Issue #10

After the first training session ended, Jack went back to his room for a nap to recover. Even if only an hour had passed by physically, his mind felt like over a month had gone by. In order to recover from that much mental stamina loss in a short amount of time, Jack needed to rest. He only woke up 3 hours later.

After getting up, Jack went to the new laptop Emma had given him and started to search for more animals that he could kill and gain their abilities. Jack had Lilith order a few that would be delivered later that day.

Once this was done, Jack went to the basement to start training on his own. This time, he learned his lesson and saved his less... understood powers to be trained with while Emma was present or in the mindscape.

Most of his abilities were pretty simple and easy to use. He learned that they were similar to buff skills in a video game. The abilities activated automatically with his thoughts and would stay that way for a few minutes or even longer if he willed it. The only exception to this was the three passive abilities he had gained that were always active.

The first time Jack used his enhanced senses, he was instantly overwhelmed. Even though Emma had cleaned the basement, Jack could still smell all the blood and bile from the corpses he killed two days prior. This caused his predator instincts to go into overdrive at the scent of blood and he wanted to kill.

It took a few minutes after he deactivated the ability for his bloodlust to go away. Even so, Jack knew that Emma was right with him needing more training. The state of mind he was in was not something that was safe to be around.

[Echolocation] was also pretty wild the first time Jack had used it. Jack would release an undetectable pulse from his body that would bounce back and return to him, feeding him information on his surroundings as if he had eyes in the back of his head.

The rest of the abilities were much easier for Jack to use and did not have any obvious weaknesses, downsides, or surprises. They were all just as the description said they would be used. But after going over all of this, Jack realized he had a major weakness.

"My body fucking sucks!"

Jack was no athlete. He didn't even do that great in gym class. So after trying his best the entire day, he could barely walk back to his bed. Yet after Emma smelled him walking by her room, she told him that he also had to jump in the shower or sleep outside.

Not wanting to get bitten up by mosquitoes or whatever type of insects were outside during summer in Massachusets, Jack reluctantly took a 5-minute shower to wash the filth off of his body before he collapsed on the bed.

The next day was pretty similar to the previous one. First was breakfast, then the pair had their month and a half training, then Jack went off for training on his own. After not getting his animals still, Jack went to question Emma but had to wait after her meeting was over.

Jack walked in and waited on the other side of her desk while he played on his phone. After 30 minutes, Emma finally ended her meeting and turned her attention to Jack.

"You came in without knocking? I thought you learned your lesson the last time," Emma said with a straight face as she continued to work on some documents

"I figured that rule just applied to your bedroom and during sleeping hours," Jack honestly replied

"Whatever. Did you need anything or did you just want to look at my beautiful face?"

Jack blanched at that

"I've just got done being your personal student and being the only person I've had contact with for 3 months. I've seen more than enough of your face.

I text Lilith and asked her to order some other animals for me yesterday but she hasn't responded. I was wondering if you can ask her?"

Hearing that Jack was asking about Lilith, Emma's aura got much colder. The entire room felt like it was the middle of winter.

"Lilith decided to assist the White King and betray me so I had her taken care of. My brother is looking for a new assistant for me so they will probably arrive next week when he comes. You will just have to handle this week without any new powers."

Jack had almost forgotten about the battle going on behind the scenes in the Hellfire Club. It also explained why Emma had spoken to Jack telepathically the entire time they were in the car when they first met. Emma already had her doubts about Lilith.

"What... what did you do to her?" Jack tentatively asked. He was pretty sure he knew the answer but still had to confirm it

"I killed her. Letting traitors live will only cause more trouble later on. I was planning to teach you this later but I can give you the short version of it now.

There is always an appropriate level of response. One must respond accordingly. Never too lightly or too heavily. If you punish too lightly, others will think of you as soft and weak. If you punish too heavily, others will of you as a monster and evil. Only by giving the correct response, will you earn the respect and fear of others."

These words caused something to click inside of Jack's mind. Like the perfect words, a cult leader says to seduce weak minds or what a commander says to inspire their troops before battle.