Endless Journey Infinite Cosmos

by Stayrr

After all the things that he had done in his life, Alex realized that it was already his time to die. But a sudden encounter with a weird person will turn his whole life around. And his life just became weirder after that. "You are an Esper? Then come and taste my saber!" "You are a Daoist? Then come and taste my fist!" "You are a Genie? Well, can you grant me infinite wishes?" Eve

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Endless Journey: Infinite Realms

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After all the things that he had done in his life, Alex realized that it was already his time to die. But a sudden encounter with a weird person will turn his whole life around. And his life just became weirder after that. "You are an Esper? Then come and taste my saber!" "You are a Daoist? Then come and taste my fist!" "You are a Genie? Well, can you grant me infinite wishes?" Everyone shall witness Alex's rise on his endless journey!

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Endless Journey: Infinite Realms #Chapter 1 Its a Cold, Snowy Night. - Read Endless Journey: Infinite Realms Chapter 1 Its a Cold, Snowy Night. Online - All Page -

Chapter 1 It"s a Cold, Snowy Night.

"I'm dying..." That was all that Alex could think to himself as he lay on the cold ground.

The wind was whistling loudly around Alex as they harshly pelted the surroundings with thick, white snow. This sight can be considered to be cool for those who lived in the tropics, but for Alex, what he could only see was his possible graveyard.

While his eyes were still open, Alex could see only thick piles of snow starting to pile up around him. To his dismay, the height of these snow piles only continued to increase as time went on.

This sight managed to shake off Alex's lethargic feelings, as he began to feel scared for his life.

"Move, d*nit!" Alex muttered to himself angrily as he forced himself to move.

But no matter what Alex did, his body refused to budge, as it already gave up under the effects of hypothermia.

Alex could feel his extremities starting to turn cold and his heartbeat starting to slow down. He also realized that he was slowly losing his consciousness.

Alex knew that if he could even survive right now, his fingers and toes will have to be amputated, due to the effect of frostbite on them.

"From the looks of it, there is no way that I can survive right now..." Alex thought to himself as he let out a cold sigh.

"I have done a lot of things in my 17 years of life, and the place where I will die is actually on a cold, snowy road? What a fitting and ironic end for me."

At this point, Alex knew that there is no way out for him now.

His whole body was wounded on numerous places, and the cold had already penetrated deep in his body.

"Not even the best doctor can save me now..." Alex thought to himself as he closed his eyes in resignation.

Alex's life then began to flash before his very own eyes, with him seeing all the mischievous and daring things that he had done in his life.

He could also see all the friends and enemies that he made, and all the love and hate that he accrued.

"My life is so fulfilling, and yet it is also so lacking..." Alex thought wryly as he began to feel sleepy.

Alex knew that this is the final stage of hypothermia, where the victim will start to feel sleepy.

Alex knew that if he slept right now, he will never wake up.

But Alex knew that struggling for his life right now is already futile, so he just decided to end it all now.

"Is there an afterlife? Well, I will know the answer to that after I die..." Alex thought as he wearily closed his eyes.

"Crunch, crunch."

But before Alex could enjoy the final moments of his life, he suddenly heard the sound of crunching footsteps on the snow.

This surprised Alex so much that he was able to muster the will to open his eyes.

He looked toward the source of the sound, and what he saw made him slightly disappointed.

He saw an extremely disheveled man walking towards him.

The man looked around 30-40 years old, but his face looked older because of his messy hair and scraggly beard.

Even if his surroundings were covered by white snow, Alex could see that this man was extremely dirty.

"He's a homeless person." Alex thought to himself as he began to lose interest on this man.

But before he could close his eyes again, he suddenly heard a voice speaking towards him.

"You think that I am a homeless person? Well, from the way that I look right now, you are actually right. But even if I look clean, I am still technically homeless..."

Alex's eyes opened wide with shock as he realized that it was the homeless man that was talking to him!

"Oh, it seems like you cannot speak due to the cold." The homeless man said, much to Alex's irritation.

But before Alex could feel angry to this homeless man, he realized something weird.

Because of his current condition, Alex had no way to speak.

Alex's comment about this homeless man being homeless was only made inside his mind.

But this homeless man somehow had managed to catch Alex's thought about him being homeless!

"Can this guy read my mind?" Alex thought amusedly to himself. "Oh, there is no way that it can happen. Maybe I am just hallucinating right now..."

"Oh, I can read your mind, young one." The homeless man suddenly said as he sat beside Alex.

"What the hell!" At this point, Alex was already sure that this homeless man can really read his mind!

"You do not need to think of more things, young one." The homeless man said as he saw Alex's current condition.

"Yeah, so what if you can read my mind? I am about to die anyway, so I do not care about that anymore." Alex thought deprecatingly as he realized chatting with this homeless man might not be that bad.

If Alex was in his normal condition right now, there is no way that he would believe that this old man can read minds.

But right now, with Alex nearing his end, he decided to believe this homeless man. After all, what else might go wrong even if he believed him?

"Oh, so even if you are dying right now, you still wanted to chat to me? What a humorous person!" The homeless man chuckled as he continued sitting beside Alex.

"So, you are not going to help me out?" Alex thought drily as he saw that the homeless man did nothing to dig Alex out of the snow. "You know, for someone that can talk to minds like you, digging me out should be just easy..."

"Why should I save you, young one?" The homeless man said as his gray eyes stared at Alex.

"Young one, I could clearly feel that you are fine with dying right now. I can feel your resignation. I can feel your desire to just sleep."

The homeless man then stood up as he let out a weary sigh.

"I will not save you, as you are already prepared to die..."

"Do you think I really am prepared to die? I still have a lot of things to do!" Alex declared angrily as his mind have seemingly snapped.

"You think I want to die? Of course not! The only reason I am fine with dying right now is because I felt that there is no more hope for me to live!"

Alex's eyes seemingly have turned red as he thought,

"Homeless man, since you can read my mind, then come and read my whole life inside my mind! Once you see that, you will realize that I really am not prepared to die!"

These words by Alex seemed to have stirred the homeless man's eyes. He then stared at Alex as he said,

"You really are interesting, young one. Since you said that, then allow me to read your whole life!"

"!!!" Alex then felt a searing pain inside his mind, which managed to wipe all of his drowsiness away.

Alex wanted to just scream and flail around in agony, but his body would not respond to him at all.

This painful ordeal of his had lasted for around a minute.

"F*k!" Alex cursed as the pain inside his head began to disappear. He gave the homeless man an accusatory gaze, as he blamed him for that sudden pain.

"Hahaha! This is splendid!" To Alex's surprise, the homeless man suddenly started to laugh uproariously, as if he just found the greatest treasure in his life.

"Your life is extremely interesting, young one!" The homeless man said as his empty gaze at Alex earlier turned into a praising one.

"I never expected that someone like you could have existed in this realm!" As the homeless man said these words, Alex suddenly saw something more mind-boggling.

Everything around Alex and the homeless man have literally stopped.

The snow lay suspended in the air, while the roaring winds earlier have all disappeared.

"What the hell is this?" Alex thought to himself as he began to stare at the homeless man with horror. "This is definitely not normal!"

"Young one." The homeless man continued talking to Alex, as he ignored Alex's shocked countenance.

"If you were given a chance to live right now, what is the first thing that you will do?"

Alex suddenly felt himself wanting to answer that question honestly.

It was as if there was a hidden power inside the homeless man's question that is prompting Alex to answer truthfully.

This compelling desire to answer was so strong that Alex forced his stiff lips and freezing throat to give his answer.

"I... I want to travel..." Alex croaked out of his mouth.

"Excellent answer, young one." The homeless man smiled, seemingly impressed with Alex's answer. "You really did not let me down."

"Woosh!"

A bright object suddenly flew out of the homeless man's forehead, which buried itself right into Alex's forehead.

"Hiss..." Alex could not help out but recoil in pain as he felt heat on his forehead. This pain just continued on increasing until Alex could not take it anymore.

"..." Alex's consciousness collapsed as his head lolled to the side.

As for the homeless man, he watched Alex's ordeal with satisfaction as he turned around to leave.

The snowstorm then continued its assault as the homeless man walked farther away.

"Young one, I have already given you a chance to fulfill your wish." The homeless man muttered to himself as he continued on walking away. "But don't think that you will have a peaceful life after this. Everyone branded with the symbol of the Endless Monarch is now destined to live chaotic life!"

"Hong!"

A symbol suddenly glowed at Alex's forehead, illuminating the surroundings around him.

This symbol was like a series of knots which seemed to be unending by itself.

A few second passed by, and the glow disappeared, along with Alex's body.

The snowstorm, not knowing that its latest victim had escaped its grasp, continued its assault on the hapless town.

"Ughh..." Alex held his head in pain as he woke up with a start. The beating, maledicting pain in his head continued until he felt that is was somehow bearable for him to move.

"What the hell?" After looking around him, Alex realized one thing. And that is that he is not in the snowstorm anymore.

Alex saw that he was inside a room, with a modest bed and table.

There was also a piece of bread and a glass of water in the table which Alex observed with wariness.

While he was looking around him warily, Alex suddenly remembered about his encounter with the homeless man in the snowstorm.

"That homeless man did something to me that brought me here..." Alex thought to himself as he cupped his chin in thought.

But before Alex could further observe his currently weird situation, he suddenly heard a crashing sound behind him.

As he looked behind him, Alex saw the door of his room crashing down to the floor.

A figure then entered into the room, and Alex's breathing almost stopped when he saw his guest.

His unwanted guest was a black-haired woman wearing a black sleeveless dress and black skirt that reached until her knees.

She also wore long black socks and black shoes.

Her body seemed to be fit and also sexy, as Alex could see that this woman all had the right curves for a healthy female.

As for her face, Alex could not see it as this woman was wearing a mask. But Alex was sure that this woman's face is that of a peerless beauty.

But the reason for why Alex's breathing almost stopped was not because of this woman's beauty.

It was because he could feel an extreme sense of danger just by looking at this woman.

"You have been identified by the World Diagram as a Class-S Intruder." The woman coldly said as a katana suddenly appeared in her hands. "As such, I have been sent here to eliminate you."

"What?" That was the only thing that Alex could say before the woman slashed her katana towards him.

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Chapter 2 One Near Death Experience Equates to One Beauty

"Dodge!" That was the only thought inside Alex's mind.

Even though the woman was 3 meters away from him, Alex had the inkling that her katana can affect him even with that distance!

Of course, Alex was not sure how the katana can do that to him, but Alex could somehow sense that being in the general vicinity of the katana will be bad for him.

This danger sense had been honed by Alex from all the countless dangerous fights that he had experienced already.

He had been saved by this danger sense many times before, so Alex did not hesitate to follow his danger sense.

Alex ducked low as the woman slashed her katana vertically, right at the part where Alex's waist should have been.

"Rip..." Alex heard a ripping sound above him and when he looked up, he saw that the space above him was seemingly affected by the katana slash.

Alex then looked behind him, and there he saw a long gash along the wall.

"Hm?" The woman seems to have been surprised by what Alex did. It was rare for her to find a person that was able to dodge her surprise attack.

She tightened her grip on the katana and this time, she let out three slashes.

"Oh s*t!" Alex cursed inwardly as he tried his best to dodge all three slashes. He jumped high in the air in order to avoid the first slash, which was almost hugging the ground.

The woman seems to have anticipated this move, as the second and third slashes were both barreling towards the airborne Alex.

"Ha!" Alex let out a shout as he forced his joints to follow his will.

He contorted his body while he was airborne, and this allowed him to somehow keep his limbs intact.

But the way that the woman placed her second and third slashes were so exquisite that one of the slashes managed to hit Alex's back.

"Guh!" Alex suppressed his scream of pain as blood began to dye his back. It slowly dripped into the floor as the woman looked at Alex coldly.

No matter which way someone will look at it, Alex is already doomed to die.

But even if he seemed to be in a losing situation right now, Alex still had the gall to smile as if he discovered something important.

"Your power... it is slashing across space, right?" Alex muttered as blood began to come out of his mouth. "It is a pretty versatile power, both in close and long-range combat."

The way that Alex said these words seemed to show his extreme confidence on his analysis.

But Alex was not really sure on this woman's real power.

After all, Alex had not seen any kind of this powerful abilities in his life!

Only when he had met that homeless man earlier that Alex realized that things like mind-reading actually exist.

The only reason that Alex guessed that this woman's ability was to slash through space was the fact that this is the best explanation for what the woman just did!

"Impressive. You managed to see through my Esper Ability with just two clashes." The woman said as she pointed her katana at Alex's direction.

"Since you are an Intruder, you should have a difficult time discerning my ability. But it seems like you were able to recognize mine with ease. That just means that you really are a dangerous Intruder."

"Wait what? Did this woman just say 'Esper Ability'?" Alex exclaimed to himself as he stared at the woman's sword warily.

Poor Alex. He has just woken up after a near-death experience, and he was here facing one again.

What was worse was that Alex still had not sorted his mind with all the weird stuff that happened with the homeless man.

For God's sake! Alex just literally woke up before this woman suddenly came in talking about Esper Ability and Intruders while trying to hack him alive!

If Alex did not have a great mental fortitude, then he could have already just given up right now.

"So you still do not have any idea about Esper Abilities huh. I better finish you off before you can know more." The woman said as another sword appeared on her left hand.

Alex looked at the woman with twitching eyes, as he realized that she is going to use dual-wielding to turn Alex into mincemeat!

"I must escape!" Alex thought as he tried to look for the best escape spot.

Unfortunately for Alex, the only exit in the room was the door where the woman had crashed in.

There is no way for Alex to approach that door without being chopped into pieces by the woman.

The black-haired woman seems to have sensed Alex's dilemma as she said,

"There is no way out for you now." She then wielded her twin swords at Alex's direction.

But before the space slashes could hit Alex, his forehead suddenly glowed as a glowing symbol appeared on it.

The glow coming from this symbol covered Alex, and just a moment later, Alex disappeared from the room.

The black-haired woman stared blankly at what happened, as her space slashes only managed to decimate the whole room.

"He escaped." The woman muttered to herself as she slowly ambled out of the room. It was hard to know what her exact emotions on what happened as she just continued on muttering to herself.

"Lord Ergo will not be happy about this..."

A few seconds earlier.

Right before the black-haired woman could attack with her twin swords, Alex suddenly heard a voice inside his mind.

The voice sounded feminine, but the innate haughtiness in that voice made Alex immediately dislike the speaker.

"Traveler, since you are about to die here, you have the choice to use the One-Time Protection Service. This service will save you right now. But remember, you can only use this protection once. Once you use it, you have to rely on yourself to survive your next fights."

This haughty speaker seemed to not care on what happens to Alex as she took her time to talk to him.

"So Traveler, do you want to use the One-Time Protection Service right now?"

"Hell yes! Just do that One-Time thingy that you are talking about! I do not want to die here!" Alex thought as the black-haired woman started her attack. "Faster! I am about to die here!"

Alex then felt the same searing pain in his head as he saw a golden glow covering his body.

He then felt a sudden lurch as he felt that his feet were suddenly flailing in the air.

"Ahh!!!" Alex let out a shout as he fell downward.

Luckily for Alex, his body was only floating around 5 meters above the ground, which allowed him to have a safe but painful fall.

"Ouch..." Alex winced as he stretched his body.

Upon seeing that his body was still whole, he let out a sigh of relief as he sat on the ground.

"That was really something else." Alex thought to himself as he let out a deep breath.

He looked around him, and he realized that he was not in the room that he was in earlier. Even the woman that was attacking him was also gone, as Alex could only see lush grass and tall trees around him.

"Don't tell me that I teleported?" Alex muttered to himself disbelievingly as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"S*t, this it not the time for me to panic. I need to analyze what actually happened to me..." Alex thought to himself as he began to apply the one special rule that he had always used before.

This special rule is that no matter how weird or wrong things may be, Alex will still do his best to believe and accommodate them.

This special rule has saved Alex's life numerous times before.

After all, trying to outrun a lunatic doctor when he was 10 years old required a lot of wits and mental toughness.

"I do not believe that I will be unable to understand everything that happened to me right now!" Alex muttered as his mind began to replay everything that happened.

First, he was left to die in the snowstorm, and that was when he met the homeless man.

That homeless man then did something to Alex, and the next thing that Alex knew, he was already in that room earlier.

Then a sword-wielding woman that can slash through space attacked Alex, as she talked about Espers, Intruders and the World Diagram.

Then a voice inside Alex's head saved him and brought him here at the forest.

"Ok, now I have basically outlined everything that happened." Alex muttered to himself as he leaned his back on the nearby tree.

"But that does not still explain the reasons why these things had happened to me. Not only that, there is also this weird voice inside my head which saved me. I really need to know more about them before I try to make a move."

"Hmph, so have you calmed down now?" This time, the same haughty voice talked to Alex again. "You are impressive. You did not panic even when you saw something that should be unfamiliar to you. You will need that kind of attitude for the days to come."

Alex nodded sagely after hearing this. After all, if there was one thing that Alex can boast that he was good in, it was his mental fortitude.

"As long as something is believable and that I saw it by my eyes, I will personally believe it." Alex replied proudly. "After all everything is possible."

"Hmph, now I am not sure if you were just a tough guy or just another crazy person." The haughty voice murmured as Alex let out a yawn. "Hey! Don't you yawn while talking to me!"

"Oh, sorry, that was out of my habit." Alex replied sheepishly. He then cocked his head as he muttered to himself,

"This is also weird. I am talking to a voice inside my head. Are you real or are you just part of my already collapsing sanity?"

"Of course I am real!" Alex then felt a hot sensation on his forehead which prompted him to make a move.

He rushed towards the nearby river, and its clear surface showed Alex an image that he will never forget.

He saw a symbol engraved in his forehead, which is quite similar to the Ulzii Symbol, which he had already seen before.

It looked like a series of knots that start and end at the same place.

As he continued on observing his forehead, Alex saw a figure that came out of the symbol.

"Woah." That was all that Alex could say as he saw that it was a woman that came out of the symbol.

This woman was the second beautiful lady that Alex had encountered today.

If the woman earlier was a silent, brooding beauty, then the one in front of Alex right now is quite the opposite

This woman had a long, blonde hair that reached her ankles.

Her body was an hourglass figure, with her bosom and bottom bulging out perfectly.

Her thin waist and satin-white skin were enough to show that this woman was a peerless treasure that must be protected.

And her blue eyes only further emphasized the woman's beautiful face.

But there is one problem with this woman though.

And that problem was her size.

"You are so tiny." Alex exclaimed as he saw that this beautiful blonde was only as large as a chick. "Are you my new pet?"

"Hell no! You better apologize to me now!" The tiny blonde exclaimed as she glared at Alex angrily. "You do not want to see me angry!"

"Oh... I am weally scared..." Alex blurted out sarcastically. "Pwease don't kill me..."

"Hmph!" The tiny blonde could only stomp her feet angrily after realizing that Alex is just teasing her.

After seeing that Alex would never treat her that seriously, the tiny blonde decided to make him pay for what he did.

She suddenly floated in the air, much to Alex's surprise. She then hovered in front of Alex's face as she gave him a pouting expression.

"Hmph, if you do not apologize to me right now, then I will not do my job as your Guide!" The tiny blonde declared as she stared at Alex with anger. "You will need my help so that you, a Traveler, can survive your journey on the different worlds! Without my help, you will be dead immediately!"

"Umm... I think you are already doing your job as a Guide now." Alex pointed out as he tried not to snicker. "You just explained to me what your job is..."

"Argh!!!" This angry shout by the tiny blonde sounded like music to Alex's ears.

After all, a beautiful and mature woman shouting with her 2-inch tall body is something that every man must witness.

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Chapter 3 Why have a System when you have a Guide?

Alex continued teasing the tiny blonde for a minute before he stopped what he was doing.

By this point, the tiny blonde's face was already red, as she could only huff and puff in anger.

Alex, who already had a fair share of interaction with women before, knew that he had to stop right now.

Since he had his fun already, its time for Alex to get serious.

"Ok, ok, I humbly ask for your apology..." Alex deftly said, as he gave the tiny blonde a bow. "I hope that can appease your anger already?"

"Hmph! Since you had the courage to ask for my forgiveness, then I will give you the chance to earn it." The tiny blonde said as she stretched her miniscule right hand towards Alex.

"Kiss the back of my right hand, and I will consider all of your past transgressions to me as fully forgiven."

"That's what you want me to do?" Alex thought wryly as he looked at the tiny blonde with incredulity. "Maybe its just me, but I think it is impossible for me to kiss the back of your right hand with the way that you are right now..."

"Hmph, just kiss it!" The tiny blonde muttered as she glared at Alex. "Do it right now or else you will feel my wrath!"

"Yes, yes, yes, your Highness..." Alex sarcastically muttered as he did his best to kiss his target.

"Hmph, at least you can do something like that." The tiny blonde said in satisfaction as Alex drew his head back.

"Now that you have kissed this one's hand, then you are now worthy to know my name." The tiny blonde suddenly said as she straightened her body.

"I am the 2,531st Fairy Queen! I am Fairy Queen Asteria, and I am your Guide!" Alex could swear that he saw golden lights spilling around him when Asteria declared her name.

"A Fairy Queen huh. I am not sure what that means, but if it has a queen word in it, that just means this woman is a bigshot." Alex thought to himself as he looked at Asteria, who was giving him a smug look.

It was as if Asteria was waiting for Alex to come and worship her.

"Ok then, since you are my 'Guide', then I will call you Asteria." Alex said, which just made Asteria angrier.

"You..." At this point, Asteria already knew that she had no way to change Alex's mind. All the threats that she told him earlier were just all empty threats, something that she's using to boost her morale.

"Sigh..." Asteria could only slump her body as she flitted towards Alex's left shoulder.

She sat on that spot as she hung her head sadly.

From the looks of it, Asteria has no more energy to retort back to Alex.

Upon seeing that Asteria had partially accepted him, Alex grinned as he started to give his questions.

"Asteria, you told me that you are my Guide. What does that really mean?"

"As your Guide, I shall assist you on your travels on different worlds." Asteria said, almost repeating what she just said earlier.

"Aside from that, I will also be the one that will join you on your transactions with the Endless Monarch."

"The Endless Monarch. Who is that guy? Is he related to my situation right now?" Alex pressed on as he felt the thirst for answers.

"I do not know anything about the Endless Monarch. I do not even know if this Endless Monarch is a person or an organization." Asteria replied quickly. "What I only know is that this Endless Monarch is the one responsible to your situation."

"See that symbol on your forehead? Only the Travelers of the Endless Monarch will receive that symbol." Asteria said as she pointed her fingers at the symbol on Alex's forehead.

"That symbol has the power to bring you to different worlds. Not only that, but you can also access some unique items and cultivation techniques through that symbol."

"Ok, hold up." Alex said as he raised his hands dramatically. "You are saying that this symbol on my forehead can bring me to different worlds?"

"Yes, exactly." Asteria replied quickly.

"Then let me clarify one thing first." Alex said as he rubbed his forehead. "Why is that feature here in this symbol? Am I supposed to do something on each world that I go to?"

"Oh yes, you have something to do in each world." Asteria said as she began to give Alex a pitying smile.

"Every time you go into a new world, you will be given a certain mission to do. These missions have a time limit, and you must finish them on time."

"What would happen if I fail?" Alex said, even though he already had the inkling of the answer.

"Oh, if you fail the mission or if you do not succeed it within the time limit, that symbol on your forehead will kill you." Asteria said as she gave Alex a smile that was also not a smile. "I will also die if that happens."

Even with Alex's mental fortitude, it took him some time before he can recover his wits.

"Asteria, can I ask you one more question?" Alex muttered after an hour of awkward silence.

"What is it hooman?" Asteria muttered, looking quite delighted as she saw Alex's distraught expression.

"How am I supposed to do the effing missions!" Alex shouted as he waved his hands around him.

"Maybe you already had forgotten it, but I was almost killed by a swordswoman earlier! And by analyzing the words that she just said, it is highly likely that there are more like her in this world! How am I supposed to do what you want me to do in this kind of setting!"

"Oh, do not worry about that Alex." Asteria consolingly said as she did her best to pat Alex's back.

"The Endless Monarch will not abandon its Travelers. Just use the symbol on your forehead to connect with the Endless Monarch, and in that connection, you can trade for some items and even some special cultivation techniques."

"Oh right, you mentioned about that earlier." Alex's expression started to clear up as if he saw a ray of hope shining down on him.

"But, for me to get those things, I must give something as payment, right?" Alex was not a stupid person.

Alex knew that for somebody like the Endless Monarch to give Alex these great benefits, there must be a hidden agenda in it.

After all, there is no such thing as free breakfast, lunch, and dinner in this harsh world.

Asteria's tiny head bobbed up and down, indicating her agreement.

"Alex, you will just have to pay with your lifespan." Asteria said these words so casually as if it was just something normal. "The more powerful or special the object that you want to get, the more lifespan that you should pay for that."

"Wow, that kind of payment is something else." Even if this payment sounded weird to Alex, he realized that for someone like the Endless Monarch, money and influence must be already useless.

"Wait Asteria." Alex said as he furrowed his eyebrows. "How am I supposed to spend more lifespan in the future? My lifespan is always doomed to decrease, and I have no way to increase it..."

"Every time you complete a mission, you will be rewarded with additional lifespan." Asteria replied. "As for the amount of lifespan that will be given, that will depend on your performance."

"Oh great, that just means I have to do more and more missions to stay alive..." Alex muttered with a resigned sigh.

"Oh, and before I forget to tell you, every time you finish a mission in a world, you will be forced to transfer to a new world." Asteria said, which shattered Alex's plans of having a relaxed vacation after a mission.

Asteria then said one more line which made Alex more depressed.

"Oh, and every transfer to a new world also consumes your lifespan. So, you must do your best to increase your lifespan every mission. Who knows, your next transfer might literally suck all the life out of you..."

"..." By this point, Alex was already regretting being in his position.

Alex knew that people like him only had around 40-50 years of lifespan left.

If Alex wanted to survive in this world and complete his mission, then he must spend some of his lifespan to increase his power.

Then this lifespan of his will be further reduced one he goes to another world.

And the only way to increase his lifespan is by completing a mission!

Even someone bad at math can already see that the chances of Alex losing all of his lifespan is somewhat higher than his chance to live long!

As such, Alex could only wish that his lifespan reward will be high while the expenses for a world transfer will be low.

"Ok then. Since we are talking about the trade, then maybe I should try trading something right now." Alex thought to himself as he gave Asteria a quizzical look.

"Oi, Asteria, how should I initiate the trade?"

"Ah, you don't need to actually do anything, as I will be the one that will initiate the trade for you." Asteria said as she touched the symbol on Alex's forehead.

"I shall tell you about the available items and techniques, and you will tell me what you want to get." Asteria said as she closed her eyes.

"Hey... why don't I just be given something like a system interface?" Alex muttered, remembering some of the fantasy system novels that he read. "Won't that make things like this easier?"

"The Endless Monarch had tried using the System Interface before." Asteria replied as she continued on closing her eyes. "However, every Traveler that used the System Interface became so strong that they became a menace for the plans of the Endless Monarch. So the Endless Monarch scrapped the System Interface, replacing it with Guides like me."

"Oh." Alex replied with disappointment as he waited for Asteria to be done.

"Here it is!" Asteria's eyes glowed as she started to speak in an ethereal tone.

"Alex, right now, there are only three items available for you." Asteria then enumerated these items for Alex.

[Electromagnetic Saber. Cost: 1 month of lifespan.]

[Star-Crusted Dagger. Cost: 15 days of lifespan.]

[Esper Cultivation Body. Cost: 11 months of lifespan.]

Asteria then continued talking before Alex could say something.

"I recommend that you choose the Esper Cultivation Body, as it is something that will allow you to gain Esper Abilities. It will be a perfect fit in this world, as this world is only filled with Espers."

"Well, if you say so..." After hearing the name of the items, Alex was also sure that he must get the Esper Cultivation Body.

Alex could still remember his near-death encounter with the black-haired woman earlier.

Alex clenched his fists as he knew that once he had the Esper Cultivation Body, then he will be able to find ways to keep himself alive! Maybe even getting his payback will be possible!

"Wait, before I buy that item, can you tell me the current amount of my lifespan?" Alex asked as he rubbed his hands nervously.

"Alex, you only have 12 months of lifespan left." Asteria replied.

"Huh?" Alex's mind went blank, as he could not believe what he just heard.

"Just 12 months? That's all the lifespan that I have?" Alex croaked out of his suddenly parched throat. "How could it be that few..."

"Every time someone becomes a traveler, almost all of their lifespan will be sucked away, leaving only 24 months for the traveler." Asteria said without any hints of emotion in her voice.

"Since it is your first time going to a new world, your first world transfer has only consumed 12 months of your lifespan. That leaves you with the grand total of 12 months of lifespan." At this point, Asteria tried to sound as sympathetic as possible.

Asteria's next words however, hammered the nail on Alex's metaphorical coffin.

"Traveler Alex, I wish you luck on managing that limited lifespan that you have."

"..."

Chapter 4 Let"s Shake it All Off!

"Does this mean that if I purchase the Esper Cultivation Body, then I will only have 1 month of lifespan left?" Alex muttered to himself as he tried to understand what was going on. "This trade is a real scam!"

"You think this is a scam? How naïve." Asteria coldly replied as she heard what Alex said.

"Do you know that the real price of the Esper Cultivation Body is way higher than just 11 months? The only reason that you can still afford it now is because you have been given the first-timer discount!"

"What the hell, that price is the discounted price?" Alex suppressed a shiver as he realized that if these items were already this costly at the discount rate, then how expensive will they get later?

"Hmph, if I were you, I will buy the Esper Cultivation Body already." Asteria said, as her demeanor became similar to that of a salesman. "You will have no more discount once you go to the next world, so you must make yourself as strong as possible here."

"... Can you tell me about my mission first?" Alex sullenly replied as he decided to put off the trade first. "I need to know my mission first before I make any purchases. Who knows, maybe I won't need to buy anything to complete my mission."

"If I can only think as positively as you..." Asteria shook her head as she detached herself from the symbol on Alex's forehead.

"Your mission is actually simple. The Endless Monarch told me that you should destroy the World Diagram. Mind you, the World Diagram is heavily guarded by Espers, so you will be immediately killed once you go there in your current state."

Once Alex heard Asteria said, the only thing that he could do was to kneel on the ground helplessly while muttering,

"This is really the worst."

When Asteria told Alex about his mission, Alex knew that the first thing that he must do is gather information first.

Alex must know everything about this world, their power system, and all the intricate stuff that there is.

Alex tried asking Asteria for these information, but Asteria only gave him a cold look, saying that it should be up to Alex to know these things.

Because of that, Alex knew that he had no choice but to obtain the information by himself.

That means that Alex will have to personally go to a city to get all the information that he needs.

But before he and Asteria could go into the civilization, Alex decided to purchase the Esper Cultivation Body first, as Asteria told him that Espers will be given preferential service in this world.

Alex knew that he will need that preferential service if he wanted to get better treatment and for him to get near the World Diagram.

The process of the trade was just simple. Alex just stated what he wanted the Esper Cultivation Body, then Asteria used her link to obtain it.

Alex did not feel anything weird when he lost his lifespan. He only knew that he lost 11 months of his lifespan when Asteria informed him.

Alex then felt a something warm entering his body, which spread all over him.

"Is my body being transformed right now?" That was what Alex thought.

Seconds later, and the pain came next.

"Ah s*t!" Alex shouted as he curled in the ground in agony. He could feel every part of his body being destroyed and reconstructed at the same time.

And even with all that pain, Alex could somehow feel that the most painful part of his body was his head.

It may be just an illusion, but Alex could somehow sense that even his brain was being remodeled by that warm thing that entered him earlier.

But that did not make Alex feel better, as it just made him both worried and agonized.

"Traveler Alex, do not dare lose consciousness right now. If you do so, you will die." Asteria reminded Alex as she played with a crown of flowers. "I know you are a tough guy, so you can get through with this."

"What the hell! Why did you not tell me that it will be this painful!" Alex roared out as he felt waves and waves pain blossoming inside his head.

It was as if someone had conjured a hammer inside Alex's head and used it to hammer the insides of his skull.

That was the pain that Alex was going through right now.

"Ahhh!!" Asteria just ignored Alex's agonized state as she plucked more flowers nearby. The combination of her cheerful whistling and Alex's agonized shouts created a terrifying melody that made all creatures nearby shiver in fear.

Half an hour later, and Alex started to feel the pain disappearing from his body.

"..." Alex slowly stood up as he attempted to stabilize his sanity.

He then inspected his body, and he saw that nothing actually changed from his outward appearance.

However, Alex could feel that his mental state has somewhat changed.

He could think faster, and he felt that most of the mathematical equations that bugged him in school was just child's play for him now.

He also realized that he could sort out multiple sources of information at a more optimized rate.

"Hmph, it seems like your brain has been remodeled perfectly right now." Asteria gave a knowing nod to Alex as she saw him.

"My brain? Is that where the abilities of the Espers lie?" Alex murmured as he slowly closed and opened his fists.

"Yes, that is the place where Esper Abilities originate." Asteria said as she sat on Alex's left shoulder.

"When you purchased the Esper Cultivation Body, it only did minor changes to your body. The majority of it remodeled your entire brain."

"So that is the reason for my extreme headaches earlier..." Alex muttered wryly as he stretched his body.

His eyes then narrowed as he gave Asteria an accusatory look.

"Oi Asteria, I thought I could gain an Esper Ability right now?" Why am I still not feeling any?"

"Hmph, its because what you obtained from the trade is just the chance to be an Esper." Asteria replied coldly.

"If you want gain an Esper Ability and start cultivating, then you must go to the city and awaken your Esper Ability there."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go now!" Alex said as he started to run.

According to Asteria, the time limit for his mission is just a month, so Alex must do his best to get stronger at that limited amount of time!

"Hey slow down you big dumb oaf!" Asteria howled out as she grabbed Alex's shoulder. "Can't you see that I am about to fall off?"

Alex just continued running as he said,

"Well you are the Fairy Queen. Don't tell me you can't do something as easy as keeping up with a mortal like me?"

"..."

It took Alex around an hour to approach the nearest city. He had to rely on seeing various landmarks and structures along the way so that he can somehow locate the nearest city.

"Sniffle..." When Alex was around a kilometer away from the city, he heard some weak sobbing sounds beside him, and there he saw a teary-eyed Asteria glaring at him angrily.

"You... You are a big bully!" Asteria bawled as it seemed like she was about to cry. "You.. you are always up to no good!"

"..." Alex could only scratch his head as he realized that he had somehow overdid his prank with Asteria.

"Um... sorry I guess?" Alex said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Hmph! I hope you get beaten up later!" Asteria cried out as she bit Alex's shoulder.

Alex winced slightly at this, but this minor pain was something that he can endure.

"..."

Alex just smiled lightly as he walked towards the city while Asteria was nibbling his shoulder.

But before Alex could approach the city, he paused in his tracks as he remembered something important.

"Oi Asteria, can you do magic?" Alex asked as he looked around him warily. "Like a magic that can somehow change someone's appearance?"

"Hmph! There is nothing that I, Fairy Queen Asteria, can't do!" Asteria seemed to have forgotten that she cried earlier as she gave Alex a smug look.

"We fairies produce Fairy Dust, and this Fairy Dust is extremely useful for creating illusions! In fact, it can even make a hulking male look like a beauty as long as the right amount of Fairy Dust was used."

"That's great. Give me some of them." Alex said as he backed away from the city.

"Ha? Why should I do that? For your information, Fairy Dust is extremely precious, and the Fairy Dust that comes from a Fairy Queen like me is even more lucrative!" Asteria angrily replied as she bopped her tiny fists on Alex's shoulders.

"Oh, so you don't want to give me some huh. Then I supposed I can only take it by force." Alex said as he grabbed the hapless Asteria with his hand.

"Hey Alex, what are you doing? Don't- ah- don't shake me around!" Asteria let out some surprised shouts as Alex proceeded to shake Asteria in an upward-downward direction.

"You know, I have watched a tv show before where one of the characters shook the fairy a little to obtain her Fairy Dust. Maybe that approach will also work here." Alex said as he continued on shaking Asteria.

"Don't worry Fairy Queen, it won't hurt."

"Huhuhu... you really are a baddie!"

The truth is, Alex was not that happy on having to use Fairy Dust to change his appearance. But Alex knew that he must change his appearance right now, as going to the city with his real appearance is a big no-no.

This world is a technological world, and since Alex is somehow considered to be an enemy, there is a high chance that his appearance was recorded by the computers.

Because of that, Alex knew that he had to have a different appearance while he roamed the city.

And Asteria's Fairy Dust is the answer to his problem.

"I'm really sorry about this Asteria." Alex said as he saw golden particulates coming out of Asteria. "If I don't do this, I will die..."

These particulates swayed in the air merrily before all landing on Alex's face.

Alex then felt as if there was a thin mask covering his face. It did not feel uncomfortable, as this mask seemed to have perfectly melded with his face.

"Hmph, let me go now! Your face has already changed!" Asteria shouted as she bit Alex's hand.

"Ow!" Alex shouted as he opened his hand.

Asteria took this as her chance to escape, with her hovering around a meter away from Alex.

"Hmph, you owe me a jar of honey for what you did!" Asteria declared as she slowly approached Alex. "And if you want more Fairy Dust, then you have to give me more honey!"

"Did this woman just use her own Fairy Dust to get some honey?" Alex thought wryly to himself as Asteria perched on his left shoulder.

With his appearance changed, Alex decided that it was time for him to approach the city now.

"Oi Asteria, don't you need to hide right now?" Alex muttered as he approached the city. "A tiny fairy is a sore sight in this place..."

"Who are you calling a sore sight huh?" Asteria glared at Alex as she let out a pout. "Do not worry about me. Since I am your Guide, you are the only one that can see and touch me."

"If you say so." Alex replied as he fixed the clothes that he was wearing.

As he got nearer to the city, Alex tilted his head as he thought to himself,

"Oh right, how do I look right now? Well, since I used Fairy Dust, then maybe I look like a handsome prince right now..."

Little did Alex know that his current appearance will give him far more trouble than he could ever want.

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Chapter 5 Trash in my Palace

As Alex approached the city, he saw that it was unlike what he had envisioned.

Instead of a sprawling metropolis made up of large buildings, what Alex could only see was a large, metallic dome.

This dome covered an area of approximately 10 kilometers, which just show its massive volume.

The metal of the dome was glinting brightly against the sun, creating a dazzling sight which almost blinded Alex.

"This..." Alex was at a loss for words as he was not sure on how to describe the scenery in front of him.

After seeing Alex's dazed look, Asteria let out a hmph as she pushed him forward with her tiny body.

"What are you gawking for? Move your legs!"

"Ok already..." Alex muttered as he continued on walking.

When he was only around 100 meters away from the dome, Alex saw a line of people, all lining in a straight line.

Alex's eyes traced this line of people, and he saw that these people were lining up to enter a rectangular-shaped hole at the base of the dome.

This hole was around 3 meters in width and 5 meters in height, which can allow any person to pass through it.

What made Alex intrigued was the fact that there are no people guarding this hole. Alex could only see people patiently entering the hole one by one, with each of them not doing anything to disrupt the process.

Upon realizing that he will not get any answers by just standing idly. Alex let out a sigh as he joined the line.

Now, Alex was the last person in the line, and with the rate that the people were entering the hole, it will take Alex around 10 minutes to get his turn.

"Hey." Alex tapped the shoulder of the person in front of him as he tried talking to him. "Why are these people lining up like this?"

"Huh? Are you drunk or something?" The person that Alex was talking to was a young adult, around 20-25 years old.

In terms of age, he might be only slightly older than Alex, but his looks and demeanor are that of generic gangster.

He was decorated with tattoos all over his body, and there are countless earrings and piercings on this guy's ears and skin.

The way that this guy looked was so intimidating that Alex noticed that he was the only person that was near to this guy.

The other people in the line were all maintaining a healthy distance from this gangster guy, as if he someone that must be avoided.

"Oh, seems like I asked the wrong person..." Alex thought wryly as he envisioned some countermeasures against a hardened gangster.

"Ah well, I experienced an accident which led to me having amnesia, hahahaha..." Alex said as he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Because of that amnesia, I forgot most of the practical stuff..."

"That's the best lie that you can make up right now?" Asteria shook her head as she seemed disappointed with Alex. "What a waste of your brainpower!"

Alex did his best to ignore Asteria as he observed the gangster's next move.

But to his surprise, he was suddenly hugged by the gangster, as if Alex was his newfound friend.

"It must have been difficult for you." The gangster mumbled as he patted Alex's back. "Do not worry, I am here to help you!"

"Umm... so you believe me?" Alex hesitantly asked the gangster as he broke up their hug. "Even though I told you something like that, you are still believing me?"

"Hahaha, of course I believe you! After all, I already experienced amnesia before!" The gangster said as he clasped Alex's shoulder.

"When I got an amnesia, I felt extremely lost." The gangster mumbled as he gave Alex a sympathetic look. "I found it extremely difficult to live, as I do not know how to use the objects around me. I had to rely on the help of my friends and family so that I can slowly recover."

"And you, mister, is having the same lost look as I had before." The gangster said as he gave a confident smile to Alex. "Just seeing that lost look of yours is already enough to confirm that you have an amnesia."

Asteria could not help but cringe after hearing all the words that the gangster had said to Alex.

"Did this gangster's amnesia damage his intelligence to?" Asteria mumbled as she gave a withering look at the gangster. "It seems like you have found a friend with the same level of intelligence as you, Alex!"

Alex tried his best to not look angry as he resumed talking with the gangster.

"So, what is happening in here?" Alex asked the gangster one more time as he looked at the line of people. "Is that hole made so that it can only allow certain kind of people to enter?"

"Well, that hole has countless sensors in it that will scan the appearance and the body of anyone that tries to pass through it." The gangster said, as he seemed to be trying to give his answers as concise as possible.

"If you are not an Esper, then you will not be allowed to enter." The gangster said as he looked at the start of the line. "The sensors are 100% accurate so nobody can cheat against it."

Right after the gangster said these words, Alex saw a commotion happening right at the start of the line.

The source of the commotion was an old man, who was trying to enter through the hole.

"God*nit! I thought I can enter with this gadget!" The old man muttered angrily as he held a phone-sized contraption. This contraption was smoking, as if it was just recently destroyed.

While this old man looked flustered, a robotic voice sounded out from the hole, which was obviously aimed towards the old man.

"Subject 1432-X. You are not an Esper, so your presence is not allowed here in the Dragon Esper City. Not only that, but you also tried using a Fake Esper Field to fool the sensors. That constitutes a Capital Offense, thus, you shall be sentenced to death."

Before the old man could utter a word, dozens of red beams shot out from the top of the dome, obliterating the old man in an instant.

The people behind the old man seemed unperturbed by what had happened, while the others mocked the old man.

One of these mockers was the gangster, who wore a smirk as he explained what happened to Alex.

"There are 1,024 Esper Cities around the world, and these cities will only allow Espers inside them. If someone that is not an Esper tried to enter, the energy forcefield in the Esper City will force them out."

The gangster then pointed at the dust particles of the old man as he continued talking.

"As for that old man, not only he tried entering while not being an Esper, he even attempted to fool the sensors! For that old man to die is just right."

"..." Alex knew that since this was a different world, some of the values of its inhabitants will inevitably be different from his.

Even if these values are obscure to Alex, he will still try to understand and respect them.

"Since I already have an Esper Body, I surely will have no problem with this entrance." Alex thought to himself as he let out a sigh of relief.

Since he still has to wait a little longer before he can enter the city, Alex decided to chat with the gangster more, as he liked this man's friendliness.

Asteria could only pout and glare at Alex angrily as if she was not happy with Alex's attention not being on her.

"Hmph, you are just deliberately ignoring me!" Asteria mumbled darkly to herself as she observed Alex's facial expressions. "Well I don't care whether you ignore me or not. After all, you are my hooman, and you will inevitably still serve this Fairy Queen!"

When Alex heard these words, he resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he thought to himself,

"This fairy really had the gall to treat me as her pet huh... Maybe I have to show her later who really is the boss!"

Just like what Alex had expected, he was able to enter through the entrance easily.

As for Asteria, it was as if the sensors were not able to detect her at all.

But once Alex went through the hole, Asteria suddenly flew and hid inside Alex's collar, with her tiny body trembling greatly.

"Don't tell me this fairy is scared of the dark?" Alex mused as he found himself inside a long tunnel.

According to the gangster, the whole Dragon Esper City was actually just 9 kilometers in diameter. The extra 1 kilometer in diameter was actually a tunnel.

This tunnel was filled with more sensors and weapons. The gangster said that this was made in order to make sure that there is nothing suspicious that will enter the city.

"..."

Upon seeing that Asteria is still huddling inside his collar, Alex smiled as he realized that this little woman is actually scared of the dark!

"Hehehehe..." Alex let out a creepy laugh as he could already imagine all the pranks that he can do to Asteria.

"So Alex, what is your plan going here into the Dragon Esper City?" The gangster, whose real name was Clint, said as he and Alex rode a mobile vehicle that will lead them to the city. "You are not here for any ordinary business, right?"

"Ah well, I am actually here to awaken my Esper Ability..." Alex said as he tried to make himself look as excited as possible. "The one who took me in while I have an amnesia said that I have the potential to be an Esper, so he told me to come here."

"Wow! That's impressive!" Clint suddenly blurted out as he clapped Alex's shoulders.

"Alex, do you know that the chance to awaken the Esper Ability appears when a person is around 8-10 years old? Any time earlier or later than that will be almost impossible already. But you, you are already a teenager! For you to have the chance to awaken your Esper Ability at this age is actually miraculous!"

"Oh, is that so..." Alex resisted the urge to facepalm as he did not expect it to be like this!

"S*t! If I awaken my Esper Ability right now, many people will surely give their attention to me... I do not know if that attention will be good or bad for my mission..."

"Sigh, since it has already come to this, then I just have to continue. There is no merit if I back out now." Alex thought to himself as he leaned back on his ride.

"Woosh~" The mobile vehicle plodded on, bringing Alex and the trembling Asteria towards the Dragon Esper City.

"I apologize for my failure to kill the intruder." The black-haired swordswoman, who was the one who attacked Alex earlier, was currently kneeling with one of her knees on the floor.

Her head was bowed down, as if she does not dare to look at the person in front of her.

This person in front of her was wearing a long, white cloak which trailed across the floor. This person's face was obscured by the darkness, making it hard to see his/her features.

He/she then started to talk while looking down at the swordswoman.

His/her voice sounded both feminine and masculine at the same time, making it hard to know his/her gender.

"Oh, you really are a waste of my resources and time..." The black-haired swordswoman resisted the urge to tremble as she heard this person saying these words to her. "You already have the advantage of a sneak attack, and yet you failed to kill him. Are you really skillful?"

Before the swordswoman could give a reply, the white-cloaked person continued his/her tirade.

"You are so boring! Your sister was better than you! I had so much fun with her! But you? You are just a trash in my palace."

"Swish!"

The white-cloaked person left the swordswoman still kneeling on the floor as he/she told her,

"Go, that intruder is still alive. Go kill him for me. If you do so, then I might give you some extra minutes of visiting time..."

The swordswoman's body, which was trembling uncontrollably earlier, started to calm down as she heard what the white-cloaked person said.

"Extra minutes. Extra minutes. Extra minutes..." The black-haired swordswoman muttered these words like a chant as she left the place.

"Extra minutes. Extra minutes. Extra minutes..."

"She's really a loco." The white cloaked person muttered as he/she threw the matter about the matter of the swordswoman at the back of his/her mind.

He/she then rubbed his hands excitedly as he/she headed towards a certain place in his/her house.

"Today is playtime day! Have you prepared yourself yet?"

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Chapter 6 Can we call that Serendipity?

The first sight that Alex saw when he came out of the tunnel were countless metallic buildings.

Wherever Alex put his sight on, he could only see tall spires of metallic constructs.

All of these structures were standing together, producing a city that seemed to have been born from metal.

The next feature that he saw were the vehicles.

Unlike the vehicles that Alex knew, the vehicles that whizzed by right in front of him were all hovering by around 6-12 inches from the ground.

The structures of these vehicles were still similar to the cars, bikes and buses that Alex knew. It was only the hovering function that was different.

"Hmph, you better finish your mission fast!" Asteria mumbled as she crawled out of Alex's collar. Her face wore a distasteful expression as she looked at her surroundings with loathing.

"I hate being around things like these, so you better give me more honey later!"

Alex thought that what Asteria said seemed to be plausible as she's a fairy, and fairies are more attuned to the nature.

Something artificial and mechanical like the Dragon Esper City must have been a great source of discomfort for Asteria.

"You seem overwhelmed." Clint commented as he saw Alex looking all around him. "Well, those who saw this city for the first time also acted like you."

"But you never know, maybe I have been to this city before already, maybe I just forgot due to my amnesia." Alex said, adding more and more colors on his lie.

"Well since I felt a sense of camaraderie with you, then let me be your guide!" Clint declared as he approached Alex.

"Umm..." Now that Alex was inside the city, he realized that the aversion of people to Clint were not that simple.

Even here inside the Dragon Esper City, where everyone is an Esper, most of them were still avoiding Clint, as if they were scared of him.

"Clint, why are more people avoiding you here? Are you some sort of mafia member?" Alex asked tactlessly as Asteria let out a sigh of disappointment.

"You know, you should never ask sensitive questions like that." Clint smiled weakly as he bopped Alex's shoulders. "But since you and I are already friends, then it might be better for you to know my identity."

Clint then started to lead Alex to a dark part of the city, where countless small paths diverge.

While they were walking, Clint gave Alex an encouraging smile as he told him,

"I am the head of one of the top gangs here in the Dragon Esper City. My real name is Clint, although everyone here calls me the 'Mad Jackal'."

"Oh, so you are a gang leader. Now I am sure why those people had avoided you earlier." Alex muttered as he seemed to not look scared. "You must be a pretty powerful leader to do things like this."

"Oh?" Clint's eyes perked up, as if he saw something extraordinary. "You are not scared of me, even when I am a gangster leader? Hahaha! It seems like you and I are really fated friends!"

"Sheesh. Just stop spouting stuff like that." Alex mumbled as he looked around him.

Suddenly, Alex realized that there are no more buildings in the area, as they were replaced by disheveled houses and dirty children.

This place was the exact opposite of the dazzling, brilliant city earlier. This place was damp, dirty, dark, and decrepit.

Even someone like Alex frowned as he saw these horrendous living conditions.

"Why exactly did you bring me here?" Alex could feel with his danger sense that Clint has no wicked intention against him.

As such, Alex has no qualms on where Clint will bring him. But still, knowing everything before going in will be much better compared to just going in blindly.

"Listen man." Clint said as he gave Alex a grave look. "I do not know where you came from, but you must know that once you have awakened your Esper Ability, you will be forced to be a part of World Esper Organization(WEO)."

"Oh, and I presume that this WEO is not a good place to be in?" Alex replied as he smoothed the collar on his shirt.

"Oh, that place is good for the Espers." Clint said as he shook his head from side-to-side.

"The only problem is that everyone joining the WEO will be restricted in their actions. They cannot do some things, and they have to do some things for the WEO too."

"Oh, so you do not like the feeling of being controlled." Alex said as he remembered some of his bad memories from childhood.

"Exactly!" Clint declared as he led Alex into a dark alleyway.

"Let me guess. You have a way to awaken my Esper Ability without being forced to join the WEO?" Alex slowly said as he gathered the context of Clint's words earlier.

"Once again, you are right." Clint said as he and Alex approached a 5 meter-tall steel door. This door was seemingly guarding something important, as countless materials were welded in, on, and around the door.

"Hey Alex! Do not listen to this tattooed freak!" Asteria hastily said as she tried to pull Alex back. "What if he is just after your brain?"

"No, he is not after my brain." Alex whispered back to Asteria as Clint left them to 'get the keys'. "He is after something else."

"Oh, don't tell me that he likes you?" Asteria muttered as she gave Alex the death stare. "I thought you can only charm women. As it turns out, even men are affected too!"

"Oi! I am not talking about that kind of interest!" Alex grumbled as he shook his shoulder a little.

"Then what are you talking about?" Asteria said as she gripped Alex's' clothes to prevent herself from tumbling down.

"This is just my hunch, but I think that the face that I have right now is similar to the face of Clint's previous friend." Alex said as his fingers traced all over his cheek.

"When Clint saw my face for the first time earlier. I noticed the expressions of shock, delight, and bitterness appearing in his eyes for around a second. You can even see that he was hostile to me earlier."

Alex then tapped his head as he continued talking.

"But when he heard that I have an amnesia, his attitude to me drastically changed, and now he is treating me like a friend. Even if Clint had an amnesia before, that still does not explain why he acted so friendly to me."

"And while we were walking here at the slums, their residents were not only looking at Clint. Some of them were also looking at me with shock in their expressions, as if they could not believe seeing me."

Alex then gave a suspecting look at Asteria as he said,

"They can only give me that look if they have seen my current face before!"

Asteria suddenly fidgeted as he averted her gaze away from Alex. "Oh... so you think that my Fairy Dust changed your face to look like a person that knew Clint before?"

"Stare..." Alex just gave Asteria a blank stare, as if he was waiting for her confession.

Seeing that Asteria seemed to be obstinate on not conversing at him properly, Alex decided to use his trump card.

"You know, I could request Clint to but some honey for me... But since someone here is not being honest with me, then maybe the honey will have to wait."

"The Fairy Dust mimics the face of an already dead person." Asteria rapidly said these words in order to appease her Honey Dealer. "The higher the quality of the Fairy Dust is, the better face mimic will occur."

"..." Alex does not know where to shout angrily as he realized that there is no way out for him now.

Asteria's words had already confirmed the thing that Alex dreaded the most.

And it was that Alex was currently wearing a face that looks extremely similar to a former friend of Clint who was already dead!

"It's a good thing that I used the amnesia reason earlier..." Alex thought to himself as he imagined what could have happened if he tried using a different reason. "Ugh, I better not think about it."

Asteria was about to talk to Alex more when Clint came back, bringing out a set of keys with him.

"Goodness sake, I told that brat to leave the keys in that safe..." Clint muttered angrily as he jabbed the keys into the metal door. "I did not tell her to stuff the keys into the pillow!"

After 4 unsuccessful attempts, Clint was able to find the correct key, which allowed him to open the door.

"Creak..."

A strange, metallic sound could be heard as the hinges protested against the door's rotation.

Alex watched with incredulity as he saw a room.

This room was comprised of mostly metals, wires and weird-looking equipment. There are also some furniture, but the accumulation scrap materials above them made them almost impossible to use.

Clint smiled as he saw the unsettled look on Alex's face.

"This right here is the experiment room of Dr. Natasha Barton, who is my wife."

Alex did not ask on how Clint could have a wife as he just listened on Clint's rant.

"You know, my wife is an extremely talented researcher, and her specialty is Esper Abilities. She had a good lab before, but her co-workers did some malicious things that had her fired, and now this is the only place that she can use as her lab."

"Ok..." Alex looked around the room warily as he tried to ignore the prominent-looking helmet that was placed at the center of the room.

"So, how are you going to awaken my Esper Ability then?" Alex muttered as he avoided stepping on the wires on the floor.

"Easy. I will just stimulate your brain with electricity, and that stimulation will let you awaken your Esper Ability." Clint said as he picked up the helmet that Alex was avoiding earlier.

"You want to put that thing on my head? Thanks, but no thanks." Alex said as he stood up. He tried to back away from Clint while saying,

"Even if that helmet really works, I would not really want something like that placed on my head..."

There is no way that Alex will allow that helmet to be placed on his head.

According to Asteria, nothing bulky or large should be placed on Alex's head, as this might mess up the illusion made by the Fairy Dust.

The helmet held by Clint is definitely large and bulky.

So even if that helmet really can awaken his Esper Abilities, Alex would not dare to use it now, as his disguise might be blown off.

"Hey this might look scary, but me and my wife have already used this helmet on some test subjects." Clint said as he edged nearer and nearer to Alex. "All of them survived..."

"The way you said 'survive' does not sound good to me." Alex said as he stepped his right foot back.

"Oi Alex! Do not step on that spot!" Clint's warning however was too late as Alex's right foot had directly stepped on an exposed wire.

"Bzzztt!" Alex's body then stiffened as thousands of volts of electricity went past his whole body.

"Ah!" Asteria was somehow unaffected by the shock, although her face looked extremely worried as she watched the spasming Alex suddenly falling to the floor.

"Pzzt!" Clint acted quickly as he immediately cut off the electricity in the room. This action of his led to Alex being spared from more electrical shock.

"Um, are you okay?" Clint said as he slowly approached the downed Alex. "Oh s*t, I just brought him here to test his identity. How could it have turned into something like this?"

Clint's lamentations however were cut short as the limp body of Alex suddenly stood up.

Even though some parts of his body looked singed and burnt, Alex did not look like he was hurt at all. In fact, he wore a look of excitement on his face.

"Clint." Alex tried to contain the excitement in his voice as he talked to the gangster. "Your theory is right."

"What do you mean by theory?" Clint said as he observed Alex's injuries.

"You said that your helmet uses electricity to stimulate the awakening of Esper Abilities, right? Well when I was electrocuted earlier, I managed to awaken my Esper Ability!"

"What did you say?" Clint's eyes widened as if he could not believe what Alex had just said. "Quick, show me your Esper Ability!"

"Ok, I will use it right now." Alex said as his eyes looked like child that was about to test his new toy. "Here I come!"

But before he Alex could start, he and Clint suddenly heard an angry person shouting from outside the lab.

"God*nit Clint! I told you to not play in my lab unless it is important! You better give me some explanation on why you are there and on why the electricity was also cut off!"

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Chapter 7 Gambler"s Fallacy

Alex gave Asteria another suspecting look as Clint left the room to explain his case to the angry newcomer.

"Asteria, maybe its just me, but isn't this a little convenient?" Alex said as he looked at the exposed wire nearby him.

"I just randomly thought of using your Fairy Dust, and then the face that I got is actually Clint's friend. What's more suspicious was the fact that this new face of mine led me here at this place and allowed me to awaken my Esper Ability without any need to expose myself to the WEO..."

"Huh? What are you harping on about? Shouldn't you be happy that you already got your Esper Ability?" Asteria mumbled, with the tone of her voice indicating that she wants to change this conversation.

"Well... I just feel that I am too lucky right now..." Alex said as a worried look appeared on his face.

"And why are you worried about that? Shouldn't you be happy right now?" Asteria said as she seemed to be leading Alex onto something.

"Well, I just have the hunch that if I let the things that happened right now get to my head, then I will have more difficulties in the future." Alex said as he cupped his chin in deep thought.

"I have known some gamblers who got lucky on their first attempts at gambling, and after these lucky wins, these gamblers gained the confidence to do more gambling activities. And since these gamblers have won before, they will be thinking that they can still win more, and they will try bigger and more expensive ways to gamble."

"And you know what happens to a gambler who got cocky and overconfident." Alex muttered as he gingerly stepped over the scattered wires. "All of them go bankrupt and they lose all their money to the grubby casinos."

(A.N. This is called Gambler's Fallacy.)

Asteria stayed quiet for a few seconds before hesitantly saying,

"Are you telling me right now that this whole Endless Journey is a gambling game, where you are the gambler and the Endless Monarch is the casino?"

"Exactly." Alex agreed as he brushed off some soot that had formed on his clothes. "I have the feeling that first-time Travelers will experience some sort of lucky experience in their first missions."

"Once that lucky experience happens, these Travelers will then feel as if they were already invincible, as if they had a 'plot armor' protecting them. That kind of thinking will lead to these people being cocky on their next missions, and I am sure that most of these poor Travelers die early."

"Hmph! You did not disappoint me!" Asteria's tone suddenly changed from sullen to proud as she gave Alex a beaming smile that had somewhat dazed him.

"Most of the things that you said was right." Asteria said as she flitted around Alex. "Through some unknown way, the Endless Monarch will set up some set of events at the first missions of the Travelers that will make them feel lucky and invincible. Once that happens, these Travelers will feel that they can take more risks on their next missions. However, just like what you have said earlier, most of them die because of their overconfidence."

"So the Endless Monarch is actually a shrewd businessman." Alex said as he sat on a nearby chair. "And I presume that you are not allowed to tell me about this slimy move, and that I have to discover it by myself?"

"There are some things that I am not allowed to say, and this lucky event is one of them." Asteria said as she somehow looked apologetic, but also not apologetic. "It will be up to the Traveler if he/she can see the truth... And you Alex, are one of the travelers that saw through this scheme."

"Yeah, it's a good thing that I noticed it." Alex said as he felt more terrified against the Endless Monarch.

Now that Alex realized that what happened to him right now was not his luck helping him, but rather a malicious move to increase his confidence, he managed to cool his head off as he started to become more prudent of everything.

"Oh right, you said that you gained your Esper Ability already, right? Come tell me what it is!" Asteria said as she bopped up and down like an excited child.

"My Esper Ability is Electromagnetic Wave Manipulation." Alex said as he squinted his eyes. "Just like what its name says, my Esper Ability allows me to manipulate Electromagnetic Waves."

"You know, your ability sounds cool, but I am not sure how powerful that could be." Asteria hesitantly said. "Like, I know that there are 7 types of EM Waves. Can you use them all to your advantage?"

"Of course, I can." Alex replied confidently.

"It doesn't matter what kind of power a person has. What's more important is on how he or she uses this power."

Electromagnetic Waves, or EM Waves, are a form of energy waves composed of electric and magnetic fields.

They can carry energy through everything, even through the vacuum of space.

The EM Waves are distinguished via their frequency and wavelength, separating the EM Spectrum into 7 portions.

The EM Wave with the longest wavelength is the Radio Wave, and they are mostly used for communications and data transmission in Alex's world.

The next one is the Microwave. They can penetrate through clouds and smoke, making them useful for communication. They also have the property to vibrate water at an extreme rate, which is a useful property for heating up foods.

The Infrared on the other hand is produced by anything that emits heat. Its can be also used on devices like remotes to control nearby things.

The most common EM Wave to humans is the Visible Light.

Visible light has a lot of application, and more of it are being discovered as time passed by.

Next is the Ultraviolet Wave. They contain much higher energy than the visible light, which makes this wave extremely harmful if left unprotected from it.

X-Ray on the other hand, contains higher energy than the Ultraviolet Wave, but its use had been regulated for medicine and astronomy.

X-Rays can penetrate soft tissue like skin and muscle, allowing precise observation of the human body.

The final wave is the Gamma Wave, and it contains the highest amount of energy among all the EM Waves.

Gamma waves are created from nuclear explosions and cosmic events like supernovas.

The power of this wave can be used in weaponry and sometimes, even cancer treatment.

When Alex awakened his Esper Ability, he somehow instinctively knew that his Esper Ability is EM Wave manipulation.

"Ok, let me try it out now." Alex muttered to himself as he tried sensing the EM Waves around him.

"Argh!" The first thing that Alex felt was pain, as his mind became overloaded will tons of information.

The normal human being can only sense visible light. As for the other EM Waves, he/she will only know that it exists through indirect observation.

But Alex, who gained the ability to manipulate them, can sense them all at once!

Now, Alex knew why his brain must be remodeled for him to become an Esper.

Just the mere act of sensing all of the EM Waves around him is already extremely taxing for Alex.

He could sense streams of radio waves whizzing around him, with some of the houses nearby emitting microwaves. Alex also felt as if the visible light became more 'visible' to him, with him perfectly sensing all the colors in the visible light!

Add the infrequent streams of UV and X-Rays shooting out erratically, and Alex's brain found it hard to deal with all these new sources of information.

"Hooooh..." Alex had no choice but to temporarily deactivate his Esper Ability first, as he realized he still need some time and practice to get used to sensing all the EM Waves.

"Hey Alex! Are you alright!" It seems like Alex's scream of pain was heard by Clint, as he immediately rushed inside the room. He gave a worried look to Alex as he rubbed the temples of his head wearily.

"Don't worry about me, Clint." Alex said as he gave him a weary smile." I just tried sensing my environment with my Esper Ability, and you can say that my mind is still unable to keep up with all the new information that flowed to me."

"Can you tell me about your Esper Ability? Maybe I can help you out." Clint said gave a worried look to Alex. "Many of the newly awakened Espers die because their brains could not keep up with their abilities. You were lucky that you were able to stop yourself, as if you continued on haphazardly using your Esper Ability, your brain might be mush now."

"I'll take that advice in my mind." Alex said as he shook his head. He then told Clint about his EM Manipulation, and the feeling that he had when he sensed all of the EM Waves around him.

"Oh, that's an extremely versatile ability." Clint said as he cupped his chin.

"EM Waves are everywhere, so you can say that nobody can hide from you, as long as they are in your Range. And no matter where you go, you will be able to attack easily as you have an unlimited supply of EM Waves around you. Your only problem is your defensive skills. There is no way you can defend yourself perfectly with just EM Waves."

"That I agree with." Alex nodded, as he discovered that his analysis about his ability was pretty similar to the analysis that Clint made.

"So, what is your current Range right now?" Clint asked Alex as he closed the door of the lab. "Oh, and if you do not know what a Range is, Range is the area around an Esper where he can freely use his Esper Ability."

Clint then lit a cigarette as he continued talking. "So if an Esper with Pyrokinesis(Fire-Starting ability) has a Range of 1 meter, then that Esper can put anything in fire as long as that object was within 1 meter around that Esper."

"Oh, let me try first." Alex closed his eyes as he reactivated his Esper Ability, but this time, he tried focusing only on the Visible Light.

It took Alex some tries do it, but in the end, he was able to successfully filter out all the other EM Waves except for the visible light.

Alex then tried 'grabbing' the Visible Light nearest to him with his ability. He then propelled this light beam away from him, as he continuously used his power to bring it away.

Alex felt his connection with the light beam being cut off when its distance from him had exceeded 10 meters.

"Argh!" Alex suddenly felt extreme pain inside his head, which forced him to deactivate his ability.

"Ha, ha, ha, it seems like I still have to train more if I want to use my Esper Ability more efficiently." Alex muttered as he endured the rolling waves of pain inside his head.

"Well, you are just newly awakened, so you still lack the enough Mental Power to completely sustain your Esper Ability." Clint said as he helped Alex up.

"Your Range and the power of your Esper Ability all depends on your Mental Power. The higher your Mental Power is, the larger your Range will be, and the more powerful your Esper Ability will be. Oh, have you already found your Range?"

"It's 10 meters." Alex said as through his gritted teeth. "Is that good?"

"Hahaha! Its more than good!" Clint said as he clapped Alex' back happily. "Most of the times, the largest range that an Esper gets when they awaken their Esper Ability is only around 1-2 meters. Of course there are some exceptions. And you, Alex, with your 10-meter Range, is one of those exceptions!"

"Now that makes me excited..." Alex face lit up as he let out an excited smile. He then gave a hopeful look at Clint as he asked him,

"So does that mean that my Range and power will increase as long as I increase my Mental Power?"

"Exactly." Clint replied quickly.

"But how should I increase my Mental Power?" Alex asked quizzically. "Should I get injected with some kind of drug or something?"

"Where did you get that idea? It ain't like that!" Clint said as he shook his head rapidly. "Listen Alex, there are only 2 ways to increase Mental Power."

Clint then raised his index finger as he said,

"The first one is by continually using your Esper Ability until you exhaust your Mental Power. Your Mental Power will increase marginally every time you use it all up. Continue doing this process for a long time, and your Mental Power will experience a slow, but steady increase."

"The second way is through some Mind Stones. These stones contain Mental Power inside them, and they can be absorbed by an Esper to increase his/her Mental Power. However, Mind Stones are extremely rare and expensive, so do not expect that you can use them easily for training."

"Ok, I get it." Alex nodded his head as he heard what Clint told him. "So, the first way is used by the poor Espers, while the second way is used by the rich Espers. Am I right?"

"..."

Chapter 8 I"m a Mad Scientist, Sunnavabich!

Clint continued to talk to Alex as he answered all of Alex's question, especially the questions related to the Espers.

According to Clint, the power of the Espers were ranked based on the amount of their Range and their Mental Power.

Once an Esper's Range was around 1 meter in radius, they will be considered to be a Tier 1 Esper.

Subsequent increase of the Range by 1 meter will increase the number of tiers by 1.

That means that an Esper with a Range of meters will be declared as a Tier 10 Esper.

Alex, at his current state, could be considered to be a Tier 10 Esper.

The only way for Espers to increase their Tiers was by increasing their Mental Power, as this is the only way to increase their Range.

However, Clint noted that once the Range of an Esper reaches 1 kilometer, their designation will change.

Instead of Tiers, Espers with at least a kilometer in their Range will be ranked with Stars.

An Esper with a Range of 1 kilometer will be called a 1 Star Esper, while an Esper with a Range of 10 kilometers will be called a 10 Star Esper, and so on and so forth.

According to Clint, the amount of Star Espers in the world could be counted by hand. That just shows the difficulty of becoming a Star Esper.

Tier Espers like Alex and the majority of the population will have to train arduously if they want to reach that level.

"Hey, is it possible for a Star Esper to be defeated by a Tier Esper?" Alex asked as he looked at Clint intently.

"It is possible. It happened a few times before already." Clint said as he let out a deep breath.

"Eh really? I thought Star Espers will have their advantage because of their superior Range and power?" Alex tilted his head as he drank the bottle of water beside him.

"Range and power are only parts that can make an Esper powerful." Clint said as he stood up from his seat.

"You must know that even the type of the Esper Ability is also important!"

"Oh, I see your point." Alex said as he digested what Clint had told him. "So you mean that some of the Tier Espers have very powerful Esper Abilities that allowed them to win against some Star Espers?"

"That's right." Clint nodded as he gave Alex some examples.

"For example, there was a Tier Esper whose power is Cryokinesis(Manipulating cold). He fought against a Star Esper whose power is Hydrokinesis(Water manipulation). It is pretty obvious who won amongst the two, right?"

"It's definitely the Cryokinetic Tier Esper." Alex said as he tapped his fingers against the table. "Even if the Star Esper has far superior Range and power, his Hydrokinesis was unfortunately weak against Cryokinesis."

"That's exactly what happened." Clint said as he rubbed his hands excitedly.

"Even if your mental power is weaker than your opponent, as long as you use your power ingeniously, you will still have a chance to win!"

"I like this kind of battles..." Alex thought to himself as he let out an excited smile.

When Alex came to this world earlier, he thought that he had to reach the peak of his power if he wanted to survive here.

But it looks like Alex has to rely more on his wits!

Of course Alex will still have to increase his Mental Power, but he knew that his more important priority right now was to perfect his EM Manipulation.

"Oh, it seems like you are wanting to fight..." Clint mumbled to himself as he sized Alex up. "Alex, I recommend that you research ways on how to use your Esper Ability. That is the best way for you to improve your abilities."

"Agreed."

But before Clint and Alex could talk more, the door of the lab suddenly opened, and in came a short-haired woman wearing a labcoat.

Her features were comparable to that of a person living at a cold place.

Pale, white skin, light blonde hair, blue eyes, and rosy lips. This woman was a definition of ice-cold beauty, and the indifferent look in her eyes just exemplified that look.

"Clint, it seems like you are having some fun talking with that guy." The woman said as she slowly approached the terrified Clint. "You told me that you will follow me to our house after a minute. But 30 minutes have already passed by!"

"Ah Natasha, just like what I told you earlier, this friend of mine had awakened his Esper Ability earlier." Clint hurriedly said, as if he was afraid of his wife. "I just got held up because I had to explain some things to him."

"Oh?" Natasha raised her eyebrows towards her husband before she looked at Alex by herself.

Her bright blue eyes seemed to be boring right into Alex's mind as she just stared at him intently.

"So you got electrocuted huh. You're lucky that you are still alive." Natasha said as she suddenly started roving her hands all over Alex's body.

"He-hey!" Alex started to panic as he gave Clint an apologetic look, but Clint did not look angry at all. It was as if what Natasha was doing was just the norm.

"Hmm... None of your muscles have atrophied because of the electric shock. And from the way you looked right now, you seem to have no internal injuries too." Natasha mumbled to herself as she finished her 'inspection'.

"All in all, your Esper Awakening had zero side effects." Natasha declared as she let go of Alex. "Congratulations, you are the first one to awaken through electrocution without any negative side-effects."

"..." This statement of Natasha made Alex realize that he successfully averted a possible tragic fate with the helmet.

"Can I know how the WEO awakens their Esper?" Alex asked as he looked at the helmet with twitching eyes. "I reckon its way different from electrocution."

"From what I know, their Espers will be awakened by exposing those Espers to some kind of signal that will light up the portions of their brain related to Esper power." Natasha said as she idly played with the helmet on her hands.

"I am trying to mimic that phenomenon, but instead of using that signal, I am using electrical current."

"Maybe I am the only one thinking of this, but isn't using electricity really dangerous?" Alex said as he looked at the helmet with trepidation. "Putting thousands of volts into people's brains is not really that good..."

"But you just experienced that process right now Alex, and you even awakened your Esper Ability." Natasha said as a manic glow appeared in her eyes.

"Alex, your existence right now just confirms that my efforts on Awakening by electrocution is actually worth it!"

"Now I understand why this Natasha was expelled from her old lab." Asteria off-handedly said as she leaned her back on Alex's neck. "She looks like a mad scientist."

"She's a mad scientist indeed." Alex thought as he saw something more with Natasha's appearance.

Her eyes had eyebags below them, and her skin actually looked paler than normal. It was quite easy to assume that she had countless sleepless nights doing God-knows-what.

Clint seemed to have noticed it too, as he gave Natasha a worried look.

"Wifey, you look extremely tired now. I think you should better rest already."

"No." Natasha stubbornly replied as she hugged the helmet tightly. "I need to observe Alex's body in order to see how he was able to go through the process unscathed. I can use that data from that to improve this helmet. Maybe I can even perfect it now..."

"Oh well, that does not sound well to me..." Asteria said as she gave Alex a panicking look. "Alex, I think you should go and leave now. The way that Natasha looked at you makes me remember about those hamsters used in experiments."

"Its white mice, not hamsters!" Alex thought wearily as he stood up.

No matter how kind Clint was to him, Alex will not allow himself to be experimented upon.

But Alex realized that he does need to leave anymore, as Clint suddenly made a surprising move.

His body disappeared, and before Alex knew it, Clint was already behind Natasha.

Clint then poked a spot behind Natasha's neck which led to Natasha suddenly closing her eyes and her body becoming limp.

Clint caught the unconscious Natasha as he gave Alex an assuring look.

"Alex, do not be surprised with what I did." Clint said as he hoisted Natasha over his shoulders.

"My wife sometimes gets so engrossed in her work that she stops sleeping for countless nights. Of course, as her husband, I am not allowing her to stay that way."

"So when you see that your wife is about to reach a breaking point due to her lack of sleep, you will personally knock her out?" Alex said as he looked at the sleeping Natasha dubiously.

"Well, as long as my wife stays sane and healthy, then I am willing to do something like this." Clint said as his eyes turned dim. "Besides, there is no way for me to stop Natasha from doing her experiments. It's like her second life already..."

"..." Alex chose not to comment on that statement, as he realized that he was about to go into the area of marital issues.

"So, where are you planning to go now?" Clint said as he adjusted Natasha's position on his shoulders. "If you have nowhere to go, then maybe you can stay in my house first."

"Well, I would love to, but your wife..." Alex hesitantly said as he looked at Natasha. "I am afraid she will do something weird against me."

"Oh, do not worry about her." Clint said as he gave Alex a comforting smile. "As long as my wife is near our daughter, she will behave herself."

"You have a daughter?" Alex exclaimed as he looked at the tattooed body of Clint.

"Huh? Are you thinking that my daughter is a tattooed freak like me? Hell no!" Clint said as he glared at Alex.

"My daughter is an angel! She's pure and innocent, and she is the joy of my family!"

"Blergh." Asteria made some gagging sounds as she could not contain the fluffy atmosphere being emitted by Clint. "Its like I am seeing a cockroach wearing cute clothes!"

"So, will you stay at our house for now?" Clint asked Alex as he gave him an assuring smile. "If you want, you can just stay there for tonight. If you want to leave, then you can do so tomorrow. But if you want to continue your stay, then we will gladly accept it."

"Well if it is just one night, then I agree." Alex said as he ignored Asteria's indignation.

"Great choice my friend!" Clint said as he swung his arm over Alex's shoulders. "You will enjoy your stay there!"

"Hmph"! Asteria could only glare at Clint angrily as her spot on top of Alex's shoulder was occupied by Clint's arm. "We shall see if that daughter of yours really is an angel!"

"Welcome, Tier 999 Esper, Alina." The hole, which Alex had passed through earlier, suddenly spoke out a greeting as a masked woman wearing black clothes appeared.

If Alex was here, he will definitely recognize this woman as the black swordswoman who tried to kill him earlier!

This woman gave an indifferent nod as she said,

"I am chasing a Class S Intruder right now, and according to my data, this city is the nearest location to the place where I saw the Intruder."

"So, Miss Alina is saying that the Intruder had somehow infiltrated this place?" The robotic voice sounded somewhat amused, as if it had real feelings.

"That Intruder managed to escape from me even when I was just in front of him. For that Intruder to infiltrate this city is highly possible." Alina coldly said from behind her mask.

Before the robotic voice could retort, Alina pulled out something from her pocket. This object was a black card, which glinted ominously in her grasp.

She then showed the black card to the hole as she said,

"With the authority bestowed to me by my Lord, I command you to put this city in a lockdown. Do not allow anything or anyone from entering or leaving this city. The lockdown will only end once I confirm that the Intruder is not here or when I kill him."

"It shall be done, Miss Alina." The voice said as Alina made her way towards the city.

Alina's black clothes melded perfectly with the darkness of the tunnel, creating the sight of an assassin ready to claim her kill.

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Chapter 9 The Big 4

For someone like Clint who was supposedly a leader of a gang, his house actually looked quite decent.

Even if it was located in the slums, Alex could see that it was made up of materials sturdier compared to the materials used to make the other houses.

Even the way that the house was built was carefully planned, with each of its structures seemingly on their perfect position.

"Whoever made this house deserves to get a good pay." Alex said as he and Clint arrived in front of his house.

"Daddy!" An unmistakable cheery voice could be heard by Alex coming from inside the house.

Clint, who was looking like a terrifying debt collector earlier, was now wearing an ear-splitting grin as he ran towards his house.

The gate swung open, and a little girl came out, heading straight towards Clint.

"Daddy!" The little girl squealed in laughter as Clint enveloped her in a tight hug.

"Your daddy just disappeared for an hour, yet you already miss him?" Clint said as he continued wearing that foolish smile on his face.

Clint then dug out something from the bag on his back, which turned out to be a stun gun.

"Daddy just bought this stun gun for you!" Clint said, ignoring the shocked expression on Alex's face. "You can use that to stun those that you do not like!"

"Yay! I will use this on big bro!" The little girl said as she rushed back to the house.

Alex then saw a small figure running away from the little girl.

This small figure was a male, and judging from the way that he looked, he's obviously older than the little girl.

"Hehe big bro, come taste this new toy of mine!" The little girl said as he brandished the stun gun towards her big bro's location. "Just let yourself be hit!"

"No way!" The small figure, who was the big bro, shouted as he ran back to the house. "I am not like Dad, who's happy getting electrocuted by Mom! If you want to stun someone, then use it on Dad!"

"I won't do that! I love Daddy! He gives me these toys!" The little girl declared as pursued her big bro inside the house.

"... Did you just give your daughter an effing stun gun?" Alex asked as he and Asteria could only stare blankly at the event that transpired. "And you are even letting her use it on her brother?"

"Well... like mother, like daughter you know." Clint sheepishly said as he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Both of them loves electrocuting stuff... so I have no choice but to comply."

"Hmph, this Clint just likes getting electrocuted by his wife! He's the greatest pervert here!" Asteria said as she let out a hopeless sigh. "I thought this guy and his family will be a decent one... It will be better if they are just cardboard characters..."

"Wait, but how about your son?" Alex said as the chase between the little girl and her big bro continued. "Isn't it unfair for him to get hurt?"

"Oh, do not worry about him." Clint said as he went through the gate. "Both me and my son have ways to resist electricity, so we have no qualms getting shocked like that."

"Is that a hint of your Esper Ability?" Alex asked as he went through the gate too. "Don't tell me that your Esper Ability is controlling Electricity and Magnetism?"

"Your answer is actually just 1/4th correct." Clint said as he gave Alex a smug smile.

"How could my answer be 1/4th correct?" Alex said as he tilted his head. "I mean, can an answer even be 1/4th correct?"

"Well before I answer that question of yours, let me ask you something too." Clint said as he looked at Alex.

"Do you know the Four Fundamental Forces of the Universe?"

"Of course I know about that." Alex said as he enumerated what he knew.

"The first one is the Gravitational Force. It is the attractive force between objects, as long as they have mass. It is also the weakest force, but it has an infinite range. It is a fundamental part of the Universe since gravity is what holds most of the things together in the Universe. "

"The second one is the Electromagnetic Force. This force affects everything with electrical charge, which produces magnetic and electrical effects. It is long-ranged, but its power is less than the Strong Nuclear Force. My Esper Ability, EM Manipulation, can be said to be derived from this force."

"The third one is the Weak Nuclear Force. It was called weak, since it deals with very weak interactions, like radioactive decay. This force has a very short range, and it deals with stuff like conversion of a proton into a neutron(This phenomena is called the Beta Decay)."

"Last and not the least is the Strong Nuclear Force. Just like what its name says, it is extremely strong. In fact, this is the strongest amongst all the Fundamental Forces. However, it also the one with the shortest range. This force is responsible for holding the nuclei of atoms together. But basically speaking, it was the gluons that carry this force."

"Hohoho... it seems like you have a great knowledge in physics!" Clint said as he gave Alex a slow clap. "Now that you have said those things, have you already realized why your answer is only 1/4th correct?"

"Don't tell me..." Alex's eyes widened in shock as he managed to piece together the clues that Clint left for him. "Don't tell me that your ability is the manipulation of the Four Fundamental Forces?"

"Bullseye." Clint said as he gave Alex a wink. "That is indeed my Esper Ability. As long as an object is within my Range, they will succumb quickly under my power!"

"That is so broken!" Alex shouted as he took some deep breaths to calm himself down. "Even if I do not have your ability, I can already imagine all the stuff you can do. Hell, you can even destroy this planet just by using your Gravity Manipulation!"

"That's right." Clint smugly said as he opened the door of his house. He looked back at Alex, who was still shaken by Clint's revelation. "What, are you coming in or not?"

"Tell me..." Alex suddenly muttered as he stared directly at Clint. "Are you one of the strongest Espers in the world?"

"Well technically speaking, I am the 3rd strongest Esper in the world." Clint said as he ignored the pointed look given to him by his wife.

"What? There are two Espers that are stronger than you?" Alex said as he shook his head to clear up his mind. "Is their Mental Power greater than yours?"

"Nope. My Mental Power is just similar to the Mental Power of #1 and #2." Clint said as he leaned back on the doorframe. "The only reason they are more powerful than me is because their Esper Abilities are more ridiculous than mine."

"Hah? What ability can even outmatch yours?" Alex said as he tilted his head in confusion.

"I promise you, there are abilities like that." Clint said as he opened the door wider. "Come, my wife is serving dinner. It will be bad if you miss the food."

But to Clint's surprise, he suddenly saw Alex dashing towards him, only stopping when he was right in front of him.

Alex then kowtowed in front of Clint, with his head touching the ground.

"Please, teach me, Master!" Alex shamelessly said as he continued on kowtowing in front of Clint. "You have the ability to manipulate Electromagnetic Force, so you are the best teacher that I can have! Please teach me!"

"..." To Alex's dismay, he only received a silent stare from Clint. Alex was about to give up and leave the place when Clint suddenly said,

"Why do you want to get stronger? Why are you in a rush?"

"I... I have to do it, or else I will die." Alex truthfully said, as he decided to not lie.

"Hmph, you are speaking the truth... but your reasoning is unacceptable to me." Clint said as he turned around, with his back facing Alex. "No matter what happens, everyone will still die. Even if I teach you, your death will still be inevitable in the future."

"..." Alex dared to not speak back as he just listened intently to Clint.

"But... I can sense that you are not a wicked person and that you have a quick wit. One week!" Clint shouted as he gave a narrow stare at Alex. "I will teach you for one week starting tomorrow. It will only depend on your effort and your skills if you will learn a lot within that one week!"

"Thank you, master!" Alex said as he did not dare to stand up right now.

"Ugh, stop calling me master, ok?" Clint said as he pulled Alex up. "You are my friend, so just call me Clint. However... during my lessons, you must treat me with respect, or else, you will get the prime treatment of my wife."

Alex ignored this weird shift in Clint's tone as he nodded rapidly like a chick pecking on grains.

"Ok, now that we have fixed that up, its time for some dinner." Clint said as he dragged Alex with him.

Asteria, who was still sitting at Alex's shoulder, could only snort aloud as she told Alex,

"It's good that you followed my advice to make this Clint your master. With him as your guide for a week, your chance of completing the mission will be much higher compared to before!"

Alex's only reply to this was a grateful look to Asteria. Upon seeing this, Asteria's reply was,

"Make sure that I will get 10 jars of high-quality honey tomorrow! I will not forgive you if you mess that up!"

"..."

"Are you still in your right mind, Clint?" Natasha said to her husband as she washed the dishes.

They just finished eating dinner, and her daughter and son were at their respective rooms, sleeping peacefully already.

As for Alex, he was provided the attic as his room and right now, Alex was busy cleaning that attic.

"What do you mean wifey?" Clint shot back as he cleaned the dining table.

"What do I mean?" Natasha glanced at the direction of the attic, before her head swiveled back at Clint as she said,

"You just told about your Esper Ability to a complete stranger! You have done your best to keep your identity as the 3rd Strongest Esper a secret. But why did you tell about your secret at that stranger? Not only that, but you also agreed to be his teacher for a week!"

"But... he is not a stranger!" Clint said as he looked at the attic with desperation. "Look at his face! He looks just like-"

"Your student is already dead 2 years ago, Clint." Natasha said as she gave Clint a leveled stare. "Even if that guy looks like your former student, he is still not him! I mean, even their Esper Abilities are not similar!"

"..." Clint's only response to this was to stay silent as he looked down on the floor with a weary expression.

"I've... always wondered." Clint suddenly said after he stayed quiet for a minute. "What if I listened to my student's request before? What if I joined him going at his home? Will he still be alive today?"

"There are no ifs in like, Clint." Natasha said as she hugged Clint from behind. "What's done is already done."

"Natasha... please..." Clint gave his wife a pleading look as he leaned his forehead into her forehead. "Just let me do this..."

"Fine..." Natasha mumbled as she broke up the hug. "But if that guy turns out to be an Intruder, you will be the one to kill him! Do you understand that?"

"Yes Mam!" Clint said as he bounced up with a delighted expression on his face.

"Oh, and let me remind you one thing too." Natasha said as she locked the front door of the house. "I knew that you knocked me out earlier, so as a punishment, there will be no sexy time for a week. Use all that pent-up testosterone of yours to train that Alex guy. Hehehe, there is no way that he can endure a 'starved' person like you."

"Nooo!!!"

Chapter 10 Is Honey supposed to act that way?

Midnight.

Alex had already finished cleaning up the attic, turning it into something habitable for him.

But instead of sleeping, Alex opted to leave the attic first, as he felt the desire to talk to someone.

The floorboards creaked as Alex treaded the living room. He made sure that he was quiet, so that none of the sleeping residents will wake up.

"Still can't sleep too?" Alex looked behind him, and there he found the person that he was looking for.

Clint was currently lounging on the sofa, with his legs placed on top of the sofa's armrest.

Clint was puffing a stick of cigarette, producing a plume of smoke that hovered around Clint.

"I find it hard to sleep today..." Alex said as he sat on the chair in front of Clint. "Besides, there is one question plaguing my mind right not, and I want it answered."

Clint raised his eyebrows after he heard what Alex said. "You need to sleep right now, because tomorrow's training will be a hard one. So, tell me that question of yours so that you can already sleep."

"Well..." Alex looked around him warily before saying,

"If you really are the 3rd strongest Esper, then what are you doing here? I thought the strongest espers will be more... free. But looking at you right now, that does not seem to be the case."

"Oh Alex..." Clint shook his head while smiling, as if he found Alex' s question humorous.

"Let me tell you something." Clint said as he inhaled a deep puff of smoke. "Once an Esper has reached the peak of their strength, they will find no freedom. Instead, they will be restricted far more than they can imagine."

"What do you mean by restricted?" Alex said as he leaned his head forward in interest.

"I cannot explain it fully to you due to the rules, but here is a simple explanation." Clint stood up from the sofa as he threw his cigarette on the ash tray.

"Once an esper enters the top 10 rankings of the 10 strongest Espers, something will happen to them that will restrict them from doing one thing." Clint said with a sigh as he found out that he had no more cigarettes left. "D*mn, seems like I have to buy a pack later."

"And what exactly are they restricted from doing?" Alex asked as he tried to ignore the Clint's smoky smell.

"They are restricted from interfering with normal affairs." Clint said as he laid back on the sofa.

"After all, the top 10 Espers were too strong, and if they were to use their abilities to the fullest, a lot of innocents will surely die. So, they are not allowed to fight on normal situations."

Clint said these words with a disappointed expression on his face.

"However." Clint added as he raised his index finger. "If there is a catastrophic event or an extremely powerful enemy that appeared, someone from the top 10 Espers will be allowed to deal with that problem. But if the situation is not that catastrophic, all the espers at the Top 10 will not be allowed to do something to it."

"Wait, hold on." Alex said as he raised his hands in front of him. "Are you telling me that even you, with all that power that you have is also restricted from fighting? Maybe its just me, but I find it hard to believe that someone like you can be forced to not fight."

"Alex, you may not believe me, but there is something in this world that is able to restrict all of us Espers." Clint said with an undiscernible glint in his eyes. "Even I have no choice but to follow the rules. If I don't, well you can say that my end will not be pretty."

"... I understand." Alex said as he stood up. "Well... see you tomorrow at the training I guess?"

"Yeah, just sleep tight for now." Clint said as he rummaged the cabinet beside him, maybe in an attempt to find a stray pack of cigarette. "Tomorrow will not be a really good day for you."

Alex stumbled on his way to the attic, as he tried to downplay the ominous tone in Clint's voice.

"..."

"Sigh, I thought I will have an easy time completing the mission now. Turns out I still have to rely on myself." Alex muttered to himself as he lay down on his bed.

Asteria, who was playing in the pillow, let out a snort as she sneered at Alex.

"When you discovered that Clint is the 3rd strongest esper, you thought that you can use his power to complete the mission, right? Hahaha, too bad for you, he cannot help you at all!"

"Yeah, it really sucks..." Alex said as he let out a heavy sigh.

Alex did not expect that the strongest Espers were actually banned from participating on the normal or mundane matters of the Esper world!

And they were just allowed to make their move if the problem is too much to handle!

"Well, imagine what the other people would think when they see someone like Clint who can control all the fundamental forces." Asteria sighed as she began to shred the skin of the pillow. "They will see a monster, who can easily kill many people if he willed it."

"With that kind of fear present, it is not unexpected that the higher-ups will place a countermeasure against the strongest Espers." Alex said as he tossed around the bed. "However, I still could not fathom on how these strong Espers were restricted from doing as they please."

"Well, this is an Esper World, so you should expect that something technological exists that can restrict all these strong Espers." Asteria said with her back facing Alex. "So don't overthink it and just accept the facts."

"Hmm..." Alex narrowed his eyes as he heard that Asteria's tone sounded somewhat... evasive. "Asteria, let me guess. You know the thing or person that is restricting the Espers, right?"

"Hah? What are you talking about? Just go to sleep already!" Asteria said as she kicked Alex's shin.. "Didn't you say that you will have your training starting tomorrow? Then start conserving your energy!"

"Hooh... so you will not tell me huh. Well fine then, I will find it out by myself." Alex said as he covered himself with the blanket.

"Hmph, remember about my honey!" Asteria said as she saw Alex falling into a slumber.

"..."

Alex's first day here in the new world was an eventful one, and Alex was not sure if the following days can top it off.

As it turns out, they really can top it off.

"S*t." That was all that Alex could say as he lay down on the cold floor, gasping for air as he recovered his breath.

His body looked battered, with sweat drenching his clothes and his skin looking extremely flushed.

"That's all that you got?" Clint said as he looked down at Alex coldly. "I thought you were something good. Turns out you are just all talk. Natalia, zap him."

"Yes daddy!" Natalia, who was Clint's daughter, brandished her stun gun and fired it at Alex.

"Grrh!!" Alex gritted his teeth as electricity travelled all over his body.

"Hmph, electrocution might be painful, but it will also help your body familiarize with the EM Field!" Clint said as he watched Alex writhing on the floor.

"..."

Training started earlier when Alex finished eating his breakfast.

According to Clint, his training will consist of two portions.

In the morning until noon, it will be power training.

Clint will release variations of EM Waves from his body, and Alex must do his best to control them.

Doing that will be hard, as these EM Waves were personally bolstered by Clint.

If Alex fails to control these EM Waves under a minute, then he will be zapped by Natalia, who seemed to be extremely eager to do it.

This torturous process will continue until noon.

Right now, there's still an hour before noon, and Alex was already at his limits.

His Mental Power is near rock-bottom, and none of his attempts have worked.

"By now, you should have at least tugged the EM Waves around me, even by just little." Clint coldly said at Alex who lay panting on the floor. "Since you failed to do that, you'll get another zap from Natalia."

"Yes Daddy!"

"Ah!"

But even when the pain from electrocution was too much, Alex did not dare to complain about the punishment given to him.

It was because everytime he gets electrocuted, his body somehow feels more and more attuned with the EM Waves around him. This helped Alex to sense the EM Waves easier.

After repeated zappings, even Alex had the suspicion that maybe the whole point of the power training is to just repeatedly electrocute him.

Of course, Alex did not dare to say this thought out loud, as he feared it might just tick off Clint more.

"Ok, today's power training session is done." Clint said as he and Natalia left Alex, who was lying down spread-eagled on the floor. "You have 1 hour to rest and replenish your energy. After that rest will be ability section."

"..." Alex was unable to give any reply as he found it extremely difficult to speak right now.

"Ugh." It took Alex some seconds before he can fully stand up. He then hobbled slowly towards the attic as he intended to rest there.

However, when he went in, the sight that he saw made him feel more depressed.

He could see Asteria slurping down a jar of honey through a makeshift straw.

Honey, which was supposed to be extremely viscous, acted just like a softdrink as it entered through the straw and towards Asteria's mouth.

Alex could barely suppress a frown as he saw how carefree Asteria was.

"I am being repeatedly zapped there and all you did during that time is to slurp some honey? I am really lucky that you are my Guide."

"Hmph! Don't you know that it is rude to interrupt a girl from eating her comfort food?" Asteria said as she did not stop slurping the honey.

"Shoo! Shoo!" Just bother me later!"

"..." Since Asteria was this obstinate, Alex was left with no choice but to leave the attic.

He then headed straight to the bathroom to wash of all the accumulated dirt and sweat on his body.

"Tsk, that woman really is irritating!" Alex muttered to himself as he shook his head.

When Alex gave Asteria the 10 jars of honey that she demanded earlier, Alex thought that Asteria will eat these jars of honey in moderation.

But that expectation of his went astray as Asteria told Alex that aside from her, even the honey that she will eat will also turn invisible to other people.

Because of that, Asteria became fearless on consuming all of her honey.

"S*t, if that fairy asks for more honey after this, then I will just tie her up." Alex mumbled to himself as he reached the living room.

There, he saw Clint and his daughter Natalia playing a board game with Natasha.

Natasha flashed Alex an indifferent look, which seemed to be much colder than the look that she gave him yesterday.

"Seems like you have recovered already." Clint said as he glanced at Alex. "If you can recover that fast, then maybe I should amp up the voltage of the stun gun tomorrow."

"Do it daddy!" Natalia said as she flashed Alex an excited smile.

"..." Before Alex could give a retort to Clint, he and the others suddenly heard a robotic voice.

This voice was not only heard by them. Everyone at the Dragon Esper City could hear this voice, and they could not help but get angry when they heard what the message was.

"Due to an unconfirmed threat of a Class-S Intruder, the whole city will be in a lockdown. The lockdown will only be lifted is the threat is confirmed to be neutralized."

"Due to an unconfirmed threat..."

"Due to an unconfirmed threat..."

"Now isn't that interesting." Clint commented with interest, as if he was not that worried by what he heard.

"Well, if it is unconfirmed, then this lockdown will not last for long. Maybe around 1 day at most." Natasha off-handedly said as she made her move.

"Yeah, I think that will be the case." Clint then looked at Alex as he said,

"Alex, don't expect that this lockdown will lighten your training. Maybe you can expect it to even get harder."

"..."

Chapter 11 World Diagram

"Umm... is this a common occurrence?" Alex asked Clint as the announcement of the robotic voice went on.

"Well, if it is a weak Intruder, killing them will be just a piece of cake for the Espers, but for something like a Class-S Intruder, lockdowns are really necessary." Clint said as he made a move in his board game. "Hahaha! Wifey, let's see if you can still win now!"

"..." Alex fell into a silence as he remembered what Clint told to him about the relationship between the Espers and the Intruders.

According to Clint, around 1000 years ago, nobody that lives in this planet are Espers. All of the people at that time were all 'normal' humans.

But then one day, a powerful gamma ray burst went through the planet, and this gamma ray burst brought countless changes in the planet.

Majority of the living beings died, as the heat and energy inside a gamma ray burst were extremely fatal to living beings.

If the scientists in Alex's world saw this, they will exclaim that this gamma ray burst is a world-ending calamity.

But not everyone died from that gamma ray burst, including humans.

Even if they were few, some humans survived the initial disaster.

But for these surviving humans, something within them changed.

They were different from the normal humans.

They gained the power to manipulate the objects and even concepts around them just with their mind alone.

They were the first Espers.

With that power in hand, the humans were able to redominate the whole planet, and just after 1,000 years, they were back as the apex species.

Even their technology had changed as both Esper Abilities and Technology improved mutually with each other.

This prosperity in human power and level of technology ushered the Golden Age of Humanity.

However, that gamma ray burst brought in something else.

500 years after the gamma ray burst incident, a race of foreign beings suddenly appeared amongst humanity.

These beings have varying abilities and properties, but they all have one thing in common.

And that was that all of these beings wanted to kill the humans.

Up until now, nobody knows where these beings come from. They just spontaneously appear at a certain place before anyone could expect it.

Because of this and the fact that these beings wield powerful abilities too, most of an Esper's job usually deals with combat against these beings.

Because of the nature of their arrival, these beings were just called Intruders.

When the Intruders first appeared, humanity suffered a lot, since they were unable to anticipate where the Intruders will appear. Many powerful Espers died because of this.

But these problems were alleviated when the first quantum computer was created.

By pooling all the possible resources the humanity can use, they were able to create the strongest quantum computer of all time, which was called the World Diagram.

The processing power of the World Diagram was so great that it can monitor the whole planet 24/7, 365 days a year with all of its cameras.

As long as an Intruder gets detected by one its cameras, the World Diagram will immediately take note of its arrival.

The World Diagram will then record this Intruder's location, and it will also estimate the Intruder's level of strength.

An Intruder's strength will be ranked in Letter System, with Class-F as the weakest, and Class-Z as the strongest

[F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, Z]

The World Diagram will then send a warning signal to the nearby Espers, telling them about this certain Intruder.

This efficient information-gathering system by the World Diagram had allowed the humanity to push back the unrelenting invasion of the Intruders.

When Alex heard about this part, he smiled wryly, as he realized that when he was brought to this Planet, the World Diagram must have mistaken him to be an Intruder.

And it actually treated him as a Class-S! Alex was not sure if he should feel proud of that.

It was a good thing that Alex changed his face before entering the Dragon Esper City, or else he might have been shot to death with lasers too.

But aside from defending against the Intruders, the World Diagram is doing other things too like weather forecast, business management, Esper training and many more.

In fact, one can say that the current human civilization fully relies on the World Diagram.

If the World Diagram somehow gets destroyed or taken, then humanity will surely take a hit.

This fact alone made Alex extremely confused

After all, his mission was to destroy the World Diagram.

Won't the very act of him doing this lead to a catastrophic life for humanity?

Even if he's a person who likes to benefit himself first, the fact that his mission might lead to deaths of countless innocent people was something that made him feel uneasy.

So much was his uneasiness that he confronted Asteria about this fact last night.

(Flashback)

"So what if many will die because of your mission?" Asteria said as she gave Alex an indifferent look. "Your mission is to destroy the World Diagram. Nothing more, nothing less."

"But the World Diagram is the pillar of the humanity." Alex muttered as he stared at Asteria. "Is it just ok for me to destroy it?"

"Well, if you don't want to destroy it, then don't do anything. But if you do that, you will be the one dying..." Asteria said as she closed her eyes. "Well, its still up to you if you will do it or not."

"..."

"Fine. If the results of this mission will result in bad end on matter waht I do, then I will just manipulate this mission my way." Alex muttered to himself as his eyes glowed with his excitement. "Hehehe, is it possible for me to save humanity while also destroying the World Diagram? Hmm... this makes my mind tingle..."

"Wow, good luck with that." Asteria said with her eyes closed.

"Just the act of trying to destroy the World Diagram is already hard. And now you want to find a way to keep the humans safe once the World Diagram is destroyed? Hooman, even if you like challenges, doing somethign like this is impossible for you! You're just digging your grave!

"We'll see." Alex declared as he closed his eyes to sleep. "If you don't know it, I am actually good in scheming too. My plans are just... too lavish for someone like you."

(Flashback ends)

Back to the conversation with Clint

"But just to make sure that everyone is safe, nobody will be coming out of the house during the duration of the lockdown." Natasha said as she played her move. "Only I and Clint will get out to get supplies and other stuff."

"Mommy, that's no fair!" Natalia said as she raised her tiny little hands. "I want to play outside!"

"Just play with your father and Alex." Natasha replied quickly. "Aren't you having some fun with them?"

"Oi, don't sell me out like that!" Alex thought to himself as he saw Natalia agreeing to what her mother said.

"..."

Clint and his wife spent most of the noontime playing their board game while Alex and Natalia ate their lunch.

As for Natalia's brother, whose name was Clive, he was holed up in his room playing video games.

Alex could not help but smile a little as he watched the tiny Natalia stuff food in her mouth, making her look like a hamster.

"This is a nice family... If my sister just experienced this too..." Alex thought somberly as he continued eating.

"Now that you have trained your body and mind, it is now time for you to train your creativity." Clint said as he tapped the wall in front of him.

At the instant that he did this, a white screen appeared on the wall which was filled with countless scribbles.

Cint waved his hand, and these scribbles disappeared.

"You will spend the whole afternoon creating new ways of using your abilities." Clint said as he tapped the white screen.

"This screen will record your progress all throughout the process. As for me, I will be here to prevent accidents from happening if you mess up with your training."

"That... sounds ominous." Alex muttered as he looked around him. "Are you telling me that I could create an explosion just because I slightly messed up on my training?"

"If you slightly mess up in the process, you might create a heat ray that can penetrate your skull." Clint sternly replied as his eyes told Alex that he will not leave. "If you want your head to be a slot machine, then feel free to experiment without me around."

"..."

As it turns out, Clint was right.

Just the number of times that Alex almost died that afternoon far exceeded the amount of his fingers and toes.

"Do not worry. Now that you have somehow grasped your power, you will have fewer accidents like this happening in the future." Clint said after he stopped a thick stream of electron beam from melting half of Alex's face.

"And once you have perfect control over your power, you will experience no accidents at all."

"Tsk." Alex obviously did not look happy about this. "But can I achieve a perfect control over my ability in just a week? I will be happy if that was possible."

"It is possible." Clint said as his gaze at Alex became more serious.

"But if you want that to happen, then you must prepare for a more intense power training starting tomorrow. Not only that, but I will also include punishments everytime you mess up in the ability training..."

"Fi-fine! Do that!" Alex exclaimed as he scrunched his eyebrows. "I am not scared of some mere electrocution!"

"Then can you tell me why your legs are shaking right now?" Clint mused as he looked down.

"This... this is just the remnant shock from earlier!" Alex replied desparately. "That's right! There are some residues of electricity earlier, and my legs are just feeling it now."

"...If you say so."

"..."

Alex was able to finish his ability training for that day, with him being saved by Clint half of the time.

"50% fatality rate. Not bad for the first day."

"..."

"Schwiing..." Alina pulled out her swords from their sheath as she started her daily routing of cleaning them up.

She rubbed them carefully with military-grade alcohol, and she made sure that she's using silk cloth as the medium for the alcohol.

She observed her swords intently as she looked for any signs of damage in them. Upon seeing that there was none, she let out a deep breath as she sheathed the swords back.

She then opened the door to her room as she left her current dwelling.

Right now, Alina was near the center of the Dragon Esper City.

She spent the night resting here in order for her to recover her energy.

At the instant that she left the hotel that she was staying in, she heard the robotic voice announcing about the lockdown.

"So it just decided to start the lockdown when it saw me ready to hunt the intruder? What a scary sense of timing." Alina muttered to herself as she walked briskly among the panicked crowd.

Her clothes and mask might stand out if it was a normal day, but with people rushing back towards their houses, none of them noticed Alina's unsettling visage.

"If the Intruder will hide in an Esper City, 70% of the time, the Intruder will hide in the slum area." Alina thought to herself as her foot led her towards the slum area.

Her presence started to become hazy as if she was about to meld with the air.

Even the killing intent that Alex felt from her yesterday was also gone, as if it was not there at all.

Alina then adjusted her mask as she muttered to herself,

"No matter what tricks you use to hide, I will see through them all!"

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Chapter 12 Of course, it will always be a Small World

Both of Alex's mind and body were tired and weary, with him feeling extremely sleepy and lethargic.

Alex could not help but wince as he imagined all the pain that he will feel tomorrow.

"S*t, I just told Clint to increase the pace of the training tomorrow..." Alex thought sourly as he let out a despairing sigh. "It really sucks..."

But even if Alex felt that the whole training that he had was painful and tiring, he discovered that his Mental Power and control had actually improved.

His Range, which was originally just 10 meters, changed into 30 meters. That meant that Alex is now a Tier 30 Esper.

That kind of improvement in already shocking, as Alex only took a day to do this!

However, Clint did not look that impressed when Alex told him about his improvement.

"You should know that an Esper who just awakened his Esper Ability will experience a massive boost in their Mental Power a week after they awakened their ability." Clint coldly said to the excited Alex. "Couple that with training, and your Mental Power is bound to grow exponentially."

"Not only that. You are also under the training of an extremely powerful Esper, whose ability is compatible to yours." Clint said as he gave Alex a dismissive look. "It is no surprise to me that you improved that much. Actually, I am a little disappointed that you did not reach 40 or even 50 meters..."

"Woah, woah, woah, even I think that is too much..." Alex said as he waved his hands in panic. "Won't I die from something like mental overload?"

"As long as you do not feel anything wrong, your mental power will naturally increase..." Clint said as he let out a yawn.

"From what I can see with you Alex, maybe you can hit 100-150 Tiers at the end of the week. That's not bad, since you are training under me."

"Wait, once the 1-week period after my awakening passes by, will the growth of my Mental Power slow down too?" Alex said as he tapped his forehead.

"Obviously it will." Clint sternly said as he glared at Alex. "So do not expect to infinitely grow stronger under me. That was the reason that I will only train you for a week. Since that week is the only time period that you can grow stronger. What you will do after that will be up to you already."

"Ok..." Hearing these words just made Alex more determined to finish the training.

But aside from his Mental Power, his control over his Esper Ability had somewhat improved too.

Even though he almost died earlier due to failures on trying out new moves, Alex was still able to sort out some things regarding his ability.

One of these was the part where Alex was able to bend the path of light around him. This is pretty useful for Alex, as he can use this to make himself invisible.

Of course Alex will still need to adjust the path of the light if he wants to create a perfect invisible form.

Aside from this, Alex was also able to use radio waves in a way comparable to sonar.

If a sonar uses sound waves to detect objects from afar, Alex uses the radio waves in the same way too.

With the radio waves having the longest wavelength among all the EM Waves, they can easily bounce through buildings and architecture, making their use perfect on cityscapes.

Alex's only dilemma is that these new techniques that he developed were all just at the macroscopic side.

In regards to the manipulation of EM Waves at the microscopic level, Alex still had no success in it.

In fact, most of the accidents that Alex experienced earlier were due to him messing up in microscopic manipulation.

This of course made Alex slightly disappointed, as he knew that the most powerful attacks that he can use with his ability will come from microscopic level.

One example of that is the Electrolaser, which is a long-ranged version of a stun gun. This weapon uses lasers to ionize the air in front of it. It will then release an electric current, which will pass through the ionized air, creating a phenomenon similar to lightning.

Alex wanted to try this, but he immediately failed on the part where he should create a laser.

He knew that to create lasers, he must first use his ability to force electrons to go from a higher energy level towards the lower energy level.

Doing this will force the electrons to release photons(This process is called stimulated emission.)

Continue doing this on countless electrons in an instant, and the amount of photons produced will be enough to create a deadly laser.

Only when Alex can do this part that he can make a powerful Electrolaser.

However, forcing the electrons to release photons proved to be much harder than what Alex had expected.

It was lucky that Clint was there, or else Alex's face would have been gone by now.

"Hmph, I still have 6 more days in here." Alex muttered to himself as he forced his battered body to lay down on the bed.

He then glared at Asteria, whose whole body was covered in honey. This made her look extremely sticky, and Alex had no plans on putting his hand near her.

"Hmph, that's some high quality honey that you got for me." Asteria said as she let out a satisfied sigh.

"Ok, since you have pleased me greatly, maybe I can tell one important secret to you." Asteria made a shushing gesture with her finger as she said in a low voice,

"In every world that you go, there will be some hidden bonus missions. If you find and finish these missions, you will also gain more lifespan..."

Alex's eyes immediately brightened as these words by Asteria removed a load from his shoulders.

"How can I find them?" Alex asked as he gave Asteria a heated look. "Will I encounter them along the way?"

"Well, it will just be up to your luck." Asteria said as she stuck out her tongue. "If you are lucky, then you might get 1 or 2 hidden bonus mission here. If not, then you will get none."

"Of course, of course, everything will not be that easy." Alex muttered hollowly to himself as he closed his weary eyes. "And I suppose that you are not allowed to guide me on where to look for these hidden bonus missions, right?"

"Of course traveler. It will be entirely up to you to encounter them." Asteria slyly said as she gave Alex a sleazy smile. "Why are you interested on getting more lifespan right now? Do you want to buy something so badly right now? Hoooh... it must be that electromagnetic saber..."

"..." Alex chose to not reply as Asteria's guess was actually right.

One of the available things that Alex can buy right now was the Electromagnetic saber, which costs 1 month of Alex's lifespan.

However, Alex's current lifespan right now is exactly 1 month of lifespan, so there is no way for him to buy that saber now.

This of course is a little disappointing to Alex, as he felt that this Electromagnetic Saber will be extremely suitable for his EM Wave Manipulation.

But now that Asteria stated that Alex can actually gain extra lifespan by doing the bonus missions, his desire to buy the Electromagnetic saber have resurfaced once more.

"Ugh, but how will I find a bonus mission right now?" Alex muttered to himself disconsolately as he let out a sigh. "Tsk, if I find one, then I will do it. If not, then I just have to make do with what I have right now!"

Right at the moment that Alex said these words, he suddenly heard the sound of the ringing doorbell.

Alex immediately stood up with an alert expression in his face as he remembered that everyone from Clint's family were inside the house already.

That means that whoever is ringing the doorbell must be an acquaintance of Clint's family.

"Should I hide or not?" Alex struggled on making his choice, but before he could make a decision, he heard a knock on his door.

From the way the knock sounded, it came from Clint. Alex stood up to open the door, and there he saw Clint giving Alex a tired look.

"You must have heard the doorbell, right?" Clint said as he let out a yawn.

"Yeah, I heard. So, who is that visitor of yours?" Alex asked as he looked past Clint. "That visitor seems like a close friend of yours."

"Oh, we really are friends with her." ClInt said as Alex heard the sound of the front door being opened. From the looks of it, the visitor was already inside the house.

"Her?" Alex tilted his head as he realized that the mystery visitor was a girl. "Is she an Esper like you?"

"She is an Esper, and also a powerful one at that." Clint said while chuckling.

"Is she... in the top 10 too?" Alex asked hesitantly to Clint. " If that was true, then that will be really epic."

"Nope." Clint replied as he shook his head. "This friend of ours is still a Tier Esper. But, her sister is within the top 10."

"Oh~" Now, Alex felt interested on knowing more about this visitor.

Alex did not dare to ask on who this sister was, as he saw Clint having a sad face while mentioning the sister part.

"Come, join me in greeting her. She had always been a shy and quiet woman, so maybe a little bit more company will help her out." Clint said as he pulled Alex with him.

"Well, since I am curious to see her image, then I am in." Alex said as he followed Clint down the stairs.

When they reached the living room, Alex's eyes saw the person that was standing out like a sore thumb.

This person was a woman wearing black dress, black skirt, black socks, and black shoes.

Her mask was glinting inside the room, which did not fail to impress Clint's children.

"..." Alex does not need a good memory who this woman was.

Alex was 100% sure that this woman was the one that almost killed him yesterday! Someone like Alex would not be able to just completely forget about that!

"Oi Alina, long time no see!" Clint cheerfully said a he led Alex behind him. "See this guy with me? He is my new pupil!"

Alex badly wanted to retreat right now, as even with his disguise he was afraid of the possibility of being seen through.

"How could it have been like this?" Alex complained to himself as he looked at Alina, who was staring back at him.

A few tense seconds for Alex passed by as he wished that Alina will not recognize him.

"..." Alex let out a small sigh of relief as he saw Alina ignoring him entirely.

But before Alex could celebrate, he suddenly heard Asteria saying something to him.

"Alex, go and talk with that woman. I just received a notification saying that you have received a bonus mission right now! As for the contents of that bonus mission, it was just quite simple. You just have to gain that woman's trust and you must help her out!"

"Why don't you just command me to die?" Alex whispered back angrily . "I rather face a million Natalia than approach that Alina!"

"Well, if you don't do it, you will lose your chance to get the Electromagnetic Saber..." Asteria said as she adopted a very disappointed look.

"Do you really want that to happen?"

"..."

Chapter 13 Why so Serious, Comrade?

Alex was not enthused with his current situation. After all, he had to talk with Alina, who was the first person that tried to kill him.

Alex kept his composure in check as he hid his fear. After all, there are some people that can smell fear, and Alex is not willing to let them sniff it out.

"Just talk to her normally, and everything will be fine." Alex muttered to himself as he asked Clint something.

"Your friend... is she always wearing a mask?"

Clint gave Alex a nod as he said,

"Ever since I first saw her with her sister, she had been always wearing a mask. The only time that she does not have her mask on is when she's eating. However, Alina is making sure that's she's in a secluded place everytime she eats."

"That's some excessive secrecy there." This comment by Alex as heard by Alina, who swiveled his head to look at him.

Alina's voice sounded both cold and seductive as she said,

"That guy... he looks like someone I have met before..."

The atmosphere suddenly turned awkward, as Natasha and Clint both gave Alina strained smiles.

Alex winced inwardly, realizing that this Alina is not that good with people.

The whole crowd stayed this way for a few minutes, as only Natasha was the only one who had the courage to talk to Alina.

As for Alex, Natalia, and Clive, there were just standing there, staring at Alina.

The way Clive looked at Alina made it obvious that he has a crush on her.

"Well, he will grow out of it." Alex thought as he ruminated on how to approach Alina.

Natalia on the other hand, seems to be giving Alina a worshipping look, which is just like the look that children give to their role models.

"Ehem." Clint let out a cough, in an attempt to dispel the awkward atmosphere. He kept wearing his strained smile as he asked Alina,

"Alina, can I ask the reason for your sudden visit? You did not even mention to us that you will come!"

"It's because of my job." Alina said as her body tensed slightly. "I am currently chasing a Class-S Intruder, and my hunch is telling me that the Intruder is staying here."

"Oh, so that lockdown is out of your volition then?" Clint said as he scratched the back of his head. "Well, it might be a little inconvenient, but with you here, I am sure you can catch that Intruder in no time."

"Actually, I am not sure about that." This was the first time that Alex heard hesitation in Alina's voice.

"That Intruder, even though he just newly arrived at our planet, he was still able to dodge some of my blows." Alina said with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"And when I am about to use one of my killing moves, he suddenly disappeared at that place. I can sense that he used some sort of spatial transmission ability that brought him to a different place."

"That's a little worrying..." Clint said as Natasha's expression slightly dimmed. "If we are dealing with an Intruder that can move through space, then we will be in a lot of trouble."

"Do not worry uncle." Alina said as she patted Natasha's shoulder. "I can take care of him alone. If the worst comes to worst, then I will just ask for your help."

"Hehehe, if my help is needed, then that Intruder should be really strong." Clint replied with a light smirk on his face.

"She's your niece?" Alex exclaimed as Natasha and Alina went to the kitchen, probably to prepare something to eat.

"Why, is there something wrong with that?" Clint asked Alex with his narrowed eyes.

"Well..." Alex averted his gaze as he tried to think up of a reason that he can give right now.

"You have been acting weird since Alina arrived." Clint said as he gave Alex a suspicious look. "I notice you sneaking glances at her multiple times earlier..."

"..." Alex's body began to turn sweaty as he started to feel the intensity of Clint's gaze.

A few seconds of awkward went by, and it was Clint who broke this silence.

"Don't tell me... that you like her?" Clint uttered this accusation with narrowed eyes as he stared at Alex. "Just tell me if that's true or not."

"..." Alex was slightly stunned with that Clint just said.

The only reason Alex was looking at Alina earlier was because he was too scared, and he wanted to see if Alina was secretly looking at him.

"Hahaha! Now this is embarrassing!" Asteria laughed hysterically as she rolled on the floor in laughter. Her eyes had bits of moisture within them, showing that she had started to tear up because of too much laughing.

Clint seemed to be not in a humorous mood like Asteria, as his lips were set into a grim line.

"..." Since it had come to this already, Alex decided to just go on with Clint's assumption.

"Yeah... I think I like her..." Alex said as he made himself slightly blush. He then leaned forward awkwardly while his head slightly swiveled away from Alina's direction.

Alex just perfectly emulated the appearance of a shy guy declaring his crush to someone, and Clint seemed to have believed it.

"Do you want to ask her out?" Clint suddenly said as he dragged Alex away from the living room. He brought him into one of the spare rooms nearby, with Clint locking the door to make sure that no one will hear them.

The sudden shift in Clint's mood threw Alex off the rails. After all, this guy was Alina's uncle. Alex found it hard to believe that Clint would just allow his niece to be courted by some random male who liked her.

"I may have just known you for around a day, but I know that you are a decent person." Clint said as he slapped Alex's shoulder. "I think your openness and Alina's stoic attitude will be a good match."

"Wait, wait, wait." Alex raised his hands defensively as he gave Clint a bewildered look. "Did you just encourage me to ask your niece out?"

"Why, what's wrong with that?" Clint tilted his head as he gave Alex a devious smile. "Even if you are a pervert, I think that you would not be able to do anything against her since she is way more powerful than you. So, you can say that I have no problems if you go out with her. The one that should be worried is you."

"Do you think she will agree if I ask her out?" Of course Alex had no plans of asking Alina out. That will be just too risky for him!

Alex just asked this question to Clint to make it appear that he, Alex, is somewhat interested in Alina.

"Well, I am not sure too." Clint said as he cupped his chin in deep thought. "After all, that girl had no experience with something like this. So you can say it will be an unknown territory."

Alex heaved an invisible sigh of relief after hearing this statement as he said,

"Um, if that was the case, then it might be better if I do not ask her out."

"No! That won't do!" Clint suddenly shouted as he glared at Alex. "Hmph, it seems like you are a wimp regarding females. Well, you have no need to worry! I will help you in your endeavor!"

Clint then dragged the hapless Alex with him towards the kitchen.

There he saw Alina and Natasha cutting up some vegetables.

Alex's eyes could not help but twitch as he saw Clint and Natasha giving mischievous smiles at each other.

"Alina..." Natasha's voice drawled as she looked at Alina. "Do you have any plans tomorrow night?"

"I only plan to sleep tomorrow night." Alina said as she continued on cutting the vegetables. "After all, my only job here is to catch that Intruder."

"Won't that feel so boring?" Clint suddenly said as he gave Alina a sad look .

"I feel like you two are onto something here." Alina muttered as she saw the extremely eager gazes of both Natasha and Clint. She deftly ignored Alex, who was standing behind Clint awkwardly.

"Well... since this is your first time to visit the Dragon Esper City, don't you think that you should also enjoy its sight as a tourist?" Clint said, with emphasis on the word enjoy. "After all , you cannot be just always working!"

"I..." Alina tried to say something, but her resolve to answer failed as she saw the excited gazes given to her by her uncle and her aunt.

"Fine, I shall do that tomorrow night." Alina said in defeat as she sagged her shoulders.

"Uh, uh, uh, I think a mere promise won't suffice here." Natasha said as she smirked at Alex's direction.

Alex felt his body turning cold as he realized where the conversation had been leading to.

"I think someone should accompany you tomorrow, just to ensure that you will really do it." Clint said as he smiled at Alina.

"Well, won't Aunt Natasha be the one to join me?" Alina said as she finished chopping up the vegetables.

"Nope, I think we have a better choice right here." Clint then pushed Alex forward as he said,

"This guy right here is a new resident in this city. So just like you, this guy also needed to see some of the good places in the city."

Natasha swung her hands over Alex as she gave him a small wink. "And since you are about to roam the city tomorrow, then it is better if Alex joins you."

"Hey!" Alex shouted out with embarrassment as he made himself slightly blush. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Huh? Didn't you tell me that you want to roam the city?" Clint muttered as he gave Alex an innocent stare. "Since Alina will roam tomorrow, then you will just have to join her."

"But the training!" Alex started to looked panicked as he glanced at Alina, who seemed to be unperturbed by the situation.

"Don't worry, I will make it so that you will gain a lot from tomorrow's training, while also making sure that your body will be fine." Clint said as he seemed to be intent on shooting down Alex's opinion.

"Come on, you also need a break from time to time. Tomorrow night just turns out to be the perfect time..."

"Ugh. You did not tell me about having a break while your daughter was electrocuting me earlier." Alex said as he rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Well, since you two have no prior engagements tomorrow, then you two shall roam the city tomorrow night!" Both Clint and Natasha said these words with finality, which sealed Alex's fate.

"...Fine." Alina seemed to be not disturbed by the idea of Alex joining her. No, being indifferent could be the better term.

As for Clint and Natasha, both of them were having silly smiles right now, while Alex tried to not look miserable.

As for Asteria, she was back in her laughing spree as she pounded her fists on Alex's shoulders.

"Hahaha! You have been forced by your master to date the woman who tried to kill you earlier! Hahahaha! Now I do not know if you are lucky or just plain misfortunate!"

"..."

"

Chapter 14 So you also have a Fetish

Alex was not sure if the queasy feeling that he is having right now is due to his fear of getting discovered by Alina, or just plain nervousness from going out with a girl.

"What a wimp." Asteria scoffed as she saw Alex's nervous look. "You will just go outside and roam! How could you look that scared?"

"Shut it pixie." Alex muttered as he fixed his shirt. "I bet you have zero experience on things like this too."

"Wha-what do you think you are saying!" Asteria stuttered as she retracted her glare. "With this queen's beauty, many men have fallen heads over heels on her!"

"Yeah right." Alex's noncommittal reply clearly showed that he did not believe Asteria's claim.

"Hmph, the only reason that you agreed to join that Alina is for the bonus mission, right?" Asteria taunted as she waved her hands. "I bet that without the reward, you will do your best to avoid her."

"..." Alex knew that Asteria was right.

If it was before, Alex would not attempt to contact Alina at all. But now that he was practically forced by his temporary teacher to join her, combined with the rewards of the bonus mission, and Alex was left with no choice but to comply.

After all, it will look suspicious if Alex continued on refusing.

"That s*ty teacher of yours really did make your training easier today." Asteria mumbled in dissatisfaction. "Its just obvious that he cares more for his niece than you."

Alex frowned after hearing this, as he remembered what happened to the 2nd day of his training.

Instead of amping up the difficulty of the power training, Clint actually made his control of the EM Waves weaker, which allowed Alex to pull more of them.

This saved Alex from more body pain, but still, he was not happy to be treated like this.

As for the ability training, it actually just went on just like yesterday, although Alex realized that he had lesser mistakes now.

From the looks of it, his experience with the Ability Training yesterday made his attempt today to become easier.

This just further reduced Alex's exhaustion that day.

Because of these factors, Alex was only able to reach Tier 35 today.

It was a pretty dismal improvement compared to yesterday, but Clint just waved it off, as he said that the training on the 3rd day will be much more difficult so that Alex could catch up with all the possible Tiers that he lost.

This of course made Alex more deflated as he ignored Asteria's cackling laughter.

With the 2nd day of the training finished, Alex has to suit himself up for his appointment with Alina.

But before he met up with her, Alex decided to have a private talk with Clint.

"Master, can you care to tell me why you are really interested on making Alina go out with me?" Alex said as he gave Clint a glare.

"I do not believe that you can just casually make us go together without any reason..."

"It's out of desperation, ok?" Clint replied exasperatedly as he looked at Alex.

"..." Alex was unable to muster any word, not because of the way Clint answered him, but with the way his eyes looked.

Clint's eyes looked extremely raw, as if he was remembering something incredibly painful to him.

Clint took Alex's silence as the consent to continue talking as he said,

"My niece Alina has been through a lot already. I cannot tell that much about her, but what I can only tell you is that she is currently risking her life for her sister." Clint said as he let out a weary sigh.

"Poor girl had no choice but to do it, or else her only real family will be gone from her."

"Wait, I thought you were her uncle." Alex pointed out tactlessly.

"I am her uncle because I volunteered to do so." Clint replied with an edge with his voice. "Alina's sister requested for me to take care of Alina as her uncle 5 years ago, and that's what I did."

Alex felt his head swirling as he realized that he is now hearing an extremely sensitive issue. "If Alina was with you 5 years ago, then why is she like that now?"

"As I told you earlier, it's all because for her sister." Clint replied quickly.

"So, Alina left you 5 years ago and placed her life in dangerous situations just for her sister?" Alex muttered with a sudden tilt on his head. "I thought Alina's sister was the 2nd strongest Esper?"

"Was." Clint said this word with emphasis. "Right now, Alina's sister is incapacitated, and is being kept in a facility to keep her alive."

"I still do not get how that can force Alina to leave you." Alex replied hesitantly.

"Just like what I told you for the 3rd time, I'm unable to tell you the reason." Clint coldly said, and this time he talked in a way that forced back any of Alex's retort.

"Oh and Alex, if you are wondering why my family is not helping out Alina that much in her situation with her sister, you can say that we are being forced to not help." It was clear at this point that Clint's anger was not only focused at Alex.

"Oh, now this really gets more complicated." Alex mumbled to himself as he fixed his hair.

Right now. Alex was fully convinced that his bonus mission to contact Alina and help her is a legitimate one.

Alina's story was full of intriguing twists, so much so that Alex was now genuinely interested on knowing more.

"With that kind of intriguing backstory, I am sure that helping Alina out might help me in my main mission." Alex thought to himself as he saw Clint starting to calm down.

"Alex, we just want to at least let Alina experience how to be real teenager for once." Clint said as he gave Alex a pleading look.

"She spent most of her childhood making herself strong, and the rest of her life until now risking her life for her sister. That obviously deprived Alina of things that she should experience."

"And you think I am the right person for the 'dating' part?" Alex asked incredulously as he cocked his eyebrows.

"Well, any men will do, as Alina will just beat them up if they tried perving up on her." Clint replied nonchalantly. "You just turn out to be the convenient choice, so do not think that you are that special..."

"Didn't it even cross your minds that Alina might like a girl?" Alex said as he imagined the forbidden lily paradise. "Maybe she has a secret girlfriend now..."

"Alex, we have tried setting up Alina with a woman before already." Clint replied with embarrassment clear in his tone. "It did not work out that well, so we rejected that notion."

"Ok then." Alex was about to say more when he suddenly heard the same robotic voice that made the lockdown announcement.

"After a thorough searching, the authorities confirmed no traces of a Class-S Intruder in the Dragon Esper City. Thus, the lockdown shall be terminated.

"After a thorough..."

"After a thorough..."

Clint's face split into a smile as he heard the announcement. It was pretty obvious why he looked so happy.

"Alex, I thought your date with Alina will be awkward with that Class-S Intruder. But with that Intruder confirmed to be not here, Alina will be surely less wound up! Take this night as your chance to impress her!"

"Hell no, I will not be doing that." Alex thought to himself as he decided to make his 'date' with Alina as fast as possible.

Alex decided to bring Alina to places that are considered to be not good places for dates.

Alex thought that these places might be enough to make Alina's interest to Alex turn to zero.

The less interested Alina will be to Alex, the better it will be.

"Oh, and speaking of Alina..." Alex then heard the sound of the doorbell from outside the house, indicating that someone is arriving. "Seems like she's here already."

His confidence, which he already built up earlier, had seemingly disappeared again as he saw Natasha guiding Alina inside the house.

Instead of her usual attire, Alina was wearing a more casual set of clothes now.

She wore a black long-sleeved t-shirt, complemented by a pair of black pants, and of course, a pair of black rubber shoes.

Alina was currently wearing a ponytail, making her look somewhat more innocent today.

However, she was still wearing her mask, which reduced her approachability factor.

"..." Alex could not help but slightly gulp as he saw Alina's tight pants hugging her shapely legs. Alex had always like legs, and seeing a perfect pair of legs right now just made him excited.

"So you also have a fetish huh." Asteria off-handedly commented as she noticed Alex's gaze at Alina's legs. "Just continue staring, and Alina will be creeped out by you."

"..." This forced Alex to tear his gaze away as he focused on the mask on Alina's face.

The mask was just a plain white mask. It had no holes or design, making it look extremely plain. But Alex was sure that this mask is hiding one or two special functions.

"Alina! You really changed your clothes!" Natasha exclaimed as if she could not believe what she saw. "When I told you yesterday to wear casual clothes for tonight, I thought you will just ignore that. But it seems like you are excited for this date too!"

"I am not excited at all." Alina quickly replied, much to Alex's relief. "I just feel guilty for making you and uncle worry, so I decided to follow this request of yours."

Even if he was relieved that Alina only agreed on this date because she felt obligated, he still could not help but wince from the brutal way that she said it.

"Don't cry buddy, I am here to support you, whatever happens to you." Asteria said these words as she patted Alex's back. "Being acquaintance-zoned is not a really good feeling."

"..." It's quite obvious from her tone that Asteria was just messing with Alex again

"Well, the night is just short, so off you two go!" Clint and Natasha practically pushed Alex and Alina out of the house, forcing them together on the street.

Alina and Alex both looked at each other, with both of them struggling to say the right word.

It was Alina who broke the silence as she said,

"Just bring me to the places you want me to bring. I want to get done with this."

"Yes ma'm." Alex replied a little stiffly as he brought Alina to their first destination.

His first destination was a streetfood stall that he researched earlier.

This stall basically serves the type streetfood that even the poor can afford.

Alex had the inkling that with her upbringing, Alina will surely hate streetfoods. After all, they were dirty and they were produced in the street.

"I don't care if her opinion on me goes to the negative state after this." Alex thought to himself as he gave a smile as the vendor. "Making Alina disgusted against me is better than me being butchered by her!"

Just like what Alex had expected, Alina had frozen up as Alex brought her in front of the streetfood stall. Now, Alex had to only wait for a few seconds before he could hear Alina's outburst.

But what came out of Alina's mouth was not a shout or an angry beration. Instead it was a whisper, which sounded sad and nostalgic at the same time.

"My sister and I... used to eat these when we were young." Alina said as her body slightly trembled.

"They're really delicious. I used to like them mixed with hot sauce. My sister on the other hand, likes them with vinegar..."

Even if Alina had her mask on, Alex was 100% sure that Alina is smiling right now!

Both Alex and Asteria stared at the happy Alina with shock. Asteria could only blink her eyes in confusion while Alex thought to himself,

"Did I just impress a girl with a mediocre foodtrip? Gah! This is not how it was supposed to be!"

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Chapter 15 The way through a woman"s heart is though her stomach

"Um, so how many sticks would you like?" Alex asked Alina as he glared at the vendor.

The vendor, upon seeing his look, could not help but think,

"Bro, your girl just liked my place. Why are you looking so angry?"

"Give me 50." Alina abruptly said as she fidgeted on the spot. "Make sure they are cooked well."

"She's a glutton!" Alex thought wryly to himself as he made sure that he did not show any expression of surprise on his face.

His eyes could not help but look at Alina's slender body as he wondered on where all the food that she ate went.

Alina seemed to have noticed his stare as she said,

"Put your eyes in the right place. You may be my date, but that does not mean that you can undress me with your eyes."

"Hey, I'm not doing that!" Alex blurted out as he shook his head quickly. He cringed inwardly as he realized that Alina is not really good with speaking with other people.

"Oh. I assumed that you were doing that when you gave me that stare." Alina bluntly said, with her head facing the direction of the food.

"..."

Alex did not dare to strike a conversation with Alina right now, as he can see that Alina was entirely focused on waiting for the streetfood to be cooked.

He could not help but feel sorry for the vendor, as he could feel that Alina was glaring at the vendor, urging him to cook faster.

"Umm... so is this your first date?" Alex asked as he saw Alina fidgeting restlessly on the spot. "Because it is my first date too."

"Its my first date. But so what? I want to eat now." Alina seemed to be a child as she began to bounce restlessly on the spot.

"No, Alina's not like a child." Alex thought as he began to smile wryly.

"She is like a cat..."

Of course Alex did not dare to say this thought out loud, as he knew that it will be rude.

"Here's your order!" The vendor said as he shoved 50 pieces of streetfood in front of Alex and Alina.

Alex could not help but praise the vendor, as he managed to endure the scary glare of a starving Alina.

At the instant that he paid for the streetfood, Alex heard a sound that made him and the vendor open their mouths in shock.

"Nom nom nom..." Each time a stick of streetfood was brought by Alina near her mouth, they suddenly disappear, as if they were suddenly wiped out.

This phenomenon was shocking, as Alina was still wearing her mask when she 'ate' the streetfood.

"Nom nom nom..."

"She is a... unique person." The vendor said, as he struggled to find the right words to describe Alina.

"You can say that anytime." Alex said as he took a bite of one stick of streetfood. "Oh! This actually tastes good!"

Alex could not help but get another stick of streetfood, but to his dismay, he found out that Alina already finished it all.

At that time, Alex already knew what he should do.

"Give us 50 more sticks." Alex said as he saw Alina looking at him intently.

"Coming right up!" The vendor said as he flashed a competitive smile at Alina.

Both Alina and the vendor seemed to be fired up, as a brewing rivalry started to form.

"Hmph! Honey still tastes better!" Asteria muttered angrily, but it was quite obvious that her eyes were concentrated on the juicy and tender content of the streetfood.

"Mister vendor, cook another 50 pieces as take-home." Alex said as he gave a smug look at Asteria. "There are some people that would love to taste your dishes."

"Yosh sir!"

"That was satisfying." Alex murmumred as he patted his tummy.

How could he expect that streetfood could taste that good? Now Alex understood why Alina seemed to be really excited as she ate the streetfood earlier.

"Umm... so the way you ate earlier..." Alex trailed on his words as he struggled to find the right words. "It was certainly unique."

"That way of my eating earlier was an application of my Esper Ability." Alina replied, with her voice much warmer than before.

From the looks of it, her view of Alex had improved after he treated her with some food.

"So the way through this girl is through her stomach huh." Alex thought inwardly as he continued talking with Alina.

"Wait, what is your Esper Ability anyway? Its fine if you don't tell me, since that is your power."

To Alex's surprise, Alina actually gave him an answer. It seems like the food had really loosened her up.

"My Esper Ability is Weak Space Manipulation." Alina said as she followed behind Alex. "It allows me to affect Space in small ways."

Alina then pointed at the trash can nearby as she said,

"With my Weak Space Manipulation, I can cut the Space within my Range." As if to prove her point, Alina made a slashing motion with her hands, which resulted in the trash can being cut in half.

"Cool..." Alex did not lie when he said this.

For him, seeing Alina using her ability on something else instead of him made Alex feel surreal.

He inwardly shivered as he imagined his body being bisected by that strike.

"It's a good thing I was agile at that time." Alex thought as he took a shuddering breath.

Alina then went silent after doing these things, which brought her and Alex back to an awkward silence.

"Umm, so let's go to the next location now." Alex said as he brought Alina to his next marked destination.

"Is it another foodstall?" It may be hidden, but Alex could hear a tinge of hope in Alina's voice. He resisted a smirk as he shook his head.

"Sorry, but its not a foodstall. However, we will look for another one once this date has finished."

"Okay." Alina nodded her head obediently as she seemed happy with what Alex said.

"Hmmm, this Alina seems to be a good girlfriend material." Asteria said as she gave a leery smile at Alex. "Aren't you excited dating someone like her?"

"If I will not be bisected by her like that streetfood earlier, then being with Alina will be great." Alex thought as he and Alina arrived at their next stop.

"Is this... the hospital?" Asteria muttered to herself as she scrunched her tiny nose.

Asteria then let out a laugh as she shook her head wryly. "Alex, you're really dedicated on ruining your date huh."

While Asteria was bemused by Alex's antics, Alex was inwardly nervous. He glanced at the motionless Alina, as he waited for her reaction.

"Well, bringing a girl in a date to the hospital surely is a wrong move. I just hope Alina will not be that angry." Alex though to himself as he braced for Alina's reaction.

"Your choice of places sure is unique." Alina mumbled as her head looked at the direction of the hospital.

Alex was about to give an apologetic smile to Alina when Alina suddenly said,

"I am supposed to go to this hospital tomorrow to visit some people... But since you have brought me here already, then I will just visit them now." Alina's ponytail swished as she rushed towards the hospital.

"Seriously?" Alex could not help but facepalm as he realized that his second attempt to make Alina angry at him failed again.

"Aren't you joining me?" Alina paused in her tracks as he looked at Alex. "You brought me here, so you should join me too."

"Wait, is it fine for me to join you?" Alex asked as he glanced at the insides of the hospital. "Maybe your friends would not want to see you with me."

"Don't worry. They won't bite you.' Alina bluntly said as she continued walking.

Alex could only shake his head as he followed her.

"I thought this is your first time in this city. If that was the case, then how come you have friends here?" Alex off-handedly asked, not realizing that is sounded a little offensive.

"These friends of mine are in a different hospital not long ago." Alina said as she turned left. "They were just recently transferred here."

"Oh." Before Alex could say more, he and Alina stopped in their tracks as they arrived in a large room.

In this room, Alex could see a dozen of children playing with the toys around them.

All these children wore hospital clothes, and the pale pallor on their faces showed their sickly constitution.

But these pale faces of their turned red as they saw Alina.

"Sis!" The children shouted in happiness as they surrounded Alina. All of them looked extremely happy as they tugged at her clothes.

"Sis, you look pretty now!"

"Sis, I want to wear your mask!"

"Sis, you smell like food! I want food!"

Alex's face could not help but cramp as he saw the crowd of children around him and Alina.

Alex was particularly not good with children, as he felt that they were too mischievous and naughty.

At that point, Alex decided that he should leave Alina alone with the children. But before he could do so, he suddenly heard Alina talking to the children.

"All of you look so healthy! Are they feeding you well here?"

"What!" Alex could not help but stumble as he heard a sweet voice coming out from Alina.

This was way different from the cold, detached voice that she was using earlier.

It was too sweet, so much so that its like he was hearing a different person talking right now!

"Sis, all the food that they give us are bad!" One of the children complained as she tugged her dress. "They said we should just eat vegetables, but they always taste bad."

"Don't worry, your Big Sis will talk to them later." Alina continued speaking in her sweet voice, which just made Alex more bewildered.

This spectacle with the children continued for an hour before Alina left them. But it was quite obvious from her body language that she was reluctant to leave.

"So, what is that?" Alex said as he and Alina left the room. "I could not fathom what just happened there."

"Those children are experimental subjects for inhumane Esper experiments." Alina said, with her voice back to the cold, detached mode. "I could not stomach what was happening to them, so I rescued them all."

"Oh, so that is why they all call you Sis." Alex nodded his head in understanding as he saw the delighted looks on their faces.

"But why the sweet voice though?" Of course there is no way that Alex would not ask about this part.

"Those children cry when they hear my original voice." Alina said as she seemed to be embarrassed. "So to ensure that they won't be scared of me, I always used a sweet voice in front of them."

"You must really like children for you to do that" Alex said as he looked at Alina intently. "However, I still prefer to hear your real voice. It sounds like music to my ears."

"..." Alina did not say anything when she heard what Alex said, but Alex swore that he saw a slight tinge of red in her ears.

"Well, that might be just my imagination..." Alex thought to himself as he and Alina left the hospital.

Alex then let out a sigh as he wondered on how Alina could be a cold-blooded executioner while also be a food-lover and a big sister.

"Does she have a split-personality or something? Nope, that's too cliché." Alex thought wearily as he brought Alina to their next stop.

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Chapter 16 Star-Crusted Dagger

Alex could not help but feel elated as he saw the satisfied demeanor being let out by Alina.

But this also made him feel conflicted, as he was supposed to be distancing himself from her now.

"Where should I bring Alina next?" Alex muttered as he remembered that he was supposed to bring Alina to the police station.

But with Alina loving streetfood and her actually knowing some residents from the hospital, Alex thought that maybe Alina will also have some acquaintance in the police station.

Now that Alex thought about it, Alina will surely have some acquaintance from the police station, given the fact that she's a powerful Esper.

"So I should cross off the police station then." Alex muttered to himself as he looked extremely indecisive right now.

"..." With Alex deep in his thoughts and Alina not taking the initiative to talk, both of them just stood on their spot awkwardly.

"Hey Alin-" But before Alex could talk, he suddenly heard a powerful roar above him.

"Raaarrr!" Alex felt his ears ringing as his ear bled lightly.

As for Alina, her pleasant demeanor disappeared, as it was replaced by the same aura that Alex felt when she tried to kill him.

Alina is back in her killer mode.

She held a sword in each of her hands as she stared right above her warily.

There, both Alina and Alex could see an enormous creature right above them.

The dome that was covering the whole Dragon Esper City has a hole in it now, with the body of the enormous creature slipping through the hole.

Chunks of broken metal and electrical wiring fell out from the lining of the hole, which fell to the houses below it.

Everyone who saw what happened started to panic as they did their best to run away from the danger.

The enormous creature looked like a lizard with three heads, with each head spitting flames. Its body was scaled, and it had 10 limbs, with each limb serrated with 10-meter long barbs.

This appearance and its own thunderous entrance clearly painted that this mutated lizard is not here for some warmhearted talk.

"Wait, is that an Intruder?" Alex asked as both he and Alina started to run towards the direction of the monster.

"That is an Intruder, and from the looks of it, this Intruder is clearly one suited for battles." Alina said as she waved her swords around her.

"Scwhing, scwhing, schwing."

A large block of metal, which was about to fall on a house, were cut into three pieces by Alina's move.

What made Alex impressed was the fact that the said metal block was around 800 meters away from them.

"So Alina really is a Tier 999 Esper." Alex thought as he saw that the lizard's body was now halfway through the hole that it made.

"That creature is at least a Class SS Intruder." Alina muttered to herself as she run towards the direction of the enormous creature. "But for it to be a Class SSS Intruder is also plausible."

"Are you going to fight that?" Alex muttered as he saw how large the Intruder was.

"What choice do I have?" Alina muttered as their distance from the lizard reached 2 kilometers.

With the speed that he and Alina was running right now, there might be not enough time to stop the lizard from fully entering.

Alex immediately realized this point as he asked Alina,

"Will Clint be allowed to assist us here? With his power level, he might only need one zap to finish that lizard off."

"It is only when the power of the Intruder was Class Z that someone from the Top 10 Espers can help." Alina grimly said as she vaulted over an overturned vehicle. "This Intruder right here is way behind that power level, so Uncle Clint will not be allowed to attack it."

"Drats." That was all that Alex could say right now.

"Can you hurt it?" Right now, Alex knew that it was Alina that will have the higher chance of hurting the lizard in front of them.

"I do not know unless I get to use my power against it." Alina said as she quickened her pace. "The higher the class of the monster will be, the greater their resistance will be to my attacks. A Class Z Intruder will just treat my space slashes as mere tickles. As for this lizard, I might only deal surface damage on it."

"Now that is not good." Alex exclaimed as he knew that they must do something now, or else the lizard will kill the both of them and other people.

"F, I am still trying to acclimatize with my life here, and then this s*ty lizard just appeared." Alex darkly thought to himself as he looked at Alina. "But at least my date is now finished..."

When Alina and Alex were within a kilometer of the lizard, Alina started to brandish her swords once more.

This time she brandished them for 16 times, showing 16 rifts in space heading towards the lizard.

"Spurt!" The lizard's skin split open as they were unable to stop the space slashes.

But the injury stopped there, failing to penetrate further.

"It's a Class SS." Alina muttered as she fished out a phone-size crystal card from her pocket.

"Contacting Headquarters." Alina muttered as she talked at the crystal card. "Contacting Headquarters."

Alex then heard a static sound coming from the crystal card followed by the formation of image above the crystal card.

"A hologram." Alex thought to himself as he stared at the person being projected from the crystal.

The person was a handsome blonde male, around 20-25 years old. His piercing blue eyes and chiseled jaw might be enough to swoon the majority of the females.

His eyes were emitting a heroic air, making him look extremely valiant.

Alex was sure that this guy's body must be ripped, as that is the only fitting body for a guy with this kind of face.

Alex also noticed that this handsome blonde was giving Alina an extremely fond look.

"Either this blonde is Alina's relative, or he's one of Alina's admirers." Alex thought to himself as he could not help but get disgruntled with this blonde.

"Hey Alina! How are things right now?" The blonde looked extremely happy as he talked to Alina. Alina on the other hand, did not look that happy as she said,

"While I am having my date here in Dragon Esper City, a Class SS Intruder suddenly appeared, tearing a hole through the dome of the Dragon Esper City in the process."

Alina continued talking as she ignored the blonde's ashen expression.

"I know that the World Diagram have already identified that Intruder by now, but I figured that I must also report it to the EWO Headquarters personally."

As it turns out, the blonde's face was ashen not because of the Intruder.

"Wait, you have a date right now?" The blonde blurted out in surprise as he stared at Alina. "Is that true?"

"I just told you that earlier, Lord Gallius." Alina said with a hint of edge in her tone.

The blonde, whose name was Lord Gallius, swiveled his projected head until he saw Alex, who was standing beside Alina.

"So, you are Alina's date huh." Lord Gallius mumbled as he glowered at Alex. "I do not know how you managed to force Alina to date you, but I will make sure to investigate-"

"Right now, a lot of civilians will be in danger if you don't move your bodies." Alina said, interrupting whatever nonsense Lord Gallius was talking about. "If you have a beef with Alex, just deal with it after the Intruder."

"Alex huh. I will remember your name and face." Lord Gallius said as he gave a nod to Alina.

The crystal card then blinked as the projection disappeared.

"So, that guy..." Alex was about to ask Alina something when Alina waved him off.

"You said that you have awakened your Esper Ability, right? Then help me out right now. We still need to deal with that thing."

"Sure."

Right now, Alex could see that there are multitude of Espers crowding around the lizard.

They fired multitudes of attacks toward the lizard, but its tough skin took the brunt for most of these attacks.

The attacks that did went through were just few, and these attacks just served to infuriate the lizard more.

"Rarr!!" All three heads of the lizard then threw fireballs towards the Espers, which all exploded in mid-air.

The power in these fireballs were too great that most of the Espers below the fireballs were immediately killed.

Those who survived were heavily injured, making the whole situation bleak.

Alex gritted his teeth as he realized that the situation is really not that good.

Even with the speed of the World Diagram, it will still take around 5 minutes before any reinforcements can arrive from outside of the Dragon Esper City.

5 minutes will be enough for the lizard to kill more people.

And Alex and Alina will surely be included in that death tally.

"Do you have a plan right now?" Alina muttered as she looked at the lizard despondently. "That monster can be only hurt by a Star Esper, as only their Mental Power will be enough to penetrate that kind of defense."

"Can you be a Star Esper right now?" Alex muttered as the lizard descended on the ground. "Since you are already a Tier 999 Esper, then you just need a little push, right?"

"It is not that easy." Alina shot back with irritation clear in her voice.

"There is a massive gulf between a Tier 999 Esper and a 1 Star Esper. It is not something that can be just done overnight."

"So you can't do it right now?"

"I can't." Alina answered resolutely.

"Sigh, in that case, maybe I should buy that..." Alex thought despondently as he remembered the second item that is being sold to him by Asteria.

This item is the Star-Crusted Dagger, which costs about 15 days of his lifespan.

The function of this Star-Crusted Dagger was actually simple.

Its blade, which was made up of the essence of stars, contain enormous amounts of Mental Power inside them.

If this dagger was stabbed into a person, the person stabbed by the Star-Crusted Dagger will experience a 500% rise in their current Mental Power which will last for 5 minutes.

If the dagger was stabbed to two people at the same time, the boost will be divided, with each of the stabbed person receiving 250% boost.

This pattern will apply if the persons stabbed were 3,4, or more.

These effects might look impressive, but Alex's impression of the dagger dimmed when he saw its side-effects.

Once the 5-minute time limit was used up, the person boosted by the dagger will experience severe paralysis that will last depending on the boost used.

When he saw this side-effect, Alex decided to not buy the dagger anymore.

The side-effects alone will put his life in massive risk. And the fact that it gets 15 days of his lifespan just makes it worse!

But with the lizard currently barreling towards them, and the fact that Alina was here, Alex realized that he can still put the Star-Crusted Dagger into use.

"How much Mental Power do you need to become a Star Esper?" Alex asked as he glanced at Asteria.

Asteria immediately recognized what Alex's look meant. She flew towards the seal on his forehead as she connected with its trading system.

"I need to double my current amount of Mental Power to reach 1 Star." Alina said crossly as she seemed to glare at Alex. "Even with my current resources, it will take me around 2-3 years to become a 1 Star Esper..."

"Well, I have a way for you to temporarily reach 1 Star tonight." Alex said as he gave Alina a reassuring look.

"I can allow you to raise your Mental Power by 250%, for 5 minutes. I think that is enough for you to reach 1 Star temporarily." Alex said confidently. "However, once that 5-minute time was, up, you will be in a severely paralyzed state that will last for half a day..."

"If you believe in me, then allow me to do that power boost on you." Alex said as he waited tensely for Alina's reply.

It did not take Alina a second before she gave her reply.

And Alina's reply was well, a typical reply from Alina.

"If what you said is indeed true, then I will agree. But remember that my uncle and aunt know that I am on a date with you. If you do something nefarious to me, they will discover it, and they will just have to contact some of their Esper friends, and that will be the end of you."

"... I understand." Alex said as he saw Asteria purchasing the Star-Crusted Dagger for him.

The feeling of 15 days of his lifespan vanishing made Alex sigh in exasperation.

"I should not have signed up for this."

After hearing that Alina needed to just double her current Mental Power, Alex decided to use the Star-Crusted Dagger on Alina and himself.

Alina, because she needed to be a Star Esper to fight the lizard.

As for Alex, he needed to use it to since he saw some Espers looking around them with malicious intentions.

These Espers surely are up to no good. Maybe they decided to do crimes right now, with all the chaos around them.

Alex of course was not happy seeing this.

Alex was now itching to use his new skills on a fight, and these Espers will provide that chance to him.

With Alex's current Mental Power, he could sense that these Espers have mental powers around 100-120.

Alex knew that if he used the 250% boost of the dagger on himself, he will raise his Mental Power from 35 to 122.5. That will bring his Mental Power above them.

Combine that with some of his skills, and Alex was sure he can give these Espers some good beating that they deserve.

As for the paralysis after 5 minutes, Alex already had a countermeasure for that.

Alex activated the small radio that was given to him by Clint earlier, and used it to call Clint.

"Master, I need you to fetch us in our place 5 minutes from now. Alina and I will do something against the Intruder that will leave us defenseless 5 minutes from now, so I need you to be there to fetch us. I presume that will not violate your restriction from fighting, right?"

"Hmph, I know what is happening right now." Clint replied as his voice sounded unhappy.

His voice sounded husky as Alex could hear Clint's children being rowdy. "I am highly tempted to just roast that lizard right now, but this damn restriction is stopping me from doing so! But it seems like you and Alina have a plan prepared already..."

After a few seconds of hearing Clint admonish his rowdy children, Alex could hear some sighs over the radio as Clint said,

"Well don't worry. I will fetch you 5 minutes later, so have all the fun that you want."

"You heard that Alina?" Alex said as his predatory gaze went to the criminal Espers, while Alina's gaze went to the Intruder.

"Let have some fun."

Chapter 17 Now that"s Ho

"Is that the thing that you are talking about?" Alina warily asked as Alex made it look like he got the Star-Crusted Dagger from his pocket.

Alex stared at the dagger that he held, remembering its image in his mind.

"S*t, this thing cost me 15 days. Combine that with my 2 day stay in here, and I only have 13 days left..." Since Alex have already bought the star-crusted dagger, he has to accept his current predicament.

After all, if he did not buy the Star-Crusted Dagger, Alex will be obviously killed by the lizard.

Dying instantly is way worse than having 13 days of lifespan left.

So Alex did not regret his purchase of the dagger.

"Since it had come to this already, then I have no choice but to complete my bonus mission with Alina." Alex thought to himself as he raised the dagger up in the air.

"What are you doing?" Alina asked as she saw Alex's weird action. "Don't tell me you are going to stab yourself with that dagger?"

"Well, daggers are for stabbing, right?" Alex said as he plunged the Star-Crusted Dagger on his left arm.

"F*k them sideways!" Alex cursed as he felt extreme pain as the tip of the Star-Crusted Dagger penetrated his skin and muscle.

Alex ignored the fact that he just cussed in front of a girl as he felt more pain coming from the stab wound that he made.

"Sorry, but I need to stab you too." Alex said as he pointed his knife at Alina's direction. "If I don't do it, then I will be the only one to get the boost. You could sense it right?"

"I can sense it." Alina said as she noticed that Alex's Mental Power began to rise after he stabbed himself with that weird-looking dagger.

This coincides with the claim that Alex made earlier.

"I need to stab you now, or else all the Mental Power Boost will be used by me!" Alex said in panic.

But before he could do more action, he saw Alina deftly grabbing the dagger, with her using that dagger to stab her left thigh.

"!!!!!!!!!!!"

If Alex was lying right now, then Alina will personally use the dagger that she held to kill Alex.

Luckily for Alex, and the dagger did its job splendidly.

"It really is working." Alina exclaimed as she felt her extremely stagnant Mental Power staring to rise once more.

Even though the Range difference between a Tier 999 Esper and a 1 Star Esper was just 1 meter, there was still a metaphorical wall blocking anyone from easily gaining this extra meter.

Nobody was sure why this phenomenon is happening, but all Espers know that they will also face this blocking someday.

They will need large amounts of Mental Power and Ability Mastery to break down this wall.

But one must know that the progress of an Esper Ability decreases as time went on. This means that an Esper must become a 1 Star Esper as early as possible if they want to breakthrough.

In Alina' case, she had no problems with the Ability Part. Her only dilemma was the Mental Power part, as her ability to increase her Mental Power had decreased significantly compared to before.

When Alina told Alex that she can become a 1 Star Esper in 2-3 years, that was the perfect case scenario.

But Alina knew that with the everyday detoriation of her ability to absorb Mental Power, it will realistically take her 10 years to become a 1 Star Esper.

Of course, Alina knew that what was happening to her was very uncommon.

In fact, Alina knew that she was the only person that experienced something wrong with her Mental Power.

It was so suspicious, that Alina suspected that someone wanted Alina to stay stuck as a Tier 999 Esper.

And there is only one person that Alina knew might do this to her.

"Lord Ergo..." Alina muttered this name with venom laced in her voice, as if she wanted to just see this guy's body sliced to pieces and fed to the vultures.

"If you think you can prevent me from saving my sister just because I could not easily become a 1 Star Esper, then that is where all your machinations will fail!"

Once Alina felt that she had received the whole boost, she gathered all of her Mental Power to break the wall that was separating her from her goal.

"Boom!" Alina's mind shuddered as she felt like her brain has stepped into another level. Everything felt clearer to her, and she felt more powerful compared to before.

She inspected her Range, and to her delight she found out that she had indeed have a 1-Kilomter Range.

But while Alina was feeling elated right now, she also knew that this state of hers wont last.

Since the Mental Power that Alina used to break through was just a borrowed one, once they disappear, Alina will be forced to go back as a Tier 999 Esper.

With what Alex had told her earlier, Alina's Mental Power will only stay boosted for around 5 minutes. Once that time limit is used up, Alina will go back as a Tier 999 Esper.

Alina had not qualms with it, as this will be a good experience for her once she reattempts to become a Star Esper in the future.

"If my sister was here, she would be definitely wanting to roast this lizard..." Because of the food that Alex gave her earlier, Alina's appetite was at its peak.

Right now, Alina was not trying to drool as she imagined how the lizard might taste. Just the sight of its fried legs or steamed belly is enough to make Alina happy.

But that was not the only thing that Alina was salivating at.

Alisa was also salivating from the fact that she will receive large Contribution Points once she slays the lizard.

"I should stop daydreaming right now. I still have to finish off the opponent in 5 minutes." Alina stood up valiantly as her two swords flew around her.

Because of her limited Mental Power before, Alina has to hold her swords in order of her to easily create rifts in space.

But right now, Alina was using her boosted Mental Power to control the swords remotely.

This will grant Alina's attack with more variety, as her swords right now were just feely floating in the air.

Alina looked at the lizard, and then she looked at Alex who was walking towards a group of 4 Espers who looked like they were the type that collude themselves with crimes.

Alina knew what Alex was planning, so she just let him do his thing. As for her, its time for her swords to show her power.

"Ok, now how should I cut this lizard up?" Alina thought as she sent her swords slashing down again.

"D*n! I feel so stuffed!" Alex exclaimed as he tried to feel his whole body right now.

He felt so alive and giddy that he could not help but shake his body in anticipation.

His mind was much clearer than before, so much so that some of the problems that Alex faced in the Ability Training were all solved by him theoretically right now.

From the looks of it, a jump of Mental Power from 35 to 122.5 did quite a number on his brain.

He glanced at Alina, and he saw that she was now ready to attack the lizard.

With her dealing with the lizard, Alex was now free to deal with the rogue Espers.

He slowly walked towards them as he adjusted his body to the sudden changes.

He then paused as he realized that instead of making his presence seen, he can approach these rogues in a better way.

Alex closed his eyes as he sensed all the light waves within 122.5 meters around him.

He forced them to follow his will, making sure that all of these light waves will follow the trajectory that Ale wanted.

This turned Alex into a perfectly invisible person, as nobody could see the light waves that carry Alex's appearance.

However, this was only an optical invisibility. His sound and smell can still be detected easily, so Alex must still be careful on approaching them.

It was at that moment that Alex realized something funny.

Before he went to the date, Alex could only barely make himself invisible for a second.

But right now, it took him just a second to make his body auto-invisible.

And this invisible state of his will last until he wanted it to stop.

This clearly shows that Alex had somehow improved his insights regarding his EM Wave Manipulation.

"Don't tell me..." When Alex tired to recall his ideas about the radio sonar and the Electroaser, he felt that he had new ideas right now that he could not wait to try out.

It was at that point that Alex realized that when his Mental Power was raised, his own intelligence was affected by this increase too.

This is the only explanation for Alex's new revelations.

"So that is why the Star-Crusted Dagger was sold to me." Alex thought wryly to himself. "It's so that my Esper Ability will improve quickly..."

Of course Alex would not put that boost of his to waste.

"Now this is what we can call a fair fight..." Alex muttered as he approached the four Espers.

All of them held knives in their left hand, while their restless eyes looking around them.

The bellowing sounds released by the lizard were so great that they did not hear Alex's footsteps approaching them.

By the time they have realized it, it was already too late.

Alex started his move as he attacked them.

He clicked his fingers as he produced localized size of EMP which hit the Espers directly.

It did not hurt them at all, but all the electronic devices and weapons with them are all destroyed now.

Even their getaway car would not start as the EMP short-circuited the car battery.

"Who!" The leader of the rouge Espers swiveled his head as he tried to look on where the culprit was.

Once he saw the that Alex was not around, the leader started to panic as he decided to use his ability right now.

Objects near the leader began to float as they hovered all around him. Some of the cars started to float too, as they seemed to be affected by the leader's power too.

"So, telekinesis huh." Alex muttered to himself as he looked at the 3 other Espers.

They were also panicking like their leaders, as they were spooked of what happened.

One of them started to randomly shoot air blasts around him, hoping that he can get a lucky shot.

The second one brandished a flaming knife, which actually looked cool.

As for the third one, she was more level-headed, as she looked for any weird signs around her.

Too bad that vigilance did not help her as Alex made his next move.

"Since making an Electrolaser is still hard for me, I guess I will just use a simple conversion." Alex thought to himself as he remembered a certain fact about EM Waves.

As long as you change the frequency and wavelength of a certain EM Wave, it will transform into another kind of EM Wave.

Alex applied this principle right now as he compressed the light waves around him.

He decreased the frequency of these light waves until they changed to become Ultraviolet Waves.

Alex wanted to change the light waves into Gamma Waves, but he found out that his current Mental Power is not yet enough to do this.

"Seems like I have to reach Tier 500 to create Gamma Waves out of a Light Wave." Alex thought to himself as he gathered his newly converted UV Waves above his palm.

Alex knew that by decreasing the frequency of an EM Wave, its energy will decrease too.

He used this principle as he decreased the frequency of the UV Waves to decrease its fatality.

With its power now set to 'stun', not 'kill', Alex unleashed this converted UV Wave towards the 4 Espers.

"~~~"

His UV Wave Blast went through the 4 Espers, searing their skin and damaging their insides. If Alex did not hold back, they will be already dead by now.

"Ah!" All of them let out shouts of pain as they fell on the floor, unconscious.

"Ok, now that's hot." Alex muttered to himself us he undid his invisibility.

But before Alex could celebrate his success, he suddenly felt a powerful presence behind him.

He swiveled his head, and there he saw a small boy looking at him with a cocky smile on his face.

"That was a scary blast." The kid said as he started to suck on a lollipop. "However, if you used that on expert Espers, they will notice what you were doing before you can even attack."

"Oh... It seems like you know some stuff." Alex said as he narrowed his eyes.

He could feel with his danger sense that this kid is dangerous.

In terms of danger, he could feel that this kid is as just as dangerous as the Alina that tried to kill Alex.

"Well, I have some jobs that require me to know stuff." The kid said as a gun suddenly appeared on his palm. The kid then spun the gun around his palm as he said,

"And right now, you are my next job."

"Now that's not hot anymore." Alex muttered as he realized he was back again to some trouble.

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Chapter 18 Having a Fairy is sometimes Unfair

"Hmm... you seem like you have been doped." The kid muttered as he sensed the powerful fluctuations coming out of Alex's body. "Was it because of that dagger that you used earlier?"

"!!!" Alex stiffened as he realized that this kid was actually tailing him and Alina earlier! That was the only reason that this kid could notice what Alex did.

"So you have been tailing us earlier huh." Alex said as he discreetly began to activate his ability.

His next attack will take some time to work, so he needed to distract this kid first.

"I am actually not tailing you." The kid said as his eyes narrowed at Alex. "My job is to observe what Alina does in her mission. And if I were to see that there is something that is distracting her, then I will eliminate those distractions."

"Oh, so you're treating me as Alina' distraction now?" Alex said as he felt his boost time reduced to 4 minutes. "That was actually flattering."

"Hmph!" The kid's eyes began to blaze with anger as he spat away the lollipop. The lollipop's glistening candy was stained with dirt as it rolled beside the kid's feet.

The kid then crushed the lollipop as he slowly said,

"My Lord treats Alina as his own property... Nobody is allowed to lay claim on her except for My Lord. And since you dare to lay claim on her, it will be up to me to stop you."

"Property you say?" Alex stared to laugh as he urged his ability to go faster. "How the hell could Alina be a property of someone? That Lord of yours must be an idiot!"

"Hmph, you know nothing, Alex." The kid said as he began to smirk.

"Even if Alina has no feelings for My Lord, My Lord knows that it will be only a matter of time before she will be his. Besides, even if my Lord thinks that Alina is just a useless toy, a toy will still be a toy."

"This is getting ridiculous." Alex said as he shook his head. "This Lord of yours cannot just force Alina to like him. It's her own free will to do so."

"Free will? Hahahaha!" The boy began to laugh as his body shook. He started to tear up as the laughter seemed to be too much for him.

"Ever since my Lord took hold of Alina's sister, there is no more free will that Alina can have!" The kid said as he wiped the tears on his eyes. "Right now, Alina is just a slave for my Lord, doing all of his bidding. It will be only a matter of time before she becomes his bed warmer!"

It was at that moment that Asteria told Alex that his bonus mission was halfway done.

"Ok, so that is Alina's situation huh." Alex muttered to himself as he heard what the boy said.

"So Alina's sister, who was very powerful before, became incapacitated and was then captured by this kid's Lord. This Lord then used Alina's sister to force Alina to do jobs for him, and from the looks of it, this Lord's next aim is to make Alina his woman."

Alex ignored the bitter taste in his mouth as he reached this conclusion. "So that means this Lord must also be the one who commanded Alina to kill me."

One Alex had fully realized Alina's situation, his wariness and hostility that he had against her were reduced, as he started to feel pity and loneliness for her.

Alex could empathize with what Alina was feeling, as he was also forced to do things for his little sister before.

"..." Alex suddenly gritted his teeth as he began to remember the memories of his little sister that he prefers to be just forgotten.

The kid ignored Alex's angry appearance as he looked greedily at the Star-Crusted Dagger on Alex's left hand.

This kid has seen what this dagger can do, and now he wanted to take it for himself.

"Oh, you want this kid? Then come on and get it." Alex taunted as he played around with the dagger.

"Hmm... Since this kid is just as dangerous as Alina, then his power must be scary too." Alex's mind began to accelerate as he envisioned all the possible Esper Abilities that this kid can have.

"Tsk, there are just many possibilities." Alex thought sourly to himself as he readied his body.

He can see that the kid was ready to attack, so Alex must prepare himself.

"Since you have invited me in, then I shall gladly partake on the feast." The kid said as he suddenly disappeared.

Alex's eyes widened before he suddenly felt danger descending from his left side.

Ever since Alex started to fight the 4 Espers earlier, he had been constantly shooting out radio waves all around him.

Since Alex can sense the radio waves freely, he can sense when something or someone appears within these radio waves.

This allowed Alex to sense that the kid appeared instantaneously on his left side.

"Dodge!" Alex leapt away from his spot, which allowed him to avoid the kid's first attack.

"Boom!" The floor under Alex's former spot shattered as the kid's fist crushed it.

"S*t, this kid packs some power!" Alex thought grimly as he leapt away 2 more times.

"Impressive." The kid said as he stared at Alex with amusement. "So you can use your ability to sense you surroundings. Tsk, I hate to fight people like you."

"You are impressive too." Alex said as he stared at the kid with trepidation. "You suddenly appeared behind me to attack me. That's some scary movement."

"Is that teleportation? Or is it time stop? S*t, this kid is no good!" Alex thought grimly to himself as he increased the power of his radio wave sensing.

"If I discover what this kid's Esper Ability is, then victory will be mine!" Alex thought as he waited for the kid's next move.

"Hehehe, let me tell you one thing." The kid said as he began to suck on another lollipop. "My Esper Ability is not teleportation or time stop. It is something much simpler than that."

The kid then drew a sword from his back as he said,

"You must be thinking on attempting to decipher my power. Just give it up, as since my next attack will kill you!"

After hearing what the kid said, Alex just smiled as if he was not worried about the kid.

The reason for that smile was revealed as Alex looked at his left shoulder with gratitude.

"Thanks Asteria." Alex thought to himself as he gave Asteria a grateful look.

Alex truly has no idea on how the kid was able to suddenly appear behind him.

However, Asteria seems to have figured out the kid's power, and when she told Alex about her suspicions, Alex found it to be actually plausible.

"Hehehe, you can stop someone's mind for a certain period of time, right?" Alex said as he trusted the answer given to him by Asteria.

"Once you stop someone's mind for a second, you can use that time to attack that person." Alex muttered as Asteria let out proud smirk.

"For the person that you used your ability on, they would not sense the things that happened when their mind was stopped. They will just assume that what happened before the mind stop and after the mind stop were the 'real connected' events." Alex said as he relished the astonished expression on the kid's face.

"Even if it appeared that you teleported behind me, all that you did was to just run towards me when my mind was stopped." Alex concluded his speech as he looked at the kid's constipated face. "My explanation hit the mark, right?"

"..." The kid glowered at Alex for a second before he out a sigh. You're d*n right, kid."

"Hmph, I told you I am right!" Asteria arrogantly said to Alex as she crossed her arms. Her face was so smug right now that if Alex was not fighting this kid, he might have pinched Asteria's cheeks already.

According to Asteria, when the kid made his move earlier, Alex suddenly froze in place, as if he was forced to stop.

Since Asteria was Alex's Guide, she can sense all of Alex's vital signs.

Asteria noticed that while most of Alex's vitals were good, his brainwaves appeared to be extremely sluggish.

In fact, they were so sluggish that it was as if Alex's mind has stopped.

Add the surprised expression on Alex's face when the kid attacked him from behind, and Asteria was able piece together all the clues.

She naturally told about her discovery to Alex, as she will die if Alex dies.

The kid's expression turned green with anger when Alex discovered his power. However, this expression of his only lasted for a second before he let out a laugh.

"So what if you know my power now?" The kid said as his smile twisted into something feral, something predatory. "You still have no way to stop it!"

"You think so?" Alex smiled as Asteria told him how long he was stuck in a mind stop. "You can stop my mind for 1.5 seconds huh. That's neat."

"How could you have known that!" The kid suddenly stiffened his body as he realized the answer.

"You, you have another person surveying our fight!" The kid muttered as he shook his head. "So someone can actually hide their presence better than me."

"Yes, that person really is good at stealth." Alex said. "And right now, that person is still here, ready to strike you down."

Of course Asteria has no way to fight against this kid, but the kid does not know that it was a weak fairy that was surveying him.

The kid was most likely thinking that the person who was hidden right now was another powerful Esper.

The fear of being attacked by a hidden Esper was enough to make the kid hesitate.

Alex took advantage of this hesitation as he unleashed the attack that he had been building up earlier.

"..."

A hole suddenly appeared on the kid's torso, as a powerful laser beam tore through it.

"What..." Blood dribbled out of the kid's moth as he looked at the hole in his torso. "How could this be..."

"It worked!" Alex thought with relief as he looked at the hole in his right shoe.

While he was talking to the kid earlier, Alex had been busy building up EM Waves inside his right shoe.

Inside his right shoe, Alex has placed a special metal that when hit with the right amount of EM Waves, will release a powerful beam composed of excited photons.

The problem in using this technique is that it will take around a minute to fully build up the right amount of EM Waves to create the photon beam attack.

That was the reason why Alex tried stalling for time.

There are a lot of risks by doing this, and Alex almost failed when his mind was stopped by the kid.

It was lucky for Alex that his body continued on amassing EM Waves even when he was mindstopped for 1.5 seconds.

Alex then reached the breaking point when he told the kid about his mindstopping power.

At that time Alex only needed the kid to be distracted enough to not see his coming attack.

This chance came when the kid began to look for the 'hidden enemy' warily.

He bombarded the metal on his right shoe with all the EM Waves that he has gathered, and the resulting laser beam tore through the kid's torso like it was butter.

"No hard feelings kid, but I have to do this." Alex said as the kid kneeled on the floor in agony.

But before Alex could feel more smug with what he did, he suddenly saw the kid injecting himself with a syringe.

"S*t!" Once the syringe was used, Alex could see the kid's wounds healing at a visible rate.

The kid began to pant as his pale complexion cleared up.

He slowly stood up as he glared at Alex murderously.

"Now you've really done it!" The kid said as his face became a twisted expression of anger. "I planned on making you die quickly, but now I will just hack your limbs one by one!"

"Hey, mind your words kid.' Alex said as he backed up slowly. "You just healed and you are blabbering that much? That won't be good for your mind!"

"Shut up!" The kid said as gripped his sword tightly. "Let's see if you can still survive right now, you bastard!"

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Chapter 19 I doubt that you can blink them properly

"Of course he will have something like that." Alex thought to himself as he stared at the fully-healed torso of the kid.

Both Alex and the kid were standing apart from each other, as they both readied their abilities.

Alex and kid could heard booming sounds from the background. This was obviously produced by the fight between Alina and the lizard.

"..." Right now there are only 2 and a half minutes left until Alex's boost will be used up.

It seems like Alina will be unable to help Alex within that time, with the lizard fighting against her.

That means its up to Alex to win against this kid in 2 and a half minutes. If Alex fails to defeat this kid within that time, then he will be toast meat.

"Should I have just gone for the head earlier?" Alex mumbled to himself.

With this control over EM Waves, Alex could have just blown the kid's head off earlier, but Alex hesitated on doing it, opting to attack on the kid's torso instead.

And now, that decision of his has backfired on him.

"Drats."

Alina never have felt this exhilarated before,

She felt extremely free, as if she could just do anything that she wanted now.

Of course Alina knew that this was just an illusion, but she was sure that she was way stronger now compared to before.

Her attack, which could only barely graze the lizard's skin earlier, now has successfully hacked off some pieces of the lizard's flesh.

"Grya!" The three heads of the lizards shouted roared angrily as blood went out pouring out of its wounds.

It spit a set of fireballs towards Alina, which she just nonchalantly slashed back.

"Boom boom boom!" All the fireballs were forced to prematurely explode by Alina's attack, saving her from the brunt of the damage.

These kinds of exchanges were all that happened for the 2 and a half minutes that Alina temporarily became a 1 Star Esper.

Alina felt slight panic as she knew that if this goes on, she will be unable to kill the lizard.

What made it worse was the thing that the lizard in front of Alina did.

Its body began to change its appearance and size, with the lizard quickly shrinking.

Its three head disappeared, as well as its limbs.

It took only the lizard a second to complete its transformation.

"..." Alina gritted her teeth as she realized what the lizard just did.

"This Intruder just changed its Type." Alina muttered darkly to herself. "Now this just makes everything worse."

Although the Intruders that appear to attack them all vary, they can be put together in two broad categories.

First one is the Tank Type and the second one is the Humanoid Type.

The Tank Type were the huge, hulking Intruders that wreak havoc with their large and powerful bodies. Just like a tank.

The lizard that Alina fought earlier was clearly a Tank Type.

Although the Tank Type Intruders can dish out massive amounts of damage, their immense sizes render them to be extremely slow.

Alina took advantage of this earlier, as she was able to dodge the lizard's attacks with ease.

As for the Humanoid Type, these are the Intruders that have taken human shape.

The damage that they can deal is obviously less than the Tank Type, but their small size and mobility allows them to deal better with agile opponents.

Not only that, but some Humanoid Types have their own special skills that make them sometimes more dangerous than that Tank Types.

Alina was sure that the Class S intruder that she met 2 days ago was a Humanoid Type. Maybe its special ability is to teleport away.

Alina shook her head as she ignored the matter of that Class S Intruder, as right now, another Humanoid Type has appeared in front of Alina!

"How come I did not expect this?" Alina muttered darkly to herself as she stared at the hew form of the lizard.

Right now, the lizard was only about 3 meters tall, still taller than most people.

It had humanoid features, with two legs, two arms, a torso and a human-sized head.

Its skin was pale gray in color, and there are some scales that covered the humanoid lizard's joints.

Its eyes were red in color, and its long tongue was flickering out of its mouth.

"Now I am in trouble." Alina muttered to herself as she increased her vigilance.

The lizard has no way to hurt Alina earlier, as its body was too large, making it slow.

But right now, the lizard transformed to be a Humanoid Type Intruder. Its speed has most obviously increased!

As if to prove this point, Alina suddenly saw the humanoid lizard's body flickering.

Before Alina could process it, she suddenly 'felt' the lizard coming at her at insane speeds.

"!!!" With her Weak Space Manipulation, Alina could sense everything within 1 kilometer around her. Naturally that includes the lizard.

Alina earlier thought that with her spatial sensing, even if the lizard has become faster right now, she can still dodge its attacks.

Well, that thought of hers was right but also not right.

The humanoid lizard had moved so fast that by the time Alina could realize it, the lizard was already in front of her.

Alina was left with no choice but to hastily set up a Space Barrier in front of her.

If Space Slashes were Alina's offensive ability, then Space Barriers were her best defensive ability.

Alina creates a Space Barrier by compressing the space around her. The explanation is just as simple as that.

Objects will need to have more kinetic energy if they want to move through the compressed space.

The more compressed the space is, the more energy is needed by objects to move through it.

Alina was using this exact principle to protect herself from attacks aimed at her.

As long as an attack was not insanely powerful, they would be stopped by the space barrier from ever reaching Alina.

This is the classic sword-and-shield build.

With the sudden appearance of the humanoid lizard, the space barrier that Alina created was hastily made.

Still, with Alina's current Mental Power, it was way stronger than the Space Barrier that she can create when she was a Tier 999 Esper.

The space barrier was able to slow down the lizard's kick, but before Alina could feel relieved, the humanoid lizard let out a roar as it applied more force on its legs.

"Puchi!" Alina was barely able to dodge as she humanoid lizard's kick went right past her torso.

With Alina dodging out of the way, she was able to prevent her torso from being cut into two.

However, the kick still managed to gouge a deep wound from Alina's stomach.

"Gh!"

Alina gritted her teeth as she activated her third move, which she called the Space Blast.

This move requires the presence of the Space Barrier first.

Once the Space Barrier was present, Alina will then remove the compression of the space in the Space Barrier.

When she does this, the reaction of the compressed space will be quite similar to the reaction of a compressed spring that was released.

Both of them will expand outwards, bringing large amounts of energy with them.

That was exactly what the Space Blast was.

It was a blast that was produced by the recoil of decompressing a Space Barrier.

This move of hers had taken down many tricky opponents before already.

"Boom!" the resulting space explosion generated large amounts of energy that it looked like the whole place around Alina and the humanoid lizard was covered in light.

Both Alina and the humanoid lizard was pushed back by the Space Blast.

Alina, with her Esper Ability, was able to reduce the damage of the blast on her body.

As for the humanoid lizard, its body was caved in on many places. One of its arms were also gone while its body looked extremely bloody.

It might look extremely miserable, but Alina could feel that this humanoid lizard could still move.

Alina wiped the blood that dribbled from her mouth as she muttered,

"Let's finish this."

Alex and the kid were both staring at each other intently, making sure that one of them will make the move before their opponent could.

"Say, are you a kid or an old man?" Alex said as his face suddenly became relaxed.

"Huh? Don't call me a kid! I am much older than you!" The 'old kid' declared as he lowered his body further.

"Oh, in that case, I will not feel guilty anymore once I kill you. After all, I hesitated on killing you earlier..." Alex said with a relieved expression on his face.

"Huh? Are you telling me that you could have killed me earlier, but I just survived because you thought I am a kid? Now that is just making me more pissed!" The 'old kid' snarled in reply.

The 'old kid' then pointed his sword at Alex as he said,

"As a thanks for your 'kindness' earlier, I shall kill you by decapitation. Maybe you can count how many blinks you can do when your head is cut off."

"..."

"..."

"Now!"

Both of them let out a shout as they started to make their move.

But before they could even activate their Esper Ability, they were suddenly covered by large amounts of light.

This light was the light produced by Alina's Space Blast!

Alex was unaffected by the sudden increase of light, as he subconsciously filtered the light so that only the right amount of light reaches his eyes.

But as for the 'old kid', he let out a shout of pain as he covered his eyes in agony.

"!!!!"

Even though Alex only allowed the right amount of light to reach his eyes, he could still sense that there's a sudden increase of light around him.

He also noticed what happened with the 'old kid'.

"Now is my chance!" Alex knew that he can now make his attack, as the 'old kid' was distracted by the sudden increase in brightness.

And the best medium for Alex's attack right now was all the new light around him.

"Gather!" Alex shouted as he forced all of the new light around him to be compressed on his palm.

This compression was different from changing an EM Wave's wavelength.

What Alex did right now was pure, physical compression of the light wave.

This resulted in an increase of temperature of the physically compressed light.

He then shot it towards the old kid's eyes, which started to slowly open.

Alex made sure that the compressed light that he shot was around the size of the old kid's eyes.

"..."

Alex's attack perfectly penetrated the old kid's eyes when he fully opened it.

"Sizzle..." Alex started to smell cooked flesh as his attack proceeded to burn both of the old kid's eyes.

"Argh!!" While the old kid was in pain because of his burnt eyes, Alex rushed towards him as he waved his Star-Crusted Dagger.

With Alex and Alina under the effect of the Star-Crusted Dagger, Alex knew that stabbing the old kid with the Star-Crusted Dagger would not help increase his Mental Power at all.

But Alex was not planning on stabbing the 'old kid' anyway.

"Sprut!" With a scary precision, Alex deftly decapitated the defenseless 'old kid'.

The old kid's head flew into the air, before landing on the ground with a thud.

Anyone who saw what Alex did can say that this is not the first time that Alex decapitated someone.

Alex then let out as sigh as he looked at the head of 'old kid'.

Alex proceeded to wipe the blood from the Star-Crusted Dagger as he said,

"Well, you can try counting your blinks now. But with your eyes burnt that badly, I doubt you can blink them properly."

"..."

Chapter 20 It"s time to Cook

"Ugh... Where did that light come from?" Alex knew that if it were not for that massive surge of light, then it might be his head that is rolling on the ground already.

"..." Alex tried to ignore the old kid's headless body as he watched Alina's fight with the lizard.

Except that there is no lizard in sight.

What Alex could see was a bleeding Alina squaring off against a human-looking lizard man?

"Huh. What the hell is happening here?" Alex then shook his head as he realized that it's not the time to ask questions now.

Since he still had some time left before the time limit is up, Alex decided to assist Alina in in every way that he can.

"But what can I do?" Alex thought sourly to himself as he saw the intense battle between the two.

Because of his limited Mental Power, Alex can only rely on his vision to see everything that happened.

But even with that limited sensing, Alex could not help but feel that he was lucky to have Alina with him right now.

"Even if Alina became a temporary 1 Star Esper, she was still able to perform these powerful attacks... D*n, if she attacked me right now, even my danger sense would be unable to save me." Alex grimly thought as he realized the gravity of his main mission.

"If Alina and this Class SS Lizard was already this strong, then how strong would the other Star Espers would be?"

Alex then shook his head as he put this matter at the back of his head.

Alex had just been in this world for 2 days, and now he already had the power to protect himself.

Give Alex more days to train, and his progress will be greater!

Asteria seemed to have detected Alex's melancholic thoughts as she said, "Traveler, you may not know it, but when you became a Traveler, your body had been remodeled by the Endless Monarch."

"Your body right now will accept all kinds of cultivation and strengthening techniques, provided that you can afford it with your lifespan." Asteria said these words that can make any cultivator faint in anger as if it they were just mere facts.

"Not only that, but your ability to grow stronger has been improved in your current body too." At this point, Alex can already understand what Asteria was saying now.

"Traveler, that just means that as long as you put in the effort to get stronger, then you will stronger quickly." Asteria concluded as she patted Alex's cheek.

Did Asteria just became sympathetic to Alex?

"So make sure that you do not do anything stupid now. Because if you die, you can't experience the quick growth that I am talking about."

Nope, Asteria is still the same.

"Hai, hai, I won't die here." Alex said as he looked around him.

With the intensity of the fight between the lizard man and Alina, there is no way that Alex could get near right now.

In that case, Alex has no choice but to only use long-range moves to assist Alina.

"But there is no way that my attacks can damage that thing." Alex knew that if this lizard man can stand toe-to-toe with Alina, then that must mean that his power is around the Star Esper Level too,

Alex's Mental Power of relatively measly 122.5 won't do s*t on that lizard man.

"If direct attacks won't do, then that just mean I can only assist Alina by somehow distracting or slowing the lizard man down." Alex muttered as his mind began to churn.

With his brain enhanced by the boost, Alex was able to think up of thousands of possible ways to slow down or distract the lizard man.

Alex discarded the ways that required a long time to use, and the ways that are too unrealistic to use with his current Mental Power.

Alex then quickly eliminated the remaining ways until there was only one way left.

Alex suddenly wore a fearless smile on his face as he digested the contents of the remaining way.

He shook his head as he glared at the lizard man balefully.

"Well then, here I come." Alex whispered as his face suddenly turned focused.

"This is getting worse." Alina thought to herself as he continued exchanging attacks with the humanoid lizard.

With the lizard's speed, most of Alina's attacks missed and those that did were unable to hit the lizard's vital spot,

Alina was also getting slightly overwhelmed by the lizard's attacking speed, as she has to create numerous Space Barriers at a time to protect herself.

Add Alina's stomach injury that is not getting any better, and Alina was being slowly pushed into the corner.

Right now, there are only 1 and a half minutes left before her boost gets used up.

Looking at her current situation, Alina knew that she is already f*ked up.

"It seems like I have no choice but to do that..."Alina thought as an extremely determined expression appeared on her face.

"My sister will not be happy once I did this, but this is the only way that I can win right now."

But right before Alina could start doing that, she suddenly remembered that she was not the only Esper in here.

There is still Alex with her!

"S*t! If I do that here, Alex will surely be implicated too!" Alina's eyes narrowed as she decided to make Alex run away now.

With her busy attacking and defending , Alina can only use her sensing of space to see how Alex fared.

She could sense in her space that Alex was relatively uninjured, with a headless body and decapitated head near him.

Alina tried to identify who the unfortunate victim was, and to her surprise, it was someone that she knew!

"Mindbreaker is dead..." Alina thought grimly as she was perfectly sure that this guy was a loyal minion of Lord Ergo.

"From what I know, Mindbreaker was supposed to be doing something at the mansion now, so how come he just suddenly appeared here? And why did he and Alex even fight! And how was Alex able to win?"

There is no way that Alina's questions can get answered right now, with her being extremely busy.

As such, she can only inquire Alex about his matter with Mindbreaker on their next meeting.

That is, if they can still stay alive here.

As Alina started to feel helpless, she suddenly heard Alex's voice shouting out to her.

"Alina, I have a way to help you beat that lizard! However, we can just do it once. If it fails, we are dead."

Alina could not help but to feel suspicious with what Alex said to her.

Sure, Alex was a pretty great guy when he treated her to her favorite streetfood and when he joined her to visit the experimented children... but that greatness of his does not equate to his battle power.

Alina could sense that Alex's Mental Power was around 122.5 right now. That kind of power would not be enough for any of his attacks to help Alina.

So how can Alex have the guts to claim that he can help Alina right now?

"I have a plan, but I need your help for it." Alex shouted as he glanced at the body of the humanoid lizard.

After he successfully killed the old kid, Alex suddenly had a bright idea regarding his use of his abilities.

"Maybe that can work, although it will only hurt the lizard... Well as long it is hurt and distracted, Alina will have time to kill it." This is what Alex thought to himself as he looked at Alina hopefully.

Fortunately for Alex, Alina chose to believe him.

"Boom!" Alina used a quarter of her Mental Power to create a Space Blast that catapulted the humanoid lizard towards Alex's location.

With that move, the humanoid lizard was forced to be inside Alex's Range.

"Well here goes nothing then." Alex muttered as he felt a head-splitting headache blossoming inside his head.

He decided to use the majority of his remaining Mental Power for his next move, just to make sure that it will work.

-1 minute left for boost-

Alex reached out with his ability, and all the light produced by Alina's latest Space Blast all converged towards the humanoid lizard's location.

Alex then forced all this light to go through the humanoid lizard's eyes.

"Oh, so you want to use the light to damage the brain of the humanoid lizard? Sorry, but I think that will not work..." Alina muttered as she saw what Alex was doing. "The organs of this humanoid lizard are much tougher than what you could expect."

With the tough body that the humanoid lizard had, even its internal organs were all tough too.

This allowed the humanoid lizard to resist all the light waves that are inside its head now.

"Who told you that I will just use light wave to attack its brain?" Alex said smilingly as he raised his right hand upwards. He then closed it into a fist as he said,

"Compress!"

This time, Alex changed the wavelength of all the light waves inside the humanoid lizard's brain.

He compressed them until all of them turned into Ultraviolet Waves.

"Grya!!!" Just like what Alex had expected, the humanoid lizard's body started to jerk around as his brain was being slowly melted by all the UV Waves that Alex conjured inside its brain.

But to Alex's dismay, he sensed with his EM Wave sensing that the humanoid lizard's brain was slowly regenerating.

"D*n, this this lizard is tough as heck." Alex muttered as he slumped forward to the ground, extremely exhausted. "However, I have done my part already."

With the stunt that Alex did, the humanoid lizard was distracted greatly.

Of course Alina will not let go of this chance.

She used all of her remaining Mental Power to create 3 Space Slashes towards the defenseless body of the humanoid lizard.

With the humanoid lizard busy regenerating its brain, it was unable to dodge Alina's final attack.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

Alina's charged attack managed to cut the humanoid lizard easily like tofu.

Its body was bisected vertically, then it was cut horizontally, and finally diagonally.

This resulted in 6 pieces of the humanoid lizard's body falling to the ground.

Alina's body hovered in the air for a second, before she started to fall towards the ground.

Because she used all of her Mental Power in that last attack, she was unable to sustain floating on her space. Naturally this led to her falling to the ground.

But before her body could crash to the ground, someone rushed in to catch her.

That person was of course Alex.

"..." With her body extremely spent right now, Alina was unable to open her mouth to talk.

But Alex could see gratitude in her eyes, as well as curiosity.

Alex scratched his head, realizing that Alina might have already seen the corpse of the old kid earlier.

"I know that you have some questions for me right now, but why don't we just talk about that tomorrow?" Alex said as he suddenly crashed down to the ground.

With the time limit of their boost all used up, both of them experienced the severe paralysis that was warned to them at the start.

Just a second after they crashed, a figure suddenly appeared behind them.

This figure let out a low whistle as he looked at the devastation around him.

He then looked at Alina that was on the ground, and Alex who was lying on top of her.

Obviously, they were in stuck in that position since they were both paralyzed now.

But anyone who can see these two right now will have no context of what happened...

The figure, who turned out to be Clint, let out a smile as he said,

"Alex, you just had your date, and now you are already on top of her? That was quick!"

"..."

Chapter 21 Congratulations, Traveler

If Alex could move right now, then he will do his best to punch that smirk off from Clint's smug face.

Too bad he's already paralyzed.

He and Alina could only let out groans of protest as they glared at Clint with their eyes.

"Yo chill... it's just a joke!" Clint said as he raised his hands defensively. "Tsk, people these days can't even take a joke! What happened to our society?"

"..."

"Well anyway, congratulations! Both of you defeated a Class SS Intruder, and this guy..." Clint said as he looked at the headless corpse of the old kid.

"This kid was sent by that sleazy bastard, right?" Clint suddenly seethed with rage as he began to trample on the headless corpse.

"You. F*king. S*t!" Clint enunciated each word with anger with every kick that he made on the corpse.

"You. Dare. Spy. On. My. Niece? You. Really. Are. Pushing. It! If. It. Were. Not. For. My. Restriction. I. Would. Have. Been. The. One. That. Killed. You!"

If Alex could wince, he could have done so by now.

As for Asteria, she could only look at the raging Clint with worship as she muttered,

"Wow, this guy looks scary as hell."

"Hooo..." Clint let out a deep breath as his smug smile returned. "Now I am refreshed."

"..."

What happened after that was all a blur.

Clint called the majority of his gang to help on the rescue and retrieval operations of the people in the battle area.

As for Alex and Alina, they were brought back by Clint to his house.

They were then placed on two beds to accommodate their current state.

"So, these two will stay paralyzed for 12 hours?" Natasha muttered as she looked at the paralyzed Alina. Natalia, who was standing beside her mother, suddenly giggled as she said,

"Mommy, we can play dress-up with Big Sis Alina! She cannot stop us now!"

"Yes, she can't stop us right now." Both Natasha and Natalia grinned as they approached Alina with a scary glint in their eyes.

"..." Alina tried to use her Esper Ability, but even that was also restricted by her paralysis.

"There's a lot of dresses that I have bought for you Alina..." Natasha said in a sickly sweet voice. "It will be a waste if you don't wear it, right?"

"..."

"I'll take that silence as yes." Natasha said as she and Natalia brought Alina out of the room.

"Dress-up? Now I want to see that too." Asteria declared as she flew out of the room.

With those three women leaving, Alex realized that he was now all alone in the room.

Realizing that he has to spend 12 hours staring at the same piece of ceiling, Alex wondered if buying that Star-Crusted Dagger had been worth it.

"..."

16 hours later.

Right now, both Alex and Alina had recovered from their paralysis.

Sounds of clacking utensils could be heard as the two of them were eating along with Clint and his family.

Alina was looking down on the floor as she ate while Alex tried to not look interested.

The reason for their strange behavior right now was caused because of a certain mother-daughter duo.

"Oh, this one is cute..." Natasha and Natalia giggled as they both looked at the pictures in their camera.

They spent the first 4 hours of Alina's paralysis playing dress-up with her.

They stopped after that time because they could feel the intense glare that was coming out of Alina.

But that 4 hours of dress-up provided Natasha and Natalia a lot of good materials.

"Alex, don't you want to see some of Alina's pictures?" Natasha crooned as she began to swing the camera at Alex's direction.

"You know, I had her wear this cowboy shorts with knee-high socks..."

"Let me see that!" Alex blurted as his head swiveled towards the camera.

But he was forced to lower his head as Alina gave him the death glare.

"Hmph, what is so good about legs?" Asteria muttered angrily as she saw Alex's reaction. "They are just used for walking!"

"You will never know their wonders..." Alex thought to himself as he gave an apologetic smile at Alina.

"Oh come on, can you just tease Alina about her pictures later? We are still eating here..." Clint said as he wolfed down his food.

Alina, who was the main subject of this conversation, had her head lowered more with her ears tinged red with embarrassment.

After a few minutes of eating, Clint suddenly let out a sigh as he looked at Alex.

"Alex." Clint's face suddenly turned grave while looking at Alex. "I need to talk to you and Alina later."

"Okay." Alina ignored her embarrassment as she and Alex wore grave expressions on their faces.

Everyone on the dining table continued eating quietly, as if their moods were affected by what Clint said.

"You two were nearly killed there." Clint said as he rubbed his forehead wearily. "I know that you wanted to delay the lizard long enough so that it won't kill a lot of people. But seriously? You actually fought him by yourselves only?"

"Well regarding that master-" Alex was about to say something, but Clint raised his hand to interrupt him.

"I know what you are going to say Alex." Clint said as he gave Alex a glare that effectively shut him up. "You are telling me that because of that dagger of yours, you two can deal with that lizard easily. But were you able to fight against that lizard easily?"

"..." Alex and Alina did not reply, as they knew the answer.

"Alina had her stomach slashed open by that lizard." Clint said as rage smoldered in his eyes.

"It was a good thing that I gave her a High-Grade Healing Stock at that time. As for you Alex, even if you were not injured, you were almost killed by that kid."

"I know that Alina has the responsibility to fight those Intruders, but Alina, you must also choose your fights." Clint said as he gave Alina a soft look.

"I know that you are doing all of these for your sister, but if you overdo it..."

"What I do for my sister is my decision alone. Its not like you can help me out anyway." Alina blurted out as she marched out of the room.

Her body was trembling, as if she was trying to contain all for her emotions right now.

Before leaving the room, she looked back at the two as she said,

"Don't follow me."

The door closed with a slight bang as Alina left the house.

"You. Go follow her." Clint said as he pushed Alex forward.

"But she said that we should not follow us!" Alex hissed in reply.

Upon hearing this reply, both Clint and Asteria shook their heads in disappointment.

"If a girl says that you should not follow her, that just means that you should follow her." Clint said while Asteria nodded in agreement.

"But..."

"I am already married, Alex." Clint said as he stared at Alex. "You should trust my advice. Trust me, you won't regret it."

"Ok..." Alex replied uncertainly as he bounded out of the house.

At the instant that Alex left, Natasha entered the room. Both Clint and Natasha gave tired smiles at each other as they said,

"Teenagers."

It did not take Alex that long to trace Alina's tracks.

Even without using his Esper Ability, Alex could recognize a set of tracks that could only belong to Alina.

He followed this track closely, and after 10 minutes of walking, he saw Alina huddling inside a dilapidated building.

Alex started to approach the hut slowly, with him making sure to not make any noise.

But it seems like he was still detected as Alina's head swiveled in his direction.

"..."

Alex's breath was taken away as he realized that Alina has removed her mask.

He has no words to use to describe what he was seeing right now.

Alina's face was like a finely sculpted piece of jade, both beautiful and attractive.

Her bright eyes, thin nose, and cherry lips made her beauty extremely ephemeral.

Only Asteria's beauty can match the beauty that Alex is seeing in Alina.

But that was not all that Alex could see.

He could also see two streams of tears flowing down from Alina's eyes.

Her nose was slightly puffy, and there are some sobbing sounds coming out of Alina's mouth.

Alex stopped in his spot awkwardly as he realized that the cold beauty Alina is crying.

"Well, she has been through a lot..." Alex thought to himself as he remembered everything about Alina's situation.

She had been forced to do almost anything for her sister, and her extremely slow progress has been extremely frustrating to her.

For someone as young as her to carry this heavy burden Is just unfair.

It is already impressive that Alina was able to hang on until now.

"Why did you follow me?" Alina said as she wiped away the tears with her forearm.

This action of hers looked both sad and adorable to Alex. Alex's heart began to ache, as he could not help but feel sad for Alina too.

"..." Alex knew that anything that he will say right now will just rile Alina up, so he decided to answer her through his actions.

Alex approached Alina quickly before enveloping her in his hug.

"She's so warm..." Alex thought to himself as Alina's soft and lithe body was pressed against his.

Her perfume, which smelled like jasmine, began to tickle Alex's nose.

Her hair smelled extremely fragrant too, and Alex had to do his very best to not sniff her hair right now.

Alina tried to struggle out of Alex's hug, but Alex held on as he whispered to her,

"You did great Alina. Nobody is blaming you for what happened. We all support you..."

Alina's tremblings began to slow down as Alex continued whispering encouraging words to her.

In the end, she began to hug Alex back as she cried loudly in his chest.

Alex ignored the wet feeling in his clothes as he patted Alina's back.

Asteria, who saw everything that happened, could only rub her nose in incredulity as she said,

"Congratulations for raising your first romance flag, Traveler."

"..."

Chapter 22 Now, who"s the dominant one, huh?

Alex and Alina stayed in their respective positions for around half an hour.

By the time that Alex wondered if his clothes could contain any more water, Alina broke out of their hug.

She let out one adorable sniffle as she wiped her tears away.

"Thank you..." These were the words uttered by Alina before she suddenly disappeared.

Alex let out a sigh, realizing that she went away for real this time.

He then stood up as he dried his clothes with microwaves.

Asteria, who had been watching everything that happened intently, let out a disappointed sigh as Alina left.

"Alex, that's it? You just let her leave? You did not even say anything more?"

"What do you think should I do, huh?" Alex replied angrily as he fixed his clothes. "Alina is feeling sad! I cannot just say some things to her. In this case, just me accompanying her is enough."

"Hmph, what if I am the one in Alina's place? What if I am the one feeling sad? Would you also do that to me?" Asteria asked as she looked around her. "It's not like that will happen anyway..."

"Well knowing you, I will do my best to cheer you up." Alex said as he began to look at his palm.

"I will pat your head, give you cute clothes, and I will also give you lots of honey. Maybe you will feel better if I did those things."

"Hmph! At least you know how to please this queen!" Asteria replied, with her tone sounding less harsh than before.

"Ok... now its time to train again." Alex said as he looked at his clock.

Right now it was 12 Noon, which means that it should be the Ability Training later.

Alex measured his Mental Power, and to his surprise, it permanently increased from 35 to 60.

This increase technically should not happen, since Alex did not do any more training last night.

When Alex inquired Asteria about this, Asteria's only reply was,

"That's the thing that I am talking about to you yesterday. As long as you fight, the cultivation ability that you will use in that fight will also grow."

"Ok, so that means that as long as I fight opponents while using the Esper Cultivation Body, then my Mental Power will grow? And that principle will also apply on other cultivation methods?" Alex tilted his head as he digested what Asteria told to him.

"Exactly." Asteria said as she nodded her head in agreement. "So you better fight many opponents now! The stronger they will be, the faster you will grow!"

After Alex heard what Asteria said, he began to cup his chin as he bit his lips in concentration.

"I have a plan now." Alex muttered as he closed his fists. "I just hope my master will agree."

When Alex came back to Clint's house, he stopped in his tracks as he saw Alina inside the living room.

She's wearing her mask again, and her demeanor was back to the cool and silent Alina that he had always known.

She seemed to be unperturbed when Alex came in, as if what happened to them earlier was already forgotten by her.

"Oh, hi Alina." Alex resisted the urge to hit himself as he realized how nervous his greeting was.

"Umm, hi too, Alex."

"..."

"..."

Alina actually sounded nervous too!

Both Natasha and Clint, who heard the awkward exchange, gave Alex leery smiles as if they have already seen through on what happened.

"Sigh..." Alex scratched the back of his head as he gave his master and his wife an admonishing look. But their smiles did not falter, which just shows how thick their faces are.

After seeing what they were doing, Alex let out a sigh as he opened his mouth.

"Master, I need you to fight me." Alex suddenly blurted out, effectively breaking the atmosphere in the house.

Alina almost let out a choke while Natasha almost slipped on the floor.

As for Clint, he did not look surprised at all. He just closed his eyes as he took a deep breath.

"So, it seems like you have discovered it already." Clint said as his eyes looked at Alex with intensity.

"What do you mean discovered?" Natasha tilted her head as she could not fathom what her husband was talking about.

"When I trained Alex two days ago, I discovered that he is a special type of Esper." Clint said as he began to look excited. "Alex actually is a Battle Esper."

"Wow! That is big!" Natasha blurted out as he began to look at Alex with a more... predatory look. "Hehehe, so you are a Battle Espers huh. Hehehe, I can't wait to run some tests on you..."

"What do you mean by a Battle Esper?" Alex mumbled as he tried to ignore everything that Natasha said.

"Well, you can say that Battle Espers are the kind of Espers that grow stronger through fighting." Clint said as he sat down on his chair.

"Unlike normal Espers, who can only get stronger by absorbing Mental Power and strengthening their Esper Ability, Battle Espers can get stronger too by fighting!"

"The more a Battle Esper fights, the faster their Mental Power will grow, and the easier it will be for them to use their Esper Abilities."

"Oh, so that is why I am like that yesterday..." Alex muttered to himself as he remembered about his fight last night.

Alex managed to think of extremely creative ways to defeat and kill his opponents last night.

At first, Alex attributed that from his increased Mental Power. But from the looks of it, him being a Battle Esper was the reason for that.

And with the noticeable increase of his Mental Power last night, Alex was highly sure that he really is a Battle Esper.

He slightly glared at Asteria's direction, as if he was asking for her explanation.

After seeing his glare, Asteria could only let out an awkward laugh as she said,

"Hahaha, your Esper Cultivation Body obviously turns you into a Battle Esper... I should have told you that earlier, but well, you did not ask me..."

Alex resisted a facepalm as he decided to give this naughty fairy some fake honey later.

"Are Battle Espers rare?" Alex asked as he noticed the awed... and nervous looks of everyone in the house.

"They are extremely rare." Clint said with a knowing nod. "However, it's not only their scarce birth rate that is making them extremely rare. There is also the fact that all Battle Espers are battle junkies who are addicted with fighting!"

"Wait, so are you telling me that most of the Battle Espers die because of their addiction to fighting?" Alex inquired as he suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"Exactly." Clint gravely replied as he gave a level stare at Alex. "Most Battle Espers get drunk with their own power that they start to recklessly fight anyone that they want to fight with. This resulted in most of the Battle Espers dying in battle. Those who survived are the truly powerful ones, or those who are sane enough to avoid fighting too much.

"..." Now, Alex could understand why Clint seemed to be worried that Alex was a Battle Esper.

"Will I... be like that too? Will I be addicted to fighting too?" Alex muttered as he looked at his palms.

"Huh? Are you still asking about that? Do you even remember what happened yesterday?" Clint said as he massaged his temple.

"You and Alina could have just thought of some ways to delay the lizard. But instead, what you did was to goad Alina to fight that thing."

"..." No matter which way Alex tried to rationalize his actions yesterday, he knew that something happened to him that night that made him want to fight that lizard.

"It was a good thing that you have that dagger and Alina with you." Clint gruffly said as he stood up from his chair. "If not, then you could have been my second student that died that way."

"Your first student..." Alex talked hesitantly, as if he was trying to find the right words to say. "Was he a Battle Esper too?"

"Yes he is, and he is a fine one at that." Clint said as he closed his eyes. "He is one of the sane ones that can stop their impulse to fight. But one day when he went back to his hometown, something happened there that made him so consumed with so much rage... You should already know what happened after that."

"..."

"Before I could rescue him, he already died from countless injuries." Clint said as he opened his eyes, which looked a little watery now.

The tiny Natalia trotted towards her daddy, hugging his large frame in order to comfort him.

Clint then looked at Alex as he placed his daughter on top of his head.

"I will not fight you, since that will just feed your raging impulse to fight. If you want to fight someone, you can choose her." Clint said as he pointed his finger towards Alina.

"Alina, are you fine with helping Alex out?"

"Yes." Alina said, much to Alex's surprise.

"Wait, I thought that you will leave this place since the Class S Esper that you are chasing is not here..." Alex suddenly blurted out.

"Do you really want me to leave that much?" Even though it sounded faint, Alex could hear that Alina was hurt by what Alex said.

"No, not at all!" Alex waved his hands in panic as he tried to pacify Alina. "I just think that your job is more important than you babysitting me..."

"And who are you to think about the importance of things?" Alina shot back as she stood up from her seat.

"It will be up to me, Alina, to decide what I want to do. And right now, what I want to do is to train with you. Do you have any complaints about that?"

"No mam." Alex replied quickly as he straightened himself. "No problem at all."

"Good." Alina's silky black hair swished as she gracefully headed towards the basement.

"I will wait for you here in the training room 30 minutes from now. Make sure that you are prepared."

The whole living room was placed into stunned silence, as if everyone just saw the sun rising out of the west.

"..."

"So Alina is the dominant one huh. I did not expect that you, Alex, is the sub."

Of course only Asteria has the audacity to say these things.

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Chapter 23 An abrupt change

6 hours later.

"Ugh..." A very beat-up Alex lay spread-eagled on the floor. His limbs were twitching while his extremities were trembling.

His face looks exhausted as he let out labored breaths.

Alina on the other hand, was standing proudly as her swords disappeared.

She did not show any signs of exhaustion except for the slight shortness of her breath.

"That was... intense." Alex uttered out as he rolled over from his position.

"You have good grasp of your power, and you sometimes make creative moves that can catch me off-guard." Alina said as she just watched Alex's struggle to stand up.

"I really can't stand up right now..." Alex complained as he felt that both of his legs were too weak right now.

"Won't you at least give me a hand?" Alex pleaded as he looked at the silent Alina. "Please?"

"No. I do not want to touch your sweaty hands." Alina coldly replied as she left the basement.

"You got OWNED!" Asteria shouted out, much to Alex's displeasure.

"Can you at least say something decent from time to time?" Alex snarled as he wiped the sweat off from his body. "You have always been like this!"

"Well I can do it, but that still does not change the fact that you got OWNED." Asteria obstinately replied.

"..."

By the time Alex had finished cleaning himself up, Alina had already worn her old set of clothes.

"Let's go out now." Alina said as she practically dragged Alex out of the house.

"Wait what?" Alex mumbled as he realized what was happening. "Why are we going out again?"

"Its because our 'date' yesterday was interrupted by that lizard." Alina said as she slowed down her pace. "Since there are no problems now, we shall continue our 'date'."

"Ok..." Alex replied uncertainly. "Then this time we will go to-"

"This time, it will be my choice for our next destinations." Alina forcefully said as she stared at Alex. "You have no complaints about that, right?"

"No complaints." Alex replied while Asteria giggled at the background.

If there is one thing that Alex learned today, that is that he should never let Alina lead the date.

Why? It was because Alina only led Alex to one kind of place.

And that was all places with food.

Alina brought Alex first to the streetfood stall that they went to last time.

After finishing 100 sticks of streetfood there, Alina brought Alex to a pastry shop.

There, Alex and the customers could only watch with wide eyes as Alina wolfed down 4 extra-large cakes.

But Alina was not yet done.

She then led Alex to a seafood restaurant, and there she had her fill of three pots of seafood stew.

"God, how could you have that much appetite?" Alex complained as they left the restaurant.

"I can use my ability to burn up all the food that I eat." Alina said as if it was a matter of fact.

"Of course you can do that." Alex muttered to himself while shaking his head.

After a few more minutes of walking, Alex realized that Alina was not bringing him to a food-related place anymore. As for where he and Alina will go next, Alex could only wait to find out the answer.

After another half hour of walking, Alex found himself in front of a small building.

There was a metal door in front of the building, which blocked the entrance.

Alina ignored it as she walked towards a fallen tree that was just 2 meters away from the door.

Alina pulled the tree up, revealing a trapdoor underneath it.

"After me." Alina said as she opened the trapdoor, revealing a set of stairs that descended downwards.

She then started to use the stairs, lowering herself with each step that she took.

"Hello darkness my old friend..." Alex muttered as he started to use the stairs too.

Once the two of them were in the stairs, the trapdoor closed itself automatically, and the tree earlier went back to its place.

Anybody looking at the place right now would never imagine that two people just used it to access an underground bunker.

"Thud." Alex heard this sound as his feet landed on the floor. He squinted his eyes as he used his EM Sensing to determine his current location.

"So we are inside an underground bunker right now..." Alex said as he felt the dimensions of his current place.

The whole Underground Bunker was abandoned, and Alex felt that there are no people nearby that can hear them talking.

Alex can also sense that there are no electrical devices nearby, which meant that this place was free from all kinds of surveillance.

"So this kind of place inside the city exists too..." Alex knew that only people with security issues would know about this place that he is in right now.

And Alina just happens to be one of these people.

"Are you about to say something to me that requires this much secrecy?" Alex said as he raised his arms. "Because just looking at all these things makes me curious on what you are about to tell me."

"..."

Alina stared directly at Alex for one second before she said,

"There is a chance that you might get killed from this day onwards. So I am asking you to be careful and vigilant, especially when I leave this place 7 days from now."

"Oh, are you talking about the master of that 'old kid'?" Alex replied with a chuckle.

"For the 10th time, that old kid's name is Mindbreaker." Alina replied as she rubbed her temple. "And yes, the master of Mindbreaker might be after your life."

"Is it because of what I did to the old k- Mindbreaker?" Alex replied as his eyes narrowed. "Well, I think for him to take revenge on me is just plausible..."

"It's not just for Mindbreaker." Alina said as she shook her head rapidly. "He's... probably aiming kill you mostly because of me."

After hearing what Alina said, Alex closed his eyes in concentration as he let out a deep breath.

"This master that Mindbreaker is talking about... He is your 'master' too, right?" Alex said as he pieced together all the conversations that he heard between Alina, Clint and Mindbreaker.

"Yes..." Alina bowed her head down as she gave a weak reply.

"And your problem with your sister, was it related to this 'master' of yours too?" Alex said, as he tried to observe Alina's reaction.

"Yes..." It was another affirmative reply from Alina.

"So, this 'master' of yours is extremely possessive of you, and he might kill me because I messed with his possession?" Alex said these words with a bitter taste in his mouth. "Just hearing that makes me want to puke already."

"That is all correct. As expected of Uncle's student." Alina said as she praised Alex with her low voice.

"..."

Alex badly wanted to say something comforting to Alina right now, but his words got stuck in his throat as he saw Alina's body language.

She's cowering inwardly to herself, not daring to show more of her emotions.

Alex knew that if he will do something rash right now, Alina will surely lash out mostly to herself.

Alex cannot risk to bring such pain to Alina.

"..."

Deep inside her heart, Alina knew that Alex will be implicated with her 'master', given her close contact with Alex.

If Alex continues to associate himself with Alina more, he will just put himself into a great risk.

As such, she silently pleaded Alex to leave her alone.

But since Alex is acting this obstinately, Alina had no choice but to verbalize it to him in an indirect way.

"Alex, do not worry about my problems. I can handle it all. Besides, all my Contribution Points right now will allow me to visit the World Diagram to make my request." Alina said as she wished that he will take her hint.

"Did you just say that you are going to the World Diagram?" Alex's eyes suddenly lit up as his mood seemed to have changed.

"Yes. I will use all my remaining Contribution Points to make a request to the World Diagram, and that request will be related to my sister." Alina said as she took a deep breath. "With the Contribution Points that I have right now, I will be able to talk to my sister at least."

"Wait, just talk?" Alex tilted his head as he could not believe what he just heard. "You took down a Class SS Intruder, and all you can get is a talk? How much Contribution Points would you need to save her?"

"Why are you so fixated on helping me regarding my sister?" Alina said with gritted teeth as she clenched her fists tightly. "My matter with my sister is none of your business, so just buzz off!"

Alex's eyes went wide open when he heard Alina's harsh rebuke.

Alina on the other hand, inwardly winced as she realized that she hurt Alex with what she said.

It was at that point that Alina remembered Alex's genuine kindness to her, his willingness to put up with her antics, his eagerness to fight with her, his appreciation for her, and his warm, manly body hugging her...

"..."

Alina gritted her teeth as she tried to hide the pangs of guilt that formed inside her.

"What I am telling you right now is that I will train you for the next few days before I leave, so that you can get strong enough to fend for yourself." Alina said as she tried her best to make herself sound uncaring.

"So, you really do not want my help regarding your sister?" Alex immediately went straight to the point as he stared straight at Alina's eyes.

Alina tried to not stare at Alex's blue eyes as she said,

"I do not need your help anymore. Just stay in this place and get strong enough so that you can live your life freely."

"Sigh..." Alex let out a weary sigh as he gave Alina his signature smile. Alina suddenly tensed, as she knew that something big happens once Alex gives this kind of smile.

"Ok, I will ignore your sister, since it really is NONE of my business. However, there is another thing that I am interested in."

"And what is that?" Alina mumbled in reply.

"The World Diagram." Alex said as he showed his perfect smile at Alina. "I want to see it up close and personal."

"I see. You want to be beside me as I give my request to the World Diagram..." Alina muttered as she felt slightly disappointed with what Alex said. "I think it can be managed, since you helped me slay the lizard."

"But you must be careful when going with me to the World Diagram..." Alina said as she scrunched her eyebrows. "My master might try to kill you when you go with me to the World Diagram..."

"That's what the 7 days of training will be used for, right?" Alex said as he gave Alina another smile. "So that I can somehow protect myself when I leave with you!"

"..."

Alina was not sure why, but she felt extremely lonely when she saw Alex's smile.

Alex's smile felt so forced, so artificial, that she wondered if what she was doing to him now was right.

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Chapter 24 Wassup!

Alex and Alina went back to Clint's house silently, with their faces housing a cloudy expression that made both Natasha and Clint worried.

Once Alex was inside the house, Alina hastily left the place.

She never once looked back as she walked away.

"That girl..." Clint shook his head as he realized what Alina did.

Clint knew all about the matter of Alina's sister and Alina's current master.

Clint also knew how much of a madman Alina's master was, and the lengths that he can do with that mind of his

If he could do it, Clint would have already gone out of his way to whoop Alina's master to solve her problems.

But Clint cannot due to his restrictions.

"Alina must have wanted Alex to distance himself with her." Clint said as he saw Alex entering the attic. "Logically speaking, what she did was right, since Alex will just be in more danger if he gets closer with her, but..."

"But Alina looks affected by her decision." Natasha said as she remembered Alina's expression earlier.

"Sigh, I thought that we could set those two up as lovebirds... It seems like fate really is not in store for them." Natasha said as she arranged a flower vase.

"Well, there is still a chance that Alina will change her mind." Clint said as he suddenly talked to Alex, who was in the attic.

"Oi Alex, did Alina said something about training you more?"

"Alina said that she will continue to fight against me every day until her departure day." Alex's reply sounded subdued but also tense. "She also said that I have to use those days on my advantage."

"See?" Clint said to Natasha as he pointed at the attic. "If Alina will continue to visit here for the next 7 days, her mind might still change."

"That is if Alex makes the effort to change her mind." Natasha replied as she casted a doubtful look at the attic. "But seeing Alex right now, it seems like that will not be the case."

Clint did not give any answer in return, as he felt that Natasha was right.

"Well, that was awkward." Asteria hesitantly said as she glanced at Alex.

Alex had been quiet at the return journey, and he still stayed quiet here inside the attic.

Asteria did not like what she was seeing, so she attempted to talk with Alex right now.

"Are you... really fine with what Alina told you to do? "Asteria inquired as she tilted her head. "That's a Bonus Mission wasted!"

In regards to Asteria's question, the only thing that Alex gave her was a small shake of his head.

"I... have plans regarding that."

"Plans?" Asteria scoffed as she thought that Alex might have been bluffing.

"Are you sure about that? You have a plan to destroy the World Diagram, save the people from its repercussions, and help Alina, all in just 15 days? That is really impressive, if your plan really exists."

"I have been making research earlier." Alex said as he let out a sigh. "At those research materials, I can somehow see that the World Diagram... is not really how it is portrayed in reality."

"Oh, so you believe those crackpot conspiracy theories in Feddit?" Asteria snickered as she remembered Alex surfing the net earlier in his free time.

"Huh? What is wrong on making my research on Feddit?" Alex retorted as he seemed to be offended. "That website is a free site where everyone can post their opinion!"

"But I saw one post in Feddit saying that the World Diagram is a captured space whale, and that it wants to turn every Esper into Unicorns..." Asteria said as she watched Alex cringe. "That is a crackpot theory, and you know that the other theories in Feddit are crackpot too."

"That theory of course is fake!" Alex retorted as he tried to somehow justify himself. "But there are some reliable opinions posted in Feddit about the World Diagram, and I just pieced them all together to make my plan."

"Oh, and are you inclined to share your plan to me?" Asteria said as she stared at Alex.

"Nope, I won't be telling it to you for now." Alex said as he smirked at Asteria. "After all, even if you know about it, I am sure that you cannot do anything to improve it. Besides, it will be better for you to just watch me perform my plan."

"Hmph fine!" Asteir mumbled as she crossed her arms angrily. "But let me clarify something first. Are you interested in Alina?"

"Oh yes, I am indeed interested with her." Alex replied quickly.

"Oh, you don't have to deny it anymo- what? You just admitted it that quickly?" Asteria spluttered out after she heard Alex's reply. "Weren't you scared and wary of her earlier?"

"I am still scared and wary of her now." Alex replied calmly. "However, after staying with her for the past 2 days, you can say that I gradually grew to like Alina."

"2 days. You just interacted with her for 2 days, and you say that you are already interested with her." Asteria monotonously muttered as she stared at Alex. "Isn't that a little too fast?"

"If you like a person, it doesn't matter how long it took. If you like a person, then you like that person. Just as simple as that." Alex replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I think your viewpoint is really... carefree..." Asteria hesitantly replied. But that hesitation of her disappeared as she smirkingly asked Alex,

"Do you think that Alina's view of you is just as carefree as you?"

"Well, why should it matter?" Alex replied with a hint of sadness in his voice. "Even if there is a small chance that she likes me, it will be also terminated once I leave this world for my next mission."

"That is the cruel truth of being a Traveler." Asteria said as she gave Alex a pitying look. "No matter what bonds you make in a world, that bonds will also disappear once you go to another world..."

Alex visibly shook after hearing this, even though it looked like he had already prepared himself to hear this.

Alex then took a deep shuddering breath as he asked Asteria,

"Is it... possible for me to return to this world in the future, even when I am on a different world?"

"It is possible traveler." Asteria replied quickly. "As long as you have enough lifespan to pay for it. Although the price for that will be astronomical. Like, super astronomical."

"Its always about the lifespan. Seems like the Endless Monarch really loves to suck our essences..."

"..."

"..."

Asteria let out a cough, as she tried her best to forget what Alex just said.

"Alex, I feel that you still have another question." Asteria said as she observed Alex's face. "Ask it to me now."

"... I don't want to ask it right now." Alex replied as he seemed to have retreated.

Asteria frowned, as she knew exactly the question that Alex wanted to ask right now.

If Alex was not keen on asking the question right now, it just means that he's still not prepared for its answer.

Since Alex is thinking that way, then Asteria will respect his decision and just wait for his move to ask the question.

"Well, I will still be around you for the following days, so you can ask me that question of yours whenever you feel like it." Asteria said as she landed on Alex's shoulder.

"Oh, and you owe me 5 jars of honey tomorrow."

"Yes, yes." Alex said as he plopped down on the bed.

"..."

Clint's house that night was silent, as if it was punctuating the heavy feelings of its occupants.

6 days later.

The following days for Alex were literally and figuratively hell.

He has to endure the physical battering unleashed to him by Alina, while he also has to struggle with the extremely awkward atmosphere between him and Alina.

Alina's mood seems to be same as Alex too, as she was letting out the 'f*k-off' aura around her.

It seems like the only one enjoying the whole situation was Asteria, who brayed like a mule everytime Alex was pounded into the ground, and who also giggled like a young lady when Alex's and Alina's bodies sometimes tangle on the floor.

"Now, this is the reason I became a Guide." Asteria commented as she trotted around Alex, who was leaning against the wall.

"..."

Today is the last day that Alina will stay in the Dragon Esper City.

She will set out for the World Diagram tomorrow, and just like what she promised Alex, she will bring him with her.

"With your current power right now, as long as you do not act careless, then you will not be in any real danger." Alina commented as she left the training room. "Rest up, and we will set out tomorrow."

"Yes mam." Alex replied as he looked at her departing back.

Alex looked like he wanted to say some words to Alina, but he stopped himself as he headed for the bathroom.

1 day later.

Clint stared at Alina and Alex, who are both sitting in front of him.

Clint had his mouth set into a hard line, as if he was struggling to find the right words to say.

"Sigh, since I know that you two have made up your minds about this, then I will respect your decisions." Clint said with his eyes closed.

"However, I wish that you two, especially you Alex, will act more careful. You should know about the risk in your life."

"I will remember it Master." Alex replied with his head bowed.

"I do not know why you want to see the World Diagram, but make sure that you will not do anything to mess up things there." Clint warned Alex as he gave him the best 'you should behave' look that he can give to Alex.

"...Ok." Alex replied with his eyes averted.

Clint tried to ignore Alex's suspicious answer as he looked at Alina.

Clint's lips trembled for a second, before he said,

"Alina, you may not feel like it, but my family will always be here for you. If you ever feel tired or overwhelmed, then you are welcome to visit us anytime."

"Thank you, Uncle." Alina replied quietly. "I will make sure to visit again."

"Ok."

Clint looked at Alex as if he was about to say something more, but the sound of the doorbell interrupted him.

Natasha ushered in the guest, and what Alex saw made Asteria laugh.

The visitor was someone that Alex had already seen before, although their first encounter was via a hologram.

The guest sported the same handsome look that Alex saw in the hologram, and just like what Alex has suspected, this guy's body is ripped.

"So I guess this guy will be your ride towards the World Diagram." Clint grunted as his eyes raked all over the guest's body.

"Oh yes, Sir Jackal. I will be Miss Alina's service towards the World Diagram." The guest said as he gave a respectful bow to Clint.

"Let me introduce myself to those who do not know me." The guest said as his eyes bore down on Alex.

"I am Lord Gallius of the World Esper Organization, and I am under their orders to bring Miss Alina to the World Diagram."

"Well wassup blondie." Alex replied casually. "Does your neck hurt a lot? Coz I imagine they will, with all that super straight pose that you are doing."

"..."

Chapter 25 Its time for Afro Cu

"... Miss Alina had told me about you accompanying us..." Lord Gallius replied with a cold voice. "Even though you joining Miss Alina is legally allowed, there are many that will still frown upon what you did."

"Well, as long as it is legal, then I see nothing wrong with it." Alex replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Hmph, its shady characters like you that besmirch the image of the World Esper Organization!" Lord Gallius said as his body bristled.

"I know all about your unlicensed awakening! The only reason that you are not arrested right now is because you awakened under the guidance of Sir Jackal." Lord Gallius said as he stared at Alex with narrowed eyes.

"What's worse was your very 'dubious' background. If it were not for Sir Jackal himself, then you should have been in the jail already for severe case of identity theft!"

"..."

"So, you better behave this time, for I will be watching your actions." Lord Gallius then spun on his place as he left the house.

Alina, who watched the banter between Alex and Lord Gallius impassively, looked at Alex as she said,

"Let's go now."

"Ok..." Alex took a deep breath as he followed Alina.

Clint and his wife did not give any farewell to the two, as it was not needed.

Alex looked back at Clint one more time, before giving him another bow.

"Take care." Clint finally said as he let out a sigh. "You can go back here in the future. That is, if you still have the ability to do so at that time."

Alex gave Clint another bow before he left the house.

"Now that farewell sounds ominous." Alex thought to himself as he run after Alina.

"..."

"I really hope you can come back." Clint muttered to himself as he went towards his basement.

Booming sounds were then heard from the basement later, rattling everyone nearby.

They stopped in wonder and fear, as they could only imagine the things that could cause these fearsome sounds.

"If there is one thing that a technological world should have, it's is obviously a cool flying ship." Asteria said as she flapped her hands around.

"And this ship we are in right now is a cool flying ship!"

"You already said those things for the 7th time. Sheesh, get a grip already!" Alex muttered to himself as he looked around him.

Right now, he was in an expensive-looking room filled with countless valuables furniture.

One might think that this is a part of a house, but the truth was that Alex was not inside a house right now.

Alex is currently riding a flying ship that is flying across the sky.

The ship itself had a sleek and aerodynamic design, but what made it better was its high-class accommodations inside.

There are countless rooms filled with velvety beds and its other amenities all seek to provide maximum comfort to its passengers.

With just one look, Alex knew that this whole ship was only meant for the extremely special and powerful people, and that Lord Gallius seems to be one of them.

"Well, what a way for him to show off." Alex muttered to himself as he fully recognized what Lord Gallius was doing.

He's blatantly flaunting about his richness to Alina in order to impress her.

But that attempt of his has failed as Alex could see Alina ignoring Lord Gallius throughout the whole trip.

Needless to say, Lord Gallius was unhappy about this.

Alex could feel Lord Gallius' piercing glares at his back, as if he was wishing that his eyes could bore a hole on Alex.

Alex of course ignored these glares as he continued on just staring outside.

As for Alina, she did not say anything as she just sat on her place, not showing any willingness to communicate.

It was only when Alex offered her food that she moved

But once the food was gone, Alina immediately went back on her stationary state.

"So, everything will just be like this until we reach our destination? I do not know if I can endure all this awkwardness..." Alex thought as he let out a sigh.

At an unknown location.

Blue light could be seen spilling out everywhere, illuminating the walls of what could be said to be a room.

This room had the dimensions comparable to that of a typical house, only if the house was 100 meters tall, 100 meters wide, and 100 meters long.

There seems to be no human presence in the room, as only countless pieces of wire and machinery could be seen inside the room.

But as the blue light continued on illuminating the whole room, a shadow of a person could be seen hovering at the walls.

This shadow seemed to have a life as it moved horizontally across the wall, only stopping at the middle of the wall.

Of course this shadow was produced by a person, and this person was standing at the center of the room, with his shadow casted by the blue light.

Most of the features of this person seems unidentifiable with the current lighting in the room.

This person however, sported a large afro that is a very rare hairstyle these days.

This afro was swaying side to side as the person inspected the object placed in the center of the room.

All the blue lights inside the room were coming from this object, and from the looks of it, this object will not stop on emitting these blue lights for a long time.

"Victoria, show me the arriving guests later." The Afro person said as he looked at the object.

"Here is the video." A disembodied voice came out of the object, which sounded like the eeriest sound that a person could ever hear in their life.

Even the Afro person, who spent a long time with the object, still shivered imperceptibly when the object talked to him.

But now is not the time for the Afro person to complain about the object being creepy, as he focused on the video in front of him.

This video was being emitted by the blue object, and it shows a real-time coverage of Alex, Alina and Lord Gallius sitting awkwardly inside a room.

"There she is..." The Afro person muttered as he looked at the part of the video where Alina was shown.

It was hard to determine what the Afro person was thinking as he looked at Alina that intently.

"Victoria, is there any chances that a mishap on the WEO Headquarters will happen today?" The Afro person had asked this question every single day, just as a way for him to pass his time.

But the Afro person's light-hearted intention was shattered into pieces as the object replied,

"There is a 100% chance of a mishap happening today. User is advised to stay indoors as it will be not safe."

"Oi, oi, oi... Why did the danger chose to appear now of all times..." The Afro person lamented to himself as he let out a yawn.

"Oi Victoria, tell me who will be in orchestrating this mishap."

"Sorry, but only people with Class Z clearance can ask this kind of questions." The object replied bluntly. "User has a Class SS Clearance, so your question cannot be answered."

"..." Upon realizing that he will get nothing from the object for now, the Afro person shook his head as he said,

"Victoria, stay in standby mode."

All the blue lights inside the room then dimmed as the Afro person left the room.

"Welp, its still the same now." The Afro person muttered to himself, obviously referring to the object that he was talking to earlier.

"There are still no signs of mental degradation, nor mental obscuration." The Afro said as he nodded his head.

"Conclusion: The machine is still fully functional." However, the Afro person seemed to be disappointed as he said these words.

It was as if the Afro person wanted something more to happen at the object.

"Security?" The Afro person suddenly whipped out his phone as he called someone with his phone.

"Em, what can we do sir?" The voice that replied sounded extremely hesitant and scared, as if talking to the Afro person is an extremely forboding and scary matter.

"I have received a warning that the WEO Headquarters will experience an upheaveal today." The Afro person then continued talking as he ignored the stunned silence on the receiving end.

"As such, I want your firm to send some of their best security personnel to guard this area. As for the other areas, I will just ask the other firms."

"You won't regret this sir!" The voice on the phone replied as the voice sounded less tense and more high strung than before.

"Make sure that you do your jobs well. If not, then you will regret that you failed." The Afro person said as he closed the phone shut.

"Now that I have dealt with that, it is now time for my next scheduled meeting." The Afro person muttered to himself as he shimmered like a rainbow, before his body disappeared entirely.

This display might look and endearing and cute to children, but anyone who had seen rainbow colors before will tell you that these colors are the prelude to a nightmare.

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Chapter 26 By the Power of Vibration

Alex was already feeling sleepy by the time that the flying ship he's in stopped its flight.

"Oh, are we here already?" Alex mumbled to himself as he looked around him. "That trip was pretty long... considering how fast this ship is."

Lord Gallius let out contemptuous snort to Alex, as if he could not believe what Alex was saying.

"If you do not know, the World Diagram is regarded as the most important invention and treasure of the current society. For it to have countless security measures is a must, and that security measures are what slowed my ship down." Lord Gallius said these words with slight venom in them, as if he wanted to show Alex his mediocrity.

"I get it compadre, so can you please calm yourself down?" Alex shook his head, effectively removing his drowsiness.

"Don't call me your friend." Lord Gallius said as he stood up from his seat.

The numerous medals pinned on his chest all jiggled, making Alex hear a cacophony of metal tinkles.

"The only reason you are allowed to be in this place is because Miss Alina vetoed that you will behave" Lord Gallius said as he gave Alina a warm look, which she duly ignored.

"So for the visit this time, I, Lord Gallius, will be accompanying you to make sure that you will not do anything rash." Alex could not help but wince as he heard what Lord Gallius said.

Now that this stuck-up blond decided to accompany Alex on seeing the World Diagram, finding a way to attack and destroy the World Diagram later just became extremely harder.

"Don't you have like, any important things to do rather than accompanying me and Alina?" Alex said as he tried to remove Lord Gallius on the visit. "It's just a visit..."

"Hmph, the higher-ups have already decided that I will guard you, vermin!" Lord Gallius said to Alex as he stood up over him.

With Lord Gallius' healthy and tall body, he easily towered over Alex, whose height was just comparable to that of a normal adult.

Anyone who's stared down by someone as 'big' as Lord Gallius would have been shaking on the spot already.

But Alex was Alex, so the only the thing that he did was scoff at the glowering Lord Gallius.

"You've got guts!" Lord Gallius roared as he saw Alex's blatant disrespectful attitude for him. "It seems like I need to personally discipline you!"

At the instant that Lord Gallius said these words, Alex felt everything around him starting to vibrate endlessly.

All the equipment, metal apparatus, and even the water and wine were all vibrating continuously.

Heck, Alex could 'see' with his EM Sense that even the air molecules around him were all vibrating too.

"Vibration. That is your Esper Ability, right?" Alex muttered as he looked around him in wonder.

Even if Alex could feel that his whole body was vibrating too, he did not feel flustered or worried.

"Hmph, if you know my power, then you should be already aware of its lethality." Lord Gallius said as he gave Alex a withering gaze.

For these words by Lord Gallius, Alex's only reply was a nod with his still vibrating head.

Even though vibration looks like a lame power, Lord Gallius' Vibration is very lethal as he uses it effectively.

One of the ways that Lord Gallius uses his power was by forcing objects to vibrate themselves at an extremely high frequency.

By doing this, the structural integrity of these objects will weaken greatly, allowing any external stresses to destroy these objects easily.

There are even instances that objects disintegrate because of too much vibration.

Not only that, but Lord Gallius can also greatly increase his offense by vibrating his weapons.

If Lord Gallius chooses to vibrate a sword in an extremely high frequency, the resulting sword will be able to cut through anything with ease!

However, these applications are only surface level applications of Lord Gallius' ability.

When Alex saw Lord Gallius' hologram 8 days ago, he decided to make a research about this guy, and there Alex found more ridiculous things about Lord Gallius.

With his ability, Lord Gallius can actually manipulate temperature itself!

Temperature is basically just the measure of the vibrations of the particles of an object.

The more vibrations of the particles there is, the hotter an object will be.

Conversely, the lower the number of vibrations of the object's particles, the colder that object will be.

And if there are no vibrations at all, the object will have the temperature of Zero Kelvin, which is the absolute zero.

All this information showed Alex why Lord Gallius acted like he owned the world.

"Your power is pretty awesome, but are you really allowed to use it on me right now?" Alex said with a hint of smirk on his face.

If it was the Alex of a week ago that was here, he would be not as confident.

But his week-long combat with Alina brought Alex's strength to much higher levels.

Right now, Alex's Mental power was at Tier 150, meaning that his Range is already 150 meters by now.

Its still somewhat far compared to Alina's almost 1000 kilometer Range, but reaching this level in just around a week is extremely impressive.

"Hmph. I am just showing you what happens if you dare trying something funny." Lord Gallius growled as the vibrations ceased.

"I think you should give me a better warning." Alex replied as he gave out a low sigh. "After all, what you did earlier is like just a slight tease. Nobody likes to be just teased, you know?"

"..." By this point, Alex started to praise Lord Gallius' self-control.

"Well, now that you have said your piece, can't you start sending us two towards our destination?" Alex said as he flitted behind Alina.

At this position he could smell the fragrance of Alina's hair wafting towards him.

Alina stiffened when she felt Alex's proximity behind her, but she did not voice out any complaint.

As for Lord Gallius, he clenched his fists so tightly that veins could be seen protruding from them.

All these varying expressions just managed to make Asteria, who was still perched at Alex's shoulder, more and more delighted.

"Yes Traveler, this is how you should live your life! Don't just be here to exist, be here to insist!"

"..."

With many people around him, Alex was not able to give a snarky reply to Asteria. But the expression on his face tells Asteria that Alex will be up to something against her later.

By the time Alex had left the ship, Alina and Lord Gallius were already talking to a delegation of white-clothed individuals.

Their clothes look extremely formal and convenient, as if they were made for the purpose of easing the actions of these people.

Not only that, but Alex also noticed that these people were extremely hardened fighters and killers. No matter how good they did it, Alex can always sense their killing intent with his danger sense.

"Why are they here?" Alina muttered to herself as if she found the appearance of the white-clothed people shocking. "Shouldn't they be doing patrol services now?"

One of the white-clothed people, who was basically the tallest among them, looked at Alina with a smile as he said,

"The President himself has decreed that it will happen. I do not know why, but the President gave the command that all the Security Firms affiliated with the WEO should send their best guards for this day. "

"Hmm..." Alina chose not to probe deeper in this matter, as the only thing in her mind right now was to talk to her sister.

As for Alex, his heart sank as he these white-clothed people milling around them.

Forget Lord Gallius, even Alex will find it hard to perform his plan with these people around.

"Can you just take us to the World Diagram already?" Lord Gallius said as he scoffed at the white-clothed guards. "I want to be done with this already."

"Of course, Lord Gallius, it will be our pleasure to lead you." The leader of the white-clothed guards said as he briskly walked away from Lord Gallius and the others.

Alex and Alina took this as the cue to leave, with their footsteps following closely that of the white-clothed guard.

Lord Gallius was the last one to follow, and with the way he casually walked, he seemed to be used in this kind of situations already.

"Hey Alina," Alex whispered to Alina as he noticed something weird.

"I thought that we will go to see the World Diagram... But I can't see any powerful structures around that can house something like the World Diagram. Hmm... unless it is underground. If it was underground, less facilities will needed that will obviously save more budget."

"Well, I think you have answered your question already." Alina said impassively as she saw the white-clothed guard stopping in his tracks.

The guard then unsheathed a sword from his right side, which he promptly stabbed towards the ground.

A few seconds of silent waiting later, and the ground around them opened up, showing another hole descending downward.

Just like that traphole at the Underground Bunker, this new hole also had stairs in it.

Seeing this somehow made Alex more nervous, as he did not know where this place will lead.

"In order for the World Diagram to be safe from any kinds of radiation or stray elements from the outer space, its creators decided to place the World Diagram at the confines of the underground." The guard said with a hint of pride in his voice.

"The ground can block most of the harmful stuff, and anything that manages to pass through that will be dealt with by the structures below."

"Yeah, we get that this place is really awesome." Lord Gallius said with his expression saying otherwise. "So let's just go on and be done with it, ok?"

"In that case. Let's get a move on already." The guard gruffly replied as he disappeared inside the hole.

Alex could only shake his head with a bemused expression as he and the others placed their hands and feet on the stairs.

They then started their slow descent, which lasted for around 30 minutes

At the instant that Alex reached the end of the stairs, he started to look around to see potential sources of danger.

But before he could try to look around him, he suddenly felt a tap of on his shoulders.

Alex looked back and there he saw one of the strangest man that he had seen in this world.

This man's body was bony and thin, as if all the food that he ate were sucked out of him.

Even his handsome face was gaunt, making him look like a handsome Ske*or.

What made his appearance somewhat comical is the extremely large Afro hairstyle that this man sported.

"Alex and Alina, I have been waiting for you arrival since earlier." The Afro guy said as his eyes roved all over the two. "With you two here, then I guess we can already proceed to the next step."

"Um, who is this guy?" Alex asked to Alina, who seemed to be petrified by the man's presence.

"Don't dare to ask it right now!" Alina hissed as she glared at Alex.

"The only thing that you should just know is that this Afro Guy is one of the two current owners of the World Diagram." Alina said as she lowered her voice further.

"If you try to offend him greatly, your death will not be a pretty one." Alina concluded as she forced Alex to slightly bow in front of the Afro guy.

"Ok..." That was the only reply that Alex could give in response to Alina's somewhat grim revelation.

"I like behaved kids, just like you guys." The Afro guy cheerfully said to the nervous duo. "However, if you try to be naughty, then expect me to give you lots of pain and misery!"

"..."

Chapter 27 This is so sad. Victoria, please play D*acito

Alex found it hard to believe that the afro guy in front of him was such a big deal.

The afro guy's demeanor and appearance just show that he looks like a creepy pushover, someone who can be disregarded.

But Alex knew that it was people who look like this that are the most dangerous.

After all, even when Alina told him that this afro guy is dangerous, Alex's danger sense did not detect any hint of danger from this afro guy at all!

If this afro guy really is dangerous, then he's doing a very good job of hiding how dangerous he is.

Alex was extremely wary of this kind of people, as they are the type that can attack Alex when he had least expected it.

"You chose to come at a very bad day, Alina..." The afro guy drawled as he walked forward, with Alina and Alex struggling to follow him.

"Bad day?" Alina tilted her head as she remembered the white-clothed guards that she and Alex saw earlier. "Is the appearance of the guards related to this 'bad day'?"

"Well, the World Diagram predicted that a very unfortunate event will happen at the WEO today..." The afro guy said as his eyes narrowed into slits.

Alex tried to not make his gulp sound audible as he somehow felt more awed by the capabilities of the World Diagram.

According to what Alex knew, the whole World Diagram was related to a network of quantum computers.

There's a total of 1,024 fully functional quantum computers in the whole world, and each one of them are located in Esper Cities.

Individually, these quantum computers are powerful, but a certain Esper decided to link all these quantum computers together.

Of course linking them normally is just impossible so an object must be used to administer these links.

All the needed inputs and desired outputs all pass through this object. Without this object, the whole quantum network will not work at all.

This object which houses the links between the 1,024 quantum computers is the World Diagram.

By combining 1,024 powerful quantum computers, the calculative prowess of the World Diagram was raised at an extremely high level.

Its calculative power was so high that the World Diagram can create its own simulations, that lets it predict to a certain extent, some future events.

It can also use these simulations to guide the current generation of Espers.

The World Diagram can create a training manual for a certain Esper, which lets that Esper reach his/her peak strength at the most efficient way there is.

This insane calculation prowess also allows the World Diagram to vaguely perceive a threat for WEO or even humanity as a whole.

But this threat predictions were not wholly accurate.

These threat predictions usually only hover 20-40%, which is already impressive for a machine.

Of course weather prediction is the staple contribution of the World Diagram, something that everyone in the Esper World have somewhat taken for granted already.

These mind-boggling abilities of the World Diagram are somehow making some people fear that it might gain sentience.

This fear is not that unfounded, given that the calculation power of the World Diagram was already way beyond the capacity of a normal human brain.

Of course the WEO had denied the claims of the World Diagram gaining sentience. And even if the World Diagram did gain sentience, Alex was sure that the WEO will immediately cull this sentience.

But Alex knew that he should not be thinking about these things right now.

"From the way the afro guy is talking, it seems like the World Diagram does not know that it is my real target..." Ales thought to himself as he looked around discreetly. "The World Diagram must have only predicted that something bad will happen today. If it predicted that it will be in danger, then this afro guy should have not allowed anyone to get near it..."

This hypothesis managed to make Alex's footsteps feel lighter.

"You really love your sister... Well, I still could not fathom why you are still resorting to these actions..." The afro guy said to Alina as he watched her with his hollow eyes.

"I think that the Esteemed President will surely understand it in the future..." Lord Gallius commented as he gave the afro guy a fawning gaze.

"Whether I understand it or not is none of your concern, Gallius." The afro guy said, as he seemed to not care about the 'Lord' in Lord Gallius. "Just do your job right now instead of yapping like a dog in heat."

"Although," The afro guy gave Alina a sideway glance as he sneered. "You are literally a dog in heat right now, Gallius."

"Mff..." Alex had to cup his mouth to stop himself from snickering while Alina let out a snort of derision. As for Lord Gallius, his whole face was twitching as his fists closed and opened sporadically.

"I actually like this guy..." Alex thought to himself as he saw that even though the Afro guy looked and sounded scary, he still has some sense of humor right where it matters.

"President." A formal-looking woman suddenly approached the afro guy, with her face wearing a tight expression.

"We just caught some of the Espers that was involved in the jailbreak last month." The woman said as she tried to catch her breath. "What should we do about them, President?"

"Cut off their heads, stick them into pikes, then display them in front of the prison." The afro guy nonchalantly said. "Those d*ned prisoners will surely learn their lessons from now on."

"..." Alex retracted his thoughts earlier. This afro guy is scary af.

"So, do we just walk here?" Alex muttered to himself as he looked around him. "This looks like a really long walk to me..."

"Hmph, something like this is necessary to protect the World Diagram." Lord Gallius said with the same contemptuous expression that he gave to Alex earlier.

"..." By this point, Alex already knew that it was far better for him to just stay silent and let this guy ramble on.

Right now, Alex, Alina, Lord Gallius and the afro guy were walking inside a long tunnel.

The whole tunnel was pitch-black, not allowing Alex to see anything with his eyes.

As such, he can only rely on his EM Sensing to look around him.

He knew that Alina and Lord Gallius had their own ways of sensing things too, so he did not bother calling out to them.

"We will just walk here." The afro guy replied as he seemed to have smiled. "But don't think that this whole tunnel is just a tunnel. There are countless weapons in this tunnel, and they will attack anyone that is not within 5 meters of me. Even if you are a Star Esper, these babies of mine pack some punch that can shoot you down!"

Alex did his best to stick closely to the afro guy by that point.

"..." But aside from the afro guy, Alex was also pretty close with Alina, evidenced by the fact that their shoulders were touching.

Alex paused a little, before he decided to wrap his right hand around Alina's left hand.

Alina obviously stiffened at this, which prompted Alex to say,

"Even with your Space Sensing and my EM Sensing, there is no guarantee that we will not get separated. So, us holding hands together will be for the best." Alex made sure to whisper these words to Alina, so that a certain blonde would not overhear them.

"Ok..." Even without the lights nearby, Alex was sure that Alina was looking extremely embarrassed right now. "Just don't go overboard..."

"..." Alina and Alex spent the rest of the journey with their hands wrapped around each other.

"1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144..." Alex started to recite the Fibonacci Sequence in his mind, so that he can ignore Alina's soft hand caressing against his.

Suddenly, lights blazed out inside the tunnel, covering Alex and Alina with a blindening glare.

They immediately leapt away from each other as they massaged their hands.

Alex tried to discreetly smell his right hand, and with that action, he was able to smell Alina's fragrant perfume.

"Ew..." Asteria cringed as she saw what Alex did. "You did not just hold Alina's hands in the darkness. You even sniffed it out now! Ugh, and to think that I am staying with you..."

"Then you are free to leave..." Alex thought sourly to himself as he blinked several times to adjust his eyes to the new level of brightness.

Once he felt that his eyes are fine, Alex slowly opened his eyes, and there he found himself situated in a new place.

With his EM Sensing, Alex was sure that he was inside a cube room right now, with the exact dimensions of 100 meters in length, width and height.

The whole room was white, without any spots of blemish decorating its walls, floors or the ceiling.

The only thing that was 'dirtying' the room was a human-sized capsule located at the center of the room.

The capsule itself was standing upright, and there are countless wires wrapped and attached to the capsule.

With more observation, Alex realized that there are also extremely small machines attached to the surface of the capsule.

Alex had no idea what these small machines can do, but he does not care about that for the moment.

What he was more curious was the fact that his EM Sensing could not probe anything inside the capsule.

It was as if there was an extremely strong barrier inside the capsule which prevented Alex's ability from coming in.

"I cannot sense it with my Space Sensing too." Alina said as she saw Alex's confused and confounded look. Lord Gallius seemed to be at the same predicament, as he nodded after hearing what Alina said.

It was at that moment that the afro guy made his move.

"Out of all us here, only Alex has seen 'her' for the first time." The afro guy said as he started to slowly caress the capsule.

Alex shivered, as he realized that this afro guy was right at the top of Alex's Creeptastic People List.

The way that the afro guy looked at the capsule while tenderly caressing it is just... so weird, disturbing, and creepy.

"Victoria..." The afro guy breathed out as he gazed at the capsule with misty eyes. "Come greet your guests."

"Hello." A more creeptastic voice came out of the coffin, which made Alex's skin crawl. "I am Percentile 50. Nice to meet you."

"That..." Alina muttered as she tried to not look revolted, "Is 50% of the World Diagram, hence the name Percentile 50."

Alex then gave Alina one confused look which conveyed the one question that he was itching to ask right now.

Alina was already sure what that look meant, as she whispered back to Alex,

"The reason why President calls Percentile 50 as Victoria is unknown. We just know that the President had always been treating Percentile 50 like this since he first got it under his ownership."

"..."

"..."

"Maybe it just me, but don't you think that a body could be inside that capsule?" Alex whispered back, as Alina used her ability to isolate their conversation. "That capsule freaks me out."

Alina's silence and the annoyed glare that she gave Alex was already enough to shut Alex up.

"..."

Chapter 28 100

Even though Alina told Alex that he should not worry about the weird capsule-shaped of the object in front of him, Alex could still not help but feel extremely wary of the object.

"..." Alex looked at his left shoulder quickly, and anyone seeing this might think that he was just checking for dirt in his left shoulder.

But the truth was that he was looking at certain someone right now, with his eyes holding an unspoken question.

"Oh? You want me to tell you if there's a body inside that capsule?" Asteria tilted her head as she saw Alex's gaze on her. She then narrowed her eyes as she looked at the capsule with concentration.

"Hmmm..." Asteria assumed a contemplative pose as she stared at the capsule.

"Interesting..." Asteria muttered to herself as her curious look at the capsule changed to a look of interest.

She suddenly flew towards the capsule, entering its body fully, before she came out of it seconds later. Whatever was inside that capsule was already seen by Asteria.

Her reply however, was something that disgruntled Alex.

"Welp, sorry, but I think I cannot answer your question." Asteria replied with a wistful expression on her face.

Alex's eyes must have narrowed in indignation, as Asteria was forced to quickly add something to her earlier statement.

"In my opinion as your Guide, your mission and bonus mission will be in jeopardy once I tell you the answer to your query. Thus, with my utmost judgement, I shall not answer your question."

"..." Even if Alex was not happy with what Asteria said, he did not dare complain.

Even if he knew that Asteria was sometimes useless, and that she spends most of her times speaking nonsense, Alex knew that she was still doing her job as Alex's Guide properly.

Thus, if she said that she will not answer the question, then Alex will accept that.

"That just means that I have to observe it a little more..." Alex thought to himself as he frowned a little.

"According to what Alina said earlier, this World Diagram in front of me is only 50% of the whole World Diagram... So does that mean that if I destroy this object in front of me, I will only destroy 50% of whole World Diagram? Hmm... will that already count as completing the mission?"

Alex knew that there is no way he can ask this question right now. But if his hunch was right, then he might probably need to destroy 100% of the World Diagram just to ensure that he will complete the mission.

"Hey..." Alex whispered to Alina while the afro guy was doing some tweaking on the capsule. "If this guy right here has the 50% of the World Diagram, then where is the other 50%?"

Alina's reply came quickly, and it came along with an unpleasant expression on her face.

"The other 50% is with my current master." Alina replied with a frown.

"Hooo... that is neat." Alex replied as he tried to not show the pissed expression on his face. "But why is the World Diagram even split into two halves?"

"It was done so that the World Diagram could be kept safe." Alina replied curtly. "If someone manages to destroy the 50% World Diagram here in WEO, the whole World Diagram will still work, as the other 50% is still fine with my current master. Of course its performance will be subpar compared to before, but that will be better than just allowing the 100% of the World Diagram to be destroyed."

"That is so irrit- amazing!" Alex exclaimed loudly. "Just hearing what you said makes me think that the WEO itself values the World Diagram highly."

"That is the undeniable truth." Alina said with a sigh as a forlorn expression appeared on her face.

"After all, it is the World Diagram that is currently restricting the Top 10 Strongest Espers from wreaking their havoc everywhere."

"What?" Alex's eyes widened as he heard what Alina said. Alex's mind flashed as he remembered about Clint.

Clint supposedly had the power to manipulate all the 4 Fundamental Forces, but even a guy like him has to follow the rules of not interfering on important matters.

If Clint was already that strong, then what could have forced him to follow the restrictions?

Alex thought at first that it was another extremely strong Esper that is forcing all the Top 10 Espers to follow the restriction rule.

But from what he just heard from Alina, it was actually the World Diagram that is restricting the Espers!

"How the hell... could a network of quantum computers have the ability to restrict all the strongest Espers in the world?" Alex said harshly as he gave Alina a disbelieving look. "I find it hard to believe that someone like Clint could be restricted by that World Diagram."

"... That's the first thing that went through my mind when my sister told me about her getting restricted too..." Alina whispered back as the afro guy began to wipe the surface of the capsule with a clean cloth.

"But even if I find it hard to believe, I know that my sister is not lying to me, so I will still believe in it." Alina said as she glanced at Alex. "How about you? Do you believe me?"

"Well, if it is you saying it, then it should be true." Alex said as he let out a sigh. He had already seen weird things in his childhood, and a computer network that can restrict reality altering mind wizards is just at the right level of weirdness.

After giving this answer, Alex decided to bring Alina at the corner of the room so that he can talk to her more.

Lord Gallius saw what the two were doing, as he made a motion to approach them.

Alex clicked his teeth, obviously unhappy that Lord Gallius is about to interrupt his educational conversation with Alina.

"Let's pretend that we are talking like a very, very, close friends." Alex said as he clasped Alina's hands tightly. "That way, Lord Gallius will back off away from us."

"Ok..." Alina's slight tremble in her voice as she replied helped on their alibi, as Lord Gallius' face paled a little before he backed away from them. Of course he did not forget to glare at Alex the whole time, as if he was itching to make a gelato out of him later.

Alex ignored Lord Gallius' piercing gave to him as he continued talking with Alina, of course while he was still holding her hands.

With the current situation of the World Diagrams, Alex realized that he must find a way to full destroy both the 50% of the World Diagrams.

The problem is that, how can Alex destroy both the 50% of the World Diagrams when they are situated at different places?

Well, Alex had no idea on what to do. However, he has three-word principle that he can use on his current situation.

IMPROVISE. ADAPT. OVERCOME.

If Alex has no plan for the other half of the World Diagram, then he will just IMPROVISE one right now.

If Alex faces unknown factors later, then he will just change his plan to ADAPT on these factors.

And If Alex faces a powerful adversary, then he will just have to OVERCOME it.

Alex knew that if he wants to use all these principles right now, then he must make sure that Alina will be in his plans.

It will be only through Alina's help that Alex can succeed in his Main Mission.

"Seems like meeting you really is not just an unfortunate accident." Alex thought to himself as he glanced at Alina's masked face.

"Alina, can you please use your ability to make sure that no one eavesdrops on us?" Alex said as he glanced around him warily.

"Ok." Alex felt a wave of power washing through him, and he knew that it was Alina using her ability to lock the space around her, specifically to prevent sound waves from leaving the area 1 meter around her.

Anything that Alina and Alex will say right now will not be heard by anyone nearby.

Thus, Alex and Alina could freely talk inside without any fear of ostracization.

Anyone seeing this from the outside will not suspect anything, as both Alex and Alina looked like a sweet couple that are too embarrassed to be heard.

Alex took a deep breath as he realized that they can talk freely right now.

"I am not angry with you trying to chase me away, as I know that you just want to keep me safe." Alex started to say as Alina dipped her head down. "I understand your reasoning."

"However..." Alex's carefree smile changed into a stern one as he said,

"I cannot just allow you to stay that miserable." Alex grumbled as he fixed a stray hair that fell in front of Alina's mask.

"I told you that I do not need your help." Alina replied as she gritted her teeth.

She gazed at Alex intently as she continued talking.

"I am only tolerating everything that you are doing to me right now as we will be separating later. Think of our talk right now as the last talk that we will have. So, if you want to say more goodbyes now, then you bett-"

"Your sister, she was defeated and enslaved by your current master, right?" Alex blurted out, interrupting Alina's tirade. "And you, the younger sister, is doing her very best to free her, right?"

"..." Alina clenched her fists so tightly that Alex felt that his hand that was touching her hand seemed to break. It was good thing that Alina loosened herself as she replied,

"That is right... Did Uncle Clint tell that story to you?"

"Yes he did. Two nights before our departure." Alex said as he gave Alina an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that."

"..."

What Alex said was true. Two days before the end of his training with Alina, Alex chose to privately talk to Clint about Alina's real problems.

Since Alex was already deeply implicated, with him even killing MIndbreaker, Clint must have thought that Alex already has the right to know about the truth.

So Clint told everything to Alex, and Alex was partly surprised from what he heard.

According to Clint, Alina's sister, whose real name was Elizabeth, was the 2nd Strongest Esper, and her ability was Strong Space Manipulation.

This ability was of course leagues stronger that Alina's ability, which is already hinted by the name of their titles.

Unlike Alina who had to rely on techniques to manipulate space in limited ways, Elizabeth can do manipulate space in any way that she wanted it with just minimum effort.

Elizabeth can twist, bend, or even break the space in her Range!

She can destroy anything in the space around her, or she can make them invulnerable.

She can also technically be called invincible, as her space manipulation allows her to shrug off any kinds of attacks thrown at her.

Physical attacks, mental attack, telepathic attacks, all of these attacks require space to travel on.

Elizabeth can use her ability to banish these attacks on the space around her, which essentially gives her an extremely powerful defense.

With this kind of Esper Ability, it is hard to imagine her losing.

But according to Clint, Elizabeth actually lost to Alina's current master, whose name was just known as Lord Ergo.

Lord Ergo was considered as the strongest Esper there is, given the fact that he defeated all the other Espers in top 10.

However, Lord Ergo's Esper Ability is still unknown, even until now.

That just made him more enigmatic and mysterious.

This and the fact that he is plain creepy makes Lord Ergo one undesirable Esper.

As such, Clint was unsure why Elizabeth, who was a very cool-headed person, would try to pick a match against Lord Ergo.

Lord Ergo effortlessly won that match, and Elizabeth was 'killed' by Lord Ergo already.

Of course this death is not a biological death, but rather a death of the person's will.

Whatever Lord Ergo did to Elizabeth in their fight was so effective, as it practically turned Elizabeth into a mindless slave that only follow Lord Ergo's orders.

For Clint, the current Elizabeth was already dead. There is no chance for her to recover already.

But Alina, who loved her sister so much, did not give up, as she did her best to gather money and contribution points to find a way to help her sister.

And out of desperation, Alina employed herself to be one of Lord Ergo's followers, so that she can get nearer to her sister.

But even with everything that Alina did until now, her sister Elizabeth was still within the tight grasp of Lord Ergo.

When Alex heard all of these 2 days ago, his only thought that this time was that it was a really bad situation for Alina.

But right now, Alex knew that this info that he had can actually help Alex on completing his missions.

Alex only needed to do the right actions and say the right words to nudge him and Alina on the best path for them.

"I have a plan to help your sister." Alex said as his mind stated to IMPROVISE a plan. "You know deep inside your heart, that you sister cannot be saved by what you are doing right now. Heck, you're even using your contribution points to just talk to your sister!"

Alex then gazed deeply at Alina as he slowly said,

"What you are doing right now is just a desperate attempt to stay afloat."

"Pak!"

Alex felt a stinging pain in his cheeks as he realized that he had been slapped.

Alina's whole body was heaving up and down, as if she was trying her best to contain her anger.

Alex took a deep breath as he knew that his words has all resonated with Alina.

After all, Alina would only get this angry if what Alex told her affected her.

Alex suppressed a smile as he knew that he has fully gotten Alina's attention now.

What Alex needs to do next is to keep that information focused on him.

"It might hurt, but you know that it is the truth." Alex said as he rubbed his stinging cheek. "Of course if you do not believe me, then you can just kick me away now. But if you know deep inside you that what you are doing with your sister's rescue is hopeless, then you should stay and listen to me."

Alex then closed his eyes and waited for 10 seconds.

"..."

He did not receive any kicks or harsh ejection within that time. At that point, Alex knew that Alina will not be kicking him out harshly.

It is safe to say that Alina chose to believe Alex, for now.

"SPEECH 100." Asteria muttered as she gave Alex a knowing smirk. "You get my reference, right? Right?"

"..."

Chapter 29 What you see is what you usually ge

Lord Gallius' mood has turned for the worst when he saw that Alina and Alex huddled at the corner of the room, with them talking at each other discreetly.

To make matters more irritating for him, Lord Gallius noticed Alina using her Esper Ability to prevent sounds from coming.

As such, he can only watch the two talk with each other.

"..." After a few seconds of watching, Lord Gallius saw Alina becoming extremely angry, followed by her slap at Alex.

"D*n! I do not know what happened, but just keep at it, Alex!" Lord Gallius thought to himself as he watched at the conversation intently.

He resolutely ignored the afro guy, who was still busy wiping the capsule with a cloth.

To his dismay, Lord Gallius found Alina looking like she has calmed down, followed by her and Alex talking again for a few more minutes.

"That was refreshing." Lord Gallius heard Alex saying these words as Alina dispelled her sound nullification field.

Both of them approached the afro guy once more, with Alina's formerly despondent look replaced with a determined expression.

"Oh..." It seems like the afro guy has noticed the change in Alina, as he paused what he was doing in the capsule.

The afro guy peered at Alina's determined eyes, before he looked at Alex who was just standing beside Alina.

"When you came in here, you look like a soulless sailor, whose goal is to just go where the ship goes. But right now, you look like the ship captain. You look like you have a destination in your mind right now... I like that." The afro guy said as he stepped away from the capsule.

"So, I presume that you have a different request now?" The afro guy muttered as he kept the cloth in his shirt pocket.

"Yes, I have a different request." Alina replied.

When Lord Gallius heard this, he could not help but feel a sinking sensation in his stomach, as if he could feel that something unpleasant was about to happen.

"..." Lord Gallius pushed this sensation down as he refused to believe that something bad will happen right here at the WEO Headquarters.

"I want the other 50% of the World Diagram to be brought here..." Alina said, much to Lord Gallius' surprise. "That is my request, and I think all my contribution points is enough for that."

"...You want to see the whole World Diagram in its entirety..." The afro guy muttered these words like a spell. "Is that... really your request?"

"It is, and I won't change it anymore." Alina replied with a defiant look on her face.

"Sigh..." The afro guy shook his head as he sagged his shoulders.

"You know that the reason the two parts of the World Diagram were separated was because it ensures that the World Diagram will be much safer from attacks... What you are wishing right now puts the whole World Diagram in jeopardy..."

"Well, I only need to see them at the same room for a short amount of time..." Alina replied quickly again. "There is no problem if that is the request, right?

"Hmmm... I know that you are plotting something in here." The afro guy muttered to himself as he gave Alina and extremely serious look.

"Well, with all your security here, do you still have to fear for the World Diagram?" Alina drawled as she stepped towards the afro guy.

"Hmph! Victoria! Should I allow Alina's request?" The afro guy suddenly shouted out.

In response, the capsule began to glow blue as it began to talk.

"Chances of Alina doing something nefarious against the World Diagram: 0%. Victoria confirms that Miss Alina has no intent to destroy the World Diagram."

"Huh?" The afro guy widened his eyes in surprise as he heard what the capsule said.

"How about him?" The afro guy pointed his fingers towards the direction of Alex, who just raised his eyebrows in curiosity.

"Chances of Alex doing something nefarious against the World Diagram: 0%. Victoria confirms that Mister Alex has no intent to destroy the World Diagram."

"What?" Now, the afro guy is really surprised.

"Hehehe..." Alex shook his head as he saw that flabbergasted expression on the afro guy's face. "There is no way that your machine can detect danger from us. After all, I have Asteria with me!"

What Alex told to Alina earlier was just simple.

Instead of requesting to see her sister, Alina should just request for the two parts of the World Diagram to be brought together.

Alina obviously objected at this, as she said that there is no way that the afro guy will allow this to happen.

And even if he allowed it, the afro guy will will surely use the World Diagram to foresee if Alina and Alex had hostile intentions against the World Diagram.

In response to that, Alex's reply was that he had a countermeasure for that.

This countermeasure was Asteria, the stuck-up Fairy Queen.

"Hmph, so that is what you are planning to do huh." Asteria muttered as she heard the conversation between Alex and Alina. "Tsk, now that we are here, I have no choice but to do what you are implying to do..."

Asteria flew up in the air as she scattered some of her precious Fairy Dust on both Alina and Alex.

This time, instead of creating an illusion of their faces, Asteria's Fairy Dust created the illusion of safety.

Alina had some faint intentions to destroy the World Diagram, while Alex arrived in this place to fully destroy the World Diagram.

If afro guy asks the World Diagram to scan both Alina and Alex, it will surely detect their killing intent towards it.

Asteria's Fairy Dust however, used its illusion ability to cover up the hostile intentions of both Alex and Alina.

This was the reason why the World Diagram had deemed that both Alina and Alex had no evil intentions against it.

While Alex was relieved after what happened, Alina retained her poker face as she stared at the afro guy intently.

"..." The afro guy was silent, while Alex looked so smug.

Alina repressed the urge to sigh as she decisively ignored Asteria whispering to her.

"Alina, you can see me just like Alex... Why don't you just tell Alex that you can see me too? That way, Alex will not be this tense in front of you."

"..."

Aside from her Weak Space Manipulation, Alina had another ability.

That ability was to see through all kinds of falsehoods, and only see the truth.

This allowed her to know when someone is lying, and it also allowed her to see through illusions.

She does not know how she got this Truth Ability, but Alina knew that she can just do it.

There are some people that she cannot use this ability on, and it included Lord Ergo.

Unfortunately for Alina, she was not sure how Lord Ergo became immune to her ability.

But aside from Lord Ergo and other rare people, she can use her truth ability on almost everyone, and that saved her from a lot of unnecessary effort.

And Alex was included in this 'everyone'.

--Around 9 days ago.--

When Alina saw Alex inside Clint's house, she was able to see through Alex's facial disguise with the Fairy Dust.

Alina felt like she can see Alex's real face using her Truth Ability, while she can see the fake face of Alex with her naked eyes.

At that time, Alina was about to attack Alex, as she recognized that the Alex in her uncle's house was the Class S Intruder that she was chasing.

Alina was sure that Alex used his Intruder Abilities to change his face, allowing him to approach her Uncle.

But she restrained her impulse to attack as she noticed three weird things about Alex at that time.

First is the fact that her Uncle allowed Alex to stay with her.

Even if her Uncle has no way to see through illusions like she can do, her Uncle is still one of the best Espers there is, and there is no way that he will allow someone like Alex in his house unless he deemed it safe.

Second was the fact that even if the World Diagram has considered Alex to be an Intruder, the disguised Alex did not act like he was one.

He seemed... too human for Alina.

An Intruder, even an Intruder that is good at infiltration will not act as human as the Alex in front of Alina.

If these two weird things were the only things that Alina saw, they will be not enough to stop Alina.

It was the third weird thing however, that effectively stopped Alina.

"..." Alina could see a small, human-like creature sitting on Alex's left shoulder.

This creature looked like e female human.

A beautiful, blonde, and sexy woman.

She was only the size of a small bird, but her overall appearance managed to light up the whole room.

"Cute..." That was the only thing that Alina thought to herself as she saw this small blonde perched at Alex's shoulders.

Alina was not sure why, but she felt the sudden urge to approach and pet the small blonde.

However, she restrained herself from doing so, as she realized that this small blonde is not seen by her Uncle and his family.

"So this small blonde must have been only be visible to this guy..." Alina then acted like she did not see the small blonde, so that she will not rouse Alex's attention.

Alina then narrowed her eyes as she remembered something about that small blonde.

That was the fact that this small blonde was not with Alex when Alina tried to kill him at their first meeting.

"That means that this small blonde just appeared after this guy escaped from me earlier..." Alina thought to herself as she gazed at the small blonde with interest.

The small blonde suddenly trembled, as if she felt Alina's gaze on her.

Alina tried to hastily avert her gaze away, but the small blonde caught Alina staring at her.

"..." The small blonde gave Alina a dazzling smile, which just served to intrigue Alina more.

"Ugh, I want to take her home as my pet..." Alina thought to herself as she tried sneaking glances at the cute blonde.

Because of that small blonde, Alina lost her chance and drive to kill Alex at that place.

--Minutes later.--

"..." Alina left her Uncle's place with a brooding expression as she tried to understand the enigma that was Alex.

And naturally that includes the mystery of that small blonde.

"That Alex guy... he is not just an Intruder..." Alina thought to herself as she reached her current dwelling place.

"I need to investigate him more... especially that small blonde." Suppressing her urge to sigh, Alina changed her clothes as she went into a deep sleep.

Her sleep however was thwarted when she felt someone entering her room.

It was around 3 in the morning when Alina detected someone intruding her room. Her body tightened in tension as she looked at the intruder warily.

"Hey, it seems like you really can see this Fairy Queen. Hmph, you should have been happy that you saw my visage!"

The person who entered Alina's room was actually Asteria.

Alina reveled on Asteria's extremely adorable and beautiful appearance as she tried to sense if Asteria was here with hostile intentions.

As far as Alina could sense it, Asteria was not here to fight.

"Hmph, I applaud you for not trying to kill Alex earlier." Asteria said as she gave Alina a haughty look. "However, with that ability of yours, Alex's chance to stay discreet is in danger of blowing up. Because of that, I have no choice but to talk to you right now."

"Woosh~"

Alina suddenly stood up from her bed, revealing her nightgown which hugged her lithe and shapely body perfectly.

Alina ignored Asteria's somewhat intense gaze on her body as she asked her,

"So, small blonde, you want to talk with me about keeping Alex's secret safe?"

"Yes. That is my intention here." Asteria said, with her eyes looking enviously as Alina's silky black hair and slender legs. "Will you accept this Fairy Queen's regal invitation to talk?''

"I agree." Alina nodded her head quickly, like she was a chick pecking on some grains.

But before Asteria could start talking, Alina suddenly stretched her right hand towards Asteria's direction as she asked Asteria,

"But can I pet you first?"

"..."

Chapter 30 All-Seeing Eyes

--Still 9 days ago--

After Asteria infiltrated her room and demanded that a talk should happen between them, Alina decided to ignore what Asteria said as she proceeded to pet Asteria on the spot.

Asteria's smooth, silky hair felt like velvet on Alina's fingers, and the constant purring sounds that Asteria made just encouraged Alina to pet her more.

"Is this small blonde a cat?" Alina thought as she idly watched the purring Asteria. "Welp, she feels like a cat, so maybe I will just treat her like a cat..."

It was only after 30 minutes of petting that Alina decided to let go.

"T'was a nice petting..." Asteria muttered with a vacant expression on her face. Her expression cleared up after a second, as her face was covered with a light scowl. "Hmph human, don't think that you can push me out of the right path just because you are good at petting!"

"...So, how do you explain what you are?" Alina said as she ignored everything that Asteria said to her earlier. "Are you an enemy too?"

"You think I am an enemy?" Asteria smirked as she gave a smug look at Alina's direction.

"I assure you that I am not your enemy." Asteria said, jabbing her fingers at Alina. "Your All-Seeing Eyes can attest that I am telling the truth."

"What? All-Seeing Eyes?" Alina tilted her head from confusion.

What Asteria just said earlier was the truth, which meant that Asteria is not Alina's enemy.

But even if that was the truth, that does not mean that Alina could just understand what Asteria said all about the All-Seeing Eyes!

"Oh... so you do not know about that... Well you are in an Esper World after all..." Asteria muttered to herself as she suddenly seemed to be engrossed in her own thoughts. "For your eyes to appear in this worl-"

"Ehem." Alina let out a light cough as she glared at Asteria. "You were saying?"

"Oh."Alina's light cough managed to break Asteria out of her stupor, just enough for her to continue talking with Alina.

"You have the All-Seeing Eyes, which lets you see through anything, including lies and illusions." Asteria said in a casual tone, as if something like this was just a common fact. "This pair of eyes is extremely rare, and those who get it are destined for greatness."

"..." Even if what Asteria said sounded ridiculous, Alina could not refute against it, as she realized that Asteria was actually telling the truth!

Each word that Asteria said about the All-Seeing Eyes were all the truth!

Alina rubbed her temples in frustration as she reeled from what Asteria said.

In order to calm her nerves, Alina started to look around her, feeling relieved that her room was free from security cameras and listening devices.

Alina personally removed these devices in order to protect her privacy from the World Diagram.

And right now, this privacy is helping her.

After all, it would not be good if anyone or even the World Diagram notices that Alina was talking to someone like Asteria.

"Hehehe..." Asteria giggled as she saw the distressed look on Alina's face.

This fairy queen must have been happy seeing someone this troubled because of her.

"It doesn't matter if what I said was ridiculous or not. After all, your eyes deem that it is the truth." Asteria said as she saw Alina opening her eyes. "So, do you believe me now?"

"Tsk, I believe you." Alina replied begrudgingly. There is no way that she can say that Asteria was lying, as her own eyes stated that Asteria was telling the truth.

The only thing that Alina can do now is to just continue listening to Asteria.

"Since you believe me, then I can start by introducing myself first." Asteria then straightened her small body proudly as she said,

"This fair maiden in front of you is the Fairy Queen Asteria! The sole ruler of the Fairy World and the direct descendant of the great Traveler Sinbad!"

"I do not understand why all those words that you just stated is the truth." Alina replied as she let out a sigh. "Well, I will just choose to believe everything that you say right now... After all, I have no choice but to believe it..."

"Hmph, you should keep that attitude, since I will tell more unbelievable things to you." Asteria then took a deep breath before she started to tell Alina all about the Travelers and Alex's role as a Traveler.

By the point Asteria had finished talking, Alina had already laid her head on the bed, refusing to move her body by even an inch.

"Why are those ridiculous statements all true?!" Alina groaned out as she glared at Asteria with blood-shot eyes.

"They are the truth, because they are the truth." Asteria said as she tried to look like a wise sage. "If you see that the rock is white, then you better believe that the rock is white. If you don't, then I will smash your head open with that rock."

"..."

"..."

At this point, Alina knew that there is no use for her to be suspicious of Asteria anymore.

However, there is still one more thing bugging Alina right now.

"Why are you telling all of these things to me?" Alina asked Asteria as she stared the much smaller woman.

"Won't it be better if you just silenced me, or do something to prevent me from exposing Alex? Why did you spare the effort to tell me everything about the Travelers?" By this point, Alina already held both of her swords, with her body prepared to attack at a moment's notice.

Asteria just looked at Alina's swords like they were just toys as she said,

"I am Alex's Guide. My role is to make decisions and create decisions that will be beneficial for Alex's Path as a Traveler. Everything that I did to you right now are all within my plans."

"So you want me to assist Alex." These words rolled of Alina's mouth smoothly, as if it had been there in her mouth since earlier. "By telling me everything about the Travelers, you think that I will be tempted to help Alex."

"Well, are you tempted to help him?" Asteria replied with a smirk as she observed Alina's face.

"I am not interested." Alina bluntly replied. "After all, what would I get for helping Alex? Nothing at all, except for just some inconvenience on my way."

"Hoo..." instead of looking discouraged, Asteria's countenance seemed to glow as she gave Alina another smile.

"What if I tell you that if you can help Alex on succeeding on his mission, then your sister will be saved?"

"What did you say?" Alina's formerly cool expression changed when she heard what Asteria said.

Alina seemed to have ignored decorum as she grabbed the floating Asteria out of the air.

"Hey!" Asteria's complaints were cut off as she saw the primal look on Alina's eyes. It was the eyes of someone who will not accept bull*t anymore.

Asteria's face contorted into anger for a moment before it smoothed out into a calm expression.

"If you help Alex on his Main Mission and Bonus Mission, then your sister will definitely be saved." Asteria said this sentence as she stared into Alina's eyes deeply.

"..." Alina stayed still in her place, as she concentrated her gaze on Asteria.

"So, is that statement of mine a Truth or a Lie?" Asteria said in a joking tone, maybe in an attempt to diffuse the tense atmosphere.

"... You are telling the truth." Alina said as she loosened her grip on Asteria.

Asteria rubbed her sore elbows as she glared at Alina. "Hmph, that's really rude! Do not just grab someone when they are flying! Accidents can happen, you know!"

"..." Alina chose not to comment the fact that people floating in the air like Asteria are extremely rare to find right now.

"So, what should I do now?" With Asteria's assurance, Alina knew that her chance to save her sister is already within her reach. She only has to follow what Asteria says, and Alina will get her sister back.

"Oh, just join Alex." Asteria replied confidently. "As for what you do with him, that already depends on you. Just make sure that he will be alive until the end of this month."

"...Fine." Alina replied quickly. "If I only have to accompany Alex, then that I can do. But can you tell me what his Main and Bonus Missions are? Maybe I can help him if I know..."

"I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you that." Asteria replied, much to Alina's disappointment. "If you want to know what Alex's missions are, then you just have to observe his actions. You will have a faint inkling on what his goals are once you talk to him."

"Ok..."

Alina followed exactly what Asteria told to her.

She joined Alex on a date the next day, and to Alina's surprise, she actually enjoyed her date with Alex.

The arrival of the lizard was an unpleasant surprise, but she and Alex managed to take the lizard down.

What made Alina worried however was the appearance of Mindbreaker.

"S*t." Alina rarely cursed, but when she did so, that just means that everything went to s*t already.

"If Mindbreaker is nearby, then that just means that Lord Ergo could be spying on me now!" Alina thought with a panic as she stared at Alex.

With the precautions that Alina did earlier, she was sure that Lord Ergo had no idea about the existence of Asteria.

But the same cannot be said to Alex.

Mindbreaker has seen Alex having his date with Alina. If Mindbreaker saw that, then Lord Ergo must have seen them two together too.

With the kind of attitude that Lord Ergo has, he will surely order one of his minions to kill Alex.

"I cannot let Alex die..." Alina thought to herself as she decided that Alex must stay alive.

Alina knew that Lord Ergo has no intention of letting her sister free. He was only using her sister to force Alina to work for him.

Right now, only Alex is Alina's real hope on saving her sister. There is no way that she will let him die.

With that thought in mind, she decided to act cold against Alex, as she tried to tell him that he should leave her already.

Alina told Alex all about Lord Ergo's intention to kill him, and the dangers that Alex will have if he continues on sticking with Alina.

With Alina saying these words, Alina was sure that maybe Lord Ergo will let Alex off.

Asteria of course was unhappy when she saw what Alina did, but all that changed when Alex blabbed all about him wanting to go near the World Diagram.

"Oh, so your Main Mission is related to the World Diagram huh..." Alina thought to herself as she tried to not show her happiness.

At that point, Alina felt a fire blazing inside her as she realized that now is her chance to save her sister.

That sense of urgency just increased when Asteria discreetly told to Alina that Alex only has 14 days left to live at that time.

If Alina wants to save her sister, then she must do it quickly.

That brought Alex and Alina into their 7-day combat training, followed by their trip to the World Diagram, which now brings Alina to her present state.

Alina resolutely ignored Asteria, who was talking to Alex about something related to corny jokes.

Alina's entire attention was focused on the afro guy, as she waited on this guy's next set of actions.

Even though the wait was for just a few seconds, each second that passed by was agonizing, and Alina could only stop herself from trembling as she waited for the response of the afro guy.

"Contact Lord Ergo. I want to talk to him about something." The afro guy said to his secretary standing nearby, much to Alina's relief.

"Tell him that there are two Espers here that wants to see the World Diagram as a whole." The afro guy said as he scratched his bushy head.

But before Alina could feel happy, the afro guy added some words that made her blood run cold.

"Also, tell to Lord Ergo that we will use Elizabeth as a hostage. If anything bad happens to the completed World Diagram later, then Elizabeth will be killed in return."

"!!!!!!!!!!!"

Chapter 31 Virtual Reality

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Alina was unable to contain her cool after hearing what the afro guy said. "Are you serious on using my sister's life against us?"

"Well, if you have no schemes against the World Diagram, then you should have no problems with what I am doing, right?" The afro guy said as she gave Alina a mocking smile. "After all, your sister will not be in danger if nothing bad happens to the World Diagram later."

"..." Both Alina and Alex were inwardly angry at the slimy move that the afro guy used on them.

The secretary, who immediately left when the afro guy gave her the order, took only a minute to come back, and this time, she was bringing the same crystal phone that Alina used before.

"Hehehehe..." A hologram appeared from the crystal phone, showing a masked person.

"..." Alex felt chills covering his body as he heard the voice. It sounded both male and female at the same time, and even with his skills, Alex was unable to determine which is which.

As for Alina, her face was currently looking down as she clenched her fists tightly.

"So I heard that my 'servant' made this ridiculous request..." The masked person said as his/her hologrammed image looked at Alina's direction.

"... It is my request, Master." Alina replied while gritting her teeth, which plainly showed her unhappiness towards the masked person.

"Knowing you, my servant, you must have been planning something, right?" The masked person said as he/she broke his/her gaze at Alina. He/she instead looked at Alex's direction as he/she seemingly smirked beneath the mask.

Alex's body stiffened as he stared back at the hologram.

Alex was not sure why, but he could feel an intense sense of dread even when he was just staring at a hologram.

"You... you are the guy that is now sticking to my servant like a leech." The masked person said in a neutral tone.

This tone might imply that the masked person was calm, but Alina knew that this tone is the one that her Master uses when he/she was extremely angry.

"Who cares if I am a leech? I am a handsome leech!" Alex confidently replied, ignoring the shocked expression on Alina and Lord Gallius' face.

The afro guy did his very best to not retort, while Asteria snickered as she cringed at Alex's corny reply.

"You have some way with your words huh." The masked person said as his/her body visibly shook. "I presume that you are the one that forced my servant to change her request, right?"

"What your servant requested is all up to her. I think that you should not question it, even if you are her 'Master'." Alex replied dismissively.

"Good. Good. Good." Instead of looking angry, the masked person's body only shook for a second before staying still. "What you said was right."

Even though the masked person sounded calm, the simmering anger beneath his façade was quite obvoius.

Alex and Alina could only hold their breath as they braced for any anger erupting from the masked person.

The masked person then looked back at Alina, with him/her suddenly wearing an air of superiority.

"So, is your request for the 100% of the World Diagram still valid? Because if it is, then I will use your sister's life as the deterrent."

"..." Alina's body language showed that she was extremely unsure now, as if she was suddenly trapped within a cage.

Alex did not like what he was seeing, knowing that it was partially his fault that things had proceeded here.

"I accept." It took Alina a full minute before she could say her decision. "Just don't do anything bad to my sister."

"Well, as long as you and Alex will not do anything against the World Diagram later, then your sister will be safe and unscathed." The afro guy said, with his cold eyes boring down on Alex and Alina.

"..." Alina's only reply was to look at the afro guy, while Alex could only let out a sigh.

"Okie, then we shall see each other 6 hours from now!" The masked person said as his hologram started to fade. "Just do whatever you want until I arrive!"

"Lord Ergo, can't you just come in now?" The afro guy as he stared at the fading hologram with irritation. "I do not want to delay things longer, you know that."

"Well, I am a little busy with something related to my project, so I am currently stuck here in the Negative Plane..." Lord Ergo replied as his/her hologram dissipated completely. "Even with my power, it will take me 6 hours before I can leave..."

"S*t, he's always doing those weird experiments..." The afro guy muttered angrily as he dismissed his secretary.

"You and you." The afro guy muttered as he pointed at Alex and Alina. "Some of my workers will bring you to a waiting room. You two will wait here until the arrival of Lord Ergo."

"I assume that our waiting room will be full of security and weapons, right?" Alex said as he felt Alina huddling closer to him. That made Alex felt slightly better, but that made his mood sour as he knew that they will be on their separate paths later.

"Well of course it will be." The afro guy dismissively said as he shooed them away. "We can't just allow you two to do something later. So just like what you are thinking, we will be forcing you to behave and stay still."

"..."

"Can I say something here?" Out of nowhere, Lord Gallius, who was largely ignored, suddenly spoke up as he looked at Alex.

"This should be interesting..." The afro guy seemed to have picked up what Lord Gallius wanted to say, as his eyes suddenly twinkled.

"Instead of just waiting in boredom, why don't we use the remaining time to entertain ourselves?" Lord Gallius said as he sent a knowing smirk at Alina.

"Oh, you mean that kind of entertainment..." Alina muttered dryly as she understood what Lord Gallius wanted.

"Umm... am I missing something here?" Alex tilted his head as he saw that everyone around him seemed to have understood what Lord Gallius was talking about. "I'm afraid that I am not understanding what you are talking about..."

"We are talking about holding a virtual match right now." Alina replied as she glared at Alex. "Didn't I tell you all about virtual matches already?"

"Oh that... Hahaha, I understand now." Alex said as he scratched the back of his head.

"..."

7 days ago, when Alex was about to start his combat training with Alina, Alina told Alex that they can use the option of having virtual matches.

Just like what its name says, virtual matches were matches that happens in the virtual reality.

Anyone who reads cheesy light novels like Alex before will definitely know about virtual reality and virtual matches, especially the games developed from virtual reality.

In this Esper World however, the technology of virtual reality is not that fully developed yet.

In this world, virtual reality is still only on its initial stages.

There are no virtual reality games that are out for the public to use.

From what Alina told Alex, virtual reality in this world can only be used on military and training applications, which include virtual matches.

According to Alina, when two people fight at a virtual match, their consciousness will occupy a virtual avatar, which will be their body in the virtual match.

Unlike the real world, the amount of Mental Power of the virtual avatars are only set to be at the same amount with each other.

This means that two people fighting in a virtual match will have the same amount of mental power in their virtual avatars.

With the advantage of mental power gone in a virtual match, the only way to win in a virtual match was through better Esper Techniques and Abilities.

Alina gave Alex one example to simplify her explanation further.

If Alina and Alex were to fight in a virtual match, they will both occupy virtual avatars.

Each of this virtual avatar will have Mental Power of 100, ensuring that both Alex and Alina will have the same virtual power.

These virtual avatars can wield the Esper Abilities of Alex and Alina, and they will move and act like normal human bodies.

Alex can win in the virtual match if he can defeat Alina's virtual avatar before his Mental Power gets exhausted.

If both Alex and Alina loses their Mental Power with their virtual avatars intact, then it will be a tie.

When Alina explained about virtual matches to Alex, she also told him that fights in virtual matches will not increase Alex's Mental Power, since it is not a real fight.

The only benefit that Alex can get in a virtual match is the improvement of his Esper Ability.

Because of that reason, Alex decided to not conduct a virtual match with Alina, as his goal at that time was to increase his Mental Power.

Because of that reason too, Alex threw the matter of the virtual matches at the back of his mind.

He only managed to remember about it when Alina mentioned it to him right now.

"Seems like you remembered what I told you before." Alina said before glancing at the smirking Lord Gallius.

"Lord Gallius, I presume that the reason that you brought up the matter of virtual matches is because you want to fight a virtual match right now?"

"That is exactly my reason." Lord Gallius replied before his gaze swiveled towards Alex. "And to make the virtual match better, I decided that the virtual match will be between me and Mr. Alex."

"Hmm... that is actually interesting..." The afro guy interjected, interrupting Alina before she can complain. "I want to know if Miss Alina's... friend is a capable individual."

"Don't do it Alex." Alina said before Alex could say anything. "Even if you and Lord Gallius will have the similar Mental Power in that virtual match, it will be much harder for you to win. He has tons of experience that I fear you cannot match."

"That will really be a big problem for him." Lord Gallius said as he sent a provocative gaze at Alex. "But knowing that you are a Battle Esper, I am sure that you are sorely tempted to fight me now, right?"

"Tsk, so you knew about me being a Battle Esper huh." Alex muttered as he let out a sigh. "Fine by me. Let's fight right now!"

Alina saw the glint in Alex's eyes, and she realized that she cannot stop him now.

"Sigh, just make sure that you win." Alina said as she stepped back by two steps.

Alina then looked at Asteria, who somehow looked pleased with what was happening.

"What?" Asteria mouthed as she saw Alina glancing at her.

"..." Alina chose to not say anything as she just wished that Alex's Main Mission will not involve destroying the World Diagram.

Because if that is the mission, then saving her sister will be back to impossible levels again.

"Put this on your head first." Alex heard this instruction from Alina as he held a sleek-looking helmet in his hands.

"Oh, so this is the virtual reality helmet huh." Alex said as he tried to not geek out.

Alex liked science fiction and fantasy when he was young, which made him somewhat worshipful of anything cool.

The virtual reality helmet that he is holding right now is one of those cool things.

"Don't you drool in front of me." Alina muttered as she seemed to look at Alex with disgust. "Each one of these helmets costs a lot, so dirtying them with your bodily fluids is a big no-no."

"..." Alex chose to not mention the fact that numerous bodily fluids will surely be ejected in the future once these virtual reality helmets became available for everyone.

Information like that will surely be predicted by the World Diagram itself. There's no need for Alex to mention it.

"Ok, so once I put this on my head, should I say something like 'Link Start'?" Alex said, remembering a very divisive light novel that he read before.

"No." Alina said as she looked at Alex as if he was a freak. "Just close your eyes for 5 seconds after wearing the helmet, and you will be in."

"Gotcha." Alex followed what Alina said, and before he could realize it, he felt that he was in a different place now.

Alex tried sensing his environment, and he found out that even though he can still sense everything properly, there is still the feeling of unreality, as if there was something artificial about his surroundings.

"So this is the virtual reality..." Alex muttered as he looked around him. "Not bad, not bad."

But before Alex could enjoy the scenery around him, he felt weight pressing down on his left shoulder.

"How could you be here?" Alex has the right to be surprised, since he saw Asteria, the small fairy queen, sitting on his virtual left shoulder!

"I am your Guide, and you are my Traveler." Asteria said as she gave Alex her pearly-white grin. "Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you."

"..."

Chapter 32 A fitting name and title

"..." Even if he was actually curious on how Asteria was here, he decided to shut his mouth as he realized where he is right now.

If he continued talking to Asteria as he is right now, people watching him from outside the virtual reality will see what he was doing.

That will not be good for Alex, as he is the only one that can see Asteria.

"Tsk."

Alex just shook his head, thinking that Asteria being here could be one of the results of those absurd boons that a Guide can have.

"Are you ready to fight now?" Alex heard a voice behind him, and when he looked back, he saw a body materializing from motes of light.

Alex watched with great interest as he saw Lord Gallius' body, no, 'Virtual Body' forming in front of him.

It was quite an unnerving but also exciting scene to watch.

"Maybe after I ask you some more questions..." Alex said as he looked around him curiously.

"So, we just fight here in any way that we want? No injuries here will affect our real bodies?"

"We can do anything that we want here." Lord Gallius confirmed as she swung his virtual arms around him. "As long as our current Mental Power permits it."

"So, both of us have around Mental Power of Tier 100 then?" Alex mused as he observed the inherent Mental Power inside his virtual body.

"Just like what you know earlier, both of us will have the same Mental Power, so yes, both of us have Mental Power of Tier 100." Lord Gallius replied, with his face contorting in irritation. "Can you stop asking questions now? Its quite pissing me off already."

"Ok, chill Vibrator." Alex replied as he raised his hands. "Just asking questions here."

The roar of rage that came out form Lord Gallius was overlapped with Asteria's raucous laughter.

"You dare call me that!!!" Lord Gallius shouted in anger as his face flushed. "You better know the consequence of saying things like that!"

The way that Lord Gallius trembled and the way his face looked showed how offended he was by the name that Alex just dropped.

"Hahaha! That is the best one that I have heard from you, Alex!" Asteria said as she wiped away a tear form her eye. "Out of all the names you can call him, you really chose Vibrator?"

"Well, that is literally his power." Alex thought to himself as he prepared himself. "Its only his misfortune that vibrators are used on an entirely... different way."

Alex knew that with his current Mental Power, the things that he and Lord Gallius can do were pretty limited.

But that did not make him feel confident, as he knew that Lord Gallius was originally a Star Esper.

The things that he can do, even in his current state, is not something that Alex cannot just ignore.

And that thinking of Alex was confirmed when he saw Lord Gallius muttering something.

[Authority Invocation: Summon Longsword]

Few motes of light appeared Lord Gallius, which all proceeded to converge at this right hand.

Alex only had to watch for a few more seconds to see a longsword hanging on Lord Gallius' right hand.

Alex then remembered what Lord Gallius said seconds earlier, and he immediately realized what happened.

"You are one hell of a cheater." Alex said as he glared at the longsword held by Lord Gallius. "How come you can summon things like that?"

"Well, its because of my [Authority, duh." Lord Gallius replied offhandedly. "I am a high-ranking official in here, so I can have some access on some of the workings here in the virtual reality."

"Oh." Hearing what Lord Gallius said, Alex realized what he was talking about.

If Alex can understand it right, [Authority] is something that only high-ranking officials can use.

And it seems like this [Authority] allows Lord Gallius to tweak some of the things in the virtual reality.

Seeing that Alex was in contemplative mood, Lord Gallius smiled, despite his apparent anger.

"Of course I cannot just use my [Authority] here to make drastic changes. At most, I can only summon a small weapon with me at every virtual match... And right now, the best thing that I can do is to summon this longsword, which I will definitely use to chop you to pieces!"

"He's not lying." Asteria muttered after hearing what Lord Gallius said. "He can only summon at best a longsword right now, and oh, just a heads up, he will definitely chop you to pieces."

"I do not know if I should be relieved by that or not." Alex muttered as he heard humming sound coming out from the longsword. "Oh great, here we go..."

Judging from the humming sounds that he could hear from the longsword, Alex was 100% sure that Lord Gallius is vibrating his longsword at an extremely high frequency.

With his knowledge of physics, Alex knew that a longsword vibrating at an extremely high frequency will definitely cut through Alex easily.

Of course Alex would not allow himself to be skewered that easily.

"~~~~"

The first thing that Alex needed to do right now was to render himself undetectable, which he decisively did.

By using all the training that he had with reflection and refraction of light, Alex was now able to emulate a perfect optical invisibility.

Alex's whole body seemed to have disappeared on the spot, as if he was not there at all.

"Impressive, I know that your Esper Ability is manipulation of EM Waves." Lord Gallius said as his eyes narrowed. "But I did not expect that you can render yourself perfectly invisible right now. Well, that is your best resort if you want to avoid my attacks..."

Alex grinned, knowing that his trick has worked.

Now that Lord Gallius could not see him, Alex decided to move away from his spot to find a perfect position for him to attack.

"Well, I need to move carefully, or else I might make a sound that could alert him." Alex thought as he carefully walked towards his left side.

But after moving 'carefully' for about 10 seconds, Lord Gallius did something that rattled Alex.

"Boom!" Lord Gallius tore through the air like a knife as he swung his longsword in a diagonal slash.

The vibrating longsword cut through the air gracefully, and along its way was Alex!

"How the hell could he have known that I am here?" Alex thought with panic as he jumped back to avoid the slash.

"Whizz..." There was only a hairbreadth of distance between Alex's torso and the vibrating longsword, which had basically saved his life.

"Hah!" Alex started to act out of instinct as he sent a concentrated beam of UV Rays towards Lord Gallius' eyes.

Lord Gallius was definitely surprised by this attack, as he was not able to dodge in time.

But before the UV Beam could sear Lord Gallius' eyes, Alex saw his UV Beam visibly weakening as it approached Lord Gallius.

By the time the UV Beam hit Lord Gallius' eyes, its power was not at the fatal level anymore.

"Argh!" But its current power was still enough to hurt Lord Gallius, as he visibly flinched, with his face contorting in agony.

Alex knew that right now, Lord Gallius would feel as if his eyes were burning from inside out.

"F*k you Alex! I will make sure to gouge out your eyes later!" Lord Gallius screamed in rage as he rubbed his eyes hard. "F*k, it hurts!!!"

What happened to Lord Gallius gave Alex the time to jump back as he observed his current situation.

Even though Alex managed to draw the first blood, he did not look happy as he saw Lord Gallius attacking him once again, even with Lord Gallius' eyes closed.

As he tried his best to dodge Lord Gallius' seamless attacks, Alex tried to understand what the hell just happened.

"First, even if I am invisible, this Lord Gallius was able to determine where I exactly am." Alex thought as he sent another UV Beam towards Lord Gallius, which was weakened again.

"Not only that, but Lord Gallius can still attack me even when his eyes are damaged now." Alex thought as he looked at his opponent's eyes, which were closed shut. "And his attacks were not the ones made out of desperation, but something that he made normally."

If Lord Gallius cannot see Alex in any way now, then how was he able to see Alex?

"Oh of course, its vibration." Alex spat as he jumped 5 meters away from Lord Gallius. "He is detecting me by sensing the vibrations inside my body."

Much just like how Alex could sense all types of EM Waves 100 Meters around him right now, Lord Gallius most probably could sense all types of vibrations 100 Meters around him too.

If that was really the case, then Lord Gallius will just have to sense things like Alex's heartbeat or the rhythmical twitch of his muscles, and Alex's invisibility will be useless.

That can also explain why Lord Gallius can attack Alex right now even when his eyes are compromised.

"Well that just means there is no way that I can hide from Lord Gallius right now." Alex muttered as he knows that he cannot use his EM Manipulation to hide his bodily vibrations.

"But that is not the only problem here." Alex thought as he remembered his UV Beam attacks weakening before they can even hit Lord Gallius.

"It was as if there was something around Lord Gallius that can weaken my attacks..." Alex's mind went silent for a second before he got his answer.

"He's vibrating the air around him too..."

Alex does not even need to use his EM Sensing.

Even with his bare eyes, Alex could see that every time he attacked Lord Gallius with a UV Beam, the whole appearance of Lord Gallius seems to be blurred, as if there was something obstructing the light bouncing out of Lord Gallius' body.

Alex knew with his EM Sensing that the only things near Lord Gallius was his clothes, his longsword, and the air around him.

Couple that with every ridiculous thing that Alex just saw right now, and the assumption of Lord Gallius vibrating the air around him was a valid assumption.

"Really, you have the vibrating air for your defense and vibrating longsword for your offense? You really want to win here huh." Alex said as he blasted himself 10 meters away from Lord Gallius.

"With my limited Mental Power, there are lots of things that I cannot do." Lord Gallius replied with his eyes still closed.

Even though Lord Gallius still looks pissed, Alex swore that he could hear that Lord Gallius seemed to sound... calm right now.

Alex tensed, as he knew that something dangerous is bound to happen right now. Even his danger sense is warning him to make a move right now.

"You know, you have an impressive set of martial movements." Lord Gallius commented as his longsword hung by his side idly. "Those sword slashes of mine came from a set of sword arts which allows me to cut down any of my opponent quickly. You are one of the few people that was able to dodge my attacks."

"I just have a bit of training in the past." Alex replied as he watched intently for Lord Gallius' next attack. "You know, you can attack me now instead of just blabbing out."

"Oh, don't tell me you still have a way to fight against me, even with my current defense?" Lord Gallius smirked as he raised his longsword. "With your Mental Power at Tier 100, I doubt you can whip out something that damage me."

"Oh please, can't you see that I am holding back?" Alex replied while rolling his eyes. "I am just testing you out earlier. And now that I determined your current stats, I guess its time for me to get serious."

This time, Alex was not bluffing, as he really did hold back earlier. But now that he knew how Lord Gallius used his power at Tier 100, Alex decided to use all that he can to win.

"Oh, so those scorching beams earlier are just your warm-up attacks huh." Lord Gallius seems to be not worried with what Alex said. "Well, it was a good thing that you said that, since you will not be able to move that much right now."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Alex realized that his question was a stupid one, as he saw what was happening around him.

Alex could see white mists forming around him, and he could also see ice creeping on the floor and walls nearby.

Alex's skin prickled as he felt the obvious drop in temperature.

Alex winced, realizing that Lord Gallius just did.

"So, you reduced the vibrations of everything nearby. By doing that, you reduced the temperature here quickly." Alex's body tensed, knowing that next few minutes will be hella difficult.

The only thing that Alex can do was to smile and hope for the best. "Hehehe, let's see if your 'unvibration' can vanquish me before I make my next move..."

"Unvibration. What an original term." Asteria snorted, as she seemed to be not worried with Alex's dilemma. "I take it back, you really are not good with creative terms."

"..."