Since everyone was at least level five, they all could get one more ability, with the level cap to gain another being level 15.
Everyone could see Wren's excitement, but after a while, they also noticed it fade. What replaced it wasn't joy—it was a look of conviction.
"What's wrong?" Joey asked.
"It's my mom," Wren said. "She also has two Evolutions, and she told me she got them naturally—but that it's a secret. I thought when I naturally evolved, I'd also get two Evolutions. But right now, it doesn't seem like that's the case."
This revelation shocked everyone.
"So what you're telling us," Harkel began, "is that there is a way to naturally get two Evolutions? Wouldn't that mean if we get another Evolution right now, we'd basically be forced dual Evolvers?"
Wren shrugged. Something she wouldn't like to admit was that she didn't fully believe her mother. No one outside had ever been shown to have more than one Evolution—except her. And since she was her daughter, she had seen others with two abilities as well.
"Then this is another reason why we should avoid telling anyone," Jordan added. "If people find out we can force dual Evolves, we'll become targets for big families—maybe even all four of them. Even the Broken Veil."
"So," Wren asked, "what abilities can we even learn?"
Everyone looked at their systems, heading to the "Copy" section. Below their original abilities, a plus symbol had appeared. Riven told them to click on it. When they did, they saw video clips of different abilities. But something strange stood out—they couldn't see their own ability in the clips, nor Riven's gravity ability. That meant when someone picked an ability, unless Riven removed it from them, no one else in the party could get that ability.
"I'll go first," Riven said.
As he scrolled through the clips, he was conflicted about what to pick. He didn't want an ability that would immediately reveal he had more than one.
Here were the abilities available:
• Nico's Fire Evolution
• Wren's Lightning Evolution
• Luka's Nature Evolution
• Tessa's Flight Evolution
• Joey's Time Evolution
• Harkel's Air Evolution
• The pink-haired man's Mute Evolution
• Jude's Ice Evolution
• Skye's Sound Evolution
• Jordan's Ink Evolution
• And lastly, one Riven hadn't even realized he had—
• Damien's Teleportation Evolution
Riven didn't even know he had Damien's Evolution. He'd seen Damien use it a couple times, but assumed it was the work of one of the hooded figures.
After some thought, Riven made his decision—he would pick Damien's Teleportation Evolution. His reason was simple: his brother. He wanted Jordan to live another day, and the teleportation ability might just be the thing that could save his life.
When Riven selected the Evolution, it disappeared from everyone else's options. Harkel then raised his hand, wanting to go next—and they let him.
Harkel immediately picked Wren's Lightning Evolution. Everyone questioned why.
"I picked that Evolution because, since I already have an elemental-type power, I should be able to get the hang of lightning faster than the rest of you can get used to your new Evolutions."
Wren's Lightning power then disappeared.
Joey went next. He picked the pink-haired man's Mute Evolution.
Before anyone could ask, he explained, "I'm more of a support type than a fighter. So when we need our conversations to be private, but we don't trust the people around us enough to invite them to our party, I can just mute the area."
Everyone agreed with this choice more than Harkel's—it was obvious Harkel had just turned it into a race.
Wren then picked Skye's Sound Evolution.
When asked why, she simply said, "I have my reasons."
And everyone left it at that.
Jordan picked Harkel's Air Evolution.
"Since air is practically invisible," he said, "I can make my ink creatures faster—without anyone noticing."
With everyone having picked their new Evolutions, Wren stood up.
"Everyone's being released from classes now, so I'm going to pick up a friend. That means this place is about to get crowded with students, and I don't want to deal with that."
She quickly walked off, but before she did, she told them to remove her from the party and re-invite her later to stay updated and receive telepathic messages if needed.
The rest of the group stood up, tossed away their trash, and left the fast food place. As they walked, they saw other students heading toward the venue—some in the same uniform, but others wore stripes that were silver or even gold. These were the second- and third-years.
They browsed the venue, looking through weapons. After a while, Riven got a system prompt:
⸻
[System: You have looked at over 20 weapons.]
New Ability Unlocked: "Lock-On."
This ability allows you to see the stats of weapons and items (currently Level 1). Level up this ability to reveal a weapon's special traits—if it has any.
⸻
Everyone in the party saw the prompt and began using the ability on weapons they had seen before. With four people doing it, the Lock-On ability soon reached Level 2. Now they could see whether a weapon had a special trait or not.
Most weapons didn't—which told them that weapons with special traits were rare.
As they continued walking, more and more students showed up. They decided, as a group, to return another day.
Just as they were about to leave the venue, a girl stopped them.
It was Nico.