Strength Potion

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Arrluk stood like a statue for a few seconds before shook his head to make the slight tingling sensation in his brain go away.

Tom must have stolen the knife from a drunken sellsword or a dead one in one of the dark alleys.

After Arrluk sacrificed the knife, he gained whatever mastery that the previous owner had with blades.

Intermediate Knife Mastery. As the name suggests, Arrluk now has mastery over weapons such as knives or dagger. Even though Arrluk had never trained in any cold weapon in his previous, after gaining the knife mastery, Arrluk could at least use it to like most of the experienced sellsword in this world.

Arrluk looked at his right hand, which was now holding onto a glass bottle filled with red liquid inside of it. It was the strength potion. After drinking it, Arrluk's body would undergo change, and his strength would increase by a certain amount. This was the information that he gained with the bottle for free.

Without wasting another second, Arrluk popped open the bottle's cork and emptied all its content in his mouth.

Yuk!

Arrluk face cringed in disgust. The taste of the strength potion was like fresh shit. It took all the strength of his mind not to vomit it back.

It took him a while to get over the taste, but soon he forgot all about it because he felt his body heating up.

Arrluk's face became red, just like his body. He fell on the ground gasping for air. This was not all; right after he fell down, Arrluk went pale as it felt like millions of ants were biting at his skin, organs, bones, and muscles.

He did not scream in pain because he lost all his voice at that moment.

Arrluk didn't know when, but he became unconscious in the middle of it and only woke up when he heard some sounds of footsteps.

Some people had entered his hut. Arrluk moved his head in the direction of the door only to see Tom entering through it with the other six kids right behind him.

"Arrluk! What happened to you? Why are you sleeping on the ground like that?" Tom asked unaffectionately when he spotted Arrluk laying on the ground like a drunken dog. For the past two days, he had been expecting Arrluk to die because of being ill, but the little brat managed to survive until now.

Arrluk stood up from the ground and dusted his worn-torn clothes that felt tight for some reason, but then he noticed how the kids and Tom were looking at him. Some of them rubbed their eyes as if they didn't believe what they saw, while a few looked at him wide-eyed in shock.

Arrluk was soon to notice why they were looking at him like they have seen a ghost. He was the youngest and by reason the smallest kid in height, but now here he was, standing eye to eye, shoulder to shoulder with the tallest person, Tom.

Unwittingly Arrluk's head bends down as he looked at his limbs and torso with amazement. His previous cloth was a little loose, but now they were too short for him. Not to mention that he was previously skinny, but now he had somehow gained muscles out of nowhere.

Strength potion!

It must have changed his body's constitution, like how the super-soldier serum had done with Captain Steve Roger's body.

Not only has his height increased from a normal six-year-old boy to that of an eleven-year-old, but he also felt an illusion that he could defeat a bear in a wrestling match.

But of course, it was only just an illusion that he felt after suddenly having his strength increase by multiple folds. Arrluk would need some time to get used to his newfound strength and test its limit.

"You... Who are you?" With a doubtful and shaken voice, Tom asked. He could see the similarities between Arrluk the six nameday old child that he knew with the one standing in front of him, but his head cannot process how Arrluk changed like that in just one day.

"I... I'm Arrluk."

"Fuck, it's really him!" One of the eight-year-olds cried out in shock.

"You got to be kidding me."

"He must be lying. There's no way someone can grow up so much in just a day."

The other kids standing behind Tom reacted almost the same way after knowing his identity and that is with disbelief.

Their reaction differed from shock to denial and unwillingness to believe their eyes or ears.

Suddenly Tom's eyes stopped on Arrluk's chest, and then he looked behind him, at the place where Arrluk had dug out the knife and the money.

Arrluk once again looked down and saw the knife's outline clearly visible and with the handle jutting out of his clothes in the open.

Tom must have recognized the dagger. His face suddenly turned red in anger.

It was like he forgot about the changes in Arrluk completely and rushed toward the wall behind Arrluk. He threw the rags aside and dug at the ground with his hands.

"Arrluk! You bastard!" Tom shouted in anger when he couldn't find his money. A silver coin may not be much to an adult, but it was everything to Tom since he wanted to use it to learn sword fighting from a sellsword for one month.

He was also going to sell the dagger to pay the fees for another two months of sword learning. It was his ticket to get out of poverty and start earning money with a sword.

Like a beast that had lost all reason, Tom lunged at Arrluk in rage. He wanted to take back his property from Arrluk.

Arrluk defended his head with an elbow from the punch that Tom threw at him. Arrluk might not have learned how to use cold weapons in his previous life, but he had trained in jujitsu and a few other martial arts for self-defense.

Arrluk quickly grabbed at Tom's wrist with his other free hand and quite easily bent it behind Tom's head.

Arghh!

Before Tom could react, Arrluk got behind him and pushed him to the ground before sitting on his back.

Arrluk still had Tom's right hand clasped behind his back.

"Stop moving, or I will break your hand and make you a cripple!" Arrluk threatened while putting pressure on his arm.

Tom stopped resisting him immediately because by now he knew Arrluk had completely overpowered him in terms of strength.

Arrlukk could see the fear evident in everyone's eyes present in the room and Tom's. Arrluk's furiously thought of a solution before this matter gets any worse. He didn't want Tom or the rest of the kids to babble their mouths outside about his change. People might take him for a demon and may as well burn him on a stake like a witch.

"Everyone! Calm down. I'm still the same Arrluk. Listen to me first. Redneck, please close the door." Arrluk asked the nine-year-old kid that was at the back of the group and standing near the door.

"What I'm about to say concerns Gods, so please close the door," Arrluk said again, fearing that the kids would misunderstand his meaning and run away. He cannot kill them, but that doesn't mean he cannot spin a lie, and control a few kids. If they were adults, Arrluk might not have even tried. But it is much easier to fool children than adults. Hopefully.