More Orbs and Superpowers

Sitting on a chunk of rubble with crossed arms and dressing some pieces of clothes the zombies dropped, I stare at the three pile of orbs, jerkies and other pieces of equipment. All of the clothes I'm wearing are made from zombie skin, or hide as the description calls it, which is weird but they are really comfortable and, oddly enough, fits me so well I can't complain. Glancing at the tattoo on my wrist, I remember that my weird strength I overturned pretty much everywhere that had been covered by rubble and found some pretty interesting things.

"I'm way stronger. Even my senses are much better... And it has to do with this. I wish someone could tell me what happened. <ugh > Whatever, no use in trying to understand something you can't... (But at least I can deduce things. In a game, the sudden increase of a character's overall capabilities is because of a level up. Then does this mean I leveled up? Yeah. The seven on my wrist mean I got to level 7 after killing all those zombies? What is the level cap? Is there one in the first place? Too many questions but no answer.)"

Rubbing my hands together, I look at the things I got.

"... Enough of that. Time to check the loot."

Grabbing a green orb, one of many, I stare at it.

"(Endurance Orb: Increases resistance, tolerance, stamina and recovery speed beyond that of human limits, likely to drop from creatures with elevated Endurance, consume to apply the effects. So, Endurance, it means all that huh? Explains why zombies are said to be tough, only dying after their brain is destroyed. Amane must be a true monster then, her race's all focused in Strength and Endurance, after all.)"

Putting it aside, I grab the only purple orb sticking out of the pile of orbs.

"(Senses Orb: Increases sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch and instincts beyond that of human limits, likely to drop from creatures with elevated Senses, consume to apply the effects. Now I know why my senses are better. After focusing on them I could clearly notice all of them are much sharper than before. I must have really leveled up then. I can't explain it any other way.)"

I put it aside and grab the blue orb, there are also very little of this color, just five.

"(Spirit Orb: Increases mind energy power, capacity, efficiency and recovery beyond that of human limits, likely to drop from creatures with elevated Spirit, consume to apply the effects. This is it!)"

Without thinking any further, and not caring is there will be side effects, I throw all the Spirit Orbs into my mouth and swallow them in one go. The same thing that happened to the Orb of the Living Sun happens once again. The five Spirit Orbs dissolves in my mouth and a tasty liquid flow down my throat. However, instead of going to my stomach, I feel it turn into pure mana and head straight to my brain as a comfortable cool sensation spreads throughout my head. Maybe because I've leveled up, or at least I think I leveled up, and my senses are sharper, I can feel my mana rising. But contrary to what I expected, it increases just a little. However, with the current amount of mana I have, there is no need for me to carefully use my flames anymore but of course I can't use them recklessly because that's dumb.

"<sigh > That felt good. (But why mind energy? Wasn't it mana? So why the change? Maybe it was mana to maoe ot easier to understand since I've played games? Could be, but that doesn't matter.)"

With the last of the colored orbs in hand, I stare at the yellow orb, the only one of this color just like the Senses Orb.

"(Speed Orb: Increases focus and the nervous system capabilities beyond that of human limits, likely to drop from creatures with elevated Speed, consume to apply the effects. This explains why Saeko moved so fast then. Her brain was simply much quicker than mine so in the time my brain understood what she was doing she was already on something else.)"

Looking at the small pile of dozens of Strength Orbs, I put the Speed Orb aside and take out, from the pile, four orbs with images or drawings inside of them, it is difficult to understand or name it but it is similar to the Orb of the Living Sun. All of them are green.

"(Orb of Power Strike, Orb of Bone Blade, Orb of the Steel God and Orb of Finger Bullet. Just from reading their names I can already deduce what they do. Finger bullet shoots bullets from the finger, bone blade manifests a bone blade, power strike probably grants super strength for a single hit; and steel god must have something to do with steel, maybe turning into steel since Orb of the Living Sun made me into a living sun. But why is it that only Orb of the Steel God has "the" in it and the others doesn't? It's similar to Orb of the Living Sun. Even the name sounds way more powerful. I bet this means it's power is on a whole another level compared to the others. I want to take it but I have to be careful with what kind of Superpowers I take. I just have two empty slots, after all, and I don't know if they can be removed or extracted.)"

Putting them in the inner pocket of my jacket, I grab a single green orb and the sensation of being burned from inside out replays in my mind, making me feel goosebumps.

"(Can't waste this chance to grow stronger. I just hope it won't be as bad as that.)"

Throwing it in my mouth, I swallow and I quickly get a reaction. I feel a very slight discomfort in my chest, it gets a little difficult to breathe and I get some numbness in the tips of my fingers. However, in under a minute those sensations fade.

"It's... over? Really? I thought it'd be worse."

Then I turn to look at the many green orbs.

"Quite a bit to take. Well, it shouldn't be a problem."

Bracing myself, I grab two handfuls of green orbs, all of the green orbs I have, and swallow them all. Different from before, I feel a much sharper pain in my chest but my mind is extremely clear and focused, curiously enough, I feel the pain as clearly as day but it doesn't bother me, I can simply ignore it.

"This is... really weird. But the green orb increases tolerance... It must be all kinds of tolerance."

I place my hand on my chest as my heart throbs and I feel almost all blood vesses in my body pulsating down to the tips of my fingers and toes. Breathing becomes a little difficult and numbness spread to my body.

"This would've felt way worse if I hadn't leveled up... wouldn't it?"

I endure the uncomfortable sensation for what feels like a couple of minutes and then it disappears. My body seems to return to normal and I drop my shoulders and look down. I get a very refreshing feeling, one that makes me fully awake and full of energy. It's like drinking a glass of ice cold water or taking a cold shower in a really hot day.

"<sigh > It's over. That felt bad. But I feel great now."

Then I turn to look at the many red orbs.

"Your turn."

The memories of Yuuki accidentaly taking it with her pussy and her muscles trembling replays.

"(It shouldn't be that bad.)"

Doing the same I did earlier to the green orb, I throw one of the red orbs in my mouth. Swallowing it, I feel a slight pain in my muscles as they twitch but it lasts for a couple of seconds.

"Already?"

Grabbing more red orbs, I stuff many of them in my mouth and only then that my muscles begin to tremble and the pain gets worse but I ignore it and keep on swallowing more and more orbs until they run out. Sitting down with some difficulty as my muscles twitch frantically, I look at myself and can't help but find it disgusting, it is as if maggots are constantly crawling under my skin. Forcing myself to look elsewhere, I wait for the orb's effects to wear off. I don't have to wait much because a little while later, much earlier than I thought, my body stops twitching. My clothes, however, feel much tighter than before, they are almost tearing because my muscles grew thicker. Cleching my fist, I feel the muscles of my arm bulging and contracting powerfully. The sensation of becoming even stronger is clear and feels absolutely intoxicating. Something I never felt before wells up inside me.

"Fuuuck."

Smiling, I get to the largest piece of rubble I found and grab it. I stick my hands under it and effortlessly lift what probably weights thousands of kilos way above my head.

"This is the best!"

Throwing it to the other side, I clench both fists and look at myself. An absurd thirst for strength bubbles up furiously and I can feel it very clearly, it makes me desire more power. Unfathomable power. To grow stronger than anything and anyone.

"I... want more."

I eat the rest of the orbs, except for the ones with Superpowers, and I don't feel any side effect. Grabbing a handful of jerkies from the ground, I stuff my mouth with them and munch while walking across the destroyed school grounds. Stopping in the middle of the street, right in front of the destroyed gates, I turn to the city's direction.

"There should be more zombies back in the city."

Firmly placing my feet on the ground, I feel them slowly digging into the pavement underneath me before I push the ground with my legs and run forward. Even though I'm not giving it my all, I'm running at speeds I never ever dreamed of. Every time my legs propel me forward my feet shatters the concrete and it feels like I skip dozens of meters at once, I'm pretty sure I'm running faster than an average car's top speed, so a exhilaring feeling puts a grin on my face and it makes me push forward to run even faster.

"This is it!"

Staring in front of me, I see that many meters up front the road turns left but I'm running too fast to turn so I press forward and, in just a couple of seconds, I arrive at the turn and easily destroy the steel barrier with my body before leaping off the cliff. I cross many meters midair and fall down, landing in the middle of a forest. I look at all sides and just see trees but I look back and up before running the opposite direction of the cliff I just fell from. Going in a straight line through the forest, not even trees are enough to stop me as I shatter them with my body. Soon enough I arrive at the outskirts of the city and proceed further. The empty outskirts quickly gets replaced by the chaotic scene I've seen when I was flying high up. Though I have to stop walking once I see a zombie.

"Found you."

The zombie immediately moves and turns to me.

Female Zombie: "<gnarls >"

She rushes at me but, curiously enough, she isn't nearly as fast as the other zombies, instead. I see her moving very slowly and dodge easily every time she tries to grab me or bite me. Then she leaps at me but I grab her face while she's midair and slam her head against the pavement with all my might. I shatter the pavement in a small area and leave an even smaller crater. Releasing her, her body remains motionless while all I see is a puddle of blood where the zombie woman's head was a second ago.

"(That's... it?)"

A red orb pops out and floats near her. Grabbing it with my other hand, I swallow it and go further into the city. Finding more zombies, I kill each and every single one with just one hit to the head, which is very anticlimatic, but at least, if I don't use all my strength, I just leave them badly damaged and still alive. Collecting their drops, which are a couple of jerkies and two green orbs, I devour them and continue walking throughout the city. Despite the disappointment I'm feeling, those zombies were great material to help me learn how to control this newfound strength of mine.

"(I expected more. I guess the level ups plus the orbs made me too strong. But it's not enough. If I got this strong, others might be stronger and more dangerous. I have to be careful of whoever I find, they might want to fuck me over. Humans are like that. As they say, give power to a person and you'll know their true self.)"

I hear almost imperceptible noises coming from somewhere near me.

"(Zombies don't whisper.)"

Looking around, trying to find the source, I spot a convenience store on the other side of the street. The noises are coming from inside of it. Curiously enough, it is very subtle but I still heard it despite coming from quite far.

"(There.)"

Walking at the convenience store, I stop in front of it but the automatic doors don't open, not that it matters, the glass of both doors are destroyed. Getting through the doors, I step into the store and glance at the empty rows of shelves.

"(People already looted this place? It's been what? A couple of hours? This place's quite far from the city center but it's already empty. People adapt fast. I guess zombie movies and series really do played their role in teaching survival and how important having supplies is.)"

There are blood stains everywhere, the inside of the store is also destroyed, pretty much the same as the outside. From behind a shelf, I hear conversation between two women.

Woman 1: "<whispering > Did you find anything more?"

Woman 2: "<whispering > No. Just this. Damnit. It won't be enough to feed everyone."

Woman 1: "<whispering > It's better than nothing. Besides, the others are looking for food too."

Woman 2: "<whispering > I hope they find more things."

Woman 1: "<whispering > Me too."

They seem to stuff something in bags and then get up.

"Come on out, I already heard you."

The noise suddenly stops, as if startled. Then I hear footsteps and a woman walks out from behind the shelf, pointing her right hand's fingers at me while her left hand holds a travel bag. She has short black hair and light blue eyes, and wears a white shirt, black tie, blue skirt and jacket, and a green armband with white stripes, basically the female version of the police uniform. She is rather short, probably under 1.6m.

Female Officer: "Tokonosu City Police Officer, identify yourself!"

I tild my head to the side and stare at her palm. I get a weird feeling, my instincts are tellig me that she has a Superpower, despite it being obvious as no one would do what she is doing if that wasn't the case.

"Anthony Marcus, 18, former exchange student of Fujimi Academy and current survivor of the same place. Now, your turn, officer."

She nibbles on her lips and then frowns before taking a step forward, she drops the bag and also points her other hand's fingers at me. She has a very serious face but that kind of expression with her fingers pointing at me just makes her look ridiculous.

Female Officer: "You expect me to believe that bullshit? A big ass guy like you is a exchange student? What a joke. Listen, dude, tell me the truth or else I'll fry you!"

This time, I frown.

"(Is it that unbelievable? Did I change that much? Wait, that's not what matters here. Did she really said she'll fry me?) Officer, I AM telling you the truth. Even though it may sound like I'm lying. I'm like this because-"

Before I can even finish, I see electricity flying at me from her fingertips. Thankfully enough, I can see it tearing through the air in my direction despite it moving immensely fast. Moving reflexively, I push against the ground with my left leg and turn my body right, dodging the lightning.

"(Fuck!)"

The lighting hits a wall behind me and smoke comes out from the large black spot it left. Turning my head, I look at her. Faint amounts of smoke comes out of her fingers as I grit my teeth.

"Fucking skinny ass midget. You really did that. (I thought she was trying to intimidate me but she really did try to kill me.)"

I clench my fists and look at her, my face turns expressionless, as she points her fingers at me again with a scowl.

"You're dead. (It's an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.)"