Stein wiped his forehead and spun around. He really appeared to be in the middle of nowhere. He couldn't just run away. He could be walking right into danger and not know it. Besides, the gang ahead was clearly familiar with the desert and didn't seem worried about him escaping.
Come to think of it, Solovay did mention a system, and those bandits kept yelling "menu."
"Menu," Stein whispered.
The words were still leaving his mouth when golden lines appeared in the air before him. A second later, a bunch of words hovered before him.
At the center and to the right of these sections were two notifications written in large red letters.
Stein was thinking of what to say to access the mail when the
Another notification popped up.
<200 Spiros>
Stein's eyes narrowed.
"Hey, brownie!"
Stein spun to see the three bandits approaching him. The wind flapped a piece of clothing, revealing a gleaming blade attached to a belt. A quick glance past them showed the other boy groaning, but still alive.
"Materialize reward."
Sparks of light gathered in Stein's hand. The bandits stopped cautiously until the light vanished, revealing a dull brown leather pouch. Stein obviously couldn't take them on in a fight. There was no point getting beaten or killed over nothing.
He tossed the pouch to the girl bandit, who appeared to be the leader. She caught it without taking her eyes off him, then tossed it to a companion.
"Appraisal!" the other bandit held the pouch up to the sky. A single beam of light shot down from the heavens, striking the pouch.
"There's nothing wrong with it. Two hundred Spiros," he said in disbelief. "Is he mad?"
The girl stared intently at Stein, slowly walking up to him. For a moment he thought they would rough him up anyway. Then she broke into a grin, slapping him on his shoulder."That was really smart of you. I wish other brownies were like this. It would make the whole thing easier, right guys?"
The other two nodded in agreement.
The girl walked over to Stein and grabbed his hand. "Hey, I tell you what," she dug into her pocket before placing ten bronze coins in Stein's hand. "You can keep ten, and you'll want to head out of the red zone to the city over there." She pointed to Stein's right.
"Welcome to Raazaham." she laughed, spinning around. "Let's go, boys!"
The bandits took the direction directly opposite from where they claimed the city was, laughing and whooping as they made away with Stein's money.
Stein rubbed his hands on his clothing, trying to get rid of the smear of blood the girl had left on them.
He hadn't spent up to ten minutes in Raazaham and he already hated it. He turned to the supposed direction of the city and saw only sand.
"Menu."
The list flashed into existence again.
Stein wanted to reach out with his hand and touch the
Stein's lips curled into a smile. His mother was the source of his quirky nickname. She liked to call him her Little Einstein, then it became Little Stein, then just Stein. He decided not to alter the Alias.
He was looking for a 'back' icon when the menu reverted to the original section. The system seemed to respond to thoughts too. Stein then intended to check out his stats, and the
Not bad, he thought. He used to be on the track team and was quite fast. He was skinny and rarely had enough to eat, so he wasn't surprised about his Strength and Vitality. As for Dexterity and Accuracy, he was naturally good at things like that. He developed accurate muscle memory pretty quickly, and his proficiency in physics seemed to help. Magic Prowess probably started at 0 for everyone.
Right now, he had to get to a city before he got dehydrated and died. It was smart to invest in stats that were already high.
He willed the Agility stat to expand, and it did.
Stein allocated 7 points to Agility, bringing it to a total of 15.
The effect was immediate. It started with his heart pounding harder, then a sharp pain shot through his entire body as certain muscles began twitching and reforming. His ribs stretched and expanded, making space for his growing lungs. The change lasted only a few seconds before Stein's body stilled.
Stein jumped up and down a few times. His legs felt like springs, easily taking him to heights he could never reach before. Breathing was so effortless, and he felt like he needed less oxygen than he did previously. Was this what athletes felt like?
His excitement didn't distract him from the fact that his throat was already dry and he was still sweating buckets. If he wanted to make it to the city alive, he needed to start walking right away.
A groan drew his attention. Stein glanced at where the first boy lay and saw him sobbing. He considered walking up to the boy but soon discarded the idea. He didn't need some weak, broke kid relying on him.
He started walking in the direction of the city, but stopped. A sigh escaped his lips. He knew it was illogical, but his conscience wouldn't let him. He wasn't that hard. Not yet.
He turned back and stomped over to the boy.
"Hey, you!"
The boy flinched, shielding his face with his hands.
"If you want to live, get up and walk." Stein tried to sound harsh. Compassion would just make the boy even more distraught.
The boy lowered his hands, seemingly realizing Stein posed no threat.
"There's a city there," Stein pointed. "I don't know how far away it is, but if I were you, I would get up and walk."
Stein lifted a finger at the boys face. "And stop crying. That's water you're wasting."
With that, he turned and left.
"Wait," a weak voice called out to him. "Don't leave me."
Stein gritted his teeth and kept walking. He had played his part. The boy would only slow him down.