In executive suite 2505 of the Continental Hotel, a dense array of photos and names covered an entire wall.
Hertz Corleone, Joseph Harrow (Hammerhead), Frank Lucas, the congressman, Martin Li, and all the other targets were connected in various ways, orbiting the name of a single person.
Dr. Simon Marshall.
A professor with a dual doctorate in biology and chemistry at Empire State University.
At the same time, Simon Marshall was also the Chief Technology Officer of MIU, a company owned by, ah, the congressman.
The drug lord, Frank Lucas, provided Simon Marshall with special materials in exchange for political favors.
Hammerhead provided Simon Marshall with homeless people, illegal immigrants, and others for drug testing in exchange for funds for expansion.
Hertz provided Simon Marshall with money-laundering channels in exchange for the distribution rights to 'Blue Magic'.
Even Martin Li's superpowers were born from Simon Marshall's composite drug experiments.
And this was just the surface-level information provided by the Continental.
On a deeper level, with Simon Marshall at the center, these individuals likely had even closer and more complex dealings and entanglements.
Without a doubt, this was an incredibly vast network of interests.
A congressman, a scientist, a major drug lord, criminal organizations, a local kingpin—it was a shocking sight.
If this were before he had activated his system, Roy might have actually been wary.
But now, even though Roy hadn't yet researched supernatural powers like mana or spells, the physical enhancement from advancing to a 1st Circle Mage alone made him comparable to a junior Spider-Man.
In terms of basic attributes like strength and agility, an ordinary person was a 1, and the peak of human potential like Captain America was at most a 5.
But Roy's lowest base attribute was already a 7.
Once you surpass the human limit, you break through into the supernatural. From then on, every single point increase results in a massive difference in the manifestation of power.
According to Roy's calculations, a newly-born Spider-Man would be at a level of eight or nine at most. Trained to his peak, he'd probably be in the teens.
The likes of Thor and the Hulk, based on their power levels shown in the movies, were only around 20.
Even the Superman from next door, as long as he wasn't in a bugged-out mode like Silver Age or Golden Age Superman, was only around 30.
Compared to these top-tier superheroes, Roy might not be worth mentioning right now.
But in this era where the supernatural was not yet prominent, Roy could easily go on a killing spree even with his bare hands.
Captain America was able to pull off all sorts of flashy moves on the battlefields of World War II with just a round shield.
Not to mention, Roy also had the 36 basic runes that came with the system. Even with the tiny bit of mana his own body produced, he could enchant things like his clothes and guns.
He glanced at the photo wall again.
Roy felt there was no need for him to bother with any kind of plan.
Originally, as a mage, he was supposed to use his intellect to dismantle and eliminate his enemies.
Now, Roy's intellect was telling him to just steamroll them.
The feeling was quite strange.
It was like before, when Roy used to watch the Superman from next door, who had a super-brain but never used it, always choosing to brute force everything. He would complain endlessly about it.
But now, Roy suddenly understood the Superman next door.
Having just become a supernatural being, although Roy hadn't reached the level where he didn't need to eat, he already felt a bit like Guan Yu, seeing everyone else as mere chumps waiting to be beheaded.
Especially his family 'colleague,' Hertz.
He had survived in New York for 20 years by sucking up to various powerful figures, yet in his forties or fifties, he couldn't even become a capo.
Damn it, he was quite skilled at internal exclusion, betrayal, and using others to do his dirty work.
Trying to use Martin Li from Chinatown to deal with him while he was new and unfamiliar with the territory was just plain rude.
Since he was jumping around so gleefully, he might as well be the first to go under the knife.
Roy rested at the Continental for another two days, familiarizing himself with the alchemy that came with the Philosopher's Stone.
Using the mere 10 points of mana he had, he placed a simple Fortification rune enchantment on his already bulletproof combat suit, a Lightness rune on his shoes, a Precision rune on his gun, an Acceleration rune on his silencer, a Sharpness rune on his dagger, a Focus rune on his watch, and so on.
On his bullets, in particular, he enchanted Explosion, Freeze, Penetration, Burn, and others.
So what if the system didn't give him spells? Rune bullets were his system now.
So what if Earth was a magic-less environment? 10 points of mana was enough for him to fire several hundred shots.
He would test the effects on Hertz, Hammerhead, and the others first.
If the results were good, this would be a very promising direction for research.
On the night of his third day at the Continental, in the Bronx, New York, in the real Little Italy neighborhood.
Roy, clad in his enchanted gear and armed to the teeth, entered a bar like a ghost.
His figure, like a civet cat, avoided the bar's lookouts, passed through a dark corridor, and silently slipped into the office.
Before a heavily tattooed man could even react, the dagger, which didn't even glint, plunged into his throat as if through soft earth.
Then, the ring on Roy's left index finger flashed.
In an instant, the spectral image of the dead man's soul flickered in the air and condensed into a soul crystal in Roy's hand.
The soul of an ordinary person, filled with sin, formed a low-grade soul crystal.
Not bad.
After the Philosopher's Stone had transformed into a system, the soul crystals that Roy previously had to rely on luck to obtain could now be extracted with simple enchanted equipment, making it quite stable.
In fact, when Roy created the ring, he had already developed apprentice-level spells like Soul Siphon and Refinement.
Creating soul crystals, which seemed simple, was a unique technology that came with the Philosopher's Stone.
It extracted the essence of the soul while preserving the true spirit of the dead.
This was far more benevolent, efficient, and stable than the soul-devouring actions of hell's demons.
Devouring too many souls could easily make one become crazy, chaotic, and violent.
But soul crystals could be used for rune enchanting, brewing potions, strengthening materials, creating golems, and more.
You could never have too much of this stuff.
After casually putting away the soul crystal, Roy cast an apprentice-level Cleaning spell.
It cost less than 0.1 mana, yet it could eliminate all traces of smell, dust, pheromones, and so on.
This small expenditure could be replenished in just a few minutes, even if Roy relied solely on the conversion of his own life energy.
He came silently and left without a trace.
That night, across more than a dozen blocks, all the strongholds controlled by Hertz were effortlessly swept clean by Roy.
At the same time, Roy was closing in on 'Arthur Avenue,' the heart of Little Italy.