Chapter 11 World Diagram (2/2)
”We'll see.” Alex declared as he closed his eyes to sleep.
(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!”