shit, allowing yourself to be bullied until very recently and only showing your skills after you were made to go on a Job…"
Henry\'s frown got deeper.
"I respect it…" Tony said suddenly.
"What?" Henry let out, taken by surprise.
"I said I respect it," Tony said with a smile as he leaned back in his seat,
"To be so perverted and endure all that humiliation… I could never do it. It takes a masochist to endure all that. You have strange tastes but I respect it."
Henry blinked.
It seemed Tony had rationalised the matter in his own way. Not the right way but probably the best way for Henry at the moment.
"But you\'ve shown off your skills now. You won\'t be able to just hide away at Camp while the rest of us do the work, anymore. You\'re one of us now."
Tony held out a hand and Henry smiled as he took it and shook it,
"I can live with that."
Tony had been with the gang for a while. Two years to be precise and although that was a long time for Henry to have been \'putting on an act\', it was still the most believable explanation he had. At least the explanation that could temper the suspicions that had been rising in him all day.
"The train\'s here! Let\'s go!" Angus called out.
Tony stood up and walked away then and Henry let out a sigh of relief before he joined the others and got ready to jump trains.
Henry jumped last, letting the others go first so he had the excuse that he had \'learned\' from them how to make the jump himself. Of course, he needed no pointers. He had done many high speed hijackings in his past and knew better than them how to stick the landing.
The gang kept a low profile on their return to New Freudein. Apart from the fact that they were tired/injured, it would also do them no good to cause issues for when they got off the train at the Station.
Just as they had sneaked onto the Train they just robbed, they sneaked off the one that brought them to safety and ran into the nearby woods to find Good ol\' Joe waiting with the horses.
Henry walked over to the Nyx and the horse took a break from grazing to raise her head to look at him. She saw his wounds, most especially the one in his shoulder and nuzzled against it in slight concern.
"It\'s alright girl," Henry said while patting her neck, "It doesn\'t even really hurt anymore."
That was true. All the wounds Henry had sustained, including the cut to his side had lessened to dull aches and stings. From his experience with getting shot and cut, Henry knew it wasn\'t normal but why would he complain that he wasn\'t in pain.
"You\'re back!" Joe said as everyone walked over to their horses, and then his eyes clouded over, "Where\'s Kirk?"
"He didn\'t make it," Angus said as he got on his horse with the Chest still cradled under his arm.
"What?"
"We\'ll talk more at the mansion. Come on."
Angus led the way out of the woods and once they were all back in the road, they sped up into full sprinting gallops and arrived at the Hardon Mansion in minutes.
The moment Nyx crossed the damaged gate into the mansion\'s compound, Henry received multiple Alerts from the system;
[Quest Completed]
[You have completed a Job with the Dionisio gang…]
[You have received 50 Exp]
[You have received the Title \'Gangbanger\']
*[Nyx has received 25 Exp]
[Nyx has levelled up!]
[Nyx is now Level 2]
[Strength: 25 ——> 30]
[Speed: 50 ——> 60]
[Stamina: 20 ——> 25]
Henry felt it as Nyx\'s muscles grew stronger in accordance to her stat increase. He also felt that she knew about her stat increase to the point where she suddenly stopped galloping and reared on her hind legs while letting out a proud whining sound.
\'It\'s all well and good that Nyx levelled up,\' Henry thought with the corner of his lips twitching as he eyed one particular notification,
\'But what sort of Title is this?\'
[Title: Gangbanger
Description: You have completed a job with the Dinonsio gang, carving a bloody path with your gun along the way and are now truly \'One of the gang\'.
Your Charisma has improved and people weaker than you will be more \'inclined\' to surrender their possessions to you with just the slightest bit of convincing on your part.
The gang\'s possible suspicions of your \'sudden\' skills will be tempered slightly. (However, It will not be completely eradicated).
The \'Gangbanger\' Title will remain for as long as you are member of the Dionisio Gang.]