Everyone in the room listened to Jordy intensely. Since he was in the system, he most likely knew all the answers to the questions they had. One question that always lingered in the back of Riven's mind was: what was the system based off of? He had played a lot of RPG games when he was a kid, but he could never remember which one was truly his favorite. He knew if he ever did, then the one that was his favorite was most likely the one the system was based on.
"Have you guys ever heard of the game Clash of the Gods?" Jordy asked.
Most of them shook their heads. A lot of them either didn't have a gaming system or never had time to play on any device because of their parents. But Riven and Jordan knew what he was talking about.
"The game was mainly focused on a person getting stronger by fighting enemies with their party members. The whole point of the game was basically easy mode compared to other RPGs: you could get items easily, you could level up easily, but the caveat was you wouldn't really see any changes in your damage until your stats went up by ten." Before Jordy could continue, Riven had a question.
"But wait—why would that be my favorite game? I've played plenty of RPGs." the boy asked.
"True," Jordy replied. "But how many did you beat?"
Riven's face turned red. Even though he had played plenty of RPGs and dropped maybe hundreds or even thousands of units on them, he could never really beat any of the games. Now, looking back, the only RPG he had beaten was the one Jordy just mentioned.
"But wait, that wouldn't explain prestige," Leo said. Being someone who also played Clash of the Gods, he added, "Just like Riven, I played the game, too. There was no prestige system."
"That's correct, Leo. And that's exactly where Jordan comes in—or I guess I should say 'me,'" everyone could see the pixelated Jordy having a big smile on his face.
"Wait—what do I— or I guess I should say you?" Jordan paused and thought for a second. "We—yeah, 'we' sounds good. What do we have to do with this prestige stuff?"
"The system thought of me as a form entity, basically like an entirely different system. I have no idea why I came out like that, but I did. I'm guessing it must've gone through my own thoughts, or I guess I should say our thoughts, and combined both systems: our favorite game Final Stand and Riven's favorite game, Clash of the Gods."
"Okay, I have one question," Wren said. "How do you know this? You're a clone—you should have the same memory as Jordan, and Jordan never knew this unless you just pieced it together while being in there."
"I don't know myself. It's like it just came to my mind. Like I already knew it."
"It might be a new effect from you being inside the system. Like, as a part of it instead of a foreign entity, you might've gotten some—if not all—of its knowledge. We already know the system has some kind of mind of its own, or a memory bank with things it knows that we don't—like it said: not even humanity knows." Riven commented.
"But I don't really feel different or like I have any new knowledge. I still feel like regular me. Still, somehow I knew why the system is like this now. It just flashed in my mind when you asked the question." Jordy started holding his head. Everyone could see him fall onto his pixelated bed, and then his PNG just disappeared.
"Jordy?" Riven asked. He thought he saw a system prompt.
[system: Jordy has used up all of his energy. He is now going into rest mode.]
"Okay, so we have an energy bar, which means we can't ask him too many questions or he might go tired," Wren concluded.
"So long story short: we can't take the easy route for the most part," Harkel said, looking a bit annoyed.
"So what now—do we just go to class?" Jude suggested.
"Boring," Harkel called out. "I say we stay here and test out our new physicality." Most of them agreed, but they all saw Riven go into the corner and look through his system. When he noticed everyone looking at him, he just swiped his hand.
"Do it without me. I'm going to start investigating what else is new in the system."
They all shrugged and started to work, testing how big the gaps in their stats were compared to one another.
A couple of minutes passed while they tested their new strengths. They realized the person who grew the most from the revamp and prestige was Leo—his strength grew a ton, as did his speed and durability. Everyone could include the reason in this: he was technically a mutant of a wolf now, a werewolf to be precise. Whether it was the prestige or the revamp, something made Leo's werewolf side and himself grow closer to one another. The first to notice this was Tessa; she could see small strands of fur growing out of her brother's arm, and something told her this probably wasn't a good sign. Everyone stopped messing around when they heard a knock at the door. Riven, Wren, and Kira all got up from the corner where they sat. Kira got bored after a while; Wren didn't indulge and sat down again at the same time Riven did.
When Harkel opened the door, he saw a familiar face. It was the same female who'd had a confrontation with that boy.
"Oh—hey. It's you, uh…?"
"Ysara. You guys said you were going to help me, but you never did. So are you going to try to help me today?"
"Sure. I guess—we're not doing anything, really," Harkel said, and let the female in.
"Oh—Ysara, I kind of forgot we said we were going to help you." Riven started scratching the back of his head.
"I could tell Nico was the one who said this was a good time to come to you guys," she said.
They all looked at Nico, who showed off her wrist—she had texted the girl via it.
"Show us your ability," Riven said confidently.
"Okay." The girl sounded nervous; now that she was in the spotlight she wasn't so confident. She started running in one direction, but soon hit a wall.
"Super speed?" Nico asked. Everyone in the room knew super speed wasn't a common ability for a natural or a forced evolver to have; it was quite rare.
"I'm having a hard time turning," Ysara said. "I was able to run in, like, a sort of circle around a mantis—yeah, I can't really do it anymore. It was truthful just the heat of the moment that allowed me to do it. Since you all are geniuses, I thought you'd be able to help me with my ability."
Everyone thought they didn't really have anything that could help her. That's when Jordy spoke.
"Tell her this," Jordy said, eyes focused. "Step one: slow your breathing. Do not attempt maximum velocity immediately. Instead, establish a baseline pace—one you can maintain without collapse. Step two: identify the environment. Map your surroundings in advance, mentally or visually, before acceleration. Without awareness, speed becomes chaos. Step three: when turning, reduce stride length. Lean the torso into the curve. Picture yourself as water flowing along a bend, not as a rigid body resisting it. Step four: repetition. Train small loops first—short circles, tight arcs—then expand to wider rotations. Efficiency comes from muscle memory, not panic. Step five: remain calm. Super speed is not a sprint; it is rhythm. Rhythm sustains the motion. Rhythm prevents collapse. Rhythm allows mastery."
Everyone who was part of the system was shocked at how deep Jordy's explanation was. Riven looked at Jordan with a look that just said, "Can you do that?" Jordan nodded his head "no" in response. Riven then explained it to Ysara in a shorter recap—something she could digest faster. He also communicated in his thoughts to Jordy that next time he should be more concise with his explanations. The former agreed.
Ysara tried. She fell on the first few attempts, but the group picked her up and encouraged her to keep going. After ten minutes, the girl was able to turn corners in the room like it was natural. At some point, though, she still landed face-first into the wall and passed out.
"Oh shoot—someone get some water!" Riven yelled. Harkel grabbed a bottle from what seemed to be a mini-fridge and poured some on her face. She stood up, breathing heavily.
"Are you okay?" they asked.
"I'm better than okay," she said, getting up in a rush. "The tip you gave me was really good. I might be able to go to class using my abilities now instead of just walking." She looked outside, as if always waiting for somebody to help her with her powers. "Do you have tips on how I can get faster, maybe?"
Jordy was about to say something, but Riven cut him off. "A treadmill might do the trick. Maybe you can just ask the school to get a treadmill specifically for you in my workout."
"Yeah, yeah, you're right." Everyone in the room was surprised to see the girl's excited expression. She started speeding around again, and everyone could tell one thing.
"She got a bit faster," Riven pointed out.
"Maybe fast speed also comes with fast growth," Joey replied.
Riven then used gravity to stop the girl in her tracks. "Hey—why did you stop me? Don't do that again or I'll—" Ysara spoke in a rush, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that." Luka, Nico, Jude, and Skye couldn't tell what she was saying—she was speaking so fast they couldn't understand. The others could; maybe it was because they had prestiges. Ysara's super speed didn't look as fast compared to the others, but she certainly wasn't slow.
"I stopped you because you were sucking the air out of this room. You were going so fast in one circle—or I guess triangle—"
"Square," Harkel called out.
"Besides the point," Riven said, giving Harkel an annoyed look. "You can't use your abilities in here for now. It's better for you to use it outside. You'll have more free space instead of this conduit area."
"Yeah, yeah—you're right. Thank you, thank you." She was very grateful, which caught them all off guard. They only helped her with one small task, yet she treated them like they'd solved all her problems. Noticing their strange glances, she stopped saying thank you. "It's just—I haven't really had any help using my abilities. Forever, as you know, speed-type abilities are rare, meaning you don't have anybody who can train you or help you. My main problem was turning. The amount of wall I ran into is exponential, but thanks. I guess survival instinct carried me during that outing but I was never able to do it again. I won't forgive myself for being so weak. I wanted to be stronger so I can help new friends I'll make along the way, and to try to treat people like real people, not secondary opinions."
"I like your resolve," Riven said, shaking her hand. "Welcome to our group." The boy had a big smile plastered on his face; she returned it.
In another room, two women lay on a man's lap while the man seemed to be on a call with a hooded figure. The man was none other than Darius, the principal of the Academy.
"I will not be giving away my star student to your grubby hands. I polished that stone and you just can't take him from me," Darius said.
"Little Darius," the hooded figure replied. "All that power seems to have gotten into your head. You've forgotten who really leads this academy. You've forgotten who gave you your abilities in the first place—don't ever forget that."
When the man said that, Darius sent the two women out of the room. He stood and looked at the hooded man through the screen. "One thing you're getting twisted: you may have given me my abilities, but I polished those abilities on my own and I grew them pretty damn good. Hell, I'm pretty sure I could beat one of you now."
"Tsk, tsk," the hooded figure said. "Bite the hand that may not have fed you, but we did create you. We gave you more than one ability—you may not show those other abilities while showing off your main ones, but we gave you more. Don't ever forget: you and your little academy owe us your lives, and that boy belongs to us. All this strength we gave you—and all we ask is one boy. You're being so resentful. Why is that?"
"No. The real question is why do you want the boy? You haven't called us or contacted us in years, yet this Wallborn has your attention now because he awakened an ability. Let me get one thing straight: he wouldn't have even awakened that ability if it wasn't for my choice to make my academy stronger. You have no demand here. You have no jurisdiction here. You don't even know where here is. This boy's a teenager with friends and family—he doesn't belong to you. Good day, sir." Darius then hung up.
The hooded figure had an angered look on their face. "You fool, Darius. That boy does belong to us, and we will get him. If it involves destroying that little academy you built up, we will do that as well."