Strengthening

"Ugh" Fannum groaned as he awoke with a pounding headache. "It's morning?" 'Damn, I must have slept through the whole day.' Fannum slowly stumbled to his feet as he looked around.

'I'm stuck here. There's no way out of the slums, that big bastard has definitely locked down the area after seeing my abilities.' Fannum knew that there was no way out of the slums, the big man had definitely informed his boss of Fannums abilities, and knowing the leader, he would lock down the area in order to interrogate Fannum.

Though Fannum wasn't one hundred percent sure, he was ninety percent certain that the boss that the big man worked for was the slums crime lord, Nico. Nico was in the slums when Fannum was still a child, and he had been the overlord of the slums for longer than Fannum had been alive. He was the leader of the crime group known as the Interlocks, they were known for stealing, murder, trafficking of all sorts and extortion, especially protection fees.

And if Fannums assumption was right, there was no way he could get out of the slums now. And he definitely couldn't fight Nico head on, he was only ten, plus even if he did use the gluttonous power to his advantage to make him stronger, Nico wasn't the leader of the slums for no reason. The city of Krantium had tried to rid the slums of Nico before, in order to transform the area, Nico had to go. But Nico was able to fend them off. It was speculated that Nico was in the beginner stages of the Mana transformation realm, which was the third major realm of magic cultivation. The city wasn't willing to dispatch a powerful mage or sorcerer in order to clear the slums, so they just let it be, letting Nico tyrant over the people in the slums.

'There only one thing I can do now.' Fannum came to a resolution. 'I will sneak around the slums absorbing weaker people and animals, until I'm fast enough to out run the perimeter guards.' With his plan formed, Fannum started to walk out of the now dimly lit alleyway.

He made his way through the dense crowds of people and into the more dreadful part of the slums. When he arrived, what he saw was multiple people laying on the ground or slumped against the walls of some worn down huts, half dead. There was dried up blood, and other bodily substances scattered throughout the shady area.

The area Fannum was currently in, was known as the dump of the already terrible slums. The people that inhabited this area were some of the most pathetic and worst. Most of the residents consisted of junkies, prostitutes and vile criminals who were shunned by the people of the slums.

As Fannum looked around, he couldn't help but notice that though there were tons of small run down shacks made with scraps, though not many of those houses were inhabited.

As he walked along the dirt road he looked over to a half dead man, deciding that he was going to absorb all he could he started to walk towards the man. As Fannum crouched to peer at the man, he noticed that the man had red tears coming froms his eyes, they had a crystal luster to it and were semi transparent. When taking out the fact that the man was dying, it was actual really beautiful.

"Hmm, you seem to be dying old fool. Looks like you've been taking to much of that Somni." Fannum muttered as he gazed at the man with disdain. It was a drug that Nico had introduced to the slums, resulting in many deaths. He then placed his hand on the mans face and activated gluttony.

...

"Haa, that makes five. It looks like i've reached the limit." Fannum had absorbed two stray dogs and three humans. After absorbing the fourth thing, Fannum did not feel even an ounce of strength enter him, and so to test his theory, he absorbed a human. Unsurprisingly he had no reaction, with the fifth thing he consumed to confirm it Fannum came to the conclusion that he had reached the pinnacle of biologically achievable strength.

With his current body he could generate 1,500 pounds of force with his punches, he could carry a 800 pound weight, he could run at a consistent speed 40 miles per hour, and his body had become strong enough to withstand shotty knifes and some blunt force weapons.

With this, Fannum could outrun Nicos goons, meaning it was time for Fannum to escape the slums.