When abilities had first been introduced to the human race, people had quickly discovered that some were far more powerful than others.
The abilities themselves were also different from person to person. They were dependent on how many mutant cells could be activated within the body and how much a person's body could withstand.
Not long after, came the introduction of the power level system, which differentiated between a total of eight power levels.
These levels indicated how many mutant cells were in the body but not how strong the ability was. The military further divided them into subcategories. 1.1 1.2 ... all the way to 1.9. just to identify everyone.
There were two ways for people to obtain abilities. There were the so-called Originals, and the people who had learned one.
During the war with the Dalki race, some people in distress started to exhibit powers, which the human mind could not comprehend. Scientists claimed it was humanity's last stand against extinction. The power the Originals could display had come as a shock to the Dalki and had proven to be enough to push them back.
These new superheroes realized that they could share their powers with other people. So they did it quickly since humanity depended on these strange powers for survival. They wrote down how they accomplished this and put the information down in things that would later become known as ability books.
After the first war had ended, the books were no longer distributed freely and instead started to go on sale to the public. The first ability users had realised, that their powers now put them at the top of the food chain and they wanted to make the most of it. The military decided to keep some of the more powerful abilities to themselves.
From that point forward, ability books ranging from level 1 to 5 were the ones sold to the public, while giant corporations and the military connived with the first known ability users to keep the higher-level versions to themselves.
As such, if one was an ability user, they either belonged to an Original family or one would have learned the ability from a corresponding book. Unsurprisingly, the Originals were stronger and accessed higher levels than the rest of the human race.
Additionally, not all ability users had chosen to share their abilities with the outside world and some had decided to keep it exclusive to their own bloodline. Originals usually had the strongest of abilities that couldn't be measured using the power system.
After the demise of his parents, Quinn had not had any family members to support him. He had lacked the means to buy even the cheapest ability book and as far as he knew his family had not been special enough to be an Original.
Now, after all these years, it seemed like he had managed to obtain an ability after all. Even though he never heard of an ability book like his before, so he didn't even have a clue what power level it had mutated his cells to.
Usually, on the front, there would be a technique that could help you master your ability up to a certain power level. Unfortunately, the book had disappeared and with it whatever knowledge it had contained.
Quinn lifted up his hand to look at the watch, which indicated his current power level was one. When he looked around, he noticed that everyone else's watches currently showed the same number.
Sergeant Griff was standing in front of all the students, calling out names in groups of five.
These students would then be transported somewhere to take the test. Quinn was hopeful at first thinking that he might have been able to change his ability level for once, but the screen which had popped up before him caused him to worry.
[You are being hit by direct sunlight]
[All stats will be halved]
He had no correlation on how good 10 Strength, 10 Agility, and 10 Stamina were. He just knew that it would be greater than his current 5, which didn't bode well for this upcoming test.
But if his eyesight was anything to go by, then it should mean that it would place him at least in the top condition of a normal human being. Right now though, Quinn felt incredibly weak and sluggish.
His body felt extremely hot, and he was sweating buckets. Quinn thought it was a good thing he had drunk a load of water beforehand. Otherwise, he would have been extremely dehydrated.
"Hey, are you okay?", a stranger standing next to Quinn asked.
The stranger had slick blonde hair and hazel green eyes with a chiseled face and sharp jawline. He stood before him at a height of 6 foot 2 inches tall compared to Quinn's 5 foot 11 inches. He looked to be the type of person Quinn would have usually avoided in his school as everyone would always pay attention to them, and boy did Quinn hate attention.
"If you want, I can call someone for help," the stranger offered.
"It's okay, I'm just a little bit nervous about the testing," Quinn lied as he tried to ignore his tired body and stand up straight.
The stranger's eyes roamed over Quinn's body with concern. Quinn was quite skinny for his age, not having a lot of muscle on him, and right now, he looked incredibly weak. To the stranger, Quinn looked like the type of boy who would be a prime subject for bullying. Being in a new place and not knowing anyone's power levels, of course, he would be nervous.
Quinn sighed. If he was to get a level 1 rating again, the same thing from his school would most likely repeat itself.
"Well, don't be. I'm quite strong, you know. If anyone messes with you, you can come and ask me for help," the stranger offered, smiling. Quinn returned the smile, yet he couldn't help but feel uneasy.
Quinn didn't usually get on with the active, positive type of person. In fact, he did not get on well with anybody, but he found it hard to dislike the boy, especially for being the first person to offer his help.
"The name's Vorden, by the way," the other boy introduced himself and placed his hand out.
Quinn looked at Vorden's hand. It was the first time in his life someone had treated him like a normal human being, but he was afraid that would quickly change.
Should his ability turn out to be a low-leveled one, he would probably take back his offer of friendship, but at least for a short time Quinn just wanted to forget about all that.
"My name's Quinn," Quinn replied as he shook Vorden's hand.
[Use of an ability has been detected]
[The ability has been rejected]
Once the system messages appeared, Quinn looked at them strangely. He then noticed that Vorden still hadn't let go of his hand. Then the system repeated the message once again.
[Use of ability had been detected]
[The ability has been rejected]
Quinn forcefully pulled his hand back. The system was clearly telling him that Vorden was trying to use his ability on him. The other even had a puzzled look on his face as he stood there.
"What is your ability?" Vorden eventually asked.
"I…." Quinn paused, thinking for a while whether he should answer or not. Ultimately, he wanted to see Vorden's real reaction. "I don't have an ability."
Vorden no longer had a puzzled look on his face, but he did not look pleased either, as if the answer had been insufficient to sate his curiosity, but before he could say anything, Sergeant Griff made an announcement.
"Next group, Quinn Talen, Vorden Blade, Peter Chuck, Layla Munrow, and Erin Heley. Come to the front to take your test!"