Two weeks later...
The sound of classic, mellow rock music played softly inside the cool cabin of the luxury SUV.
Owen hummed along in a good mood, one hand steady on the steering wheel as his eyes gazed at the passing scenery of Titan City. The late morning sun cast a warm glow, illuminating the steel and glass skyscrapers. People bustled on the sidewalks. Everything looked unbelievably normal.
It was an almost strange feeling... after he had spent two full weeks completely "cut off" from the outside world.
'Two weeks... Two weeks in Iris's cocoon,' Owen thought, a slight smile playing on his lips.
It was fourteen days that felt as long as an eternity and, at the same time, as short as a dream. It was a crazy mix of experiences, blending the pain of his body being "deconstructed and rebuilt" at a cellular level by dozens of biological tentacles, and the "scorching" pleasure that was a critical condition of the evolution process.
He thought of the advanced medical capsule, the clean, sterile smell of chemicals, and Iris's purple-red eyes staring at him switching between the gaze of a manic scientist and that of a "hungry" queen.
'Even though it was so painful I almost went insane... the results were totally worth it. Plus, Iris knew exactly when to stop, so I never felt too overwhelmed,' Owen reflected on what had happened.
And now... he was back to the normal world.
His body felt incredibly light. It was filled with power, densely packed beneath skin that looked completely normal. And most importantly... his mind felt "clear" in a way it never had before.
Owen glanced at the road sign: "Titan City Regional Mall" 2 kilometers.
Today, he had his first order of business after leaving the lab: visiting Jace at "Jace's Tech Den."
'Time to pay off that "Specter Scanner" debt,' he thought of the device that had helped him take down Victoria so easily. 'Sixty thousand dollars... not a small amount.'
But he now had enough cash in his account from all his hard work (both OnlyStar and his stream channel) over the past period. Clearing his outstanding debts was the first thing he should do.
Owen's SUV stopped at a red light at a large intersection... Amidst the city's clamor and the sound of other car engines, Owen found himself lost in thought again.
After undergoing the physical evolution... it wasn't just his body that had changed, but his "mind" as well.
While his body had been mostly confined to the capsule bed, his mind had been free and "sharp" to a frightening degree. He had spent most of that time in a "half-asleep, half-awake" state, comprehending the scripture he had borrowed from the archives...
[Instant-Mind Palm: Mercy of the Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva]
This technique had opened new enlightenment for him, showing him just how powerful a living being's "Will" could be. After gaining a basic understanding, he found that "Will" wasn't much different from the "Psychic Power" he knew. The only difference was that most psychic power lacked "emotion"; it simply produced an effect according to the user's desire.
But Will was full of emotion and the experiences of the one releasing it. For example, "Will of Killing" could make an ordinary person feel as if they had already died, or "Will of the Sword" could make the user become the sword itself whatever they picked up could become a razor-sharp blade, just like the saying, "The sword is in the heart. If one is a master, even a bamboo branch is peerless."
And this "Instant-Mind Palm" technique used the "Will of Mercy" to condense a massive palm to stop an enemy. The more mercy you had for the enemy, the stronger the palm's effect. And the more malice the enemy had towards you, the stronger the rebound effect they would suffer...
Therefore, the thing that damaged the enemy wasn't the "Palm of Mercy" itself, but the "World" (the environment) and the "Malice" of the enemy. To put it simply, anyone hit by the Instant-Mind Palm wouldn't feel pain or take any damage, but their body would be pushed away at high speed. During this, if the person being attacked had no malicious thoughts, they would suffer no rebound, merely being thrown into the surrounding environment be it rocks, walls, or the ground. All of these things could cause damage, to varying degrees.
But if the person being attacked had any malicious thoughts in their mind, their negative emotions would clash with the positive emotions instantly, causing them internal damage, similar to a psychic attack. At minimum, they would feel dazed for a moment, but if struck hundreds or thousands of times, their "mind" or "spirit" would be completely destroyed, turning them into a vegetable, merely existing day to day.
Because of this... the technique had a clear drawback: it was ineffective against "good people" who acted as extreme heroes. As he learned this fact, he thought about finding other skills to train to cover this weakness. But after his "brain" evolved so dramatically, that thought changed...
'Time to see the results of the evolution.' Owen closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath.
'System... open status window.'
Ting!~
The familiar translucent blue window appeared in his vision. It was clearer than ever before, like an 8K monitor floating in mid-air.
…
[ Name: Owen Marlowe
Awakened Rank: B+
–Body Stats–
Strength (STR): C+ → B
Vitality (VIT): C+ → B+
Agility (AGI): C → B-
Intelligence (INT): B → A ★
Charm: B
Luck: ??? (Test of Fate)
Mana Capacity: B
–Combat Skills–
Hand-to-Hand Combat: B
Instant-Mind Palm (Mercy of the Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva): Unknown
–Abilities–
Choice System (V2.0): SSS
Sire: Unknown
Scales of Covenant: S
Avatar of Asura: B
Essence of Dreams: Unknown
Reality Warp: Unknown (2 Uses)
Status Window: A
Relationship Meter: B
Genius: A ★
–Equipment–
Sun God's Gauntlets: Unknown ]
…
Owen quickly scanned all the information... and a smile of deep satisfaction appeared on his face.
'Not bad at all...'
His base physical stats had been upgraded in a balanced way, just as Iris promised. From hovering at the C+ level, they had now all jumped to the B level. B-Rank Strength, B+ Vitality, and B- Agility. This meant his "base body" alone was now on par with a typical B-Rank combat-type Awakened.
But the line that made his heart pound... was that one.
[ Intelligence (INT): B → A ★ ]
The leap from B to A wasn't just an addition; it was "breaking the limit." It was a true dimensional leap.
Based on common knowledge... an average human had physical stats averaging at F-Rank, while their intelligence was at C-Rank, as that was the human race's specialty. Most Awakened had to struggle to the death just to get their bodies to C-Rank, and only enhancement-types could reach B or even A.
As for intelligence, it couldn't be trained easily; it was many times harder than physical training. Therefore, most people, whether Awakened or ordinary, only had an intelligence level of C-B.
But now... Owen's intelligence had touched A-Rank. And the result of breaking that limit was a new passive ability that had appeared.
[ Genius: A ★ ]
Owen had felt its effects from the very first second he stepped out of the capsule...
His thoughts were "scarily fast." Processing information in his head was no longer linear; he could analyze multiple problems simultaneously without any drop in efficiency.
"Learning"... This was the most incredible part.
The [Instant-Mind Palm] scripture, which he thought would take years to truly master... now, he merely "skimmed" every page and could understand the "essence" behind the technique with frightening clarity. The same went for the other complex texts in the archives; he was now confident that just by seeing them, he could decode them in a matter of days.
That was why his idea of using another skill to cover the drawback had completely changed. Because now he understood its essence, he could quickly figure out how to fix its weakness.
That was to adjust his thinking, change his perspective, twist the facts, or even hypnotize himself to see the "Will of Mercy" in a new light his own light. If he truly "believed," with all his heart, that what he was doing was "Mercy," it didn't matter if his enemy was a good person or not.
"Mercy," in the original definition written in the scripture, was "the desire for others to be happy," "empathy for others who are suffering," and "the desire to help others be free from that suffering."
Owen used the same principle, only twisting it slightly. He, too, wanted his enemies to be "free from suffering." If they continued to live in the world by burdening others, directly or indirectly, whether they knew it or not, they would inevitably create suffering for others and themselves until their lives ended.
Therefore, with his "mercy," he would extinguish that suffering himself. Extinguish it from this world permanently by sending them to the next life. Hopefully, they would be reborn in another world with a life that didn't burden others like this.
Owen called this "Long-term Mercy," which would permanently extinguish his enemy's suffering, not just "Short-term Mercy" that only involved teaching them a lesson and letting them become a better person, only for them to eventually suffer again one day... Wouldn't it be better to send them to another world so they would permanently have no more suffering in this world?
That was the starting point for Owen's unique "Will of Mercy." The harmless palm would become a palm ready to send any enemy to another world, whether they were good or not. Because the one who decided if they were "suffering" or not was him. He was ready to grant "Long-term Mercy" to everyone...
And one more major change for Owen was... "Perception."
HONK!
The sound of a horn from the next lane didn't startle him in the slightest.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
The crosswalk signal sounded. Owen glanced at the sidewalk, about 20 meters away...
The entire world seemed to snap into sharp focus. He saw everything...
He saw a woman in the crowd hurrying along, holding a coffee cup with the logo "Titan's Coffee Branch 2," with 8 drops of condensation slowly rolling down the cup.
Then he looked at a male office worker frantically typing a message on his phone, and Owen could easily read the tiny letters on that phone's screen.
And looking another way, Owen clearly noticed 17 tiny "flies" circling above a green trash can on the street corner...
His brain processed all of this data... without feeling "overwhelmed" in the slightest. It just felt... "clear."
'So this is it...' Owen thought as the traffic light turned green. He gently pressed the accelerator, pulling away smoothly. 'The difference between a normal person and a "genius"...'
He understood now... why people like Iris saw the world differently.
That was why Owen's old way of thinking had completely changed... Before, he had to slowly learn and train one or two things at a time. But now, he was confident he could train [Instant-Mind Palm] while simultaneously learning other arts from the archives without any problem.
And at the same time, he could also manage his "harem" perfectly.
Owen couldn't help but smile with ultimate satisfaction... Life after this upgrade was clearly about to get much more fun.
Soon, Owen's SUV reached its destination, turning smoothly into the mall's parking garage. He was ready for a "normal life" in a new, more powerful version...
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