Tapping the ground a few times, Jack was quickly released from the hold the burly man had on him.

*COUGH*

“Ugh…”

Jack groaned on the hard ground completely exhausted.

“Well, seems like ya get to keep your nickname kid! Callin ya monster boy suits ya well… In a different sense though. You were quite the handful. What gene pack did ya pick?”

After a short moment to catch his breath, Jack didn’t feel the need to hide anything.

“Basic *huff* physical enhancement.”

He was out of breath now. For nearly the entire fight he’d been fine, but now… he didn’t know what happened.

What was that feeling? I don’t think I’ve ever felt something so intense. Was that adrenaline? *Sigh* whatever. I’m too tired to think.

“Only basic physical enhancement? I was sure you had a strength type with how fast ya tired out…”

Suddenly an idea hit the man as he exclaimed “You evolved, didn’t ya? What’d ya eat that made ya so strong? … Wait… You can see with your eyes closed… You ate a monster bat didn’t ya? So ya got some kinda echo location or something right? Damn you got lucky with that one kid.”

Even if Jack wanted to correct the man, he was too tired to care now, so he only nodded and continued to recover from the fight.

The man politely waited for Jack to catch his breath before extending his hand down to help him up. Accepting the hand, Jack was pulled to his feet.

“What’s your name kid?”

“Jack.”

“Well Jack, I’m sergeant Cade, but you can just call me Cade.”

Following the introduction, Cade seemed to think of something before asking another question.

“With an ability like yours I wonder if ya wanna join the hunting team? We go out and bring back meat every day or two. With your abilities it shouldn’t be a problem. We can work on your nearly nonexistent combat skills later.”

Jack thought for a moment.

If I join does that mean I still have other work or is that just my job now? I hunt and kill things to bring back for everyone. It doesn’t seem like a bad deal, better than constructing log cabins all day…

“Sure, I can give it a try, but my hunting experience is probably on the same level as my fighting experience. Basically, none.”

“Haha, don’t worry about that. Ya wouldn’t be doin the hunting anyway. We’d have ya find and track prey. Your unique ability makes ya quite suited for the task.”

Jack knew Cade’s logic made sense and if the sergeant knew what his ability really was, he’d think it was even better suited to the task.

“Now that we got that sorted out.” Cade turned to the last two men. “Which one of ya is going next?”

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They looked at each other with fear in their eyes and gulped.

Soon after the two men were hopelessly defeated, the two combat instructors started their drills. Running, pushups sit-ups, everything Jack DIDN’T want to do was on the list. He was starting to reconsider joining the village with every new exercise.

Soon the training was over, and the trainees were allowed to resume their normal lives. Well, normal relative to surviving in a deadly monster infested forest.

Jack was given the day off to rest and prepare for his first hunt the following day. Seeing as he didn’t have anything to do, he spent his time looking around the village. He’d spent most of his day either wandering the village or relaxing in the sun.

That was until something unexpected happened. As Jack lay in the grass staring up at the slightly darkening sky, he felt someone approach. Too lazy to turn his head, he focused on his thermal vision.

An image unlike anything he’d seen before appeared in Jack’s mind. Instead of a humanoid figure of solid color, he saw a radiant silhouette with an aura surrounding it, the occasional flare tearing away from the main body.

Bolting up in shock, Jack looked up to see the figure he’d glimpsed in his mind.

It was Kane.

What the hell? What kind of ability lights someone up like a friggin Christmas tree?

Kane interpreted Jack’s shock as his surprise to see him.

“I heard you’ve already gained an interesting ability. Would you mind telling me about it?”

Jack paused in consideration. He couldn’t tell the guy he had thermal vision now. Apparently, he’d already been told about his supposed echo location. Coming up with a convincing lie, he laid back down to appear more relaxed and answered the question.

“Echo location. It’s pretty self-explanatory. I can’t see much detail unless I focus, but sound creates an image in my mind allowing me to see my surroundings without opening my eyes.”

Pausing, Jack decided to throw in a kernel of truth.

“It comes with some kind of natural reflex too. When I first used it, I didn’t intentionally dodge the attack. My body moved for me. Now, I think I have a little more control though.”

Kane’s eyes lit up at the revelation.

“So, you got this ability from eating the meat of a giant bat?”

Jack answered the question with a relaxed nod.

“Where did you find the bat? We haven’t seen any bats at all since arriving here.”

Stiffening, Jack realizing the issue, he remembered that nobody knew where the cave was in micro mountain, and he didn’t exactly want to reveal its existence just yet. Sadly, it seemed he’d have to answer the question anyway to avoid suspicion. Kane seemed too sharp for him to make up a convincing enough lie on the spot.

“I found them in a cave. I took shelter there during the night and was attacked. I’m lucky to be alive.”

The next question was something that Jack expected.

“Where did you find this cave? It would be a useful ability to have and I’m sure you wouldn’t mind helping the village, would you?”

Sighing internally Jack narrated how he saw them in a cave in micro mountain. It seemed that his efforts to keep his gear hidden would be in vain.

Kane looked thoughtful as he considered what Jack had told him. He seemed to come to a conclusion as he turned to look at Jack.

“I think we should prioritize finding creatures we know can give abilities and focusing on abilities we already know about. Considering this, would you mind leading us to the cave on our next hunt?”

Sitting up quickly, Jack stared at Kane.

“Huh? Us? Wait, are you a part of the hunting team too?”

“Well yeah, it’s only right that the strongest do the hunting.” Kane said with a straight face.

Jack stared at the man. He didn’t like the fact that Kane was insinuating he was inferior. It was a logical conclusion as he was only coming along as a tracker.

“Fine. Tomorrow, right? I’ll lead you there.”

Seeing the disbelieving look on Jack’s face, Kane smiled and raised his right hand to eye level.

“I can tell that you’re skeptical about my strength. I’ll give you a little hint as to WHY I’m the strongest.”

Suddenly a flash came from the raised hand and a loud crackling filled the air.

Holy shit what in gods name is that?!

Jack jumped, he was shocked, no pun intended. Within Kane’s hand, arcs of electricity danced between the tips of his fingers as he grinned.

“You’re not the only one with an ability. It just seems mine is stronger.”

As their verbal exchange came to a sparky conclusion, Kane lowered his hand and walked back into the center of the village, all signs of his earlier display of power gone from his hand.

Where did he even find a creature with an ability like that? Well, at least tomorrows hunt won’t be boring.

Shaking his head with a defeated smile, Jack was no longer in the mood to relax. He needed to find a way to bridge the gap. He didn’t like the thought of being weak.