Chapter 189: Daniel At The BEM
Two days ago.
Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica.
After Daniel was done meeting the old geezers, he flew out of the facility to the secret base of the BEM.
"You must be Mr. Daniel?" A man dressed in black office attire asked as he stretched out his hand for a handshake.
"I am," Daniel replied as he returned the handshake.
Even though his pride made him feel like he owned the world and it boosted his arrogance, he knew better than to act on it.
He knew that he was right in the headquarters of the agency that documents Phenomenals in the country. Just that knowledge alone was enough to keep him in check, as he didn't know just how many Phenomenals were in the base.
Also, he knew he couldn't do anything, as he didn't know just how strong he was against other Phenomenals.
Actually, the thought didn't occur to him. As of now, he planned to lay low and accomplish the plans he had crafted out in his head, his plan to rule the world.
A smirk spread on Daniel's face when he thought of his plan. Just the thought of it gave him so much adrenaline rush.
His train of thought was halted when he heard the man calling out his name.
"Mr. Daniel?"
"Yes?" He smiled.
"I noticed that you were spacing out. I hope everything's alright?" the man asked.
Even though the man asked the question with a straight face, Daniel could sense the wariness in his voice, and this caused him to smile.
"Yes, everything's alright. I'm more than fine, actually. I feel perfect." Daniel smiled and released the man's hand from the handshake.
"Well, that's good to hear. We are glad to welcome you to the headquarters of the Bureau for Extraordinary People Management (BEM)," the man said and started walking towards a location in the base.
Daniel smirked once more before following behind the man.
"We are glad to welcome you, the first person to be created through the procedure.
I'm sure that you've met other Phenomenals before you left, and now that you're back, the first thing we will do is to test your strength and also see how strong you are against regular Phenomenals."
The man stopped in front of a door and turned to look at Daniel.
"Mr. Daniel, once again, welcome to the BEM," the man said as he opened the door.
---
That was more than two days ago, and a lot has happened within that time.
Daniel went through another series of tests after the ones he had gone through at the lab.
He felt very annoyed as he was being treated like a lab rat, and he was on the verge of exploding, but he held himself back because he knew that it was something he only had to go through once.
Daniel was right, as after he went through the series of tests, he didn't have to go through any more. But it was now time for him to test himself against other Phenomenals.
The first test, a fight, was a complete victory for him. He demolished his opponent, leaving himself stunned at the results he achieved.
One after another, he defeated them, and he even easily defeated those who were in the top 100 of the unofficial ranking for Phenomenals.
It was only after he started getting paired against those in the top 50 that he found himself starting to struggle, but he still won. However, his last two fights left him feeling extremely depressed afterward.
After a series of multiple successive victories, Daniel was finally paired against the Phenomenal called Thor.
There was nothing to be said about it, as he was defeated before he could even lift a finger.
The next fight was against The Empress, and as expected, he was defeated miserably. His hands were frozen before he could summon his flames.
After the fight, he lay sprawled on the ground, breathing heavily and doing his best to thaw his frozen hands.
"Hey, man." Daniel heard someone calling out to him, and he turned his head to see the Thor guy standing beside him.
"Hey," he said and focused his attention on what he was doing.
"You look like you need some help with your hands," David said as he pointed at Daniel's frozen hands.
"Can you do something about it?" Daniel asked, finding it hard to thaw his frozen hands.
"Here, let me help you out," David said and pressed his hand onto one of Daniel's frozen hands.
The next moment, a crackle was heard, and a golden streak of lightning snaked down David's hand and started melting the ice on Daniel's hand.
"Don't take what The Empress did to you personally. She hasn't been herself since someone came and messed up the Abyss," David said as he continued melting the ice on Daniel's hand.
"If someone came to mess up the Abyss, then why not capture the person and make him pay or something? Why take it out on me?" Daniel asked, feeling very pissed.
"That's the problem. We couldn't capture the person, and no matter how much we tried to investigate him, we got nothing. All we have is a name and a face, and we don't even know if they are real." David smiled wryly.
The events of that day were still fresh in his mind. The power that he was always arrogant about was useless in front of that little kid.
There was nothing else to say other than he was weak. He always thought that he was the strongest person in the world, but he was humbled by someone who looked no older than a high schooler.
David could only sigh when he remembered this. He wasn't the only one who had such feelings.
This could be seen from how grumpy The Empress had been, even though the incident was almost half a year ago.
What made the situation worse was that even after using the state-of-the-art technology the country had, they were unable to find anything about this kid who called himself Silas.
They had been on the lookout for him for months now, and just last week, they got news that someone who was likely related to him attacked a facility that belonged to the agency.
Daniel was surprised when he heard what David said. He didn't know that such an incident had happened, as this was the first time he was hearing about it.
"What you mean to say is that this person who came to mess with you guys at the Abyss waltzed in and out as he liked?" Daniel asked for confirmation, as he felt the whole thing was very ridiculous.
"...Yes."
Daniel almost burst into laughter when he heard this, but he held himself back. The ridiculousness of the situation aside, Daniel knew just how scary it was.
For someone to walk into the Abyss, a place where Phenomenals were always gathered, mess things up, and leave without a scratch—it was scary, to say the least.
Just how strong was the person to achieve such a feat? What Daniel was even more curious about was the person's name.
"Thor,"—Daniel was about to ask a question but was interrupted.
"It's not Thor. It's David."
Daniel blinked in confusion when he heard this, but he decided to continue asking the question he wanted to ask.
"David, if you don't mind me asking, what's the person's name?"
"Silas. He said his name is Silas."