It was a beautiful afternoon. Warm sunlight poured through the windows of the dorm, filling the kitchen with a peaceful glow. For once, everything felt normal. I stood at the sink, washing the dishes from lunch while Lucy had gone to the library to get some books. Lucas had gone with her to help carry them, leaving Nova behind with me.
She had insisted on helping with the chores.
"You didn't need to stay," I said as I handed her another plate. "You could've gone with those two. Though... I really appreciate the help."
Nova looked at me as if I'd said something ridiculous. "Come on, Adrian. We're best friends. Of course I wouldn't let you do all the work yourself."
She placed the plate down after drying it, but then suddenly stopped. Her expression changed slightly, and I could tell there was something on her mind.
"Actually..." she began.
I looked at her. "What?"
"I have something to tell you."
I turned my attention toward her. "What happened?"
"Nothing happened," she quickly replied. "I just heard something interesting in history class this morning."
That immediately caught my attention.
"Interesting?"
"Yeah." She leaned against the counter. "Our teacher was talking about the power classification system. But apparently, it wasn't always like this."
I stopped washing the dishes. "What do you mean?"
"Before PAO existed, different organizations and civilizations had their own systems for classifying powers. Some were similar to ours, while others were completely different. Some had more categories, some had fewer, and some apparently used completely different names."
I thought about it for a moment.
"That makes sense. If PAO was only established fifty years ago, the modern classification system couldn't have existed in its current form before that."
"Exactly!" Nova suddenly smiled. "See? I'm smart."
"Sometimes."
"Hey!"
I couldn't help but laugh.
She continued, "Apparently, when PAO was established, they collected information from those older organizations. Historical records, old documents, legends, myths... basically everything they could find. They used all of that to create the classification system we use today."
"So the current system is essentially a standardized model built from older knowledge."
"That's what I understood."
I nodded. That explained why some of the older records I'd read about unusual abilities had classifications that didn't completely match the modern system.
Then Nova's expression changed again.
"But there's something weird."
I looked at her. "What's weird?"
She pointed directly at my eye.
"You."
I sighed. "I had a feeling you were going to say that."
"Think about it," she said, crossing her arms. "You told me that when you activate your analysing ability, your eye gives you someone's complete information. Their name, age, strength, intelligence, magical capacity, ability, and power class."
"Correct."
"And the power class it shows is based on the current PAO classification system."
"That's what I've observed."
Nova tilted her head. "But PAO only created that system fifty years ago."
I dried my hands and leaned against the counter.
"That doesn't necessarily mean my eye actually uses PAO's system. It could be translating whatever information it perceives into something I can understand. If the information is completely beyond human understanding, the eye might convert it into a familiar framework."
Nova stared at me for a moment.
"Okay... that actually makes sense."
She paused.
Then her eyes widened.
"Wait."
I already knew where this was going.
"Then why does it use this framework?"
I didn't immediately answer.
Nova continued before I could.
"If the eye can translate unknown information into something I understand, why did it choose the exact classification system society uses?"
I thought about it carefully."Another possibility is that my eye interprets the information based on what I already know."
Nova scratched her head. "So basically, your brain is filling in the blanks?"
"Possibly."
She nodded slowly.
"That's weird."
"Very."
"Also kind of cool."
"Less helpful than you'd think."
She laughed, but the curiosity in her expression remained.
"But there's more."
I looked at her. "There's always more with you."
"Obviously."
She grabbed another plate and began drying it. "Our teacher also talked about how the boundaries between the classes aren't actually as clear as people think."
I raised an eyebrow. "Explain."
Nova hesitated.
"I don't know how to explain it properly."
"That sounds like you."
"Shut up."
She thought for a moment before continuing. "Okay... imagine someone has an ability that's stronger than a normal Common ability but isn't quite strong enough to be considered Uncommon. What class would they be?"
"Under the current system? They'd have to be placed into one of those two categories."
"Exactly!" Nova pointed at me. "But some older classification systems apparently had intermediate categories."
I considered that.
"So instead of forcing every ability into a fixed category, they had more gradual classifications."
"Yeah! That's what I was trying to say."
"That would explain why different historical records describe similar abilities using different classifications."
"Exactly."
I looked down at the sink.
"So the classes aren't necessarily natural boundaries. They're human-made categories used to organize something much more complicated."
Nova stared at me for a few seconds.
"...I understood about half of that."
I smiled.
"I know."
"Don't look so proud."
I laughed quietly.
Nova suddenly became serious again. "But that's not even the strangest part."
"What now?"
"Our teacher said something about how powers affect their users."
I nodded. "We already know that."
"Not exactly."
She pointed toward herself.
"Take me."
"That's a very convincing example."
"Adrian."
"Sorry."
She rolled her eyes before continuing. "When I activate my Dark power, I feel different. My personality doesn't completely change, but... something inside me does."
I nodded. I'd seen it myself: the pitch-black eyes, the sinister smile, the dangerous presence that seemed to surround her whenever her power awakened.
"It makes you more instinctive," I said.
"Exactly!" Nova pointed at me. "That's the word."
She then thought about Lucas. "Lucas is similar, but completely different. When he activates his Light power, he tends to move toward danger instead of away from it."
"That matches his natural personality too."
"True," she admitted. "But his power definitely amplifies it."
I thought about it for a moment.
"Light has traditionally been associated with guidance and protection. Darkness, on the other hand, has often been associated with fear, concealment, and consumption."
Nova nodded. "So our powers affect the way we instinctively behave."
"Or amplify instincts that already exist."
"That's basically what I said."
"Not exactly."
"Close enough."
I smiled.
"But training helps," she continued. "The more we use our abilities, the easier it becomes to control those instincts."
"Which means the power isn't controlling us completely."
"Right."
"We're consciously overriding the instincts it produces."
"Exactly."
She suddenly pointed at me.
"But you're different."
I looked at her. "How?"
"You don't get that."
I thought about it.
"My ability doesn't seem to influence my behavior in the same way."
"Exactly."
Nova waved her hands around as she tried to explain. "Your eye just sits there and goes, 'Hey, here's someone's entire character sheet.'"
I couldn't help laughing.
"That is an incredibly inaccurate description."
"But not completely inaccurate."
"Unfortunately."
She grinned.
"Then there's your copying ability."
My expression became more serious.
"Yes."
"You copy someone's power at fifty percent."
"Based on everything I've observed."
Nova frowned. "Which is... weird."
"Why?"
"Because everyone thinks Calamity is supposed to be the strongest class."
"That's what the modern system says."
"Exactly." She scratched her head. "But if you copy someone's ability at fifty percent, then you're starting at a disadvantage."
"Not necessarily."
Nova looked at me.
"If I copied a power from someone significantly stronger than me, I'd still be weaker than them in terms of that ability. They would have more experience, better control, and twice the output."
"Exactly."
"But that doesn't mean the ability itself is weak."
Nova tilted her head. "Then what's the difference?"
I thought carefully before answering.
"My current limitation isn't necessarily the same thing as the ability's ultimate potential."
Nova stared at me.
I continued, "But I can't actually prove that."
"Why?"
"Because I don't retain copied abilities."
"Oh."
"If I copy your Darkness, for example, and later copy Lucas's Light, I no longer have your Darkness available to use. I'd have to analyze and copy your ability again before I could use it."
Nova nodded slowly.
"So you can't keep training the same copied power."
"Correct."
"And you can't just copy my power, train it for months, and see how strong it gets?"
"No."
I shook my head.
"I don't have some magical storage system for copied abilities."
Nova thought about it for a moment.
"So... no ability inventory?"
"No."
"No power clipboard?"
"No."
"Copy-paste history?"
I stared at her.
"Why are you like this?"
She laughed.
"Just making sure."
I sighed.
"So I don't know whether a copied ability could eventually approach some theoretical limit. I've never had the opportunity to test that. Every time I copy something else, the previous ability is replaced."
Nova nodded thoughtfully.
"Then your fifty percent limit might just be your current limit."
"Possibly."
"Or maybe it's permanent."
"Also possible."
"Or maybe your eyes are hiding something."
I looked at her.
She shrugged.
"I'm just saying."
I became quiet.
That was the problem.
There were too many possibilities.
I'd only had these eyes for a short time. I'd tested them, observed them, experimented with them—but compared to everything they might be capable of, I had barely scratched the surface.
Nova looked toward me.
"And that's why I think something doesn't add up."
"What?"
She pointed toward my golden eye.
"Your power doesn't behave like Lucas's or mine."
I remained silent.
"It's not just that you're stronger or weaker," she continued. "It's... different."
I waited for her to explain.
"Lucas's Light feels like Light. My Darkness feels like Darkness." She paused, searching for the right words. "But yours?"
She frowned.
"It feels like something else."
I considered her words.
There were certainly differences between our abilities. Lucas and Nova's powers affected their instincts in ways mine didn't. My analyzing ability was completely different from anything I'd seen before, while my copying ability came with restrictions that I still didn't fully understand.
But none of that was enough to draw a definite conclusion.
"We don't have enough information," I finally said. "At least not yet."
Nova looked at me.
I continued, "We know my abilities don't behave exactly like yours or Lucas's. We know my analysing ability somehow presents information using the modern classification system. And we know my copying ability has a fifty-percent limit, but we don't know whether that's an inherent restriction or simply the limit of what I can currently access."
Nova nodded slowly.
"So... we basically know that we don't know anything."
"That's one way of putting it."
She grinned.
"I'm good at that."
I smiled.
Then her expression became serious again.
"I still think there's more to your eyes than what everyone says."
I looked at her.
For once, she wasn't joking.
She was genuinely curious.
And strangely enough...
So was I.
I just didn't know whether I actually wanted to discover the answer.
To Be Continued...