The technology advancement in the entire world was quite retarded compared to Earth. Even if the book sang praises about how the great monarch helped the entire world to advance forward on the path of technology, Thomas knew this was all bullshit.
It felt like people before the great monarch lived a life in caves, in the stone age or something. And yet when he recalled how advanced the tech behind the test was, he couldn't help but not buy any of these lies.
Not to mention comparing this level of technology with Earth, it felt greatly retarded. It was like he was living on Earth, a couple of hundred of years before the time he came from.
According to the book, great fleets were something exclusive only for great families in the central and middle sectors. As for the new sectors in the outer regions like here, it was impossible to see a large fleet here.
Yet that didn't mean villains didn't have a fleet of their own. Thomas knew that many villains arrived in new sectors using port towns like this one. And he expected to find lots of villains arriving from time to time, without having any means to track or stop them from arriving here.
The only naval force the town had was made of small sized ships, one hundred in total, besides ten medium sized ones. They weren't made to fight, just to surf the waters, making Thomas recall fishing boats back at Earth.
To add more to the overall bad situation, this force was exclusive for the Villain Hunter department to use, alongside the old man leading the SA department. As for his department, they had no power or authority to use any of these ships.
There was a map in the book, describing the area he had to cover under his department's jurisdiction. The area was quite massive, stretching for thousands of kilometres, including the area where the train incident occurred.
"Working over such a grand area with just seven people isn't ideal at all…" Thomas placed the book on his lap, looked at the town again, thinking about everything he read.
"I don't care about how the world runs, I'll take care of myself and nothing else," he muttered, while deciding to take this time to train on his Qi techniques.
As he returned back inside, he looked at everything he left on the table before going to sleep. There were many pouches with Qi balls there, in addition to the wallet.
According to the book, his task was to find any clue and evidence, and deliver them to his department to handle. This wallet was considered a piece of evidence of the train incident, but he didn't like handing it over.
"I'll hide it somewhere safe for now," he looked around, and decided to hide it behind the big drawer he had in a bedroom.
He had to exert lots of power to move it slightly away from the wall, just enough to place the wallet there before returning the drawer again to its place. "I hope no one will discover it for now," he cleaned his hands off the imaginary dust, thinking about the clue the wallet had about the ghost ship.
"I have to find a way to go there," he knew he had the perfect chance as his department was investigating the train incident right now. Yet Trevor was acting so stubborn, insisting that he had to train first and do lots of paperwork.
Thomas then tried to train, and yet his mind was filled with the lots of information he learnt from the book. Aside from everything mentioned above, there was some sort of slightly disturbing intel inside the book, the one related to villains.
According to the book, even if this sector was new, this town was considered one of the hottest zones in the entire sector. It was thanks to its port, its close distance from the Isolation zone.
As it was one of the hottest areas in the sector, there was lots of information and warnings about the villains' activities in the region. Generally speaking, there were four main categories of villains that the book clearly mentioned and warned against.
"The Scorchers, The Looters, The Maniacs, and The Witches…" Thomas sat on the ground, muttering to himself the four infamous and notorious names he read in that book.
The Scorchers were villains who wanted nothing else but to burn the entire world. They held deep and weird grudges against superheroes, wanted to tear down the entire superheroes system and burn anything they could touch without any mercy or hesitation.
According to the book, their main target was superheroes. They used to lose themselves whenever a single superhero was around. And no matter how they were outnumbered, they wouldn't go down without taking more superheroes with them.
"I don't want to meet one of those," Thomas muttered while deciding to not risk fighting any of these villains if he ever met them.
As for The Looters, they were the least dangerous group of villains. They were crazy to control Qi mines at the Separation Zone, hungry for looting Qi stones gathered from the mines out there.
Their main area of activity was outside the entire sector, at the Separation Zone. But they were mentioned because they used to move stolen Qi stones to any sector through portal towns like this one.
"They are like smugglers, illegal dealers who used to smuggle goods in and out from here," he linked them to the illegal trade back at Earth, not finding it as dangerous as the first group of villains.
Yet The Maniacs were indeed a scary headache. Just from the name, Thomas could tell how dangerous and troublemakers they were. And when he read through the details mentioned in the book about them, he couldn't help but suck a cold air of breath.
These were like Looters, very hungry for Qi energy. And yet they weren't patient enough to go out there, fight superheroes for mines, collect Qi stones from there and deal with the trouble of storing and moving them around.
They adopted a much vicious and bloody approach. They would land in an area filled with normal people, attack and kill everyone. No matter who it was, a normal human or superheroes, none had a chance against them.
They used to appear out of nowhere, attack fiercely and kill everyone, before using an ancient forbidden technique to kill everyone, gather up, and concentrate Qi from the people they killed.
They were indeed merciless, and quite strong. There wasn't enough explanation in the book about how they did it, but there was a clear warning towards any superhero suspecting anyone of them.
Once meeting a single member of these Maniacs, one had to run, run as fast and far as his legs could carry him.
According to the book, these Maniacs worked in large groups. So it was futile to try and fight them solo. To hunt them down, many SA departments would collaborate, with lots of Villain Hunters department members across a grand space to join the hunt as well.
This operation held a well-known codename, called: The Festival!
Thomas now realised why he and others experienced interrogation before their formal test. This was a precaution, a countermeasure to earlier detect any superhero with a possibility to turn into a Maniac later on.
He decided to try his best and avoid any contact with such insane people. They were like mass murderers, those psychopaths who wouldn't stop at anything to kill everyone they met.
As for the last and fourth type of villains, they were something he heard about them before. Witches were described as being one of the most mysterious and deadliest villains, even against high grade superheroes.
Thomas recalled what the mad demon once told him about and couldn't help but recall that lady. Witches were always females, gorgeous looking, with sweet silver tongues and attractive aura to anyone.
They used to have tattoos, just like the one he once saw on that old lady's body. "I still can't bring myself to hate them…" he muttered when recalling how that witch changed his fate, turned his life upside down, saving him from the imminent death awaiting him back then.
As he failed to train successfully thanks to his disturbed thoughts, he decided to test his powers again. He liked how he emitted dark threads, ones that turned another chair into nothing but powder.
"And they call my power nonspecific, without any gauge or measure for its value or uses, hmph!" he harrumphed while recalling what he read through the book about superpower categories.
His superpower wasn't identified, deemed as a mysterious power without any expected value. He knew in the eyes of many, his superpower was useless. And that was why he was assigned to the investigation department in this town.
If his superpower was tested, or the ones supervising the test noticed how deadly it was, then he'd have joined the Villain Hunter department.
"It's good to underestimate me," he didn't notice how rage swelled up inside him without control. At this moment, he felt quite the challenge, as if he was challenging everyone who tested and witnessed his superpower, "laying low is good, especially in such a weird world. I have to train and invent useful fighting tactics to take down my enemies if needed…"
His thoughts drifted towards this point, realising that he didn't just need to train diligently, but also had to find a way to collect more of his magical tree fruits.
He also needed a safe and secretive place, one that no one would sniff anything about. There he'd train freely, level up his power, and also store dangerous stuff like the wallet he had right now.
Two days passed fast. During which, he got to deal with Genny, the owner of the entire building, quite better.
She was just like how Jax described her, one with a good heart and without any ill intentions. She offered him food for two days straight and told him to wait till he'd start working and then he could make use of the free meal back at the SA department.
Thomas wasn't surprised for her to learn about such a thing. Jax was someone who found a great difficulty in keeping his mouth shut or secrets buried.
During the past two days, Thomas focused mainly on training. When he went to eat dinner with Genny on the roof, she told him about a thing he didn't know before.
He knew that using techniques to train and level up one's superpower was possible. Yet he tried before and couldn't feel any progress at all. And she told him the reason casually during their dinner.
She spoke about some sort of affinity between superpowers and techniques. That was why any superhero should train in the technique provided by his family before anything else. That was of course in case of finding other techniques.
Thomas was different from others. He came here with knowledge of lots of techniques. So, when he returned back to his apartment, he started to try out different techniques until he finally found one.
The technique he found was one that'd help people to release their stress and sleep well. He didn't know why this technique worked with him, but the moment he trained in it, he could feel a better connection with his superpower.
When he summoned his superpower, he felt these black threads not just being dead objects attached to his body, but like fingers and arms he could control. He tried to move them around, and they followed his will for an entire minute.
Then he tried to weaken them, and he succeeded. He retreated his superpower inside, leaving only short stumps coming out from his fingers.
He didn't want to expose himself anytime soon, not before he'd climb up the ladder of superpower grades and reach beyond grade C.
He noticed that everyone underestimated him as he was weak. If he showed an ability that had good effects, then others would start to grow wary of him.
He needed them to use their power freely around him, not fearing him or anything. Not to mention he feared what would happen if others figured out his powers were strong.
He met with a mad demon first and experienced that weird incident back then. Later on, he experienced that test, saw how some of the youths who went with him didn't come out, without even knowing why.
He knew this world was dangerous. As long as one's superpower was deemed to be hard to control, he was doomed to suffer.
He decided to not show up his real power from now on, and keep it hidden. This also matched the type of life superheroes in comics he read on Earth lived.
"I only lack a proper superhero custom," he muttered to himself while going out from the building at eight in the morning, going towards the SA department.
"Going alone without me? Come on! I asked you to wait for me!" Just before he'd walk a few steps towards the nearest gathering of chariots he could rent, Thomas heard the loud voice of Jax, coming from behind, running fast towards him.
"Oh, I thought you went ahead already," Thomas lied. He liked this youth, yet hated how untrustworthy he was.
It wasn't just secrets he couldn't keep, but also his memory was in a mess! Last night they walked in the area around this place, ended up getting lost and needed to take a ride home!
"I never wake up early, hahahaha!" Jax scratched the back of his head, repeating the same knowledge he already told Thomas about.
The latter woke up this early, so he'd evade meeting Jax. Yet it seemed fate had other plans for him. "Anyway, I woke up early today just for you. This is your admission ceremony, one which will be held in front of everyone in the SA!"
"Let's go then," Thomas prayed inside that Jax wouldn't get them lost or something. And just as they walked towards the nearby chariots, Jax tried to convince Thomas to save their money and walk towards the SA building on the excuse of having enough time to go there on foot.
But Thomas strictly refused. He'd not trust this youth in directions ever again.
"We should have saved these Dems," Jax looked pathetic while regretting hearing Thomas' idea and riding this chariot.
"Come on, we are here," Thomas heard such a comment more than ten times during their ride. Yet he never felt any guilt or anything.
The moment they came out from the chariot, Thomas saw the SA building in front of him being decorated with colourful papers and posters. It looked like a big festival or celebration was going to happen here. And that made him expect too much out of this welcoming ceremony.