[Terms;
pyrokinesis- fire control with the mind
telepathy- thought reading and manipulation
technomancy- is a category of magical abilities that affect technology
psychometry- a form of extrasensory perception by touch]
Leo
After an hour of his mind roiling in flames, he finally calmed himself down in order to sort through all the new information he had discovered. He was less anxious about his safety as he had learnt that the area was a safe zone. The world had now been divided into three types of zones. These were safe zones that were safe havens to which humanity would flock in the foreseeable future without the risk of attack from the new invaders. There were also the conquered zones which were areas that monsters had claimed after victories in fighting as their own settlements. Then there were war zones which were potential safe zones or conquered zones depending on which group wiped out the other in it.
According to the information dumped into his head, the so-called gods had opened the seal of earth and made it open to invasion by creatures from other planes in the universe. This had all been done on a whim and could have been avoided if they had left his world alone. Leo stopped that line of thinking lest it triggers his rage once again.
For now, the world had more safe zones than conquered zones but as the invaders grew more powerful and hungry, they would win through all the war zones and wipe out humanity until all of the earth became a conquered plane. Leo would not let that happen. Firstly, he would defeat the monsters and then he would ascend to go after the real monsters that had instigated such a sick game.
The universe system was his way of achieving his goal. He called up his status screen once again and saw the 10 bestowal points he currently possessed. Bestowal was the ritual in which the universe would grant his body skills that would become part of his genetic makeup much like a mutation. The skills would be integral to his path to power and according to the information he got it was an important step to every awakener's development.
He clicked on the bestowal points mentally and a large list of uncountable words scrolled before him. It was a list of skills he could get for his points. Each skill had a number after it in brackets. He assumed it was the number of points necessary to acquire each skill. As he was scrolling down, he saw a skill that was quite attractive labelled super strength worth [5] points. As he contemplated selecting the skill, it suddenly disappeared.
He realised that each skill could only be picked once by a human on earth anywhere and if he was too late in making his selections he would lose. he started frantically searching for skills to pick. As he was about to pick pyrokinesis for 10 points it disappeared much to his further exasperation. The skills started disappearing at a faster rate. He noticed to his dismay that the higher tiered skills (which he assumed was the case due to their cost) were disappearing more frequently than the others. He became frantic to find skills that would aid his survival when he found a low-level skill that intrigued him.
{intuition [2]}
This was basically a way to cultivate a sixth sense for himself and it cost so low. He immediately got the skill after very little consideration. A feeling like he suddenly woke up a part of himself that was asleep all his life suddenly came over him. It was both eerie and freeing at the same time. As he was looking at the list of skills once again, he suddenly felt a distinct push for him to scroll downwards. It was as if something was nudging him to act that way and was almost instinctual like when he would look over his shoulder when he felt like someone was watching him.
He followed the feeling aware that it was probably his intuition skill coming in handy. He kept scrolling as the feeling got stronger for a good five minutes and then he saw it….
{hyper cognition [3]}
"Another low tier skill? What's going on?" he muttered to himself in surprise. "hyper cognition, is that as a boost in brainpower or in thinking capabilities?" He was stuck in a dilemma since he wanted to use his remaining 8 points to get a skill that had both defensive and offensive applications but he was being guided to get another support skill.
After some doubts, he chose it on a leap of faith. When he picked it, his head felt like an explosion had hit it. He went past the normal realm of human neural and synaptic performance. He suddenly felt the full brunt of information that was being transmitted from his body into his brain.
It felt like every little piece of information that his brain was taking in was clear for him to analyse, store away and bring up for reference. It was almost as if it had become the most accessible computer in existence. He could tell the temperature within a small margin of error as well as feel the weak breeze hitting his skin quite distinctly.
Certain biological processes were still beyond his control such as blood circulation and minute control of other microscopic processes like cell multiplication. However other processes became extremely clear. He could increase the efficiency with which he absorbed oxygen to reduce how much he had to breathe. He realised how wise his choices had been up to that point.
His new brain was already determining the best course of action as well as which ability would further improve his chances of achieving his goals. He realised that he needed to develop a skill set that prioritised his own survival first before an emphasis was put on offensive capability. He needed to be able to ensure he could survive in hostile environments and the only two courses of action in that regard were either improving his defence or improving his ability to predict danger. The only way to improve his predictability at that point was to find a skill that collected more information to be processed by his brain and vetted by his intuition. He had never been one for defence anyway.
He zeroed in on all skills that were about collecting information. He noticed telepathy however it was going for 7 points which were above his budget at that point. Then he found technomancy which was for 6 points making his heart bleed in regret and disappointment. When all hope seemed lost, he found it….
{psychometry [5]}
This is good enough and has a lot of useful applications for my future training,' he thought to himself with a smile and then selected it finally finishing off all his bestowal points.
[LEO AUGUST]
Life form: Awakened Mortal
Classification: Superhuman
Level: 1
Basic skills: Intuition [0.1 % fusion]
Hyper cognition [0.05 % fusion]
Psychometry [0.01 % fusion]
Bestowal points: 0
He noticed the fusion percentage thing after each of his skills and realised that he would not be able to have full use of each of them on the onset. It seemed that the higher the cost of the ability meant the harder it was to fuse the ability. The best course of action was to train his abilities at least to 1 % to be confident of his plan which was to head to the war zones and develop combat skills through life and death battles. He had read multiple times that skills developed in a life and death battle were more ingrained into your body.
According to the information dump in his head, the level was a measurement of what was known as life essence energy which was stored in a body's cells. The cells would collect life essence energy from the atmosphere and planet itself albeit a little slowly. Primitive planes such as Earth were quite backward in training methods therefore had to rely on the universal method of stealing life essence which was to kill other creatures and absorbing the energy a portion of their energy while the remainder was absorbed by the planet to make it stronger. It was a cycle.
Once the cells absorbed enough energy they would finally start to break apart and evolve which was known as ascending. However, levels were not everything. Skills were the most important element to an awakened. Even a level 1 could easily take down a level 10 if his ability fusion was better. Leo decided to find something to eat as well as a place to stay. Without the law and order that once existed, he was aware that things would devolve into chaos once people gained abilities so he sought to create a place of isolation and focus for himself on the onset.
He was just a year from turning 18 years old anyway. He was competent enough to take care of himself. He went into a gas that was quite close to the police station and was sort of secluded since it led out of the neighbourhood. He found a whole shelf of instant noodles and started packing them methodically in a paper bag he found at the till. 'one of the perks of the apocalypse huh, you keep what you find,' he thought darkly. A couple of days before such a large haul of his favourite snack in the world would have had him in high spirits but now, he was just mechanical and efficient in his packing.
In the middle of searching for some water, he noticed a group of about 10 people headed towards the limits of the neighbourhood which he imagined was the end of the safe zone as well. He rushed out bag in hand and approached them at a higher speed than he was aware of himself possessing before. He saw a lady who seemed to be physically fit and around her early thirties in the lead and approached her.
"Hello, how do you do? Can you please assist me with some information? I was kind of unconscious the past three days and woke up today to hear a voice talking about the invaders and levelling. What is going on and where are all the people?"
She looked him up and down as if assessing his threat level and after a second she cleared her throat and said, "a couple of days ago at around 1800hrs large portals suddenly opened in the major cities of every nation in the world regardless of how big or small it was." This alarmed Leo as he realised just how brutal the losses were.
"The invaders came bursting out and dispersed to cause mayhem and destruction where possible. On the first day, a lot of confusion ensued and lots of people died and until the System voice declared that it would activate in 24 hours," she said this in a tone that clearly indicated her own confusion at the time.
"Our government swiftly dispatched the armies to most towns and cities to create gathering points for the people where they could be protected and announcements went out for people to head there. It would seem you missed them. I am one of the liaisons they've picked to escort any stragglers towards a larger safe zone with more food."
She then smiled reassuringly to him, "you can follow me to safety and what's left of civilisation son."
He considered it as it would allow him to be part of a group and be less burdened about acquiring food afterwards. But then a weird feeling of danger hit him in that moment and he felt out of breath almost as if he was being choked. he then reconsidered the idea. "it's okay, this place is my home and I'm used to it. Besides this is a safe zone as well."
She frowned but didn't try to convince him otherwise. "Very well, we are going to dispatch a group to occupy this place in about a week so try to survive that long," she said extending her hand for a shake.
When Leo shook her hand, he saw images that finally clarified what his intuition was trying to tell him. The lady was not good news. She was selfish and didn't put the lives of civilians to heart. He saw that at some point she had abandoned a weak mother with a baby in her arms in order to escape a hoard of monsters in a jeep even though she could have saved them if she tried.
He kept a neutral expression on his face and saw them off with his eyes. He felt pity for the nine people in her charge in case of danger however he was not about to make an enemy out of her to warn them. He just prayed no mishaps would happen on their way to the larger safe zone. He went looking for a place to stay and make his base.
He found a nice-looking house that also had a solar system installed as well as a borehole water supply. It was one of the fancier houses in the neighbourhood but he took it anyway. He went in and checked the kitchen and refrigerators and found a lot of food although some were perishables they were still good for a few days when refrigerated.
Once he had set himself in, he then went into one of the bedrooms and sat on the bed thinking. That was when all that had happened came crashing onto him again. He was alone in every sense of the word now. To distract himself he opened his status page and noticed that his intuition was now at 0.15. it had gone up when it warned him about that lady. Unfortunately, the other abilities were still stuck.
He would have to think up ways of training them all at least to 0.5 before the week was over just in case, he would have to leave once people moved back here. He was aware that a guy his age would not be taken seriously until he gained power.
After that serious thought, he went to wash up and finally closed his eyes to rest his wearied mind and heart.