After a hearty dinner with his family and relatives, Ace excused himself and turned in early.
Inside his room, in preparation for the late-night raid plan, Ace ordered Emi to feed one of the mortal rank gremlin curse cores to his toybox. He planned to have it enhance his curse core so he could level up and restore his curse energy reserve.
> Using curse core (gremlin form) to enchant Toymancer's curse core…
> Enhancement complete.
> Toymancer has gained,
ii) +5 spiritual stats
iii) +70 curse energy
Note: Toymancer's personal status screen has been updated.]
'I guess this is the maximum stats a mortal rank Germlin curse core can give,' Ace thought as he felt a significant rise in his overall strength as his curse core grew. He was starting to like the idea of gaining maximum benefit with little to no effort.
However, he did not plan on consuming all the curse cores he bought at once. If he was just gaining stats, he might give it a thought but it also restored his curse energy reserve simultaneously. Considering, how hard it is to recover one's curse energy he planned to get the maximum benefit of the curse core on him unless there was an emergency.
Soon, he used the status screen to check the growth in his status,
Curse Energy: (341/341)
Skills: Cursed toybox(3/3), Status screen.
Arts: Body Reinforcement]
'No extra toy space this time? Did I not meet the threshold this level up, huh, well maybe next time I will,' Ace contemplated seeing that his cursed toybox did not gain an extra toy space like he did during the last level-up.
He did not give this much thought as the toybox had informed him before that he would gain a toy space with the growth in these stats. He believed if he did not gain a toy space during this level-up he would get it during the next level-up or the one after that, no point in worrying about something you can't control.
Then, he decided to go through the late-night raid plan with his toy summons while he waited for the others in the house to turn in so he could commence his covert mission.
In the middle of the night, the moon hung high in the sky, casting a pale glow over the sleeping Iron Valley ranch.
Ace's family and relatives were sound asleep in their room. Emi had made sure of that by sticking 'Sleep' talismans on their bedroom doors. Anyone in the room wouldn't wake up until the talisman on the door was disturbed. She also set up an alarm talisman in the house to warn them in case of unexpected situations.
Ace then headed out of the house through the back door. Walking into the garage, he ignored the cars and eyed Pam's hybrid cycle. He retrieved it and pedaled away following Dame Wasp's directions to the 9Ks's safehouse, his heart pounded with a mix of excitement and uneasiness. After all, vengeance was going to be his tonight.
The road to the safe house was long and winding, but Dame Wasp knew every shortcut. Ace stuck to the shadows, avoiding the few streetlights that dotted the outskirts of town. With his current physical stats, the 10-mile journey felt like a breeze, he reached his destination in little to no time. He was half a mile from the gang's hideout. With Emi's 'Invisible' talisman stuck to him and the cycle, being discovered was least of his worries.
The safe house was a dilapidated farmhouse, hidden from the main road and guarded by a few men. Ace decided to have Dame Wasp scout the place, with her small size and camouflage skill she would easily be able to get past the patrol guards and case the joint without getting noticed. Once she locates the target, they would move in.
Ace's target wasn't Mark or his brother but their money and coke. These brothers valued this shit as more important than their life, which was why they were out here risking their lives for it. He felt taking all of their money and coke would be the best way to start his revenge on Mark and his enablers, the 9Ks.
However, he could not be too brazen about it just because he was a curse master and they were not. The 9Ks might not have curse masters amidst their ranks but the cartel, they worked for, definitely did. Therefore, he had to be very careful how he pulled this off and leave no trace behind when he was done.
Ace never planned to harm any member of the 9Ks, he planned to replace their shit with papers and sand without them knowing. Then, wait to see how long it took for them to realize their money had turned into toilet paper and coke into sand. Next, enjoy their horror as they try and figure out what's going on while the cartel's due date hangs on their heads like a guillotine. Later, watch as the chaos descends as the cartel makes an example out of the 9Ks.
Will the cartel not suspect the involvement of an unknown third party? They would and most definitely sent out their hounds to track the unknown third party down, kill them, and get their shit back. But that was the price of Ace dealing with not just Mark but the entire 9Ks gang without getting his hand dyed in blood.
Ace had no savior complex. However, the disturbing things Dame Wasp dung up from Mark and other gang members' phones, had him want to bury the 9Ks with Mark. It was not a surprise that these gang members were horrible individuals outside of the gangs too, but the shit they did and were getting away with, the words unfair and unjust weren't enough to describe it. It had him wondering if their justice system even functioned.
He could still endure it if they committed these heinous crimes on the other side of the globe far from him but they did it in his city, in his neighborhood to the community and people he knew. It was one thing if he did not know, but now that he knew he had to do what he could to the best of his power.
He would consider this as his first contribution to the society. Though flawed, society was there in his family's time of need, and now that he found something he could do in return, he believed he should. As for the cartel hounds, they had to find him first. Since Ace planned to never cross paths with them again it was not going to be easy for them find him.