Chapter 2: This system charges money?

                                                                           E/D: fun  P/R: larkspur

It had been three months since Bruce's arrival in the Marvel Universe, and he had given up hope on the system since it hadn't appeared even once after the first time.

While he was desperate, the system suddenly appeared.

He opened the system without hesitation.

——-  

[Name]: Bruce 

[Ident.i.ty]: 3rd Level agent 

[Skill]: Primary fighting techniques, Proficiency in firearms.

[Balance]: 0

 ——-

His attributes were still very low.

What is 'balance'? 

Though he was puzzled, Bruce was still excited about the fact that he owned the unlimited download system. However, his friend Bill knew nothing of Bruce's sudden change of emotion,   

” My G.o.d Bruce, you have been so moody lately. Are you alright?”

Bruce stood up,  patted Bill on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry my friend, I'm okay."

Not surprisingly, when he touched Bill, Bill's information appeared in his mind again. There was a download b.u.t.ton under each ability. Bill was a level 4 agent who had obtained a Medium-level fighting technique. As for his Proficiency in firearms, Bruce had that too, so there was no need to download it. As for the last one: Excellent at rapping…

Bruce skipped it directly. Next, Bruce clicked the download b.u.t.ton under 'Medium Level Fighting Technique'.  

—

  Beep!

“Successfully connected!”

"You have met the prerequisite Primary level fighting technique. The size of the 'Medium Level Fighting Technique' package is reduced to 50mb."

Beep!

“Current download speed is 100kb/s (valid within one meter)”

—

Wait… the speed was only 100kb/s?

Bruce was stunned. If he wanted to completely download medium level fighting techniques, it would take at least eight or nine minutes. For now, nine minutes was acceptable. But if it needed a few hours or days, this was not going to work out—it was impossible to stay with a person for that long. Also, the limitation of the valid distance was a problem. It was ordinary to stay within 1 meter of his partner. 

But what about others? That would certainly cause doubts.

Just as he was worried about these potential problems, he found out that there was a "speedup" b.u.t.ton  the download list!

Bruce clicked it without hesitation.

Next, a list appeared.

[ For ＄1,000: Receive a 2x download speed! ]

[ For ＄10,000: Receive a 10x download speed! ]

[ For ＄100,000: Receive a 100x download speed! ]

[ For ＄1,000,000: Receive a 1,000x download speed! ]

[ For ＄10,000,000: Receive a 10,000x download speed! ]

—

His jaw dropped while looking at the list. 

What??? The system needs money?!

After working for s.h.i.+ELD for several years, Bruce was able to save up about 100,000 dollars. Before the appearance of the system, Bruce was going to use that money to buy a nice house in the suburbs.

But now…

Afterwards, Bruce directly put in 1,000 dollars into the system. But he did not use that money to speed up the download of Bill's skill.It would be a huge waste to spend 1,000 dollars just to save 4 to 5 minutes. 

Bill still seemed very worried even though Bruce kept telling him that he was good. After making sure that Bruce was perfectly healthy, Bill lowered his voice and look directly into Bruce's eyes,

 “Buddy, you need to be careful. If our new supervisor sees you being unreliable, it might cost you your job.”

Bruce felt a wave of warmth in his chest: “Don't worry, I've got it handled.”

Bill smiled and gave him a hug.

While Bill was going back to work, Bruce was alarmed.

If the distance between them exceeded 1 meter, the connection would cut off and he would not be able to continue downloading. Therefore, Bruce followed Bill and started to chat with him.

Thanks to Bill's talkativeness, it was not hard for Bruce to stick with him until he heard the system's notice.

Beep!

"Download complete! "

” Congratulations on getting the skill 'Medium-level Fighting technique'!”

He could feel that his physical strength and fighting strategies inside his mind had been greatly improved. Suppressing his excitement about these changes, he said goodbye to Bill and went back to work.

Although this was the headquarters of the Avengers Base, the construction had just been finished. The Avengers had not been formally established yet, so there were not many people in the base. Only a few agents patrolled around.

Bruce eventually encountered some 3rd-level agents—same as himself, but they did not have any attractive abilities that were worth downloading. Bruce returned to his dormitory after his day s.h.i.+ft. 

The low-level agents who worked here were required to live in the dormitory within the base, and were not allowed to leave without a specific reason. Fortunately, each agent lived in a separate room with absolute privacy.

Now, Bruce was sitting on his bed with his back against the wall and his hands behind his head. Today he had taken his first step to become stronger by seizing the opportunity given by the system.

But the system only provided opportunity.

If he truly wanted to be stronger, he needed to establish connections with more powerful people. Especially the senior agents in the base. As for those superheroes, Bruce did not even dare to think about it. They were so powerful that even the strongest agent was nothing compared to them. Such skills would definitely occupy an enormous amount of s.p.a.ce. Even if Bruce could make contact with them, it would be impossible to download those skills.

Therefore, Bruce now had 2 goals.

The first one was to improve his skills in a limited time, so that he could survive through the first New York War. And the second, was to make as much money as possible in order to get an upgrade to his downloading speed! 

These two goals were the cornerstone of his pathway to the top of the world.

Once that was determined, Bruce went to his bed. There was still a lot of work to do tomorrow; he had to restore his energy.

The next day, Bruce put on his uniform and equipment,  and walked out from his dormitory, like always. Just as Bruce greeted Bill at the gate of the Avenger's Base, a black jeep stopped in front of the gate.

"Attention! "

All the agents a.s.sembled in lines and looked straight ahead immediately.

Then, a tall man walked out of the car. 

He was a level 5 agent.