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The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 79 [November 2010]
Manhattan
–Axle Riddle–
Okay. Good news.
The city had not gone to the shitter yet although he was already seeing the signs of his absence. Traffic jams were more common, and theft was on the rise but as far as he could see, there was nothing that signified that Violent crimes were on the rise.
Then again, it had only been two days since he was cooped up in this hotel room, just waiting for his mind to heal so that he could go back and do what he loved best.
Eating Good Food and enjoying life without the guilt of not having used his powers for the greater good.
His second mind partition was perfect for that, allowing him to not overly fixate on the areas of maintaining near constant surveillance on the city so that most crimes could be stopped before they were committed or were in the process of being committed.
Alas, he had a hunch that his latest stunt in assimilating every single bit of his powers and consolidating it had removed the possibility of ever getting the second mind back.
It did make him supremely powerful though. Powerful enough that he could affect beings with high energy auras around them
See, ever since he had encountered the Sorcerers using his spatial awareness, he had noticed something around them. For lack of a better term, he called it aura.
After observing the Sorcerers, Ancient One, the Hulk, and the Seven Hulks, he could confidently say that Aura was an expression of the energy of a being, be it internal or what they could wield through outer means.
Whenever he tried to use his powers on beings with substantial auras around them, it just slid right off them. The only way to breach that aura is to simply have more power than the other party.
Now, that was not an issue when it came to most people, save for the Ancient One and the Hulk.
For the life of him, he had this mental block that he knew he would not be able to breach the Hulk’s energy aura, making him fear the possibility of the Hulk rampaging in his city and him being helpless to stop said rampage.
The only way he could deescalate that situation, according to his calculations, would be to overwhelm the Hulk with sheer mass and then punt that mass, either into space, which was unlikely, or straight into the Ocean, very far away.
Now though? Now, he could feel the sheer power in his mind and could actually breach through the Hulk’s aura this time, allowing him to do all sorts of grisly stuff to his insides should he ever act out.
He took a step out of the study that was also present in the suite, and looked down at the hustle and bustle of the city, and then at the skyscrapers that littered the skyline.
He wondered what the seven brothers were doing. He knew that Tony was making rounds around the city because of the nearly constant coverage of Iron Man flying through the buildings of Manhattan, being shown on TV.
Good, that meant that the work had not stopped yet. Betty’s pregnancy was very important, especially after the events that transpired recently.
He could not believe his shitty luck when he saw that One Below All *Chills*, one of the supreme bad fuckers of this universe had decided to ambush him. He counted himself lucky that he could not actually get into the portal.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
He could only imagine the grisly fate that would have awaited him on the other side of that portal.
Also, he could accept the complete failure of his spatial awareness if it was that person on the other side. The guy was the de-facto reality warper of the setting, it would be a piece of cake for him to somehow bypass his powers, especially since he had not fully grown to his full potential yet.
Still, the guys knew everything. His identity, not that it was hard for someone like him to locate him.
But also his interpersonal relationship with the Ancient One, along with his connection to the birth of the golding.
Seriously, Bruce’s life was fucked up and he was glad that he did not have that power. All the power in the world, which the Hulk technically has, would not be enough for him to get involved with the Guy Below.
His powers were the best, in his humble and totally impartial opinion.
Speaking of his powers, he was making steady progress towards his eventual unlocking of his spirit.
See, his injury was not an injury of the soul, not in the traditional sense anyway. It was not as if his soul was damaged and he had to heal the soul itself to use his powers.
No, his soul was fine. It was the delivery of the powers that was the problem.
The pipeline between his soul which had the power, and his mind which could effectively use that power was effectively unwound, by his act of brute forcing everything.
At least, that was what the book told him. Very insightful stuff written in the book though.
Now, all he had to do was either mend the connection or create a new one. He chose to create a new one, which was less hassle and also better for future powerups if there were any.
He had made steady progress and would actually be done ahead of schedule, because it should not take more than three days to get the connection done and once the connection was slotted into place, he would be the almighty Invisible Man once again.
Ah, he missed having supreme power over millions of people and one of the largest cities on the planet.
Guess it is true, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Well, better make sure that he doesn’t have absolute power then. He would have to leave the city in 2012 anyway so it was all for the better.
‘Alright, time for some ~~Room Service,” He giddily rubbed his hands as he was about to partake in, in his opinion, the best thing about good hotels.
Good, round the clock, Room Service.
Just as his hand took hold of the landline to place the order, he flinched as he heard a gunshot go off. His shoulders slumped as the gunshots kept going as if multiple people were firing rounds.
He tried to ignore the cries and screams of help from the people, unused to needing protection in Manhattan but alas, there was not much he could do at the moment.
Didn’t mean that it still didn't hurt like a bitch though.
He stopped from putting on his headphones as he heard…cheering?
He ran to the window and his jaw hung agape at what he was seeing.
Right there, on the edge of the street, were three people standing, waving at the nearby people, standing next to a crumpled up car with multiple police cars behind them.
“Minions!” He cheered as he saw the heroes of the day.
It was the seven brothers. Well, three of the seven brothers.
He sighed in relief once he realised that they were helping protect the city in his absence. The costumes were a bit tacky especially since all law enforcement must have some idea about who they were and where they lived but it was the thought that counts, he thought to himself.
Well, seeing that everyone else was stepping up to the task, he should see to it that he is not left behind in any possible way.
“Time to grind,” He muttered to himself and entered the study room, the sound treatment in the room was the only way he could actually concentrate without having to enter the Astral Realm.
Another skill that he was still in the process of mastering.
Once that was done, he wanted to see if he could still use his powers in the Astral Realm. Now, that would be quite cool. Not much would change considering his current powerset but it would be nice to take another step in the direction of the mind and soul.
He hoped to one day hone his skills to such a level that he could at least get some rudimentary telepathy. Sorcerers could train to get that ability but he, with all his vast psionic energy, could not do that on his own.
He had to learn, and for him to learn properly, he would have to remove all limiters on his powers, both from the ROBs and his own mental blocks.
So much to do, and so little time.
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