The villainess shall be mine

'Nothing is happening!'

After two days of training while being blindfolded, I finally realized that awakening my seventh sense was more challenging than it sounded.

'But what is this seventh sense anyway?'

According to Maïra, this should let me feel the neutral particles in the air which are the purest form of energy in this world.

"There's nothing I can do about it. Even my master couldn't explain how this seventh sense worked and that was why he had no disciples apart from who somehow managed to awaken it." She said.

Still, her explanation was too vague and no matter how long I tried to concentrate and focused on my other senses, the only thing I could feel on my skin was the wind.

"Master, this might similar to controlling your power but in this case, you need to control the primordial particles outside of your body to absorb them in."

Cristal was trying to help me but in the end, I didn't feel anything at all.

I didn't even know how what kind of feeling I should feel when I came into contact with the primordial particles in the surroundings.

In Maïra's experience, she explained that at first, she felt goosebumps all over her body, and then she felt like her strength had been multiplied by ten. However, her master didn't have this experience she said, so it depended on the individual.

'Something that you can't feel but is there...' It was as if I was trying to awaken some psychic power. 'Like these people on earth who could... Yes! That's it! I should try that: Psychokinesis!'

I should try to use my mental power to command the neutral particles to enter my body.

"Mmmmmm!"

"What are you doing, master?"

"Don't bother me, I am concentrating."

"...?"

I was still blindfolded and I tried to gather some kind of power in my palms.

"Mmmm..."

I focused solely on the space between my palm. 'Erase all your thoughts! Internal peace! Feel the world around you! Ah, it's coming, it's coming...'

An hour had passed and...

"Nope, there's nothing. What the hell is this? My duel with Liu is just in a few days..."

Every time I tried to concentrate, all I could feel was my power or more importantly the primordial particles inside my body.

"But wait a minute... Cristal, fire users absorb fire particles to generate their power, right?"

"Yes, that is true. They have also fire primordial particles inside their body."

"Does that mean..."

At that time, I realized something. I took off the blindfold and looked at Cristal.

"Cristal, you have understood this since Maïra explained about neutral particles, didn't you?"

"I-D-on't K-Now Wh-at are Y-ou ta-lkIng aB-Out, master."

"Cristal!!!!"

The answer was already right in front of me from the beginning.

If people with elemental gifts control elemental particles, then what about the people who had particular gifts?

'I've been wondering about this for a while now...'

Of course, they would control neutral particles...

"I just thought that you needed to use your head sometimes, master," Cristal said, seeing that I had finally come to this conclusion by myself.

However, there was something odd about all of this.

"Cristal, doesn't this mean that giftless people aren't giftless at all? They just can't awaken their power naturally... If that's the case then there's someone or an organization who spread this lie about giftless people and monopolizes this knowledge. This must be the solution that the master tried to find out, but since he was a giftless person, he couldn't manage to find the truth."

I began to theorize about various things.

"You like theorizing master. It's a good start. Now, we need to find some proof. But for now, please continue your training, it's about time you take one step forward."

"Yeah, it seems like the information that I've read doesn't say all of the truth..."

Cristal was as expressionless as always, but it was a bit reassuring at times like this.

"Okay, let's do this for real."

Man, it was so simple that I could have learned this alone inside my room.

Yet, I came all the to another continent just to ask for information about something that was already in front of me all along.

'Yes, this is life... Everything is easy when you step out of the zone called ignorance.'

This was the value of a piece of information. 'It's kind of scary to know that we miss something like this every day unless someone enlightens us...'

Up until this point, I always projected my power from within my body.

In other words, every time I used my power, I used the primordial particles inside of my body rather than using external support. And I never intentionally tried to absorb particles from the outside and just waited for my reserve to recover naturally.

In the end, I had already controlled the neutral particles inside my body every time I used my power.

"Okay, let's do a test..."

I depleted almost all of the primordial particles inside of my body and I almost passed out.

Then I finally tried to absorb neutral particles from outside.

But...

"Cristal... It's not working..."

"No, it's working but remember that your power is not a gift but a genuine authority. In the first place, you can still use your power even if there are no primordial particles."

"What? I am a little bit lost... Then why do I consume all of my primordial particles when I use my power."

"Everything makes sense now, master. You had already used the technique since the beginning but with different purposes."

"It's getting more confusing..."

"It's simple, the neutral particles keep your body from falling apart. Unlike what we thought, your body adapted to your power in a very particular way. So every time you activate your power, your body activates this kind of self-defense, in other words, it strengthens itself and multiplies your strength to be able to bear the weight of your power, and that's why the more you use your power, the more you feel weakened."

I listened to Cristal's explanation and everything finally made sense. 'Since my power nullifies everything else, only neutral particles can enter my body... It seems like my power is more complex that I thought it was. Does it nullify harmful supernatural phenomenon?'

"Your power of nullification and this phenomenon is the only thing that keeps you alive, master. It is like a barrier that is constantly active inside of your body and when using your power, all you do is just expand it outside of your body. The one who created this power must have done this for this specific reason. And without your power of nullification, your body won't be able to withstand your full power, even with the neutral particles strengthening it; There is a perfect balance in this."

Cristal explained what she found out, and I listened to her as a stupid look appeared on my face. 'What's all this about? My power was just a tiny fragment of the original one, but is it that powerful?'

"Master, what you have to do now is to increase the reserve of neutral primordial particles inside of your body, enough so that you can use the surplus for different purposes. After this, you should be able to break through the limit of your physical strength by using them to boost your ability."

I was not sure how to do what Cristal just explained but it was not like everything would change if I just theorized about the outcomes.

"Okay, I understand. This should be easy now, hahaha."

After two hours I finally recovered completely and began to absorb more neutral particles.

The trick was simple, I controlled my power and let it out and then tried to absorb it back.

My power felt different from neutral particles but I tried to get used to the sensation of absorbing my power back inside of my body, and little by little I could feel something else.

"This is it... Finally..."

As Maïra said, everything was easy-peasy after that.

When I could feel the energy from the neutral primordial particles, I just let them fill my body, and boosting my strength was like using my power when I still couldn't control it. But this time, it was the right method.

I gathered the particles on a single point and then let it all out. After that, I felt a surge of strength, and my physical ability increased by almost ten folds. 'I could manage to fight a level 7 gift holder in a hand-to-hand fight now...'

In the end, sticking to the basics bore some extraordinary results. 'My body was already well trained, and I also learned the basics of how to fight with a sword, and now I can match gift holders in terms of physical strength...'

The only problem was trying to gauge the remaining amount of neutral particles inside my body.

I looked forward to my duel with Liu as I continued to train.

*****

The next day, I continued to train but only half of my usual routine, because my duel with Liu was the day after.

'I am kind of confident in winning now...'

I strolled around the area and talked to the others.

These last few days, I was so engrossed in my training that I rarely talked to them.

After all, Maïra only let me stop once I couldn't move my limbs anymore.

From what I could see, everyone continued to explore the city and made many discoveries.

Yelena and Timothy were stuck to Liu as always and continued to look for weird stuff, and Zax was building something new like usual.

Brondon learned new recipes every day and Feldenis helped Maïra with her work. He was knowledgeable and the two of them got along with each other, already like husband and wife.

It seemed like everyone enjoyed themselves. It seemed like this trip turned into a vacation for them and the only one who was suffering was me. 'Well, I am glad that I could help you relieve some stress guys...'

I strolled outside and heard some weird noises.

'Is that a scream? What's going on?'

I believed that scoundrels like those who tried to attack Maïra's house target another victim again. 'Really, this city's crime rate must be high...'

However...

"Huh?!! What is this chilling feeling? I looked up, and even though I couldn't see the sky... I felt like something was looking at me from above."

I saw Liu sitting on a stone chair on the flower field, and she was also looking up to the sky.

I walked over to her. "Hey, Miss Liu, did you feel tha-"