Dale turned to a rather large dark sphere to his side. Against the black backdrop, it was near-invisible but his sharp eyes had managed to catch a glimpse of it.

’I mean there must be a reason why it is so hard to see. Maybe it will grant me some mountain-destroying powers.’ He smiled from ear to ear at the thought.

Then another one came and dampened his mood. For all he knew, the reason it was dark was the complete opposite. He could end up with no ability... or a completely useless one. To be honest, he wasn’t sure which was worse in the current world.

Left with no choice, he swam through the lightless expanse towards the dark sphere. As he did, a small golden flash caught his eye.

He paused and turned to it. Some distance away from him was a small golden star-like sphere barely the size of his fist.

It seemed so insignificant compared to the millions of far more brilliant ones yet it completely drew him in.

Without realizing, Dale slowly swam to it and paused, hesitating.

’I could be making the worst mistake in the history of mistakes.’ Despite his reasoning screaming at him, he couldn’t ignore his urge and gave in, touching the sphere.

His fingers passed through the surface and an indescribable warmth soothed through his muscles, relieving him of aches he hadn’t even been aware of. However, this lasted for less than a minute.

As soon as the feeling ended, the sphere vanished and a massive force fell on Dale, tossing him away from the dark space.

His head broke through the surface of the silver pool and he let out quick gasps for air. How long had he been holding his breath under the liquid? At some point, he had forgotten where he was.

He quickly pushed those thoughts aside as he left the pool. Something far more important was at hand.

As though hearing his thoughts, a strange screen appeared in front of him, followed by a frigid whisper in his ears:

[Welcome Dale Green to your AIDE]

[Ability successfully received! Brilliant!]

[Ability Rank: Dormant(Evolvable)]

[Ability Skills]

[Variable(Passive)]

[Energy Pulse(Active)]

Dale grinned from ear to ear. "Yes!!" He threw a fist in the air.

It was exactly as he had hoped. The AIDE was another close phenomenon attached to the pools.

From what was made common knowledge, it only lasted to guide you through the basics of your ability then it would vanish — back to where it came from perhaps. It wasn’t like that was his concern.

"What matters though is that I have an ability!" A wry smile spread on his lips at the thought of flexing his own power as the rich kid had done.

But first, he needed to know what it did. For all he knew, he could talk to air.

[Variable(Passive): You are an unforeseen number. Changing fates, directions, and spreading disarray]

[Energy Pulse(Active): Release a pulse of energy into any item or object to affect their operation. Requires physical contact]

Dale frowned slightly. This wasn’t what he was expecting.

He knew that while getting two Ability Skills at once wasn’t too rare, it wasn’t exactly common either.

Yet, the [Variable] skill seemed to say that he’d spread chaos and disaster everywhere he was.

"I mean it’s not saying that directly but it might as well! ’Unforseen? Changing fates? Disarray?’." He kissed his teeth.

But on the bright side, his active skill [Energy Pulse] seemed far more practical.

"But requiring physical contact is a bit of a bummer." He shook his head, smiling, at least he wasn’t hopeless... or as hopeless as he had expected.

Dale walked out of the door into the receptionist area and turned to her with a smug smile on his face.

She raised an eyebrow as though expecting a verbal confirmation, so he gave it to her.

"Yes, I got an ability." His tone was audibly haughty but he had no desire to be humble... not for a long time.

The woman tilted her head slightly and her expression went back to being neutral. "Congratulations 24." Then she turned back to whatever she was doing.

Dale sucked his teeth and walked out the door, meeting the eyes of those who had yet to go.

He could see fear in some and cockiness in the others.

’Damn my luck! This would be the perfect time to deploy like wings or fire or something cool. It’s not like I can go to each one and hold them to use my [Energy Pulse].’

Well, he could but that would be weird and would escalate rather quickly.

So with a heavy heart, he turned away from the temptation of showing off and walked out of the building.

As he did, he was met with a well-developed road extending to both sides.

Dale took in a deep breath. The world was the same but he had changed.

[Energy Pulse(Active): Release a pulse of energy into any item or object to affect their operation. Requires physical contact]

He read the description one more time and opened his palm to look at it. ’Doesn’t seem odd... I wonder.’

Walking to the nearby lamppost, he placed his hand against it and focused on the [Energy Pulse] ability.

It felt both foreign and familiar... similar to lifting an arm. Anyone could do it but no one actually knew how to do it.

A wave of energy rippled through his hand and entered the lamppost.

The bulb on it flickered to life.

A wide grin spread from ear to ear on his face, "So this is essentially a technology-based ability?" He could already imagine how many jobs he could get from it.

’On the other hand, I would also make an excellent thief. Placing my hands on the vaults would be enough to open them.’ His smile turned sinister at the thought.

But alas, he had no intention of being a master vaultsmith... unless nobody hired him, of course but then that would be their fault, not his.

’Now, what next?’