“Who is that….” Charlotte asked as she pointed at the short man who was wearing a tool belt made completely out of paperclips.

  “That…is Genie… he’s quite the weirdo…”

  They looked at Genie, who was panicking at the missed calls and completely ignoring the horned man.

  The horned man hadn’t stopped attacking, but the strange giant paperclip nullified any attack coming near it.

  “Is he a paperclip ability user?”

  Luc put Charlotte down and facepalmed. “No he’s not… his ability comes quite close to omnipotence, but It's limited to 3 times a day and, just like in movies, his ability comes with stupid caveats or undesired effects. That paperclip was his wish to solve ability users robbing him. While it does contribute to preventing that, as you can see, it’s…”

  “Not exactly what he wished for… I see. So that paperclip cancels abilities?”

  “Well, it looks like that, but it just turns the ability of whatever comes close to the paperclip into whatever the paperclip clips or in this case, is lodged into and since the ground has no ability…”

  “No ability works near it…”

  “Yup. So by just having it in his store, no ability user can rob him as they will just be normal people. His ability also gets blocked, but it's situationally useful and has only 3 uses per day so it's no big deal for him…”

  “Huh? Luc?! When did you get here?! I’m not in trouble, right?” Genie asked as he was about to pull the paperclip out of the ground.

  “You will be in trouble if you pull that paperclip out of the ground, let us come to you…”

  “Okie, hmm, who is this?”

  “My name is Charlotte, but maybe we should focus on him first…”

  The horned man had his hands in the air with a massive red energy ball floating above him which kept gathering energy and growing.

  "Say Genie, your paperclip can block that, right?”

  “You do realize that you're asking me if a paperclip can block an enormous mass of concentrated mana, right?"

  “...”

  Genie smacked Luc's back. " Of course it can! But ehh, will you take responsibility if it can't?”

  "Genie, we'll be dead if it can't… there will be nobody alive…”

  “Ahum, well, I suppose it's time for some magic!” Genie pulled the giant paperclip out of the ground and waved it as if he was holding a ritual.

  " Psst, Luc, what is he doing? Is that part of his ability?”

  "I told you that he's a weirdo, right? He doesn't need all that, just to make a wish…”

  " Won't it backfire?” Charlotte said, as she got worried if Genie would finish his wish on time.

  "It only has strange caveats or backfires if it's a ‘selfish’ wish.” Luc said with air quotes. “If his wish involves helping someone else, it works as intended.”

  “Which is why you said that it's both useful and useless… He might as well not have an ability most of the time, then…”

  "Yup! Unless he wants to get himself into a mess…”

  The paperclip flashed brightly, and before they knew it they were in a small hardware store.

  “Heh! That jerk shouldn't be able to find us. Serves him right for causing the donut shop to close!"

  “Thank you Genie and I hate to ask for you to use up another wish, but… can you heal Charlotte?”

  “Sure! What about you? You're always injured too when you hop by!"

  Charlotte glanced at Luc, who got uncomfortable.

  “I'm okay this time.”

  “Ah, okay. Well then, Charlotte, get better soon!" Genie snapped his fingers, causing sparkles to surround Charlotte, which disappeared moments later.

  “You have my gratitude Genie but… I don't think anything changed…”

  "It's okay, Charlotte, you should take ‘get better soon' quite literally. I don't know why he does this, but I hope it has a reason…”

  “Oh Luc! I need your help! Come to the storeroom!"

  Luc and Charlotte navigated through the narrow paths in Genie's hardware store and followed him to the back and entered a spacious storeroom.

  “What? Luc is it just me or is this storeroom way larger than his store?!"

  “Yeah, one of his silly wishes. At least it didn't have a big drawback besides causing his store to always be cramped…”

  "What a strange ability…" Charlotte said as she looked around.

  Both Luc's and Charlotte's eyes rested on an enormous golden fridge wrapped in foil, taking up a lot of space.

  “Ugh, Genie, you idiot, what did you wish for this time…”

  "Okay wait Luc, don't judge me! It will make sense once I explain!”

  “I doubt it but go on…”

  "Okay so I kinda bought too many donuts last month and this nice lady got kicked out of her house and needed money…”

  "... So you got scammed again?” Luc asked as he rubbed his temple.

  "Scammed? And what do you mean with again?!”

  " You're talking about Cherise, right? Didn't she get kicked out last month too, and you lent her money?”

  "Uhh, that might have happened, yeah…"

  “Ugh, so you needed money, go on…” Luc said with a sigh.

  “So I wished for more money!”

  Luc sighed and facepalmed. “You see that, Charlotte? That's what happens when he makes selfish wishes. So tell me, my dear friend, what's the deal with this massive golden fridge?"

  “Uhm, it's too big so I can't move it, and it also doesn't fit through any door or opening, so I can't sell it… But! It came in a plastic wrap! So can you take the wrap, refill it and sell it for me?”

  “And how will I explain to the buyer how I got my hands in an oversized golden fridge?! Does it even work?"

  Genie wagged his finger. " Silly Luc, why would a golden fridge be functional?”

  "Right…how foolish of me…"

  Charlotte laughed, which drew the attention of Luc and Genie.

  “I now see what you meant, Luc! But this is quite comical, hahaha!"

  “Well, at least you seemed to have been healed.”

  Charlotte interrupted her laughing to pat herself odown. “You're right, I didn't even notice! Thank you Genie!"

  “Heh, no problem, so about this golden fridge…”

  "Why is it a fridge, though?” Luc asked.

  "I was hungry when I made the wish.”

  "Why is it so big…" Charlotte asked as she looked at it up close.

  “I was very hungry when I made the wish…”

  "I see, Luc wasn't exaggerating that you're eccentric.”

  "So, can you help?! It takes up a lot of space and is a bit gaudy…”

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “I can take the plastic wrapper but…I can't solve this massive hunk of metal…” Luc said as he wondered how heavy the golden fridge was and if it could instantly kill a horned man if he threw the plastic wrap and refilled it.

  "Hmm, I might know someone who you can sell it to and someone to extract it from this storeroom. See it as my appreciation of how you helped us.”

  Genie fist pumped and started to carefully take the plastic wrap off.

  “Well, it seems Charlotte solved your problems. So, any other wishes you made?"

  "So uhm I wanted Cherise to visit me as I felt that she had been avoiding me. She only came by to tell me she got kicked out. So I wished for an exciting encounter!”

  "Genie, if I get your ability correct, then your wishes don't get fulfilled accurately if it doesn't help others, correct?”

  "That's what Luc says, yes.”

  "Okay, so what was your wish exactly?”

  "As I said! An exciting encounter!”

  A large sigh escaped from Luc. "This is why I keep telling you to be more specific… Tell me, Genie, how would you categorize the encounter with that man you saved us from?”

  "Hmm, strange and exciting!”

  Charlotte got what Luc was hinting at, but Genie seemed to be still unaware.

  “I will leave it at that. Trust me, your wish came true and please… cut Cherise out of your life, she's a parasite and treats you like trash.”

  "Uhh, okay I'll try…"

  Charlotte made a call as Luc sat down next to Genie on an old couch.

  “I know that you like Cherise, but she is just taking advantage of you. She knows that you're a nice guy. Maybe a bit too nice, and is abusing it."

  “I know but nobody else looks at a short hardware store owner…” Genie said as he lowered his head.

  “We all have it rough, just don't ruin yourself over something that's easily available."

  “Thank you. How are things going with your family, can you escape yet?"

  “Nope… my mother wants to send me to one of those dangerous boot camps and I haven't heard anything from my evil grandfather either, which honestly worries me more than the stunts my mother and aunt are pulling…”

  “Do you think your evil gramps was that strange red dude?”

  “Haha, don't be silly! If that was my grandfather, we'd all be dumpstered and possibly vaporized. He also doesn't use plans with high uncertainties. This is 100% something else.”

  “So what was that? I wasn't paying much attention when I noticed him but thinking back…that was a lot of mana. Was that even a human?”

  "Probably not and I don't know what that was, but at least I'm sure it's not a human.”

  “So it was the devil!”

  “I can see why you'd conclude that but don't you think that if he was the devil, we'd all be quite dead?”

  "Hmm…"

  Neither could come with a valid answer and their attention went to Charlotte who was still on the phone.

  “What's her story, by the way?” Genie asked while gesturing with his head towards Charlotte.

  “Dunno, she tried to scam me, kidnapped me and then got her ass kicked by that horned man, which was why we needed your help.”

  “I don't get it…”

  “Life is complicated…”

  “No, I mean that your explanation sucks…”

  Luc shrugged. "My explanations are trash tier, what did you expect?”

  Genie sighed. “I wish you'd fix that…”

  "As long as you don't use your ability on that I'll do my best.”

  “Okay! Some specialists will arrive here in an hour to appraise and extract this fridge!” Charlotte said as she put her phone away. “What were you talking about?”

  “About our problems, speaking of which, won’t you get in trouble for getting in this mess? You’re still a Lambert after all.”

  “Eh, I might, but that’s not important. Mind keeping this incident a secret?” Charlotte asked as she winked and made a shushing gesture.

  “Fine by me, but not sure about all the other people that might have seen Genie’s stunt….”

  “Oh! I can wish that they won’t remember! Aaand done!” Genie said as he snapped his fingers.

  “Did you really had to waste your last wish on that…”

  “But isn’t it convenient for everyone of nobody remembers?”

  “Genie is right. Who knows what problems we might get into.” Charlotte said with a nod of approval.

  The 3 got up and chatted a bit until a strange bell interrupted them.

  “Ooh, a customer!”

  Genie ran out to the storefront to meet his customer, leaving Charlotte and Luc behind.

  “Well, that was Genie.”

  “An interesting individual. This is certainly one of my most colorful days yet.”

  “Not sure if I would say it was colorful, but it was something else.” Luc played with the plastic wrap that he had formed into a ball. “This golden fridge wrap surely will come in handy, but it's likely to be used only once to then draw a lot of attention when it gets found…”

  “Why don’t you sell it? My family will be happy to take it off you.”

  “Well… I don’t want to draw attention. No matter how well I try to hide things, people will still find out.”

  “Hmm, it seems you have your reasons, very well, I won’t press you further, after all, if you wanted to get rich, you would have an easy time doing so.” Charlotte said with a mysterious smile as she walked toward the storefront but stopped. “I have some matters to attend to and have to leave, but… mind exchanging contact information?” She asked as she extended her phone.

  “Sure”

  Phone numbers got exchanged, and Charlotte even called Luc to ensure he didn’t give a false number before leaving.

  “What a strange woman…”

  Luc looked around at the spacious store room that Genie would probably never fill and went to the storefront where he found Genie talking amicable with the woman he warned him about.

  “So you have returned, you parasite! Leave my friend alone!”

  “Ugh, Luc was here?! I need to go! Don’t forget Genie! I need the money before Tuesday, else I will be in big trouble.” The parasite said while making an exaggerated cute face and walked to the front door. “See ya Genie! And I hope you die, Luc!” She said as she gave Luc a thumbs down before disappearing.

  “Isn't she cute?”

  “Maybe I should drag you to an optometrist… you didn’t fall to her trap, right?”

  “I told her ‘no’!” Genie said proudly as if it was a great achievement.

  “Good for you…” Luc said as he looked outside, noticing that hardly anyone was on the streets. “Say… did she ever tell you what her ability is?”

  Genie cocked his head. “Ability? Why would she have one? People like us are in the minority.”

  “Just a hunch…” Luc said as he continued staring outside, noticing that only a few people were on the streets, of which some he recognized, cowering earlier when the horned man appeared.

  He suspected that the horned man’s ability was still in effect and only ability and magic users could move around freely, but he was unsure if that was true.

  “You might want to close for today, as it's quite possible that you will only get problematic customers for a while…”

  “Uhh, okay.” Genie walked behind the counter, pressed some buttons and had shutters come down, covering the storefront. “Oh, I have some boxes for you! Some are of the latest technology!”

  “Ooh, let me see!”

  Luc and Genie went back to the store room and Genie presented several empty boxes.

  “Heh, I told them that I just wanted the boxes to put on display and to see what are the latest trends, and they fell for it!”

  “Well, I don’t think they expected someone with my ability to walk around. Let’s see what this laptop is about.”

  Luc refilled an empty box and puled out a laptop embedded in foam and all its accessories. “Looks normal to me, although a bit heavy…”

  Luc opened the screen and instantly noticed why it was so heavy. “Wait… it’s a foldable laptop?”

  Both the screen and base got unfolded until they were looking at something that resembled a PC with a monitor.

  “This is insanity… a laptop that can turn into a PC… but the weight would become a problem…” Luc said as he folded it back into it’s laptop form and returned it to the box.

  “Well the price is similar to a small car and the big places sell these like crazy… I don’t understand rich people…”

  “Me neither… don’t tell me that phone unfolds into a laptop?”

  Luc accepted a box with an image of a phone and an image of a laptop.

  “Quite a heavy phone… I see a trend here…”

  As expected, the heavy phone could unfold to become a laptop.

  “These aren’t made by the Lamberts though, a rival company? Never heard about Guillerme…” Luc said, as he confirmed that the laptop PC was from the same manufacturer.

  “I don’t know. The big places are just happy that it competes with Lambert products.”

  “Hmm, Charlotte said something about problems in her family, I wonder if this has to do with it.”

  “How about this one? It’s an antenna that can double as a fishing pole! Also made by Guillerme!”

  “That sounds kinda useless?” Luc inspected the box and found some clarifying text. “For those who like to watch TV or surf on the net while on a fishing boat…”

  “How weird… Maybe that’s why it didn’t sell so well.” Genie said as he accepted the empty box and put it away. “How about this one? A mana tracker!”

  Luc accepted the small box and inspected it. “It tracks mana but can’t quantify it? How useless….”

  “This one seems to sell well but quantifying mana has been as impossible as ever. also… “ Genie got secretive and came closer. “It seems that the amount of ability users and mana users are steadily decreasing. So they didn’t bother, as mana might not even be a thing anymore in 50 or 100 years.”

  “That’s terrifying. I suppose the public doesn't know about this as most if not all things will come crashing down…” Luc refilled the box and pulled a small pointer out of the box and pointed it at Genie which made it beep. He pointed at himself and it beeped too. He then pointed it at the golden fridge and while it beeped, the frequency was way lower.

  He then pointed it at a random box and there was no peeping.

  “So it can identify if someone is an ability user or if something has been made by an ability. Maybe not so useless after all.”

  Luc refilled the box again and gave it to Genie. “I will use this, thanks. You might want to consider using that one yourself over selling it.”

  “Okay! I will use it on Cherise if I have the chance!”

  “Good! It won't tell you what her ability is, but if it comes in positive, it strengthens the idea that you should cut her off as she might be using it on you without you noticing.”

  “Cool! So do you recommend me selling the strange laptop and phone?”

  Luc rubbed his chin and stared at the boxes. “Maybe not the laptop PC, if you can get a price that doesn't undercut the big places too much, the phone could see uses but… don’t get too many boxes as I want to be more careful with my refill ability.”

  “Alright! How does 5 boxes per month sound?”

  “10 per month should be fine.”

  Luc and Genie shook hands and the boxes of the strange objects got put away.

  It took several hours, but the streets returned to being packed with people, which became Luc’s prompt to return home. His bicycle had either been destroyed or stolen by now, so he had to walk it.

  The walk to his home was uneventful to his relief, and the door got locked after he arrived.

  “8 uses left for today… 32 uses is more than enough on normal days, but on days like these… it isn’t… I wonder what the requirements are for me to level up… then again, if those were known, I would have gone level up weeks or months ago…”

  Luc sighed and turned on the TV as he refilled a soda bottle and relaxed.