Why Are My Abilities So Bad?!

Once my breathing stabilized and the shaking stopped, I returned to the living room. 

The most important item that every person always kept on their person in System Overload was their smartwatch. Even though I could only get vague impressions from the confusing memories that had flooded my subconscious, I managed to figure out how to use the watch.

When I turned the device on, an incredibly high-tech hologram emerged from my smartwatch.

"That's so cool," I gushed, poking the blue-colored hologram. My finger passed through the floating display. Getting transmigrated is actually pretty cool.

Suddenly, I shook my head and slapped my cheeks. The world is going to end! Some fancy holograms are not important!

I refocused on my task. Judging from my body, I was around high school age. Considering that I was living alone in Academy City, I was probably a student there. Relying on muscle memory that wasn't mine (which felt incredibly surreal), I found my student ID.

[Name: Mav Callahan]

[Age: 14]

[Year: Freshman (Incoming)]

[Overall Ranking: N/A]

[Strength: G+]

[Endurance: G]

[Dexterity: G-]

[Agility: F-]

[Mana: F]

Strength meant explosive power and physical force. Endurance was stamina and the ability to take damage. Dexterity was equivalent to hand-eye coordination. Agility was related to speed and movement. And mana pertained to raw magical power and control. 

Everything looked like how I had described it in my novel.

However, there was a problem.

…I'm seeing things, right?

There's no way I have three G ranked abilities.

I paused and considered whether I should just give up and let myself get killed by the Apocalypse. With these trashy abilities, I was basically doomed from the beginning.

Gauss' lowest ability was an F- when he was a middle schooler…

My highest ability is an F…

Does that mean I'm worse than the average middle schooler in strength, endurance, and dexterity?

I almost started crying right there.

"How did Mav even get accepted into Academy City anyways? I don't even remember any characters with this name…"

My best guess was that I had taken the body of some side character that didn't play any particularly interesting role. Perhaps he died during one of the Academy invasion events.

At least I didn't get reincarnated as the main character… judging by the date, Gauss is still in the SSS-ranked Gate.

I reminded myself that there were always worse situations. After all, Gauss was fighting for his life every day and had to eat bitter demon flesh just to survive.

The suffering of other people made me feel marginally better. But only marginally.

However, there was another issue.

Looking at the student ID started to make me question.

"Who… am I?" I whispered to myself. The question felt extra lonely in the empty, sterile apartment.

Am I Mav? Am I the author from my old world? Or am I someone completely different?

Did I kill the old me? Is that murder?

Flying cars… holograms… and living inside my own book. This is crazy… but it feels so real.

Too real to ignore. I can freak out later, but right now… the Apocalypse is approaching.

I'm scared.

I looked down at my reflection in the glass coffee table. Black hair framed a pale face and gray, focused eyes stared back at me. My reflection was much younger than I was used to seeing, by about six or seven years, but they had more determination than I had seen on my face in my entire past life.

"I have to be alive to question my existence," I said to the empty room. "And in order to stay alive, I have to become stronger. Much, much stronger."

Not only did I have to prepare for the Apocalypse, but there were several events that I had to survive before then. After all, the protagonist always had an antagonist.

I had about three weeks of summer vacation until the Academy opened for the new school year. And during that time I had to prepare.

The Academy was the beating heart of Academy City, where they fostered the next generation of Heroes (adventurers who clear Gates) throughout their high school career. 

I had to do well. High-ranked students were given better accommodations, more opportunities for growth, intensive training, and most importantly… Being highly ranked gave me the chance to interact with the main characters.

Yes, I wanted to interact with the main characters.

Logically, being the author meant I had an advantage by knowing the future.

At first, I was afraid of interfering with the natural progression of the story and rendering my knowledge useless. 

However, I quickly realized that this was a flawed way of thinking-- my very existence was already the beginning of a potentially catastrophic butterfly effect and nothing I could do would change that.

Therefore, if I was already going to face the consequences of an altered storyline, there was nothing stopping me from interacting with the characters and causing deviations in the story.

Either way, whether I wanted to interact with the characters or not, my current top priority was to join Class A. The benefits provided for Class A were outlandish: private training facilities, school accommodations, and intensive training camps.

These were perfect for growth and some of the events in Class A were also key plot points.

I have to join Class A.

And considering my trashy abilities… I have to get moving quick.

I checked Mav's-- no, I checked my checking account before getting off the couch. There was no time for lazing about, even though I wanted to sleep off my pounding headache.

"I should've written some convenient treasures to uncover… like some kind of fruit that enhances my abilities or a book of wind swordsmanship hidden in the mountains. That would make this a lot more convenient," I grumbled as I slipped into a comfortable navy blue hoodie. I looked down at my clothes.

I guess Mav liked the color. It doesn't look bad.

My instincts told me to grab the house keys and my metro card, but I knew that in this world, everything was loaded onto my smartwatch. I could unlock the front door and pay for the train ticket with the device on my wrist.

That's so convenient. Transmigration isn't so bad-- No, no! Focus!

As I stood in the foyer area, I took a few deep breaths. Even as Mav's memories pushed against my brain, I shrugged them off; there was no time for existential ponderings about whether I was Mav or someone else entirely.

I had an Apocalypse to survive and an Academy entrance test to prepare for.

I slipped into a pair of well-worn sneakers and walked out the front door.