Abilities

Alex opened the [Abilities] page and was shocked by what he saw. There were two different parts to this page that caught Alex's attention.

[Unique - Devourer]{G}

"I have a Unique Ability... I know they're supposed to be special but I don't really know much about it." Alex was filled with excitement as he went to read the description.

[Devourer] - Steal the power of those you kill and make it your own. This ability includes the following functions.

- Absorb life force to increase Stats.

- Absorb abilities and use them.

- ??

- ??

- ??

'What are these question marks? Does it mean that i can't do those things with the ability yet?' Alex checked the ability name again and saw the {G} beside it. 'The ability is only G rank, that explains it.'

Each ability was assigned a rank at the City Hall that represented how powerful it was. The rankings correlated with letters of the alphabet, A was the highest rank, meanwhile G was the lowest.

'If I remember correctly all abilities start at G rank, so its reasonable mine did too.' Alex was excited thinking about the possibilities this would have for his future but there was something that bothered him.

'This ability is definitely strong, or at least has the potential to be, but it has a downside...' Alex thought while staring at the ability's description.

- Steal the power of those you kill and make it your own.

'I have to kill people to use it...' This bothered Alex greatly. 'What kind of ability requires you to kill somebody to use it, am i supposed to become a serial killer or something!?'

Alex scoffed at this thought and moved on to the other part of the [Abilities] page he was dying to check out.

[Devoured Abilities]

- Telekinesis

- Locked

- Locked

Alex quickly opened the description for the Telekinesis ability, even though he already knew what it was.

[Telekinesis] - Move objects without having to touch them.

'This is the ability Oscar used when he threw those knives at me. If I have his ability now then he didn't just die by accident, I really did kill him.'

A scene was playing out in Alex's mind where the knife he threw that had hit Oscar in the eye caused him to stumble backwards, slip on a beer bottle, hit his head on the counter and die.

'There is no way that actually happened, right? How unlucky does someone have to be for that to happen to them? Well whatever the case, the system counted it as me having killed him and gave me his ability. I also accomplished my mission from the gang at the same time so it's a win-win.'

Alex saw his toothbrush sitting inside a glass by the sink and flicked his eyes from the Telekinesis ability description to the toothbrush a few times before saying something. "I guess this will prove if the system is real or not."

He focused on the toothbrush, with his hand outstretched towards in, and imagined himself picking it up with an invisible hand. This was always how Alex pictured an ability like Telekinesis would work so he tried this first.

Alex was half expecting the toothbrush to move but a part of him didn't want to get disappointed if it didn't. To Alex's delight, the toothbrush lifted out of the glass and hovered just above it. With a massive smile on his face, Alex moved his hand around in front him and watched as the toothbrush followed his movement.

"It's real! Everything the system said is real!" Alex was so excited that he shouted out loud instead thinking quietly in his mind as he had intended.

He imagined the toothbrush moving in various ways and watched as it twisted and moved exactly like he imagined. About 1 minute had passed since he began moving the toothbrush when suddenly he started to feel lightheaded. The toothbrush fell to the floor a moment later as Alex stopped controlling its movement.

'Did I run out of energy already? Its only been a minute though.' Alex thought as he tried to pick the toothbrush up using Telekinesis again. A searing pain shot through his head and he was forced to drop the toothbrush and stop using the ability once again.

'I guess the [Mind] stat is going to be pretty important after all.' Alex thought while massaging the temples on the side of his head. After a few seconds the headache began to subside and completely disappeared in less than a minute.

Having confirmed the systems words, Alex decided it was about time he got himself cleaned up. He had only been home for about 10 or 15 minutes but the shower was calling his name. He turned on the water and gave it a moment to warm up before stepping in.

Alex braced himself for the pain to come as the water washed over his wounds but was surprised to find it didn't hurt as much as he was expecting it to, instead it felt rather comforting. While washing away the blood and dirt all over his body, Alex continued to look at the system and think about the implication of it all.

'There were a bunch of question marks under Telekinesis in [Devoured Abilities]. I'm assuming that means I'll be able to hold multiple abilities at the same time once the rank of [Devourer] goes up. If that's true then this is one of the best abilities out there.' Alex could still feel his heart beating inside his chest from the excitement.

Alex returned back to the main page of the system with the intention of checking the [Notifications] page when something he had missed before caught his eye. Sitting at the top corner of the page were the words 'Level 2' with a bar underneath it that looked like it was just under half full.

'A level? Sounds like those video game things people are always talking about.' Just like with everything else so far, Alex was able to bring up a description when he focused on the words 'Level 2'.

[Level]

- Your level is a representation of your current strength. Using the [Devourer] ability, you are able to absorb the life force of those you kill and use it to get stronger. Your level is a depiction of how much life force you have absorbed. The bar underneath the 'Level' represents how close to achieving the next 'Level' you are. When enough life force has been absorbed, your level will increase and you will be given a 'Stat point' which you can use to decide how you wish to grow stronger.

- The rank of [Devourer] will also increase as your level rises. This is also due to the life force you absorb as half of it goes towards improving your ability while the other half goes towards improving your body. To increase the rank of [Devourer] a large amount of life force is required, which will require you to go up several 'levels' before a change will occur.

- With each increase in 'level', the required life force to reach the following 'level' will rise.

'Wow...okay. That's an interesting way to portray my power but it's simple and easy to understand so that's good.' Alex paused for a moment as he realized something. 'Am I being too accepting of this? I've already accepted that this is real, the Telekinesis proved as much, but for me to get this power I had to kill someone. Even when knowing that, I don't feel remorseful, as a matter of fact I don't feel anything but excitement.'

Alex thought about this for a few minutes before ultimately deciding it would be best not to think too deeply about it right now. He had lived a difficult life of poverty until now and this was a chance to escape that life while helping his family do the same, there was no need to question the details behind it.

Alex went to the home page once again, intending to view the [Notifications] page, when he heard someone knocking on the front door with urgency. Alex jumped out of the shower and threw on some clothes after a quick and failed attempt to dry his body. He made his way to the front door and looked through the peephole to see who was standing on the other side.

'Ah shit...'