Chapter 15: Experimenting

Odin stared blankly at the blood-red notifications shimmering before his eyes as he stood there in the living room. Like any other sci-fi fan, he understood the concept of spatial manipulation deeply.

It comprised all space-related abilities that had always dazzled fiction lovers and physicists for a long time. The most notable of those powers was the formerly-fictitious teleportation ability possessed by the three-eyed rats he'd just slain. It was a god-like capability that could turn the most mediocre of individuals into an invincible menace of a powerhouse.

With the ability, an individual could move between two points either by warping the space or spatially rearranging the subatomic contents to achieve quantum superposition. The person could cover the distance almost instantaneously without physically crossing the material space between the points.

So, if a person with such powers became your enemy, you would be in deep shit since it would be challenging to find his trace when he struck or chose to escape. He would be like a phantom, attacking when he wanted and retreating when he pleased.

"This is awesome."

Odin's eyes glowed with excitement. As various possibilities related to using the meta-power flashed through his head, his heart started hammering hard with anticipation.

"Does this mean that I can teleport like the rats?"

"Silly me! Why not just try it out and see what happens?"

Odin closed his eyes and inhaled deeply to calm himself down. He then focused all his improved senses and let them flood into his surroundings. It was an easy feat by relying just on his will.

The next moment, he could feel formless waves of energy emanating from his brain region and percolating into the six to seven-yard radius space around him. They soon formed an intangible spherical domain that even enclosed some of the area within the ground beneath his feet.

However, although the domain was immaterial and ethereal, Odin could still perceive it clearly within his mind. Even with his eyes closed, he could still sense any object, item, or ripple within that spherical boundary.

Be it the tiny worms underground, the chairs, the corpses of the feds, and the dead rats sprawled on the floor in the living room — they couldn't escape his perception. They all appeared like blurry silhouettes within his mind when he focused his senses.

"This should be the spatial sense meta-power," he thought. "It gives me domain-like capabilities to perceive my surroundings with my mental abilities. But, what about the spatial manipulation?"

Odin immediately started experimenting.

He first attempted to move his body to another point within his six-yard spatial domain by relying only on his thoughts. However, nothing happened, no matter how hard he tried. He just remained rooted in place and couldn't move an inch even when he screamed the word teleport dozens of times within his mind.

But just as he was about to give up, he recalled the ripples he'd detected in the area before the rats appeared. They were like immaterial and transcendental gaps that allowed the almost-instantaneous motion of the rodents through the very fabric of space.

"Could those ripples be the fabled wormholes?"

Odin's mind was in overdrive as he recalled all the knowledge he had read about the topic. He understood that wormholes were theoretical rifts in the fabric of reality that could connect two physically distant points in space and allow a material object to travel instantaneously between the two points. Going into one mouth of a wormhole could literally spit you out through another instantaneously. So, it could make sense for the mystic rats to employ short-range wormholes to teleport over short distances.

"Definitely makes sense."

Odin started experimenting again. He took a deep breath and tried to control the formless waves emanating from his brain region. He wanted to shape them into a force that could puncture a wormhole into the space before him.

However, his efforts bore no fruit again. He even realized that he couldn't control even a thread of the formless energy to do his bidding.

The formless energy waves would flow out of his brain unhindered to create the six-yard spatial domain. However, that was all they could accomplish as he didn't have even an ounce of control over them. So, shaping them to manipulate space was impossible.

"Does this mean I'm less talented than those rats?"

Odin sighed, shaking his head. It seemed like he would need more time and a hell-lot more experimentation before he could master the spatial manipulation meta-power. Although the fact was frustrating, there was nothing he could do at the moment. So, Odin decided to shift his thoughts to something more productive.

"Origin Order! Please, bring up my attributes."

No sooner had he given the mental command than a red crystal-like display appeared before him. With slight shimmers, lines of pitch-black text started manifesting on the panel.

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Host: Odin McGill

Race: Human

Evolutionary Level: 1

Total Origin Points: 15/20

Attributes: Strength 1.9, Dexterity 3.7, Physique 3.9, Spirit 11.8

Meta-Powers: Spatial Sense, Spatial Manipulation

Learned Killing Arts and Related Skills: None

Unassigned Attribute Points: 0

Unassigned Skill Points: 2

Genetic Energy Life-Level: Type-0 (Ordinary Mortal)

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Pending Missions: None

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"Sweet."

Odin's eyes glowed with delight as he perused through his attributes. After absorbing the meta-genes, his stats had grown considerably. He had a feeling that he wouldn't even need to break a sweat if he had to deal with the purple-eyed mystic rats again. The sensation of immense power coursing through his body was already causing his confidence to swell.

On glancing at his abnormally-high spirit attribute, he suddenly had a thought. "Could the formless waves emanating from my brain to form the spherical spatial domain be a manifestation of my spirit? Or better yet, could they be referred to as mental or spirit energy waves?"

Odin's mind raced as his expression changed several times. In some mysterious way, he had a feeling that his conjecture was correct. But the crucial question for him was still an enigma. He didn't understand how to control those spirit energy waves to manipulate space.

"Odin," Aunt Lucy’s voice sounded, breaking him out of his reverie. "Why are you standing there staring into space? Are you sure you're okay?"

Odin tilted his head to face his adoptive mother. She was standing with a pale face on the far side of the living room, seemingly not wanting to step closer to all the dead bodies.

"I'm okay, Aunt Lucy. As I said, I only needed a moment, and I would be okay. Did you call 911?"

"Yes, I did," she said. "The cops should be on their way." Her voice was a bit strained.

"The cops seem to be taking their time today," Odin remarked. "I thought that some of our neighbors could have called 911 earlier if they happened to have heard the gunshots."

"It has only been ten to twelve minutes since the first gunshot sounded," Aunt Lucy replied. "So, it's normal that they haven't arrived yet."

Odin nodded in understanding. "What about Bella and Carolina? Are they okay?"

"They are safe," she replied, sighing. "They are also quite sensible. When they heard the gunshots, they hid under the bed. It's where I found them when I went up to their room."

"Are they still in their room?"

"Yes! I forbade them from coming down here. We can't have them witnessing this gory scene. Otherwise, they would have nightmares for the rest of their lives." She then paused before frowning slightly and glancing around.

"Odin! I might puke my innards out if I stay here for another minute. Don't you find it appalling to stay in this room filled with corpses and blood?"

Odin smiled bitterly on hearing her words. In less than three days, scenes of dead bodies would be commonplace. So, if he couldn't force himself to get used to gory scenes, how would he survive the apocalypse?

Moreover, he'd unknowingly grown immune to death and destruction after witnessing all the disasters within the prophetic vision. So, he could compel himself to remain calm even while standing beside the corpses of the FBI agents.

"Let's get out of here after talking to the police," Aunt Lucy mumbled. "I don't think we can sleep in this house today. We'll rent hotel rooms and sleep there until things calm down."

"Hotel rooms!"

Odin was surprised but also tempted.

If they could stay in those isolated hotels far from the congested areas, they could avoid the first huge waves of zombified humans. Additionally, the large amounts of supplies stored in the hotel and the enormous floor space would enhance their comfort while also increasing their chances of survival during the initial days of the apocalypse.

"Staying in the hotel for the next few days is a good idea," he said to his adoptive mother after a moment. "However, you have to let me pick the hotel."

Aunt Lucy narrowed her eyes. "Why do you want to be the one to pick the hotel? Do you think that I'll pick one which is substandard?"

Odin opened his mouth, prepared to reply but then stopped suddenly as his ears picked up the sound of sirens in the distance.