NOVEL WEB Chapter 22 – A Way to Power Up Oneself
It’s two weeks after the incident of the failed commercial spaceflight project. The authorities have declared that the failed shuttle was not out of simple accident, but rather from sabotage. The suspects were former LexCorp engineers who were fired several months ago due to incompetence.
Next was the appearance of a man flying and rescuing the shuttle from its imminent crash, saving the shuttle’s crew members, pilots, and a Daily Planet’s reporter, Lois Lane. The masses have been openly calling this flying man as “Superman”; some considered him as a savior of mankind, some considered him a god, some considered him as a threat.
Superman had also been openly helping the people of Metropolis. For example, just two days ago, saved the entire families trapped in a burning apartment from faulty electrical wiring, and just flew away towards the sky after his deeds were done.
And about the LexCorp Tower’s break-in? There was no news regarding that matter, which is a good news for Matthias, but deep down Matthias also need to have his action to be acknowledged, since he needs the extra relevancy to increase his powers.
“Haaaaa,” Sighed Matthias. Matthias is lying down in his bed, watching the news via the 120 inch television on the wall in front of his bed (must be nice to be rich, yeah?).
Matthias has been feeling lethargic lately. He’s been spending the last two weeks studying and researching the knowledge he stole from Lex Luthor. On top of that, he’s been working to use the crystalline Kryptonite as part of his resource.
The glass container that contains the small piece of Kryptonite he stole from Luthor was actually made from a Kryptonian design; which is why Luthor can keep it in a metal safe without extra precautions. With this fact, Matthias can now study the glass container for his own to upgrade his gears, but...
... Right now, he’s bored to the death.
“I can feel my stealth abilities slightly increasing, and for some reason, I seem to have developed a new ability...”
After his gig at LexCorp Tower, Matthias felt his relevancy increasing. Though only a small bit, he can feel himself capable of moving stealthier. But this is not above Matthias’ expectancy; in fact, he expected his stealth capability to increase at some point after he completed his mission at LexCorp Tower, until he found out that his body can somehow turn into black smoke, albeit only slightly.
Matthias has tested this ability. The level of how many parts of his body can turn into black smoke without being boosted is only minimal; he can only produce small amount of smoke at best. But after boosting this ability by spending all the other stats to this ability, he can actually change his entire body into black smoke that can envelope his entire secret room, which is actually quite huge amount considering the spaciousness of his secret room.
“I guess some of the guards in LexCorp thought I could vanish and appear in the form of black smoke, huh? Weird ability, but acceptable, nonetheless.”
The more ability Matthias can have, the better.
“This gave me an idea; perhaps I need another persona to gain more abilities, and to gain more relevancies in the world since this persona I currently have is not suitable for something public.”
The “Wraith” persona is perfect for stealth ops, but it’s not a good persona for Matthias to use to increase his relevancy, especially when he needs to have his actions acknowledged.
“Hmmm, what should I do...?”
...
“Hey Matthias! Have you heard the news about Superman, yesterday?” Robert said with his face all lit up with excitement. He had his arms flailing in front of Matthias as he said that.
They were both in the classroom when Robert approached Matthias.
“No..? What’s the news about?” Matthias confusedly asked.
“What? Do you not have a TV in your place? Dude you’re damn rich but you can’t afford a TV?” Said Robert as he had the most confused look on his face.
Matthias exaggeratedly frowned, “Just spill it out, dude, what’s the news about?” Matthias said as he crosses his arms in front of his chest.
“Dude, it’s all over the media! The sightings of Superman have been the hot take in Metropolis! Just yesterday, people saw Superman saving a kid on the street nearby!”
Robert was being loud, but it’s fortunately at the end of the lecture, so the classroom is about half-empty, and most are about to head home.
“Oh? And..?” Matthias uninterestedly asked as he listened to the story.
“What do you mean ‘and’? Superman flew to save a kid from getting hit by a speeding truck! And it was super quick too!”
Apparently, on the day before, there was a speeding truck with its driver half drunk on the area nearby. A young boy was running on the street to catch a ball his friends threw when they were playing, and the truck was almost about to struck the boy... until Superman showed up from the sky above, land in front of the truck, stopped the truck with his hands, and then picked the boy and his toy ball back to his friends. Lastly, Superman checked on the truck and its driver to see if they’re fine, and it turns out; the truck is filled with some empty beer cans and bottles.
“Ahhh, poor kid... He didn’t get to get ‘isekai’d...” ‘And what a cliche! A young kid running on the street, chasing a ball, and is about to get hit by a speeding vehicle only to be saved by a hero.’ Matthias muttered inwardly.
“Hmmm, what did you say? He didn’t get the-sky-ed?”
“No~ no~, I’m just talking to myself... anyways; it seems that Superman has been helping many people, nowadays.”
“Amazing, isn’t he? I wonder if he’s some sort of a guardian deity, maybe even God himself! Maybe he’s sent here to become the protector of America.”
“Well, if that’s true, that would be great, wouldn’t it?” Matthias kept humoring Robert just by following the flow of the conversation and react by asking and answering at the proper place and time.
“It would be good if Superman can help us fight the war against those global terrorists and dictators and the like. The world would be so much better without violence.”
“Right? If only Superman can do that.” ‘Well, he could, but if he did so without a boundary to keep himself from doing something out of the line, then the ‘INJUSTICE’ timeline might just be around the corner, and we don’t need the Joker to nuke Metropolis to do that.’ Thought Matthias.
“Well, speaking about terrorists, I also remembered about the latest attack in middle east. Those Qurac militias have been bombing the military base station in Saudi.”
“Oh~.” Matthias sounded surprised, not because of the piece of news Robert just threw, but rather the fact that Robert somehow changed topic so abruptly, when he’s being excited by the news about Superman.
“Listen, Matthias, who the heck would openly admit on bombing military bases? It’s those damned terrorist, ya hear! I mean, those bases were being bombed without anyone ever noticed until it’s already too late, and somehow the Qurac militias just boasted about being able to silently bomb our military bases, and just stated that they will do the same? Hmph, their arrogance will one day end them with the help of the American military forces.”
Robert’s patriotic statements echoes in the quiet classroom they are in, and Matthias was flabbergasted... not because of Robert’s patriotism, but something else.
“That’s it! Rob, you’re a genius!” Matthias abruptly stood up.
“Huh? I am?”
“Yeah, I found the answer to my problem thanks to you!”
Matthias then gave a bro-hug to Robert, and then quick-walked away from the classroom.
“ ... what the hell just happened to Matthias..?”
...
Matthias went back to his safe house, entered his secret room, turned on his computer, and then started accessing the internet.
He started to full-boost his stat to his intelligence, enhancing them by many times, and started working on something on the internet. Thanks to his talking and humoring his friend, Robert, he has finally found a way to increase his relevancy.
“I’ll make myself an organization... a fake one, something that I can use to spread my persona’s name without the need to show myself in public. To do that, I need to create a fake organization, and then I may need to create more personas as its members. I’ll make myself stronger much easier and much quicker this way.”
Now, his mission to increase his power via relevancy will proceed.
