After the sudden realization the journey returned to being uneventful, Selena spoiling the comic Max was currently reading being the only thing that broke the monotony.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the busses entered the city walls, a familiar sense of safety had returned, one that the students sorely missed.

By the time they started to leave the walls behind Max was completely and utterly bored, Selena would spoil any comic he took out, he had already read the ones she didn't know about while most games on his phone required internet or he didn't feel like playing them right now.

To appease the small urge of not going to sleep in case Selena decided to play a prank on him Max observed the outer rims of the City, where most of the farming was done.

Fields of golden wheat, vibrant sunflowers, white rice and the rare fenced out areas where livestock grazed lazily were seen as the bus moved forward to the center of the city.

Max had been paying attention to his comic when they passed through this place last time, so he hadn't seen the pleasant view of the outer rim. It was marvelous.

That was without taking into account the fresh air and nice aroma that spread all around, even though it had been a couple minutes since they passed the last flower field.

The Autumnal Equinox was soon to come, making what would have been a hellish noon on the apex of summer a cool midday.

Without noticing, Max had been relaxed enough for his mind to wander aimlessly, letting him slip into unconsciousness and have what was probably his best sleep in years.

•••••

"Hey idiot." Max was jolted awake by a comic hitting him in the top of the head and a familiar voice, one he didn't want to hear.

"Whu- What happened?" Max asked as he quickly rubbed the sleep off his eyes and looked around too see the other students on the bus getting up and putting on their backpacks.

"We're here, get ready or wathever..." Selena replied unenthusiastically, something Max picked up on but was too annoyed at how he got woken up to care.

After that rude awakening and putting on his backpack it didn't take long for the caravan of busses to reach the school and park at the entrance.

Everyone got out in an orderly line and waited to get picked up by their parents, in a matter of 20 minutes the entrance of the school was clear of students, with the exception of Max.

Just a few minutes after getting out of the bus Vitria and Gareth we're picked up by Vitria's dad, a nice if a bit rustic Crystal Elemental that Gareth called Uncle Roman.

Selena and Elina got picked up just after that by their mom, an ostentatiously clothed Ice Elemental. Max overheard other moms gossiping while calling her a Karen and "Mrs Butthurt", the other things he heard weren't flattering at all.

Max's mom was still nowhere to be found and the assistant that had to stay behind and make sure all the students left was getting impatient.

"Hmmmm... Did you send your mom a text or something? Or is she at work?" The female assistant asked, trying her best to not show displeasure on her tone.

"I did but she didn't see it, and she should be out of work by now..." Max replied while checking the texts and missed calls, they were quite a few.

"Uh..." The female assistant sounded concerned, but Max really wasn't, it was something his mom did pretty much ever since before he was born, calling her forgetful was putting it lightly.

After a few minutes of awkward silence between the nonchalant teenager and concerned assistant a car pulled up into the entrance of the school, actually, it landed on the entrance of the school. It floated above the pavement and had no wheels to speak of, with a slight hum and a blue light coming from below it signaling it wasn't being held up by a Metal Elemental, but by a runic anti-gravity engine.

Max looked at the car in complete shock, not because he had never seen one, they were pretty common on the inner part of the city, rather, because it had the paint job of those used by the government rather than a Hunter's agency.

From inside came a familiar silver-haired Elemental with his (patent pending) friendly smile.

Edward got out from the right back seat and walked over to the assistant.

"I'll take over for you, I have to talk with this student right here." Edward spoke as she signaled at Max with an open hand, the assistant thanked him and went on her merry way.

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"Let's go to my office, there's something I have to show you." Edward walked over to the building while Max followed awkwardly.

"Am i in trouble?" Max asked nervously, in his mind dozens of things he did that could have gotten him in trouble flashed every second.

"Somewhat, but don't worry, it's not about what you did on the exam." Edward's smile changed from friendly to mysterious, it did not ease Max's nerves at all.

After a very not pleasant walk they reached Edward's office and entered, now inside Edward sat down on his chair and pulled up his laptop while Max waited.

It didn't take long before Edward flipped the laptop and showed Max the video of his fight with Elias from an angle he was sure there was no tree where the camera would be.

There was nothing out of the ordinary or added in, although getting to see how cool he looked was nice, his grayish skin and the vein-like things that appeared on the Nodes, his hair hadn't changed at all, except for the extremely thin and almost invisible trail of smoke it left behind as he moved, but Max hadn't noticed that.

Max looked at the screen and then at Edward in confusion.

Edward was unamused and pointed at the screen "Do you have the slightest idea what this is?"

"Nope..." Max replied awkwardly, he had completely forgotten about keeping his power secret.

Edward sighed and looked at Max "I was hoping you would trust me or your teachers enough to tell us about this, but it seems I owe you an overdue explanation." After saying that he got up and put the laptop away.

"An explanation...? About what?" Max asked while giving Edward an odd look, the Principal was just standing there... menacingly.

"About your own powers, and about that thing you did while fighting that Argen kid." Edward explained as without warning the space around him started to bend and twist, warping Max's perception of what was behind the principal but not damaging anything on the room.

And suddenly, the Principal was no more, in his place a vague silhouette made of the absence of light appeared, with two piercing silvery eyes staring at Max making him feel a shiver down his spine, the space around the figure warped and twisted with destructive energy as the furniture of the room that wasn't bolted to the floor levitated slightly, the light coming from the lamp on the ceiling and on the desk bent in weird angles or dissapeared completely in a random sequence.

The whole thing lasted barely a few seconds before the Principal reappeared completely unharmed and the furniture suddenly fell back into place.

"What- what was that?!" Max was very freaked out by the experience, he had never seen something so bizarre.

"That was my "Transformation", although it has many names I'd rather say it straight, what you did while fighting that Argen kid was a pseudo-transformation." Edward explained.

"Wait- Transformation? I never heard about that..." Max said as his shock became confusion, which was apparent on his face.

"It's an open secret between hunters, not something normal people or hunters that can't use it should know." Edward replied as his forearm became void and the turbulent space returned.

"But what's the difference between our Transformations? You said mine was just "Pseudo-", so its not a complete one...?" Max asked as he tried to do the same, yet the skin on his forearm remained pale rather than grayish.

"Nope, if I had to grade it, your transformation is on its Infancy, so much so that it barely qualifies as a transformation. Mine is almost completely developed, that's why it is so strong even when I'm not purposefully doing something." Edward boasted a bit while making one of his paintings spin in the air just by moving his finger in a circular motion.

"Uh... Wait, do you also have the vein-like things?" Max asked, eager to get some answers about them.

"No, I'm afraid that's something only Elementals of your type have." Edward shook his head as he spoke.

"Elementals of my type? What does that mean?" Max raised an eyebrow at the response.

"According to your records you haven't had an E.A.T (Elemental Aptitude Test), right? So while I can't say it with 100% confidence, I'm pretty sure you're a Volcano Elemental-" Edward was about to continue but Max cut him off.

"What?! How?!" The sudden rise in tone startled Edward but he quickly shook it off.

"Well- technically there's two types of Volcano Elementals the same way there's two types of Storm Elementals, those that have Fire, Earth and Metal for their three elements, and those that have Fire, Earth and Plant. I'm sure you fit the latter category." Edward had a brief pause to collect his thoughts before continuing the explanation.

"And to answer your prior question, the main difference between the Transformation of Volcano Elementals and other types of Elementals lies... Right here." Edward got closer to Max as he started the explanation and when he finished the sentence he pointed at Max's heart.

"My core?" Max raised an eyebrow, how was his core different from others?

"That's only half the answer, the other half is... your Heart." Edward's expression became mysterious as he continued talking. "I can't say much right now, but in due time you'll see what I'm talking about..." Edward sat down on his desk again just in time to receive a message from his secretary.

"Sir, I have a lady on my office looking for her son, I believe his name is Maximilian Avasius? He's one of the students that went to the Wilderness Survival Exam..." A voice came from a small device on Edward's desk, which had a button he promptly pressed to answer.

"Yes, he's with me right now, I'll send him over." Edward looked over at the still shocked Max. "I guess our conversation ends here... better get going before your mom gets worried."

Max quickly nodded and opened the door, yet he didn't leave the office and looked at Edward sitting on his desk "If you don't mind me asking... What's your Element? I've never seen someone capable of doing that..."

"Oh... Eh, let me show you." Edward raised a hand and the space in front of him cracked and splintered turning into a hole in the fabric of reality, with zero hesitation his hand entered what looked like the dark maw of a beast and retrieved... a comic book.

Vesuvius' Fall: From Hero To Legend Volume 18, it was one Max was intimately familiar with, because it was his own, the name MAX written with black permanent marker on a corner of the cover gave it away.

Just as it appeared Edward dropped it, yet it dissapeared into another hole mid fall, Max quickly checked his backpack, only to find his comic in the exact same place he left it.

Max looked at Edward in awe, who responded with a smug smile. "Does that answer your question? Now move along, I have to take care of some stuff."

Max nodded and left the office while making his way to the administrative wing of the school, which was just a few hallways away.