1 He Who Sees Through

In 2030, a war started.

It was not called World War 3, but… Dark War!

Because in that war, the nations of Earth had to fight against invading aliens from outer space.

Naturally, Earth lost. But everyone got another shock after the war ended.

The first shock when the war started: The invading aliens indicated that the universe had lifeforms other than them.

The second shock after the war was over: They were just being tested by Milky Way Alliance and that there were other humans out there.

Planet Earth was not exclusive! They were not unique!

In the aftermath of the war, half of the Earth became a wasteland due to nuclear weapons, and the population plummeted to just two billion.

But… opportunities came in like a flood after that because people started getting abilities after the war ended.

Not everyone, but the ratio was high. Out of every hundred people, at least fifty people awakened abilities.

The Milky Way Alliance fixed radiations spread by nuclear weapons and also added their policies, rules, and opportunities as if they knew that people here would start awakening abilities.

And they referred to those with abilities as Gifted.

***

2061, planet Earth, Starrow City.

A malnourished young girl with pale skin and shoulder-length light brown hair sat on a bench in a park. She was curled up inside a small, beaten-down blanket.

Hungry and cold, she shivered as the cold evening wind blew past her.

*Ssss...*

'I guess…this is it.'

Her hopeless eyes filled with despair indicated that her situation was dire. She hadn't eaten properly for many days, and the scraps she ate yesterday broke her health as it was bad leftover food.

At the moment, she could not even lift her finger and had accepted her fate… That she was going to die anytime soon.

As her eyelids slowly drooped, she saw a figure entering this small park, causing her previous blank mind to start thinking.

'Wearing shorts and an open shirt in this cold weather… Looks like someone who can eat good food daily….'

'Forget it…'

'I guess I'll just sleep now.'

The brief hope in her eyes that appeared a second ago vanished as she didn't believe that anyone would help her.

As her body and consciousness were prepared to go into eternal slumber, something happened.

She started feeling warm, and strength filled her body. Her dulled senses reignited as she felt a hand on her head.

She raised her head and looked at the figure in front of her after opening her eyes; confusion was evident in her eyes as it reflected a young man looking in his twenties wearing shorts and an open shirt that showed his lean muscled body.

He had light brown skin and looked handsome with long brown hair. His pale blue eyes were strikingly visible in the evening.

"How old are you, lass?" The young man asked as he took his hand back.

"Seventeen…probably."

"Eh? You look a lot younger than that," said the young man as he lightly chuckled. "The name's Rei. Nice to meet you."

"Alice."

"Alice! That's a nice name," Rei said with a smile, and this time, he stretched his hand in front of her hand.

"So, Alice… How about becoming my subordinate?"

'Subordinate? What can someone weak like me do for him?' Alice was bewildered. She was useless, and she knew that.

Ugly and malnourished, the scars that cruel fate inflicted on her body in the past year would averse anyone who looked at her, so she didn't know why this guy wanted a frail and useless person like her as his subordinate.

Seeing Alice's confusion, Rei smiled and said, "My ability's name is He Who Sees Through. I can see what abilities other Gifted have and what ability non-Gifted will get if by chance they become Gifted."

"Interestingly… I can trigger Gifting in other people with some conditions, and you, Alice, will get an interesting ability if I help trigger Gifting on y-"

"Good food three times a day, a good house to live in, and basic necessities."

Alice interrupted Rei as she grabbed his hand with sparkling eyes that regained hope. "I'll become your subordinate if you give me those three things."

"Worry not, haha."

Rei laughed and patted her head, "I'll give you way more than that."

"Anyway, you must be hungry right now. Let's go get some food," Rei said as he stretched his hand for Alice to grab.

"Mhmm," Alice nodded.

While walking out of the park, Alice curiously asked, "Rei, do you have two abilities?"

"Nope. There's no one with two abilities, as far as I know. Same with me. And keep my ability a secret, alright?"

"Then how did I…?"

Alice was confused. She remembered getting filled with strength and warmth that energized her body and mind.

That's why she was able to move her body and walk.

"Oh, that... I used a rejuvenation capsule," Rei said as he took out a faintly glowing nail-sized red bead. "I crushed this on your head."

"Is it expensive?"

"It can greatly rejuvenate a person on fundamentals like stamina and working senses and empower organ functions permanently. So yeah, it's expensive," Rei said with a grin as he showed three fingers to Alice.

"Three hundred Milky Way credits."

Alice's eyes trembled. 'Milky Way credits….'

Rei felt Alice's hand grip tightening after hearing the amount and smiled as he said, "Don't sweat on it, Alice. You will earn this amount in no time after you become Gifted, haha."

…

After walking out of the park, they soon arrived at a street food stall. No one was eating at the moment, and the road had only a few people and vehicles occasionally passing by.

After sitting at an outside table of the food stall, Rei told Alice to order whatever she wanted to eat as he handed her the menu.

Alice looked at the menu but hesitated and shook her head.

"I don't know which one is good. Can you order something delicious and spicy?"

"Gentleman, can you make something delicious and spicy?" Rei said louder to the middle-aged owner of the food stall.

"Alright, one firecracker ramen coming soon."

"Thanks, pops."

"Rei, what's my ability?" Alice curiously asked.

Rei grinned.

"It will spoil the fun if I say it, so wait until we reach our base."

"Are you running some kind of organization?"

"Yep." Rei nodded. "You should consider yourself lucky because you are the first member of my organization."

"Eh… Wait, the first member?" Alice's eyes widened before she hesitantly asked, "So, umm… Where is the base?"

"House left behind by my parents. They passed away in an accident when I was five years old."

"Oh."

Alice plainly reacted. Her level of empathy was low due to the experience she went through. She didn't even know her parents' faces or what it was like to be with her parents.

"Haha, I have been living in an orphanage since then, but over a month ago, I got a call from a lawyer saying that I have property and money left behind by my parents."

Rei rested his chin on his hands before asking with a smile, "Tell me about yourself. How come your life became like that?"

"I have a big memory gap. I only remember my life of last three years."

Alice's lips involuntarily trembled upon remembering how she survived.

"When I opened my eyes, I was in an empty alley. I didn't recognize anything or anyone. But strangely, I knew how to fight a bit, so I managed to survive well until…."

Alice's eyes showed dread and anger as she recalled how she had suffered in the past year.

Rei raised his eyebrows. "Until what?"

"Until I encountered that woman. I couldn't fight against her at all."

Alice took a deep breath and calmed her quick-beating heart.

"After she captured me, she sold me to a sick old couple. They physically tortured me by hurting me with a knife and other sharp tools…."

Rei's expression became somber. He grabbed Alice's hand and pulled up her dress's sleeve before he felt anger.

'Damn, how could they torture her like this?'

Scars…

Alice's whole arm was littered with scars caused by various sharp objects.

Alice quickly took her hand back and covered her arm.

Rei realized Alice's mentality and smiled. Patting her head, he said, "I am not bothered by it, nor should you. But let me ask you, what would you do if that sick couple were in front of you?"

Alice's eyes became deadpan before she hollowly smiled, "I barely escaped from their house a month ago when they were outside. I wanted to kill them so badly before escaping, but I could not because my physical condition was too weak."

Rei blinked. "I guess they let down their guard after keeping you for ten months."

Nodding with a grin, he continued, "Good job. Now, as our organization's first task, we will find those couple and that woman who captured you before killing them."

He had gotten his first kill when he was seventeen years old, the current age of Alice. It was for self-defense against a thug in a black market.

After that, he killed around fifteen people eight months ago in an underground bloody tournament for something he wanted.

"We'll kill them."

Alice tightly clenched her fists while her eyes showed a ruthless glint.

"Alright. But now, it's time to eat," Rei said with a smile as he put his index finger on his lips and turned to the left, where the stall owner was coming with two bowls of ramen.

"Mhmm," Alice nodded, understanding the hush gesture.

*Grrr….*

Alice's eager and hungry eyes were focused on the bowl of ramen.

"Thanks for waiting. Here's your spicy and delicious Firecracker Ramen! Enjoy it slowly."

Alice didn't hold back and started eating. Although she was energized by the capsule that Rei used on her, she was still hungry, and it just exploded upon seeing the delicious-looking bowl of ramen.

Rei looked at Alice eating food with gusto and laughed, "Eat slowly, or you will choke."

If someone was tortured brutally, the first type of person would get trauma and fear from the people who inflicted torture, and the second type would wait for their chance and keep hatred. Alice was the second type, and Rei was glad to know that.

…

After eating at the food stall, they took a cab and arrived at Rei's house.

"This is not a house," Alice said with a speechless expression. "It's a mansion."

"Haha, my bad. Yeah, it's a mansion."

The mansion was on the outskirt of Starrow city, with no other residential buildings around it. Just greenery, a swimming pool, paved paths, and a big mansion of twenty rooms that included a kitchen, living room, library, gym, guest rooms, and bedrooms.

After Alice took a proper bath, she wore Rei's t-shirt that reached her lower thighs. After all, she was just 142 cm tall (4.7ft).

"We'll get you clothes tomorrow. For now, let's go to the living room."

Rei ignited the fireplace in the living room before sitting on a couch beside Alice.

"Give me the details of that woman who captured you. Her ability power, looks, hair, eyes, body, anything you remember."

Alice nodded with a severe expression as her eyes became hateful remembering her.

The mansion had no servants but had cleaning bots to keep it clean. Technology had advanced, and servant robots with AI were a common sight now.

Amidst the sound of bots doing the usual cleaning of the house, Alice finished relaying all information she knew to Rei.

"Alright, that much information is enough to find her. Now, let me tell you about my ability in detail before using it on you."

Alice nodded.

"Ok."

Cracking his finger, Rei started speaking.

"When I became Gifted at fifteen, this ability was useless. It could let me see what ability someone has If I touch them."

"But abilities can evolve multiple times depending on people, and my ability evolved a month ago. Now I can see what abilities others have without touching them and also trigger gifting to other people so they can get powers. But there are restrictions."

Showing his index finger, Rei continued with a serious expression, "I can only trigger gifting to someone once a month, and that person needs to have absolute trust in me, and I also need to have absolute trust in that person."

"Oh…" Alice was surprised before nodding with a severe expression, "I was about to die, and if the devil made a deal with me at that time, I would accept it. So putting my absolute trust in you is nothing compared to that."

"Rei, I trust you."

Rei hid one more thing. It was about the consequences if they lost trust in each other. The consequences were dire to both parties, even if one stopped trusting, but Rei didn't want to tell Alice about it for an important reason. She had just come back from hell, so there was no need to make her tense or worry about some consequences that would pressure her.

For now, he wanted to recover her and experience the joy of living.

"Then hold my hand."

Alice nodded and put her hands on Rei's hand.

Afterward, Rei used his ability to trigger gifting on Alice.

A mysterious sensation appeared in Alice and Rei's minds; It was the check of trust. If Rei or Alice didn't trust each other, Rei's ability would fail.

After two seconds, a dreamy golden mote conjured on top of their joined hands.

They passed the check of trust, causing that golden mote to appear, which floated towards Alice before entering her forehead.

Soon after that, Alice lost consciousness and fainted as she fell ahead onto the sofa.

"Good night, Alice." Rei carried Alice and put her on the bed in her room before leaving. "Now, then…I should prepare something for Alice, a welcome gift, I guess?

Rei grinned with a cold glint in his eyes.

Taking out his mobile phone, he called his one and only friend from the academy. They grew up together in the orphanage, so they were childhood friends. The only difference was that Leo was adopted at sixteen when he became Gifted.

"Leo, I have work for you."

"Nani?"

"…Are you watching anime without me?"

"You are a busy man now. I last saw you regularly in the academy over a month ago. Just what are you doing? Even if your ability is useless, you are still a strong fighter."

Leo said as his eyes reflected several holograms, monitors, and high-tech stuff in his basement. "Your combat score is still top three in our academy. You made that score six months ago and haven't tested again."

"I am busy preparing something, bud. But I'll tell you about it soon," Rei said as he returned to the living room while talking to Leo.

"Ok, Ok. So, what's the matter? As long as it's not about hacking sa-"

Before Leo could finish talking, Rei interrupted him, "Hack into Enforcer Department's database and find a person in the underground. The one I want is a woman with long red hair, brown eyes, and a slim body with big boobs. Her ability power allows her to weaken others and enhance herself depending on her strength."

"Wait, I-"

"I want information in two hours. Thanks, Leo. You are my best friend."

As Rei cut the call with a laugh, Leo sat in his basement chair with a blank expression.

"Fuck! I am going to take double credits for this, Rei!" Leo shouted in frustration before sighing and started working.

His messy red hair became even messier as a hint of electricity flickered around him while his brown eyes resumed focus on the monitors.