2026-11-09 04:11:38The second funeral was smaller.
Daniel's parents had requested a private ceremony.
Oliver attended.
He wore the same black suit he had worn at his parents' funeral.
It no longer fitted properly.
He had lost weight.
His face looked thinner.
His eyes were permanently tired.
He stood near the front.
Daniel's mother cried throughout the service.
His father remained silent.
Oliver wanted to speak to them.
He wanted to apologise.
For what, he wasn't entirely sure.
For surviving?
For not lifting the railing quickly enough?
For having an ability that could evolve into something extraordinary but couldn't save his friend?
He didn't know.
After the ceremony, Daniel's father approached him.
"Oliver."
He turned.
The older man looked exhausted.
"Daniel spoke about you often."
Oliver lowered his head.
"He was my best friend."
"I know."
There was a pause.
Then the man placed a hand on his shoulder.
"He was happy when he was with you."
Oliver's expression crumpled.
He looked away.
Daniel's father continued.
"He used to tell us that you were going to become someone important."
Oliver couldn't speak.
"I hope you do."
The man withdrew his hand.
Then he walked away.
Oliver remained beside the grave.
He looked at the headstone.
Daniel Hayes.
Beloved son. Friend. Brother.
He remembered the drainage ditch.
The hospital.
The training hall.
The ridiculous jokes.
The arguments.
The countless afternoons when they had done absolutely nothing together.
He remembered Daniel telling him that he was getting better.
Oliver knelt.
He placed a small photograph beside the flowers.
It was an old picture of them taken during their final year of primary school.
Daniel had his arm around Oliver's neck.
Both were smiling.
Oliver remained there until the ceremony ended.
He stopped attending classes for several days.
The academy offered counselling.
He declined.
His instructors granted him additional time away from practical training.
He accepted.
For the first week, he barely left the house.
He sat in the living room.
Sometimes he watched television without understanding what was happening.
Sometimes he opened his notebook and stared at the pages.
He found a message from Daniel in their conversation history.
Daniel: Don't forget we're getting famous.
Oliver read it repeatedly.
Then another.
Daniel: Also, if you become rich, I'm expecting compensation for emotional support.
Oliver almost smiled.
Almost.
He placed the phone down.
Three weeks after the accident, Oliver returned to the academy.
The training hall was busy.
Students moved between stations.
Instructors shouted corrections.
Energy manifestations flashed across the platforms.
Everything was exactly as it had been.
That irritated him.
He stood near the entrance.
For a moment, he considered leaving.
Then he walked inside.
He approached the equipment station and selected a pair of training gloves.
His hands were steady.
He stood before the reinforced wall.
The interface appeared.
[USER STATUS: RECOVERING.]
[PHYSICAL CONDITION: ACCEPTABLE.]
[TECHNIQUE INVENTORY:]
[DISTRIBUTED REINFORCEMENT — BASIC.]
[EVOLUTIONARY PROGRESS: 100%.]
[AVAILABLE DEVELOPMENTAL BRANCHES:]
[IMPACT REGULATION.]
[STRUCTURAL SYNCHRONISATION.]
A new message appeared.
[ADDITIONAL FUNCTION UNLOCKED.]
[TECHNIQUE ANALYSIS.]
[YOU MAY NOW EXAMINE THE STRUCTURAL COMPOSITION OF OBSERVED TECHNIQUES.]
Oliver stared at the message.
Then he looked towards the opposite platform.
A student was practising a movement technique.
The student activated his ability.
His body accelerated forward.
Oliver focused.
A transparent diagram appeared.
[TECHNIQUE DETECTED: BURST STEP.]
[CLASSIFICATION: MOVEMENT.]
[CURRENT DEVELOPMENT: INTERMEDIATE.]
[STRUCTURAL WEAKNESS: EXCESSIVE ENERGY LOSS DURING DIRECTIONAL TRANSITION.]
[EVOLUTIONARY POTENTIAL DETECTED.]
Oliver blinked.
He looked at the student again.
The diagram remained.
He examined the movement.
The energy gathered around the student's legs before being released in a forward burst.
However, during directional changes, the energy dispersed inefficiently.
The technique was wasting power.
Oliver looked down at his hands.
The interface had changed.
It was no longer limited to his own ability.
He could observe other people's techniques.
He could see their weaknesses.
He could identify possibilities they might never discover.
For several minutes, he remained still.
Then he closed the interface.
He approached the training wall.
He activated Distributed Reinforcement.
The energy moved through his arm.
He raised his fist.
And struck.
The impact travelled through his reinforced structure.
The wall rattled.
Oliver lowered his hand.
His shoulder hurt.
His body was tired.
He wasn't particularly strong.
He wasn't suddenly capable of defeating elite awakeners.
He was still a seventeen-year-old boy who had lost both parents and his closest friend.
But he was standing.
And that had to count for something.
Later that afternoon, Oliver visited the cemetery.
He carried three things.
A small bouquet of flowers.
His black notebook.
And Daniel's old training gloves.
He placed the flowers between his parents' graves.
Then he sat on the grass.
For a while, he said nothing.
The wind moved through the surrounding trees.
A distant car horn sounded.
Somewhere nearby, a groundskeeper was trimming the hedges.
Oliver opened the notebook.
He turned to the page containing his first evolution.
First evolution: Distributed Reinforcement.
Dad was right.
He stared at the words.
Then he turned to another page.
It contained a list of techniques he intended to study.
Movement.
Defensive applications.
Energy regulation.
Combat positioning.
He had written the list before Daniel's death.
At the bottom was a sentence in Daniel's handwriting.
Try not to become boring when you're famous.
Oliver's lips moved.
For a brief moment, he could almost hear his friend's voice.
He closed the notebook.
"I don't know how to do this."
His voice was quiet.
He looked at his parents' graves.
"I don't know how to keep doing this without you."
He swallowed.
Then looked towards Daniel's photograph.
"But I'm going to try."
He remained there for several minutes.
Eventually, he stood.
He brushed the dirt from his trousers.
He picked up the notebook.
Before leaving, he turned back.
"I'll keep going."
It wasn't a promise that everything would be fine.
It wasn't a declaration that he would become the strongest person alive.
It was simply a decision.
A small one.
But it was his.
That evening, Oliver returned home.
He entered through the front door.
The house was quiet.
He placed his shoes beside the entrance.
Then he walked into the kitchen.
The broken light still hadn't been repaired.
He looked at it for a moment.
Then he found his father's toolbox.
He climbed onto a chair and began working.
It took him nearly forty minutes.
He made several mistakes.
He dropped a screwdriver.
He nearly electrocuted himself.
Eventually, the light came on.
Oliver stepped down.
He looked around the kitchen.
For the first time in months, it no longer felt quite so abandoned.
He made himself dinner.
He washed the dishes.
He placed his mother's old shopping list in a drawer.
Then he went upstairs.
His phone vibrated.
An academy notification appeared.
WESTBRIDGE ACADEMY
Following your recent assessment results, you have been recommended for the preliminary selection process of the Advanced Development Programme.
Oliver read it twice.
He opened the attached document.
The programme was considerably more demanding than ordinary academy training.
Selected students would receive access to specialised instructors, advanced facilities and restricted technique archives.
It was an opportunity.
A genuine one.
He looked at the interface.
[NEW OBJECTIVE AVAILABLE.]
[ACADEMY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME.]
[OBJECTIVE: QUALIFY FOR ADVANCED SELECTION.]
[REWARD: UNDISCOVERED.]
Oliver closed the notification.
He sat on the edge of his bed.
Then he opened his notebook.
Underneath the list of techniques, he wrote:
Tomorrow: begin studying movement techniques.
He paused.
Then added:
Do not rush.
He closed the notebook.
Outside, the city continued moving.
People were returning home.
Trains were arriving at stations.
Students were preparing for examinations.
Somewhere, parents were reminding their children to eat.
Somewhere, friends were arguing about something insignificant.
Oliver turned off the light.
He lay down.
The interface appeared faintly in his vision.
[USER CONDITION: STABLE.]
[EVOLUTIONARY POTENTIAL: UNDETERMINED.]
He stared at the message.
Then closed his eyes.
For the first time in a long while, he wasn't thinking about what he had lost.
He was thinking about what he could still build.
And that, for now, was enough
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
THE FIRST STEP FORWARD
Oliver woke up before his alarm.For several seconds, he remained still.The ceiling above him was familiar. The curtains were partially drawn, allowing a narrow strip of morning sunlight into the room.His eyes moved towards the empty side of his bed.He had slept poorly.He sat up.His phone was on the bedside table.7:12 AM.There was an academy notification.He opened it.WESTBRIDGE ACADEMYADVANCED DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMEPreliminary selection assessments will commence in five days.All recommended candidates are required to report to the academy's assessment department for registration and initial evaluation.Further instructions will be provided upon arrival.Oliver read the announcement twice.Five days.He placed his phone down and reached for his notebook.The page from the previous evening was still open.Tomorrow: begin studying movement techniques.Beneath it:Do not rush.Oliver stared at the words.Then he picked up his pen.He added another line.Five days until prelimin
WHAT REMAINS
The second funeral was smaller.Daniel's parents had requested a private ceremony.Oliver attended.He wore the same black suit he had worn at his parents' funeral.It no longer fitted properly.He had lost weight.His face looked thinner.His eyes were permanently tired.He stood near the front.Daniel's mother cried throughout the service.His father remained silent.Oliver wanted to speak to them.He wanted to apologise.For what, he wasn't entirely sure.For surviving?For not lifting the railing quickly enough?For having an ability that could evolve into something extraordinary but couldn't save his friend?He didn't know.After the ceremony, Daniel's father approached him."Oliver."He turned.The older man looked exhausted."Daniel spoke about you often."Oliver lowered his head."He was my best friend.""I know."There was a pause.Then the man placed a hand on his shoulder."He was happy when he was with you."Oliver's expression crumpled.He looked away.Daniel's father con
THE COST OF BEING BETTER
The academy noticed.It happened gradually.At first, Oliver's instructors assumed he had discovered an unusually efficient application of his existing ability.Then his performance improved again.His defensive stability increased.His energy consumption decreased.His practical examination scores began approaching those of students with significantly higher classifications.He wasn't suddenly unbeatable.In fact, he continued losing regularly.But his losses became increasingly informative.He began recognising patterns in other people's techniques.A student who manipulated heat consistently overextended his right arm before launching an attack.Another relied heavily on the structural stability of his legs, leaving his upper body vulnerable during directional changes.Oliver noticed things.Small things.Things that most students overlooked because they were too busy concentrating on the visible effects of their opponents' abilities.The interface helped him organise those observa
THE FIRST EVOLUTION
The interface did not make Oliver stronger.That was the first disappointment.He had half-expected some dramatic transformation.An immediate increase in physical strength.A sudden expansion of his energy reserves.Perhaps a new technique.Instead, he received information.A considerable amount of it.And most of it was useless without experimentation.The interface could reveal possible developmental structures, but it couldn't automatically provide the practical knowledge required to achieve them.It was like being shown the architectural plans for a building without possessing the tools, materials or experience necessary to construct it.Oliver found this frustrating.He also found it fascinating.His first serious experiment involved his forearm.He activated Minor Enhancement and attempted to distribute energy across the entire structure.The result was inefficient.His elbow became unstable.The reinforcement around his wrist weakened.The interface displayed a warning.[STRUC
THE INTERFACE
Grief did not arrive as a single emotion.It arrived as an accumulation of inconveniences.Oliver discovered that the refrigerator continued making noise even when nobody was home.He discovered that food spoiled if nobody remembered to put it away.He discovered that his father's work boots remained beside the entrance for weeks because moving them felt strangely disrespectful.He discovered that silence could become physically exhausting.The first week after the funeral passed without much distinction.He missed classes.He ignored messages.He stopped training.His academy contacted him twice.Daniel visited almost every day.Sometimes he brought food.Sometimes he sat in the living room without speaking.On the seventh day, he found Oliver sitting beside the kitchen table.The boy looked exhausted.Daniel placed a bag on the counter."I brought groceries."Oliver didn't respond.Daniel opened the refrigerator."Your mother would probably kill you if she saw this.""Don't."Daniel
A DAY WITHOUT TOMORROW
The accident happened on a Thursday.There was nothing particularly unusual about the morning.Oliver woke up late.He burned his toast.His mother complained about the bathroom light.His father left without remembering his lunch.Daniel sent him a photograph of a badly drawn face with the caption:This is what you look like when you concentrate.Oliver replied with an insult.Then he went to school.If somebody had told him that it would be the last ordinary morning he would ever experience, he would probably have laughed.Life rarely announces the moments that will divide it.The inter-class assessment began at eleven.Oliver's opponent was a student named Marcus Bell.Marcus possessed a relatively common ability called Surface Compression.He could temporarily increase the density of objects he touched, including his own skin.His fighting style was straightforward.He absorbed attacks and returned them with greater force.Oliver knew he couldn't overpower him.So he didn't try.T
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