Power building and testing.

"Okay! Then as my first super power is Disp-"

The sound of Maddy's voice rang out and bounced off the walls of the warehouse. I turned to give her a questioning look.

"What's up? Isn't it time to try out some superpowers?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

"… No?"

"Context, I need context." With her eyes half closed, it seemed as if she had the power to do so, a laser would make two new holes between my pupils, as if she were searching for something. She continued:

"If I don't know what you know about your power, I can't help you. So far, I only know that you gain powers in unknown ways that have their origin in a universe that only you know. A universe that you only half know because you have only recognized one of your… five?"

"Seven, seven powers actually," I interrupted.

"Seven powers." She continued without pause:

"So here's what we'll do, we'll go to those comfortable seats and sit there talking until we're up to date."

I immediately felt a little uncomfortable. Rule number one for a reincarnated person, you never talk about your reincarnation. I didn't want to lie to Mandy, but it's hard to properly put her in context without talking about it.

As if sensing my discomfort, Maddy said in an unexpectedly soft tone of voice:

"I know there are things you don't want to talk about, and that's okay. I don't want you to feel forced to tell me about your past or anything you're not comfortable with. It's just…I want to help you and I would hate to not be able to or even worse, to do it wrong just because we didn't sit down for 5 minutes and talk things through properly. I hate that cliché."

That got a small snort of laughter from me.

Seeing my best mood Maddy continued:

"So… if you don't feel comfortable saying something you can ignore it without any problem, if there's something you don't want to answer you can tell me, I won't get mad. God knows I haven't told you everything about myself yet" She finishes in a low voice.

Something tells me I wasn't supposed to hear that last part, but the fact that I only recently realized she's filthy rich makes me realize I'm probably right.

And… I don't feel bad about it. Maddy's right, I don't need to tell her everything, I just need to… cut some things out.

Okay, I got this. It's no problem, I just have to avoid anything to do with reincarnation and any alien implications in my explanation and everything will be fine.

"Good."

"Great!" Maddy says in an oddly happy tone, huh I don't think I've ever heard her so excited.

Almost out of nowhere, Maddy pulls out a notepad and pen, looking ready to jot down anything I say like one of those therapists I've seen in movies. Ignoring my incredulous look, she continues:

"So for now I just need some context, we can proceed with the theory later. Let's start with your powers."

I immediately sigh with relief. Nice, a simple matter, the notebook threw me off a bit, but no problem. I take a breath before I start explaining.

"As I told you before, my powers are summarized in the acquisition of new powers by fulfilling certain conditions. Although I am not entirely sure what they are."

Maddy nodded, inviting me to continue after writing down some notes. This was information she already knew, here comes something new.

"My powers in my mind are like an empty space. In the center is a kind of self, which I call the metaphysical self. It is surrounded by stars, hundreds of them. Every time I get a new power a star approaches my metaphysical self and once it is close enough I get the name of the previous owner of the power, a color, and a feeling of the way the power works."

This time Maddy is suitably surprised, though somehow her hands never stop writing. Huh, that's impressive.

"That… is surprisingly elaborate. I suppose those hundreds of stars are all possible powers. Do you know what the colors mean? How much do the feelings tell you? How do they convey the name to you?"

"I think the color represents the level of strength, but not entirely. I think there are other aspects involved like versatility and rarity, but it's more of an instinct. So far I've only seen three colors, from most common to rarest: Gray, Bronze, Blue. I know there are two more, but I've never gotten powers of those colors in seven tries, so they must be ultra rare."

And ultra strong I didn't say out loud. I have a good idea what kind of powers would be in those ranges and they would be total game changers. Honestly, I'm even scared of getting one, depending on my luck... nope, let's not think about it.

As I finished that thought, Maddy stopped mumbling to herself as she looked like she was about to set her notebook on fire with how fast she was moving her pen. After finishing processing that information and writing it down correctly, she began to continue her questions.

"I see… What about sensations? Wouldn't that make this whole test pointless if you already know what your powers do?"

"Not really, those sensations are really vague. For example, for one of the powers I want to test, Flashpoint, the only sensation I get is "water". I know I need water to use the power and I know it's a dangerous power, but little else. It can be anything from manipulating water, to making it explode or something like that."

"Mmn, I understand. What about the names?"

I shrug.

"Not much really. They just appear in my mind, it's not a whisper or anything, they're just there. They also seem kind of… eidetic? I don't think I could forget them even if I wanted to, although I can clearly forget to use them."

That last bit made Maddy smile. Good, I want to keep this as a positive thing until the end.

Maddy coughed a little to pretend it didn't happen, but we both know that's not true.

"That's all?"

"As for what I know about my powers? Yes, it is."

"What about that Shaker thing you mentioned earlier? It sounded important."

"Power Classifications!" I said in an excited voice.

Ooo I love the PRT Power Classifications. They're simple, but comprehensive enough to rank basically any power you can think of out there. Way better than those Marvel mutant levels or those bland My Hero Academia rankings.

"Power Classifications?" Maddy didn't seem to share my excitement as she asked that question in a slightly apprehensive manner.

"Yeah! They're awesome! I know the name makes it sound a bit ominous, but they're super cool and if you're going to be into this hero thing with me, you might as well get to know them."

"I see…it looks like it's going to be a long one, well give me your best shot."

"A little context."

"Isn't this the context?" Mandy interrupts.

"Shh This context about context is important, now let me cook."

Cough Cough.

"In this other universe, there are a lot of people with superpowers, called parahumans. Not all of those people are good, so the Parahuman Response Team, or PRT, was formed in the United States. It's basically a paramilitary organization made up of regular humans who are in charge of dealing with anything that has to do with parahumans, including containment."

And quite a few other things like research, public relations, legal issues… murders. If it has to do with parahumans it is the PRT's job to solve it, but it is not important for the clasifications so I continue:

"In the field, determining the exact powers of a parahuman can take valuable time, mainly because some have rather strange powers. So they developed a general classification that encompasses all kinds of powers, along with a series of measures to take depending on the type of power and its level of danger to the masses, represented by a number."

"I see…so Shaker is one of those clasifications, although you didn't mention any numbers. Why?"

"Well… the numbers, while representing the level of danger, are just ways for the PRT to know what actual measures to take against the parahuman to avoid as many casualties as possible. Not very useful if you're not a military organization. Though if you need some general context… 1 means it can be defeated by a trained soldier, 3 another parahuman is needed to assist, 5 a team of parahumans, 9 big weapons are authorized and in some cases the city is evacuated, 10 and up the general idea is not to fight."

"And you have powers like that?"

"Probably… although they are probably in the higher ranks, so I don't expect to have any city destroyers anytime soon."

Maddy opened her eyes as if for the first time she understood what it means to have over 400 powers available to me at any given time. Honestly, I wouldn't really mind having all that power, I'm not a coward. I would use it for good and become the greatest hero, my goal hasn't changed and if Superman who can destroy the earth with a sneeze could become the greatest superhero of all time, you can bet anything I will too.

What really scares me is the mental and physical changes that come with some powers. I know I'm going to be a hero, but when I get certain powers, will I still be me? Will that me still want to be the world's greatest hero? That's what scares me.

I don't want to get lost.

"And if you get those big powers and combine them with some small ones, no, even a bunch of small powers, you're sure to be very powerful, maybe your claims of being the greatest heroine on earth weren't such a crazy fantasy after all."

Those words make my mood turn 180 degrees and a huge, bright smile breaks out across my face.

"You betcha!"

Maddy gives me a small smile before going back to her notes and without looking up she says:

"So… Classifications?"

"That's right, yes! Classifications! The PRT has 12 of them and from easiest to hardest they are… Brute, Mover, Blaster, Shaker, Striker, Thinker, Tinker, Changer, Breaker, Stranger, Master and last but definitely not least Trump! Some powers have secondary classifications, but in general they are dependent on the main one."

"Mmn I think I can guess some of them from context, I'd bet you're a Trump, but I'd like an explanation of each one, some examples too if you can."

"You are absolutely right! So from top to bottom…"

"Brute are a classification that represents either durability or strength. Often times both at once. It sounds simple, but what counts as "durability" or "strength" can be quite broad. For example, things like personal force fields, armor, energy redirection, regeneration, shields, tactile telekinesis, immortality, all of those are powers that would count as a Brute's."

"I see…this one seems simple I guess. You have some Brute power, don't you? My hand still hurts from trying to slap you."

"Right on the mark. It's a minor Brute power, but it still makes me considerably stronger than average."

"I see…you can continue."

"Yeah! Next up are Mover, basically any power that has to do with mobility. Running, flying, teleportation, Doors, Propulsion, Vehicle, anything. It's a pretty common secondary classification actually, Dispatch, my ability to create accelerated time bubbles has a Move classification."

"Yeah, from what you're saying even Brutes can probably run faster just by being stronger, that would give them a Move rating, right?"

"Exactly! You're starting to get it now."

She looked very pleased with herself for a second, before returning to her normal demeanor.

"Next."

"Okay, the next three I'll mention together: Blaster, Shaker, and Striker. They're basically energy projection powers. The difference between the three is range. Blaster are generally ranged attacks, but any ranged power use that's even moderately aimable is considered a Blaster. Striker is pretty similar, but works by touch or at very short distances. Shaker are powers that allow for manipulation of the environment over larger areas, and are usually pretty indiscriminate."

"Wouldn't that make the Strikers a lot worse than the other two?"

"Not really. The powers tend to balance out a bit so Strikers in general tend to have more options or are more powerful. For example, a Blaster that throws fire would leave you with severe burns, A Shaker would slowly heat up its surroundings until at some point it becomes unbearable, A Striker would turn you to ash with one touch."

"Noted. Next."

"Well, next up is the duo Thinker and Tinker. Although they sound similar, they don't have much in common with each other. Thinker are powers of information gathering, Precognition, Pericognition, Postcognition, Enhanced Senses, anything goes in that regard. Tinker builds science fiction stuff, which I personally don't like, but the most varied and with enough time and resources, dangerous."

"Thinker is pretty easy to understand, but what about Tinkers? Are they smarter or something? Do they create things out of nothing?"

"Not exactly. Tinkers have specializations and as long as they follow that specialization and have an idea, their hands will move on their own to build whatever nonsense they come up with. The strange thing is that Tinkers don't know what they're doing and their technology is so far ahead of ours that scientists don't either."

"Like Iron Man?"

"A little? Although in his case he does know what he's doing, because he's actually genius. A Tinker uses a toaster, a screwdriver, a microwave and two sticks of gum and somehow builds a laser gun. They're ridiculous."

"It seems you don't like them."

"Hugh no, not really. Can we move on to the next one?"

"I have more questions about the Tinkers, but we can talk about that some other time. Sure, let's continue."

"Perfect! Next up is the Changer and Breaker duo. Changers are those who can change their physical form in a variety of ways, be it changing their size, transforming into other people, sticking to walls like a poster, stretching, turning into animals, they're all very varied. Breakers on the other hand are also shape-shifters, but they're less about shape-shifting and more about turning into another form. Breakers have a "Breaker Form" that they can change into at will and that alters them in a more fundamental way than Changers. Be it turning into smoke, liquid, a living explosion, a sphere of light. They don't have an in-between form or anything, they just either are or aren't in their Breaker form and from there they get other classifications."

"I see…following the trend, the Changers are more versatile and the Breakers, due to their limitations, tend to be more powerful, right?"

"Right on the mark again, of course there are exceptions, but that tends to be the mark. That's because Breakers tend to be harder to damage due to their strange properties, while Changers are still completely physical."

"Yes... that makes sense. Continue."

I was about to open my mouth when suddenly another star broke through to give way to a new power. A blue one this time, I couldn't help but feel excited, the same dance repeated itself once again and when I touched the star…

Bastard Son.

The new name appeared in my mind.

Holy crap. I just dodged a huge bullet with this one. I know this guy, he was an Elite villain mentioned on Reddit and some forums. He never came up as such in the story, but I remember his name and power because they were pretty interesting to me at the time. He's useless to me right now though.

"Rogue? Another power?"

"Another power"

Maddy sighs, probably thinking that we'll have to do even more testing now that we have another power in the mix.

"I don't think it's a power we're going to test today, or for a long time."

"What? Why?"

"Well… I guess it's better to continue with the classifications so you can understand it better."

Maddy gave me a suspicious look before nodding.

"Where was I? … AH yes, Stranger and Master. Strangers are weird, they are anything related to stealth. They are weird because what is considered stealth is quite broad, invisibility, silencers, obfuscators, disguises, illusions, distractions, hallucinations, in general it is a very wide range. Masters on the other hand are simpler, they are any power that allows the control of entities. Controlling animals, inanimate objects, projections, clones, people."

The last thing made Maddy gasp.

"Yes, the Masters are not looked upon favorably, to put it mildly."

"So your last power…"

"Yes, but not entirely. I would like to explain the last classification before continuing."

It took Maddy a moment to process what I had just informed her and jot something down in her notebook before nodding slowly.

Well, at least she doesn't seem scared, more like apprehensive or uncomfortable. Although I feel like it has more to do with me than her. Strange.

"The last classification is Trump. Trumps are the powers that interact with other powers. Copy, cancel, diminish, increase, look, feel, give, take away, anything goes."

"So your main power is…"

"Yeah, if we were to use Power Classifications it would be a Trump. A pretty strong one if I do say so myself."

"Well, well, so I can finally know what your latest power is?"

She didn't seem apprehensive anymore, more like she was pouting for telling him about the new power that she did know about and not telling him what it did right away.

Very pretty.

"Yes, ma'am. Although let's do a little game to see how much you understood correctly about the classifications, okay? We'll do the same with my other powers as well, though I'd like to do it in order. We'll start with Bastard Son to avoid a fit of curiosity from my lady."

"You better be, your lady isn't happy you know? Hmph!"

Too cute.

Before I said something that would probably earn me another slap, I started to tell:

"The name is Bastard Son. With one touch it allows me to give a person an inhuman ability with a random object, in exchange that person will permanently become a kind of Zombie that cannot subsist on its own and only follows my orders."

"…"

"What's wrong?" I tilted my head innocently.

"Yeah, we definitely won't be using that one," she says, shaking her head in exasperation.

"Come on, you still have to guess the ranking." I said trying to keep the mood light.

I've said it before, I don't mind having powers, even questionable ones. I'm a little scared to think of the possibility that I used it on Maddy in one of these tests, that's all. While I certainly doubt I'll use it anytime soon, I don't want to ruin my reputation as a heroine forever after all.

After some thought and reviewing her notes Maddy responded.

"Striker, with Master and Trump as supporting characters."

Mmn, not a bad try, but.

"Bzzz mistake."

"What? It's a power that works with touch, that makes it a Striker by definition, right?"

"You would think that, but nope. The correct answer is Master with Trump as a secondary."

"… Aren't you going to tell me why?"

"I wait for you to ask"

"Rogue."

"Yeah?"

"Speaks"

"Yes, ma'am."

Mental note, don't bother Maddy...or maybe I should do it more often if she talks to me in that tone, no, no, no, bad Rogue.

Before continuing with my bad thoughts, I decided to continue explaining.

"The reason is because of the way the power is used. Remember that this system was made in mind to fight immediate parahuman threats, the way the power is used is usually more important than the technical aspect. Someone with Bastard Son's power, doesn't just go around looking to touch people to defeat them like a Striker would do, but would be surrounded by the scariest motherfuckers ready to kill whoever gets in their way."

A look of understanding crossed Maddy's eyes.

"I see… I guess Masters without their Minions aren't very powerful, so the priority would always be to attack the Master and finish them off as quickly as possible. A Striker on the other hand can be very dangerous at close range. So if the soldier in question said that Bastard Son is a powerful Striker, their companions would keep their distance when in reality they should do the opposite."

"Bingo! Right on target! Of course there are exceptions, but that's what numbers are for."

"What about the Tinkers then?"

"Excellent question! For Tinkers, it's more common to take into account their secondary classification rather than their primary. A Tinker with a jetpack and a laser pistol will be fought more like a flying Blaster. Still, the Tinker classification is taken into account so that soldiers know that using EMPs or other technologies is a valid thing to do."

"I see…"

I waited a moment for Maddy to finish writing in her notebook. When she finished she looked back at me before returning to her questions:

"What would happen to you?"

"With me?"

"Yeah, you have a lot of powers, would they start spouting a bunch of rankings and numbers? Wouldn't that ruin the point of the ranking system in the first place?"

"Oh, the Trumps are incredibly varied. So I actually know that there are subtypes of Trumps divided into numbers from null to ten. In my case they would just say Trump Ten (different of Trump 10), which would just mean that I have a bunch of powers that they have no idea what they do so they have to be careful."

"What about the other numbers?"

I knew this question was coming, but honestly

"I have no idea…Tee-Hee" I said with the most innocent look I could manage while lightly hitting my head.

"Don't tell me Tee-Hee! Isn't it like super important to know all this?!"

"Well… Not really? Technically only you and I know it in the end, and if one day it is needed for something really serious we can always invent new codes."

Mandy glared at me for a moment before closing her eyes and sighing deeply as she pressed her fingers between her eyes.

"The worst thing is that I can't even discuss it with her…" I guess I wasn't supposed to hear that whisper, but I still felt very proud of winning this little playful argument with Maddy, I still remember this morning.

"You know what? Okay, I accept it. Let's move on to your other powers."

"Perfect! I think now that your curiosity about Bastard Son has been properly satisfied my lady we can continue the order of obtaining it."

Maddy blushed a little, but didn't interrupt me as I continued.

"Next is… Dispatch!"

I honestly could barely contain my excitement. It was time for the real test of power now that all the exposition (necessary, but exposition) was over and we would begin with the power that saved my life no less!

"Dispatch is the first power I got in that alley"

"Is "I can fuck with time" power?

"Exactly! From what I've tested, it creates a bubble where time inside the bubble occurs faster than outside. It seems that I can spend whole minutes or more inside the bubble and not a second has passed outside. Also, this power made me stronger and more resilient. So, my lady, what classification would you give it?"

"Shaker and a subclassification of Brute"

"Correct! Although I would add a minor Move rating as well."

"What? Why? Sure, the Brute rank would make you go faster just by being stronger, but that would be adding a sub-rank to a sub-rank, wouldn't that be wrong?"

"I'll give you a hint!"

With a not so innocent smile on my face I activated Dispatch.

And I instantly appeared with my face inches from her.

I got slapped or rather Maddy slapped her hand against my face, I know that must have hurt her but there wasn't a hint of that on her face, no sir. Her face was cold as ice and her eyes were like they were looking at a particularly disgusting insect.

I'm not gonna lie, I was expecting a "Kyaa!" and then some laughs, this instead is unexpectedly ̶H̶o̶t̶ scary.

"Anne Marie"

I swallowed. "Y-yes, ma'am?"

"You created a time bubble that advances time as fast as possible, walked towards me, and then cancelled the bubble. The Move rating comes from the speed boost you get from doing it numerous times. Am I correct?"

"B-bingo, you are correct."

"Don't do that again"

"Understood, I won't do it again, please forgive me."

Some time later, when Maddy's spirits returned to normal, we began testing.

During testing we found that… Dispatch bubbles have a range of 8 feet or 2.5 meters. From the outside they look like a perfectly round sphere of strange spatial distortion. Quite difficult or even unbreakable to break, the hydraulic press didn't make a single scratch on it even with its maximum force.

Even though I can make the bubble range smaller it will always be a bubble and my body will always be the center so it can't be smaller than that. Anything that is inside the bubble at the time of creation stays inside, I can't control that.

I can control the time warp of the bubble somewhat, but it's not an exact science, just from several minutes faster to hours faster and not very precisely. There doesn't seem to be a maximum amount of time I can be in the bubble, though Maddy theorizes that oxygen can't get in or out either so my maximum time is limited by how much air is left inside.

For my enhanced strength I managed to lift about 500kg of weight. Almost twice as much as the world's strongest woman, roughly the same as the world's strongest man. It doesn't seem like much for a superhero, but for someone of my agility and weight it's a pretty decent amount. My toughness held up pretty well until we used a hammer. My stamina on the other hand allowed me to run at top speed for a full hour, where we also found out that Dispatch does indeed leave you without oxygen.

"And… that would be it for Dispatch," Maddy says with a sigh of relief.

The interesting thing is that thanks to Dispatch it actually only took us about 10 minutes to do all the tests. So basically we have plenty of time to continue with the rest.

And that's what we did.

Next on the list is Contender.

After some testing we found that their power was surprisingly easy to test. It's another Shaker power that traps me in a bubble with another person. Like with Dispatch the air couldn't get out of here either, but unlike Dispatch the Hydraulic Pressure machine was able to break the bubble without much trouble. We theorized that a grown man with a sledgehammer could do the same thing.

What makes Dispatch different? First, it needs a target and it can only be one. There is no time warp either, time happens as normal. However, its trick is in its properties, inside Contender's bubble...no one can use its powers.

Yeah, not even me. It's basically a Ring where everyone loses their powers until I cancel the field or someone outside breaks it.

Another interesting effect is that it seems to screw up technology quite a bit. Phones don't work in there, and we theorize that anything very advanced would do the same, but guns are fair game.

Honestly, it's an absolute trump card. And speaking of Trumps, Maddy managed to guess the rating correctly this time. Shaker, underrated Trump.

Following:

Gwerrus.

A damage reflector, all types of damage.

Based on testing, we've identified that it reflects damage, but it doesn't return it with double the strength or anything like that. I also have to be aware of the attack in order to use it. Honestly pretty cool, simple, but cool.

"Full Counter!" I shouted as the contents of the glass of water reflected back at Maddy and she moved to the side to avoid getting wet.

"Huh, it seems that although the reflection of physical attacks is instantaneous, ranged attacks are reflected exactly as they are sent and it is possible to dodge them." Maddy muttered under her breath as she wrote in her notebook before slowly turning her head towards me,

"Full Counter? What are you twelve?"

"No matter what you say it's cool!" And it's a nice reference to an anime from my previous life, but she doesn't need to know that.

"By the way, that's a Brute"

"Ding Ding Ding Ding. We have a beautiful winner."

Following:

Golem.

"This is the one I know!"

"So? What does they do then?" Maddy asked curiously.

"This allows me to put my hands into any solid material and then create giant hands out of any surface of that material within my range. It also allows me to sense things that touch whatever material I have my hands inside of."

"That sounds powerful"

"It is! I'm surprised it's a grey power, actually. Golem would put plates with many common materials like cement and iron on his costume. That way he could do things, anywhere, and it also allowed him to map places."

"Clever"

"He learned from the best girl!"

And so we move on to the tests.

While my description of the power wasn't wrong, we did learn a few things like how any limb works to use the power, including my legs and even my head for some reason. I was also only copying bare skin, wearing gloves didn't make me create gloved hands.

I needed practice mapping things like Golem did.

Lastly, the longer I used a single limb, the slower it became. I could do a single attack very quickly, which combined with the weight and strength of the material made it extremely lethal, however, if I continued to control that single limb it would move very slowly, causing it to lose much of its strength.

Luckily, I could create multiple limbs quickly and without any problems, which made fighting with this power less like catching people and more like swatting them like flies, although the other one was still possible.

"I feel like repeating the same punch every day for years to bring out my inner Buddha or something."

Maddy raises an eyebrow "I don't even want to know what nonsense you're talking about right now."

"I'm saying you haven't guessed the rankings for this one yet and you never will MUAA HAHAHAHA-"

"Shaker, Secondary Thinker."

Next:

Flashpoint.

I can turn water into burning Napalm. Not much water, about the equivalent of a bucket of water. I'm immune to this burning water, but not normal fire or heat for that matter. I can also sense water that I can ignite, which doesn't seem very useful unless it's raining or something. The range wasn't very good either, about 15 meters.

"This one doesn't look very good," Maddy says as she looks into the pool of burning water.

"No, it doesn't, I guess it would be useful with a water gun, although it's still too lethal to be really useful."

Oh well, you can't always win, now that I think about it, Bastard Son despite being very strong doesn't seem like a victory either.

Shrugging a little, Maddy took a sip of water from the bottle we used to create the puddle that was now lit. When she drank from the water, I froze.

I could feel the water in Maddy's mouth going down her throat and then into her stomach for a while before it faded from my senses.

Shit.

"Hey Maddy. This power might be a lot more brutal than we thought."

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"There is no Manton limit."

"You never told me about this Manton limit so I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, I guess a little context is in order again. We don't need to sit down, the explanation isn't very long. Manton's limits are the limits that powers have on what they can or cannot affect. Many powers have them for safety reasons, for example, someone who creates fire is immune to their own fire or fire in general."

"But Flashpoint does have a Manton limit, right? We found out you're immune to pseudo napalm."

"Sure, but you're not thinking about the other aspect of Manton's limit. Have you ever wondered why in superhero comics a hero who creates fire doesn't create fire inside them enemy's body and so on from the inside out?"

Maddy freezes at that moment, I can almost see the gears in her brain working through the implications of what I just said.

"You're telling me that…"

"Indeed. While the powers we've tested so far have their own Manton limits – for example, I can't create a bubble over a piece of furniture to break it in half – that doesn't seem to be the case with Flashpoint. I could feel the water in your mouth traveling down your esophagus and into your stomach where I guess it combined with too many things until it wasn't just water anymore."

"…I guess you can't make someone combust instantly by setting their blood water on fire."

Unfortunately. I didn't say that out loud of course, but that would have made Flashpoint an absolute trump card.

"You guessed right, I honestly don't know what exactly to make of this discovery, it doesn't seem all that useful in retrospect, but it was definitely a surprise that such a seemingly weak power had such a… interesting feature."

"Interesting, of course…for a Blaster, sub Thinker"

I started clapping "Bravo, Bravo"

"Mph." She crossed her arms as if she didn't care, but I knew she was pleased with her consecutive victories.

"Next then?"

"Next!"

Moonsong

Gravity manipulation.

This is broken! Honestly this felt like my first halfway normal power. The others seem kind of weird. This one? Just square gravity manipulation or so I'd like to say. It's closer to creating my own gravity wells that I can do a lot of things with enough control.

Testing revealed several things, it seems my control is pretty good, enough so that I can negate gravity on an object in Maddy's hand while her own gravity is intact. I can also use it on the environment, myself or Maddy to float as if we were in space canceling out the ground's gravity.

If we were playing for a good 20 minutes floating around out there, that's something no one needs to know.

Of course, I can also increase the severity of my gravity fields without any problems. I didn't do it on Maddy directly, but let's say that breaking knees and some other organs wouldn't be a problem for me.

The biggest weakness of this power is the lack of multitasking. Doing two things at once requires a lot of concentration, three is downright impossible, so flying by manipulating my own gravity and at the same time using this power for something else doesn't seem like a viable thing in the short term. Although I can fly and use other powers without problems, flying using this power is slow and inefficient, although hovering close to the ground to move around without making noise is strangely viable.

Lastly there's a Thinker aspect that allows me to see gravitational fields. Seeing how the earth keeps us all on the ground is pretty cool for sure, but I don't know when exactly this Thinker version will be useful, but it's still something nice to have.

After the tests we both sat on a mat in the gym while drinking our bottles of water.

Still a little sweaty from our time playing tests Maddy said "I have to admit, this has definitely been the most fun power with a Shaker subcategory Thinker that you have had so far.

"Now you're just showing off!" I replied good-naturedly as we both laughed as the adrenaline wore off and we fell into a comfortable silence.

Slowly we both turned our heads from the front and looked at each other at the same time. With sweat sticking the strands of her hair to her face and her face flushed, I don't know why, but Maddy seemed to me the most beautiful woman in the world, even more so than usual and I felt myself blushing.

I don't know what Maddy saw, but she blushed even more than before and quickly turned her head away.

A little more silence followed and she finally said

"Next?"

I honestly wanted to say no and just stay like this for a while longer, but, even though I have a lot of stamina and time thanks to Dispatch I felt that Maddy was getting tired, so was I, although more mentally in my case. There was only one more power to check and we were ready to go home so with some regret I answered.

"Next".

Lionwing.

"Woo hoooo! I'm flying Maddy!"

I couldn't believe it, I was flying! And this time for real! Well, sort of.

Lionwing's power allowed them to project and manipulate exactly 169 swords. Through power tests we realized that I could manipulate a sword precisely again the lack of multitasking didn't allow me to do precise things with anything other than a sword.

Still, manipulating a bunch of them at once and casting them like some sort of discount Unlimited Blade Works wasn't a problem. I can cancel them all at once and summon them all at once, but I can't summon or cancel some of them. I can't sense anything from the swords, so I have to be careful about hitting myself with them, and I need to be able to see where I'm throwing them. If I lose them I'll have to have them in my line of sight to control again, otherwise they'll just drift away until I unsummon them again.

The most interesting aspect, however, is that this power is strangely good at forming shapes with swords. I can combine them to make a very large sword of sorts, spears, shields, and most importantly a vehicle of sorts that I can fly with and which I'm using right now while wandering around the warehouse.

"Maddy! I'm flying!"

"Yes, yes, I heard you the first time."

I landed in front of her and held out my hand. "Come with me if you want to live!"

It seemed like she understood the reference as she let out a snort as she climbed onto the giant flying sword with me.

At first she was a little unsure as I flew slowly so as not to scare her, but over time she slowly relaxed as she leaned on my shoulder and an honest smile was plastered on her beautiful face, thank God she didn't notice me looking at her, I didn't want to ruin the magic of the moment.

I really wanted to get out of the warehouse and show her an "Ideal World," but I knew that would be a bad idea, so I settled for a few laps around the warehouse.

A few laps later we were on the ground once again. Maddy was finishing up her notes while I was gathering my things ready to go home after a very productive day. I was honestly satisfied with everything today.

As I was putting my backpack on my shoulders, Maddy's voice interrupted me.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Huh? Isn't it time to go?"

While Dispatch saved us a ton of time, the Dispatch space wasn't big enough for some of the tests, so we didn't use it all the time and it was already getting dark.

"There is still one power left to prove."

"Bastard Son? You know I would never do that to you Maddy" I said with a frown.

"I know you wouldn't do it Gorilla (Hey!) I'm talking about your original power, the one that gives you powers."

"Oh"

Now that she mentions it I haven't actually interacted with my own power much, which in retrospect is pretty dumb on my part, though in my defense I've only had this power for less than a day.

However…

"Do you have any ideas?" I have no idea what to do.

"A few"

Rogue (Power name not yet decided)

Reviewing her notes Maddy decides to start testing.

"To start, I think the key to testing your powers is that metaphysical space you mentioned that appears every time you get a new power. Do you think you can go there whenever you want?"

Can I? Until now I only got in by getting a new power, but if I concentrate maybe…

I close my eyes as I try to find that place that is already familiar to me and maybe that is why the moment I decide to enter I realize that a part of my mind is there with my Metaphysical Self.

This time I pay more attention to the place that never ceases to amaze me with how beautiful it is, but I notice something I hadn't noticed before. It seems that some stars are closer to me than before, well, rather a blue star is. Although I understand why, it doesn't seem so important now because I…

"I did it!" And on my first try, take those cultivation geniuses, you can steal my flying sword (not really), but I will steal all your awesomeness.

Unaware of my certainly not stupid thoughts Maddy continues

"What do you see?"

"I see my usual galaxy of stars, but notice something, there is one blue star that is closer than the rest for some reason."

"Mmm? Interesting… I have some ideas for that, but first we'll do some more tests. Do you think you can move for a start?"

I tried to move my metaphysical self, but I could only move its/my limbs. Moving the whole body through space seemed impossible.

I told that to Maddy and she immediately brought up another idea.

"Well, you said that you are surrounded by stars, which are your powers, right?"

I nodded.

"Try to draw him towards you instead of going towards them."

My metaphysical self raised one of its hands towards the colored stars in the center, particularly towards a bronze-colored one. At first nothing happened, but slowly the bronze-colored star moved closer to my Avatar until it was within reach of the other star and at that moment the Thinker aspect of Moonsong activated out of nowhere.

"That?!"

"What happened?" She asked as if she already knew the answer.

"Moonsong's Thinker aspect activated on its own!"

"As I expected, before I tell you what I think, one last test: take the nearby blue star and move it as far away as you can without reaching the edge of the sea of stars."

I decided to keep my desire to demand answers to myself and did as I was told.

At that moment I suddenly felt weaker and the realization came to my mind like a lightning bolt.

That blue power was Dispatch and I just turned it off.

"Looks like my theory worked," Maddy looked incredibly pleased with herself as she said those words. I had a pretty good idea of what was going on, but I let her continue.

"Your "galaxy" of stars seems to have three orbits and you are the center. In the orbit closest to you the power is permanently active, it seems that you unconsciously placed the most useful power to be there in that section – the Dispatch power that passively gives you a Brute classification. In the center are the powers that you can activate with a simple thought and keep them actively working, but otherwise they are turned off; here you had all the others, that is why you never noticed the water signs that the Flashpoint power should give you."

…I honestly never noticed the Flashpoint thing, which is a bit of a shame in retrospect.

Unaware of my embarrassment Maddy continued.

"Finally, the farthest orbit is where the powers that are completely deactivated are, in that orbit the power in question cannot be activated by you automatically, not even accidentally."

Although I had noticed that too, the fact that Maddy does it first, I don't know if it speaks very well about her or very badly about me, but I still find it incredible that she noticed it instantly with just the little hint I gave her earlier.

It's so cool.

I unconsciously started clapping and Maddy who looked deeply smug started looking embarrassed.

"Enough, enough, flattering me won't get you far"

"You are amazing Maddy, you are so smart!"

"Enough!"

And very pretty too.

We continue with the experiments.

I could only zoom in and out on the stars, not move them in a different direction. It was also impossible for me to recognize which power was which without bringing it close enough to hear its name, although I could remember its position afterwards. I also couldn't return them to the sea of stars, it was like there was an invisible wall, the latter was a bit disappointing, I was hoping to be able to change one power for another.

"Okay, let's see my next test." After most of her tests weren't as positive as the first one, she was a little discouraged, but not enough to stop everything.

She continued.

"This time take two powers of the same rank and bring them close to you" What? We already knew that it was perfectly possible for me to use two powers at once so I don't understand the reason for this test, but I'll follow what she says, who knows what she has to show.

After so many tests, I could now perfectly concentrate on my galaxy and the real world at the same time without any problem, I didn't even need to close my eyes. I was a little surprised at how quickly I've mastered it honestly, but I'm not complaining either.

I quickly dragged out two grey stars whose position I was already familiar with: Flashpoint and Lionwing. When both stars reached my hands the usual names came to mind, but this time, I felt something else.

An extra option, which was not there before, a sacrifice, two for one.

Instinctively I understood it.

"Mandy, I think we just discovered something important."

"The fusion?" What? Fusion? So that was what she was going for, I hate to rain on her parade, but…

"No, not really. More like a sacrifice. I have the ability to sacrifice two powers of the same rank in exchange for another different power of the same rank."

"mmm… So you sacrifice two powers in exchange for just one"

"Exactly"

"Isn't that nonsense?"

"In most cases, yes, but there are powers that honestly aren't worth it. We've got Bastard Son there, for example. Maybe if we get another useless Blue (because God knows I'm not getting rid of Dispatch even if I die) we can get something better."

"I guess… Although who knows when you'll get new powers, it could be any time."

"We'll just have to wa-"

As if I was listening to our conversation, I noticed that from the sea of stars, not one, not two, but three stars were flying directly towards my metaphysical self.

"Really? Now? Is there some kind of cosmic joke that gives you powers in funny moments or what?"

"Maddy. This is serious, I got three powers."

"Are you kidding? You're not kidding right? What are they?"

Once the stars got close to me they stopped just before touching my avatar and I felt my own power giving me the choice to unlock the powers now or save them for later. As I wondered why the hell I wanted to save them for later I felt the answer insert itself into my mind.

Apparently if I get 10 powers at once the sea of stars "short-circuits" somehow and ends up giving me another power, but that power will always be blue or higher.

Hang on a minute…

"Rogue?"

Are you kidding me?

Reincarnation, Random Powers, Power Ranks and now this?

This shit is…

"I have a fucking Parahuman Gacha in Marvel!"