Ability Wielders 22 Evolution

"Wait… is this?" Hayden was unsure of it, but he knew that this was a phenomenon regarding his Abilities. "No… I'm evolving?"

As he was thinking that, his Divine Perception activated and countless strings of information rushed inside his brain. He felt that everything regarding his Divine Perception changed, or more precisely, it was upgraded!

Whether the speed of his brain, the sensitivity of his five senses, and the transmission speed of his neurons, Hayden could tell it was more powerful!

Meanwhile, he could a.n.a.lyze his body without moving at all, the exact power that his muscles are able to release, the speed that his legs would allow him, how dense was his muscles, and even his own brain he could 'see!'

Suddenly, another surge of information rushed inside his mind. The feeling of human presence was omnipresent in his mind. Hayden could precisely tell how many people and animals there are around him, could feel their pulse, and even know of their exact location. The next moment, he had the feeling that his soul left his own body.

Looking down, Hayden examined his own body, only to see that he was, as of this instant, transparent. Turning his head in front of him, it was his body, in the bed. Flabbergasted, Hayden walked around, touching the walls, breathing in air, and he even heard of his own heartbeat. That was the moment when he noticed a thin, gray energy that engulfed his own corporeal body.

"What the h.e.l.l is this?" Hayden was dumbfounded and wanted answers, but was unable to get one as the golden words of Divine Perception faded and his consciousness returned to his body.

Replacing the words 'Divine Perception' were 'Indestructible Devil.' Hayden's body was teleported to the middle of his room as he unwittingly transformed into his devil form. He could feel boundless strength gushing into him, he felt more powerful than ever!

As he had no Divine Perception, Hayden couldn't quite tell how much Indestructible Devil enhanced his body, yet, he was still able to sense that the power upgrade it gave him was enormous. While preoccupied with the strength within him, Hayden's skin color started to change into red, his claws, tail, and horns unfurling by itself.

Hayden noticed that his claws became sharper than ever, with it turning completely white, in contrast to how it was regular in color prior to evolving. Next, he had more precise control over his own tail, as if it was a third arm for him, moreover, it had the same strength as both of his arms! As for his horns, Hayden couldn't really see it, can he?

Precipitously, Hayden observed that his body didn't swell anymore, removing the inconvenience of the need to buy a suit that stretched, such as his stealth suit. While thinking of this, something sprung up behind his back, nerve endings… grew out of him? The sound of his shirt ripping could be heard.

"What th-" Unable to finish his words, Hayden turned back and saw what shocked him speechless. It was wings! Large wings that resembled those of a bat's, albeit, crimson in color, with the finger structure of the wings having a metallic black hue. "I have… Wings?"

Hayden went wide-eyed, trying to shake off his daze. Instinctively, Hayden flapped the wings. Just as he was getting more and more invigorated, his lungs filled with water and he drowned in the dream.

…..

"f.u.c.king son of a b.i.t.c.h!" Hayden cursed the moment he woke up, catching his breath. He still couldn't get used to this occurrence. "Is this what will always happen? d.a.m.n, that's hateful… Well, I guess it's worthwhile if it was the sign of an evolution."

Going back to lying down, Hayden took a deep breath and made his Origin Crystal resurface. Touching it, Hayden hoped to get information of his newly evolved powers.

As explained to him, his Abilities' base powers were upgraded, with additional newfound powers unlocked. His Divine Perception had a new power, an extrasensory perception called Heavenly Sense. Heavenly Sense allowed him to sense every single life in a set radius of 50 meters, which is to say, it was not limited to human.

Remembering the dream, Hayden was indeed able to sense all life around him. Hayden found this useful as it was a useful countermeasure for ambushes.

Continuing on, Hayden found out that Heavenly Sense actually had three uses. One is the sensing of life, as said, the second was that he could apparently see the aura of human beings and cognizants, which was the thin gray energy he saw while his consciousness was out of his body in the dream, and, lastly, he was able to make his senses 'leave' his body.

Hayden saw the use of the third usage, but what about the second usage? What was the use of seeing the aura of people? Seeking his Origin Crystal for answers, he found out the terrifying capability of this Heavenly Sense's aura seeing. The auras surrounding people had different meanings, the clearer, or whiter, the aura surrounding a person, the better their nature was, and the blacker it was, the more malevolent they were.

That was to say, the aura seeing power was relative to Hayden's own moral standards, and that, as he grows, his view of the world will change, with that, the Heavenly Sense will grow along with him, granting more in-depth observations of the aura seeing. Of course, this took into account the true nature of the person, and that it was not exclusively based on their past actions, although it was indeed a factor.

"That's a pretty vague explanation…" Hayden was a little confused of this aura seeing thing. "I don't even know whether I'm truly good or not, how am I supposed to know if this thing is accurate or not?"

Imposing this question upon himself, Hayden's head ached a little. n.o.body ever fully knew themselves, sometimes, people would do things outside of their own person's expectations. Needless to say, people would never do something without a reason. A person's mind is fickle, changing every moment, every pa.s.sing second of the day, the more experience they accrue.

Thinking that it was too complicated, Hayden threw the matter out of the window. His Abilities never failed him once, so why doubt it now?

On the other hand, wanting to test the third power, Hayden activated Divine Perception and tried to make his senses leave his body. And that was what happened. Opening his eyes, Hayden saw himself, still surrounded by that completely gray aura.

"I guess that's my perception of myself," Hayden spoke while in his sensory body form. "I do see myself as a person who is neutral, I don't see myself as a good person, yet, not a bad person as well."

Hayden dropped the matter after mumbling a little and touched the walls. While thinking to himself, Hayden unknowingly pa.s.sed through the wall, the chilly wind of the night pa.s.sing through his hands.

"I can phase in this form?" Hayden was a little surprised. This was not in his dream. "I guess the dream was just a means to demonstrate what's new, and it was still up to the wielder to explore the limits of their powers."

From this, Hayden nodded his head. It only made sense for this to happen. The world would not spoon-feed you everything, teachers would not spoon-feed you everything, why shall the Origin Crystal?

Completely phasing through, Hayden wanted to explore the entirety of his Heavenly Sense. Grasping the location of the closest person to him other than his mother, it was Daniel, sleeping the night away peacefully.

Hayden attempted to walk on the air… And succeeded! Going to Daniel's room, he eyed his surroundings. This was not the first time Hayden was here as Daniel would invite him to play some games every now and then.

Checking the Daniel snoring peacefully, he approached. His face twitched at the thought of what he was about to do, greatly hesitating.

"Well, this is for the best!" Hayden shouted, observing Daniel's reaction. "So it seems that I'm not exactly a ghost, it's literally only a sensory body!"

Hayden confirmed his first conjecture. Proceeding, Hayden touched Daniel's arm. Shaking Daniel, he found that he was unable to exert force at all. From this, the first conjecture was solidified further, and the second conjecture was affirmed, the a.s.sumption that this power did not have any influence on physical objects whatsoever.

"n.o.body is able to see me in this state…" Hayden nodded, focusing on the direction of his body. "The range is 50 meters as well… I should be careful when using this as my body is left unattended…"

Hayden vowed to be careful when using the third power of Heavenly Sense as it was dangerous to wander around and leave his body unattended, plus if he needed to use it, he decided that it was only for one second if he was in a battle situation.

Afterwards, he checked the state of his Indestructible Devil from the Origin Crystal. Its base powers were enhanced, its regenerative powers allowed him to regrow limbs and important organs, the strength and speed augment enhanced his strength by seven times now, instead of the previous five, and the toughness of his body can simply be described as 'nigh-impenetrable.'

The changes of Indestructible Devil were on par with Divine Perception's. Going to their bathroom, Hayden turned Indestructible Devil on, without the wings, and scrutinized himself in the mirror. He was mostly the same, except for his size, which didn't grow anymore, his skin had a deeper red color, almost blood-like, and his claws were incredibly white. Other than those two changes, there was nothing else physically visible.

Walking to the middle, Hayden retracted his wings. Activating Divine Perception, he checked how fast he could fly as there was no way he'd be able to fly in this urban area, or rumors comparable to Tikbalang's would appear if he was seen.

Through this method, Hayden calculated the amount of power his wings would be able to generate and came into a conclusion that he would roughly be able to fly as fast as 700 kilometers per hour.

A little dismayed, an idea popped up in his head. Using essence energy, Hayden enhanced his body and poured in essence energy into his wings. Recalculating, his speed indeed increased! It was now 2100 kilometers per hour, considerably faster than modern commercial planes, and the speed of sound!

Getting giddy, Hayden deactivated Indestructible Devil and the essence energy augmentation. He then inspected his own body and was astounded. His physical prowess actually doubled! His full strength allowed him to lift a 300-kilogram object, while his speed would reach up to 60 kilometers per hour, and his toughness, while cannot really be measured with numbers, can definitely withstand a punch from a world-cla.s.s boxer wearing a Shojin Steel knuckle duster.

Gathering essence energy, Hayden was astounded again. The rate of enhancement of the essence energy was three times now! Adding Indestructible Devil's seven times… That would 21 times his base physical prowess! He would be able to lift 6.3 tons' worth of weight, move at 1,260 kilometers per hour, and he would definitely be able to withstand shots from a modern artillery cannon if he was to use his toughness!

"What the h.e.l.l?" Hayden shook his head, reexamining his own body and confirming it. "Isn't this too powerful? What the h.e.l.l is this?"

Adding onto that, Hayden remembered the lesson concerning Level 2 wielders. What if he circulates essence energy into his veins? Then wouldn't his physical power increase stably without the need to exercise and would, without a doubt, surpa.s.s its current state? On top of this, Hayden thought of another thing…

His senses and mental attributes can still be amplified! If he uses that with Divine Perception, then wouldn't he be undefeatable amongst similar Level 2 wielders? In truth, as he is able to infuse essence energy into objects following his evolution, he is still more powerful solely using his Divine Perception and all of his equipment alone!

"What an unfair world…" Hayden was grateful, yet, he couldn't help feel that the world was awfully biased. And that was coming from him, the unlucky one. "Again? Why? What is up with this?"

Going back to lying on his bed, Hayden couldn't shake off the guilt he was feeling. Hiding his dual wielder status and true power, wouldn't anyone that wanted to cross his path be killed indiscriminately with his hands? Shivering, Hayden took a deep breath as he hid his Origin Crystal.

Thereupon, he circulated essence energy around his body. When he commanded the essence energy to do this, a cool stream of energy originated from his chest, spreading all throughout his body via the bloodstream.

A refreshing sensation washed over him and made him relax. His mind was clear, while his body's energy was br.i.m.m.i.n.g to the point of spilling.

In that instance, a memory rose inside his head. It was the memories of the lecture all about the powers of a Level 2 wielder. He remembered everything from start to finish and confirmed all of what he could do.

Circulating essence energy was checked already. In truth, Level 1 wielders already had the means to circulate essence energy, it's only that this circulation merely nourishes their body's needs, removing the need to eat and breathe.

With this in mind, the circulation of essence energy of Level 2 wielders was not really a new power, albeit, an upgrade to the Level 1 power. This upgraded power granted Level 2 wielders the effect of continuously nourishing their bodies with essence energy, persistently increasing one's physical abilities. Up to this date, there was no known limits reached from circulating essence energy, simply slowing down over time, but still increases one's physical const.i.tution.

"The circulation of essence energy brought other effects, such as removing the need to sleep for, at most, three days, while maintaining optimal function. Keep in mind though, that this power is not without a ceiling, and that it is still better for you to sleep, using this power only when it is necessary." Hayden spoke, reciting the lecturer's words verbatim. "Other effects stemming from this is the homeostasis of our body, cooling the body when it is hot, and heating the body when it is cold, magnified healing factor and immune system, granting one extreme resistance to foreign bodies such as bacteria, viruses, and poison, instantaneous stamina replenishment, accelerated metabolism, which removes unwanted fat and also maintains one's body weight at the optimal level, higher efficiency of organs, and the slowing down of the shortening of the telomeres, increasing a Level 2 wielder's life expectancy to 120 years old."

"Moving on," Hayden had his eyes closed, carrying on reciting the full lecture. "As Level 2 wielders, your body would evolve at the same time, hence the creation of the Origin Limiter. To activate the Origin Limiter, you would need to will your Origin Crystal to lock your physical prowess. The Origin Limiter is recommended to be use to provide unnecessary accidents of accidental usage of increased physical attributes, don't worry as this limiter can be unlocked instantly. Be reminded that, whenever it is not needed to be turned on, you must turn the Origin Limiter off as enemy wielders might jump on you, putting you at an early disadvantage. Reaching Level 2 wielder, you would unlock the power to enhance your whole being with essence energy, including sensory organs and cognitive apt.i.tude, such as your reflexes, and processing of information, through the infusion of specific body parts. If you infuse essence energy into your arm muscles, your muscles would be able to release more power, if you infuse essence energy into your legs, you would be able to run faster, etc., etc. Lastly, you would be able to enhance weapons by infusing essence energy into them, those with weak Abilities or those that possess Abilities relating to the mind or senses use this as their primary mode of combat, making them terrible foes in the battlefield as they mainly use long-ranged weapons, be wary of them."

"I should activate my Origin Limiter…" Hayden uttered, doing what he was told to do to place the Origin Limiter on himself. Suddenly, Hayden felt a shackle being placed upon him. Using Divine Perception, Hayden confirmed that the Origin Limiter was in place. "Huh, this is not that bad!"

Hayden nodded, stretching. "Wait, if I am more compatible with essence energy than normal, wouldn't I have some sort of increased control over essence energy?"

Question marks appeared in his head. Prior to evolving to Level 2 wielder, he could already enhance his physique, an irregularity that was described to originate from his compatibility with essence energy.

Making his Origin Crystal resurface, Hayden asked this exact same question to it. Realization struck him as he glossed over the data transferred to his brain.

Without delaying, Hayden willed for essence energy to gather in his hands and form an object. A transparent white broadsword was produced in his hands. Turning the sword here and there, Hayden slashed through the air, creating the sound of a sword slashing the air. Taking out one of his karambit knife, Hayden compared the sharpness of the two and observed that the sword was slightly inferior.

"From the looks of it," Hayden returned his karambit knife into his s.p.a.ce Ring. "This will be useful as I can shape any type and any number of objects from essence energy as long as it doesn't cross the threshold of a total of 10 cubic meters! Imagine shaping throwing knives and all that… The downside is that I can't manipulate it, tsk."

Hayden thought it was a pity that he was incapable of controlling the shaped matter. Regardless, it will still be a pretty handy skill if he ever runs out of bullets or to protect himself with a barrier. On that note, Hayden has officially become a Level 2 wielder.