(Jojo_Black, this chapter is dedicated to you )
"Take it all, " Levi said as he reached into his pockets and removed the gold coins. The last thing he wanted was to use his energy to fight some punks. If he wanted more, he could just steal it.
It wasn't an ideal way of making money but it was all he had.
The three guys took his money and ran. Levi was glad they hadn't chosen violence. For one, he was alone and those guys looked like second or third years which meant they had advanced magic skills.
And he couldn't expose his powers to guys from his school who had seen his face.
They would report him for having strange powers and he would be killed or imprisoned with the monsters in the dungeon. Levi got up and wiped the dirt from his back. He walked out of the alley only to be pushed right back in.
This time, it wasn't any of the guys that had robbed him. It was the man he had stolen from. His heart started beating fast and his hands started shaking. The man looked menacing and sober.
The alcohol must have worn off. Levi was surprised a drunk man had been so alert.
"What do you want from me, sir? " Levi asked as his voice quivered. He was scared shitless. The man was way taller and bigger than Levi or any of the guys at the school. What had Levi been thinking when stealing from him?
"Where's my money, kid? " The man asked and pushed Levi deeper into the alley. He shoved Levi again until he stumbled backwards.
"I don't know what you're talking about. "
"I bumped into you on my way out of the washroom and when I went to sit back down I had no wallet. "
The man was intimidating and he looked angry. Levi wanted to come clean and say he stole the money and he no longer had it. However, the consequences of that would mean Sunaru jail or worse, death by the man.
"I didn't steal anything! "
The man grabbed Levi by the shirt and searched him to see if he had any money. When he found none, he started to get frustrated. He had been so sure that Levi was the one who stole his money.
But the boy had none and he looked like a nerd.
"Are you lying to me, boy? "
Levi shook his head and gulped. The man grabbed Levi's head and looked into his eyes. He had the power of telepathy. He could read minds if he wanted to. He liked to close off his power because it could be too much.
Hearing everyone's thoughts at the same time could drive anyone crazy. He used his power on Levi while Levi stood there looking confused. The man was staring directly into his eyes and he was unable to look away.
[Resistance activated. +6 taken to resist telepathy power]
Levi's eyes widened when he read the system notification. The man was trying to read his mind to figure out if he had stolen his money. All of a sudden, he wanted to go back to school where he was safe from the people of Sunaru.
"Why can't I read your mind? Who are you? " He asked as he let Levi go. When he saw the logo on Levi's jumper, he grabbed his hand and read the stats on Levi's watch. It was impossible for a level 0 magic user to resist his power.
This boy was hiding something.
"You have ten seconds to tell me who you are before I gut you. "
Levi stayed quiet. If it came down to it, he was going to defend himself. Unlike the thieves, this was not a student at the academy.
"Alright, I see you don't want to talk. You look like a troubled kid. I will let you go but you have to pray that I never see you again. I will kill you if I see you again. Now scram. "
Levi didn't wait to be told twice. He took off running to get away from the man but before he could leave, the man pulled him back and punched him. He landed a few punches on various parts of Levi's body.
The man pushed Levi to the ground and jumped on top of him to beat him up. He beat Levi until blood was sputtering from his mouth and he couldn't move. Only then did he stand up.
Levi was lucky the man did not notice that his blood was black and not red like it should have been. It was a dark alley so that played a part in the man overlooking the blood thing.
"Never steal from me, kid. Think of this as a lesson to never steal from anyone or trust strangers. The world is a dangerous place for strange kids like you. "
The man left Levi half conscious gasping for air. Levi struggled to get up. When he finally did, he stumbled out of the alley and forced his body to move despite the pain that he was feeling.
He fell a lot of times on the way back to the school but picked himself up every time and continued walking. He could have asked the system to heal him but he wanted the pain to be a reminder of how stupid his decisions had been.
The system was making no move to heal him so he knew it was also punishing him for not listening to it.
By the time he got to his dorm, he was tired, bruised, and frustrated. The night had started well only to end badly. Only he would have such bad luck.
He entered his dorm room expecting it to be empty but instead found Eliot sitting on his bed waiting for him. Eliot stood as soon as he saw Levi. He was taken aback at the terrible state his friend was in.
"What happened? "
"Nothing. "
"You have to stop getting yourself in trouble if you want to stay safe, " Eliot lectured. Levi had already dealt with a lot. A former friend faking concern for him was not something he needed.
"What are you doing here? "
Eliot sighed and wondered where to begin. Since Levi told him about the pill, he had been unable to think about anything else. He needed to know if what Levi told him was true or not.
"I wanted to talk about the pill–is that black blood running down your nose and face? "
How Eliot had not noticed Levi was bleeding black blood when he entered the was beyond him. He was right to think Levi was hiding something.