While Phobos was focusing on the fridge there were different reactions behind him. Eve and Hera followed what he said without a second thought and started searching for food to cook.

Anna and Alice just stood confused about the situation. Diana hesitated for a second but then followed Eve and Hera and tried to help them.

Seeing the three of them starting to work Anna pulled Alice to Eve. She was the correspondence that was in charge of communication in the past few days so Alice had the most contact with her. Eve was the best option to ask what is happening.

“Miss Eve we don’t understand what is going on. Why are we cooking? Aren’t we going to contact the police?”

“Why even ask? Since the boss said to do it. Just do it.”

Anna looked at Eve who was usually the most well-spoken person she had ever met. At the moment, however, there was an unstable light in her eyes. Anna slowly pulled Alice away as she saw that Eve couldn’t be communicated with for now. Eve didn’t even glance at them twice and continued to do her work.

Anna had to go and ask Hera about the situation. Hera had quite the cold demeanor so if she had the option Anna wouldn’t want to talk to her but just leaving didn’t seem the right call so she tried it.

“That.. could we know what is going on? Shouldn’t we contact the authorities? We have to check on our close ones. Can we leave?”

Anna was a lot more hesitant when asking again. So she fired all her questions out. Hera glanced at Anna with her sharp eyes. Anna felt a shiver down her spine and took a step back.

Hera, however, felt quite helpless at the moment. Eve was usually the one that communicates with people.

Eve was almost perfect when it came to speaking with others. She almost hypnotises everyone she talks to and people somehow follow her will without realizing. However, there are rare lapses when it comes to the topic of Phobos. Somebody questioning the object of her servitude was a foreign thought for Eve.

Hera knew that usually, it wouldn't be a problem. Even if someone questioned him, Eve could even convince the dead to dance for Phobos. However, it seemed that although Eve feigned that she was fine, she was affected by his uncertain situation. So Hera had to think about how to explain the current affairs to them.

“First of all, no one will stop you from leaving. How you came to that conclusion is beyond me. Second, If you can do contact some authorities. However without our phones how you do that, I have to idea. “

Anna and Alice saw that Hera was calmly communicating with them so they settled down.

“Lastly I will make an Inference but it could be incorrect. We have seen from the morning that no people were roaming outside. Coupled with yesterday's collective fainting and the frying of electronics we can gather that something important has happened last night. On top of that as soon as we tried going out we attracted the three scums that tried to break the door. For them to loosen their inhibition so much there should be something more that we haven’t seen. The last point driving that in is that Phobos is preparing to stay long term in this location.”

Although Hera seemed cold she tried to accommodate them. Anna and Alice could gather that something was wrong even before but when explained so plainly it made sense.

“We still have to leave. We need to check on our family. Can we come back with them when we find them?” They looked resolute as they gathered the courage to voyage outside

“ Of course.” Hera just returned a chill answer without even looking at them.

Having reached an agreement Anna and Alice went to the front door and exited the restaurant.

It was good that the stoves in the restaurant operated with gas. If they were electric they would have to make a bonfire in the kitchen to cook. While the three were conversing Diana got a few products and was about to start cooking when Eve beaconed her. Diana swiftly went to her.

“You don’t have to cook. You can help us with preparing the ingredients. We have calibrated our cooking to Phobos’s palate but you still have not. “

Eve was happy that someone knew their place and communicated freely with Diana. Diana was wondering if she should say something back but then calculated something in her mind and followed Eve’s instructions.

Hera noticed that Eve was acting a bit weird again. Hera knew that Eve thought that everybody in the world should serve Phobos, however, she never showed it. It seemed that Eve had read something from Phobos that would change her acting style.

In reality, Eve should not be able to function in the real world. Her world view was too influenced by the idea of Master and Slave that was prominent in her early life. She could blend in seamlessly thanks to her EQ and camouflage lessons in the slave training facilities.

Eve, however, didn’t really belong. Hera could remember when Eve first joined Phobos and her. The first thing Eve did was to teach her how to “properly” serve Phobos. While reminiscing about her pink past and about unlocking a new side of Phobos, Hera finished her first dish.

Phobos had just about finished analyzing everything he needed to. He unceremoniously sat at the closest table. Eve and Hera immediately served him food. Diana at the side was wondering how they knew what to do. He only said to prepare the perishable food. Most would think that they would eat it together.

Diana could somewhat gather that it had something to do with his ability but he hadn't said anything about it to Eve and Hera. She calculated a few possibilities but the only thing she came to was that they either knew exactly what he wanted with few words or blindly followed him. The most likely scenario being a bit of both.

Diana didn’t have to think much. Although the ability was new to her, she for some reason trusted its judgment. She didn’t know why but the calculations pointed out that just following Phobos and doing what he wanted was the most beneficial to her. That's why Diana was trying to act invisible. As long as they didn’t drive her aways she didn’t have any thoughts of leaving.

After eating about what five adults would eat in a day Phobos went to the main cooling unit. He started slowly improving it. There wasn’t much damage to it. However, it was still expensive to repair. As soon as he metabolizes it the energy gained would be sunk in repairing.

The most damaged parts were the electronics. As the work became finer it didn’t require as much energy. However in turn his mind required it. He was at the same time immensely concentrated and was improving his mind because it was insufficiently equipped for the task. He was also improving his ability as it didn’t have the fine control he needed.

Phobos felt quite tired throughout the whole process. However, he was happy as he found that his ability had a big snowballing effect. The more it was used and improved the easier it became to use. At the beginning what took him an hour to complete he did in half the time by the end.

It all took him about four hours to complete all the work. He had to cycle between eating and repairing a few times.

It was already around the afternoon. They only had a few more hours of daylight. Phobos, however, had a problem. The girls had been nonstop supplying him with food so energy for his ability was sufficient.

However, after repairing everything he remembered that the main grind most likely didn’t work. Whatever the reason there was no energy coming to the restaurant. He could only turn to alternative sources of energy.

The only thing that could work for the moment was a diesel generator. Phobos thought of solar panels and batteries but that would have to come tomorrow. The sun was going down in a few moments until they found them, repaired them and hooked them. It would be dark. It was not much use. A wind turbine was out of the question. The most reasonable was a diesel generator.

The only problem was how they would find such a thing so fast. The rest of the food left wouldn’t spoil much if left unattended until tomorrow but it was inadvisable. The only thing he could think of was to repair a car and use it as a makeshift generator.

Phobos didn’t really know what he needed to make it happen. However, if he had a feasible design the rest would be done with his ability.

Although Phobos didn’t know. He knew that Hera would. Although at the moment she only has the title of his assistant she had 5 masters and an unfinished PhD.

So he went to her. The girls were having their meal after cooking for four hours straight. Eve had already sensed that Phobos was near finishing up so she served a meal for them to eat.

“Hera after you eat I will have to trouble you for a moment. I need you to find a way we can use a car battery to power up the fridge and some lighting. If you can’t find anything here we will have to go look for it somewhere. But for now, you eat. I will return when I have fixed a car.”

“Ok boss”

After telling Hera, Phobos just passed the table and continued out. The sun was already on its downturn. Phobos looked around for a car he can more easily fix.

Close by was he saw a V-class which was what Eve and Hera most likely used to get here. Phobos had the habit of travelling in customized vans and they had been accustomed to it as well. Although this one was smaller than what he usually used. It was what they could find in this city.

Phobos went straight to it. After he fixed it could be used for more than just a temporary generator. When he got to it he realized he didn’t have the key for it. So he went inside and asked Eve. She passed him the key and he went back to the car.

If Phobos found a random car to use he would have just broken in but as he had easier access with a key, so he acquired it. First, he opened the front hood to check on the battery. After carefully analyzing it he found that it was barely damaged. Meaning that old model cars that had no electronics outside of the battery should still work. Of course, there is a chance that this battery was lucky.

For now, Phobos fixed the little problems of the battery and then went inside the car. He only needs it to start and only the bare minimum functions of a normal car. He would forgo the repair of all the luxurious implements in the back. It took him no more than half an hour to start the car.

And the majority of the time was wasted because of the fine control he had to apply on his ability. He could have started the engine way easier if he wanted but fixing it now and having a working vehicle is more useful if needed later.

He drove it close to the entrance without obstructing it. When he went into the restaurant he found a strange scene. Hera was polishing a wooden box and beside her, there were a lot of electrical components. For some reason, there was even a makeshift solder iron which was obviously just used. In reality, it was nothing more than a pointed metal piece which was heated with the gas stove from the kitchen.

“What is this?” Phobos asked pointing to the box Hera was polishing.

“Ha boss, you aren’t the only one with abilities. Our little girl here has been apparently functioning at 200% capacity since waking up this morning. And I have a weird ability but can’t put my hand on it.”

Eve proudly proclaimed while Hera just gave a little bow.

“I couldn’t find an inverter that we needed but if you take a few things apart it is an easy fix.” Hera calmly explained the contents of the box.

Phobos was on the side wondering why he was trying so hard all of sudden. He had forgotten that he had really capable people on his side. He had even neglected to inquire if they had any abilities. Usually, he was of the mind to only work if inevitable. For some reason, he had forgotten that.

Phobos felt that if he just told Hera and Eve to find a solution for the power outage they would have done better than him. Still, the first time being proactive in his life didn’t feel that bad.

Phobos glanced at Diana and saw that she was writing something. He looked closer and saw that she was calculating our remaining food if we didn’t acquire any more. By her calculation, we had a month's worth of food for all of us. However, If he continued to eat the same as today it would shorten to a week.

Remembering that he was surrounded with capable people he felt a burden he didn’t know he was carrying loosen.

On his face, his typical lazy expression showed up. When Eve and Hera saw that they relaxed as well.

“Can you connect the car with the electrical panel? I have already fixed everything else. It should work fine. I will rest for a bit while you do that.”

Phobos leisurely went to the sofa to relax while Hera started going to the car. Eve came next to him and started massaging his shoulders. Phobos sank back and closed his eyes.

“What was I thinking? I even forgot that you were my greatest assets. If you had the access to the best specimens in the world and did everything yourself, you could only be called a fool.”

Phobos mumbled lazily while receiving a nice massage. Eve on the side smiled.

“No need to belittle yourself, boss. Even if we are the best specimens in the world, we still chose to follow you.”

After Phobos heard that his mouth twitched. Although he didn’t really belittle himself, he didn’t know why Eve followed him. He knew that he mirrored his mother and had extreme intelligence but he would be the worst case of an underachiever. More so Hera followed just because of his mother's brainwashing. Which he never knew when it would break.

“I know what you are thinking. I have told you thousands of times already. With Heras intelligence, no one would be capable of brainwashing her, even your mother. She was just given a choice and she accepted it. You don’t have to worry. Even if she left you will still have me.”

Phobos didn’t have any taboos with Eve so while she was talking he reached inside her to check the ability she was talking about. At first, he didn’t know what he was looking for but with a reference with what he first saw when he awakened his ability, he found it. However, it was a mess. It was more scattered than his final result. On top of that was way dimmer and murkier than his bright star.

His star had already condensed in a word but he could gather that if he left it alone after awakening, it would turn out the same as Eve.

Phobos tried to improve her ability to go in the direction that his ability was but the amount of energy that started draining from him was crazy. He quickly stopped himself. If he didn’t he would turn into a mummy in moments.

Phobos opened his eyes and saw that Hera was finishing up so he got up. He went to the inverter. Although it looked ok it was a makeshift job after all. He would try to truly improve something outside his body for the first time. Everything until now has been just fixing what was broken even if you could categorize it as an improvement.

He focused on the inverter and started using his ability. When he did that in his mind there appeared a 3D model of the inverter. It was analyzed perfectly. Until here everything was the same. After that, he calculated how to improve on this model rather than fix it to its prime.

He was surprised that it was way easier. Rather than following and analyzing what it had been and fixing it. Phobos imagined what he wanted it to be and his ability naturally generated a lot of different paths. It was way smoother than before.

As the different path of improvement showed they were tested one by one in his mind and he chose the most efficient one. And on top of the chosen design, another wave of paths showed.

Phobos realized that he had been artificially limiting his ability. Although the amount of work he was doing was way more, it felt a lot easier to achieve. He was even using less energy. After all his awakened word was Improvement. If he used it to repair the work of someone else he was not utilizing it correctly.

Improvement was the core of his ability. Even if he used it to really improve something that was broken and by the way repaired it, it would function as it was meant to. Phobos however until now was using it with the mentality of repairing and returning it to the original. There was no idea of improvement at all.