Chapter 8 Awakening Superpowers
A week of intensive hunting left the neighborhood near Ruan Ning's apartment building completely cleared.
Those toddlers who once roamed the green belts, children's playgrounds, and parking lots have now mostly turned into real corpses, gradually rotting and emitting an even stronger stench.
Ruan Ning's practical experience accumulated rapidly, his moves became more ruthless and decisive, and his use of power became increasingly exquisite.
Inside her backpack, in a sealed little metal box, lay five Level 1 crystal cores of varying sizes, all emitting a faint milky-white glow.
This was the result of her painstaking search through the brains of dozens of zombies, with an absurdly low probability.
Back in the reinforced apartment, after locking the heavy security door, Ruan Ning, exhausted but excited, washed away the blood and stench from her body. Changing into clean clothes, she eagerly entered the jade bracelet space.
The space remained tranquil and serene, with the spring gurgling and white mist rising. Compared to the bloody and desperate world outside, this place was like a sanctuary.
She walked to the spring, sat cross-legged, and placed the small metal box in front of her. Opening the box, five Level 1 crystal cores shimmered with a restrained and mysterious luster under the soft light of the space.
“It’s time to give it a try.” Ruan Ning took a deep breath, her eyes sparkling with anticipation and determination.
She picked up one of the crystal cores that seemed to have the most abundant energy and held it in her palm. A cool sensation came over her, and that faint coolness once again tried to seep into her skin.
She closed her eyes, concentrated all her energy, and guided the warm current within her body, which was active due to the spiritual spring, to touch and absorb the energy from the crystal core.
As before, the cool airflow within the crystal core was drawn out and merged with the warm current of the spiritual spring, transforming into purer energy that flowed into her dantian, strengthening her body and spirit. The crystal core was quickly exhausted, turning into fragments.
She didn't stop, picking up the second one, the third one...
When she absorbed most of the energy from the fourth crystal core, and the newly generated energy surged and circulated within her body, reaching an unprecedented concentration, a strange change occurred!
The energy core that had settled in her dantian suddenly began to tremble violently and uncontrollably! A strong, unprecedented desire burst forth from the depths of her body—a desire for water!
Almost instinctively, her mind was drawn by this desire, and she suddenly turned towards the gushing spring in the center of the space!
Buzz—
A soft hum, seemingly emanating from the depths of the soul, resounded.
Ruan Ning clearly "saw" an invisible force spreading out from her body, establishing a mysterious connection with the spring! The white mist surrounding the spring seemed to be summoned and surged joyfully.
A sudden inspiration struck her; instinctively, she raised her right hand, palm up, and focused her mind—
Tick-tock.
A clear, translucent drop of water, exuding a faint coolness and moisture, appeared out of thin air on her palm, trembling slightly and reflecting the soft light of the space.
Ruan Ning suddenly opened her eyes, staring incredulously at the drop of water in her palm.
Her heart suddenly raced, and her breath caught in her throat for a moment.
This isn't spring water from the space! This is... water condensed from her own energy!
She tried again to control the droplet of water.
As if it had a life of its own, the water droplets slowly floated up according to her will, circled nimbly on her fingertips, and then fell back into her palm with a soft "smack," seeping into her skin and bringing a touch of coolness before being quickly assimilated and absorbed by the new energy within her body.
An indescribable surge of joy, like a raging tide, instantly overwhelmed Ruan Ning's composure and self-control!
It was a success!
She actually... awakened a superpower!
Moreover, it is an extremely practical and invaluable ability in a water-scarce apocalypse – the water ability!
She stood up excitedly, feeling the energy circulation within her body that was completely different from before.
That energy was no longer just about strengthening the physical body and spirit, but it also possessed a flexible and outward-flowing quality, like flowing water! She could clearly sense the thin moisture in the surrounding air and the faint water veins deep beneath her feet, especially the spring in the center of the space, which resonated with her in an incredibly intimate way.
"Is it because of the spiritual spring... or because of my bloodline?" Ruan Ning looked at the jade bracelet mark on her wrist and realized. Perhaps, both were indispensable.
The mother's belongings, the mother's bloodline, and the energy of the crystal core all contributed to this miracle!
She tried to mobilize her energy again. This time, more water vapor gathered in her palm, gradually condensing into a water ball about the size of a ping-pong ball! Although she was still a little clumsy in controlling it and it consumed a lot of energy, it was indeed an extraordinary power!
"Water ability...that's great!" Ruan Ning clenched her fists, her eyes shining brightly.
She looked at the last crystal core in the metal box, her gaze becoming even more intense.
She needs to quickly familiarize herself with and master this newfound power, turning it into one of her sharpest blades.
After the initial euphoria, Ruan Ning quickly calmed down.
She sat cross-legged back by the spring, holding the newly formed, gently undulating water sphere in her palm, her eyes becoming deep and sharp.
Memories of my past life surged up.
In general, water-based abilities are not considered powerful offensive abilities in the early or even mid-stages. Most people view them as "support" or "logistics" abilities.
Water-based ability users can initially only condense a small amount of drinking water to meet the team's most basic needs, putting them in an awkward position.
As abilities improve, one can condense water spheres to smash people, or shape water into water arrows and water blades for attacks, but the power is generally weaker than fire, lightning, and metal types of the same level, and even inferior to earth type in defense and control. Water type attacks lack instantaneous burst power and seem somewhat "weak".
More often than not, powerful water-based ability users are entrusted with important tasks such as ensuring the water supply for large teams or using their abilities in specific environments.
but……
Ruan Ning stared at the seemingly soft and boneless water ball in her palm, her thoughts stirring slightly.
The water sphere stretched and deformed slowly according to her will, sometimes becoming a slender and sharp water needle, sometimes a thin but tough water shield, and sometimes spreading out into a misty water vapor.
Is water really weak?
She remembered how torrential rains and flash floods could breach dams, how raging waves could swallow giant ships, how high-pressure water jets could cut through steel, how all things need its nourishment to grow, and how it could silently penetrate and erode the hardest rocks!
“It’s not that the water system is weak, but that most people haven’t tapped into its true potential!” Ruan Ning’s eyes gleamed with wisdom. “They are limited by their fixed mindset, only seeing the ‘form’ of water, but not understanding its ‘meaning’.”
Water is both the softest and the hardest. It can be still or in motion. It can nourish or destroy.
It has countless forms and endless variations!
"Weak attack power?" Ruan Ning's lips curled into a cold smile. "What if I compress water to its limit, creating a high-pressure water gun or even a water blade? Would its cutting power be weaker than that of metal?"
"What if I could infinitely refine water into a dense fog that blankets the battlefield, depriving the enemy of sight and perception, and even causing them to suffocate by invading their mouths and noses? Would that make me less effective at controlling the battlefield?"
"What if I could manipulate the water in an enemy's body?" A bolder, even somewhat taboo, thought flashed through Ruan Ning's mind, making her heart skip a beat. Blood, bodily fluids... none of them can exist without water. If she could directly influence them, what a terrifying method of killing that would be!
"And then there's defense. The flowing water curtain can deflect force, and the layered water shields are extremely resilient... What if I could instantly drain all the water from an area?"
Once her mind was opened, countless possibilities and directions for development flooded into Ruan Ning's mind.
She possesses more than just ordinary water-based superpowers.
She also possesses this mysterious space, and this seemingly boundless spring of life! Could her water-based abilities also inherit some of the spring's properties? For example… stronger vitality? Healing effects? Or a special ability to counteract zombies?
All of this requires her to explore and develop it herself!
“Lightning is domineering, fire is violent, ice is sharp… each has its own merits.” Ruan Ning clenched his fist, feeling the water energy flowing like a stream within his body, his confidence stronger than ever before. “But my water element is absolutely no less powerful than any of them!”
"There are no useless superpowers, only users who don't know how to develop them!"
She held the last crystal core in her hand and began to absorb it.
This time, after the energy surged in, she was no longer satisfied with merely strengthening her body. Instead, she consciously directed most of the energy towards the meridians and energy nodes related to water-based abilities, carefully sensing every change in the energy and attempting more refined control.
She is going to walk a path different from any water-based ability user in her previous life.
A path to the strong that takes the "softness," "transformation," "resilience," and "transparency" of water to the extreme, combining support, control, defense, and terrifying lethality!
This will be her most important trump card, besides space and the prophet, that belongs entirely to her on her path to revenge and survival!
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