"Ah! Damn it! Damn it!" Max yelled as he walked through the path of the school without minding the students that were all staring and laughing at him.

*Bang*

The door closed with a loud bang as he slammed it behind him angrily, he strolled to his bed and slumped. His chest kept rising and falling with no plans of stopping, veins bulged out of his head as his face was filled with anger.

"Fuck the awakening stone! Fuck the school! Fuck this goddam system! It's so useless!" He screamed at the top of his voice. He could not believe what happened earlier even though it was still vivid in his head.

-----

Max stood at the centre of the hall with his hand on the awakening stone. One minute passed, two minutes passed, three minutes also passed but there was no sign of the stone glowing.

"Come out kid, you aren't lucky again this time," The Dean's voice rang, it was filled with disdain and disappointment as he stared at Max. The students who heard what the man said could not help but laugh out loud, especially those who had awakened their ability from the start and part of those who just awakened theirs.

Some felt pity for him but it was only a mere facade, they could not wait to begin their endless tortures on him again.

"How is this possible?" Max mumbled in shock, he could not believe what he was seeing. What then was the system for ? He thought his hard times were going to come to an end after he awakens an ability but.....it was just the beginning of a whole different hardship.

"Did the demon lied to me?" He asked almost to the hearing of the students there, it was only a miracle that no one was able to capture what he said. "This can't be!" He said out loud and stretched out his both hands to the stone.  "Sir, can I at least try one more time?" he asked attempting to touch the stone again but his hands were suddenly flung aside causing him to almost stumble and fall. When he looked ahead, he saw the boy that almost killed him the other day, glaring at him in disdain.

"A dead person will always remain a dead person, you can't awaken a common ability so don't waste our time here and step out of there!" The boy's voice was loud and clear to the hearing of everyone in the hall including the teachers and the Dean.

Max looked at them all expecting them to say something, but when they all remained mute, he sighed with a dropped shoulders and walked away from the awakening stone. He went back to his line and stood like a corpse, his head lowered, his shoulders dropped. He could hear the whispers from every of his corner about him but he didn't dare raise his head to look at their faces.

The remaining students went up and did theirs, it was a miracle that some weren't able to awaken an ability just like Max but his condition was pretty worse than theirs.

After the ability awakening, the students were taken to another side of the hall where they would be getting their levels checked. All the students went down and all their levels were checked, including Max whose own remained 0.9 — Not only him but the rest students who were also ability-less.

At the end of the day, they were given a digital wristwatch to always wear around, it didn't have the fancy look of a normal wristwatch but was odd-looking and red, matching the colour of their uniforms. On the wristwatch was displayed their level numbers, ranging from 0.9 - 1.7. According to the Dean, once worn, it will take a little amount of the wearer's blood and won't be able to be removed until the student decides to leave the school or when he/ she dies.

Max wore his and immediately left the hall, not turning back and not sparing anyone a glance.

-----------

"Can someone just remove this damn system out of my head? It's useless!" Max cursed while pulling on his hair. He stood up from the bed and began to storm around the room when suddenly something just came to his mind. "I'm doomed!" He yelled as his eyes were bulging out their sockets. 

"How am I going to duel with that bastard when he finally wakes up! Damn it!" Remembering the duel he had mentioned to Nat before using the stick on him he could not help but feel dead. 

He had threatened Nat with the duel because he had thought that before then, he would have awakened an ability or even become stronger but now....his hopes have been trampled upon and shattered by the heavens.

"Oh fuck! What am I going to do? I need to do something and it must be fast," he mumbled as he walked around the room with his hand on his jaw. He kept thinking for minutes until an idea came into his mind. "Will that work? What if...there will be no what ifs! I must try my luck!" 

He checked the time on his wall clock and it read half-past 6. A perfect time to carry out an operation, he smirked and took off his uniform, replacing them with a black hoodie and a black pants. He did a sigh of cross and walked out of his room towards the direction of the school clinic.

All through the way, his heart and mind was calm and still as the river but upon getting to the clinic, his heart suddenly began to beat rapidly. Surely there was no going back and so he clenched his fist and entered into the clinic.

After strolling through the clinic corridors for quite some time, he finally stopped at a particular door. He peeped inside and found Nat lying on the white bed with his eyes tight shut and his face filled with a pained expression. He gulped hard and walked into the room with light steps, he gradually approached the bed and began to stare at the sleeping Nat. Just when he was about to stretch his hands towards the boy, he heard footsteps approach him from behind.