“You sure have been sleeping for a while. You are welcome by the way. It took a while to stitch you up and get you here,” said an unknown voice.

Alex opened his eyes slowly, the world swaying as if he were on a ship's deck. He felt groggy, the cobwebs of confusion still clinging to his thoughts. Turning his head towards the source of the voice, he found himself looking at a woman. “Who are you? Where am I?” He questioned, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I was hoping you could shed light on that, considering you're the uninvited guest in my abode," she retorted. "Although, your peculiar attire and the magic you performed on the street give me a pretty good idea."

In fragments, Alex’s recollection of the previous night began to return. The deserted streets, a momentary rest, and the use of his magic. The details, however, were still a blur. His eyes widened in recognition, "You're the woman from the alley."

"That's right. But it makes me wonder if you've taken a severe knock to your head. Can't you answer a simple question like 'What is your name?'"

"Apologies for that. I'm Alex. I'm a Tower climber. I got tangled up in a fight a tad too intense for my liking, which ended with my exit from the Tower. That said, I'm not exactly sure where I've landed."

"You've landed in London," she clarified, "Though I'm surprised you don't remember choosing your exit point. Your head must've taken quite a hit in that fight. Should I be concerned about anyone tailing you? Was it a human conflict, or were monsters involved?"

"Monsters," Alex confessed, "One that was significantly more powerful than I anticipated. Are you, by any chance, a climber too?"

"Absolutely not," she dismissed the idea immediately. "I have no appetite for combat, and the Tower, as depicted in the news, doesn't exactly entice me."

"You know you haven't shared your name," Alex noted, hoping to learn more about his mysterious rescuer.

"Very perceptive, indeed. I'm Angela," she stated, just as the microwave chimed in the background. "Oh, I almost forgot. You must be hungry. I managed to get some water into you when you were semi-conscious, but the food was a bit more complicated. Give me a moment, will you?"

Angela left the room as Alex lay down and stared at the ceiling. He lay on a tarp that had been spread out to avoid getting any of his dirt and blood onto the floor. Alex lay there silently trying to get a grasp of his injuries and how he was doing. He felt his legs and sides. They had been stitched up and washed somewhat.

“Here you go,” said Angela. Alex sat back up and was handed a bowl of ramen. “I had this on hand, and it was easy to make.”

“Thanks for stitching me up and for the food,” said Alex.

“No problem. You did help me back there for better or worse.”

"Can I ask what exactly transpired in the alley?" Alex inquired. "My memory is hazy. All I recall is using my magic, and then... darkness."

With that, he resumed his meal. The food was comforting, filling him up and bringing a sense of peace. His natural healing process would require time and rest, but the nutrients from the meal would expedite his recovery.

“Um. The man from last night is dead. Though that should have been pretty obvious to you when you blasted thousands of volts through his body and burnt him alive. After that, the power went out throughout the entire block or so for about a minute. I checked up on you and you were still breathing but barely. I didn’t want to leave you there and I wasn’t sure you were going to survive so I brought you here. This place is only a few minutes away from the street we were on. You’ve been unconscious most of the morning and I patched you up while I waited. I couldn’t sleep after what happened.”

“I can understand not wanting to sleep. Did you know the man very well? Who was he?”

"He was a local climber, enjoying his day off. But who he is doesn't matter at this point. What matters is you. There are going to be people poking around, cops and others, trying to find you. They'll be so focused on figuring out who killed him that they won't be looking my way for a while."

"I think I need to get moving then. I've managed to avoid trouble with the law so far, but I'd rather gamble with the Tower than wait for them to catch me wandering in a place I'm not familiar with. It's going to be hard to prove my claims of an accident with all the red tape involved. Plus, I don't think I could repeat what happened, shocking a man to death like that. It's not something I can just do again."

"What do you mean you can't do it again? You called down lightning bolts from the sky. That was some serious magic you pulled off. I've seen a few skirmishes and practice fights, but nothing that powerful."

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Alex let out a sigh. "I'm not sure. I've talked it over with my team before, and they couldn't figure out what went wrong either. I haven't learned any new spells. My abilities haven't changed since day one, and to be honest, I haven't paid much attention to them for a while."

"But you performed magic. Here on Earth, where it's supposed to be much harder to wield."

"I don't recall how difficult it was to call down that lightning. Everything was a blur then. Until recently, when I had to handle a monster situation and ended up here, I barely used my lightning magic at all," Alex admitted, indicating his vest full of knives. "Ever since I first entered the Tower, I've been more like a rogue who can make a few sparks with his fingers than a mage who carries knives for extra protection."

"I want to see this magic of yours. After what I witnessed last night, I can't believe that all you can do is produce a few sparkles."

"You're in for a disappointment then," Alex said.

He focused on his magic, which was now fully recharged. A few sparks jumped from his fingers and danced around. He attempted to conjure more at her behest, but nothing else happened. Angela watched with mild curiosity, but her face fell into a frown of disappointment.

"Is that all?" she asked.

"For the most part, yes. I can also create a flash, enough to temporarily blind you. I can also use an echolocation technique to survey the room, but you wouldn't be able to see the effects of that," he explained.

"Well, that's... underwhelming," Angela replied, crossing her arms. Her disappointment was palpable, but there was a hint of curiosity in her eyes. "But that doesn't make any sense. How did you manage to summon that lightning bolt?"

Alex shrugged. The frustration was evident on his face. "I told you. I don't know. It happened once, and I can't seem to replicate it."

"Can't, or won't?" Angela asked pointedly.

"I promise you, it's not a matter of will," Alex said, a hard-edge creeping into his voice. He was tired, confused, and scared. He had no answers, and he was being chased for a crime he didn't fully understand.

Angela looked at him for a long moment, her gaze softening. "I believe you," she finally said. "But if you want to stay one step ahead of the investigators, you'll need more than sparks."

Alex sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I know. But I can't just pull new spells out of thin air."

"Maybe not," Angela said, an idea forming in her mind. “But what you did back there and what you have described are seemingly spells whether they are marked by the system or not. What exactly is on your ability list then? You aren’t doing lightning magic randomly and I assume you would have been gifted a working skill or two. The Tower seems like a terrible place, but it should give everyone a chance.”

“I have a single ability. One-of-one ability slots filled. I either can’t get another one or don’t know how to yet. The ability is Manipulate Electricity.”

That's it? Manipulate Electricity?" Angela looked surprised. "But that's more than just sparks and echolocation. That's... that's a powerful ability. You are a dunce. How did you not figure this out earlier? Manipulate. Electricity.” She said slowly. “You can manipulate electricity and that does not include the ability to generate electricity. You’ve been refining your ability and created sub-spells with sparks of electricity from your body and static in the air. Not to mention that this entire time you have been using said magic in the Tower where there are no power lines, no generators, or any kind of naturally occurring lightning at all except for in storms. What you need is a battery. You were able to grab the power running through the powerlines last night for your attack. It probably grabbed as much electricity in the area as your mana could handle. As a result, it shut down power to the block and the attack did what it did. And then when you were already injured the massive drain on mana and control it must have required knocked you out.”

Alex blinked at her, feeling as if he'd been hit by a truck. It was so obvious now that she'd pointed it out. He had been so focused on what he couldn't do that he'd completely overlooked what he could.

"Of course... manipulate electricity," he muttered, pressing a hand to his forehead as if that would ease the sudden rush of realization. "I've been treating it as a generation ability, trying to force electricity out of nothing. But you're right. I can manipulate it. I can control it. But... I need a source."

Angela nodded, watching him with a mix of satisfaction and amusement. "So, you need a battery. Or a generator. Or a power line. You need something that already has electricity in it for you to use."

"I... Yes. Yes, that's it," Alex agreed, his mind racing. Suddenly, his single ability didn't seem so limited. It was powerful, just in a different way than he'd thought. It needed preparation, forethought, and an external power source. But with those, he could do a lot more than just sparks and echolocation.

"But," Angela said, her tone turning serious again, "that means you're also limited. If there's no electricity for you to manipulate, you're essentially powerless. That could be a big problem if you end up in a place with no power sources, or if someone figures out your ability and cuts off your access to electricity."

Alex nodded, grimacing at the thought. "I'll have to be careful. Plan ahead. Make sure I always have a source of electricity on hand, just in case. Thank you so much. There is so much I have to do now that I wish I had done it sooner. But now I need to figure out how to build a sufficient rechargeable battery in the Tower.”

“That is for you to figure out. It would probably require finding a crafter to make something custom for you. I’m sure you can find a way to make enough money to get one made. And you know what. I think we can consider ourselves even at this point. You helped me out of a tough situation. I patched you up and gave you the knowledge and realization that you needed to do more magic stuff in the Tower. Now if you would like to hop in the shower in that room over there and then help me clean up this tarp we can be done with this debacle forever. I will pretend that we have never met and go on our separate ways. I’ve got work to get to and I’m sure you are eager to get back into the Tower and gain XP, you, masochists.”

“Wait that is it. Earth is the only place with easy access to electricity that I can use. Don’t you want to see what else I can do with access to proper stocks of electricity?”

“I’m not interested in seeing you burn a hole in something or someone, and I am exhausted. Didn’t sleep watching over you remember? You can have fun with that outside of this place. Now get to the shower. You stink. Go clean up,” she said firmly.