God Of Gluttony: Runestones Give Me Unlimited Abilities

3 Selecting A Runestone

The matron and other staff of the orphanage had taken them directly to the runestones section and stationed themselves at all the exits so that none of the boys would be able to run away while they shopped for runestones.

Alex made a mental note to avoid Flash and his gang, so he started by checking some smaller stores since he knew that Flash and his gang would immediately go for the flashy stores. They had more money than him so they could afford more.

It was Alex's first time seeing so many people of his age gathered at a spot. He stopped at a store and looked at the displayed runestones. They were encased in tough glass cases so no one would steal them. There were runestones of different colours. Those colours represented the various magic abilities contained within the runestones.

The most common runestones were the runestones of primary colours: red, yellow, and blue. They were also the cheapest. Less commonly found were the runestones of secondary colours; Orange, green, and purple. These were more expensive.

These runestones were the most abundant in the market, but if one was lucky enough, one could acquire a main runestone colour. These ones were the most expensive runestone colours. In addition, they were rarely ever found in shops and markets because they were not easily accessible. These were white and black.

Ability users who acquired their abilities from white and black runestones had gone on to become the most powerful ability users in the world. However, the nature of the abilities acquired from the runestone also determined whether its user would be powerful in the path of good or the path of evil.

Alex took a moment to mull over these facts as he browsed through the displayed runestones.

He wondered what type of runestone he would be able to get with his two bronze coins.

He walked up to an old man selling runestones.

The old man grinned greedily when he saw Alex approaching. "What runestone would you like to buy today?"

Alex looked at the runestones displayed on the man's table. He noticed that they were mainly runestones of primary colours.

"How much are you selling, sir?" Alex asked respectfully,

"Two gold coins for each." The man responded with the greedy grin still plastered on his face.

'Two gold coins?!' Alex was taken aback by the sheer extravagance of the price. In these times, two gold coins were enough to feed a household for a year!

The old man saw the look on Alex's face, and his greedy grin slowly morphed into a look of haughtiness. "You can always haggle you know..."

"Uh..." Alex started, "I have only two bronze coins..."

The look of haughtiness instantly morphed into one of anger.

"Two bronze coins?!" The man snapped loudly, causing people to turn towards them. "You must be a criminal. Do you think this is a charity organisation or something? Get out of here with your two bronze coins before I hit you!"

People looked at Alex with contempt in their eyes. They felt that he was wicked and callous for bringing two bronze coins to buy a runestone. Some of the whispering onlookers even went ahead to call him a criminal.

Alex walked away with his head hung in disappointment. This seemed to be a lot harder than he thought.

After moving around a few tables and getting the same response, Alex sat down alone and dejected on a stone. He watched as his mates moved in and out of the market with their purchased runestones. He could even see some of the children from the orphanage, too. It seemed that most of them had already bought runestones.

All of a sudden, he felt all alone and tiny in the world, and for a moment, he felt that he would remain weak, frail, and bullied for the rest of his life.

He cupped his head in his hands and groaned in frustration. 'No... is this how it will all end?'

It was getting late too, most of the runestone salesmen had started packing their wares to retire for the day. Some of them had contented smiles on their faces while others were frowning, probably because they didn't make enough sales. However, whether they made enough sales or not, they would travel to another village to sell their runestones for another batch of 15-year-olds that would be awakening.

Alex sat for a while and watched as they closed. The orphanage had not yet left because there were still some children who were having trouble selecting a runestone that they liked within their budget.

Alex sighed deeply and shook his head. Soon, the remaining children would make their selections, and the matrons and caretakers would bundle all of them back to the orphanage.

Just as he was about to stand up and walk away, he heard a crooked voice behind him.

"Why are you all alone here, boy?"

Alex was startled. He turned around to see a frail, dirty, old man standing on a wooden stick that was longer than him. The man also had a brown worn-out leather bag strapped around his chest.

"Shouldn't you be with the other kids?" The old man said and pointed a crooked finger towards the place where the matron and the caretaker stood with the other kids.

There was something about this old man's voice. As Alex heard it, he felt like the man was a friend who you could just lay all your problems on.

Alex looked down and replied, "I can't be with them. They are going to make fun of me."

"Why would they make fun of you?" The old man asked,

"Why won't they make fun of me?" Alex replied, "They make fun of me for everything, and right now, they are probably going to make fun of me because I wasn't able to get a runestone."

"Why weren't you able to get a runestone?"

"I don't have any money," Alex replied sadly.

"Well that's not a problem," the old man replied and Alex looked up because the man sounded like he was smiling, and truly he was smiling.

Alex was confused for a moment but his confusion was instantly replaced by surprise when he saw the old man produce a black runestone from his bag.

"I..is.. is that a..." Alex stuttered,

"Yes, it is," the old man replied calmly, "it is a runestone for you."

Alex almost jumped up in joy, and he hugged the old man so hard that they almost fell over. "Oh thank you so much. Thank you so much. I'm so grateful."

At the same time, the matrons began to round all the children up to return to the orphanage.

"Hey, you!" She yelled at Alex, "Get over here. We're going back."

"Yes ma'am," Alex replied.

He turned around to say his goodbyes to the old man but to his greatest surprise, the man had vanished into thin air. It was as if he was never even there in the first place.

The only sign of his presence there was the cold runestone clasped in Alex's palm.