Exponential Gains

The air was chilly, the sky dark and starless with drifting puffy white clouds, and the leaves of the trees surrounding me rustled and fluttered as the wind breezed past them.

Hovering, my aura hugging me tightly, above the ground in a lotus position in front of the clear river, I took a sharp breath of the cold air and focused on my energy as it cooled my lungs.

I channeled it out of me and molded it gently and cautiously with my mind, forming five basketball-sized golden spheres that orbited around me in the air.

Then, closing my eyes, I concentrated on my surging energy, directing it towards my eye. Feeling them build up there with power, I divided my focus and shifted part of it to the five spheres that orbited me, trying to force them to change shape with my thoughts.

It worked. They started changing shape simultaneously, bending into different figures but I felt a pang in my head as my mind began to strain at the multitasking.

I ignored the pain and continued manipulating the shapes of the spheres while energy continued to build up in my eyes.

Gazing at the rows of thick and wide mahogany trees that towered on the other side of the river, I willed the energy in my eyes to align with my gaze and released it with a forced exhale.

Two thin twin beams of searing golden energy erupted from my eyes, slicing through the air in a straight line with a soundless crackle, leaving trails of shimmering heat that sizzled the air and the water below.

I watched as they struck the trees and easily sliced and pierced through their trunks, leaving behind smoldering gashes where they passed.

The sliced trees fell and crashed on the floor with a series of bangs, offsetting the calm of the place as I closed my eyes and dispelled the pooled in my eyes, canceling the vision attack.

A low groan came out of my mouth as another pang of pain assaulted my mind, sweat pooling on my forehead as I clenched my teeth and forced the spheres that were now quaking to stabilize.

Slowly, with my mind, I bent the spheres, twisting them to spiral continuously to form drills, concentrated energy crackling intensely in the air.

The pain in my mind heightened all of a sudden, distracting me and making me lose a bit of my concentration. This made two of the spiraling spheres shatter into motes of light while the others continued their motion.

Fed up with the pain, I directed the golden drills forwards with a thought. They shot toward the river at high speeds that almost made them blur and dived into the water with an instantaneous explosion of force.

The area of impact erupted and propelled skyward into a tall column of water with a loud roar that echoed everywhere.

The column of water crashed back upon itself, sending droplets of water all over like a drizzle of rain. The surface of the river rocked and churned wildly, creating chaotic waves and turbulence, as copious amounts of steam rose from the water.

Panting heavily, my head aching, as sweat mixed with water snaked down my slightly wet bare torso, I flew to the other bank and descended on the wet ground, almost stumbling, and dissipated my aura.

My eyes shifted and roamed my surroundings, taking in the sight, as the surface of the river continued to churn and forth.

Most of the trees that ringed the castle and the river had been either sawed through, blasted apart, or had punch holes or dent in their center.

The sawed or cut trees on the other bank, at one side of it, had been arranged or packed neatly in horizontal rows, leaving behind their stumps.

Scattered irregularly all over the grassy floor, on the other bank, were small circular holes of various shapes, cracks, black scorch marks, and dents. Some of the holes even billowed smoke.

The ravaged scenery was the aftermath of my diligent training, counting today and the previous three days, had spanned five days. Today marked the second day since I destroyed the warehouse.

Smiling as the image of the burning warehouse popped up in my head, I cracked my neck and stepped towards the toppled trees.

My fingers dug into the bark of one of the trees as I grabbed it, raising it effortlessly into the air like it was made of paper.

I placed it horizontally on the floor and moved around the place, grabbing more of the fallen trees and arranging them horizontally together with the first one in rows.

Dusting my hands, I sat on one of the trees and looked at the sky, sighing helplessly as I remembered the past two days of training.

These past few days have been very stressful to say the least. Training had become very difficult and more importantly, very painful.

I had been able to test out and gauge, or at least get an idea on, my new enhancements or power level and it was unbelievable.

I didn't know the full extent of my strength or any other of my physical parameters since after trying out the gym equipment at home, I found out that I had surpassed all of their maximum limits.

Very easily if I might add. It wasn't even a challenge. It was as if I was playing with toys. My gym equipment was evidently not designed with superhumans in mind.

Luckily, my mom kept some of my dad's customized and advanced training tools and equipment tucked away in the basement.

All I had to do was get people to move them out to my mansion and set them up in one of the guest rooms. Using them, I was able to get some of the information I needed.

With hydraulic systems, high-precision force sensors, and advanced radar-based speed measuring sensors, I discovered that I could lift tens of metric tons and sprint, run, and fly at supersonic speeds.

I didn't have anything to accurately test out the full extent of my durability. But after trying out weapons like a vibroblade, high-intensity laser beams, and high-caliber bullets on my skin and receiving not even a scratch, I at least had an idea of how durable I was.

There were other things I couldn't get an accurate fix on like my reaction speed since I didn't have specialized equipment for them.

I'd already placed orders for more advanced training gear using my alien sources so all I had to do was wait till they arrived. After getting them, I'd be able to obtain a full comprehensive report or analysis on my enhancements.

Still, using the little data that I had, I was able to calculate and extrapolate some statistical information. Per my calculations, I'd gotten more than a five thousand percent increase in physicality.

Meaning, for each human being I drained, I'd gotten at least a thousand percent increase in my physical parameters. It was an absurd amount and it filled me with indescribable joy, for that moment at least.

After all, it meant that my progression was geometrical, increasing by a factor of more than ten. If I progressed at this rate, it wouldn't take long before I'd evolve into a superior existence.

A being of untold and incalculable power. The level I'd dreamed of reaching. But I knew better. This was only temporary. I'd reach a cap, a saturation point, a limit, where this progression rate would reduce.

If it wasn't the case, then my predecessor, the one who massacred a whole town, would've been a God by now and wouldn't

have gone mad.

At some point, regular humans wouldn't satisfy me anymore. The law of diminishing returns would set in with all its splendor and I'd have to switch to other sources. But that was the least of my concerns right now.

I had more immediate problems. First of all, my hunger had been heightened. Even now, I could feel it, how it was echoing at the back of my mind even as I was sitting here.

I'd suffered true hunger in my past life, hunger that would drive and compel you to do things you wouldn't even dream of so the echo or sensation was very easy to ignore.

Inevitably, it would reach a point where it'd become very hard to ignore, reaching its elastic limit so to speak.

I hadn't reached there yet so I was still in the safe zone when it came to absorbing energy.

But that wasn't the real issue.

My bioenergy intensity and reserves had increased and become so powerful or dense and so plenty that it had become erratic and chaotic, making it hard to manipulate or control.

Now my attacks either had too much or too little energy, making it very hard to control my strength or even maintain the integrity of my attacks.

For now, after two days, I'd managed to get it under control. It would only last momentarily because I'd eventually absorb something or someone, making it chaotic again.

I'd have to train all over again, creating an annoying cycle, where each power-up increased the difficulty of my training or control.

It was going to be hateful, I'd probably be cursing the whole time, but I still welcomed it. After all, with something as important as that on my mind, I wouldn't be inactive or worse, become lazy.

...My only hope was that it would get easier with time...

Suddenly, something in my pocket started beeping loudly, reverberating across the place. I quirked an eyebrow and slipped my hand into the pocket of my black sweatpants, pulling out the source of the noise.

It was my dad's Plumber's badge. Tapping on it, the green hourglass symbol flashed twice and spewed out a holographic projection that played live footage.

Watching it, my lips curled up into a smile, "Forever Knights huh? Well, this should be fun."