Again, Light just answered the question. “Most of them are Average or Below Average with one being elevated based on your ability. My Energy Resistance started at Good because of my ability. Unfortunately, my Physical Resistance is Below Average. Same for my Nano Energy Recovery.”
“Okay, then why do you want to get Nano Energy Recovery and Stamina up to Good?” I followed up.
Light smiled and happily explained, “Being able to recover Nano Energy allows you to keep using your ability and continue fighting for longer. As for Stamina, if I’m chasing a villain through the city on foot, I risk getting tired. If I get tired, the criminal might get away. Stamina can offset that.”
I nodded. I understood, mostly. “Then how do you chase criminals now?” I blurted out the question, not thinking about how it might sound slightly accusatory.
Still, Light answered, looking happy to do so. “I usually don’t. I corner them. I’m what’s known as an investigative type. Sometimes, I get a tip from a citizen, but usually, the Association gets information on villain activity that they deem to be within my capabilities. Anyway, whoever it is, gives me a little information and then I follow the lead to wherever it takes me. Usually, when I’m confronting a villain, I’m already inside their base or waiting to ambush them wherever they are going to attack,” he answered.
Now I actually understood. I suppose it made sense that not every hero was suited to chase people through the streets. Just as not every hero was suited to find the hidden boss of a criminal syndicate. Comic books back on Earth suddenly made a lot more sense now that I was more or less living inside one.
“Now,” Light started. “Why don’t you apply your points?”
I nodded and accessed my Status. I had been thinking about this for days, ever since I first saw that Weak level on my abilities. With so many days of cultivating and getting a feel for Space and Time, I knew that I didn’t fully grasp just what Space was or what it could do. I suppose I could have asked Light, but I have already bombarded him with so many questions as it was, not that I thought he would refuse to answer. But that wasn’t the point. I didn’t feel comfortable enough with how Space felt to want to put points into enhancing it, at least until I felt I understood it better.
That left me with Time. And Time, I felt keenly how it worked. The fast and slow rhythm my Nanos moved at told me a great deal. I felt comfortable pursuing that ability. And who knew, maybe one day I would have enough control and power over Time that I could move through Time. Maybe I would even be able to go back in time to before I was sucked into this strange world.
With a mental command, I applied the points and a (1/5) appeared on the line with my Time: Weak, first under Power then Control.
Davis Malory
Aliases: N/A
Occupation: N/A
Alignment: Neutral
Milestone: 2nd
Nano: 1,006/2,500
Body
Athleticism: 1
- Strength: Average
- Agility: Above Average
- Accuracy: Above Average
- Speed: Average
- Stamina: Average
Resistance: 1
- Physical Resistance: Average
- Energy Resistance: Above Average
- Mental Resistance: Above Average
Recovery: 1
- Physical Injury: Average
- Nano Energy: Average
Ability
Power: 2
- Time: Weak (1/5)
- Space: Weak
Control: 2
- Time: Weak (1/5)
- Space: Weak
“So, feeling any more powerful?” Light asked with a light laugh.
“No,” I said. “Should I?” I asked, slightly worried that I should have felt something.
“No,” Light answered. “If you were already using your powers, you might feel a slight increase, but as you have yet to use your abilities, you won’t know the difference.”
“Which brings up a good point,” I said, grasping the fact I had yet to use my abilities. “When do I learn to use my ability?”
“Whenever you’re ready,” Light answered. “I thought you would have been chomping at the bit to get started on your first day, but you really got into the cultivation training.”
“You mean, I could have started training with my ability days ago?” I asked, not wanting to believe what he just said.
“Yes,” Light answered.
I could have smacked myself. I’d been looking forward to learning to use my abilities for days and this whole time I could have been practicing. Instead, I was cultivating because that is what I thought I needed to do. I really should have asked more questions. I was almost a doctor for goodness sake. My ability to diagnose problems was one of my best qualifications. And instead of acting like a doctor and getting all the facts before I made a diagnosis, I was jumping on any little bit of information I could get my hands on and running at it like an out of control freight train. If I’d done that as a doctor, I might have gotten someone killed. That would need to change.
“I’ve been going about things all wrong,” I grumbled. “Okay, Light, I need more information. I know you’ve been really great about telling me things when I ask, but there are things I need to know before I act any further. I also need a note pad or something to take notes on. It’s time I started treating myself like a patient and getting to the bottom of exactly what is going on with me. Are you willing to continue helping me?”
“Of course,” Light replied without hesitating.
“You really are a good guy,” I said.
“I’m a hero, it’s what I do,” Light replied with a proud smile.
7
As requested, Light provided me with a notepad of actual paper and a pen. I couldn’t remember the last time I actually wrote anything with an actual pen and paper. But that is exactly what I did. Starting with all the skill levels and the requirements for each. Then I went through each of the Body categories and got a thorough explanation of what each meant.
Strength was fairly straight forward. It accounted for how much you were able to lift and how hard you could hit something. Agility accounted for your flexibility and how well you moved. Accuracy accounted for your ability to land an attack, both physical and ability based. It also had something to do with your eyesight and seeing incoming attacks, which when combined with Agility and Speed helped you to dodge an attack. Speed wasn’t just how fast you could run, but how fast you could react, which again, helped with dodging attacks. Which left Stamina, and that determined how fast you recovered from physical exertion.
Resistances were a mixed bag of straight forward and complex. Physical Resistance was your ability to resist damage from a physical blow. In other words, if I got really high Physical Resistance, I could be shot multiple times and just shrug off the damage. I was tempted to immediately raise this with my next several Milestones, then I learned about the other Resistances. Energy Resistance was ability to resist damage from energy-based attacks, like Light’s Light attacks, or laser beams from the freaking eyes. Mental Resistance stopped people from using mind control on you or just from reading your mind without your permission.
Recovery was almost as straight forward as Athletics. Physical Injury was more or less just how fast you healed without assistance from a healer. My doctor brain basically looked at it as a quantifiable way to determine how well my body was able to recover naturally. Nano Energy was a little more complicated in its mechanics. The short and easy explanation was that it determined how quickly your Nanos recovered the energy they expended after using an Ability.
When I got to my Ability descriptions, Light actually needed to bring in some help. Thankfully, the help came from someone I already knew, Ward.
“Space and Time, huh?” Ward wondered aloud. “That’s a pretty interesting combination.”
“So, what can they do?” I asked.
“Well,” Ward started and paused to look at Light. T
hey communicated something silently between them, I almost wondered if one of them had some kind of telepathy, maybe Light hadn’t told me all his abilities. “So, your doppelganger, Dr. Portal, had Portal as an ability . . . hold on, I’m jumping ahead here. So, most abilities have their own hierarchy. For example, Private Eye Light here. His ability is Light, which is considered the top tier of Light-based abilities. A subset of Light would be Flash. A person with Flash can emit a bright burst of light to temporarily blind an opponent. At higher power rankings, that flash might be able to burn people or permanently blind someone. Or if they go with a higher control ranking, they might be able to use the light for some manner of hypnosis. Anyway, because Flash is a subset of Light, Private Eye Light is able to use the same kind of ability and many more.”
Ward paused to let that sink in. If I understood correctly, and I like to think that I did, it meant that Light could use any ability that fell under the Light hierarchy.
“What other abilities fall under the Light hierarchy?” I asked.
“Hard Light Constructs, Light Beams, Light Armor, Light Wards, Light, Light, Light, I think you get the idea,” Ward said.
“And you can do all that?” I asked, looking at Light.
“I can do some of that,” Light replied. “Remember when I told you I focused more on Power than Control. Well, a lot of those Light abilities require more Control than I possess. So, for now, I have a level of Control over Flash and Light Beams. Someday I might build my Control higher, but I have other priorities. Currently, my Ability setup fits with my style.”
I nodded. “Okay, then just how does the Portal Ability have anything to do with me?”
“Portal is a subset of Space. As is Teleport, Gravity, Anti-Gravity, and more,” Ward answered. “If you develop your Space ability, someday you might be able to open Portals between two locations just like Dr. Portal was able to.”
“What about Time?” I asked.
“The closest thing I’ve heard that could fall under Time was Haste and Decay, assuming Time is the primary ability, which I’m pretty sure it is,” Ward said. “I suppose some experimentation is in order.”
“Okay, so how do we start?” I asked, eager to begin.
“There isn’t any one way to start,” Ward said. “Everyone is different. The only thing that most agree on, is that in the beginning, the Nanos will show you the way.”
“Stop,” I said instantly. “Don’t do that Hero and mystic speak thing with me. Be direct and be scientific about it.”
Ward looked slightly put off by my statement and I swear I heard him grumble about rude children, but before he could reply, Light jumped in, placating Ward and answering me. “So, each person’s Nanos have a unique feel to them. That ‘feel’ is an instruction from the Nanos into how you can wield them. For me, my Nanos originally felt like bright beams bouncing off the walls of my Bioenergy Converter. Eventually, I learned to harness that feeling and direct it to the tips of my index fingers,” Light said, then showed me the now glowing index finger on one of his hands. “For you, it will be much the same. In some respects, spending so much time cultivating Nanos in the beginning should make things much easier.”
I think I understood. It was about that rhythm. The fast then slow pulsing feeling. It was time speeding up and slowing down. That was what my ability was trying to tell me. “So, do I just, take hold of that feeling and force it out?”
“This is where the ‘Everyone is different’ part comes in,” Ward said. “You’ll need to experiment until you figure it out.”
“Great,” I said sarcastically.
“That’s the spirit,” Ward said, either completely missing my sarcasm or ignoring it.
“Why don’t you give it a try?” Light said, then added, “Close your eyes and feel your energy source.”
I should have seen the ‘close your eyes’ instruction coming. Still, I did it anyway.
I had become rather adept at feeling my Bioenergy Converter and the steady fast and slow rhythm that kept playing in the background. I tried to focus on that rhythm. I tried to coax the rhythm to show me something but felt instantly that it wasn’t going to do anything. I tried pushing at it but again nothing. Then I got to wondering if it was like my cultivation. It seemed it wasn’t responding because I wasn’t taking hold of it like I did the wild Nanos. So that’s what I did, I took hold of it and instantly felt like there was something there. I focused on the familiar rhythm. I felt a need to wrap it all around myself. So, I did. But nothing happened, at least not that I could tell.
I frowned and opened my eyes. Ward and Light were still there, looking at me expectantly. And there was something new. Just under the faint red bar that monitored my health, there was now a gold-colored bar that was steadily getting shorter. It was confusing, but with Ward and Light right in front of me, I could just ask them.
I tried to speak but could hardly move my mouth. I tried to breathe, but it felt like I was trying to breathe through molasses. Thankfully, I wasn’t suffocating, and I didn’t seem to be running out of breath from holding it in too long. Then I focused on Ward and Light. Was it me or were they moving slowly? I tried to move, but again, this time it felt like my whole body was trapped in molasses. Was this my ability? Did it change my perception of time?
As soon as I understood what was happening, I wanted to jump for joy. This was an amazing ability. I could already see so many applications. And then the effect suddenly ended, and I collapsed. My breathing was labored, and I felt as if I had just run a marathon . . . maybe a few marathons . . . back to back to back. I could see in my periphery that the gold-colored bar was gone.
“You okay?” Ward asked, immediately dropping to a knee next to me, his hand on my shoulder again. He breathed a sigh of relief a moment later. “Phew, just Nano-Fatigue,” he said.
“Congratulations,” Light cheered for me. “I didn’t see anything, but if you have Nano-Fatigue then you definitely activated your ability.”
I would have said something, but honestly, I just wanted to sleep.
“Let’s get him back to his room to rest,” Ward said. “Now that he’s activated an ability, he’s got a lot of training ahead of him if he wants to learn to really use it.”
With that, Light and Ward carried me back to my room and deposited me in my bed. I would like to say I could remember the trip or that I laid awake imagining all the things I would be able to do, but I’m pretty sure I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow.
When I woke up the next morning, the gold-colored bar was back, and I also understood what it was there for. It measured how much energy I had left to use my ability. I thought it would be a great tool. With that, I wouldn’t need to count the seconds until my Time Compression came to an end. I would know when the bar drained.
I took a quick shower and dressed in the sweatpants and t-shirt that were provided for me. As I left my room, only Light was waiting for me just outside my door. He immediately asked, “Feeling better?”
“Yeah, how long did I sleep?” I asked, worried I slept for several days again like I had after the Nano-virus had its way with me.
“Just the night, maybe a few hours extra but not bad, it’s just half past nine. It’s not unusual for first time power use to cause Nano-Fatigue,” Light said. “Now, I want to know what happened? I assume you activated your ability, what was it? We didn’t see anything external so I’m guessing something internal. Ward was also excited to hear about it, but he couldn’t be here because he’s on duty today.”
“I slowed down time,” I said, then added, “I think.”
“You haven’t checked your status yet?” Light asked.
I shook my head, then said, “No, should I have?”
“It should give you a list of activated abilities, and maybe some descriptors,” Light answered.
I opened my Status with a thought.
Davis Malory
Aliases: N/A
Occupation: N/A
Alignment:
Neutral
Milestone: 2nd
Nano: 1,006/2,500
Body
Athleticism: 1
- Strength: Average
- Agility: Above Average
- Accuracy: Above Average
- Speed: Average
- Stamina: Average
Resistance: 1
- Physical Resistance: Average
- Energy Resistance: Above Average
- Mental Resistance: Above Average
Recovery: 1
- Physical Injury: Average
- Nano Energy: Average
Ability
Power: 2
- Time: Weak (1/5)
Time Compression: 51%
- Space: Weak
Control: 2
- Time: Weak (1/5)
Time Compression: 6-Seconds Uncompressed Time
- Space: Weak
I was slightly confused by the update to my abilities. Time Compression. Is that what it was called? I suppose what it was called didn’t really matter. If I was understanding it correctly, the 51% under Power meant that time moved 51% slower while it was active. And if that was the case, then it also meant my 6-Seconds Uncompressed Time gave me just enough control over my ability that I could compress time for 6-Seconds for everyone else while for me it was roughly 9-seconds, just slightly more if I was being exact. In other words, Power let me do more while Time Compression was active, and Control made the Time Compression last longer. Now I understood what Light meant when he said that eventually I would want to emphasize one over the other. I would just need to see what getting to the next rank of each would do for me.
Planet Hero- Civilian Page 5