“Nevertheless, that’s quite a sight for the eyes.” Talia looked around her, only to see her fellow students using their abilities. She was sitting at a table with Sanya. On it was several objects and a few measurement instruments, like a vernier caliper or even a weight scale.

Her class had a joined lesson in the Ability Test Chamber with other classes. Abilities varied from a person to another, but there were still common things. Like for example, the Force-oriented or even the Elements-based abilities. So, it was more proficient when a group of students who shared similarities in their abilities trained together.

There was a total of three classes, including Talia’s one, inside the Chamber. The last time she had gone inside was when she had beaten Sarah. At this moment, there was no training devices or things like this. However, now the Chamber was brimming with life. One could see groups of students training here and there. A young man had a blindfold covering his eyes while another student was holding signs with symbols in front of him. Several meters from there, the fingers of a girl were producing fluctuating light.

Talia seemed amazed by this. Sanya tilted her head. “What exactly is so amazing?”

“The diversity of the abilities. From what I have seen, there is barely any totally identical abilities. There is always a small difference each time.” Sanya seemed to also think this.

“Yes, but this also the reason why we have to learn how to develop them by ourselves. There is no set path, but we can still learn tips from the others. Just look at Ellen over here.” Sanya pointed in one direction, making Talia turn her head. A few meters from here was Ellen surrounded by three students, one boy and two girls. There was a clear contrast size-wise, but the three youngsters were waiting for her next words eagerly. On the other side, Ellen was not a bit fazed by it.

“You see, you have to expand yourself. You must feel the surrounding space not only with your senses but also with your mind. You there, I saw that you have troubles creating stable boundaries when you separate the object from the rest of the world. Try to do it much slower. If the boundaries are not perfect, it can lead to accidents.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“About you. I don’t fully understand the principles behind your ability, but I think that you have a problem with the transport of the object. Unfortunately, I can’t do a lot about this. You just have to repeat it over and over, until you truly grasp it.”

“Understood!”

“And finally you...What are you doing here? Your ability has nothing to do with space manipulation.”

“It’s because I find you too cute!” Ellen, the boy and one of the girls looked at the last girl with a dumbfounded expression. However, she ignored them and went to hug Ellen. When the poor cat had almost been caught by the hunter, she disappeared only to reappear next to Talia and Sanya.

“...I never thought that a big sister would try to hug me out of the blue.” She seemed more surprised more than scared. She stretched her arms before yawing.

“I will take a nap. I usually take one at this time. See ya.” Her figure vanished, leaving the two girls who could only smile wryly. Talia then faced Sanya.

“Let me help you train your ability. It’s not like I have something more to do.”

Sanya scratched her cheek in embarrassment. “My ability is not something amazing at all.”

Talia patted her girlfriend’s head with a kind smile. “Please, don’t say this. Your ability is called Measure, right?”

Sanya nodded with a slight surprise.

“I thought that you would have also forgotten this.” Talia narrowed her eyes and put her hand on Sanya’s cheek. Her gaze was full of love and affection.

“I would never forget anything about you.” Sanya blushed. Her scarlet face was showing her current emotions. At this moment, she really wanted to kiss her beloved. But, this was in the middle of a lesson. She faked a cough to bring back the topic on her ability. Nonetheless, she did whisper a small ‘Thanks’, which was perfectly heard by Talia.

“A-Anyways. Having your help would be nice, indeed.”

“Then, let’s get started. If I remember correctly, your ability allows you to have an approximation on certain measures. Like the weight or even the length?”

“Yes. The rank of my ability is determined by the accuracy and the number of things that I can measure. For example, I can only determine with a good accuracy the mass and somehow the temperature and dimensions. The result is that my rank is F.”

Talia took a pen that was lying there and looked at it. She frowned lightly with a pensive face. “How do you know when the determination comes from your ability and not from a simple guess.”

Sanya put a finger on her chin. “Mmh, When I activate my ability, I kind of feel like the determination comes from it. Well, I know that for the dimensions of an object it might look like I only guess as my accuracy is quite low. However, this is not the same for the mass. I can determine the mass of an object with an error of only a few grams, so it’s fairly accurate.”

Talia seemed engrossed in the conversation. She kept asking questions one after another. “What about the other measures? Did you try to determine things like time, the speed or even the intensity in a current? And about the mass. Do you know if you obtain the mass using the weight? If so, what happens if you use it on another planet?”

Sanya was overwhelmed by those questions. It was true that she was interested in the limits of her own power, but she obviously had not thought this far. Even so, she was happy that Talia was so into it. In the past, she was not really involved in the activities relative to abilities. Meaning that she had no real opportunities to learn more about Sanya’s ability. Of course, she could have asked these kinds of questions outside the school, but they had other matter on their mind. Sanya chuckled before speaking. “I tried with time at several moments, but I never had fruitful results. I just don't know how to measure it. Same for the speed. Concerning the mass, I directly determine it, so it would be the same even on the moon for example. As for the intensity...I never tried. The idea never came to my mind.”

Talia smiled and took out a metallic needle from her earring. A golden arc of electricity flashed from her hand as she was holding it. “Go on.”

Sanya wondered if it was ok to pull out things from out of nowhere. Nevertheless, she still did as told. She concentrated on the tube with an intense expression. Her eyes were glued on it. After a dozen of seconds, she sighed and dropped her head on top of the table. “It’s not good. I can’t measure it...Even if I did, I could not have checked it.”

“I know the intensity inside it.”

Sanya lifted her head in response to Talia’s remark. “You can? How?”

Talia answered with a smug face. “I’m a Grandmaster magician in the lightning attribute. I have a perfect control over what I am doing. It also means that I control the current in this conductor. You know, I use magic to charge my phone. It’s faster.”

“You kidding… How handy.”

The two girls continued to chat while trying new things for Sanya’s ability. Sanya tried to measure the luminous intensity produced by a portable lamp, the sizes of cubes and sticks, and so on. At some point, Talia even asked Sanya a strange question while holding the earlier metallic needle. “Can you determine the quantity of matter of this bar.”

“...The quantity of matter? As if.” Sanya understood what she was asking, but this was too hard for her. Talia smiled and patted her head.

“Don’t be dispirited. I think I have an idea of how your ability works. I have another test to see if my assumption is right.” Sanya tilted her head. It was true that she had followed all of Talia’s tests, but she didn’t question the motive behind. Talia took out several glass vials with transparent liquids inside. A good aroma was coming out from them.

“Can you use your ability on the liquids inside?”

“To determine what?” Sanya could not determine something if she didn’t know what she had to measure. Talia smirked before replying.

“The density.”

“?...I don’t understand but sure.” Sanya took the first vial, which contained a slightly viscous liquid, and used her ability. After only a second, she lifted her shocked face.

“...I can measure it. Approximately 900. But, why?”

“Because the density is a mass divided by a volume, and the unit of a volume is the cubic meter. You can determine a mass and a length, so I thought you would be able to also determine a unit which is the combination of the two. You can not measure a speed because it's a length divided by a time and you can not determine a time.” Sanya opened her eyes wide like she just connected the dots.

“In the past, I also tried to understand how the units were working to make a sense of what I was measuring. There was this thing called the International System of Units, right? When I first saw this, I could not really understand, but it seems that there is a total of 7 basics units. All the other units can be expressed using those 7. So, you mean that my ability might be based on this? But, it’s a human concept. My ability will not change because the system has been modified.”

Talia once again sighed in amazement. “It’s also for this reason that I think that the abilities are a true mystery. I clearly don’t know why some abilities are like this. Your ability is kind of extreme in regard to this aspect; though. At least, this settles how your ability truly work.”

Sanya thought for a moment before frowning. She held her hand on her chin. “Wait. If my ability really works like this, it means that if I can measure the 7 basics units then-”

“You can measure pretty much everything in the world. Yes.”

Sanya seemed a bit overwhelmed by this realization. She sat there a full five seconds, looking blankly at Talia. Of course, the ability to measure things was not really useful for combat, but it was not like Sanya planned to fight someone in particular. This ability can always be extremely useful, no matter the sector.

Sanya gulped down as she affirmed her resolution. She looked deeply at Talia in the eyes. “I will do my best to reach the limits of my ability. That may be selfish, but will you help me?”

A wide grin appeared on the blue-haired girl. A blissful feeling spread through her body. “I will help you go past those limits!”

They continued for a while after that. Until a certain friend of them arrived.

“Oh, Zesty. What’s the matter?” Sanya looked up to see the shy girl walked to where they were. She looked a bit dejected for some reasons. She forced a smile and shook her head.

“It’s nothin-”

“It’s about your ability, right?” Talia interjected with a blank face. Zesty’s ability was quite rare, so there was no other student at the school with who she could train with. Meaning that she either have to train with someone who was willing to let their mind read, or do nothing altogether. Talia had seen her talking with one of the present teachers earlier. This was surely related to her expression.

Zesty twirled a strand of hair while smiling wryly. She started. “...You are right. The teacher asked me if I had changes in my ability recently. He also reminded me to not use it on other people without permission.”

“You plan to keep hiding your true potential?”

“Talia.” Sanya thought that her words were a bit too blunt. Zesty was hiding the true rank of her ability, but it was because she was afraid of the impact of her actions. However, Zesty didn’t immediately reply.

“...I don’t know.”

Silence fell in the middle of the conversation. All of sudden, the voice of a teacher resonated throughout the Chamber. “Ok, everyone! The class is finished!”

Talia stood up with a thin smile. “We can still talk about this another day. Let’s not worry about this today.”

Zesty nodded timidly before showing what seemed to be a faint smile. On the other side, Sanya stood up with conflicted feelings. ‘Is it really necessary to show that you have power? Is the world going to rotate around the concept of the higher the rank, the better?’