I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

The room was normal enough. But this wasn't the main point to take for this. No no no. There was something more important here to take note of.

Her classmates, or the ones for this class anyway. There was a sea of colors in front of her, granted most heroes had weird colors in their hair. In her old school, she was somewhat special with her blonde hair, there were more blondes around of course. But her hair always was more impressive than the rest.

Part of the reason being the weird magicks her mother fussed about for haircare. That and the weird alchemical shampoos she concocted in a cauldron. That woman was closer to a witch (A traditional one) than the world knew.

But here? Here be colors.

All the colors in the rainbow, it was funny how she even if still had the best and better-cared hair, it was...Normal.

From green to violet, from red to blue, and there was this one girl that looked as if her hair was a galaxy.

There was only one person with a more common color in the hair. And that was a black-haired guy being harassed by a red-haired girl, Elizabeth obviously ignored those two.

They reeked of tropes, probably a childhood romance or something, no one that triggered was normal.

And that was another blessed thing to rejoice for. The reason no pink-haired girl was stuck to her was that this class was for powereds.

So the pink-haired girl couldn't come!

There were a few pink-haired girls here too, but Elizabeth had learned her lesson and stayed far away from them. They only fussed amongst themselves for now...Not a single one of them had a motif of hearts on them though...

And the shade of pink was somewhat clearer...So maybe they weren't dangerous pink-haired girls?

She wouldn't risk it for now.

Too much was at stake already to take such an unwanted risk.

And besides, Mother always said to not test the pink-haired girls till you knew their type. So testing was in order.

For now, she would mingle with the other girls in banal chattering while waiting for the teacher to come.

Perhaps she could even learn something new about how to deal with her now grayed-out skill... Not that she wanted to test the skill again. Not unless she found one of those thresholds and broke past it to strengthen her body first.

So she would mingle and chat with her classmates, find those that would be useful, and decide what type of student she would pose as...

If there wasn't a smartass she wouldn't mind filling that in...

But there were risks to that role in this school, this one taught not only heroes but prospective villains too after all.

And if the posters on the walls were something to go by, they aimed for the big leagues. Some posters were of A-tier villains as well as heroes. If one of these classmates ended on that category...

Antagonizing them would be...Bad.

After mingling and speaking with her classmates Elizabeth found a couple of things.

First of all, they all were...Talented...?

She expected them to be since they all triggered some type of skill. But most of them were top of the class in their previous school, and a few were martial artists.

For the first time in her life she...Wasn't that special.

A quick scan with [Identity] put most of them at levels 1-3, so she was above them on basic status. Except for the black-haired kid and the red-haired girl.

And that was another thing, those two had ignored her approach, not that she took the bait. Her Mother had spoken to her about their type. They prided themselves as 'Main characters' or something, so they ignored everyone that wasn't more powerful than them. And if they found something like that?

They tried to use them as a sharpening tool, if they succeeded they would destroy the sharpening tool. If not...Well, they also tended to die early by not knowing their place.

So she just moved on. The black-haired kid ignored her, so that was fine. But the red-haired girl?

She somehow took offense because of that. Elizabeth couldn't understand her, she didn't want the attention she was giving. But somehow found insulting that she moved on?

Triggered people, they are crazy.

At least the teacher arrived before said psycho did something to her, so that was good.

The problem was the teacher now.

"Greetings students. I will be your homeroom teacher for Powered/Triggered classes. So I will be seeing you all in most of your classes" It was the crazy old man again.

"First thing first. Who can tell me what makes a powered special?" asked the crazy old man.

Elizabeth could see it on his face, he was scheming something.

But since it was a class most of her classmates were already answering.

Most answers orbited around powers or skills, and that was a fair assessment. Powered were special because of their skills after all.

"And what decides the grade of power? What makes you an F-Rank or an S-Rank?" what was this old man scheming ?

The answer to that was easy enough.

"Power. The more powerful your skill is, the more unique. The higher your rank can go" answered the black-haired kid.

The old man just smirked "So if your skill is deemed F-Rank you will never climb the ladder of power?" and answered back.

Most of the class just stayed silent.

It was a common thing, most triggered stayed at the rank they were assigned after their evaluation. She wondered what grade she would end with.

Probably a lower end going by her current status. But if they somehow identified the skills, she could end on the higher ends. Since as her father, her skill could grow...With time.

"No" but her musings were interrupted by the answer of the black-haired kid.

"If my evaluation says my rank is F, then I will put effort and climb higher, and show everyone that anyone can raise higher" Ah, he was one of those.

Powereds unlike magic wielders had a stronger hard limit on their development. They were tied by the skill and its nature.

A strongman's power would always be more strength.

"Well answered Mister Akira," answered the old man "But while the answer is right. The idea behind it is wrong" what?

But powers unless they were like Father's couldn't evolve...Could they?

"That's why we have a special guest today, " motioned the crazy old man to someone beyond the door. "And please remember that while on school grounds you will be safe".

And then he came in.

Shadow Pact.

He is one of the more elusive supervillains to ever exists. But she recognized him almost instantly. That form-fitting black bodysuit that covers his entire body, from head to toe. That bodysuit with patterns and designs etched into, but subtle enough that you wouldn't notice unless you looked close enough.

And even though he looked weak, that suit was made of a special material that can absorb and disperse impacts! Making it difficult to injure him in combat.

On top of the bodysuit, was a long, flowing cloak that billows behind him as he walked into the classroom. The cloak being of a deep shade of crimson red that you would think it was dark, but it had a supple expensive, and regal design. The inside of the cloak was lined with a dark, velvet material that made it feel luxurious to the touch.

And the finishing touch was the mask. A mask that covers his entire face, except for their piercing, calculating eyes crimson-red eyes. The mask looked like it was made of a metallic material and was adorned with intricate, geometric patterns.

It was a work of art. And the mask even had a feature that allowed the villain to change the sound of their voice, making it difficult to recognize their sex! (Elizabeth was adamant that he was male).

And to make sure she was right, she used [Identify] and yes. It was him.

But even after all of that, only two other persons recognized him. And that was a travesty in her book.

One of course was the crazy old man (Reinforcing the fact that he was indeed crazy). And the other was the red-haired girl.

First of all. For Elizabeth the world slowed to a crawl, even if one of her favorite persons in the world was in the same room she understood the danger of that.

Maybe since she was a fan she understood it even more than the rest of oblivious beings. Shadow Pact was dangerous.

He was on the top list of Assassin Type of Super-Villains. If you wanted someone dead, and you managed to hire him then that person was good as dead.

So Elizabeth moved with purpose, she stood up, grabbed her chair, and threw it at the nearest window with all her strength in one smooth move.

At the same time, the only other person to recognize the danger was a red-haired girl.

She took a different approach...

In one smooth movement she unsheathed a sword that god knows where she got from and tried to attack Shadow Pact.

That girl was a psycho indeed.

What kind of psycho has a sword in his heart anyway?

She wanted to [Identify] that to see what it was about...

Well, she wanted to test the limits of how much information she could get but using it on Shadow Pact more...

But she had to control herself since there was more important stuff going around.

Like for example "[Stop]" that.

A single world, but it had power behind it.

And everything halted.

She halted her throw of the chair, and the red-haired girl stopped her drawing.

"Like I said, you aren't in danger...But good judgment as expected Miss Starbright" said the crazy old man..."Please lower that and seat again"

Then he turned to the red-haired girl "You on the other hand Miss Rena..." and then glared the sword away.

Like he glared at the sword till the red-haired girl sheathed it and it disappeared.

"Attacking someone without a motive can be dangerous. Had our guest retaliated instead of only stopping you... No one here would have survived...Besides me that is," said the crazy old man.

He was right...But who invites a supervillain to the first day without telling anyone ?!?

"You didn't tell them again," stated Shadow Pact, today's voice was deep. Like deep enough that she could feel a tingle go all the way from her head to the base of her spine...

And she might (Or might not) had turn the recorder on her phone.

"I hold no ill will against any of you." that voice... "I offer a simple service to all the powered schools on their first day of classes. You will not see me again if you are lucky." He can service me any day.....

FOCUS ELIZABETH!

FOCUS!

"And that is..." but then again, that voice... "[As a Sacred Vow no information about the true nature of skills will be leaked intentionally or not. That I will ENSURE]" and his voice turned somehow deeper and she could feel the words enter her soul and nest in the more deep part of herself.

"And the correct answer was to run away. Congratulations you are smarter than your father Elizabeth Starbright" AND HE KNOWS MY NAME.

Play it cool "Thank you sir" DAMMIT!

For his part, Shadow Pact (THE SHADOW PACT!) just inclined his head and walked to the outside of the classroom.

"So dramatic," said the crazy old man. And for one second the blonde pondered if she should throw the chair at him or not.

Perhaps he sensed something since after a quick look her way he pretended to fix his notes and carried on with an explanation.

"He came as an example and to ensure this doesn't leak. But skills in a nutshell...Skills can evolve and so, your evaluation can rise" So he dropped the bombshell like nothing.

And as expected all hell broke loose.

"WHAT?!?" was among the most common reaction. Probably from the majority that had crappy skills.

For her part, Elizabeth wasn't that surprised since she knew of one example of something like that, even if her father never admitted to it. He had triggered as an E-Tier...And now he stood among the best.

So either they had a bad evaluation system or his skills developed. He always hinted about how his skill allowed him to go beyond those thresholds though...So maybe that affected it too?

"Basically...If student A has the skill [Base Strength x2]," wrote on the holo-screen the crazy old man while drawing a stick figure. " Then his skill multiplies his strength so that if his punch has a power of 50 kgs, then his skill makes it hit as 100 kgs"

That was an easy enough example, and Elizabeth could already see where this was going.

"The skill duplicates his base strength, so long he trains and exercises. He can increase the power of his punch. Meaning he could make his skill give him more power," and so he wrote training on the other side of the stick figure.

This man sucks at drawing if nothing else.

"The peak record for a normal human in strength deadlift is around 500 kgs. So this student if trained hard enough could theoretically have 1,000 kgs of strength. That is enough to lift a small car and throw it around. So that alone would make him around D-Tier." And he wrote 1 ton next to the training words.

"Now this alone isn't surprising enough to make all this a secret" and that was true. No news on that, everyone knew that depending on the skill type you could make more or less out of it.

"But here is where the fun starts...If Student A keeps training and tries to go past his limits. If he goes [Further Beyond] the limits of his skill. Then he can [Evolve] or [Develope Subset skills]. Earning himself either an x3 enhancement making him jump from early D-Tier to maybe Mid C-Tier..." and at that point, he wrote [Evolve] near the stick figure drawing.

"Or...Get new [Subset Skills]...We don't know how these work or what triggers them. Usually, they are extra skills you can earn to make your life easier. He could get a [Overall Strength Distribution] to allow him to leverage his strenght from any part he wishes for example" and then he wrote [Subset skills].

"And that is the reason for the secrecy. Since we don't know how these are created we hide it. The magical side of the community could probably help us find out how this works... But we don't want those pricks to know that our power also tampers with the soul." and after drawing a circle that encompassed all the words and the drawing he wrote 'Soul' at the top.

"That is also part of the reason that is believed in the powered community that no powered can learn magicks. On that note, at your graduation, we will stick another [Vow] to your soul to seal the information. Only in the case that you unlock a [Subset Skill] or a [Evolution] will the information return to your mind. " and so that information dump ended.

Well well well, would you look at that...

So the powered also tampered with the soulscape...

But that brought more problems to the mind of the blonde girl. Like...If a powered tampered with the soulscape like an awakened did. How was her soulscape?

And why could she do both?

More questions arrived than she thought possible.