Considerably faster than the teenager, the little girl was visibly growing in size and maturing.

Unlike the teenager however, something was clearly wrong. The growth wasn’t symmetrical.

The head grew first, making her lose balance and fall down from its weight. Then her inner organs seemed to follow, causing her stomach to bloat and tear apart letting some of the intestines fall out.

With a loud popping noise her screaming stopped and blood sprayed out of her mouth.

-Did her lungs just explode?-

She was dead but her body kept moving as her trunk finally started growing to a size that could accommodate the new viscera. Her limbs followed, popping and clicking audibly in the silent hall, until all movement finally stopped and the silence became deafening.

Screams and yells erupted while two priests scrambled to remove the corpse.

The third priest tried to speak but no one was listening.

I moved towards Mary’s yelling and saw Inga holding a girl -Around 16.- and a boy -Around 5- in an iron grip. The rest of the group started to quiet down and Inga’s protests became louder. Mary was trying to pry the kids out of her grasp but Inga refused to listen.

Although a few were still crying and one man was crouching and holding his head silently as he rocked back and forth, the majority had their horrified expressions slowly being replaced by curiosity.

-She’s shaking in terror…-

The boy started crying and the girl is grimacing in pain. Her hand held over her head and she  threatened Inga to let go.

The 25 year old kid is laughing at the situation so I shoulder him as I pass by.

“Hey!” the kid yells at me and I ignore him.

“Mary, stop yelling!”

She glares at me but shuts up.

“Inga.” I lower my voice.

-Demanding yet warm. At least I hope it sounds warm...-

“I’m talking to you.” He pushes me from behind. “Don’t ignore me!”

I turn around to face him.

“Apologize for hitting me.” Veins bulge on his muscular arms and he is hyperventilating just slightly.

-Why the fuck did I bring this on myself?- I think with regret.

“I apologize for bumping into you.” Both my fists are clenched at my side, “Now can us adults go back to our matters or do you require more attention?”

With a furious scream he tries to punch me.

It’s a childish punch. He steps in with his left leg. His right fist extended far behind his head while the left arm dangles by his side.

With a mental sigh I jab him in the nose with my left and intercept his weak downward fist with the same shoulder.

Before he has a chance to do anything else I step in and lock my ankle behind his foot while simultaneously pulling him down with my right hand.

He falls down and I step on his chest and look at him.

He tries to get up but I put more of my weight on the leg that is pressing on his chest.

He tries again but soon looks to the side to avoid my gaze and goes limp.

Unarmed Combat Tree Unlocked

Constitution +2

Strength +3

Hand Branch Unlocked

Constitution +1

Strength +1

-That was easy...- I look at the massages as they slowly fade.

I release him and offer my hand to help him get up.

He looks at it in disbelief but takes it and I help him stand up.

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“No hard feelings, okay?”

He tries to let go of my hand but I hold it firm.

“I’m just jealous of your new model body…” I look him up and down. “I apologize for shouldering you. Really. It was stupid of me… but just look at how the women are looking at you.”

We look around and Mary is nice enough to help me by biting her lower lip and undressing the kid with her eyes.

-Damn she’s sexy.-

“Yeah… sure. No hard feelings. I also overreacted.”

-So cute. He’s blushing.-

“Great. I’ll teach you how to punch with that crazy body of yours once we finish with this thing. Okay?”

“Okay.”

I look at the crowd around us and see that for the exception of one person, who’s still crouching on the floor and silently sobbing, all the rest of the Earthlings are watching us.

-No looks of judgment. No looks of fear. Just curiosity and interest… not your ordinary bunch.-

“Inga.” I stand two steps away from her and the kids. “You can let them go now. Nothing will happen to them if you let go.”

-For now at least…-

She looks at me and embraces the kids even tighter. The little boy stopped crying and the girl stopped pulling Inga's hair.

“They need to get their special skills or they won’t survive.”

-She’s not listening… how do I make her?-

“You can let them do it. They aren’t so stupid as to try and do the same as the previous two. Right?” I ask the kids.

“Of course not.” the teenager barks while the little boy shakes his head. “You think I’d waste this opportunity on just speeding up the inevitable?” she looks at the 25 year old kid now.

“I got great stats all around and I’m going to take full advantage of them. Can you please let me go now?”

-Good. She’s listening.-

“You can go together.” I add, “You can consult her on what to choose.” I take a step forward slowly.

“And I’ll gladly advise the boy. What do you say?” I go on one knee and smile at the child.

“How about you tell me what kind of superpowers you’ve always wanted?” I offer my hand to him.

“No!” Inga says and my hand hits solid air.

The space around where my hand hit seems to ripple as if it was superheated.

-A barrier?-

I try a few more times and see that the barrier appears to be dome shaped and probably surrounds Inga and the kids completely. I stand up and give the barrier a strong hammer punch but nothing happens except for more ripples than usual.

-Cool…-

The crowd surrounding us explodes with interest. Everyone starts whispering and talking. I simply walk over to one of the bowls, put it on the floor and take the long metal stand it was sitting on.

-This is heavier than it looks…-

I twirl the metal stand around a few times to get a sense of its weight.

“Inga, try to hold it as long as you can. Let’s see how strong it actually is.”

She nods silently and I bash the empty space in front of her causing the whole barrier to ripple for a moment only to go invisible again.

-Yep. Looks like it surrounds her completely.-

“How many times can you use it?”

Her eyes move as she reads an invisible to me screen in her field of vision. No longer are her hands white from holding the children from escaping.

“Three more before I run out of mana.”

“Does it say anything in the description?”

“Summon a barrier around yourself. And the mana consumption.”

“I see…” I take a moment to think as I look around us.

-The knights are outside. This is a good opportunity to get some useful information.-

“Cancel the barrier and bring it up again. Let’s see how strong it is. Try to change its size to be bigger.” I take a step back and motion with my foot on where I’d like it to be.

“Done.” she says about two seconds later. Visibly interested as the barrier grew to a diameter of about two meters. .

-She even let go of the girl.-

“Then I’ll start.”

I swing over my head and bring the metal stand down with as much force as I can muster.

“Ouch…” I step back as the force of the blow sends a shockwave down my fingers and arm.

-My fingers are tingling but the thing just goes back to normal as if nothing happened…-

On the fourth try the metal stand hits and I brace for the impending shock but the metal passes and I stumble forward as the barrier breaks.

“Again. Same size. This time everyone hit it with your hands. Let's see if this is a quantity vs quality scenario.”

Mary, the 25 year old kid and a few more people eagerly help me hammer punch the barrier. After a few silent minutes my hands are starting to hurt too much to continue. I see people switching in and out and others simply coming over to check and probe the barrier for themselves.

Mary and I are the only ones who didn’t stop to rest and I was reaching my limit

Unarmed Combat Tree sprouted its first bud.

Constitution +1

Pounding Skill Acquired (Passive)

Helps with striking immobile objects with bare hands.

The pain in my hands went from almost unbearable back to just extremely painful.

-Did Mary get something as well? Didn’t notice her reaction...- I give the barrier a few more hits.

“I think it’s enough.”I step back and shake the pain out of my hands. “I’ll go call a knight. Cancel your barrier and check your mana regen.”

As I walk out of the hall I pass by heated discussions.

-Even that guy isn’t crouching and crying anymore.-

“Hey again.” I walk up to the only knight I know. “Do you mind helping us with something?”

The knight that showed me the way looks questioningly at his friends.

“Sure.” he shrugs, “Anything for the heroes.” he adds sarcastically.

I explain to him the situation as we walk back. Everyone goes silent when they notice us and take a step back to let us pass.

“Here.” I gently put my hand on the barrier to make the ripples appear.

“No magic. No skills. If you can just hit it normally it would be great.”

The knight eyes the barrier curiously as he unsheathes his sword. He pokes the barrier with his finger experimentally followed by a half hearted swing of his sword.

It cuts through it like a hot knife through butter and he sheathes his sword away unceremoniously while we all look at him in awe.

“Anything else?” he looks at me bored.

“No. Thank you very much…”

“What’s your level?” someone asks.

“18.” He walks away looking a bit annoyed. “Two below the minimum for knights.”