[2009 – July]
It was in moments of true despair that people either broke or transcended their limits, reaching a place beyond their suffering, a place of clarity.
I didn't know it but this was my moment, and as I felt myself reaching my breaking point of what I thought I could endure, I suddenly felt something awakening inside of me, something primal.
At its core, my unending desire for freedom, a desire so powerful exploded from the depth of my strained mind that it ripped apart the veil of despair and pain clouding my thoughts effortlessly.
Lucidity returning to my mind through sheer force of will, I simply pushed down the pain as I used my mind to reach a haven beyond my suffering physical body. My Extrasensory Perception kicked into overdrive, as my surroundings were reconstructing themselves in my mind's eye.
No longer cut off from the world around me, as I finally took full advantage of my Enhanced Mind, I realized once again that having power and knowing how and when to use it were two very different things.
My mind had broken through its racial limits naturally, without me having to use Self-Creation to advance it, but this had only happened a few hours ago and I had barely any idea of what I was capable of now.
It was the pain that had forced me to subconsciously tap into my strengthened mind's potential, instinctively awakening my resolve and enabling me to mentally push back the pain.
I still felt it though, the transformation wreaking havoc on my nerve endings, filling my physical body with pure agony, but through my will alone I could force back the inhuman pain and focus my mind on other things.
Through my Extrasensory Perception, I also 'saw' the glass shower had suffered a few cracks, the ambient psionic energy having seemingly lashed out in response to my pain.
Calm now, I waited for the process of inheriting my newest ability to finish, which 'only' took around half an hour until I could feel the control of my body returning slowly.
This time no phantom sensations of pain flared up as I rose from the ground, my mind too strong for such illusions to cloud my perception now that I was in full control of my mental strength.
Ignoring the cracked glass, I simply turned on the hot water and washed the filth and blood from my body, nearly scrubbing myself raw in the process, before I moved out of the shower and stepped in front of the mirror, water still dripping down my form.
What greeted my sight was a body toned to perfection, my muscles looking like steel ropes that had been wound around indestructible bones. Unblemished skin, sharp facial features, and messy black locks giving me a charm that was most definitely supernatural.
I noticed the tiny changes in my physique now that I looked closely, and I knew that they were the result of using Adoptive Muscle Memory during yesterday's fight, as my body had undergone minute changes to allow for perfect execution of the movements and stances Logan and Laura had unwillingly gifted me.
My physique was pure explosive power, the condensation of grace and lethality, like the human embodiment of a cheetah.
Concentrating for a moment, as I gazed intently at the reflection of my eyes, I saw my pupils suddenly transform from their regular circular form into elongated slits, while my irises changed from an intense bright green into deep royal purple.
A small smile on my lips, I looked down at my chest as I grabbed my razorblade and decisively drew the edge over my pectoral muscles, the blade easily parting my skin and digging into my flesh.
And yet, not a drop of blood left the wound, as I just forced my blood to stay inside my body, a simple mental command causing the wound to mend itself the next moment, the smile on my lips only growing, as my purple eyes shone with a brilliant light.
I drew a few more cuts, the pain not even eliciting a single muscle to twitch, while the wounds closed themselves up as soon as they appeared.
Turning my eyes back into their natural colour and shape, I changed the colour of my hair at will a few times before also returning it to its natural colour.
Taking a deep breath, I performed one last test as I invoked a shield so thin its edges were sharper than even the razorblade. Stretching out my left arm, I gritted my teeth and forced the blade-like shield to descend on my forearm with steely determination.
*Thud*
Watching my left hand fall into the sink with a macabre calm, I suppressed the crippling pain shooting up my arm as I hurriedly used the barrier to take hold of my amputated hand and press it back against my bloodless stump, the limb reattaching itself with but a thought and the pain vanishing almost immediately.
Letting a shuddering breath escape my lungs which I hadn't known that I had kept in, I felt the tension leave my shoulders as I rubbed my forearm with slightly trembling fingers, greatly relieved that my new ability worked as it was supposed to.
I knew my 'little' experiment was rather extreme, but I didn't want to receive a bad surprise during a fight in the future because my power didn't work as I had designed it to. As such it was much better to perform a test in a 'controlled' environment like this, so I could simply give myself another power to heal myself in case something went wrong.
Still, what I had just done was the result of my newest power working perfectly – Body Supremacy.
It was the literal manifestation of the saying 'mind over matter', the pinnacle representation of bodily control that allowed me to force my will upon my bodily functions. I hadn't healed myself from my self-inflicted wounds, instead, I had simply commanded my flesh to mend itself.
It was a power that was basically tailor-made for me, as the stronger my mind was the more advanced my control over my biomass was. Considering that my mind had stepped beyond human limits, I could force my body to heal wounds, reattach lost limbs, or change my physical characteristics.
The best part about this was that there was much more potential hidden in this Beta-level power, as its limits were entirely defined by the strength of my mind, while also being somewhat dependent on my physical potential.
If my control could deepen, I would be able to even force my telomeres to regenerate, which were responsible for the degradation of genetic material i.e. aging, meaning that I could become biologically immortal.
This was just one example though of the extensive potential of this Beta-level power. And while it seemed too low for such an incredible ability, if my mind hadn't advanced then this power would not have been even half as impressive.
A normal human's mind simply wasn't strong enough to force his physical body to heal as I had forced mine, I knew that even changing the colour of a single strand of hair would have been an exhausting task in such a case.
Even a Peak Human Mind would not have been able to heal wounds the way I had healed mine, as those were things that were simply beyond humans to accomplish.
Sighing to myself, I had definitely reached my limit for anything taxing or complicated for the day, and so I decided to simply take the rest of the day to relax and laze around.
Finally drying myself off, I grabbed some comfortable clothes, which in that case meant a pair of rough black linen pants and a fluffy dark green hoodie. Next, I simply settled down on the soft leather couch and switched on the TV, picking some old Viking series at random from the mansion's in-house servers.
The servers had a massive library of movies, songs, books, video games, and more, all for the Hellions to enjoy in their downtime.
It wasn't so surprising, considering that from what I had gleaned of the Hellfire Club business through the reports Emma had given me, large parts of the whole entertainment and news industry were basically owned and controlled by them.
Zoning out as the movie started, I just relaxed, happy that I didn't have to think about anything for the moment.
[2009 – July]
It was in moments of true despair that people either broke or transcended their limits, reaching a place beyond their suffering, a place of clarity.
I didn't know it but this was my moment, and as I felt myself reaching my breaking point of what I thought I could endure, I suddenly felt something awakening inside of me, something primal.
At its core, my unending desire for freedom, a desire so powerful exploded from the depth of my strained mind that it ripped apart the veil of despair and pain clouding my thoughts effortlessly.
Lucidity returning to my mind through sheer force of will, I simply pushed down the pain as I used my mind to reach a haven beyond my suffering physical body. My Extrasensory Perception kicked into overdrive, as my surroundings were reconstructing themselves in my mind's eye.
No longer cut off from the world around me, as I finally took full advantage of my Enhanced Mind, I realized once again that having power and knowing how and when to use it were two very different things.
My mind had broken through its racial limits naturally, without me having to use Self-Creation to advance it, but this had only happened a few hours ago and I had barely any idea of what I was capable of now.
It was the pain that had forced me to subconsciously tap into my strengthened mind's potential, instinctively awakening my resolve and enabling me to mentally push back the pain.
I still felt it though, the transformation wreaking havoc on my nerve endings, filling my physical body with pure agony, but through my will alone I could force back the inhuman pain and focus my mind on other things.
Through my Extrasensory Perception, I also 'saw' the glass shower had suffered a few cracks, the ambient psionic energy having seemingly lashed out in response to my pain.
Calm now, I waited for the process of inheriting my newest ability to finish, which 'only' took around half an hour until I could feel the control of my body returning slowly.
This time no phantom sensations of pain flared up as I rose from the ground, my mind too strong for such illusions to cloud my perception now that I was in full control of my mental strength.
Ignoring the cracked glass, I simply turned on the hot water and washed the filth and blood from my body, nearly scrubbing myself raw in the process, before I moved out of the shower and stepped in front of the mirror, water still dripping down my form.
What greeted my sight was a body toned to perfection, my muscles looking like steel ropes that had been wound around indestructible bones. Unblemished skin, sharp facial features, and messy black locks giving me a charm that was most definitely supernatural.
I noticed the tiny changes in my physique now that I looked closely, and I knew that they were the result of using Adoptive Muscle Memory during yesterday's fight, as my body had undergone minute changes to allow for perfect execution of the movements and stances Logan and Laura had unwillingly gifted me.
My physique was pure explosive power, the condensation of grace and lethality, like the human embodiment of a cheetah.
Concentrating for a moment, as I gazed intently at the reflection of my eyes, I saw my pupils suddenly transform from their regular circular form into elongated slits, while my irises changed from an intense bright green into deep royal purple.
A small smile on my lips, I looked down at my chest as I grabbed my razorblade and decisively drew the edge over my pectoral muscles, the blade easily parting my skin and digging into my flesh.
And yet, not a drop of blood left the wound, as I just forced my blood to stay inside my body, a simple mental command causing the wound to mend itself the next moment, the smile on my lips only growing, as my purple eyes shone with a brilliant light.
I drew a few more cuts, the pain not even eliciting a single muscle to twitch, while the wounds closed themselves up as soon as they appeared.
Turning my eyes back into their natural colour and shape, I changed the colour of my hair at will a few times before also returning it to its natural colour.
Taking a deep breath, I performed one last test as I invoked a shield so thin its edges were sharper than even the razorblade. Stretching out my left arm, I gritted my teeth and forced the blade-like shield to descend on my forearm with steely determination.
*Thud*
Watching my left hand fall into the sink with a macabre calm, I suppressed the crippling pain shooting up my arm as I hurriedly used the barrier to take hold of my amputated hand and press it back against my bloodless stump, the limb reattaching itself with but a thought and the pain vanishing almost immediately.
Letting a shuddering breath escape my lungs which I hadn't known that I had kept in, I felt the tension leave my shoulders as I rubbed my forearm with slightly trembling fingers, greatly relieved that my new ability worked as it was supposed to.
I knew my 'little' experiment was rather extreme, but I didn't want to receive a bad surprise during a fight in the future because my power didn't work as I had designed it to. As such it was much better to perform a test in a 'controlled' environment like this, so I could simply give myself another power to heal myself in case something went wrong.
Still, what I had just done was the result of my newest power working perfectly – Body Supremacy.
It was the literal manifestation of the saying 'mind over matter', the pinnacle representation of bodily control that allowed me to force my will upon my bodily functions. I hadn't healed myself from my self-inflicted wounds, instead, I had simply commanded my flesh to mend itself.
It was a power that was basically tailor-made for me, as the stronger my mind was the more advanced my control over my biomass was. Considering that my mind had stepped beyond human limits, I could force my body to heal wounds, reattach lost limbs, or change my physical characteristics.
The best part about this was that there was much more potential hidden in this Beta-level power, as its limits were entirely defined by the strength of my mind, while also being somewhat dependent on my physical potential.
If my control could deepen, I would be able to even force my telomeres to regenerate, which were responsible for the degradation of genetic material i.e. aging, meaning that I could become biologically immortal.
This was just one example though of the extensive potential of this Beta-level power. And while it seemed too low for such an incredible ability, if my mind hadn't advanced then this power would not have been even half as impressive.
A normal human's mind simply wasn't strong enough to force his physical body to heal as I had forced mine, I knew that even changing the colour of a single strand of hair would have been an exhausting task in such a case.
Even a Peak Human Mind would not have been able to heal wounds the way I had healed mine, as those were things that were simply beyond humans to accomplish.
Sighing to myself, I had definitely reached my limit for anything taxing or complicated for the day, and so I decided to simply take the rest of the day to relax and laze around.
Finally drying myself off, I grabbed some comfortable clothes, which in that case meant a pair of rough black linen pants and a fluffy dark green hoodie. Next, I simply settled down on the soft leather couch and switched on the TV, picking some old Viking series at random from the mansion's in-house servers.
The servers had a massive library of movies, songs, books, video games, and more, all for the Hellions to enjoy in their downtime.
It wasn't so surprising, considering that from what I had gleaned of the Hellfire Club business through the reports Emma had given me, large parts of the whole entertainment and news industry were basically owned and controlled by them.
Zoning out as the movie started, I just relaxed, happy that I didn't have to think about anything for the moment.
