The Million-Dollar Heart

Asher was about to say something more, but Thomas didn't give him the time of day. With a swift turn, he and his team moved to
apprehend the Grimshaws. Asher's brow twitched uncontrollably, feeling as if his dignity was being trampled into the dirt.
"Vivienne, have you considered the consequences of your actions?" Asher gritted his teeth as he glared at Vivienne.
Vivienne, hands in her pockets, exuded an aura of defiance. "Consequences? Never cared for them."
Asher laughed in disbelief, repeating, "Fine, fine, fine! If you choose to dismiss the Grimshaws, then don't blame me for what
comes next!"
Raising his voice, Asher commanded, "All Grimshaws, listen up! Attack with full force. Treat all outsiders on our turf as fair game,
dead or alive!"
The Grimshaws, always proud and disdainful, whether servants or masters, looked down on everyone else.
Suddenly invaded by Vivienne and Percival, and seeing that their captors were heavily armed-obviously government forces-they
had hesitated to fight back. But with Asher's command, they threw caution to the wind and charged at Vivienne's team.
In an instant, chaos erupted.
Vivienne just smiled.
Turning to Percival, her smile was irrepressible. "Mr. Wolf, the world is full of fools gifting us their heads on a platter!"
Percival grinned back, "Free heads, why not take them?"
Then, looking at Leopold and Thomas, he said indifferently, "Leopold, Thomas, if even one Grimshaw escapes, you'll be mining
coal on Fariana Isle!"
Leopold, energized as if injected with adrenaline, declared, "Don't worry, Percival. Mining coal won't be my fate!"
Openly attacking a leadership figure of the established security bureau was no minor offense.
Without even needing Vivienne and Percival to submit any evidence, the Grimshaws were facing lifelong imprisonment.
And with Vivienne's evidence, their fate was sealed.

Thomas glanced at Leopold and added, "If it's a task Mr. Sterling won't be doing, it certainly won't fall to me. Don't worry,
Percival, if even one Grimshaw escapes, I'll make Fariana Isle my new home!" With that, he and Leopold, guns in hand, aimed
and fired at a Grimshaw engaged in battle, instantly taking him down.
This action left the Grimshaws in shock!
They could never have anticipated that Vivienne's team would actually open fire!
Asher, fuming, had initially commanded his people to be ruthless, but even his forces had held back, not even using their ancient
warrior lineage abilities.
But now...
Asher glared at Vivienne, his inner energy surging, forming an invisible energy sphere in his palm. "You're asking for it!"
His palm struck forward, aiming directly at Vivienne!
Vivienne simply raised her hand, and with a wave, a transparent barrier shielded her and Percival.
Asher's strike felt like it hit cotton. Vivienne and Percival didn't even flinch.
Asher was stunned, incredulously staring at Vivienne, "How, how can you...?"
He knew Vivienne possessed inner energy from their previous encounters.
But her use of abilities, that was beyond his wildest dreams.
Because, such abilities were the secret of the ancient warrior lineage!
The world knew the ancient warrior lineage for their mystical arts, like telekinesis or face-shifting, but their true secret was their
abilities!
These abilities were the ancient warrior lineage's lifeline, not to be used lightly.
Of course, not every member of the ancient warrior lineage possessed such abilities. Aside from the major families, only a small
fraction of the lesser families had them, like the once-prominent Boyds, who lacked such abilities, though the Perezes did
possess them. However, the Perezes had vowed never to use

their abilities again.
Asher, in his anger, had carelessly used his ability, thinking it would, if not kill, then seriously injure Vivienne and Percival.
To his shock, they were unharmed, looking utterly unbothered.
Vivienne calmly met his gaze, speaking leisurely, "Forgot to mention, had some free time and picked up the ancient warrior
lineage's abilities for fun. Seems I might be just a bit stronger than you."
Her mastery of the ability was recent, discovered while translating a secret text found at Scott's place with Finnian. Finnian had
failed to decipher it, and the book was returned to her.
Just a fortunate coincidence.
Vivienne recently made a trip back to the Dorian residence to catch up with them, and it just so happened that Thaddeus
Hawthorn, Isolde Ellington, and Amelia were all there. The two was engrossed in a TV
series about people with
dinet
superpowers.
She casually joined in, and right at that moment, the TV was showing a showdown between heroes and villains, all wielding their
powers. The subtitles flashing across the screen were in the exact same script as in Scott's mysterious book.
Curious, she reached out to the TV
show's writer hoping he could help translate the arcane book. To her utter astonishment, the writer confessed that the power
incantations were purely a product of his imagination, and the script was nothing more than random keystrokes that looked
aesthetically pleasing to him.
Talk about being speechless!
Later, with time to kill, Vivienne picked up the book and, on a whim, recited the incantation she saw on TV. To her amazement,
an invisible force surged through her, and her mind was flooded with strange symbols.

Oddly enough, it was as if the symbols were etched into her very being, allowing her to effortlessly grasp the contents of the
book.
The book was a manual on developing superpowers, covering a variety of abilities.
With nothing better to do, she dived into it and picked it up quickly. In about two months? She had mastered every power
described in the book.
In the eyes of the ancient warrior lineage, a superpower prodigy was someone born with innate aptitude, but mastering these
abilities was a long and arduous journey. Each new level of power was harder to achieve than the last.
While superpowers were the ancient warriors' secret to survival, truly gifted individuals were rare, most never advancing beyond
the second tier, like Asher, for example.
The pinnacle of superpower mastery was the tenth tier, and what lay beyond was a mystery to Vivienne, as she hadn't delved
that deep yet.
But she was a prodigy among prodigies, reaching the fourth tier in just two months.
Advancing through the stages of power was challenging, and each level came with its own strength.
So, to Vivienne, second-tier Asher was nothing but small fry!
Asher, "..."
Since when did mastering superpowers become as simple as cooking?
Can you just decide to learn and master it?