Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
John took repeated gasps of air and bent over with his palms over his knees. He was in the center of the training grounds and there were destroyed targets everywhere around him.
Most of the iron-plated targets had been blown into pieces. Some of them that were not destroyed were visibly deformed and showed the occasional signs of melting. It seemed as if targets here were not shot by regular bullets, but melted by some kind of powerful thermal weaponry instead.
Except that John at the moment did not wield any firearm.
“Huff, huff… Is it over?”
John rose slowly and looked around him. He waited for some time, expecting more targets to show up, but none did, implying that the test was over.
By this point, John had already been inducted into Blackwatch as a qualified member of the Black Security Service, B.S.S. It was only after his official joining when he realized that the B.S.S. was merely a cover for their true identity as the dedicated mercenaries of Blackwatch!
Even in the past, John had found the structure of Blackwatch a curious subject because of the sheer scale of the company. These days, he finally realized that he had been mistaken all along. The company was not merely a mega-corporation, it was essentially a corporational empire!
Only a phrase such as “corporational empire” would do Blackwatch justice.
Unparalleled global influence, unmatched wealth, and armed with superior military strength… Everything John had seen so far pointed to Blackwatch being a true corporational empire…
Just as John allowed himself a moment to relax, assuming the test was over, he suddenly saw several figures appearing. His new visitors were several skeletal Android models with reflective metal skulls, armed with large weapons!
“D*mn it, it’s not over yet!”
John’s eyes twitched and he sensed the imminent danger approaching. He went on the offense before the Androids could.
“Zoom-!”
A bolt of laser appeared from his eyes and he swept it across the room. It cut through the group of metal skeletons like a lightsaber!
“Hiss!”
There was a sharp whistle of metal melting under high heat. The skeletons were sliced in half, their tantalum alloy body was effortlessly cut through like tofu.
However, moments before its destruction, one of the skeletons had locked onto its target, which was John, and it managed to pull the trigger just in time!
“No!”
John’s pupils tightened with a bite of urgency. He instinctively held his arms in front of his body to guard himself!
“Bang bang bang!”
John heard repeated gunshots and something hard thumping against his chest. After that, he saw the lifeless clattering and ringing on the floor!
“Zoom!”
Another bolt of laser appeared from John’s eyes, with which he obliterated the surviving skeleton.
“Huff! Huff!”
John found himself quickly out of breath. A pool of sweat formed on the back of his shirt. He saw his life flashing before his eyes earlier!
After he managed to calm his nerves, he slowly shuffled his hands to the region of his chest where he was hit. Several bullet holes had been torn into those sections of the combat suit, but his chest was somehow unscathed.
“What’s going on?”
John was startled by this discovery, then he squatted and picked up a bullet under his feet that should have punctured into his chest. He saw that the ends of the bullet were deformed and caved inward sort of like a pancake. It seemed like it ran into an indestructible wall before it could piece through his body.
“Could it be…”
John was again startled by this discovery. Could he have awakened another ability unknowingly?
The Blackwatch superpower database had more than a hundred entries by this point. Could this newly awakened power of his be “steel body fortification” or “spirit form”?
“Steel body fortification” was almost a universal ability to a point where six to seven out of ten psionicists would achieve this psionic manifestation. It was a straightforward ability that enhanced the body of the user to become hard as steel and immune to most common weapons as well as mild thermal weapons.
Comparatively, “spirit form” was significantly rarer. It was a modified version of “steel body fortification” that gave the psionicist a greater level of fortification. Furthermore, the psionicist could also gain superhuman strength, reflex, and overall physical qualities with this ability.
John knew more than a dozen people who possessed “steel body fortification”, which included the famous Blake from the BHB Combative Police Force. However, there was only one other person with “spirit form” so far.
With this in mind, John tried to experiment for himself. With his bare fist, he tried to squeeze the bullet.
When he opened his palms again, his eyes lit up with ecstasy. The bullet had been twisted into a jumble of unrecognizable metal. He could see the marks of his finger pressed into it!
Could this truly be spirit form?
A wild excitement flashed in John’s eyes. With an offensive tool in optic blast and a defensive tool in spirit form, he could easily ascend the ladder to become the strongest member among the psionicists!
“Clap, clap, clap…”
While John was measuring the potential of his abilities, he suddenly heard light clapping coming from behind the walls. A red beam immediately glowed within his eyes as he cautiously turned around to face that direction. Then, he saw the instructor, Sarah, emerging from behind the stone bunker.
“Not bad, John. I knew you were the right one.”
Sarah said with a smile that was as scrutinizing as ever, “To awake another ability, excellent… It’s the enhanced spirit form as well. This easily ranks you at top three among the current recruited batch.”
“Madame Instructor!”
John lowered his head slightly as a show of respect. Although Sarah was a common person without any psionic abilities, nobody, John himself included, dared to underestimate her. This woman was a poisonous viper. Even psionicists had to be on guard around her.
“You’re undoubtedly more powerful than me at this point.”
Sarah raised two fingers. “Now, you have two options – one, you can let us continue our experiments on you, with a proper reward of course, since you’ll be given a vial of L compound to further enhance your psionic strength. There’s a likelihood that you may unlock the third power as we perform DNA experiments on you.”
“The second option is you can join the B.S.S. and begin your tenure immediately. You’ll be required to sign a decade-long contract with an annual salary of up to ten million dollars. The choice is yours.”
The prospect of ten million dollars was certainly tempting to John. His heartbeat raced like never before but he managed to collect himself and think about his current strength, then he resolved. “I choose… The former!”
“Hm?”
Sarah’s smile widened. She took another look at this bold student of hers. “Let me remind you that the L compound can have severe side effects that may cause instant brain death. Having psionic powers doesn’t exempt you from its effects.”
“I’d like to give it a shot!”
John nodded, even more determined.
“Excellent!”
Sarah seemed pleased as well. “In that case, follow me!”
With that, the two of them left the training grounds and headed for a nearby research center.
Several days later, the other psionicists received word of staggering news. The recent new psionicist recruit of B.S.S. John had acquired a third psionic power – flight.
With that, John had also officially become the first psionicist in Blackwatch that had three psionic abilities.
The news quickly made its rounds in the Blackwatch inner circle as well and got to Chen Chen almost immediately.
“I believe three superpowers is the limit.”
The virtual projection in front of Chen Chen displayed John’s genetic sequence. Little X elaborated beside him, “These psionic powers are acquired at the cost of the psionicist’s DNA sequence being directly altered. These changes in DNA sequence have a significant effect on disturbing the structural integrity of their DNA and John has reached his limit already. If he acquires a fourth ability, his DNA will collapse.”
Chen Chen did not elicit any response to this remark.
Despite John’s superb potential, he would still need time to develop his psionic powers and gain mastery over it.
“If you think about it, John is truly lucky.”
Little X pointed out. “Optic blast for attacking, spirit form to make up for defense shortcomings, and then he can move around with flight. These three combined nullifies all kinds of weaknesses and makes him a psionicist equivalent of Superman.”
“Now that you put it this way, it does sound like a slightly weaker version of Superman.”
Chen Chen agreed with a short nod. “Just like Superman, he’s immune to common attacks, shoots lasers out of his eyes, and can fly. But I’m afraid that Superman still beats him in a fair fight.”
“The only thing to do now is to let him continue training.”
Little X stated, “So far, he can only melt several millimeters of fortified metal and resist the impact of light to moderate weaponry. At maximum speed, he only travels at a hundred meters per second. It might not be anything tremendous but I do think it’s worthwhile to keep him in our company, especially considering that we need a suitable psionicist to represent us…”
“It won’t be hard to keep him around.”
Chen Chen considered for a moment and said, “I went through his background and obtained a brief overview of his mental psyche. He’s been attention-craved ever since childhood, constantly wanting praises from his elders. It’s his primary motivation for the work he put in and he maintained the same philosophy whether in his later studies and even in the work field… People like this are easy to manipulate. Give a man the prospect of fame and influence and they will naturally gravitate toward it.”
“And how should we do it?”
Little X asked. Of course, she already had a vague idea as to how Chen Chen usually approached these things but at the end of the day, she was not as proficient as Chen Chen at formulating such schemes.
Chen Chen answered almost immediately, “He’s piping with ambition and wants fame more than anything else. Let’s give the man what he wants and let him join Lane, Blake, and Hodge, what do you think?”
“Ah!”
Little X gasped. “We’re letting him join the Superpower Combative Police Force? Aren’t you worried about him shaping up to be the next ‘Brooke’?”
“John is nothing like Brooke.”
Chen Chen disagreed vehemently. “First of all, he’s not just after money as his self-worth goes beyond materialistic desires. And second, he has greater ambitions than Brooke and knows that only we can help him achieve what he wants. Lastly, so what if he turns out to be like Brooke?”
Little X understood the points Chen Chen was making. “Since you believe that we can keep him under control, then I’ll enlist him into the Superpower Combative Police Force. He’s just as attractive as Brooke and has a more charismatic personality so he should be a good fit. Since there are only three members left, it’s a good time to induct a new member as well…”
While Little X and Chen Chen were busy discussing the fate of John, the person in question was ecstatically gliding along the roof of the training grounds.
Flight! His third psionic manifestation was flight!
John glided across the roof passionately, basking in the living of flying.
Based on what instructor Sarah informed him, all of these acquitted psionic powers could be developed with dedicated training. John made use of every opportunity to train his psionic abilities.
Amid his training, Sarah appeared again.
“Madame Instructor.”
John quickly swept down from the roof and came in front of Sarah. At this point, though his martial combat skills were still no match for the instructor, the powers he had obtained easily made up for whatever deficiencies of his skill level.
“John, the higher-ups have made a new decision.”
Sarah said with a brief smile, “The plan was to induct you into the B.S.S. department, but upon receiving word of you unlocking a third psionic ability, they changed their mind.”
“Changed their mind?”
John was slightly unnerved by the sudden change of decision.
“Don’t worry, the offer is even better than B.S.S.”
Sarah noted the worrisome look on John’s face and quickly stated, “The latest decision is to induct you as the fourth official member of the BHB Superpower Combative Police Force!”
“What?”
John almost stopped breathing when he heard the good news. A swarm of excitement rushed into the depths of his heart and filled him with joy. He could not make out the nature of this mixture of emotion but something told him that he would enjoy this job.
“Of course, the previous option of joining the B.S.S. department is still on the table for you.”
Sarah stated earnestly, “I was looking forward to having you as a subordinate.”
John responded with a saddened smile. He looked into Sarah’s eyes that stared back into his eyes fixedly, his decision wavered slightly.
“I’m sorry, Madame Instructor. I believe the BHB position is a better fit for me.”
John stated solemnly.
With that, Sarah decided there was no need to further persuade him, so she brought him to another training ground.
The moment John stepped into the separate training ground, he was greeted with three familiar faces. They were the famous Lane, Hodge, and Blake.
The three of them welcomed John without any animosity. Since the three of them were never fueled by a fierce sense of ambition, they took to the new member quickly and seamlessly.
