Chapter 28: Villain Scouting: The Quest for Talent in a World of Heroes and Villains
"Another C-grade villain?" Manager Wang asked me with some apprehension as I nodded my head.
"Of course, I wouldn't mind another B-grade villain either," I said with a calm smile to which Manager Wang immediately shook his head.
"You're a C-grade handler, handling one B-grade villain is the maximum you can do before getting a promotion and looking at your record, I have to say that although you have done impressively to get promoted twice so quickly, that is also a drawback." Manager Wang said with a sigh.
"Not everybody gets promoted quickly, some never manage to get promoted as they are unable to help out villains of a higher rank, as you have been promoted twice so quickly, the agency will probably look to give you more time to adapt, after all, handling E-grade villains is vastly different compared to handling C-grade villains and above."
"Not to mention that some will definitely feel jealous and will try to sabotage you in the future if you continue this way, the agency will probably do its best to shield you from some, but it can't defend you forever as we are the Villain Support Agency, and even though you are a handler, you are expected to become stronger yourself, only then will you truly be able to help the higher ranked villains as you will know what they are capable of since you are capable of similar things."
Unexpectedly, the old manager gave me quite some advice, I didn't really expect him to care so much, which did bring his image in my head to be slightly more positive.
"As for the C-grade villains you can try scouting, here they are, some have left their old handlers because they felt the handlers were not good enough, some were left by their handlers as they felt they were too much trouble, and some are free agents, villains that had not registered with the agency yet as they prefer to be by themselves."
"Do know that the grades placed for the free agents are a guess, we don't know the exact strength they possess, but if you can successfully get one to join us, you will be rewarded, especially if they turn out to be talented."
I nodded my head to Manager Wang as I already knew that. As villains are a fickle bunch, there are quite a lot of them not working with the agency, which was one of the main reasons the HA is still stronger than us and is, on average, kicking our ass.
Those villains do things their own way and at their own tempo, not receiving any help because they don't want it.
Some of them are quite successful and powerful, but most end up being arrested or dying in battle against the heroes.
The VSA is always a bit short on villains and any new villains are a great addition and help, if a handler is able to recruit a new villain and have them join the agency, they will not only be rewarded for that, but the more powerful the villain ends up being, the more rewards they will gain, even if they are no longer the handler.
If I was to, for example, get a C-grade villain to join us and they manage to become an S-grade villain or higher in the future, I would gain a lot of benefits and a reward for each rank they manage to reach. It is incredibly difficult and rare for such things to happen, however, as the villains have to be persuaded to join, and they really disliked that.
One couldn't use force to make the villains join, threatening them in any kind of way was also not allowed as the agency would fire the handler immediately upon learning about it. The agency didn't wish to have villains that are hostile to it as the few that did were already a thorn in their side, having more such villains would just spell more trouble.
I stared at the tablet that Manager Wang had given me and browsed through the list of C-grade villains. There was a ton of them, and I mean it, there were hundreds of them on the list as they were from all over the world.
'Dammit, how the hell do I even choose?'
Ding!
[ New quest initiated. ]
[ Choose the correct villain to handle. ]
Ding!
[ The quest has been deemed too unfair to the host who possesses below-average intellect and very bad instinct, so the system will provide help. ]
'Hey, shut the hell up, who has bad instinct and below-average intellect you dumb system?!'
[ Is the host saying that it wants no help from the system? ]
'No, I want the help.'
[ So the host agrees that he has below-average intellect and bad instincts? ]
'You're pushing it now, just help me out here and shut up will you?' I said in annoyance before an interface that was similar to a game ui appeared in my vision.
[ The host has been allowed usage of the 'Talent Scouting' power of the system for the duration of this quest. ]
[ The rewards for the quest will depend on how talented the new villain is. ]
[ If the handler manages to successfully recruit a free agent that is talented, he will gain a bonus reward. ]
'So, you're doing your best to get me to try and recruit a free agent huh?' I asked the system that did not respond to my question in the slightest before looking down at the list and browsing through it.
The 'Talent Scouting' power was awesome, to be honest. It allowed me to see the current power of the villain, although it only showed the name of the power and the specter to which it fell, and nothing more.
The other thing it showed was how fast, physically strong, and smart a villain was.
Well, the speed and strength were easy to identify as they were compared to the average speed and strength of villains, so one would have the speed of a D-grade villain even though they were C-grade, but they might be incredibly smart and made weapons that helped them battle against even B-grade villains.
It was still difficult to see exactly how strong a person was, but the 'talent' tab that was next to them was the one thing I was looking at the most. The talent tab simply said how talented one was and what grade they might reach without any help from the outside, which was definitely the most important thing for trying to recruit a new villain.
"Hey, can I borrow this for a while?" I asked Manager Wang who nodded his head.
"Yes, but keep it in your office, taking it outside is not allowed."
"Got it." I nodded at the manager before going to my office and spending the remaining time I had for work browsing through the different villains and doing my best to see which ones were the best candidates.
It was still difficult as I needed to look at them before checking the talent tab, which took some time, and considering the fact that there were hundreds present, it was impossible for me to finish by today.
I placed a bookmark on those that were the most talented so that when I finished, I could simply check them all out and see which ones I want to try recruiting first.
After finishing, I went out and went to my car, fully expecting Carla to be there, only to be surprised that she was nowhere to be found. I suddenly felt my phone vibrate, and upon checking it, I saw a message from Carla.
'Sorry, but I'll have to ask for a rain check, I have to do something first, I'll text you when I'm finished.'
I nodded my head and sent an 'ok' before driving back.
Unbeknownst to Carl, multiple men were following him.
All of them belonged to the agency as they were sent by Lucius after being told by Carla to do so as she would be gone for a short period of time and wanted to make sure that Carl was fine.
Upon arriving, I did the usual, I practiced the horse stance.
I was nearly finished, I only needed this day, perhaps the next one, and I would finally be moving on to the next step.
I was excited, I wasn't going to lie, and I got even more excited after the system told me that starting tomorrow, I can take the next step. Finally, I'm going to finally train seriously now.
I went to bed, woke up, brushed my teeth, had breakfast, got dressed, and did all the usual things before driving to the agency and getting inside my office.
Nacht and Blorg were still not calling, so I took the tablet before looking at it.
"This will take almost the entire day, damn it," I said with an annoyed sigh as I started looking through the list, only for the system to stop me.
[ It will be faster if the host used the 'sort' function of his new power. ]
'The sort … function?'
[ Yes, the system can infiltrate the tablet, since it is part of the agency, and can sort the villains by talent, so you will able to see the most talented at the top. ]
'System.'
[ Yes, host? ]
'You are an incorrigible ass.'
Weekly Power Status
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