C9 Second Level

Captain Mark, known as the Rapper, stood beside Egil, but to see him, Egil would have to turn his head—a task that would take about a minute in his current state of perception, which was far too inconvenient. Instead, Egil devised a simpler method. By slowly looking down, he could see Mark's reflection in the water that lapped around his shins. A slight movement of his eyes was all it took to spot Mark, who was also warily focused on the stone door.

The direction of the impending danger was confirmed!

This was the extent of Egil's psionic power! It lacked any offensive or defensive capabilities, offered no boost to his speed, and couldn't even affect a single leaf! Its sole purpose was to enhance his perception, accelerating his senses so that everything else seemed to slow down. This allowed him to take his time analyzing all the information he could see, hear, and smell, enabling him to make the most accurate decisions in what others would perceive as an instant.

Just as he had done with the students from the Azure Dragon Garden, Egil used the subtle cues from their eyes, expressions, and the angles of their raised hands to calculate his next move. He would strike and wait, allowing his opponents to unwittingly deliver their arms into his grasp.

However, if a student's attack was faster or stronger than Egil's, he would still be hit, injured, or even killed. After all, it was only his perception that was enhanced, not his combat ability.

As thoughts raced through his mind, Egil suddenly heard an odd noise, reminiscent of a calf's call, dragging out in a long, drawn-out moo...

Danger was imminent! Egil's nerves instantly went on high alert!

Yet the stone door remained unchanged.

Listening more intently, he realized the sound was coming from the communicator in his ear. His accelerated perception made the spoken words sound slow and elongated, like the mooing of a cow, rendering them incomprehensible. To understand the message, he would have to deactivate his psionic power.

Egil sighed internally, recognizing another drawback of his ability. Such were the numerous issues with a beginner-level psionic power. With a sense of resignation, Egil disengaged his Enhanced Perception.

The voice of a little cow in the earpiece morphed into Martina's voice.

"Something's up with the door. Get away from Mark now!" She rattled off the warning, and the line went dead.

Martina had used a private channel. Egil was still trying to make sense of it when Mark, the Rapper, spoke up beside him.

"Who are you talking to?"

His voice boomed with a mix of suspicion and reprimand.

Crack! Before the reprimand could fully land, the stone door emitted a distinct mechanical sound! The ring Egil was holding came to a sudden halt, immovable.

The ring had reached its limit!

Mark sensed the shift in the stone door, dropped his interrogation of Egil, and turned to face the door.

A green light dazzled his eyes. The pattern on the stone door erupted into a brilliant green glow. Then, the entire door took on a green hue, though the shades varied from the pattern.

Egil shut his eyes, then reopened them. There was no pattern, no stone door—only a massive leaf with vividly defined veins!

Egil hurled the ring at Mark and leaped backward!

He heeded Martina's caution and decided to act on it.

Maybe Mark intended to silence him permanently after opening the stone door.

That was the first thought that sprang to Egil's mind.

There was no time for a second thought.

In matters of life and death, it's better to err on the side of caution.

Bang! Splash! The ring Egil tossed collided with the one in Mark's hand, both plummeting into the sea together.

In a split-second decision, Mark mimicked Egil, casting away his ring to deflect the one Egil had thrown.

The two hefty stone rings, each weighing a good deal, hit the water, sending up sprays as high as a man.

Through the spray, the dark barrel of a gun aimed at Egil's retreating figure, with Mark's furious face behind it.

Throwing the ring, raising the gun, chambering a round—all done in one fluid motion.

As the water settled, Mark held his fire, a flicker of realization crossing his face before he abruptly swung the gun in a new direction.

After abandoning his focus on Egil, Mark turned his attention to Martina and Quintana!

A surge of psionic power!

With a thunderous rumble, the cliff above Mark's head suddenly cracked open, revealing a massive slab of rock—ten meters long and three meters wide, resembling a colossal guillotine poised to slice Mark into two vertical halves.

Whose psionic power was this? Martina's or the blue-eyed girl Quintana's?

Regardless of its owner, the ability to manipulate stone was incredibly well-suited for archaeology!

Mark had barely shifted his gun from Egil to Martina when he was forced to redirect it once more, this time toward the looming guillotine rock overhead!

The psionic power surged again! Finally, the gun's muzzle erupted in a burst of flame! The assault rifle fired a single, cannon-like shot!

Boom! The recoil forced Mark to his knees in the shallow seawater, the shockwave causing even Egil's section of the sea to ripple!

With a resounding crash, the guillotine rock shattered into fragments under the force of Mark's shot!

A single, powerful shot not only averted the imminent danger but also revealed Mark's psionic ability.

The enhanced bullet's power was indicative of a highly advanced psionic power, certainly of the second level!

Ratatatat... Behind Egil, the three gunmen who had been guarding the seafront swiftly turned and opened fire without a moment's hesitation.

Quintana stepped forward, and the seawater at her feet rose, forming a protective curtain that blocked the barrage from the three gunmen. The bullets were suspended in the water, so densely packed they could be plucked out by hand.

The psionic ability to control water, paired with Martina's power over stone—one to part the waters, the other to excavate—was indeed perfect for archaeological expeditions in the Arctic Ocean!

Alas, it was daytime, and the tide was out, leaving only calf-deep water at the stone gate—hardly enough for Quintana to demonstrate her full potential. Had it been high tide, it would have showcased a psionic power of at least the second level.

Martina's psionic ability also extended beyond herself, firmly placing her at the second level. Among the meta-humans present, Egil was the least powerful, at the beginner level, able to enhance only certain physical abilities.

The hierarchy of psionic power ranged from the beginner level, first level, second level, all the way up to the eleventh level. These eleven levels were, however, purely theoretical. Egil had only ever heard of a meta-human reaching the sixth level. The idea that someone could achieve the eleventh level, a god-like feat, was something Egil had always dismissed with derision.

Now was not the time for second-guessing. Even if Egil's psionic power was the weakest in the arena, he had no choice but to activate it—his life depended on it.

"Enhanced Perception!" Time seemed to slow down before Egil's eyes once more!

Mark's gun was trained on Martina's forehead. He pulled the trigger in slow motion, and the bullet crept out of the barrel.