Chapter 17 Now that“s Ho

"Is that the thing that you are talking about?" Alina warily asked as Alex made it look like he got the Star-Crusted Dagger from his pocket.

Alex stared at the dagger that he held, remembering its image in his mind.

"S**t, this thing cost me 15 days. Combine that with my 2 day stay in here, and I only have 13 days left…" Since Alex have already bought the star-crusted dagger, he has to accept his current predicament.

After all, if he did not buy the Star-Crusted Dagger, Alex will be obviously killed by the lizard.

Dying instantly is way worse than having 13 days of lifespan left.

So Alex did not regret his purchase of the dagger.

"Since it had come to this already, then I have no choice but to complete my bonus mission with Alina." Alex thought to himself as he raised the dagger up in the air.

"What are you doing?" Alina asked as she saw Alex's weird action. "Don't tell me you are going to stab yourself with that dagger?"

"Well, daggers are for stabbing, right?" Alex said as he plunged the Star-Crusted Dagger on his left arm.

"F**k them sideways!" Alex cursed as he felt extreme pain as the tip of the Star-Crusted Dagger penetrated his skin and muscle.

Alex ignored the fact that he just cussed in front of a girl as he felt more pain coming from the stab wound that he made.

"Sorry, but I need to stab you too." Alex said as he pointed his knife at Alina's direction. "If I don't do it, then I will be the only one to get the boost. You could sense it right?"

"I can sense it." Alina said as she noticed that Alex's Mental Power began to rise after he stabbed himself with that weird-looking dagger.

This coincides with the claim that Alex made earlier.

"I need to stab you now, or else all the Mental Power Boost will be used by me!" Alex said in panic.

But before he could do more action, he saw Alina deftly grabbing the dagger, with her using that dagger to stab her left thigh.

"!!!!!!!!!!!"

********************

If Alex was lying right now, then Alina will personally use the dagger that she held to kill Alex.

Luckily for Alex, and the dagger did its job splendidly.

"It really is working." Alina exclaimed as she felt her extremely stagnant Mental Power staring to rise once more.

Even though the Range difference between a Tier 999 Esper and a 1 Star Esper was just 1 meter, there was still a metaphorical wall blocking anyone from easily gaining this extra meter.

Nobody was sure why this phenomenon is happening, but all Espers know that they will also face this blocking someday.

They will need large amounts of Mental Power and Ability Mastery to break down this wall.

But one must know that the progress of an Esper Ability decreases as time went on. This means that an Esper must become a 1 Star Esper as early as possible if they want to breakthrough.

In Alina' case, she had no problems with the Ability Part. Her only dilemma was the Mental Power part, as her ability to increase her Mental Power had decreased significantly compared to before.

When Alina told Alex that she can become a 1 Star Esper in 2-3 years, that was the perfect case scenario.

But Alina knew that with the everyday detoriation of her ability to absorb Mental Power, it will realistically take her 10 years to become a 1 Star Esper.

Of course, Alina knew that what was happening to her was very uncommon.

In fact, Alina knew that she was the only person that experienced something wrong with her Mental Power.

It was so suspicious, that Alina suspected that someone wanted Alina to stay stuck as a Tier 999 Esper.

And there is only one person that Alina knew might do this to her.

"Lord Ergo…" Alina muttered this name with venom laced in her voice, as if she wanted to just see this guy's body sliced to pieces and fed to the vultures.

"If you think you can prevent me from saving my sister just because I could not easily become a 1 Star Esper, then that is where all your machinations will fail!"

Once Alina felt that she had received the whole boost, she gathered all of her Mental Power to break the wall that was separating her from her goal.

"Boom!" Alina's mind shuddered as she felt like her brain has stepped into another level. Everything felt clearer to her, and she felt more powerful compared to before.

She inspected her Range, and to her delight she found out that she had indeed have a 1-Kilomter Range.

But while Alina was feeling elated right now, she also knew that this state of hers wont last.

Since the Mental Power that Alina used to break through was just a borrowed one, once they disappear, Alina will be forced to go back as a Tier 999 Esper.

With what Alex had told her earlier, Alina's Mental Power will only stay boosted for around 5 minutes. Once that time limit is used up, Alina will go back as a Tier 999 Esper.

Alina had not qualms with it, as this will be a good experience for her once she reattempts to become a Star Esper in the future.

"If my sister was here, she would be definitely wanting to roast this lizard…" Because of the food that Alex gave her earlier, Alina's appetite was at its peak.

Right now, Alina was not trying to drool as she imagined how the lizard might taste. Just the sight of its fried legs or steamed belly is enough to make Alina happy.

But that was not the only thing that Alina was salivating at.

Alisa was also salivating from the fact that she will receive large Contribution Points once she slays the lizard.

"I should stop daydreaming right now. I still have to finish off the opponent in 5 minutes." Alina stood up valiantly as her two swords flew around her.

Because of her limited Mental Power before, Alina has to hold her swords in order of her to easily create rifts in space.

But right now, Alina was using her boosted Mental Power to control the swords remotely.

This will grant Alina's attack with more variety, as her swords right now were just feely floating in the air.

Alina looked at the lizard, and then she looked at Alex who was walking towards a group of 4 Espers who looked like they were the type that collude themselves with crimes.

Alina knew what Alex was planning, so she just let him do his thing. As for her, its time for her swords to show her power.

"Ok, now how should I cut this lizard up?" Alina thought as she sent her swords slashing down again.

*****************

"D**n! I feel so stuffed!" Alex exclaimed as he tried to feel his whole body right now.

He felt so alive and giddy that he could not help but shake his body in anticipation.

His mind was much clearer than before, so much so that some of the problems that Alex faced in the Ability Training were all solved by him theoretically right now.

From the looks of it, a jump of Mental Power from 35 to 122.5 did quite a number on his brain.

He glanced at Alina, and he saw that she was now ready to attack the lizard.

With her dealing with the lizard, Alex was now free to deal with the rogue Espers.

He slowly walked towards them as he adjusted his body to the sudden changes.

He then paused as he realized that instead of making his presence seen, he can approach these rogues in a better way.

Alex closed his eyes as he sensed all the light waves within 122.5 meters around him.

He forced them to follow his will, making sure that all of these light waves will follow the trajectory that Ale wanted.

This turned Alex into a perfectly invisible person, as nobody could see the light waves that carry Alex's appearance.

However, this was only an optical invisibility. His sound and smell can still be detected easily, so Alex must still be careful on approaching them.

It was at that moment that Alex realized something funny.

Before he went to the date, Alex could only barely make himself invisible for a second.

But right now, it took him just a second to make his body auto-invisible.

And this invisible state of his will last until he wanted it to stop.

This clearly shows that Alex had somehow improved his insights regarding his EM Wave Manipulation.

"Don't tell me…" When Alex tired to recall his ideas about the radio sonar and the Electroaser, he felt that he had new ideas right now that he could not wait to try out.

It was at that point that Alex realized that when his Mental Power was raised, his own intelligence was affected by this increase too.

This is the only explanation for Alex's new revelations.

"So that is why the Star-Crusted Dagger was sold to me." Alex thought wryly to himself. "It's so that my Esper Ability will improve quickly…"

Of course Alex would not put that boost of his to waste.

"Now this is what we can call a fair fight…" Alex muttered as he approached the four Espers.

All of them held knives in their left hand, while their restless eyes looking around them.

The bellowing sounds released by the lizard were so great that they did not hear Alex's footsteps approaching them.

By the time they have realized it, it was already too late.

Alex started his move as he attacked them.

He clicked his fingers as he produced localized size of EMP which hit the Espers directly.

It did not hurt them at all, but all the electronic devices and weapons with them are all destroyed now.

Even their getaway car would not start as the EMP short-circuited the car battery.

"Who!" The leader of the rouge Espers swiveled his head as he tried to look on where the culprit was.

Once he saw the that Alex was not around, the leader started to panic as he decided to use his ability right now.

Objects near the leader began to float as they hovered all around him. Some of the cars started to float too, as they seemed to be affected by the leader's power too.

"So, telekinesis huh." Alex muttered to himself as he looked at the 3 other Espers.

They were also panicking like their leaders, as they were spooked of what happened.

One of them started to randomly shoot air blasts around him, hoping that he can get a lucky shot.

The second one brandished a flaming knife, which actually looked cool.

As for the third one, she was more level-headed, as she looked for any weird signs around her.

Too bad that vigilance did not help her as Alex made his next move.

"Since making an Electrolaser is still hard for me, I guess I will just use a simple conversion." Alex thought to himself as he remembered a certain fact about EM Waves.

As long as you change the frequency and wavelength of a certain EM Wave, it will transform into another kind of EM Wave.

Alex applied this principle right now as he compressed the light waves around him.

He decreased the frequency of these light waves until they changed to become Ultraviolet Waves.

Alex wanted to change the light waves into Gamma Waves, but he found out that his current Mental Power is not yet enough to do this.

"Seems like I have to reach Tier 500 to create Gamma Waves out of a Light Wave." Alex thought to himself as he gathered his newly converted UV Waves above his palm.

Alex knew that by decreasing the frequency of an EM Wave, its energy will decrease too.

He used this principle as he decreased the frequency of the UV Waves to decrease its fatality.

With its power now set to 'stun', not 'kill', Alex unleashed this converted UV Wave towards the 4 Espers.

"~~~"

His UV Wave Blast went through the 4 Espers, searing their skin and damaging their insides. If Alex did not hold back, they will be already dead by now.

"Ah!" All of them let out shouts of pain as they fell on the floor, unconscious.

"Ok, now that's hot." Alex muttered to himself us he undid his invisibility.

But before Alex could celebrate his success, he suddenly felt a powerful presence behind him.

He swiveled his head, and there he saw a small boy looking at him with a cocky smile on his face.

"That was a scary blast." The kid said as he started to suck on a lollipop. "However, if you used that on expert Espers, they will notice what you were doing before you can even attack."

"Oh… It seems like you know some stuff." Alex said as he narrowed his eyes.

He could feel with his danger sense that this kid is dangerous.

In terms of danger, he could feel that this kid is as just as dangerous as the Alina that tried to kill Alex.

"Well, I have some jobs that require me to know stuff." The kid said as a gun suddenly appeared on his palm. The kid then spun the gun around his palm as he said,

"And right now, you are my next job."

"Now that's not hot anymore." Alex muttered as he realized he was back again to some trouble.