Chapter 145: Cutting Some Ends “Thank you for not damaging my scissors.” Beatrice sighed in her heart, remembering the previous attempt at trying to cut my hair. “Haha, you're welcome.” I was back on Earth, just a quick visit to Beatrice and her husband, Simon. My hair had ‘grown’ quite long, and while I could adjust its length, I had wanted Beatrice to cut it. “You have given me a lot to work with, which is appreciated.” Now that my hair wasn’t an unmanaged forest that prevented all possible modification, it was nearly the perfect material to sculpt. “Married life still doing you wonders?” “Of course, we are even planning for a kid.” “I have been married for many years.” “I know, but don’t people wait to have kids until they are forty these days?” Beatrice said, snipping a large segment of my hair away, “Your mother also had kids when she was relatively young.” “Sun and stars, same but different.” “Trying to be philosophical now?” I joked. “Nope, but my sister is taking classes, so I might learn some.” “Oh, have you finally found a new career path?” “Nah, I just want to be able to joke about it.” I laughed. I went quiet for a moment, thinking about the future. “A mini Beatrice would be running around here soon.” It brought a small smile to my lips; I was happy for her. I couldn’t imagine having a kid myself, but kids were cute little critters. Beatrice added, “Or mini Simon.” “Nah, whatever type of kid it is, they will be wanting your looks.” I joked. “You are a little biassed.” My haircut lasted nearly an hour; I had a lot of hair that needed to be chopped, and Beatrice was taking her time having fun with the process. I was very much enjoying the process as well. (“ You could’ve made the process easier for her ”) And what? Shorten this lovely experience? Sigh… what a boring soul. (“ What a boring hairstyle ”) It isn’t finished yet. (“ Oh no. It is going to get worse! ”) Espr’s playful banter had increased these days, and since we weren’t wrathfully antagonising each other back, it was quite enjoyable. In the past, our relationship was very justifiably strained, but I was looking forward to a better, maybe an actual friendship. “Okay, I think I am done.” With a few final snips, Beatrice turned me around in the chair to see the mirror, though my look wasn’t a surprise to me. My hair now went to my shoulders with enough bulk that it could sway and do a real number on someone if I wanted to whack them with it. It curled a little towards the ends, and not a single strand looked out of place. My hair also looked like it was sparkling–because it kind of was–and I was the one who could take credit for that. “You are looking amazing!” Beatrice cheerfully smiled. “You did a good job.” I tilted my head in the mirror to get the full experience. “Also, it feels weird to have a proper haircut for the first time in years.” Beatrice sounded deeply sad at such a situation. “What an unfortunate life.” “Maybe you should try a wild jungle-style hairdo; it could work wonderfully.” “Please, I have standards.” I had a delightful talk and lunch with Beatrice, gave my siblings a call, then spent the rest of the day with my friend, and then had a lovely dinner with Beatrice and Simon. (“ Are you going to begin your extracurricular activities now? ”) I had said goodbye to my friends, but I wouldn’t be going home immediately. Yes, time to exterminate a few more bugs. “Who are–!” Bolts of heated starlight rained down, stabbing through the flesh of my would-be victims. Mixing my originally separate abilities had become almost second nature, and allowing my constructs to maintain the form and hard structure of Starlight while emitting the intense heat of Sun energy was a powerful weapon. Far away in the mountainous region on Earth, near enough to where my friends lived, technically, it was illegal for me to be here, but I didn’t care about that at all. I had used my [Star Mapping] to examine everything in the nearby area, and after a while, I found another base in this mountain range. I did use the same ability on Metous, but for that, I gave the list of bases to Nina after I had already left so she wouldn’t trouble me about them. This is really too easy. I wasn’t even near the facility, as my rain destroyed everything within, disabling the combatants and breaking the important-looking equipment. (“ Even before your transformation, this would be easy ”) I am not complaining. It's my reward for all the shit I had to deal with; it is just surprising how effective my abilities are. My control had increased by far the most of my abilities. I could easily manipulate my projections of energy from far away, and thanks to my enhanced [Star Mapping] ability, I could see anywhere. I am happy with the practice before the big day. It wasn’t going to look down on any training session. I have fought with monsters a few times now since coming back, which, while that gave me some good experience, my main opponents were human-level intelligence and, well, actual humans. So, combating people who reacted as humans would was a better learning opportunity for me. Though calling this act combat would be a vast overstatement. I previously had ranged options, but if I wanted to attack from this distance, I would have to use one of my more destructive abilities to destroy the whole area. However, now, I was fully capable of near-surgical destruction from a distance. I wonder what my current limit is… While I was far away, I felt I could be further. Which was a strange feeling, being able to attack from everywhere. This was only a limited form of the ability; as Espr liked to put it, I was still in my ‘baby’ state. But perhaps at some point I could fire upon anyone who was within my ‘sight’, maybe not to the levels of precision I was doing now, but at least to the point where I could basically fire missiles at people. I had no idea how I was supposed to ‘grow’; such words still felt weird since I wasn’t used to the changes that had occurred. I could kind of picture my abilities getting more power and longer range, but as Espr hinted, there would be more than that and more restrictions. …That is every one dealt with. I took a look at the facility, and there wasn’t too much I could see with my sight. There were a bunch of weapons and machinery that appeared to be used for constructing gadgets, but I couldn’t read much from the consoles. I don’t want to actually go down there, so I might just leave it at that. Felt good doing some public service; no one likes a terrorist group setting up camp near their home after all. For a moment, I tried manipulating one of the constructs to interact with the buttons, but my control wasn’t that good yet, and I ended up stabbing through the machinery. My abilities are definitely weaker at longer distances, which makes sense if I am the source in more ways than one. It was nearly insulting to my long-range ability, any form of weakness, since I doubted many humans could do what I was doing. However, from my perspective, I could feel Existence pushing against my control as the distance increased. This was worsened by the quantity of constructs I created. A good learning opportunity has been had. I should do some more monster hunting when I get back on Metous… actually, what I am saying is, I can do some freelance work on the way back. While I was minding my own business, my phone began to ring. Oh, it is Nina. Sure, I’ll answer this time. My phone floated on a Starlight stand and was held next to my ear. “Oh, hey Nina.” “Ceella.” She said with a warm greeting, “Where are you?” “Sightseeing, hanging out with some friends earlier, so enjoying a night stroll now. What’s up?” She replied exasperated, “You were the one who left while leaving the coordinates for Dominous Hood bases and proceeded to not answer my calls.” “Oh yeah, I did that. Didn’t think my further input was necessary.” I didn’t think I would be wanted or needed for any operation to deal with the bases I found. “Sigh… You still dropped a bomb and left.” “At least it was a good bomb.” “Sigh…” She really was exhausted. “Thank you for the information… Message when you are back on Metous; we have something to discuss and plan for.” “Do I assume the obvious?” “Wonderful.” Today really was a good day.