Breaking Supers With the Ultimate Ero Skill

A couple of days later, Leon sat at a park bench, munching on a hotdog as he checked his stats.

Leon had been busy the last two days, running around, beating up criminals. Why criminals? Was it because he was trying to become a hero or vigilante? Of course not. That would be ridiculous.

Being a hero or vigilante in DC means having a target painted on your back. Batman and Superman have to constantly fight crime because villains are drawn to people like that, and frankly, Leon thought the juice wasn't worth the squeeze.

No, Leon was 'fighting crime' because, in Arkham, criminals had more money and were unlikely to keep it in banks on account of having taken it from others. At least, that was the theory anyway. Common street thugs had surprisingly little cash on them. Apparently, crime really doesn't pay.

It might be because Leon has been targeting small-time criminals—people without affiliation to any big gang—who simply weren't good enough criminals to earn a lot of cash. Despite their poor crime skills, it was still the easiest way for Leon to earn money without washing dishes. And the ability to increase fear in those in his proximity definitely made it easier.

Because of the limitations of his powers, he had to plan ahead of time and create the cloud of pheromones where he thought the criminals would gather. Which wasn't too hard. Humans are creatures of habit, and asking people where to avoid and go from there requires very little skill.

Then all it took was dropping a Fear and Submission canister into the area and asking them nicely to hand over all their money. Criminals were paranoid and fearful, so the Fear canisters have been working a treat. But of course, asking nicely didn't always work, so Leon had to introduce Mr. Metal Baseball Bat to the cranium of anybody who said no a few times as well.

It didn't take long for Leon to conclude that his fear and submission pheromones gave him the best return on investment in 'convincing' thugs to give up their hard-earned money. He had thought that to be the case, hence why he had bought those two rings alongside the Reach ring first, but the theory was quickly confirmed the first time he tried out his plan and saw how effectively it worked. One gang member in the group of four didn't immediately give up, but that was quickly solved with a bat to the gut and then head.

Sure, the canisters cost Leon time and money to prepare, and the rings weren't cheap, but the return was pretty good, and he has yet to come out negative from any engagement.

And boy, has it been working. Over five grand in two days, even more, when counting the money Leon had to spend buying rings and canisters. There's no better get-rich-fast scheme than stealing from thieves. It's not like they can report the crime to the cops.

Leon was giggling to himself as he imagined some generic thug going to a police station to report the theft of his stolen goods when he heard a high-pitched shriek come from not far from him.

"He stole my purse! Somebody, please stop him!"

Looking toward the commotion, Leon sees a woman desperately chasing after someone wearing a ski mask. Ski mask man had a purse in his hands, clearly having just nabbed it from the poor woman and was running away from her in Leon's direction. Committing a crime in broad daylight, that's Arkham for ya.

Leon quickly stuffed the remainder of his hot dog in his mouth before pulling down on what looked like a scrunched-up beanie but was actually his own ski mask. Now there are two Ski mask men.

Reaching behind the bench, Leon pulled out a metal baseball bat and waited for his moment to strike. The thug focused on the woman chasing him, trying to put more distance between him and his victim. Which was why he wasn't aware of the fast-approaching metal bat until it made contact with his face.

*CLANG*

There was a distinct noise when metal met a skull. It wasn't quite like two metal pipes hitting each other, but it was similar. Maybe a bit duller. The important part was that it was satisfying as hell.

The thug immediately crumpled to the ground and was knocked out cold. He's definitely going to have a concussion, but honestly, that wasn't Leon's problem. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

When the thug collapsed, a system notification popped.

Like with many game system cliches, beating enemies also gave Leon xp and was how he leveled up. But, there were also limitations.

Specific actions rewarded specific experience. Since Leon didn't have to use any skills or pheromones this time, the xp he gained didn't apply to anything else but his personal level. That's why his speed skill progressed more than his Body of Steel skill.

For Body of Steel to gain experience, Leon had to either be hit or recover from an injury. While gaining additional durability would be beneficial, Leon also wasn't a masochist and was planning to get hit anytime soon.

The same logic was why Leon's Fear Pheromone skill had the most progression as well. Simply put, he found the Fear Pheromone more persuasive, followed by submission. Leon could only actively produce one type of pheromone at a time, which is why Fear was the most used skill and leveled. Confusion had been especially bad in his use case since criminals typically weren't too bright, and being confused just made getting them to understand the situation and turn their money over harder.

Dropping his metal bat, Leon immediately began searching the man for his wallet. Once he found it, he pulled the small stack of cash, probably worth a few hundred bucks, from it and stuffed it into his pockets before storing it in his inventory.

Leon then grabbed the lady's purse and opened it.

"Thank you so much, I don't know wh- What are you doing?"

The lady watched Leon pull a twenty from her wallet before returning it to the purse and handing it back.

"I don't do stuff for free."

The lady glared at Leon before snatching her purse back and storming off.

"What a fucking weirdo. What kind of person stops a crime just to take money from the victim. Go to a loan shark if you need money so bad."

"I'm the weirdo? Who thinks anyone that needs money should go to a loan sha-"

This would have been Leon's second 'Aha!' moment; a lightbulb would have popped up above his head if this was a cartoon.

Loan sharks had to have tons of cash to stay in business, and they're in set locations, so finding them should be a breeze. Of course, the only problem was that to have that much money, they were usually backed by one of the more prominent gangs.

That was when a devious idea popped into Leon's mind.

Good thing he was wearing a ski mask because if people saw the massive grin on his face, they would think he was a freak instead of just a criminal.

-THE NEXT DAY (POV SWAP)-

*KNOCK*

"Go away, I'm busy!"

It was closing time, and Richard was trying to check over the books to make sure that everything was in order. Being a Falcone Capo running a loan establishment required focus and attention to detail. Well, that and the willingness to put a bullet in the back of people's heads.

But it was worth it. Decades of loyal service meant that Richard was allowed to run his own outfit, and the money that came with it meant he could live the big life.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

All the blood (not his), sweat, and tears had paid off. It was hard work keeping track of all the loans, collecting the interest, and occasionally sending enforcers to 'persuade' people to pay. Still, at the end of the day, he walked away from his office with a fat stack of cash to spend on hookers and blow. In fact, he might just visit his favorite strip club today. He earned at private dance wit-

*KNOCK* *KNOCK**KNOCK*

"God fucking damnit, what the fuck did I say? If you don't want your hands missing, you'll fu-"

*CRASH*

 Before Richard could even finish his sentence, a body crashed through the door and busted the thing off its hinges. The large body slumped onto Richards's desk, and he could see that it was Vito, one of his top enforcers.

Two glass cylinders then flew at Richard's head, just slow enough for him to be able to duck underneath them, letting them soar over him and shatter on the wall behind him.

Confusion dominated his mind as he tried and failed to think of who would be crazy enough to attack a Falcone place of business.

*Step* *Step* *Step* *Step* *Step*

The sound of footsteps slowly approached until it stopped right before him. Slowly, Richard popped his head from behind his desk, only to feel nothing but fear at what stood before him.

A man was standing over his desk, his towering figure casting a shadow over Richard, allowing just barely enough light through for him to make out the demon mask he was wearing. Both his arms were raised above his head, hands holding a metal baseball bat splattered with blood.

"The False Facers send their regards."

That was all the man said before the bat came swinging down and smashing dead center of his scalp, instantly knocking him out.

-POV SWAP (LEON)-

"Nice, leveled up."

Leon looked around the place, ensuring there weren't any witnesses before taking off the latex demon mask. It was getting hot under there. He should have gotten one of those half masks just held on with string, but he was worried it would fall off and someone would get a good look at his face.

Getting in and taking everyone inside the load shark building was easier than he thought. While the criminals were undoubtedly more experienced and hardened than the garden-variety muggers he has been mugging, a combination of Confusion and Fear pheromones has worked wonders.

These were enforcers from the Falcone family, so Leon had thrown the non-violent option out of the window from the get-go since he didn't want to take the risk. That meant Submission was out, and Confusion was in. It was definitely the right choice because the compounding effects of Confusion and Fear made the criminals easy pickings for the enhanced speed Leon now had.

Rummaging through the main office, Leon found a few envelopes stuffed with wads of cash that he quickly squirreled away. It took a while longer before he found a safe hidden underneath the sofa in the corner.

"Locked, obviously. Guess I'm taking the whole thing with me."

Placing his hand on the safe, Leon stored the safe in his inventory before getting up. Taking one last glance around to make sure he didn't miss anything, Leon then put the mask back on and quickly left the building.

The infrastructure in Arkham was poor. Roads were falling apart, and red lights were constantly malfunctioning if they were working, to begin with. And while this made for a less than ideal place to live, it also made it exceedingly easy to escape crime scenes.

There are no cameras, no police patrols, and no bystanders who know to keep their heads down. Combine that with the cover of night, and Leon could quickly go into an alley and ditch his outfit before returning to his apartment with none the wiser. There, he had a set of tools ready, ranging from pry bars to metal cutting saws and blow torches.

Leon immediately got to work, removing the safe from his inventory and trying to break the door open. He quickly learned that tools that required manual force to be applied wouldn't work. Thankfully, the metal cutting saw, while loud, was considerably more effective, and Leon was able to cut the safe open to get at the goodies inside. Not having to resort to the blow torch was nice since he worried the heat might damage whatever was inside.

Leon carefully pulled the plate of metal he cut off and peered into the box like a little kid would a present under the Christmas tree. And what an early Christmas present it was. Inside the safe were a few small books and two fat stacks of cash.

Flipping through the books made it clear that it was a log of the people who owed the Falcone family money and how much they owed. It seemed weird to keep these things on paper instead of digitally; criminal enterprises operated like they were still in the 80s.

Tossing the logs aside, Leon reached in and grabbed the actual prize. The stacks of cash were all crisp, clean $100 bills, each about four inches tall. There were 10 smaller stacks combined with a larger band, and a quick once-over estimated each small band at $10,000 each. This meant Leon got his hands on $200,000 with just one hit.

Leon physically shook with excitement. This was the most money he'd ever had, and it was all within his own hands. This was a breakthrough; $200,000 was enough to get all the skills he would need for the next phase of his plans, and all it cost him was two canisters and a couple hours filling them up.

Giddy with excitement, Leon quickly stored the cash before opening his system shop.

It's shopping time!

Chapter End Stats/Quests