Alex and his companions did not have to wait for that long before they heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps.
They looked at the source of the sound, and there they saw a costumed Lauren running hastily towards them.
“Ha, I almost had a heart attack when you sent that text message to me earlier!” Lauren shouted out as she reached them.
Lauren looked winded out, as if the running that she did had made her tired. It was only when Queen Mother patted Lauren’s back that she recovered.
Alex could not help but comment after seeing Lauren’s physical state.
“…You’re obviously out of shape.” Alex commented as Queen Mother poked Lauren’s cheek, giving her an excited smile in the process.
“I did not have time to exercise before I became a Hero, okay?” Lauren said as she wiped the sweat of her neck. “But I promise to work out after this!”
“…….”
She was about to say something more when she suddenly looked at the portion between Alex and Alina.
“Ohmygodtheyaresocute!” Lauren squealed with both her eyes shining with a predatory glint.
Alex’s eyes followed Lauren’s line of sight, and there he saw that Lauren was looking at the general direction of the Abyss Sprites.
“You… can see them?” Alex asked as he saw Lauren looking like she wanted to pounce on the Abyss Sprites. “You really can see them?”
“Of course duh. I can see them.” Lauren said as she rolled her eyes. She then gave Alex a pleading look as she asked him,
“Can I touch them? Please?”
“…Yes you can.” Alex replied with a deadpan expression on his face.
“Thank you!” Lauren shouted as she joined Alina on playing with the Sprites.
While she was busy playing, Alex took this as the chance to talk to her more.
“So, after receiving my message… did you hide your relatives or something?” Alex asked Lauren started pinching Sloth’s cheeks.
To Alex’s surprise, he saw Lauren suddenly looking somewhat... guilty.
“Well… I cannot really tell them that a villain was coming… so I did the next best thing that I could.” Lauren said as her eyes twitched slightly.”I kinda made them sleep by using the sleeping agent that Queen Mother used yesterday. She gave me some of it after all. Once they were asleep, I hid them on a nearby bunker, safe from any intruders. From my estimates, it will take them around 6 hours before they will wake up.”
To say that Alex was shocked after hearing what Lauren said was just an understatement.
Making her relatives sleep, really? That’s just too much even for Alex.
“…That’s creepy you know.” Alex managed to say after a minute of an awkward silence. “Are you really sure that you should have done that?”
“Well, it’s better than putting them in danger.” Lauren said as she looked at Alex. “Look, you told me that my relatives can be in danger, whether I leave that place or not. Obviously, I will not let them be in crossfire. The only thing that we can do right now is beat that villain team. That is the only way that I can keep my family safe right now!”
By this point, Alex noticed that Lauren was trembling.
“I…” Alex found himself in an awkward position, as he realized that he was slightly at fault here, as he had implicated Lauren with his problems.
“Don’t try to apologize to me now.” Lauren said as she shook her head. “When I chose to be a Hero, I knew that I will face something like this. But on the other hand, I thought this will only happen to me once I am famous enough… F**k, I am just a newbie Hero! F**k! I just debuted yesterday! How could I have known that something as massive as this will happen? F**k this all!”
“……” Alex and his Companions did not say anything as they let Lauren continue her rant until her voice was hoarse.
“Got it all out now?” Alex asked as Lauren straightened her body. “If your answer is yes, then I shall tell you about our plan to engage the villains.”
“…Ok.” Lauren replied as she looked straight at Alex’s eyes.
To Alex’s relief, there was not a single hint of blame on Lauren’s eyes. It was as if she was not blaming Alex for the danger that she and her family was in.
This relief however also made Alex slightly guilty, as he was not sure if he should even be feeling any relief at all.
“So, after I sent my message to you earlier, I also sent another message to the SHA here in Grand Point City.” Alex said as he waved Alina’s phone. “I told them that there is a chance that the new Villain Team will attack a newbie Hero in her civilian identity along with the escaped Glacia. I then told them that our Team, including you, will ally with the SHA Heroes in order to re-capture Glacia and defeat the new Villain Team.”
“You did that?” Lauren exclaimed as expression of panic and excitement appeared in her eyes. “Did they agree to team up?”
“Well, they told me in their reply that they will agree to teaming up with us, even though we are not yet verified as a Hero Team.” Alex replied as he reread the message sent by the SHA. “And from what I can see too, they also sent a Pantheon member named Tetra to assist them.”
“WHAT???” This time around, Lauren’s shout was just pure excitement. “Tetra, the vice-leader of Pantheon, is meeting us later? Ohmygod! Do you have paper and pen with you? I need to get his autograph!”
“…So this Tetra is that famous huh.” Alex muttered to himself as he saw the fawning expression on Lauren’s face.
When Alex first heard of the Pantheon and its members, Alex only thought that they were just a powerful strike force, used as a way to deter against the powerful evil forces.
Alex certainly did not expect the Pantheon to be this famous, to the point that even a newbie Hero like Lauren wanted to get the autograph of this Tetra guy.
“Do I smell stinky at all?” Laruen asked as he started sniffing her arms. “I don’t smell that bad, right?”
“Don’t you worry Lauren. You smell just fine.” Queen Mother said as she placed her chin on top of Lauren’s head. “In fact, I can say that you smell good. You sweat even made you smell better.”
“Tha-that doesn’t count!” Lauren said with a flush on her face, although she did nothing to throw the clingy Queen Mother off.
“Hehehe.” This was Queen Mother’s only reply as she gave Alex a condescending gaze.
Alex ignored that gaze as she tapped his foot on the road, as if he was waiting for someone.
“So, what are we doing here in this place?” Lauren asked as the others did nothing else. “Are we going to wait here?”
“Yes.” Alex replied as he played with Alina’s phone. “The SHA told me that their Hero Team and Tetra will meet us at this place, so we should just do our best to stay here and wait for them.”
This reply of Alex seemed to have made Lauren more nervous, as she continued peppering questions about her appearance, to which Queen Mother answered with praises to her, especially to her smell.
“………….”
*******************
“You seem to be troubled by something.” While Alex and the others were waiting for the arrival of the SHA Heroes and Tetra, Asteria sneaked in behind Alex, saying the words that she was itching to say earlier. “Is there something in your mind?”
“Well, it just a little detail that I noticed.” Ale whispered back, as the conversation between Queen Mother and Lauren began to be filled with innuendos and slight blushes. Alex tried to ignore that as he looked back at Asteria.
“And that little detail is?”
“Well, after I looked at all the spells of my Abyss Sprites, I saw one thing that stood out to me.” Alex said as he looked at his Abyss Sprites with confusion. “And that is the fact that only Envy has dual spells per grade, and the other Sprites only have singular spell in their arsenal.”
“….”
“Well, I can understand the part with Greed.” Alex said as he pointed to the stout Sprite. “He can plunder abilities, so empty slots are a fit to him. The other Sprites however, does not have any proper reason for their single spell per grade.”
“…If you want to know the answer to that, you should just ask your Sprites directly.” Alina said as she tilted her head. “I am not experienced in that matter, so It’s better to ask them directly.”
“All right, I will do that then.” Alex said as he looked at Envy.
Excluding her low self-esteem, Envy was the Sprite that was the easiest Sprite to talk to. The others were either too immature or too occupied to talk properly.
Besides, Envy was also the one with the dual spells, so she can certainly explain the unique phenomena.
“Envy.” Alex said as he used a soft voice in order to not rattle Envy. “Can you explain to me why you gave me dual spells while the others only have singular spells?”
“…” Envy bowed her head lower, as if she was afraid to answer that question.
“…” Alex only stared at Envy as he waited for her to reply to him.
“….”
“…..”
“….”
“….”
Just when Alex was about to give an exasperated sigh, Envy slightly looked up as she said,
“Master, it happened because you chose me as your first Abyss Tome. It made me your Primary…”
“The Primary what now?” Alex asked as he felt confused with what Envy said. “Elaborate that bit to me.”
“Ok...” Envy then avoided looking at Alex as she started talking.
“In order to prevent chaos in our ranks, all the Abyss Tomes must have an Abyss Tome guiding and monitoring them, which was called Primary. The other Abyss Tomes will have to follow the Primary’s order at all times, without any refusal… As for how the Primary was chosen, it will depend on the first Abyss Tome chosen by the wielder. That Abyss Tome will be the Primary…”
“……..”
“Master, since you chose me first, I became the Primary, while the other Abyss Tomes will be under my commands.” Envy concluded as she began to tremble. “Are you angry now Master? Please don’t kick me out!”
“…I will not kick you out ok?” Alex said as he stared at Envy’s cowering body.
Now that Alex analyzed what Envy said, he found the concept of Primary quite efficient.
After all, Alex knew that even with him watching over his Sprites, there will still be times that they will be too rowdy just for him to handle.
That will not be good, especially on battles that are too chaotic. Someone might get hurt from it after all.
For a Primary to help him out in this matter is just right and acceptable.
But even if he was already believing what Envy said, Alex somehow could not believe that someone like Envy has the power to command the other Sprites.
“So, right now, you are the Primary? How does that explain your dual spells?”
“Well Master, a Primary is given special privileges and one of them are the extra spell slots. If I were not the Primary, then it will be the other Abyss Tome that will have an extra slot.” Envy said as she closed her eyes. “If Greed is your Primary, then instead of just one empty slot per grade, you will get two slots per empty grade. If Wrath was your Primary then you will get two spells per grade from him, and so on and so forth.”
“… I see.” Alex commented as he cupped his chin. “Is it possible to pass this ‘Primary Title’ to the other Sprites?”
“No, Master.” Envy said as he body flinched. “It is permanent already and is resistant to change. Master… why are you asking that question anyway? Do you want to change the Primary? Am I really that useless to you?”
“Hey, it is nothing like that!” Alex replied defensively as he raised his hands. “I just thought of a hypothetical situation, ok? No need to worry. You are cool, and you should not be sad like this, ok?”
“Ok Master…”
Of course, Alex was slightly disappointed about what he heard.
So as it turns out, his Sprites actually still have some of their potential locked. Only special privileges like being a Primary can unlock this potential.
“Hmm, maybe if I can make my Abyss Magic evolve once more, my other Sprites can get dual spells too?” Alex thought to himself as he paced around. “That is possible.”
With this thought in mind, Alex realized that his Abyss Magic was not yet at its peak.
Just like his Electromagnetic Manipulation which can still become Fundamental Force Manipulation, Alex’s Abyss Magic can still reach a higher stage, with all of his Abyss Sprites having dual spells per Grade!
This realization made Alex’s eyes sparkle, as he realized that he still had a long way to go before he can reach his goal to be an OverPowered person.
“Hehehe, if I reach that stage, then I can-“ Alex was about to start boasting inwardly, but he had to stop as he felt several presences quickly approaching him.
He tensed for a second, before he calmed down as he realized that the incoming presences were not harboring any killing intent.
Alex gave Envy a look which meant ‘We’ll talk more about this later’ as he approached his Companions and Lauren.
“Prepare yourselves now.” Alex said as he stretched his body. “We have some visitors coming.”
