Chapter 1990: Minhya’s Power

Jun’Tal couldn’t help but wonder what else he was going to be taught besides light next.

"What about after I figure out light?" he asked. "You said there were 9 forms of energy. Are we doing every single one or what?"

"Gravity and magnetism," Emma replied. "Those are going to be more annoying, because you won’t just be making something obvious like heat or sound. You’ll need to understand what the energy is doing even when you can barely see the result."

Jun’Tal looked toward his own hand again and took a breath. "Light first, then."

He began trying almost immediately.

Minhya had been watching much of his training over the past several days, sometimes from the edge of the training grounds and sometimes from farther back near the base. At first, she had only been curious about the boy Ning had called one of the strongest people on the planet, but after seeing Jun’Tal slowly gain control over abilities that had once terrified him, that curiosity had started turning into something else.

Jealousy.

Jun’Tal could create explosions, heat objects without touching them, produce sound from nothing, and was now learning how to make light. Emma could do even more than that, while Ning seemed capable of things Minhya had stopped trying to understand.

Compared to them, she felt ordinary.

Ning noticed the way she watched Jun’Tal train one afternoon and eventually approached her while Emma continued correcting the boy’s attempts at producing light.

"You look annoyed."

Minhya glanced toward him. "I’m not annoyed."

"Well, then you need to fix the way you look, because you certainly do look it."

She sighed and looked back toward the training area. Jun’Tal had managed to create a faint glow near his fingers, but the air around it was also beginning to shimmer from heat, which caused Emma to stop him and make him try again.

"I’m... jealous," Minhya admitted eventually. "I can tell his power is incredible. Though he may not be used to it for now, he will soon be. It’s... frustrating to look at that, knowing I can’t do it."

Ning watched her for a moment. "You want a power too."

Minhya hesitated before nodding. "Wouldn’t you? Being able to do something of my own without having to rely on others would be an incredible thing."

Ning understood the concern.

He looked at Minhya more carefully, then spoke to the System.

"How would her power be if she were to awaken?"

<The natural frequency of her power is quite high. She requires a strong concentration of Aullazire crystals to activate her powers, so it would be a strong one.>

Ning raised an eyebrow. That explained why she had never awakened despite being old enough. She needed a naturally high concentration of Aullazire to activate her powers.

Minhya noticed his expression. "What?"

"Your power would be quite strong if you were to awaken," he told her.

She scoffed. "If."

"I can make that into a when," Ning said, catching her attention.

She stared at him for a moment, almost thinking that he was joking.

"You can?"

"Yes. You just never had enough Aullazire in your body to trigger it naturally."

Minhya hardly understood what that meant. "Can that be fixed?"

Ning smiled faintly. "Easily."

He created the serum.

The small vial appeared in his hand, filled with the same carefully prepared substance designed to provide the conditions necessary for an awakening. Minhya stared at it with immediate suspicion.

"This will be revealed to the world soon, but this is one way to gain your powers," Ning told her. "All you gotta do is drink it."

Her eyes widened.

"That simple?"

"On the surface, yes. I don’t want to bore you with the details, so just know that it is indeed safe."

Minhya accepted the vial but did not drink it immediately. She turned it slowly between her fingers, studying the liquid as though expecting something dangerous to reveal itself.

"What happens after I drink it?"

"You awaken. You might feel strange for a while, and it could take several hours before anything happens."

Minhya glanced toward Jun’Tal and Emma again.

Then she looked back at the serum.

"You make it sound like I’m drinking medicine."

"That’s basically what it is."

She gave him a doubtful look, remaining hesitant. After a while, she finally removed the top.

"If I end up exploding like Jun’Tal, I’m blaming you."

Minhya lifted the vial and drank the serum.

Nothing happened immediately.

Minhya sighed. "I expected something more dramatic."

"I told you it takes time. Go and busy yourself. Or maybe sleep it off too."

Minhya nodded.

The awakening took nearly half a day.

By the time Minhya finally noticed something changing, Jun’Tal had already finished training for the day and gone home, while Emma remained on the island nearby. Minhya had been sitting inside the base when a strange sensation moved through her body, followed by an instinctive understanding that something she had never possessed before was suddenly there.

"Something happened," she said.

Ning narrowed his eyes for a moment, convening with the System to figure out if everything was safe, before nodding slowly. "You’re fine. You can use your powers."

"How?" she asked.

Ning picked up a stone from the ground. "Concentrate on this. Try and do something to this stone."

The girl seemed confused, but she quickly focused on the stone and concentrated. For a while, nothing happened. But then, suddenly, something emerged from her back.

A hand extended from her body, looking very realistic as it reached far beyond her regular range and grabbed the stone before pulling it back toward her.

Emma walked closer, surprised.

"That’s interesting."

Minhya stared at the duplicate hand. "Is that mine?"

"Not exactly," Ning said.

Minhya had awakened the power to create illusions and give them physical bodies should she choose to. She grew incredibly excited when she found out her true power.

"I actually have a power!" she shouted out loud.

Ning smiled a little. "Well, one part of your worry has ended, so should we rip the Band-Aid off the other one too?"

Her excitement faded slightly.

"What?"

Ning smiled.

"It’s time to announce your candidacy to the world."