"Don't regret this, Buford." I say to the smiling reflection of my 15 year old self, downing the rest of the coffee with a wild grin. I pay Buford's coffee and walk out of the little shop, making my way home with practiced ease despite having never been the one to personally navigate in this new world.
Fumbling around with my keys at the door for a few moments, I manage to unlock it and enter the apartment.
"The legs were easy to adjust to as I was walking, but the out-of-whack combo of the smaller body and much higher strength is taking more getting used to than I thought it would." I voice out, making my way to the kitchen.
Looking through the fridge and not seeing anything I like, I open up the phone Julia gave me, send her a quick text, and then order myself a large pizza.
My phone soon buzzes with a reply.
Miss Grace: My Awakened I.D.? It's GuardianGrace, why?
I reply by sending a friend request on the Awakened Platform. She quickly accepts and I send her a message.
TheGamer: I wanted a way to message you more easily, I've been craving some social interaction and I'm not used to the phone you got me. Thanks for that, by the way, and everything you've done for me.
GuardianGrace: Of course! You're free to message me whenever you feel like it. :) Did you enroll in a school like I suggested?
TheGamer: No, kids my age are too immature for me to feel like I'm doing anything other than babysitting. I wouldn't be able to form any real connections that way, so I was gonna wait until I'm 18 or 19 and then maybe try college.
As I'm chatting with Julia, I put on the news to see if there's anything I should be aware of. It's mostly gate incident coverage and news of new high-tier awakened and what guild they signed with, things of that sort, but as I'm watching something catches my attention.
"In recent news, there's been an update on the case of the recently cleared Public C-Tier Gate."
"Oh, shit." I say, more intrigued than concerned. The other fool may have been anxious about it, but I'm confident no one could have linked it back to us and still had time to escape the Gate before it closed.
Unless they very coincidentally had someone with a perfectly suited ability very close by and on stand-by for orders, received swift and precise orders in time, and that already unlikely person also happened to have found the scene of the battle within the huge grounds of the gate, and still managed to either relay the information or escape and tell people herself.
'While there's certainly variables I could be unaware of, I'm confident in getting away with Buford's actions.' I think to myself.
TheGamer: Hey, out of curiosity because of a topic that came up on the news, if a person is caught for killing a Boss Monster of a Public Gate, what happens?
GuardianGrace: It depends on the circumstances, if it's a life or death situation the instructions are to run, but if someone has to kill it to survive then there's no consequences, aside from maybe some upset people, but that's reasonable. The loss of a Public Gate is a big deal, they're made and maintenanced to help raise young Awakened into strong fighters capable of defending the nation and the world.
GuardianGrace: If someone is caught intentionally hunting it, then they're sentenced to 2 years worth of the Public Gate's maintenance fees as a fine, and they have to help secure and guard another Public Gate for a minimum of 5 years, or they face prison time. That's assuming they're tried as an adult.
TheGamer: Oh! That makes sense, seems like a very reasonable justice system.
GuardianGrace: You really have no faith in authorities at all, huh?
TheGamer: Well, I have my reasons.
"The authorities seem to believe that an Awakened from another country sabotaged the Gate. The president is currently in talks with other world leaders, but some are saying this could lead to another war." The newscaster's solemn words stole my focus from my chat with Julia.
"Ohhh shit...."
Okay, well, that's not good. I'll have to do something about that.
Doing some quick research, I find that the nearest police station only has E-Tier Awakened at best, so with that in mind I finally make the purchase Buford had been deliberating for a while, as well as one I had in mind when I watched him window shopping.
[Would you like to learn [Stealth(E)?]
[Yes] / [No]
[Would you like to learn [Techno Camouflage(F)?]
[Yes] / [No]
Mentally clicking yes on both, I experience the same sensation of mana and knowledge passing through my fingertips to my brain, and look over the description.
[Stealth(E): The caster becomes stealthed, making it harder for the caster to be detected. The enemies mana would need to be as high as the caster's to be able to detect them within the same Tier]
[Techno Camouflage(F): The user's face is distorted in technological recording devices, including mana-based technology.]
With those learned, I activate them and leave the apartment through the window, sneaking my way towards the police station.
After arriving, I write out a note that says 'I'm the one who killed the Boss Monster from the C-Tier Public Gate. I'm not a foreigner or a terrorist, I just ended up killing it to survive and was scared of the consequences so I didn't report it. Apologies for the inconvenience. -Signed, An Anonymous Concerned Citizen.', then I remove the Grizzly Gorilla from my inventory in an empty alleyway, and leave the note on top of it, before quickly fleeing the scene.
I make my way home, returning through the window, and settle myself back into my couch.
Right as I begin to relax, a searing pain shoots through my heart, a feeling akin to a bullet going through my chest assaulting my senses.
"FUCKing Pixel Buford, fuck!" I shout, not taking long to register the cause of the pain.
[Pixel Buford has died!]