The Bald Head

The next morning, Feeney set out with a mix of anticipation and nerves to test the effects of "Possessed by Evil Spirit." Though Skye wanted to follow him out the door, he ultimately refused, considering he still didn't know how the skill would turn out.

He rode his bike all the way to a remote outskirts area, where an old small factory had long been abandoned. Feeney had stumbled upon it by chance and turned it into a secret base.

Occasionally, he'd come here to deal with leftover "Sumire's Fried Chicken Rolls" or test the maximum extent to which the "Golden Great Deduction Technique" could influence reality.

After unlocking the door, Feeney carefully inspected the surroundings, making sure nothing was off, before he began preparing for the tests.

Standing in the wide open space, he took a deep breath and called out in a deep voice:

"Possessed by Evil Spirit!"

A silver sword, its hilt trailing an iron chain and a red gem set in the middle, materialized from the void, radiating a dangerous aura as it appeared before Feeney.

He'd thought about whether the skills he drew could hurt him back when the "Golden Great Deduction Technique" first succeeded.

The splitting headache from that time was still fresh in his memory—at seven years old, it took him a full two months to fully recover.

Instinctively, Feeney felt the system wouldn't harm him, at least not through the skills he drew. Take the "Golden Great Deduction Technique," for example—he couldn't use it at all as a newborn, and it only got better as he grew older.

So, facing the dangerous aura of "Possessed by Evil Spirit," Feeney wasn't really all that scared. His gut told him the worst-case scenario was just that he couldn't equip it.

Without hesitation, Feeney reached out and grabbed the silver hilt.

Instantly, a surge of immense energy burst from the red gem, enveloping Feeney. At the same time, a giant silver-armored phantom appeared behind him, extending its arms as it slowly moved to embrace him.

A ferocious roar seemed to echo faintly in Feeney's ears, and he felt something flowing over his body.

As the giant figure vanished.

A fully enclosed suit of silver armor covered Feeney's entire body, a white cloak fluttering behind him without any wind, instantly maxing out the style factor.

The moment he successfully equipped it, Feeney clearly felt the power of "Possessed by Evil Spirit." Now, forget Hawkeye—even if Captain America showed up, he wouldn't be afraid.

"So strong, it's really powerful!"

Feeney clenched his fists, shouting excitedly in his mind. The panic he'd felt about facing the future finally eased a bit in that moment.

Once equipped, "Possessed by Evil Spirit" boosted all his abilities—speed, strength, and spirit were all enhanced.

Of course, the most important thing was defense. Feeney didn't know how the metal of this "Possessed by Evil Spirit" armor compared to Vibranium in hardness, but the fact that it evolved based on the user's strength alone put it miles ahead.

But the power came with a cost. Feeney could feel his stamina draining rapidly. With his years of training, he figured he could only keep it equipped for about twenty minutes.

As for the invisibility feature of "Possessed by Evil Spirit," it was temporarily unusable, probably because he was still too weak.

"Oh, right—Golden Great Deduction Technique!"

Feeney suddenly thought that since "Possessed by Evil Spirit" boosted his overall stats, maybe he could use the enhanced state to fuel the "Golden Great Deduction Technique" and feed back into himself.

"Double my physical abilities!"

Clearing his mind, Feeney focused all his effort on using the "Golden Great Deduction Technique" to strengthen himself. He'd tried this before, but it never worked.

As soon as he said it, his already powerful body felt even stronger, giving him the illusion that he was invincible in that moment.

Not only that, but with his physical abilities doubled, the equipment duration of "Possessed by Evil Spirit" extended a bit too, though he couldn't tell exactly how much.

"Triple my physical abilities!"

Feeney excitedly "commanded" again, but maybe because his mind was scattered and he wasn't focused, it didn't work this time.

He calmed down and concentrated, making his intent sharper, then said in a deep voice, "Triple my physical abilities!"

A warm current seemed to surge into his body, comfortable and intoxicating, but then a wave of fatigue hit his mind. It looked like this level of reality manipulation was already his limit.

Far from disappointed, Feeney was actually very satisfied. Strength could come gradually, and after the "Sumire's Fried Chicken Roll" incident, "Possessed by Evil Spirit" performing this well was already beyond his expectations.

Without proper instruments, he couldn't measure exactly how much his strength and speed had increased, but he could easily lift the heaviest thing in sight.

Too bad that even with tripled physical abilities, he still couldn't use the invisibility of "Possessed by Evil Spirit." It seemed to require even higher standards.

Plus, the physical boost from the "Golden Great Deduction Technique" wasn't permanent. As his thoughts grew more scattered and his focus wavered, the enhanced state weakened, showing signs of returning to normal.

After about forty minutes, Feeney felt his stamina nearing its limit, so he started to deactivate "Possessed by Evil Spirit." It turned back into a long sword, appearing before him again.

Then a wave of soreness slammed into him, and he collapsed straight to the ground.

"Overdid it..."

That was the first thought in Feeney's mind as he lay face-down. He'd underestimated the backlash from deactivating "Possessed by Evil Spirit." Now his whole body was completely drained and aching all over.

With the skill canceled, the long sword of "Possessed by Evil Spirit" vanished into thin air, so he didn't have to worry about carrying it around. It was still fundamentally a skill, not equipment.

Struggling to roll over, Feeney didn't care about the dirt, lying on the ground as he recovered and reflected.

"It must be because the Golden Great Deduction Technique temporarily boosted my physical stats, but when I deactivated it, the boost was gone, so the backlash hit harder."

He quickly figured out the reason. In the end, it was because he himself was too weak, leading to this situation.

His body was just that of a fifteen-year-old boy. No matter how much a normal human trained with ordinary methods, how strong could he really get?

After sulking for a bit, Feeney shook it off. Blaming fate wasn't his style. Instead, he'd rather think about how to keep getting stronger.

"Maybe I should stick to the plan and go find that Bald Monk for a solution?"

Lying on the ground, his mind wandering, Feeney muttered to himself.

But just as he finished speaking, a gentle voice came from behind him: "Talking about someone's hair behind their back isn't very polite, you know!"

Then, a gleaming bald head appeared in his field of view.

Hmm, well, the newbie's having a rough time—please vote and leave good reviews, thanks! If there's anything poorly written, please bear with me!