Chapter 13: Time's Up!

-000:40:32-

After almost 5 more hours of training his body and abilities, Roman finally decided to use the remaining 5 hours to take a break in the form of a nice soak in the jacuzzi, followed by a peaceful and relaxing warm shower, and a light but comforting dinner in the form of a easy butter chicken dish, with a lentil soup on the side, and a simple glass of water.

He entertained the idea of a cup of wine, but he wanted to remain sober for whatever may happen next.

Now, he was spending the remaining hour in a meditative position on his bed, trying to regulate his breathing in order to remain as calm as possible.

He noticed earlier on that it came naturally to him, thanks to his {Inhumanly Even-Tempered} easing him into such a state.

By meditating, he's forming a feedback loop with his perk, leading to him constantly falling deeper and deeper into what resembles a calm and silent well of water.

When 30 minutes were left on the clock, he began thinking of everything he's gone through to get to this point.

'I wish I had more time honestly. But even with more time, I don't think my growth can remain as fast as the last few days.'

'The pressure I felt constantly pressing on my heart is what allowed my potential to come forth, but I don't think that will always happen. The threat of death is a great motivator, regardless of the opinion of those who would say otherwise.'

Thinking up to here, Roman finally began to relax a little more than before. Honestly, even when he's meditating and trying to stay as calm as possible, there's still that little bit of tension lingering in the back of his mind, not giving him a single moment of peace.

'I just have to accept the fact that I did my best, and can only hope for the best outcome. The actions and decisions will always be in my hands, but the results won't always be how I want them.'

He decided to take one last look at his parameters to see if anything has changed.

{Owner: Roman Zackery (Human), Age - 22, Weight - 137.2 lbs. , Height - 5'8"

<Soul and Body Parameters>: Strength - 10.1 > 10.7 ; Endurance - 12.6 > 13.1 ; Dexterity - 8.9 > 9.1 ; Energy - 16.4 > 16.5 ; Intelligence - 26.1 > 26.2 ; Willpower - 42.3 > 42.7 ; Spirit - 0 (Locked: Insufficient Information)}

Roman was extremely satisfied looking at the results of his hard work. His body is much better looking than before, making him extremely happy.

After living the same life day after day, a bit of change is always welcome, especially when it comes to his appearance. Who doesn't want to look good?

Before, he was as thin as a stick, with his skin hugging his bones. Now, he added a bit more weight, even if it's not as much as he would've liked, and grew a few inches taller.

His skin, unfortunately, was still as pale white as a vampires.

He was slightly embarrassed to admit it, but he actually wanted more time to train in order to be able to increase his height and weight somehow.

Being so underweight and shorter than people his age usually comes with the feeling of self-blame and depression, especially when you spend most of your time in loneliness.

Although talking with his family helped, he always felt a part of him slowly becoming emptier and emptier.

Right now, he feels much better than before, and he attributed it to the increase in his willpower.

As his willpower increases, his resistance to pain, distractions, and negative emotions are heightened as well, leaving him less susceptible to those dark thoughts.

As it increased, he felt that the same painful and strenuous training and practice he was doing, became easier, leading to him constantly increasing the difficulty in his training, granting more results in less time.

He was extremely proud at the increase his willpower has undergone recently. It's sitting at an almost monstrous 8 times the normal average human.

Looking back at the timer, he noticed that there were still 15 minutes left. He spent half of it in his thoughts, which came as a slight surprise to him, which he didn't dwell on too much.

'Holmes, is there anything else we need to prepare or do with the remaining time?'

[Sir. Your ability would like me to inform you that as you have passed the human limit in endurance, your max limit of abilities has increased from 5 to 6, making you capable of integrating one more ability from the 2 that remained of the previous generation.]

Roman was surprised at such an answer. He didn't think that he would increase his limit so quickly. He assumed that he would need to train much harder and for a longer amount of time in order to achieve that.

[That would usually be the case Sir since from my calculations, you would've needed above 20 in your Endurance Parameter, but your physique seems to be the reason for this, as it is much more special than I can properly analyze.]

[It may have more functions that will need to be uncovered later on.]

Instead of understanding, Roman only became more confused.

'If you can't understand more about my physique, how does my ability know more since it's what's giving me the go ahead to take up another ability?'

[I cannot answer your question properly Sir, as too much information is missing. My guess is that there may be a link between all of your conscious powers in your power set.]

That was also the conclusion Roman reached, but he decided not to dwell on the matter much. He can't even speak with his powers unless it's through Holmes, so he decided to deal with the problems as they come.

'Ok, so the last 2 abilities I have left in the roll were {Size Shifting} and {Power Stealing}. Which one would be the best in this case?'

Roman was honestly leaning more towards {Size Shifting} and once again ignoring {Power Stealing} due to the many unknown factors he's about to face.

However, he quickly changed his mind.

'Holmes, integrate {Power Stealing}.'

[Understood.]

'Although {Power Stealing} is a huge gamble, I can take that gamble in a more comfortable manner thanks to the practice I've done with my other abilities, giving me a form of protection.'

'In this case, {Size Shifting} may not be that good since although its function may be relatively simple, I haven't had time to practice its uses, or even see what the limits are on usage or energy cost.'

[Processing choices…]

[Abilities have been selected!]

[Beginning Integration.]

Unlike the usual comforting feeling he felt from integrating his previous abilities, Roman strangely felt the same as before.

[The previous feeling of comfort was due to your body being much weaker, and responding to the integration of raw power that each ability grants you.]

[Now that you're stronger and have greater willpower, that feeling of being invincible won't be as noticeable, unless you receive an extremely powerful ability that you can't handle.]

Accepting the explanation, Roman quickly got over it, and focused on the explanation for {Power Stealing}.

{Power Stealing: Grants you the mysterious power of taking another person's ability. / Notice: The limitations and success rate of this ability are currently unknown.}

Reading the note next to it, Roman wasn't fazed as he was already expecting it. He didn't put much hope into the ability in the first place. It's just a backup gamble.

Roman took another glance at the timer to see how long he had left.

-000:01:48-

Taking a deep breath, Roman started to prepare himself by imagining his clothes changing into proper combat gear in the form of a bullet proof vest covering his chest, two fully loaded revolvers being placed into two gun holsters by his hips, and a plain shirt covering said vest, with jeans and a trench coat to cover his body.

After doing so, he then imagined a bazooka, some grenades, and a sword as well for good measure, before strapping them to his back. You never know if you need more firepower, or have to fight at close range.

Although it was questionable if he would be able to keep whatever is on his body, or created from the chambers in his next destination, he decided to try it out anyway.

He doesn't lose anything if his preparations end up being worthless, while he can end up having another form of combat and protection if it all works out.

He has already determined that he can't only rely on brawns, so he practically racked his brains to come up with this idea.

He didn't want to go in empty handed, or he would lose one of the advantages of his {Sharpshooting}.

Although he could use any item or object, he comes right back to the problem of not knowing what's going to happen or where he is going, hence not knowing if there will even be a rock laying around as a possible weapon.

Even though he has already affirmed his will again and again, knowing that he can't predict or control everything, he still has that unwillingness to leave this matter to fate.

-000:00:50-

-000:00:49-

-000:00:48-

Watching the timer countdown second by second was extremely nerve-wracking as it seemed to spell the beginning of the end.

Even though he knew better, and wanted to tear his gaze away from the sight, something seemingly entranced him to keep his focus on the image of the seconds flowing by.

He couldn't imagine himself looking anywhere else at the moment.

Finally, at the exact second when the timer hit zero, the voice he was expecting to appear, announced its arrival.

"The week of preparation is now over." spoke the otherworldly voice in the same monotonous manner he remembered.

"Fixers, you will all be teleported into the testing grounds right away. Please do not panic as your tasks will be announced afterwards."

Right after the Envoy's words finished, Roman began feeling as if he was getting lighter and lighter.

Before he knew it, he was covered in a purple light, prompting him to close his eyes, before vanishing from the bedroom, leaving his chamber as silent as it was before his arrival a few days ago.

The darkness outside the window, adding an ominous feeling to the place once more.