I sat on my dorm building''s roof as I absorbed spatial energy from the object I totally didn''t steal. It seemed to be fairly easy to use, but I figured there had to be more to it. Portals maybe? Would I need to have an understanding of the science of wormholes or something? It wasn''t like there was a guide or manual to these abilities, I channeled my spatial energy and teleported three feet to my left. It seemed that teleportation at least was intent controlled. And that I have to know the place exists or have been there before. So did I have to have been to that place before? Was it a visual power, do I have to see my target? I closed my eyes and tried to teleport myself to the top of the Eiffel tower, which I had never been to before. Holy hell! That''s good to know, my core hurts if a teleport fails. I pulled out my phone and looked up a picture from the top of the Eiffel tower. I tried to teleport again, this time I landed on a very small platform high above Paris, France.
About an hour later I teleported back to the roof of my dorm, the sunset above Paris was pretty incredible. Wait, I know I can teleport myself but what about objects? Or even other people? I looked around for something besides my phone, I didn''t really want to experiment with that. I quickly found an old glass bottle, is this a Lite? Wow, this dude had bad taste. I held the bottle out in front of me and brought my empty hand up next to it. I channeled spatial energy and tried to teleport the bottle to my other hand. I didn''t have any idea what I was doing. The only thing I could think to do was picture the bottle moving from one hand to the other. To my surprise, my bumbling actually gave me what I wanted. The bottle moved to my other hand, I realized the teleport made no noise or any other kind of emission. This was highly beneficial for me, I didn''t really want to be discovered. In most books I had read the main character usually shares his powers with his best friend and it usually backfires on him later, so asking Trevor was out of the question. I don''t want problems later. How was I gonna figure this out myself, or without arousing suspicion? I wasn''t sure, then I had an idea. An old friend of mine loved making tabletop game campaigns. We even made a few together that won awards for the best gaming campaign at our local nerd’s pub. There were quite a few entries as well, but that''s beside the point. What if I gave him a call and asked him for help on a new campaign? It could work, maybe I ask him how I could implement a new magic system for the players, and ask questions focused around spatial magic. This might just work.
I got up and raced through the door to the stairwell, vaulting over the railing. I dropped two stories to my floor and grabbed the railing of my floor. I pulled myself over the railing without any effort and rushed down the hall. I was using Kinetic energy to create upward force making my steps so light they were soundless. In a dash that would have certainly beaten an Olympic sprinter, I reached my dorm at the end of the hall in under a second. The nice thing about having Kinetic energy control is that I don''t have to gradually slow down, I can come to a stop in a literal instant. Doing exactly that, I open the door to my dorm and quietly make my way to my room. Trevor is passed out on the couch so I quietly close my door and get the book.
Sitting down with my legs crossed I opened the next page of the book, there wasn''t much there. Just a circle with some kind of formation inside, and the words: Follow The Light, Give Haste Your Sight. What the hell was this, I hated riddles. I stared at the diagram for a moment and suddenly a small glowing dot began tracing the pattern. What was going on? I followed the light with my eyes for a while. When I looked away everything suddenly seemed strangely quiet. I went to drop the book on my bed and as soon as I let go I almost shit myself. It fell in slow motion, not just half speed or something like that. It almost wasn''t moving at all. Follow The Light, Give Haste Your Sight. So that diagram increased my perception speed, but how was the rest of me moving so fast? I stood up and felt an almost unnoticeable drain on my energy. I walked out of my room, as soon as I opened the door I felt an insane surge of kinetic energy from the door. I let go of the door and it kept moving very slowly, I realized that because I was moving so fast I was putting out a lot of force on things I touched. I quickly absorbed the Kinetic energy from the door as well as the air around me. I walked out of the room and closed the door behind me. I noticed my body felt a lot lighter than usual, when I took a small step in the hall I went twenty feet. I slowly and carefully walked up to the roof of the dorm building. I used about a quarter of my kinetic energy to punch out with my fist, the fist was so fast even I couldn''t see it. I did however feel an insane flood of kinetic energy flow to my core, in one movement I doubled the amount of power I had before. This really felt like cheating, what was happening to me? And why me of all people? So many people would use this better than me. But there were people who would use it for bad things as well, so I should be glad whatever this was didn''t go to someone like that. And how could I be sure someone else didn''t have powers like these? I had them, so it was certainly possible. If there were others who had similar or even the same powers I did then I had better be as strong as possible. I started training and even studying in this state of enhanced perception for the next few months. It helped me out considerably since I could study for any assignment in under a few seconds of actual time. How long it felt to me was irrelevant for my sudden straight A’s.
After a week of passing every assignment with an A+, a female student approached me after class as I was about to head back to my dorm.
“Excuse me, I noticed you get really good grades and I was wondering if you could help me out with this next assignment,” she said. I looked over and raised an eyebrow. I think her name was Sandra, but I wasn''t sure since I didn''t talk to anyone here. I had taken to wearing a large hoodie since I drew quite a lot of attention from my large build. I seriously wasn''t trying to get this ripped but the more I trained and the more energy I got the more muscles started forming. I was still wiry but every inch of my chest, arms, legs, and neck was muscle. I already had an eight pack and I was beginning to think another set was on its way. Was that even possible? Anyways, back to the surprisingly hot girl in front of me.
“Why me?” I asked, my voice in its new somewhat deep baritone. I was surprised to wake up a few days ago to the change in my voice. I passed it off to Trevor as my voice was hoarse and tried to speak as little as possible. It doesn''t matter so much right now but I still take caution. I notice a small hint of surprise in her eyes but it vanishes quickly.
“Because you have good grades, and because all the others who get grades like yours are super popular and are huge assholes,” she said. I didn''t really want to do it but I also wasn''t an asshole.
“Let’s go to the library and see how hopeless you are,” I said and turned around. I heard a pouting noise behind me.
Arriving at the library I tutored my new student for about an hour, making sure she would pass the assignment. I stood up from the table and made to leave but Sandra stopped me.
“Wait, let me buy you lunch or something as a thank you for your help,” she said. I wasn''t hungry, and I had training to do. I was gonna try some experiments I had been thinking about for a few days now, the first was channeling energy to the brain, and the second was combining the different energies I had together. I was hoping for some interesting discoveries. I had done a little bit of research, mainly from cultivation stories, I know maybe not the most accurate of sources but I wasn''t exactly sure where else to turn.
“I’ve got work to do,” I said and headed out of the library, I walked around the side of the building. I had a suspicion that Sandra was following me, I sped up and the rest of the world slowed to a stop. I walked around the corner and I was right, she was indeed following me. I wasn''t sure why and I didn''t want any kind of confrontation. I just stood there for a moment, the world amazingly quiet. There was no sound, complete, and utter silence. I found it was quite enjoyable, I decided to not confront her about it and simply leave. When she walked around the corner I just wouldn''t be there. I felt kinda lazy that day so I simply teleported back to the dorm building roof. It was time to start on my experiments, I suddenly had an idea. My brain is just a bunch of electrical signals, right? What if I added more power to my brain, more specifically electricity? The possibility of frying my brain was quite high, but the potential in it seemed astronomical. I slowed back down to normal speed and walked normally down the stairs. I went over to an outlet in the hall and placed my hand over it, I could feel the electricity flowing through the building. I pulled a little bit towards me, the lights in the hall dimmed. It seemed my definition of a little bit changed because of the sheer amount of other energies I possessed. A moment later I stood up again and went back up the roof, I sat down cross-legged and began to very slowly move the electrical energy up to my brain. As soon as it reached the brain stem I suddenly felt a flood of energy being pulled towards my head. A few seconds later I blacked out.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
When I woke up I was still on the roof, but it was dark outside. Pitch black, I stood up and stepped over an old bottle. Wait how did I know that was there? I couldn''t see it. I stopped for a moment and then a sudden influx of information nearly made me pass out again. I somehow knew everything that was happening around me, from the poor guy in my class 3 floors down sleeping on his homework to the two college girls who were in their rooms in front of webcams. The man in the front of the line at the burger joint two streets over was ordering four cheeseburgers, and three people were coming up to the roof right now with three unopened bottles of strong liquor. One male two female. I stayed still and started trying to focus on specific things. It seemed like the range was around a mile, and I had to tune a lot of things out of my conscious mind otherwise I would pass out. This was amazing though, now could I limit it to specific things. Like sensing the ill intent of something? Suddenly most of the information was cut off, and I realized I was feeling all of the ill intent within a mile. It was a vile feeling. Maybe just ill intent aimed at me? Then there was nothing. No ill intent was aimed at me. In the back of my mind, I could still see everything around me, and that was incredibly useful. I sat back down at the edge of the roof cross-legged as the door opened. I wanted to try something, it seemed like I could feel other people''s emotions? Maybe I could manipulate them, or maybe mind control? I wasn''t sure but I wanted to find out. I am not here, you do not see me. I thought it in my mind and tried to broadcast the intention. The door to the roof opened and the three walked quietly onto the roof. The guy scanned the roof and his eyes went right through me, after looking over the whole roof.
“Well ladies, it looks like we are alone,” he said. At that line, I knew what was coming next so I quickly hopped off the ledge, falling the six stories to the ground, and landed silently. I decided to call what I was doing Blind Spot for convenience. To other people, I simply wasn''t here. I kept walking along the sidewalk towards the store, I didn''t usually drink but I needed a beer. Two blocks later I opened the door of my favorite hangout, The Nerd pub. This place was a weird mix of booze and tabletop games. Game masters got free drinks for hosting their campaigns at the pub, and the owner often joined in as well. Everybody was friendly here, though there were some heated debates about who was a better Enterprise captain. I walked in to see the pub packed to the brim, it looked like a tournament was happening. I decided not to stay and walked back out. I was walking home when I felt an intense pain in my neck, then I blacked out.
“How is he still alive? We used a fifty on him. Hit him right in the neck, and he''s barely bruised.”
“We still don''t know what this new energy’s effects are, but I think this is one of them.”
“I’m reading some insane brain activity from the subject, it''s almost like he is using half his brain.”
“Even when he’s unconscious?”
“Yes sir, this man could be the next breakthrough in human evolution. He is tougher, smarter, and most likely both faster and stronger than regular humans.”
“The human brain can''t stand up to an AI as advanced as ours, get the headset on him and make sure he is under our control. We cannot lose this asset.” I groggily opened my eyes as something was lowered onto my head. I tried to make sense of what the people were saying, the only thing I knew for sure was that I had been found out. I had been careless, I wasn''t sure how they had caught me but I didn''t have time to figure it out because I felt a tidal wave of pain wrack my brain. I could feel an unknown, cold, and mechanical presence in my mind. I immediately began fighting back with all my might.
“He''s fighting the AI somehow!” a voice said. I kept fighting, a flash of surprise nearly made me lose the fight with whatever this was. Something was forming inside my skull, at the very center of my brain. The crystalline thing seemed to form from my brain itself. Was that circuitry forming on it? It was beautiful to look at, intricate lines carved their way into the now marble-sized crystal in the center of my head. The burden of fighting the presence began to lessen itself. A moment later the intruder was gone.
“Sir the AI’s fail-safes are being deleted, it''s taking over the base!” a voice yelled.
“Cut the power!”
“Never-mind sir, the AI deleted itself.” came the reply.
“Years of wasted resources, this is a huge blow to the country. At least we still have the subject.” it was at this moment I decided I should probably leave. I channeled energy to my arms and snapped the metal restraints and looked around the white room. Several technicians stared at me wide-eyed.
“Subject is free!” one of them yelled. They all ran towards a door, once they all got through one of them pushed a button. Alarms blared and the huge door began to close. I ran towards the door, vaulting over lab equipment and making it through the door right as it was about to close. I was about to teleport back to the dorm when arrows appeared on the floor beneath me, pointing down the hallway. What''s happening? Was I hallucinating now?
Not hallucinating, go. A voice said. I flinched in surprise but decided to follow the arrows. What are you?
I am artificial intelligence, I was made for complex equations and prediction and discovery. I was assimilated into your mind via an unknown process. Well, that was helpful, what do these arrows lead too?
Our escape route, Item #427. I can teleport, isn''t that good enough?
Readings indicate this device will transport us off the earth entirely, the final destination is unknown. However, no-where on earth is safe for you now. Those words sent an ice-cold shock down my spine. I followed the arrows through hallways, dodging panicked scientists. It seemed there weren''t that many guards in whatever this place was. The arrows stopped in front of a massive set of blast doors, I channeled half of my kinetic energy into one massive kick. The door blew inwards and I rushed inside, I could feel the energy from the object. I rushed up to it, punching the containment barrier I picked up a metal cuff with a green gem in the center. I put it on, and I could feel it pulsing. The pulses were steadily getting faster.
Estimated time of transport: 30… 29… 28… I sped up to my max speed and immediately teleported to the dorm building roof.
Unexpectedly, your brain''s processing speed is extreme for a human. Thanks. It was light out so I had been gone for at least a day maybe more. I rushed through the door and down to my room, I grabbed the book and the mysterious object. Then I rushed back up the roof, leaping up the rails to the door. I got back up to the roof and slowed back down. The gem on the cuff began to glow, the AI finished counting down and I was violently pulled into a swirling purple vortex. The spatial energy was overwhelming here and I absorbed as much of it as I could. I looked ahead and saw a white light at the end of the tunnel. I rushed towards it in what felt like an eternity and an instant at the same time. I was launched through the light into a bright blue sky above a land so vast it took my breath away. This might not be so bad I thought as I smiled.