I gasped for air, forcing my eyes open. The blue light of the monitors was blinding.
I engaged the Mach 30 cognitive processing of my Super Speed. Time dilated. The howling hurricane of voices slowed, separating from a deafening roar into twenty million individual streams of data.
I closed my eyes and visualized a fortress. I built walls of titanium in my mind. I took the roaring ocean of thoughts and routed it outside the fortress. I created a mental dial, a master volume switch for the entire eastern seaboard.
With a monumental effort of will, I grabbed the dial and turned it down.
The screaming faded to a roar.
The roar faded to a murmur.
The murmur faded to a whisper.
And then, absolute silence.
I slumped forward in my chair, resting my forehead against the cracked glass of the desk.
My chest heaved as I pulled in ragged breaths of air. The silence of the office was the most beautiful thing I had ever experienced.
"Status," I wheezed.
[UPGRADE COMPLETE!]
Power Evolved: Telepathy (Tier 3) → Telepathy (Tier 1)
New Parameters: Range expanded to a 100 kilometer radius.
Capabilities: Absolute mind reading of any target within range. Complete mind control and physical puppeteering of thousands of simultaneous targets. Mental Presence Detection allows for the exact geographic pinpointing of any specific mind within the radius. Memory erasure, alteration and fabrication can be performed instantaneously. Two way telepathic communication established at will.
[You are now a god of the mind, Boss. Professor X would weep with envy. Try not to accidentally command the entire city to jump off a bridge.]
I slowly sat up, rolling my neck. The headache was already fading, the neural pathways permanently expanded to accommodate the god like capacity.
I decided to test the filter. I kept the wall up, but I created a tiny pinhole in the defense.
I cast the net outward, scanning the 100 kilometer radius in a fraction of a second.
Found Stan Edgar.
He was in Manhattan. Upper East Side. A heavily fortified townhouse.
I slipped through the pinhole, traversing the miles instantly and brushed against the edge of his consciousness.
He was asleep. But his dreams were highly ordered categorizations of corporate strategy and contingency plans. Even in his subconscious, Stan Edgar was playing chess.
He was currently dreaming of a congressional hearing, manipulating senators like pawns.
I withdrew smoothly, closing the pinhole. The operation was a flawless success.
I looked back at the glowing blue interface floating in the dark room.
[REMAINING XP: 6,100]
"System," I said, my voice steadying as the residual migraine faded. "Select Cloning and upgrade to Tier 2."
[Power Selected: Cloning (Tier 4)]
[Upgrade to Tier 3 requires 1,500 XP.]
[Upgrade to Tier 2 requires 3,000 XP.]
[Total XP Required: 4,500 XP.]
[Current XP: 6,100.]
[Do you wish to proceed?]
"Execute."
[Deducting 4,500 XP...]
[UPGRADE IN PROGRESS...]
The physical sensation this time felt as though my very soul was being pulled tight and fractured, dividing into dozens of perfectly identical pieces.
The hive mind connection I had experienced with the five Red Unit clones expanded exponentially. My sense of self widened, making room for a small army of consciousnesses that lay dormant within my cells, waiting to be unleashed.
[UPGRADE COMPLETE!]
Power Evolved: Cloning (Tier 4) → Cloning (Tier 2)
New Parameters: Maximum simultaneous clone manifestation increased from 5 to 40.
Capabilities: Each of the forty clones retains the original's baseline physical and elemental capabilities at an optimized fraction. Hive mind bandwidth expanded to handle simultaneous tactical coordination across multiple theaters of operation.
Forty clones.
I could have ten of them managing the global branches of Spencer Industries under various Shapeshifted personas.
I could have a designated surveillance team stationed outside Vought Tower around the clock.
I could deploy the Red Unit as an overwhelming tactical strike force capable of wiping out small armies.
I checked the balance.
[REMAINING XP: 1,600]
I scanned my remaining powers, evaluating their utility against my current strategic goals. My eyes lingered on one in particular.
Fire Manipulation (Tier 3).
I had plundered it from Lamplighter, thinking elemental versatility would be useful. But the truth was, I barely used it.
Cryokinesis was clean, it left no ballistic evidence and it was devastatingly effective for silent assassinations and flash freezing entire environments.
Fire, on the other hand, was messy. It left scorch marks, triggered smoke alarms and drew immediate attention.
Furthermore, my Tier 1 physicals and Tier 1 Cryokinesis made a Tier 3 fire ability completely redundant in combat.
"System. Flag Fire Manipulation for recycling."
[Power Selected: Fire Manipulation (Tier 3)]
[Are you sure you want to convert this ability? It's a classic! Who doesn't love a good fireball?]
"Convert it," I said flatly.
[Converting Power: Fire Manipulation (Tier 3)...]
[Conversion Complete. You have gained 1,500 XP.]
[CURRENT XP: 3,100]
I felt the internal understanding of combustion and heat slip away from my mind, a warm ember extinguishing itself in the cold void of my capabilities.
"Final upgrade for the night," I commanded. "Select Telekinesis and upgrade to Tier 2."
[Power Selected: Telekinesis (Tier 3)]
[Upgrade to Tier 2 requires 3,000 XP.]
[Current XP: 3,100.]
[Do you wish to proceed?]
"Execute."
[Deducting 3,000 XP...]
[UPGRADE IN PROGRESS...]
The invisible muscle in my mind flexed and tore, growing denser and vastly more powerful.
Before, I could lift a ten ton weight stack with a modicum of strain. Now, the gravitational hold on the objects in the room felt entirely subject to my whim.
[UPGRADE COMPLETE!]
Power Evolved: Telekinesis (Tier 3) → Telekinesis (Tier 2)
New Parameters: Lifting and manipulation capacity increased to 50 tons. Fine motor control significantly enhanced.
I exhaled a long breath. The sheer volume of biological and neurological restructuring I had undergone in the past hour was staggering.
"System. Pull up the final status."
The interface refreshed, the blue text glowing with an undeniable finality.
[FINAL STATUS]
[HOST: Aryan Spencer]
[CURRENT XP: 100]
[POWERS:]
Cryokinesis (Tier 1)
Biokinesis (Tier 1)
Resurrection (Tier 1)
Super Strength (Tier 1)
Super Defence (Tier 1)
Super Speed (Tier 1)
Teleportation (Tier 1)
Telepathy (Tier 1)
Regeneration (Tier 1)
Super Stamina (Tier 2)
Enhanced Senses (Tier 2)
Telekinesis (Tier 2)
Cloning (Tier 2)
Shapeshifting (Tier 3)
Size Alteration (Tier 3)
I read the list twice, letting the reality of it settle into my bones.
I swiped my hand through the air, closing the holographic interface.
The adrenaline was finally beginning to ebb, leaving behind a bone deep exhaustion.
The mental strain of the Tier 1 Telepathy upgrade alone would have lobotomized a normal human. My Superhuman physiology could handle it, but even a perfect machine needed to power down and run its maintenance cycles.
I stood up from the desk, my joints popping softly in the quiet room. I walked out of the command center, the heavy biometric door hissing shut and sealing automatically behind me.
I moved down the hallway of the penthouse, the thick carpet silencing my steps. I passed the guest suite. The door was closed. I could hear the steady rhythm of Kimiko's breathing inside.
I walked into my own bedroom, not bothering to turn on the lights. I stripped off my dark clothes, letting them fall to the floor and slid into the immaculate silk sheets of the master bed.
I closed my eyes, wrapping the silence around me like a blanket.
PS: Sorry for the delay in the bonus chapter. I was busy with hospital paperwork because of the March ending (financial year stuff, haha).
PS: The novel is already completed on Patreon. If you want to read the whole story at once, there are 50+ advance chapters available. www.patreon. com/Drrajnovel