The cool evening wind blew across the open terrace of District 4 High, carrying the sharp scent of blood.
Oscar stood near the bench, watching Brad freeze in complete helplessness.
During his continuous hunting inside the Goblin’s Lounge, Oscar had not only gained levels and collected loot, but he had also reached a much deeper understanding of how his attributes interacted with his system traits.
Since his current trait was Aimbot and his next locked trait was Invisibility, his combat style naturally favored long-distance engagements. To maximize his efficiency, he needed to focus on attributes that directly enhanced his traits.
Through testing inside the dungeon, he discovered that every single point added to his Intelligence attribute increased the active detection range of Aimbot by exactly 2.5 meters.
With his Intelligence sitting at 12, his current effective range was precisely 30 meters. Within this 30-meter boundary, any target he focused on would be struck directly at their weakest point, even if he turned around and fired blindly into the dark.
This did not mean he could not hit targets beyond 30 meters. However, outside that boundary, the accuracy of his shots would rely on his personal skill rather than system assistance.
Oscar did not care about that distinction. As his Intelligence attribute grew higher in the future, his personal skill would never actually matter anyway.
After all, his system was called the Divine Hack System. Its core purpose was to allow him to hack his way straight to the very top without relying on traditional effort or talent.
Intelligence also allowed him to shift his focus from one target to another with incredible mental speed.
However, mental focus was only half the battle. For his physical body to move, aim, and react as fast as his thoughts, he needed his Agility attribute to keep pace.
When he had fought the two scouts earlier, he realized that if those two teenagers had been actual Awakened Hosts instead of regular humans, defeating them without taking a scratch would have been much harder with his base physical speed.
Recognizing this weakness, Oscar had immediately invested his two unallocated free attribute points from Level 5 straight into Agility.
Oscar called up his status interface in his mind to review his updated parameters.
Name: Oscar
System: Divine Hack System
Function (s): Ban
Traits: Aimbot | Invisibility (Locked - 10,000 EP to unlock) | Locked | Locked...
Level: 5 (0/500)
STR: 2
CONST: 1
AGI: 5
INT: 12
Mana: 120
HP: 10
Unallocated Points: 0
With his Agility now raised to 5, it was higher than Brad’s. The primary reason Oscar chose to test his system’s Ban function on Brad’s Agility first was caution.
If the Ban attempt failed, any potential system backlash would hit his Agility attribute instead of his Intelligence.
If anything compromised his Intelligence stat, it would severely affect his Aimbot range, which was a risk he was unwilling to take.
However, his worries turned out to be completely unnecessary. The Ban function worked without fail as long as the targeted parameter of the opponent’s status screen was lower than his own.
Since Brad had lower stats, the suppression was absolute.
Brad stood completely paralyzed at the entrance of the terrace, his heart pounding violently against his ribs.
Every Host possessed a faint sixth sense that allowed them to feel the pressure of higher-level Hosts, even if they could not accurately measure the exact numeric gap.
Brad had felt that exact suffocating pressure from Oscar the moment he stepped onto the roof.
Initially, Brad had assumed the orphan simply got lucky, spent his small savings to enter a low-tier portal, and gained a level or two.
But now, as his legs refused to move a single inch despite all his straining, pure terror began clouding his mind.
’What is going on? How did he freeze me? What kind of damned system did he awaken?’ Brad thought frantically, sweat pouring down his pale face like rain.
As Oscar walked calmly toward him, a heavy, invisible force invaded Brad’s mind. The crushing weight locking his joints suddenly vanished, and his legs were finally free to move again.
But Brad felt no relief.
Because in that exact moment, Oscar banned his intelligence attribute.
The moment Brad’s Intelligence was suppressed to zero, Oscar made a surprising discovery. Because Brad was technically left without an active Intelligence stat, Oscar could use his own higher INT score to directly overwrite Brad’s neural commands, controlling his physical movements like a puppet on invisible strings.
Brad could feel every second of it. He was fully conscious inside his own mind, unable to speak or move, forced to watch a stranger pilot his body like a hollow shell.
His body was no longer under his own control. Brad watched in utter horror as his legs moved completely against his will, turning around and walking stiffly toward the edge of the terrace.
He tried with all his strength to stop his feet, but his muscles ignored his brain completely. He climbed onto the concrete ledge, paused for a fraction of a second, and then jumped.
Bang!
The sudden, heavy thud echoed across the quiet rooftop.
Brad’s cronies watched the entire sequence unfold in dead silence. They had no idea what had just happened.
They only saw their boss attempt to run, freeze in place like a statue, and then march straight to the edge and leap off the building.
When their stunned minds finally returned to their senses, Ronin was the very first one to scream in terror.
"Fuck! Boss jumped!" Ronin yelled, his voice cracking with panic.
All four cronies rushed frantically to the edge of the terrace, looking down in horror.
Brad was currently lying face down on the lower terrace roof just one floor below, groaning in pain as he clutched his bruised knees and elbows.
Oscar was not an idiot. He knew that making Brad jump off a three-story building onto the hard pavement below would result in death, which would lead to a government murder investigation.
Instead, he had forced Brad to leap onto a lower awning ledge, causing painful cuts and bruises without inflicting fatal injuries.
Rather than taking a life, Oscar’s goal was to thoroughly break Brad’s mind and terrify him into submission to complete his main quest.
Glancing at his vision, Oscar noticed that the system quest completion notification had still not appeared.
That meant Brad had not been completely dominated yet; the bully was still clinging to shock. But now, it was easy to turn this shock into horror.
What could possibly be more terrifying than becoming a helpless prisoner inside your own skin?
Oscar calmly repeated this process over and over. He forced Brad to stand up, walk back up the stairs with stiff, mechanical strides, kneel on the cold concrete, and slap himself repeatedly across the face in front of his followers.
Ronin and the remaining cronies shivered uncontrollably in absolute panic. They backed away into the corner of the terrace, staring at Oscar as if he were a demon wearing human skin.
No one dared to raise a hand, speak a word, or even breathe too loudly.
Finally, as Brad collapsed onto his hands and knees, sobbing uncontrollably with his pride completely shattered, a bright, dark golden screen expanded directly before Oscar’s eyes.
Ding!
Main Quest Completed: Subdue and Dominate the Bully Ring.
Target Brad and his lackeys have been thoroughly broken and mentally dominated.
Quest Reward Granted: +500 Evolution Points (EP).
Current EP Balance: 500 EP.