"That's right… I'm being a fool right now," Eric conceded after feeling he's less appreciative of all those abilities he has already.
Ice still sounds cool though, yunno...
"See here, Alley. Can give you something close, but not ice control?" Eric feigned interest in whatever she was going to choose.
"Something close? I mean, I can manage snow bending. See, people think they are similar abilities, but they are very different. A Tier-2 iceman will win anytime against a Tier-3 snowbender despite the tier differences," Alley explained with dreamy eyes. "Don't ask me how I know. I'm a geek for special abilities."
Eric sighed heavily. "Well, I didn't ask you. What do you think about Aquakinesis? Is it cool as well?"
"Ummm… sorry, what's that? Agua… what?"
"Aquakinesis," Eric pressed, tired. "...it means water control."
"Wow, water control? That's a strange and weird name you've given that ability," said Alley. "I mean, it's up there in the list of the most powerful abilities. It's also quite hard to control, even for those born with that type of ability. But it's very destructive, about the same damage range with fire control if wielded by a very skilled water dancer. Only a few known people have the water ability. It's rare, even more than fire control."
"You're really a geek," Eric commented with a disgusted look. "Well, if I give you the ability, you'll be able to control it just fine, because, you know, you're now some sort of a weird being now. You have no idea what you've become. But before I give you whatever ability I desire– fuck your preference– what do you think about Pyrokinesis, Aerokinesis, Terrakinesis, and Telekinesis, and… yep, that's all. What do you think?"
Alley Queen stood still with an awkward face, obviously confused and totally unsure of what to say.
"Oh, I blame that lame screen in my head for the awkward terms. I mean, what do you think about air control, fire control, earth control– which is weird– and telekinesis, which is just hurling objects with your eyes or mind or whatever."
Alley jumped a little and clapped her hands excitedly, eager to unleash her monster of knowledge.
"First of all, Earth control is the most common ability. Most wielders of this ability end up with Tier-1 or 2 even after they've trained themselves painfully to upgrade their powers. It is such a common ability that even those born without abilities can now have the opportunity to be Earth wielders, due to a certain book that comes with basic procedures to unlock your potential to be a special being.
"But that book costs a fortune and can only be purchased by the rich, for their weakling children. We from the slums thought we finally had a chance to have an ability, but the price of that book bashed our hopes. There's a separate book for each tier unlock, and it gets harder to learn from it with each advancing tier, and also more expensive as it goes. My cousin John, tried to steal one from a rich family's lair but got hacked to death. Poor him."
Rich family's lair? Did she just conclude the higher-ups are villains? I think I'm impressed by this Alley girl, since we both think the same on that matter. Fuck those villains.
Alley continued pouring out.
"About the 'Thelekyenesis' or whatever you called it... it's not a common ability, but nobody ever held it in high regard. It is just there, dormant and attention-craved. One of its wielder, went as far as the quarters in the tournament three years ago before getting trashed by our one and only ice master. People just don't fancy you when you just raise things out of anywhere without even moving much. You appear as a lazy frog. Also, known fact—more than half of the pickpockets and thieves with abilities are those that can move your purse from your pockets once they're close enough. They belong to the low-tiers though.
"Personally, I feel the ability is underappreciated since it is innovative, and anything can be used as a weapon when it comes to combat. But another part of me does not like it because you could have just picked your opponent up like an object and smashed him anywhere you want till he's dead or tired. Somehow, that ability cannot move a finger of another human no matter how hard you try to. So, I wouldn't love the ability either."
Eric found himself strangely mesmerized by Alley. Her explanations were pinpoint and she poured them out like a professional who's dedicated her life to study special abilities.
How I wish the system explained things the same way Alley does. These stories should bore me to the bone, but somehow they sound like music to my ears.
Who called her a mana bank? This one is a knowledge bank...and a mana bank, I guess.
"Go on, Alley. Tell me about the rest. Don't bother about the rain… feed me more."
"Alright, Eric Abyss..."
There she goes, with another weird name and title combo...
"Now, on fire control. This is the most respected ability in the realm. It is not a common ability like Earth control and telekinesis, but it is also not a rare one. It's voted to be the ability that deals the most damage. Three out of the last four winners of the tournament are Pyro-men — that's what we call fire wielders. Although, I do not believe it to be the strongest ability since there are Water-dancers, and they can easily counter whatever attacks a Pyro-man makes. But as I said earlier, Water-dancers do not always have total control over their abilities. Pyro-men always end up winning if the fight goes on for too long, for water is more of a burden for the wielders than fire."
She continued eagerly.
"Most fire wielders are born with at least a Tier-3, so their fire handling skill and technique 'wows' everyone, and they are most respected.
"Tier-3 upward is a complete wonder, while anything below that makes that fire wielder an object of ridicule. It's funny, but the skill difference between a Tier-3 and a Tier-2 Pyro-man is so high. While a Tier-3 Pyro-man can conjure up huge fireballs, and even fire storms sometimes, a Tier-2 Pyro-man can only conjure up at most a fist-size fireball or a tongue of fire that deals so little damage.
"Yes, a Tier-1 or Tier-2 Pyro-man ends up getting bullied for being a disappointment. Why is such an ability wasted on such a weak vessel? That's what they say."
Eric was unconsciously smiling to himself at this point. He remembered how he had only brought up a few inches long of fire from a finger to show the boys at the facility's cell. He remembered how shocked they were when they saw that he couldn't do more than that. They had instantly switched to bullying the hell out of him, had he not flung the dumbass bully leader to stop it all.
I see where that came from. They were very excited when I told them about my ability, but they became very angry with me after I played out to be a weakling.
Man, this world is crazier than I thought. To think I'm going to be acting weak as a disguise henceforth... Maybe I should change my ability of choice to limit the attention. I didn't know fire wielders were that much revered and hated at the same time.
"Alley," Eric called Alley, who was in the middle of explaining how air control works. He wasn't even listening. "Has it ever happened that a special being possesses two different abilities?"
"What?!" She let out in a high pitch again. "That's kinda disgusting. Why? You'd most likely become a lab rat till you die. There were rumors flying around about a Tier-5 family in social status, who had a son with the fire and ice ability. They did well to hide him from the world throughout his life, until they couldn't restrain him again.
"Stories said he wreaked havoc after he broke loose, and only the special force feds could subdue him. He was taken to the lab and was experimented on, in a bid to see if such anomaly could be stopped, or worse still, be stabilized in another being to give them double abilities.
"It all failed, and a lot of people died in the process. The crazy rich boy also died, so they said, and it all just went down since it was a rich family involved after all. Well, I couldn't confirm the news, no one could, so it just stayed a rumor for those of us living in the slums."
"Interesting," Eric commented while scratching the back of his head with the hilt of the retractable katana.
Don't know why I even thought of that in the first place. Since I was going to play weak with my fire ability, I was hoping I can add another with the same level of weakness, so I wouldn't be targeted for being a weak vessel for the fire ability.
But now that I think of it, that was a stupid idea. A weak Pyro-man will gain attention and be bullied. If I was to display another ability — let's say, water control — alongside a weak fire ability, I might as well be the king of weaklings. One who has two abilities but can't kill a roach.
That'll earn me more attention than a single weak ability. I really need to stop thinking like a dimwit. I should just go with a single weak ability, but maybe not fire control. Maybe air.
"You were talking about air control earlier."
"Yes, Master Abyss. Continuing from where I stopped—" she was cut short.
"No, start again. I wasn't listening earlier."
'Master Abyss?' This slave be damned. She's winding me up real good...