Data Manipulation

Seeing the reply and the amount of positive feedbacks, Alex's heart swelled with pride.

He was a nobody.

The only reason he posted the manual was for his own amusement, yet here he was, getting praised by the masses.

If he ever needed help would people help him in return?

He could be getting ahead of himself since no one might recognize him but if he ask online some people might agree if his request isn't too much or he might be outright rejected.

There's one thing he noticed about the post. Everyone has different skills generated after trying to learn a skill.

If everyone has different skills, then that means there's no formula or rule that can guarantee you'll get a specific skill.

If everyone has different skills, then that means there's no formula or rule that can guarantee you'll get a specific skill.

Since the skills are random, the person's personality, mindset and their body's compatibility with the technique might play a role in determining the skills they get.

"Hmm. That's an interesting theory. If that's true then everyone has a unique skill only they have access to. Just like a unique skill or innate skill."

Alex nodded his head.

Since he learned skills on his own, he had a broader outlook on what to do. He decided to try out the new method.

He tried using an activation method for a defensive skill.

Alex sat on the sofa and gathered energy on his left foot.

He focused his mind and imagined a protective armor.

His mind went blank.

He could feel energy moving and concentrating on his left foot.

A second, ten seconds and then a minute has passed.

Nothing was happening.

He tried it his other feet, both hands, and almost every other body part but nothing happened.

Alex was frustrated and gave up. He let go of the energy and released it, allowing energy to circulate normally.

"Alright, that one's a bust. Let's try the other method. Maybe I have a support skill just like Nurse Angel."

Alex starts testing if he has a support skill. He starts gathering energy and performed the same thing: he gathered energy in his hands, feet, head, and almost every body part that he could think of but nothing happened.

"I'm doing something wrong. I'm still using the activation method for a defensive skills."

He thought for a bit and smacked his forehead.

"Wait... I just finished reading the post and I already forgot about something basic! I need to transfer the energy to another person or object to check if I have a support skill. "

With refreshed understanding, he started experimenting.

He gathered energy on his hand and started touching his body, transferring bits of energy from time to time.

Nothing happened.

"Okay. Now, I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. What could it be?"

Not knowing where things went wrong, he went back to the post and began reading from the start.

He spent some time and after reading for a while, he finally realized where he went wrong.

He's trying to learn a skill that doesn't match his real skill set.

Nurse Angel learned a healing skill because she was a nurse. If he wants to learn a support skill, he needs to transfer energy on something his skill set applies too.

As an IT Specialist, he works with computers and softwares.

Alex turned to his laptop. He gathered energy on his hands and transferred the energy into his laptop.

The transfer was successful.

He waited for any reaction but nothing happened.

Knowing he's on the right path but still doing something wrong, Alex changed his approach and tried different angles.

And he succeeded while learning something important.

Aside from energy being transferred, there is one more condition for a support skill to be activated.

The user's intent.

Because Alex was randomly transferring energy earlier without any goal in mind, the laptop didn't undergo anything different.

However, after the laptop started slowing down and heating up from the constant energy transfer, he wished that it would stop heating up.

A huge chunk of the gathered energy on his hand disappeared and went to the laptop.

Furthermore, it continued sucking energy out of him for three minutes before the laptop suddenly cooled down and went to a black screen.

A second later, it popped back up and showed the desktop interface.

At a glance, nothing changed but when Alex tried some operation, he was surprised to learn that everything became faster.

Opening and closing browsers, folders and files have almost no loading times. They just immediately pop out on the screen.

"Is my support skill to upgrade a computer's hardware? That shouldn't be it."

Although Alex was happy with the result since his PC is now faster and stronger than ever, he felt disappointed with his skill.

"I have a support skill, but it doesn't have an immediate impact. I probably can't even use this now since people have other things to do than sit in front of a computer. Did I really become a computer technician? This sucks."

Alex couldn't accept that he got a strange skill, so he tried using his newfound support skill a couple of times.

He was glad he did.

After several testing, he became excited as he learned more applications of the skill.

Alex smiled widely.

He didn't just become a computer technician, he turned out to be the master of computers!

To be more specific, he turned out to be a digital manipulator!

He can use his energy to manipulate data inside the computer and change data at his will.

What happened earlier on the laptop was it's operating system code was directly updated and improved.

A cleaner and optimized code made the laptop ran faster and smoother causing it stop heating up and load faster.

If it weren't for it's average hardware, the laptop would have become much faster overall.

Alex chose to name the skill Data Manipulation.

Data Manipulation is a powerful support skill and can be used as an offensive skill in the cyberspace. If the apocalypse didn't happen, he could become the greatest hacker with this skill alone.

Alex suddenly got an idea in mind and went online. He opened his browser and went to a familiar website. He directly went to the Traffic Management System website.

Previously, he needed his hacking tool to get in but what about now?

With a thought, he connected to the Traffic Management System website and began editing the code for security and login.

His mind worked faster than ever.

In just a few minutes, he magically rewrote the code, hacked the security, and even added some functions that allows him to remain as a guest user as long as he entered VIP999 on the username and use no password to login.

As for the actual system, he left it the way it was.

It's a traffic management system, not a weapon so he didn't do anything else.

As for the active account credentials, he didn't touch it. He didn't want to alert the people on the other side. He just want access to the traffic management system not monopolize it.

He was satisfied with the outcome.

Being able to edit code and login undetected was more than enough for him.

After entering the guest code on the username, he was able to login to the website without any mishaps.

No messages, no alerts and he didn't get kicked out.

Alex was ecstatic.

If he wants to, he could now go anywhere and do anything he wants inside the city without the need to worry about his safety as long as he surveys the route properly.

The Traffic Management System can serve as a guide or a road block depending on his will.

It was a good addition to his toolbox that only has a few tools he can use at the moment.

After the successful experiment, Alex decided to take a break from hacking.

He just upgraded the software of his laptop and hacked into a website, so his energy circulation is very low and he felt very fatigued even though he had small amounts of energy circulating in his body.

"Did I overdo it or is my body not used anymore to not having adequate amount of energy?"

Alex rested for another ten minutes and browsed the forums. He contemplated for a bit whether to share more information and he decided to share his new discovery about user intent and Energized Skin.

He wants to share Energized Skin since it's a universal skill that anyone should be able to learn as long as they can gather and control energy.

He decided to share the skill so more people can safely fight zombies without having to worry about getting heavily injured.

What's the point of surviving if you're the only person left in the world?

He created a short post with all the details needed: user intent is needed for activating support skills, and the guide to activate Energized Skin, how to gather energy and the activation method.

With the post done, Alex closed the laptop and decided to continue looting the supermarket.

He still felt tired even though his body is brimming with energy but the fatigue has started to settle down and is slowly fading.

Alex went downstairs carrying the trolley and knocked on Liz's apartment.