Above the Blood Moon

The roar of the motorcycle shattered the last serenity on the edge of Forgotten City. Jockley sat behind the priest, his hands gripping the metal frame of the back seat tightly. The wind blew in his face, carrying the unique scent of the wilderness.

That was the scent that Jockley smelled on the very first day he came into this world.

He looked up ahead and saw that two motorcycles had already driven out of the last barbed wire fence of the Forgotten City Ruins Town.

Now, they had truly entered the wilderness.

The crimson moon hung high in the sky, its dark red light staining the entire land in varying shades of blood. The ground was littered with broken spaceship keels and twisted armor plates, and shattered plastic was scattered everywhere.

At and Dekiri's motorcycle was about fifty meters ahead, its wheels bouncing on the uneven ground.

The car would occasionally lift off into the air and then fall heavily back down, kicking up a cloud of dust. Daikiri was shouting something behind him, but the wind was too strong to hear what he was saying, only his excited howls could be heard.

The priest drove the motorcycle much more steadily; he was a very skilled driver, or rather, he was very familiar with the wilderness.

Jockley looked at the priest's back; his black robe fluttered in the wind, the fabric clinging to his body and outlining the thin but muscular silhouette of his back.

Jockley opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again.

He didn't know how to bring up the term "superpowered person".

The word had been swirling in his mind for two or three days. Da Huang had mentioned it, and the priest had also said in the tavern that "he is a Level 1 ability user."

What exactly is a superhuman? This question puzzled Dan Jokli, but he was afraid of exposing his ignorance and also afraid of arousing the priest's suspicion, so he could only silently look at the endless blood-red wilderness in front of him.

As the priest slowed down at a bend, the motorcycle slowly rounded the armor plate, its wheels crushing a pile of fine iron filings. Just as it rounded the armor plate, the priest suddenly turned his head and glanced back.

The priest's voice drifted over softly.

"You don't have a superhuman chip installed."

Jockley's heart tightened. The priest continued speaking, his deep gray eyes, hidden in the shadows of his hood, staring directly at Jockley.

"You are not a primitive human, and there are no signs of implanted superhuman chips in your body, but there are indeed signs of superhuman abilities floating in your body. You are very strange."

Jockley felt his throat go dry, and he knew he couldn't keep up the act any longer, so he took a deep breath.

"I really don't know what superpowers are. Is it like the shield you created to withstand the shockwave from the Pilot's self-destruction?"

The sound was processed by the exoskeleton and sounded very steady, but he knew that his hands holding the metal frame were trembling slightly.

The priest was silent for a few seconds. The motorcycle continued to move forward until the wheels rolled over a piece of broken glass, causing the motorcycle to shake. Only then did the priest continue speaking.

"That's just one of the superpowers of those with special abilities."

"Alternative energy is the remnant of the universe's original energy. It is not magic, not superpowers, and not something from any old-fashioned fantasy works."

It is a projection of higher-dimensional energy onto the three-dimensional universe, and is one of the cornerstones that constitute this universe, but most life forms are unable to perceive or utilize it.

Jockley held his breath; he seemed to understand a little about what superpowers were. The priest continued.

"Initially, humans called it divine power because in their legends this energy could allow mortals to ascend to immortality. AI models it as an unreducible field because it cannot be completely reduced to the existing physical framework mathematically."

"Cyclic humans call it superpowers because, to us, it is a special ability that can be captured and sealed."

"But it is what it is, no matter what it is called, its essence remains unchanged, and it can resonate with the soul of living beings."

"A soul?" Jockley couldn't help but ask.

"You can understand it as consciousness, as a life field, or as some kind of existence that transcends matter."

"Primitive humans gradually enhanced this resonance through meditation and training, making their bodies containers and conduits for foreign energy."

"With each level advancement, the soul volume and flux of the superhuman will double."

Jockley processed this information.

Primitive humans, superpower level...

How are people with superpowers classified?

The priest turned his head and looked ahead. The motorcycle was driving through a relatively flat area, with some round metal cans scattered on the ground.

"When a person with superpowers awakens, they are usually between six and twelve years old. Based on their soul characteristics, they are automatically classified into one of four natural superpower sequences: combat type, support type, healing type, and mental type."

Among them, there are fewer support and mental types, and even fewer healing types. After that, the direction of ability development is basically fixed, and one can only advance to the next level through combat or control of supernatural abilities.

The creative and constructive types of gifted individuals are somewhat unique; they can only use their abilities by having a company-issued chip implanted in them.

"Initially, humans defined the level of superpowers as nine levels. This system was later adopted by the three major factions and became the evaluation system for superpowered individuals."

"For example, when a combat-type superhuman activates their superhuman state, their strength and reaction speed will increase to twice the limit of an ordinary person at level one. They can break steel bars with their bare hands, run at a speed of about 15 meters per second, and begin to sense the flow of superhuman energy within their body."

At level two, all physical attributes increase to four times that of a normal person. One can imbue their fists, feet, or melee weapons with supernatural energy, inflicting burning or impact effects on strikes. One can penetrate a five-millimeter steel plate with bare hands. These are the most basic abilities one can master at this level.

Jockley listened, silently calculating in his mind.

"What about the therapeutic and psychosomatic types?" he asked.

"Therapeutic level one can accelerate the healing of one's own wounds, level two can heal minor injuries of others, psychological level one can perceive emotional fluctuations, and level two can engage in superficial spiritual communication."

The priest said.

"But specific abilities vary from person to person. This is just a basic framework, and it's common knowledge that self-awakened superhumans don't implant any prosthetics into themselves."

The motorcycle drove into a shadowy area, and suddenly it got dark all around. Only the motorcycle's headlight cut through the darkness, illuminating a small area ahead.

In the darkness, the priest's voice sounded even clearer.

"Modified humans cannot cultivate alien energy naturally like original humans because they have mechanically modified their bodies, disrupting the natural resonance path between alien energy and the soul."

"But they found an alternative path, which is to capture the strange energy in the atmosphere and make chips to implant in the human body, thus giving them strange abilities."

Jockley understood, which is why Daikiri said that they had money to buy superhuman chips but still couldn't pay off their debts.

In other words, in the modified body faction, superpowers are also a commodity that can be purchased, implanted, and upgraded, as long as you can afford it.

"But this path also comes at a price."

The priest's voice suddenly lowered a few decibels.

"The higher the level of superpower, the more chaotic the things you hear in your brain become, including noise, murmurs, and all sorts of whispers. Some of these are residual information from the superpower itself, some are from the spying of life in other dimensions, and some may even be background radiation from the universe itself."

"This is something that cannot be avoided whether it is the natural awakening of primitive humans or the chip implantation of modified bodies. No mental system or prosthetic modification can block out these voices."

For the first time, a certain emotion appeared in his tone.

"This causes many superhumans to eventually go insane. Only those with extremely clear goals can remain clear-headed and determined in this endless whispering."

Jockley felt a chill down his back.

"The more a cyborg human modifies themselves, the more insane they will feel, which is called cyberpsychosis. The only solution is to replace their prosthetic body with a normal human organ, which will reduce this feeling."

He paused.

"Human organs are also a good commodity among the modified human faction."

Jockley subconsciously touched the bomb collar around his neck.

The motorcycle drove out of the shadows and back into the light of the red moon. The dark red light shone down again, staining everything blood-red. Suddenly, the priest reached out and gently touched the back of Jockley's hand.

It was just a momentary contact, but Jockley felt his whole body go numb. A strange energy surged in from the point of contact and instantly flowed throughout his body along his blood vessels and nerves.

It wasn't electricity, it wasn't heat, it wasn't any of the sensations he was familiar with.

That is life itself, yet it transcends life.

The priest withdrew his hand.

"Your ability type is support, and your level is level one."

Jockley looked down at his hands; the skin on the back of his hands still retained that strange touch, as if something had just awakened there and was now asleep again.

"How do I turn it on? How do I control it?"

The priest seemed to smile. Jockley couldn't see his face, but he could feel the curve of his lips under the hood.

"There is no so-called right method. Everyone's soul is different, and the way they awaken is also different, but the most common and safest method is meditation."

"meditation?"

"Clear your mind, feel the flow of energy within your body, find that switch and turn it on."

"After experiencing their first meditation and their first time voluntarily activating their superpowers, those with superpowers can gradually master the method of control and can turn them on and off at will."

"However, besides the ability chip and the natural awakening of primitive humans, there is a very small number of ability users who are awakened through some external means."

A thought struck Joker.

"What is it?"

"I don't know, it's just something that exists only in rumors and gossip."

"It could be some kind of radiation, or some kind of ancient artifact. Nobody knows for sure what it is because there are too few cases, and most of them end up in deeper madness."

The priest accelerated his motorcycle to catch up with At and Dekiri ahead.

"But it does exist."

Jockley felt his heart leap into his chest. He remembered the bottle of blue tissue fluid, the only unusual thing he had come into contact with since coming into this world.

He was silent for a long time.

The motorcycle continued its journey across the wilderness until Jockley finally spoke.

"Thanks."

He knew the priest had no obligation to tell him these things. In this world, knowledge is a weapon and information is currency. The priest had given him so much information for free, which was definitely not his duty.

The priest did not turn around; he simply looked ahead at the twisted outlines of the wreckage.

"Kindness is an extremely rare virtue in this world, and we thank God that humanity has this emotion."

Jockley silently recalled the half-eaten nutritional paste he had given to the old beggar, and chuckled to himself; it had indeed been an unintentional act on his part.

Then he closed his eyes and, as the priest had instructed, began to meditate.

Jockley tried to calm himself down. He imagined himself as a deep pool of water, where the chaos beneath the surface gradually settled and the ripples on the surface subsided. He imagined himself as a stone, without thoughts or feelings, simply existing.

Gradually, the noise faded away, the fear faded away, the doubts faded away, and the memories faded away.

All that's left is breathing.

Inhale, exhale.

Inhale, exhale.

Then he felt it.

Like morning mist rising from the valley, like moonlight shining through the clouds, like seeds sprouting in the soil.

That transcendent energy began to flow within him, surging from the depths of his heart and flowing through his entire body along some unseen path, through every blood vessel and every cell.

Warm, but not scorching; powerful, but not violent.

Like the gentle yet unstoppable tide washing over the beach, the next second Jockley felt the outline of his own body. A layer of pale golden light enveloped his body like a thin veil, flowing slowly beneath his skin.

He also sensed the priest; it was a more solid golden halo, like a small sun burning quietly under a black robe, with subtle ripples at the edges, like the flickering of flames.

He also sensed something further away, about a hundred meters away, in the shadow of a piece of metal debris, where three faint heat sources were lurking, watching the two motorcycles with cold eyes.

[Heat Source Detection], with a radius of about 100 meters, can sense the presence of biological heat sources and superhumans behind walls.

Support-type ability user, Level 1.

He opened his eyes.

The crimson moon still glowed a dark red, the wreckage of the wilderness remained twisted, and the roar of the motorcycles was still deafening.

But everything was different; the world had gained an extra layer of energy in his eyes.

Jockley raised his hand and looked at his palm. A pale golden halo flowed beneath his skin, slowly rotating as if it were alive.

He found the switch that unlocked his special ability.