“Sit down, I have a couple of questions for you. A middle-aged man said, urging Luc to sit.

  It wasn’t an interrogation room, but Luc felt like it was.

  The employee of the Jeffersons had a serious look on his face, and Luc sat down.

  Several photos got pushed toward Luc who glanced at them and instantly realized where this conversation would go.

  “The ‘bloody fridge ‘ case had stagnated, but after clearing out the area of the eycorner men assault…” The man said as he pushed photos of a large golden fridge in a stairwell and several others in the foyer. “We might suspect that you know a bit more. Care to explain?”

  Luc knew that there was no way out as they probably knew what Charlotte’s ability was, and it was likely they weer having this talk with Genie as well.

  “Can you promise that the information I will provide will have no repercussions?”

  “That solely depends on the content.” The man said, unmoving.

  “Very well. Just like many others before, I had seen an eye corner man, but unlike others, I’ve been attacked by them, until yesterday.”

  Luc pointed at the photo of blood splatter between 2 boxed fridges.

  “It was sloppy but that’s how I got rid of the first one that attacked me.”

  The man leaned over and squinted his eyes. “And you did so, unharmed? I do understand a failure to report this, as I would have questioned the validity of it myself before yesterday, but I find it difficult to believe you came out of it unscathed.”

  “Well, I didn't.. You probably already know the abilities of me and Genie, correct?”

  The man leaned backward and crossed his arms. “Your friend was a bit too cooperative, so yes.”

  “I went to him to heal my injuries, but he wasn't involved in that incident.”

  “I see.” The man said as he nodded and then tapped on the pictures with the giant golden fridge and the 7 half destroyed fridges. “What happened here?”

  “Just my attempt to do the same, but I got unlucky and missed.”

  “Hmm, well our investigations did conclude that one of the eyecorner men had been crushed by a fridge and that several if not most fractures on another one could be attributed to a large and heavy object slamming into him, so… Give yourself some more credit. You did well.” A smile appeared on the man’s face, and the intimidating aura dropped.

  “T…thank you…”

  “It seems that you just got unlucky. So for my next question. Care to join the Jeffersons? While not offensive, your ability could be useful.”

  It was a great proposal and Luc almost accepted but then decided against it. He would do anything to get something besides his shitty job, but there was one problem; his family would surely find out.

  There was already a chance that they were aware of this incident already. He was unsure if he was being monitored by his family and if so, to what extent, but it wouldn't be difficult for them to find out something changed, the moment he started working with the Jeffersons.

  “Thank you for the offer but there are certain circumstances that prevent me from taking up your offer.”

  “Hmm…” the man rubbed his chin and then used the same hand to point at Luc.”Does it have anything to do with the Pashern family?”

  Luc was taken aback but they did require him to identify himself with an ID after they took him in and healed him up. So making the connection between his surname and the Pashern family wasn’t difficult.

  “Yes, I apologize but I don’t feel like elaborating.”

  “Haha, no need. Our group has a lot of trouble in dealing with the Pashern. The request was a bit careless on our part, please forget that I asked.”

  “I’m a bit out of the loop, are they that troublesome?”

  The man stopped laughing and returned to a serious face. “I can’t say much, but they feel like they can disregard rules and laws just because of their influence and heritage. That’s all I can say. It’s refreshing to see a Pashern that doesn't.”

  “Please don’t call me a Pashern, I don’t want to be associated with them…”

  “That’s fair, and I apologize. I got all the answers I was looking for, do you have any questions?”

  “Those horned men…eyecorner men. Have there been incidents like those?”

  “I can’t go in details, but the simple answer is no, this was the first case of an attack or more accurately, the first reported attack…” The man said as he glanced at the picture of the ‘bloody fridge’ incident.

  “I see…” Luc had another question but he was unsure if this man knew the answer. But who else would know?

  Certainly not anyone he himself knew so he decided to ask anyway.

  “The horned man… he spoke. Not English but it was as if some magic translated it.”

  “Some of our men had experienced the same while subduing them, yes.”

  “One said something about coming to ‘this world’ to collect mana and that it was easy because this world doesn't have any protectors, do you know what that means?”

  The man crossed his arms and leaned backward. “This world… mana collecting… protectors…”

  He slammed the table as he got up and walked to the door. “I don’t know he answer, but I do know someone who might. Thank you for the information. The best I can do is answer your question after I find out. Feel free to stay or leave. Do know that we have a facility where you and your friend can explore your ‘level up’. I will try to contact you within 3 days whether you decide to stay or leave, take care.”

  The man made a friendly gesture as he left the room.

  “Seems this isn’t over yet…” Luc sighed and thought about his course of action.

  He had nowhere to go and nothing important to do so there was no reason to not take up the offer to stay for a bit and use the facilities.

  It wasn’t officially recognized but there was something akin to ‘the great families’ which greatly influenced society. The Lamberts, Jeffersons and Pashern could be considered to belong to those, and there were many others. It gave Luc the idea to find out if the Jeffersons could help him sever ties completely from his family and be freed, but he was unsure if he should rely on others for that.

  Luc got up, walked out and followd the signs and corridors toward the training facility where he encountered Genie.

  “Yoo! They freed you too?” Genie said as he waved.

  “I was never captured… how did your interrogation go? How many beans did you spill?”

  “But that lady was so nice!”

  “They probably profiled our personalities and put us in the room with someone who would have the most success… the Jeffersons aren't amateurs… Anyway, I want to believe that being transparent made things easier for us. Also here to find out what our level up does?”

  “Yes! Maybe I get more wishes!”

  “While that’s cool, it’s a bit disappointing if you can still run of of mana on your first wish, effectively wasting the others…”

  “Well I couldn’t help it…”

  “I know. Thank you for your wacky but useful wish. I just hope it won’t kill you someday.”

  “It will be fiiine! The Jeffersons have all the information now! The horned men will bother us no more!” Genie said overconfidently.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Luc didn’t believe that, but he decided to shut up as he hoped that Genie was correct.

  “Where is Charlotte by the way?” Luc asked as he looked around and only saw unfamiliar faces.

  “Probably sulking because she didn't go level up, haha! Serves Garlotte right!”

  “Her name is Charlotte and, maybe it has to do with the whole reason we were at Lambert Gadgets in the first place? Did you give the Jeffersons the evidence you’ve gathered?”

  Genie stopped moving as if he had frozen in place. “Oh… I forgot! I’m going to do that now!”

  Genie dashed off and Luc shook his head. “Well then, let’s find out what this level up is about. Ehm, excuse me. I got told that I can use this place to find out what my level up does.” Luc said as he addressed a man that appeared to be overseeing the facility.

  “Congratulations. You must be using your ability a lot! You see, over there, we have training rooms. We do need the specifications of your ability as we don’t have infinite supplies, and we also need to ensure that our equipment doesn't get damaged.”

  Luc pulled an empty bottle out of his bag, showed it to the man and refilled it. “This is my ability. I need empty bottles, boxes or wrappers. I don’t think it will damage equipment unless… you allow me to fling microwave or fridge boxes…”

  “I see, is flinging them required or part of your ability?”

  “Ehh, no…”

  “Then please refrain from throwing them. Follow me.”

  Luc followed the man to a large white empty space. “This is training room 3. It will take a while before we can deliver what you’ve requested and it will apea from that hatch over there.”

  The man pointed and spotted large hatch with a digital panel next to them.

  “The panel can be used for special requests. It will also indicate how long it would take for them to arrive. It can also be used in case of an emergency.

  The man walked toward the panel, and Luc followed.

  A bracelet got pulled out of the wall and handed to Luc.

  “Wear this please, it has the same emergency function and can be used if you can’t physically make it to the panel. It will also attempt to analyze the effects of your ability, as it might notice something you don’t. Please understand that the technology isn’t perfect and could also prove to be of no value in this case.”

  “Understandable. Do I need to tell it what my ability is?”

  The man gestured to the panel on the wall. “You can outline it or enter specifics if you want. Since you’re not affiliated with the Jeffersons, I would advise using private mode as it records the results and goes in a database, so specialists can look at it and formulate suggestions or form strategies based on it.”

  “Ah, thank you. I will do such.”

  The man left and Luc was alone in the training room. The panel was intuitive and well-designed, with a UI that made mistakes unlikely.

  Luc followed the procedures and got the okay to start his practice. The requested items had to yet arrive, though.

  “5 minutes? That’s quite fast…” He said, as he noticed the estimated time of arrival on his requested items.

  The panel also showed him the category his ability belonged to and the rarity.

  “An extremely uncommon ability, eh? Not surprising as it would probably make quite a fuss if it was… I wonder how Genie’s ability ranks. It’s probably one of a kind.”

  Luc leaned against the wall while waiting for the requested items while thinking about how rare Genie’s ability was.

  “Although… he can’t really use it for himself, so maybe it’s not one of a kind but unlikely that possessors are super powerful or rich?”

  A ‘ding’ notified the arrival of the requested items and Luc opened the hatch to find what others would consider to be a pile of trash.

  Luc didn’t find a change at first as he started with bottles but the moment he refilled the box of a blender, he noticed something interesting.

  For the first 3 minutes after refilling, the blender was functional.

  “Oh, a bit like Charlotte’s ability.”

  It was not very useful, however. Normal usage would have the power grid available and when used in combat, he needed the weight of the refilled object.

  A functional microwave and fridge wouldn’t help him a lot.

  “And 3 minutes of using a nail gun could be cool but I could rely on Charlotte for unlimited use… I think she can also overload them to make them threatening o ability users…”

  It was a nice perk, but unlikely that he would use it a lot. The best case he could think of was refilling a mobile phone box while being on a location with no reception but he was unsure if it would be able to work without signal.

  “Can this training room simulate this?”

  Luc requested an empty phone box and to cut off transmission signals.

  A window popped up asking for how long Luc wanted to block transmission signals.

  “This place is awesome!”

  The empty box arrived and Luc blocked signals for 5 minutes and turned the phone on.

  “Fuck, I forgot how new phones take forever to have all the settings fixed…”

  The signal returned before Luc could set up his phone. “Shit… setting up the phone takes longer than my ability makes it functional…” Luc said as the battery died at the 3-minute mark. “Stupid phones…”

  Luc’s phone idea got abandoned as he thought of another application.

  The phone idea was great but unfortunately for him, society had decided that it was okay for new phone users to spend over 5 minutes starting up the phone, personalizing it or at the least make it functional as too many prompts and windows blocked him from just using it as intended.

  The microwave didn’t have that problem. The furniture boxes however burst open as for 3 minutes, the boards had assembled themselves into the furniture piece before falling apart after 3 minutes.

  “Ooh! So I don’t necessarily need fridges now!”

  Luc got carried away with exploring possibilities when his ability stopped working.

  “Oh, I ran out of uses.” Luc returned to the panel on the wall and saw an unfamiliar. “64 uses? I used my ability 64 times?”

  The training room was a mess, but the scope of the mess indicated that he might have indeed used it 64 times.

  “This is good, and it doesn’t empty my mana.” Luc said as he looked at the mess in approval.

  The mess got cleaned up, and he stared at the stats the panel showed.

  “Just the extra uses that I failed to notice, nothing special.”

  Luc left the training room and encountered Genie who walked out of the trainingroom next to him, staring at his hands.

  “Sup, Genie! What did you get?”

  “Oh hey Luc! I got 2 more wishes!” Genie said while making a V-sign.

  “That’s all?”

  “Seems so.”

  “Any chance they use less mana?”

  “Dunno… what did you get?”

  “More uses and 3 minutes of functionality.” Luc said as he and Genie walked to the exit of the facility.

  “Is that good?”

  “The uses, yeah, the 3 minutes of functionality is debatable but useless in 9 out of 10 cases.”

  Genie rubbed his hands. “Hehe, how about we rub this in Garlotte’s face!”

  “The name is Charlotte!” A brunette, wearing a suit said.

  “Oh hey Charlotte, how did things go?”

  “Genie’s evidence has been deemed to be valid and actions are taken, together with an investigation that has been opened. Changing the opinions of the public however… might take a while or not come at all….”

  “Do I need to wish for this to be fixed?!” Genie said as he put up his index finger.

  “Didn’t you use all your wishes in that practice area? And i’m sure you’d need a detailed wish to fix that, and I doubt we have all the information…” Luc said.

  “Ah right…I’m sorry Garlotte, my wishes are done for today and not always useful…”

  “It’s fine, Genie, you did enough. And my name is Charlotte… Did you find out what evolution your abilities have gone through?”

  “Yes! I have…”

  Charlotte put up her hand and shook her head. “Not so loud, and I just need an answer, better talk about the details somewhere else.”

  “Both Genie and I found out. Is there a problem of discussing that here?”

  Charlotte looked around and pulled them to the side. “I don’t fully trust the Jeffersons. You might not know this, but nobody from the actual family have shown themselves yet. These are all those that have been hired.”

  “Huh, that's strange. They run this place, right? Why is there nobody here then?” Luc said, glancing at anyone with a black uniform, knowing that he probably wouldn't be able to identify whether someone was from the Jefferson family or not.

  “I don’t know, but you do acknowledge that’s strange, right? Lambert Gadgets is full of Lamberts, and I’m sure it's the same at other places.”

  Charlotte beckoned Luc and Genie, and they went outside, to the back of the building.

  “There are no cameras here.” Charlotte said in a low voice.

  “Why are we whispering?” Genie asked.

  “Because we’re behind the office of someone. Now maybe this is how the Jeffersons run things but eyecorner men have been sighted for almost a year. Why did they never investigate?”

  “Maybe because it would either require too many resources or it’s too vague. I wouldn't have believed it until I saw it myself.” Luc said as he wanted to refill an empty bottle but got reminded that he was out of uses for the day.

  “I agree Luc, but this is one of the reasons the Jeffersons, the organization, not the family, exists. To put these things either to rest or to the light.”

  “Surely you don’t think they’re working with the horned men, right?”

  Charlotte lowered her head as she was unsure. Luc didn’t believe that the Jeffersons worked together with the horned men but he did acknowledge that it was a bit suspicious that they had done nothing for a year.

  “Can we talk bout our level up now?” Genie asked, earning him the stares of Luc and Charlotte.

  “Sure, what did you get?”

  “2 more wishes!” Genie said loudly, causing Charlotte and Luc to ‘shhht’ him.

  “That’s uhh, nice, anything else?”

  “Nope!”

  “My refills went from 32 to 64 uses, and whatever I refill is functional for 3 minutes.”

  “That sounds like a substantial upgrade. I wish my ability went level up too…”

  “Don’t worry about it, Garlotte, you will get your time to shine one day!”

  “I don’t think you’re helping Genie…”

  The 3 chatted for a bit and decided to go home due to the lingering suspicions they had about the Jeffersons.

  Luc’s doorbell rang 3 days later and the man he had talked to before was at the door.

  “I came here to answer your question, mind if I come in?”

  “Sure.”