A Talented Researcher

Maximus sighed a little, intending to think about it later, not in this shithole. He had just become aware of the pungent smell in the surroundings, it wasn't so prominent when he first entered. He asked his pets,

"Do you remember how you got your ability?"

Both of them shook their heads. Maximus was a little relieved on one hand and also a little disappointed. Maybe if they knew, he could've gotten an answer if it was his 'energy' which provided them the abilities? Or probably something else.

Relieved because if the pets themselves didn't know, anyone who spied on them wouldn't know how they got their abilities either. It would've been big trouble if the organizations out there perhaps got the misconception that he could awaken abilities. He could not.

He taught his pets a couple hands then signaled them to follow him out of the alleyway now that there was nothing to do. He was a little disappointed that he could not outright have them fight alongside him, maybe he could give them the 'fuel' instead of having it himself. There were a couple of instructions he first told them:

1. Don't expose your intelligence to anyone, not even to Evelyn.

2. Don't expose the fact that you have supernatural abilities to anyone, not even to Evelyn.

3. Inform him of anything suspicious Evelyn does, even who she calls and stays in contact with.

The first two points were obvious while the last point wasn't him being creepy or a stalker. He simply needed to know the source of her information, not really trusting her fully.

It was peaceful but the rest of the time he simply had a nice walk with his pets. He grabbed a fruit juice and some breakfast from a stall in the corner, filling his stomach quite nicely.

Despite having a lot of money still saved in his account, he couldn't easily let go of the habits of his past. Even in his original world, he used to eat from roadside stalls like these to fill his stomach as they were quite affordable compared to restaurants. A budding archeologist wasn't quite exactly a job which paid a luxurious salary. It was his dad who paid him since he worked under him. But after his death, it became quite difficult for him to find work, forcing him to adopt money-saving tactics.

Shaking his head, he removed those thoughts from his head as he walked back towards his home. It was Sunday today, so he didn't need to go to the university today. What would he do? He hadn't decided yet.

*****

Evelyn stood on the balcony of her bedroom, facing the wide expanse of buildings ahead of her. Her beautiful face showed very clear signs of exhaustion, like dark circles, puffiness, and dull complexion. Even her hair was unkempt, showing her lack of energy to deal with it. Strangely though, her eyes still had an edge to them, likely displaying her unwavering focus and abundant mental energy.

Taking a long drag from the cigarette in her hand, she replied to the person on the call.

"The rift opened again?"

"Yes, near the front door of the same abandoned factory in the outskirts of the south of the city."

"Alright. I'll be there. Continue your surveillance on my brother, don't clear him from the list yet."

"Alright ma'am. Anything else?"

"Do you have a list of non threatening but important tasks? It need not be too important, something which another person can complete if one fails."

"Yes ma'am, do you need me to compile it into a file for you?"

"Yes please. And I'll leave shortly, send someone to pick me up at the usual place."

*****

On the other end of the call, the person who was talking to Evelyn put down his phone and grumbled to his boss,

"Why do we need to give her so much importance? Isn't she just another researcher? What if she is a main researcher? We could hire many others with the amount of money we have."

"It's not something you need to know. Just understand it's not as simple as being a main researcher, her topic of research and her corresponding talent in that respective field puts her among the very top of the field in the entire planet."

The person quickly shut up. He wasn't one to disobey their boss. In fact, they were all fiercely loyal to their boss, and he also treated them like brothers, exactly why he grumbled about his doubts to the boss, or else he wouldn't dare. Now that he knew it was not that simple, he quickly shut up.

*****

Maximus reached home and put the pets back into their room. After changing clothes and taking a quick bath, he settled lazily into the gaming chair, responsible for the majority of William's game wins and almost professional gaming ability. He quickly did a scan around the house till the time it took for his pc to turn on and realized Evelyn was nowhere to be seen.

'Did she leave again? I thought Sundays were a holiday for her?'

But he quickly put that thought to the back of his head as he gazed at the sofa and television in front of it. It looked so comfortable.

'I should ask Seraphina if she could make it so that even my phone and television are protected from any hacking. Then I wouldn't need to reach for my pc every now and then. '

Unpopular opinion but the gaming chair didn't feel so comfortable as it felt like to William. He wasn't a gamer.

He opened up a document on his pc and started to note down everything he had learnt until now, not exactly everything since he didn't write anything related to his transmigration or how there could be two 'fuels' to use the abilities.

When he was noting down though, he realized something, the organization hadn't yet contacted him. Why would they? Because he had joined Seraphina's group of vigilantes and performed acts which went against the interest of the organization.

And he didn't believe that the organization hadn't found out about his ability yet. He had always been using Probability Manipulation much more openly than Reality Manipulation. He wanted to gauge two things,

1. How important are supernatural beings to the organization? Would they attempt to bring him back to their organization?

2. If they did indeed try the first point, would they bring larger benefits than the first time?

3. Since Seraphina's group had been stealing mana crystals from this organization, they ought to know that her group might have offered him a way to increase my physical prowess, which was partly what their core plan offered. Would they change their offer knowing this? Or would they retaliate much more fiercely and attempt to fully eradicate their little group to avoid more supernatural beings from switching over and making it more difficult for them in the future?

Maximus had a couple more thoughts in his head, but all of them needed more information to work with. It was apparent that everyone knew a lot and it was only William who was such a jerk of a supernatural being.

'I'll need to work with what I have.'

Saying so, he went to his bedroom and began reading the books he had bought over this week, continuing to fill the gap in his knowledge to avoid being taken advantage of or falling into some trap unknowingly.