After everyone left the room, Aka went to the training grounds and sat down to wait so she could talk to 29. When 29 arrived, they exchanged what they had learned, but it turned out they knew the same things. Then Aka asked what she was doing about her physical strength, and when 29 said she was doing the same, she revealed her true physical strength. Still, Aka didn't look surprised at all.
29's physical strength was exactly 30. If 20 was considered perfect, then hers was practically divine. Aka's real physical strength was 26, which probably made her the second-highest after 29. After that, the two of them sat together to meditate, trying to sense and channel the new kind of energy awakening inside them.
After a long time, Aka suddenly jumped up — so high that she hit her head on the very tall ceiling. Then she landed and began punching the air. While 29 still couldn't stand, Aka had already more or less figured out what she needed to do. But when she went to eat and chatted with the others, she learned that a whole day had passed.
A full day had gone by, yet Aka felt as if she had only stood up an hour ago. Without even finishing her meal, she shook 29 awake and explained what had happened. Frightened by how fast time had passed, 29 ate with Aka, and afterwards they went to the Instructor. Once again, they returned to the room they called the classroom, and the Instructor began speaking just like the day before.
"As I said, you have now graduated and earned the right to your second ritual. You will have one week to think about your ability, then three months to adapt to it. After that, you will begin preparing to go on missions." When he finished, everyone returned to the field and slowly dispersed, leaving Aka and 29 to talk again.
"What should we do, my dear?" Aka asked. "What kind of ability should we create to escape from here, and how will we hide it?" 29 sighed and said, "I've been thinking about that since yesterday. I don't know what ability I'll choose, but isn't it obvious how we'll hide it?"
"We could say we increased our physical strength," Aka replied. "But would they really believe that? I doubt it would be that simple. What if we fooled them with an ability that speeds up physical strength recovery — the one part even they don't fully understand?"
"That actually makes sense," 29 said. "But Aka, I've been thinking… when the time comes, what will you do about your teammates?" She looked serious for the first time. "I never grew attached to anyone, so abandoning them will be easy. But you… you're almost friends with yours. Will you really be able to throw away people who respect you when the moment comes?"
"I don't know," Aka admitted quietly. "I think about it a lot. I might even develop an ability because of it." 29 sighed. "Anyway, let's leave that for now and focus on our physical strength, because unlike you, I still haven't awakened mine yet — you lucky bastard."
29 began meditating, while Aka continued punching the air, channeling strength into her muscles and joints as she trained — and silently thought about abilities. Hours passed before 29 finally stood up and began training the same way. She was about to reach out to share her excitement with Aka, but stopped when she saw how deeply focused she was. Aka didn't even notice her standing right in front of her, so 29 let her be and kept training.
When Aka finally snapped back to awareness, she collapsed to the ground, unable to even move. She didn't understand why, but 29 came over, rested Aka's head on her leg, and spoke softly. "You've been in a trance for hours, channeling your strength into your fists and kicks. It should have run out long ago — how did you endure this long?"
Hearing that, Aka thought, My abilities… and couldn't believe her eyes. Her physical strength had risen to 27. Just a few hours of training that nearly killed her had raised it by a full point — an unbelievable rate of growth. Ignoring her shock, she explained the ability she had been thinking about and waited for 29's reaction.
"You were right," Aka said. "Even though killing doesn't affect me anymore, I still could never kill my friends. So I thought of an ability for that — one that removes my morals entirely. That way, when the right opportunity appears, I'll be able to seize it without hesitation."
"With this ability, I'll be able to leave behind the ones I call friends when I must," she continued. "And even if I become a bad person in the future, I'll still be able to make use of every opportunity I see. What do you think, my dear?" 29 looked at her sadly.
"Aka, I know you're thinking about the future," she said. "But don't you think this is too much? If you gain such a dark ability, what happens when one day you decide I'm dangerous to you? Will you kill me too?"
"Never," Aka answered immediately. "With or without morals, my intelligence stays the same — and I will never stop loving you. If you don't trust the ability, then trust me." 29 sighed faintly. "I do trust you. I just don't want such a twisted ability to change who you are."
Aka hugged 29 tightly and swore she would never let her go, and together they went back to her room. Days passed like this, and eventually the time for the ritual came. Aka stepped onto the altar and declared that she wished to develop an ability that would increase her physical strength by five points. The Instructor gave her a ritual prayer — but Aka said it didn't feel right, and that another prayer formed within her instead.
Just like during Aka's first ritual, there were heavy metal cages on the altar, each holding a large living creature. Aka began to recite her own prayer. "Oh Great Mother Nature and Father of Storms… mighty rulers of this world. Your servant worships you and, even knowing her disrespect, asks something of you. Please accept these offerings, take my morals from me, and increase my physical strength by five."
When her prayer ended, she waited with tense excitement. A few seconds later, the cages and the animals inside shattered into countless tiny energy particles that slowly flowed into her body. As soon as Aka stepped down, the Instructor grabbed her by the collar and shouted furiously.
"You idiot! Why did you add that extra 'take my morals' request? What would you have done if your offerings weren't enough?" He was shaking with anger. "If you ever think your offering won't be enough — and with this one you could have increased even ten points — don't you EVER add little extras like that again!"
"Because those count as additional abilities and may require more offerings. You fool — you could have died over something so small!" Aka looked like someone who had narrowly escaped death and slowly walked away, shaken. Her so-called brilliant plan had nearly killed her.
Terrified, she asked 29 to wait before entering the ritual and returned to her room to talk. There, Aka checked her abilities and discovered that her physical strength had increased by five — and she now had an ability called Immorality. But in exchange, she seemed to have lost Innocence.
When 29 heard this, her expression darkened immediately. She quickly chose a simple ability — faster physical strength recovery — and went to perform her ritual. After it was successfully completed, the Instructor gave her an ochoko filled with a potion and ordered her to drink it. Knowing she had no choice, she did.
The Instructor then followed her out and handed another ochoko to Aka, ordering her to drink as well — apparently forgetting in his anger to give it earlier. And so, the three months granted to them to adapt to their new strength and abilities finally began.
I finally managed to introduce most of my concepts, and I also shaped Aka closer to the character who originally inspired him. By now, those of you who have been reading probably have a rough idea of what kind of person Aka is going to be. Anyway, I'm really happy that I was finally able to finish the prologue. The next chapter will be the last part of the prologue, and after that the story will begin to open up properly.
If you've read this far, thank you so much. And if you liked my concepts—especially the power system—please share your thoughts in the comments. I'll see them right away and reply instantly. Thank you again for reading!