Feeling the van he was in brake furiously, Aven grabbed a conveniently placed handle. It was the first time he had felt the van come to a stop since he got inside, so it probably meant they had reached their intended destination.

Confirming his deduction, the van’s back double doors were opened after a moment and the 2 black-clothed men and 1 woman politely indicated to him to get off.

Stepping inside a vast parking lot located amidst a lot of massive buildings, he turned his head and was welcomed by a gigantic sky-scrapper covered with a gigantic Eland’s national symbol of a white fairy surrounded by a rainbow circle.

“Let’s enter inside, it’s our destination,” the man escorting him kindly informed. Not that it made much of a difference.

“Now that’s cool,” vocalizing his feeling without any shame, he followed after his 3 escorts who didn’t seem to care about his awe or the possibility of him running off on his own.

Entering through the parking lot’s dedicated door, they passed by people with only a minority who seemed to pay attention to them passing by, and most often, they just sent a glance before ignoring them altogether.

‘Not that much different from uni or the city in general.’

Sending a few appraisals here and there, all the people he targeted were affiliated with "Serenis City Supers Agency". Not one exception could be found, reinforcing his belief that this place was the headquarters of this faction. Obviously.

Taking an elevator which no one was waiting in line before for reasons unknown, the mostly silent women who had jested him picked the -5 floor, and in half a minute, the doors opened again after they had closed.

Continuing the escort, he was led to one of the rooms of this spacious underground floor, and inside was a single woman who felt… Different.

“Goodbye Mr. Amias, your escort was a most pleasurable one,” bidding goodbye the moment the door opened and the woman inside stood up, the black-clothed man turned and headed back to the elevator.

“Thanks for the escort then,” answering in kind, Aven took the clues and entered the room where he was welcomed by a new person.

The person, a woman in an office suit, offered her hand, and Aven took it by instinct as she started introducing herself, “Hello Mr. Amias, I’m Vega Calin, I’ll be going through some paperwork with you until your energy cycle settles down.”

“Hello,” Aven reciprocated with a social smile, “I have all the time in the world to help, so don’t hesitate to make small talks.”

After they greeted each other, the woman led him to sit on a chair while she sat behind her desk and started using the computer to do whatever she was doing.

“Once we’re done, you can either choose to return home or remain here,” wrapping up what she had been doing on her computer, she started telling him what was happening, “In any case, you’ll be asked to come back tomorrow as the weekly supers crash course is organized that day and is mandatory for all newly awakened supers.”

“At what time does it begin? Very early morning? Noon?” He asked, intending to base his decision on it.

“Late Afternoon,” she quickly answered after looking it up.

“I’ll be going home then,” he summarily replied.

“Good,” nodding to herself, she then took a bunch of documents from one of her desk drawers and heavily put them on the table.

“This,” she emphasized the pile of papers again, “Is all you have to fill and complete before being left alone for the next few years or until you start searching for your job. I congratulate you in advance on having succeeded in life. No supers have ever died of hunger, thirst, or diseases before, so be as happy as you can be while filling those depressing forms.”

Taking one of the available pens, Aven brought the first page to just before him, asking while he was at it, “Do you mean I’ll gain so much money I won’t have to worry about regular food expenses, and my super state will protect me against diseases?”

“Yes, exactly. And in the rare case where you contract a rare disease that works on a super, you’ll largely be able to pay for the Vow Church’s advanced healers to bring you back to full health in a few hours,” painting a beautiful picture of his future with a few sentences, this motivated him to fill the documents diligently.

‘That’s right… I was studying for my next exam before this… What a quick turn of events.’

As a university student, writing came as second nature to him, so he started grinding through the pile of documents effortlessly, only asking a few questions when he didn’t know a few personal information about himself or when he didn't understand the questions asked.

And such a leisure activity lasted until a bit more than an hour later…

“Your energy cycle will start settling down soon, no one has ever died from it so don’t panic. Just treat it as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, like tasting a rare disgusting wine,” interrupting his writing, the office woman made a strangely rational comparison of what would possibly happen soon.

“I’ll enjoy it as much as I’m able to then,” lifting his head and sending a smile while answering to show he wasn’t anxious or anything, he dived right back into the pile of documents.

A quarter of an hour later, he started feeling the hot flow inside his body do something weird. It was expanding.

Where before the hot flow was located mainly in his torso, threads of hotness split from this source and visited his body everywhere, as if learning what they were dealing with and what their new home looked like.

Inevitably, some parts of the hot flow exited his body, surely involuntarily, and created a weird airflow that seemed to burn his skin.

The whole room and the office woman only looked on passively without saying anything, and 5 minutes later, the hot flow settled itself.

It wasn’t only flowing inside his torso anymore, now it cycled through his entire body, from head to toes.

Wanting to confirm if something had changed, he brought up his self-appraisal, or his status.

Aven Amias

Faction: MIC Serenis University

Energy Grade: 0

Energy Cultivation: 2/10

Energy Affinity: Tech

Physical Talents: None

Energy Talents: Basic Tech Energy Affinity

Spiritual Talents: Inquisitive Spirit

Universal Talents: Unawakened Fairy Ancestry

‘Ohoh, I’m already one-fifth of the way to grade 1!’

Rejoicing in the little thing that he knew was most likely to be something universal to everyone, Aven smiled and started grinding the document pile again.

“All risks are gone now. Your energy cycle was a bit above average in settling intensity, and if an unawakened had been next to you, I would bet he would have been at death’s border before he even realized what was happening to him. Let’s be happy once again that nothing like that took place,” continuing to remind him of positive interpretations, the office woman probably had a lot of experience managing difficult newly awakened supers.

“I’m happy, that’s for sure,” not lifting his head this time, he assured there was nothing wrong with his state of mind as he filled forms enthusiastically.

Just like that, a few more hours passed before he signed the last document detailing that he had honestly answered with all his knowledge and capabilities lots of other documents.

“Done!” He exclaimed and put down the pen he had kept using for more than 2 hours, the average time for a single course of a midyear exam.

Taking the last page in her hands, she read through it and confirmed it was done correctly once again, as she had done for every other document page prior to this one.

“That will be all in this case. Thanks for your efficiency Mr. Amias,” she congratulated him as she stood up, waving at him to follow after her as she headed towards the door, “The weekly supers crash course is planned for tomorrow at 6 pm, please be here, even if you’re amazingly late.”

“Sure,” Aven summarily replied while thinking about other things, like if he could make the whole journey on his bike to not have to care about traffic or parking. The Serenis City Supers Agency’s headquarters seemed to be right into the mass traffic area after all.

Taking the same elevator, he was escorted back to the main hall where he exited from a different entrance to the one he had used to enter.

Stepping onto a busy parking lot, the office woman waved at a particular row of cars before explaining the situation, “These are taxis, I’ll pay for your trip back to where you want.”

Thus Aven got inside a taxi driven by a middle-aged man and reached the front of his building half an hour later, much longer than when he rode on the mad and crazy black and white van, but not overly so.

“Thank you,” exiting the taxi while thanking the driver, he didn’t dwell on useless contemplations and made his way back to his apartment swiftly.

Night had already fallen, but night never really fell inside a major city such as Serenis, so he encountered no problem and passed through his home’s door without any problem, it wasn’t locked yet.

The entrance hallway was lit up, he got off his shoes, and headed straight to his bedroom while passing by the living room where his mom was watching a TV series to drop off his gears.

Once he did that and turned on his computer, he headed to the living room and served himself a glass of peach iced tea.

“When is dad coming back?” He asked as he took a sip that sent shivers down his spine. Peach iced tea was his all-time favorite drink to have a single glass of every few days.

“Soon, he ordered from a 3-star caterer to celebrate so he’s a bit late,” focused on her TV series, his mom replied offhandedly.

“Okay,” leaving behind these words, he headed back to his room and started organizing his messy desk that he left in a mess after turning on his speakers and starting a chill background music.

‘Do I even need to continue studying? Or more like, why would I continue studying to become a journalist when I know for a fact it’s not going to be my job?’

Starting on an existential-level conundrum, Aven eventually relented as he was just missing too much information.

Once his desk was cleaned, he moved his keyboard and mouse back to their right position and started searching for more information about supers. The only difference compared to any other research he could have done before was that now he was serious.

“Dinner's here!”

Pulling him out of his thoughts and online search was the extremely familiar call of his mom informing him that it was time to eat.

Cutting off his music, he turned off his screen with a single button press and headed toward the living room.

There, the whole Amias family had gathered.

Flexing his new innate ability, he appraised his mom and dad.

Hana Amias

Faction: Eland 7 TV Channel

Sen Amias

Faction: Amias Urban Journalism

Aven Amias, brown-haired, blue eyes, tanned white skin, 21 years old, no chronic diseases, and not mentally unstable. At least according to his own criteria.

Hana Amias, Aven’s mom, same as her son, she was brown-haired, had blue eyes, was 47 years old, and due to pregnancy complications, she only had a single son in her life, so she loved him maybe a bit too much. Though it wasn’t visible at first glance.

Sen Amias, Aven’s dad, dark-haired, dark brown eyes, 51 years old, he made a large amount of money during his 2 decades-long war reporter career, and he could be said to be the perfect dad.

“Hehe, Aven! So you became a super? Hahaha!” Upon watching him enter the living room, his dad started making a ruckus.

Aven added more oil to the fire by adopting an arrogant pose and bragging, “Yes! I! Did! I’m a super now! Thank you mom and dad for the amazing genetics you gave me! I’ll be sure to pay you back with an awakening serum when I accomplish world domination!”

“That’s my son! Anything less than world domination would be setting the bar too low! Hahaha!” Happiness emanated from him as he followed naturally, putting a smile on everyone.

It was a truly joyous celebration, one where his son stepped onto a totally new world many dreamed of setting even a toe into. And he did it naturally! He was young too! Unlike some people who only awakened naturally at 60 years old!

“Come here now! I bought something crazy to celebrate, I was so enthusiastic that I'm sure the caterer knew something amazing had happened when I ordered it!” Attacking the large package on the table, Sen opened it and an amazing smell started filling the air.

“I introduce to you: The penultimate sea dish! Eel, salmon, cod, sole, halibut, sea bass, and trout! All marinated in mushroom soft white sauce and without any fish bones! Eat as much as you can, because it’ll not be until Eland’s Day that we’ll have something like that again!” Mouth-watering words escaped Aven’s dad's mouth, and he himself seemed entranced by the dish he had unpacked.

“Let’s not wait then,” talking from the side, Hana went to fetch the cutlery and plates while the two hungry men had fun adding all the freshly prepared fishes to an enormous pot of sauce while the electric heater underneath maintained the heat of it all.

The rest of the dinner was spent harmoniously eating a fabulous dish while discussing all the implications of becoming a super.

Only Sen had some idea of what a true super could do, so he made sure Aven understood that no matter his energy affinity or the energy system he chose to ultimately go with, he had the potential to become a killing machine unrivaled by conventional weapons.

Aven didn’t reveal his innate ability, and neither did his mom or dad ask him about it.

They all realized that despite all their good intentions, they weren’t supers, they were only a former war reporter reconverted into a freelance urban journalist and a TV announcer, nothing revolutionary or in a position to help him.

The meal ultimately ended late into the night due to no one wanting to stop their discussion about what the future looked like as a super. Everything looked amazing for them who didn’t know anything concrete about this minority that controlled the world.

From his current modern media information and communication degree to the military, Aven went to sleep that night with his mind full of ideas about what he could become.

…

Waking up the next day around noon, Aven felt as normal as normal could be. Only pieces of knowledge about his innate ability and a hot something cycling inside him informed him that he hadn’t dreamed yesterday and that he had really become a super.

‘I can create floating text screens, and energy is cycling inside me. How could a day begin in a better way than this? And I don’t have to go to uni today, now that’s life.’

After his new status as a super was confirmed, his university basically offered him full autonomy on his schedule. It was so straightforward that Aven asked himself if the administration was basically assuming he would leave soon.

‘Not that they would be wrong…’

Turning on his computer, it was booted up and ready half a minute later. Music started again, and he began his day by checking his emails.

“Hu~ Of course,” talking aloud to no one, he observed impassively the 30 mails he had received. One belonged to his university “Media Information Communication Serenis University”, or shortened, “MIC Serenis University”, a few belonged to the government.

And the rest… Were all offers and congratulatory messages from dubious sources having learned through mystic ways his new status as super and had gotten his mail.

Deleting all of them without opening them, they would remain in his trash until he had learned more about what it meant to be a super in this day and age.

‘Now. Back to super’s special admission. All the doors are pretty much open from what I gleaned until now.’

Even mastodons like the Vow Church or the Conglomerate had their door wide open for newly awakened super. The market was starved of supers, and so everyone who wanted supers needed to invest massively into not only their upkeep, but also needed to find ways to attract the newly awakened ones.

‘Only super specific or sensitive ones like Star Trail or the underground Bright Canopy aren’t open to me. I would either need a major scientific contribution to enter Star Trail, or I’ll need to start dealing with shady things to contact the Bright Canopy…’

If there was one thing his current degree had helped him learn, it was that all information was available as long as you knew where to search for them.

Another plus was that he had learned a lot about geopolitics, economy, and the hierarchy of the planet Green he was on before he started his serious research very recently.

‘Moving out of Eland is out of the question, why would I entertain that stupid thought? And where would I go if I really decided to move out? The chaotic and contested Emma Continent? The sub-arctic Vow Continent? The rich desertic Athal Continent? All these ideas sound like crap!’

Passing through 4 of the 6 continents in existence, Aven dismissed every idea implying moving to a different continent. And from there, it progressed to dismissing every idea related to leaving the nation of Eland.

“Sigh…” Sighing hard at his predicament of awkwardly sitting between the normal citizen’s chair and the super’s chair, he stopped trying too hard and just continued gathering more intel that would become useful once he attended the supers crash course.

“Anyway, time to eat something,” motivating himself, he stretched and yawned hard as he stood up and exited his bedroom.

From there onwards, time passed quickly, and eventually, his phone signaled to him that it was time to head down and start making his way towards his destination with his bike.