Body enhancement

My anger flared up. 'I can't let him win.' I closed my eyes and focused on my heart. Its beating had never been more vigorous, unlike the rest of my body weakening by seconds. I had only one solution left in my mind, but I never tried it. I wanted to put ovzgûn in my arm to make them potentially stronger. So I reached for orvzgûn. However, at the last moment, my instinct told me I was making a mistake. So instead of putting the energy into my arms, I push it all back into my heart.

I don't know what I was expecting, but certainly not what happened. My heart stops beating. 'Am I fucked up ?' Then it started to beat insanely. It was so fast it scared me. But then a cool and warm sensation spread to every part of my body. I felt like I could hold my breath easily for five more minutes. I calmed down and observed what was happening to my body. I was feeling more and more refreshed, as if I had just woken full of energy. I also relaxed very much, as if comfortably installed on a sofa. The damage I received from Neeg's punches was healing more efficiently. I also found out my thought was sharper and faster. It was an incredible feeling. Yet I could feel something was wrong.

'Oh yeah ! Yalak, what are you doing? It's not like you are in a battle, and your opponent is trying to kill you! Do something for Nayum's sake!' I shook myself and focused back on the fight.

So Neeg was strangling me while I was dreaming. However, it didn't last. He was losing patience, so he tightened his grip on my neck while I came to my senses. I first hit him on the stomach with my elbow. He was surprised by my sudden action but didn't let me go. I grabbed his arms and then turned on myself, which also made him spin. I was now facing his back. We were both very surprised at how I had easily done it. But I recovered quickly and vertically swung my foot between his legs.

"Aaaargh"

'Ouch, that must have hurt !' I couldn't help but feel a bit of pity. I didn't stop tough. I jumped on him and punched his face the same way he did to me earlier. However, this time he would not be able to free himself.

After my fourth punch, he fainted. I learned from my previous mistake, so I verified if he really couldn't fight anymore. Once sure I had won, I stood up and looked around me. Zala was still fighting. The orphans looked at me with wide eyes, and their mouths slightly opened. They were stunned by my fight, but when they crossed my gaze, they shivered slightly before coming to their senses. Soon after, they soon all jumped, shouting. They were overjoyed by my victory and celebrated it loudly. It attracted Zala and Kruhd's attention.

They stopped fighting for a second observing us. When Kruhd saw his brother on the ground, his face became ugly. Zala grinned and took advantage of his distraction to punch him in the face. Kruhd was weaker than his brother. He only resisted till now because Zala was playing with him. But once she became serious, he had no chance. Zala hit him till his face was unrecognizable. In the end collapse unconscious. We all celebrate Zala's victory.

I suddenly felt something wrong with my body. I staggered, so I quickly caught the nearest shoulder to stabilize myself.

" Are you alright, Yal ?" Ask Burny, worrying.

" I'm alright. I just feel a bit weak right now. Can you lend me your shoulder ?"

"Yeah, sure. You had quite the fight. You surprised us all. When that bastard grabbed you from behind, we all believed you were done for. But then, you suddenly hit him, turned around, and beat him senselessly. That was so cool !"He exclaimed.

I could see he changed the way he looked at me. There was a glint in his eyes, and he wasn't the only one. All the orphans had it when they were looking at me.

Unfortunately, I looked like an old man who couldn't even stand up.

' The power-up is not without any consequences. It's good to know.'

We won both hûrbâk. They won't be a problem anymore. They can't go against it, or they lose their honor, and honor is really important for orcs.

We left them and went back to the hut. Fusha and Shafu went to see how Yurim and Rorm were doing. Thankfully, they weren't too hurt and came back with the girl an hour later. The brothers didn't wake up in the meantime.

Yurim and Rorm all grinned when they learned we beat the two brothers. To celebrate the victory, we decided to finish the last meat barrel. We had a really good evening together and became even closer.

The next day, the brothers came back. They were launching us murderous glares, while I didn't care. Zala would chuckle each time which would make them even angrier in return. Nevertheless, as I predicted, they did nothing and stayed back quietly. If they weren't orcs, I would have suspected them of scheming against us, and although it's still possible, there is very little chance that's the case.

Now that I had discovered a new ability, I was very excited to learn more about it and see if I had any other. I was also really looking forward to my next fight against Zala, 'Time for revenge has come, hehe, I can't wait.'

Thus in the next few days, I experimented with my ability. I have yet to find it a cool name, but maybe I should go with a simple name like body enhancement.

The first thing I tried was to see how much I could make it last. I was surprised because I couldn't reach any limit. It would only stop when my energy is depleted. I learned at the same time that the longer I kept it active, the stronger the backlash. I hypothesized that maybe the only limits this skill had were my energy reserve and my capacity to withstand the backlash. If my body was strong enough, there would maybe be no backlash at all.

I then tested how much it would enhance me. I was quite surprised when I found I was twenty percent stronger. What's truly incredible is that it's not the only boost it gives me. My thinking speed and reaction time are quicker, but it's more difficult to quantify them. The last improvement would be a regeneration enhancement, but I didn't test it. I'm not a novel protagonist who would be crazy enough to cut himself just to know how faster he is healing.

My last experiment was to try to reduce the enhancement. I wanted to see if I could reduce the backlash by limiting the energy I was putting into my heart. I succeed, but I won't be able to do it in battles, at least for now. I have a hard time controlling my energy and moving at the same time. I need to improve my control over ovzgûn.

Finally, I tried to activate other skills, but I didn't know how to do it. Each time I tried, I ended up using body enhancement instead.

At the end of the week, I was ready to challenge Zala.

"Hey Zala, would you like to have a rematch ?"

She gave me a pleasantly surprised smile.

"I'd love to !"