The group looked at each other when the last of the six heroes spoke. He was an extremely handsome middle aged man, wearing robes and a cloth over his eyes. Everyone avoided looking at his eyes even if he had a cloth over them.

“At this point, all of us know almost everything about each other’s abilities. Why bother putting such a meaningless opinion. Could it be that she found some equipment which needs such conditions?”

It was the youth faced middle aged man from earlier. He continued, “Does she need them to bear the side effects or to trigger some conditions? Is any one of you keeping tabs on her as we speak now? No need to be secretive, we are all in this together. If someone becomes stronger, then the rest of us might be at risk.

“We are all aware how we got to this point. No need for me to remind you right?”

The middle aged man who had the face of a youth continued speaking with a smile, directing his words towards the man who had a cloth over his eyes.

“Orion, one of your abilities is related to vision. Why don’t you help us gather information?”

It turned out that the handsome man’s name was Orion. He turned his head to look at the youth faced man. Even though he had a cloth over his eyes, no one found it strange that he was still able to go about living his life normally. Orion spoke calmly,

“Darren, one of your abilities is related to cloning. You can find information out of her as well. It wouldn’t count as a loss even if you were killed, it would simply be just another one of your countless clones.

“Don’t you like to put your hands everywhere anyway? Go after her, maybe you can get something. Me and Eleanor don’t have any enmity, I am not going to risk offending her.”

The burly man spoke up before Darren, the youth faced middle aged man could. “Offending? Are you scared of her?”

Orion wasn’t provoked, still replying calmly. “Some people have the tendency to be civil.”

Darren had the same smile on his face when he heard Orion’s words. Turning towards everyone, he said, “Since Orion isn’t willing to do it. I shall use my cloning ability. But as everyone knows, it requires resources. You all need to agree to provide me with the resources for the clone which will spy on Eleanor.”

“I am not giving you even a single penny.” Orion spoke. “I already told you I have no intention of going against Eleanor. We all agreed to not butt into each other’s affairs. Do you think Eleanor doesn’t know what you guys will think if she openly makes moves?

“Think about it. Despite knowing our nature she still made her move. I am not going to follow you all into this. Do whatever you want.”

As soon as he said that, everyone also heard a mechanical voice. “I agree with Orion. This is meaningless.”

Darren’s smile never faltered as he faced rejections.

Orion and Natalie not agreeing was within my expectations. That klutz Davic, just a few nudges in the right direction and he’ll follow along.

But I am surprised that old man William didn’t back off.

With how cautious he is, the plan shouldn’t have gone through since only David and I are in it. Doesn’t that mean I’ll have to go through the plan now? No worries, take the resources now, I’ll see what I can do later.

The three of the six heroes decided on the amount of resources and other minor details as the rest two sat there calmly. The three heroes weren’t worried that the two would rat them out.

At their level, no one trusted the other easily. It was entirely possible that the two wished to see Eleanor getting exposed as well. Then they could buy the information rather than contribute resources to give Darren an extra clone.

And even if they told Eleanor, could she do anything to them? They were roughly on the same level. Standing at the peak of the Master rank.

After a short period of talking, the group returned to silence as the five of them continued sitting on an array of lines which pulsed every now and then, accompanied by a short glow.

The pulse would then carry on towards the dome, carrying with it the hope of the survival of humanity.

*****

Aiden splashed water onto his face as he looked into the mirror. It was the 8th of March. He woke up quite early in the morning despite the hectic day earlier.

Despite it being almost 1am, he had made a call to Grace, who was quick to pick it up. He checked up on her, made sure everything was okay and bid her good night after a few more words. Mimi was already deep into her sleep so he couldn’t talk to her.

He quickly fell asleep as soon as his head hit the floor of the living room. And as expected, stress woke him up pretty early.

There’s hardly anything you could do without tension gnawing at you every moment when there was a ghost which could activate its abilities any moment to attack you, possibly taking your life.

It turned out everyone except Lucas had woken up even earlier, possibly already having headed towards the fourth site of murder.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Indeed, Valeria had already sent the address on the common group where they sent all the clues they thought could help.

After making himself a quick sandwich, he ordered a few supplies since he figured they'd soon be running low on it with everyone living under the same roof. He also ordered a few for his own house where the two little guys were staying.

Munching on his sorry excuse of a sandwich, he thought about his ability once again.

My ability having no conditions is definitely a huge advantage. But I need to know how abilities are acquired. I don’t want to share how I got my ability only to realize in the future that the person who was killed had the same ability and you don’t get abilities just by seeing a corpse of super.

I mean, wouldn’t the powerful people be able to easily grant abilities to their closed ones then?

He took another bite of his sandwich and decided what he would do today.

Find out more about how to get abilities.

Aiden finished his sandwiches along with an orange juice and left the house to meet his sister and Mimi after warding off another help from the helping ghost.

He spent about an hour there, spending time with them as he also waited for the order to be delivered. After instructing them carefully, he left the house. He also told Grace to not go to school for a few days until he said so, things were serious outside.

Grace was a smart girl, she didn’t argue for too long. She agreed not to go to school and not take a step outside the house while also responsibly declaring she will take care of Mimi.

Aiden left the house and went towards the fourth site of murder. It was a routine of sorts by now. Wake up, reject a help or two from the ghost, head towards the murder site, look for clues, have lunch and dinner, return to aunt Hellen’s house, reject another help, chase after the helping ghost, go back to sleep.

His mind was fresh after chatting with the two little girls, albeit a bit burdened still by the tension brought by ghosts, but it had eased by a lot.

As soon as he reached the fourth site though, the smell of despair and death brought about an unpleasant taste in his mouth. Scrunching up his nose, he headed towards the home, coming across familiar circles of chalk beside the shoe rack.

He headed inside, seeing the familiar uniform on people working to get the clues. In the corner of his vision, he also caught sight of Alastair working with the others in a room. Different thoughts suddenly popped into his head.

Should I go and ask them for information about abilities as I originally intended? Would I look suspicious if I started asking about abilities?

Or should I investigate the houses which were spared by the ghost?

Or should I go to a secluded place and try out my ability? I have too little information on it.

Aiden eventually decided on doing what he had intended to do. Beelining towards the room where they were, he asked about Cedric when he was near the door. The room only had Alastair, Cordelia and Luna.

“Excuse me? Where is Cedric?”

“Not here.” Cordelia’s answer was curt. But Alastair answered after her, providing more details. “He must be upstairs, investigating the rooms where the rest of the victims were killed. What do you need him for?”

Aiden did his best to act like a normal person who was using the excuse of gathering clues about ghosts to dig more about abilities which were hidden from the common public.

“I need to know more about abilities to assist with the investigation.”

“What more could you possibly need?” Cordelia snapped. She could ‘see’ through his intentions right away, exactly what Aiden intended to show.

Alastair put up a hand to calm her down as he replied, “Alright, but don’t take too much of his time. People like him are quite an important member in the information collecting phase when going against ghosts.”

Aiden nodded while smiling then headed for the stairs.

Just after he left, Cordelia said, “Another leech who wants to know about abilities. Why don’t they know their place?”

Alastair calmly replied as he continued looking for clues. “Don’t bother with them. Do you think he’ll stop if you don’t tell him the location of Cedric? He is also under the protection of agent Hellen.

“She wasn’t just another nameless field agent when she was active. Her group was quite active, and always ranked among the top in terms of resolving ghosts. One can only wonder what all things she has kept hidden, don’t fight her directly. It’s a pity they disbanded.”

“She was that good?” Cordelia asked, astonished.

“Her team was. Yes.” Alastair replied. “I investigated her before coming here. As the team leader, it’s my duty to know who I’ll be working with.”

If Alastair had looked more into the team, he would’ve found Aiden similar to the two other members of Hellen’s team, who happened to be his parents. Or even if he at least knew about Aiden’s last name, something would’ve clicked in his head, prompting him to look into Aiden, but alas.

Sometimes things are so close yet so far.

*****

Aiden found Cedric in one of the rooms where a chalk outline was drawn in the shape of a human. He was crouching by its side, looking back and forth between his phone and the outline.

He walked up to him and softly coughed to draw his attention as the middle aged man seemed too invested in what he was doing.

He finally looked up when he heard a cough. Smiling slightly, he said, “Oh Aiden, are you here to help with the investigation?”

“I am actually here to learn more about abilities. About how people get them to be precise, or how they awaken it. I don't know what it's like to begin with.”

He didn't tell him the excuse he prepared for Alastair and the rest. What does the process of getting abilities have to do with dealing with the special ghost?

He had simply prepared that lie so that they didn't look too deeply into his actions. It was a lucky coincidence that Cedric was working alone.

Cedric’s eyebrows raised as he gazed at Aiden. He saw a shadow of his younger self, the person who desperately searched how to get abilities only to end up with nothing every time.

I know how it feels. Nothing I say would stop him, it’s better if I tell him everything and he tries it himself to realize how things work in reality.

He patted his clothes and sat on the bed, saying.

“Well, I don't know the exact details either, but before delving into it. Let’s go over the basics once again.

“Abilities are all varied. Each and every ability you could think of has the possibility of existing. But one thing remains unchanged no matter the rank.

“All abilities have conditions and side effects without a single doubt.”