26 A demonstration (1)

As Erik said those words, the status screen appeared in his vision.

(A.N: Look at the status screen page in the auxiliary volume, press CTRL+F, and input CHAPTER 26 to see the status screen.)

"Yes!" the young man exclaimed.

"Now, let's boost my strength a little bit." He immediately put his five attribute points into strength, bringing his points to eight.

Immediately, mana rushed into Erik's body at an incredible rate, as if he were being recharged with it.

The tingling sensation spread all over him, and his muscles grew larger and stronger until they bulged out from under his skin.

Suddenly, there was no more room for them, then the tingling stopped. The young man took off his sweaty shirt and observed the changes in his body.

He didn't become huge, but he definitely gained mass. Previously, Erik was a little bit chubby. Still, following the allocation of the attribute points, the muscles underneath his skin protruded like overgrown knuckles, and the veins stood out like tree roots.

Even his legs had grown larger, almost twice their normal size.

"I'm going to need some bigger clothes," he muttered. With a happy smile, Erik went to the bathroom to shower, and after he was done, he quickly dressed.

One last thing to do was train to develop the neural links. He spent two hours on the task, then went to bed since he had to go to School the following day.

***

The following day Erik woke up early. This was the last chance he had to decide if revealing his new power was the right thing.

<On the one hand, I will surely attract much attention to myself,> Erik thought.

<But from the other, I will probably stop the bullying.> That was what Erik really hoped to achieve. His situation was so insufferable as to cloud every other outcome.

<But this is not going to be all bad, right? Many Awakeners ended up filthy rich. Shouldn't this at least be possible for me?>

<Maybe I should only show that I can fight with my current power?> Erik thought about that. If he simply made the tree grow, no one would think about the power as a good one to fight.

He needed to show how he could fight it, but the fact that he couldn't control it was a problem. He would only end up killing his opponent.

After much thinking, Erik decided that the best thing to do would at least be to try. With that decided, the young man checked his daily quests, and after having accepted them, he completed the first by making breakfast.

After that, he changed and headed out toward the School.

As he arrived, the young man was sporting a massive smile. Erik felt as if every problem had vanished after the last night. All of that was thanks to his newfound resolve.

This was his chance to leave a lasting impression on the others and put Logan and his friends in their place. This was his chance to warn the bullies that there would be consequences if they kept harassing him.

"What are you smiling about, you trash?" asked a girl beside him. Everyone knew who he was, and looking at that weird smile upset them. Erik was basically the relief valve of the School.

The one they used to make fun of to shift the attention on the fact they were not that better than him. Erik was used to being made fun of, but things would change starting today.

"Mind your damn business, bitch!" Erik snapped.

<This feels damn liberating,> he thought.

The girl grimaced at Erik's reply. She knew he was the School's trash and that he usually didn't reply to people making fun of him. It was a bizarre behavior. The people in the surroundings were surprised too.

"Yo, guys. The trash just talked back!" a student suddenly shouted.

"That's right! Plant Hugger got mad!" another one added with a scornful tone.

Then everybody laughed while the young girl glared at Erik and turned away.

"Shut up, motherfuckers!" Erik replied to the students around him.

They laughed louder when they heard those words coming out of his mouth.

As the confrontation between Erik and the other students got worse, a few people gathered, and soon words that the School's trash was talking back to a whole crowd of people reached the students inside the building. It was then that Anderson Worthington, the School's star, intervened.

"Hey, guys. You're not allowed to talk shit about anyone here," he reprimanded them. No one wanted to confront Anderson, not because of his family's power but because of his brain crystal power.

He had a power he called Atomic Annie, a bomb name. It was rated B on the Jorm scale. Essentially, he could generate explosions from his body that were devastatingly powerful and didn't harm him.

This, coupled with his astonishing talent, made him able to make five neural links meaning he was ranked ρ2 on the Idor scale.

If that wasn't all, he was also one of the School's top 20 students and was privately tutored in martial arts by the teachers together with the other 19. They were at a completely different level than the average student.

"You have to respect the school rules; otherwise, I'll punish you personally," Anderson warned.

"But... But..." a student stuttered.

Anderson gave the guy a hard stare before turning toward the rest of the crowd.

He continued: "If someone talks more shit, I will make them pay, and believe me, it will hurt like hell. So don't mess with me. Now leave this kid alone before anything bad happens."

This brought silence to the students, which was how the situation ended.

The crowd of students dispersed, leaving behind a single person, Erik.

He went straight to the main building, walking amidst people who looked at him like a freak.

They thought that by talking back, Erik had just signed his death warrant.

<These fuckers have no idea...> he smiled, thinking about what would happen at lunch break. He couldn't wait.

For years Logan beat him; for years, he had to go home injured; for years, he and the others made fun of him and humiliated him in front of everyone. All that bottled-up emotions swirled inside of him, and now that he was letting them escape, he felt exhilarated and liberated from a colossal weight.

Logan and his friends went past the young man and saw him in a good mood.

"What is this fucker laughing for?" Conal said.

"I don't know, but I heard a weird rumor while entering the main building," Conal said.

"Yeah? What kind of rumor?" Logan asked.

"Apparently, the little shit grew some balls overnight. He dared talk back to some people outside."

"Are you sure that happened?" Orson asked.

"I don't know, that's what people said. Should we pay him a visit?" Conal asked.

"No, we already messed up with the fire story," Logan said.

"You mean, you messed up," Conal replied.

"I told you already! It wasn't me who shared the video!" Logan said.

"Then why everyone received it from your device?" Orson asked.

"I don't know!"

"Right..."