Ability Wielders

Before Zeke could finish his sentence, Hayden punched him in the gut that nearly made him hurl. Coughing, Zeke said, "WhWhat the he-h.e.l.l was that for!?"

"f.u.c.king moron!" Hayden was so enraged that he almost couldn"t hold back. "You f.u.c.king idiot! Capable of entering your mind and re-experience memories the way you experienced it with perfect vividness that is unmatched even with my Divine Perception? Scan people and every single information that you have in your memory database will surface? Parallel process up to 10 things at once without breaking concentration on anything? What kind of f.u.c.king idiot are you!?"

Hayden threw another punch, this time weaker and concentrated on speed, one of which that despite being able to perceive the attack, Zeke was unable to dodge. "What the… What kind of prowess do you have!?"

"f.u.c.king moron, ignoramus, jacka.s.s, idiotic blockhead, cretin, bubblehead, birdbrain, lamebrain, slowpoke, fathead, loon, nimrod, numskull, dumb idiot, nincomp.o.o.p, oaf, doofus, dumbbell, and finally, and for emphasis, moron!" Hayden pitched out approximately every single insult equivalent to idiot in the English dictionary in an incredible pace within two seconds.

"Woah…" Zeke was absolutely stunned of Hayden. Such outspoken fury was something he rarely sees, well, he never seen it in his life, and he would never expect that it would come from Hayden… Hayden was this mad at him not utilizing the fullest potential of his Ability? To the point that he spoke this much? "Goodness gracious… How much do you hate people not utilizing their Abilities?"

"I hate morons." Hayden calmed down a great deal as if he was relieved of shouting all that profanities. "So many people dream of having powers, and you"re here, not living with your full potential? Not being smart on how to use your Ability? And you have the audacity to say you"ve never seen the practical use of that Level 2 evolution?"

Hayden sighed. This was the sort of people he hated the most, people that don"t see their own potential due to their own self-despair, unaware that there"s so much less fortunate people that actually doesn"t have talent. In short, he hated his past self and wouldn"t want anybody to experience such a thing. Thus, if he ever encounters such people, he would whip them into shape no matter the cost.

"Deep feelings of powerlessness, loneliness, and worthlessness. Trust me, I"ve been there." Hayden rested both of his arms on the table and stared straight into Zeke"s eyes. "You want to get out of there as soon as possible. You don"t want to get stuck into that endless limbo, and only you can pull yourself out of that s.h.i.tty place. How? Remember and use that self-loathing as fuel, as I said. Don"t stop attempting on improving as long as you think that it"s not enough, and when you think it"s all enough… Still, don"t stop."

In a normal day, Hayden was not someone who"d talk something about his past experiences and feelings. Nevertheless, as someone who was devoted in purging people with mindsets like Zeke, Hayden showed a moment of vulnerability for that specific reason.

On that note, Hayden"s phone vibrated and he received information of twenty people"s addresses, job, purchase history, properties, and other data. Rewinding back to his nonchalant self, Hayden bade goodbye to Zeke. "Okay, I got to run. I"ll contact you sometime. I have a serial killer to hunt."

With that, Hayden stood up and treaded away, leaving behind a stupefied yet enlightened Zeke. On the way to his bike, Hayden donned his Ghost Unit mask below his helmet. Riding the bike, Hayden set out for the first address in his list, which was the family home of the victim that had a crushed skull.

Meanwhile, Zeke was contemplating Hayden"s words. It seems that Hayden wasn"t as shallow as he initially thought. "The feeling of powerlessness, loneliness, and worthlessness, eh?"

On the bike, as Hayden was driving, a single tear trickled down from his left eye, which annoyed him as he was wearing a mask and a bike helmet. "f.u.c.king feelings. I hate talking about that worthless s.h.i.t… Well, someone did pull me out from the light…"

The image of Eun-ha"s moonlit smile last night surfaced within Hayden"s mind as he put the bicycle to a stop for a red light, his lips slowly rising upwards. Prior to meeting Eun-ha, his sole drive was his own pity to himself, thinking that no matter what, he"ll never be enough, to the point that every waking moment, he never stopped learning skills that some are useless, such as the coin tricks he showed to Zeke.

"Power. I need power, I need technology…" Hayden bit his lip till it bled because of his feeling of feebleness for his own lack of power. "I can"t even beat a single Level 3 wielder with all I got… Raw power, I have to check how to evolve faster… It can"t be that the only option to evolve is to… h.e.l.l no it isn"t."

At that moment, the red light became green. Hayden drove his motorcycle as he recalled that the Origin Crystal held all answers. "Yeah, it definitely has the instructions on how to evolve… And if it doesn"t, I can always ask her."

Throwing the matter out to the back of his mind, Hayden drove to the first address. Arriving, there was an outdoor funeral viewing of an urn. He attracted attention as he parked his motorcycle and alighted it. When he took his helmet off, many people who had their eyes on him gasped, thinking that he was creepy with the mask on.

To the public, the Ghost Unit was unknown and possessed no reputation at all. A man in a mask would not be trusted by family members, which is where the crowned badge that the chief of police entrusted to him would come into play.

Approaching the funeral viewing, Hayden was stopped by a middle-aged man, the father of the victim. "Who are you? Why are you visiting my son?"

"I am here to ask you and your wife questions." Hayden communicated in a deeper voice so that he would be less recognizable. "I am a bounty hunter. I am here for information to help me hunt down the monster that killed your son in such a gruesome manner."

At that moment, a punch was thrown to his face by the father. Sighing, Hayden caught the father"s punch as he retrieved the crowned badge from his s.p.a.ce Ring. "I am a recognized bounty hunter by the chief of police himself. I am not here for money, simply here to hunt down the person that did this to your son."

"Get the f.u.c.k out of my son"s funeral!" The father shouted, the crowd silent. Hayden let go of the father"s fist. "Bounty hunter… Bounty hunter my a.s.s! Where"ve you been when my sister was killed, huh?"

"I wasn"t a bounty hunter back then." Hayden said coldly, acting nonchalant. He understood how irrational people can act when someone close to them dies, much less two people. "Do you want your son avenged, or not?"

"f.u.c.k off!" The man threw a kick to Hayden, which he easily dodged. Next, the father threw a right hook. Twisting his body, Hayden intercepted the hook with the nullification power of Aikido by utilizing both of his hands, throwing the man onto the pavement. "You… This is hara.s.sment!"

"f.u.c.k off." Hayden nonchalantly said as he crouched beside the man, letting his killing intent run rampant through his eyes as he stared into the man"s eyes. Making eye contact with Hayden, the father shivered as he scuttled away. With a menacing impa.s.sive tone, Hayden spoke, "You will answer all my questions."

Sliver of killing intent escaped Hayden"s body, leading to the surrounding crowd to have gooseb.u.mps and paralyzed with fear. They were, after all, regular civilians and most of them, if not all, hasn"t killed, nor hurt, a single person in their lives.

Consequently, the father nodded his head, with Hayden uttering "good" and helping the father to stand. "Let me ask, do you know of your son"s closest friend? Does your son have any grudges with anyone?"

"My son"s closest friend was murdered along with my son. They were out drinking the night they were murdered. The three people were walking on the dark streets, shoulder to shoulder. As for enemies…" The father looked upwards in contemplation. "I don"t remember anyone having a grudge with my son as he"s a good kid. He didn"t deserve such a painful way to go."

"Got it." Hayden was exasperated of the needless blabber from the father of this guy. "Who was Jake with?"

"Kyle and Paul." The father was nervously cupping his hands as he replied. Acquiring this, Hayden quickly found the names in his memories, as well as their addresses. "Jake requested permission last nig-"

Before the father could finish his words, Hayden turned his back and mounted his motorcycle, driving away. The tense crowd, who was holding their breaths in Hayden"s presence, heaved a sigh of relief with Hayden"s departure.

Hayden"s next stop was Paul"s parents" house, the one who was choked to death. Like at Jake"s, Paul"s parents were holding a funeral viewing, albeit in a casket. Contrary to Jake"s parents, Paul"s was happy to help Hayden.

The information given by them was useless as they didn"t know a thing regarding of their own son"s deaths. As a result, Hayden drove away as fast as possible and went to Kyle"s house, the third person who was alive.

Kyle lived in a low-rise apartment. Stopping at door 203, Hayden pressed the doorbell and there was no answer. Not leaving, Hayden activated Heavenly Sense and sensed a person inside. Using his Divine Perception, Hayden sensed around and heard rapid breaths and heartbeat.

He also sensed the layout of the apartment, locating Kyle within it in an instant, curled up in a bed. "I guess he witnessed the murders, huh? To think the police couldn"t find this guy… Are people this stupid in 2058?"

There was no Kyle in the witness registry on the murder case of Jake and Paul. As a result, Hayden criticized the Pateros Police in his mind for doing such a sloppy job. Subsequent to his internal monologue, Hayden formed two ideas in his mind instantly, an experimental one, and a failsafe.

Separating his consciousness with his body, Hayden phased through the wall and saw Kyle curled up in a ball, his eyes wide open, obviously traumatized. Returning to his body, Hayden knocked on the door loudly and the second he did that, he slowed down time in his perception whilst he used his consciousness separation.

Kyle had a grave expression and sat uptight. Hayden watched as Kyle lifted up his hand, and when it was exposed, Hayden touched it, memorizing every crease, line, and detail of the DNA. Why did he do this?

This was his first idea when he saw the handprint scanner as the lock of the apartment. As aforementioned, this was an experiment. An experiment to test if solidified essence energy HaydeHcan be detected by a scanner by molding a detailed hand out of essence energy.

Feeling out both of Kyle"s hands in a fraction of a second, Hayden snapped back to his body, time remaining slowed. Stretching his hand, Hayden formed a thin essence energy glove and molded it according to Kyle"s hand pattern and made it dense enough so that it was opaque. Fortunately, Kyle"s hands were larger than Hayden"s, making the task much easier for Hayden.

A second later, Hayden perfectly replicated the right hand of Kyle, down to the minute details and did the same with Kyle"s left hand. Finishing, Hayden placed the fake right hand into the scanner. Soon, the door… Actually unlocked, a pleasant surprise.

"Interesting." Hayden whispered to himself. "If anyone else possessed this Ability, international security would be jeopardized, thankfully, solely with Divine Perception can I do this feat… I just hope no other wielder would have this idea…"

Hayden thought this as most pa.s.swords used in current times were based on DNA scanners. In truth, most phones have a built-in miniature retinal scanner, which most people don"t use for the reason that it was considered troublesome. Hayden shared those people"s opinions on retinal scanners as even if his phone was stolen, with a tap on his computer or any other electronic device that his Ident.i.ty Number is registered to, he can delete it. Plus, public terminals that allows the deletion of phone data are omnipresent in countries in case phones do get lost.

What interested him the most was the fact that essence energy can be scanned by existing technology and was accepted. Not making an effort to make sense of this phenomenon, Hayden strolled right inside casually.

Kyle, who heard the loud click of his main door, panicked further, believing that his house was broken into. Hearing Kyle"s rising heartbeat, he enhanced himself with essence energy and ran to Kyle"s room, who locked himself in.

"Well, I guess I can use the failsafe…" Hayden uttered, touching the doork.n.o.b. Strings of information was transferred to his brain. What information you ask?

The failsafe he had formed was to create a key using essence energy. The front door of Kyle"s apartment had a small failsafe hole that only a certified locksmith can open, which is why Hayden called the second plan a failsafe. He knew that breaking that with an essence energy conjured key was easier, but he was too curious to see if his first plan would work.

Now that he encountered a door lock, well, this was easy. Materializing an essence energy stick, stuck it inside the lock and manipulated it so that it fit the lock perfectly, akin to a key. He did this within a fraction of a second as Hayden"s Divine Perception makes it as easy as ABC for him to be a master lock picker as he can just touch a doork.n.o.b or a lock and already form an image of its internal structure.

Hearing the lock of the door to his bedroom unlocked, Kyle"s panic rose up a notch, and when the door opened, he literally felt his heart stop beating for a moment, his perception of time slowing down as if he was in a near-death situation.

Seeing a white figure in a white mask and attire, in addition to the dimly lit room, he pa.s.sed out…. Or that would have been the case if Hayden didn"t pinch him hard at the last second. In a deep voice, Hayden expressed his indignation in a few short words. "Answer your door next time."

"W-who are you?" Kyle remained terrified of Hayden, his voice trembling, sliding his b.u.t.t backwards to retreat from Hayden.

"I"m a bounty hunter that works with the police." Hayden lied without flinching. "Tell me, what did you see the night your two friends died. Where were you? What were you doing? Tell me, help me help you."

"I-I don"t want to remember!" Kyle curled up again, holding his head with both hands as he cried out. "Th-that woman… No, th-that thing isn"t human!"

Bending down, Hayden put his hand on the man"s head. With nonchalant, yet weirdly calming voice, Hayden verbalized. "Remember everything. You were drunk, where were you drinking that night?"

"We-we were out ce-celebrating because we didn"t get the chance to hang out during new year"s…" Kyle voiced out, trembling.

"Then, what happened when you were out on the streets?" Hayden fast-forwarded, specifically at the time on the streets.

"We saw a white figure in the distance… I-I ran like a coward when I sobered up… Then, when I turned on a corner I stopped and went back, thinking I was insane… That was when I-I saw…" Kyle stopped there as he sobbed, tears falling persistently.

"What happened, Kyle? Tell me." Hayden"s voice was calm and stable, not at all hurrying Kyle, and, in a bizarre way, rea.s.suring. "Help me help you."

Looking upwards, Kyle saw the eyes behind the mask. It was a determined gaze that emitted the feeling of an experienced person that underwent through the endless vicissitudes of life… Those eyes, it was mental strength.

Of course, Kyle wouldn"t know that this was an effect of Hayden"s Divine Perception, and Hayden wouldn"t see this himself as it wouldn"t be visible on a mirror nor a phone"s camera.

"All I saw is that that woman was in front of Jake and Paul by the time I was watching…" Kyle calmed down as he resolved himself to recount what he witnessed. "The woman became taller with her legs becoming that of a gra.s.shopper"s… Her hair parted, her eyes were glowing yellow, similar to a domesticated cat"s. Her arms bulged up and enlarged… I don"t know if these details are accurate as I was quite far… What I can tell that is accurate though is that…"

Kyle told Hayden of how the abomination crushed Jake"s skull, and choked Kyle, laughing manically while doing it. Hayden nodded. "Thank you for your cooperation."

Abruptly, a gust of wind blew on Kyle"s face, causing him to close his eyes. When he reopened them, Hayden was gone, his door was locked, everything was back to normal… As if Hayden wasn"t there to begin with.

Straddling on his motorcycle, he rode it back to his house, pondering of what these strange events were. "Could this corpse in my s.p.a.ce Ring be possibly Evershifter? Like h.e.l.l it is, right?"

He had a vague premonition that there were more to this s.h.i.t than he thought. "Precisely what I desired…"

He thought that the mission was finished when he killed that chimera from that night, however, from the looks of it, it wasn"t done at all… It was simply the midpoint of the mission. Satisfied, Hayden continued on to his house.

��Let"s think more about that later. I have a more pressing matter at hand…" Hayden muttered. "That pressing matter is finding out how to evolve into a Level 3 wielder."

At 3:08, Hayden arrived at his house. The second he entered, he went to his room and made his Origin Crystal emerge. "I hope you hold the answer to my question…"

Touching the Origin Crystal, Hayden asked the question, "How do I evolve into a Level 3 wielder?"

Streams of information poured into his mind, and when that sensation was gone, Hayden started to skim through the information. Soon, Hayden shouted, "What in the f.u.c.king world? What kind of answer is this?"

...

Random World Lore, Category - Medicine: In the Decade of Advancement, countless medical breakthroughs emerged alongside the technological inventions. One of those medical treatments is the Allergic Gene Elimination. Allergic Gene Elimination is simply a serum that is injected into the bloodstream. This serum contains robotic nanotechnology that is designed to act like a virus, albeit, it acts to infect a cell, alter the DNA within and trick it into removing the strand of DNA that causes allergies. Allergic Gene Elimination takes seven days, during of which, one would probably experience a fever due to the immune system recognizing the virus-like robotic nanotechnology a threat. When the robot finishes its job, it would then eject itself by going to the digestive system. This is possible only thanks to the development of powerful AIs.