CHAPTER 23: CHAPTER 23: FIRST TESTS

In the car, Zayden, who had just left the diner, felt that he had learned a lot.

First, as he had imagined, even though these intangible beings, in reality, become tangible if attacked by something like his Spiritual Power.

Another thing was the EXP gained from killing one of those beings.

Moreover, after the woman stopped being affected by the little man, he observed her for a long 20 minutes while staying at the diner and saw her expression visibly improve.

This made him think that these beings might feed on other people’s emotions.

Of course, that wasn’t all.

He felt curious about the woman and the man’s comment about her being hungry, even though she had eaten not long ago.

Which suggests that the little man was eating her life force, perhaps?

Before reaching a definitive conclusion, he needed to observe these things more closely.

Zayden clenched his left fist, and a crest appeared on the back of his hand.

’If I use the crest’s powers, will I be able to hit those beings?’

It was plausible.

But without testing, he couldn’t conclude it as certain.

...

The reason Zayden drove to such a remote area of the city was to find a place to test his powers without interruptions.

After leaving the diner, he drove for another five kilometers and stopped at the entrance to a forest.

There was a bear warning sign, but he didn’t care and entered after storing his car in his inventory.

The fact that something like a car could fit in the inventory was also quite useful.

Honestly, he still didn’t understand how this wasn’t classified as a skill. In fact, it should be something like a special skill.

Since it was an isolated area, far from the city, he wasn’t worried about cameras recording and entered the forest.

There were many trees, obviously, and tall green grass.

There were traces of a human path.

As he walked in, he heard some sounds of nature, starting with the singing of birds, insect noises, and even the sound of a waterfall cascading.

After walking almost 500 meters, he stopped.

On the back of his right hand, the ’gear’ crest appeared.

At the same time, a caduceus-like crest appeared on his left hand.

He tried using the gear one, and soon the pointer went straight to first gear.

When he did that, he imagined his cells transforming like in those movie scenes.

His body grew hot as if he were boiling from the inside.

His heart in his chest was beating so strongly it was audible.

Stepping on the ground, he tried to run. When he did, the simple act of stepping was powerful enough to create a small deformation beneath his foot, and in an instant, he covered a distance of two meters with a single step.

The momentum, which normally wouldn’t exceed a meter, was enough to go far beyond that.

When he started running, it was as if he were gliding at times.

When he stepped harder on the ground to gain forward momentum, he literally leaped ten meters forward.

It was a liberating, even addictive sensation.

Zayden ran with all his strength while the noise he made running like that startled the birds.

While running at an incredible speed, he tripped over a root.

His immense strength managed to break the root, but he still lost his balance and, shouting ’Ahhh,’ he started to fall, but thought quickly enough to spin in the air and, with his heels being the first to touch the ground, he skidded, wearing out the sole of his shoe, raising a cloud of dust and sand.

Because of the stumble, he couldn’t control his direction and was heading straight toward a tree.

Using his hands, he flexed upon impact and used them as a shock absorber, simulating a spring, and reduced the impact.

He didn’t know for sure the speed he was running at, but it definitely exceeded 50 km/h.

He had already reached a speed that would make him the fastest in the world.

Of course, that was only among ordinary humans.

If someone from the supernatural was involved, the result would be different.

"That was... Insane..." He murmured, almost out of breath.

By the way, he didn’t just feel physically tired. Spiritually, even? Well, it must be something like that... Anyway, he felt a different kind of exhaustion while using his ability to run faster.

There was still so much he didn’t know about Spiritual Power, after all.

’Now I just need to test the crest on my left hand.’ He thought.

He was almost certain it was related to healing.

It was more of a feeling he had, really.

He hadn’t tested it yet to be sure.

After resting while sitting against the tree, he looked at the palms of his hands.

He hadn’t noticed that, besides the feeling of relief when the pain in his palms, which he used as a shock absorber when crashing into the tree, disappeared, all the wounds on his hands vanished like magic.

’Was that... Self-regeneration?’

He didn’t feel like he had lost his own identity, even after discovering he was a reincarnation.

It was as if he were discovering new things about himself. No, it wasn’t just that—he was literally discovering new things related to his abilities as a [Baron].

The question was... He didn’t have the Caduceus crest activated at that moment. In other words, the best explanation was truly self-regeneration without needing the crest to be active.

’Does this have to do with the crest, or is it because I became a Baron?’

It seemed that the more he knew, the more questions appeared.

Even so, he stayed calm.

There was no reason to lose his composure. Even if there were many confusing things now, he could understand them little by little.

...

It took almost a full hour for him to partially recover.

The speed at which he recovered physically was surprising, but in terms of Spiritual Power, it was slower.

’So, I can’t use this carelessly...’

He didn’t know how useful this one-year protection period would be or how much he could improve in the short term of one year.

The issue was... If he came across a powerful supernatural being and ended up without Spiritual Power, his life would be at risk.

’I need to train more... I need to become stronger!’

He didn’t want to leave things to chance.

If there’s one thing his ancestors taught him, it’s that it’s always worth being prepared for the storms to come.

Another thing he noticed while in this forest... Strangely, there were no supernatural beings. At least, so far, he hadn’t encountered any.

If these ghostly beings were truly spirits of the dead, there should be at least one in this forest.

That said, he put it aside for now.

Checking the time, he saw it was almost eleven in the morning.

Remembering that he still needed to meet Erika later, he thought: ’I need to head back.’