Chapter 4: Teleportation? (1)
Adelaide stopped writing and turned the recording on for the sixth time. She watched with extreme focus and tried not to miss anything, since even a minor discovery could potentially mean something big.
There was no blood when the finger disappeared. Adelaide's eyes had their normal seriousness until they widen in surprise. She rubbed her eyes and quickly replay the whole thing.
Then again, and again.
The sight of three adults looking at a child struggling in pain with indifference was inhumane in Adelaide's old world's perspective, to say the least. She did not want to growl like that either, but she had no choice: six-year-olds supposed to behave like that. Plus, the pain was indescribable.
Anyways, it really happened. Adelaide could not believe it. She knew this world had things like supernatural abilities, but she also knew that Adelaide did not have any of those since birth.
Her finger did not disappear into thin air. Behind the three men who were timing and taking notes, a small, white porcelain finger was wriggling. If one looked closely, one could roughly confirm that the movements of said finger corresponded to the rest of Adelaide's other fingers. The finger looked as if it was under her control when she struggled, except for the fact that it was not on her body.
After a while, the finger disappeared again from the corner of the room and reappeared on her hand. Luckily, the entire process went unnoticed by the three so-called researchers.
'It must have reappeared when I freak out and wanted it back.'Adelaide pondered while biting her inner lips lightly.
'In the journal entries, conversations between the three researchers were recorded. Aie is a precious metal equivalent to mana stones in those fantasy novels. According to the records, aie can only serve as some kind of energy boost. The original Adelaide did not have access to books, but logically speaking, injecting aie into a normal body instead of ability users' isn't normal.'
'But I have no abilities whatsoever, so are they trying to turn me into a ticking bomb, but the room of subconsciousness was an unknown element of surprise? Their original intention was to accumulate this dangerous substance within this body, then ka-boom? Fuck, the exploding thing really gets into my head.'
'No, wait. A mere Baron does not have the gut to do this to Winford Duchy's young lady. Plus, he is our family's vessel. No matter how much of a pain Adelaide and Alfred was to the duke, he would never let people gossip behind his back or doubt his honor and pride.'
'Then, what the hell happened?'
Adelaide was a quick learner, not a genius with out-of-the-box thinking. She had mediocre analytical abilities; she was decently smart, but not a strategist with a brilliant mind.
'My thoughts are heading towards some internal undiscovered drama… Shit. It's not my problem right now anyway. Let's just assume from what I know.'
'This body is special because Adelaide's a half-elf, but doesn't possess any special powers. Unlike her older brother, she's like a normal being, but with a special physique, making this body ideal for any ambitious experiment. Aie can only provide extra energy once ability users run out of them – this is a fact for every species.'
'Humans aren't born with any abilities. They can only use these supernatural powers by using artifacts that contained these abilities. This seems to be the reason why they have yet to try to dominate the world. We are greedy everywhere we go after all.'
'The key is that this body is ideal for experiment…ideal…'
'Is the Baron colluding with 'my father'? I think the OG Adelaide saw a familiar silhouette before she passed out... Ugh, even the father is a threat now?'
'If a new power pops up inside me by continuously injecting aie, then does that mean people without any powers from birth could gain an artificial one? Well, this body isn't 100% human, but they have the data, and scientists can do anything in the holy name of science.'
The more Adelaide thought about it, the more it seemed real.
'This room of subconsciousness might be one of the results. Well, it isn't exactly an ability, but it is indeed one of a kind.'
Adelaide concluded that the injected aie might have taken an effect on her body. She did not know what triggered the ability, but it seemed like it was a thought she had when she was in pain.
'An ability that makes part of my body disappear to a different place, then return…'
'...'
'Holy shit, it's not teleportation, isn't it? Or maybe the ability to divide my body parts without dying? That would make me a shit ton of money if I ever join a circus.'
Adelaide kept both possibilities in mind to be sure, but she still could not figure out what triggered the phenomenon, so again, the only option was to build up hypotheses.
'There are twelve days left. I was kept in shackles, so the trigger shouldn't be my actions. If it were my actions, don't tell me I have to wriggle like a worm every time I need it?'
'Then the only option left is my own thoughts. What do I usually think about in those moments?'
…a bunch of profanities that was extremely unladylike.
'Well, if we cut out all the not-very-polite phrases, then like any other normal human being, I wished I could escape from the pain. Wow, "escape from the pain" sounds really traumatic. Again, I am a victim of children torture; should I go see a therapist?'
Adelaide shook her head once again to get rid of the usual unrelated thoughts. 'The keyword here is…escape? I wanted to get out of that situation so bad that it worked, but since it was kind of a fluke, the effect wasn't significant?'
'Okay, let's try that then.'
When injected by the aie substance and the familiar pain reappeared the next day, Adelaide tried focusing her thoughts on the desire to escape. She shook her body intensely to see if any body parts were missing.
The scientists were slightly taken aback at first, but they did not consider the situation to be out of control. Luckily, her body was still small and her vision was enhanced. According to the three men, her special irises were the reason; elves had always been famous for their eyesight after all.
However, not a single part of Adelaide's body went missing even after she endured for nearly eight minutes. She even risked exposing her mental endurance! As Adelaide became irritated, her thoughts got loose.
'I guess this doesn't work. Ah, stop looking at me you Number-One bastard. If I could get out of here right now, I'll take care of you in the grand name of justice. Fuck teleportation. No matter how much of a fantasy world it is, teleportation doesn't work like that. Ah, but if this hand of mine could disintegrate into protons/electrons or whatever it is and grab that neck of yours, I'll gladly give it a nice squeeze.'
Now, normally, with her personality, Adelaide would never get angry, since she knew this was merely her own speculation, and she was just testing the waters. However, the escalating pain got into her head and she could not hold it in any longer.
Adelaide's internal thoughts were her secret land – as a model student, everyone had always considered her to be someone hardworking, forgiving, caring, and kind. Of course, she acted the way that fitted the modern social norm, but she also believed in the ugliness of human minds.
"We only act civilized because most of us are well-fed, and well-fed leads to good education" was what Adelaide concluded.
Since she was not well-fed and was tortured instead, spewing nonsense with her mind fitted the current norm perfectly. At least she did not anger the three captors, did she?
Just when she was about to pass out like normal, Adelaide witnessed something extraordinary.
Her left hand, which was fortunately out of the three men's sight, disappeared. Then a small hand popped out from thin air behind Number One. To be specific, it appeared behind Number One's neck. Strangely, Adelaide did not feel like she was disconnected from her own hand.
Adelaide was surprised, but she still kept a straight face and wriggled slightly like she was extremely uncomfortable. Then, she tried using the detached hand by imagining it was still on her body. The sensation was still there – she could even feel the fabric texture of Number One's coat that touched her hand.
The fabric itself was soft, but Adelaide could feel her own bad intentions towards the man.
'Let's try to curl it around the bastard's neck. Like how one would grab something.'
The hand moved almost instantly. It curled around Number One's neck slowly and steadily.
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Proofreader: krissaira
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