Olivia told me that she would be initiating the next phase of the operation where we would set up an entirely new group that would be centered around me.
There wasn't a name for the new 'ministry' yet, if we could even call it that since I don't know how connected we would be with the government for this.
Everyone agreed that we could figure out a name later and it would be better to get this to start operating first before thinking about anything else.
The biggest concern at the moment was where we should be operating out of considering the building that the MAM was located in has been levelled.
Unless there was another building that we could use at the moment, we basically had no base of operations right now.
The good thing was that we don't really need one to start work since it's not like we needed an office to do our work. At least, that is the case for me and the Guardians of course.
When I posed that question to Olivia, she basically told me that they have plans to create a new base of operations but we're basically considered 'homeless' right now.
Basically we'll all be working from home for now while we are on this phase of the operation.
Olivia mentioned that they were still sourcing for a location to build it so I'm not sure how long it would take before it was done.
On the plus side, it means that I would still be staying with my family for now and it might make it harder for people to figure out who is the real Mortal God since everyone would 'commute' for work.
As for our first official mission, we have another rift that was located on St. John's Island that also needed to be taken care of.
Before we can clear it, we would have to do a recon of the portal like the previous one we cleared.
For this one in particular though, I would most likely only be involving my Guardians instead of adding in other Vanguards since I wanted to take that opportunity to figure out more aspects of my powers.
Speaking of which…
I waited until I was back in my room again in the dead of the night before I summoned the jade book in front of me.
My mind thought about my new Guardians and the book immediately flipped to the page that showed the new illustrations of my Guardians, all of them drawn in black and white.
If my assumptions were correct, I should have gained the powers of all five of my new Guardians in some capacity.
I wasn't really sure what exactly I obtained which is why I planned to test it out tonight.
Like the previous night, I climbed out of the window and dropped down towards the ground.
I was bracing myself for the impact and in doing so, I was trying to pull myself back when I suddenly realised I was actually slowing down slightly.
It wasn't like I was floating but it was just that I was falling slower somehow.
When I touched the ground, it definitely did not feel like I had dropped down seven floors. I didn't even need to crouch down to absorb the impact and I just needed to bend my knees a little from the drop.
I had to look back up again to make sure I really dropped down seven floors and that there wasn't anything holding me as I fell before I could come to terms with what just happened.
Right… This must be one of the abilities I received from my Guardians.
I don't think any of them has the ability to fly so maybe this was a power to slow down my descent or something?
As much as I would like to just outright ask them what their abilities were, I don't think my relationship with them was close enough for me to ask them about it.
For most people, their abilities are something that they would rather keep private than to share around with others. The reason is because you never know if the person you are revealing your powers to has a power that can counter yours and you would be putting yourself at a disadvantage by revealing it to them.
It's basically something that you would only reveal to people that you trust your back to.
Even if they had to reveal their abilities, most people would only reveal one or two of their abilities while keeping the rest secret. So even in our country where you are required to register your abilities with the government, most people do not reveal all their powers and only admit to having a few of them.
That's why, even though we have the Guardians' abilities on record, it might not be all the abilities they have.
I could probably use my authority as a Mortal God to demand my Guardians to tell me their powers but I have a feeling that this would drive a wedge between them and myself if I were to do that.
Considering the fact that the effectiveness of my aura also depends on my relationship with them, I would rather avoid doing something that might spoil that.
Of course, once I got to know them better, I would most likely ask them about it.
I straightened my back and dusted myself, checking that I was alright before I started running towards the direction of the Firefly Park near my house.
At this hour, the place should be deserted which would make it a perfect place for me to test out my powers.
Also, no, the park isn't named that because there are fireflies there.
I got there at record time and despite sprinting the entire way, I didn't feel out of breath at all.
I believe this was partly because my body got stronger as well from absorbing the Qi energy the past few days.
Either that, or I got a big boost in strength after I got my Guardians.
First things first… I settled down to meditate and absorbed the Qi energy in the air around here.
Since this place wasn't that far from my home, I did not absorb as much Qi energy as I had before coming here.
Next, I opened the book again and went through the list of new entries that had appeared, the first one being Kris.
If I remember correctly, Olivia had mentioned that one of his abilities was supposed to be gravity manipulation? But it had the limitation of being only able to manipulate the gravity around things that he is able to touch?
Hmm? Could that be what allowed me to slow down my fall earlier?
Let's try a test then…
I did a light hop and I jumped up at least six feet into the air.
This wasn't the highest I could go since I already tried jumping with my full strength once and that got me crashing into the side of a building…
Now that I have tested that, I tried to imagine myself being lighter or just the idea of having my weight decreased.
I then did the same thing where I tried to do a hop and this time, I jumped way higher than six feet, the light hop bringing me all the way up until I was at the same height as the tree beside me.
I dropped back down and I landed on my feet without feeling any strain.
Ok… So this means that the power I got from Kris was most likely his gravity manipulation ability.
I'm honestly not too sure how useful this ability could be but I guess having it is still better than not having it.
I then checked the next page to see that it was Sergei.
Interestingly enough, the book also painted him with his face covered by a dark hooded cloak so you couldn't see his actual facial features.
I was already quite familiar with his powers since not only did Olivia tell me about it, his powers were hard to miss and I've seen him use it pretty obviously.
If I'm not wrong… I should be able to do this!
I concentrated my will on the shadows on the ground and tried to lift them up like they were solid objects.
I felt a tug like something was pulling at my arm and I tried to lift it up.
A single tendril of shadow was lifted up into the air and it wiggled around for a moment before it collapsed back into the ground.
Huh… This was more difficult than I thought…
I tried to do it again and the same thing happened where the shadow would just rise up for a moment before it lost consistency and merged back with the shadow it had been pulled from.
I see now…
So even though I have received their powers, it doesn't mean I get the same proficiency as they do in using the power.
I guess this means there's something else I need to practice now?
Hmm… Do I just keep using it though? Or is this tied to something else?
Guess I know what I'm spending the rest of the night doing…