Chapter 14: Chocolate

“Little fatty, what’s your name?”

Mel Carlo looked at the chubby boy carrying him.

Although their first meeting hadn’t been pleasant, fighting over food out of hunger in that situation wasn’t exactly a great evil.

Now that they’d spent more time together, they were naturally more familiar, but he had never asked this little fatty’s name, and the boy himself never said, nor had he heard anyone else call him by a name.

Now that things had quieted down, Mel Carlo decided to ask.

“I don’t know. Others call me fatty or wild boar. I don’t know my own name.”

“Is that so?”

Mel Carlo was at a loss for words for a moment.

Not having a name.

He had thought about such a situation before, but it was truly too miserable.

“Then do you want to give yourself a name? A name you come up with yourself.”

“Yes! I want to be called Zhuguli!”

Lily and Akai, nearby, turned their heads in confusion.

“Why? Isn’t that something you eat?”

“Yeah, I saw it before, chocolate that fell off a noble’s carriage. After tasting it, I felt there was nothing tastier in the world than Zhuguli.”

The little fatty continued, his expression showing he genuinely liked the name.

Zhuguli was just chocolate, but it was better than being called wild boar.

Wild boar felt more like a nickname.

Mel Carlo didn’t say more, simply acknowledging the name.

No matter what, it was a name the little fatty chose himself.

When they were about to reach the Bandit Courtyard, Mel Carlo spoke.

“Alright, Zhuguli, put me down. I’ll walk in myself.”

“Okay.”

The little fatty put Mel Carlo down, and everyone walked into the courtyard together.

Anke, who had been captured before, had now returned.

He had officially taken over the area; now, he was the head of this Bandit Street.

The worry in Mel Carlo’s heart eased considerably.

If the scarred man in front of him really had no other motives, then there was no need to rush the matter of escaping.

He cared, of course, about what an Apostle was, because small fry like Anke had no reason to invent such a lie to fool him.

“Alright, after paying, everyone go wash up.”

Anke looked at the four who entered the courtyard, his gaze lingering mostly on Mel Carlo.

“Wash up?”

Mel Carlo hesitated slightly.

Although he knew Anke was favoring him, he was completely different from the previous head, which still felt strange.

“Yes. I can tell you like being clean.”

Anke had never stopped observing Mel, and the more he watched, the more certain he became of his suspicions.

Because he was different from others, he had truly witnessed the birth of an Apostle.

That strange sense of unfamiliarity, as if another person had moved into someone’s body, yet that person was still the same.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t just be a single scar on his face.

But so many years had passed, and some even believed a Subdragon monster had attacked the village.

No one had ever believed his words.

He had done his best to investigate Apostles, but his identity limited the information he could access.

How could a small-time gang leader investigate a legendary powerful being?

After taking a hot bath, Mel Carlo collapsed onto the straw to rest.

Since Anke could now openly show favoritism, it meant he had gained the authority to manage this area.

In the gang, there were many minor bosses like him, each managing a zone, which was also a source of income for the gang.

“Lily, can I try something?”

Mel Carlo suddenly spoke.

“What is it?”

“I want to try stealing something from you. Can you hide that hair clip on yourself?”

“Steal?”

Lily looked a bit puzzled.

Stealing from herself?

But if it was stealing, why tell her?

He’d only just gotten this skill, and hadn’t fully tested whether it worked like in the game.

The most important factors were randomness, distance, and success rate.

“Yes, I need your help. You can put some other small items on you too.”

Lily placed the hair clip, then picked up some pebbles and hay from the ground.

She still had a few copper Orens on her.

She looked at Mel again.

“Ready now!”

“Thanks.”

Mel Carlo activated the skill [Steal].

Skill judgment successful: [Stole 1 Oren], [Proficiency +1, Steal Proficiency 2/10000], [Effort Value +1].

Looking at the copper coin in his hand, the randomness was still too strong.

He’d aimed for the hair clip, but ended up with a copper coin.

At this rate, after 10,000 [Steals], the skill would reach max level.

Using the skill consumed MP, and at his current MP, he could only use Steal five times in a period before waiting for magic to recover.

The game’s menu still had no stats, and the system hadn’t issued any quests.

The system seemed like a half-finished product, with only the bare level and HP/MP bars visible.

The lottery page seemed to have changed: [Effort Value: 2], and a single draw required 10 effort points; 10 draws needed 100 points.

And the prize was uncertain.

This kind of lottery with no guarantee would be considered gambling.

If a game company dared to do this, it would probably get shut down.

“Mel, how did you take it?”

Lily stared wide-eyed at Mel.

“It’s a skill, but it’s a secret, okay?”

“Oh.”

Lily nodded.

She had heard of such things, but in their situation, there was nowhere to learn skills, nor anyone willing to teach them.

So it could only be something secretly learned when others didn’t know.

Mel Carlo returned the stolen 1 Oren to Lily, then continued testing.

Lily was happy to help.

In the next four attempts, Mel Carlo only successfully took what he wanted once, but the skill never failed.

At the same level, it didn’t seem easy to fail.

He barely had enough MP for a sixth attempt, but fatigue was setting in.

When magic was exhausted, mental fatigue was even worse.

He could feel that if he used the skill one more time, he might pass out.

He’d already tested this far, so Mel Carlo decided not to push further.

The current usable range was one meter, possibly reaching ten meters at max proficiency.

Also, each skill use required a ten-second interval.

In the game, this was a standard cooldown, but in this world, it felt more like physical discomfort from magic depletion.

If he could overcome this, or when skill proficiency reached 10,000, the cooldown might reach zero.

That would be good news.

A zero-cooldown skill was unthinkable even in games.

In games, proficiency relied on skill points—each level-up gave five skill points, but max proficiency required 30 points per skill, so for balance, zero-cooldown skills were unlikely.

But in this world, anything was possible.

Factoring in magic recovery time, he could use the skill five times in the morning, wait for recovery, and use it five more times in the afternoon before sleeping.

That made about ten uses a day.

It would take about a thousand days to max the skill—almost three years, assuming nothing went wrong.

It seemed necessary to try learning other skills.

Not all skills consumed as much MP.