I dashed away from the so-called "worm" as it lunged its fanged mouth at me.
'Could the railgun handle them all? No, probably not, it takes too long to charge up. Those slimy bastards would be able to gobble me up in a matter of seconds.'
'Wait, don't these kinds of worms die when they lose too much of the moisture on their skin? This forest is quite damp. But they'll probably go underground soon for moisture. So I'd better act quickly. They seem to be a form of Earthworms. So if I can just somehow dry their body up, they could die…'
'A mega-sized heater? No, as if that would work. A flame thrower? Probably could do a little bit of damage. Well, it's not like I have any other options.'
"Time technique: Creation!"
The earth produced a loud thud as the flamethrower crashed onto it. I rushed down to grab it and put on the tank unit.
I ran towards the "worm" nearest as fast as possible. I hit the trigger. The flames burst out from the tip of the flamethrower.
The worm screamed in agony. Sure enough, it was dry exactly where the flames landed. 'It's working! Now I have to be fast. Could I just light the whole forest on fire to end this quickly? Wait, I'm not even sure if this is some highly realistic virtual experience or if this is reality…'
"If this were just a virtual experience, you wouldn't have been beaten up this badly," said Azura.
"Somehow, you're still alive, I guess that training truly did pay off in the end…" commented Azura with a very distinct yet quiet sigh of disappointment. 'I'm starting to wonder if Azura is on my side or not. Because it doesn't feel like she's on my side.'
'I guess if I want to deal with them quickly, I'm going to have to start a wildfire. Whatever happens next is on the TLP… or Draco.' I sprinted at a bush near the trunk and set it on fire. The bush erupted into flames.
As the flames drove up the trunk onto the tree's branches, the bushes around me slowly began to burn away too. The worms roared in pain, anguish, and some even heaved their last breaths.
"Time technique: Creation"
The flamethrower was replaced by my grappling gun, which landed softly onto my palm. I aimed at a tree still safe from the roaring flames. The hook shot out with a bang once again. Anchoring itself into the branch.
That time, the branch was much smaller. 'I doubt it'll be able to support my weight for much longer than thirty seconds or so.'
I jabbed my finger at the pulley button. The air bit back at my flailing body. And to my surprise, no branches slammed into my face. I was ready that time. I knew exactly what I had to do to stop myself from having more chest pain.
As I neared the branch, I swung myself around, still gripping the handle of the grappler.
I went an arc below the branch, then landed atop the branch. I heard a small crack from the branch. 'Oh great, now I only have fifteen seconds at most on this branch.'
The branch creaked as I crouched, scanning the fiery clearing below. Only two more worms left. Then… It's the Wraith. I jumped down from the branch—a safe patch of green. I began walking away. The last two Aberrants huffed their final breaths and collapsed. Dead.
The ground, now scattered with corpses of Errors. The branch finally snapped, falling down. Luckily, I hadn't been there; otherwise, I would've been knocked out cold.
"Thirteen gems, not a bad haul," I muttered to myself as I collected the gems.
The Wraith was still in hiding. It wasn't exposing itself on purpose. 'That wretch is trying to lure me into a trap. Ha, jokes on you, big guy. You can't fool me—I'll just have to wait for it to come out itself.'
I started muttering to myself:
"Five abilities of the same kind—or at least I think they're the same? Along with eight ability upgrades."
"Ability upgrades seem better. Anyways, I doubt there's a way to detect what Abilities there'll be in an Ability gem… I should take Ability upgrades," I tossed aside the Ability gems. Then broke the Ability upgrade gems simultaneously. A strange smoke dispersed from the gems and sped straight into my chest. 'Oh shit, wait, is this going to hurt again… Damn it, I should've thought this through. The Wraith is still there!'
"Was it a good idea to just send the poor boy into that hellhole without teaching him Distortion sense and activating his Aegis Core?" asks Dr. Arlen Miren.
"The first time I met Horacio, I sensed something. Something… Inhumane. It was as if he had already somehow received his ability even before he consumed that Ability capsule. I fear that my teaching would barely get him anywhere. He will have to figure everything out himself, Arlen. Although I have told him about the Aegis Core and Distortion sense, including how they work," said Draco as he adjusted his rather long and black leather coat.
"Interesting," replied a female voice from the shadows of the dimly lit room. Her heels clicked as she tread towards the blue screens showing Horacio's current state.
"So, let me guess. You put the unconscious vaccine before transporting him to 'Doom-pit'?"
"About time you finally started talking, Helen. It's been one day since he's been there, and you haven't spoken even ONCE," stated Draco, while pointing up his index finger.
"Ugh, would you just shut up, Draco? You've been blabbering on and on the whole time. Maybe you should learn to shut up. I was monitoring him. Everything he was doing so far. And I say, he's a great recruit!" announced Helen, the screens now illuminating her red dress and black heels.
To my astonishment, nothing truly hurt. Except for the tingling sensation that travelled throughout my body. 'I guess upgrade gems are different, or maybe it only hurts a lot when I receive an ability?'
"You've consumed all eight of the upgrade gems. This has unlocked your 'Aegis Core', it's another innate skill which all Ability users have. It's used for quick reflexes and also has a function called 'Steel Veil', which coats your whole body in metal armour-"
The ant began walking towards me, 'Before you continue, Azura, that Ant, uhm, it looks like it's about to attack me. So explain faster, please!'
"As I was saying. 'Steel Veil' coats your body in metal armour. Sometimes you can focus the armour on one part of your body. To activate it, a system is usually turned on, called the 'Aegis System'. But I guess you're a different case. Probably because of me…"
Just before I could begin hating on Azura. The unfathomably large Ant charged forward, straight toward me. Exposing its body. Of course, since Distortion Sense only shows me the Presence of Errors, I couldn't figure out its colours.
I ran out of the way of its charge. The beast drove its head into the trunk of the burnt tree. The trunk creaked slowly and fell with an incredibly loud thud. The fire. Still raging all around me, and the Ant. Grew thanks to the addition of the trunk.
"I should be able to turn on your Aegis Core, though it might take a while, till then… Try surviving, please, child."
And just like that, I had to survive a rather questionably sized Ant that acted like a Bull. All while I impatiently waited for my ChatGPT, also known as Azura, to fix the horrible mistake she made.