Chapter 12 Of course, it will always be a Small World
Both of Alex"s mind and body were tired and weary, with him feeling extremely sleepy and lethargic.
Alex could not help but wince as he imagined all the pain that he will feel tomorrow.
"S**t, I just told Clint to increase the pace of the training tomorrow…" Alex thought sourly as he let out a despairing sigh. "It really sucks…"
But even if Alex felt that the whole training that he had was painful and tiring, he discovered that his Mental Power and control had actually improved.
His Range, which was originally just 10 meters, changed into 30 meters. That meant that Alex is now a Tier 30 Esper.
That kind of improvement in already shocking, as Alex only took a day to do this!
However, Clint did not look that impressed when Alex told him about his improvement.
"You should know that an Esper who just awakened his Esper Ability will experience a ma.s.sive boost in their Mental Power a week after they awakened their ability." Clint coldly said to the excited Alex. "Couple that with training, and your Mental Power is bound to grow exponentially."
"Not only that. You are also under the training of an extremely powerful Esper, whose ability is compatible to yours." Clint said as he gave Alex a dismissive look. "It is no surprise to me that you improved that much. Actually, I am a little disappointed that you did not reach 40 or even 50 meters..."
"Woah, woah, woah, even I think that is too much…" Alex said as he waved his hands in panic. "Won"t I die from something like mental overload?"
"As long as you do not feel anything wrong, your mental power will naturally increase…" Clint said as he let out a yawn.
"From what I can see with you Alex, maybe you can hit 100-150 Tiers at the end of the week. That"s not bad, since you are training under me."
"Wait, once the 1-week period after my awakening pa.s.ses by, will the growth of my Mental Power slow down too?" Alex said as he tapped his forehead.
"Obviously it will." Clint sternly said as he glared at Alex. "So do not expect to infinitely grow stronger under me. That was the reason that I will only train you for a week. Since that week is the only time period that you can grow stronger. What you will do after that will be up to you already."
"Ok…" Hearing these words just made Alex more determined to finish the training.
But aside from his Mental Power, his control over his Esper Ability had somewhat improved too.
Even though he almost died earlier due to failures on trying out new moves, Alex was still able to sort out some things regarding his ability.
One of these was the part where Alex was able to bend the path of light around him. This is pretty useful for Alex, as he can use this to make himself invisible.
Of course Alex will still need to adjust the path of the light if he wants to create a perfect invisible form.
Aside from this, Alex was also able to use radio waves in a way comparable to sonar.
If a sonar uses sound waves to detect objects from afar, Alex uses the radio waves in the same way too.
With the radio waves having the longest wavelength among all the EM Waves, they can easily bounce through buildings and architecture, making their use perfect on cityscapes.
Alex"s only dilemma is that these new techniques that he developed were all just at the macroscopic side.
In regards to the manipulation of EM Waves at the microscopic level, Alex still had no success in it.
In fact, most of the accidents that Alex experienced earlier were due to him messing up in microscopic manipulation.
This of course made Alex slightly disappointed, as he knew that the most powerful attacks that he can use with his ability will come from microscopic level.
One example of that is the Electrolaser, which is a long-ranged version of a stun gun. This weapon uses lasers to ionize the air in front of it. It will then release an electric current, which will pa.s.s through the ionized air, creating a phenomenon similar to lightning.
Alex wanted to try this, but he immediately failed on the part where he should create a laser.
He knew that to create lasers, he must first use his ability to force electrons to go from a higher energy level towards the lower energy level.
Doing this will force the electrons to release photons(This process is called stimulated emission.)
Continue doing this on countless electrons in an instant, and the amount of photons produced will be enough to create a deadly laser.
Only when Alex can do this part that he can make a powerful Electrolaser.
However, forcing the electrons to release photons proved to be much harder than what Alex had expected.
It was lucky that Clint was there, or else Alex"s face would have been gone by now.
"Hmph, I still have 6 more days in here." Alex muttered to himself as he forced his battered body to lay down on the bed.
He then glared at Asteria, whose whole body was covered in honey. This made her look extremely sticky, and Alex had no plans on putting his hand near her.
"Hmph, that"s some high quality honey that you got for me." Asteria said as she let out a satisfied sigh.
"Ok, since you have pleased me greatly, maybe I can tell one important secret to you." Asteria made a shus.h.i.+ng gesture with her finger as she said in a low voice,
"In every world that you go, there will be some hidden bonus missions. If you find and finish these missions, you will also gain more lifespan…"
Alex"s eyes immediately brightened as these words by Asteria removed a load from his shoulders.
"How can I find them?" Alex asked as he gave Asteria a heated look. "Will I encounter them along the way?"
"Well, it will just be up to your luck." Asteria said as she stuck out her tongue. "If you are lucky, then you might get 1 or 2 hidden bonus mission here. If not, then you will get none."
"Of course, of course, everything will not be that easy." Alex muttered hollowly to himself as he closed his weary eyes. "And I suppose that you are not allowed to guide me on where to look for these hidden bonus missions, right?"
"Of course traveler. It will be entirely up to you to encounter them." Asteria slyly said as she gave Alex a sleazy smile. "Why are you interested on getting more lifespan right now? Do you want to buy something so badly right now? Hoooh… it must be that electromagnetic saber…"
"...…." Alex chose to not reply as Asteria"s guess was actually right.
One of the available things that Alex can buy right now was the Electromagnetic saber, which costs 1 month of Alex"s lifespan.
However, Alex"s current lifespan right now is exactly 1 month of lifespan, so there is no way for him to buy that saber now.
This of course is a little disappointing to Alex, as he felt that this Electromagnetic Saber will be extremely suitable for his EM Wave Manipulation.
But now that Asteria stated that Alex can actually gain extra lifespan by doing the bonus missions, his desire to buy the Electromagnetic saber have resurfaced once more.
"Ugh, but how will I find a bonus mission right now?" Alex muttered to himself disconsolately as he let out a sigh. "Tsk, if I find one, then I will do it. If not, then I just have to make do with what I have right now!"
Right at the moment that Alex said these words, he suddenly heard the sound of the ringing doorbell.
Alex immediately stood up with an alert expression in his face as he remembered that everyone from Clint"s family were inside the house already.
That means that whoever is ringing the doorbell must be an acquaintance of Clint"s family.
"Should I hide or not?" Alex struggled on making his choice, but before he could make a decision, he heard a knock on his door.
From the way the knock sounded, it came from Clint. Alex stood up to open the door, and there he saw Clint giving Alex a tired look.
"You must have heard the doorbell, right?" Clint said as he let out a yawn.
"Yeah, I heard. So, who is that visitor of yours?" Alex asked as he looked past Clint. "That visitor seems like a close friend of yours."
"Oh, we really are friends with her." ClInt said as Alex heard the sound of the front door being opened. From the looks of it, the visitor was already inside the house.
"Her?" Alex tilted his head as he realized that the mystery visitor was a girl. "Is she an Esper like you?"
"She is an Esper, and also a powerful one at that." Clint said while chuckling.
"Is she… in the top 10 too?" Alex asked hesitantly to Clint. " If that was true, then that will be really epic."
"Nope." Clint replied as he shook his head. "This friend of ours is still a Tier Esper. But, her sister is within the top 10."
"Oh~" Now, Alex felt interested on knowing more about this visitor.
Alex did not dare to ask on who this sister was, as he saw Clint having a sad face while mentioning the sister part.
"Come, join me in greeting her. She had always been a shy and quiet woman, so maybe a little bit more company will help her out." Clint said as he pulled Alex with him.
"Well, since I am curious to see her image, then I am in." Alex said as he followed Clint down the stairs.
When they reached the living room, Alex"s eyes saw the person that was standing out like a sore thumb.
This person was a woman wearing black dress, black skirt, black socks, and black shoes.
Her mask was glinting inside the room, which did not fail to impress Clint"s children.
"...…" Alex does not need a good memory who this woman was.
Alex was 100% sure that this woman was the one that almost killed him yesterday! Someone like Alex would not be able to just completely forget about that!
"Oi Alina, long time no see!" Clint cheerfully said a he led Alex behind him. "See this guy with me? He is my new pupil!"
Alex badly wanted to retreat right now, as even with his disguise he was afraid of the possibility of being seen through.
"How could it have been like this?" Alex complained to himself as he looked at Alina, who was staring back at him.
A few tense seconds for Alex pa.s.sed by as he wished that Alina will not recognize him.
"..." Alex let out a small sigh of relief as he saw Alina ignoring him entirely.
But before Alex could celebrate, he suddenly heard Asteria saying something to him.
"Alex, go and talk with that woman. I just received a notification saying that you have received a bonus mission right now! As for the contents of that bonus mission, it was just quite simple. You just have to gain that woman"s trust and you must help her out!"
"Why don"t you just command me to die?" Alex whispered back angrily . "I rather face a million Natalia than approach that Alina!"
"Well, if you don"t do it, you will lose your chance to get the Electromagnetic Saber…" Asteria said as she adopted a very disappointed look.
"Do you really want that to happen?"
"...….."