When the long-haired man noticed it, he said in a mocking tone, "I heard you're one of the lucky humans who have been bestowed with a talent, but you're just a level 0 who couldn't level up because of your trash talent! Do you think someone like you can scare me?" The man scornly glared at Roy.
Roy's face darkened. He couldn't argue with that as it was the truth. However, "Even so, don't forget that a bestowed one still has higher stats than normal humans!" Roy glared at him in return. In terms of physical stats, the bestowed one still had a little advantage.
Unexpectedly, the man just grinned. No sign of getting intimidated. "Hehe! That's true, however, these two gentlemen with me are both level 2. So are you saying you wanted to beat them? Do so, be my guest. Hahaha!"
The two burly men on his sides crackled their fingers and neck, ready to beat the shit out of Roy. Roy's face turned pale even more. He suddenly felt an intimidating aura coming from them.
'They are indeed level 2!'
Only higher levels could intimidate lower levels. Roy's face changes color, from pale to blue.
"If you don't want to pay now, we'll force you to do it. Alright boys, teach him a lesson!"
"Please no! Don't hurt my brother!" Rei Rei cried out, hugging her brother from behind.
In the face of danger, "W-Wait, l-let's talk it out, okay?! Hehe…"
"Shut up! Beat him!"
Roy hardened his jaw. No matter what, he must protect his sister at all costs.
The outcome was as expected. Roy was beaten into a pulp. Bruises all over and blood came out from his mouth and nose. He barely escaped death. They avoided killing him on purpose because they still needed to get back their money.
"Chk! I'll be taking this for now. But next time, you know what will happen."
They took his most important belongings which had sentimental value to him. They took his Omni-Directional Drone Camera and Meta Wireless Universal Speaker. They were the last gifts he received from his father before he left the world. Both items were expensive. Along with his other streaming gadgets, they could easily be sold for over 3 thousand dollars.
Thanks to it, his sister was spared from them. They gave him another month, and after that, they would come back to collect the rest of the debt.
While tending to his wounds, his sister, with teary eyes on her cute face, repeatedly says sorry to him. She said it was her fault that her brother lost his gadgets.
It was infuriating that he lost his gadget, but for Roy, his sister's life was most important to him.
"It's not your fault, Rei Rei. It's my fault for not hiding them."
"But—"
"Anyway, I just needed to earn money to get them back and pay the rest of our debt."
"But brother, how will you do that? Brother's salary in his part-time job is just enough for our daily necessities."
Roy felt like he swallowed a bug. His salary from his part-time jobs was indeed very so-so.
"I-I'll visit the association and see if there are available teams I can go with. Who knows, maybe this time there are available teams, right?"
If he ever joins a dungeon explorers team, he can have a chance to mine inside the dungeon.
If he's lucky, he might find mana crystals. Mana crystals can be sold at high prices. So anyone who gets it is really lucky.
"But brother's talent is just elementary-tier, right? Even if you managed to get into a team and mine inside the dungeon, it's still not sure that you'll be able to find mana crystals. The odds are still..."
Roy groaned internally. Rei Rei was right. Since his Mining Talent is only an elementary tier, his chance to find rare minerals such as the mana crystal was undoubtedly very low.
"Uh, Rei Rei, let's stop saying depressing stuff, okay?"
Rei Rei slowly nodded her head.
Later on,
Despite his staggering walk and aching body, Roy still went to the university after that. He couldn't slack off with his study even with all the problems in life weighing on his shoulders.
"Bud! Wait up!"
At the gate entrance of the campus, someone noticed him and ran over to his side. A big shadow soon arrived right beside Roy. As soon as he arrived beside him, he put his arm on Roy's shoulder and greeted him, "What's up, Roy!?" But then Roy cried out in pain.
"A-Awww! Fatty! Are you trying to kill me?!" Roy let out a painful scream.
This fatty was no other than Bai Beng. The only person he can call a best friend. Bai Beng awakened his talent at the age of 14. That was when they were in high school. The talent that was bestowed on him was called 'Merchant'. Now he is pursuing his business degree at the university. Everyone believed his talent would shine brighter in that category once he succeeded in his studies. Their family held a grand celebration when they learned about his awakening. As a family of businessmen and women, they couldn't ask for more talent for fatty other than the merchant talent.
Just that, their family is way too strict in terms of money. Even Fatty himself could not ask for additional allowance from his parents.
"Eh? What happened to you, Roy?" Fatty asked in surprise. His eyes reflexively examined Roy up and down and then noticed his condition. "Buddy, did you have a fight with someone?!" His voice turned very serious.
"Well…" Roy scratched his head and explained to him what happened this morning. There was no need to tell everyone what happened but Fatty was an exception. He's the best buddy he ever had.
"I feel bad for your gadgets, but those pedos! Let them try touching our cute little angel Rei Rei, I'll mobilize all our armies to teach them a lesson."
"Haha…"
Roy laughed dryly and wondered when they had an army. From high school to university, there was only he and Fatty who shared sentiments in hard times and good times, whether about cheating in exams or cutting classes and even when getting rejected by the girls they pursued.
He wanted to get stronger so he could protect his sister, but so far, Roy had no idea how to do that. Even if he trained like a madman, he could still not escape his limit.
Sadly, Elementary-tier talent has the slowest and lowest growth potential.