012 SUMMON SHIELD?
The man studied Damen.
"The kid looked harmless enough", he thought. Still, he pressed, "Where are you headed?"
"Well… honestly, I don't really know," Damen admitted. "It's my day off, so I came to the City Council to look around. This place is huge…I keep getting lost. Could you tell me how to get back to the admin center entrance?"
The man's suspicion lingered for a moment, but there was no hint of malice in the boy's tone. "He is just a student, wandering," he thought.
"Go that way," the man said at last, pointing. "You'll find the exit to the admin building."
"Thanks," Damen said quickly, before heading off in the direction shown.
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"Dammit…I almost had his Command score," Damen muttered, slumping into a café chair not far from the City Council building.
He had left Heroes' Gym early for one reason: the man he'd spotted inside who just gave him a tap on the shoulder. It was true… Damen was following him as he left the gym.
Damen discreetly seen his test results—it was an abnormally high Command score of 18.00.
He knew it then. His Command was too good to pass up.
"If I acquire his Command…I might have a chance to get a full score in Command,….then acquiring a super power is possible," he thought.
But stealing it inside the gym was impossible.
Damen was abnormally cautious despite only recently taking on the role of a thief. A thief of superpower.
The gym was monitored... there were cameras at every angle. Any record linking him to the man will point suspicion straight at him if his Acquire ability was exposed.
So, Damen waited until the patron left the gym, then he shadowed him.
Unfortunately, the man caught him… finding him suspicious. He wasn't good at sneaking up people yet. Once caught, Damen had to play innocent, and for now, it worked- he was released unharmed.
But this situation reminded him just how weak he still was compared to adult meta-humans.
He sipped his iced coffee while his eyes fixed on the Council building waiting.
"He's still inside… but he'll come out eventually."
Minutes later, his patience paid off. Another man finally exited the gym. He was another target that Damen scouted earlier while he was inside the gym.
Damen lifted his phone, activating the camera, tracking him from a distance.
"No connection… he's too damn far," Damen hissed, his frustration bubbling. He tapped the screen, but the mining app wouldn't lock onto the target.
When he was about to give up, luck shifted.
The man he wanted to track began walking directly toward the café to order a drink.
"Yes…" Damen whispered, his thumb trembling with anticipation. He tapped the commands.
"Begin Mining."
"Acquire: Command."
At once, the man staggered, throwing up a hand instinctively and dropping his wallet. An ethereal shield shimmered into being around him.
Damen froze. "He… didn't get shocked like Thames and Onda?" His eyes widened.
He was expecting his victim to fall under a heart attack like the students. Then he remembered about Professor Gawdry.
"Why's he reacting like that… he isn't stunned but he's reacting like he's under attack? …. That's the same reaction that happened with Professor Gawdry. He ran, thinking someone ambushed him."
Then realization struck.
"So that's it. Ordinary humans suffer heart attacks and paralysis when I Acquire from them. But meta-humans… it only hits them for a moment. To them, it feels more like a psychic sting, rather than a deathblow," he reasoned.
He leaned back with his mind racing.
"This is something I can exploit… If I target metas only, they'll probably never suspect me… they'll just think it's a temporary enemy attack or something."
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The man Damen had targeted pulled himself up, then shouted, "If I know which jackass is joking around with me, I'll kill ya…"
Everyone in the café including Damen looked at him stunned. He looked around for anybody suspicious but found none, so he shook his head with disbelief… and then hurried away.
When there were no police who came flooding the courtyard, Damen relaxed.
"Was that it? I did it without any consequence?..." he told himself.
Damen calmed himself before finishing his drink and made his way back to Heroes' Gym.
"Damen? Back so soon? Did you forget something?" Dorin asked when she spotted him coming back to the gym.
He cut straight to the point. "Can you test me again? My day pass is still valid is it?....the day's not over yet."
Dorin gave him a curious smile but led him back to the testing chamber. "Sure… your pass is still good for me."
Damen stepped into the booth as the scanner hummed to life. A few moments later, the results appeared:
Strength: 6.1 | Meta: 1.1 | Command: 1.1
Damen's pulse quickened.
He had taken a risk using Acquire on that gym patron, risking the chance he was found using the DemCoin app to illegally steal other people's meta powers.
But his day pass was about to expire, he couldn't wait another day… he couldn't afford the day pass again. This must be done quickly…. He must get his superpower before the day's end.
To Damen's relief, the machine registered the change: a full point increase in Command.
Across from him, Dorin's eyes widened. "That's impossible. Was there an error earlier? How did your Command jump by a whole point in just an hour or two?"
Damen had already anticipated Dorin's surprise and he planned a good excuse. He forced himself to look thoughtful before replying Dorin.
"I've been considering this after I left the gym… If I'm really a natural-born meta, it wouldn't make sense for my Meta to awaken without Command rising alongside it. That's why I wanted a retest…I suspected the first reading might've been wrong."
Dorin hesitated. Her equipment was the most advanced in the city, yet… occasionally, even the best machines faltered.
But Damen had a good point.
Usually, Meta and Command scores go hand in hand. She had doubts earlier when Damen's Meta and Command score was too far apart, but she thought it was because of mismatch in his power awakening.
"You may be right," she said slowly. "Perhaps the scanner misread you before."
Damen kept his expression calm, but inside, he was grinning. Without hesitation, Damen asked, "Now that I have both the requisite Meta and Command scores… can I learn a superpower?"
Dorin smiled knowingly. "Follow me."
She led him into another chamber.
At its center stood a single booth, unlike the scanner he had used earlier. This one was filled with a strange, glowing liquid that pulsed faintly as if alive.
"What kind of power can I acquire?" Damen asked, staring at it greedily.
"Our gym has researched and catalogued many abilities that can be grafted onto meta-humans," Dorin explained. "But… although you meet the minimum requirements, your Meta and Command are still low. That leaves only a few viable options."
"It doesn't matter," Damen said firmly. "Any ability is better than none."
Dorin studied him, then nodded. "In that case, I recommend Summon Shield. It is a basic power of meta humans… it can even protect you from meta attacks."
Damen considered the offer. "Can I have more than one skill?"
"You can… if you can afford it. To graft this ability costs five hundred Aurs. Do you want to proceed?"
Damen blinked. "Wait, you're charging me? I thought the pass was unlimited."
"The daily unlimited pass doesn't cover skill acquisition," Dorin replied smoothly. "These abilities require years of research and development. If we didn't charge, we couldn't afford to create new ones."
Reluctantly, Damen pulled out all his Aur cards.
Dorin collected them and passed them to the cashier. Moments later, five hundred Aurs had been drained from his cards. She returned with a single light-green Aur card—the only one that still carried value. The rest were useless, empty.
"That's everything I had," Damen muttered under his breath.
"Now that payment is complete…" Dorin gestured toward the booth, her tone calm but expectant. "Shall we begin?"
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