Ethan ran his hand over the status screen in front of him. He tried to feel it, but his hand just went through. After a few seconds, the screen closed by itself.
"What's up? Status?"
When thinking about the statuses, the window appeared again. His eyes focused on the stones, they had the ability to increase attributes.
After the scare, he ran to the bathroom to look in the mirror.
His dead face was reflected in the mirror. The brown eyes with dark circles under them showed the reality.
Her dark, home-cut hair was just above her ear. The thin, somewhat oval face showed malnourishment, the pale pale skin, due to his severe anemia, left him with an astonishing appearance.
"Nothing has changed… I thought that because my strength had increased, my physique would improve."
Ethan lifted a thin arm to show his small muscles, which hadn't increased his strength at all.
"My strength doesn't seem to have increased, 0.1 also seems to be too little to be noticeable."
The boy opened the stats again: Strength, Agility, Stamina and Mind.
"Of all my stats, Mind is the highest, that must mean 1 is the average of all people. A higher attribute is considered above average, so each rune's increase equals 10% of average. With 10 runes of strength a person can double basic human capacity."
He thought a bit about the runes and if he should use them, each of the colors should increase a different attribute. These advances would make him more gifted than most humans.
"How long will this be hidden? Soon everyone will know about it, lots of people will start using it. It seems that somehow these runes are generated from dead animals. Initially, these runes will be irrelevant. After all, using one or two doesn't make you better than a genius in that field. A person born with an incredible physique must have strength 2. As someone who has very good health must have stamina 2. The relationship with agility still seems to be complex to understand. How could a person be born faster?"
Ethan held all the runes, thought about crushing them, but the idea soon left his mind.
Having never been controlled by his emotions, the use of his rationality has always been improved. Along with his intellect, he made the best choices according to logic. In this way, he always made the most of the situation.
"Breaking runes to gain stats is not that effective, it will be useful to increase your strength or stamina, I will be better than most of humanity, it is nothing that will change my way of life, I will still have the same problems. The right thing in this situation is to sell the runes in exchange for the end of my debt. As they are on the rise at the moment, it will be easier to profit from them. Plus all the videos I've seen only had red runes. It may be that the others are rarer."
He gathered all the runes into a bag and waited for the collectors to visit. They usually took place at this time every week.
…
A few hours passed, then the door opened. Ethan was used to these intrusive visits, since he was a little boy he started leaving the door unlocked so it wouldn't be broken into.
The three men wore white and beige dress shirts with shoddy black jackets and old-fashioned, musty-smelling pants.
The two men on the side wore black shoes. They had some tattoos on their arms and neck. One of them was bald and the other had short military hair.
The henchmen were big and strong.
The middle man seemed to have a more defined physique, even though he was thin. On her body she had a large collection of jewelry, with a beautiful colored tattoo of an oni.
— Oops, dog! He's waiting for us, as usual. The man in the middle walked slowly in his flip-flops, laughing at the boy's face.
The boy was used to it, knew he wouldn't do anything. To him, Ethan was a dead dog, his family had left him to rot in this place.
The two men laughed briefly, always making fun of the boy who refused to leave the place, like a dog that had lost its owner.
He already knew the two men from behind, had seen them in those 10 years at least a few times. However, the man at the front he knew very well.
He watched this man's face for 10 years of his life, he was the same one who threatened his grandfather. Even his mother, when she was still in the hospital, suffered at his hand.
Everyone called him Jeku, he was known to be one of the most loyal collectors to the owner of this mafia.
"So… what's the payment going to be this time?" You've already been 1 month without paying us, your shitty school credit is over! Jeku pulled out his switchblade while pointing it towards the boy's cheek. Slowly, he began to climb towards the eye. "I'm running out of patience with your delay in delivering our money. Maybe I should sell your organs to pay off the debt.
Ethan didn't move, nor did his breathing change with the threats. It was irrelevant to him to live or die, he didn't care.
Looking at the knife, his heart began to beat faster. It wasn't fear, but another feeling, which was soon buried in the depths of her mind.
"I have found something of great value that can pay off my debt. Without talking much, Ethan dropped the runes onto his own right hand.
"Are these runes?" — Jeku's eyes widen, a little euphoria could be seen on his face.
When he was about to touch the runes, the boy took a few steps back.
"If you know what they are, you know their worth. — The boy was surprised that they already knew what it was.
"They already know what it is and what they can do, have they ever used any? I have to be more cautious, this is going too fast."
- Dog! How many runes do you have with you, what colors are they? - Jeku said, anger was seen on his face. A worm like that boy still wanted to trade.
"They already know even about the color difference. I cannot say the exact amount."
"There are at least three different colors here, I don't know how many," Ethan said, his gaze dead, which I couldn't tell if he was lying.
— Shit! This mangy dog doesn't even know how to count, he must be dumb just like the whole family. Give me the runes and we'll settle your debt. You'll be free of charges, shit dog," Jeku said, reaching forward.
Ethan watched the situation, saw that the other two henchmen didn't seem to understand the situation. They didn't know why to close a debt for stones.
The boy extended his hand to hand the runes to Jeku. Finally his debt would be paid off, he could live an ordinary life, but was that what he wanted?
In Ethan's mind, a feeling blossomed at the sight of that switchblade. That gun that was pointed at your mother when she was on her deathbed, at your grandfather who couldn't pay the debt, and in the end at him, for 10 years. That whirlwind of emotions came so strong, that it was impossible to control this instinctive impulse of his emotions.
The moment he closed his hand to hand the runes to Jeku, he crushed them.
As if breaking a block of sandstone, they all turned to dust. Empty-handed, he clenched his fist. All his strength was exposed in a punch imbued with rage. It hit Jeku straight in the jaw.
Caught off guard, the man had no time to respond. He took the full blow, falling to the ground.
In front of Ethan's eyes, several Status messages appeared. He didn't have time to analyze.
Jeku got up quickly. A quick swing of his switchblade slashed toward the boy's neck.
Without thinking, he thrust his left forearm forward. A deep cut was made in his forearm, which reached the bone. The pocketknife had stuck in his arm.
Ethan gave a huge cry of pain as blood began to drip onto the floor. The leak ran in all directions.
Not knowing how to attack, he ran towards Jeku. He landed another nasty punch in the middle of his face.
His strength greater than an adult man made him fly up to 2 meters. He tumbled to the ground, his nose completely broken.
The other two henchmen stood still, frightened by what had happened. A skinny, weak boy hit a 30-year-old man after being stabbed.
The sight of blood spewing everywhere, next to the dog still standing, as if waiting for more, left them a little shaken.
They went to do their job. Even shocked, they ran towards the boy. They soon realized that Jeku had run away.
Desperate, they realized that their leader had abandoned them. They left as quickly as possible.
"Shit! That motherfucker dog is a runic! I better run, I don't know how strong they are. I don't want to die to shit like that." As he ran, his anger and desire for revenge increased.
In the house, now empty. Blood was leaking everywhere. The boy didn't know what to do.
"Shit! Because I did it... Fuck look at the shit I got myself into."
Ethan ran in the direction of the bathroom, blood was running wherever he went, the pain was so bad that his vision started to blur. With difficulty, he managed to look in the mirror as he leaned against the sink.
"Because I'm so excited."
A small smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, which completely changed his features. He couldn't even remember the last time he smiled. Without realizing it, his vision started to get worse and he ended up blacking out.