Chapter 1916: The Awakening Serums
The president waited for Ning with the serums.
Five vials, sealed in a foam-lined case, each one tagged with a reference number that corresponded to a form he had to sign before getting them. He picked one up and turned it in his fingers. The liquid inside was dark purple, almost black at some angles, with just a trace amount of sparkles inside.
"This looks different than the ones we saw back then," Ning said.
"The previous formula was improved upon and now we have this," the president said.
"I see," Ning said, setting it back and closing the case. "Thanks for this. I’ll be leaving now."
"Wait a moment," the president said before Ning could walk away. "Do you think you could agree to working a few more weeks? We could definitely ramp up production of these serums if you do."
Ning shook his head. "7 days a week in the dark, mining away at the never-ending walls, when I could be out here helping people? I don’t think so. Thanks for the offer though."
The president seemed disappointed, but she didn’t say anything and let him leave.
Ning walked outside and turned into a bat, flying back toward his home.
Along the way, he had the system look the serums over to see if they had any issues at all.
<The current formulation is functional but suboptimal. There are no inherent issues with them and can be either consumed or injected as one wishes>
Ning nodded slowly. "What about its potency?" he asked.
<Because of the suboptimal use of the Aullazire within the serum, it is not possible to bring out its full capacity. Thus, the potency is very weak>
"Any way to improve it?" Ning asked.
<It is possible to change the formulation to make full use of the Aullazire. Do you want to do that?>
Ning looked at the case.
"Do it," he said.
It wasn’t until Ning arrived back home and opened the case that he realized that the colors of the serums had changed. From a dark purple, they had now become closer to a lighter violet with almost no sparkles of the Aullazire. It likely meant that all of the Aullazire crystals had been utilized by the serum.
Since that was the case, he was ready to give these serums away. Since there were 5 serums, he had to find 5 people to give them to.
Ning quickly made a list of who he wanted these to go to.
His first choice was Blake.
Blake was at the agency when Ning arrived, sitting at his desk with the rankings report already pulled up on his screen as though he’d been waiting for an excuse to discuss it.
"Thirty-two," Blake said before Ning had fully sat down.
"Hmm? Oh right, the new rankings are out again."
"You didn’t go up any more spots. You need to stop hiding from the public. You might drop even lower if you keep working these government jobs."
"I know."
"I’ve had some offers for you to go to some game shows. Do you want to?" Blake asked. "There are also a few sponsorship offers. Do you want to look them through?"
Ning shrugged. "You decide what I should and shouldn’t do. You know my schedule anyway. I don’t have my work in the mines for another 3 weeks, right?"
Blake nodded. "I’ll set up a few things then."
Blake looked at the screen again and sighed. "For someone with the strongest potential known to any person in history, your ranking just doesn’t reflect it. We need to improve it."
"I accept that," Ning said. "But you shouldn’t overwork yourself either. You’ve done a great job, and frankly, you deserve a reward for it all."
"I get paid handsomely for this. It’s my job after all," Blake said.
"Still, I doubt you’ll refuse this," Ning said, opening the case he had brought along, revealing the 5 vials that were inside.
Blake frowned. "What’s that?"
"Drugs," Ning said with a grin.
Blake worried for a second before Ning laughed. "It’s not drugs. It’s something better."
Blake could hardly believe Ning when he explained what the vials were. The man remained frozen in shock, unable to comprehend such a thing even existed.
"These... these can awaken someone’s powers?" he asked.
Ning nodded.
"What if I don’t have any?" Blake asked.
"All people have powers. They are born with them," Ning explained. "But they have a certain requirement to awaken them, which ends up being impossible to acquire by the regular person in their lifetime."
Ning picked one of the serums. "This is that requirement, distilled into a single vial. Drink this, and you will awaken a power."
Blake still couldn’t believe it. "Did... did you awaken your powers through this as well?" he asked.
"Of course not," Ning said. "I’m not the one who made this. It’s the government. I worked for the past week so I could get my hands on these. And you were the first person I thought of when considering who to give them to."
Ning handed the vial over to Blake, who slowly took it. The angel still looked completely unsure of what to do.
"Don’t worry. It’s been tested and has no drawbacks. It will take you a few hours to awaken, and might cause you some pain or discomfort during that time, so you should go home and consume it afterward," Ning said.
Blake took a deep breath. "I... I don’t know how to thank you at all," he said, gripping the vial tightly.
"You don’t have to thank me. Just take the vial and continue doing what you’re doing," Ning said. He closed the case and stood up to leave. "I need to get these to the others."
He turned to leave.
"Oh right. This is a big secret, so do not let anyone else know," Ning said quickly. "Also, do let me know what powers you awaken. I’m very curious as to what you might end up getting."
Saying as much, Ning left Blake alone and made his way to the others.
