'Whoa, Telekinesis?!' Sam thought in excitement as he checked his status eagerly.
'How do I use it, though?' Sam wondered when he was suddenly interrupted by Maya, who gently knocked on the sliding door.
"Umm, are you OK? You zoned out there for a while…" Maya asked softly with some concern in her voice.
"Haha, I'm fine! By the way, did you see anything strange just now?" Sam asked curiously.
"Strange?"
"Never-mind. Anyway, we need to think of a way out of here. I don't think repelling down to the streets is a good idea though…" Sam said, peering down into the chaos-filled streets where monsters of different kinds were running rampant, killing anything that moved.
"There are people holed up on the roof. If we can get up there…" Maya suggested, but Sam quickly shook his head.
"I tried already; they won't open the door... but maybe…"
"Maybe?" Maya inquired curiously.
"The elevator goes all the way up to the roof, right? If we can get into the shaft, we can go up or down freely. The elevator is on the first floor, so the shaft is completely empty…" Sam said, a bright smile appearing on his face.
Maya thought about it for a moment before agreeing with Sam, nodding her head.
"Great! But before that, I think we need to get you some practice with that thing, just in case you need to use it on the way," Sam suggested, pointing to the simple wooden staff in Maya's hands.
"Do you know how to use it?" Maya asked, a surprised look on her face.
"Nope, but I have an idea… by the way, are we going to be talking through this door the whole time?" Sam chuckled while tapping on the glass door.
Maya looked embarrassed and unlocked the door before slowly opening it.
"Thanks. See, I'm not so scary. Now, my idea is that it probably reacts to your emotions or desires. For example, think about wanting to get rid of those two over there," Sam said, inviting Maya onto the balcony and pointing at the two persistent Kobolds on the other balcony.
Maya shrank back a bit when she saw the dried blood covering their vicious-looking furry faces.
"Just take a deep breath. They're scary-looking, but they can't get to you from here. They're just target practice," Sam said, giving Maya a thumbs up.
"Ok… get rid of them!" Maya said, pointing the staff at the creatures. Suddenly, a small ball of fire appeared on the staff and quickly shot out towards the Kobolds. The creatures shrieked when they saw the flame, but it was too late as one of them was quickly engulfed in flames while the other ran away.
The burning Kobold flailed dangerously close to the ledge and eventually fell off the balcony and to its death.
"I did it!" Maya said excitedly, turning to Sam, who had a shocked look on his face.
"That's so OP; fire magic definitely needs a patch…" Sam said, clapping his hands.
"A patch?"
"Ah, never-mind. That was really good."
"Thanks, but I suddenly have a really bad headache now," Maya said as she held onto the railing.
"Hmm, does magic take a toll on someone's mind?" Sam wondered curiously.
"Would you mind if I gave it a try?" Sam asked with a sweet smile. Maya seemed hesitant at first but eventually agreed when she saw Sam's sulking face. Maya handed the staff over to Sam and went to her bedroom to lay down.
"Hehe, don't worry, I'm not trying to steal it. I'm just curious… Let's see… Fireball!" Sam yelled, pointing the staff into the sky. After nothing happened, Sam felt embarrassed but then saw a notification.
[Must be equipped to use. Would you like to equip the Fire Staff(F)]
"Yes, Equip," Sam said out loud.
[Equip failed. Toothpick(F) has been bonded to you and cannot be unequipped]
"Wait, what?!..." Sam said in disbelief as he took out the small wooden toothpick again.
[Weapon]: Toothpick (F)
[Trait]: Bloodlust (F)
[Attribute]: Growth (Bonded to Sam)
'So that's what bonded means? I'll never be able to become a fire magician?...' Sam thought to himself while trying to hold back his tears.
"It's all this toothpick's fault..." Sam sighed before throwing the toothpick away, but to his surprise, the toothpick only went up to 6 meters away from him before it flew back just as quickly as he threw it.
"Huh? W...wait! stop!" Sam said as he saw the toothpick flying towards his face. The toothpick seemed to have listened to his orders as it floated right before his eyes.
"Down…" Sam said, extending his palm and allowing the toothpick to fall into his hands.
"OK, what the hell was that?" Sam thought in disbelief as he inspected the toothpick again.
'Was that some kind of magnetic force pulling it towards me? How interesting…' Sam thought to himself as he looked around the room.
"Let's try with this," Sam thought, picking up the TV remote from the table. Sam threw it over to the couch, and as expected, it wasn't attracted to him like the toothpick was. Sam then tried to make it float to him using his telekinesis but ended up with the worst migraine of his life, forcing him to quickly stop without being able to move it an inch.
"Wow, that felt horrible. It felt like I was trying to lift a mountain by smashing my head against it!… let's get closer first, maybe distance is the issue" Sam thought as he stood right next to the remote, but again the pain was indescribable.
"TV remotes are too heavy. Let's try something easier. How about this feather?" Sam thought, picking up the decorative feather and placing it on the table. Sam concentrated on trying to make it levitate, and suddenly, the feather shook softly as it slowly raised 3cm into the air for 3 seconds before it fell back down, leaving Sam panting heavily.
"This skill is so… useless!" Sam said in anger as he grabbed the feather and threw it away, but it simply floated back down onto the table and landed gently.
'I have to stand that close and use all that energy? That felt like I was bench pressing 200Kg! This isn't a skill; it's a party trick. First the toothpick and now this useless skill… I should just feed myself to the monsters and be done with it,' Sam thought in frustration when he suddenly remembered something.
'Wait, the toothpick floated a lot easier than even the feather. Is it because it weighs so little?, or is it the bonding?' Sam thought to himself before pulling out the toothpick and willing it to float. This time, the exertion was equivalent to lifting a few pebbles as the toothpick floated around him gracefully.
'That's so easy; why is a feather so hard to control, but this toothpick is a breeze? It must be because it's bonded to me!' Sam thought as he freely controlled the toothpick to fly around him. Sam was having fun with the toothpick when he suddenly sneezed and lost concentration. At that moment, the toothpick shot into the glass door at full force, shattering it instantly.
"Holy!..." Sam stood up from the couch in astonishment as the toothpick flew back into his hands. At that moment, Maya ran into the room and looked around frantically looked around
"What happened, are we getting attacked?" Maya asked as she quickly grabbed her staff that was sitting on the table.
"The door just broke," Sam said while staring at the undamaged toothpick in his hands.
'Is this toothpick actually good?...' Sam thought in disbelief when a loud slamming sound was suddenly heard at the front door.