Heart

Ba-dump....ba-dump....ba-dump. Ethan could hear a loud thumping sound. His entire body felt incredibly warm, as if hundreds of hot needles were drilling into his skin. Huff...huff...huff... He breathed heavily as he tried to withstand the pain. "....you'll come at 10:00p.m., won't you?" Ethan could hear a voice calling out to him as he slowly blacked out. He couldn't understand the words, yet for some reason, they made him feel incredibly unhappy.

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Huff....huff....huff. Ethan woke up with a sudden jolt. "My...my heart. Did the procedure work?" He looked at his chest. There was no cut. The only sign that he'd stabbed himself was the dried blood that covered his chest and his arm. He had done it. He had successfully raised his potential to SS rank.

Ethan stared at the Mercator's statue. He'd pulled off something incredible thanks to this trader. He put on the straps of his backpack as he got ready to leave. "Wait," boomed a voice. Ethan turned around. "I would like to propose a trade."

"Huh?" Ethan was confused. "A trade? I don't have anything I'd like to buy." "But I do," rasped a voice. It was the statue who had spoken. The twin voices molded into one as it started to move its stone lips. Its two tightly shut eyes slowly opened. "I'd like to have that knife of yours. I would be much obliged if you could give it to me."

"No." Ethan shook his head. "I need to defend myself. There's a lot of monsters on the way back. I won't have anything to protect myself with." "Perhaps I could provide you with another weapon." A thin dagger appeared on one of the pans. "Of course, I'll give you this weapon in exchange for your knife." The statue's two purple eyes seemed to bore into Ethan.

Why did the Mercator want his knife? Why was he giving him a weapon? Should he take it? Surely the Mercator wasn't interested in harming him? Though his interests were unknown, Ethan was sure that he wasn't somebody hostile to him. For now, at least. "Alright. I'll take it." Ethan placed his knife on the other pan and picked up the dagger.

He stared at the Mercator's purple eyes. Their colour was....otherworldly. He had never seen anything as strange as them. "Why were your eyes closed this entire time?" Ethan couldn't resist asking him a question. "Justice is blind. As an apostle of fairness and equality, I keep my eyes closed to keep my judgements pure." The Mercator stared back at Ethan.

"Then why did you open your eyes now?" The Mercator's reply made Ethan even more curious. "For now," he grinned, "there's someone really interesting that I'd like to watch." The statue's face widened into a toothy grin.

The Mercator's statue froze as the light in its eyes slowly started to dim. Ethan looked at the statue one last time. "Crazy bastard," he muttered. The Mercator's eyes were open. It's face was frozen in the same toothy grin it had just given him. Looks like it really intended to watch him. "Hu....," sighed Ethan. "I hope he doesn't come after me or something." His footsteps pounded on the floor as he walked out of the cave.

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Ethan plopped into an empty seat as he sighed in relief. "Attention all passengers! The train is departing from Knightsville. Please stay away from the doors" Shhhhh. The train started moving. Ba-dump...ba-dump...ba-dump. Ever since he'd gotten Agni's heart, he could feel it start beating quickly randomly. Perhaps it was getting used to his body.

Aside from thumping loudly, Ethan's heart had other uses as well. He was quite surprised when he found out that all of his wounds had been healed. He'd even recovered all of his lost blood. Either the Mercator had healed them or his new heart had presented him with a good old beginner's package. Probably the latter.

But unfortunately, the heart didn't bestow Ethan with super healing. It had just healed his body when it had first been transplanted. Most probably, the huge amounts of mana released were the source of his miraculous recovery.

Ethan channeled a bit of mana into his heart. There was no reaction. The heart's power was sealed for now. As he increased his rank and strengthened his body, the seal on the heart would weaken, probably lifting completely when he reached the limits of his potential.

His potential! His potential! Ethan's potential was now SS rank. If he played his cards right, he could become as strong as the five families. But having good potential wasn't all there was to being powerful. The best gatekeepers understood their powers well, and were skilled in using weapons to complement their strengths and cover their weaknesses. And the perfect example of this was the Gibson family.

Richard Gibson- A physical type gatekeeper. The 75 year head of the Gibson family. His son, Paul Gibson, was a S rank gatekeeper. Their characteristics were proficiency in almost every kind of weapon ever made. The Gibson family could transform their body parts into liquid metal, even extending their limbs to create weapons. So the fact that they were good at using weapons was expected.

The Gibson family was pretty nice. They had made the Tower accessible to everyone, and their head, Richard Gibson, had also raised quite a bit of money during Ragnarok ten years ago. One of Richard Gibson's grandsons was also going to attend KGS this year. He was talented, but definitely not as overpowered as Noah. Ethan chuckled. Geniuses sure had it easy! And so did people who had systems. He sighed.

There were three months left for the Keystone Gatekeeping School entrance exams. The chances of him getting in as he was now were, well, non-existent. Even the oh-so talented genius Douglas wouldn't find getting into KGS easy.

First of all, the average rank of KGS students was G-7 prior to enrolment. The students inside KGS showed monstrous levels of progress in their, mostly due to the fact that constantly hunting monsters infused awakeners with mana. But getting to G-7 without hunting monsters within three years was extremely tough.

But even if Douglas had reached the seventh stage, he would still find it difficult to get into KGS. Their entrance exam was notoriously tough. A couple of kids always protested against it on social media, but the school never paid them any attention.

In the face of the pampered rich boy who was backed by the Stella Corporation, Ethan was at a disadvantage. He was still stuck at the first stage of G rank, and additionally, his combat prowess was pathetic compared to the other applicants. He sighed. He'd have a lot to do when he went home.

Choo...choo. The train was nearing Centin. Shhhh. It let out a noise as it screeched to a halt. "Now arriving at Centin. Now arriving at Centin." The doors slid open as Ethan got off. He took in the scent of his city. He was finally back. Tap...tap....tap. He started walking towards his house.

Ethan could feel the fatigue piling on his shoulders. Today sure was a long day, wasn't it? He'd have to take a break to sort out everything tomorrow. But for now, he was happy. His future wasn't as bleak as it was yesterday. Of course, the knowledge of the Noah's life was a big cheat in itself, but having SS rank potential was probably something that would help him even more.

Today's journey was strange, to say the least. The weird guys who were part of 'The Church', the Mercator, Agni's heart, the dagger, the number of things he'd have to look into were numerous. He'd have to plan for a lot of things, both known and unknown.

Beep. The door slid open as Ethan walked into his house. He was home. He threw off his boots and stumbled over the stairs as he made his way into his room. Crash! He fell into his bed. There was a ton of things to do, but for now, he'd rest. He deserved it.

Ba-dump...ba-dump. His life would change after today.