Reborn as a villain extra

Ghouls.

Once humans, ghouls were the product of the arcane pollution in the undercity. If you were lucky, you were immune, or at least partially immune, to its radioactive and toxic effects. Most of those who were born in the undercity from undercity parents had this trait.

For travellers coming from the wastelands, however, this was rarely the case. Over the span of the years, high depency to arcane would develop. Like all addictions, those who had this ailment would need something stronger, more potent. They would turn to arcane drugs, or, in the worst cases, arcane poisons. 

Without immunity, those drugs would slowly eat away vitality and intellect. Ghouls were but the physical shells of what used to be human, driven by arcane desires. Their little remaining intellect allowed them to wield weapons to some extent, and they would target those weaker than themselves to get Prism Coins. With these, they could beg for more drugs, the cycle continuing.

The worst thing about ghouls was that they retained their ability to reproduce, and the infants would inherit their parents' ailment. In the undercity, there used to be a very small number of ghouls, but they had increased a lot in the past decade. If not for the enforcers and gangs limiting their numbers, id est killing the most violent ones, they would have taken over the undercity already.

"You...you killed him!", Elise shouted.

A couple of weeks ago, I had woken up as an orphan. The parents of my body's previous owner worked in a chem-tech factory and one day, never returned, living him alone. Upon dying from hunger, I took over his body. I searched for food desperately, and survived a couple of days from stealing, and one day almost died in the process. I had been caught by a ratman merchant with exceptional perception. 

Thankfully, Elizabeth appeared and saved me. She was an influential woman in district 77, where I lived. She owned a bar called the "Fiery Snake", and anyone who owned an establishment possessed some kind of influence down here. Despite her looks, she was a "sorceress", and a high-level one.

In the undercity and topside, most people were between level 1 and 3. Enforcers, outlaws and mercenaries were usually ranging between level 4 and 10. As for those above that, they would have some renown, or infamy to their name. Elizabeth was a level 16 sorceress, which told a lot about her strength in the undercity. 

For comparison's sake, an enforcer captain would usually be promoted upon reaching level 12.

In exchange for saving my life, I had to run errands, a fancy names for doing her bidding. The young teenager with a hoodie and makeup was her own daughter, Elise. Besides this little assassin-type teenager, there were two warrior-types, Braum with an imposing 2-meters-tall build and a spiked shield as a weapon, and Bertha, who used a iron gauntlets and had a build similar to mine. The last person in our band was a gunner, Leon, who was a bit older and had a tatoo on his shoulder.

All of us were "awakened", meaning that our attributes were higher than that of regular humans. We could "level up" and get stronger through training, though the exact process was unknown to most people. As someone who had inherited the system, I could not only see other people's level, but I could also level up by killing others.

The reason I suddenly became leader of this little gang of five, including me, was not my strength.

After all, Braum was far stronger than me with his imposing frame. I was not the most agile either, Elise being so flexible that she could have been a professional ballet dancer, though the mere mention of this thought would earn me a death stare. I was not the most perceptive either, for Leon had the sight of an eagle. He was not fully human either, his body already filled with a couple of chem-tech. As for combat experience, Bertha used to be a 'gladiator', a term used to point at those who did illegal fights for the sake of money.

In other words, I was the youngest, and the one with the lowest level.

[Name - Greem | Age - 15 years old | Level 2 Warrior [70/ 150 EXP]

Attributes:

Strength - 12 | Agility - 12 | Vitality - 10 

Perception - 8 | Arcane - 6 | Charisma - 16 (+2)

Perk - Undercity Bloodline (Resistance to Arcane Corruption +6) [C], Swordsmanship Talent (Sword proficiency grows faster) [C], Leadership [D] (+2 Charisma)

Skills - Short Sword Mastery [D] (52), Strategy [E] (38), Stealth [E] (30), Eloquence [E] (25)

Equipment - Iron Short Sword[E]]

[Elise - Level 4 Assassin]

[Braum - Level 3 Warrior]

[Bertha- Level 3 Fighter]

[Leon - Level 3 Gunner]

Besides my lower level, I also happened to be the youngest, and this came at an attribute disadvantage. Braum most likely had twice my strength, just from the size difference.

No, the reason why I became leader was because of my intellect. 

Elise and Bertha were very direct and lacked any form of strategy. Braum was as dumb as a ghoul. As for Leon, he was far too selfish and self-preserving to take any risk. 

That's why Elizabeth, the owner of the [Fiery Snake Bar], appointed me as a leader, and none of the others said anything about it. After all, I was not the first newcomer in the [Poison Ives], and in the undercity, smart brains like me were rare to come by. I knew how to haggle, how to make basic strategy and more importantly, I knew how to talk. Others would always lose debates to me, even adults, which earned me sympathy from the others.

The ghoul was one of our target. Elizabeth was no saint. She was the owner of a bar, but also a distributor of [Ether], a newly developped drug that allowed ghouls to find some relief from their ailment, and regular humans to find some momentary ecstasy. However, with distribution came client debts, and this was about sending a message. 

We could have stopped here. Elizabeth just asked us to send a message.

[You have successfully killed [Level 2 Ghoul]. You have earned 20 EXP]

However, the logs were just too attractive for me to pass the opportunity. I was only level 2, and I needed to catch up to the others.

The others stared at me with horror. They knew death. Every day, the streets they crossed would be filled with a couple corpses that would only be discovered hours later by enforcers. However, they never killed.

Poison Ives was but a group of teenager outlaws, with Braum being the oldest and still being in his early twenties. However, I needed to survive, and I was far too weak. Before anyone could say anything, I started looting the ghoul.

[Prism Coins x23]

[Crude Dagger [F] x1]

[Iron Gear x2]

He was dead poor, but I still distributed the prism coins in five equal shares of four coins. I gave myself a bonus of one coin since I happened to be a leader, and returned the remaining two to Leon.

"You shot him twice, so buy more ammunition for the next mission", I said in a cold voice.

Leon smiled bitterly, while the others gulped, torn between horror at my apathy and a growing sense of admiration. No, Prism was not a city for the weak, and I certainly intended to level up.