Ability Wielders - Chapter 158 Evolutions

His first power is Phantom Daggers. Phantom Daggers conjures 10 spectral daggers that can be manipulated with the mind. The speed of the Phantom Daggers can be as fast as 80% of Hayden’s own maximum velocity and doesn’t create a sound. The daggers are also sharp enough to injure all Level 3 wielders and early-stage Level 4 wielders.

These daggers have a limited range of 50 meters and can be unsummoned anytime. However, once a dagger strikes an enemy, it will dissipate within two seconds and will have a cooldown of 10 seconds before it can be evoked again.

Baroloix’s second power is the Ghost Bypass. Ghost Bypass allows Hayden to touch any wielder that is supposed to be intangible, allowing him to attack them.

Baroloix’s most prominent power is the Umbral Blade. Umbral Blade allows Hayden to project a three-inch black double-edged blade from any his palm. This blade is extremely sharp and can be rotated to any orientation for maximum flexibility.

What’s more, the disguise of Baroloix is… None. Baroloix has no disguise. In place of this, Baroloix can disappear into the wielder’s body and stay internally until called upon.

“I am giving up my life of solitude here, Hayden.” Baroloix blinked lazily. “You better make it worthwhile for me. Assassinate people as much as you could.”

“I will ensure that I will do so.” Hayden nodded. Light came from the ten tips of Baroloix’s finger and shot to the Origin Crystal of Hayden. Information surged to Hayden’s mind, and when that was done, Hayden removed Halichi first, picked up Baroloix and delicately wore him.

His four Xirixian materialized inside his mind, with his previous three facing Baroloix. Halichi respectfully bowed to Baroloix. “Sir Baroloix.”

“Halichi.” Baroloix acknowledged Halichi. “You have grown as well. It seems that we will be working together now. Something that has never occurred in the past.”

“Indeed.” Halichi and Baroloix had a mature discussion, while Shabilo and Rilias wore an uncaring face.

Hayden let the four Xirixian be, turning to Starakt and asking, “There’s a ranking to the Ashikza? There’s no records in the library.”

“It’s more of a partial ranking really. I ranked them all by myself in terms of the feats they’ve been used in the past.” Starakt shrugged. “Halichi is ninth, while Shabilo is fourteenth for that teleportation alone.”

“I see.” Hayden nodded, scanning the surroundings. “I’ll take one more.”

“Be my guest.” Starakt coughed, feeling that four Xirixian being tied to one person is nothing but absurd. Still, he was curious to witness how much Xirixian can Hayden form a contract with. “I’m wondering how much Xirixian you can snatch from this vault.”

When Hayden triggered it, a specter as tall as him and the exact same shape as him materialized in front of him. Oddly enough, Hayden can see through two pairs of eyes. It was weird seeing himself and having two bodies contemporaneously.

‘Damn, this is cool.’ Hayden moved his sensory body to navigate around the Xirixian. Hayden observed every single Xirixian through his extra pair of eyes.

Before he can even move his original body, something stole the attention of Hayden through his Sensory Body. It was a necklace with a pendant. The yellow pendant was reminiscent of the Sun. Hayden was attracted to it for some reason. As if he just knew that this Xirxian will be a good one.

Hayden retracted his sensory body back into him and dashed to that pendant. A beautiful woman with light brown skin and yellow hair that was styled in a short bob cut popped up in front of him.

She wore a white shirt underneath a yellow vest, yellow shorts, white socks with yellow stripes, and had yellow-colored eyes. She radiated joy.

“Woohoo!” The woman cheered. “Will you choose me? Will you finally choose me? I know you will choose me! Wait, let me explain my powers…”

Hayden was surprised when he listened to the woman. This Xirxian only had two powers. The first is that it allowed Hayden to identify Xirixian and Dimensional Realm entrances within 100 meters. This alone was pretty much a good power for Hayden to consider taking her.

The deal was sealed when he heard the second power of this Xirxian. It’s that the Xirxian can cleanse any status effect on Hayden that was caused by an Ability, such as forced sleep, mind control, and fear. It has a cooldown of five minutes.

What’s good here is that this Xirxian can activate by itself whenever Hayden is afflicted by a wielder’s Ability.

“I didn’t get your name.” Hayden eagerly said. “What are you called?”

“My name is Catiar (Cat-yar).” Catiar smiled at Hayden. “Will you form a contract with me? Will you? Will you? Will you?”

“Why are you so desperate that you’re practically begging me to take you in?” Hayden questioned skeptically.

“Because every wielder that I’ve met… Well, they were annoyed of my personality…” Catiar pouted sadly. “But, I’ve heard what you ordered Sir Halichi previously, and… I figured that you will take good care of me.”

“That’s pretty sad.” Hayden shrugged. “Your powers are worthwhile… This is peculiar, howbeit, I accept you.”

“Yippee!” Catiar practically jumped in joy. Her physical form dissipated, a light shot from the pendant to Hayden’s Origin Crystal. Hayden wore Catiar and ordered her to change her pendant into a white Asian dragon with a metallic sheen.

When this concluded, Hayden stood by the side to wait up for Darakth and the others. Hayden didn’t care for anybody else. Five Xirixian was enough. It’d genuinely feel like he was stealing if he got more.

Hayden was going to chat with Eun-ha and Sayuri when Starakt approached him. “So, what’s your plan moving on forward? How do you plan on dealing with Kamay ng Lagim?”

“I don’t.” Hayden shrugged. “I’ll be participating in the war, that’s all. The war is between Kamay ng Lagim and Puting Araw. I’m with Pangkat Anino now. We’re kind of the big influence on this whole war. We’re not the two sides at war.”

“So… That promise?” Starakt reminded Hayden of his promise to Gaia.

“Oh, I will do that, don’t worry.” Hayden nodded. “As I’ve declared, it will be a cinch. The thing is, I’m going to do it my own way. I… Don’t want to be hailed as some kind of hero. Living a life as a celebrity is hard enough.”

“I see that you really hate the spotlight.” Starakt bobbed his head. “Why do you hate the spotlight that much?”

“Well, I used to love the spotlight.” Hayden put down his phone, his voice containing a hint of sentiment. “I grew out of it. I now have the grasp that the spotlight isn’t as important as keeping close those important to you. True friends, you might say. Also, I don’t want to live a life where I’m the ‘strongest.’ I mean, what good does it do you? Being labeled the strongest is rife with disadvantages. One way or another, you’ll be assassinated. One way or another, you’ll be challenged. One way or another, you will be bothered. It’s much less of a hassle if you weren’t popular.”

“You’re a celebrity though?” Starakt asked.

“That’s a job. The amount of money you can make outweighs the burdensome nature of it.” Hayden shrugged. “Anyway, that’s that. I really don’t want to be some kind of leader that anybody depends on, too. I don’t depend on me, so why would I want anybody to depend on me?”

“You’re dependable.” Starakt spoke with confusion. “You were able to come up with a plan to halt the killings that’s been going on in World Government Island lately in a heartbeat. And that speech earlier. It was an eye-opener. We have indeed been too lax with our training.”

“Save the praises, Le-Starakt.” Hayden exhaled through his mouth. “You won’t change my mind to succeed your throne.”

Starakt froze. “Goddammit. You saw through me? Do you have that Diplomat of Daniel’s? Can you read my intent?”

“It’s obvious.” Hayden shook his head. “Why do you think that I’ll be a great leader anyways?”

“You ‘are’ reliable. You’re ruthless. You’re relentless. You’re analytical. You care of your comrades more than your own life. You are pragmatic. You know how to read people and can deal with them if you ever so wanted.” Starakt stated in one breath. “You want me to go on?”

“There’s one quality that makes all of this worthless.” Hayden took out his phone. “It’s the fact that I ‘hate’ dealing with people and would rather get straight to the point. I find it bothersome, burdensome, and tiresome. My social battery has been massively reduced over the past few years as well. It is slightly higher now, sure. Be that as it may, I have become a lone wolf. I may not be your typical lone wolf, given that I have talked for this long, yet, I am. And it is irreversible.”

“So you’re admitting that you’re reliable?” Starakt asked?

“Well…” Hayden took a deep breath. “Now that I’ve been told those words by a 2,058-year old fossil that is irrefutably the greatest leader of a nation, nay, the planet, then I can’t possibly deny this, can I?”

“Old fos-” Starakt put his hands in front of his face controlling his breathing. “I’m going to let that pass. You’ll see, you will become a leader later on.”

‘I think I already am.’ Hayden was reminded of the group of Daniel, Sophia, Scarlet, and Zeke. ‘Well, not like I’m their true leader. It’s Daniel. Like hell I’ll be a leader.’

Hayden remained adamant on hating this whole leadership thing. He understood that if somebody disliked something to the bone, it would never grow on them. And Hayden despised leadership positions.

At that moment, in the corner of his eyes, Hayden noticed Darakth forming a contract with a piece of chainmail. ‘This guy has got some nice taste.’

Hayden figured out that Darakth’s Ice-Flame Spirit King possessed abysmal defense. How? The coating of fire that Darakth’s Ice-Flame Spirit King has is supposed to inhibit both ranged and attacks dealt up-close. This is the strongest defense, yet his weakest point. If somebody somehow bypasses that Ice-Flame coating, then Darakth is easy to defeat.

Take Hayden for example. Hayden was too fast for the flame to take effect and that the ice-flame virtually had no effect on him whatsoever thanks to Endless Regeneration.

When he was reminded of Endless Regeneration, Hayden was put in a sneaking suspicion that his Endless Regeneration was not as simple as it was on the surface. There was something more to this power.

Darakth approached the two and greeted Starakt. “Yorixia.”

“Darakth.” Starakt greeted back. “You chose Hoiltius (Ho-il-shus), huh?”

“I have noticed that my physical defense is abysmal.” Darakth glanced at Hayden. “So I reasoned with myself that the best Xirxian will be a defensive one, one that will increase my survivability.”

“You have a knack for these things.” Hayden approved of Darakth. “Now, we have to train your reflexes. In the face of death, you should keep calm. It appears that this skill has been neglected.”

“How can you keep calm in the face of death?” Darakth questioned. “It’s death. Once you die, everything is over. In that scenario, how will one keep their nerves from being fried by fear?”

“Once you’ve come to terms that death is merely a part of life and gained enough experience, you’ll understand.” Hayden shrugged. “For the meantime, we have to emphasize on your cowardly attitude.”

Darakth’s face twitched when he was called cowardly. In spite of his indignation, he couldn’t do anything. He recognized his own cowardice.

“One thing.” Hayden raised his index finger. Starakt and Darakth couldn’t help being distracted by Hayden’s left hand, which was texting. “Don’t mistake courage for recklessness. Sometimes it’s better to back away from a fight. And remember that fighting isn’t the only solution to things. For example, I hired two of my previous assassins due to their powerful Ability.”

Darakth blinked at Hayden. Starakt snorted in derision. “And he says he can’t be a leader.”

“Being a boss is different from being a leader.” Hayden replied. “I wouldn’t sacrifice my life for my employees. Being a leader would mean I have to, or at least try to save them while saving my own ass.”

“Fair enough.” Starakt couldn’t rebut Hayden’s logic as it was completely logical. You were paying them to fight for you, so why would you sacrifice your life for them? “Anyway, I have an early flight, and my contracted cognizants haven’t been packed in shipping crates yet.”

“You… Ship your cognizants in a crate?” Starakt seemed perplex of Hayden’s methods. “Why? They let you do this? And aren’t they big even in their ‘regular’ form?”

“They’re babies. Level 2 cognizants.” Hayden returned to his taciturn reserved self. “Got to run. Le-Starakt, you take care of this Darakth for me.”

“His identity is already registered. He has been put in the same flight as you as well, next to Likoria.”

“Isn’t that flight… Oh, right, you’re the World Government.”

Hayden left after that. He was able to return to his room at 12:47 in the morning, during of which Eun-ha and Sayuri were waiting on the bed per usual. They both raised their arms like babies towards Hayden and ran to him, tackling him to the ground.

Hayden hugged the two and chuckled. “Jeez, you two are like dogs.”

Eun-ha and Sayuri started licking Hayden akin to dogs. Hayden guffawed at the two. The next thing they know… Well, you already know what happened.

3:30 AM. Eun-ha and Sayuri were laying on Hayden’s chest, the two heaving heavily. Sayuri cleared her throat. “What was that? Like… How? What?”

“It was a creative usage of essence energy, wasn’t it?” Hayden giggled. “I’ve watched way too many por-”

“Stop mentioning porn whenever we’re done.” Eun-ha smacked Hayden’s head lightly. “But, wait… You learned all that from…?”

“Divine Perception is way useful in many other ways, you know?” Hayden giggled once more. “Anyway, we can’t keep doing these sessions that are two, three hours long every day.”

“Psh, you’re the one who lasts so long.” Sayuri rolled her eyes. “And repeatedly sti-”

“Enough with the sex talk.” Hayden interrupted Sayuri. “I will have a lot of sleepless nights when I get back to Philippines.”

“Yeah, you will.” Eun-ha suggestively spoke.

“What? No. That’s not what I mean.” Hayden couldn’t believe how perverted these two were. “Jeez, you’re more perverted than me. Anyway, it’s because of the interviews. I will have to do tons of interviews. I can’t possibly turn those down as it will be helpful for my career. I have my school too. And my actual career, which is a linker.”

“Oh yeah, you’re a high school student.” Sayuri rose a little to face Hayden. “You’re too mature and smart that I sometimes forget that you’re a high school student. And you certainly don’t have the appearance of a 16-year-old.”

Sayuri lifted the blanket a bit, staring at Hayden’s crotch. “Certainly not a 16-year-old. Ooh-la-la.”

That last part was said both simultaneously seductive and adorably, her signature move that induces extreme attraction to many men. As a reaction, Hayden pecked her on the lips, wrapped his arm around her neck, and bringing her down with him.

“Tsk, the two of you are really growing closer, huh?” Eun-ha was happy for the two, kissing Hayden on his cheek. “Ah, how I wish I can take out and scream to the whole world that you’re my boyfriend.”

“We’ll get there.” Hayden tightened his hug on the two.

…..

Meanwhile, Zeke’s hotel room in The Periphery. Zeke’s face contorted as if he was in a nightmare. Abruptly, he sat up and turned on the night light on his nightstand.

“I… That… Was that the evolution of a Level 2 to a Level 3?” Zeke gasped. “I’ve been killed over and over again, goodness gracious.”

Zeke swallowed a mouthful of saliva. “And worse. It was so realistic… Wait, is this the dream? No… What the hell?”

Zeke shivered all over his body, unable to get over his mental tribulation. “A-at least I’m a Level 3 wielder now.”

The evolution of his Peerless Brain has come. And it was nothing short of amazing. Of course, he had to confirm this, hence, the first thing he did was take off his blue shirt and order his Origin Crystal to surface. He touched it to ask what his evolution brought.

First, it further enhanced his brain processes, granting him the capability to process 20 complex equations all at once. Zeke coughed. “That… May not be on par with that guy’s Divine Perception. Nonetheless, it is pretty good.”

He moved on to the new Level 3 power. It was named Brain Computer. It has four powers. First is that his brain can store an infinite amount of memory. Second is that, with the usage of purified essence energy, he can physically project any memory into the outside world. This second power is absolutely corporeal and can affect the real world. Third is that his mind can be fueled by essence energy to increase the rate it can process and take in information.

The fourth power is the most amazing power yet. It’s that his brain can nullify any form of mental control and see through any manner of illusion with the usage of purified essence energy.

Coincidentally… In the room next to Hayden…

Daniel was sitting by the side of his bed. Daniel gazed at a sleeping Scarlet with concern. Scarlet’s face contorted, beads of sweat coming from her scalp. Scarlet was also becoming a Level 3 wielder.

Suddenly, Scarlet sat up, out of breath. Daniel jumped up and hugged Scarlet. “I’m here. I’m here.”

“That was nightmarish…” Scarlet’s eyes overflowed with tears. She stammered, “W-What was that? I… I couldn’t feel anything in there… I was floating in the darkness without any control of my body… I…”

“You’re back in reality. You’re back in reality.” Daniel consoled Scarlet, rubbing her back. “Don’t worry. Don’t worry.”

It took five minutes before Scarlet calmed down. During those five minutes, Scarlet held Daniel tight, trembling. She did not want to go back to that void.

“I… I’m officially a Level 3 wielder.” Scarlet smiled.

“Hey, what’s your powers?” Daniel excitedly inquired. “Ask your Origin Crystal.”

Scarlet put her hand inside her shirt and touched her Origin Crystal. She asked the question of what her new powers are.

First, her blades have increased sharpness and have an added 18 handleless blades, for a total of 54. Second, her Level 3 power is named Elemental Enchantment. With this power, she can imbue an enchantment on her blades with purified essence energy. Only one enchantment can be put for every blade.

There are four types of enchantments. Fire gives the blades extra cutting power and will set the injury ablaze, dealing extra damage. Air makes the blades invisible, faster, and silent. Earth increases the durability of the blades, alongside its sharpness. Ice freezes the injuries caused by the blades, preventing regeneration and giving the target spreading frostbite that damages them over time.

“That is awesome.” Hearing the powers of Scarlet, Daniel beamed. “I wonder if when I’ll become a Level 3 wielder…”

“That will be pretty far off.” Scarlet patted Daniel on the head. “For now… Come here.”

Daniel was pulled by Scarlet on the bed. Daniel’s elated voice suffused in the room. “You’re ready for this?”

“Shut up.” The two’s passionate moans later pervaded the room. It was a good thing that all rooms were soundproofed, otherwise Hayden, Eun-ha, and Sayuri would’ve heard these moans.