《Refill》 Chapter 1: Refill ¡®Humans show their true nature whenever they believe someone else is useless to them.¡¯ Was something Luc believed. He had seen this within his family, who saw him as a ¡®garbage human being¡¯, They didn¡¯t say this out loud, but Luc knew from how they spoke to him and treated him because he had no ability or wasn''t a magic user. At least that¡¯s what they thought. Luc did have an ability but from young he thought it was nothing special, even worthless, so he hid it. Now at an age of 24, he knew that had been the correct choice, but not because it was useless; it was because it was useful. Any box, wrapper or container that held a specific item could be refilled by him. He used it as a kid to have infinite candy. All went well until his sister threw the wrappers away, and he constantly lost his ticket to free candy. Fast-forward to the present, he only needs to buy things once as long as he keeps the box, wrapper or container, which was why his house was filled with ¡®trash¡¯. ¡°Heh, a trash place, perfect for a trash human like me.¡± He said after contemplating cleaning up and decided against it due to laziness. Luc¡¯s microwave had broken down 2 days ago. Normally an inconvenience for someone who mainly lived off junk food, but he still had the box the microwave came with. A simple activation of his ability and he had a new microwave of the same model as the one that broke down. He still had to deal with the broken microwave, but there were no expenses on his part. This was how he lived his life, especially with food, refilling the same wrappers and boxes to gain fresh food. It wasn''t a way to live is what he knew was the case, but there was a reason for why he lived like this. His family was well known for being ability and magic users. Their silent disdain and bad treatment had made him cut ties to them. But what would happen if they discovered he possessed an ability that could make him wealthy quite easily? There were other possibilities as well, but Luc was more interested in living life on his own terms. His lifestyle was a perfect disguise, as it made him appear useless while still maximizing the use of his ability. Unfortunately for him, he needed to get a shitty job to truly sell this deception while being efficient. Luc got up, stretched his body and grabbed his backpack. ¡°Another day at my garbage job¡­ at least I get to keep some of the boxes and trash there.¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Luc kicked empty bottles to the side that were on the floor, made it to the door and sighed as he looked outside. It was dark, as the sun had yet to rise. ¡°Even the sun isn¡¯t up yet, and they expect me to wake before the sun?¡± Another sigh left his mouth as he opened the door and met the chilly fresh air. He got on his bicycle and left for the terrain of Trashformers, the recycling firm he worked for. An empty bottle appeared, and his ability refilled it. ¡°Perfect, nothing beats a fresh sports drink, early in the morning!¡± The trip was monotone, and he had gone over this road many times before, so he hardly paid attention while drinking his peach flavored sports drink. It was early and almost nobody was outside. He never met anyone or any car on his way to work, but this day was different. Before he left the long street his small apartment was in, he noticed a man in his 50s with a strange cap with the letter ¡®N¡¯ on it, just watching him while nodding at him with a smile. Luc didn¡¯t think much of it as this man appeared to be walking his dog. ¡®The dog must have woken him up, and he decided to take it for a walk¡¯ He thought to himself. His bottle was empty by the time he took a left turn going through the woods, and he refilled his bottle. He was taking a risky shortcut which reduced his traveling time by 10 minutes. He used to drive into small pits or take wrong turns when he first started working at Trashformers, but not anymore. It was just a 5-minute shortcut, a dark and dangerous shortcut. Something appeared in the corner of his eye, which wasn¡¯t there when he turned his head. ¡°Did I see a man with red glowing horns or am I going crazy?¡± Luc shook his head as encountering people on his way to work was extremely rare, and with glowing horns? Luc laughed within himself and sped up. The woods cleared, and he spotted the small, near empty terrain of Trashformers. It was quite small, as the owner had started it not long before Luc started working there. Trashformers did things a bit different from was the norm. At least that was what Luc heard, but he was unsure what the norm was. ¡°Ahh, early as always, Luc! We have a location with a lot of plastic and paper. You have 3 hours to collect all the trash. The owner, Jack, handed Luc the keys of the trash van and an address. Jack whistled as he walked into a large container that had been repurposed as an office. ¡®Making the best out of trash and transform it into something beautiful¡¯ was the motto of Trashformers and Luc agreed. More or less. ¡°Why can¡¯t these people clean up their own trash and bring it here¡­¡± He complained as he got into the van. ¡°The radio broke again¡­.¡± Luc pulled his backpack toward him, pulled a masterly folded box out of it and unleashed his ability on it. The box returned to it¡¯s intended shape as it got refilled with an old radio he had once bought. The radio got taken out and the box got refolded and returned to his bag. ¡°Now let¡¯s find out what sort of trash I have to deal with today!¡± Chapter 2: Lucius Pashern Luc drove around through the empty streets, trying to find a restaurant that had closed. They were clearing out the place, but there was still a lot of trash left behind, which was where Trashformers came in, or more accurately; Luc. Luc changed the channel on the radio and found his favorite channel; one that recapped events from the day prior at ungodly early hours. ¡°The SAU cup has reached popularity never seen before! The fan favorite, Jonelle Pashern is to be expected to win the quarterfinals, but who else?! Cast your vote on¡­¡± Luc changed channel and sighed. ¡°So my sister is participating in the SAU, eh? Not very surprising as she is a magic user. We used to be so close when we were kids but now she treats me like trash¡­.¡± Another bottle got refilled and ingested as he put up some music. The Special Ability Union cup or SAU cup had made a resurgence as this generation of participants seem to be quite skilled and charismatic. Lucius Pashern¡¯s sister, Jonelle Pashern was one of the fan favorite. Not only because of her charisma, but also because she was a fire magic user. There was a clear distinction between an ability user and a magic user. Luc was an ability user. He could just refill. His sister could use one of the 5 elements freely. The use depended on the user''s creativity and control, and thus had been categorized as magic. Luc¡¯s ability was technically magic as well, but society deemed it more a special ability with various limitations and often unusable in combat. The ability users that did have combat oriented abilities often participated in the SAU cup. Luc was uninterested in his sister¡¯s achievements and continued driving to his destination but got met with a closed gate as he arrived. ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s strange. They should know that we were coming.¡± Luc got out of the van and looked around. ¡°There is nobody here¡­¡± The gate was just to keep people outside and was made out of bars so he could easily see what was behind it. ¡°I suppose nobody would mind.¡± Luc returned to the van, grabbed his backpack and pulled another folded box out of it. ¡°Let¡¯s get this right this time.¡± Luc identified a good spot next to the wall and stood on the box. Refill activated, causing the box to instantly unfold and refill slowly, which still launched him over the wall. Luc landed and rolled to lessen the impact. ¡°Ugh, I should increase the time the fridge need to refill¡­¡± Luc wasn¡¯t sure why fridges had boxes, but he was glad society decided to do so, as he used those to get over tall objects. He couldn''t use it too often as people would get confused when fridges in boxes start t pop up randomly. It wasn¡¯t something he could move after all, so it was there to stay. ¡°They can enjoy their free fridge if they notice. Now let¡¯s see¡­¡± Luc walked along the inner wall and found a panel controlling the gate. ¡°No code? Just a button? Works for me!¡± The gate opened slowly after Luc pressed the button and returned to the van and waited until the gate opened fully. He rubbed his elbow which had gotten scraped lightly at the roll after his landing. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing that I¡¯m not completely stupid, else my very first launching test would have killed me¡­¡± Luc thought back to the first time he tried the launching trick. He first tested it on a microwave and had the fridge refill near instantly. The microwave got launched so far in the sky that he couldn''t see it anymore, and he also didn''t see it fall. Whether it had escaped the atmosphere or launched far away was unknown to him, but it had been clear that refilling a fridge instantly breath him could kill him. The time of refill kept increasing in his test as did the test objects became heavier, and that¡¯s how he arrived at a safe launching refill of 20 seconds for a fridge. It was slow but would still push him in the air for quite the distance. The engine hummed as the van drove in and stopped in the parking lot close to the restaurant door. The fragrance of sharp spices and cooking oil assaulted his nose as he got out of the van and looked at the trash heap in front of the entrance. The place was messy and looked half abandoned. This wasn''t the case as the place was just cleared out and stripped bare. ¡°There is someone here, right? Is someone cooking, or are restaurants supposed to smell like this?¡± Luc had never visited a formal restaurant as it was supposed to be way too expensive for him. He also saw it as inefficient, as there was nothing he could bring back home to refill. ¡°Hello? I¡¯m here from Trashformers to turn your trash into¡­. Never mind, who believes this shit¡­.¡± Luc started collecting the trash in front of the building as he heard objects move aside and footsteps. A shriveled old woman opened the door with a skillet in her hands. ¡°Oh, how early! Come in come on in! The place is empty, but I tried to at least give you a warm meal in the cold morning!¡± the woman beckoned for Luc to come inside who hesitate. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m not allowed to accept any gifts from clients¡­¡± He said, as he continued cleaning up trash and dropping them into light blue trash bags. ¡°You¡¯re not? How about I add eating this healthy meal to the required conditions for you to buy my trash?¡± ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous, but maybe having a meal isn''t a terrible idea¡­.¡± ¡°Yes! Good! Strong young men should eat well o they have energy to go through the day1¡± Luc followed the old lady inside while continuously gathering trash. All the tables and chairs were knocked over. Some were even damaged to the point they could categorize as trash, but there was just 1 table and 1 chair standing. The table was what he expected from a restaurant and had cutlery and napkins ready to be used. ¡°Sit down, I¡¯m almost done!¡± The old lady went through the door and got met with some fragrant smoke. A strange language escaped from the lady as she rushed inside and closed the door. ¡°It looks as if a fight had broken out here¡­¡± The floor was filled with table cloths made out of paper, napkins, plastic cups, shattered plate shards, wood chips, but also a lot of sludge that had been food at some point in time. ¡°Yuck¡­¡± Luc replaced his gloves and stared collecting the trash.. One bag for plastic, another for paper, one for wood and the rest was what he presumed to be organic waste. He went back and forth, loading the trash bags in the van, neatly ordering the trash bags according to what type of trash it held. It was a lot of work, but he knew he would have to sort the trash when he returned to Trashformers and working with the sorting machine was something he absolutely hated. He would rather sort them beforehand. ¡°No useful boxes or wrappings¡­ what a bummer.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Luc had been collecting trash for a good 40 minutes when the door to the kitchen opened and the old lady came in with a cart with 3 plates on them and loaded them on to the table. ¡°It took longer than I expected but dig in.¡± The woman said with a warm smile before looking around. ¡°Oh, you didn¡¯t sit still.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Luc wiped his forehead, got rid of his gloves and sat down. He was unsure what he was looking at, but food was food, it couldn''t possibly be worse than his junk food diet, right? The aroma coming from the food was similar to what he smelled when he arrived. His mouth got filled with a complicated explosion of flavors he had never tasted before. His hands sped up and eating turned into ¡®shoveling food into his face¡¯. ¡°It seems that you like it. That was the specialty of our restaurant but¡­ my husband had a gambling problem and lost all the money we made, and some troublesome debt collectors ruined this place so we had to close¡­¡± Luc didn¡¯t say anything. He just ate and listened. The scenario sounded like that of a movie, but many ability users acted as if they got a free pass to do whatever they wanted, so it wasn''t surprising. He had jobs where he had to collect trash at places where gang wars had completely destroyed buildings or an aftermath of an unofficial race. Society couldn''t manage the portion of the population that could use abilities that well, but it was still functioning, which was good enough for Luc. ¡°Thank you for the meal and I¡¯m sorry for what happened, but I have a job to do. Can I treat these napkins as trash as well?¡± The old lady nodded and collected the empty plates. ¡°You can take the paper tablecloth as well. Thank you for listening to an old woman¡¯s story.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, everyone has their problems. I assume the kitchen has trash as well?¡± The old lady led Luc to the kitchen which was filled with the scent of aromatic spices and got pointed to every trashcan and anything else he could take with him.
Luc closed the back of the van, walked to the front and sat behind the wheel, exhausted. It was already noon. This had taken way longer than he had expected. Unfortunately for him, his job wasn¡¯t done yet. ¡°I hate the sorting process¡­¡± Luc complained as he grabbed his empty bottle and refilled it. ¡°Let¡¯s see, I sneakily used my ability to refill that lady¡¯s favorite sauce and on some bottles she thought were empty. That puts me on 14 out of the 32 uses for today¡­¡± Luc exhaled and did some calculations in his head. Would he be able to reach the end of the day before hitting his limit of refills? Was what he was trying to find out. There was no difference between refilling a small bottle or a box that once held a fridge, each refill consumed 1 use. Most of Luc¡¯s daily refills got used on refilling his bottle of sports drink or energy drink, depending on his mood. ¡°It should be fine. I just have to be more careful and drink water or tea when I return.¡± Luc checked his backpack and counted the folded boxes within. ¡°I need to find some more later. Let¡¯s hope I can find them at Trashformers.¡± The van started, and he drove off, back to Trashformers. The streets were now busy, and the relatively short drive turned frustratingly long as Luc had to deal with terrible drivers, slow drivers, poorly thought out intersections which caused minor traffic jams and some ability users that used their speed to get around and used the road. These ability users were the most dangerous elements on the roads, as they weaved between the cars and easily caused accidents when they got careless or cocky. They were still categorized as pedestrians, so the messed up system would always have the driver be at blame when something happened. ¡°The early hours are a blessing and a curse¡­¡± Luc tapped impatiently on his wheel as the traffic light in front of him had turned green but the car in front of him wasn''t moving. Other cars made noise with their horns, so Luc found i unnecessary to use his. The car finally moved, but the traffic lights turned red when he came close to crossing the intersection. ¡°This is so frustrating¡­ this is how normal people turn into villains¡­¡± His chance came when the light turned green, and he escaped the poor drivers as he turned into a near empty road; the road leading up to Trashformers. There were no residents or important buildings on this road, which made it so empty. It also bordered the woods which was the subject of many bad rumors as it was unusually dark, even during daytime. The large logo of a trashcan turned into a mecha robot came in sight, indicating that he had reached his destination. The van parked near the large outdoor sorting machine, and Luc sighed and reached for his empty bottle. He hesitated, but still refilled it. He looked at the seat besides him, which had a small trash bag filled with glass bottles he had collected from the restaurant. Some were from alcoholic beverages, but others were from some unknown drink. It looked interesting and exotic, so he would try them at home some day. ¡°Come on, Luc, you can do it, just 2 more hours.¡±He said to motivate himself. Luc greeted his coworker Josh and started emptying some bags in the sorter. These were what he called the ¡®uncertain¡¯ bags, as trash of unknown composition went into these. Also trash that contained both plastic and paper or any combination of types that normally get put apart. ¡°Hard at work I see, you look exhausted!¡± Josh said. Luc nodded and went to work, The assorted hummed, sputtered and stopped working. ¡°Ah right, Jack said that it¡¯s out of mana and asked if you could power it up like you always do!¡± One of he reasons he hated sorting presented itself. This machine had been made by the Lambert organization. An organization that had ability users create products with special properties. They made almost anything. This sorter was one of them, as it would ¡®magically¡¯ split composite trash and highlight what it needed to be sorted into. It was the worker s job to actually place these highlighted items in the correct bin, however. It also needed mana so an ability user or magic user needed to kickstart it which would cause Luc¡¯s refill uses to decrease. Neither Josh nor his boss Jack were ability users, so only Luc could wake this machine he hated so much. The beast got fed and started to split and highlight the out coming trash for Luc to sort. He had been left with only 8 uses of the day, and now regretted refilling bottles and canisters for the old lady. His dinner would be tight. The mind-numbing sorting and moving pallets of sorted and shredded junk continued for 2 hours, which ended his shift. He didn''t say anything, he got on his bicycle and left. It was just a normal day, a day like any other and an unfulfilling one. He drove into the woods to avoid traffic. The 10-minute shortcut in the morning was now a 30-minute shortcut, as traffic was quite bad at this time of the day. Despite it being daytime, the visibility was poor, but Luc kept riding as he knew this shortcut by heart. He stopped however as, yet again, he saw a man with red glowing horns in the corner of his eyes. ¡°Is someone here?¡± he said as he looked around to find nothing. What had appeared to be a normal day appeared to be slightly off. What he saw on his way to work could have been his imagination, but he had seen it again this time. ¡°Maybe¡­ I should go home and avoid trouble¡­¡± Luc turned toward his bicycle to get the scare of his life as the man he thought had been an imagination was walking toward him. There was still some distance so Luc got on his bicycle, turned around and raced off. His heart raced as he kept going and going. He returned to the street near Trashformers and took the route through the city. He looked around in paranoia despite being in traffic, checking for the man with red glowing horns.
Luc collapsed on his couch, completely exhausted. He had locked the door and windows as that horned man had completely terrified him. ¡°What was that¡­ that wasn''t a human, was it?¡± It was possible for ability users to look a bit different due to their ability, but those cases were rare and often minor. Most magic and ability users were and looked human. What Luc saw could be argued to be something else. Luc picked up his phone but put it down after thinking about it. ¡°Nobody would believe me¡­ they would rather ask me what I was doing in the woods¡­Not because I live at the edge of the city and it''s between my house and my job means that I HAVE to go through it¡­¡± He sighed and looked for the bag of bottles he had put aide to take home from work, and realized that he had left it at Trashformers. ¡°Fuck! Josh would probably throw those bottles with the glass as it looks like junk¡­ What a garbage day¡­¡± The TV went on, and he watched a SAU fight absentmindedly while going through plastic wrappers and small boxes, trying to decide what junk food to eat. ¡°Let''s go for pizza.¡± 2 frozen pizza boxes got refilled and placed in the oven. He then refilled a 2 liter soda bottle so he had something to drink. ¡°Just 5 uses left. Let''s hope I won''t get hungry again.¡± Luc waited for his pizzas to be done while watching a fight between a fire magic user and an ability user that could switch places with his target. The ability user swapped places right before the fire would hit him, putting the fire user in a bind. ¡°How will that ability user deal with physical attackers, though¡­.¡± The fight slowed down as the fire user became cautious and the ability user had lost his way of dealing damage. ¡°I wonder if I¡­ never mind, that will just draw attention¡­¡± Luc clenched his fist as he emptied his cup and grabbed the soda bottle to find out he had already emptied the soda bottle. ¡°Water or more soda¡­. Do I have tea? But tea with pizza¡­.¡± The soda bottle got refilled, and he held off his soda until the pizzas had heated up enough for consumption. He looked through the window as the sky was darkening. He didn''t feel as if he had done a lot, and the sun was already setting. He would normally be able to enjoy some day time, but his trip home had taken way longer than normal. ¡°Ah right, tomorrow morning is when trash gets collected from that rich area. They won¡¯t need their empty boxes anyway!¡± Luc finished his dinner, emptied his backpack and got ready for his biweekly outing, which involved collecting empty boxes from the rich area. It always got him something nice as his TV had been part of his loot in the past. Some rich person had bought the newest TV and put the box of the TV to be picked up by the garbage trucks. Chapter 3: Horned Man Luc waited till 22:00 before leaving the house. He didn¡¯t live far from the rich neighborhood, so he preferred to walk because he didn¡¯t know how many boxes he would return with, and a bicycle was in his opinion a bit impractical. Moreover, it was just a 30-minute walk, no big deal for him. He had thought of staying home due to that encounter with that strange horned man, but the reward of these biweekly raids on rich people¡¯s trash was too hard to pass on. The first thing Luc saw when entering the rich neighborhood were how 3 large boxes stuck out like sore thumbs. ¡°Are those boxes of fridges?! Lucky!¡± Luc didn''t understand rich people. They didn''t fold their boxes, nor did they have issues to show off what they had bought like this. It worked out for him, however. Luc collected and neatly folded the fridge boxes. ¡°I need a cart or one of those Lambert backpacks that are bigger on the inside than the outside¡­¡± These 3 boxes completely filled Luc¡¯s backpack and made him consider only taking 1. ¡°Let¡¯s see what else I can find.¡± Luc avoided the well lit areas on purpose, as he didn¡¯t know who could be watching. ¡°Microwaves, toasters. What is this? A Roomba? I doubt that it can clean my place though¡­ ¡± There were also many boxes he deemed worthless like automatic litter boxes, lawnmowers and ceiling fans. 2 fridge boxes got abandoned to make space for the smaller, more practical boxes. Cans and bottles weren¡¯t safe either. A door opened and Luc hid in the shadows. A man left his house, pressed on something in his hand, and the lights of a fancy white car blinked. The man got in, started the engine and drove off. ¡°I wish they sold cars in boxes¡­.¡± Luc scanned the street, but there were no such things at boxes for cars. Luc continued until he was getting close to being encumbered and made plans of returning when he heard a strange buzzing sound. ¡°Bugs? No, this sounds different.¡± Luc¡¯s curiosity won out and followed his ears to the space between the garden hedges of 2 houses. Luc¡¯s eyes widened as he was looking at a light purple energy disk. The disk deformed slightly and a man with red horns stepped out. Luc¡¯s body froze, even though he tried to flee. Countless thoughts went through his head. But the most important one was ¡®run¡¯. The man looked different from the one he had seen earlier today, but that didn''t matter, this certainly was bad! The man turned his head and noticed Luc, who wore a bulky backpack and was holding 2 large trash bags. ¡°You don¡¯t live here, do you?¡± the man said in an overly deep voice. It wasn¡¯t English, but he still understood it perfectly, as if a voice in his head translated it. The hand of the man glowed as it stretched toward Luc, who instantly reacted. ¡°Take this!¡± Luc threw a garbage bag at the man and ran for his life. The sound of clattering cans and bottles, paired with an angry grunt, got heard behind him. Luc looked behind him as a strange purple energy in the form of a large hand was extending toward him and gaining on him. Luc didn¡¯t blink twice and flung the other garbage bag at it which got grabbed and crushed. The purple hand disappeared, however. ¡°Not so threatening now without your ability, eh?¡± Luc went around the corner, confident that his ability to run fast would cause him to lose the horned man, to find the horned man hop out of a purple portal in front of him. ¡°Hey come on, that¡¯s not fair¡­¡± The horned man stretched his arm again, and Luc dove to the side. ¡°What do these rich people drink? Can¡¯t they hear something is going on in their street?! Luc complained as purple buzzing energy rushed at the spot he had been moments before and crashed into a red car and set off its alarm. It was as if everyone was asleep or couldn¡¯t hear the noise. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Another purple hand extended for Luc, but he had no more garbage bags to throw. Luc pulled the fridge box out of his backpack, slammed it on the ground, stood on it and refilled it, causing the large fridge to launch him upward and to eliminate the purple hand as it grabbed and crushed the fridge. Another folded box got pulled out of Luc¡¯s backpack, which he threw like a frisbee after his refill ability got used on it. The folded box, which now had refilled into a box containing a microwave, flew at the horned man while spinning at great speed and landed a direct hit on the man¡¯s forehead. Luc made an ugly landing, but he didn''t care. The horned man laid on the ground with his forehead bleeding and possibly knocked out. Luc looked around briefly to ensure nobody was really watching and turned around, not knowing that he was being watched. Luc just ran. He ran and ran, back home. Locked the door behind him and leaned against the door after putting his backpack down and catching his breath. His hands shook and he tried to calm down. It was his third encounter with a strange horned man, and he was sure now; they weren¡¯t human. Were they aliens? What did they want? And why has nobody mentioned seeing them. If he saw 3 on one day, surely others would have seen them too, right? ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m calling in sick¡­¡± Luc didn¡¯t feel like going out the next morning, so he called Jack, but nobody answered the phone. Luc crawled over the floor, through empty bottles, boxes and wrappers and got to the table which he used as support to stand ho and sat in a chair and opened the laptop that was on the table. It was an expensive laptop which he got for free, it had been the loot of nights like these. But that night had been uneventful, unlike this one. He navigated through the laptop and emailed his boss, hands still shaking. ¡°Done¡­¡± Luc clenched his fists to make the shaking stop. "It''s 23:27, I will get all my uses back in 33 minutes." Luc leaned to the side to find a bottle. He had the habit of drinking something when he felt tired or uneasy. Just 3 uses left, but that wouldn''t be a problem, he thought. His foot extended and rolled a bottle towards him which he picked up. ¡°Water? Well it''s better than nothing¡­¡± The bottle refilled, and he gulped it down as if he had been dehydrated. ''I need to address this habit'' was what he thought when he heard a particular buzzing sound and a purple portal appeared in front of him. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°No, no, no! How did he find me?!" A bloodied angry horned man stepped out and Luc instantly dove under the table as a purple hand came for him. ¡°I¡­ I need to stall till midnight!¡± Luc was terrified, but the horned man had made a crucial mistake; this was Luc''s home, filled with trash, trash he could refill. The only problem was that he had 2 uses left till midnight. Luc flipped the table and rolled to a pike of boxes. ¡°Where are they? I always expected to use this against nosy family members or random bullies, not an alien!" Luc was like many men of his age a bit of an idiot, often fantasizing how he would beat up intruders or heroically save an attractive woman. Be it lucky or unlucky, he could now act upon this delusion. 2 boxes of clothes irons appeared, and he took them out of the boxes after refilling them and dual wielded. The horned man scoffed and sent purple energy at Luc who dove to the side, closed in and swing his right iron at the man who blocked with his arm. A left iron uppercut hit the jaw of the horned man, who staggered and bled even more. Luc disengaged, as he only needed to stall. His heart races, not only from fear but also a bit of excitement. ¡°Where are my fridge boxes?¡± Luc swung his right iron to deflect a purple bolt and got flung into the wall. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± "Your tricks won''t work on me!¡± The horned man said, with one hand on his jaw and another stretched out, gathering a mass of dark purple and black energy. "Heh, seems it worked just fine!¡± Luc pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. "23:35?! A bad time for time to crawl by!¡± Luc hyperventilated and tried to calm down. He focused on the energy ball gathering to find the correct moment to evade. He needed to get to the kitchen, grab 2 fridge boxes and survive to midnight. Could he do it? The horned man yelled and the ball of death shot toward Luc. ¡°Now!" Luc rolled toward the door and flung an iron at the horned man, who appeared to have the special ability to take blows with his head as Luc landed a successful headshot. The impact made an ugly sound as it also hit a horn, and a demonic scream escaped from the man''s throat. It struck fear in Luc and just motivated him more to survive. Luc tumbled into his kitchen and grabbed 2 folded fridge boxes. He was about to leave when his eyes fell on his broken down microwave. ¡°How about a last act of service?" The broken microwave got carried under his arm as he unlocked the door and fled outside. The ¡®thuds¡¯ he heard behind him indicated that he was being followed and purple light coming from behind him indicated that he was being targeted. Luc placed a box on the ground, spun around and flung the broken microwave at the horned man, who unfortunately for Luc had learned how to evade. A glance at his phone told him that he needed to stall for 19 more minutes. ¡°So, uhhm¡­ how about we chat for a bit?¡± "Die¡­" the man growled as 4 purple hands shot out and came at Luc from 4 sides. Should he fling his remaining iron, or should he go back inside to get more boxes? His perceived advantage hadn''t been as great as he had thought, as his messy house was even messier now and several boxes had been destroyed. Yet again, nobody in the street noticed the sounds as the horned man was yelling angrily. ¡°Maybe this is also part of his ability? But¡­ that means that nobody is going to help me¡­¡± Luc flung his iron at the hand coming from his left and ran into that same direction. The hand grabbed the iron, crushed it and disappeared, creating an escape route for Luc. Luc ran away and turned 180¡ã as a purple portal opened in front of him, allowing him to run back inside. ¡°Bottles, boxes, anything I can get!¡± He grabbed anything that was nearby and stuffed them into his large backpack and ran back outside as yet another portal appeared. ¡°It would be nice if he used his legs like anyone else¡­¡± Luc complained as he flung an empty bottle at an extending purple hand. He did not expect it to work as it wasn''t heavy, but the bottle got grabbed and crushed before the magic hand disappeared. ¡°So it had that weakness¡­¡± Luc panted as he tried to catch his breath. Luc tried to think of a plan. He knew how to win the moment he could use his ability again, but he had to survive until then. He didn''t need the bottles to win, only the fridge boxes. The horned man wasn''t aware of his ability as he had only used it on the irons, and the horned man hadn''t paid much attention to when Luc did so. ¡°11 minutes¡­¡± " Stop scurrying around, you can''t win this¡­¡± Luc was afraid, but the appearance of the horned man suggested something different. His forehead and temple were bleeding, and his jaw was a bit crooked. Meanwhile, Luc had collected just a few scratches from diving and rolling around. He was aware that getting hit meant the end, however. ¡°So uhm, how about you tell me why you''re doing this maybe¡­¡± Luc got an instant answer as countless black and purple energy balls charged up. ¡°I should watch less TV¡­ this always works in those TV series¡­¡± Luc couldn''t remember if these energy balls had the same weaknesses as the hands, but he didn''t want to find out and ran down the street and pulled out his phone. ¡°My phone didn''t turn into garbage, did it? I''m sure that was longer than 3 minutes!" The expected portal opened and Luc turned around after flinging a glass bottle. A shatter sound and an angry yell confirmed a hit, and Luc didn''t need a lot of imagination to know that he landed another headshot. He knew that he looked silly, running around with an enormous backpack with trash sticking out, but it was needed for survival. Embarrassment was better than death. No portal appeared, to Luc''s surprise, so he looked back to find that the man was running toward him with his feet clad in dark purple energy. ¡°So his portals have a limit, too? Good to know but a bit late¡­¡± A glance at his phone told him that he needed 3 more minutes. It was enough to set up his plan. He ran back to his house and sat down to catch his breath in the door opening. The horned man reached at midnight, panting heavily. " Stopped¡­running around like a rat eh?" He said overconfident as he slowed down to also catch his breath. ¡°I decided to fight back!¡± Luc said as he got up and pulled the fridge box out of his oversized backpack. ¡°I would advise you to not get closer or else!¡± " Else what? You will box me in? Hahaha!¡± Luc pointed the box at the man and moved to the side, carefully to not give away that he wanted the horned man to step on the fridge box he had placed, the first time he fled from his home. "Come on, then! I''m waiting!¡± The man taunted as he slowly walked towards Luc. The horned man''s footsteps made a different sound as he stepped on the box and looked down. Luc threw the box in his hand like a frisbee and activated his ability, the moment the thrown box was right above the horned man. "Get fridged!¡± Both the boxes responded to Luc''s refill ability and blood exploded outward as the horned man got crushed between 2 fridges ¡®that came out of nowhere¡¯. Luc was out of range of the gore and exhaled deeply. The stacked fridges and gory splatter was in the middle of the road and people would surely notice, but Luc didn''t care. He went back inside and locked the door. Strange things happen on a regular basis in his, but this might be strange enough to gain a lot of attention. ¡°I''m definitely staying home after all that¡­¡± Luc spent an hour cleaning up and reached for an empty bottle but hesitated. Careless use of his ability had almost gotten him killed. He couldn''t have known that he would get attacked, but that horned man wouldn''t have cared. Luc yawned and decided that 1 refill should be fine. It had been a long day and Luc drank to unwind.
Loud ringing woke Luc, who rubbed his head and got up. ¡°Ugh, it seems I didn''t make it to my bed last night¡­¡± Luc closed the half full bottle, which was spreading a strong smell. He sniffed himself, confirmed that he didn''t smell all too weird, and opened the door. " Good morning, sir, we would like to ask you if you heard or saw anything last night.¡± ¡°Last night?¡± Luc asked, while still groggy and covering his mouth as he yawned. The short man in a uniform stepped aside so Luc could see the barricaded street and uniformed men investing the strange sight of stacked fridges with dark red and red brown gore between and around them. ¡°Huh? What''s that?" Luc tried to get a better look, but the short man stepped in front of him. He stood on his toes to look over the man and observe the men in uniforms. ¡°It seems that you don''t know anything. We would advise you to stay home for at least today. Notify your employer, employees or clients. We need to ensure that the culprit doesn''t claim more lives.¡± ¡°Uhh ok¡­¡± The short man nodded, left and went to Luc''s neighbors. Luc kept it subtle but was trying to find out if the neighbors saw or heard anything, but they didn''t. Luc sighed in relief, was about to go back inside when he noticed the man with the ¡®N¡¯ on his cap walking his dog and waving at him. Luc waved back and noticed that the man was saying something, but since he was on the other side of the street, he assumed it wasn¡¯t meant for him. ¡°What a strange man.¡± Luc said to himself as he went back inside and refilled a soda bottle. ¡°I also need to use less refills on drinks or¡­ level up¡­¡± Luc, just like most ability users, were level 0, the base level. Level 1 would have his ability upgrade, level 2 would do the same and level 3 was theorized, but nobody had reached it. Some say level 3 become gods, others say it will remove all limitations from your ability, while a large part just thinks it doesn''t exist. Luc¡¯s ability didn¡¯t have many things he could control, only the refill speed and amount of times he can use it per day, so he would just expect to refill more often as a level, but nobody knew what they would get once they would level up. That event of the previous night made Luc consider being more careful about his ability usage and carry boxes around in case this would happen again. He was unsure how wise this was, however, as it might be a one-off thing. Luc yawned and rubbed his eyes. ¡°Why am I still so tired?¡± His hand reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. ¡°What?! 6:39?! Why are they harassing people so early?!" Luc put his phone to charge, took a shower and went to bed. ¡°I''m not allowed outside anyway, might as well make great use of this.¡± Chapter 4: A Day with Trash Luc woke up in the afternoon and tripped over a poorly folded box. "Ouch¡­ I''m collecting scratches and bruises¡­¡± Luc inspected the various scratches he had gotten the day before and the new bruise. ¡°Maybe I should clean up a bit¡­¡± The first target was to clean up his room. Every box got folded neatly and sorted. Every box that didn''t need to be in his room got moved to the living room. His room got several stacks of folded boxes, each stack for each type of appliance or product. Empty deodorant cans and bottles of hygiene related products were placed in his room and bathroom as if they weren''t empty. The living room collected stacks of tv boxes, laptop boxes, air humidifier boxes and other appliances, both objectively useful and subjectively useless. Luc looked at a vacuum cleaner box in his hands. ¡°Maybe I should use this¡­¡± Luc cleared the floor of anything a vacuum cleaner couldn''t deal with and started vacuuming after refilling the box. "How long has it been since I cleaned?¡± He couldn''t remember the last time he did. His place had never been cleaned since he moved in a year ago. Luc hunted down any bottles or containers belonging to cleaning products and started to refill and clean. The residence of Luc which resembled a garbage dump slowly turned into something that resembled a space where a human being lived in. Everything a normal person would categorize as garbage was categorized neatly. The folded boxes were stacked against the walls. Wrappers had their own drawer or jar. Bottles were stored in large bags, each bag for a different type of beverage. Everything got sorted so he had an easy time grabbing ¡®trash¡¯ the nest time a horned man invaded his home. ¡°I should have done this months ago.¡± Luc panted as he wiped his forehead and admired his livable space. ¡°But maan, this is tiring¡­ I suppose I should go to bed early.¡± It was late in the evening and Luc had over half his refill uses left so he started refilling some items in his pantry and fridge before getting something to drink and went to bed.
Friday, one of Luc¡¯s favorite days as he didn¡¯t have to work on Fridays, effectively giving him a longer weekend. A strange sight met him as he got up; a clean room. He scratched his head and did the usual morning routine; dressing, breakfast and brushing his teeth. The ringing of the doorbell disturbed him, causing him to sigh. ¡°I sure hope that''s Genie else this is 100% going to be a garbage encounter." The door opened and one of the few women he hated was in front of the door. "Hang up my coat will you?¡± Luc''s aunt said as she pushed her coat into his hands as she walked in. His 2 cousins followed and also pushed their coats into his arms. ¡°Well isn''t that interesting? Your garbage dump has transformed into just a mere pigsty.¡± He heard from the living room. "You''re not welcome here, leave.¡± Luc said in a low voice. "I can''t hear you if you keep barking from the corridor. Look Gerard and Travis, this is what happens if you fail to meet the Pashern standards!¡± "Disgusting!¡± "Very persuasive, mother. I will ensure I don''t end up like Luc the rat, hahaha!¡± Luc controlled himself and witnessed how his cousins were burning his ¡®trash¡¯. ¡°What are you doing?! I need those! Get out!" Luc yelled as he pointed at the door. ¡°Make me!" Travis said as fire engulfed his lean body. Luc scanned the room to find something he could use but dropped the thought as he was in this situation because he wanted to hide his ability from his family. ¡°So what did you come here to do, Dania?" "That is aunt Dania for you!¡± Dania said with a condescending look. ¡°I came here to remind my sons of your trash life so they don''t end up like you." ¡°The message is clear, now leave." Luc said as he again pointed at the door. ¡°Why hasn''t this failure been banished from the city, mother?" ¡°For moments like these, dear Travis, to serve as a reminder. By the way, Luc, my sister has arranged a program for you. I don''t know why she keeps trying but she''s convinced that you will awaken your ability this time, hahaha!" Dania threw a folder to the floor and kicked it toward Luc. ¡°Anyway, we''ve lingered for too long, Lucas, our coats.¡± ¡°The name is Lucius and grab them yourselves, use those hands of yours." An oppressive aura filled the room, as did the sound of crackling lightning. " I would mind the way I speak if I were you, rat!¡± Luc flew through the room as a lightning flash hit him, and caused him to crash into a wall. ¡°Let¡¯s go, lest his stench and incompetence will rub off on us.¡± Luc¡¯s family members disappeared as abruptly as they came, and Luc sat slumped against the wall with several electrical burns. ¡°What am I even supposed to do against arrogant magic users like that¡­ Why is my life so shit? Should I just escape? But where to?¡± Luc¡¯s shaking hands reached for his pocket in an attempt to call his friend but noticed that his phone had been fried. ¡°Stupid Dania, I liked this phone¡­now all my stuff is gone¡­¡± Luc tried to make the device work, but it appeared unsalvageable to him. ¡°Should I ask Genie to fix it? But how do I contact him without a phone¡­¡± Luc glanced at the laptop on his table, which also had gotten hit by his aunt¡¯s display of lightning magic. ¡°I hate this¡­ Time for plan B¡­¡± Plan B got put on hold as Luc¡¯s body hurt and he had difficulties getting up. He knew that his aunt had gone easy on him but he had hoped she would have done such a bit more. His day had been ruined, just that visit worsened Luc¡¯s mood severely. ¡°Why can''t they just leave me alone? I already removed myself from their lives¡­¡± The folder his aunt had thrown to the ground drew his attention and he moved his leg, trying to reach it. It took effort but his stretched out leg managed to get on top of it so he could slide it toward himself. ¡°An ability awakening bootcamp? Mom, are you insane? Those things are expensive, dangerous and never work!¡± Luc said angrily as he threw the folder aside. His mother was like his aunt but possibly more devious. Whatever the outcome was of that bootcamp would be beneficial for his mother. He would either ¡®awaken¡¯ his ability or he would die and they would be rid of him and if he managed to survive without awakening an ability, he would owe his family a massive sum of money. To flee or to stay? The numbness in his body faded and he slowly got up and staggered toward the couch. ¡°I sure am getting assaulted a lot¡­¡± The weakness in his hands persisted and he sighed before turning on the tv. ¡°Just my luck I now have to watch another family member¡­¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Luc wanted to watch the SAU fights, but his sister was currently starting her first round out of 3. Fire and lightning users were common in his family. Because of this, the Pashern family could be seen as an elite family but all Luc saw was a family of elite assholes. Anyone unlucky enough to be born without an ability got isolated or ostracized, and the ability users got put under watchful eyes to determine whether they would help his family or not. Luc wasn''t aware of the atrocities his family had committed but he could understand that the were quite a few. His sister Jonelle was 1 year older than him, but he had heard that his mother¡¯s first child was a boy. What happened to Luc¡¯s so-called brother was unknown, as he never met him or heard of him. The rumor was going around that he was born without an ability and abandoned or killed before his first birthday. That was the type of people the Pashern family was, and Luc wanted nothing to do with them. His father had been married into the family but his ability was deemed useless when Luc was 7, and he got kicked out. No real explanation. His mother and aunt suddenly decided his ability wasn''t good enough, and he got kicked out. The crowd cheered as his sister launched her opponent in the air and barraged the hopeless man while midair, granting her a swift victory for the first round. ¡°Who even thinks he has a chance while fighting a Pashern¡­¡± Luc tried to curb his pity as the charred body of the poor fool got treated by ability users that could heal. He would get up as long as he didn''t die instantly. There were other families like the Pashern, all families one shouldn''t mess with, but Luc¡¯s family was considered to be the most aggressive. Luc¡¯s sister had such a condescending expression, which made Luc hate her even more. ¡°Why don¡¯t they just let her win, that poor man has to endure getting roasted again¡­¡± The next round started with Jonelle¡¯s opponent all healed up and ready for combat. The fight started, and he instantly ran away, causing Luc¡¯s sister to chase him. The man suddenly stopped, turned around, put out his arms and got wet. ¡°That¡¯s his ability? Getting wet?¡± The sea of flames engulfed the man who just stood there, arms outstretched and being wet. Luc¡¯s sister scoffed and called for the healers but¡­ The man emerged from the flames, nearly unharmed! The crowd got wild and t caught Luc by surprise but he knew this would be bad news. ¡°He should have taken the loss, annoying my sister won¡¯t end well¡­¡± The orange flames turned blue, and the man tried to surrender but was too late. Intense blue flames engulfed the arena, and a siren went off as staff members rushed in to put out the fire and extract the poor man from the flames. ¡°That¡¯s why you just concede if you hear you have to fight her¡­¡± Luc wondered how this even was a fair tournament with his sister in it but that wasn¡¯t exactly his problem. The sponsors and management would probably have either no clue or some corruption going on and know she will win. ¡°Does she really have to ruin the fun for everyone?! Why can¡¯t my family act normal?!¡± Luc turned off the TV, frustrated, as watching the SAU was pointless if he knew that his overpowered sister would probably win. ¡°Maybe a magic user of the Solaan family could stand a chance but¡­ they don¡¯t seem to like conflict and live closer to the water¡­¡± Luc¡¯s only hope for having his sister get beat up was a strong water magic user but those were rare and didn''t like to participate in these types of activities so the chance was near 0. The most dominant group were the ability users, who wanted to prove that they could be as strong or useful as magic users. Luc knew he stood no realistic chance were he to participate. If he were to face his sister even less, as she could just incinerate all the trash he was carrying. Luc tried to think of the perfect ability which could be strong enough to beat his sister but also win from others. ¡°Maybe Genie could? But he would probably do something stupid and lose in the first few matches¡­ Why is his ability so strong, yet often useless¡­¡± Luc sighed but wasn''t jealous of his friend¡¯s ability as he would rather have his own. He got the strength, got up and started patching himself up and cleaning up the slight mess his detestable aunt had made. ¡°Ugh stupid cousins! Did they steal my glass bottles?!¡± Luc tried to find some fancy glass bottles he had put to the side but they were gone. ¡°One day¡­ one day I will get them¡­¡± An empty laptop box got refilled and Luc altered the settings on his new laptop to make it ¡®Luc friendly¡¯ and started to write an email to his friend. ¡°Yoo, Genie! How are you and your hardware store doing? Do you have any interesting boxes for me? Also, when you have time, can I hop by? I kinda got injured¡­again. Aand send!¡± The email was sent, but Luc knew his friend. It could take a week before it got read and he got a reply. ¡°I should get my shit together¡­ how long will I hide from my family¡­ is disappearing on them realistic? They could expend a lot of resources if they wanted to find me. Would they though? My mother and aunt are unpredictable, so maybe? Do I have other options? Get taken in by another powerful family? Hahaha no way that¡¯s going to happen, why would they take in garbage like me? Hahaha!¡± The self-deprecating laugh died down and Luc clenched his fist. He was stuck, but had no idea how to get out. He wasn''t living in a fairytale, so nobody was going to pull him out of this mess, he needed to take action himself but¡­ how? ¡°Is participating and winning the SAU the only option? Surely it isn¡¯t right?¡± Luc dropped his head in his hands as he was unable to come with a solution. Winning the SAU wasn''t the only option, but fame and money could help him a lot, both of which were attainable by participating. He didn¡¯t need to win to gain fame, but money wouldn''t become an issue for the top rankers. His sister obviously wasn''t participating for the money as the family was backing her, she did it to gain fame. ¡°Maybe Genie and his wacky ability can help.¡± Luc gave up on thinking of solutions and would bet on his friend to help out. ¡°Since I''ve gotten in trouble twice within 2 days, I should consider practicing for when this happens again. Luc willed his sore body to move and made space in his living room. ¡°The irons were a great idea.¡± 2 boxes got refilled and Luc used the irons in his hand as if they were gauntlets and started shadowboxing. ¡°Too bad I can¡¯t turn them on but they should pack a punch!¡± The shadowboxing continued until his arms got tired and he was forced to take a break. ¡°What else can I use? Fridges will always work but it would limit me and fridge boxes are quite large¡­¡± A memory popped up of where he threw a box like a frisbee and had it refill midair so he started practicing throwing folded boxes without refilling them. ¡°My accuracy is fine. Just defense and close combat are the issue¡­ I think Travis likes to fight close range. Do I even have something to protect me from my aunt''s lightning?¡± Luc couldn''t think of anything but he decided that it wouldn''t matter as he probably couldn''t react to it even if he could. ¡°I''ll just find some shoe boxes of rubber shoes, maybe my Trashformers gloves would work in addition to that." Luc wore his black working gloves which should protect his hands from almost anything. He resumed shadow boxing with the irins, then swung around curling irons and eventually arrived at his favorite: the toasters. He had better grip on them with his gloves and because he could grab it at the slots where toast was supposed to go, it felt more like a boxing glove. ¡°These must pack a punch! But¡­¡± Luc put the toasters down and inspected them. " Maybe I should find sturdier toasters.¡± The toasters went back on and he tried to swing them, while also having the power cord act like weapons. It could become a weakness as someone could grab on it and pull him in. Luc had a lot of fun until embarrassment crept up on him and he put the appliances away. "I''m not a kid anymore, why am I getting excited over possibly beating someone up with toasters? I only practiced for 40 minutes. Nobody is going to lose to a random dude with 40 minutes of experience, swinging toasters¡­¡± Despite that, Luc went online and ordered a backpack that could carry more than would be logical, from the Lambert brand. ¡°As expensive as ever¡­ I havent been lucky to find a box of wrapping for it. But moments like these is what my savings are for.¡± Luc had money, a lot of money. Not because of his family by because he only had expenses whenever he wanted to. He hardly needed to buy food or go to the store to buy and replace old and broken stuff, which meant that he could save up money quite easily. The normal-sized backpack which had the volume of a car was almost as expensive as one. It even had variable pockets as he could set up how large each compartment was. ¡°An insane product for an insane price.¡± Since it came with some accessories as well, the bag came in a box, which meant he had a limitless amount of these bags after delivery. One could say that he was paranoid to buy a backpack that could hold countless boxes but the truth was that he wasn¡¯t paranoid enough. As he had seen on the news, strange things happen regularly due to ability and magic users being unmanageable in general. If his aunt went crazy in the city, shooting lightning everywhere, nobody could realistically stop her. There was also the fact that magic and ability users were carrying society on their backs, so they were also deemed as a protected class. What this meant for Luc was that he could find himself in an incident or get attacked randomly and unlikely to get justice if it wronged him. He had just been lucky that his incident with the horned man had been his first one ever. The delivery arrived 3 hours later and the doorbell went. Luc was cautious this time and looked out of the window, confirming it was the delivery man. ¡°Delivery from the Lambert corporation, I need you to sign this.¡± Luc hastily red what the delivery man¡¯s device said and concluded that it was proof that the product had been delivered. Luc signed the screen with a stylus and accepted the box. ¡°Enjoy your product!¡± The delivery man tipped his hat, hosted a backpack on his back and ran off at great speeds. ¡°An ability user that can run fast, eh? And was that the same sort of backpack I just ordered?¡± Luc was impressed by how this was set up. An ability user that could run fast could possibly deliver more products than a delivery van if he carried a backpack like he had just ordered. His order got unpacked, and he looked at a normal looking backpack. It had to be, else it would become a target of theft. Some of the accessories allowed him to change the appearance, as the default look of these backpacks must be known by now. All were made by ability users, so he read the small guide provided within to change the appearance of this new backpack to the one of his old one. ¡°Perfect! Hmm, what¡¯s this? A warning? ¡®While this product offers seemingly endless space, the weight of the items inside only get reduced by 30%, so filling it completely may still lead to encumbrance.¡¯ Oh, that shouldn''t be a problem as I will mostly carry around trash, but that¡¯s nice to know. ¡± Luc watched the screen of the watch it came with as it indicated for how much it was filled as Luc kept loading empty boxes and bottles inside, each having separate compartments. ¡°What does this button do?¡± Luc pressed a button on his bag watch and a zipper opened and presented one of the items in that compartment. ¡°No wonder this was so expensive¡­ is this an automatic bag? The Lambert corporation is insane¡­¡± Luc kept playing, or more accurately, familiarizing himself with his new gadget, realizing it wasn''t just a simple backpack with more space. Its price had always been attributed to the capacity in Luc¡¯s mind, but that thought had been corrected. The box of this new product got neatly folded and stored at a safe place. As long as the box was safe, he could be a bit careless with his new purchase. Luc¡¯s mood had improved, which instantly got turned over as the doorbell rang again. ¡°I didn¡¯t order anything else. Surely it isn¡¯t another family member, right¡­ Could it be Genie?¡± Luc peeked through the window and saw a woman in front of his door that he didn''t recognize. ¡°Who is that?¡±