"Now then," I said to myself after Sarah left as I turned over and called for system.
There are two very important things that I needed to handle here.
[You are given 3 free questions to ask from system, the answer will be given depending upon your authority level.]
Last time, I only used one, saving the other 3 got later, but never did I ever got a chance to use it, that's why, I will do it this time for sure.
I tried asking it about my Artifact but got no answer nor can it answer anything about the physical world or things like, the best way to survive? And such.
Al I can ask of it are questions related to the system itself that why...
"Who do I have both Telepathy and Telekinesis?" I asked, this has been bugging me the moment I woke up again in the cafeteria.
The last time, I only had telepathy but this time, not only do I have Telepathy but also Telekinesis, and I don't understand what changed.
[Every being was given a certain amount of energy for evolution, since it was detected that you already have formed one Ability Star, the energy was used to form a second one.]
In other words, I already had one ability so I got another one? Did the ability from the last timeline somehow got carried over her aswell?
More importantly, why did system called it Ability Star?
However, I have already planned my second question for system aswell and so I asked it...
"What's the difference in Evolution and Mutation?" I asked.
Whrn asked this question with level 10 authority, the system gives a vague answer like, changing a species into its best possible forms and mutation as changing a being using the catalyst present.
However, I was sure there's something else here aswell...
[Every being is given an equal amount of energy. Evolution is evolving a being to the best possible being bringing out all the potential in the body using that energy, leaving little room for growth. Mutation is changing a being on genetical level making a being have higher potential.]
Wait, a being with higher potential? I asked myself.
If I remember correctly, the species that system shows for mutated ones is animal they mutated into, with human.
For example, for Sarah, it shows as Mutated Chicken Human. If what higher potential means is what I am thinking of, then...
"What is the next evolution of mutated brings?" I asked.
The system shows no further evolution possible for humans, but it's different for mutated ones, they have possiblity of mutation still.
[Mutated High Human.]
This is a answer that one can't get with level 10 authority. This is something, that only I know.
"I see," I said to myself, "doesn't that mean that after their second evolution, mutated humans will be far better than high humans?" I asked myself.
After all, mutated ones we I see are mutated normal humans, but even that makes them so powerful, imagining someone with the max basic human stats mutating into some strong half animal...
Yea, that would be bad, like really bad..
'I need to become stronger,' I thought to myself as footsteps came from behind me, "Let's go," I said, as Sarah nods, on her shoulder was a bag full of who knows what...
.
.
.
In around half an hour, the mutated dog will come up, and slaughter everyone on the floor... leaving that place was the best and the only possible option but still...
'I messed up,' I thought to myself, as I hid under a table in complete darkness, with my hands covering my mouth and tears streaming down my face... All I could do was my best to hold back my cry.
'That place... there was a chance to survive,' I thought to myself, cuddling to myself, just wishing for death to not claim me, 'But coming here means certain death.'
Just as I thought so, a pair of golden eyes appeared right in front me, just a few centimetres away from my eyes.
"Meoww~~"
.
.
.
The building felt different once we were alone. The kind of quiet that doesn't mean peace... it means vacancy... Meaning a lot of deaths.
Anyways, while at it, I also tested my abilities, I connected my mind using telepathy with Sarah, with was just like having a mobile call with each other, but just quicker and clearer.
As for telekinesis? It was useless, all it could do was pick an object not weighting more than 1 kg.
The speed it hit with wasn't much either, almost equal to the walking distance, the best use of it was to be able to keep things floating in the air.
Other than that, it was mostly useless.
All I could was level it up to next level and hope it gets better, and that's only possible through repeated use of the ability.
Anyways, we took the emergency stairs and climbed one floor above the "safe zone." It was mostly empty. A few scattered employees had passed through earlier, but now it felt abandoned.
"This is safe, right?" Sarah asked softly as we stepped onto the darkened floor.
"Yes," I answered without hesitation.
At least… that's what I believed.
.
.
.
The floor above was dim. Power flickered inconsistently. Office cubicles stretched in rows, computers dead, chairs overturned. Someone had clearly panicked and left in a hurry earlier.
We moved quietly.
From below, faint noises echoed upward. There were distant shouts with metal scraping and then a loud crash.
They've encountered it... I thought as my heart started beating faster.
"We stay quiet," I whispered. "Lets go up, but make sure to make no noise. If it comes up, it'll go to the larger group first. We need to leave before that."
Sarah nodded, through she wanted to ask so many questions, she decided it was not the right time for any of them. So, she just silently followed behind Adrian.
Soon, we found a conference room near the far end of the floor. Thick glass walls, long table in the center. Not perfect, but better than open space.
For about twenty minutes, nothing happened.
The silence was suffocating. Then- A very loud scream from below which was cut off abruptly.
Sarah flinched when she heard it, "That was—"
"I know," I said, we both recognised the voice, it belonged to Mike.
More noise followed, heavy thud, something slamming into walls. The sound of claws skidding across tile.
I don't know it took the dog to clear the lower since I was probably the early ones to die but it seemed it did took a while as the voices continued for around 10 minutes and only when there was a gap of like, 3 floors, did the shouts became shallow.
The 3 floor gap was good enough... I thought.
We just have to rest for a while until it finishes down there and move up, to maintain a safe distance.
It'll be distracted always and maybe won't even follow us up and even if it just keep going to higher floors, it won't come to us immediately immediately.
We need to always maintain a gap, before finding a way to leave this building, something entirely possible if we just keep going up.
That was the plan.
That was the logic.
But...
No matter how good, plans don't matter in an apocalypse.