"Tonight, my family made roast chicken and authentic German fried sausages?"
The cicadas chirped in the summer night, the moon was high outside the window, and the breeze passed through the hall and caressed my face.
Russell and his cousin Mark came home from working part-time at the hamburger shop. As soon as they pushed the door, the aroma filled their noses.
Cousin Mark was different from the otaku image in his heart. He put his hands in his pockets, looked smug, and pretended to be normal. While looking at the dishes, he glanced at his mother Debbie from time to time, as if he couldn't wait for someone to ask him what happened.
Seeing him like this, Russell, who pulled out a chair and sat down, felt emotional.
Cousin Mark looked like he had won the lottery. In fact, the happy event he encountered was more worth celebrating than winning any lottery.
It's just that others can't envy it. Mark won the genetic lottery.
If you are born with it, you have it, and if you don't, you don't.
"Mom, I encountered a very interesting thing today." Seeing that his mother didn't look at him and looked at his cousin proudly, Mark couldn't help but speak up, ready to make a formal announcement.
"What's the matter?"
After setting the plate, Debbie looked up.
"I..."
Before Mark could speak, a tall figure appeared at the table at super speed, almost teleporting, and the wind he brought almost blew over the wine glass.
Debbie held the glass calmly, as if she had experienced it thousands of times.
"A dragon attacked Hong Kong, and I went to support it." The man had fair skin, a pair of deep blue eyes, carefully trimmed hair and beard, and a strong body.
He kissed his wife and explained to the family why he was late.
"A dragon, cool."
Gods, robots, monsters—Debbie had long been accustomed to her husband fighting all kinds of super criminals, and she praised him flatteringly and continued the previous topic.
"You came back just in time, Mark was just about to say that he encountered an interesting thing today."
"Did you encounter it alone?"
As she spoke to Mark, she looked at her nephew Russell, who went to the same school and worked part-time in the same hamburger shop as the two of them.
"No, cousin." Mark hurriedly stopped his cousin.
As the most important thing in his life, he had to announce it himself.
"Mark has to say it himself."
Russell spread his hands.
"What's the matter?" The most powerful superhero on earth, Omni-Man, looked at his son Mark, who was so excited that he seemed to fly into the sky, and had a vague sense of foreboding.
"I... I have awakened my powers!" Mark shouted loudly, full of joy.
He had been looking forward to tonight for nearly 18 years.
"What?" Debbie was stunned when she suddenly heard that her son had awakened his powers.
"Are you sure?" Omni-Man's face was expressionless, and his eyes sank slightly.
"I'm sure. When I was at work, I threw a bag of garbage away and it disappeared. Maybe it's floating in the low-Earth orbit, or maybe it's already in space."
If Russell hadn't known the reaction of his uncle Omni-Man in advance, he might not have noticed his subtle changes in his eyes. His cousin Mark was still talking excitedly without noticing.
"My cousin saw it too, and he can testify for me. You can ask him."
"Russell?" The couple looked at their nephew, who had been raised by them since his parents died in a car accident when he was eight years old and had always been a relief, and wanted to verify whether the matter was true or not.
"Mark's ability awakened very suddenly. As usual, we were picking up the garbage left by customers after closing. The last second, Mark was struggling to throw a bag of garbage into the trash can like me. The next second, the bag of garbage was thrown into the sky, turned into a star, and disappeared."
Russell nodded.
Even though he saw it with his own eyes, it still felt unreal.
It was hard to imagine that in the morning, at school, his cousin Mark wanted to emulate his father's omnipotent hero image and tried to help a girl who was being harassed by a member of the school football team, but he was punched by the other party and his nose started bleeding.
If he hadn't helped to catch the next punch, Mark would have been beaten to his knees in public.
But at night, after a short moment when throwing garbage, Mark had the power comparable to that of a god in this world or even stronger.
"Nolan, is this normal?" Debbie looked at her husband, not knowing what was normal for the descendants of the Viltrum people to awaken their abilities.
Her husband Nolan frowned slightly, not knowing what he was thinking about. He was pushed a few times before he reacted.
"It's normal. This is how our descendants of the Viltrum people awaken their abilities. Now his power is still very weak, and it will grow slowly."
If other superheroes on Earth heard what Omni-Man said, I wonder if they would be so ashamed that they would hit their heads against the wall and die. If they casually threw dozens of kilograms of things out of the earth, they could still be called weak.
Russell's mouth twitched.
...
"This is the Viltrum people, the strongest race in the universe with a defense that can withstand a nuclear explosion in the face, a flight speed that circles the Earth in more than ten seconds, and a strength that is enough to punch through any mountain on the planet. It's a complete numerical freak."
Lying on the bed in his bedroom late at night, Russell rested his arms behind his head.
He turned his head and saw his younger brother Mark practicing flying outside in just a pair of pajamas. After a while, he flew into the sky and disappeared.
In fact, when he saw the news of the Mauler twins attacking the White House in the morning, he expected that Mark would awaken his ability as scheduled tonight.
"Once Mark awakens his ability, it means that the plot will begin. This world with superheroes and super villains will usher in a doubly disaster-ridden life."
In the past, when he just bought a cup of coffee, he might find that his newly bought car was smashed by a superhero against a super criminal.
Or the house he just started to pay the mortgage on was destroyed in the battle between superheroes and super criminals. Or even when he returned home from school, he found that he was the only one left in the family photo.
It will be different in the future.
It is common for a disaster to kill tens of thousands of people, it is not surprising for a city to be destroyed, and even global devastation will happen.
Even the protagonist Mark, the invincible young hero who has power comparable to that of a god, will be abused along the way and have many near-death experiences.
This is the American comic world of "Invincible."
What will be his position in the future world?
Unfortunately, he is only Mark's cousin, not his brother, and does not have the perverted blood of the Viltrum people.
He is born unable to cheat.
But fortunately, he has opened up a little after birth.
Ding!
Conquest System
Host: Russell Hansen
Conquest Points: 8
Recorded Templates: John Bruce, Owen Clinton, David Jackson...
Template in Use: David Jackson
Ability: Peak of Human Physique
Connected Universe: [The Boys Universe], Searching for Other Universes...
Simple System Panel.
The system appeared when Russell turned eighteen a few days ago.
The system's most minor function is to allow him to travel to other worlds.
The main function is to obtain the ability templates of the people he has defeated, combining the abilities of multiple people in one, but only one person's ability can be used at the same time.
"Conquest points, when a person naturally shows true love, admiration, awe, and other emotions that appear when the soul is conquered to a certain extent, the points increase. Consuming conquest points can permanently solidify the template in oneself and does not occupy the application template slot."
Russell defeated several juniors in the boxing interest class when practicing skills with each other, recorded their templates, and obtained some conquest points at the same time.
Solidifying the power of two people, plus his own power and the power of the application template, allows him to surpass the Olympic champion in almost all aspects of physical fitness and reach the peak limit of the human body.
"With this kind of power, it seems destined to be a long and arduous journey to upgrade and fight monsters and gain power comparable to that of the Viltrum people!"
"Fortunately, there is a loophole that can be exploited."
(End of this chapter)