After receiving his quest rewards, Riven forgot to do one important task—removing Wren from the party. This meant she saw everything they did, including the system itself and the shop tab.
"What do we do?" Harkel whispered.
"We need to get out of here before we talk. We still don't know if there are cameras around," Jordan said.
They all came to an agreement. Riven turned the telepathic link back on—he had turned it off when Wren first said something.
Just stay out there, we'll come out, Riven thought.
As they exited the room, they saw the girl with short black hair leaning against the wall. After exchanging glances, the boys just walked off toward the elevator-like contraption. Wren was left stunned by this until she heard a voice in her head.
Follow us, came the command—it was none other than Joey.
Wren didn't like the way he spoke to her, especially since it was in her mind. The five made their way to Sigil Gate City, and as they walked, no one said a word—not even through telepathy.
The streets were alive with vendors selling everything from weapons and armor to spices—any way to earn a buck. Joey glanced around, trying to get a good idea for starting a venue. They eventually ended up at a fast food restaurant. When they ordered and the cashier asked who would be paying, all of them pointed at Wren.
This caught her by surprise and angered her, but she still paid. After everyone got their food, they sat at an empty table with what looked like a phone. It was a Muter.
A Muter was a device developed even before Evolutions were discovered. As the name implied, it could mute conversations within a certain radius, allowing people to speak freely.
Wren grabbed it and activated a range just large enough to cover their group—passersby wouldn't be able to accidentally overhear their conversation.
"So," Wren said, "what was that back at the academy? And before you lie, I know it had something to do with you guys. I saw your names and everything."
"Wait until after we're done eating to ask questions," Harkel said.
This irritated Wren, but she swallowed her anger and decided to wait.
⸻
Back at the Academy
"Miss Fallow, your daughter has left the building," a man with a silver badge said, standing before Miss Fallow as she sat in her office.
"Why?" the woman asked.
"We do not know, ma'am. All we know is that she left with four other boys—the same boys who were the top five first-years."
"Where are they now?" she asked again.
"They're in Sigil Gate City, ma'am. They went into a restaurant, but we cannot hear what they're saying because of a Muter at their table," he said, bowing his head the entire time.
"Fine. Make sure someone keeps a close eye on them."
"Yes, ma'am," the man replied, rushing out and closing the door behind him.
She then pressed a button on her desk.
"I want a file on the top five first-year students."
⸻
Back at the restaurant
Wren was disgusted by how the boys ate. She expected this from Riven and Harkel, but not from Jordan. Even though he looked similar to his brother and carried himself with a bit more class, that image vanished quickly. The only one eating normally was Joey.
After they finished and wiped their faces, they looked ready to talk.
"Now, what was that? Was it one of your Evolution abilities? Can you just force someone to join your party anytime you want? And why me? Why didn't you choose someone else?" Wren bombarded them with questions. The others all looked at Joey, silently telling him to explain.
"Yes, that is one of our abilities—Riven's, to be exact. So far, we're pretty sure we can invite people into our party without their permission, but it could backfire if we're not careful. And why you? Well… it was for a quest."
"A quest?" Wren asked.
"Yes. Riven's Evolution is based on a gaming system. He can check stats, increase them, and complete quests. One of those quests required him to invite us to his party. He removed you afterward, but had to re-add you to complete the objective."
Wren looked unconvinced, as if she were waiting for Joey to say more. Joey sighed, knowing that meant she'd likely done some research while the system was still up in her mind.
"He also has a shop tab. This ta—" Joey began, but Wren cut him off.
"Pull it up for me," she said, looking directly at Riven.
"Your friend here," she added, pointing at Joey, "is terrible at keeping things to himself. The way he talks, it's like he's hiding something. I'll say this: I'll keep your secret. But don't expect me not to indulge—especially if this so-called 'system' has anything to do with my life now."
Riven was about to respond, but Wren cut him off again.
"Also note—my mother is the vice principal of the academy, so I'm in a pretty high position."
Riven realized he had no choice. They were in a tough spot. He opened the system for everyone to see and explained to Wren that she could interact with it using her thoughts—so people around wouldn't think she was crazy.
Wren looked through the system. Her shocked expression said it all—she likely saw the Copy Skill.
"What the heck? You can just do that? And all you need is a level requirement? That's insane… but I'm guessing you're Wallborn. Is that why almost nobody knew?" she asked.
Riven, Jordan, and Joey all nodded.
"Woah," she said, leaning back in her seat. But she quickly composed herself.
"Like I said, I'll keep your secret. I get why you kept it hidden. But I want in on your plans."
"Our plans?" Riven asked.
"Yeah. You're telling me you have all this, and you don't have a plan to build an empire?" Wren said.
"We do, at least a rough one. First, we need more units. But we'll plan that out later."
"Then we shake on it," Wren said with a smile, holding her hand out.
Riven shook it. Just as Wren was about to stand, Riven stopped her.
"Before you go, we need to figure out who gets what ability. Since we're all at least level 5."
Since the telepathic link wasn't on, Joey thought to himself, Riven, I can tell you're a man of your word, but are you sure we can trust her?
Wren immediately sat back down, looking ecstatic. It was strange—up until now, she always had that "I don't care" face. But here, she looked like a child about to open a gift from Santa.
Since everyone was at least level five, they all could get one more ability, with the level cap to gain another being level 15.
Everyone could see Wren's excitement, but after a while, they also noticed it fade. What replaced it wasn't joy—it was a look of conviction.
"What's wrong?" Joey asked.
"It's my mom," Wren said. "She also has two Evolutions, and she told me she got them naturally—but that it's a secret. I thought when I naturally evolved, I'd also get two Evolutions. But right now, it doesn't seem like that's the case."
This revelation shocked everyone.
"So what you're telling us," Harkel began, "is that there is a way to naturally get two Evolutions? Wouldn't that mean if we get another Evolution right now, we'd basically be forced dual Evolvers?"
Wren shrugged. Something she wouldn't like to admit was that she didn't fully believe her mother. No one outside had ever been shown to have more than one Evolution—except her. And since she was her daughter, she had seen others with two abilities as well.
"Then this is another reason why we should avoid telling anyone," Jordan added. "If people find out we can force dual Evolves, we'll become targets for big families—maybe even all four of them. Even the Broken Veil."
"So," Wren asked, "what abilities can we even learn?"
Everyone looked at their systems, heading to the "Copy" section. Below their original abilities, a plus symbol had appeared. Riven told them to click on it. When they did, they saw video clips of different abilities. But something strange stood out—they couldn't see their own ability in the clips, nor Riven's gravity ability. That meant when someone picked an ability, unless Riven removed it from them, no one else in the party could get that ability.
"I'll go first," Riven said.
As he scrolled through the clips, he was conflicted about what to pick. He didn't want an ability that would immediately reveal he had more than one.
Here were the abilities available:
• Nico's Fire Evolution
• Wren's Lightning Evolution
• Luka's Nature Evolution
• Tessa's Flight Evolution
• Joey's Time Evolution
• Harkel's Air Evolution
• The pink-haired man's Mute Evolution
• Jude's Ice Evolution
• Skye's Sound Evolution
• Jordan's Ink Evolution
• And lastly, one Riven hadn't even realized he had—
• Damien's Teleportation Evolution
Riven didn't even know he had Damien's Evolution. He'd seen Damien use it a couple times, but assumed it was the work of one of the hooded figures.
After some thought, Riven made his decision—he would pick Damien's Teleportation Evolution. His reason was simple: his brother. He wanted Jordan to live another day, and the teleportation ability might just be the thing that could save his life.
When Riven selected the Evolution, it disappeared from everyone else's options. Harkel then raised his hand, wanting to go next—and they let him.
Harkel immediately picked Wren's Lightning Evolution. Everyone questioned why.
"I picked that Evolution because, since I already have an elemental-type power, I should be able to get the hang of lightning faster than the rest of you can get used to your new Evolutions."
Wren's Lightning power then disappeared.
Joey went next. He picked the pink-haired man's Mute Evolution.
Before anyone could ask, he explained, "I'm more of a support type than a fighter. So when we need our conversations to be private, but we don't trust the people around us enough to invite them to our party, I can just mute the area."
Everyone agreed with this choice more than Harkel's—it was obvious Harkel had just turned it into a race.
Wren then picked Skye's Sound Evolution.
When asked why, she simply said, "I have my reasons."
And everyone left it at that.
Jordan picked Harkel's Air Evolution.
"Since air is practically invisible," he said, "I can make my ink creatures faster—without anyone noticing."
With everyone having picked their new Evolutions, Wren stood up.
"Everyone's being released from classes now, so I'm going to pick up a friend. That means this place is about to get crowded with students, and I don't want to deal with that."
She quickly walked off, but before she did, she told them to remove her from the party and re-invite her later to stay updated and receive telepathic messages if needed.
The rest of the group stood up, tossed away their trash, and left the fast food place. As they walked, they saw other students heading toward the venue—some in the same uniform, but others wore stripes that were silver or even gold. These were the second- and third-years.
They browsed the venue, looking through weapons. After a while, Riven got a system prompt:
⸻
[System: You have looked at over 20 weapons.]
New Ability Unlocked: "Lock-On."
This ability allows you to see the stats of weapons and items (currently Level 1). Level up this ability to reveal a weapon's special traits—if it has any.
⸻
Everyone in the party saw the prompt and began using the ability on weapons they had seen before. With four people doing it, the Lock-On ability soon reached Level 2. Now they could see whether a weapon had a special trait or not.
Most weapons didn't—which told them that weapons with special traits were rare.
As they continued walking, more and more students showed up. They decided, as a group, to return another day.
Just as they were about to leave the venue, a girl stopped them.
It was Nico.