After some time, Altair woke up in a startle. Then, he cleaned what he could from the damage in his living room.
Ordinarily, around this time of the day he would be teleporting around the world and try to help in whatever ways he could, by either evacuating people or bringing them resources.
But Ronald was clear, he was to stop his activities completely. And according to James, he was putting the people he took through Sling gates into some kind of danger.
"SAMANTHA…"
Altair started asking the questions he had to SAMANTHA. These questions were directed at getting a better understanding of why it was dangerous to bring people through Sling gates.
.
According to SAMANTHA, from the information the organization had gathered, ordinaries who went through Sling gates randomly developed some kinds of abilities themselves.
'Of course, that would be a problem for them considering what their job is.' Altair thought.
The main problem was in the fact that no one could decide what kind of abilities these people obtained and, in some cases, the people developed mutations.
"I guess I can see why something like that would be bad."
Not only in the heavily aesthetic world of today, but even throughout time, people with a difference of any kind were badly perceived and most often than not discriminated against.
Whether it was something as small as a difference in hair color or skin color or even an additional finger or head, they were always ostracized for their differences. So, a mutation, depending on how visible it was, could ruin a person's life. Especially since it would come out of nowhere.
"So, while trying to help…" Altair felt a lump in his throat and he could not even continue what he wanted to say.
'What have I done?'
Could he really deal with such a situation if he came across one? How would it feel to be faced with one such case? What could he tell a person whose life he had ruined just because he thought he was doing the right thing?
'How many lives did I actually save, and how many more did I destroy?'
"What about foods?" He asked but the reply was not a positive one.
Although, unlike people, foods were less likely to undergo alterations, the risks were not null. There were a few cases of rats to even ants and bacteria undergoing mutations when exposed to abilities like Slings.
There were also cases of the foods themselves causing mutations when consumed. Altair was curious whether this also applied to what he put in his inventory before transporting but he could not ask it.
It was better to not expose the system right now before knowing how much they knew about him. He had his guess that they knew about the system but there was nothing in his file when he went through it so he could not be sure.
It turns out, the "damage" Ronald talked about on their first meeting was not just about clearing people's memories. When he asked about memory wipes, SAMANTHA seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if deciding on his mental state before she replied.
People on whom memory wipes were performed tend to have some kind of memory disorder like Alzheimer or any type of dementia, from vascular to neurodegenerative ones.
'How could I mess up so badly?'
.
Back in Ronald's office.
"Will a black information rank really give him anything. That's the same level of information as the Black Suits, and all it does is simply confirm a few conspiracy theories." David asked looking towards Ronald.
"SAMANTHA will give him red level information." Ronald replied impassively.
"What?! Isn't that risky?!" James asked with some agitation in his voice.
"The informant seems to believe he can handle it. I can't restrict it if a higher up allows it." Ronald had a thoughtful expression as he replied.
"If he can't handle it, he can't work with us. Some of the things we do need him to be tough." Ronald continued.
.
Altair watched videos of sudden power manifestations in people as well as some videos of mutations and power rampages in individuals or groups.
Among these many videos were also videos of interventions from people with different powers, and they wore the same kind of outfit as Ronald, James and David.
The people showed an amazing level of coordination in handling the various situations.
He got immersed in learning more about the organization. Asking question to SAMANTHA, and going through different documents that she showed him in projection from the phone-like device.
Several hours later, without knowing how much time had passed, his mind had been distracted so much that the earlier guilt was no longer at the forefront of his mind.
When he wanted to start cleaning the house, SAMANTHA suggested using robots for the cleaning, and although he was a little reluctant to accept because of the suspicion that they might plant something in the house while repairing, he still agreed. He was already under watch anyway and he did not know the extent of their current monitoring so additional watching or whatever would not change anything.
.
The next day…
The renovations in the house were completed. The robots were so efficient in their work that there was no trace of the earlier destruction at all.
'It's still amazing that even the smell of renovation is taken care of. They have some amazing products.' Altair thought.
"Are you also responsible for handling the cleaning machines?" Altair asked looking at his phone.
!Correct. My automation protocols and algorithms ensure that I can handle most cleaning and repairs, canceling the need of additional personnel for these tasks and ensuring the continued secrecy of the organization by limiting unnecessary personnel.!
"That's pretty convenient, but do you not have auxiliary programs that handle such tasks?"
!...!
'No response huh. Well, not that it matters. I was just curious. I should just complete my quests for now.'
With that thought, Altair Slinged to his usual spot and finished his Daily Quest, keeping the points which he gained from them rather than invest them immediately into his stats.
He then returned home and with nothing to do, his mind started wandering back to the thought of the strange sensation he felt in the trio's meeting room.
Since the sensation was brought by anger, he thought of simulating his anger.
For a long time, he just sat in a corner of the living room and tried to stimulate his anger in order to replicate that feeling.
It was a strange feeling of power that he assumed was the key to finally understanding how to make use of Mana. This was the closest he had been to making use of the Intelligence stat and he wanted to get back a grasp at it. It was strange that he had so much Mana and still could not use any of it, nor had he received any special techniques or skills from the System so far.
Suddenly, James' voice sounded in the room.
"You're doing it all wrong. You won't get anything good like that."
Altair opened his eyes after being almost startled and looked in the direction of the voice.
"What do you think I'm doing?" Altair asked.
James looked at him for a moment, seemingly pondering something. Then he just said. "Forget it."
"…" Altair seemed annoyed.
"Anyways, it's time to work. We need to go and follow that Denton guy." James said.
"I thought SAMANTHA was doing that." Altair replied quizzically.
"What she does is not exactly tracking. When the time comes, you'll find out. Just follow me for now."
"Where to? The dealership or the office."
"Office-" James said as he disappeared.
Altair just delayed for a bit before disappearing too.
…