6 Chapter 6: Nipping The Bud

Hey guys,

As I said before, this is one of those chapters that would pop. I had this seating for a while and I just wanted to post it.

Besides, Jay's superhero name will be Arcanum.

Don't forget to leave comments and stones.

Peace!

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"Dude, you look like you're going to die," Peter Parker said to me as I closed my locker.

I must've looked really awful for him to say that. Not that I can say much.

After returning home around 5:00 AM, I slept only two hours. And even then, I couldn't sleep much from all the excitement of practicing my powers. My mind was filled with ideas upon ideas on what to do with my runes and chakra. Not to mention my latest power.

The supernatural ability to invent technology to counter other tech or even powers. The Celestial Forge called it the Counter Technology.

Apart from Heart's Desire and Efficient Electricity, Counter Technology allowed me to literally invent or create tech that can fight against supernatural abilities. And who knows what this ability applies to? Magic? Psionics? Mutants? Ironman or Richard Reeds even? I don't know, but I'm excited.

But this power didn't come with some sort of ingrained knowledge. Just like with Heart's Desire, I have some sort of instinct or sixth sense. This instinct gave me insight which allows me to counter or neutralize any tech or power as long as I have witnessed them or have enough knowledge of them. Although I'm still lacking in knowledge in just about every aspect of science, this ability increased my creativity and ability to learn due to that sixth sense. I should probably go read some books later.

This was my second crafting ability and every bit of it was awesome.

Anyways, I better answer Peter who was starting to look worried.

"Yeah sure, man. I was just studying and I barely slept at all," I replied which was not a lie technically.

Peter nodded,

"I hear you," the boy replied.

At that moment, I suddenly felt myself shoved up to my locker,

*BANG*

"You think I wouldn't find you, you little shit." Flash's voice could be heard as he held my collar and pushed me against my locker.

Right. Totally forgot about this guy and how his face got splattered by a meatball.

Heh.

Just seeing his face is starting to piss me off. Was I always prone to anger like this or is this something new?

"What? Not going to say anything? Too scared like the little bitch you are." Flash continued to taunt.

"Stop it, Flash!" Peter came to my defence.

Bless your heart Peter, but now is not the time.

"Piss off, Parker. You'll be next after I deal with this shit." Flash snarled at him before turning toward me.

Now, Flash's physique was impressive. 6'3" with broad shoulders and big muscles. A perfect body for a football player. Unlike me who was still chubby and six feet. Although, I was making a lot of progress. Thanks to chakra, my body heals quicker and I have a lot more stamina allowing me to exercise more. which in turn, allowed me to burn more fat and build more muscle. I had lost considerable weight from the time I reincarnated, but my habit of wearing baggy clothes in public hide those efforts. Not even my sister knew about my changes.

Now what to do with Flash without outing myself as a mutant or something?

"You look nice for someone who fell from a single meatball,"

Yeah. Not the best, but it was the only thing I can think of.

Although, it had its intended effect as Flash's face contorted into a rage and pulled his fist back and punched me.

I don't know how, but my body instinctively moved to the side and his fist impacted the locker door.

Was it because of all those self-defence practice my clones did? Muscle memory or something?

His fist was fast by the way. Too fast for me to see, but my body reacted nonetheless.

'This is my chance!'

Before he could pull back his fist, I pushed him away. Normally, a person of my stature wouldn't be able to do so, but my strength had been increased by the simple fact that I possess chakra. Just this strength was enough to push him away.

"Wha-"

Before he could say anything, I prepared my right leg for one move no man would want to be on its end.

I kicked him in the nuts.

All the guys in the hallway flinched at the merciless act by yours truly. I could swear I heard something crack as my foot impacted his crotch.

Flash froze in place as the air was knocked out of his lungs.

"….A…..Ah…" he squeaked as his face paled unnaturally from his nuts being crushed and potentially ending his bloodline.

Of course, I tried to hold back as much as possible.

He was literally squeaking as he fell onto his knees holding his balls with small whimpers.

"Flash!" "What the fuck!" "Holy Shit!"

People around me gasped and exclaimed in shock. Some of the bully's buddies were quickly coming to check on him.

'That's my cue to leave.'

I grabbed my scattered books and turned to Peter,

"Come on!"

Peter didn't hesitate and we quickly walked away while the people in the hallway stared at me in awe and apprehension.

"That was insane!" Peter said.

"I know," I replied.

And it was the truth. I never fought someone in my past life and, not even a month into my new life, I already kicked a guy's nuts. Not that he didn't deserve it.

We soon arrived at our first class of the day: Chemistry.

As soon as we arrived at the class, people began whispering to each other,

"Did you see what happened?"

"… fell down…"

"…kicked in the balls…"

"He was crying like a baby…"

"…Damn!"

I quickly grabbed my seat and I could feel everyone staring at me.

How did the news travel so fast? How did it even reach my class before me?

I don't like this. This is completely different from being watched while swimming. You could ignore that since you were not the main focus most of the time and you had other things to deal with.

Although, the feeling of getting one on Flash made me kind of giddy. It felt good to put a bully in his place like that. From what I know and my slowly regaining memories, Flash made previous Jay's life a living hell. He was part of the reason why he wanted to end it all.

I closed my eyes and sent a silent prayer to him,

'This is only the beginning man. From now on, I will make your life better. I hope you pass on and are reborn in a better life.'

I don't know what I was expecting as I stayed silent with my eyes closed. It's not like he was going to answer.

"Hey, Jay."

It took all of my being not to jump out of my chair at that very instant.

Holy shit that scared me! I really thought that Jay came back to life to haunt me.

Opening my eyes I turned toward the voice and my eyes lay on a Latino boy I don't recognize.

"Yes?"

"Is it true you kicked Flash in the nuts?" the boy asked bluntly with a grin.

I frowned.

'Who the hell is he?'

Mentally shrugging, I slowly nodded finding no reason to lie,

"Yeeahh?"

The boy turned quickly and headed to another guy and exclaimed,

"See! I told you! It's him! Jay kicked Flash in the balls! He was even crying like a baby on the ground!"

"Sick!" the other guy replied.

I grabbed my books and just as I was about to open them and ignore my surroundings, the bell rang, and the teacher came in.

"Settle down everyone! Settle down and go to your seats! We are going to be going over the homework you were supposed to have done for today."

The teacher looked at an empty seat,

"Where's Mr. Thompson? Did he not come today?"

At her question, my heart skipped a beat. Was I caught already?

To my surprise, no one answered. Some looked amused and some giggled. Some looked uncomfortable and some looked at me with anger.

Those last ones must've been Flash's friends.

But no one answered. I guess this tells how no one trusted the adults in the school. Like this, bullies can also take advantage of others since there seems to be some sort of unwritten rule to not involve any adults in teenagers' problems. Probably, because they never fixed anything.

Worst case scenario, they would even blame the victim by saying something like "You shouldn't provoke them" or try to reassure you by saying "He's been suspended for three days. You can rest easy now".

Bitch, that doesn't solve anything! After their suspension ends, they're going to come back more viciously.

*Sigh*

It hasn't been a week in school, and I'm already fed up with this bullshit. The teacher looked at the class and raised an eyebrow,

"No one?"

"…"

"Well, I guess I should mark him as absent then," she said and wrote something on a paper.

I sighed in relief and pulled out my homework. I turned to Peter who gave me a thumbs up.

At that moment, The Constellation Domain: Facilities: Mundane passed by. The energy gained would be kept for the next time the Forge shifted.

With that, the class continued.

[***]

It was now lunchtime. People were giving me weird looks as I walked through the halls toward the lunch hall alone. Peter had a different class so I decided to grab a table while waiting for him. People would ask me if I really kicked Flash in the balls, but I simply rebuffed them.

I'm not some sort of entertainment for them to enjoy. I'm just the guy who nipped the bud of the flower before it was too late. I didn't want to deal with bullying in this life and I decided to not remain passive like my previous one.

I wanted to change and be better. Getting the Celestial Forge helped in that regard.

I looked around and unfortunately, there was no empty seat today. So, I decided to sit where there were the least amount of people. Unfortunately, it was a group of girls seating close to a wall where there was a seat remaining. Now, in my both lives, I have never really interacted with girls. The only ones that I interacted with were my mom and my sister.

Kind of sad. Alas, I never had the courage. Maybe this time it will be different?

However, as soon as I sat down, one of the girls sneered and another looked at me in disgust. They all got up and left leaving with not-so-quiet comments about my disgusting appearance.

"Huh?"

It was the only sound I could let out at their action.

Honestly, that kind of hurt. I know I'm not the best-looking, but was I that repulsive? Did the previous Jay deal with this every day?

*Sigh*

But hey, at least I got the table all to myself! That's when I caught Flash entering the lunch hall from the corner of my eye. Thankfully, the guy only glared at me and limped away toward his friends. Although slow going, memories of a life not my own appeared in my mind. I could now recognize some of the people in school. Heck, thanks to those memories, I could recognize famous spider-man characters such as Liz Allen.

She was one of the "popular" girls. Surrounded by many, she was a blue-eyed and long-haired girl at around 5'9". I can safely say she was one of the prettier girls I have ever seen. Although, she was somewhat close to Flash.

Are they dating perhaps?

I shook my head. It's none of my concern, besides, it's not like I was going to interact with them and, according to my memories, she was kind of a… bitch if I were to say so myself. I mean she was also involved in the bullying using verbal abuse on me.

However, there was also another famous character with them: Harry Osborn.

Son of Norman Osborn as well as the heir of Oscorp Industries. He was around my height with blue eyes and brown hair. He also wore expensive brand clothes and was talking with Flash's group. I hadn't really interacted with him so I can't really say much about him. Although, in the movies, it was shown he was Peter's best friend, but I haven't seen him interact with the latter in this world, but I have to assume that not everything I have seen in my past life is true. On the other hand, it has only been two days, I can't judge the situation with so little information.

At that moment, Peter decided to show up.

"Hey man, sorry for being late, the teacher held us back for a moment." The teen replied as he sat down on an empty seat.

I smiled,

"No problem," I replied.

Soon we began to eat and talk about our day.

[***]

English was the last class of the day, so I was going to be relaxing. As the teacher droned about grammar in a different context, I brought out a notebook and opened it.

It was my journal about my secrets. In it were all my notes concerning the Celestial Forge and my powers. It was also where I noted all my memories pertaining to Marvel. Even if my memories have been enhanced by the powers given by the Celestial Forge, I was still prone to forgetting since I don't have a photographic memory. I didn't want to write all this on a computer until I was sure it would have hackproof from any outside influence. Although, I was planning on modifying my laptop and cellphone soon, using my powers, after having gained some knowledge. Efficient Electricity will allow a longer battery life expectancy. Although Counter Technology's main power is to counter tech and powers, Its side-effect gives me a faster learning rate. Using this, I sent all of my clones, just before coming to school, to learn how to program and hack as well as how to build a computer and mobile devices in order to create a security system in my computer.

After all that, then I would save my notes on my computer. In the meantime, the notebook would do.

Currently, I was currently sketching what would be my gear for when I go out.

That's right.

I decided I was going to do some good using my powers. "Why?" you may ask.

Because I want to. I mean why not?

Is it wrong to help people? They are always in need of help, and I decided I would not waste this second chance at life. Also, it would be a waste if I didn't use the Celestial Forge to improve lives.

Besides, do I really need a reason?

I may seem naïve, I may be an idiot, but I thought about it ever since I got my powers, which was on the very first day. Perhaps the Celestial Forge had a will on its own or perhaps it didn't, I don't know. I don't know why I was given this chance, but I was not going to waste it. Besides, I don't know how or why, but I am sure; I had a gut feeling that I was going to be swept in some sort of event and I needed to be ready for it. I mean how do explain the fact that I was transmigrated in a body of a boy who just so happens to go to school with a teenage superhero, whose fate made his life so difficult, and who happens to be the main protagonist of so many stories? I could try not to do anything, but sooner or later, I was going to get caught up in something and I did not want to be unprepared.

Although, I'm not going to be like a certain suicidal hero-obsessed protagonist. I still had my priorities. Friends and family, then strangers.

Back to my notebook, I had my notes on my magic runes, my chakra and my list of powers that I categorized by Constellations they came from. And now, I was sketching my gear. Unfortunately, I don't know much about what sort of clothes I was supposed to wear, and I had zero sense of fashion. Therefore, I was just doodling. For now, what I settled on was a dark hoodie with a mask hiding my mouth and nose as well as some goggles for my eyes... When I got my chakra, it, unfortunately, didn't cure my myopia as it wasn't an injury. I haven't found a solution to cure it and I don't have contact lenses. And since my glasses were too fragile, I decided to buy some goggles to protect them as I would need them to see. I would need to modify my glasses and goggles so that they can fit each other.

It would also add a steampunk sense of style which was kinda cool and complimented the Celestial Forge.

Now that I think about it, I didn't try to heal my myopia using Rune magic, did I? I should go check when I get home.

I didn't choose the classic spandex or cape for my costume because honestly… I was kind of embarrassed going around almost naked with only a thin layer of cloth on me. Besides, how am I going to carry my gear if I run around in spandex?

I'll leave that to Peter.

*DRINNNNNNNGGG*

My head shot up and the sudden ringing of the bell and I turned toward the clock.

3:00 PM

'Already? That was fast.'

I gathered my stuff and made my way to the locker before heading outside.

Once outside, I was about to head home when I felt myself being shoved from the back. Unable to react, I fell to the ground eliciting laughter from the perpetrators. My hands stung from getting scratched on the ground.

'What the fuck!?'

I quickly got up and turned around and saw Flash and he was with his goons this time.

'Ah shit. Again?'

"What do you want Flash?" I asked.

Flash glared at me and pushed me again.

"You're going to pay for what you've done this morning," he snarled.

Quickly regaining my balance, I looked at him with a frown,

"Are you being serious right?" I asked incredulously.

I can't believe he had the gall to tell me that after all, he did. That's right, more and more memories of bullying came to my mind. I even remembered the beating I received when he insulted my mother.

"You fucking deserve that and I ain't taking shit from you no more!"

The anger in me was palpable. Perhaps, there were still some lingering feelings from the previous Jay, perhaps it's simply me and transmigration changed me. Or it's simply the fact that I am once again a teenager, and I am at the height of my puberty which is messing with my hormones and emotions.

In the end, I was angry. My chakra was swirling through me because of my emotions.

I had to stay calm or I fear what would happen if I accidentally used my powers and ended up excessively hurting Flash or worse

Flash walked up to me and pushed me again. Why do I even let him do it?

"Oh yeah, so the fat little bitch trying to stand up, huh? You should just stay down like you always do. Maybe that way you can join your mom who's already three feet in the grave."

"Ooohhh!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

A crowd began to form around us. Because it was outside of school, I'm pretty sure no adults will come.

Now, there was no way out. If I wanted to stop them from bullying me, it was now or never. I know I said I learned some self-defence thanks to the clones, but, honestly, it was simply a way to escape from the aggressors. One of the first rules of self-defence is to not fight the aggressor but to simply get away. If you start fighting back, then it won't really be self-defence anymore. This is why I had some clones start looking, at the same time, into martial arts like Boxing or Muay Thai. Alas, I only had a week to learn and no teachers except YouTube making it hard to really learn how to fight. My body also didn't help.

But not for long. And the meagre amount of knowledge I had was going to help me in this situation. I may also need to use a small amount of chakra since I'm not sure if I was not strong enough to overpower Flash without it.

"Shut up! Don't talk about my mother like that! Besides, big talk for a guy who squealed like a pig this morning. Do you want a repeat?" I shot back.

"OOOHHHH!"

The crowd went wild again at my words. All this was a game for them.

Entertainment.

"Jay!"

I turned at saw Peter trying to get through the crowd. But I tried to send a silent message with my eyes. I don't know if he caught it, but he simply looked at me and stayed in place. Although, he did have an anxious look on his face.

Flash grew angry and walked at me with his fist ready to punch. My heart was beating fast and I could literally feel my adrenaline coursing through me. Just as I was about to dodge his punch, the Celestial Forge chose the perfect time to rear its ugly head.

I felt the Domain: Facilities: Magical constellation pass by. Unfortunately, I was too distracted, and Flash's punch caught me squarely on my left cheek.

*Bam*

"OOOHHHHH!"

I collapsed on the ground as I felt a ringing in my ears.

Fuck! That fucking hurt! Just because I went through the torturous process of acquiring chakra does not mean I built up a resistance to pain. I could feel my cheek swelling up.

Are your serious Celestial Forge? Why now?

"See that bitch? That's why you shouldn't do anything! You can't do shit. Stay down or it's going to be much worse."

However, Flash didn't stop. He was about to kick me when I rolled away and narrowly dodged his kick.

I quickly got up on my feet and went into a basic boxing stance even if I knew shit about it.

"Looks like you don't know how to learn a lesson," Flash said when he saw me not backing down.

The crowd got excited seeing me stand up and, this time, I was ready. Nothing would distract me. Actually, I better start learning how to ignore the Celestial Forge when I'm doing something important otherwise, I won't last long.

Focus!

My eyes were on Flash, and my waist was steady with my feet stuck to the ground. I could feel the chakra in me swirling inside of me and passively increasing my strength a little. I didn't want to actively use my chakra as that would be too dangerous.

Once again, I saw Flash run to me. This time, I was ready. Nothing would distract me as my senses were focused on him.

I saw him pulling his right fist back and punching forward. It was fast. Really fast.

But I was ready.

As soon as the first came close to my face, I sidestepped to the left and let his fist soar above my right shoulder and right by my face.

I could literally feel the displaced wind caused by his punch. Remembering all the research from my clones, I sent a sudden jab at his nose.

*CRACK*

Many winced while others shouted in excitement as my jab landed on his nose.

"AHH!"

Flash staggered backwards while holding his nose. He looked at his hands and saw it was covered in blood.

"Oh shit! He broke Flash's nose!" someone in the crowd shouted.

Flash looked at his bloody hands before turning to me with rage,

"Now, you're dead."

Feeling confident, I replied,

"Change the vocabulary Flash. I'm getting tired of hearing the same barks."

The people around me didn't know what to say. Here was the fat Indian kid who was always bullied fighting back against their star quarterback. The guy was also fit as a bull and a few inches taller than him.

With a grunt, Flash came to me once more. This time, he came close and punched me again. Once again, my reflexes saved me, and I squatted down and narrowly avoided his hook by a hair's breadth.

Unfortunately for him, Flash was not a fighter. The only fighting experience he has was bullying where his victims don't fight back. Not that I can say much.

But I have clones. There was always one of them who was learning fighting moves.

The cross was too powerful for him, and Flash's body became unbalanced. Seeing his fist out of the way. I pushed myself up and balled my fist before launching an uppercut right into the center of his chin.

*BAM*

I once read that the chin was called the "button" in the boxing world.

The name didn't do justice and

As soon as I punched Flash's chin, The bully's head was knocked back and his eyes rolled back. He then crumbled to the ground unconscious almost as if I pressed his "off" button.

"Flash!" I heard Liz shout for her boyfriend.

I stood there staring at the unconscious boy on the ground. Seeing he was not getting up, I grabbed my bag and pushed my way into the crowd which for some reason was quiet. I looked at some of them and they were all looking at me with some degree of shock and awe.

"He... He just knocked Flash out." one of them whispered.

"Damn!"

"Did you see that!?"

"The way he did that uppercut?"

I didn't care. I just wanted to get out of here and go home. Besides, the sense of relief I was feeling when I finally punched Flash was so immense I couldn't even describe it.

For some reason, the other bullies didn't follow me. I sighed in relief and started walking home.

But man! Who knew the bullying was this bad? I thought it happens only in movies and anime.

Oh, wait… I am in one.

"Jay!"

I turned around and saw Peter run up to me.

"Oh, hey Peter," I replied as I continued to walk.

"Don't hey me! Are you okay?" He asked.

I was about to reply that I was fine but, at that moment, my cheek started to sting. I touched it and it was already really swollen.

Seeing the injury, Peter winced,

"That looks like it hurts."

I shook my head,

"It's fine. It's going to heal soon."

At those words, something clicked in me.

Heal?

Rune magic can do that, can it? Let's try it out when I go home.

"I can go get some ice if you want?" he asked.

I shook my head,

"Thanks, but that's okay. I just want to go home now."

Peter sighed and looked down,

"I'm sorry I couldn't help."

Nope, don't say that.

I looked at him,

"Don't be sorry. Besides, you did try to help, but this was my fight. I don't want to get bullied anymore so I had to deal with it myself."

Peter nodded and had a morose expression. He then looked at me,

"Where did you learn to fight like that? Did you take classes?"

I shook my head,

"Internet."

Peter raised an eyebrow,

"Are you saying you learned it online?"

"I didn't… really learn it. I only watched a few videos and copied some stuff."

"That's awesome!" He then muttered," Maybe I should try that."

I looked at him and almost forgot that this guy had already been bitten by the radioactive spider and will soon become one the greatest superhero.

"Maybe, you should."

Whe continued to walk until we reached Peter's bus stop where a bus had already arrived.

"Alright man. I'll see you tomorrow." I said.

Peter turned to me,

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

I nodded,

"Yeah, don't worry about it."

Peter looked at me before grinning,

"That punch was awesome. And the way Flash was knocked out was the best thing I have ever seen," he said.

"I know."

And I'm not going to lie. The feeling of my fist slamming into that bastard's chin was amazing.

"Bye!" Peter said before climbing aboard the bus.

I simply waved back and walked home.

[***]

Once I entered my home, I took off my shoes and walked up the stairs and into my room. Everything was normal except for the fact that my closet door was open giving a full view of the Workshop's Entrance Hall. After I changed into more comfortable clothes, I walked into the Entrance Hall and saw two of my clones reading some books they had borrowed from the local library while another was on the laptop. The last one was on the wall practicing the Tree Climbing Jutsu.

Once they saw me enter, one of them asked,

"The hell happened to you?"

I looked at him,

"Flash."

Hearing the answer, they all nodded as if that explained everything which honestly did.

"But I knocked him out."

"Huh?"

"Show me!"

I grinned and produced a clone which I dispersed. Once they saw the memories, they all grinned and gave me a thumbs-up.

"Nice."

This was another nifty trick I discovered about the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Anytime I dispersed my clones, I and all the remaining clones receive their memories. This would allow me to send information to my clones without having to find a way to communicate with them using other means. They can also use this as clones can make more clones.

"Since you saw my memories, you know what I want to do, huh?"

They all nodded,

"Then please pop yourselves."

"Don't you want to heal that first? It looks painful." One clone pointed to my cheek.

Oh right.

"Here." Another clone came up to me and gave me a ring-bound stack of flashcards.

"What's this?" I asked looking at the flashcards.

"Do you remember that story about the guy with a hand that can neutralize anything supernatural?"

It took me a moment to recall what he was talking about.

"Are you talking about A Certain Magical Index?"

The clone nodded.

"Seeing what our magic is reminded me of one of the sorcerers who use flashcards to cast her spells."

That's when it clicked on me.

"Ohhhhh. I remember. The hot blonde with big tits!" another clone replied while snapping his fingers.

The first clone cringed and sighed,

"Yes… the hot blonde with… big tits."

"Don't act like that. We're you and you're us." The other clone told him.

While they were bickering, I opened the booklet and the first page was a flashcard with four runes, written in ink, on it: Fire, Blast and Force and Stable. On top of the runes was the word: Fireball.

"So you made talismans, huh?" I asked.

The inventor nodded,

"Yeah. Why don't you try it out?"

"How does it work?" I asked.

"Just rip the paper and insert mana before aiming where you want to use it."

I nodded and walked up to a random part of the Entrance Hall. The other clones stopped whatever they were doing and watched me. I ripped the page out and held it between my forefinger and middle finger before willing my mana into it. The runes glowed and I pointed the paper toward a wall. Then, the talismans disappeared into motes of blue mana.

*Wooshhh*

A single fireball the size of a basketball appeared before me. When I experimented back in the hangar, I only used two runes: Blast and Force. This essentially shot out a controlled blast toward a direction. I couldn't really say it was a fireball. But this, this was a real fireball in front of me. A stable floating fireball. Not a second after it appeared, it shot toward where I wanted and exploded upon contacting the wall of the Entrance Hall.

*BOOM*

From the videos I have seen about weapons on the internet, the explosion was slightly less powerful than a grenade. The point of impact was charred, but it was already regenerating.

Hooray for the Celestial Forge!

My grin was almost touching my ears when I turned toward the inventor,

"This is awesome! With this, I can limit the amount of time needed to cast a spell. Plus it takes less mana to activate since the runes were already written!"

The clone who made the talismans gave a smug.

"Don't thank me, thank Oriana and all the anime and manga we watched and read."

I couldn't help, but laugh at his answer.

"So did you make one that can heal me?" I asked.

"You can find out after I pop myself." He replied and did as he said.

And, soon enough, his memories appeared in my head along with all the knowledge he gained. Seeing him pop, the other clones did the same.

One by one, the clones popped and their memories appeared in my mind. When I was at school, my clones were researching computers as well as programming. Usually, I wouldn't expect much since it's only been a day since I gave them the task, but I severely underestimated the learning ability Counter Technology gave me. I've said it before, the ability gave me a supernatural instinct to counter and neutralize any power and tech I have knowledge of. To be able to do that, that instinct gave me an incredible learning ability. Both combined allowed me to learn something and make connections with different knowledge instinctually. Before today, I knew nothing about Python or C++ or even Java Script. Now, I was already halfway through learning JavaScript and Python thanks to multiple clones studying at the same time. I also learned how to build a computer and advanced my knowledge of my magic.

I smiled to myself,

'I'm on my first steps to becoming a crafter worthy of the Celestial Forge.'

At that moment, the Celestial Forge stirred. I was still a little pissed at how it distracted me during the fight against Flash.

It didn't even give me anything!

Even now, I didn't gain anything as the Domain: Vehicle constellation passed by. But now I know, the Celestial Forge moved at random times and I must always be vigilant in case I was doing something important when it does.

Anyway, back to my talismans. After gaining, that clone's memories. I must admit I was surprised by what he did.

First thing first, he bought some ink bottles, a few fountain pens and three flashcard booklets at a stationary store using the meagre amount of money I had saved my whole life.

Not that he had any choice, I barely get allowances from my sister. Although, it hurt my soul when I saw the missing money in my piggy bank.

That's right. I keep my money in a piggy bank. How cliché can you get?

Anyway, he then started experimenting with writing runes on the flashcards at first. Unfortunately, simply writing runes on paper didn't work as it didn't have the magical compound to activate it. He tried writing the runes while infusing mana in the pen, but the mana would simply dissipate when it made contact with the paper. This time, the binding agent that held the mana to the runes on paper was missing. He researched the internet and read through some manga when an idea hit him. What is the one thing shown in stories containing magic that held power: blood.

That's right, blood. Blood has always held a massive significance in history and myths as well as stories. It was said that blood is the liquid form of a human's life force, or the blood is the essence of a being, or it contained the magic itself, or it even amplified whatever magic it was used on, etc.

Anyway, blood is important.

So how should the clone proceed to use blood? At first, he nicked his finger using a boxcutter knife found in the workshop. Of course, he heated the blade by lighting a match and holding the blade on top of it to sterilize it.

I don't know if the tools given by the Celestial Forge were sterilized, but I'm not taking any chances.

That's right, clones do bleed. Not that it's surprising since they are the exact copy of the summoner. They only disperse when they receive a significant amount of damage.

The clone collected a few millilitres of blood in a container. He then dipped the fountain pen and wrote the same runes for Fireball that I had previously used. He then used it.

That was a mistake.

The spell didn't summon a fireball the size of a basketball. No, it summoned one the size of those yoga balls and when it impacted the wall of the Entrance Hall, it made a huge explosion that almost engulfed the whole Entrance Hall. Fortunately, the clones were on the other side of the room otherwise they would have been caught in the explosion and died. Although, they most likely don't have any sense of preservation since they are clones.

Although, I'm surprised no one heard that or called the police. Thank the gods for that!

Anyway, that thing about blood is powerful. That was right. However, it was too powerful when unrestrained and also volatile. He had to gain control over the power. His idea? Combine the blood with the ink, by adding a few drops of the blood in the ink and mixing it.

That's how the talismans were created.

Honestly, it was amazing.

I flipped through the pages.

Waterball.

Earthswamp.

Shadow bind

Flame sword

Some pages contained one or two runes and some contained more than ten. Those practically filled the page and the clone couldn't add more. I then found what I was looking for.

Heal.

The runes used were: Body, Numb, Relief, Concentrate, and Restore.

Five runes for a simple spell. I'm going to try it out.

I ripped the page and infused my mana.

Huh?

Why is it not working?

I infused the mana once again, but it was still not working. What's wrong? Did the clone make a mistake?

But I saw the memories, he didn't make any mistakes.

That's when the ink bottle caught my eye.

Of course! The ink! The blood used in the ink belonged to the clone and, now that he disappeared, his blood also disappeared!

I cleaned the box cutter and sterilized it again, before pricking my finger and dropping a few drops of blood in the ink.

After mixing it, I took a spare flashcard and wrote the runes using the ink before using it just like the Fireball talisman.

The talisman dissipated into blue motes and a green aura enveloped me. The green aura felt relaxing as if I was sitting in a hot bath. It then concentrated on my swollen cheek and finger. A coolness spread into the injury which then numbed it. I could gradually feel the pain disappear and the swelling reduce. The prick I made on my finger disappeared. Once it returned to normal, the green aura disappeared leaving my, now healed, cheek and finger.

"This… This is awesome!" I couldn't help but say.

I need to research how powerful the spe-Wait.

That's when a person appeared in my mind.

Can I use it on Ma?

I… I need more data before using it on her. I need to do more experiments. Healing a bruise and waking someone up from a coma were two very different things.

However, I'm done with magic for now.

I put the flashcards away as they were now useless since it was made using the clone's blood. Besides, it was a prototype and I still needed to make talismans and classify them in order of use. It would be kind of counterproductive if I cast spells without knowing what they were or trying to find the spell I need in my booklet.

I went into my room and grabbed my laptop and brought it into my Electronic Workshop before putting it on the work table. I then sat down and went to work. The knowledge in my head felt so natural as I started taking apart my laptop. I flipped it and looked at the underneath before looking in front of me. On the wall, a display of all kinds of tools was there and it was easy to distinguish. I picked the correct precision screwdriver and began to unscrew the back of the laptop. Once done, I carefully put away the screws since I needed them later. I opened the bottom cover and I could see all the components of the computer. One by one, I detached them and laid them on my worktable carefully.

Damn. It was all so dusty and dirty. I had a compressed air duster granted by the Workshop that I used to clean each part of the computer. Looking at the components, it's like I knew them as If they were the back of my hand thanks to Efficient Electricity. Although it allowed my creations to last a long time, it also came with some knowledge about computers and digital and electronic devices. Hell, that power was more meant for gaming devices, but we all know gaming devices are simply specialized computers.

I took out its motherboard, cooling system, CPU, RAM, camera, mouse pad, battery, etc. Everything.

I dismantled the whole thing.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally put down my tools. There, on my worktable, was my completely dismantled laptop down to a single screw. There was some stuff I couldn't separate as they were stuck using super glue, but thanks to my sister's blow dryer, some tape, a remover provided by the Workshop as well as the creative use of the Internet, I was able to separate those components too.

I looked at the time and it was already 4:45 PM.

'That took a long time,'

I looked at each component of my laptop and checked for its quality and cleanliness. If they were not clean, I would use a Q-tip and clean them. If the quality was bad, I would either fix it or replace it such as the RAM and the motherboard. Fortunately, the main stuff like the motherboard was completely intact otherwise I wouldn't be able to do anything as I didn't have the necessary tools to make a motherboard from scratch. The circuit boards were also in good shape. There were some parts where I had to use a soldering iron to improve the circuit's quality. I was able to do thanks to the large magnifying glass attached to my worktable.

At 6:00 PM, I was finally able to put the laptop back together. I couldn't keep the smile on my face. The feeling of building or repairing using my own hands was a whole other sensation. I felt like I had accomplished something worthwhile. To be honest, I wanted to make modifications to the laptop, but, unfortunately, I didn't have the parts needed.

"You actually did it," I said to myself.

I dismantled a computer and put it back together. Now does it work?

Find out on the next episode on Drag-

*Cough* *Cough*

Wrong show.

Anyway, I took a deep breath and pressed the power button. The screen booted up and the familiar logo of Windows appeared. However, it looked different from my past life. It was small changes like these that reminded me that there was more to this world than simply the fact that there were superheroes in this world.

To my surprise, the desktop appeared almost as soon as I turned it on showing the laptop's improvement in speed. Also, it was completely silent. The fan in the computer made no noise when before it was like I was seating next to an airplane engine. I played around with the computer. The sounds coming from the speaker were crisper and the games I played on it were better in quality and control. It was like I was using a brand-new gaming laptop.

Project Rewamp is a success.

I grabbed my journal and noted all of the improvements I did in it. The security system would take a little more time as I still needed to learn how to code.

Unfortunately, testing the battery life would take some time since I need to use the laptop until I drained the battery.

*Grrowwll*

Well, there goes my stomach.

I got up from my seat with a heave. I felt all the bones in my body cracking.

Man, I've been seating there for a long time.

I then went to the kitchen to cook some food. Three minutes later, I was sitting at the table with a bowl of hot pipping pasta with rosé sauce and cheese. All this should have taken at least fifteen minutes, but, thanks to Time to Cook, it took less than five.

As I was about to take my first bite when the Domain: Knowledge: Abilities and Skills constellation passed by and half of my energy latched on to one of the stars.

As soon as my energy made contact with the star, Knowledge poured into my mind.

A wise man once said that Art is an explosion.

That's what came to my mind when I finally processed the knowledge I gained. I was now an expert in demolition. I knew how to handle all sorts of explosives and incendiary devices as well as how to place them and where to place them for maximum effect. I can also calculate the safe areas in my head. Also, this power had great synergy with Heart's Desire allowing me to create a perfect 3D plan in my head. I can figure out where to maximize the explosion's effect by simply placing the explosive in the right place at the snap of my finger thanks to this new power.

Not that I was going to do that intentionally, but you never know when I might need this kind of knowledge.

I quickly ate my pasta and went back to my room. I was too tired to do anything now. The whole day was full of stress and I haven't even slept well.

I just wanted to sleep. Let's figure out how to be a superhero tomorrow.

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Perks gained:

-Baboom (Smash Up) (200CP):

You're an expert in demolitions, all forms of explosive and incendiary devices. You know how to handle them safely, where and how to emplace them to the best effect, and can calculate safe areas to the centimeter in your head. All such devices seem at least half-again as potent when you trigger them.

Points banked: 200.