Platform 1

Jake was knocked out, but he took two people with him. One of the teenagers had won a fight and it was a 2v2, soon a 1v2, and then a 1v1. Then the teenagers won, and one of them stood above the pile of bodies. He was breathing heavily and was heavily injured.

That's when he heard war cries, his eyes stretched back as he saw the band of idiots charge towards him. He tried running away but tripped, he was exhausted. They soon mounted him and beat him unconscious.

"Let's GOOO!" Marvin exclaimed.

They grabbed a rusty blade and walked to each body slitting their throats open. This was not a nice world at all, that much they had learnt. However, when they came to Jakes body, they had a crucial decision to make.

They could take his ability, but did they want to? Zach looked at this and was quite unsure, he would be stuck with this ability for the rest of his life, he could get higher versions of it. But it was that, nothing else.

He thought to himself, thought to his wildest aspirations. He wanted an elemental ability, not this. Marvin also had other aspirations, but Jim. He had already licked his lips several times, his eyes glowed with excitement.

And they were lucky that only one of them wanted the ability because only one of them could gain it. The practice was incredibly taboo, and you would be considered the scum of the scum. And lucky for them, they were considered just that, so they didn't have anything to lose.

And also, this only worked with abilities close to your own ability level.

He had to slit Jake's neck, and then drink that blood. And that's what he did. Then his body started heavily convulsing, it shook and shook and he screamed louder than ever before. His limbs twisted, and his hair went from black to white.

White hair was the sign of someone who had gone through this practice, it would stay white forever and it was impossible to change. They could shave it, but the hair had gained a new quality. It was almost as if each hair had a plethora of sensory cells in it. Cutting his hair off was torture. Still, many people went through with it.

3 years later

They were all sixteen years old, and their bodies were slightly toned. Jim still had his white hair, his eyes were green, his nose medium-sized, and his ears small, his face was the shape of a rectangle and he always had a smile on it.

Zach had black hair, and dark brown eyes with a shade of red in them. His face was round, his lips dry, and his nose slightly longer than average, he had thin eyebrows and clean skin.

And Marvin's face was the face of a nerd, freckles, hair that spun, eyes that were small, and way too big ears. His face was also not symmetric at all, and slightly heart shaped, with a round chin.

They had finally finished. After killing the other two gangs, they had become the top dogs. And they had gotten their own recruits to go hunting for them, and Marvin even gambled a little bit.

His best achievement was winning a shoe that wasn't ruined at all. Everything they had gained they put in The dirties hideout, and today they brought Sketchy Mike to the place.

He climbed down the hole, looked around, and then nodded. They all rejoiced, all their efforts had paid off.

Mike told his guards to begin moving the items from the base, and The band of idiots followed Mike. He led them to one of the stairways. It was the only way to climb up a platform. To gain entrance you needed power or money. They had none at the moment, even though they had gotten stronger and Jim an ability it didn't cut.

Mike walked up to the guard manning the door, and after a little chat, a pouch of coins left his hands and the door was opened. They began climbing up the staircase towards the first platform and each step they took gave them euphoria.

The place they were headed was only slightly better, but it was a sign of their progression. When they reached Platform 1 Zach burst into joy as he saw.

"Quest completed - 100 xp given"

"Level up"

"Choose ability"

"Blood of devil level 1 - 30% increase in strength and agility when activated"

"King of slaves level 1 - Dominate souls weaker than you"

"Demons Torture level 1 - manipulate a red matter"

The choice was obvious, he picked Demons Torture. This made his heart clap. He felt a substance flow through his body that felt ever so satisfying. He then opened up his stats.

---

Zach

Race: Human

Ability: Demons Torture level 1

Level: 1

Xp to next level 0/100

Power level: 10

Strength: 18

Agility : 13

Intelligence: 3

Endurance: 10

Mind: 12

Free points. 0

----

Then they exited the staircase, and there was an actual road. An actual road, with actual stalls and people with full clothes. The difference was bigger than they thought.

Even though the stalls were shabby and the people's clothes dirty. This was…

Everything went black, they had been knocked out cold. It was guards with green clothes, and after knocking them out they gave Sketchy Mike 100 coins. He had sold them out to the Green empire. They would head to the military.

They put rags of cloth on their heads, and they put shackles on their arms and legs. Then they travelled towards the closest teleporter. And soon enough they would find themselves in a room with many other sixteen year olds, all of them ready to enter the military school.

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That's the end of this arc. Never trust a guy named Sketchy Mike is the lesson learnt here I guess.