Cullen turned to see what the building looked like on the inside, but was disappointed to find himself in a bland hallway with multiple rooms.
'This was the only building that had researchers constantly coming in and out, so I assumed the information I needed would be in here. I could be wrong though…'
Walking down the hall, he saw that each room was labeled with a glass window on each door. On his left was a room named Soil Composition Research, and to his right was Plant Species Research.
'Those won't really help me, but it would be interesting to see what an Abomination is truly made of…'
Not wanting to get caught, Cullen forced himself to move on.
The next room to his left was the Personnel Registry, and to his right…
'This is it!Digital Archives!'
He first looked into the window to confirm that nobody was in there, then opened the door and gently closed it behind him. Inside, racks of servers lined the walls, and a few computers sat in the center of the room. Hundreds of cables were sticking from one machine to another, confusing an already puzzled Cullen.
'I've never even used a computer before…'
He sat down at one of the machines and looked at the screen in front of him.
Start
He moved the mouse and clicked, but heard a sudden snap beneath his fingers.
'Crap…'
Cullen had increased his strength significantly, but he never left The Island in the process. As a result, he never really learned to control himself with mundane objects.
'Hopefully nobody notices…'
User Authentication Required
Username:
Password:
'Damn it!'
Cullen obviously didn't know the username or password, and acquiring it was almost impossible. He could force someone to give it up, but that would alert the Gifted guards and reveal his presence.
'Maybe I can find something in the other rooms. If not, this was all for nothing.'
He opened the door and quickly looked both ways, making sure nobody was in the hallway before stepping out.
The next two rooms were labeled BiohazardLab and Cryogenic Storage, which sounded interesting yet unimportant to Cullen. Then, the first of the last two rooms gave Cullen some hope. Physical Records would surely have information about the Abominations!
But right before Cullen entered, he heard the door he came in from creak open as light filled the hallway.
***
Eddie opened the door, half expecting to find a terrible Abomination waiting for him, yet there was nothing except an empty hallway.
'Of course there's nothing! The only Abomination I've ever seen on this island was a huge wolf, but it was weak and slow. It's not like it could've snuck in here on its own anyway!'
Still unsure, Eddie decided he should inspect the place a little more.
He walked to the first set of doors, peering into the windows and checking for any signs of life.
'The staff are done for the day, so there shouldn't be anyone in here. I still can't believe they don't have locks in this place… not like it would stop anyone strong enough though.'
He chose not to enter every room, instead checking through the windows to save himself time. The next two sets of rooms were also clear, and he finally reached the last doors.
Eddie looked into the Physical Archives, but saw nothing unusual.
'Just shelves and folders…'
After checking the last room, he made his way to the exit. Relieved, he still needed to find a plausible excuse so the others wouldn't think he had gone insane.
***
Cullen was frozen, pressed against the wall beside the door so nobody would notice him by looking in. Once he heard the door close again, he finally relaxed as his senses confirmed that whoever had entered was gone now.
'That man was definitely a Gifted, that much I know. It's a good thing he didn't have an ability that boosts his observation.'
The room was filled with shelves, each with labeled boxes that held countless folders and papers. Cullen skimmed through a couple, not wanting to waste too much time looking around.
However, one thing piqued his interest a bit too much.
'Military involvement? Would this tell me why they choose to keep The Island alive?'
Skimming through the documents, Cullen found that most of his speculations about The Island were true.
'The Island was discovered about 5 years ago, and it grew to 3/4 of its current size before anyone could react. Once Gifted soldiers were dispatched, they quickly evaluated the situation and determined that it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Instead of destroying The Island, they would contain it and study it to further expand their knowledge of Grade-Es, and Abominations in general.'
While that explained most of his questions, it was still unclear why The Island was still here. It had killed and transported hundreds of people, proving its existence to be extremely dangerous. Yet, Cullen saw no signs of changing their decision and destroying The Island.
'Could they have predicted that this would happen? No… that wouldn't make any sense…'
Cullen shuffled through the documents, almost losing track of time.
'It's not too clear on how they stopped The Island from growing, but it says here that the warships stationed off the coast use firepower to damage it. Apparently, hurting any part of The Island will hinder its growth. This further supports the fact that the entire island is connected to one Grade-E.'
'On top of that, The Island's total strength is closely related to its size. For example, a bigger island would result in a stronger core. It also increases the power of the lower-grade Abominations produced by The Island. This is similar to all the other Grade-Es, but size isn't always the factor.'
Then, the next piece of information he saw surprised him.
'This is considered the weakest of the seven Grade-Es? I mean, I knew it wasn't the strongest because of how easy it was for me to locate the core, but the weakest? It almost makes me glad I was stranded here instead of the other six.'
The rest of those documents talked about the stages the military went through to adapt to The Island. The hardest part seemed to be cutting off all organic life from that area, since this was how The Island grew. It didn't go into much detail, so Cullen was left to his imagination.
To do that, they would theoretically have to construct a giant wall in the ocean. If there were Gifted who could accomplish that, Cullen wouldn't even be close to that power.
Snapping back to his current situation, he put that box down and began searching for the information he had come for. After a minute of searching, he finally found the box he was looking for.
Lower Grade Abominations.
'Yes!'
Overjoyed, he quickly started flipping through folders to find a practical ability he could use. While he was searching, he found many of the Abominations he already knew… with slightly different names.
'The Ghost Monkey is actually called the Transcended Monkey, and the Withered Plant is called the Decaying Fern. I think I'll stick with my names for now…'
The first new Abomination he came across was the Corrosive Swamp. It was a small body of water that would degrade organic matter when it came into contact with it. It was a Grade-B, and a Gifted soldier could survive much longer in there than a normal person, but it would still irritate most. Its core was somewhere submerged in the water, and it wasn't too powerful. It was also easy to identify, since there were no other bodies of water on The Island.
'It seems interesting, but how would I use a poisonous attribute? Maybe a weapon that poisons the enemy when struck? But it probably won't be strong enough to cut, Abominations, since the Corrosive Swamp has no properties like that.'
While experimenting with the Wolves, Cullen earlier confirmed that his ability required him to create a new object. He couldn't, for example, use the Corrosive Swamp's poisonous effect to enhance his dagger.
'Maybe if I improve my understanding, I could eventually use my ability like that. But for now, this Abomination isn't what I'm looking for.'
Before turning the page, Cullen realized something strange.
'All lower-grade Abominations come from the core of The Island. That raises the question of how some of them got where they are. The Corrosive Swamp and the one with mental attacks are not sentient and possess unmoving cores. So, how did they start from the center and move to their current location?'
Cullen thought about it, yet couldn't come up with an answer. He could only hope to discover it in the rest of these documents.
The next Abomination he found was also a Grade-B, the Transforming Snake. This, as it sounds, was a snake with incredible abilities to alter its own body. It could adjust its size, color, and pattern in mere seconds. It could even shift the position of its own core, being anywhere in its body. Luckily, there were no other snake-like Abominations on The Island, so it couldn't pretend to be something else.
'It gives a couple of examples of how it fights, and it doesn't look fun at all. Shifting its size while it strikes you, changing color to blend in with the background, and even changing its scales to block attacks or move faster. However, I definitely have ideas for its ability.'
A sword with the abilities displayed by the snake would be deadly to any opponent, especially since it could change size. If his enemy dodged the sword, it could just grow and slice them anyway. This, combined with his armband, would make fighting Cullen incredibly unpredictable.
'While it will be difficult, I should definitely invest my time in this. The reward is very well worth the risk, and it also gave me a picture of one. This will make it easy to create a compass leading to it.'
He flipped the page.
'I might as well look at the other Abominations before I leave.'
The following page showed a picture of a small child, bent down and holding its knees while covered in black dust.
'This is the child I was nearly killed by before!'