The three radiant suns that were constantly emitting a golden luminescence over the planet's surface were no longer seen. Instead, replacing it was opaque, thunderous clouds that spanned for miles in every direction— creating a fluffy blanket that wrapped over the planet's exterior.
The thunderous clouds roared, casting heavy rainfall that fell on the expansive campus.
It was almost like a god— or some divine entity was upset at what had happened yesterday and was casting its divine punishment down from above.
The torrential rain hit the windows on the dormitory, producing a "pitter-patter" noise that echoed throughout the rooms.
Inside one of them was Lachlan, currently showcasing a golden-force field by maneuvering it around his body. From his fist, to his foot, and all the way around his torso like a snake coiling around a branch.
At first, Oliver thought Lachlan was just telling a fool's tale about stealing an ability, but now seeing it with his own eyes, the golden force-field ability that Brice had used yesterday, being used by Lachlan, made him think otherwise.
Additionally, Lachlan had also shot arrows out from the darkness of the forest yesterday, which was an ability another one of the students had.
Wait!
Suddenly, Oliver's eyes widened.
"Does that mean he could steal more than one ability?" he thought to himself.
Unable to keep his inner thoughts to himself, he asked, with curiosity lined in his voice.
"Do you have two abilities?"
Lachlan looked at Oliver and answered, whilst scratching his cheek, "Actually... I have three."
"Three!" spluttered Oliver, almost falling from his chair.
He became utterly awestruck.
Three abilities!
Wouldn't that mean that Lachlan could become an insanely strong ability-wielder in the future!
Oliver's eyes, which he thought couldn't bulge any further, seemed to pop out of his sockets when he heard this.
Seeing Oliver's surprised expression, which was no longer filled with fear, shock, and dread from the previous night— but instead of curiosity and amazement, Lachlan became relieved.
He couldn't help but chuckle, where shortly after, he explained the third ability that he had acquired, called ‹Thermal Vision›, to Oliver.
He gave him the run down, telling him how the ability allowed him to see the thermic activity in the atmosphere— with an additional acuteness to his eyesight, making his reactions a lot better than before.
"That's… amazing!" beamed Oliver.
At first, he thought Lachlan had lied to him, had used him as a tool.
But now, when the truth was right in front of him, he felt nothing but excitement and joy.
It was like he had forgotten about the 6 students Lachlan had previously murdered in cold blood from the night before.
Amid Oliver's joy, knots of pain formed and churned in his stomach, making groans of pain escape his lips unwittingly.
Lachlan was reminded of Oliver's dreadful condition when he heard the groans of pain, and he returned his focus to devising a plan, on how they were going to get out of their predicament.
The academy's first lesson of the day was about an hour away, and it was unlikely they could heal Oliver's wounds before then.
But not only was that an issue, but Lachlan's watch level as well.
It no longer said zero, classifying him as a cripple, but a striking 3.0, putting him on the edge of the middle-levels. If someone saw his newly-adjusted watch number, Lachlan didn't know what would happen— but what he knew was that the academy would surely investigate it, which would put him in a tough spot.
After all, a cripple, someone who's supposed to be without an ability for the rest of his life, magically acquiring one overnight, people would undoubtedly be shocked— and investigations would definitely ensue. Interference from outside bodies was likely as well, from one of the notable families or legionnaire groups.
After all, if they could find out how to give, alter, or perhaps even steal abilities, the world would be turned on its head, and that group would amass a lot of power.
Thinking this, Lachlan knew he needed a watch that said 0.
Lachlan explained to Oliver his line of thought, and after coming to an understanding and contemplating for a while,
Oliver suggested, "Look, I might know someone who can help us with that. He's a tech genius, and he's an underclassman just like us."
"Really?" reacted Lachlan enthusiastically,
"And he'll help us?" he questioned with a quizzical stare.
"Yes," said Oliver as he rubbed the back of his neck, "It's just that… he's a bit of an oddball."
Lachlan's eyes squinted slightly but answered nonetheless, "As long as he can solve this problem for us, then I don't care how weird he is."
"So can we see him now?" asked Lachlan.
"We could, but if we did, we would miss the first lesson. He doesn't reside in the regular dormitory like us, but in the prestigious dormitory for notable families and important characters. It would take too long to head there now, but if we head there during lunch, then we'll probably be able to make it." answered Oliver, followed by a mouthful of laborious coughs.
Seeing the pain Oliver was going through, Lachlan asked, "What about you?" as he stared at Oliver worriedly, "You're sweating from just talking, and your face is getting paler by the hour. I don't think you can last like this— and as I said before, you can't go to the infirmary…."
Oliver knew that he couldn't go on like this and felt his life slipping through his fingers— so he began thinking about a solution.
Luckily, an encounter he had on the first day of school with a beautiful girl emerged in his mind.
"I got it!" he screamed.
He began recapping to Lachlan about how this beautiful girl had bumped into him on the first day of military school when he was walking to the campus, who consequently ended up tripping because of it. Apparently, after she fell and got a bruise on her kneecap, she healed it in seconds with her ability— which showed she was a powerful ability-wielder, as it usually took a longer time for the average healer to heal.
"Did you get her name?" asked Lachlan expectantly, his eyes widening with expectation.
Oliver scratched his cheek as he said, "Unfortunately, n-no, I was too busy admiring her beauty…, and she eventually walked away before I could ask."
Lachlan rolled his eyes, but didn't allow his mood to sour. Instead, he began asking about her appearance that could help them identify her.
He wasn't going to let this opportunity go to waste.
Oliver explained her appearance, which wasn't short in detail as that's what his eyes were drawn to at that moment.
Apparently, she had a slender body, with curves in all the right places. Lilac irises and gunmetal hair. She also had a very eye-catching skin color, which was pasty— almost milky-white, making her appearance rather eye-catching.
"And she's an underclassman?" asked Lachlan expectantly.
"She should be," answered Oliver. "She came from the entrance portal and had luggage strapped around her back," as he held his chin in thought.
After Lachlan got the gist of the girl's appearance, he turned the topic to how they were gonna find her.