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They say your first kill changes you. That once you take a life, there's no going back.
What they don't say… is what happens when you enjoy it a little.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not some bloodthirsty psycho who gets off on corpses. But after what happened earlier that day—when my hand lit up, and I muttered "Sajikai" like a magic password—something inside me clicked.
Or maybe snapped.
Either way, the guy dropped like an unplugged toaster, and I felt… full. Powerful. For like, five seconds.
And then? Gone. The strength I stole just melted.
Like hot butter on a bad idea.
---
The sky was bruised purple, stars just beginning to crack through the clouds when I finally left the corpse behind. I didn't bury him. I wasn't sentimental. Besides, I'd stolen his strength—felt it surge in my veins for those brief moments—and now, there was nothing left of him that mattered.
Except the lesson.
1. Not all powers last forever.
2. Touch is required.
3. Only three attempts per person. After that? Useless.
I didn't know the rules until they hit me like a sarcastic voice in my head—like some late-night narrator you didn't know was there until they dropped exposition in your ears.
A flicker of text had even glitched across my vision like a HUD in a budget video game:
> [Ability Snatched: Minor Strength Boost]
[Duration: 3 Minutes. Compatibility: 11%]
[Skill Decayed]
I collapsed by a nearby stream and stared into the water.
My reflection looked… wrong. Familiar eyes, sure. But the face was younger. My old life, my job, my boring-ass apartment back on Earth? Gone. All that was left was Juno.
Just a weak guy with a stolen skill that already fizzled out.
Still... it was something.
---
The night was cold, and I didn't have a blanket. So I wrapped myself in overconfidence.
Okay, and maybe a dead man's cloak. Sue me.
I made a small campfire using what little I remembered from watching YouTube survival videos. (Shout-out to that guy who made shelters with only mud and hope. You're the reason I didn't freeze to death.)
And then… silence.
Until the voice came again.
Not mine. Not from the woods.
It came from inside.
> "Snatch successful. Compatibility levels adjusting. Emotional dissonance detected. Recommend resting."
"Wait. Wait, wait, wait—who the hell said that?" I stood up, nearly tripping over a rock.
No reply.
"Am I being haunted by Microsoft Sam?"
Still nothing.
I sat back down, my breath coming in white clouds.
Maybe I was losing it. Or maybe the system that gave me Snatch had a sense of humor.
---
Suddenly, leaves rustled behind me.
I reached for the short sword I looted from the guy earlier. Blunt. Ugly. Looked like it had been used to cut firewood and dreams.
From the brush stepped a young man—skinny, dirty, clothes ragged. Maybe fifteen? He saw me, froze, and raised his hands.
"D-Don't kill me!" he squeaked.
I squinted. "You got anything I can snatch?"
"W-What?"
"Kidding." I lowered the blade. "Probably."
He gulped.
"What's your name?" I asked, tossing a stick into the fire.
"L-Len," he said. "You… you killed the others."
"Just one. The rest killed themselves by being in my way."
Len swallowed hard and stayed rooted to the spot. He looked like one of those harmless NPC types who just gives exposition or dies in Chapter Three.
But I wasn't going to kill a kid.
I wasn't that guy. Not yet.
Instead, I pointed to the fire. "Sit. Unless you enjoy shivering."
He sat, hesitant.
We didn't talk much after that. Just exchanged names, and I lied about being a traveler from the east. Technically true—I was from somewhere else. Earth. A place with vending machines, microwaves, and zero monster dogs with glowing eyes.
But now? I was here.
---
I woke the next morning with a sword to my throat.
"Give me your coin," a voice growled.
Three men. Ragged armor. Probably bandits. Probably idiots.
I sighed. "Seriously? I just got comfortable."
"Shut up and hand it over!"
Len was gone. Smart kid.
The sword pressed deeper.
I raised my hands slowly. "Okay, okay. You asked for it."
And I meant it.
I grabbed the guy's wrist with my left hand. His pulse jumped.
> "Sajikai."
Light burst from my palm—pale, gold, barely visible in the daylight.
The bandit gasped. His body jerked as if yanked by strings. My head buzzed.
> [Ability Snatched: Agility Boost]
[Duration: 8 Minutes. Compatibility: 47%]
Oh, this one was spicy.
I ducked under his swing, the world slowing around me. Moved like lightning. Felt like wind.
I spun, kicked his legs out, stole his dagger mid-fall, and drove it into his thigh.
He screamed.
His buddies lunged at me, but I was already behind them.
"This is kind of fun," I muttered, dodging a clumsy swing.
Two minutes later, they were groaning on the forest floor, alive—but humiliated.
Agility faded slowly, like caffeine in a tired body.
And then it was gone.
But I remembered how it felt.
"Okay," I muttered, wiping blood from my sleeve. "That one was worth it."
---
By noon, I'd washed off in the stream again. My reflection looked different already.
Not in the mirror way—something in the eyes. Like a spark was there that hadn't been before.
Power.
Temporary or not, it was addictive.
But something still bothered me. When I said Sajikai, I felt... more than just power. There was pressure. Like something or someone was listening every time I used it.
And for some reason, I didn't care.
---
That night, I sat on a boulder near the cliff's edge, looking down at the forest below. The stars were out again. My cloak was warmer than before. Probably placebo.
I pulled out a rough parchment I found on one of the bandits. A map. Badly drawn, but enough to show a direction.
To a town.
Civilization.
That meant more people.
More powers.
More chances to snatch.
I grinned and whispered to the wind, "Let the games begin."
Then I stood, turned—and saw Len again. This time, staring at me from the shadows.
"You're not normal," he said quietly.
"No one cool ever is."
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