Chapter 41 — Crude Training

The effect of this cocktail of drugs was to force the user to enter a trance-like state, calm the body to extreme levels and suppress pain. If injected into a normal human, it would undoubtedly kill them. However, Konrad's superhuman physique meant such a high concentration was required. Even then, the effects were still extremely strong, even able to send him into a coma if he wasn't careful.

Konrad felt his consciousness blur and distort as the effects of the drug rushed through his body. Feeling an extremely sharp, fiery pain in his chest he entered a state of absoluteness calmness and concentration.

He felt his source points drop as he started summoning psychic energy in his body. Skilfully manipulating it with his mind, he started building small lines of psychic energy through his circulatory system, forming a web of fine lines that went through his major veins and arteries.

Konrad was letting his body build resistance to having psychic energy flowing through it. Although the psychic energy was extremely thin, it still caused great damage as it constantly emitted energy, akin to countless tiny blades cutting the body. They were like a burning flame, and Konrad had to rapidly consume source energy to keep it going.

Agonising pain shot through his body as his blood started to boil. Every single nerve was screaming out in agony as his body rapidly tried to flush out the invader. The pain was so strong it would kill a regular human.

However, Konrad had just taken a lethal dose of the strongest painkiller and relaxants there were. His mind hovered between states of consciousness as his brain went haywire, showing a kaleidoscope of colours in his mind. His pupils condensed into pinholes and started shaking uncontrollably.

In fact, this was not quite as dangerous as it sounded. His body had been greatly strengthened with the purchase of the strongest Gene-Seeds and genetic modifications that were bought with the sole purpose of strengthening his body for psychic energy in mind.

Konrad remembered the very first time he tried doing this; his body went into shock and nearly shut down from the exposure to psychic energy. However, with that, he had an instinctual reaction that this was the correct path.

In short, his body had no 'talent' or aptitude for psychic energy, and he was essentially forcing his body to remould through exposure therapy. Over time through continuous sessions, his major circulatory system had strengthened and formed a 'channel' which psychic energy could pass through without killing him. Constant exposure to psychic energy also let his whole body gradually build resistance to it, reducing the destroying effect and allowing him to channel more and more psychic energy without hurting himself.

It was a crude method, but it was at least a path forward. However, Konrad always subconsciously felt that while it was progressing, it was far from the full potential of psychic energy. Perhaps, instead of trying to form a quantitative change, he should focus more on forming a qualitative one…

As for the injection he just took… he was not quite sure what was in there, and probably neither quite did the scientists that made it. However, it was effective, and that was all that mattered, even if there were some slight side effects…

As Konrad slowly increased the concentration of psychic energy through his blood vessels, abrasions formed on the inside which rapidly healed. This continuous damaging then healing of the blood vessels continued for about 10 minutes before he stopped, just as the effect of the drugs started to wear off. Like this, his body was slowly remodelled to be a better vessel for psychic energy.

Covered in sweat, Konrad breathed heavily, his mind returning to normal as he controlled his body to flush out the influence of the drugs. He looked around to find himself back in the cold and small cockpit. Snapping his fingers, a protein-rich nutrient solution materialised in front of him, which he proceeded to consume.

[Sir, arrival in 10 minutes]

Konrad grabbed an information sheet under his seat and flipped through it. Feeling in a good mood, and perhaps still slightly under the influence of drugs, Konrad started talking with the pilot.

[So, after the war, what do you think will happen now?]

[I believe that we will not be in peace for long]

[Oh, what makes you think that?]

[So long as we desire world domination, the guns will never silence]

[What makes you think I want world domination?]

[It is our purpose of existence, to serve you]

[You didn't answer my question]

[My apologies, I meant simply that your will, is ours as well]

Konrad was silent. He still didn't fully understand how his powers worked, or where they came from. However, as the saying goes; "Don't suspect the people you use and don't use the people you suspect".

That was one of the reasons that he focused so heavily on his individual power. After all, the power of oneself was the most reliable. He had already left the realm of mortals and into 'superhumans'. When put in the context of the continent, his powers were more like those of wizards and magic users. While they were different, they still shared some similarities and he could probably pass off as a wizard, albeit a very different one.

However, his strength was hard to evaluate along with other wizards. First of all, there was no standard system of power for superhumans, whether they be wizards or warriors. There are simply so many different systems of progression spread over such a large continent.

In fact, the terms 'wizard' and 'warrior' are a gross oversimplification. They are used as a form of categorisation, but in the absence of a standardised power system, they meant something different to every person. There was no 'standard' wizard or warrior, everyone had their own interpretation and version of them. These were wildly different in everything from training to progression and names. This was mainly the fault of the pioneers and practitioners of magic paths being isolated, separate and unwilling to share their information with others.

This lack of standardisation made it hard for professionals to identify exactly how powerful they were in regard to their peers. Only a few had ever tried to track every progression path, such as the illusionary Wizard's Association whose libraries were rumoured to be filled with constantly updating information about the different power systems the world had. However, this was only due to the Wizard's Association's unquenchable thirst for knowledge and search for "The Truth" that bordered on madness that they would ever attempt such an impossible task.

Currently, the Third Reich only had a vague and somewhat functional system of ranking, mainly focused on how many soldiers of the People's Army they could defeat head-on. For example, a squad, platoon, company, battalion, Space Marine, Battleship, Bismarck, Nuclear Bomb.