Chapter 9: 009 – Life Melancholy

Chapter 009: Life Melancholy

The chicken clucked happily seeing Suzy.

She went to feed them, but they weren’t hungry.

“Oh… Time really did stop… So that’s how Sir Edward felt…” She looks over to me and smiles faintly.

Suzy, who had already dropped her bags, walks over in front of me then hugs me, putting her head over my chest.

(I’ll think about telekinesis later…)

I hug Suzy back.

It seems she wants to do this before I leave.

“You won’t have time to read the books I gave you if you hug me now.”

“… That’s indeed a shame. Perhaps you could stay a while?”

“…”

I could. The only thing stopping me was supplies, which we had a week or two’s worth left.

We had less water than food, because I had hoped the mission would be somewhere with flowing water.

Still, we had a week’s worth left.

“Alright, I’ll stay for a day.”

“Really? Thank you…” Suzy smiles gently, visibly touched.

I’ll try to figure out the Telekinetic Grab skill and entertain Suzy.

…

After trying over and over to use my Telekinetic Grab for hours, I hadn’t achieved any progress, besides knowing I had to spend more points to have a chance of success.

Suzy was looking at the books I brought, going through the pictures.

The optimal choice was to stay until Suzy slept and woke up, refreshed for the next trial.

If she had severe muscle cramps, I’d even stay another day or two so she could recover.

I went through the search function, searching for clues to use mental power.

In the end, there were four passive skills that cost 15 points each which might be needed.

I was happy these only cost 15 points and not 20.

Firstly, using the theory that I actually had no mental power now, I could get Mental Power Capacity 1 and Mental Power Regeneration 1.

Secondly, using the theory that I couldn’t draw out my latent mental power, there was Mental Power Control 1 and Mental Power Sense 1.

Right now, I only had the points for just one of these skills, when I might actually need two to use Telekinetic Grab.

For example, the case where I have no regeneration and take the capacity upgrade, or I have no capacity and take the regeneration.

I decided to trust my instinct and go with something that couldn’t be anything but useful.

Mental Power Sense 1.

The reason? It’s that I couldn’t sense mental power a single bit, so I could be certain it would do something.

I couldn’t yet believe in the first theory that I had no mental power, but Mental Power Sense should also let me confirm whether or not that’s true.

If I feel mental power from within me but I still can’t use it, then I just need Mental Power Control 1 afterward.

If I bought the control passive first, I’m afraid I won’t be able to use it because I won’t feel what I’m supposed to control.

With these thoughts, I buy Mental Power Sense 1, leaving me only 4 points.

Immediately, I feel my mental power within my brain and stomach, almost to capacity.

(Did my earlier training drain a bit of it?)

I try Telekinetic Grab again.

Nothing. It doesn’t drain a single bit of my mental power either.

(I’m doing it wrong…)

What did the purchase of Telekinetic Grab give me if I couldn’t use it?

It gave me the precise reflexes and methods to move an object with my mind, but it didn’t give me the method to channel the mental power, its energy catalyst.

Mana could somehow channel itself within a spell. Mana control let me overcharge or undercharge said spell.

With mental power sense I could now feel my mental power’s location, capacity and charge.

I had to learn on my own how to move and channel mental power, but that was a matter of time.

…

It was time for dinner and Suzy and I lamented the lack of cooking utensils.

We ate raw eggs dropped by the hens and some beef jerky. The eggs were the only respite from the other food I had brought.

I wanted to eat cheese and buttered bread.

Still satisfied by the meal, Suzy asks me about the pictures she saw in detail.

“Are these really homes? How big are the windows?” She asked while pointing at skyscrapers.

“They’re used for shops, offices, hotels and homes. These windows… They’re a bit taller than me. Maybe three or four heads taller?”

“Amazing… Then the whole tower is huge… These countless dots are windows!” She was in awe.

“They are. They’re called sky-scrapers for that reason.” My words translated smoothly enough.

“By the way, what were you doing all this time, staring at your knife?” Asks Suzy, with clear confusion.

“I got a new power, but I couldn’t activate it. I’m making progress now.”

“What kind of power is it?”

“It’s called telekinesis, it will let me move things without touching them, with my mind.”

“So it was a new magic spell. Such a peculiar spell.”

“It’s not magic, it doesn’t use mana, which is why it’s hard to use for now. I’ll tell you more once I succeed!”

“Yes, Sir Edward, good luck!”

…

We were now tired, ready to sleep soon.

Suzy had set up the tent alone and went to rest.

I now had a minor success in my experiments, I had managed to warp my mental power to the surface of my body, and I could now do it easily.

However the hard part was getting it out the body.

I had considered giving up and waiting to buy the mental power control passive.

But I had another thought, what if I gained control on my own?

Couldn’t skills be acquired on your own?

After all, there were many junk, ordinary skills in the point store as well, like billiard skill, survival or swimming skills.

My status didn’t show a skill I hadn’t bought, yet.

I went to snuggle with Suzy on the mattress.

Suzy turned to face me with a small smile.

“… Suzy, I think I’ll buy lots of things to make the white room more hospitable. What do you think?”

“I think that would be nice if you plan to stay here long enough. Are you a rich person in your world, Sir… No, Edward?”

“I’m… Just using my parent’s money. I’m really ordinary. Certain things are surprisingly cheap for you due to the world’s economy being different.”

“Oh, I see…”

“Well, if I was born in your world, I suppose I’d already be married and have a job… Things evolved differently on Earth.”

“Un… I understand.”

“Are you sleepy?”

“Un…”

“Then let’s sleep…”

“Un…!”

Suzy hums then puckers her lips and closes in on my lips suddenly.

“…” I can only widen my eyes, wide awake again.

“…” Suzy looks in my eyes, with a strong blush and a firm expression.

Unable to think, I hug her tightly, letting her head rest underneath my chin.

We remain awake like this for a long while before falling asleep.

…

The following morning, we were still in bed.

“Suzy, how are you feeling? Any soreness?”

“… A bit. Around my back, and my legs…”

“Alright. I’ll stay one more day then.”

“Really!?” Suzy goes to kiss me.

It’s hard to refuse, but part of me thought I shouldn’t kiss her.

I still let her.

Suzy then dresses herself and goes to prepare breakfast.

I get up and start practicing with my mental power again.

…

In the afternoon, I had a great success and managed to make my knife spin around itself.

The result could be considered underwhelming, but after working so hard for this long, I was ecstatic.

From here, I was getting better and better, little by little.

That evening, I managed to lift the knife up for a few seconds.

There was no wind in the white room to displace it while I made it float in mid air.

My mental power decreased a tiny bit.

After dinner, I could sustain an object’s suspension in the air, but once I tried to move it quickly, I’d lose control instantly.

I managed to figure out how much I could move with my mental power reserves and the mechanisms of how mental power worked.

Mental power itself could teleport around, from one place to another with my will.

I could lift my knife for a maximum of five minutes at full capacity.

I hadn’t tried, because it turned out that mental power regenerated very slowly, it would take seven hours to regain everything to capacity.

Not only that, mental power was actually spent a bit by thinking and concentrating.

Before needing to go to bed, I had figured out how it all worked.

Simply, I used mental power to counter gravity, or an acceleration of about 10 meters per second.

When I actually accelerated my knife at that speed horizontally, while maintaining its altitude, I consumed twice as much mental power than levitating it in the air.

If I were to try the same with an object five times heavier, I’d consume five times more mental power.

Calculating everything, I figured out I could stop the charge of a grown man once.

On the other hand, I could propel myself forward at good speed once as well.

I knew that accelerating pebbles or small lead balls would be the most effective way to make damage.

I calculated I had enough mental power to throw at least a dozen of rocks to the speed of sound, which was crazy.

Of course, I couldn’t do it for now, as the objects would slip out of my control, especially at these crazy speeds.

The worrying thing was the side effects of low mental power.

I lost all concentration and motivation. I felt tired and wanted to sleep.

Feeling like that in a battle was unacceptable, so I must not go below less than thirty or twenty percent of my mental power at any time.

“Edward?…” Suzy calls out.

“Yes Suzy, I’m coming.”

I undress and cuddle next to Suzy in the warm blanket.

“…”

“Suzy?”

“Yes…?”

“… I’ve thought about your feelings. Things are complicated and peculiar… I want a love life on Earth, but I also like you. Then again, we’re apart for long times, at least from my point of view--” Suzy places her index on my lips.

“Un… Thank you.”

“…” Her finger stays on my lips.

“As long as I can be by your side, it’s fine.” She says with her eyes closed and a smile. “As long as I can kiss you when you’re here. As long as I can be hugged like this…”

You are reading story Yume Howling at novel35.com

Suzabeth opens back her light green eyes to gaze into mine, with deep emotions.

“Letting me live two lives…” I mutter. With my enhanced memory, this wouldn’t be much of a problem. “Alright.”

(Then Suzy is my woman from the dream world…)

“Then…?” Suzy asks expectantly.

“Then… Let’s be together, Suzy.”

“We are… Silly.”

“Un…” I kiss Suzy.

She kisses back.

…

The next morning, I hugged Suzy and kissed her before leaving.

I woke up.

That morning, I went to buy supplies.

The first thing I noticed was that everyone I saw had some mental power, some more, some less.

Of course, no one used any of it, besides in a passive manner.

By Wednesday or Thursday I’d know whether or not I’d get the two thousand dollars from Lucy.

Then I will also buy some furniture for the white room.

A couple of chairs, a sofa, perhaps a good bed.

Leaving that space empty feels wrong at this point, especially after spending so much time there.

I went to class in the afternoon.

I see Elisa seated already at the front seats and I sit next to her.

“Hey Elisa, how are you?”

“Oh, hello! I’m good! Thank you.”

Sensing around for mental power, I was surprised to see that the amounts varied a lot between people.

I previously just assumed it was a matter of IQ or intelligence, but it seems deeper than that, otherwise why would some students that I know perform well have less mental power than others.

Elisa had below average mental power and professor Oslin was above average.

As for sensing mana, I could detect tiny amounts from people here and there.

I suppose there are also natural amounts of mana in people.

As always, there was little opportunity to chat during class.

When I got bored as the professor started repeating content from two weeks ago, I twirled a pen around my finger, stabilizing it with telekinesis.

After a few minutes, I see Elisa turn to me to whisper.

“You’re good! How do you do that?”

“It’s practice. Mornings, afternoons and evenings all spent just for this.”

I had enough mental power to keep levitating my pen in place for an entire hour, without natural regeneration.

As I was barely touching the trajectory every few moments, I could do this all day.

The day went by quickly.

In the evening, I went to practice my archery.

“Oh! Big brother! Hello!”

“Hey!” I see Cassandra smiling happily as she sees me.

After the last hug she gave me, we didn’t contact each other, but it seems nothing changed after all.

Cassandra approaches and then looks away with a blush, her arms fidgeting.

(Does she want to…)

Reading the mood, I give her a quick hug with my arms around her hips.

Cassandra blushes even more. “A-Alright…” She moves back to an archery stand to practice.

She performs terribly and even misses a few shots a first, but starts doing better again afterwards.

…

…

Wednesday noon, I received a call from Lucy.

“Hello, Edward?” She confirms it’s me on the line.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Alright, that trash stopped harassing me completely. I even saw him the other day, after he looked at me, his face went white and he just looked away! That was a first!”

“Hum… I think I took care of him pretty well. I’m glad you’re happy. You sure sound energetic!”

“Un… Send me your bank information, I’ll send you the two thousand.”

“Alright.”

“… If I get in more trouble, can I call you again?”

“Sure. I’m quite strong despite my looks. I can take care of anything.”

Lucy took on a teasing tone. “Then, I’ll wait until then to call you, my sweet little handyman!”

I laugh awkwardly and we hang up.

Soon after sending my bank coordinates, I receive the two thousand dollars.

“YES!”

The first real money I earned for myself, it felt really good to get it.

I went online and asked for a delivery of mountable chairs, a small table, a sofa and a king sized-bed, with the mattress and sheets.

The delivery is expected for Saturday.

Moreover, I have a plan to transport it all to the white room.

I’d just put all the boxes inside a large plastic bag, and hold a bit of it while sleeping.

I was beginning to think that contact and will were detected to include what to bring in the white room.

There was no reason for this to not work, besides the volume or distance.

…

…

Friday afternoon, I felt mentally tired. My mental power was a bit low after practicing my telekinetic grab with nails and shooting them at a dead tree.

The weather was perfect. Gentle sun rays, sparse clouds and a gentle wind.

(Let’s go to the park nearby…)

The nearest park was one that neared a large hospital, but stretched for a few kilometers.

I made my way there within a quarter of an hour.

By the time I was there, I felt like seating down and sat on the first bench I found.

There was nobody around, as it was still a Friday afternoon.

I closed my eyes with my arms stretched behind my neck and napped.

…

(…!)

As I tried to doze off, I felt a powerful mental power reading a few dozen meters away. It was twice as strong as the best I found anywhere else until now, on par with me.

(Could it be another apostle!?)

I opened my eyes and stared right where the mental power came from.

It was a young girl, in her mid-teens.

(… She’s terminally ill.)

Her face was pale, the lack of hair and her frown told how much she was in pain.

Getting cancer at her age could only mean she had either a severe genetic problem, was exposed to lab chemicals somehow, or she reacted particularly badly to a vaccine for example.

None of those thoughts mattered when I thought she wouldn’t last a month.

The girl had a light green hospital gown and was walking while pushing an IV drip stand in white sandals.

She had a beautiful oval face and a small stature.

(… Let’s talk to her. She looks like she’s about to kill herself.)

Wide awake, I stand up and walk over to her.

At first, words wouldn’t come out, but I was a different man. I went through difficulties beyond most people.

“Excuse me, beautiful. Are you lost? I can walk you back if you want?” I speak with the gentlest tone I can do.

“… No.”

She had only given me a single side glance before turning me down.

“Hum. Then you don’t mind if I look after you for a while?”

“… Fine!”

She was moody for sure.

“Come sit down with me, I won’t bother you more than that.”

I walked back to my bench and she followed, almost aimlessly.

The rumbling sound of the rolling drip stand made the moment lose its charm.

We were both sitting there, from the corner of my eye I could see the girl hanging her head down.

Finally, she asked me, “Do you know me?” only for me to shake my head. “Then why did you talk to me? I’m ugly anyway.”

“… Are you saying that because you’re bald?… No, even like this I still consider you beautiful. It’s just too bad you lost the eyebrows too. Is it annoying when you shower?”

“… Yeah…” She replies in a defeated tone.

“… Did you give up on living?”

“… Yeah…” The girl replies with the same deadbeat tone.

“What’s your name? I’m Edward. I’m a university student nearby, I study biochemistry.”

“I’m Alice. I was in high school, then I had to stay here.”

“… I see.”

“My friends never came to see me. They’ve only posted some get well messages online, then went on with their lives, posting how happy, beautiful and happy they are, while I should have died a few weeks ago.” Alice starts letting out her emotions. “My chances of survival are zero. It would be a miracle if I could live another month—HAaa… HUGH, HUGH!”

Alice started coughing roughly, with her hand on top of her mouth.

As I looked over, there was blood on her sleeve.

“… At least you can sneak out in this pretty nice park.”

“I guess…”

(Can I help her? Purification magic, at least at my level, won’t help her. At worst it would tear holes into her, as it tears away the cancerous cells. She’d die instantly. I’m not even sure it would do anything besides removing the drugs in her system.)

The only way to help her was to either get a special potion, or the healing spell I wanted to get for a while.

Still, it cost 50 points. But I figured, since I would get it eventually, might as well get it next Dream, for this little girl.

“If you want, let’s meet here next Monday morning, I’ll have a surprise present for you.”

“… Really?” Alice looks at me straight in the eye.

“Un. Come at eleven in the morning.”

“… Then, I might come here, if I can.”

“Alright. If you don’t come, I’ll get angry.”

“Then get angry on your own, old man.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

With that, she tried to stand back up, and I helped her by lifting her arm.

I followed her until we were closer to the hospital, then I said goodbye and parted ways with her.

(A troubled, but sweet girl at heart. In the worst case scenario, combining a burst of purification and healing will do the trick.)

Thinking more than usual on the way back, this incident made me think about the powers I ought to buy.

I wasn’t in the mood to go to the archery club at first, but I made the effort and went anyway.

Then I returned home and slept.

…

You can find story with these keywords: Yume Howling, Read Yume Howling, Yume Howling novel, Yume Howling book, Yume Howling story, Yume Howling full, Yume Howling Latest Chapter