There was not much going on in Adam's mind, and that was for the best. A psychic's mind was seldom at peace, always marred by restlessness due to its sensitivity to the thoughts and feelings of others.

That said, Adam was in a state of peace. Though he knew it wouldn't last long, he took advantage of the rare quiet by laying down on his bed and trying to sleep.

Instead, however, he found himself staring at the wooden ceiling, counting the planks that held it all together like a puzzle. His window was open, allowing the cold night air to blow through and brush against his skin. Moonlight streamed through as well, illuminating the room with a soft and dim light.

It was comforting. Yet he wondered what Ruk's room looked like, considering that the orc was as large as two humans combined. The fact that the building even had a room that could fit an orc was surprising enough.

Tonight was Adam's last night here at the workers building. Though Baran and Fred had voiced their openness for Adam to stay longer, or even semi-permanently, the young man declined their generosity.

Especially after considering the risks that came with the capture of Felsha the Scythe. Whoever she worked for was definitely already looking for her, and once her boss found out that she had been defeated and brought to justice, Adam knew that he'd soon become a target.

The criminal mastermind, whoever he was, definitely knew about Adam. The fact that their most successful assassin hadn't come back yet from what should have been a brief assignment suggested already that she had been defeated by a mere rank 1 anemancer, who proceeded to have her bound and gagged, and then surrendered to the authorities.

Adam realized that he had made enemies in the heat of the moment, but there was no point in blaming himself. The assassin had wanted to kidnap him from the start, and the invitation was more of a fake formality than anything genuine. Felsha was a psychopath, and Adam saw enough of her mind to know that he had done what was right.

At least he didn't accidentally kill her. The mere possibility haunted him. He was no murderer. No. Not then. Not now.

And hopefully not in the future.

Though his mind was relaxed and his body satisfied by the food and drink of dinner, Adam couldn't get himself to sleep. Thus, he stood from his bed and went to lean on his open window.

His room overlooked the port, offering him a view of the docks. Torches lined the piers as guards patrolled around the port in groups of three, looking around and making sure that there were no uninvited people lurking near and about.

Feeling their minds, Adam found most of the guards to be bored out of their minds. They had repeated the same routine for many months with barely anything interesting or different happening to break the monotony of their shifts.

Adam shook his head. The guards should be grateful that nothing new had happened or was happening. For as long as their shifts remained the same, then the port was a safe and secure place.

When it came to life, boring was sometimes good and should always be appreciated. Especially when it came to putting your life in the line.

That said, Adam was becoming bored as well. He thought about soaking a piece of cloth with water again and resuming his training, but the evening didn't seem like the right time. And thus, he decided to explore the port a bit with his psychic powers.

Whenever he projected his psychic powers, it either came in one of two forms or both. Telepathy and telekinesis.

Telepathy involved his ability to reach, feel, and read the minds of other living things. Be it an insect, animal, and human. Whenever he projected his powers, his telepathy was always present, scanning in all possible directions. If the necessity arose, he could focus his telepathy in a specific direction or around a specific location, enhancing his sensitivity to whatever minds were present in that specific vicinity.

Telekinesis, meanwhile, was a bit different. It was his ability to manipulate and influence any physical object from a distance through the power of his mind. Because of this, it required much more of his psychic power to accomplish, therefore placing more strain on his mind as compared to telepathy. That said, his telekinesis was the most powerful of the two. From stopping bullets to halting a meteor and crushing the thing, it was a terrifying ability.

And as he grew older, both his telepathy and telekinesis only seemed to grow stronger as well. It terrified Adam somewhat. There was a reason why his parents were so strict with his emotional regulation. If his emotions ever went out of control, then nobody would be able to stop him.

The last part was never explicitly stated by his parents, but after the recent events of the past month, Adam knew that it was true. Hence, he needed to be careful.

Or he risked breaking his promise, and becoming a monster.

What he did to his parent's killer was a glimpse of what could come if he ever gave up.

No. He thought. Never. He was no monster.

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But looking back at their encounter with Felsha, Adam realized that he was becoming a bit more violent, though it was justified. That needed to be addressed sooner or later.

Adam spent the next hour exploring the docks with his psychic power. His telepathy and telekinesis work in unison, finding him interesting things and scenes that piqued his curiosity. He found ship crews playing board games or cards inside their ships, sometimes gambling their salaries or savings away in misguided attempts for fortune. Drinking was widespread, with most crews already drunk as they played. Many shared stories and told gossip, but Adam's telepathy wasn't focused enough to listen in on the conversations.

As Adam explored further, he beheld the more secluded places within the ships. He found their cargo holds and felt the barrels and crates they carried. Foodstuffs, wines, supplies, furniture, ores, weapons, tools, and other things of trade and export made up the bulk of their cargo.

Much to his dismay, upon further inspection and consideration, the ships were far from sanitary, at least in the modern sense, and were most likely breeding grounds for disease. That said, he knew that expecting good and modern sanitation practices from a late medieval society was asking for too much.

However, didn't they have magic? He did sense a few magic crystals inside a few of the crates and barrels, keeping things cool and frozen inside. Surely there were spells that could clean and sanitize. Right?

Magic was such an interesting thing in this world, and Adam wanted to know more about it. Maybe he could along the way as he went on quests with Ruk. Did they have libraries in Port Silvershore? Adam wanted to believe that they did. But knowing how self-centered and important magic seems to be as a status of power, he doubted that there was much in the way of libraries with books about magic and spells.

Speaking of self-centered, Adam also sensed the greed of those who owned the ships and facilitated the trades.

Merchants and the so-called highborn with rooms more extravagant and spacious than that of the captain or their crew. Adam found gilded furniture, silver chalices and spoons and forks, there were also some gold bars in several of their rooms. One of which had a lot of women inside.

Adam almost gagged when he sensed the scene and decided to look the other way, focusing more on the less scandalous sections. It took him a few minutes before he realized that he wouldn't find any wholesome scenes after seeing how many prostitutes were starting to trickle in from the city and towards the port. He knew they were prostitutes, because their minds were full of desperation. Some had greed. Others lust.

The guards seemed to expect them, herding them to the ships in an orderly manner as the crews waved them aboard. It was as if all of this had been planned in advance.

Or maybe these were the prostitutes' business hours? Adam shook his head. He didn't want to think about it any further.

Wait, did Baran know of this? As the portmaster, he was most likely aware. Adam, on the other hand, was not. He had been sleeping quite early in the weeks he had stayed here, barely sensing... any of this.

Shaking his head, Adam retreated from the window, allowing his powers to fade, and then sat on his bed. He stared at the floor as he placed his hands together, rubbing them against one another as his mind began to swirl once more.

The calm and quiet he had enjoyed had faded. It was ironic to think that a peaceful and quiet mind prevented him from going to sleep. But he didn't think much of it.

That was until a sharp headache punched him in the mind. He stood and grabbed at his head as his brain throbbed and screamed in agony, almost reducing him to his knees as he gathered his psychic power to bolster his mental defenses.

Something or someone was trying to get into his mind, and his psychic power was trying to prevent it from entering. It was unlike the spell that made him understand the language, for this was more malicious in its intent.

And that was the problem. Adam knew that whoever was doing this to him was malevolent. He could sense the distant desire for power, the yearning for his subjugation, and the frustration that was beginning to grow due to his resistance.

The attack felt like tendrils poking and lashing at his mind, wrapping themselves wherever they could in their attempt to bring his defenses down.

Adam wanted to scream, but he knew that it would do him no good. His position here was already tenuous and attracting more attention than he already had meant asking for more problems.

The psychic attack was not subtle in its attempt at intrusion and trespass, making directly towards the parts of Adam's mind that mattered the most. His thoughts. His feelings. And most importantly, his memories.

Whatever or whoever was attacking his mind wanted to access his memories, doing its best to try and breach through the wall that Adam had mustered to protect himself.

And thus, in spite of the almost unbearable pain and the continued agony that awaited his defiance, he resisted. Adam knew what was at stake. Not just his life, but the lives of others.

It was an hour-long struggle. A fight that was hard-fought yet unseen in the physical world. It was a battle for influence and domination, a collision between two wills that wanted nothing but the destruction and defeat of the other. If Adam had been any weaker, he would have most likely lost.

But he was not weak.

Adam, as a person, had been changed considerably and permanently by his experiences in the last month. Not only had he endured great loss and tragedy, but he was now in the middle of a world that was both alien and hostile. He was surrounded by strangers, strange things, and strange magic. There was no going back to his old world or his old life.

If he were to survive and keep his promise, Adam reminded himself to be strong. He was not yet finished with his grief, barely burying it underneath a facade of normalcy. But he knew that he was not finished yet with his life.

Whoever or whatever his enemy was, Adam was not about to let it win. After an hour of anguish and immense pain, the young man mustered the entirety of his strength and struck back at his foe with a great psychic attack.

The psychic attack was a form of telepathy, sending a concentrated and sizable fusion of psychic energy through the same tendrils that spearheaded the intrusion to his mind.

By doing this, Adam essentially used the tendrils as a bridge to reach his foe. After a few seconds, his psychic counterattack reached the other end of the unwelcome psychic connection.

There was an immediate reaction. Adam felt the tendrils retreat and the pain subside. A distant growl of guttural tone echoed from the back of his mind as the psychic connection that made the psychic attack possible was severed completely.

After a minute of panting and anxious waiting for a renewed attempt on his mind, Adam collapsed onto the floor. Sweat drenched his entire body as he heaved. It was as if he had just rid himself of a great and terrible burden.

Unbeknownst to Adam, he had just emerged victorious against a being of incredible power and influence. Not only that, but he had done something great. For even though his counterattack was like the bite of an ant, he had just hurt a god.