Pike rubbed his forehead, the place in which the teen from before had forced him down onto the ground. His head still throbbed with a subtle pain, but that wasn't what angered him. His pride had been wounded more than anything, and the fact that a teen, one who was several years younger than him at that, had humiliated him to such a degree. And Pike wondered, how did the boy use his ability on him? Wasn't he wearing an inhibitor bracelet?

He clenched his fist and banged it against the wall of the elevator he was currently in. He'd make him pay for this humiliation. Just wait and see.

The elevator slowed down and came to a stop as it arrived at its destination. Pike took a deep breath and stepped out of the elevator as its doors slid open. The familiar sight of floor five greeted him. A wide hall with many doors along its walls, leading off into rooms where floor five inmates could rest. Though he wasn't one of them. He was part of floor three.

He walked through the hall, heading straight for the large double doors at the end of the room. They led to the common area of floor five. A spacious room, lined with couches and chairs all around. There were several windows along the walls, allowing light to enter the room. Upon entering the common area, Pike glanced around the room, searching for someone. Over by the corner of the room, a crowd of people were standing around a table where two people were playing cards. It was there that Pike spotted the people he had been looking for.

He approached the table and stopped behind the crowd. He leaned forward, catching a glimpse of the two players.

"You shouldn't have played that way," said the young man seated on the left. He was muscular and slim, his long brown hair was tied back into a ponytail. His cat like eyes narrowed, staring intently at the cards in front of him. "Man, you should've bet more."

The man he was speaking to cursed under his breath. "Damn it, I'll make it up next time."

This other man was older than the first, though still rather young. He was far more muscular, built like a gorilla. A black beanie covered his head of curly hair and a moustache grew under his nose. His face was twisted in annoyance as he looked down at the cards in his hand.

"Well, looks like I've won again," said the cat eyed man with a grin on his face as he laid out his cards on the table. "That's five in a row."

Pike shuffled nervously as he watched the scene unfold. He dared not speak out, not wanting to disrupt the two men. There names were Kenneth and Jason, and they were the top dogs on the lower floors. Both were intermediate essence users who were both being considered for the floor six advancement exam. Pike wanted to become like them one day. But for now, he knew that he was nowhere near their level.

Kenneth let out a laugh as he leaned back in his chair. "Man, you suck at this game. I'll give you a chance to win your money back. One more round?"

"Fine," muttered Jason. "One more round."

Just as the game was about to start again, Pike finally spoke up. "Uh... Excuse me."

But he was ignored. Jason and Kenneth continued to set up their cards.

Pike quieted down. He had tried to speak out, but now he felt foolish for having done so. He contemplated whether they had even heard him. So for the next twenty minutes he stood there, awkwardly watching them play their game. It wasn't until the game was over, with Jason having lost once again, that Kenneth finally spoke up.

"So what did you want earlier?" asked Kenneth, not even bothering to look up at Pike.

So he had heard him after all. He was just ignored.

"Ah, well..." Pike stuttered. "It's about the quota for the pills. I-I need some help with that."

Kenneth raised an eyebrow. "Why did you think it was necessary to report this to me?"

"Well, because I... I thought..." Pike hesitated.

Kenneth sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. "What, did someone try to stop you from collecting the quota or something?"

"Y-yes!"

"Wow, which fool decided to try and mess with us? Was it some new guy from third or fourth floor?"

"No, he was..." Pike paused, thinking about how to phrase his next words. "He was from floor one."

The atmosphere changed instantly. A hush fell over the crowd surrounding them, and a chill ran through the air.

Kenneth turned his head slowly, his gaze now directed at Pike. His eyes narrowed, as his voice came out in a low growl. "Floor one?"

Pike nodded his head.

Kenneth then glanced over at Jason beside him. "Do you hear that? One of our guys got messed with by someone from floor one." He then looked back at Pike. "Seriously Pike, from floor one?"

The reason why Kenneth was so baffled by the idea was because typically those who were assigned to floor one were usually those who were untrained, have a subpar Insignia or those that were just weak.

"Yes," Pike confirmed. "But this guy was strong! He was able to force me down onto my knees-"

Pike stopped talking. The look that Kenneth was giving him was enough to tell him that he should shut his mouth. Kenneth sighed as he got up from his seat. He placed a hand on Pike's shoulder, causing him to flinch.

"Alright old man, I get it. You’re getting up there in age, so it makes sense that someone like this nobody could man handle you."

"I only just entered my forties…" Pike couldn’t help but mutter under his breath.

Kenneth continued. "So don’t worry, I’ll give you one more chance to redeem yourself. Take some guys with you from your floor and beat his ass up tomorrow."

"But... I mean..."

"You don’t want to?" Kenneth said, a hint of anger in his voice.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Pike shook his head frantically. "No, I do!"

He did want revenge after all. But he wasn’t sure if the people from floor three were strong enough to handle someone like that teen. That’s why he even came here in the first place.

"Good." Kenneth said, turning away from him. "Now get going. I need to discuss something with Jason."

Pike nodded obediently as he made his way towards the exit. He glanced back one last time to catch another glimpse at Jason, the one who hadn’t said a word about his predicament. It was then that Pike noticed the look in his eyes. It was a look of pity.

He questioned why that was, but he didn't bother to think too much about it. Instead, he turned his attention forward and left the room.

***

After lunch had ended, Isaac had told Owen that they were free to do anything until the next class began in the evening. This meant that Owen and Will could begin their training.

Isaac had told him where they could find an unused training room for them to use, so after getting directions from him, Owen and Will made their way towards the training rooms. After walking through the halls for a few minutes, they reached their destination. There were rows of doors on either side of them, with people standing in front of each of them.

Unexpectedly, the pink haired girl, Grace, was standing in front of the door of one of the rooms. She seemed to be waiting for someone.

When she noticed them approaching, she nodded her head in greeting. "Sup."

"Hey," Owen replied, stopping in front of her. "You waiting for someone?"

"Nah, not for anyone in particular. I’m just waiting for someone to finish up inside so I can use the room." Grace said. "How about you guys?"

"We're looking for an empty room to train in."

Grace looked at Will who had been hiding behind Owen. "Who's the kid?"

"His name's Will," Owen replied, stepping aside so that Grace could see Will. "I’ll be training him from now on."

Grace raised an eyebrow. "As in, you'll be teaching him how to fight?"

"Yup."

"Wow it’s only your first day here, and you've already got yourself a pupil." Grace said, laughing to herself.

Owen shrugged. "He was being robbed earlier by some guy who was after his pills. So I stepped in and helped him out."

"I see. Well, I'm not sure how good of a teacher you are, but I hope the kid learns a thing or two from you."

Just as she finished speaking, the door to the room she was waiting for slid open. A sweaty looking man exited the room. The door closed behind him as he walked past them, heading down the hall.

Grace let out a sigh of relief. "Finally, it's been almost an hour."

She then turned back to look at them. "Well, I guess I'll see you later."

She placed her hand on a panel beside the door, which prompted the door to open once more. But before she stepped through, she turned back to Owen, and said, "I’m sure you guys won’t be able to find a room anytime soon, so you can use this one with me if you want."

Owen looked at her in surprise. "You don’t mind?"

"It's fine, I don't mind sharing," she said with a shrug. "Besides, I want to see how good of a teacher you really are."

Owen accepted her offer. "Alright, thanks."

"No problem," she said, stepping into the room. "Come on in."

Owen followed after her, and Will trailed behind him. The bracelet on his wrist beeped, signifying that it had turned off. The room was fairly small, about the size of a regular living room. In the centre of the room stood two dummies made of hard plastic.

There was also a rack of weights along the left wall, and a punching bag hung from the ceiling at the far end of the room.

"So how are we going to do this?" asked Owen, looking over at Grace.

"I'll train by myself over there where the punching bag is, and you guys can train here. Sound good?"

Owen nodded in agreement.

Owen turned back to Will. "Okay, so let's start with some stretches."

For the next thirty minutes, Owen taught Will the basics of stretching, along with other warm up exercises. He then moved onto the basics of combat. They started with how to properly punch, followed by simple kick techniques. Owen also made sure that Will understood how to properly throw a kick without hurting his knee or ankle. After that, they moved on to defensive stances and how to properly guard against an attack.

The time went by quickly and before long, Grace had finished her training. She sat down on the floor and watched as they continued their training.

"Alright, now that we're done with the basics, let's move onto essence," Owen said. "How much do you know about it?"

"Um... I don’t know much..." Will mumbled in response.

Owen crossed his arms over his chest. "Shouldn’t your parents have taught you about it already?"

"I don't have any," Will said quietly. "They died when I was younger."

Owen exchanged awkward glances with Grace. "Oh..."

Owen cleared his throat before speaking again. "Okay well, what about the Arden guys here? I don’t think they’d let one of their prisoners get away without knowing something like this."

"No, they didn’t teach me anything like that," Will replied, shaking his head. "All they did while I was here was teach me how to read and write, since I couldn’t even do that before I got here."

Another round of awkward glances passed between Owen and Grace.

"Sorry," Owen said after a moment. "Anyway, I guess it isn’t that hard to explain it to you. So how about I teach you the basics first? And then once you know enough, I'll teach you how to use your essence in combat."

Will nodded slowly.

Owen began his lesson, explaining to Will the basics of essence. First, he explained to him what essence was. It was an energy that came from the soul. Everyone had it, but it only awakened once someone became thirteen years old. It was also an energy that enhanced anything that it came into contact with. This included the body, the mind, and other elements in the surrounding environment.

Next, Owen explained to him the ten different essence types. Each type governed over a specific aspect of reality.

"You can figure out what type someone is by what colour their essence is. My essence is yellow, which means I'm an energy essence user."

Will raised his hand into the air.

"Yeah?"

"How did you stop that guy from moving earlier? I don't understand how you did that."

Owen smirked. "That was just my essence ability. You see, each essence user gets an ability that falls under the domain of their essence type. For example, my essence ability allows me to control kinetic energy. What you saw me do earlier was just me stopping the kinetic energy in his body."

"Wow… that’s kind of strong..." Will said, looking up at Owen with admiration.

"Eh, I don’t think it is though. I had to like spend over half of my essence in order to hold him in place for a few seconds. He could've easily broken out of it if he used more of his own essence to strengthen himself."

Owen looked over at Grace. "Anyway, do you mind showing Will what type of essence user you are? It'll be helpful if he sees someone else with a different type."

"Sure," Grace said, getting up from where she had been sitting. She walked over to them and stopped a couple feet away from Will. Her body began to glow with a pink aura as her essence flowed throughout her.

"I am a space essence user," she said. "My essence ability allows me to incorporate myself into multiple spaces at once."

As she said this, a copy of herself appeared beside her. Then another appeared, and another, until there were four of her. Each one stood side by side, looking at Will with identical expressions. She put her hands in her pocket with each copy doing the same.

"Woah..." Will gasped in awe.

Grace smiled in satisfaction. She then waved her hand, causing the copies to dissipate into a mist of pink particles.

"That's how it looks like when I use my ability," she said, looking at Owen. "But if I keep using it for at least a minute straight, I’ll bottom out my essence, so I don't really use it much in combat. I prefer just using my insignia."

"Makes sense," Owen replied.

He then turned back to Will. "Anyway, since you've seen someone else's essence, how about you try activating your own?"

"A-alright," Will stammered.

He closed his eyes, and focused on his essence. As he concentrated, Owen could see a faint red glow emanating from Will's body. Soon, the glow grew stronger until Will's body was completely shrouded in a bright red aura.

"You're doing good," Owen said encouragingly. "You're a beast essence user. Now try and use your essence ability."

Will nervously opened his eyes. "How do I do that?"

Owen rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, I thought you'd have a better idea on that, with the way you turned that box invisible back in the cafeteria. I thought that it was a part of your ability."

Will shook his head. "No, that was just me using my insignia. I find out a way to hide objects using it. But that's all I can really do though..."

"Alright then, I guess we’ll just have to brute force it," Owen said with a shrug. "Normally you’d find out through your parents what your ability is, but since you don’t have any, I guess we'll just have to find it out the hard way."

"So...how do we do that?" Will asked, unsure.

Owen scratched the back of his head.

"Uh...well you’re a beast essence user, which means you can transform into some sort of beast or animal, so... you’ll have to imagine yourself becoming one."

Will stared at Owen with a blank expression.

"Come on, you can do it. We’ll start of easy. Alright, you’re a dog."

For the next hour, they tried countless times to get Will to transform into various animals, but there was no sign of progress. They went through everything from cats, to snakes, to birds, but nothing seemed to work.

By the end of it all, Will sat on the floor, bored and frustrated. "Alright you’re a horse now... don’t forget to neigh loudly as well."

Will followed Owen's command and neighed loudly. This time though, he put his all into it. And when he finished his loud neigh, he looked up at Owen expectantly, wondering if it worked.

But unfortunately, the results were the same as all the other times.

"Sorry, guess that didn’t work either." Owen said, looking down at Will with pity.

Will sighed as he let himself fall backwards onto the floor. He lay there, staring up at the ceiling. "I don’t understand. Why can't I do anything?"

"Relax kid, this isn't your fault."

Grace, who had been watching the scene with amusement, finally spoke up. "Hey, maybe you’re a honey badger."

Owen glanced back at her with annoyance. "It can’t be something common like that. He’s got to have some rare essence type or something."

She shrugged her shoulders. "You never know. It’s one of the ones we haven’t tried yet anyway."

Owen sighed. He turned back to Will. "Alright, how about this. You're a honey badger. Got it? Now try and imagine yourself becoming one."

Will closed his eyes once more, concentrating hard. For the first few seconds nothing happened. But then Owen noticed something strange. Fur began to cover Will's arms.

Owen looked at Grace with wide eyes. "Holy shit."

The fur continued to spread across his body until his entire torso was covered in it. Like a suit of armour, the fur grew thicker and thicker, until eventually he looked like a hairy beast. His hands and feet turned into claws, while his face transformed into that of a badger.

"Damn," Owen said, his eyes locked on to the beast before him. "He actually did it."

He looked over at Grace. A smug expression was plastered on her face. "Well, looks like I was right." She raised out a hand towards Owen.

He smiled as he smacked it with his own. "Yeah yeah, you were right."