Senja or what his current identity would have been known as Adam Gold was walking through the busy streets as he observed his somewhat unfamiliar surroundings carefully, trying to get used to it as he headed toward his 'new' home.
"Damn it, Adam, how can you even be this unfamiliar going around in your own city?" Adam muttered in annoyance, cursing his predecessor.
It has been at least three hours since the transmigration and the difficulty of movement had already been virtually nonexistent, getting used to a pretty fit body is not that hard.
As he walked, he passively sorted through memories of his body, wanting to know more of the details, '…W-why is he so fucking lame…?'
He couldn't fathom the previous Adam's cowardly nature and wimpy behavior when his appearance are akin to a top tier model, he might even be more handsome, yet he was a loner.
"Ah, so that's why? It seems dead parents fuck both of us over, huh? Everything turned out for the worst…"
Not long after, they arrived at a decent looking house, "Is this it?" He recalled the memory and compared them, "Seems like it, not bad, not bad."
He grabbed the key out of his pocket and entered the house, taking a long shower and wore a casual shirt and pants before sitting on the couch in the living room.
Click
He turned the TV on, and as he was watching the news of Heroes and Villains, his mind began to wander into the memories, and in just a moment had a delightful discovery.
It was the only three instances of 'himself' using a superpower.
"Can I do that…?"
Questions began popping within his mind as his curiosity drove him mad until he decided to try it out.
'Well, nothing will happen if I don't take the first step!'
Going through the memories, he tried to replicate the feeling he recalled from those memories, the intense warmth, the blinding light, everything about it.
Soon, a clutter of light escaped his body, condensing into something that gently floated above his palm, bright yet not blinding, he focused on the manifested object, it seems… to be a card?
The light soon dimmed until completely gone, leaving a golden card floating.
He stared at the card intently, curious and surprised, suddenly a name formed in his mind.
"Heist…?" He mumbled the name, and stared at the card in amazement, "So this is his—no, my ability? Neat." The card then exploded into pieces of light as it was reabsorbed into Adam's body.
According to the memories, [Heist] seems to be an ability that allows one to 'steal' or 'take' any abilities and store them to be used by the wielder.
"It's a shame that the previous Adam doesn't have the 'greed' for this ability to reach its full potential, being a coward and all… not like I can blame him, not everyone is insane enough to just go on a stealing spree, it's just such a waste of potential, man."
Adam muttered his discontent of the way his predecessor dealt with [Heist], leaving it to collect dust and have the extra features to be left unused.
The first two instances of the ability being used was to keep his deceased parents' abilities as a memorial and the third was to take a dying friend's ability so that their ability could be used for good.
That friend was a mutant yeti who had attained a level of sapience comparable to a human, despite their nature as a Monster they remained fond of humanity yet was hunted down by specialized super soldiers, the only human to ever be kind to it was—the previous Adam.
Yet, good times never last forever as he had been caught and disposed of by a Hero.
Losing his parents and only friend, the previous Adam grew up to be a loner, his nonexistent self-confidence, cowardly nature, a lack of self-respect and discipline, but now that Senja have taken over, everything will change as his ambition would surely take him higher than even the Heavens!
He felt golden energy wrapped around his eyes as he stared at the three colored cards that manifested before him, these were the abilities the previous Adam had plundered.
***
E-Ranked Ability Card
Name: Willpower
Description: This ability will enhance the user's willpower up to an above average human level.
Evaluation: Unless you truly can't bring yourself to even move, this ability is useless.
—
D-Ranked Ability Card
Name: Fit In
Description: When entering a crowd, the user's presence will quickly diminish and become almost undetectable.
Evaluation: Useful in crowded places as a method of escape, it has its uses.
—
C-Ranked Ability Card
Name: Resistance to Cold
Description: The user can tolerate extreme cold temperatures and resist elemental attack of the ice element of C-rank and above, while being immune to ice elements of D-rank and below.
Evaluation: Useful against ice attributed foes, though keep in mind, the user is not unbeatable against them.
***
As he carefully read through the Cards' details, he muttered in satisfaction, "It's not bad—no, more like it's great, I didn't expect my starting point to be even this good…"
He stared at the ceiling for a while, deep in thought, he has been pushing this question into the back of his mind since the beginning of his transmigration.
"What goal should I have from this point onwards? Getting stronger? That's a shallow one. I don't want to be obsessed with strength, it could be just a side effect…"
A parallel formed in his mind as he recalled a certain story, "How about creating a Secret Organization? It should be interesting and… I can just create alter egos to be the members to give the illusion of its size! With [Heist], I will have the most varied set of abilities in the future, this idea sounds great!"
He quickly regained his composure as he muttered, "None of my starting abilities are truly combat focused, and the closest one to it is a defensive one, I also don't have any martial or combat experience, not from me nor my predecessor…"
"Kickstarting the project is going to be pretty tough…"
He decided to leave the problem for another day, "Let's think about it another time, I can always gather experiences and skills along the way but… where can I get new abilities? Heist is useless if I don't plunder stuff…"
He thought about a list of places he can visit for potential ability, but most of them have their faults.
"How about a Weapon Shop, assuming I can plunder some kind of ability from those? Though, it might not work even if I can, my plundering will likely fuck up the weapon and I'll get sued for property damage."
"What about the Adoption Center? That'll be touching kids which is really bad."
"Just walk around the city and plunder strangers' ability? If I go out and began touching strangers randomly I'll get arrested for sexual harassment."
"Now for the Museum? It could work… though, does my ability even work on corpses at all, let alone an ancient one… eh, who knows? Worth the shot."
…
Soon, he reached the Museum, through the countless useless memories Adam managed to collect some information regarding the Museum and the rest came from the internet.
"According to the most recent source, there's now over a thousand or more monster corpses from a variety of species, I'm curious what kind of ability can be plundered from them?"
Entering the Museum, he also took the map for convenience sake. He has a history of being somewhat lost in big buildings so it's better to be safe than sorry.
He immediately walked towards the location where they placed the corpses of monsters known as Great Disasters, intending to start with them, his gaze passed by many fearsome creatures, most of them were just the minions for the big guys.
Soon, he reached one of the Great Disaster, named: Divine Tyrant, a gigantic skeleton stood before him, the one he currently set his sight upon was merely a child.
'Even if I'vs already lived through a lifetime, dinosaurs still seems so fucking cool!' Thought Adamn as he stared at the skeletal frame of the reptilian that stood at a monstrous height of 55 meters.
Observing his surroundings, Adam noticed that security was nowhere to be found, nobody seemed to pay attention to others and the visitors around this place barely reached double digits.
Without thinking much he jumped over the glass fence and approached the gigantic remains and pressed his palm against the monster's fortified exoskeleton.
'Wow… feeling the durability first hand is crazy, how did they use it to kill this creature?'
Returning to reality, Adam quickly activated [Heist] and within his mind, two colored cards suddenly appeared—one in black and another in blue.
[ Heist activated, 2 abilities successfully plundered! ]
***
F-Ranked Ability Card
Name: Energy Knife
Description: When used, this ability would conjure a knife made out of energy, the conjured energy knife are sharper and more durable than an ordinary knife.
Evaluation: The ability's true power has been eroded by the passage of time leaving a poor remnant of its glory as a weapon of mass destruction.
—
C-Ranked Ability Card
Name: Reinforced Exoskeleton
Description: When used, the ability will coat the user in a physical exoskeleton that protects from damage, capable of regenerating if damaged.
Evaluation: Its physical prowess still remained after such a long time, an extremely useful defensive ability.
***
Seeing one of the two abilities he managed to acquire from one of the Great Disaster, Adam began to panic, he wondered if he could've gotten more out of them if he had come earlier.
"Shit, shit, shit-! I can't slack off if I want those abilities, I'll have to lock the fuck in lest they all will disappear!" He muttered under his breath as he quicken his pace, moving through the Museum while sneaking a touch here and there without getting caught.
Not long after, he left the building with a satisfied expression, despite his fear, he still managed to score tons of treasures from today's hunt.
Walking home, and with a wide smile on his face, he declared inwardly. 'From this day, I shall be the one to rise far above the peak of this world!'