"Ah… My bad,"
Clearly, she was from a big family, but just like me, she was most likely neglected or pretty much just abused.
It isn't that uncommon for affluent families to have some of their kids suffer like that. Whether it be unintentional or intentional is up to them.
"I'm so hungry…." She suddenly said, and I smiled before opening my mouth.
"Want to get some lunch? The cafeteria is about to close, so it's best we head out now," I suggested, and the girl in front of me smiled widely.
"Why not,"
As we walked to the cafeteria, I learned her name, which was Lucy, a pretty basic name for a basic girl.
We also talked while having lunch, and she only seemed to be focused on getting stronger, nothing else.
It's nice to have a goal, but hers is way too vague. She needs something that will actually fuel her fire of passion; otherwise, she'll hit a roadblock in what to do.
But, towards the end of our meal, a few assholes came up to us and interrupted our peaceful and delicious meal.
There are quite a lot of assholes here… but at least these guys are around my age.
"Hey, why are you hanging out with this weak bitch. Do you even know who she is and where she comes from?" One of the kids asked while looking at me.
But, I ignored him and tried to continue our conversation as Lucy looked like she was about to shit her pants.
Large drops of sweat ran down her neck, and her body that slightly shook reminded me of a certain someone.
She reminds me a lot of Petra… timid yet insanely strong, or maybe part of her timidness comes from her family abusing or probably mentally hurting her… like I care, though.
"Hey! Don't ignore me-"
"Shut the hell up when I'm talking. I'm having lunch with this girl and if you don't like it, fuck off, kid," I ordered, my voice echoing across the cafeteria.
The kid stupidly shook with rage, but as everybody was now looking here, he now had to do something… or not?
He decided to just walk away, embarrassed and maybe even a bit fearful of me.
Lucy breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the group of kids leave, but I wasn't about to let them leave like that, especially after what he said.
Also, taking care of kids is only fun if it is with my siblings, but with a girl I just met, it would be annoying.
So, in order to fix this problem, I made an example of them.
[Water Magic]
Slowly, water slid down my wrist and crept towards the group of kids walking away, but before my water could reach them, I felt a cold hand lay on my shoulder.
It came completely out of nowhere. The abyss. It came out of the abyss.
"Hey, your rune is here," A cold voice said, and when I turned around, I saw a woman with black hair and creepy pitch-black eyes.
"My bad. I shouldn't be doing stuff like that to kids… They'll learn how stupid they are later on," I sighed, and the woman gave me a strange look before dragging me out of the cafeteria.
As we left, I waved goodbye to Lucy, who gave me a weary smile, and my water that slowly slid across the cafeteria floor disappeared into particles of magic.
We soon walked to the headmaster's office, but he was nowhere to be seen, only a large wooden chest sitting on top of his desk.
"Is this it?" I asked.
"Yes, and you can start the process immediately. I'll make sure nobody comes in here," The woman said, so I gave her a slight nod before slowly opening the chest.
Inside was a slick gray stone with a strange ancient letter carved into it, glowing a soft white light with tints of golden sparkles in it.
"You said this was all ten fingers, right?" I asked, and the woman just sighed, enough of a response for me to get an answer.
I grabbed the stone out of the chest, and as soon as it felt the lightning bolt on my palm, the embodiment of my new trait, the stone crumbled into hundreds of pieces.
As these pieces hit the floor, they disintegrated into dust, leaving a golden liquid to float in front of me and then quickly latch onto my throat.
It crawled its way up into my ears, nose, and eyes before entering into my brain, thus spreading it throughout my entire body.
It was like a soothing massage the way it slid across my skull, but it also felt a bit strange as the slimy sensation was something you've never felt before, even with the strongest of slug monsters.
Quickly, I sat down on the ground, and the entire office was coated in shadows, presumably from the woman helping me right now.
She's been helping me quite a lot recently, and I've been wondering if she wants something from me… or maybe something from one of my siblings.
There is no reason to go as far as cleaning up my own murder scene, but right now, I have something else to focus on.
I slowed my breathing to the point that I could hear my heartbeat, and as I directed the runes liquid through my body, I felt it slowly creep towards the tips of my fingers.
Previous knowledge on how to use assassination weapons flickered through my mind like an old black and white movie.
My fingers eventually turned numb, and so I opened my eyes.
"I forgot to ask, but what was its trait?"
"Water,"
"Ah, I guess you thought ahead of me," I chuckled before shaking my hands a bit, causing the feeling to return to them.
I was content with this new change, and now I could actually use some more assassination weapons without having to train my body… how nice.
As I walked out of the office, trails of thin string made from water leaked out of my fingertips.