Motivational Murderer

Immediately the boy who didn't speak, and whose powers were unknown was discarded as an option. He had the smallest debt, but as far as Oliver was concerned there were too many unknowns. He could end up with several pages, or only 1 page, and if he is compatible with the ability that page could be taken up by an ability he didn't need and wouldn't help. On top of the already abundant reasons, he wasn't sure how he felt about killing this boy, something in him shuddered at the thought In a way that he didn't for any of the others

The next to consider was the girl with the support ability. She wasn't that bad, but on the off chance her ability and his affinity were compatible, he didn't want to be a support type in a combat arena, so he discarded her as an option.

The next victim that Oliver considered was the Fire aligned boy, but the page-to-debt ratio would put him at a disadvantage compared to the other options. Oliver was almost certain that he would not be compatible with the fire element ability, but even if he was he didn't want it. Altogether this option was a bad choice.

The next was the shadow affinity boy, his page-to-debt ratio was okay, and his ability was weak but appealing on the off chance he received it. Even though this option appealed to Oliver, he was still disappointed by the fact that there were no psychic affinity options for him to choose from. If there were, he could get another ability out of it.

Oliver could only Pity the Coward, he had never had the luxury of cowardice. Life would happen to him whether he was an active participant or not, and Oliver knew that giving in to fear would only lead to death.

Next Oliver approaches the angry man, his power is appealing, the most obvious use was for farming, but Oliver could already think of applications in battle. That being said he would receive too few pages and he probably wouldn't receive the ability, all while gaining the mans debt, which was larger than all the other choices.

The choice was obvious, the fearful shadow boy was the only choice Oliver could make, but he could feel his reluctance well up inside him. He hated that this was what he was reduced to. He hated that he had to take this life and that he was forced to view these people so heartlessly. The whole situation made his skin crawl and feel dirty, but he had no choice...which somehow only made the feeling worse, like being locked in a box full of bugs, unable to escape.

"Your power has a lot of potential," he says to the angry man "I know you are angry, I'm angry too, but I don't have the luxury of acting out because of it. I have to survive."

The angry man snorts and balls his hands into fists "They are monsters, and I am no fighter" he says.

"yes, they are, but so am I, and so is every other realm rat and desperate fool who does the unspeakable to survive, or for the people they love," the blue-eyed boy says "I know you aren't a fighter, but you are a farmer and probably at times throughout your life, a hunter"

The Man simply nods but appears unconvinced

"your power is useful as a farmer, and on the battlefield, it won't blast enemies, but it can still help you in a fight. If you constantly use your ability on the soil in an area surrounding you, you can create a domain of constantly moving earth that can make it impossible, or at minimum very difficult, to approach. Keeping them away like this means you will have the distance needed to use a bow, or perhaps a melee weapon with a good range. In the melee, you can use your ability to target the enemies' feet mid-strike and make them like their balance"

The man sat there and thought carefully for a moment, the anger fading from his face for a moment, before returning full force. "that may be but I won't indulge in their bullshit games" he says in a hard voice

"Then you are a fool, all of you," Oliver says and turns to include the others and motions for the butler to open the cage of the shadow affinity boy. "you can refuse to play in the games but the reality is they don't care about us, they care about profit. When you stop providing profit for them you lose your value, and they will do anything to maintain profit"

Oliver approached the shadow boy and watched as the Stone seemed too liquidy and wrap around the boy's body, holding him in place with no chance of escaping. Oliver knew from having seen the Butlers tome that he was likely an earth affinity TomeBearer, so he figured this would have to be his doing.

"They sent me here today to choose one of you to kill because it will help me survive. They allowed this because it's the only value you guys have left, and it will allow them to profit off of me for longer."

Oliver grabs the sheet from off the boys' cot and wraps it around the boys' throat while he spoke.

"Please! Mista! don't wanna die, don't do it!" tears gathered in the boys' eyes as he struggled against his stone bindings In vain. He was clearly a realm rat, Oliver could tell from how he talked, unlike him, most Rats didn't read or learn much in their lives, and the way they spoke reflected that.

"I chose him because he is a coward, the rest of you have stronger spirits," the soon-to-be killer says, his scrawny arms pulling at the sheet, tightening it around the boy until he could no longer breathe, speak, or plead for his life. "figure out how to have value, use this as an opportunity to gain power so this never happens to you or anybody you love ever again"

Soon the boy stopped struggling and went limp, but Oliver belt-tightening until he felt a warm feeling in his soul, and the Coward Tomebearer disintegrated into grayish wisps.

The other prisoners looked at him in shock, except the mute boy who didn't even seem to notice. The revulsion in their eyes was mirrored by the revulsion that Oliver felt for himself, and it brought forth a wave of irrational anger in him.

'Who are they to judge me, sitting here and rotting instead of doing what they must, I'm just trying to survive!' he raged to himself.

Dropping the sheet, Oliver walked out of the room with a numb expression, but inside he was a tornado of guilt and anger.

After a few moments of silence, the butler cleared his throat, "Come now, we should visit the shops to find you your combat ability page"