Will to Power

He searched around the periphery for the possible lost soul of his drummer friend but a casual glance found nothing. The man could be out there right now trying to find an escape route and would be thwarted, just as he had been.

At this point, Blake didn't have time to look for him. There were three other band members to check on, but he could tell that this was absolutely not working out.

This was far beyond what he could handle alone. Without any knowledge of how this new existence and this world operated, he was running blind.

He needed an ally.

Rising back up through the roof, Blake left the darkened interior of the Neon Moon and flew back to the Tiger Temple. The answer was still there in that horrid place.

It took no time at all to find the uniquely-shaped curved roofline of the Tiger Temple. The structure stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the more rigid structures of rectangular-shaped high-rises.

In the darkness, the street lights had flickered on, illuminating the roads that criss-crossed the city in a huge web of thundering humanity. The dark curves of the Tiger Temple stood out due to its lack of light. It was a lone sentinel, unlit and unwelcoming.

Blake landed on the green roof and bent over, poking his head down through the structure to peer into the darkened interior. He could sense no life within the interior at the moment.

Some workers had come and removed the broken statue. The wooden sign was gone, stashed within his weapons cache.

He could smell the lingering scent of incense, food, and chrysanthemum flowers even though the shrine maiden had cleared the altar of everything that had been splattered and damaged.

Even the chrysanthemum pots had been taken away. They had taken a tumble and had spilled damp dirt and broken blossoms onto the floor. It looked as if there had been an attempt at cleaning the dirt off the expensive rug before the altar but the grimy streaks of moist dirt were still clearly evident.

He slipped inside the temple and looked around. The workers had not replaced anything on the altar but he was sure it would not be long before they came back with a new tiger statue and more food and flowers. This was the Overlord's bread-and-butter after all.

Sensing no living souls around, Blake moved towards the painting of the naked Asian woman on the wall.

With a deep breath, he pictured the vision of Anh Hai's cruel and callous laughing face. A sudden welling of anger rose up within him and he batted the picture frame with one hand. It clattered onto the floor, face down, revealing a hidden recess within the wall and then disappeared.

«Congratulations. You have gained a new weapon: Painting, Jasmine Love. Level 1»

Blake grimaced. Everything he touched with the intent to move was turning into a weapon and cluttering up his weapons cache. He definitely did not want an ugly painting taking up his valuable weapons space, but at this moment, he had more important things to do.

He narrowed his eyes and peered into the darkened recess. It was not a large space, just barely enough to place a small cobalt blue ginger jar.

He willed into power another surge of anger that gave him just enough strength to bat the jar onto the ground.

It fell with a crash and smashed into several pieces.

'Come out Luis. You're free.' He mentally urged.

'Who are you?' A voice called out with hesitation.

As soon as the ghoul's spirit fully expressed himself from the jar, it too disappeared into Blake's weapon cache.

«Congratulations. You have gained a new weapon: Ginger jar, small. Level 1»

"Gaaah," he spat with disdain. What the hell was he going to do with a ginger jar?

But again, he did not have time to think about such trivialities.

The humanoid shape was unfurling before his eyes. He was a clean-shaven older man, possibly in his mid-fifties, with close cut black hair and strange pale blue eyes. Dressed in a business suit and tie, he looked like any ordinary denizen who worked within the glass and metal concrete jungle of LA.

'We don't have time for this. Change into a bat and I'll tell you as we leave.'

Immediately, a bat appeared in midair.

Without stopping to think, Blake voiced the command.

"Pick up bat."

'Woah! What are you doing!!! Put me down!'

"Put bat into pouch."

In an instant, the bat was gone. At the top right corner, the drawstring bag now showed new numbers. 2/50.

Picking up the bats was easy. He wondered if he could pick up things too. There were a few things he needed.

He glanced around and saw the heavy engraved silver lighter that the Overlord had left behind on the altar.

"Put silver lighter into pouch."

The lighter disappeared. At the top right corner, the drawstring bag now showed new numbers. 3/50.

Heh. Thieving could be a new profession for him...at least until his drawstring bag was full.

He looked around and found another item he needed to take away.

"Put incense jar into pouch."

The entire jar, incense and all, disappeared into his drawstring bag. Another number popped up. 4/50.

"Alright. Let's get out of here."

Rising up through the roof, Blake flew away from that cursed place as quickly as he could. He did not want to be around when the Overlord discover that one of his ghouls had been stolen, along with his ugly painting of the naked chick.

As Blake flew back to his apartment, he could see his new stats on the lower corner of his peripheral vision. Using force to remove the picture frame and to free Luis from the jar had costed him one entire percent on the green energy bar, resulting in only 1 point left.

Blake was starting to get worried. Without any green energy, he couldn't use his poltergeist power. Using his poltergeist energy however cost him green energy and cluttered up his weapons cache with useless junk.

Meanwhile, the red energy bar still showed a cumulative 7 points.

Blake had no idea how to use the red energy. He wasn't too sure if he even wanted to know what gory reason it might be used for.