Level One

"When called upon, you will come up here to get evaluated." [Mr. Frank]

He pulled out a clipboard from inside his lab coat and began to read it.

("Was that there the whole time?") [Adam]

"First, Alex." [Mr. Frank]

A student got out of their chair and stepped up to the screen.

"Place your hand here." [Mr. Felix]

He pointed towards the outlined handprint on the screen.

"..." [Alex]

He nervously placed his hand within the outline. Not long after, images begin to appear.

"Oh, air manipulation. A level 4 ability, not bad." [Mr. Frank]

Alex breathed a sigh of relief and strolled back to his seat.

"Next, Jessica." [Mr. Frank]

The examination continued until Mr. Frank reached the students in the back of the class.

"Adam, I think I'm up next. Dinner is going to be on you." [Felix]

"We'll see about that." [Adam]

"Felix, you're up." [Mr. Frank]

Felix made his way towards the front of the classroom.

"You may begin." [Mr. Frank]

As Felix placed his hand on the screen, Mr. Frank's face went pale.

"N-no way...L-level 8 space manipulation?!" [Mr. Frank]

Murmurs can be heard from the class.

"Felix, come talk to me after class. For now, just go back to your seat." [Mr. Frank]

Felix passed a smug look at Adam before taking his seat.

"I win." [Felix]

Mr. Frank regained his composure before continuing the examination.

"A-ahem, next is... Adam." [Mr. Frank]

Adam walked up to the front with confidence in his step.

("If Felix has a powerful ability, it doesn't mean I won't too.") [Adam]

Adam placed his hand on the screen.

"..." [Mr. Felix]

Mr. Felix gave Adam a pitiful look.

"I'm sorry Adam, your ability is level 1." [Mr. Frank]

Panic and confusion appeared on Adam's face.

"...Care to run that by me again?" [Adam]

Mr. Frank gave an even more pained look.

"...Your ability, compression, is a level one ability. The weakest level it can be." [Mr. Frank]

Color drained from Adam's face.

"B-but it's called compression, I-isn't it an ability that can crush things?" [Adam]

Mr. Frank stayed silent for a moment.

"Technically that is true…, but the compression ability is only strong enough to squeeze water out of a sponge. It's not even strong enough to pop a balloon. ...Come talk to me after class, I still need to complete the examination." [Mr. Frank]

With his head hung low, Adam slowly dragged his feet back towards his desk. Not even looking Felix's way, and just sat down quietly.

"..." [Felix]

The class continued it's examination until the bell rang.

"Class is over, I expect to see you all out of my class within the next 5 minutes. As for Felix and Adam, stay until everyone leaves." [Mr. Frank]

After some time passed, the class was empty except for the teacher and the two young men.

"Haah… First, Felix. Your ability is one of the highest recorded in all of mankind. If I were to put a number on it, your ability level is one in a hundred million. There are only a little over 30 people in the world with a level 8 ability. You can become a hero." [Mr. Frank]

"..." [Felix]

He stayed silent as if mimicking Adam's behavior.

"As for Adam, level 1 isn't that bad okay? There are many people who have level 1 abilities and are living their lives normally." [Mr. Frank]

Adam twitched. Mr. Frank's words seemed to get a reaction out of Adam.

"But…I wanted to be a hero." [Adam]

"...I'm sorry, you may leave now." [Mr. Frank]

Felix put a hand on Adam's shoulder before walking out.

"Let's go grab a bite." [Felix]

Adam silently nodded and followed after Felix.

After eating a meal with Felix from a nearby fast food restaurant, he made his way home.

Creak… Adam opened the door slowly.

"I'm home…" [Adam]

Footsteps could be heard coming to the front door.

"You're finally back, how was the first day?" [Vivian]

She quickly noticed Adam's depressed look.

"Did something happen?" [Vivian]

"I... have a level 1 ability. I can't become a hero." [Adam]

Vivian sighed and took Adam's hand.

"I know that you've always wanted to be a hero, and I support it. But I don't want you out there fighting those monsters when you can't even protect yourself." [Vivian]

"But I-" [Adam]

Brrring brrring. Adam's phone interrupted his sentence midway.

"ADAM, ADAM! I think I found a way you can become a hero!" [Felix]

Almost immediately, Adam's face brightened.

"Really?!" [Adam]

"I told my brother about what happened to school today and he said he might have a way to make you strong enough to become a hero!" [Felix]

Adam starts crying tears of joy as if all the pent up stress from school finally set in.

"Come to my house tomorrow after school, I'll tell you more about it there." [Felix]

Adam wiped the tears out of his eyes.

"Alright, meet you there." [Adam]

Tired from the rollercoaster of emotions he ran through that day, Adam fell asleep right away when he got in bed. Then the next day came.

"Today marks day two of it no longer being summer vacation. Today we'll be learning about how to activate your abilities. But to do this, we'll be having class outside." [Mr. Frank]

A few minutes later, the class moved to the courtyard of the school.

"Is that everyone? If so, I will begin the lesson." [Mr. Frank]

Mr. Frank pulled two boxes from his lab coat. One containing small glass panels the size of a playing card, and the other held needles.

("Seriously, how does he fit stuff in there?") [Adam]

"Each one of you will take one panel, and one needle. With the needle, stab yourself." [Mr. Frank]

The class started to show signs of panic and confusion. Until a student came forward.

"Uh... what do you mean by stab yourself?" [Student]

("Explaining is kind of a pain.") [Mr. Frank]

"You don't actually have to stab yourself, just prick your finger with the needle." [Mr. Frank]

He picked up a glass panel and displayed it in one hand.

"Next, you will let a drop of blood hit your glass panel." [Mr. Frank]

He took a needle and pricked his index finger before leaving a drop of blood on his glass panel. The normal looking panel of glass started to change into what looked like a picture of Mr. Frank.

"These will be acting as your identity cards, you can also call them IDs for short. Make sure not to lose them. Plus, not only do they display your ability and your level, they also record your mana cells." [Mr. Frank]

The student who previously stepped forward raised their hand.

("Really? This kid again?") [Mr. Frank]

"What are mana cells?" [Student]

"Mana cells are like your DNA, each person has their own mana cells that no one else has. They are also what power your abilities. You can call it mana for short. ...I guess this is also a good place to start explaining how threat levels work. Voidlings also have mana. Whenever a voidling appears, the military reads the amount of mana it has and gives it a threat level befitting it. Those identity cards are so you won't be mistaken for a voidling whenever using your abilities." [Mr. Frank]

He gestured toward the class.

"What are you waiting for? Hurry it up." [Mr. Frank]

The students crowded around the boxes taking a needle and panel for themselves. Most of the students are hesitant to prick their fingers, but some of them did it right away.

"I'm kind of nervous to do this." [Felix]

Adam stared at the needle, taking seconds to steel himself.

"I'm going for it." [Adam]

He pricked his finger, feeling a rush of power flowing within him.

"Woah… You feel that Felix?" [Adam]

"What are you talking about?" [Felix]

He tilted his head at Adam with a questionable look.

"...Did you not feel that rush when you pricked your finger?" [Adam]

Felix held his needle only to show nothing on it.

"I didn't do it yet." [Felix]

"Then do it already." [Adam]

Felix closed his eyes before pricking his finger.

"Yeowch! Woaaah..." [Felix]

"Now do you feel it?" [Adam]

Felix pat his chest as if to confirm something.

"Yeah, that felt great." [Felix]

Clap clap. Mr. Frank clapped twice to gather everyone's attention.

"Ahem, I believe you all may or may not have noticed that tingly rushy feeling when pricking your finger. I also may or may not have forgotten to tell you that those needles stimulate your mana cells. Anyways, you all should be able to activate your abilities now. Just try to recreate that feeling and follow the directions that I will send to your IDs in a moment." [Mr. Frank]

He pulled out a miniature laptop from his lab coat and began to type on it.

Beep.

Adam's ID showed a short video of a sponge shrinking as water spilled out of it.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" [Adam]

FWEET! Mr. Frank blew a whistle to gather attention to himself once again.

"You all must be wondering what the hell I just sent you, and I would think that too if I were you. But stay with me here. The videos I have sent you are videos of your abilities being used. I want you to imagine doing that while recreating the tingly rushy feeling you got earlier." [Mr. Frank]

He pointed behind the class.

"Behind you all are target dummies I set up while you weren't looking. Which is when you all were feeling high off of getting pricked. Feel free to use them with your abilities." [Mr. Frank]

("That shouldn't be enough time to set that many dummies up though… Whatever, I can't just stand here hoping that Felix's brother will make me a hero after school, I should spend this time trying to make myself stronger.") [Adam]

Feeling motivated, Adam raised both his arms and aimed them at a dummy.

("Cmon, compress… compress…") [Adam]

Nothing happened.

"What? Did my ability not activate?" [Adam]

A hand could be felt patting Adam's shoulder.

"Something wrong Adam?" [Felix]

"I don't think my ability activated." [Adam]

"Hm…" [Felix]

Felix pondered for a moment.

"How do you feel?" [Felix]

"For some reason, kind of tired." [Adam]

"You probably used your ability then." [Felix]

Adam looked at Felix with confusion on his face.

"How do you know?" [Adam]

"Did you check your ID?" [Felix]

Adam pulled out his ID and inspected it before realizing a few numbers have dropped somewhere on the panel.

"Oh, right there. It says your mana has dropped." [Felix]

He pointed to some numbers that read 5/10.

"What do you mean?" [Adam]

"Didn't you read the guide? Mana is basically stamina that you use for your abilities." [Felix]

"No, I haven't." [Adam]

After finishing his sentence, the school bell rang.

"Oh, class is over. Time to go home everyone." [Mr. Frank]

Felix slung an arm over Adams shoulder.

"Lets go to my place now, I think it's worth a shot." [Felix]

"Well, I'm pretty much out of options. How can I say no?" [Adam]

Felix slapped Adam on the back.

"Then what are you waiting for? Pack your bags and let's go." [Felix]