Limitless by John Gold (best e reader for android txt) 📕

A few trees fall at the end of the ravine. I panic when one of them hits me on the head. A wind of death sweeps everything away on all sides, and I’m almost killed when I very nearly spend all my life strength.

After that happens, I have to stop and get a grip on my anxiety. I keep going once I’m able to deal with the panic. From a psychologist’s point of view, I’m a masochist, as I consciously go places where the level of pain and suffering intensifies. That being said, bitter medicine is the best for you. The more difficult it is for my psyche, the stronger and more resistant I get.

One of the fields gives me an unexpected gift: natural sunlight. It’s just one ray cutting through the smoke and clouds to fall on a small patch of ground, but for the Gray Lands, it’s a divine miracle.

I sunbathe for a little while, only now realizing how much I’ve missed the sun.

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∞ ∞ ∞

I really need a break from all the trials, so I grab some food, my pillow, and a blanket, and head up onto the roof. My inconspicuous corner is an excellent spot for reading.

To understand how the brain works, problems with transitional periods of development, and how to deal with stress, I log into the infonet and start looking for books on psychology. Then, I create a new knowledge bank and copy over all the information on ship-building from my old file.

I can read using one stream of consciousness or split them to read several different books at once, though my retention drops considerably in that case. Ultimately, I just go with the old tried and true method. But combining streams of consciousness does mean that I can better understand what’s in the books: methods for fastening beams, requirements for material quality, applicable thermoalloys, ways of combining different generations of technology on the same ship, and much more. The more I read, the more I realize how much I enjoy ship-building and how sky-high my potential is as an engineer.

My consciousness logs onto a secure infoserver via a closed channel. I’ve already bought out the company that provides the hosting in the infospace to make sure I’m absolutely secure. It has continued to provide the same services to the same customers in the same quantities, though my drafts go through a network of compilers to a separate server with single-person access.

I have an idea for an enormous mother ship that can serve both as a station and a colony. The complexity of the project is off the charts even for my powerful intellect. Nonetheless, instead of giving up, I dive into design books which tell me where to start.

When I realize that I’m being gnawed at by a feeling that something is wrong, I pull myself away. Right on the edge of the horizon, I see a black spot—a ship. Maybe, an island. But I do know it isn’t a hallucination, like Claude said. Making a note of the location and time I saw the ship, I go back to my books. My first project is going to take mountains of cash.

Twelve hours later, Claude finds me to tell me that I’ve missed three meals and swimming sessions. My stomach grumbles—I haven’t even eaten any of the food I brought with me. My head hurts from all the information I’ve been cramming into it, and my lower back feels a little achy.

∞ ∞ ∞

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Taking a break turns out to have been really beneficial. By the second day, I’ve gotten to the edge of the trial zone. A small village is burning, the flames leaping skyward in a suspiciously synchronized fashion. Separate tongues lick their way along the streets as though the enormous fire is picking and choosing where it wants to go. As soon as I unleash a tsunami on the village, the fire takes form in the sky as a winged demon.

Elemental, Fire Geyel-Flesh, Level 19941, raid boss

 

His health bar dropped 5% when the demon took off, his feet in water up to his ankles. But as soon as he wheels around the roofs of the burning houses, it climbs back up to full. I remember being told at the academy how elementals have low regeneration unless they’re in their native element. How am I supposed to beat a creature like that when there’s fire all around?

Always control the situation.

Always have an advantage over your opponent.

Those are the two axioms for survival I follow in every battle. With that in mind, I dig up a lake that’s deep and big enough to fit a whole forty-meter elemental. Then, I fill it with water and lure Geyel in. Gravitational wells work in both directions—the fire elemental knows that for sure. His body is crushed into the earth at the very bottom. Water boils, though his health only drops to 80%.

When I focus my eyes on the flames which are even bursting through the water, I realize how bad things look.

Flame of the original fire

This flame is the basis of life for all higher elementals. The stronger it is, the larger the radius over which the elemental has to remain united with fire.

Effect: Links the health of its owner with all fires in a radius of 399 meters (out of 1994.7 meters)

And there I was thinking that this was going to be simple. I had a whole lake for the bastard. Over the past five minutes, his health hasn’t even dropped five percent, and the lake is more than half boiling. So, the lower his health goes, the more area he covers. My chances of beating him the normal way are nil unless I can change the balance of power.

“Iceberg! Maximum!”

The basic version costs 10000 mana, though amplifying the damage by ten and expanding the chunk of ice by a factor of four bring the cost high enough that I’m left with just 2% of my overall strength left.

I sit down in my meditation pose and start chuckling