The next half an hour passed by in a blur as the woman's infectious enthusiasm overtook Anguis's mind, meaning Regus had to spend the entire time trying to maintain control. They were led into the house, which was a single large room, a cot in one corner and a kitchen with basic cupboards and pots, as well as a fireplace for cooking. By the end of the annoyingly enthusiastic and overly thorough tour, they had settled a price, and Regus handed her a small handful of coins, hardly even noticing that it was more than half again what he had agreed to.
As soon as she left, hurrying out like something might haunt her, Regus sat down heavily on the floor, sighing.
Anguis probed at his mind, and Regus responded with a sharp mental jab, which Anguis flinched from.
Regus frowned. It seemed he was attempting to apologize. Oh, well. There was no need for apologies. The only way to make it up would be to do better next time. It would be a problem if people could manipulate Anguis, especially considering that was his job.
Regus closed his eyes and settled his hands on the warm packed dirt floor, then he breathed out, manifesting General Ardena's ability.
It seemed to be not one, but two abilities.
Regus chuckled softly. Having two abilities should be impossible. It made sense why she would hide it, but that didn't matter. What mattered was how and why she had two abilities.
Regus studied each of the energies in turn. One of them was her renowned plasma ability, and the other was a telekinetic ability. The thing was, the plasma was anything but refined. Even the color tore at itself, pushing itself away, shifting to lighter and lighter shades of yellow as it fled from him, and when he tried to pull it back, it just resisted even more, pulsing shades of an angry, dark red. Self-perpetuating by way of resistance. It was an interesting ability in itself, but together...
He frowned, then narrowed his eyes and wrapped the other ability around the plasma. Just as he had suspected, it immediately died down its riotous scramble to escape, instead becoming confined within the telekinetic force.
It was an interesting combination. And more than that, the two responded to each other, even more than they did to him.
Both of them outputted a large amount of force on the surrounding space, but when together, instead of the violent reaction that should occur, they simply sat dormant, and could be manipulated freely.
But judging by the power of her strikes, if he released the plasma inside the force, it would create a massive explosion of pressure.
So, it seemed the legend about her controlling her plasma through sheer willpower was false.
But the most interesting part of that sentiment was that she had not, in fact, always been so controlled, so she hadn't simply been born with two. It could be a monumental mental shift, but those generally changed abilities, they didn't generate new ones to add on to the former abilities.
It was true that some people had more power, and this measure was independent from their mental state, which would account for differences such as that between John and Peter.
This, in turn, greatly influences a person's mindset, which changes their ability. It was likely that Peter began having the same release force as John, but then as time went on and he realized that John was stronger, his output wanted, but because of the shift his power wanted to return to even ground, so his power generation increased slightly.
The largest problem was that most of the science behind abilities was completely theoretical. All they knew for sure was that it was deeply entwined with personality.
Of course, it was a possibility that Peter and John had always had similar generation, which meant that something must have happened between them.
There was still so much that they didn't know about abilities. And so many problems for him to solve, especially with Ardena. Regus sighed, and then he looked up.
There was a roof.
He debated for a moment, then decided against releasing Ardena's power. It would rest dormant inside him, slowly draining away. After all, he didn't want to raise any suspicions as to his power level. Rumors would spread throughout the Academy, but students came to the industrial city quite rarely in comparison to the other three, hardly at all unless a housing option was recommended, and he had studied the seasons. There shouldn't be anyone who recommended it this year, so this city would be mostly safe from the rumors of a king on campus. That meant it could be a good hideout for him, safe from rumors, and where people didn't know how strong he was. Of course, that would be ruined if he blasted a hole in the roof.
It would be more beneficial to focus on other issues.
They had to decide what to do with Ardena herself.
Regus ceded control to Anguis, and he immediately stood up and stretched.
It was so annoying how Regus wouldn't let him speak to the woman who had sold them the house. Oh, well. It was likely nothing particularly important, but he had sensed something from her.
Anguis pointed out that Regus hadn't even asked what he wanted while he had been suppressing him the entire time. He could have manipulated the situation to their benefit much more easily.
Regus's emotions were slightly reluctant, but he accepted that fact. He should have trusted Anguis more.
Anguis sighed. Again, it likely wasn't of any large consequence. But there were more things going on that they didn't know of. Every bit of information they gained was another advantage to be exploited.
He strolled over to the door and then stood there in the sun, closing his eyes as he basked in its rays.
This time, the power entered him much more slowly. In the morning it was faster, then? That made sense. Waking, the sun would have more energy to give off. It also helped with Regus's assassination paranoia, because if the sun was rising, then if they could escape to outside, their power would be immediately restored.
Of course, that wasn't a perfect solution. There was still plenty of time where they could be attacked that they didn't have a response to. But then again, no one else knew that.
They really needed to get to the bottom of these abilities. There was something going on, and Anguis didn't like it. While someone else might not notice, to Anguis, the information they knew was too easy, too simple. And everyone glossed over the fact that no one knew where they had come from, assuming that to be a secret of the upper class.
The fact was, there was someone hiding things. That much was obvious. Everything pointed to it. And Anguis was determined to find out exactly what that was. He didn't share Regus's lofty dream of ruling everything. No, his was much greater.
To discover where the abilities had come from.
Obviously he wouldn't be able to do it alone. But with some help... Yes, it was possible. In fact, he couldn't see how they could fail.
So may details to discover... Such as, had there really been only women who had them at the start, or did men simply awaken more slowly? It could also be due to an inheritance factor that had awoken more slowly. But all of these questions could be answered in the future.
Let the higher-ups keep their secrets. For now.
Because they were about to find out exactly what happens when they mess with the wrong person. Someone who won't be beat down. Someone who refused to bow.
Some like Anguis. And like Regus.
Someone like Hashim.