Only I Adapt!
The novel that Damon thought was a work of fiction was, in truth, his actual reality.
The words of the novel that he had skipped through slowly emerged in his mind: Damon Aldridge, the protagonist.
A past filled with tragedy, awakening the world's only Ex-grade talent, Adaptive Evolution. The lines of the protagonist's past slowly filled Damon's mind. Same backstory, same city, same world. Everything in the world of the novel was identical to his reality.
Damon's breathing quickened at the mere thought.
"What kind of inception is going on here?"
The normal world was fake, and this reality was a novel? What kind of absurd situation was this?
As Damon was lost in a whirlpool of thoughts, questioning reality, the door to the infirmary opened, revealing the figure of a middle-aged man—the same one who had crouched near him when he first woke up.
"Hey there, kid. Are you alright now? Not gonna lie, you had us all worried sick when you collapsed."
The man gave a friendly smile as he enthusiastically spoke, giving a warm impression to Damon, who just frowned but soon remembered him.
'What was his name again?'
Damon couldn't recall the man's name, but he recognized him the moment he entered. One of the school staff members who had stood on stage and recorded the names of students who awakened alongside him during the ceremony.
Struggling even to afford a day's meal, Damon had never had a chance to receive any kind of formal higher education. Not being part of any school, he, along with others in a similar condition, had been allotted random centers for the awakening ceremony.
This nice school in the middle of the city was the center Damon had been assigned to. The man who worked here recorded the talents of those who awakened during the ceremony.
'Recording talents... tsk, this is trouble.'
Though Damon hadn't fully regained control of himself, he still understood the mess he'd be in if he didn't handle the current situation properly.
In this world, where humanity fights against monsters and other beings, it doesn't mean everyone is on good terms. Even though humans are united under the banner of the association, there's still a lot of infighting among the various factions. Not to mention, there are many terrorist and criminal organizations operating in the shadows, posing dangerous risks to public safety.
Some talents are very dangerous to manage, and the association wants to monitor all hunters closely, along with their abilities, for security and research purposes.
Talents are divided into different grades, F, E,D,C,B,A,S,SS,SSS. The higher the grade the lesser the number of individuals possessing the talents.
It was revealed in the novel, that there are limits of number of talents of same grade to exists, for SSS grade, there can only be 10 SSS grade at the same time almost and similarly there can only be one individual in the world to possess Ex grade talent.
'And that's me.'
There's no such thing as lie detectors for the awakened, so hunters could lie during the talent registration process if they wanted to. But that would incur the wrath of the association, resulting in hefty fines and a minimum prison sentence of five years.
All of his previous existential crises vanished temporarily as he now found himself facing another problem, causing his frown to deepen.
The man who had entered to record Damon's talent noticed this and wondered what was wrong, before making an understanding face and taking a seat on the stool beside Damon.
"It looks like you haven't fully recovered from the recoil yet... sigh."
The man sighed as he looked at Damon, dressed in worn-down clothes, who just looked back with a puzzled expression.
"Awakening recoil. It's kind of a phenomenon that we don't know whether to celebrate or mourn."
"When someone awakens a high-grade talent, they sometimes experience this phenomenon. So yeah, cheer up, kid—you've certainly awakened some high-grade talent."
'Well, that's a given. After all, it's the highest grade talent,' Damon thought as he listened to the man speak.
"It's great, isn't it? A sign of strong talent... but it also has its cons. Because of this recoil, many have found their entire being changed—some physically, some psychologically."
"Some even claim to have seen the future through this recoil, but those are just rumors. Still, these recoils are dangerous, and it may take some time for you to adjust to the changes properly."
The man smiled, while Damon, hearing his words, went silent, contemplating what had just been said.
'Seeing the future... isn't this also my recoil?'
In a way, through the novel, Damon had witnessed his own future—his awakening, the steps he took afterward, and how he managed the upcoming crises. There was no doubt about it: seeing the future, in a sense, was Damon's recoil.
'But wait... it shouldn't be the future. I'm not that dumb.'
Damon thought about the plot of the novel. The more he thought, the more uncertain he felt about whether it truly was his future. He wasn't like the Damon of the novel anyway—he was selfish, untrusting, completely opposite to the protagonist he had read about.
'My personality hasn't changed either, I guess... I was never the type to be considered "good," at least not in character.'
Damon was self-aware that practicing altruism wasn't something he was capable of, so he began to doubt whether the future in the novel was truly his. But now wasn't the time to dwell on that.
"Anyway, I have a small task to accomplish here. I need to register your talent, if you don't mind. What's your talent?"