The vial drops from my hand, shattering on the ground.
I follow soon after, bent on my knees, heaving and retching.
Nothing comes out.
Heat accumulates in my stomach and I feel a blinding pain right above my belly button.
I gasp for air as the heat continues to tear through me, moving at lightning speed throughout my body. It spreads through my limbs, affecting me at a cellular level.
The wounds on my body knit together. The skin closes and mends as if there had never been a blemish on my body.
Energy I’d never felt before pulses in my veins, spreading through every single capillary of my body. I amoverflowingwith energy. It is to such an extent that for a moment I don’t think I can bear it.
The pressure becomes so unbearable, I crash to the floor, on my back, unable to properly breathe.
It lasts for a few seconds. It feels like an eternity.
The next time I open my eyes, a torrent of information crosses my mind. At first, it’s so much, so foreign, I have a hard time making sense of it. But as I try to focus, I notice that this information becomes legible—almost as if I had a prompter in front of me.
The person whose energy had been synthesized to create this batch of Zantrax was a level three—Adept— immortal whose main ability wasforce. But it is not that which I understood asforce.
It encompasses gravity and telekinesis, the force behind movement in the universe.
Although his level was not high, his knowledge was pretty advanced. And by consuming this elixir, I not only gained his abilities, but also all of his previously acquired information.
Immediately, I wonder if this is normal. But the answer comes right away: it is not. Zantrax is almost strictly consumed by mortals. Because of that, their compatibility with the energy source inside Zantrax is very low. They can gainsomeabilities for a short amount of time, but only a small percentage of power compared to the true level of the source. The information, too, is there, but because of the innate genetic differences, it cannot be translated and understood.
For someone like me to consume Zantrax, it was similar to consuming a portion of the soul of another immortal—an offense punishable by death.
As the knowledge continues to pour into me, I focus specifically on the aspects related to the powers: what they are and how to use them.
I analyze different attack types in my mind, learning from my predecessor. My breathing recovers. My body is brimming with energy, but now it has stabilized.
Getting to my feet, I look around, curious to try these newly acquired abilities. With a twist of my hand, the glass on mytable shatters. One look at the entrance door, and it immediately opens for me.
Strutting outside, I continue to try these new powers. Bits of earth explode in the air with the proper pressure applied, even big trees can become uprooted with a thought.
“Wow,” I whisper to myself.
As much as I’d like to explore more of my powers, my mission awaits. Another ability of the original user is super-speed. With a mere thought, my feet become light and fast as sound. What would have taken me hours now takes me minutes as I arrive once more in front of that cursed manor.
Speed is of essence. I cannot allow anything to happen to Miss Moe.
The armed guards immediately notice me standing right in front of the main gates. Their expressions turn sour as yells ofattackpermeate the air.
My lips curl into a smile. When they charge toward me, I merely flip a finger and they go flying thousands of steps in the air. And as they reach the pinnacle of their flight, I use the gravitational ability to make their bodies heavier so they crash to the ground with a resounding thud.
Almost nothing remains of them.
Next, I open the gates.
Walking inside, I see the swarm of armed guards now focusing on me, running toward me, their swords pointed at me.
One hand sends half to one side while the other sends the other half to the other side. They slam into the paved paths, blood and guts spilling to the ground and staining it.
Without waiting for more enforcements to come, I focus my powers on the rune-filled door. It takes moments of concentration to undo the runes. But when that happens, the door explodes, breaking into a myriad of pieces and allowing me to walk freely inside.
A few maids stop in their tracks as they see me. Behind me they note the destruction so they don’t try to do anything.
