Jake found it hard to believe what he was seeing.
The system said it could reward him with not only an increase in his strength and speed, but also in his mana capacity.
However, it seemed too good to be true, after all, something like that wasn't easily accessible to the common folk.
In this city, especially with slum dwellers like Jake, it was incredibly difficult for them to control their mana, let alone increase their mana capacity.
On the other hand, mana control came easily to the people living in the better part of the city, like the upper region, which is popularly known as the central city.
This was because, not only was it difficult to control or use mana to cast spells, but it was extremely dangerous as well. One wrong move could even hurt the caster along with everyone around them.
This was why the elites developed gadgets to help them manipulate and cast spells more effectively.
They had enough wealth to buy items like mana-enhanced cybernetic gadgets to help boost their mana capacity, so Jake wondered how the watch's system was able to do something like that, too, unless it was also a mana-enhanced gadget.
And that was the only explanation that made sense to him.
At the same time, Jake couldn't help but wonder what type of skill the watch wanted to give him as a reward, so he looked up at the screen once again.
{The Host has also acquired his First Temporal-Related Ability.]
{Would you like to take a look at it?}
The same string of words hovered before him again, and he replied.
"Yes."
{Response acknowledged.}
{Congratulations! You've acquired your first temporal skill: Time freeze.}
{With this skill, you can stop time for up to five seconds, but to activate the skill, you'll need at least two temporal points.}
"Time freeze?" Jake muttered to himself as he stared at the screen in front of him
With such a skill, Jake realised that he would finally be able to take out his revenge on Travis and his men.
Unlike before, where his chances of winning against the three of them were slim, with the stopwatch on his wrist, Jake was confident that he could finally win against all three of them.
Right now, all he wanted was vengeance for the way the Dark Shadow gang had treated his late Uncle.
His uncle had simply been trying to save his wife, but Travis, for his own amusement, decided to toy around with him before killing him in the end.
Recalling all of these things, Jake gritted his teeth even more.
Jake wanted to hurt Travis along with his men and tear them limb from limb for everything they did to his family, and he couldn't wait to get started.
Of course, he knew that they weren't the only ones responsible for his uncle's death, but for now, all his attention was on Travis and his two bruisers.
Moreover, he was quite eager to test out his newly acquired skill on them
And just as his mind was made up on what he wanted to do, a new screen suddenly popped up in front of him.
{First Mission: Eliminate The Threats (0/2)}
{Objective: To ensure your own safety and that of those you care about, eliminate those you perceive to be your enemies.
Current priority: Travis and his bruisers}
{Rewards: Attribute points, Temporal points, Time Freeze upgrade, Increased Mana capacity, and one Elemental ability.}
{Would you like to activate the skill?}
Jake stared at the screen as raindrops began falling from the sky and drenching his clothes, but Jake wasn't bothered by this, because his mind was only set on having revenge on Travis.
He activated the skill, and everything around him stopped.
Jake turned around to see countless raindrops stuck midair, but he didn't stand around to admire the magic happening around him.
Instead, he swiftly stood up from the ground, grabbed a rusted metal pipe, then charged straight at Travis and his men.
Since the skill could only pause time for five seconds, Jake knew he had to be very fast in making his move.
Luckily for him, Travis and his men hadn't gone far.
The trio had still been laughing hysterically before they suddenly turned silent.
Out of the blue, Travis and the other bruiser heard the sound of someone's skull being cracked then crushed right before their eyes
Jake's five seconds were up, but it had been enough to catch Travis and his men off guard.
"What the…?" The second bruiser in front of Travis began muttering in surprise, but before he could make sense of what had just happened, Jake swiftly raised his pipe high and slammed it down in his direction.
The bruiser's eyes widened in shock as the pipe dug into his skull as if it were trying to slice through him like butter.
Meanwhile, Travis, who hadn't recovered from seeing the first bruiser collapse, became even more shocked at this.
Just a few minutes ago, Jake had been on the floor, curled up in agony, thanks to what he and his men had done to him.
'So how did he suddenly appear behind us and take out two of my strongest men in cold blood?' Travis wondered.
His eyes swiftly darted to Jake, and for the first time ever, Travis felt fear when the two of them locked gazes.
His first instinct screamed at him to run because Jake had the look of a determined predator who only had eyes for his prey. But Travis still had his pride as a bully, so he wasn't going to run away that easily.
For months, he had been the one terrorizing and bullying Jake, so it made sense for Travis to stand his ground and knock some sense into this human who had forgotten his place and thought he could suddenly win against him just because he was holding a rusted metal pipe in his hand.
"You know what, kid? I think it's time I dealt with you once and for all."
Travis hurriedly stood as he scrambled to pull out his knife, but before he could get a good grip on the knife, Jake swung the pipe again, slamming it against Travis' ribs and breaking two of his ribs in the process.
A deafening cry of agony burst out of Travis' mouth as the knife in his hand clattered to the ground.
His knees weakened as he dropped to the ground while clutching his stomach in pain, but Jake wasn't done with him yet.