Void's Psionics (15 page)

Seeing the prey had the maw open wide to let
loose a challenging roar much like a thunderclap that rolled
several seconds throughout the entire area. The little hairs on the
back of Oliver’s neck stood up and his clenching stomach hollowed
in natural fear. Fighting it, Oliver yelled right back when it
quieted and the clash was met by two alpha males bent on killing
each other.

The muscles bunched as it lowered its head to
charge and skewer the smaller adversary, but Oliver retained his
senses enough that a direct assault was suicide and touching was
out of the question. What he did have was superior speed and
maneuverability. He jumped aside and swung his left arm. A thin
slicing wave shot from the sword aimed right for the neck. To
Oliver’s surprise the wave did cut, but only just deep enough to
draw blood.

The Thunder Lizard’s charged body gave it
heavy resistance against psionic attacks and it’s tough skin and
body were stronger than leather.

It was slow to turn, but fast as it turned
its head and a buildup turned the black horn bright as it released
a bolt which Oliver, with all his speed, couldn’t dodge. Instead he
used the shield’s wall just in time. The discharge hit it, but as
soon as the energy went wide enough to touch the ground it found a
path and the bolt harmlessly went to ground, but turned the rock
molten. A breath calmed and Oliver came up with a plan which relied
on one main principal.

Don’t stop.

Legs blurred as he cycled around the Thunder
Lizard, confusing the shit out of it. Slicing waves went off each
time Oliver rounded on its neck. Cutting deeper down and inflicting
pain. It was difficult hitting the exact same spot while running
flat out. Strips of razor cut meat wounded it, but Oliver fought
through the accumulating loss of energy. He began to supplement his
reserves with his vambrace and it made all the difference.

Pain, confusion and anger had the Thunder
Lizard rely on its last resort and Oliver was ready after knowing
what it would do.

Electrical intensity increased and it drew
lightening from the sky without a storm, but since it couldn’t hit
Oliver’s speed it channeled it as it jumped up like a goat and it’s
clawed feet gathered for a type of Kinetic blast. As it landed,
Oliver jumped as high as he could. The Thunder Lizard connection
with the ground unleashed a circular blast in every direction that
cut trees down a kilometer in every direction, leveling it and
creating a fire.

But in doing so, the Thunder Lizard used up
most of its built charge.

Meaning it granted an opening.

Oliver in the air poured all he could into
the cutlass, turning most of its stars blue and expanding before
focusing down to the edge to release the last slicing wave he could
afford without tapping into the full reserves in his vambrace.

The cut met the top of the neck and without
the electrical resistance the wave slid through the neck and bit
dozens of meters through the ground. The Thunder Lizard’s head fell
and the body seized before collapsing. Oliver landed, out of breath
as he sheathed his sword and gulped clean air through his helmet
rather than smoke from a forest fire. It was a well earned victory
and after gulping down air he got up, knowing a real treasure when
seeing one.

He moved and willed the vambrace into action.
From it, it covered the head thrice Oliver’s size and began
cleaning away all except brain and bone. Pulped meat and fluid was
squeezed out and in little time the vambrace had done its job when
the Thunder Lizard skill was bright white and polished, but left
the long horn blackened. Hunger returned when the battle eased away
and with the knife Oliver cut a hole from the back end of the skull
rather than through the top. He popped it off and there sat his
ultimate prize. Impossible to resist, his arm ripped chunks and his
mask opened around the mouth as his teeth sunk in.

Flavor exploded more than even the Fire Wyrm.
The meal was so potent Oliver could taste the essence the Beast had
and it was invigorating. Purple fluid poured off the skull, but he
was too euphoric to care. Handful after handful disappeared into
his stomach, each grab delving deeper in the cavity.

A sense of disappointment filled him when no
more was left and he looked in for any scraps, finding a piece here
and there.

After tasting that quality of essence, lesser
Beasts no longer seemed appetizing.

Realizing he had been eating close to a half
hour had replenished his strength so he opened the valve and it was
almost effortless, filling the lake in his mind more than any
attempt earlier. With a lift of his hand the skull followed. It was
too heavy to lift physically, but levitation was another
matter.

Taking it required setting down twice to
recover. It was heavy, but the long walk had its own benefits.

At the base of the cave, Oliver climbed and
filled his cape with all the collected water in the tub, grabbed a
scrub brush and deodorizing soap before jumping down heavily so
much it stung. With water and a brush he cleaned it out and up so
as to not attract scavengers since the skull was a bit more than he
intended to keep.

The meticulous work was great for keeping
thoughts at bay. Eventually though he had to leave the trophy to
remember the worthy Beast where it laid and climb back up to turn
in. At the top, Oliver grimaced as the fire from the battle
continued burning and spreading. Then he noticed purple clouds and
hoped they were on the way. Thankfully they were and even from afar
he noticed dozens fighting over the carcass left behind. Others
would be fed very well.

“
Might as well check
myself.” Oliver said to himself after a well rested sleep and sat
up to turn on his egg shaped crystal tablet given by Stephanie and
linked it to a medical scanner in the compact shape of a pen to
turn it on and let it gain a reading from his head. It didn’t take
long for his eyes to widen.
Whoa! I’m a
Class Eleven. The Thunder Beast made me rise three whole classes
overnight.
He thought as the land was
completely dark, lit only by embers from the fire and a few Beasts
that lured with natural bioluminescent lights.

Now to feel comfortable
doing it.
He placed the scanner down and
moved back in the cargo area to pull out a small tube no larger
than half the size of an adult thumb. Part of research during the
preparing phase was in neural chips. Inside the clear tube was a
solid, clear crystal made by the vambrace after understanding how
it worked. A person needed to be a middle to upper class eight to
be able to receive the chip implant that is dangerous to lower
classes due to mental strain and in many cases, death. Now an
Eleven, Oliver extracted it, held it between his fingers and told
his vambrace what to do.

Blackness covered the chip and a spike
speared painlessly through his forehead dead center. Pressure made
him wince as it expanded the bone of his skin and skull just enough
to let the crystal pass through. He held completely still, but as
expected, instead of the implant staying whole, it got an upgrade
as it shattered and the pieces integrated directly with his frontal
lobe for conscious access.

The moment the implant was in place it
activated and opened Oliver’s mind to amazing sights. The Vambrace
pulled from his forehead and a single drop of blood is all that
came out before clotting, but he was much too stunned to see lines
and graphs converge with his natural sight more clearly than
imagination. He looked at places in the distance and the chip
translated accurately just how far away it lay while also scanning
for game trails to walk in the shortest pathway safely. Then as he
stared, wanting to see the number on the far mountain, the
peripheral view in his eyes blacked out and the chip enhanced
natural sight to expand what he saw. The zoom was incredible and
would come in handy.

But what was beyond even his imagination was
the chip connected to the Vambrace perfectly and he began to see
metallic protocols he had been sensing ever since adding the
Solarium cube written out like DNA code. He could see all the
safety parameters and just what it could do for him as it too had
particles so small in his brain too. It was how it reacted to his
needs and desire. It is also how it sometimes reacted without
intent, like turning the armor silver against intense heat like
fire. And it could create many things more intricate than could be
realized without a visual component. It spoke to him in a way, but
used in conjunction with the chip, he could render and engineer
privately and store ideas to return to later. He could also feel
out other technology to connect to it, like his ship.

A simple thought command had the window of
the Flare close and the ship turned off standby and onto active
system command. What he saw next about took his breath away.

Through the vambrace’s abilities Oliver
rendered a hologram of the Flare without the need of a holograph
others could see naturally. Linked to the ship via chip, the
vambrace pinpointed faulty areas that need reinforcement in one
color and in red showed all places that were horribly inefficient
and could be made far better.

Wanting to give it a try was all it needed
and the vambrace struck out to pass through molecules of the
cockpit wall and soaked into power relays that link the power store
to sublight engines. With the chip he recognized the errors and the
multi-tool broke it down and rebuilt it to maximum efficiency
without fear of overheating.

Since it still rained a little, Oliver had
nothing else better to do so he designed much more clearly with the
chip and the rendering was quicker than using the tablet. His hands
moved trough thin air, but he was pulling the ship apart piece by
piece in areas of most need. It did expend quite of bit from
itself, but it held out after three full hours of adjusting. The
most remarkable was enhancing the ship’s maximum psionic storage by
four thousand and seventy eight percent. Not anywhere near what the
vambrace holds, but it could now personally cross galaxies than
just a few thousand light years.

Curiosity though suddenly
gave an idea once repairs were complete.
I’m an eleven… wonder if I… I CAN!
Oliver mentally cheered after holding up a mirror and easily
opened the lever practically all the way. Inside the vibrations
moved so fast they went still, but a sense of indestructibility
overcame him. It was as if nothing could stand against him. The
most visible change came as he look in the mirror to see his hair
sticking straight up, but his eyes had gone completely gold, like
two miniature suns. He saw like normal, explaining sight hadn’t
been affected though outwardly others would see a great
change.

Then came the ears during the search for
changes. All week they had gradually altered, but now they were
angled to strong Elvin points, judging by the look in the realm of
fantasy people enjoy. Unable to stop, he touched them to find
sensitivity.

The difference in recognizing them now showed
he had overlooked another important aspect.

Sounds from much further away were clear and
crisp. Having already keen hearing still didn’t prepare for how
acute sounds were from far away. He got up and moved to the ledge,
cocking his head to narrow down sounds and looked when he found one
and let his gaze zoom. It was too easy to spot a Tarantula sitting
in a web silently as the wind sang through the threads in a way he
never heard before. A soft thump had him look down and realize his
own heartbeat made it. “Try sneaking up on me now.” He challenged
the primal world wryly.

The next day he heard the second Thunder
Lizard long before it came near the camp and lured it up into a
mountain so high that there were no trees. This one was smaller and
faster, but with newly glowing eyes and three heavy slicing wave
cuts one behind the next made it drop. He ate his fill and was as
delicious as the last. Smaller Salamanders eventually scavenged and
picked the carcass clean.

On the way to his cave he brushed a hand over
the horned skull that hadn’t moved, but as he was about to climb up
he stopped, a hand and leg on the stone ladder.

Three or four particles in all the air Oliver
breathed is all it took for him to come to a complete stop. Turning
his head into the wind, another pair of molecule hit him. It was a
great distance away, weeks at the least, but the magnitude of
essence on the wind had him completely enthralled. It was so faint,
but the sheer concentration in those few particles translated into
a power he must have at all costs.

Losing his mind to the
hunger, Oliver felt separated from himself as his body took off at
a relentless pace, into the wind. Each breath had at least one
minute scent more powerful than others and he was lured. Only he
could not regain control of himself. Hours of running through the
mountain and he still could
not
stop… he was scared and rightly so.

Until the world suddenly went dark.

Crackling fire in the next think he noticed,
followed by a splitting headache. “Agh.” He groaned and sat up. “My
head…”

“
Had I not, you would be
dead, My Friend.”

Oliver quickly looked and blinked several
times at what he saw. A head shake didn’t make anything
disappear.

Sitting in his cave were two proud Creelin.
The two were clad in gold over their natural blue-grey skin.
Creelin men aren’t as broadly shouldered as Human men nor as
muscular, but they were broader and thicker than their smooth
women. Creelin had sloping foreheads. Males had small spikes on
their head while females were completely smooth and fair. They had
long black antennae resembling hair. Three long fingers and a thumb
were their hands, nails thick enough to be shaped and sharpened
into claws. They had no mouths nor a nose, but they had nostrils
shaped like a teardrop between large eyes that constantly glowed
and changed color. And right now a large male as tall as Oliver sat
with a marginally shorter female.