Chapter 6:

Ben had always enjoyed visiting Haven Island. Right in the middle of Cascade City in the central lake, it was pretty much a city of its own. Which made sense. After all, Cascade was a megacity, so having smaller cities within it shouldn’t have been odd.

But Haven Island was different in a lot of ways from other parts of Cascade that were big enough to be their own cities. A small part was probably because it was an island. Only reachable by either a ferry or one of the two bridges that connected Haven to the west and East halves of Cascade City, it was far more isolated than the other parts of the megacity. The other, more obvious difference though, was that it was built for Supers.

There were special lanes in the extra wide roads for Supers to travel quickly and rooftop paths accessible only to those with the powers to get there. There were also flight lanes in the air for hovercars and Supers in the really busy parts of the city, denoted with floating holograms. And then, of course, there were also the much laxer restrictions on commercial Tinker tech.

One of the most obvious examples of this was the occasional private hover cars that flew through the air, probably owned by the super-rich or a Tinker, as well as the occasional other kinds of personal flight devices. But there were also a bunch of other things as well that stood out. From the holographic displays that were used for both advertisements and signage for the city, to the arcades offering full dive VR games, to even the small automated cleaning bots that patrolled the city unobtrusively.

It truly made Haven Island seem like a city of the future and few places in the world could truly match it in terms of technology and the reported 15% Super population.

For many people, this place would be a dream to visit. For Ben? It was a dream but also a goal.

And now, technically, it was a goal within reach. Not just for visiting but living in. If he went and got his new status registered officially with the DMA, then he could probably get moved to the island with his aunt before the start of the school year. He could even go to Indomitable High like Katie and maybe earn a place in the Heroes program after he leveled up to B Rank.

All things he’d long dreamed about for a long time.

But, despite how much he wanted to do all these things, he had other business he needed to do first. He’d made a promise to Zelter that he would help recover the cube and have it delivered off-world. And while the alien hadn’t been optimistic about his chances of getting it quickly, Ben felt he should at least give it a try before he got caught up in everything that being registered as a Super would involve.

He also wanted to avoid scrutiny while he did this. Ben still remembered what Zelter had said about not letting people he didn’t trust know about the cube. While he doubted being registered as a new E-Rank would draw too much attention, he didn’t want to chance it. So he decided that he would at least attempt to recover the cube first before doing anything official.

Of course, as a new E-Rank who hasn’t even had his powers for more than a day, going at it alone was not smart at all. And while Connor and Anna would probably be willing to help, he didn't want to get them involved if there was danger. Thankfully, he still had one more friend who he trusted. And unlike his other two friends, she was a Super as well.

Which was why he was in the more suburban parts of Haven Island, away from the glitz and glamor of the city's core. It was much like the suburbs of the rest of the city, with green lawns, houses, a bunch of trees, and some cars parked on the streets. However, there were more midrises in the neighborhoods as the population of Haven Island was growing every day.

It was around five in the afternoon and kids were playing in the streets, while some adults mowed lawns or just hung out on their porches. Another thing that made this place seem a bit different than any other suburban neighborhood in Cascade was the occasional display of powers and the name and rank tags he could see over some of the people’s heads.

Mainly he saw E and D ranks and normal names. But some people made their name tag display names that were more fitting for the internet than anything serious. And some of the low rankers might have been actually displaying a lower Rank than they actually were—something that wasn’t possible the other way around. There were also fewer Supers to be seen than closer to the city center, but there were still way more than anywhere else in Cascade in the suburbs here.

One young man, probably around Ben’s age, seemed to bounce with every step he took, leaping high over everyone’s heads as he moved. His legs were in the shape of springs. Some kids chased him with water guns and water balloons as he led them around, and soon an older girl joined the chase, blasting sprays of water from her hand at him.

On the lawn of a random house he passed, an older man blasted small flames from his hand to start up a barbecue. Across the street from them, relaxing on their porch, a woman swirled the air with her finger, causing a noticeable gust of wind to keep blowing on her.

Displays like this could be seen relatively often in the neighborhood and all of the Island. So very different than the rest of Cascade. Out in the rest of the city, if powers were being displayed, it was likely to be from someone masked.

It made the place feel almost otherworldly.

Ben wondered if that feeling ever went away. Well, he’d learn soon enough once he moved. But until then, he had a friend to meet.

After a couple more minutes of walking, Ben finally reached his destination. It was like most of the other houses on the street, being two stories with a well kept lawn and well maintained exterior. He’d only been here a couple of times since Katie moved here, as they mainly met in the city proper to hang out.

Ben walked up the empty driveway, up the stairs to the patio, and rang the doorbell. After a moment the camera light on it lit up and Katie’s voice came through the speaker.

“Hey Ben,” she said, as the door unlocked with an audible click. “I’m in my lab downstairs. Close the door behind you.”

“Alright, see you in a sec,” Ben said, letting himself inside and taking off his shoes to put on some slippers.

He made his way through the entryway and to the basement stairs—something he wasn’t used to as most houses in the city didn’t have basements—and opened the door. He paused in surprise after that, though, as behind the normal white wooden door was another door. This one was shiny metal with a black glassy rectangle where the door handle should be.

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That was new.

After waiting a moment and nothing happening, Ben tentatively tried touching the rectangle. Immediately it lit up and words popped up. Biometrics recognized. Access Granted. Then the door slid to the side, making a wooshing sound as it did.

Raising an eyebrow at that, Ben made his way through the door and down the stairs to the lab. As he did, he couldn’t help but notice that there seemed to be more stairs than before too. Also, like the new door, the rest of the walls down here were now all metal as well. The floor had also changed, now made out of very sterile-looking white floor tiles.

Multiple large metal work benches lined each of the walls of the room and the only thing he recognized on them was a sleek-looking laptop. The rest of the things he mostly couldn't make heads or tails of, though some of them kinda look like little robot legs.

Elsewhere around the room were some heavy-looking machines that Ben had no idea what they could be. There was also what looked like a fume hood thing that he’d seen in chemistry class, and looking up there seemed to be vents in the much higher ceiling now. Off to the side, there was also another door which definitely hadn’t been there before.

Standing in front of one of the workbenches, leaning over it was Katie. From behind, he could only see her lab coat and her brunette hair tied in a bun. She was… soldering something? Maybe? Ben wasn’t quite sure since he wasn’t really technically inclined when it came to hardware. Anything that wasn’t plug-and-play was too much of a hassle for him.

Katie had been the same before she turned fifteen.

“Hey, just give me one sec,” Katie said as she worked. “Just take a seat anywhere.”

“Okay,” Ben said, grabbing the nearest stool in front of one of the work benches. To keep himself from playing with things he shouldn’t, he called upon the only Skill that he’d been able to play with so far. Gem Inventory.

Unlike with the System interface, all it took was a thought, and Ben’s mind was filled with a vague mental image of what was inside the inventory. Selecting one of the crystals he bought at a New Age store before coming to the island, Ben grasped at the air and it popped into his hand. It was rather large, though small enough that he could still easily wrap his fingers around it. He wouldn’t have been able to afford it, if it hadn’t been on sale along with several others.

Still, it barely took up any space in his decent-size inventory. 0.5 cubic meters didn’t sound like much, but it was actually a lot of space… Or maybe it was just he wasn’t used to working with meters.

Regardless, the crystal, along with the five others he bought on sale, barely took up any of the 25% he still had available to himself. As for the other 75% of the inventory, it was taken up by much larger crystals. There were a couple of different kinds, and most of them were quite large. But the most abundant crystal—and the only ones he had several of—was the crystals that Ben needed for his first set of Skills.

The fact that he had so many of them and they all seemed full of energy was part of the reason he’d picked the Skills that he did. The other reason was just that it seemed like a very good option for him. Very versatile and with great potential. However, as he thought about it, Ben couldn’t help but wonder if that was a coincidence or not. The System had said his inventory would be filled randomly. But what were the chances that he’d get so many of the same crystals that he would want?

Or maybe Zelter just had the same opinion as him and happened to have a lot of them?

After about a minute of Ben sitting there, twirling the crystal in his hand, wishing the backup phone he’d found wasn’t just a flip phone, Katie finally finished.

“Okay, I’m done. Sorry about that,” Katie said, putting down what she had been working on. She then pulled off her gloves, tossed her eye protection aside, pulled off the hair tie holding her hair up, and then ran her hands through her shoulder-length hair as if to free it. “Ugh. I hate how much shit I have to put up with for a safe lab environment.”

“Seems horrible,” Ben said, a small smirk on his face. “Goggles and gloves. So restraining.”

Katie’s eyes narrowed at that. “And I have to put my hair up, mister. Also, it gets to be a bitch when you have to have them on for hours.” She ran her hands through her hair one more time to smooth it out then went over to one of the other workbenches. Then she bent over and opened what turned out to be a mini fridge instead of a normal cupboard. She pulled out two sodas, looked at them for a second, looked back at Ben with narrowed eyes, and then put the other soda back.

Popping it open, she took a big gulp before sitting on a wheeled stool and rolling over next to him. “No soda for smart mouths.

Ben just grinned. “Then shouldn’t you not be allowed to drink either? Also, you know I don’t really drink soda anymore.”

Katie just rolled her hazel eyes at that and took another long sip. “Ugh, you and your training and health kick. Gross.”

Ben just rolled his eyes too. He wasn’t that bad and Katie watched what she ate too. She was also quite athletic as well when she wanted to be. She just had the tiniest bit of a soda addiction at times.

“So what’s up?” Katie said, taking one more drink from her can before placing it down. She turned to look at him and her eyes seemed to keep checking above his head. “What’s so important that you need a secure place to meet?”

“I think you’ve already guessed part of it,” Ben said, looking at the part of his HUD to open the menu. Then he navigated with gestures and clicks to the option to display a name and rank tag before turning it on. “I got System access. I'm a Super now.”

Katie looked above his head for a long moment before looking back at him with a frown. “Please tell me you're a late bloomer.”

Ben sighed and held up his hands. “For the record, I’ve already gotten the Anna guilt trip special on why I should have told you all. Just today, in fact. So I really don’t need another lecture.”

Katie snorted at that. “Unlike Anna, I’m not gonna mom you. That’s not my thing.”

“Thanks,” Ben said, then scooted back quickly to avoid the shin kick he knew was gonna come. “For being so kind and understanding and not trying to kick me.”

Katie huffed and sat up straight at that with her nose comically in the air for a second. As if she totally hadn’t tried to kick him and she was a perfectly refined young lady. “Be glad that I’m above such things.”

“Anyway,” Ben said, eager to change the subject. “That isn’t the only thing I wanted to tell you… Something else happened when I gained System access. The day before yesterday.”

Katie tilted her head for a second in confusion before they widened. “Wait… You got your powers the same day the S-Rank attacked?”

“Yeah… It’s a bit of a story…”

For the next half hour, Ben finally told another person what had happened to him.

He’d been tempted to tell Connor and Anna everything earlier in the day when he saw them but ended up holding back because of Zelter’s warning. He only went into his fight with the monster, ignoring the part with the kid and how he got hurt, and lying about how he’d gotten access to the System. He also did mention seeing the S-Rank monster in the distance, but didn’t bring up anything about being so close to it or being saved by the alien and everything after that.

Ben didn’t keep things secret because he didn’t trust his friends. He did trust them. But they were normal people and thus had much less built-in resistance to powers. Powers like mind reading. He wasn’t sure if he was overblowing the risk or not, but decided that it would be safer to tell his B-Rank friend first and get her opinion on it.

So he told her everything. Well… mostly everything. He still skimmed over the initial fight and his injuries. But everything after the S-Rank monster and Zelter appearing he went over in detail. That included the discoveries he had in the morning about his increased leveling speed.

Katie, unlike usual, sat through all of this in silence. She’d made some sarcastic comments at first but had gone mostly still and silent when he talked about the appearance of the S-Rank and Zelter.

Finally, when he finished, he leaned back, waiting to see her reaction.