Chapter Five: Getting Stronger

As soon as they started, a boy from the other team, who was with the ball came close to Vic to dribble him. As he got closer to hit him with his muscular and thick body, he felt like he hit an iron making him fall to the ground. Immediately, Vic grab hold of the ball, bouncing it as he got close to the basket, dribbling past five opponents at once, and the next thing,... "Basket!!"

"Oh man! this is so cool, the boy's good." A lady exclaimed excitedly.

"No wonder he's so confident!" Another lady replied.

"It's all because Pablo isn't playing." An old lady said looking over to where Pablo was seated. Pablo was a very huge man. He is more muscular than everyone else in the court. "I bet he's gonna win in seconds."

As if he heard them, Pablo stood from where he was seated and went towards the players.

"Oh no! He's up!! He will play for sure." a black lady assured

"This is getting interesting" a middle aged man with a blue dyed hair said.

"There would be a replacement in the group, I will be playing for Bob." Pablo said pointing towards the one who fell down the ground in an attempt to dribble Vic.

 "Is it fine with you" Pablo said looking at Vic.

"Sure no problem. It's okay with me" Vic replied as he went over to where Bob layed on the floor and gave him a hand. "It's been a pleasure playing with you." Vic said smiling.

"Is this boy crazy, Pablo is no joke, he will kill you in seconds." the man thought, unknown to him that Vic could hear his thought. Ever since he has unlocked his two new telepathy skills, especially mind reading skill, he could hear the thought of others. Although for the second skill he didn't know how it works, but now he have a full opportunity to test it out.

"I just need to get stronger." Vic thought.

After lifting him up, he didn't leave his hands. And he pretend to still be shaking him.

<Energy drain activated>

<40bars of energy received>

<600/1000 energy received>

+50Exp

<Exp: 65/500>

+50HP

<HP: 390/500>

After draining the little bit of energy he could savage from Bob, he decided to escort him to the changing room to not cause suspicion. Bob was frozen in place. He couldn't move his body, if the others were to know, it would cause an uproar.

He felt stronger once draining the energy. And he was thankful to Ang who had given him the idea.

He told him to pretend to be shaking Bob and then activate his energy drain skill on him. Now he have 50 more Exp bonuses and 50 more HP bonuses. Also including 40 bars of energy.

"Take care dear friend" Vic said and head back to the court as he had placed Bob on a sofa.

"Let's teach this little brat some lesson, shall we?!" Pablo said as he put on a fierce looking shirt with the eyes of a serpent. Almost resembling a dragon eyes.

Vic stood at front opposite the other team. His team mates had saw how skillful he is but they were still a little bit afraid of the opponent in front of them.

 To Vic, Pablo was no threat at all, and when Ang suggested that he could use a skill named Detect, it would enable him to know more details about the opponent, he felt so excited.

<Detect skill activated>

<Name: Pablo Smith>

"That makes sense, I guess he's a blacksmith, his bulging muscle explains it all." Vic thought. Only the blacksmiths bears the name Smiths.

<Ability: Metal shift>

<User touches a metal and his body structure becomes metallic>

<Skill: Iron swordsmanship>

<Percentage of power: 85%>

<HP: 1275/1500>

<Energy: 600/900>

<Titles: Best forger, Rank ten Knight, Athletic King>

<Weaknesses: Smirk, Personal blood>

"So does it mean that if I give him a smirk, he will shiver with fear." Vic said to Ang who replied by saying yes, "This is crazy. About the second weakness we'll see about that."

Both team clashed onto each other, all except Pablo and Vic. He hold a metallic pole and was waiting for the right time to strike at Vic. At the same time, he's trying to form the metal on every part of his body.

From the looks of it, it seems like he hasn't upgraded the level of his ability. Vic on the other hand had thought of this.

"So he is still an amateur?!" he was surprised that someone has strong as this have still not levelled up his ability.

Vic didn't realized that he had smirked at Pablo. When both of their eyes met,Pablo saw the smirk and immediately his nerves calmed a bit.

"This boy might be dangerous!" Pablo thought but the cheers of the onlookers had given him courage once again.

After waiting for a while and saw that Vic wouldn't move unless he did. The noise of the crowds had risen as they saw Pablo running towards Vic in his metallic body. 

Vic also charged in, but instead of running towards Pablo, he ran to the side of the court and snatched the ball off one of the opponent's hand and aimed for the basket. It went in!

The people were not surprised because Pablo hadn't taken any action at all.

Any time Pablo ran towards Vic, he would avoid Pablo and snatch the ball away from any opponent. what was more surprising was that, they won't try to chase after the ball or Vic. It was as if they were afraid of him or they had put so much trust in Pablo.

Vic threw the ball at one of the opponent and waited for an action from Pablo.

Dashing forward, Pablo pushed the boy who held the ball in his hands, as hard as he could, injuring him on the spot. He didn't care whose side he was. Now the ball was in his hands.

 "come on you weak lads, Come and stop me from scoring, ah ah ah ah!!" Pablo laughed. And a powerful cheers from the crowd filled the whole court.

"Pablo! Pablo!! Pablo!!!"

"See! The game's over." a man concluded.

Presently, the score is 5:0.

With just a few taunt from Pablo, the others froze in place. Once the ball was with him, it won't be easy to get.

They are all scared to face him, with a hit of his muscular and metallic body they would be injured beyond healing.

Vic didn't care about all this cause he have a little trick under his sleeve. 

Ever since he had drained Bob's energy, he felt stronger. If he had learnt of the detect skill earlier, he would have used it on Bob. But since he knew Pablo's strength, he want to know how many Energy, HP and Exp he would receive.

He dashed forward as he was about to perform his little trick.

"Is he mad, he's going to get killed" one of Vic's team mates said.

"This boy will be injured." The middle aged man said, "he should have claimed defeat." Vic didn't care about all the comments, instead, he focused his mind in what he was about to do. Using everything he had. Although he's not much of a fighter, when he was playing the previous rounds, he discovered that he had a lot of strength compared to when he hadn't known about his powers. Also his speed was better than before, although he didn't do much in the previous rounds, because he relied on strength. He didn't have any speed stat.

Moving in a shuffle like manner, he got to where Pablo was, but as he raised his hands to hit the ball in his hands, three men from the crowd appeared before him.

"Hey!! This is Basketball, not Battle" Vic complained.

"Who cares? This is the real game!" One of the men said in a deep piercing voice.

"Well! You leave me no choice" Vic said as he punched the man closer to him, the punch sent him flying out of the Court. Everyone was surprised, but the surprise soon turned into fear as the other two men followed. 

Before the first man could rise, Vic had kicked the men in the thigh, breaking their thighbone and finishing them off by punching them in the stomach, and they landed at the spot where the first man laid. As they landed, a loud flump was heard.

"I guess you'll become my side dish." Vic said as he activated his Energy drain on each and every one of them.

<Energy drain activated>

+40bars

+40bars

+40bars

<Energy tank: 720/1000>

+50HP

+50HP

+50HP

<Congratulations, your HP has upgraded to level two>

<HP: 540/1000>

"That's a good thing to be congratulated for even if I don't know much about my powers!" Vic thought. He had drained the energy from the three men. 

"Now I have the boss all to myself."

Everyone in the Court were now afraid of what would happen next. They've never seen anyone beat those guys.

Actually those guys don't play basketball, but when the guys saw Pablo joining the game, they already knew what was to happen and so they joined in the game at the very crucial end.

This will be a clash of the mighty.

"Do you not know who I am??" Pablo roared in anger mixed with fear, " I am a rank ten....!"

Vic interrupted;

"A rank ten Knight, A forger from the Smith's family, also a well known and talented athlete. But it's nothing to me!" Vic said.

With anger, Pablo threw the ball that was with him at Vic, but Vic punched the ball so hard that it split into two.

Everyone was shocked at the magnificent display of power.

"Is his ability, hardening or Metal shift??" A woman asked.

"I think so!" Another lady replied.

"Or not!!" The middle aged man said as he saw Vic running like a crazy person towards Pablo.

 "This power is not an ordinary one. Wait! don't tell me that they are back??" The man thought as his mood brightened. "I would need to find out more about this boy."

Vic had used his teleport skill to appear behind Pablo, kicking him under. It was where the metal hadn't been.

As Pablo crouched down, his hands were filled with blood that had came from the hit he received from Vic.

Not waisting much time, he carried Pablo as he raised him up with his two hands, he activated his Energy drain skill on him and after draining him, he slammed him hard on the ground.

 Pablo felt his body feeling weak, his vision getting blurry. He couldn't shout at all until he had passed out. After Vic dropped his body on the floor, he felt a lot more stronger than before.

As he stood up, he could see the terrified looks from the onlookers, inorder to avoid trouble, he picked up the stones that were in the betting cylinder and quickly teleported from the area.

"Ang, I didn't just have fun but I gained two things in a day." Vic proclaimed.

ust have fun but I gained two things in a day." Vic proclaimed.