"I call the previous mode Speed Type, and the current state Aerial Type."
Cousin Russell's words from the morning still echoed in Mark's ears.
Growing up, his Cousin wasn't just academically excellent, but also an all-around athlete, giving him more than the usual amount of pressure.
He originally thought that after awakening his powers, Mark would have some unique advantages over his Cousin Russell, but as a result, his Cousin, who was close in age, also immediately awakened powers.
Now he could even fly.
"Speed Type, Aerial Type... Cousin, will you also develop Power Type and Composite Type, as well as Ultimate Form, Final Form..."
Mark scratched his cheek, not wanting to go back to the days where he was overshadowed by his Cousin everywhere.
"Mark, have you been watching too much anime? Ultimate Form, Final Form..." Finding an empty alley, the two landed one after another, and Russell's mouth twitched.
But then again...
If he continued like this, gathering numerous powerful templates, Composite Type, Ultimate Type, and Final Type would gradually appear; otherwise, it wouldn't make sense.
Just one day passed since yesterday, and Russell had become even stronger.
[Conquest Points: 7
Collected Templates: ...
Solidified Templates: Translucent.
Currently Applied Templates: War Woman]
After dealing with the alien army yesterday, with global news reporting the alien invasion, a massive number of people paid attention to Russell, even if they didn't know his Superhero name yet.
However, quite a few people already admired him as a new Superhero who had saved hundreds of people from the alien army and defeated the invading alien forces.
After waking up in the morning, Russell's Conquest Points had increased to just over three hundred.
"Unfortunately, this world has always been fraught with disasters. Monsters, demons, wizards, and gods are nothing new, and aliens haven't appeared for the first time either. Everyone's threshold has been raised."
"However, people in the world still don't know that this alien army is different from previous ones; otherwise, they wouldn't be paying so little attention..."
After discovering that his Conquest Points were sufficient to solidify the Translucent template, Russell immediately chose to solidify it and test the waters.
It felt the same as when he had previously applied the Translucent template; his skin was tough, as if made of some kind of flexible special alloy, but even after no longer applying it, the Translucent ability didn't disappear.
Aside from his skin defense, Translucent was as weak as an ordinary person in other aspects.
But solely based on his defense and invisibility that could be nullified by throwing dirt, Translucent still managed to be one of The Seven in The Boys World, which shows the value of his defense.
In terms of his state under the Red Rush template alone, his defense felt almost doubled, which would greatly increase his fault tolerance when fighting against powerful enemies.
"Cousin, look quickly, that's Eve Wilkins, the girl every guy in our school wants to date."
On the way to class, seeing an orange-haired girl holding books and chatting with a few classmates in the hallway, Mark stopped in his tracks, as if he had made a great discovery.
Eve Wilkins, a young, beautiful girl with fair skin, a slender figure, and graceful curves. She had long, shoulder-length reddish-orange hair and a pair of lively, bright green eyes.
"I've seen her before."
Russell glanced at Eve.
Atomic Woman, his Cousin Mark's future wife, his daughter's mother.
"I mean, she's the Atomic Woman Eve from yesterday! Cousin, didn't you recognize her?" Mark looked at the girl, a little bewildered.
"That's strange. Eve Wilkins, the famously pretty girl on campus. I've seen her more than once. How did I not recognize her as the Atomic Woman who's often in the news before?"
"It's not like you haven't seen Superheroes before, Mark. What's there to be so surprised about?"
Russell had known for a long time that the famously pretty girl at school, Eve Wilkins, was Atomic Woman. She used her mind-suggestion ability to prevent everyone from connecting her to Atomic Woman.
Except for those who already knew.
Russell knew why Mark, who had Omni-Man as a father, was so excited. It was nothing more than a teenage boy finding an opportunity to get close to the campus goddess, plus he wasn't ordinary now.
"This is amazing, Cousin.
How did she do it?"
Mark, his face full of excitement, pulled Russell over to Eve and extended a hand to say hello.
"Hello."
"Hi." Facing the sudden approach from a boy, Eve responded as she was used to it.
"I'm Mark Grayson, it's such a coincidence that we go to the same school!"
Mark scratched his head, exclaiming excitedly.
Think about it, what are the chances of two Superheroes going to the same high school for several years and not knowing each other?
"Huh?"
Eve was taken aback, and the two classmates she was talking to looked at them as if they were idiots.
Otherwise?
Was there ever such a clumsy way to strike up a conversation?
It was like saying, 'What a coincidence, turns out you're a human too.'
"Mark, did you forget something?"
Even Russell, standing beside him, felt the strange looks directed at them. He wiped his face, speechless.
"Oh, right, right, I'm the one from yesterday, the one who..."
Mark realized belatedly, his face turning bright red, and quickly made a flying gesture with his hand, like an airplane.
"I was the guy wearing yellow and blue clothes yesterday..."
"I know." Eve reacted as Mark made the gesture and looked at Russell in surprise.
"Then... could he be your Cousin who runs very fast? Russell Hanson?"
"Wait a minute, why do you know my Cousin's name when he hasn't even introduced himself?" Mark realized something wasn't right.
Unlike Mark, who was a campus nobody.
Russell had always had a scholarship and was an excellent student already set for college. Although he wasn't as famous as the football team captain at school, he still had a bit of a reputation.
"Want to come see our team's base after school at noon?" After excusing her two classmates, Eve raised a hand and quietly invited Russell and Mark.
"A Superhero team's secret base?
Of course."
Mark agreed immediately, unable to wait to visit.
Eve looked at Russell.
"I don't mind getting to know a few Superhero friends." Russell also agreed.
After school at noon.
Above the city, the three flew past at high speed.
"You can fly too?" Eve, who had changed into Atomic Woman's pink battle suit, was surprised that Russell also had the ability to fly.
"My Cousin just discovered it this morning too. He awakened his powers not long ago, just like me." Mark put his hands behind his head, deliberately trying to attract the girl's attention with a special flying posture.
"How fast can you fly? Can you be as fast as when you run?" Unfortunately, Eve didn't see it and pressed Russell for an answer.
"After accelerating for a certain amount of time, I can reach over a hundred Mach. It's not as fast as on the ground."
Russell shrugged.
Among the Global Guardians templates he possessed, only three could fly: Immortal, Martian, and War Woman.
He had experimented in the morning. Immortal, the strongest, had a maximum flying speed of only three Mach, Martian could reach over ten Mach, and while War Woman's strength, speed, and defense were not as good as Immortal's, her flying speed was the fastest.
That's why he applied the War Woman template for Aerial Type.
Of course, when not flying at full speed in the air, Russell could switch between the three templates as he pleased. Anyway, under normal circumstances, as long as he didn't use Martian's shapeshifting ability, no one would notice the difference.
"Over a hundred times the speed of sound? That's still very fast. Besides Omni-Man, there probably isn't anyone faster than you at flying on Earth, right?" Eve was surprised.