"Well done," Damien said with a proud smirk.
"The five of you exceeded expectations. Some of you didn't show your full potential."
He waved a hand, and a man in a black hoodie appeared, holding five metallic cards.
"Let's start with rankings," Damien continued.
Jordan glanced at his team. Joey stood straight, trying not to look nervous. Harkel had his arms crossed. Wren looked bored. Riven had that same stubborn fire in his eyes.
"Number 5: Harkel Voss. You showed determination, but no wins. You need polish. Plenty of time for that."
Harkel didn't even blink.
"Number 4: Joey Cross. Stellar healing ability. You were able to save your friend Riven. But you're dead weight in a solo fight. Train—or fall behind."
Joey nodded, a little embarrassed.
"Number 3: Wren Fallow. Your long-range abilities are elite. Your timing? Excellent. But you can't afford to freeze up in close combat."
Wren's lips twitched upward—barely a smirk.
"Number 2: Riven Harlow."
"Called it," Riven whispered.
"Speed, aggression, clever use of gravity. But you rely too much on your team. And you lack range. Improve that, and maybe you'll challenge your brother."
Riven looked at Jordan, who returned the stare, stone-faced.
"Number 1: Jordan Harlow. Not because of your power, but because of how you used it. Your defense, rescue, and battlefield control were nearly perfect. You've got potential beyond ink. You just need energy."
"Beyond ink?" Jordan wondered.
"Your reward is first pick of your dorms. You'll live in groups of up to four."
Riven and Jordan pointed at each other instantly.
Joey shyly raised his hand.
"Come on, man," Riven said, waving him in.
Harkel shrugged. "I'll join. Better than dealing with morons."
They looked to Wren, who was already walking away. She joined two other girls—and surprisingly—Tessa.
The rest of the students lined up, murmuring quietly. Each received a number and a dorm assignment.
Damien watched them go, then turned back to the top five boys. With a snap, they vanished in a flash of white light.
⸻
They arrived in front of a massive modern building, surrounded by three others. In the distance stretched a sprawling town—Sigil Gate City.
Inside the dorm, Harkel walked in and groaned.
"This sucks."
White walls. Bunk beds. Metal lockers. Their bags had been neatly placed at the foot of each bed.
At least it was clean.
Damien reappeared, holding out four black cards.
"Each of you has 1,000 credits."
Joey's eyes widened. "We can… spend this?"
"Yes. In Sigil Town. But you can't send it outside the barrier. And don't think about stealing it. We'll know."
Guess that ruins the idea of helping Mom… Joey thought.
"This is ten times more than normal," Damien added. "Don't waste it."
He vanished again.
The boys sat on their bunks in silence. Joey took the bottom. Harkel went top. Riven above Jordan.
After a long pause, Harkel spoke.
"We should probably talk about our powers. No point hiding it now."
Riven sighed. "Fine. I'll go first."
He smirked.
"I've got a gaming system."
⸻
Elsewhere, Damien appeared in Wren's room, repeating the same speech he'd given the boys. Then, he vanished again—only to reappear in a camera room, silently monitoring the dorms.
The audio was off.
Standing beside him was a woman with a body that looked carved by years of training. Long, blackish-purple hair. Same uniform as Damien—except her medal was platinum.
"You know, I talked to your daughter," Damien said. "Heck, she even made it into the top five."
"Is she still with that Tessa girl?" the woman asked.
"Yeah. If it wasn't for that girl, she wouldn't have had a chance to make it," he replied, as a clip of Tessa carrying Wren during the fall played on the screen.
"Wait… if you had the clip, why even ask?" Damien added, looking dumbfounded.
"She'll come to her senses," the woman said. "The weak need to be left behind."
Then, glancing at Damien's face, she asked,
"You've taken a liking to those boys, haven't you?"
"I have, Miss Fallow. Some of them—including your daughter—have the potential to dual evolve. One of them even awakened during the exam."
Hearing that, the woman turned sharply.
"You know dual evolution is impossible by natural means. We were only able to get more than one thanks to a group we can't say out loud."
"True," Damien nodded. "But they also said it can be triggered naturally. Maybe the right ability just hasn't revealed itself yet. Anyway, I just wanted to share the good news—and give you a peek at how the first-years are shaping up."
As Damien turned to leave, the woman stopped him.
"You know I hate when you use your ability anywhere near me. Use the door like a normal person."
Damien shrugged and walked out—only to bump into a man with aqua-colored hair.
"Just the person I was looking for," the man said.
"Yo, Axel," Damien grinned, giving him a handshake.
"Can you buffoons close the door?" Miss Fallow yelled.
They both bowed.
"Sorry, Miss Fallow," they said, quickly closing the door behind them.
"So, how did my brother do?" Axel asked.
"He managed to make fifth place."
"Nice, lil' bro," Axel said, clenching his fist with pride.
"So, when's their first assessment?"
"I don't know—it's up to the principal. Whatever he's up to anymore…" Damien muttered.
"How are the third-years treating you?"
"I'm going through it," Axel admitted. "Last year, some decided to stay, but most students moved on to the other houses. The higher-ups are getting mad at me."
Damien's face turned serious.
"That means everyone's growing stronger… but we're falling behind. I'm scared to think what the principal's going to do to solve this situation."
A gaming system?" Harkel asked.
Riven smirked when he saw Harkel's expression—until he heard Harkel's next words.
"Jeez, how much of a no-life are you that your power is based off an entire game system?" Harkel said. Jordan and Joey both started laughing, though Joey quickly stopped.
"How can you have the gravity ability then?" Joey asked.
Jordan already knew about everything the system could do, including its copy ability, but Joey and Harkel did not.
"Oh, the system has a quest, skill, shop, and party tab," Riven explained.
He went on to tell them about the copy ability and how the party system worked. He explained that everyone in his party received a 10% boost thanks to the system. When he finished, he looked over at Joey and Harkel—both were shocked and confused.
"I'm guessing Jordan already knew about this?"
Jordan nodded.
"Is it okay for you to be telling me and Harkel this?" Joey asked.
Riven, now sitting on Jordan's bed, looked confused.
"Dude, you have the ability to copy others while still keeping your own. Not only that—you can give powers to others. If anyone found out about this, do you know what they'd do to you? You're a game freak; you've read the internet theories," Harkel said, starting to panic.
"Project Mimicry," Joey answered.
Both of the twins asked the same question: "What's that?"
Joey sighed. "Project Mimicry is a rumor that goes around online. Since Evolvers' abilities are almost never the same, when a person shows up with a strong ability—usually a Wallborn—they often go missing. But somehow, their ability ends up in the hands of one of the four families. Obviously, not counting the Broken Veil. The theory is that one of the big groups is kidnapping people with powerful evolutions and cloning them. And the reason I bring this up is because that theory is starting to feel more real every day. I mean, look at those hooded figures who healed you and Harkel. Healing abilities are extremely rare—and yet, three of them showed up to check our wounds."
"And are you gonna tell?" Riven asked.
"No," both Joey and Harkel said immediately.
Riven was surprised by how fast they responded.
"I don't know Harkel's reason, but here's mine," Joey said. "I need to help my mother. Riven, if you really have a shop tab, that means we can sell weapons without spending money. I can get my mom out of debt and finally help her. So yeah, I'll keep your secret."
"I need to surpass my brother. He's a dean here—for the third years. I can tell I'm nowhere near his level, and I'd bring shame to our family's code: the next generation should always be stronger than the last. But the way my brother is… I won't surpass him. And I don't want him or my father to look at me differently. If what you're saying is true, then I can grow stronger than even my brother—in a short time," Harkel added.
Riven smiled. "Okay then, this is our secret."
Everyone smiled in agreement.
"Alright, enough with all this sentimental stuff. You said you got rewards, right? Okay, unwrap them!" Harkel said like Riven's rewards were Christmas presents.
"I'll do the party quest first since that gives a system reward—which seems to be the best tier of reward so far."
[Quest Complete]
[Your party can live another day. Here are your rewards:]
[All party members have gained two levels.]
As soon as that message appeared, Riven felt his body grow stronger—not just him, but everyone in the room felt it. Even Wren, who was still talking with Tessa, noticed the change.
"Whoa, was that your evolved ability?" Harkel asked.
"Yeah. You all just gained two levels."
"I don't feel so different," Jordan commented.
"But I do! That was only from two levels? What level are we now?" Joey asked.
[Joey Cross – Level 3]
[Harkel Voss – Level 4]
[Wren Fallow – Level 5]
[Jordan Harlow – Level 7]
[Riven Harlow – Level 4]
Riven read their levels aloud.
"Jeez, why is Jordan's level so high?" Harkel asked.
"It's because of something I'll explain later," Riven replied.
[System: You have received a system reward. A system reward is different from other rewards, as it strengthens the system itself.]
Riven opened the system reward, which appeared as an envelope.
[Party Tab – New Skill: Connection]
[Your party members can now see the system and how many members are in the party.]
"I'm not the only one seeing this, right?" Joey asked.
"No dude, I'm seeing it too. Jordan?" Harkel said.
"Yeah, same here," Jordan replied.
[Connection has more abilities the user can activate.]
Riven was about to check the rewards from his other quests when Jordan called his name.
"Riven, you need to remove Wren from the party. If we're seeing this, that means she is too."
Riven hadn't even thought about that. He quickly opened the party tab and removed Wren. "Hopefully she didn't see it…"
"Okay, before I forget—we have to figure out which evolution you want, Jordan," Riven said with an awkward smile.
"Oh yeah, I'm level 7. That means I can get another ability."
They could all now see the grayish system interface appear before their eyes. Harkel reached out to touch it, but his hand just phased through.
Then first-person video footage appeared, showing clips of Nico, Wren, Harkel, Luka, Joey, Skye, Jude, and the pink-haired man—each clip highlighting their abilities. Above each clip, their evolution type was listed. But something was off, at least for Joey's.
"Hey guys… I think mine's off. It says 'Time Manipulation.'"