Reacher's heart started to beat like a drum as if his heart was going into hyperdrive. He could feel the blood pumping through his veins, and his breathing became slightly erratic.
Finally, a long sixty seconds passed and another message appeared.
[Your life experiences have been… AaanAlYzEd… Your xxxx is abusing the system to gain illegal advantages… ErRoRrrrr… SECURITY PROTOCOL! SECURITY PROTOCOL! , SYSTEM RISK INITIATED!… SECURITY PROTOCOL XXX fAiLeD… STARTING SECURITY PROTOCOL XXK…]
[ERROR!]
[ERROR!]
[ERROR!]
[...Success! Your Spiritual Root has been defined!]
"Security protocol?" Reacher's eyebrows knitted as a frown appeared on his face. Reacher never knew something like a security protocol even existed, as it never became public and his sister never mentioned it.
He didn't even know how he triggered it.
Reacher called up the screen status to see if anything happened.
[Jack Reacher]
[Age: 17]
[Rank: 1st Stage Elementary Spirit Realm]
[Spritual Roots: Creation, Sound]
_______________________
[Abilities:]
[Creation: Create anything you desire your imagination, and will is your limit, so let your mind wander to new heights.]
[Blackhole: Users can create black holes, a region of space and time where gravity is so strong that nothing – no particles or even electromagnetic radiation such as light]
_______________________
[Available Abilities: Omnidirectional Creation Waves (500 Evolution Points), Sonic Healing (500 Evolution Points), Sonic Teleportation (1000 Evolution Points), xxxxxxxx (?????? Evolution Points)]
Reacher looked at his system and was shocked by what he saw.
He had no words, it's as if his mind suddenly short-circuited.
Creation? Sound? Blackhole?!
He knew how overpowered this was if used correctly.
Even his future abilities seemed terrifying.
"So I can control Creation and Sound? Maybe that's just for now though..." Reacher was unable to contain the excitement that had been pent up for years.
Taking a few deep breaths he calmed down, "System, turn on beginner mode."
[Beginner query mode activated. During the next hour, the system will answer all user queries. After the end of that time, the system will not answer any more questions.]
This mode was something that helped a lot of new cultivators when the system appeared, but over time it became more and more useless, since all the questions anyone might ask usually already had answers on the internet.
However, for Reacher, it was crucial now.
He saw that there were different things in his System that he needed to clarify.
"What do Available abilities mean? And why does it not say skills?" Reacher asked. He knew that normal people didn't even know what skills they might unlock later, and why weren't his skills called skills but something else entirely, but for him, they showed up, and it even came at a price for him to do so.
[Because of an Error initializing the system connected to the host, the host system needed to be updated to version 2.0, which is not yet available to other people on this planet due to low evolution. Will be fixed as time pogresses.]
[Available Ability is a derogritory term for another word, but it's where the host can unlock, and use parts of your spiritual root at the cost of Evolution points. As for your other question skills and abilities mean the same thing just more advanced, and powerful]
Reachers' face finally broke as his face became shocked.
If what he thinks is correct then no one in the world is aware that their system was still at the 1.0 version and that he has a 2.0 version.
He ignored the skills and abilities explanation as it wasn't as crucial anymore, as something else piqued his interest.
"How does one obtain Evolution Points? Whats the actual term the?"
[By hunting and killing 'abominations' the host would receive experience points; which can be used to 'breakthrough' your cultivation or convert exp to Evolution Points which allows the host to level up abilities or unlock new abilities based on your Spiritual Root.]
Reacher became dumbfounded; as it was common knowledge that when killing abominations one would be able to 'breakthrough'.
'Breakinghtorugh' was a term people used when they went from a minor stage to another minor stage, or if they broke through into a realm after killing a random amount of abominations, but it was unheard of abilities being evolved due to it.
Even though like a double-edged sword it would somewhat slow down a person from 'Breakthrough' for a short term, as with more powerful abilities it would be easier to kill abominations and rise to even higher levels in the near future.
----------
Reacher then spent the rest of his time asking the system a multitude of questions about any doubts or concerns; as the answers he got were very satisfying and rewarding.
He knew that his talent was one of the strongest and would be able to use his 'abnormality' to his advantage to be considered a genius.
After thinking for a little bit a sudden idea struck his mind as his gaze landed on the glass on the table.
"Creation..." Reacher mumbled.
He stayed in a sitting position as he put all his focus on the glass before him.
Reacher started thinking about all the ways glass is made, and how to mold glass into anything they desired.
Reacher's eyes locked onto the glass in front of him, his mind focused and activated [Creation]
As he took a deep breath and concentrated, he felt a surge of energy flow through him.
Suddenly, he was aware of every detail of the glass - the way it was made, its composition, the way it reflected light.
It was as if every piece of information about the glass had been downloaded directly into his mind. Slowly, Reacher began to move his gaze away from the fixed glass, a few inches at a time.
As he did, he noticed little specs forming in the air around it.
At first, they were barely visible, but as he continued to concentrate, the speed at which they formed increased rapidly. Soon, the particles were merging together at a rate that was visible to the naked eye.
Reacher watched intently as the replica of the fixed glass began to take shape until it was finished.
Reacher's eyes widened as his mouth slightly opened in disbelief, he started scrutinizing both glasses to their finest detail but no matter how much he tried he couldn't find a single difference between them.
They even had the same lines where the glasses cracked.
Reacher began to ponder before summing the system once more and reading the creation ability once more.
"Anything you desire..." Reacher said out loud as he stared at the glass thinking.
"Maybe..."
After stopping at a certain idea he reactivated his [Creation] ability and focused on the fixed glass once more but this time no information entered his mind as he knew everything about the glass so this time he started fixing it to his will.
Suddenly the same phenomenon appeared once more next to the second glass after a second though a new glass appeared although there was a big difference with this one.
This one had no cracks in it, no glue, and it appeared brand new as if it came straight of out a store.
Reacher started nodding in understanding.
What Reacher didn't know is that creating both glasses took less than two seconds.
Gaining information and fixing information happened in an instant as if his mind became a supercomputer.
Reacher entered his thoughts again, before standing up and dashing to his room, a second later he came back out with a blue handball the size of his palm.
As he walked to the coffee table and moved it along with the couch before sitting down in the middle of the living room with the ball in front of him on the floor.
Staring at the ball quietly, Reacher's eyes became dull as if lost in thought, his thoughts unknown.
The silence was palpable in the room as he raised his hand, looking at it intently before activating [Blackhole.]
Suddenly, a small, pure black dot appeared in his hand, smaller than a penny. It stood there just slightly hovering as if waiting for something.
Reacher started putting more concentration, and Qi into the black hole, causing it to grow bigger and bigger, the space around his hand becoming more and more distorted until he stopped, revealing a pure black ball with a purple aura coating it, distorting space. The black hole was slightly bigger than his hand, and it was as if he was staring into the abyss.
Suddenly, with a swoosh, as he was lost in the black hole, the ball in front of him started to wobble, before it abruptly got sucked into the black hole and disappeared from his sight, forever lost in the black hole.
After coming out of his shock, Reacher was left dumbfounded as he stared at the spot where the black hole had just disappeared.
He had never experienced anything like this before, and yet here he was, with the power to create and manipulate black holes. His mind was racing with the possibilities of what he could do with this newfound power.
He went into a trance-like state as he ran into his room and came back out with a pen and a sheet of paper. He set the paper on a chair and placed the pen next to it before walking 30 feet away. He took a deep breath and focused on the paper, raising his hand with his palm facing toward the pen and paper, and activated his ability once again.
The same process happened once more as a small inkling of darkness appeared in the middle of his palm before it grew bigger and bigger. He continued to focus on the black hole, increasing the suction until the space around him began to distort. However, he was aware that if he continued to increase the suction, it would bring everything around him into the black hole, which he did not want.
After decreasing the suction a bit, the black hole returned to normal.
He stopped focusing on the black hole and saw that it continued to stay the way he left it.
He then focused on the paper on the chair and saw it slightly move.
A knowing smile appeared on his face before fully focusing on the paper.
Suddenly, "Swoooosh!!" the paper flew towards him and entered the black hole.
Reacher stopped and dispersed the black hole, and the pen remained on the chair in the exact same position. He began again, this time in a continuous smooth motion with no pause.
Raising his hand once more, he activated his power, and this time the black hole was the size of his palm. Within the next half second, the pen entered the black hole, and it disappeared. It took a few seconds for everything to happen this time
"Hahaha!" Reacher started laughing like a five-year-old kid, the sound echoed through the room, filling it with a contagious energy that was hard to resist. It was a sound that could only be described as pure and unbridled joy. It was as if all the pent-up emotions he had been carrying with him for years had suddenly been released all at once.
The pain of losing his sister, then his parents, the anger, the sadness, and the loneliness that had been caged deep within his heart for so long had finally found a way out. It was a moment of true liberation, a moment where he could finally let go of everything that had been weighing him down for so long, as he continued to laugh, his eyes closed and his head thrown back
After a couple of seconds, he calmed down and realized he had unknowingly cried, he wiped the tears away and regained his composure as the usual calm look reappeared.
He decided he should try a few more times.
Every try he attempted worked so he had another theory he needed to test.
This time he aimed toward the chair and did the same thing.
Whatever Reacher targeted would enter the black hole in an instant.
He also tested two more theories.
When he read the description of the ability a certain word struck him [Region of space and time where gravity is so strong] If the blackhole can affect space, time, and gravity then what if he used the black holes to affect one of the three. He knew nothing about time and space or how to control it but he knew about gravity.
Hence his first theory.
He grabbed 10 of the balls, he had more but he figured 10 was enough.
The reason he had so many ways for some reason he would always lose them somehow and would spend the whole day looking for them; so he figured just to buy them in bulk.
Reacher placed the balls five feet away from him in a circle and then sat in the middle of the circle.
His theory number one was an attraction and repulsion field.
He figured what if he could target the gravity around him into a field that could push or pull objects.
He didn't know if it would work but it wouldn't hurt to try he figured.
He activated the Blackhole and focused on the gravity surrounding him, the black hole didn't appear in his hand this time though but above and behind his head. It was about the same size as a softball, this time he spread the gravity surrounding the black hole around him and focused it on the 10 balls around him.
He could see a faint purple film coating each ball until they were fully coated in a purple film.
He stared intently at each and every ball looking for the slightest movement.
- Wiggle
- Wiggle
As he eyed the balls they moved or more specifically wiggled forward and backward. A smile crept onto his face, Even though it didn't work fully it proved his theory to create a field, he figured out why it didn't work out as well, it was due to the lack of practice.
After practicing for an hour he was able to fully utilize the field. All the balls around him flew outwards at high speeds crashing against the walls or objects.
"So my theory was correct..." Reacher mumbled but not he needed to test his second theory.
He grabbed a bunch of pens.
He wanted to see if the repulsion field would rearrange the aim of the pens if he just threw them in the air.
He activated his ability once more as a black hole appeared behind his head and created a repulsion field.
Reacher threw the pens in the air, all the pens stopped in the air for a second before rearranging and having the pointy end of the pens outward; as they launched forward like tiny missiles.
- Thud!
- Thud!
- Thud!
- Thud!
All the pens made contact with the wall creating a soft thud, thankfully They were capped so they just fell to the floor.
Reacher was surprised that all his theories worked out.
"With Creation, Blackhole, Attraction, and repulsion, it's very overpowered if used correctly. Now I wonder what the rest of his future abilities will be but they sound even more overpowered..." Reacher started thinking of the infinite possibilities he could achieve with these newfound powers.
As much as people with Fire or Ice Spiritual Roots could seem very flashy, dazzling, and powerful, Reacher knew that his Creation/Sound Spiritual Roots had far greater potential than those other talents.
Reacher grew anxious and got up grabbed his jacket and his motorcycle keys, and left the house to buy supplies for tomorrow's hunt.
What Reacher didn't know was that the reason his theories worked out was because of his understanding and control over his Spiritual Roots other known as his proficiencies over them.
Getting on his motorcycle he started it and rode off into the streets before stopping at a store a few minutes away.
Entering the store, he just looked at the throwing knives he wanted, along with the needles he needed.
He activated his Creation Ability but stopped it after all the information entered his mind.
After that, he left and walked a few blocks away, and entered a dark abandoned alley.
After a few seconds, he came back out of the alley holding 5 throwing knives, and a set of needles; Reacher already had a sword so he didn't need to create one.
Although money didn't matter to him, what was the point of wasting it if he didn't need to?
Reacher let out a mischievous smile, as he technically just accomplished daylight robbery.
He got home late so he just slept. The exhaustion from a long day at work had taken its toll on him.
Throughout the entire day, even when he was testing his abilities, he still wore his headphones.
He even wore them while sleeping.
It was a habit he had developed over time, finding solace in the music that drowned out the noise of the world around him.
The next morning, Reacher woke up feeling groggy and in need of a shower. He reached up and lifted his arms to gently take off the headphones.
"SSSSCCCCCRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"
As soon as he took off the headphones, his entire hearing system was instantly assaulted by a high-frequency sound wave of 12,000 hertz ringing through his ears, and mind.
It was as if someone had turned up the volume to the maximum level, and jammed the speaker into his head.
As Reacher lay there, he could feel his body succumbing to the intense pressure building inside of him. His ears began to throb painfully as the blood started to gush out of them uncontrollably.
He was completely helpless as he watched his mind turn numb, feeling as though he was trapped in a nightmare that he couldn't escape. His vision became hazy and distorted as the blood continued to pour out of his ears, clouding his eyesight and making it almost impossible to see. It was as if his body had given up on him, leaving him to suffer in silence without even the ability to scream out for help.
The world around him started to spin uncontrollably, and he could feel himself losing consciousness.
Thankfully, he still had the headphones in his hands, so with extreme difficulty, he was able to put them back on. Instantly, everything returned to normal after a few minutes.
His mind and vision returned to normal, and the bleeding stopped.
"Huff!"
"Huff!"
"BBLLLAAARRGGGHHHHH!!"
"BBLLLAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!"
After a few deep breaths, Reacher threw up everything inside his stomach onto his floor, after a couple of seconds, he stopped barfing as there was nothing left in his stomach.
He slumped on the floor in exhaustion, as his bed was... disgusting to say the least.
"What... the fuck.... was... thaattt....!?" Reacher mumbled in exhaustion taking deep breaths in between.
After 15 minutes Reacher stood up wobbly as he leaned against the wall, after staring at nothing for another five, he left towards the restroom and took a shower, he just stood there letting the water gently caress his body. After 20 minutes he got out of the shower he was still wearing his headphones thankfully they were waterproof.
Reacher was reinvigorated, so after changing and cleaning up the mess in his room, he went hunting.
He had the five knives around his thigh and waist, a mechanical box that dispensed three needles at a time tied to the back of his waist, and his sword going from his shoulder to his waist.
Arriving at the city gate, the guards looked at him with a confused expression as to them Reacher looked young, and he was wearing headphones.
"Did you just awaken?" one of the guards asked.
"Yes, I'm here to practice my battle instincts," Reacher replied in an indifferent tone and a calm face.
The guards couldn't say anything but they could at least warn him.
"You shouldn't wear headphones while hunting..."
"It's a side effect of my spiritual roots, it enhanced my hearing so I need the headphones to function."
The guard could hear the music slightly, but the kid could still hear him so he simply shrugged and gave him a final warning.
"Okay, just be careful."
Reacher just nodded with a calm smile and walked past.
The guards could only sigh as they watched his back before turning towards each other.
"Youths these days have no sense of danger... but you know the saying, the new generation will overcome the old." The guard sighed.
His partner could only nod in agreement.