《The Rise of Lightning God》 Chapter 1 Chapter 1: As my memory was being sealed, my life flashes through my eyes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As long as I could remember I lived in a research centre., but I never knew what type of research centre until I grew up. Two of the many researchers took care me the most and they called themselves my parents. Back then I was a naive child, and I used to believe they were my parents even though we had no similarities. They named me Zeke Crestfallen. My hair was black and my eyes were a vibrant blue. The research center was different from others, they made the test subjects feel like they are living in a house. It was exactly the same as those from the outside but it had no technology. Until I was 6, I did nothing but mundane activities such as studying and working out every day. My "parents" told me it was good and healthy for me. Even though I hated having to study and work out in very harsh ways all the time, I still did it because I wanted to make my parents happy. When I turned 6, I was happy to find out I didn''t have to do these mundane and tiring work as much now as my "parents" said they will spend the majority of the time with me, which means experimenting on me. At that time, I didn''t know what they were doing, but I believed they were doing it for my cause. Before they started experimenting on me, I had to finally left my containment area which I lived in for my entire life to go to the experiment lab. The outside was really different as it was like a soccer dome which had many different corridors and doors. I saw many other kids, but all of them had bad complexions ranging from being extremely pale to a terrified face to a crying face. Back then this scene has cause a frown on a face; I curious to why they were like this, so I asked my "parents", they said their "parents" died protecting our "home". At that time it seemed like a legit excuse so I believed it. Some of the experiments they performed on me was injecting various unknown substances inside of me or sending lightning, which went through a pole that is a massive resistor, to my brain. The first experiment was inject a green fluid inside my body, it caused me immense amounts of pain. I felt my body growing with each second, but when the pain disappeared the feeling of strength also disappeared. The lightning experiment was even more painful as it when through needles that are connected to my brain, my perception of time slowed down which also meant I felt the pain longer. But all these experiments paled in comparison to the experiment that terrified me the most, the Brain Awakening experiment. This experiment was basically closing off the whole nervous system from the brain. I only survived because they hooked up machines to me that kept me barely alive. This experiment cause me to lose all my 5 senses. Later, they attack my brain causing it to defend against it, after defending against the attack, it will try to open the nervous system, this rips apart the nervous system before it gets healed by the machines of the experiment centre, causing the nervous system to get stronger and thicker. This will eventually cause the brain to awaken more of its power and potential. That was not the worst part, the worst part is when the experiment finishes as when I wake up to a headache which makes a migraine feel like nothing. A migraine pales in comparison and whenever I get one, I feel it''s a gift compared to the pain from the experiment. Although these experiments brought me massive amounts of pain, I held back my tears so that me "parents" won''t be disappointed. After my first day of experiments, I found out the true reason why the other children were crying. I only found out what they were trying to create after the institute/centre got destroyed. Then, unfortunately, came the event which made me into what I am now, an emotionless monster. One day, when I was 10, I accidentally eavesdropped on my "parents". They were talking about how none of the experiments were not doing anything to me and that I was a failure. My "mother" then changed the subject to my real parents. They were complaining about how they shouldn''t have killed my real parents, who were sadly in poverty, to get me. They talked about how they went to the slums and found my parents holding me while walking down the road. According to them, my parents were thin but not malnourished. It seems they made even money to barely get by. It was then they saw I was perfect for being experimented on, so they attacked my parents in the night and assassinated them. This angered me to the point of almost bursting since all I did was to make my "parents" happy, but it to only find out they are not my real parents, and that they killed my real parents to use me. All this anger than disappeared and was replaced with indifference, indifference to myself, to my "parents", to others, and to the world. The reason why my anger was replaced with indifference, was because my "parents" said if the next experiments did not work, they will dispose of me. I knew I could not do anything, so I just resigned to my fate. The next day I did my normal activities, but with no enthusiasm. When the experiments came, the lightning which went to my brain sparked something. It unlocked all 100% of my brain and allowed me control of 100% of my muscles. It also boosted my reflex. senses, body, healing and reaction time as well. I now had 2 times the reaction speed of an athlete, 4 times the reflexes of an athlete, my 5 sense (plus 6th sense) were 2 times the limits of a human, my wounds healed at 3 times the speed of a human at their limit and my body was 4 times stronger, faster, flexible, etc, than the limits of a human. As I grew up, my reflexes became 2 times the limit of a human and my reaction speed became 2 times the limits of humans. The experiments also made me more resistant to lightning. But everything has to come with a cost, I became even more emotionless and it was next to impossible to regain my emotions again. It also turned my black hair to white as it destroyed all the pigments in my hair. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. At first, when the researchers found out I succeeded, they were overjoyed. They then took samples of me, and tested my abilities. One of the tests was the Brain Awakening experiment. All my tests showed that I was beyond a normal human, and they hailed me as their success. The called me the first ever "enhanced" human in history and the world. After a few days, they realized I was emotionless, so they condemned me as a failure. They still kept me around though, they wanted to use my samples to create another successful "enhanced" human. They were never successful, and I never found out why I was. One day, when I 14 years old, the police barged into the institution. They called the institution illegal and that they did illegal experiments. There was massive fight, and all the kids went into a riot. I also participated, but I beat up only my "parents". I broke both their arms and legs while listening to them cry and beg. As I lifted up my hand to deal the finishing blow to the both of them, a police officer stops me and warns me not to, as I will regret it afterwards, or it will haunt me for the rest of my lives. All the kids of the institution were taken to an orphanage were they can wait to be adopted. Being emotionless lead to me never being adopted. Even though I wasn''t adopted, I still went to school. I never made any friends because of my attitude, and all the subjects in school were too easy, be it math or gym. Living in the outside world for 2 years, I learned all about the world and common sense. It seemed the institute which I was experimented in, was a notorious place which the police were trying to find for years. The institute wanted to create "enhanced" humans and create an army which will they will use to take over the world. The subjects were usually babies younger than 1 year old, who can use more than 10% of their brain. They killed all of the baby''s parents, which didn''t really change my emotions, though I knew it would have disgusted me if I had emotions. That was not all I learned, as I found out about all the different technologies in the world and how to use them. The only thing which made me confused for a few months virtual reality games, also known as VRMMORPG. There is flying cars, trains and other stuff like that. I also learned new thing about my "enhanced" body, I was double jointed everywhere and I had both photographic memory and perfect memory. Not only that, I''m also ambidextrous and can use half my brain while the other sleeps like a dolphin. The most important part is that I learn 4 times faster than then I did before. My life did not change that much, other than the fact that I wasn''t experimented on anymore and that the outside world wasn''t as mundane. But that all changed one day. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One day, I was doing my normal thing, doing homework then going to the library to read books then working out. As I was walking to the library I felt a little dizzy and leaned against the walk. Then I felt my consciousness trickling away. When I woke up, I noticed I was in a different place and surrounded by 29 others. Some of them were already awake, while others were starting to awake. Most of the people who were awake had confused looks on their face, while others had cautious looks. Then someone yelled "Who are you, and why did you kidnap us!?" No one answered, so I just shook it off as I had something more important to think about. I felt something was unusual about me, so I tried remembering back to what happened, and that''s when it struck me. I had no memories. I still had my common sense and knew about my body, which means I know how to use 100% of my brain. So I tried opening about the section of my brain where my memories are stored. My memories flooded back into brain, but that''s when I hear chuckle. "Hmm, it seems one of these humans knows how to use 100% of its brain. It seems I have to use something else to seal his memories." That voice sounded loud and imposing, surprising everyone but me. All the people awake got cautious, while the ones sleeping immediately woke up. A cryptic symbol overlaid over many other cryptic symbols to create a complicated design or rune which then sped to my eyes. I tried closing my eyes to block it, but it passed through it like it didn''t exist. My memories than started disappearing, and now is the present time. All my memories got sealed again, but before I tried finding ways to regain it, I heard the same voice from before. "Hello humans from Earth, I transported you all to a planet called Ergon. I''m sure most of you realized by now that you have no memories. Don''t worry, I sealed it, the only way to get them back is to get stronger. But how? Well Ergon has what Earth calls magic. Well I''ll get on with explaining." To be continued. Author: Hi guys, I hoped you enjoyed the revised first chapter. Remember to leave comments, tips and reviews. Chapter 2: Chapter 2: "Hello humans from Earth, I transported you all to a planet called Ergon. I''m sure most of you realized by now that you have no memories. Don''t worry, I sealed it, the only way to get them back is to get stronger. But how? Well Ergon has what Earth calls magic. Well I''ll get on with explaining." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So, let me start off with why I brought you all here. First of all, I''m the supreme God, I reign over all creation. For every planet with living beings, I create a set of Gods. These Gods are not supposed to directly interfere with mortals, but they can give blessings to certain individuals as they look after the world. They normally don''t kill each other, but on this world the God of Monsters killed all other Gods." While listening to this, I had a vague understanding of what happened to us. So I asked " So you pretty much brought us here to be the replacements of those gods?" He had a surprised expression, but he calmed down and replied " What a sharp human. Yes, what you said is right." I then immediately ask " What''s the point of taking our memories than?" He nonchalantly replies " I did that so you won''t create items from your world which shouldn''t exist here. By the time one of you regain your memories, I will be finished adjusting the world so that it won''t be unstable with creations from your world. You will still have commen sense, your own name and you will remember all the skills you learned, albeit you won''t know how and why you learned it. You will have knowledge on items both your world and this world have." My bombardment of questions did not stop as I asked him " How do we get stronger if we are Gods?" Sighing, he replies " Just let me finish my explanations. All of you will start as normal humans, but unlike others, you will have potential to become Gods. The reason I did so, is because the races of this world are facing a great danger from the monster clan. This will allow you to stop the monster''s advance while also getting strong enough to get your memories back and fend off the God of Monster''s attacks." He pauses to catch a breathe before continuing on. "Now I''ll get on to something I''m pretty sure everyone''s dying to hear about, Magic. The magic system in this world is different than the way it is interpreted on Earth. Everyone on this planet has their unique ability which has its own evolution path. They can only use that ability, but they have to increase their mana to sustain the new abilities they come up with. This world has something similar to the qi cultivation the Chinese describe in Earth. It pretty much the same, but instead of qi it is mana. Meditating, fighting and using your ability will help you increase your mana. There are 7 different realms: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Master, King, Emperor and finally Saint; but for you guys there is another rank, God. Each realm has 10 level''s to it, each with 3 sub stages, early, medium and peak stage. Every time you cultivate to a new level, you will gain some of your memories back, though they might not be important until i''m done adjusting the world." I look around and see that some of the people and surprised while others are overjoyed. He then continues. "There is 30 of you here, that much people can''t cover all the God positions. You all will spin the Wheel of Abilities, the ones that you all don''t get, I''ll make new Gods and give them those abilities. The wheel of abilities will have some abilities suited to you while others are random. The abilities suited for you are chose based on your personality, some part of your life, talents, etc" This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Right after he said that a spinning wheel appeared in front of me and the others. I reached my hand to spin it, but before I did, I looked at the others. Some of the others were hesitant to touch it as they were scared of unknown dangers. Some of the optimistic idiots spun it right away. After it stopped spinning, the wheel blurred, I guess this means I can''t find out others abilities. Since it wasn''t dangerous, I spun it. It stopped spinning after a while, it landed on Lightning/Thunder. All of a sudden the sky darkened, and a blue lightning bolt descended and hit me. I heard thunder before feeling a sudden sense of power rise inside of me. Information on the ability flooded into my brain, it tells me how to activate it but thats all it tells me. As the lightning disappeared inside me I felt a sudden urge to punch out. When I did, lightning snaked out of my hand and struck the ground, which caused the others jumped up in surprise. I feel a difference in my body so I searched for the source of it. After a few minutes of searching, I realized my hair was not only white now, it also had strands of blue hair. My perception sped up to 2 times that of people in near death situations, but I used my control of my brain to return it to normal. Other situations like the lightning falling down and hitting happened to everyone, after a while everyone finished spinning the wheel.Then the supreme God spoke again. "Ok since everyone selected their gear, I''ll let you guys choose beginner gear. Some of the weapons are swords, daggers, bows, spear and even mana guns. To use mana guns you charge your ability into it. It will cast a spell for less mana and more powerful, so its relatively popular here. Though mana guns are for only beginner realm spells as any more than that will overload it and explode it. As for armour, well its normal leather armour. State your weapons, as for armour you all will get the same thing." I say "2 mana guns" as I believe those will be most efficient to use in the beginning. I will get swords later, so I don''t have to worry about learning sword mastery right away. The supreme God says " Okay, I think that''s all the information I need to give. Good luck, and try not to die early on as I don''t want to create new Gods. Don''t worry, you near civilization, just walk 1 mile west, which is your left, before you reach a town. Well that''s it, goodbye." Some of the others fall down on their butts as the supreme God was giving all of us pressure, even though he didn''t want to since he''s too strong. After a while, some people started to group up with each other. Most of the people who looked like reliable people went together. They left the others out as they felt they were a burden. They started walking towards me, before the person who I assume is the leader says "What''s your name? Want to join our group?" To be continued. Authors note: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Feel free to comment. How do you guys think the magic system is? I''m sorry the chapter is short today, the next chapter won''t be as short. Update Hey guys, sorry for the lack of chapters. I''m going to add a prolouge soon, though it is going to be short. Chapter 1 and 2 are going have some extra information, not to important though. I will release the chapters soon. Chapter 3: Chapter 3: "What''s your name? Want to join our group?" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I stare at the group of people. The "leader" has shin guards, a chest plate, boots, gauntlets, a helmet and leather pants like everyone else. He has blonde hair, brown eyes and looks around 6.2. The weapon he chose was a sword, but he also had a shield. The others had the same armour while most had 2 handed swords, some long swords, others broad swords. Working with others is not what I do, so I say "I''m sorry, but I rejec...." I get cut off when a girl with red hair and blue eyes walks up to me and forcefully says " Join our group." Just as I was going to reject this girl as well, she says "Don''t reject, I can help you regain your emotions. Well that''s if you want to." I am not surprised or amazed as it is not that hard to find out I''m emotionless, but I wonder how she found out so fast. I thought about the offer for a while, before I came up with my answer. Having emotions is troublesome as it will get in my way as it will interfere with my rational thinking. Just as I opened my mouth to answer, the "leader" of the other group grabbed her hand and told her " Do you not have manners, did you not see us invite him first? He is ours now." The girl just exclaimed " Don''t grab my hand," before pulling her hand out of his grasp. Then she said " Don''t treat him like an object, because he is not one. He has his own opinion, and from what I heard, he rejected you." The "leader" got angry as his face went red. He raised his hand to slap her as he yelled "Bitch, what did you say!!" I grabbed his hand then hit him in the back of the neck. He fainted on the spot, while his team members stared me with eyes of shock. I say " Scram." They carried the "leader" away while saying " We will get you back for this." This leaves me wondering how they became such good teammates so fast. The girl from before recovered from her shock and looks at me. She says " Thank you for helping me. My name is Ashley Zimmerman. So do you accept my offer?" Just as I was going to reply no, I hear a whisper "Say yes my child." The voice not only sounded angelic and melodic but it also sounded cold. Then a emotion flooded me, it was regret, regret for if I reply no, regret for having no emotions and regret for many other reasons. But this feeling disappeared as soon as it appeared, and I felt something tugging in my brain. I felt my memories of the whisper and emotion disappearing, leaving me standing in a daze. Ashley looked at me with a worried face and asked "Are you okay?" I shake my head and reply "Ya, I''m ok." She asks me " So what is your answer?" Even the though logical answer was no, I felt this weird urge to say yes, So I said "Yes." The sudden urge also gave me a feeling of D¨¦j¨¤ Vu, but I couldn''t figure out why. Looking at Ashley, I see her beaming with a smiles as she grabbed me by the hand and leads me off to her team. As she was leading me there, I''m still pondering about why I had this urge, but I don''t think it is bad as I now have people I can control to do my bidding. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Somewhere in the void. A man was talking to a woman. The man had black hair, brown skin, was burly and 6.5 feet tall. His muscles rippling with power and looked like they can break a human like a twig. The man had a mysterious aura which felt omniscient. This aura originated from his eyes, pitch black eyes with yellow stars ever glowing. It was like the vast universe, it was the source of the man''s knowledge. While the man was mysterious, the woman had aura of something unreachable, incomprehensible, untouchable and cold. The woman had silver hair and eyes, was 5.9 feet tall, milky white skin and looked fragile like ice. The burly man asked the woman "Why did you give that mortal your blessing? You never gave anyone a blessing, why now?" The woman just nonchalantly answered " Let just say I was repaying a favor I owed to his parents." The man gaped in surprise to what the woman had said, before asking " Who are his parent to make you owe them a favour? How strong where they?" The woman just replied " That is something you will learn about later, so for now you shall not know about it." The man just sighs as he knows he can''t satiate his curiosity just yet. The next question of the man was " What''s the point of the blessing, why were you talking to him?" The woman said " I did that so he does not go on the lonely path, which he would have without the interference of me. I''m pretty sure his parents would want him to have a lot of friends and live a good life." The man then enquires the question "Also why did you want me tol them there is only 1 supreme god. Why didn''t couldn''t I tell them there is 2. Lepit the God of Order, which is me and Rycia the God of Fate and Karma, which is you." Rycia replies " I did that so it will easier for you to manage them, so that they won''t come to my side for no reason to ask for help. They are going to learn about me eventually, so it doesn''t really matter." The man then asks " Was it you who sent the lightning down when he was undergoing the experiment on Earth?" The woman looks off into the distance before sighing and saying " That was not me, that was his parents last gift to him. It unsealed his powers and unlocked his potential." The man nods before saying " Well i''m going to check on the god successors now," before disappearing into thin air. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley''s Pov: As I wake up I noticed a lot of people around me. I look around and feel confused since this is a place I never seen or been to before. As I try to remember what I did before I ended up here, I find out the shocking truth - I have no memories. I hear some people screaming and yelling but it all quiets down when we all hear a voice. "Hmm, it seems one of these humans knows how to use 100% of its brain. It seems I have to use something else to seal his memories." When I hear this voice, I shiver uncontrollably as I feel immense fear against whoever said that. I calm down after a while. I look around cautiously and nervously to located the person whose voice that belonged to. I had no luck, but I hear the voice again. "Hello humans from Earth, I transported you all to a planet called Ergon. I''m sure most of you realized by now that you have no memories. Don''t worry, I sealed it, the only way to get them back is to get stronger. But how? Well Ergon has what Earth calls magic. Well I''ll get on with explaining." The terrifying pressure descends again, this causes me to fall onto my butt like many others do. The voice calls himself the Supreme God. It talked about how we have no memories and that we have to get stronger to get them back. It talked about the magic system of the world we got transported to. While he was explaining, another person who got transported with us started asking questions. It seems he was the person the Supreme God talked about knowing how to use 100% of his brain. As I look at him, something shocks me, it seems he has no trouble standing up in the pressure. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. The boy I''m looking at has white hair and blue eyes, but when I see his blue eyes, I get startled. This eyes are a extremely sad and dull blue. His eyes look emotionless, which makes me remember that I am empathetic. As I stare into his eyes, I notice that his dull and emotionless eyes are just a cover to hide his loneliness and sadness. I can see through his eyes that he is sealing up his emotions to try to prevent himself from being hurt any further. This saddens me but also fuels me to help him regain his emotions. Still, I wonder what his past was to become like that. After a little more of talking, a wheel appeared in front of me. The Supreme God called it the Wheel of Abilities. It seems after spinning it, it will give us a ability. I wait for others to spin it to make sure it is safe. After ascertaining that the wheel is safe, I spin it. It spins for a minute before stopping while blurring for others. The ability it landed on was Emotion control, a bunch of brief overview on the ability entered into my brain. A bunch emotions inside of me emerged, while I could see the emotions of others. I saw excitement, confusion, anger, etc, before it all disappeared. My ability confused me as I don''t know how I can use this ability other than seeing the emotions of others, but I stop thinking about it as it goes well with my Empathy. I see various different things happening to others when they gain their ability. One that catches my attention is a blue lightning bolt striking onto someone. When the mist clears up, I see the boy from before. I saw lightning snaking around his arm before striking the ground. What surprises me is that the lightning is the same colour as his eyes, a sad and dull blue. The hair of the boy changed, it was now white and blue, now there were many strands of hair that were the same sad and dull blue in his white hair. The blue was like highlights in the hair. After everyone gained their abilities, they all grouped up. They all grouped up with strong people while leaving the weak to fend for themselves. I was one of those weak people. Since I was left out, I went looking for the other left out people. As I was walking around, a person from one of the groups walked towards me. He asked me " Hi babe, my name is Clint Rosario. Your beautiful, what''s your name? You looking for a group? I''ll ask my leader to let you join as long as you become my girl." My face changes into that of disgust and I tell him "Fuck off!" This pisses him off as he tries to attack me but I just bluff at him " You idiot, did you forget I have an ability? I''m not afraid to use it." This stops him in his attack as he backs away. I wanted to test my ability, so I looked into the information I got before. I had to concentrate on feeling the emotions of others, I tried it and worked, but it disappeared as I didn''t do it properly. Even though it was a failed attempt, I still got a brief overlook of Clint''s emotions. He was cautious, nervous and had a tinge of fear as he was scared of the prospect of what my ability could be. Eventually he walks away, this causes me to relax and let out a sigh of relief. If he actually attacked me I wouldn''t know what to do as I don''t know how to fight and my ability doesn''t help in that area. After resting a while, I resumed my search. After searching a little I found a middle aged man who was left out standing with a 16 year old boy who was left out. I ask them " Do you want to group up with me? " The man tells me " Let us talk a little." I say ok and wait for their response. They talk for about 10 minutes before heading back to me. The boy answers " Yes." His face turns into a lecherous face before asking "My name is Chris Coal and his name is Hayate Kibiyashi. What''s your name? Are you single?" Thus annoys me as I realize I asked a pervert to join my group. The man just hits the boy on the head and apologizes. I tell them " My name is Ashley Zimmerman. I''m going to scout for others, so stay here. I''ll return soon." They both nod for affirmation. I then walk away at a fast pace to get away from the pervert as well as to spend less time searching for others. I look around a little more before I found a girl of 16 years old, the same age as me. She was trying to convince a 10 year old girl that she was safe to talk to. "Please listen to me, I''m safe. I don''t want to hurt you, but others might. It''s not safe here, please come with me. You can tie up me hands if you want, please just come with me." I approach her and say " Hello, my name is Ashley Zimmerman. Do you want to join my group?" The 16 year old girl turns towards me and asks " I''m Julie Jones. What type of people is your group going to consist of?" I reply " People who were left out by the other groups." She points at the girl and asks " Can she join?" I say "Yes." She says " Ok, I''ll join. I''ll try convincing her to join." I say " Ok, I''ll bring the others here." I walk away while Julie goes back to trying to reassuring the child. I go back to where Chris and Hayate are. When I arrive, Chris''s complexion lights up as he walks towards me and asks " How did it go?" I reply "Good, I''ll bring you guys to the others." Later when I brought them together I told them I''m getting the last member as there was no one else left out of the groups. This leaves them confused, but I was too busy to care. I went looking for the emotionless boy as I knew he would work as a lone wolf because of his personality. It was easy to locate him as he was being asked to join a group. I walked up to him and asked him to join our group. He was going to reject my offer but I told I can help him regain his emotions, which I can. This makes him think, but a person of the group who invited him first grabbed my hand and said "Do you not have manners, did you not see us invite him first? He is ours now." I pulled my hand free and yelled at him for considering the boy as an object. He gets angry and tries to hit me but the boy grabs his hands and knocks him out. This surprises me but I regained my composure and ask him if he wants to join my group. Just as he was going to answer, he stops and stares at me in a daze. I ask to make sure he''s ok and wakes out of his daze and says he''s ok. I ask him if he''s going to join the group and he said yes. I become happy as the group is complete. I grab his hand and lead him back to the rest of the group. Author: Hey guys, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Originally the chapter was supposed to continue on to the others but I felt it would have been too long. I felt this was a good ending point. There will be povs for the other characters next chapter. Chapter 1 and 2 have changes like this chapter does. How you guys like the changes to the chapters. Update on Chapters Hey guys, i''m sorry about the lack of chapters, I was busy with life. I made major revisons to chapter 3 and minor ones to chapter 1 and 2. I encourage you guys to check them. Chapter 4 might come this week or next, so look forward to it. Remember to leave tips, comments and reviews.