Ability Wielders

Anyhow, Hayden was at his room, sitting in front of his desk and jotting down notes. For the past few hours, Hayden was researching on the secret art, finding out so many things. For one, the cornerstone of this secret art was specificity, without being extremely specific down to the minutest of detail, you wouldn"t achieve the maximum effect.

Other than this, he discovered that he could actually use speed casting by designating certain letters to certain phrases or words. For example, he designated "A" as Flammable Property, hence, whenever he thinks of A whilst converting life force into gas, it would become flammable instantly.

With a little friction, Hayden could immediately induce a fire with his hands. He also knew that he could change the color of the fire, though this was unnecessary and impractical as the color of the flame doesn"t precisely affect its temperature as it wasn"t a regular flame and used life force as its fuel.

Next, Hayden found out that he could kind of manipulate the structure of an object by sending out a signal using the life force. This was based from how Colton repaired Hayden"s white shirt. By willing the life force to tear the molecular bonds of an object, he could slice it without effort at all, and uncannily clean as well.

Of course, this was in the case that the life force is able to touch the object, otherwise, it wouldn"t work at all. Basing from this, Hayden could make out some form of connection between the molecular structure of an object and the essence energy art.

Despite understanding this, and his insatiable thirst for wanting to know the answer to this, Hayden wouldn"t be able to determine any form of connection as he has none of the required equipment to conduct such a study, as well as the required power to do so, which is sensing essence energy.

For now, Hayden simply labeled the two energies that he has knowledge of, the first one being the ambient essence energy flowing in the air and emitted by heavenly bodies; and the second being biological essence energy, which is the essence energy produced by the Origin Crystal through absorption or by the cells itself through eating. For easy remembering, he decided to call the secret art Essence Manipulation Arts.

As studying the connection between ambient essence energy, physical chemistry, and atomic and nuclear physics is a dead-end path concurrently, Hayden chose to throw this out of the window to revisit it later with Colton. From this, he was determined to focus on the other stuff from here on out and planned on how he would use Essence Manipulation Arts to increase his power level.

First off, Hayden thought that if life force can cleanly slice through objects by removing its bonds, it can also keep it intact and strengthen its integrity. Working with this premise, Hayden infused the life force into the Shojin Steel throwing knife in his hands

He then casted it so that it would reinforce the molecular bonds between the molecules of the sword. In truth, Hayden"s a.s.sumption was that this was how the infusion of essence energy worked, however, he wanted to see if life force, one that he could actually manipulate, be capable of being even stronger.

Inhaling ambient essence energy, Hayden controlled it so that 50% of the life force would be channeled into his hands and be infused into the throwing knife. As throwing knives were expendable, Hayden had no qualms on taking out another one and puncturing it using the life force-infused throwing knife.

The result? The life force-infused knife perforated neatly into the blade of non-infused one. Hayden nearly jumped in shock as it should not be this exaggerated. "The point of this edge is merely 0.1 mm, with my infusion, the Shojin Steel would have been enhanced by at least three times its hardness while regular infusion would be a puny 100%."

Hayden was startled of the endless possibilities that this Essence Manipulation Arts would bring him. As for formations, Hayden decided to learn that later-on as Colton explained that that was a more complicated process. On top of that, Hayden hasn"t grasped formations as there was little explanation from Colton.

Researching this Essence Manipulation Arts was what Hayden was doing for the past few hours. He found out tons of effects and ways to exploit it, even figuring out how Colton used his "rouse" on that horned werewolf Absorber.

By 10:00, Hayden stopped to prepare for the taping of the "A Talk Show for Gamers." Hayden took a quick shower, packed up a suit, tie, and leather shoes neatly in a backpack, donned his leather jacket, white plain shirt underneath, simple jeans, and black sneakers. He was preparing to set-off as the informant he spoke to told him that it was better to show up for the set earlier.

Looking at himself in the mirror, Hayden couldn"t help but notice how much he had changed within the past six months. As he was always busy and preoccupied with his own thoughts, he has never seen his own raw appearance personally.

His jawline was sharp, although he already noticed that the b.u.mps on his face was gone, he was surprised on how ridiculously smooth his skin was, where his previously untoned body was, were his compactly muscular body, it was all bizarre for Hayden.

Nevertheless, because of his deep-seated insecurity, Hayden couldn"t bring himself to compliment his own looks. On the bright side, it at least relieved some of his insecurity.

Going to his motorcycle, Hayden wore the backpack, the helmet, and rode off, the garage door opening by itself and closed when he got out. For approximately 20 minutes, Hayden drove to the Global Gaming Channel Hub located in Santa Mesa district of Manila.

Scanning his QR code pa.s.s to go in, he parked in the bas.e.m.e.nt parking lot and went on in. Going to the scanner terminal, Hayden got an ID pa.s.s printed for the taping of A Talk Show for Gamers.

"Welcome, Mr. Hayden Emperador," A robotic voice resounded from the terminal. "Please proceed to the third floor for the taping of the "A Talk Show for Gamers." The map of the building has been downloaded into your phone."

"Convenient." Hayden exclaimed. Turning around, Hayden smiled and nodded at three women visitors on the side. Hayden noticed they were star-struck, which he ignored as he didn"t really care all that much. He could relate, howbeit, he simply didn"t care.

A smile as a basic showcase of politeness and fanservice was all he would ever give if people wouldn"t approach him. That"s when he was jinxed as a group of two men and three women intercepted him. They all wore a visitor"s pa.s.s, which he identified was for the taping of his episode.

Naturally, Hayden stopped, staring at the group with a smile, his eyes asking "kindly" of what they want. A few seconds pa.s.sed, no one talked at all, as if they were frozen statues gawking at Hayden. Tilting his head to the side a bit, Hayden remained kind, his actions asking "may I help you?"

Thankfully, his Divine Perception allowed him to effortlessly hide his own feelings as he was getting kind of annoyed by the hold-up.

"C-can we please take a picture with you?" Abruptly, a cutesy pet.i.te girl was pushed by the group, talking with shyness.

"Sure." Hayden agreed, answering plainly. One by one, the people in the group took pictures, and finally a group picture. "Is there anything else?"

"N-no, nothing else…" The cutesy girl shook her head. With that, Hayden nodded and went along his way to the elevator.

"Come on, why didn"t you ask for his signature?" One of the men tapped her on the shoulder. As a result, she jumped with fright and looked down.

"Hey, leave her alone," one of the ladies scolded the man. "I mean, he"s too dreamy… I commend her for already speaking up for us…"

With that, the three women talked about Hayden for a long time, leaving the two men dispirited and a tad jealous.

…..

Third floor of the hub. Hayden navigated his way to the waiting room of the taping. Scanning the ID Pa.s.s, the door opened for Hayden.

Inside was a beautiful girl wearing a fancy vermillion dress familiar to Hayden. Thanks to his Divine Perception, Hayden immediately recalled that she was a Linker of the same genre as him. She was the famed Malyari (1), a skillful marksman in War of Honor. He nearly didn"t recognize her because of the dress as, whenever he saw her in a War of Honor compilation, she was wearing regular clothes.

Malyari, her real name being Maria Dela Torre, was one of the rising stars ill.u.s.trious not only for her admirable mechanical prowess and outstanding macro in the game, but also for her looks and gentle personality on-cam. What"s really impressive about her was that she was barely 18 years old and was already part of the decorated Liyab ng Puso"s all-girl category team for War of Honor, playing a pivotal role as the marksman position, the main damage dealer of the team.

Using this a jumpstart boost, she started her streaming career in Streamlink and rose to fame in the span of measly a year, becoming one of the fastest Linkers to achieve 10,000,000 supporters.

Nevertheless, in comparison to Hayden"s six months, that was nothing. In fact, Hayden long surpa.s.sed her supporter count with his face reveal that made tons of people flock to him. From 15 million supporters growing into the booming 30 million supporters within the span of a few weeks.

Regardless of merely being on the bottom of the barrel in terms of true popularity, as the most supported Linker possessed a supporter count of 250,000,000, Hayden was one of the most popular. Especially since his viewership far surpa.s.sed the amount of his supporters, with each of his videos gaining approximately 60,000,000 views on each, and that was only the first day; some of his older videos got over 200 million views, with his first and oldest enjoying the baptism of his first 300 million views.

What more, it was growing by the day, with his supporter count trespa.s.sing the 31 million barrier yesterday. His work social media account also helped that, in which he posted a selfie at times to help his career. It was quite extraordinary how far the e-sports community has come so far.

Moving on, Hayden was a bit surprised when he saw Maria. Well, just a bit, as the informant did say that there will be other guests alongside him taping different episodes for the week, with the episode starring him airing at Thursday next week.

Glancing at her for a second, Hayden took his eyes off of her. As Maria didn"t seem to take notice of him, he would gladly reciprocate. In truth, he"d rather not interact with anybody as most of his social energy would be exhausted acting sociable during the taping.

Sitting somewhere, Hayden whipped up his phone and earphones, browsing the news. That was when money was transferred to him originating from Anthony"s Ident.i.ty Number, attached with the message, "your pay from the bounty and the reward."

"Tsk, son of a b.i.t.c.h." Hayden spoke under his breath as he remembered Colton"s words of Puting Araw cooperating with the Triple A. "What are they cooperating with? Stockpiling on weapons? I"ll get to the bottom of that in the future…"

Sighing, Hayden chose to throw this out of the window for now and checked how much money. If he hadn"t left Divine Perception activated, his mouth would have widened to the point that watermelon could fit inside in it.

Okay, okay, that was a joke, that was exclusive to anime and reality didn"t work that way, but this exaggeration was how much money Anthony transferred him. It was 500 million credits. He hasn"t seen this much zeroes in his life! Well, he did, but… You get the point.

With this, Hayden"s first instinct was to ask Anthony how much. However, he pushed this away as he got to thinking. a.n.a.lyzing it within a second, Hayden bobbed his head. It all made sense as he did deliver a living cognizant that killed hundreds of people, including wielders from Puting Araw, and someone… Er, something that was Level 3 to boot.

"500 million isn"t big if we presume that they are as valuable as those creatures in wuxia novels." Hayden understood Anthony"s intentions. That was when Anthony sent him one more message.

"You are also promoted to Third Rank Special Agent as compensation for risking your life in facing a Level 3 cognizant all by yourself and bringing it alive. Effective immediately."

"Was it that much?" Hayden narrowed his eyes into slits. He was wondering how rich precisely was Anthony, or rather, Puting Araw, and why he was promoted to Third Rank Special Agent in an instant. "Isn"t this too much?"

Presently, Hayden was in no way in lack of money. On the contrary, in his eyes, the 20 million credits sitting in his account was insanely enormous for him at present. A million may be comparatively small in his eyes, but 20 million is in no way a paltry sum.

Yet, now, Hayden was in possession of 520 million credits. Going back to this thought Hayden had to ask himself, "How rich exactly is Puting Araw?"

Perceiving no use on dwelling on this matter, Hayden continued to browse the news as a staff member came inside. "Ms. Maria, you"re up."

When she heard her name, Maria"s ears perked up, dropping her phone and taking a glimpse at Hayden, who disregarded her. For some reason, Hayden had the feeling that Maria was irked that he snubbed her.

This was practically confirmed when Maria pouted and snorted, stomping away from her seat to the door, much to the chagrin of the staff member. She was clearly unsatisfied that Hayden didn"t initiate a conversation with her. "What a temperamental woman…"

That was when the staff member noticed that someone else was in the waiting room. "Mr. Hayden, you"re early…"

"Yeah, it"s better early than needing to hurry up, right?" Hayden stood up, took off his earphones and courteously greeted the staff member with a smile. "Would my taping start at exactly 2:00?"

"Yes, sir. Though, you will probably be called upon at 1:30." The staff nodded respectfully in spite of Hayden"s younger age. "Please excuse me. I"ll send in someone to serve you drinks."

Smiling, Hayden nodded politely. This wasn"t Hayden acting, he was genuinely like this with strangers, at least prior to awakening his Abilities. In actuality, he has always been a person with great humbleness, more so since he didn"t exactly view himself as a person that should be treated highly. In addition, post-awakening, Hayden"s personality changed as he was focused on solely studying, foregoing being polite during social interactions completely as he viewed it a waste of time.

Well, that was for those that were wielders. As a man with a plan, he had to act politely to strangers and fans, or he"d be shunned by the world with his arrogance. Acting akin to an ent.i.tled person is frowned upon.

In that instance, Hayden went on to the men"s changing room to change into his suit and, going out, a few minutes pa.s.sed when a woman went ahead inside, giving Hayden water. The woman asked him if he needs anything else with Hayden modestly replying with a no.

An hour pa.s.sed when a man entered the waiting room. It was the leader of the Liyab ng Puso"s all-men War of Honor e-sports team, the jungler Blanko (2). He was considered as one of the strongest jungler in War of Honor and is widely respected for his leadership skills. He was the actual individual person that was important to the team, with the second being Multo (3), the player of a support position.

Unfortunately, in spite of him and Multo being top-notch experts, they just weren"t skilled enough to carry the team themselves, with the three laners too lackl.u.s.ter all the time for the team. Blanko"s real name was Richard Cruz, a 20-year-old male that is similarly a Linker as his occupation.

He possessed a tall stature and an average face. Regardless, as a man of true skill and leadership, he didn"t need his external looks to attract ladies, plus, he was rich. He was presently wearing a white shirt underneath the Liyab ng Puso"s varsity jacket.

"Hayden?" Richard was ecstatic when he saw Hayden sitting on the couch. "Oh, it"s such a pleasure to meet you!"

Perceiving Richard, Hayden stood up and shook hands with him. "Nice to meet you, Liyab ng Puso"s leader."

"Oh, don"t call me that, call me Richard." Richard spoke casually to Hayden. "So, I take it you were also asked to be in the "A Talk Show for Gamers" as well?"

"Yes," Hayden nodded plainly. With Richard carrying the conversation, the two talked to each other. Hayden obliged as Richard may be one of his teammates in the World Championship of the main event of the Pro a.s.sembly in April.

"Hey, you want to come by the Liyab ng Puso"s building sometime? Give you a tour?" At 1:00, the topic shifted into Liyab ng Puso.

"I will appreciatively uptake you in that offer." Hayden said with a smile.

That was when he heard the second part of Richard"s words. "I mean, you"d probably get invited by Liyab ng Puso sooner or later, right? We desperately need a new member as…. Multo has been s.n.a.t.c.hed away by another team…"

"Another team?" Hayden was confused. After all, he knew virtually nothing about the inner workings of the world of e-sports. All he understood was that Liyab ng Puso always has been the epitome of Philippines" e-sports world.

"You see…" Richard explained that in the gaming world, Liyab ng Puso solely has the rights to go to the championship due to, well, monopoly. Basically, Liyab ng Puso was only considered the best as there was no compet.i.tion at all.

"That was until last year." Richard continued. "More and more Filipinos are becoming internet celebrities in Streamlink on the gaming category, including War of Honor. With this, tons of gaming compet.i.tions are proliferating and gaining popularity. Consequently, the Representative Bout will be held by the Philippine Gaming Committee for the representative of Philippines in the World Championship…"

"How many teams are there?" Hayden was curious. In his eyes, the World Championship just got more interesting.

"Contemporarily?" Richard appeared to be a little depressed. "The Philippine Gaming Committee stated that exclusively twelve teams can go and partic.i.p.ate… The single fortunate news here is that we"re part of the twelve teams heretofore."

"What about the team that stole Multo?" Hayden imposed the question out of interest. The second Hayden mentioned Multo, Richard"s countenance was further disheartened.

"They"re called the Kalasag ng mga Ninuno (4)." Richard rested his arms on his knees, deep in thought. "An all-star team that supposedly hire the best of the best in the Filipino world of gaming to compete for the World Championship and kick us from monopoly. They"re even maligning us for supposedly monopolizing the e-sports world of the Philippines!"

...

1 Malyari – G.o.ddess of strength and bravery, as well as the moon.

2 Blanko – English Translation: Blank

3 Multo – English Translation: Ghost

4 Kalasag ng mga Ninuno – English Translation: Shield of the Ancestors

RWL, Category – Modes of travel: The Afterimage Rail Transit is an underground rail transit system that uses maglev technology and true vacuum tubes to remove drag. It is capable of moving at supersonic speeds and even capable of reaching Mach 10, at least on the larger countries. What more, one would think that this transport was dangerous. On the contrary it was completely safe and comfortable. Needless to say, the longest Afterimage Rail Transit is in Russia, encircling each and every single city in a rail that is over a thousand kilometers long. All Afterimage Rail Transits are situated 500 meters below ground, with all also stopping at the Underground Fortresses that the World Government built.

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