Chapter 9 - Truthfully Truant

Main Character gains +1 Charisma. People naturally gravitate towards you as the natural leader of the group and would defer to your opinion when making decisions.

Main Character gains +1 Dexterity. You are now able to control the minute movements of your hand better, granting you accuracy, precision, and better reaction.

Main Character gains +1 to basic lock picking, sleight of hand. You are capable of making swift and decisive movements to remove possessions from someone's persons. You are also able to use certain tools to unlock locked doors, but you still require a lot of resources to open a single door.

After only a few days after agreeing to Minerva's request to stay in school, you find yourself bored and unmotivated, you stay long enough to pick up some basic ideas here and there but nothing too concrete before you find yourself no longer interested in attending anymore.

It didn't take you very long to get picked up on the dirt paths around town by a group of young boys and one older man. This group initially began by threatening you and forcing you to give up some money for protection.

Soon, you were out of money and unable to pay the fee, so you would go home to Minerva with bruises under your shirt but she let you shower by yourself after the first time so she never came to realize that you always came home poorer than you left.

One day soon, you were on the dirt paths again when you saw that the blacksmith in town had left a blade on the front of his stall unattended, you figure that if you manage to get it, you would be able to defend yourself from being bullied. You know you have no money to buy it so you resolve to get it any other way you could.

Looking around to confirm that no one was around to spot you taking the blade, you quickly walked up and snatched it up without anyone being the wiser.

The blacksmith would later come out to find his blade missing but he would be unable to find it because what he didn't know was that before the gang could approach you again, you had already taken the preparations needed to do something drastic.

You had seen what the gang had done over the next few days. They would threaten shops for money and when the shops would refuse to pay, they would wreck the area, causing businesses to lose money anyway. They often incurred the ire of the police but always managed to get away through a series of rat-like tunnels that ran under the town. This lifestyle gave them more money than they needed and they would live relatively luxurious lifestyles compared to the more hardworking villagers.

With your new blade, you laid in wait for the gang to reappear. Before long you hear the sound of the gang making their way out from one of the entrances and the moment you saw your chance you jumped from overhead and plunged the length of the blade through the collar of the older man that had often tormented you.

A sweet sense of relief flooded your body as you saw the man's body slump to the ground. The rest of the younger boys step back in fear when they see what you had done. Yet before another word could be spoken by any of you, a deep voice snaked its way into your ears.

"Well...Well...Well, what do we have here?' A voice from within the tunnels said. "Bring the boy to me, he has potential..."

As you turn to face the voice a fist approaches your face and your vision goes blank.

When you finally come to, you realize that you no longer have any recollection of where you are nor how much time had passed. The sensation of taking a life already gone from memory.

Once again looking around, you notice that you are in some sort of sewers based on the smell.

"You there, you've been very lucky, the boss thinks that your choice to kill our brother was a blessing, if it were up to me, you'd be hanging from your guts right now." Another voice drifted out from behind you.

"Now I'm going to give you two options, either you agree to become one of us, or you can become like one of them on the left." The voice says, causing your head to involuntarily turn to the left where you come face to face with some skeletons.

Become one of them (Chapter 18) or Spit in his face and try to escape (Chapter 19)