Upon hearing the question, Max's heart skipped. He stared at the faces of the boys and he could see anger written all over them, they glared at him silently, waiting to hear from him.

'Didn't that old geezer say that he has taken care of everything? Why are they suddenly asking me that, fuck! I'm doomed' he thought to himself as he kept staring at the four boys.

"Hey, you ain't saying anything here. We are asking you a question and you are silent, have you suddenly become deaf?" One of the boys with red dreadlocks asked. He among the four boys is the tallest and seemed to be the leader of the trio.

"I- I don't know what you guys are talking about," Max replied, trying his best to act normal whereas his heart kept pounding faster than normal.

"Kelvin,  I told you...there is no point asking him about that. We all know that by the time we came, he had left and Nat was all alone. We should go visit him later at the clinic instead of wasting our precious time here," Another boy said, he looked calm and collected unlike the one with the dreadlocks.

Kelvin kept quiet for some time, giving a thought to what his friend had said. Meanwhile, Max whose heart didn't stop beating abnormally earlier, let out a sigh of relief inwardly as he watched the boys communicate among themselves. 

"Fine!" Kelvin suddenly said to his friend, then turned to Max who almost had his heart skipped for the second time. "Don't think that you are still free! When I find out that you have something to do with Nat's situation, I'll find you and cut your little balls."

Max watched as the boys left, he was supposed to be relieved and relaxed but somehow he wasn't feeling so. The warning given to him by the boy, Kelvin didn't just sound like a mere blab. Something felt odd but he didn't just know what it was. 

Nevertheless, Max sighed and dropped on his chair, this wasn't time to mull over an irrelevant...or maybe relevant extrinsic matter as a teacher had just walked into the class.

"Everyone listen up!" The teacher said, causing the noisy class to become quiet as a graveyard. Seeing the cooperation from the students, the teacher continued. "There won't be lessons this noon because today the school has decided to give the students who haven't awakened an ability the chance to do so. And in the process of doing that, those that have their ability will have their levels checked  as well."

The once quiet class erupted again as the students voiced out their viewpoints. Some were happy that the school was giving them a second chance to know their worth —  this, of course, were the students like Max who hadn't awakened an ability while the rest were not in support of the whole thing. To them, it was like wasting their time and resources on dead people.

"Quiet down you all!" The teacher bellowed and everywhere became dead silent. No one dared to say a word again. "Good! this is the school's idea and you have no right to oppose or decide to not attend, in five minutes, I want you all to get your asses down the school Awakening hall immediately. Any one of you that disobeys will be strictly dealt with."

After the teacher finished talking, he walked out of the class. The students who were excited and eager to try a second time all sprang to their feet and followed after the teacher while the ones who felt it was useless, stood up unhurriedly and began to leave the class while murmuring and cursing their heavens. 

Max waited for all the students to leave before he finally and suddenly jumped on his feet. "Yes!" he yelled as he beamed. "Finally, a second chance! This time around, I'll Awaken an ability no matter what. Then....then the world will fear me, hahaha hahaha...." He could not stop the happiness that was surging through his vessels at the moment, he had long wanted to explode but he kept his cool and patiently waited for the right time, which was now.

Just thinking about how powerful he will soon become made him grin like a mad man, showcasing all his white teeth to the world to see. After calming down, he breathed in and out and then left the class to meet up with his mates.

-----

When the ability book was written, the levels were written as well as their power level.

According to the book, the ability level comes in four different levels; The basic level, the intermediate level, the advanced level and lastly, the forbidden level.

Putting the forbidden level aside because no one had attained that level before, they talked about the categories in each of the three levels.

At each level, they have categories such as 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, to 1.9. They call these categories 'the power level' of the ability, with 1.9 being the highest power level and 1.1 the lowest.

The strongest students in the school are said to be from 1.5 to 1.7, while 1.4 downwards are considered weak. Those students who had no ability are called the 0.9 level students of which Max is among the group.

"Gather round!" The teacher said as he saw the students walking into the large hall. The students all gathered around in one spot and then focused their attention on the teacher. After some minutes, the Dean — A middle-aged man walked into the hall followed by a young woman. They strolled to the front and the Dean whispered something into the teacher's ears before clearing his throat.

"I've heard that some students are against the school's idea. I don't know what gave you the bravery to do so but you must be careful to not allow it crowd you." The Dean said, his voice sounding gentle but filled with threats. 

The students listened attentively without uttering anything, some still had their faces squeezed but none dared to oppose the Dean. This man, they feared so much and didn't want to be on his wrong side.

The Dean pressed an invisible bottom on the wall and then from the middle of the hall materialized the Awakening stone. The stone was oddly dark and ugly with its corners rough,  it didn't look like a stone, rather it had the looks of an old-rusted globe. 

"For those who wish to try their luck again, walk to the stone, place your hands on it and close your eyes. Feel the energy inside of you and direct it to the stone, whatever colour it emits indicates your ability.

One by one student who hadn't awakened an ability walked to the stone and did exactly what the Dean had instructed. Max got his attention fully positioned on each student, he saw how the first student awakened the earth ability. The earth ability isn't all that impressive but it was better than none.

The second student walked up to the stone, it almost took a long time before the stone began to emit orange colour, which was the fire ability. The student who had awakened it felt happiness run into his spine, the fire ability is known as the most destructive ability of all time. And for him to awaken it, meant that his stars were blessed. 

Max stared at the stone that was emitting bright orange colour and could not help but wish it was him who had awakened it and not the boy.

Soon it got to him and he majestically strolled to the awakening stone and placed his hand on it. 'Mine must surpass you all!' he thought inwardly as he closed his eyes.

.....

" What!"