Ascension: Rune Evolution System

Jennifer’s gaze moved between Frost and Jason, noticing the silent exchange taking place between them.

”I don’t disagree with the general idea,” she eventually said. ”But I think deciding who is useful and who isn’t before we’ve even had our talents assessed is pointless.”

Jason finally looked away from Frost.

”I said after we get assessed.”

”I know.” Jennifer nodded. ”I’m just making that clear. We barely understand how any of this works yet, and physical strength clearly isn’t the only thing that matters here.”

Frost couldn’t help but glance toward Jason.

”The fuck are you looking at?”

”Nothing.”

”Then stop looking at me.”

Frost looked away, suppressing a smile.

’Touchy.’

Naomi leaned forward against the table. ”I’m in.”

Everyone turned toward her.

”For the Evolver thing,” she clarified. ”And the party, assuming all of us actually qualify. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not spending however long we’re stuck here living in this place and eating...” Her eyes unconsciously drifted toward where their empty bowls had been. Her expression soured. ”That.”

A few grimaces appeared around the table.

They had silently agreed not to speak of it. Apparently, even indirect references were enough to awaken unpleasant memories.

And the possibility of eating that again still haunted them.

”I’d rather take my chances,” Naomi finished.

”Same,” Ryder said almost immediately. ”Did you see what that Syrn girl could do?”

Everyone had. It would have been rather difficult to forget.

”She fucking flew,” Ryder continued, speaking in an animated manner. ”Then that monster that was slaughtering us like insects couldn’t even scratch her barrier. After that, she blasted straight through it with one attack.”

”Not to mention teleportation,” Adam added quietly.

Ryder pointed toward him.

”Exactly.”

”And the bird,” Naomi said.

”The bird was cool,” Adam admitted.

Frost nodded solemnly.

’The bird was indeed cool.’

Ryder leaned back. ”If there’s even a small chance we can eventually do shit like that, why wouldn’t we try?”

”Because we could die,” Lois said.

That quiet sentence immediately dampened some of his enthusiasm.

Ryder looked toward her.

Lois had barely spoken since they sat down, and even now, her voice wasn’t particularly loud.

”We almost died today without choosing to fight anything,” she continued. ”If we deliberately go somewhere called a hunting ground, then we’ll actually be looking for monsters.”

”She’s got a point,” Cassie said.

Ryder frowned. ”So what, then? We sit around here?”

”I didn’t say that.”

”You’re making it sound like—”

”Can you let me finish?”

Ryder closed his mouth.

Cassie gave him an irritated look before continuing. ”I’m saying we shouldn’t get carried away because we saw some ridiculously powerful woman flying around and shooting lasers. We don’t know how long Syrn has been an Evolver. We don’t know how talented she is. We don’t even know whether what she did is considered normal here.”

Frost’s eyebrows rose slightly.

’That’s actually a good point.’ For all they knew, Syrn could be the equivalent of some once-in-a-generation genius.

Using her as the standard for what they could achieve would be incredibly stupid.

”I still want to get assessed,” Cassie added. ”Obviously. I just don’t think we should run into some hunting ground immediately afterwards because Harod told us it exists.”

Jennifer nodded.

”That’s fair.”

”What about you?” Naomi asked, looking toward Lois.

Lois hesitated, her fingers intertwining beneath the table.

”I... want to get assessed too.” She paused before adding, ”But, I don’t know about the hunting grounds yet.”

”That’s fine,” Jennifer said. ”Nobody has to decide everything tonight.”

Frost looked around. So far, at least, everyone seemed willing to have their potential checked.

Which wasn’t particularly surprising.

Even if someone had no intention of becoming an Evolver, there was little reason to refuse an assessment that could tell them what they were capable of.

Perhaps there was a small sliver of a chance that they would turn out to be some unparalleled genius.

”What about you, Adam?” Jennifer asked.

Adam shrugged.

”I’m getting assessed.”

”And after?”

”Depends on the results. For all I know, I have no talent to become an evolver whatsoever.” A surprisingly sensible answer.

Jennifer’s eyes finally moved toward Frost.

”And you?”

Frost blinked.

”Me?”

”Yes, you.”

He didn’t really need time to think.

”I already decided... I’m becoming an Evolver.” The words felt strange when he actually said them aloud.

Not because he was uncertain, quite the opposite.

The decision had already settled firmly inside him while he was lying in that miserable excuse for a room.

Frost folded his arms on the table.

”I don’t know about immediately running into the hunting grounds either. I’d rather see what this assessment actually tells us first, learn a Rune if that’s possible, and figure out what we’re capable of before volunteering to get eaten by something.”

”Scared?” Jason asked.

Frost turned toward him.

”Yes.” Frost shrugged. ”We watched almost twenty of our classmates die today. You’d have to be a fucking idiot not to be scared.”

Naomi slowly nodded.

Jennifer’s expression became somewhat thoughtful.

Frost continued.

”But being scared doesn’t mean I’m going to sit around doing nothing. Harod already made it pretty clear what happens if we do. The food, rooms, water, all of it is temporary. Eventually, we’re expected to provide for ourselves.”

His fingers tapped lightly against the metal table.

”I don’t know how normal people fare in this place, and what other professions might be available to us, but from everything we’ve heard so far, Evolvers have considerably more opportunities than normal people.”

That was ultimately what mattered to him.

Frost wasn’t dreaming about becoming some legendary hero.

He didn’t particularly care about protecting Linden, representing Earth, or carrying humanity’s hopes on his shoulders.

He wanted security, money, or whatever passed for money here, a decent place to live, and enough strength that some random monster couldn’t casually turn him into meat paste.

Most importantly... He wanted enough influence and resources to find his mother.

His expression became more serious at the thought.

Until he knew whether she was safe, sitting comfortably in these slums was never going to be an option.

”So yeah,” Frost finished. ”I’ll take the assessment. After that, I’ll decide how far I’m willing to go.”

Jennifer nodded.

”That makes eight, then.”

”Seven,” Jason corrected, and everyone looked toward him.

Jason’s eyes rested on Frost.

”We haven’t seen the assessment results yet.”

Frost stared back at him.

He let out a quiet breath through his nose.

”Jason.”

”What?”

”You seem unusually concerned about my results.” Ryder immediately looked between them.

Jason frowned. ”I’m concerned about having dead weight.”

”Right.” Frost nodded slowly. ”Then I suppose you’d better pray yours are good.”

Jason’s expression soured.

Frost smiled faintly.

”Would be pretty embarrassing otherwise.” Naomi suddenly covered her mouth, suppressing a laugh, but then a suspicious noise escaped between her fingers.

Jason looked toward her, and she immediately coughed.

Jennifer rubbed her forehead.

”Can we please survive one day before you two start trying to kill each other?”

”I haven’t tried to kill anyone,” Frost said.

Jennifer sighed.

”Anyway, we’ll go see Samuel tomorrow morning and tell him we’re interested in the assessment. We can find the others while we’re at it and see what they want to do.”

Nobody objected.

Frost leaned back and looked toward the gloomy ceiling.

Twenty-four hours ago, his biggest concerns had been college, money, his mother working herself half to death, and avoiding Jason’s fists.

Now he was sitting in an alien slum beneath two moons, discussing magical Runes, hunting monsters, and whether he possessed enough talent to become some supernatural being called an Evolver.

Frost gave a quiet, humourless chuckle.

’What a fucking day.’