Testing his capabilities

Looking up at the sky, Miles could feel the aches in his body. The adrenaline that he received allowed him to push further than he had ever before, and his body wasn't used to it.

'A beast? Is that what it is called? I can't think of any other name other than that.' Miles thought.

He couldn't believe that a creature like that attacked him and that the whole event happened.

'If only I had the power to be able to defeat one of them.'

That's when Miles decided he would defeat one of them. He had no idea how, but he had set his mind to it.

With heavy breathing, Miles rested until his body felt refreshed and ready to head back.

It wasn't a tiny town so Miles had to walk a good half an hour before reaching his house.

Luckily his parents weren't home and by looking at the time they wouldn't be home for the next 45 minutes.

Running up to his room, Miles still had the funny rock in his hand.

He put it on the floor in front of him and looked at it.

Picking it up he examined it. Nothing unusual and no marking on it suggesting that it didn't have any importance.

The artifacts that were sold in the markets for hunters usually had runes or words or some indication they had been made.

This stumped Miles but decided to look past it and try to feel for what was inside.

He closed his eyes and tried to sense it. Oddly enough he could sense it. It didn't seem difficult to him at all and felt almost natural.

It was like a faint mist or energy that took the shape of a ball.

It was tiny, around the size of a golf ball but it was hard to judge since he had no references inside his mind.

He decided he would reach out and touch this strange energy.

As soon as a small part of the energy touched the imaginary hand in his mind a rush of power was felt in Miles.

This distracted him and almost dropped the rock but refocused and held on tight.

After calming down he looked back inside his mind to see if anything changed.

The hand that looked like it was touching the energy seemed to be absorbing it.

The golf ball-sized energy was down to a thumbnail and before he knew it, the energy was gone.

Miles standing up clenched his hands, the power and strength seemed to increase dramatically.

'WHAT WAS IN THAT ROCK?' Miles internally screamed.

'I have to go check if I am much stronger than before. Huh. What's that?'

Miles caught himself looking at a little number in his vision.

[13]

'What is that? Why can I just see a 13?'

Not knowing what was going on Miles tried to wave his hand in his vision to see if it was in front of him or on a wall, but nothing.

The number just stayed there. Not knowing if it was a gift thing or a rock thing was frustrating Miles, especially due to having so much hope for this ceremony.

As he continued to look at the number it slowly faded out of his mind and couldn't be seen anymore.

He decided to focus really hard to get the number back but it didn't help at all.

'Why are so many weird things happening today?' Miles thought.

After that whole episode, it was time to test his new strength.

Firstly, he decided to head to an open field, one where he could freely use for whatever he wanted, even gifts.

Not knowing if it was a gift or just more strength, he tried to activate something inside of him.

After 5 minutes of standing in the field occasionally moving or being static, he concluded that it was time he tried something else.

Mildly disappointed, it felt like it was just as hopeless as ever.

It was then that Miles decided to feel around his body. His muscles felt slightly bigger but mainly denser and harder.

This however didn't reduce his fixability and was surprised to see himself being able to grab his toes when stretching.

'Wow, something really must have changed.'

Now he wanted to test his speed and agility.

He stepped out 100 meters and made a mark.

'What did they say the best time was before gifts were introduced? Was it 9 seconds?'

As these thoughts went through his mind he bent down in front of the start line.

'3, 2, 1, GO!'

He pushed as hard as he could while counting. He knew it wasn't a very accurate form of measurement, but he didn't have to be perfect.

The wind flew past him as he reached speeds he didn't believe he could have achieved before this strange energy was in his body.

A big smile was on Miles's face as he reached the finish line.

'10 seconds, now that was fast.'

He also realised he wasn't nearly as exhausted as he thought he should be after running that fast.

The previous fastest he had run was about 14 seconds for a school test.

'4 seconds improvement, that is amazing.'

He knew there was one last test he wanted to do before heading home. Strength test.

Firstly, he would see how hard he could punch, then test maximum push-ups.

A tree 200 meters down the track looked suitable for what he wanted and ran down the track stopping in front of a large tree. He stopped before it and looked up.

It reached a height of about 30 meters and the trunk looked to be around half a foot in width.

He then got into a punching stance that Dean had instructed him in.

He was never very natural or good at martial arts and Dean had taught him a couple of things to get him started.

It took a bit of time due to his mind and body seeming to act differently but still got the basics down.

Sometimes, it felt as though his mind was built for a different body, at least that's how he felt.

In the stance, Miles looked up at the tree and swung his right hand as hard as he could while pivoting and drawing power from his feet.

As his hand connected with the tree, he felt the vibrations go up through his arm.

It wasn't his best punch but he sure gave it some power. An outline on his first two knuckles was shown on the tree very faintly.

'YES! I was hoping for any sign of my fist in the tree and I did it.'

Looking down at his hand he could see rough skin but barely any blood could be seen.

This is unlike what Miles could have expected.

'Maybe I will be able to fight.' Miles thought excitedly.

Straight after that he found a grass patch and dropped to the ground before starting to do push-ups.

They felt light and after 30 seconds he realised he got past his previous record of 20 push ups. He continued until he pushed himself and got 50 push-ups.

He knew it was not a feat that was unachievable without a gift or this strange energy and even versing fireballs or sword strikes he would still lose, however, that didn't mean this wasn't huge progress.

Looking at his results they seemed tremendous on all fronts. All his physical attributes have increased even though no abilities were seen.

Miles was never one to fancy a weapon anyway and seeing his punches deal that much damage he might be in a better position with this type of power.

There was just something he couldn't get out of his mind.

'Just what was in that stone?'

He honestly had no clue but knew one thing.

This was how he was going to survive this gruelling world.