026 UNLIMITED PASS
Damen glanced at Zairgid, who merely shrugged, smirking. "That's Wrangle Snow. Total idiot. Ignore him."
"I'm not an idiot!" Wrangle snapped. "I'm the heir of the Snow family!"
Damen stepped forward, unflinching. "Wrangle, I don't care about your family name or your reservations. This is my apartment. Get lost."
Damen was exhilarated. It was the first time he scolded someone in school. Previously he was only the recipient of insults and now the tables have turned.
"You little—!" Wrangle lunged, his fist blazing with meta-energy. The energy formed a spectral snow lion which roared to life around his arm, tearing through the air rushing to destroy Damen.
"Snow Lion Blaze"
"Is this a meta skill? How did he summon a lion?" Damen mused.
"It's just a proprietary skill of the Snow family. The lion is just special effects… more sound than bite. It's nothing a genius like you can't resolve", Zairgid informed smiling.
Zairgid wasn't there to help him. He planned to watch the fight and see how strong Damen was… to become a genius who could afford the luxury apartment.
Damen didn't care about Zairgid's motives. He didn't need help anyway.
He also wasn't deterred at all by the unexpected attack.
Bang!
The snow lion shattered against an invisible barrier inches away from Damen. Damen summoned a glass frame of meta energy before him.
"Summon Shield"
"No, how can you block my lion? It's the strongest of our family's meta skill," Wrangler screamed with disappointment. His family's heirloom skill was disintegrated so easily.
"That's because your family skill is useless", Zairgid laughs.
Damen did not plan to wait around and chat.
"Fast Dash," Damen murmured, then he dashed towards Wrangle, seized his wrist, before pivoting hard. With a single fluid motion, he hurled him over the corridor railing.
Wrangle crashed into the courtyard below, scrambling up with a snarl. "This isn't over! You hear me? This isn't over!"
"Wow… you didn't kill him, did ya?" Zairgid said surprised.
Damen said nothing. He simply raised his phone and snapped a picture.
Name: Wrangle Snow
Rank: H
Strength: 10.0| Charm: 4.0 Meta: 8.0 | Command: 7.5
He studied the stats, comparing them to the force of their encounter. Then he exhaled, almost disappointed.
"I didn't expect high school students to be this weak," he muttered.
Zairgid's smirk faded. "Careful. Say that too loud, and you won't just make an enemy…you'll make the whole school your enemy. That Wrangle isn't a nobody, and his family is one of the majors in town."
-----
After Damen settled into his apartment, there was another knock at the door.
It was Zairgid, his neighbor.
"Hey, neighbor. Wanna go out?" Zairgid asked.
"Where to?" Damen replied.
"The usual spot… plenty of chicks there."
Damen hesitated. He was still a teenager…. girls weren't exactly out of his mind. But after everything he'd been through, flirting seemed trivial compared to the bigger challenges ahead.
"Sorry, I'm heading to collect my school resources," Damen said.
Zairgid grinned. "Then I'll tag along."
"You'll what? There are no chicks in the admin department."
"Says who? The nurses there are pretty cute," Zairgid shot back.
Damen shook his head, but let him come along.
The school had promised Damen unlimited access to the Meta Amplifier room when they recruited him—a privilege regular students only got for two hours a week. There were other perks too, and today he intended to claim them.
At the counter, the admin clerk froze when she heard his name. "You are… Damen Dark? The genius who scored full marks in the middle school aptitude tests?"
"That's me," Damen said without hesitation.
Zairgid nudged him. "Go on, hurry it up. We don't have all day."
"Hurry for what?" Damen asked.
"You'll see."
The clerk handed Damen an unlimited pass to the Amplifier room, then led him to another door. "You're also entitled to a weekly dose. Normal students only get theirs monthly."
"Dose of what?" Damen asked.
"Ecstasy," Zairgid whispered with a smirk.
Damen raised a brow but didn't press. If the school provided it, surely it would be safe.
Inside, two busty women in white coats and face masks waited. Zairgid lit up like a kid in a candy shop.
"Seriously? This excites you?" Damen muttered.
"It's a fetish," Zairgid whispered back, his eyes glued to them.
Damen ignored him and sat down. One nurse approached with a syringe.
"What's that?" he asked.
"It's SynGen Genomics," she explained. "For meta-humans, pushing past genetic limits isn't easy. This treatment modifies your biology… giving you a stronger body, faster development, and resistance to most diseases. Think of it as an upgrade."
That caught Damen's attention.
It didn't sound like a drug at all—it sounded like superpower. He offered his arm without another word.
The second nurse noticed Zairgid hovering. "You're not authorized here. Out."
Zairgid clutched his chest in mock despair. "No! He's just a kid…he's afraid of needles! He needs me here."
"Damn you," Damen muttered under his breath.
-----
After taking his weekly dose of GenSyn Genomics, Damen didn't feel much different. Maybe the effects were subtle, creeping in over time rather than all at once.
"Where should we go now?" Zairgid asked casually.
"I'm heading to the Meta-Amplifier room. I want to try it out," Damen replied.
"I'll come with you," Zairgid said without hesitation.
The two of them made their way to an annex building that housed a medium-sized auditorium. Two guards stood at the entrance.
One of them barked without waiting for greetings:
"Two hours of meditation per session. If you overstay, we'll throw you out."
Damen only flashed his unlimited pass.
The guard's expression shifted instantly, his eyes widening. "Unlimited pass? Then… the rule doesn't apply to you."
He hurried to open the door, even gesturing toward the prime seat nearest the amplifier core where the concentration of meta particles was strongest.
"You—out," the guard ordered the student occupying the seat.
The student jumped up immediately, not daring to argue, and vacated his spot. Damen sat down.
Beside him, Zairgid gave a single glance to the student on the next chair. That was enough…the boy recognized him and scrambled to his feet and offered his place without a word.
Damen noticed and frowned inwardly. "This Zairgid isn't ordinary at all…"
They settled into meditation. Minutes blurred into hours. The two-hour mark passed, but no guard came to remove them. Another hour slipped by.
Then, commotion erupted outside the amplifying hall.
Damen opened his eyes just as the door slammed open.
"Who the hell is hogging our amplifying space?" a burly student roared, storming in with a pack of followers.
The guards rushed forward, but the intruder launched a kinetic blast. One guard was hurled into the wall with a sickening thud. The other guards stopped quickly making phone calls to request backup.
"Don't make me ask again!" the burly student shouted.
The remaining students pointed nervously toward Damen and Zairgid.