"Hey Dean, wanna join us for lunch?" asked one of the officials in the communications room to a blonde-haired man with a crew cut.

"Nah, I still have some stuff I need to finish up," replied Dean, gesturing for his colleagues to go ahead without him.

"He's been acting really weird lately," whispered one of his colleagues as they left the room.

"I know right," murmured another.

'Now where did Anne store those files?' wondered Dean as he entered the required credentials into the main monitor and began searching for the elixir production method.

You see Dean wasn't actually Dean. Unbeknownst to all his colleagues, Dean had actually been killed a few days ago, the person impersonating him right now was a man called Syndren.

Syndren was a spy sent by the Master to infiltrate the government's headquarters and keep an eye on their movements.

His ability allowed him to shapeshift into any person he killed, taking on their voice, behaviorisms, and even some of their memories, making him the perfect candidate for the job.

'Ahh, here it is,' thought Syndren, as he found a file titled 'prmt' and quickly clicked on it.

'Fuck, it's encrypted,' as Syndren tried opening the file a message prompting him to enter a password came onto the screen, stopping him in his tracks.

'It seems this might take a while,' worried Syndren as he got up from his seat and left the room.

'For now I'll report what I know to the Master,' thought Syndren, removing a walkie-talkie from the inner pocket of his suit.

***

'It seems it's already been more than a week since I used my power 'He who pleasure's death,' so it should be off cooldown by now,' remembered Gray as he inspected the staff that the kobold boss had dropped.

It had a shape similar to those found in fantasy games, with its length being made of dark wood and a deep blue gem fixed at its top.

Much like the Mighty Sword it had indecipherable runes etched along its length, giving Gray the impression that its function could be copied like he did for the Might Sword.

"Here's your breakfast master," announced Tesse as she set Gray's food on the table.

'It's about time I got a new power, and lately this girl's been getting more powerful. Perhaps it's about time I got rid of her before she's disillusioned from her master complex,' thought Gray as he looked up at Tesse.

"Is something the matter master?" asked Tesse, confused by the look that Gray was giving her.

"Can you do me a favor?" asked Gray, pointing his index finger at the center of Tesse's forehead.

"Anything master," replied Tesse without hesitation.

"Die for me," as Gray said this his mark began glowing and blood percolated from it, forming a gun in the hand that was pointing at Tesse.

Gray grabbed the blood pistol and cocked it as he stood up, pushing it against her skull.

"Very well master," replied Tesse, not so much as flinching as Gray pushed her head back with the pistol.

'But then again, having a lap dog who is willing to die for me is way more fun. Perhaps I'll kill her some other time, and anyways I already have a power that I want to steal.' thought Gray as the pistol turned back into blood and flowed into his mark.

"Hurry up and eat as well, we're going to the town hall after this then the library. I have to ask the information guild what they know about these blue gemstones," said Gray as he looked at the blue gemstones he had collected from the dungeon pilled to the side of the table.

"Very well master," replied Tesse before walking back to the kitchen.

'Master still wants me around,' thought Tesse happily, her cheeks flushed red and a wide smile on her face.

'Can I create a staff capable of shooting flames like this one?' asked Gray as he picked up the staff.

[It is possible, however unlike the Mighty Sword, the item 'Kobold Boss Staff' is not an artifact, as such its power core is required to cast the spells it contains,] replied the voice in Gray's head.

'I see.'

'Well for now I'll just memorize the runes, you never know when it might come in handy,' thought Gray before creating a small dagger with a very sharp blade.

'Of course, I'll be needing this regardless,' thought Gray as he used the tip of the blade to gently remove the gemstone at the top of the staff.

As Gray removed it, the runes along the length of the staff began glowing, before going out once the gemstone had been completely removed.

'Interesting,'

Gray quickly ate what Tesse had prepared for him and the two set off to uncover the body that Gray had buried close to the town hall.

***

"It should be somewhere around here," thought Gray as he created a blood shovel and began digging.

"Master let m-" Tesse was about to protest once she saw Gray digging by himself, however Gray raised his hand to stop her

"Do you know what I'm looking for? Or how deep what I'm looking for is?" asked Gray as he continued digging.

"Exactly. Just keep an eye out to see if there's anyone around. The town's gone to shit and I won't be surprised if someone thinks they can have their way with us. Not that I mind though," said Gray, a smile on his face as he thought about all the fun he could have slaughtering any thieves who were foolish enough to try and rob him.

After digging for several minutes he finally hit something.

"Ahh, here he is," smiled Gray, before a putrid smell attacked his nose causing him to stagger back and cover his face with the inside of his arm.

'It's begun to rot," commented Gray, as he stared at all the worms wiggling into and out of the corpse's body. A putrid fluid flowed out of the corpse attracting flies and several patches of skin had already turned green.