Had Cain finished Catherine off with a single blow?
Why?
While Brad was still immersed in shock, not knowing what to do, Cain extended his left hand and gently patted him on the shoulder.
Brad trembled from head to toe and immediately knelt on one knee, shouting, "Boss! I didn't do anything to betray you! Please, forgive me!"
Both of them had psychic seeds planted in their minds. If Cain wanted to take their lives, he could do so at practically any moment with just a thought, and they would not even be able to generate the slightest intention to resist.
Just as if Cain were to order Brad to commit suicide right now, he would only be able to obey and take his own life.
Then, if Cain could dispose of Catherine in such a simple way, why would he need to do it personally?
That was why Brad had actually not seen clearly what Cain had done.
Seeing Brad kneeling on the ground asking for forgiveness, Cain smiled and shook his head, then grabbed him and pulled him up from the ground in one motion.
"Take a good look at Catherine's condition," he said, with a hint of resignation in his voice.
It was then that Brad noticed Catherine's chest rising and falling evenly, her breathing steady; everything clearly indicated that she was still alive and in perfect condition.
Cain shook his head again.
"If I wanted to kill her, do you think I would need to do it with my own hands?"
An expression of shame appeared on Brad's face. He knew that this time he had jumped to conclusions. If Cain had given her Pokémon and allowed her to strengthen her power, that proved that he still valued her quite a lot.
"Keep looking," Cain said, gesturing with his chin for Brad to look lower.
The two remained silent in the same place for several minutes; the time dragged on even longer than Cain had expected.
Just when he was about to check what was happening, Catherine's closed eyelids trembled slightly and slowly opened. At the instant she opened her eyes, a strange and lively light passed through her gaze.
"Is this...?" Brad widened his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Cain's brows, which had gradually been furrowing, finally relaxed, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face. This time, he himself had acted as an alarm clock!
The so-called alarm clock was nothing more than a special term among psychics. For example, when Sabrina had accidentally helped Cain awaken his psychic powers in the past, she could be considered Cain's alarm clock. And now, Cain had become Catherine's alarm clock!
That's right—starting from this moment, Catherine had become an honorable psychic. Although, for now, she was at the lowest possible level and could not even be considered a beginner-level psychic. Even so, compared with Cain's psychic talent, hers was much stronger.
At the very least, reaching the beginner level would not take seventy or eighty years; within her lifetime, it was entirely possible.
"Ps... psychic power..." Brad murmured, still stunned. He had never imagined that Catherine would have the talent to become a psychic.
"Psychic power?" Catherine asked, having just awakened and heard Brad's words.
Although she did not know why Cain had knocked her unconscious, at that moment she felt no discomfort at all. On the contrary, she felt better than ever.
Could it be... that she had become a psychic?
Catherine looked at her own hands, not quite knowing what to do.
Cain spoke directly: "That's right. From now on, you are a psychic. But at this moment you haven't even reached the beginner level. If you want to use it in real combat, at the very least you will have to reach the beginner level."
"For now, awakening your psychic powers will only make your mind a bit more agile; in daily life it won't give you too much help. But, after all, a bit of help is still help, isn't it?"
For Catherine, becoming a beginner-level psychic was still something with real possibilities, very different from the situation Cain had been in back then.
"This is the basic manual for psychics. It was given to me by the person who awakened my powers in the past, and now it is of no use to me anymore. I hope it will be of help to you. And I also hope that, if in the future you help others awaken psychic powers, you can give them some support. Consider this a kind of special transmission," Cain said.
"Transmission...?" Catherine received the manual from Cain's hands, still somewhat dazed.
In fact, when Cain implanted the psychic seed in Catherine's mind, he had already discovered her peculiarity and knew that she possessed the talent to become a psychic. It was simply that at the time he did not have the time to do it, and moreover, all of Cain's mental energy was focused on his plan.
But today, at last, all the pressure he had been carrying had disappeared. Cain also wanted to see his subordinates become stronger and stronger. Since Catherine had psychic talent, helping her awaken it was not especially difficult.
Cain's methods were much gentler than those Sabrina had used on him in the past. That was why Catherine now felt extremely well, without the slightest discomfort.
Compared with the unbearable pain Cain had suffered back then, this was far more tolerable.
"Thank you very much, sir!" the excitement was clearly visible on Catherine's face.
Both she and Brad, although they deeply despised the people of the Sacred Church and detested their methods, in their hearts sincerely envied the psychic powers of its members and wished that one day they too could become psychics.
And they had not expected that this day would actually arrive today!
Clutching the psychic manual tightly in her hands, Catherine felt that ever since she had begun following Cain, her gains had always been extraordinary.
And now, moreover, she had become the psychic she had always dreamed of being. She could not feel better.
Catherine's contained satisfaction, Brad's silent envy... all of it was observed by Cain, though he did not express anything about it.
"Let's go. Now it's finally time to help them resolve their most important matter. And, by the way, I also want to see what the true secret hidden on this continent really is," Cain's face returned to calm, but in his eyes shone overflowing curiosity and a desire impossible to conceal.
With a casual wave of his hand, the three of them, together with Slowking, disappeared from the place.
...
Three days later, Cain and the other two appeared in a terrain filled with scattered rocks.
By then, Cain had already changed back into the attire of a member of the Sacred Church. Brad and Catherine were dressed the same way. Although they clearly did not look like genuine members of the Sacred Church, at least it served as a bit of disguise.
In just three days, the three of them had successfully gone from being prey to becoming hunters.
In only three days, and with Cain as an "inside ally," they managed to eliminate two more members of the Sacred Church and took all of their belongings.
It was then that Cain realized that, in fact, the greatest source of resources and benefits on the continent was no longer the continent's own resources, but the members of the Sacred Church themselves.
(End of chapter)