I See One Second Into The Future: Loner In The Apocalypse

As the evolution process started, Nicole began to panic slightly. As her body heated up and reddened by quite a bit. However, the process itself wasn't actually painful, so she quickly calmed down.

Nicole took in a few breaths, with fairly shocked eyes. She raised her hands and looked down at them, almost like she didn't recognize them.

Kairos coughed.

"Could I see your status panel?"

Nicole broke out of her stupor.

"Ah! Yeah."

[Status]

[ID: 934783245676]

[Rank: 98/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]

[Objective: Obtain 402 Evolution Energy]

[Proof Of Perfection Points: 70.5]

[Strength - 4.9

Agility - 4.9

Endurance - 4.9

Willpower - 4.9

Mana Capacity - 0.1

Magic Affinity - 0.1]

[Special Abilities: Afraid Spell (F), Frost Spell (F)]

[Inborn Abilities: Lost (F-)]

[Hide]

Kairos couldn't help but furrow his brows. The evolution itself was completely normal, with everything expected happening. However, he couldn't help but feel the ability she gained was simply too strange.

'Afraid Spell (F)'

Was being afraid somehow supposed to be a beneficial spell?

Kairos couldn't imagine it. However, he decided it would be better not to judge it by the name, but by the actual function. Nicole also seemed rather apprehensive of the ability, while the other three didn't seem to have much of a different opinion.

Kairos shook his head.

"Anyway, we should test out that ability."

Nicole stammered.

"U-Um, which one?"

Kairos pointed at her status panel.

"The one that says afraid spell."

Nicole looked a little embarrassed but slowly nodded.

"O-Ok."

She closed her eyes as mana began flowing throughout her body. For a moment, the embarrassment seemed to disappear as she channeled the spell.

Though, Kairos had to say it was taking much longer than expected.

Even after ten seconds had passed, nothing seemed to be happening.

Kairos couldn't help but cough.

"Um, is the spell over yet?"

Nicole abruptly opened her eyes.

"N-No, I'm still casting it. Sorry for being slow."

Kairos waved his hand dismissively.

"Ah, then whatever. Just tell us when you are finished with that spell."

Once a total of sixty seconds had passed since her initial channeling, she finished the spell. Nicole opened her eyes.

"It's done!"

At first, nothing happened, which made everyone feel a little awkward. However, her body had suddenly become translucent. It was now possible to see the couch behind her body.

It was almost as though someone used a photo editing software and set her opacity to fifty percent.

Then, after a couple seconds had passed, the changes stopped, making her revert back to her normal self.

Nicole exclaimed.

"Eh? Did anything happen? I feel... really tired"

Kairos rubbed his chin with great interest.

"It seems that ability is able to make you partially see-through."

Tori tilted her head to the side.

"That doesn't seem like it would be that useful."

Sydney smiled bitterly.

"...and it also takes so long to cast the spell."

Chase had his hands clasped together as he seriously stared at Nicole.

"But the ability has potential."

Nicole was initially feeling distraught upon hearing the other's words, but Chase's gave her a little bit of hope.

"It does?"

Kairos nodded.

"A lot of potential, in fact. This was how it was with the bare minimum mana capacity and magic affinity. I imagine increased mana capacity will give you more time in this state, and logically magic affinity should be able to make you more invisible."

Chase slowly closed his eyes.

"Being invisible... has far too many advantages. Though, it seems that ability can't provide true invisibility for now."

Nicole squirmed a little bit in place.

"So my ability is useful?"

Kairos slowly nodded.

"You will have to get a little creative, but yes it should be."

He then turned to Chase.

"And you are also still at F rank?"

Chase smiled with a bit of resignation.

"Honestly, if possible I would like to remain at this rank so that gathering points isn't as much of a pain. Though, that's only the case if I don't transform into a monster."

Kairos nodded.

"Alright, show me your status panel then."

Chase did as told while keeping his smile on his face.

[Status]

[ID: 734513523564]

[Rank: 89/100 Evolution Energy - 50 required for Rankup]

[Objective: Evolve]

[Proof Of Perfection Points: 76.7]

[Strength - 4.9

Agility - 4.9

Endurance - 4.9

Willpower - 4.9

Mana Capacity - 4.9

Magic Affinity - 4.9]

[Special Abilities: N/A]

[Inborn Abilities: Hero (Null)]

[Evolve]

[Hide]

Kairos raised an eyebrow.

"Say, where did you guys get so many points from?"

Chase shrugged his shoulders.

"After you were taken away, we tried to clear out the monsters in order to make our way to you. While we were all able to take care of quite a few, there were simply too many for us to deal with. In the end, we had to retreat back to the city."

Kairos nodded as he pressed the evolve button.

"Fair enough."

[Use 5 points for stable evolution? Yes/No]

[Use 10 points for natural ability? Yes/No]

[Use 5 points for Earth Spell or Thunder Spell? Earth/Thunder | Yes/No]

[Confirm]

Kairos promptly stated the two options he saw.

"Earth or thunder."

Chase spent a few seconds deliberating over it, before confidently stating his choice.

"Thunder."

Kairos didn't say anything more and clicked the various options required. Before pressing confirm.

Chase braced himself, but quickly lost that initial tension. He slowly let out his breath as his body heated up and his skin reddened. His eyelids slowly closed as he felt the process take over. During this time, Nicole took out some food and began snacking on it.

Something that Kairos noticed was that his veins seemed to be bulging out of his skin, which wasn't something that didn't happen with other people. It would've been something he just brushed off, but the color of the veins were red, not blue like it traditionally was.

Though he was slightly concerned, Chase looked like he was relaxing at a spa, so Kairos just ignored it.

After a few moments, the effects subsided and Chase's eyes slowly opened.

Without waiting, he opened up his status panel.

[Status]

[ID: 734513523564]

[Rank: 89/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]

[Objective: Obtain 111 Evolution Energy]

[Proof Of Perfection Points: 56.7]

[Strength - 4.9

Agility - 4.9

Endurance - 4.9

Willpower - 4.9

Mana Capacity - 5.0

Magic Affinity - 5.0]

[Special Abilities: Crystal Heart (F), Thunder (F)]

[Inborn Abilities: Hero (Null)]

[Hide]

Chase muttered to himself after looking at his stats.

"...Crystal heart?"

Kairos tapped his chin.

"Perhaps it is related to your mutated heart?"

Chase closed his eyes.

"I think... it's a passive skill. It's a little hard to tell right now, but I'm pretty sure that it is somehow changing how the mana feels around me. Hold on, let me try casting a spell."

He held out his hand as though he was holding onto a ball before channeling mana to cast the thunder spell.

In just a second it finished casting.

Then, a deafening crack resounded.

Everyone was shocked, instinctively backing up and widening their eyes. Kairos had a little difficulty keeping his composure because of the fact he saw it one second into the future.

Everyone remained stunned for a few seconds because of that spell.

However, they also came to a realization that other than that loud sound, the spell didn't do anything.

Chase furrowed his brows.

"Hmm... it appears that the thunder spell only creates a loud sound. At the very least, it seems I'm able to push where the sound originates from away for a certain distance. As for the crystal heart ability, I can tell that it has dramatically increased my mana regeneration."

Kairos raised an eyebrow.

"That sounds pretty good then."

Chase nodded to himself.

"Yes... it is definitely not bad... not bad at all."

Tori gave a few claps and frowned a little playfully.

"Now I'm not the strongest one anymore!"

Chase rolled his eyes.

"Strongest? Does it really count if you can only do one attack before becoming completely crippled?"

Tori let out a frustrated hum.

"That still makes me the strongest!"

Kairos shifted his gaze towards her.

"...Did you not properly balance your stat points still?"

Tori shifted her gaze to the side.

"I did a little bit."

Kairos then looked down at her arms, which had light red scars laced across due to ripped skin. Especially so around the wrists.

He let out a disappointed sigh.

"Show me your status panel."

Tori puffed up her cheeks.

"Um... it's not really important, and I um... also have something to do."

She stood up, but Kairos put a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to stop. With a bit of force, he pushed her back down to sit on the couch.

"Show me your status panel."

Tori's eyes darted around, but she did eventually cave in to Kairos' gaze and opened up her status panel.

[ID: 133543657645]

[Rank: 232/1000 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]

[Objective: Obtain 268 Evolution Energy]

[Proof Of Perfection Points: 0.0]

[Strength - 14.9

Agility - 14.9

Endurance - 6.9

Willpower - 4.9

Mana Capacity - 14.9

Magic Affinity - 14.9]

[Special Abilities: Wind Spell (F), Wing Spell (F)]

[Inborn Abilities: N/A]

[Hide]

Kairos let out a sigh as he looked at them.

"Why is your endurance lagging behind your other stats so much? If it's like this, then you will easily end up killing yourself before you kill the enemy."

Tori crossed her arms and looked to the side.

"Hmph! But this way I can hit really hard!"

Kairos felt a headache coming on.

"What's the point if you become crippled after"

Tori's hands clenched a little tighter.

"...but this way I can still be useful."

Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.

"If you want to be useful, then you have to survive after your initial attack, or else you're no better than a consumable."

Tori bit the bottom of her lip.

"Then I'll just be a consumable."

Kairos stared at her for a few moments, wondering why she was being so stubborn on such a strange thing. After a moment of deliberation, he decided to let her go.

With a sigh, he backed off while massaging his temple with the tip of his finger.

"Alright, whatever."

He then shook his head.

"Sorry, but could everybody here except Nicole leave? I need to talk to her about something."

Tori immediately stood up and stormed out of the room, while Chase casually left without too much care. As for Sydney, she seemed a little curious, but decided not to ask and left as well.

As for Nicole, she couldn't help but flinch. Her face began flushing red, even more so when she was in the process of evolving. She couldn't help but look down and clasp her hands together tightly.

Even her body began squirming around like she just couldn't get comfortable.

Kairos was initially looking at the door for the others to leave. When he turned back to Nicole, he immediately realized that she had the wrong idea.

Kairos slowly raised his hand and cleared his throat.

"Um, could you please calm down, I'm talking about something serious here that will have a significant impact on your future."

Nicole jumped once more, holding onto the side of her face with her palm.

"M-My future?"

Her face flushed even further, while her pupils began darting in every direction erratically.

"I... I..."

Kairos blinked a few times.

He couldn't help but think he further deepened the misunderstanding, but he didn't understand how.

"Um, make sure to keep your voice down, the reason I sent the others away is because this is a secretive matter."

Nicole's breathing got a little heavy.

"S-Secretive? I didn't think that you would want it like that... but I'm ok with that as well!"

Kairos' eyelid twitched. Though her voice didn't go down at all, he decided it was better to get to the point.

"I want to talk about an ability that doesn't show up in your status."

Then, Nicole blurted out.

"I accept!"