After a few minutes, the water was pitch black. He couldn’t tell all too well though because his entire room was pitch black, with only his computer screen to light it up.

“Here goes nothing” He said, chugging the mallicore infused water. “This better work, I need superpowers to achieve my dreams” He finished. The water tasted like metal. It sent shivers down his spine.

While the only way to achieve great superpowers was to gain it at birth, there was a 0.1% chance to develop one before turning 18 when there was enough mallicore to contaminate the lungs. It was highly unlikely, though, as once you became a teen your body developed more making it harder for the mallicore to create a defect.

This is what Elithian did, or hoped to do. It was also illegal as some sellers sold watered down mallicore that could cause serious harm if used.

Elithian knew this, but he thought the seller was legit as his reveiws were 4.5/5. But, he had forgotten that bots existed, making his logic useless.

“I don’t feel anything? This better not be a scam” He said slightly annoyed.

After a few minutes, his head began to burn. It burnt his hand when he touched it.

“What the f--” He said feeling lightheaded. The room began to spin, his heart rate increased and his breathing was so loud that it hurted his eardrums.

His breathing was in fact normal, but the state he was in currently in told his brain otherwise.

He got up from his chair and walked over to his bed. Before he could lay down, he lost consciousness and slid off the corner of his bed making a loud bang on the floor.

His mother and father who were downstairs looked up.

“He’s mentally insane, don’t worry about him, Katine,” He said, looking at his wife.

“I feel worried about him,” Katine replied, rubbing her arms nervously. She got up from the couch, but before she could walk away her husband, Larson, grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back to the couch, and smiled.

“You’re such a flirt” Katine said, leaning in for a kiss.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Back in Elithian’s room, he laid on the wood floor, drooling. He spasmed on the floor, with a look of pain on his face. He looked like a crushed roach but… more pathetic. He spasmed again, and this time his leg flew into the metal leg of his bed, causing him to wince in pain. He was still unconscious, so he couldn’t move himself to a safer place.

On his wrist, a black tattoo began to appear. It was as if liquid was being squeezed into a mold, as it gracefully filled the tatoo, it could finally be seen what it wrote.

A 6 appeared, and two X’s to the left and right appeared. It then faded out, as if it was never there. It could barely be seen, but in the light it was visible.

Three hours later, Elithian woke up. He had a painful headache, so he walked downstairs to get some medicine.

“Get us some water while you're up, boy,” Lairson said, as he heard his son walking down the stairs, not turning his head from the TV.

“Sure,” Elithian said, washing out a cup.

It was surprising how Lairson didn’t bat an eye at the fact they were fighting just a few hours earlier.

He was beyond used to it.

His father jumped in his seat. He looked over thinking that whoever he was talking to wasn’t his son. Low and behold, it was. He was shocked even more. His son’s voice was extremely deep. So deep, that he considered it ear candy. ‘Satisfying’ He thought subconsciously.

‘He must finally be going through puberty’ He thought turning to face the TV once again. ‘And hopefully he'll grow some responsibility’ He thought, an annoyed look on his face.

Elithian walked over to the couch, and placed the glasses of water on the arm of the couch. He peered over to his mother as she slept on his father’s shoulder.

‘I wasted time washing another cup, she’s not even awake!'’ he said, annoyed. He then returned to his room. He took the medicine and fell asleep.

The tattoo on his wrist began to glow white, and it’s opacity began returning to its original state. Black smoke began spewing out of the tatoo, as if it was a dispenser. His room filled up with the black smoke. His room looked evil, and the smoke looked dangerous. But then, on the bed, Elithian snored peacefully, negating any value of wariness one could have to zero.

The next day, it was monday, the start of a new week. ‘The start of another week in hell’ Elithian thought. He always got bullied, but at least he wasn’t alone. Well, he was alone due to him being an introverted person with no friends, but he got bullied with the other ‘weaklings’ at school.

The school had a hierarchy and if you had an ability with a grade of C- or higher, you could try to form your own gang or suck up to those with B grade or higher powers.

The grading for superpowers stopped at F and went up to S+. For every grade, there were three ranks. For example, A-, A, A+. It was possible to train and improve the grade of your rank, but it was significantly harder than just training techniques, which is why most people with a low rank stayed there as the effort for raising their grade was substantial.

If they trained techniques they could have trump cards that used their power to their advantage. Most people would rather do that and skimp out on training as it required intense focus, godly determination, and understatement of embarrassment. After all, they wouldn’t see results immediately so they’d be stuck at the bottom of the hierarchy for a long time

Elithian slid the door open and walked over to his seat. Right in the front of class.

“What the hell! Why aren’t I lucky like in the light novels?!??!? They always get to sit at the back where the window is… whoever sits there is probably the MC to some dragged out light novel with an unoriginal overpowered system” He would think every time he entered the class.

“Today we’re going to take a break from history and focus on self-improvement. Well, at least some of you are.” The teacher said looking at some of the students in the class. He then scoffed.

He looked at all the students who hadn’t received a defect.

‘D#MN YOU!’ All the weakling students yelled in their minds.

Elithian was the worst of them. The things he thought would put a roast battle on Xb#x to shame.

The teacher began to feel hot. He felt as though he was being… roasted…