The Grand Hall of Northwood Academy smelled like floor wax, expensive perfume, and the collective, suffocating scent of five hundred teenagers sweating through their dress shirts.
Today was the day. The day the universe decided if you were going to be a protagonist or a background character.
In this world, life didn't really start until you turned eighteen. That was the year your DNA basically decided to stop being boring and unlock a "Talent." For some, it was the ability to fly or conjure literal suns. For others, it was the ability to change the color of their toenails at will.
"If I get a talent related to accounting, I'm jumping into the nearest Dungeon Gate," Leo whispered, his leg bouncing so fast it was a blur. "I'm serious, Kai. I can't do math for the next sixty years. My brain will melt into a puddle of tax forms."
Kai Rowan leaned back in his plastic chair, hands behind his head, looking far more relaxed than a guy whose entire future was about to be decided by a glowing glass ball. "Look on the bright side, Leo. With your luck, you'll probably get 'Super Digestion.' You can become the world's first professional competitive eater. Think of the sponsorship deals. Golden Pizza, Mega-Burger... you'll be a star, and you'll be thick."
"Shut up," Leo hissed, though a small smile cracked his nervous expression. "What about you? You're acting like you've already won the SSS-rank lottery."
Kai shrugged, his eyes bright with a mix of sarcasm and genuine excitement. "Me? I'm aiming for 'Ultimate Nap Master.' I'll save the world by being so well-rested that the villains feel guilty for waking me up. It's a psychological tactic."
In reality, Kai's heart was drumming a heavy metal solo against his ribs. He just didn't see the point in letting everyone see him sweat. In a world where your Talent Rank determined your bank account, your social status, and even how people looked at you in the street, the pressure was enough to crush a tank.
The Talent Ranks were the law of the land: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, and the mythical SSS.
If you were a C-rank, you were a solid professional. An A-rank? You were a celebrity. An S-rank? You were basically a demi-god who could probably get a mortgage with 0% interest just by existing.
"Silence!"
The voice boomed through the hall, amplified by a magical talent. Headmaster Vance stood on the stage, looking like a man who hadn't smiled since the late nineties. Next to him stood the Awakening Orb—a swirling vortex of white mist trapped inside a sphere of reinforced crystal.
"When I call your name, step forward," Vance commanded. "Touch the orb. Accept your destiny. And please, do not cry on the stage if you get an F-rank. It leaves streaks on the crystal and the janitors are already on strike."
The ceremony began.
"Sarah Jenkins!"
A girl walked up, trembling so hard her shoes squeaked. She touched the orb. It flashed a dull, muddy brown.
[Talent: Enhanced Sewing — Rank: E]
The crowd gave a polite, pitying clap. Sarah looked like she wanted to evaporate.
"Next! Mark Higgins!"
Mark, a guy who spent most of his time at the gym, stepped up confidently. The orb flashed a sturdy gray.
[Talent: Iron Grip — Rank: C]
"Hey, not bad!" Leo whispered. "He can be a construction worker or a very intense rock climber. Or a really scary handshake guy."
The line moved steadily. Most students landed in the D to E range—the "normal" people of society. A few C-ranks caused a stir of excitement. Then, the air in the room suddenly turned cold. Like, 'I-can-see-my-breath' cold.
"Elena Frost!"
The hall went silent. Elena walked down the aisle like she was walking a red carpet, not a school stage. Her silver-white hair caught the light, and her expression was as calm as a frozen lake. She was the school's top student, the "Ice Queen" who never seemed to fail at anything.
As she placed her hand on the orb, the temperature plummeted. Frost began to creep across the floorboards. The orb didn't just flash; it erupted in a blinding, crystalline blue light that forced everyone to shield their eyes.
[Talent: Ice Empress — Rank: S]
The silence lasted for three seconds before the room exploded into cheers. Even Headmaster Vance managed a stiff, terrifyingly awkward smile. An S-rank! Northwood Academy hadn't produced an S-rank in years. Elena didn't cheer. She didn't pump her fist. She simply nodded and walked back to her seat, her gaze briefly sweeping across the crowd. For a split second, her eyes met Kai's. He gave her a lazy, two-finger salute. She blinked, looking slightly confused by his lack of awe, and moved on.
"Well," Leo groaned. "There goes the curve. We're officially all losers compared to her."
"Speak for yourself," Kai grinned. "I'm a high-quality loser. I'm artisanal."
"Kai Rowan!" the Headmaster called out.
"That's me. My public is calling," Kai said, standing up. He wiped his palms on his trousers one last time and marched toward the stage.
As he walked, he could hear the whispers. Kai was well-known, mostly for being the guy who could talk his way out of a detention and for having the weirdest sense of humor in the senior class. He wasn't the strongest or the smartest, but he had a certain charm—mostly the charm of a guy who had absolutely nothing to lose.
He reached the stage. The orb swirled before him, feeling cold and electric.
Please don't be 'Enhanced Sewing,' Kai thought. I can't even thread a needle without professional supervision.
He reached out and touched the glass.
For a second, nothing happened. Then, the orb flickered. It didn't flash blue like Elena's or brown like Sarah's. It turned a very faint, almost transparent gray. It looked like a lightbulb that was about to burn out in a basement.
A screen floated into the air above the orb, visible to everyone in the hall.
[Name: Kai Rowan]
[Talent: Growth Potential]
[Rank: F]
[Description: Allows for very slow improvement over long periods of time. User may see a 0.01% increase in physical stats after ten years of consistent training.]
The hall went dead silent. It was the kind of silence that usually preceded a car crash. Then, a single snicker broke the quiet. Within seconds, the entire room was erupting in laughter.
"F-rank? I didn't even know they still gave those out!" someone shouted from the back.
"Growth Potential? That's just a fancy way of saying 'You're currently trash and you'll stay trash until the year 3000!'"
"0.01% in ten years? He'll be a God by the time he's a thousand years old! Look out, villains, Kai's coming for you in the next millennium!"
Headmaster Vance cleared his throat, looking at Kai with a mixture of boredom and genuine pity. "Well. Mr. Rowan. It seems you have a... very patient future ahead of you. Please move along. We have many more students to process who might actually be able to lift a heavy box before they retire."
Kai stared at the screen. F-rank. The absolute bottom. The "Useless" tier.
He felt a sting of embarrassment, but as he looked at the description again, his sarcastic brain started working. Growth Potential? he thought. They might as well have named it 'Late Bloomer: The Sad Version.'
He turned and walked off the stage. He didn't hang his head. He didn't cry. He actually had a small, thoughtful frown on his face.
When he sat back down, Leo looked like he wanted to give Kai a hug but was afraid Kai might be contagious. "Hey, man... that's... that's a really unique talent. Growth is good! Trees grow! Mold grows! It's all very natural!"
"It's okay, Leo," Kai said, leaning back. "Statistically speaking, I'm now the most 'potential-filled' person in this room. Everyone else is already ranked. I'm the only one with a talent that literally tells me I can get better. Even if it takes longer than the lifespan of a galactic empire."
"You're taking this surprisingly well," a voice said.
Kai looked up. Elena Frost was standing in the aisle, having stopped on her way out. She looked at him with those piercing blue eyes, her expression unreadable. "Most people would be devastated. F-rank is essentially a death sentence for any hero career. You won't even be allowed into the lowest-level Dungeons."
Kai looked up at the S-rank genius and grinned. "Well, Elena, the way I see it, I've got nowhere to go but up. You? You're at the top. The only way for you to go is down. Sounds stressful. You should try some yoga."
Elena stared at him for a long beat, her brow furrowing slightly. "You're either very brave or very stupid."
"I'm a healthy mix of both," Kai replied. "It keeps things interesting."
She gave a small, almost imperceptible shake of her head and walked away.
Later that evening, Kai sat in his small room. The "Awakening Party" at the school had been a bust—mostly people bragging about their B-ranks and dodging him like his F-rank was a plague.
He pulled up his personal status window. In this world, the "System" was a part of reality. Everyone had a holographic interface only they could see.
[Name: Kai Rowan]
[Level: 1]
[Talent: Growth Potential (Rank F)]
[Strength: 5]
[Agility: 5]
[Intelligence: 6]
[Stamina: 5]
"Wow," Kai muttered. "I'm so average it actually hurts. I'm the human equivalent of a glass of room-temperature water."
He sighed and looked at the Talent description again. He expected to feel a wave of depression, but instead, he felt... hot.
Not the "it's summer" kind of hot. It was a strange, buzzing heat that started at the base of his spine and began to crawl upward. It felt like his blood was turning into carbonated soda.
"What the...?"
He stood up, but his knees felt weak. The air in the room seemed to vibrate. He looked at his hands, and for a split second, he thought he saw a flicker of golden light beneath his skin, like a circuit board turning on.
His heart began to race. It wasn't the nervous racing from earlier. This was a powerful, rhythmic thumping that seemed to echo in his ears.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
Suddenly, his vision blurred. The blue system screen in front of him flickered violently. The letters began to scramble, turning into a language he couldn't read, before snapping back into focus.
But they weren't blue anymore.
The screen had turned a deep, pulsating gold.
A single notification appeared, hovering in the center of his vision, glowing with an intensity that made his eyes water.
[System Error: Talent 'Growth Potential' has detected an internal contradiction.]
[Re-evaluating Rank...]
Kai gasped, clutching his chest as the heat intensified. It felt like his bones were being rearranged. He tried to call out for help, but his voice was caught in his throat.
[Logic Found: In a universe of limits, 'Potential' is the only true infinity.]
[Hidden Condition Met: Accept the F-Rank without despair.]
[Awakening the True Origin...]
The heat reached his brain, and Kai collapsed onto his rug. As the world faded to black, a final message scrolled across his vision, one that would have made the entire world scream in terror if they could see it.
[Talent Evolution Initiated.]