Rebirth: 100 Days Before Doomsday - Chapter 146

Chapter 146: Finding The Limit (III)

Grace stood up from her couch and headed toward Rune. Once she was next to him, she reached out and gave his couch a shove. While the shove wasn’t light, it wasn’t extremely strong either, probably somewhere in-between.

At the same time, she recreated the thought of him falling over with couch, aligning it with the shove. And this time, she both felt and watched as her power worked to bring her thought to life. The very next moment, she witnessed as Rune was falling over… along with the couch.

Since Rune was prepared for the fall, he immediately rolled away and stood up in such a graceful way that Grace felt impressed. But because of the situation, she had another important matter to care about other than being impressed with his years of physical training that had given him his current level of quick reflexes that could almost be described as elegant.

“So…?” Rune asked as he pulled the couch back up with ease and adjusted it back in its place.

Grace returned to her own couch and settled down before finally speaking, “The power worked this time because I followed the thought with an actual physical action.” That was the conclusion she came up with and it seemed like Rune had already foreseen it since he came up with the idea.

Thinking about something, Grace thought about a small boat to appear in the clear space between the living room and the kitchen, and just like she predicted, one did appear almost instantly.

“Glow?” She called 2025 through their shared mind-link, waiting for the creature to confirm her doubt.

“This is one from those you have stored in the garage.” 2025 replied as it noticed the notification of a missing boat on the digital screen that could appear anywhere around 2025 and Grace and at any given time.

“Can you find a way to lock up the realm so that my power will not be able to access anything from inside the space?” She asked 2025 and noticed how Rune was silently sitting there and waiting for her to finish whatever she was doing. While he couldn’t hear her conversation with 2025, he might have guessed that she was contacting the creature.

“For something like that to happen, you will need to shut down your access to the realm. Otherwise, there’s no other way to stop your power from accessing the realm since it’s almost a part of you.” 2025 explained.

Shut down the access to the realm?

Grace sighed as her gaze drifted to the boat that had appeared in the middle of the living room. Though it was a simple creation, it symbolized something bigger – the unintentional connection her power had to the resources present inside the Infinite Realm. The jade bracelet on her wrist pulsed faintly in a quiet reminder of the bond she shared with it.

“Fine,” she muttered to herself. “Let’s test this properly.”

The first thing she did was to rerurn the boat back into the realm.

Rune was watching her with quiet curiosity while leaning back against the couch he had just righted. “What now?” he asked, his voice calm but tinged with intrigue.

“I’m going to try something,” she said aloud while glancing at him briefly. At the same time, her hand instinctively moved to the jade bracelet on her wrist.

Rune’s brow lifted as he asked, “What exactly are you planning?”

“To test my limits,” she replied simply. “I have realized that my power is pulling resources from my space whenever I subconsciously need them. I need to figure out how much I can do without relying on it.”

With that, she slid the bracelet off her wrist. The moment the cool jade left her skin, she felt an odd sense of detachment, like a part of her had been sealed away. She stared at the bracelet in her palm for a moment before placing it carefully on the table.

The change was subtle but palpable. She was able to feel the absence of the realm like a quiet void in the back of her mind. The ever-present hum of energy that tethered her to the space was gone, leaving her with only the immediate resources around her.

“Alright,” she said, exhaling softly. “Let’s see what happens now.”

She focused on the clear space between the living room and the kitchen again. She took in a deep breath and thought of the boat – its shape, size, and details – just as she had before. She pictured it materializing in the empty space, solid and complete.

But this time, nothing happened.

She frowned at the emptiness before her. “Nothing,” she said, more to herself than to Rune.

“Of course,” he replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “Without resources, your power has nothing to work with. It’s like trying to paint without paint. The action and thought are there, but the substance isn’t.”

Grace nodded slowly as the logic settled into place. Her power wasn’t omnipotent – it was bound by rules, by reality itself.

She turned her attention to something simpler. She located a pen on the table in front of her and focused on it, imagining it rolling across the table toward Rune. At the same time, she reached out and flicked it gently.

The pen shot forward faster than her flick should have allowed, skidding across the surface until it stopped near Rune’s hand.

“That worked,” she said in a calm voice. “It worked because the pen was already there, and I added an action to push it.”

Rune picked up the pen and started spinning it between his fingers. “So, your power amplifies what’s already possible. If you can give it a nudge, it’ll take care of the rest.”

Grace’s mind raced with possibilities – and limitations. If she wanted her power to work at its full potential, she needed to be aware of her environment at all times. Resources, actions, and intent – they all had to align perfectly.

“I’m starting to get the hang of this,” she said as she stared at the table full of her creation.

Her power had immense potential, but it also carried risks. Misjudging her surroundings or losing focus could lead to unintended consequences.

She reached for the jade bracelet and slipped it back onto her wrist. The familiar connection to the realm returned instantly, grounding her.