Thug and Idol: 10X Rewards Second Identity System

'First… What do I have? System, status and shop.'

Two panels opened in front of Tristan.

[======]

[Tristan Hayes (Tristan Gemello)]

[Current identity: Criminal. Second identity: Pop-star.]

[Pop-star rank: Tiny Young Star.]

[Criminal rank: Rook.]

[Pop-star Points: 1980]

[Criminal Points: 4490]

[===Attributes===] Thank you for reading on m v le_mpyr

[Appearance: 80]

[Charisma: 147]

[Fearsomeness: 46]

[Strength: 222]

[Dexterity: 227]

[Toughness: 144]

[===Skills===]

[Singing: 657]

[Dancing: 628]

[Playing guitar: 794]

[Music theory: 279]

[Music production: 521]

[Acting: 413]

[Songwriting: 532]

[Voice control: 408]

[Stage presence: 159]

[Playing piano: 801]

[Video editing: 217]

[Styling: 506]

[Sneaking: 844]

[Close-quarters combat: 1024]

[Observation: 922]

[Driving: 618]

[Pickpocketing: 533]

[Firearms shooting: 814]

[Athletics: 219]

[Treating injuries: 1]

[Lockpicking: 1]

[Combat analysis: 503]

[Hacking: 1405]

[===Talents===]

[Clark Kent Effect] [Sleepless] [Clean Hands]

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[===Shop===]

['Bullet Time' talent: 3000 Criminal Points]

[Logistics skill: 10 Criminal Points]

[Camera work skill: 10 Pop-star Points]

[A tear-gas grenade (5 in stock): 150 Criminal Points]

[======]

Tristan read everything there intently, especially the shop.

Every day he opened the shop was like a lottery. Most of the time it was not very useful stuff he saw already, and sometimes there were cool things like today.

[Bullet time: in moments of danger, your perception of time slows down by ten times for a short while.]

Tristan's eyes widened.

'This is incredible! Although, the talent description doesn't say that it makes me faster. Will that mean that if a man shoots at me, the talent will activate, but it will be useless, anyway? I will see the bullet approach, but will still be too slow to dodge.'

He thought about that for another moment. It felt like a major downside, but the talent was still incredibly useful.

In a gunfight, a difference in reaction time as small as a fraction of a second could mean life and death.

'And it's only 3000 points. I will have something left to put in my medical and combat skills. Or athletics.'

Tristan began tapping the system windows, spending his accumulated points. There was something incredibly satisfying about gathering a lot of points and spending them all at once…

[Ding!]

['Bullet Time' talent purchased.]

[Ding!]

[Treating injuries skill increased from 1 to 201.]

[Ding!]

[Close-quarters combat skill increased from 1024 to 1224.]

[Ding!]

[Athletics skill increased from 219 to 419.]

Tristan paused here.

He felt like his key skills were already high enough for the approaching fight.

He could always increase them further. Or put points into strength and dexterity.

However, he thought about things that laid beyond the raid on Cuatro Angulos. His own plans on usurping Pierce's position.

Did he have enough attributes and skills for that?

Tristan thoughtfully tapped fingers on his knee, then shook his head.

'No, there's one attribute that's too low to be a boss of thugs who are used to Pierce. I will need to raise it to be more respected than he is.'

With that, Tristan put all his remaining 890 Criminal Points into his fearsomeness.

[Ding!]

[Fearsomeness attribute increased from 46 to 135.]

Tristan smiled to himself, satisfied, and went to check on and clean up his weapons.

Besides the Remington rifle, he also had several handguns, looted a while earlier, and enough ammo for all of them.

And new knives to replace his old one, of course—Tristan thought he could sharpen them, too.

***

At the same time, Pierce was also preparing for the upcoming raid.

The organization of the raid itself fell on other shoulders, but he still checked that all there went smoothly. Besides, this all didn't cancel his other duties.

Paperwork never went away.

Pierce put away another read report into a "dealt with" stack, and the next one made him pause.

'It finally came, and not a moment too late. Time to see if there's something interesting here, or if I was wrong to send an agent to look into this.'

The report had a picture attached to it, which was cut from a magazine. The picture showed a handsome, black-haired young man performing on stage with a guitar.

Tristan Gemello, the former pianist in Good Lion Bar.

He left the job position without notice right in the middle of the street war, blaming family circumstances, but Pierce had been wondering if these "circumstances" related to Tristan Hayes.

Hayes claimed them to be cousins, and there were certainly a lot of similarities despite them having a different surname. But there was also something that made Pierce feel a nagging sense of wrongness.

He didn't enjoy feeling this way.

Pierce read the report. He specifically ordered not to follow Gemello—if Hayes noticed surveillance, this could be problematic. The agent only searched for publicly available information and asked people in Gemello's surroundings.

From what the agent gathered, Gemello was living an average life for a young artist with a rapidly growing career. He ate out, bought lots of clothes, and even bought himself a car a few days earlier.

However, Gemello's life more than a couple months before was a complete mystery. There was no one who could've been his family, and no mentions of old friends on his social pages.

It felt like Gemello appeared out of nowhere.

Perhaps it was an art pseudonym.

After reading the rest of the report, Pierce just sat there, staring at the young man's image. He had such handsome features that Pierce wanted to preserve them forever in epoxy resin. Put them on a wall in his secret room where he stashed his other trophies.

'Maybe later. When Hayes becomes more dangerous than he is useful, I could do that.'

Pierce put the report away and returned to his paperwork.

The raid was scheduled for tomorrow early morning—the time when all enemy soldiers will be least vigilant, and most civilians will be still asleep.

Only less than 24 hours was left until all people taking part in the raid will have to gather near the drop out points with their equipment.

On stolen trucks with stolen number plates, these people will drive into Cuatro Angulos territory and enter the building crawling with the gang's people.

Pierce smiled.

Then the carnage will begin—and perhaps the problems Hayes brought recently will disappear on their own together with him.