"It's because…. Soon, something big is about to happen. And I am still not strong enough to protect everyone. I would rather not involve my loved ones in the things that will be coming soon, but at the same time, I don't want them to not be able to protect themselves when the time comes. That's why, today, I decided to tell you about this and to give you a choice to make." Saksham replied with a deep voice.
Anitha was puzzled by the reply. She asked back with a confused look, "Choice? What choice?"
"My powers…are different than usual. If I tell you that I can help you awaken your desired superpower, what would you want? Which superpower do you want to have?" Saksham said with a serious face.
Anitha heard this and she was visibly stunned. She opened her mouth and asked with a 'You can't fool me' expression on her face, "R-Really?"
"Yeah, I can. As I said, I can do a lot of things with my powers. They are different than normal people. Well, the usual Awakened and Unusuals. So I-"
Anitha suddenly interrupted Saksham and asked, "What are these Awakened and Unusuals that you keep talking about?"
Saksham realized that he still hasn't told her about them. So he paused and said, "Awakened are the people who have awakened their superpowers. That's the simplest explanation for this name. Awakened people are usually divided by the type of powers they have. People who are really strong physically are called [Physical Masters].
The people who can harness the elemental powers of nature and use them for their own purpose are called [Elemental Power Users]. And the people who use the soul powers are called [Soul Power] users."
"Unusuals are also the people who have awakened their superpowers as well. But the main difference between them and the Awakened is that Unusuals can have different powers than the Awakened ones. Basically, any person with different abilities than Awakened ones are called Unusuals."
"People with superpowers have existed throughout our history. Earlier there was actually no way to know how strong a person was or what powers he/she actually had. So, after years of research and sources gathered over the course of history, there has been a clear distinction in different levels in these Power Systems."
"For [Physical Masters] the different levels currently known to mankind is: [Physical Trainee], [Physical Soldier], [Physical Commander], [Physical General], [Physical King], [Physical Emperor], and in the end [Physical God]."
"For [Elemental Power Users]: [Elemental Trainee], [Elemental Soldier], [Elemental Commander], [Elemental General], [Elemental King], [Elemental Emperor], and [Elemental God]."
"For [Soul Power Users]: [Soul Trainee], [Soul Mage], [Soul Master], [Soul Grandmaster], [King Of Souls], [Soul Emperor], and [Soul God]."
"And well, for the Unusuals the different levels are: G>F>E>D>C>B>A. A grade Unusual is the strongest while G is the weakest level. And these are the 2 different systems for knowing the power level of superpower users."
Anitha heard this and asked back in confusion, "But all of them can use powers, right? Then why is-"
"Yeah, I know what you are trying to ask. Since all of them can use powers then why is it that they named differently and even the system for knowing the power levels is different, right? That's what you want to ask?" Saksham asked back.
Anitha nodded like a child. She found it really weird why if all can use powers, then why are they named differently? Saksham cleared his throat and said, "From what I know, that's because Unusuals has only recently been found like 150 years ago. They might have existed before that as well but there were no reports of them before that. And that's why there are still not enough research and data of them."
"This is why currently, Awakened people have 3 different power systems for now, and Unusuals have different. Until there is enough data, these system has to exist like this."
Anitha heard this and nodded. Saksham also wiped his sweat. He didn't know this answer earlier. He always used to think that maybe people were just idiots to have such different systems for power and 2 different names for the people who have awakened their superpowers.
But recently, he had talked with Avinash about it on call and Avinash explained to him about this in detail. Avinash even said that there might be a big change in the system really soon because of some amazing discoveries.
There was a small silence in between them. Anitha was lost in her thoughts while Saksham was lost in his own. Suddenly Anitha said, "Can you give me a bit of a time? I don't know what powers I want. It's a big decision for my life. I can't take it casually, right?"
Saksham heard this and came out of his daze. He nodded and said, "You are right. Take as much time as you want. But do tell me before 7 days. We can't delay the process of you getting stronger with your powers. So, the earlier you get your powers, the more time will you get to get stronger with them."
Anitha nodded and said, "Alright. I will do my best to think of the best superpower till then."
Saksham smiled and took her hand, "Great! Now, shall we head back?"
Anitha nodded and said, "Yeah."
But suddenly she remembered the way she had come to that place originally. She looked at Saksham and saw his playful smile and she realized that she won't be getting back on foot. Suddenly the same black Battle-suit appeared out of thin air and wrapped around her.
Her face was covered with a cool-looking black helmet as well. Saksham saw this and wrapped his arms around her, and squatted a little. As soon as he straightened up, the ground cracked under his feet as a loud explosion resounded throughout the empty wasteland.
The next time Anitha opened her eyes, she was standing at the same place they had taken off earlier. She touched her face and body and found nothing on her body. She looked at Saksham standing in front of her, smiling gently at her. Seeing that, she sighed with relief. Saksham took her hand and said, "Shall we go home then?"
Anitha smiled back sweetly and said, "Yep!"
Both of them came out of the dark alley and started walking slowly towards their homes.
___________________
6 days Later
Saksham woke up from his bed and stretched lightly. It's been 6 days and finally, his EP was back to full again. Last night, Anitha had also called him that she had finally thought about what superpowers she wanted. And since his EP is back to full, he can finally finish his planned things before leaving for the mission tomorrow. He didn't want to leave things unfinished before leaving so having a full EP bar right now made him be in a really excellent mood.
Though, first things first, he needed to level up his [Shadow Clone] to level 3. When he does that, the clone will be able to take his shape. Although the combat powers will not even be like 20% probably. But that's not what he wants right now.
All he wants is a way to go to the Middle East without worrying his parents about disappearing for a few days. He wanted his clone to live his life here in his place till he comes back so that no one would even know that he was actually not there and instead maybe fighting foreigners for a plant.
In fact, in the last 6 days, he had not been able to muster up his courage to tell his parents about the extraordinary world and superpowers. As much as he wanted to tell them about it, he didn't want their original worldview to collapse after so many years of their lives. He really didn't want their ordinary lives to come to an end.
Only he knew how much tension and worry he wakes up with every morning. Only he knew how big of a nightmare those 2 visions had been for him. He didn't want to put his parents to worry at their age...
Shaking his head, Saksham decided to just take this mission as a time to steel his resolve and the final few days for his parents' ordinary lives. He took a deep breath and said, "Upgrade my [Shadow Clone] to level 3."