Chapter 32: First gathering.

The heavy glass doors of the cafeteria slid shut, severing the cool afternoon breeze and locking Karl back inside the humid, suffocating atmosphere of the dining hall.

He kept his hands buried deep in his pockets, his posture entirely relaxed as he navigated the narrow paths between the crowded circular tables.

He had told Elsa to wait outside, intentionally leaving her behind so she would not have to witness what he was about to do. He wanted to handle this quietly, keeping his voice low and his actions swift.

Ryn stepped back into the cafeteria specifically to confront the two guys who had dared to punch him in front of everyone, but he intended to do it gently. He absolutely did not want to cause a massive scene that would draw the campus security or upset Elsa.

As he walked, a pale blue translucent screen unfolded in the direct center of his vision.

’System. Open the consumables and blessings tab.’

The interface scrolled rapidly.

He had a substantial amount of experience points sitting in his balance from the tournament victory and the passive income of his newly established hamlet. A while back, he had carefully browsed this exact menu, mapping out potential upgrades.

Now, staring down a system quest that explicitly demanded he build a criminal syndicate, he knew exactly what he needed.

The last time he confronted bad men in the real world, he had nearly been killed in a gutted laundromat because he lacked physical strength.He wanted to be absolutely sure he had the appropriate skills to handle himself this time around.

He selected two specific abilities from the glowing list, authorizing the experience point deduction without a second thought.

[Purchase complete. Skill acquired: Single Punch.]

[Purchase complete. Skill acquired: Drain.]

A sudden, freezing sensation rushed straight down Karl’s spine, locking his muscles for a fraction of a second as the system downloaded the physical parameters of the skills directly into his nervous system.

He reviewed the mechanics in his head as he closed the distance to the varsity table.

The first skill, Single Punch, allowed him to deal a devastatingly large amount of damage from a single strike, but it required him to tank enough damage beforehand to charge the kinetic output.

The punch he had deliberately taken to the cheekbone outside the cafeteria moments ago was currently sitting in his system, converted into stored, volatile energy.

The second skill, Drain, allowed him to actively siphon away his enemies’ physical energy and stamina, draining them faster the longer he maintained physical contact.

Armed with both of these skills, he felt entirely prepared to confront them.

The two guys were still standing by the window booth where Elsa had been sitting. The taller one was rubbing his knuckles, laughing loudly and bragging to a nearby table of girls about how he had scared the quiet kid right out of the building.

Karl stopped exactly two feet away from their table.

The shorter guy noticed him first, the arrogant grin sliding right off his face as he nudged his friend.

The taller guy turned around, his brow furrowing in genuine confusion when he saw Karl standing there with a completely dead, emotionless expression.

"You lost or something?" the taller guy scoffed, crossing his thick arms over his chest. "I thought you ran off with the girl. You want me to hit the other side of your face?"

"I came back to offer you a choice," Karl said, his voice so quiet and level that the guy had to lean forward just to hear him over the cafeteria noise.

"Get down on your knees and apologize, right now, and we can walk away from this without any further problems."

The two varsity athletes stared at him for a long, quiet second before bursting into loud, obnoxious laughter.

"Are you completely insane?" the shorter one sneered, stepping aggressively into Karl’s personal space.

"Last chance," Karl murmured.

"I am going to put you in the hospital," the taller guy growled, planting his back foot and throwing a heavy, sweeping hook aimed directly at Karl’s jaw.

Karl did not even blink. He beat both of them, using his newly acquired skills to the absolute best of his ability.

He sidestepped the wild swing with a fluid, terrifying grace that felt entirely foreign to his own body. As the guy’s arm sailed past his face, Karl reached out and clamped his hand firmly around the athlete’s thick wrist.

’Drain.’

A cold, pulling sensation erupted from Karl’s palm.

The taller guy gasped loudly, his eyes widening in sudden panic as the raw physical stamina was forcefully sucked right out of his muscle fibers.

His knees buckled instantly, his skin turning a sickly, pale shade of grey as cold sweat beaded on his forehead. Karl held on for two more seconds, watching the guy completely deflate, before tossing his limp arm aside.

The shorter guy yelled, rushing forward with a clumsy tackle.

Karl pivoted smoothly on his heel, catching the incoming student by the shoulder and stepping into the momentum.

He activated Drain a second time, gripping the fabric of the varsity jacket.

The shorter guy hit the linoleum floor and simply could not find the strength to get back up, gasping for air like a fish thrown onto dry land, his limbs trembling violently from total exhaustion.

Karl stood in the middle of the brief scuffle, completely untouched. He allowed the fight to be entertaining in his own mind, genuinely shocked at how fluidly and perfectly he himself was moving, while maintaining an eerie, absolute calmness the entire time. It felt as though he were watching a high-level gaming replay from a third-person perspective, yet he was the one controlling the avatar.

The taller guy, running on sheer adrenaline and panic, desperately tried to push himself up off the floor. He threw a weak, uncoordinated punch toward Karl’s stomach.

Karl caught the incoming fist with his open palm, brushing it aside. He shifted his stance, planting his feet firmly against the tiles, and called upon the stored kinetic energy resting in his system.

’Single Punch.’

Karl drove his fist forward, aiming straight for the center of the guy’s chest. He held back, modifying the output so he would not shatter the student’s ribcage, but the impact was still devastating. The contained shockwave blew the remaining air right out of the athlete’s lungs in a violent, wet cough.

The guy folded over completely, dropping to the floor in a pathetic, wheezing heap.

The few students sitting at the surrounding tables who had bothered to watch the brief altercation were staring in absolute, stunned silence.

Karl reached down and picked up the taller guy who had punched him earlier, grabbing him fiercely by the collar of his expensive varsity jacket and hauling him up until they were eye to eye.

"Are you in a gang?" Karl asked, his voice completely void of mercy.

The guy hung from Karl’s grip, his face completely drained of color, his chest heaving as he struggled to pull oxygen back into his lungs. He looked into Karl’s dead eyes and shook his head frantically.

"N-no," he choked out, his voice trembling uncontrollably. "No gang. I swear."

"Good," Karl told him, keeping his grip tight enough to slightly choke the athlete. "Because from this moment forth, you work for me."

The guy’s eyes widened even further, pure confusion mixing with the absolute terror radiating off him.

"I am building a syndicate," Karl explained quietly, making sure his words only reached the two broken students in front of him. "You will follow my orders. You will get paid for your time, of course. I want you to think about it. I am not forcing you to say yes right this second."

He released his grip, letting the taller guy drop back to the floor in a miserable, gasping heap next to his friend. Karl looked down at both of them. He watched the arrogant fighters go from completely overflowing with pride just moments ago, to cowering in absolute, shivering fear.

Karl let them sit in that terror for a long moment, watching their shoulders shake.

He needed them to be completely scared, because that very fear was exactly what he needed from them for his next plan to work.

If he was going to build a functional gang to satisfy the system’s new quest, he needed subordinates who feared his authority more than they feared the rival crews operating in the city. They needed to fear Karl.

Karl turned around, adjusting his jacket casually, and walked back toward the cafeteria doors to meet Elsa, leaving his very first recruits trembling on the linoleum floor behind him.