Meowth wore a dopey grin, lost in daydreams of being petted in Giovanni's arms.
He didn't even notice Jessie and James exchanging increasingly concerned glances.
"Meowth's been acting kinda goofy lately. Did Pikachu shock him too hard or something?"
"Maybe we really should get him checked out."
"Yeah, you're right."
—
The next few days were remarkably peaceful for Brandon.
He'd go to school during the day, come home in the evening to work out. The initial rush of excitement from everyone getting powers gradually faded, and life went back to normal.
Wyatt, Sean, and the rest—who'd promised themselves they'd run after school and train their powers—held out for maybe two days before dropping the plan.
Honestly, who wants to exercise when you could be gaming or reading web novels? Senior year was exhausting enough without piling on extra workouts. No one had the energy.
So, life returned to the usual routine.
A few students who hadn't awakened powers before managed to awaken something, though the abilities were noticeably weaker than the first batch.
Not that the early ones were particularly strong to begin with.
—
Bang!
Crack!
Brandon clenched his fists, each squeeze making his knuckles pop, the force of his punches cutting cleanly through the air.
As he trained, his physical strength increased at an almost frightening speed.
Before, only his powers were growing—but now, his body was getting stronger too.
Oddly enough, while his physical stats skyrocketed, his power growth seemed to slow down. But that was only in comparison to how fast his body was improving—compared to other Awakened, his progress was still terrifyingly fast.
Over the past few days, as Brandon studied both himself and his [Nature's Authority], he discovered why:
Everything came down to his own subjective intent.
At first, his powers grew rapidly because he didn't care about improving anything else. [Nature's Authority] was tied to the Earth's natural world, and the spiritual revival was a huge boon to all things natural.
Every living creature that grew stronger made him stronger too. The ratio was different for each, but the sheer scale was enough.
That kind of growth was permanent. Even if those creatures died, Brandon's gains remained.
Now, because he'd started to focus on physical training—believing deep down that his body shouldn't be neglected—[Nature's Authority] poured half (or even more) of its power into boosting his body.
But none of this came without a cost, and Brandon was keenly aware of it.
Even Saitama from One Punch Man paid the price for his cheat-level strength—with his hair and his emotions.
What, you're bringing up Reinhard?
That's not the same—he's just the author's golden boy.
As for Brandon's own price, he honestly had no idea.
He even tried asking the chat group, but the only response he got was:
[As the holder of Nature's Authority, you must shoulder the mission this planet has given you.]
[Once you learn to view the world as a "god," to think on that level…]
The chat group's answer was cryptic as always, and Brandon didn't understand a word.
Whatever. He'd just wait. When he finally "became a god," he figured he'd get it.
He balled his fists and punched the heavy bag.
Boom!
The loud thud echoed through the room—his fist punched clean through the sandbag.
"This kind of power… The old me could never have imagined it."
He shook his head. This was only a fraction of his strength—not even a tenth, really.
If he factored in his powers, things got even crazier.
"And then there's Obito's eyes. After fusing the Mangekyo Sharingan with my own, they turned into something else entirely."
"I'd read the descriptions in the chat group before, but I never imagined the essence would change too."
"Still, this is actually more suited to me than Kamui ever was."
[Left Eye: Divine Decree]
[My word is the word of God; my decree is the decree of God.]
When God said, "Let there be light," there was light.
When God said, "Let there be a vault to separate the waters," the sky was made and the waters parted.
With this power, as long as you can withstand the cost, every word you say will become reality.
[Right Eye: Divine Decree – Reverse]
[Wielding the power of heaven means bearing its price.]
No mortal is truly fit to wield the authority of God. When you can't pay the cost yourself, you can transfer it to others.
[Note: Heaven is fair to all—except you.]
[Note: I suspect you have something going on with the world's consciousness.]
Just from the chat group's remarks, it was clear how terrifying these eyes really were. Even the group itself wondered if Brandon was secretly in league with the planet's will.
Otherwise, how else could such a broken ability even exist?
What, you're saying these powers reflect Brandon's own heart—that the Sharingan evolved under the influence of his personality?
You buying that? The chat group sure isn't.
Come on, even if he had those thoughts, no ordinary Sharingan could birth abilities this OP.
Otherwise, Amaterasu wouldn't burn out, and Kamui wouldn't have flaws.
If it wasn't the world's consciousness meddling, the group might as well kick Roxie out as leader and give Brandon the role.
Roxie Vale: ???
Roxie Vale: Please turn on voice chat.
Brandon himself was a bit at a loss for words over the powers his Mangekyo had developed.
They were beyond broken—absolutely insane.
One eye let him command reality like a god (within his own limits), and the other let him shift the consequences to someone else if he couldn't handle them.
Is it any wonder he started to suspect he might have some "special connection" with the world's will? First [Nature's Authority], now [Divine Decree]…
"I'm really curious what kind of monster I'll become in the future."
With the Earth's blessing and the chat group's help, he was looking forward to seeing how far he could go.
Shaking off his thoughts, Brandon decided to grab something to eat.
Ever since he'd started focusing more on his body, he noticed not only was he getting stronger much faster—he was hungrier too.
Food that used to last him a week barely got him through a single day now.
Luckily, money was no issue for him. Otherwise, just paying for groceries would have driven him nuts.
After getting dressed and tidying up, he left the house.
He strolled through the neighborhood, found a buffet, and went in without a second thought.
He didn't care about fancy food—what mattered most now was filling up.
Buffets really were the way to go.
(End of Chapter)
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