It wasn't long for class to end. Mr. Frank had taken Adam out of the class and headed straight to the principal's office. Upon opening the door, they met an old lady sitting at a large desk.
"Mrs. Welch!" [Mr. Frank]
"Hm?!" [Mrs. Welch]
The old lady was startled at Mr. Frank's sudden entry.
"I brought a student who had an awakening!" [Mr. Frank]
Although shocked at first, she waved him off.
"Isn't that normal? You don't have to come to me every time a student has an awakening." [Mrs. Welch]
"That may be the case for normal students, but this student is a talent! He's still in his first year with a level 1 ability!" [Mr. Frank]
"!" [Mrs. Welch]
She was stunned, but it wasn't for long.
"That… is surprising. But there is no meaning to bringing him to me." [Mrs. Welch]
"Mrs. Welch, he has a mana count of ten thousand! How is there no meaning?!" [Mr. Frank]
Mrs. Welch stood up, walking over to a counter and poured tea for herself.
"His mana count and awakening time is something that would be worthy of being called a talent, but… he still only has a level 1 ability. He has no worth." [Mrs. Welch]
Mr. Frank seemed like he wanted to protest, but he held himself back.
"...I see. Then we'll be going now." [Mr. Frank]
He took Adam outside of the room, speaking as he walked.
"I'm sorry Adam." [Mr. Frank]
"For what?" [Adam]
"Well… multiple reasons. The first being, wasting your time after school." [Mr. Frank]
("Mr. Frank seems really down… I should try to read the room.") [Adam]
"That's not a problem. I know you're doing it for my sake." [Adam]
("...Being consoled by my own student. How pathetic I am…") [Mr. Frank]
"I really wanted the principal to support you." [Mr. Frank]
"What would happen if she backed me?" [Adam]
"You would gain items, influence throughout the school, and boosters for your mana." [Mr. Frank]
"There are boosters for my mana?" [Adam]
"Of course, they're made to help people awaken." [Mr. Frank]
"I thought I already awakened." [Adam]
"You weren't supposed to learn this until second year, but you can awaken more than once. There are stages set for each awakening, if I remember correctly… it goes from black, dark blue, blue, dark purple, purple, dark red, red, dark orange, orange, dark yellow, yellow, dark gray, gray, and finally white." [Mr. Frank]
("That's… a lot to take in...") [Adam]
"What awakening color are you Mr. Frank?" [Adam]
"Oh, don't call it awakening color. It's called core stage. When people ask about it, they usually ask what stage you are at." [Mr. Frank]
"O...kay? Then what stage are you at?" [Adam]
"I have a dark orange core. Since you just awakened, you should be at the dark blue stage." [Mr. Frank]
As they spoke, they had reached the front gate without realizing it.
"Go on home, I have work to do." [Mr. Frank]
He pushed Adam on the back, forcing him to walk.
"See you." [Adam]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
When he got home, Vivian was nowhere in sight once again.
"Welcome back~." [Sebastian]
Sebastian greeted him from the living room, his eyes glued to the TV like last time.
"Is Vivian out shopping again?" [Adam]
"She wanted to go buy dog food for Kilo." [Sebastian]
Adam glanced around, looking for his companion.
("Did she take Kilo too?") [Adam]
He took a step into the house, leaving his school bag on the floor. As he walked past the kitchen, something caught his eye on the dinner table.
"Oh, a snack." [Adam]
Without hesitation, he took a handful of crackers and stuffed himself.
"You might want to slow down." [Sebastian]
"Mmph mmph." [Adam]
"...I can't understand you." [Sebastian]
Adam took a few seconds to finish downing his crackers before talking.
"I said, what stage are you at?" [Adam]
"Hm? Did you just learn about core stages today?" [Sebastian]
"Yeah, I just had my first awakening today." [Adam]
Sebastian looked at him strangely.
"What do you mean your first awakening? You already awakened multiple times." [Sebastian]
"What?" [Adam]
"As I've said, you have already awakened. Multiple times too." [Sebastian]
There was visible confusion on Adam's face, unable to comprehend Sebastian's sentence.
("What is he talking about?") [Adam]
"If I awakened already, where were the explosions?" [Adam]
"There were no explosions." [Sebastian]
Adam seemed even more confused than before.
"How have I already awakened if there weren't any explosions?" [Adam]
Sebastian paused his anime and looked at Adam.
"It's simple, I absorbed the explosions the instant it was about to go off. The reason why it exploded this time was because I wasn't there for it." [Sebastian]
"...Your tactics elude all logic, you know that right?" [Adam]
"I know." [Sebastian]
"Good. Now tell me what stage you're at." [Adam]
"Shouldn't you be learning this next year?" [Sebastian]
"I got to learn it early." [Adam]
"How much did they teach you about it?" [Sebastian]
"That it goes from black all the way to white." [Adam]
"Heh." [Sebastian]
"What's so funny?" [Adam]
"Nothing. Don't you want to know what stage you're at first?" [Sebastian]
Adam froze for an instant.
"...Yeah, I do. Tell me what stage I'm at." [Adam]
"I don't need to tell you, just find it yourself." [Sebastian]
"..." [Adam]
At this point Adam was beginning to lose his patience.
"Want to tell me how to find it?" [Adam]
"It's easy, just check your ID. Unless you're too lazy, just use Scout. ...You do know how to use Scout right?" [Sebastian]
"Yeah, just give me a sec." [Adam]
He took out his ID and searched around on it.
"I'm… at the purple stage?!" [Adam]
"Of course, compressing your mana with your ability is basically just speeding up the process." [Sebastian]
("If I'm already at the purple stage… How fast can I reach the white core stage?!") [Adam]
"I'm so excited!" [Adam]
"Cool, are you going to go train in your room again?" [Sebastian]
"Not until you tell me what stage you're at first." [Adam]
Sebastian laid back casually, taking the moment to stretch his legs.
"Heh, I'm higher than white stage. That's for sure." [Sebastian]
("Higher than white stage...?") [Adam]
He wanted to say something, but he stopped himself to think some more.
"Wasn't white stage the highest one?!" [Adam]
Sebastian scoffed at him.
"Of course not, people say it is because not many people can go beyond it." [Sebastian]
"Tell me more." [Adam]
"I'll tell you when you hit white stage." [Sebastian]
"Can't you just tell me?" [Adam]
"...I could~, but I don't think you're ready for it yet." [Sebastian]
"What do you mean?" [Adam]
"You don't have a co-" [Sebastian]
"Adam!" [Vivian]
The two were surprised by the sudden appearance.
"Vivian?" [Adam]
"Did you eat those!" [Vivian]
She pointed at the dinner table, it seemed she was angry that a certain plate was missing some crackers.
"Uh…" [Adam]
("Should I say no? No, she won't fall for that… If I say yes… I don't even want to know what will happen.") [Adam]
"Adam… Did you eat the crackers?" [Vivan]
She spoke in a calm, but intimidating tone. Beads of sweat dripped off of Adam's chin. Gears churned in his head as he tried to think up an excuse.
("If yes and no don't work… then I'll have to go with the in-between!") [Adam]
"Well…?" [Vivian]
He stayed silent, until he finally brought up his courage to say it.
"...Yesn't." [Adam]