The male slave approached Carter, who was pretending to faint.
The slave kicked his feet a few times.
"She's completely out cold. This one is the one with power, right?" The male slave said.
The female slave nodded. "That's her! What are we going to do?"
"We'll send her back to Cyber Runner, of course."
The male slave tapped on the Cyber Core in his arm. It glowed bright blue and electricity climbed to his arm.
He reached his hand out.
Carter caught his wrist.
"You?!" The male slave widened his eyes.
The muscular grabbed his throat and lifted him up. She changed back to the faceless man.
The Ghost twisted the arm of the male slave and pulled it right out of his body. Then he blasted a knee onto the male slave.
The knee strike didn't kill the slave yet, only made him crumble on the ground and groan in pain. Blood shot out from his arm socket like a fountain.
The female slave ran away immediately. But she was no quicker than the System Ghost with his Free-Running Skill.
Carter caught up with her in no-time.
"Please! Please! Don't kill me! I didn't mean to…"
The faceless man kicked the living out of her and broke her ribs. The female slave fell on the ground, screaming and crying.
"It hurts! It hurts! Why did you do this to me? WHY?!"
'How unsightly. Just a moment ago she wanted to let Cyber Runner kidnap me. And now she turned. Weakness is a choice, not a trait.'
Carter ended her life.
[Synchronization +11.9%]
[Synchronization]: 59.3%
'More Synchronization… My experiment works.'
Last time, Carter pretended to be a helpless girl then revealed himself just before killing the last slave. He tried to recreate the same event with the hope of raising Synchronization.
'System Ghost… System Ghost… Hacking isn't the only way. Fooling people is also a way.'
Carter walked back to the other male slave.
The male slave tried to crawl away. He left a long streak of blood on the ground.
"Please! Spare me! I can tell everything you want to know!" The male slave shouted.
Carter did not speak. The faceless man never spoke.
He crushed the skull of the male slave.
[Synchronization +11.3%]
[Synchronization]: 70.6%
Carter then collected two more Cyber Cores from their cold bodies.
'70%. If I play this right, I might be able to raise System Ghost's Synchronization to max.'
There were four slaves left. Carter devised a scenario for each slave to test their integrity and kindness.
Three of them disappointed him. And three of them saw the faceless man before they died.
[Synchronization +10.8%]
[Synchronization +9.9%]
[Synchronization +9.2%]
[Synchronization]: 100.5%
The last one was a man. He carried the bloody Carter on the empty street as a Terror Walker followed them from behind.
Terror Walker was slow. A normal human could run away from it if they knew how.
"Go, man! Leave me!" Carter said.
"Shut the hell up!" The slave shouted. "You ain't dying on my watch!"
The slave didn't give up on him. Not even when the Walker was only a few feet from them.
"Fudge! Fine!"
The man put Carter down. Carter thought he was going to run away. But he didn't.
The man grabbed a rock and threw it at the Walker.
"Follow me! Hey! That's right, you dumb fat ass! Follow me!"
He used himself as bait to lure the Walker away. That bravery had proved himself worthy in Carter's eyes. He stood up and transformed back into the faceless man.
"What are you doing, man?!" The man froze when he saw the transformation.
Carter kicked the Walker and knocked it over. System Ghost was very weak and Carter's Host Power was not enough to kill a Walker easily. So he didn't try to.
Carter gestured to the slave to follow him.
"Woah! You're an Awaken?! Why didn't you say so?"
The man smiled brightly knowing he wasn't going to die anymore.
Carter didn't answer him. And the man didn't question it either. Carter led him to Nina and Quill, where they were holding another Cyber Slave.
Carter didn't test that slave yet and he left that task to Nina and Quill. He considered it a little test for them.
The Ghost pointed to the slave and gave him a thumbs up.
"Woah." Quill's eyes glimmered. "Ghost like this guy? He must be special."
Carter didn't say anything. He hacked the Cyber Core in the slave's arm, plucked it out, then left.
Carter glanced over the Skin window and saw the Synchronization raised again.
[Synchronization +8.5%]
[Synchronization]: 109.0%
It went over 100%, meaning he could retain any one aspect from the System Ghost.
If he reached 200%, he would get a Token.
'Tonight's task is done. I should prepare to jump. I should also examine that Eldritch Knight Token and see what it is.'
The slave watched as Carter disappeared. He couldn't help but ask, "Why doesn't he say anything? Before he transformed, he was rather talkative."
"We don't know for sure. The Ghost is… difficult to understand." Nina said.
Carter returned to his house. He hacked the remaining four Cyber Cores.
[Synchronization +8%]
[Synchronization]: 117.0%
Each Cyber Core now gave 2% Synchronization. Not a bad amount considering Cyber Runner sent Cyber Slaves to other dimensions all the time, plenty for Carter to farm.
[Add x7 Cyber Core to System Ghost's Item?]
'Add.' Now Carter had 11 Cyber Cores with him. Eleven super mini-computers that would be useful for all kinds of tasks.
'If my next world is also a highly technological advanced one, these cores would be useful.'
Carter looked at System Ghost's detail to determine which aspect he would retain.
[System Ghost]
[Rank]: Awaken
[Star Level]: 4
[Ability]:
- Ghost Presence (Awaken): Cannot be detected by scientific surveillance or scanner. You cannot be recognized.
[Skill]: Level 3 Hacking (Awaken), Level 10 Free-Running (Mortal), Level 1 Disguise (Awaken).
[Item]:
- Ghost Clothes: Can transform at your will.
- Cyber Cores (9): Mini-computers and servers that could connect with Cyber Runner's main Interframe.
'Hmm. Ghost Presence, Hacking and Free-Running are very situational. The only two valuable aspects are Disguise and Ghost Clothes.'
Carter chose the aspect with his mind.