Although that hardly narrowed down the number of possible gifts he could receive, it at least gave him a direction.
'Efficiency, that's what matters.'
Bruce thought while examining his body. He stood up and walked around the room, trying to check something.
The next two physical aspects were: Speed and Agility.
He was sure that he had no gifts related to speed since if that was the case, he would be noticeably faster.
Not to mention, he would've probably gotten a notification as soon as he started walking... but obviously, that was not the case.
"Eh, maybe next time."
Bruce rubbed his nose. He would've wanted a speed gift, his favorite hero was the Reverse Flash.
As for the last physical aspect, Agility... it was a bit tricky.
If Speed was the ability to move fast, then Agility could be defined as the ability to react quickly with a coordinated body.
How would he test that....? Then a flash of inspiration suddenly struck his mind. Bruce walked up to the desk in the room and opened the drawer.
In the drawer, there were a couple of pens. He only needed one for the experiment so he only took the closest one from his hand.
Then, closing the drawer, Bruce held the pen right above his head. He stared at it closely before suddenly dropping it.
Woosh!
He tried catching it mid-air, but unfortunately, the pen had fallen through the gap of his hands, landing on the surface of the floor.
Of course, that's what should've happened.
But all of a sudden, the pen froze in the air, falling at the pace of a snail.
'...Huh? Is it my imagination or did it slow down?'
Bruce had a stunned expression.
[Ability No. 2!]
[Time Dilation: The user can slow down time for 7 seconds, with a time difference of 1:50. It can be triggered through strong emotions and intent to slow down time.]
The pen fell extremely slowly.
The goldfish in the fishbowl stopped moving.
Bruce looked all over his surroundings and knew without a single doubt that Time Dilation was under effect.
And yet, he remained unaffected. He moved his limbs, checking if he was any slower, but that was not the case.
If anything, he was feeling faster than usual.
Without a doubt, time had slowed down for everything else in the room but him.
"Jackpot!"
He almost celebrated in joy. This was an extremely powerful skill if used well, it could help him avoid fatal attacks coming his way.
Woosh!
He caught the pen in the air with a wide smile on his face, feeling extremely happy.
A time-ability was extremely rare.
"Well, I guess that answers it. I don't have an agility or speed ability, but a time-related ability instead! Awesome!"
In a sense, Time Dilation reinforced both his speed and agility. It was a skill that he could use for both ends, attacking and defending.
"With this, I only have to find five more gifts."
If his two abilities were this strong, he was excited to find out what the rest of his five hidden abilities were!
"But, let's put this on hold for a moment," Bruce spoke, stretching his hands. He had a wide smile on his face. "Gifts, or abilities, could manifest in various ways."
A good example was his naturally awakened ability, Energy Extrasensitivity.
If Bruce would categorize it in a specific domain, it would be under the abstract domain.
It was basically as its name suggested. It made him extra sensitive to various types of energies in the universe.
If he had a similar Cipher gift, how could he discover it?
Bruce couldn't find an answer to that question at the moment. It was almost impossible to discover something as abstract as that.
Since he had put discovering the other gifts on hold for the moment, he decided to test out the domain feature of the Infinite Cipher.
He went inside his mind and let his consciousness be absorbed by the floating Rubik's cube, causing his body in real life to fall to the ground.
Thud!
... He didn't know that, of course.
***
[Entering the Infinite Cipher...]
[Detected three gifts: Lower Regeneration, Energy Extrasensitivity, and Time Dilation.]
[Domains available to practice: Body Domain, Abstract Domain, and Temporal Domain.]
Bruce's eyes widened slightly. He didn't expect that he could also train his naturally awakened ability in the Cipher.
He thought that the training feature only applied to the gifts he had gotten from the Cipher. It seems his ability wouldn't be as useless as he thought it would be...
'Go to the Body Domain.'
For now, he chose the Body Domain. He wanted to see how the Cipher would assist him in mastering Lower Regeneration.
At this moment, the Rubik's Cube stopped rotating.
Bruce looked at the scene in front of him.
The front side of the Cipher shone with a brilliant, bright green color, resembling a world full of life and vitality.
Without warning, the green side suddenly sucked his consciousness. It didn't give him time to prepare or think.
Woosh!
Opening his eyes, Bruce was greeted by a dark environment—wholly different from the bright green place from earlier.
His eyes navigated his surroundings, seeing steel wires all over the corner. It stretched from his back all over to his front.
Then, Bruce realized. He was inside a goddamn cage.
'What the hell?!'
In a panic, he realized he couldn't move. He looked at his arms and legs, all chained up and restrained, as though he was a prisoner of fate.
A streak of information went through his mind. He found himself at a loss—a name appeared in his mind 'Stage 1: Spiky Hell'.
Soon, he understood why the stage name sounded so ominous and terrifying.
At this moment, thousands of spikes, stretching from his back to the front appeared. It resembled the little pointy tip of an injection.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait...!"
Realizing something, Bruce screamed and tried to move. With his quick mind, he naturally understood what the purpose of those spikes were.
At first, he was curious about how the Cipher was going to assist him with mastering Lower Regeneration...
But it turned out the answer was awfully simple.
The Cipher was going to hurt him hard, let his body regenerate and through that process, he would be able to master it.
"I'm gonna die from pain, you stupid fuck!"
[Pain Sensitivity lowered to a bearable amount.]
"That's not the point, you fuckeeeer!!"
Bruce screamed loudly. The spikes were gradually approaching his position, amplifying the fear he was experiencing.
"Okay. Turn it off! Turn the pain sensitivity off!"
"Turn it off!"
Unfortunately, the Cipher couldn't care less about his demands. If it turned it off, then the training will lose at least 50% of its effectiveness.
Under its thousands of calculations, the fastest method for Bruce to master the Lower Regeneration ability was to be in a desperate crisis.
Bruce Ryker was a man who shone brightest under the deadliest situations.
Looking at the spikes a few feet away from him, he stopped screaming and clenched his jaw tight. He closed his eyes and tightened his fist.
All the joy from unlocking the two skills vanished from his mind.