LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 13: Chapter 13
The following week at work, Alex tried to keep his routine as normal as possible. He focused on his tasks, attended meetings, and handled the usual bookkeeping duties without letting on that anything had changed. His coworkers seemed oblivious to the changes within him, and for now, that was exactly how Alex wanted it to stay.
During lunch breaks, the conversations always followed a predictable pattern. Denise, one of his colleagues, was always chatting about the latest office gossip. Today was no different as she leaned over the breakroom table with a conspiratorial grin.
"Did you hear about the boss's new car?" she asked, eyes glinting. "He bought some fancy electric one. Like, does bookkeeping really pay that much?"
Alex smirked, shaking his head. "I guess it does if you've been doing it for thirty years. Or maybe he's just really good at saving."
"Or really good at cooking the books," Denise quipped, winking. The others at the table chuckled, and Alex couldn't help but join in.
Barry, the office's tech guy, was more reserved, but he always seemed to have a comment when it came to the latest gadgets. "If he's driving that model, then yeah, he's making some serious cash. I've been thinking of getting one of those too. Much better than the gas-guzzlers."
"Yeah, until you have to replace the battery," Alex added. "Costs as much as a new car."
Barry shrugged. "Still, you save on gas, so there's that."
As they bantered back and forth, Alex realized how normal this all felt—just a group of coworkers talking about life, about technology, about everyday things. But underneath it all, he was balancing two worlds—the mundane life he had always known and the growing power within him.
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Later that evening, Alex was meeting up with some of his old college friends again. They had agreed to catch a movie together and then grab dinner afterward. Mark, of course, was the one organizing it. He had always been the ringleader of their group, the one pushing everyone to hang out even when they were swamped with work.
As they walked out of the theater, Mark was still buzzing with excitement about the action-packed movie they had just seen. "Man, did you see that scene where the guy dodged all those bullets? It's like something straight out of a video game."
"Yeah, except in real life, that guy would've been toast," Chris added, ever the realist. "No way anyone's reflexes are that good."
"Unless you've got some kind of superhuman abilities," Mark countered, grinning. "Maybe there's a secret government experiment out there, and we just don't know it yet."
Alex chuckled but didn't say anything. Little did they know, his mind had already gone down that rabbit hole, though in a far less dramatic way. The thought of pushing his abilities further was always in the back of his mind, but he knew he had to be careful. Temptation was there, sure, but showing off wasn't his style.
"So, what's new with you, Alex?" Sarah asked, nudging him as they walked to the restaurant. "Still being the mysterious guy with the low-key job?"
Alex shrugged. "Pretty much. Just taking it easy."
Mark raised an eyebrow. "Come on, man, you've got to have something exciting going on. You were always the quiet genius in our group. You've gotta have some hidden talent you're not telling us about."
"Yeah," Chris chimed in. "You're probably secretly hacking the government or something."
Alex laughed, shaking his head. "Not quite. Just living life, trying to keep things simple."
They eventually settled into their usual rhythm, joking and talking about random things—Chris's latest conspiracy theories about the government, Sarah's marketing job and how she was angling for a promotion, and Mark's ongoing quest to become the BBQ king of their group.
But through it all, Alex remained grounded. He enjoyed being with his friends, feeling the normalcy of their interactions, but at the same time, he couldn't shake the quiet voice in the back of his mind that urged him to keep testing the limits of his abilities.
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The next few weeks passed in a blur of routine. Alex continued to juggle his work life, family time, and moments of quiet experimentation with his abilities. Each time he pushed smart mode a little further, he felt that faint tick in his mental progress bar, an almost imperceptible shift, but enough to tell him he was growing stronger.