Irene's expression hardened. "Where?" The room seemed to chill around her, and Adam's breath misted as goosebumps pricked his skin.
"I-i-in front of t-the corner coffee shop, five minutes on foot…" He shivered, his breath forming a faint, fleeting mist.
Irene typed something on her watch, then everything turned back to normal.
"I am going now. Someone is about to come and teach you. They know about your little secret." Her voice resounded with every step she took towards the elevator.
"Don't worry, he knows how to keep his mouth shut."
The elevator doors slid open, and a young man with wild green hair and sunglasses swaggered out. "Oh! Hey Irene! How's it going?" he called, shrugging with a mischievous grin as she ignored him. "Still as cold as ever, I see." He added, voice teasing.
"Frank Wylder?" Adam's eyes widened. He had heard stories about him - the unpredictable hero who could turn a lost battle on its head. And now Frank was standing before him.
A gust of wind announced Frank's sudden movement. He smelled faintly of rain and metal, like a storm that hadn't decided where to land. He stood casually in shorts and a shirt, eyes sparkling with mischief. "So you must be Adam! Pleasure to meet you, wonder boy." It was the gaze of someone discovering a new toy, clearly enjoying the surprise.
"Let's not beat around the bush. I will be the one teaching you fuser techniques from now on." Adam could faintly feel a pulse emanating from Frank.
"This is Aqua Pulse." Frank said, pressing a hand to Adam's shoulder. A tingling coolness surged through him, muscles relaxing as lingering fatigue drained away. "Good, now close your eyes."
"Gather your ether in your heart." Adam focused, a strange warmth radiating outward from his chest, spreading calm through every fiber of his body.
Adam pulled the ether inward. It didn't feel like water at first - it felt like static, pinpricks against the ribs, a cold that made the bones ache.
"Don't let it seep out, keep it in your heart."
Minutes passed, and gradually all the coolness concentrated in his heart.
"Now let your heartbeat push the ether outward."
The first push scattered; the second barely moved. His throat worked around a dry swallow. He angled his attention deeper, as if listening for a distant drum.
"Don't force it. Just like waves - two steps forward, one back."
Adam followed Frank's rhythm. THUMP… cool ether surged in waves, ebbing and returning with each heartbeat. He stopped forcing it and let it flow.
On the third try, he found it: the thud that wasn't muscle, wasn't blood -something colder and more patient. He rode it. Two beats forward. One breath back. His shoulders loosened. His fingers stopped trembling.
It wasn't perfect - irregular, with ether still seeping away - but he'd done it. He had learned a fuser's technique, a grin spreading across his face.
"Can you teach me any other tech- Ouch!"
Frank flicked his forehead. "Focus on mastering this one first. Only losers learn half-heartedly. Winners master every technique they use. And guess who dies on the frontlines?"
"Losers?" Adam asked, raising an eyebrow as he rubbed his forehead, curiosity overriding the sting of Frank's flick.
"Exactly, now let me fill you in on a secret?" Frank said, voice easy, words not. "People think talent keeps you alive. It doesn't. Habits do. Habits you can trust when your brain turns to ice." Tapping his own temple for emphasis.
"Now, what are your passives and what do they do? Irene only told me about your special talent."
When someone awakens, they can feel their "passives" and instinctively know what they do, like limbs.
"Undying Will makes my will more resilient, and Counter-Current gives me a boost in dire situations."
"Seems like a good combination. Let's test them then!" A sudden gust marked Frank's disappearance. The lights dimmed - sound thinned. Adam's tongue tasted iron. The mist didn't roll in so much as appear where sight failed, crowding corners, swallowing the edges of things.
A gaunt and disproportionate figure stepped out of the mist, limbs slightly too long, fingers tapering into wisp-like claws. Skin, glossy like obsidian, stretched taut over empty eye sockets and bones. Faint ripples ran across it, fading into smoke-like shadows. Its mouth split in a terrifying grin, voices echoing from within the mist.
This was a creature of nightmares given form.
Eve's voice brushed the edge of his thoughts. "Don't worry, if you die due to Frank, I'm hunting him." She said, only half-joking - reassurance disguised as banter.
A shallow laughter escaped from Adam's lips as the nightmare neared.
It moved erratically, fluid as a shattered reflection, its claws slicing through the fog. Layered whispers clawed at Adam's mind: 'You thought you mattered?… You're just another pawn...' Vision blurred; every word making him stagger, heart pounding as he grasped for control.
Thump...
"Adam! Snap out of it!" Eve shouted, her voice swallowed by the swirling echoes.
The creature drew closer, carrying an air of finality, each step rippling through the haze.
Thump...
'Shhh… shhh… she's not there…'
'You talk to air… you always have.'
It finally reached him, raising its clawed hand - just as it was about to seize his neck.
THUMP... The ether moved, not like a flood but like tide - obedient to pull, stubborn to command. THUMP. He matched breath to beat, beat to will. The fear didn't leave; it learned where to stand.
Coolness washing over him, Adam stepped back. The claw closed on empty air.
'What will your parents say when you'll die on the frontlines?'
'Will they be sad? Will they cry? Will they mourn?'
"ADAAAAAAM!" Eve's voice cut through the mist, desperate. The whispers swirled around him: 'They will be happy… for a burden such as you has finally disappeared.' Adam stiffened, chest tightening as claws hovered inches from his eyes.
Aqua Pulse alone wasn't enough. Exhaustion gripped him, movements sluggish, thoughts dulled, the air itself resisting.
Then his second soul flared.... Undying Will surged. It didn't roar. It narrowed his world to a line he would follow at all costs. The claw came down. Pain registered as information. The voices lost their claws as
he caught the creature's wrist, a hairbreadth from blindness.
The figure faded, leaving a small gray crystal where its heart should have been. Darkness swallowed Adam's vision, voices scraping at his skull, lacerating his thoughts like jagged glass.
His heartbeat surged, Counter-Current hit like winter surf - merciless, clean. Everything sharpened: edges, choices, the placement of his feet. Then came the bill: a wobble in his knees, a hollowness spreading behind the sternum.
Instinct took over. Adam's hand darted to the crystal. It was colder than the mist had been. Adam felt his reflection in it - small, distorted. THUMP... With his heartbeat driving him, he squeezed, exerting more force than he thought possible.
Fine fractures spiderwebbed beneath his thumb. He closed his hand and broke the crystal like brittle ice under boot.
The creature lost all its remaining form, fading into smoke.
Adam stared at the vanishing shards. 'What was that thing? And why did I still have so much ether after fighting Mark?' His mind raced as the room settled around him.
Frank reappeared, shading his eyes with the ease of someone on a leisurely stroll, as if oblivious to the battle Adam had just survived. "Oohhh… I just wanted to see your limits. Didn't think you'd actually kill it!"
"What was that?" Adam, wide-eyed, rubbed dark circles beneath his eyes; he looked like he hadn't slept in a week.
"That was the illusion of a rank 2 Nightmare! And you, wonder boy, just killed it! That puts you in the 0.1% of newly awakened will-wise!" He paused, then flicked his watch with a knuckle. "Heads up - your ether signature just pinged two separate trackers. That's… unusual."
"Was that really necessary? Not even warning us? #@ù!" Eve's voice rippled through his thoughts, sharp but trembling.
"Stop littering my mind with your cussing!"
Adam's watch vibrated once, a discreet pulse. A new notification he didn't recognize blinked and vanished. He looked up. Frank was still smiling but it didn't reach his eyes.
"Alright, but can I go home now? I'm drained."
"Sure, you'll receive a message on your watch for when our next session will be."
The thought of another such fight sent a shiver down Adam's spine, his muscles tightening in dread.
"Don't worry, no more will tests for now. And take these!"
Two books thudded against his chest. He barely registered the titles before catching the other two the principal had handed him and heading home.
In the gray concrete room, only Frank remained, grinning. "Such an interesting youth. I can see why she called me."