As Zerek sat inside the plane, he felt a strange heat enveloping him. He became a bit dizzy and had to place his hand on the wall to steady himself. He shook his head and the feeling passed after a minute. Was it because the confrontation? Or he didn't eat enough? He has been experiencing it since he was ten once a while without even knowing why.
A man was seated to his right and a woman to his left.
The woman was chatting with the man to her left and was pretty animated. She wasn't much to look at—average, really—with her messy midnight black hair cascading down just past her shoulders. The kind of hair that looked effortlessly wild, like it hadn't seen a brush all morning. Oddly enough, it framed her face in a way that made her cheekbones look sharper than they probably were. That was her standout feature.
She turned to look around the plane a few times and Zerek noticed her unusually bright, expressive eyes. They gave her face a strange charm despite the otherwise unremarkable look. He acknowledged the eyes for a moment but quickly turned his focus elsewhere, not dwelling on them.
He was about to reach into his watch for a ration and water pill, when the man to his right held out his hand and said, "Hey brother, my name is Jake, melee division. What's your name?"
"My name is Zerek, and I'm long distance support." As soon as Zerek shook hands with Jake, he felt dizzy again and then felt a stream of pure power entering through the hand that was in contact with Jake.
Zerek couldn't help but let out a low sound and gripped his hand tighter; the stream entering his hand became a bit stronger. He glanced at Jake and saw his eyes get a bit glassy, veins popping out more on his forearm.
He felt the skin all over his body tightening… strengthening. In shock, he quickly released his grip and then heard Jake groan out, "Why do I feel so weak all of a sudden? I think I should nap or something. Hey brother, I'm going to get some shuteye. Wake me up when we get closer."
Zerek replied, "Sure thing, will do." As he watched Jake close his eyes and immediately fall into a deep sleep, he looked at his hands in wonder and felt a newfound strength coursing through his veins.
At the same time, an intense pang of hunger hit him. He took out a ration pill and was about to throw it into his mouth but saw it shimmer and disappear before he could. He suddenly felt sated in terms of his hunger.
Realization dawned on him that his power must have finally activated! It seemed he could absorb things—whether objects or even…the power in others from what he is seeing. Zerek felt a shiver down his spine as he thought about what happened to Jake.
What would have happened if he'd kept his hand in contact with Jake for longer? He dared not experiment on other people he know. He quickly thought of an idea and took out another ration pill. He waited while holding it, but nothing happened.
So maybe it was because he wasn't hungry? He placed it back in his pocket dimension and before he had time to draw his hand back out again, he almost felt a sixth sense that his hand was attracted to something.
He reached further in before he saw that his hand was instinctively moving towards his blue enhance pill. He stopped reaching in and was about to draw his hand back out, but then his curiosity got the better of him and he continued to reach forward.
As soon as he grabbed the pill, it shimmered and then disappeared. He was already cursing in his mind in regards to losing his life-saving trump card, when he felt a surge of power three times stronger than when he came into contact with Jake's hand.
The stream of power engulfed his whole body and he couldn't help but let out another low moan, one he didn't expect.
The average-looking woman seated next to him wrinkled her nose and said, "Pervert." She then scooted her butt away from him before continuing her discussion with the other man.
Zerek couldn't care less about her reaction. He was too focused on the sensation of his cells trembling and feasting on the stream of power entering his body. The stream kept circling through his body as if they had no outlet, as it seemed like all his cells were engorged and at their limit.
As time passed, some cells had capacity again and would gorge themselves on the passing stream until they were full once more. Zerek noticed that the cells engorged a second time had a higher capacity.
The process repeated as the stream shrunk. At around the five-minute mark, an intense hunger much stronger than earlier hit the bottom of his stomach.
He quickly grabbed a handful of ration pills and they shimmered and disappeared. It wasn't enough, so he grabbed two more handfuls before the hunger was finally sated.
By this time, it passed the fifteen-minute mark and the stream was gone. His cells were no longer bloated but brimming with vitality. He clenched his fists as he felt incredible and saw that his skin had a slight sheen to it.
Zerek was no longer cursing the fact he no longer had the blue pill. He felt it in his bones that the power he absorbed from the pill was not temporary. In an hour, would his cells have to spit back out what they had just absorbed? Zerek shook his head as he felt the power in his cells was permanent in nature.
As Zerek looked into his pocket dimension, he grimaced when he noticed he only had about thirty ration pills left. He had just gone through half his stash and he hadn't even hit the ground yet! His only option was to scavenge for many more pills at Naren City.
It seemed that every time his power kicked in, he would become famished. The value of ration pills and any type of sustenance just skyrocketed for him, as they were directly tied to his absorption power.
Zerek was incredibly satisfied with his new power. As long as he had resources, his power would continue to grow. An idea struck him and made him shiver in anticipation. What if… he could absorb the power from zombies and monsters?