Chapter 55: The Taste of Power

By the time Zarek returned to his apartment, he had already decided what to do with two of the crystals.

Elsa and Ayesha were inside when he arrived. He found them near the table and took two crystals from his System Space, placing one in front of each woman.

"Eat these."

Elsa picked up the crystal and turned it between her fingers. "What exactly am I supposed to be looking at?"

"Nothing. Just eat it."

"You’re asking me to swallow some strange thing without telling me what it is." She looked at him, clearly unconvinced.

"You could at least give me a reason."

Ayesha hadn’t touched hers. She watched Zarek instead, trying to work out whether he was expecting something unpleasant to happen.

Zarek leaned against the table. "You both want to get stronger, don’t you? Then stop wasting time asking questions and eat."

Elsa swallowed hers, though she kept her eyes on him afterward.

Ayesha hesitated longer before finally following suit. She didn’t trust Zarek’s unexplained generosity, but refusing him wouldn’t necessarily make the situation any safer.

For a few moments, nothing happened. Elsa was about to demand an explanation when a strange sensation spread through her body. She stopped speaking and straightened, her attention shifting inward as the feeling grew stronger.

Her muscles seemed to tighten beneath her skin, not painfully, but with an unfamiliar density. She flexed her fingers and found the movement effortless. When she clenched her fist, the strength behind it surprised her enough to make her try again.

Beside her, Ayesha had gone quiet as well. She rolled her shoulders and took a few steps across the room, testing her balance.

Her body felt different, as though the effort required to move had diminished while the strength behind every movement had increased.

Even their appearances had changed slightly. Both women stood a little taller, and their skin seemed to carry a faint glow that hadn’t been there before. The difference was subtle, but impossible to miss once they noticed it.

Elsa stared at her hands. "What did you give us?"

"Something that makes you stronger." Zarek’s grin widened as he watched her test her grip. "Looks like it worked."

"You knew this would happen?"

"I had a pretty good idea."

Elsa gave him an irritated look, though her attention soon returned to her body. She tried another movement, this time with more force, and felt the difference immediately.

She had fought enough monsters to recognize what an increase like this could mean in a real confrontation.

Ayesha seemed less certain. She opened and closed her hands, then looked at Zarek with a mixture of suspicion and reluctant curiosity.

"Are there any side effects?"

"How would I know? You’re the ones who ate them."

"That’s reassuring," she muttered.

Zarek laughed. Their reactions were entertaining, but the important part was that the crystals had worked.

He had suspected as much from the broad man’s explanation, yet seeing the results firsthand made the discovery considerably more valuable.

He had two crystals left. For now, he would keep them until he had a better idea of what he could gain from this experiment.

"Get your weapons," he said. "We’re going outside."

Zarek pushed himself away from the table. "Let’s see how much stronger you’ve actually become."

Neither woman looked particularly pleased with the arrangement, but they prepared to leave.

They encountered their first monster a few streets from the building. It emerged from behind an overturned vehicle, its twisted body dragging across the pavement before it noticed the three humans and rushed toward them.

Elsa drew her sword and moved to intercept it.

She had fought creatures like this before, so she didn’t waste time trying to overpower it blindly.

She sidestepped its first lunge and cut across its body, then followed with a heavier strike as it turned toward her. The blade met little resistance, and the monster collapsed before it could attack again.

Elsa studied the cut across the creature’s body. She had expected the fight to be easy, but the blade had passed through with less resistance than she anticipated. She adjusted her grip, considering how much harder she could strike without sacrificing control.

"Well?" Zarek called from nearby. "Do you feel stronger?"

"Obviously." Elsa wiped her blade and glanced at him. "The question is how much."

"Then keep killing things until you find out."

Before she could respond, another creature appeared farther down the street. This one moved faster, darting between abandoned cars before turning toward Ayesha.

She raised her firearm, but the monster’s sudden movement forced her to adjust her aim. Instead of firing immediately, she retreated behind a vehicle and waited for it to expose itself. When it lunged around the front, she fired.

The shot struck its shoulder. The creature stumbled but continued forward, forcing Ayesha to move again. She repositioned, steadied her weapon, and fired a second time. This shot brought it down.

Ayesha kept her firearm raised for several seconds before finally lowering it. Her breathing had quickened, but she wasn’t exhausted.

Moving between cover had felt easier than before, and she could tell that the added strength would help her maintain distance when a fight went badly.

She approached the corpse cautiously, still watching for movement.

"That was better," Zarek said.

"I nearly missed the first shot."

"But you didn’t stand there waiting for it to eat you. That’s an improvement."

Ayesha looked at him, uncertain whether he was praising her or mocking her. With Zarek, the distinction wasn’t always worth investigating.

They continued through the streets, killing monsters whenever they found suitable targets.

Elsa grew more confident as she learned how much force she could put behind her attacks, while Ayesha gradually became more comfortable moving quickly without losing control of her aim.

Their next encounter forced the two women to work together. When a creature rushed Elsa before she could finish drawing it away, Ayesha moved to a better position and covered her retreat. Elsa recovered quickly enough to turn and kill it herself.

Zarek watched the exchange with satisfaction. The crystals hadn’t merely made them stronger; that strength was useful because the women already had the experience to put it to work.

After another encounter, he wiped his hand and glanced at the two women. Both were still standing, and neither looked as exhausted as he had expected.

Then a familiar system notification appeared before his eyes.

[Investment Return Processing...]

Zarek stopped.

The system had finally begun calculating the results of his investment. He watched the notification with growing interest, waiting to see what their improved performance had earned him.

[Reward Calculation: Permanent Physical Enhancement — Significant Strength Increase.]

His grin slowly widened.

Now that was worth the trouble.

The system continued processing.