powers(Title in works)

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It's not edited and will most likely have a lot of problems but it's a story that came to me and luckily I had the free time to work on it. I have over 10k more words that need heavy editing but I don't know if I will do anything with it.

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I was walking back home from work feeling miserable. I once again thought about quitting but there weren’t any better options out there for me. The pay was decent enough to live a comfortable life if you are alone and I have been alone for a long time. That made me smile a bit as I liked living like that.  Other people just brought problems.

It was a beautiful summer evening, and I would have gone swimming like I used to but unfortunately, this place that I was currently living in wasn't anywhere near a beach or a river and the lake that was here wasn't open to the public. If I wanted to go swimming, I would have to do it in an indoor swimming pool where there would be a lot of people and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the sun. So, what would be the point?

Why couldn’t my job be interesting? Technically that's not true because it used to be interesting but now it’s just something I can do without even thinking. If I couldn’t listen to podcasts or audiobooks, I think I would have gone insane. The worst part is that I worked in a basement far below the surface doing paperwork about people who might have a chance at doing things that I wish I could do.

I could sense a speeder coming before I ever heard the sonic booms. I covered my ears just before he ran past way too close to the sidewalk. A smile came to my face when I heard sirens. Whoever he was he was going to get a hefty fine. But then again, he could probably pay it off easily enough. I looked down at my wrist where a grey-blue symbol was imprinted onto me to stay forever that constantly shifted the symbol it displayed.

I didn’t like remembering what had happened but once again the memories came without me being able to stop them. Almost 140 years ago. In the old calendar, it was the year 2020 when the world ended. I still remember how the world burned not because of some natural disaster but because of humans who gained powers that could make a person more powerful than a nuclear weapon. Luckily there weren’t many people who gained such power but even the weakest were still a lot more powerful than a regular human.

At first, I was cheering with everyone else who thought that this was magnificent. That didn’t last long before society and civilization collapsed. A lot of people died from random attacks that usually weren’t meant for them. Over the following years, I lost a few family members I had left. Thinking about that made me sad but it had happened a long time ago and time does numb the pain.

Everyone thought that heroes would emerge and start to save people and put everything back together, but the world isn’t so white. The black side of the world was the first to start putting things together. Even the supervillains needed order so they could keep their power. But no one wanted to live under those madmen. But whenever someone tried to be the hero, they didn’t last for long as they didn’t have the conviction to do what was needed.

Slowly organizations emerged and eventually nations were formed again but the endless wars were still fought. At the time I thought that it was never going to stop but humans only needed an outside source of pressure to come together.

After about 60 years after the event gave us to power an outside force connected to our solar system. There had been people who tried to find out what caused the mark on our wrist that gave us powers, but no one ever could. Turns out it was just a natural phenomenon, but we weren’t the only ones or the first who had been affected.

We were now connected to the multiverse that was full of different species that also had powers. The ones that connected to our solar system thought that they would have an easy time conquering our planet and having a place to farm resources and new slaves. We weren't so easily conquered.

The power system that we thank the wrist mark gave didn’t come with an RPG system. While most could train their power it was I slow thing that took decades. That meant that they didn’t have the power advantage although they did have the number advantage. But they couldn't use all their resources trying to conquer us. They had their wars where they needed fighters.

When they lost their third invasion force, they tried to close down the gate that they had opened during the 10 years of war we had learned a lot, but we didn’t let them close the gate. A deal was struck. We were able to convince them to move the gate to a neutral system on their side of the multiverse that acted as a meeting and trading centre for the different civilizations of the multiverse.

I often dream of going out there but someone as weak as me has no chance of surviving 5 minutes in that overpopulated solar system. The different nations after the 10 years of war no longer fought each other but we were still separate.

All the leaders wanted to make their mark on the multiverse, but we quickly learned that we were nothing but a weak power even if we combined all our nations. The leaders did combine to have at least a chance at the bounty offered by the multiverse.

The Terran Alliance is the official name. The system of government they came up with was complicated but also understandable knowing our nature. Our planet was divided into 12 empires. Underneath those empires were hundreds of kingdoms, more duchies and counties and even more baronies.

The borders were fixed and no one can conquer but if you had the power or influence you could become a ruler. The count of the territory I live in changes leaders on average every five years. Even some of the empires have new leaders who have taken over from the previous ones.

The system worked quite brilliantly. It left the civilians alone while the ambitious could play their power game. This relative safety started to bring our population up from the freefall we had before. Civilization slowly patched itself back together strengthening our position in the multiverse.

I looked around seeing that huge skyscraper even in this small town. The futuristic technology that we have been able to either invent ourselves or acquire from the multiverse market has helped us keep everyone safe. While the world was safe again for humans, I was a bit conflicted. It was so boring again.  Safety was so necessary, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything but why did it have to be so boring?

If I just had a bit more strength I could go hunt in the wilderness or delve into dungeons more regularly and if I had even more strength I could go and see what the multiverse had to offer. I walked by a government poster that was recruiting anyone classified as C rank or above to join a guild so we could keep the Terran alliance safe.

The Terran alliance was something that was above the empires and if you wanted to be a real ruler you needed to work your way up into the Terran alliance power structure. While the earth was under the 12 empires the rest of the solar system and a few of our other territories were all under the direct control of the Terran alliance. We had colonized our entire solar system not because we wanted to but because it was necessary.

Whatever the natural phenomenon was that gave us powers it didn't just do it to us and it did have other side effects as well. Humans were an oddity in the multiverse as 98% of us survive gaining powers.  The rest of the species have not been so lucky. While only 2% of humans died and none were left without powers usually around 30% of any species died and from the remaining only about 1 in every 10 were able to manifest powers.

I still remember my old dog. He was the reason why I was still alive. Believe it or not, he was able to shoot energy beams from his eyes that were extremely damaging. Dogs still stayed as our best friends, and they were one of the main reasons why we were so quickly able to dominate the world even when animals had superpowers.

Other domesticated animals helped us as well but that was usually up to the individual animal how they acted. Even some dogs turned on us the ones that were treated too badly but most didn’t. The cats were the second most receptive species, but they were a lot more independent than the dogs.

In the current world, almost, all animals have domesticated counterparts, and some even had full citizenship if they were smart enough. This was again something not seen in the multiverse as usual only one species remained in power dominating everyone else who gained powers when they first came into contact with the natural phenomenon that gave powers.

The side effect of this phenomenon was the dungeon portals. How long they stayed was anyone’s guess. Some portals have been around for as long as people have powers and others might only stay for a few weeks. Inside those portals could be anything.

If you don't kill the monsters inside eventually, they will be able to get out of the dungeon portals and every time it happened there has been a disaster for the surrounding people if there weren't powerful enough people around.

The dungeon portals were the main reason I was currently living here. I was working directly for the Terran alliance and the job I was doing had a place in every town on earth. They usually let you transfer if you give them enough notice. There were a group of five dungeons that were particularly good for me. Unfortunately, I only qualified to run two of them because of my strength rank.

Even though I could run two of the dungeons I have only been able to enter the E-ranked dungeon only once during my 8 years of living here. I was classified at E rank strength. But I was only able to delve into that one spot because there wasn’t anyone around to clear the dungeon. The people running the dungeons didn't like it when people went in alone. I could be running the dungeons a lot more if I did it with other people, but I didn’t want to demonstrate my power to others.

I was able to run the F-rank dungeon about once a month. The extra income I get from selling the drops meant that I would be able to eat some nice takeout and keep up with the technological advances happening. I have had to buy three brand-new computers in the past seven years because the previous generation was so much worse at running the latest games and simulations.

Honestly, my life was back to how it used to be and while I complained it was a hell of a lot better than having to fight for survival or food constantly. I finally reached my favourite store. I usually went in, but it was the end of the month, and I didn't have the money to spend on anything right now. I wasn’t confident in my current willpower to not buy anything if I saw something awesome.

The store looked like an old bookstore with large glass windows displaying different books and games.  Inside you could find anything that had the story attached to it. A lot of collectables and some interesting toys using the advances in technology. Even now there were quite a lot of people there either discussing their latest obsession or looking for something new.

It was more than two weeks since my last time delving into a dungeon that gave me an influx of money and I would have to wait at least another two weeks before I get the chance to deliver the dungeon again. Technically I could delve into all the five dungeons that were in the 5th St. Complex but soon after I got here those dungeon rights were bought by a small guild. Usually, dungeons weren’t so close to each other but people with specific powers and now I heard even some tech could move them a certain distance.

There were three such complexes in this town of almost 200,000 people. The dungeons in this town ranged from F rank to C rank. There was only one C-rank dungeon and it wasn’t in the 5th St. complex.

This complex had one F rank, one E rank and three D-rank dungeons.  There had been a reason why I picked this city and specifically lived near the 5th St. complex. It was because all those dungeons were strong but every monster in them also had a huge weakness.

I could take advantage of all of those weaknesses and could even solo every dungeon thanks to my power. While my overall strength ranking was low the specific power type I had was extremely powerful and to my knowledge, I was still the only one to possess it. I looked at my wrist mark and the information in it came to me.

Power of imagination

Terran Alliance classification ranks this power at SSS rank.

Terran Alliance classification ranks human David Rivers at strength rank E.

Before the Terran alliance I only had the power of imagination imprinted in my mark all the other stuff was added later on. I could change that if I wanted to, and I have. I tried to change the Terrance alliance classification into DAC. I just didn’t like the longer version. I almost went to jail because you’re not supposed to modify anything that was imprinted into your mark.

Every power that came for instance super speed did not just make you faster if it did you would just die if you started to run. It enhanced you so you would be able to do whatever the power was written into your mark. For me, that came with this surety that no one can mess with my mind. That was one of the reasons why I was able to keep the job that I had. No one could read my mind and find out the information that I was working with.

I was one of the clerks responsible for cataloguing people’s power files. What powers people had they had a lawful right to keep it secret but the Terran alliance couldn’t have anyone running around that they didn't know what they could do. Usually, people’s minds were wiped after their workday but that was an extra expense and if they could find someone like me where reading our minds was impossible, they did that.

Otherwise, I would be living near the poverty line like a lot of other people who weren’t strong enough.  The only reason I have an E classification is because of my flexibility. Otherwise, I would just be an average F rank in terms of my combat strength.

I could imagine a shield, but an E-ranked strength person could punch through it easily enough. If it was an E-ranked fire user, I could use a water or ice shield that would block the attack well enough to give me the E classification.

My strength has risen, and I think I am technically now in E rank fully and could probably take down D-rank opponents who had a weak vulnerability. My powers didn’t give me a longer life, but I found a way to use my powers to extend my life.

The power of imagination was an apt description and all I had to do was imagine that my body was full of stem cells that helped a lot, but I also needed to make my body understand how it grew older. It then did its thing, and I was again young and strong.

I am 162 years old, yet I looked like someone in their late 20s and thanks to my power messing with my mind I didn’t feel the fatigue of living so long. Other people are even older than me as I was quite young when powers came into our world.

Some who received the power of regeneration, or a lot of other different powers still lived like me but a lot of them have gone mad. Usually, those people were strong and caused a lot of damage before they were able to be captured or put down.

Keeping myself young was a constant struggle. I could imagine anything but the stuff that I did imagine didn’t stick around. I did have something that I called my imagination resource and if used enough I could make something real.

Making a rose that I imagine a reality usually costs me an entire day of regeneration of my imagination resource. Unfortunately, there seems to be a cap to how much I can store and while over time it seems to be growing larger, I still could not make anything substantial.

Imagining things that won’t stick around for long is easy enough and I could do it all day if I stick to F-rank stuff. Lately, I have been trying to make money differently by using my power. A new website called VULtube has once again gathered huge popularity like its predecessor YouTube once before.

A few months ago, I stumbled upon a video of a person with illusionary powers creating a small battlefield and acting out scenarios while filming it. It had been up for almost a month and already had 7M views. Soon afterwards a lot more videos like that started to show up and it became increasingly popular. Now there were hundreds of creators who were doing the same thing and unfortunately, I was just a bit too late to ride the first wave of success.

I have been slowly uploading videos, but they hadn’t gotten any real traction I’m slowly gaining more viewers. It was also a nice hobby that I thoroughly enjoyed and perhaps in the future, this hobby could lead me to riches.

I looked up when I heard the beeping of a red light. I had already reached the crossing that led to my home. I lived in a large apartment building with ten floors and 12 different sections. There was even a grocery store, liquor store and a general store inside this huge apartment building. One thing that I was quite glad about.

The building was entirely grey which was a bit depressing and the large echoic corridor that connected all the sectors was quite creepy at night. Fortunately, this place was in a good enough neighbourhood that there were no needles or drug users in the corners and the place was generally clean. There was also a limit on what rank of people could live here.

I was lucky enough to be able to buy myself an apartment by selling my old one otherwise my rent would be a lot higher, and it would be even more annoying to deal with the money side of things. My apartment was on the 6th floor and when I finally made it up there, I just had a short walk to my apartment store. I had bought a strong door that was able to keep out anyone under the B rank and any opener under the C rank.