He said to Wrath after going through the file, "This guy with Earth Escape is impressive. They can find him since he can't change his identity. It is actually very easy to find him, or at least find traces of him. They have even found him many times, but they can't catch him or keep him there. That's why he is so terrifying."
Wrath was not impressed. She said, "I know a certain paragon that could teleport, slice through people by cutting them open with a second spatial ability, and also hide traces of himself. Yet that paragon still died. If they wanted to kill this guy, they would. It just depends on how much prize they are willing to pay to do so."
She continued unimpressed, "Besides, he is a low-time villain robbing banks. What is he going to use the money for if he is always on the run? How will he enjoy the money? He can't. What he needs to do is set himself up as a threat. He has to hit them hard and make it so that they won't mess with him anymore."
Kelvin asked, "But won't that make them want to kill him? Like you said, he is a low-time villain for now. That's why they don't want to go all out trying to kill him. They want to recruit him. But that will change if he offends them too much."
Wrath didn't answer the question. She asked, "How did such a guy even get noticed? With his ability, he should be difficult to spot."
Kelvin replied, "He robbed a bank. He appeared right in the middle of their vault and left with gold bars. He did so many times. They caught it on camera."
Wrath sighed. "What a fool. He should have disabled the camera system first. With that kind of ability, it would be very easy. He could even simply destroy the camera individually."
Kelvin provided an explanation: "Maybe he didn't know it was there."
Wrath didn't accept it. "It is more like he is a shoddy, unskilled low-time thief. He deserves to be hunted."
Kelvin shrugged and said, "He could also join the corpos. If they are paying such a high price for tips on him, I'm sure they will pay heavily to recruit him. He has so much potential."
Wrath finally conceded. "He does have a lot of potential. So what are you going to do? Are you going to join the hunt for the omega mutant, find the mental defense super on your own, or pay the 10 million dollars they asked for?"
Kelvin thought about it for a while before he replied. "Let's try the black market first. If that doesn't work out, then I'll pay the 10 million dollars. I'll do that while I hunt nulls."
Wrath agreed. "That's a good plan. If you are lucky, you might even be able to create a null ability that is immune to every ability, including mental attacks."
He nodded as he thought about it. He was feeling more determined to get the null ability, while Wrath was feeling that this was a good chance to nudge him a little.
She said, "It is a pity that we can't share our abilities. I am naturally immune to mental abilities such as psychic attacks and telepathy."
Kelvin said half-heartedly, "It is truly a pity."
He didn't take the bait, but she didn't mind. She already had a plan in mind to get her way. It all started after she suggested that he get a null ability.
Kelvin didn't know what she was planning, but he knew that her motives were not trustworthy, so he wasn't going to take the bait. Besides, he had other things to think about.
Apart from his hunt for nulls, he also had to prepare for his move on the Black Mantis gang. It is a gang that he will need the mental defense ability for.
The leader of the gang, Black Mantis, has an ability that affects the minds of others. He can make them feel extreme pain or extreme pleasure.
The ability is called Mind Domination. It is a kind of telepathic ability, but it is restricted in how it affects the mind. It can only push the mind to the extremes of positive or negative.
The pain he can cause is so great that people will become catatonic. Even the people that survive the experience will have permanent mental damage. They will shiver whenever they hear his name.
His victims also have nightmares in which black mantises hunt them and eat their flesh. That's where they got the inspiration for the name of the gang.
On the other hand, the pleasure he can force others to feel can be so great that people ejaculate continuously. Just like the pain, this will also leave a permanent mark of addiction.
If they go through the experience repeatedly, they won't be able to feel any positive emotion on their own anymore. They will be dependent on Black Mantis to live. Without him, they will become depressed and commit suicide.
Those are the long-term effects of the ability. The short-term effect is that whoever gets in a fight with him won't be able to concentrate on the fight. If they suffered longer under the influence of his ability, they would become his loyal subordinates or they would kill themselves.
It is no brainer that Black Mantis is hated by a lot of people. He is not selling any goods. What he is selling is the service of life. His customers also don't have to be willing. He can force them to become addicted first. Then he will extort them for all they've got.
This is the major reason why he didn't want to pick this gang. He would need the mental defense ability to protect himself from Black Mantis in order to succeed. Then he will have to inherit all of Black Mantis's enemies even if he succeeds. It is not something to look forward to.