Feeling Alive

Derreck dashed forward not caring about all the beams or debris on the way. He made his way towards Ender in less than one second and started throwing fire-coated punches. He tried dodging but it felt impossible.

'I can't win like this.' He thought while trying not to receive the beating of his life, 'Dash!'

Suddenly, everything became slower. Derreck's punches turned slower but not turtle speed, instead, they were fast enough to pack a good punch but slow enough to predict them.

He started picking the pace up and eventually started counter-attacking, which deeply confused and enraged Derreck.

Ender felt how Derreck's movements were becoming more instinctive than rational. He would throw himself to Ender trying to get a good position but Ender continued to move away.

'What's with his movements? He seems like a beast rather than a human.' Ender thought while dodging effortlessly.

He continued to dodge until he found a decent opening and bashed his punch through it straight to Derreck's jaw.

The black-haired boy lost balanced and threw a fireball toward Ender which the gray-haired boy dodged.

Ender quickly went towards Derreck and axe-kicked him on the back, throwing Derreck to the ground. He stared at him trying to get up while chuckling.

["Why don't you finish him off already"] Ren said while yawning.

'I could use some practice with him, it's not like I'm going to lose any-"

In less than a second, Derreck got up and kicked Ender in the guts, sending him flying toward a broken beam that impaled his right shoulder.

[-19 HP; 11/30]

Ender, with his eyes wide open, could only stare in disbelief before noticing a small hologram that said, [Dash deactivated].

He then saw Derreck dashing towards him and forcefully removing him from the beam, almost tearing apart his arm, but leaving it useless.

[Mild Bleeding

Warning: Bleeding effect, host will lose 1 HP every five seconds.]

["Say what?] Ren said disappointed.

Ender, on the other hand, muffled some screams while biting his hand. The pain assaulting him was too much to handle and quickly activated Healing, which it luckily did and the pain slowly went away.

Sadly his arm was still non-responsive.

[Bleeding effect has been stopped.]

He saw Derreck dashing again and moved away at the perfect moment, stunning Derreck for a moment as he slammed his fist toward a metal plate.

Ender quickly stood up and jumped on top of an excavator while his arm was slowly regaining its senses

"What the fuck was that huh?! What kind of Powerfuel you used?!" Derreck screamed while looking at Ender.

The boy decided to keep silent which made Derreck frown his forehead before jumping towards Ender. He made one fireball in the meantime and launched it toward him.

'Dash!'

Everything became slower, making it easier to dodge the fireball. Ender jumped towards Derreck who was still mid-air and punched him right in the face throwing him backward.

He landed safely on the ground and looked at his knuckles, now bloody.

It filled Ender with a sense of confidence he never had, but he remembered what happened five seconds ago and decided to end everything.

He quickly dashed towards Derreck, grabbed him by his shirt, and threw him towards the same beam he was impaled before, this time, the black-haired boy's stomach was pierced.

"AAAARGHHH!!" Derreck screamed his lungs out while coughing blood.

Not wasting a second, Ender's entire right hand was transformed into claws.

[Claws of Fear activated]

Ender raised his hand while looking at the impaled boy. Derreck saw the claws and realized what was about to happen.

His eyes widened at the maximum, he started shivering as his entire body tensed up, "Please no! Not again, please! PLEASE HAVE MERCY!"

"The same mercy you had with me all these years? Yeah, I will be giving you that, right now." Ender lowered his hand, piercing Derreck's head completely.

He didn't stop with that, however. Ender slashed wildly at Derreck, everywhere on his body. He then deactivated the claws once he saw Derreck's entire figure covered in black slashes before disappearing.

He took some steps back, expecting Derreck to go on another screaming rampage, but strangely, nothing happened.

Ender got close to him again and started waving his hand in front of his eyes. Derreck's mouth was mumbling incoherent words while his fingers twitched irregularly.

Sometimes he would start hyperventilating before stopping as well as blinking rapidly.

["Seems like you've overdone it... kid's never gonna be the same again."] Ren said while sighing.

"What do you mean..." Ender muttered.

["Well... the same way fear can increase one's bravery it can break him completely. Think of every slash as a nightmare... you've probably put his brain to such intense emotions that the shook left him like that... probably forever."]

"I traumatized and turned him into a vegetable, shit..." Ender said while walking around the place hastily.

He started thinking of ways to salvage the situation but he was, once again on the same day, royally fucked.

While inside the school he had some protection, here, he was a nobody. He got close to Derreck again, who was looking at the ground still in a trance.

He had lifeless eyes and drooling out of his mouth. He looked over to the metal beam coming from his stomach, and the blood had a black glowing dot that catch his attention. He got close to it, touched it and,

[Requirements have been met and Element is in a good state. Do you wish to extract an Uncommon Fire Manipulation? The maximum amount possible: 71%]

Ender stood at the hologram with open eyes, not daring to believe it.

'Is this the moment I've been waiting for?' His eyes glowed in expectation, completely forgetting about Derreck's situation. Without thinking of the consequences, Ender said yes.

[Confirmation received, extracting 71% of Element.

...

...

Extraction finished.]

In the blink of an eye, the glowing black blood started making its way into Ender's circulatory system via the skin's pores. When it reached his heart, he felt a blazing temperature trying to leave before calming down the very next instant.

Ender wasted no second and quickly opened the [Humanyc Abilities] section.

---------------------

{Humanyc Abilities}

[Fear Manipulation]

Grade: Common

Passive Abilities:

>>Fear Vision<<

Active Abilities:

>>Claws of Fear<<

...

[Fire Manipulation]

Grade: Common+

Passive Abilities:

>>Fire Resistance<<

Active Abilities:

>>Fire Coating<<

---------------------

"What? Why is it Common+? It said it was Uncommon." Ender wondered. He tried recalling the exact information, which he easily did, and noticed that he wasn't able to extract all of the Element, only less than three-quarters.

"Still, I fucking got a new Element, finally!" Enthusiastic, Ender said while clutching his fist.

He decided to see what Fire Coating was about, as the passive was self-explanatory.

>>Fire Coating: Envelop a part of your body in flames for five seconds. Any direct hit will burn the opponent.<<

"May be useful, maybe it's not..." Ender muttered, "By the way, why are Claws of Fear now in the active abilities section?"

["I discussed with the System. It's my Element and I decide where the abilities show up."] Ren said

'Sound like ego.' Ender chuckled.

["Shouldn't you be worrying now about cameras or so?"]

"Don't panic, I already checked this place thoroughly and saw nothing, so we're good. I ain't revealing myself that fast."

Now, however, it was time to leave. He took a last glance at Derreck and said, "Won't miss you fucker."

He went towards the fence and jumped over it effortlessly. That's when he noticed a green hologram and decided to check it.

[Hidden one-time task: Steal your first Element. 6/30 days (Completed)

Rewards:

- 3,000 EXP (Host has leveled from 3 to 5)

- New Skill: Empowerment

- +2 Points added to every stat

- Upgraded Skills: Dash, Healing

- Upgraded Abilities: Claws of Fear, Fear Vision

Extra Rewards: Steal your first Element in less than a week. 6/7 days (Completed):

- 2,000 EXP (Host has leveled from 5 to 6)

- +1 Point added to every stat]

- Upgraded Element: Fear (Common --> Uncommon)

Ender stopped walking instantly while reading every single word in that hologram. Every time he finished a reward his smile got bigger and bigger before bursting into laughs. He clutched his forehead while laughing like a little kid.

"That's what I was talking about!!" Luckily, no one was there to see him laughing like a maniac. He quickly went to check his stats.

---------------------

Name: Ender Rialto

Age: 17

Level: 6

Status: ?

Exp: 1050/3400

HP: 60/60

Ability Energy Points: 100/100

{Attributes}

Strength: 13 --> 19

Perception: 13 --> 19

Agility: 11 --> 17

Speed: 14 --> 20

Intelligence: 13 --> 19

Thinking Speed: 13 --> 19

Charisma: 0 [Locked]

{Spare Points: 6}

---------------------

He saw in delight how every stat went up while his body drowned in power. He felt alive. For once in a long time, he felt alive, as he has never been before. But something struck him, something he never thought he would say ever.

"I'm getting too strong in such a short time." Ender muttered

["Huh? What's wrong with that..."]

Ender quickly went towards his room and locked himself there while thinking of a solution to that thing. He has asked before,

"Hey System, what happens if I don't finish a daily task?"

[Six points will be depleted from a random stat.]

Ender drew a breath when he heard that. Now he was in a tight spot, as suspicions would start arousing as to why he is growing that strong. He needed someone to back him up.

["I don't see the point of getting rid of daily tasks... Hell, you don't even know how much of a boost is one point. Maybe your current strength is usual for your age."] Ren said.

"Are you blind? You saw Derreck, he was the strongest one in my class and probably tenth in the school right now. I beat him to a pulp with only one Skill."

["You just said it. Those Skills are something you don't even should possess. In a non-system abilities scenario, are you average?"]

"I-I think so. Probably even below average still..." Ender stuttered.

["Then don't worry, just continue storing points and slowly getting stronger. Be aware of any exponential boost, as it will raise even the BB's suspicions."]

"The BB..."

If the Black Blobs got involved Ender was for sure done. He decided to trust Ren for now and go for an incognito mode while storing points and slowly increasing his power.

"This is way harder than I thought."

Now Ender had a way to become strong enough so that nobody would mess with him again, but with power comes responsibility. If he gets drowned in power, shit will go down fast, he needed to take care of it like a responsible person.

In the end, he decided to go unnoticed for a while, especially after Derreck's situation, as he knew that was going to cause some chaos for some weeks. He also wanted to get some money and get himself his own house, as with sixteen years one could already become independent, and Ender was already seventeen.

'So many things... I need to carefully plan them out...'

Inside the abandoned warehouse, a man in a black tuxedo stood in front of an almost dead boy with lifeless eyes.

"Are you telling me, that no cameras exist in this place?" A man wearing an expensive black tuxedo said

"S-Sadly sir... Constructions or demolition sites are very well guarded, not everybody can get inside."

"Well, two of them did..." The man combed his hair backward while sighing and looked towards the boy, who was Derreck, "I fucking told you... You don't mess with Illusion Humanycs." He spat on his face and said,

"I want everybody available searching for that Humanyc, I will take care of my brother's shit myself..."

"Yes Mr. Fer, I will be deploying every single Humanyc available now."