"Oh my gosh, a man and a kid just fell from that building!" One person screamed.
"Someone, call 911. We need a healer!"
A mother covered her baby's eyes with her hand. "Oh my gosh, baby, don't look!"
"Good lord, that kids still alive!" As a crowd quickly formed around the two bodies, various responses could be heard.
Meanwhile, Terran was currently lying on his assailant's dead body despite the ruckus, his eyes open as he stared at the blue bubble in the sky. But that was only how he appeared to the crowd. Terran was currently staring at a system notification in front of him.
"So, his name was Johnathan, huh? Well, thank you, Mr. Jonny! I'll make sure your death will go to a good cause."
Without a second thought, Terran willed the system to begin the process of theft.
Under Terran's clothes, ancient godly runes lit up his back, surrounding what appeared to be a pair of hands cupping a sprouting seed. Luckily, his clothing, the sunlight, and the fact that he was lying on his back blocked this sight from onlookers. Even Terran himself was unaware of this occurrence.
Immediately, a blinking light appeared in the corner of his retina. Focusing on it, a number of notifications filled his line of sight
[F rank blessing, Imp's claws, has successfully been stolen.]
[Quest, Theft, has been completed! + 75 EXP | Ability Points unlocked | + 100 AP]
[Level up! +10 Stat Points | New information available on the insignia of The Seed of Gaia.]
Terran quickly read through all the messages causing him to feel a mix of emotions, suffice to say, they were all good. He was currently lying on a dead body in the middle of the street; blood flowed out from under him and into a nearby storm drain. More importantly, a crowd of people was staring at him, and the proper authorities were already on their way.
--
Sophie had just opened the door to her apartment. The blood covering her clothing was quickly solidifying, and bloody handprints covered her exposed skin, making her look like a window in a zombie apocalypse movie.
But right now, she could care less about her appearance. Covering the ground outside of her apartment were drops of blood.
"Shit, not again! Am I really cursed? Why did I leave him alone?" She thought, but quickly she focused. After seeing the blood, her next thought was to call him. Only she quickly spotted his cellphone on the ground before she could even get hers out of her pocket. Afterward, it did not take long for her ears to pick up on the commotion below. Frantically, she ran to the railing.
Tears quickly began to roll off her face as she spotted two unmoving bodies below. Upon seeing the body of a short young boy, she slumped down from the railing and began to sob.
"Why did it happen again? It's all my fault! Why did it happen again?" The same reoccurring thought bubbled in her brain as her sobs reached the ground below.
--
"Is that Miss Sophie crying? Could she have been hurt by the intruders?" Despite the commotion around him, Terran's ears focused on the loud sobs that sounded from the spot he had just fallen from. Ignoring the gasps surrounding him, he got up and ran towards the stairs going up the side of the building. While the fall had left him with a few broken bones, his friend Jonny had taken most of the fall, and his blessing had already healed the rest. Even the scratches from the fight had healed. In fact, the only pain he felt was his empty stomach after exserting himself so much.
It did not take long for him to reach the top of the stairs where he saw Sophie hunched over, red-eyed with tears falling from her cheeks. She kept mumbling to herself, but between the sobs, everything she said was incoherent.
"Miss Sophie, are you alright?"
Turning towards him, Sophie's expression was that if she had seen a ghost. "Are you really alive? But-- but, you were just. . ." her voice quickly trailed off as she realized what must have happened. Then, without wasting another second, she ran over and embraced him.
Feeling the warmth, Terran could not help but return the hug. He was confused by the heat in his heart. He could not understand why the woman in front of him cared for him.
A single tear ran down his cheek as these thoughts reminded him that he did not have parents or any family for that matter.
"Ahem, Miss Sophie, I heard the sound of sirens before I came up here, and there is quite the crowd down below," Terran said as he tried to clear his mind of such confusing thoughts.
Sophie seemed to blank for a second. It was apparent that she too had many jumbled thoughts and emotions running through her head. Then, after a second, she seemed to come to. "Everything will be ok, there is plenty of evidence of what happened, and we are both blessed, so our side of the story will be looked favorably upon."
This fact held true for all criminal cases for better or worse. As long as a narrative could be created, a blessed could get out of situations that would leave everyday citizens dead in the water. Exceptions to this were rare but could happen if a blessed was a significant threat to the city or if both parties were blessed and still alive. Strength ruled.
At this point in time, officers had pulled up to the sight and started questioning witnesses on the street. Meanwhile, four officers walked up the stairs. After giving a brief explanation, two of them stayed behind to get the story from both of them individually. At the same time, the two other officers went into the apartment to inspect the scene.
By some stroke of luck or maybe just a strong bloodstream, the two officers found that one of the assailant's little Eiffel Tower was still quite excited even with the rest of his body being quite dead. With this fact, both of their stories matching up, and the camera footage from outside the apartment, the case was quickly swept under the rug of self-defense.
Thanks to their two friends lying in the bathroom, they were sent to stay at a hotel while the crime scene was being cleaned after being told they could return the following day.
Hotels were not abundant in the Oasis because of the simple fact that no outside travelers were visiting. However, that did not stop a few from popping up. The main reason being they had been absorbed into the escort industry. Additionally, they were occasionally used for business meetings or spending time with family who lived on the other end of the city.
----
Terran was currently in a dark room lying on a twin bed. The sounds of Sophie's gentle snores could be faintly heard across the room over the sound of the loud air conditioning unit. However, unlike Sophie, Terran's eyes were still wide open and in front of him was his system panel.
--
[Terran]
[Level 2]
[0/200 exp]
[Mana: 100/100]
[Strength: 7]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Stamina: --]
[Unassigned Stat Points: 13]
--
"How should I assign my stat points?" After considering this question for a few minutes, Terran did two things. He first brought his strength up to 10. Although he was not 100% sure if this was true, he believed 10 was an average amount for an adult that stayed in shape to have. With all his stats now sitting at what he thought to be average, he went ahead and raised his intelligence by one.
"Interesting, so mana relates to intelligence. With his intelligence now at 11, his mana had risen to 110."
Although Terran was glad to have gained this knowledge, he still wasn't sure what his mana did. Since acquiring the system, his mana had never decreased. He had assumed it powered his skill, but it had not moved, even after his healing activated. This left Terran confused, but he was sure the answer would come to him eventually.
After confirming everything was as expected on his stats page, he quickly focused on the abilities tab.
--
[AP Balance: 100]
[Blessing Slots 0/5]
Gaia's blessing | S Rank (1,562,500 AP required to upgrade.)
Skills:
1. Regeneration (Passive.) (Cannot be inactivated by any internal or external force.)
Sell price: N/A
Imp's Terror | F Rank (100 AP required to unlock.)
Skills:
1. Inconel Claws (Active.) Transforms user's fingers into blade-like claws. Costs 10 points of mana to activate and consumes 1 point of mana per minute while in use.
Sell Price: 25 AP
--
"What a scam! How am I supposed to accumulate over a million ability points? The AP I got from the quest is not even worth 1/10,000th of the amount I need to upgrade my blessing!"
Granted, this was the cost of upgrading an S rank ability. A blessing sitting at the strongest rank on the dying planet he inhabited.
*Ding* The system sounded with a much-unneeded explanation.
"Thank you, system, but I can read just fine!"
Cooling down, Terran observed his available options. "With my current AP, I can learn Jonnie's ability, but who would want scissor hands?"
While the blessing would add a bit of offense, it was only as helpful as carrying around a bunch of awkward knives. Using the blessing would restrict him as much as it helped as he could forget about holding anything while it was active. Thumbs were one of man's best weapons, probably only second to the mind. The only boon from this blessing was the element of surprise it could grant.
With these thoughts in mind, Terran decided to forgo learning it, but he also did not get ahead of himself and sell it for the measly 25 ability points. At the moment, he had enough AP to purchase the blessing if he wanted and nothing else to spend it on. Why would he cut off a future olive branch if he didn't have to?
There was one other thing Terran had observed. However, it had just as quickly left his mind as he was to focus on the addition of ability points. This passing observation was the fact that this blessing's skill, unlike his healing, required mana to use and activate.