The instructions for using the pills were straightforward: one simply had to swallow it, and with such simplicity, its effects would begin almost imidiately .
Looking around him, Fai observed many, if not all of the teenagers swallowing the pill as soon as they received it.
He wondered if their eagerness was due to the sheer excitement of becoming mutants, or perhaps because it was perceived as a crucial key to successfully completing the assessment.
Regardless of their individual reasons, it was clear they were determined to take it. And as they did, he witnessed the effects almost instantly.
As the students swallowed the pills, a massive gush of satisfying energy coursed through their entire bodies.
They became more acutely aware of their environment; their senses sharpened dramatically.
Below the stomach, around the navel area, they could feel something forming, it was their mutant core.
With that, huge smiles bloomed on their faces. It was evident the pills had worked their magic.
Looking down at his own hand, Fai saw he too had been given the pill, but he couldn't bring himself to absorb it because there was a problem.
When Fai received the pill, driven by a mixture of curiosity and pure reflex, he activated his system skill.
[FAE EYES]
[HUMAN EARTH-BASED MUTATION PILL]
[THIS PILL, WHEN ABSORBED BY HUMANS, GRANTS THEM AN EARTH-BASED MUTANT CORE, GIVING THEM THE CAPACITY TO PERFORM EARTH ABILITIES.]
[IF HOST IS TO CONSUME THE PILL, IT WILL HAVE NO SUCH EFFECT.]
[CONSUMPTION OF THE PILL WILL LEAD TO +5 IN THE STRENGTH ATTRIBUTE.]
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONSUME THE PILL?]
[YES] [NO]
Fai was utterly confused when he looked at the information the system displayed.
The details provided by the system perfectly matched what Miss Janet had explained: consumption of the pill would lead to the creation of an Earth Mutant Core. That much was clear.
But, the system was unequivocally telling him that if he consumed the pill, the normal result would not occur. Instead of him becoming a mutant, he was merely going to receive an addition of 5 stat points to his Strength attribute. It wasn't a bad outcome in itself, but the burning question was,
"Why would the pill have a different effect on me?!" Fai wondered, his mind reeling.
If one were to gaze upon Fai's face at that moment, they would be unable to comprehend the sheer magnitude of emotions swirling within him: a complex mixture of fear, curiosity, confusion, and more.
Fear of what he had become. Confused about what he had become. Confused about what to do. And finally, curious about how and why he had become what he was.
But no matter how intensely he thought, the answers simply wouldn't magically appear in his head, and he knew that. Yet, what could he possibly do to change that? Nothing.
"At first, I didn't want to believe what the system said," Fai thought. "But now this situation only adds more weight to my suspicion." He could still vividly recall that every time he opened his system, looking at the tab that said [RACE], it always read [FAIRY] and not 'human'.
Initially, he had thought it best to overlook it, pushing it to the back of his mind. He didn't want to believe the system, thinking perhaps it was just a random designation the system gave him for ranking.
He desperately wanted it to be anything but true.
But now, looking at the undeniable information on the screen, he had no choice but to accept the startling fact: he was no longer human.
He was now something else entirely, something called a Fairy, a being he had literally believed only existed in fairy tales.
"At least if I consume it, it wouldn't be a total loss," Fai reasoned with himself.
"I mean, it increases my Strength attribute by 5, right? So it should be okay if I consume it?" He was still unsure whether he should consume the pills, knowing full well they wouldn't have the intended mutant effect on him.
After a period of intense deliberation, he finally reached a decision; he knew precisely what to do.
Raising his hand, Fai caught Miss Janet's attention.
"Yes, young man, it's you again," Janet said, her gaze settling on the teenager who had asked the question that had surprised her the most.
"Yes, what is it this time?" she asked, looking directly in Fai's direction. As usual, a serene smile graced her face; she always had such a smile that one might think it was an intrinsic part of her demeanor.
"Actually, Miss... I was wondering... will I get into trouble for refusing the mutation pill?" Fai asked, his eyes fixed on the lady.
Hearing the words that had just left the young man's mouth, Janet, her assistants, the bald man, the military personnel, and even the students were all struck by a wave of profound confusion.
They were stunned into silence. Of all the things they could have heard, never in their lives would they have imagined that what he said was precisely what he meant.
They waited for him to rephrase his sentence, perhaps to say,
"Sorry, that's not what I meant,"
but no such clarification came. This only served to prove that he knew exactly what he was saying and was fully aware of every word that left his mouth.
But if so, why even ask such a question in the first place?
Not only was the mutation pill exceedingly difficult to find, but it was also by no means cheap.
The very fact that the military offered them these pills for free, simply to ensure they were on equal footing in the assessment, was considered a blessing, a blessing that should have been accepted with four arms if possible.
Yet, right before their very eyes, someone was casually asking if the denial of the pill was even a possibility.
In the students' eyes, Fai could only be seen as foolish.