CHAPTER 55: STRONG ARM REBORN

"Even your fart would be treated as gold by the masses."

Ash took in Eben’s explanation. Thinking of the pros and cons of it in his mind.

"So, I just need to fight and win? Then I will gain the people’s recognition?"

Eben nodded.

"Yes, boss. Everybody here respects the strong fighters in the underground ring. Because they know you are, in fact, stronger than most of the people here.

And second, the strong fighters usually had ties with the three main gangs of the slums.

The people wouldn’t dare to mess with anything related to the three main gangs.

Because the city’s government rarely did anything for the people of the slums. The real authoritative force in the slums is the three main gangs."

It surely was a quick and certain way to gain the place in society that Ash needed.

He might not even need to open the clinic if he did become the strongest fighter in the underground fighting ring.

Everyone would know his name, and it wouldn’t be as suspicious and shocking to people that someone suddenly showed up in the underground fighting ring and started gaining a name for himself.

There would still be suspicion of his origin.

But the impact wouldn’t be as strong compared to if Ash just showed up one day and started leveling the ground of the three main gangs of the slum.

The only cons Ash could think of with this plan was that there was a chance that Ash would attract too much attention, even the ones he didn’t want to attract in the first place.

However, one way or another, he wanted, and he would get that attention no matter what he did.

Even his dirt-cheap clinic would surely bring a wave of change in the slums, no matter how lowkey he wanted it to be.

So in the end, Ash decided.

"I agree with your plan. Please help me get into that fighting ring.

Oh, and please use Gray Leash’s name. It would help me a lot to delay unnecessary attention by having one of the main gangs sponsor me."

Eben’s eyes lit up when he heard Ash’s answer.

"Of course, boss! I will get it done for you tomorrow."

"I will wait for the good news tomorrow. Come to Strong Arm’s base to deliver the news. I will also give more ’help’ for this good work you’ve done."

Hearing Ash’s words about more ’help’, Eben couldn’t help but balled his fist in excitement.

What Ash meant by help was more power ups.

For Eben, who had just tasted a little of Ash’s power, he wanted more.

Just from a few minutes of pain, pain that actually made him feel closer towards Ash, he had gained three new abilities.

In all his life, ever since awakening his ability, Eben had always been a frail individual.

Despite his strong ability, he had to rely on other people for his own safety.

His body was not much stronger than ordinary people, or even the nulls.

If anyone was close enough to him, yes, including the nulls, they could simply stab a knife through his chest and kill him.

His physical strength was also nothing other than average.

He couldn’t even keep up with the tier 1 awakened with a physical enhancement ability.

But after receiving Ash’s gift, his skin became tougher, his bones stronger.

He could feel power coursing through his blood, his strength doubling from what it used to be.

With this new power, even without his mind controlling ability, Eben was confident that he could survive a clash against the two other leaders of the main gangs of the slum.

His ability could be considered quite broken, hence the reason why he could reach one of the top positions in the slums.

No one could simply brush off his mental attacks. Even the other two gang bosses.

But it only worked on 10 people at a time at most. And those people would need to be high tier 1 awakened at maximum for the ability to be effective.

And the intensity of the mental attack weakened the more people he decided to attack.

There was rarely a case where a conflict between huge gangs involved fewer than 50 people.

Eben still needed protection from the ordinary attacks of even the weakest tier 1 awakened due to his weaker physique.

But that wouldn’t be the case anymore.

If Ash decided to give him more abilities, then Eben might even have the ability to fight against the two gang bosses alone without anyone’s help.

"Yes, boss! I will definitely come!"

Ash patted Eben’s shoulder and started walking away to go back to Strong Arm’s base.

He had decided with Eben that he would officially take over Strong Arm as the new boss.

It was impossible to cover up the whole thing, and it would actually be beneficial for Ash to be the new leader if he wanted to start doing things in the slum.

The name of a mid-sized gang would be some type of protection against weaker gangs that might cause unnecessary, insignificant problems for him.

Before Ash closed the door behind him, he spoke once more, "Boss, if you want the public to know you have taken over Strong Arm, you need to come up with a new name.

You need to make it official to the public and the other gangs that Strong Arm now had a new boss, after all.

A gang boss needed to have some of their ego inflated. They wouldn’t adopt the name of a gang they had defeated."

Ash agreed and started to think of the name.

Well, he could say fuck it, and just call it a day by naming the gang "Not Strong Arm" or "Strong Arm Reborn"

But his future self would smack the back of his past self if he thought about it later on when the gang had become a famous one in the slum.

He needed a proper name.

One that he didn’t do half assed.

An organization should be a reflection of the goal it carries.

And for Ash, his goal now stemmed from Earth will’s plea.

He might have his own agenda for the city due to his personal experience with the people behind the tall walls, but Earth’s will was the one who had given him this power he had.

And of course, a certain plague god that he didn’t know the whereabouts of.

The plague god’s mission was actually not too far apart from Earth will’s request.

They both wanted Ash’s gift to spread amongst humanity.

Ash would honor his two benefactors who saved his life and gave him a purpose.

’Since I met Earth’s will in the Verdant Necropolis, and the plague god is a god, no matter what kind, then...’

He decided to name his gang,

"Let’s go with Verdant Litany."