The boy called Shane was worried, but in front of this whole crowd he couldn't renege on whatever bet they had made.
"Don't be too cocky William!" Shane yelled back. "What happened back then was a consensual decision of Jenna. Are you going to turn wrong into right because you awakened a powerful ability?"
Avery was stunned. Looks like the rumors were really true? He frowned as he activated his energy vision to look at William and Shane. Williams energy mist was denser and extremely thick black, compared to the pale red energy on Shane whoa had activated a four star fortification ability.
Despite the excuses, it seemed like the battle was bound to happen, but after all graduates went through the ceremony. An hour later Avery walked out to find that the battle had already begun.
To be honest there was no battle, it was a one sided pummeling. Shane was using his augmented strength to fight back but his resistance was pointless in front of that terrifying black miasma. Shane had been bloodily injured after William wilfully tortured him, turning the black.miasma into needles and pricking Shane's body with thousands of holes.
Shane's parents, who had been watching the whole thing didn't speak. They had no right to. This was fear of the strong! When William was done, an old man walked out from the crowd and handed him a black card. It was an invitation to the University Alliance!
The University Alliance was a group of the top fifty universities in the Human Federation. They were all located on the atmosphere of a gaia supergiant planet called Academy One, in the Aldebaran Star System, in the heart of the Human
Academy One was a gigantic planet, and an anomalous one. Most Gaia planets - a reference to planets that are directly conducive to human life like the Earth, are small terrestrial planets. Academy One is one of the largest gaia planets within the Human Federation, the size of Jupiter, the biggest planet in the ancestral star system, the Sol System.
Going to Academy One was the dream of almost every student. Even Avery felt a bit wistful about the opportunity presented to William. The invitation to the University Alliance meant a chance to appear for the test to enter one of the top fifty universities. It was an opportunity that would change the fate of an individual.
Nevertheless, Avery shrugged. This wasn't too related to him. He wasn't planning to apply through this route. Instead, he was going to sit for the Gourmet Hunter exam.
The Gourmet Hunter Examination was a separate examination held every year to select the best students to enter the Universities Gourmet departments.
The Gourmet Hunter Exam was in a month, and would be held on a remote sanitized planet. The location of the planet was top secret because it was a treasure trove of gourmet items in the Human Federation. With just a month to go, Avery felt he had a lot of preparation to do.
Back at home, Avery's parents presented him with a gift. The latest high end cooking set and a 2 meter cube storage space. Avery was shocked by his parents expensive gift. He was from an ordinary family without much privilege, yet his parents had always strived to give him the best of opportunities. Avery teared up when he received the gifts.
As an only child, Avery's parents had tried their best to let him live like he desired and a sheltered life. Now that he was grown up, he had to choose his own path. When Avery heard those words from his parents mouths, he nodded.
Back in his room, Avery activated his Energy Vision ability and tried observing himself in the mirror. He found that most of his energy was concentrated within his eyes and were of a white color under the special vision granted by the ability. However, his face stalled, as he saw something unusual inside his heart.
He would usually have never noticed it at all and even the examination at the graduation hall had missed it. He looked carefully into his heart, as his eyes began to throb with pain, to find that there was a piercingly small black dot within.
This black dot seemed to have a lot of energy, that was concentrated within. The black dot was extremely dark and no light could pierce through it. Forcing his mind towards the black dot, Avery tried activating the black energy within the dot like how he did with the Energy Vision, but to his surprise, he found that the black dot disappeared.
When he glanced up, he found himself in a blank world. It was completely white. The sudden change caused a miniature fright within Avery as he looked around in shock. He tried walking, but there was no land to walk on and Avery just floated aimlessly.
Panicking, he wished to leave and suddenly found himself back in his room. Surprised, he looked around to make sure, but he really had returned to his room.
"Is this... a second ability?" Avery mumbled to himself in shock. He tried using his Energy Vision to see if the black dot was still present within his heart and it still was.
"What is the purpose of that ability?" Avery wondered in confusion. At that moment, Avery felt a heavy hunger as if all the energy in his body was drained. Shocked, he quickly fixed himself up a meal and gorged on it until he felt a little better.
"What is going on? Using that ability is so energy intensive?" Avery was thoroughly confused at this moment. He decided to be cautious and not use this ability until he had a bigger energy reserve and stronger physique. He had many thoughts about this bizarre ability, like what its star rating was and whether he should disclose it to others. But for now, he decided to hold off on the matter.