Chapter 22: Training Pause: Deepening Understanding.

December 10th, United States, 2022. The morning after a night with Aurora.

In the middle of a living room, in front of a couch. Push-ups were being performed by a young shirtless man.

"Ninety eight.. Ninety nine… One hundred."

[Daily Quest Completed]

[You have earned 2 Stat points]

XP Required For Level Up: 158/200

[HP: 15/15]

[Strength: 6

Agility: 15

Stamina: 15

Sense: 7

Points Available To Distribute: 6]

As he lifted himself off the ground, his gray hair swayed. Surprised by his new stamina, he made his way towards the mirror, only to inspect his reflection.

The muscles in his body were starting to bulge out and he was becoming more defined and toned. Despite the fact that he could see the lines of what appeared to be an eight pack, it was still early to tell whether or not it was true.

On top of the table he found the TV remote, which he grabbed and switched on after checking what he needed to.

There were no active channels on the screen, and only a static screen was displayed. Gray was struck by this odd fact, the fact that there was no news, the fact that there hadn't been any major announcements and the fact that the world was falling into chaos and no one was doing anything about it. There was no news from the government as of yet.

In anger, Gray threw the remote at the TV only to have it pause just before coming into contact with it.

[Skills]

Pause [Level 1]

Effect: [Level 1]: Pieces of the user's body or objects can be momentarily paused. Limitations are based on the size of the object or body part.

Users' stamina is depleted every second.

Time limit: five seconds

————————————

Pause. That was the name of his ability, it allowed him to pause objects organic or non organic. Although there were certain limitations, Gray had not given it the thorough testing it deserved.

In anticipation of grabbing the remote, he slowly counted up, keeping his hand in front of it. Originally, the time limit was set at 5 seconds, but what if it could be increased through manual training? Thanks to the Daily quests, Gray had paused 100 objects every single day.

1… 2… 3… 4… 5-

[Unpause]

Gray sighed in frustration as the remote slammed into his hand. 'Oh well. I guess there is no change in timing.'

Another thing to pay attention to when observing this ability was the differences in each pause. The pauses were not all the same.

As an example.

Gray stared at the remote as he threw it to the ground, glancing at it as it stopped in the air about 30 centimeters away from the floor.

[Unpause]

As if it had never paused, the remote rammed into the ground filled with the momentum from his throw.

Gray picked up the remote and repeated this action again, throwing it as hard as he could at the ground and paused just before it hit the ground.

[Unpause]

This time, however, instead of the remote falling with the momentum it did previously, it fell at a much slower rate than before, almost as if he had just let go of it. It had killed the momentum.

This was the difference in Gray's pauses. Just by thinking about it, he could create a pause which holds the momentum or kills it. His ability in his mind had skyrocketed when he had realized this.

It was how he could leap off buildings and survive by pausing just before he hit the ground. If his ability had kept the momentum, he would've died long ago.

From the moment he jumped off that building.

After thinking about it for a while, Gray's eyes took on a cold expression. It had been a little over a week since he had tried to take his own life.

The current him knew that doing that would have made no difference to anything.

'I would've never found out my sister was alive and… I would've never met her…' He thought to himself as the image of Aurora popped into his mind.

Shaking his head, he wanted back into practicing. In this case, he grabbed both the remote control as well as a pillow from the sofa and threw them simultaneously.

[Pause]

*Poosh!*

Only the remote paused.

"The limit is still 1… Damn it." He cursed. "How am I supposed to level up this thing?" He wondered as he plopped down onto the sofa.

[Unpause]

The remote crashed into the wall.

*Clack!*

"Ah right, the remote, I forgot." He muttered as he covered his palm with his face.

Suddenly his eyes widened as he remembered something. After getting up, he made his way to the kitchen and rummaged through his hiking backpack. Inside was a pouch containing-

"The skill orb." Said Gray as he pulled it out.

A purple sphere which radiated a strange aura. Despite appearing like a glass sphere, it was extremely soft.

[Failed, Unable to learn skill]

It had completely slipped Gray's mind. Even if it wouldn't work for him, he could probably trade it to someone looking for powers in the future. Surely not everyone would have an ability right?

In the meanwhile, a notification rang inside Gray's head.

[Skill: Unknown]

[Skill Orb Analysed]

[Convergence option available]

"Convergence option?" Gray asked.

[Convergence Option: Absorb Skill Orb in exchange for skill point]

Gray's eyes widened. Convergence option? Skill point?

It was finally starting to add up..

That was what he needed, to level up his skill. He could apply the point onto Pause. But would it be worth the exchange?