Capítulo 18: 18 - Interest

Author note: As we reach the goal this week, there's today's first of three chapters! [1/3]

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Noah knew that killing this man was too much for what he had done to him. Noah was obviously not the type of person who would just kill anyone who spoke ill of his family, but in addition to the 4 years of abuse Noah suffered from him, Noah wanted to test whether he would also receive Exp points for killing humans, since inside the Fortress he didn't kill any humans. The only thing he did was try to make his [Hell Flames] absorb were the bodies of the humans who had died from the King of the Rats.

And for his happiness, after the man burned to death, a familiar window appeared floating in front of Noah which read: [4 Exp earned.]

Seeing that he would also gain experience from killing humans was a very positive surprise, as it would not be a waste of energy. Not to mention that killing this Blessed Rank E gave Noah over 3x the experience he received from killing a normal F Rank monster.

Noticing these results even made the possibility of him killing other humans to gain experience come to mind, but Noah knew well that keeping it at bay would be unfeasible, since eventually the news that he was a serial killer would spread, and he would then probably be arrested by the government.

In the world they lived in, where the strong were valued and the weak were despised, people killing each other was not abnormal. As long as there was a reason for it, killing one another would not be considered a crime. This system clearly favored powerful people, with extensive networks of contacts, but in a case like Noah's where there were cameras around with several recordings of him always having been beaten up by these people, his attack, if someone decided to call the police or go to the court, would obviously be considered a legitimate defense, so Noah didn't mind sacrificing this man for the sake of the experiment.

He had never taken any of these recordings to the police because he knew his uncle was someone important and influential in their town, so even if he took the recordings to the authorities, his uncle would just use the connections he had and say that Noah still owed him money and everything would be resolved. But now that a death had happened, if more important people were to investigate and see the recordings of what was happening here, his uncle would not be able to escape with just a warning. Having thought of all this, Noah especially did not mind killing the man since as angry as his uncle was, he knew it would not be worth it for him to pursue this subject any longer.

When the notification window disappeared from in front of Noah, he shifted his eyes to Jenny the secretary's direction and looked at her with a cold stare, but a small smile still escaped the corner of his mouth as he thought of the future that once seemed so bleak - now he was becoming more enlightened of all the possibilities that this Blessing would be opening up for him.

"You�� Why did you kill him?" Jenny, who had to take a breath to calm herself, looked at Noah again with a furious expression that alternated between him and the charred corpse on the floor.

"He's already attacked me so much, I was thinking I should follow the policy you use and start paying it back with a little interest. Don't you agree, Jenny?" Noah responded as if he were explaining the most obvious thing in the world to her.

"Did he attack you? He was just talking when you drew your knife and used ... your Blessing ... SINCE WHEN DO YOU HAVE A BLESSING?!" Jenny started speaking in an indignant tone, but in the middle of the sentence she realized that there was something wrong with what just happened in front of her.

In all these years she had never seen Noah use his Blessing, so much so that she was sure that his Blessing really was his good looks, but now seeing him use such a powerful Blessing to burn a Blessed Rank E to death... this was certainly not a normal Blessing.

Looking at the dead man on the ground, the other man who had been following Jenny as a security guard began to wonder if he could kill a Blessed Rank E with his Blessing at such a high speed as well. His Blessing was also related to fire, but what he learned when he received the Blessing was to increase the temperature around the target until he started cooking and dying, or at least make the target uncomfortable.

He knew that it would take him at least 3 minutes to kill a Blessed Rank E, such as his ex-companion, even if he used his own Blessing to defend himself. But in those 3 minutes the man would not stand still for it and could attack him back, forcing him to decrease the intensity of the Blessing so that he could concentrate on defending himself as well.

"This kid has the strength of at least an intermediate Rank E..." The man murmured and Jenny, being next to him, heard.

She did not doubt the man's words since he himself was a Blessed Rank E, so of course he knew how to measure whether the strength of another blessed one was close to his. It just made her surprised again and she looked at Noah, re-evaluating him once again.

"Huh? I have had a Blessing since I was 16. Isn't it common knowledge that the age when people receive their blessings is at 16? Now I think our conversation ended here. I already paid how much money I owed you. Don't worry, I will pay what I owe in the future, but don't think that I will forget what you put me through." Since Noah had already shown his own strength to them by killing that man, there was no longer any reason for him to pretend to be humble and bow his head in submission wanting to hide his own strength.

Jenny had never seen him act like that, and it worried her. Even though she sometimes did not receive all the money he was supposed to pay each week, all they would need to do was beat him up a little and he would try harder to get into more Fortresses. Overall it was an easy job. But now, dealing with this boy who looked nothing like the "scared mouse" they were used to dealing with was much more complicated than before.

'I need to tell my boss this. I can't come back here next week without backup. Who knows? For some reason, this boy might go crazy and wants to kill me for revenge!' Jenny thought worriedly about herself. "Okay, don't forget to get the money for next week. Don't think that what happened today will be repeated again. You better behave," she said, trying to keep an arrogant look. But when she saw the cold look Noah was giving her, the fear of death hit her and she quickly turned to go.

The other man went along with a heavy look as he stared at the charred corpse of his co-worker. He decided to take the man's body after seeing that Noah didn't care what he was going to do with it.

After placing the man's body in the trunk of the car, the two left and Noah was finally left alone.

"Don't worry. I'm going to make you pay for what you did to me with interest, same as uncle. Just as you wanted to exploit my mother and made her so desperate to the point of infarction, I will also make you feel this despair, if not greater. It may not be today; it may not be tomorrow; but one day I will make you pay for all the suffering you put my family through," Noah said in a low voice to himself as he watched the luxury car pull away.

Turning around, Noah looked at the house he grew up in. As he opened the gate, Noah looked out over the large lawn that the once luxurious home had. According to his mother, this house had been given to them as a wedding gift by his father's family, who he never got to know.

Entering the house, the feeling of loneliness hit him when he looked at that once great place and saw nothing alive around him.

While taking a hot shower, Noah took the time to think about his life and what he could do to help his sister. The money he had was just enough to pay for his sister's hospitalization and some treatment. To truly make her well, he would need a lot more money and would depend only on himself to find a way to make more money.

As he left the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, Noah remembered that the system had activated and that he didn't have much time to check out all the features that had been unlocked for him calmly.

Now that he was in the comfort of home, Noah took the opportunity to see what this strange and miraculous system could provide for him.

"Who knows? There may be a possibility for me to make money from this system." Noah thought hopefully as he looked at the magical floating window in front of him.

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Sunday's Extra Chapters Challenge!

[1.300 Stones = 2 Extra Chapter]

[1.500 Stones = 4 Extra Chapters]

[+500 Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]