TF Chapter 72 Test
The next day, the sun peeked up from the distant horizon, with the annoying rain clouds having vanished into nothingness just before the morning.
I stretched my body after making my way out of the shelter, which had been a bit cramped. I couldn't even stand straight within...but there was no use complaining as Bora had to have had her reasons for constructing it like that.
The scenery that greeted me was beautiful. Those water droplets lingering upon every branch and leaf, refracting the morning sun such that the scattered light created a very beautiful painting, left me mesmerised. This was the reason why many humans loved exploring. If you could see such scenery in new places, everyone really ought to travel.
"Seeing this makes me feel as if it was worth it for me to be dropped onto this planet."
Bora spoke while standing beside me on the dark branch. The moment I registered her presence though, all the other scenery lost their colors, leaving only she as the sole colorful one.
Just gazing at the side profile of her face made my heartbeat speed up and butterflies to flutter within the depths of my stomach. Right now I even had the thought that no matter how long I gazed upon her beauty, I would never grow bored or tired of it.
"Why are you staring? Is something on my face?"
The question snapped me out of it. I hurriedly averted my gaze, pretending to have gained an interest into a water droplet that was dangling from a leaf which was swaying with the wind, yet the drop was still hanging on tenaciously.
"There is nothing. I just thought you were simply too...beautiful this morning."
For a moment, I had seen a dash of red which vanished as fast as it had appeared. It looks like she had liked my comment.
"You shouldn't speak that carelessly next time. A woman might fall for you unintentionally."
Her voice came out soft, almost barely a whisper, yet it entered my ears all the same, causing me to develop a foolish grin on my lips.
"So, how are we going to plan this day?" Danny's voice ruined the atmosphere, but I was still happy that I had managed to elicit a reaction out of her.
"First, I have to test out my new spiritual powers. It won't do if we simply set off without me knowing of its limitations and what not."
Last night, both Bora and Danny had tried to compress their spiritual powers, which had worked! Now, their spiritual eggs were in the gestation period. We had no idea how long we were going to have to wait until the birth of their intents, but exploring couldn't be put off. Besides, since my intent had already bloomed, maybe I would be capable of protecting them during the journey!
"Danny, come with me. I need an observer." I started to move, descending through the branches with ease, with the forest floor being my destination.
After the previous night, I couldn't really invite Bora. Just thinking about that expression of hers made a sigh escape my lips. If she was that scared of that form of mine, how was I going to have her fall for me?
I chuckled at the last thought. I had really developed a desire to make her mine...
"I will also go along!"
Like a declaration, those words entered my ears causing me to halt my momentum. I turned around and gazed at her. Those purple pupils of hers roamed the surroundings, refusing to focus on me. They contained her fear, yet there was also a certain resolve, like she was about to take a plunge or something.
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"Really?" Danny asked to confirm her choice.
"If I stay the same, I might put your lives in danger at a critical moment. I must push through this fear if I want to improve myself!" Her hands were hanging at her sides with her fists tightly balled up. This was her trying to change. Smothering her resolve right now wouldn't be good.
"Okay."
With that one word, I resumed my descent, making sure not to turn back and gaze at her. Her nervous and fear filled visage had almost caused me to lose control. I had wanted to give her a hug of reassurance in that moment, but had held myself back.
If love was this...weird, then I was going to be in for a world of trouble.
"I hope your new powers can give us an edge and help us at least take on the lifeforms of this world. I wonder how long the eggs will gestate."
"Danny, that's what I am about to test. Considering that mine only cracked after we had stepped foot on this planet, the timeline might be that of a year or even more. Waiting that long is going to be troublesome for the both of you. We might need to acquire some spiritual cores for protection."
"All these plans are predicated on the fact that your spiritual powers are useful, Nathaniel. What if they can't help in a battle?" Bora had posed a valid question. I had this feeling that they would be useful though, so I wasn't particularly worried.
After some time, my feet finally made contact with the roots of the plants in the ground. The mud looked like a very gross sludge in my gaze, and was too wet for my liking. Because of the little amount of light that made it to the forest floor, it was a bit dark looking.
"I hate this forest. Why weren't we dropped off into some open spaces or grasslands?" Danny's dissatisfaction was equal to mine.
I took a breath, collected myself, then galvanised my spiritual powers, manifesting them in the outside world. What surprised me though, was the fact that my eyes managed to capture their reddish orange coloration.
I exclaimed in wonder as they started acting upon the particles in the space around me, giving me control over everything they touched...another thing that amazed me.
The colorless spiritual energy had allowed me to control particles, but it had been more like, encasing them and dragging them wherever I wanted.
Yet here, every particle that was made contact with became a part of me, like an arm or a leg.
"The air around you is shimmering, like its heating up...or a mirage?" Bora's voice came from behind me, yet I didn't turn around as I knew that I wouldn't be able to take that fearful and terror-filled expression.
"My intent is a star, so the particles in the space my spirit is affecting are trying to take on the same composition. I have a feeling that if it wasn't for my weak body, my intent alone could annihilate this planet given time." I explained.
After speaking, I once again directed my attention towards my spiritual powers, noting the changes in the particles around me.
I didn't have a god complex, yet right now I felt like a God as every particle my spiritual powers came into contact with naturally fell into my grasp, moving to my every whim. This was way better than previously when I had lacked the intent. Was this how those idiots with God complexes felt when everything was within their grasp, moving upon their every whim?
I didn't linger much on the sensation, instead, jumping from the tree root into the mud. Do trust me on this, you never want to stand within this mud. I could feel some sort of things crawling across my skin from within the mud, on the potion of my legs submerged within it.
It was gross, but I grit my teeth and did my best to ignore them, instead hurriedly making my spiritual powers come into contact with the particles of mud. The air particles had been very easy to control once my intent had infiltrated them, so I wanted to see whether I could also have that same control on solids. This was going to be the most critical part of my experimentation, since it would open up very many combat ideas.
When my spiritual powers made contact, I felt all the particles start to vibrate intensely, with the water molecules even wanting to escape the mud in the form of vapour, but with my intent having infiltrated them, I held them in place, causing the mud to start warming up around my feet. My intent infused spiritual powers even managed to seep half a meter underneath the mud, easily surpassing the depth to which my feet had sunk to.
The mud my feet had sunk into got increasingly warmer at a rate far faster than I could keep up with, mostly because of the fact that the water within was being kept from escaping, causing a buildup of pressure. Seeing that I was about to scorch myself, I leaped out onto the tree root. Not a second passed before an explosion rocked the place where I had been, scattering heated mud upon us all and the surroundings.
Withdrawing my spirit had caused the particles to finally naturally do what they were meant to do when having too much energy, expand!
"What was that?" Asked Bora. There was a ton of dissatisfaction in her voice, brought upon by the mud coating her body.
"Sorry about that. I was performing a test and this happened." I had already noticed the lack of any water in the shelter.