Days to go… oh, who cares? Carla will let me know if I miss the start of the training.

I start the day with a swim. I am not going to do this in the water, though. I eat a large breakfast. I sit comfortably in the camp chair on the porch with a cup of tea.

I turn my attention to my essence pool. How do I connect this pool with my circulatory system? I'll start with just one connection, maybe more later. My pool sort of is and isn’t physically there. I always think of it as being at the bottom of my ribcage, but that area is actually full of stomach and intestines. All my cells are connected to the circulatory system, which is how they are kept alive.

Let's take the smallest tendril of essence and connect it to the nearest cell. I think it might have killed the cell, but it seems connected. I can feel a cool sensation slowly expanding from the place. I stop the flow. Are the nonmutated cells it is coming in contact with dying? I don’t know. I don’t think so, or I would feel sick, wouldn’t I? Maybe, maybe not. Shit, I don’t know. Maybe I should have got Amanda here.

Let’s keep going. I turn on the tap again, but it is too much, breaking the connection. It is a tiny vein. Small, think small. I make a new connection and trickle essence through the veins. I chose the veins as I didn’t want to push against the arteries. Going with the flow, so to speak.

I try directing it up to my arm, but that has a problem. All my veins go back to my heart and then out again as arteries. Do I want to risk Essence in my heart? Do I have a choice? Shit, this could be bad.

It is probably halfway to my heart, and I don’t feel bad. In fact, I feel good. I keep going. It is only a trickle, but I sense it is reaching my heart and infusing it. It keeps pumping, so that is good. From there, it wants to flow in every direction, but there is not enough of it. It is spreading too thin, and the amount is not enough. Increasing the flow will break the tiny connection, so I make a second connection and a third. I stopped trying to control it and let it seep through my body.

I continue to make connections. If this doesn't kill me, it should make me stronger. That is false logic with mutations. Mutations may not kill you, but they may cripple you rather than make you stronger. Shut up, brain. We are going with the first option.

I continue to make connections.

Eventually, my essence has made its own circulatory system and is in every part of my body. I decide to stop for lunch and see if I keel over and die. Carla will kill me if that happens. Soph will bloody bring me back so she can have my baby. Shit, my life has got weird. But I keep living for now, and I keep my lunch down. Enjoy the small bonuses.

Right. So, I am flooded with Essence despite that not being my plan. I feel good- better than I was. I decided to go for a swim to test things out. Yep, I am definitely better than I was. Not a whole lot. I go up to the beach and see how many press-ups I can do as a guide to the improvement. Maybe five per cent better? That is pretty good, as those are nonmutated parts of my body. It is hard to measure how my senses have improved. As a guide, I use my electroreceptors and my cell phone. It was about 1m -1.5m distant, and I could sense it. Now it is about 2.5m meters. About a sixty per cent improvement? My hearing and smell are definitely better. I wonder if I need sixty per cent less oxygen? Is my poison sixty per cent better? All things I need to test.

Right, well, that was a success, even if it was not what I was going for. I will take the credit, absolutely. I wonder what the ongoing effects will be. Will it help against foreign essence anomalies and attacks? I am hopeful.

I was trying to see if I could empower my mutations with essence. I have done that. But it is passive, not active. What happens if I actively direct essence to my electroreceptors like I was planning?

First of all, the essence is right there, so directing more is easy. I use my cell phone again as a guide and keep increasing the essence as I walk away from it. Shit. 3m. 4m. 5m. It is starting to get painful, so I ease it off to 5m. The earth's electromagnetic field is a lot clearer as well, and I can sense the changes much better.

I ease off the essence and reduce it to the normal flow.

Fuck.

That is awesome.

I spent the afternoon testing my other senses, and then that night, I tested my eyesight.

A five per cent general level-up with a sixty per cent level-up on the mutations. Then, I can actively boost the mutations another hundred per cent on top. That is doubling them on top of the general boost. Fuck yeah!

I texted Carla.

Bob: Come see me ASAP.

Carla: ????

Bob: Bring S + D’s

Carla: ????

Bob: You left me alone. BWY! Best Work Yet.

Carla: Again? Be there in Morn.

My swim in the morning was an experiment as well. I am sure I am more oxygen efficient, but I am not sure how much.

An SUV drove up, which I assumed belonged to Sam. The dogs lept out as soon as the doors opened. Rich hadn’t been here before. Neither had Carla or Soph, I realised.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“So this is Buck’s Estate? Interesting,” Soph said.

“Don’t say anything bad; he has sensitive feelings,” I replied.

“I know exactly how sensitive his feelings are, and they are still more sensitive than yours,” Soph said.

“So no fresh fish for you then,” I said

“And your feelings are just fine,” she added.

We sat for breakfast.

“How is the bond coming?” I asked.

“Slowly,” Soph said disappointedly.

“But it is coming?”

She nodded.

“Bloody hell, stop stalling, you Bastard!” Carla exploded. “Spill!”

“You can’t rush a good cup of tea,” I said

“I am not sure you can call this good,” Soph said, looking at her cup.

“Bloody hell. You rushed us all the way out here, and now we have to wait! BWY, you said,”

“She doesn’t have a lot of patience,” I said to Soph. “Do you think she got up too early, or is it that time of the month?”

“I would not be so glib,” Soph warned. “She is The Bitch, and when the Bitch is at that time of the month…”

“Right, yes, I see your point. Time to get on with it. I figured out a new way of using the essence pool. This should work for everybody who mutated at this anomaly, possibly anyone who mutates at a primarily blue anomaly. What I got from this new method was a general five per cent increase in overall nonmutated body performance and a sixty per cent increase in the mutation performance.” They were sitting up and paying attention now. “In addition, I can boost the mutations actively to double them again.”

“Fucking Hell,” Carla said.

“Definitely BWY!” Soph added.

“So here is the thinking behind it, and then I will walk you through it.” We had a second cuppa as I talked them through it. Carla was not interested in the theory, but we went there anyway.

By morning tea, I was trying to talk them through how to connect their Essence Pool with their circulatory system. This wasn’t as easy for them as I had spent the best part of a day playing with tiny pieces of essence and failing. It is called practice.

While they kept attempting it, I went to see the dogs. “Now, what about you boys? Can you do the same, and if so, how?” I would need to consult with Soph, but it can wait until she is successful. “Taking the dogs to the beach,” I yelled. I got a wave in response.

We came back for lunch, and Soph had packed treats from home. The girls were frustrated at the lack of success.

“If the Bastard can do it, I should be able to!” she muttered.

I didn’t tell them about the practice day.

It was an early afternoon when I heard an excited “Oh! Oh! Oh! I got one!” from Soph.

There was more muttering from Carla.

“I heard that,” I told her, “because my hearing is boosted sixty per cent.”

“Bastard.”

“Well, done, Soph, but you need several to get it through your whole body. Then, just keep making more connections. The more, the better. I am still making more.” I am going to keep going as long as I can, making them.

“How does this affect the waves and the whirlpool?” Soph asked.

“The whirlpool just rotates inside the connections, so there is no effect as such that I can tell. The waves pulse out through the circulatory system as well, and the first time, I lost some connections, which is why you need as many as you can get.”

“Don’t forget he has a big ass pool, so probably not as bad for us,” Carla said.

“Your waves might be smaller, but you are stronger at manipulating them, so I would not assume that.”

“Fucking Bastard.”

Soph had her third when Carla said, “Fucking finally!”

I gave her a thumbs up, and they continued to work.

It was dinner time when I finally talked to Soph about her boost and the dogs. Carla was still in the corner, swearing away, but making progress.

“Tell me about the boost for you?” I asked.

“My fur is boosted, and I can increase it too!”

“What, softer and cuddlier?” I asked.

“No, you Bastard. Stronger and tougher. More resistant to damage and cuts.” She demonstrated with a knife on her arm, not penetrating the fur.

“Awesome, but what about the bonds?”

“The bonds are definitely clearer. I can feel more and sense more. I can shut them out now, temporarily. I never could do that before. I think I could close the bond permanently as well, but that isn’t going to happen. I have more control. I think for me, my mutation is mental, and therefore, my boost is mental, not just the bonds. It is not an intelligence boost; it is more of a mental energy control boost. I am not sure how to explain it.”

“So you can make everybody love you?”

“You know, I might be able to, sort of. I was assuming we were joking the other day, but projecting emotions might actually be a thing. I am going to need to test it.”

“Feel free to test it on me. You know you got there if I burst into tears or express my undying love,” I said.

“Bastard, I will test it on easier things. I am not sure if I have to touch the person or if I can project it in some way. I think it is probably by touch only.”

“Probably because we have not learned to project things outside our bodies yet. We will get there. It is an active ability to influence others mentally. You are the Scary Witch! If you get a handle on this, this is our new secret weapon now that they know about my poison.” I thought for a bit, “But what about the dogs? Can we boost them in the same way?”

“I am not sure.” she was silent, exploring her expanded bond. “I still can’t sense their Essence Pool, so I can’t help them do this. I can … Oh, oh, oh. With this better bond, I can use Rich’s Skills while he is not here. I can shut the bond, and it stops or partially close it… Wow, such control.” She looked at me, “Spasm!” She said.

“Fucking hell.” It passed quickly. “Evil Witch. It was not as strong, or maybe my defences are stronger with essence running through me.”

“Probably the latter,” Soph said. “I can use their skills, but I can’t boost their skills in any way. If one of them died, I would lose the skill.”

“But what about the dogs? Can we get them this boost? What about other mutated animals? Can they get this boost?” We don’t know.