By the end of the week, Aegis understood one thing clearly:
Staying alive wasn't enough.
He had to stay uninteresting.
Every morning, he woke up like nothing had changed. Same uniform. Same route to school. Same expression—neutral, almost hollow. He complained aloud about homework. About tests. About how weird it felt being back.
All of it was deliberate.
Internally, the catalog was never quiet.
Abilities filtered in slowly, methodically—not stolen in moments of violence, but gathered through proximity, pressure, and necessity. None of them were impressive on paper. None of them would ever make a headline.
That was the point.
First Acquisition — Sixth Sense
He didn't even realize when it happened.
A sudden pressure behind his eyes. A tightening in his chest whenever something bad existed nearby—not imminent, not immediate, just possible.
The catalog confirmed it hours later.
ABILITY ACQUIRED: Sixth Sense
BASE RANGE: 10 kilometers
FUNCTION: Passive danger detection
STATUS: Adaptive Scaling Enabled
It wasn't a vision. It wasn't prophecy.
It was awareness.
Violence. Surveillance spikes. Malicious intent. Environmental hazards. He felt them like ripples in water, overlapping and fading depending on distance and focus.
When he concentrated, the range expanded.
When he relaxed, it never truly shut off.
That alone made him harder to corner.
School
People treated him differently now.
Not kindly. Not cruelly.
Carefully.
Teachers gave him space. Extensions. Quiet apologies wrapped in awkward smiles. Students whispered less—but watched more. No one bullied him anymore. No one joked about him either.
Watching someone die had a way of ending that kind of cruelty.
A few former bullies muttered apologies in passing. Aegis accepted them without reaction. Not forgiveness—just acknowledgment. He stayed close to his friends. The two boys who had always been there. And the girl—quiet, observant, stronger than she let on—who watched him with concern she never voiced.
He felt more confident walking the halls.
Not because he felt powerful.
Because he felt prepared.
Second Acquisition — Detoxification
This one was intentional.
Controlled.
And terrifying.
Late one night, when the house was quiet, Aegis stood in the kitchen staring at a collection of chemicals beneath the sink. Bleach. Cleaner. Industrial solvents.
His hands shook—not from fear of death, but from uncertainty.
If I'm wrong…
He drank anyway.
Pain hit instantly. Burning. Convulsions. His vision blurred as his body began to fail.
Then—
The Living Law responded.
CRITICAL CONDITION DETECTED
ADAPTATION REQUIRED
ABILITY GENERATED
He didn't die.
He purged.
His body rewrote itself mid-collapse, neutralizing toxins faster than they could destroy him. The catalog bloomed with information as he vomited the remnants onto the floor.
ABILITY ACQUIRED: Total Detoxification
SECONDARY FUNCTIONS:
— Poison resistance
— Alcohol nullification
— Toxin filtration (ingestion & inhalation)
— Endogenous toxin synthesis
He sat on the kitchen floor afterward, exhausted and shaking.
One realization stung more than the chemicals ever could.
I'll never get drunk.
A small price.
A necessary one.
Third Acquisition — Adaptive Shell
This one was an accident.
A collision on the street. A construction worker turning too fast. Shoulder to chest.
Pain flared.
Then… density.
ABILITY ACQUIRED: Damage Absorption
ORIGIN: Reactive Defense-Type
The Living Law didn't leave it alone.
It evolved it.
Every point of impact strengthened the affected area—then redistributed that strength outward. His skin developed a latent lattice beneath the surface, invisible until stressed.
When struck repeatedly, it manifested.
A thin, dragon-scale pattern—harder than diamond, growing denser with each hit.
Armor that only existed when needed.
Fourth Acquisition — Autonomous Reflex
This one scared him the most.
Because it didn't ask.
ABILITY ACQUIRED: Autonomous Reflex Response
INTEGRATION: Sixth Sense Linked
If danger approached while he slept, his body moved.
If something tried to sedate him, restrain him, or immobilize him—his body resisted before his mind could panic.
Not instantly.
Not perfectly.
But enough.
Enough to escape.
Enough to survive.
Enough to learn.
The Watchers
Somewhere far above him—
The authorities were losing track.
Every attempt to observe him ended the same way. Blurred footage. Forgotten objectives. Agents who couldn't recall why they were following him in the first place.
Records said he attended school.
But they couldn't find him.
They didn't know what they were missing.
They didn't know they were being watched too.
In a dark room filled with cascading data, a Tier 10 Observer leaned forward.
Not frustrated.
Not angry.
Interested.
Technology failed around Aegis—but the Observer wasn't relying on technology alone.
"That's not concealment," the Observer murmured. "That's adaptation."
Surveillance intensified.
And still—
The subject slipped through.
Back to Aegis
On a rooftop at dusk, Aegis tested his limits.
Jumping. Falling. Rolling.
His body responded before thought, movements precise, fluid, alive. He stood at the edge and exhaled slowly.
"I'm still human," he told himself.
But the catalog pulsed softly in response.
Waiting.
And somewhere beyond his awareness—
Something powerful was beginning to pay attention.