Chapter 2: Chapter 2 - Talent
Next to Helena sat a tall and handsome teen who occasionally caught a glimpse of her. This guy was not fazed by the car alarm but instead took in the beauty of his classmate. After a second, he turned toward Jacob, knowing that he would catch him staring at the attractive girl by his side. The look in his eyes was fierce and malicious.
Jacob naturally recognized him. Frederick. He was the most popular guy in his high school and the most athletic one. He had already won some international skiing competition; more than one professional had defined him as the talent of the Century. Soon, everyone expected him to bag all Olympics medals from the winter games.
In his past life, Frederick had tried to woo Helena to no avail. Everyone thought that they would have been the perfect couple. If St. Peter had not been destroyed, they would have most likely married each other in the future.
But Fate was a cruel mistress.
Frederick ended up running for his life when the true monsters of the new world came knocking. But, he would become one of the powerhouses of humanity nonetheless. In fact, even though he was a coward, his talent had been unrivaled.
In the end, though, Jacob had ended up surviving all the mighty and powerful masters that arose after the change. He had crawled his way through the corpses of his loved ones like the most pathetic of worms. Nay, not a worm. Like a cockroach, he made his way through beasts and monsters until, one day, fate finally bestowed one chance upon him.
After getting his hands on the Plate, he had turned his life around. But, sadly, by then, everyone he loved had been dead.
Helena stopped looking outside the window. Instead, she turned her eyes in the same direction Frederick was looking. A frown appeared on her face as Jacob winked at her.
On the one hand, Jacob couldn't help but laugh at the furious look on the teenagers' faces. But, on the other hand, he could already feel a huge headache brewing in his head.
I can finally see you once again. I really have to thank the Plate, Helena, Jacob thought to himself.
Helena was not only a top student but also a top beauty! All the girls were jealous of her beauty, and all the men dreamt of getting a shot at her.
Sadly, the siren alarm of the car still kept ringing, bringing Jacob back to reality.
The first beasts have arrived. But, if I remember well, it will still take thirty minutes before there is any casualty in St. Peter.
Rome will fall in a matter of minutes under the assault of Dragons.
Milan is going to be razed to the ground by demonic magic.
Venice will be overthrown by Hydras.
The higher the density of people, the higher the density of monsters. The most populated and famous places on Earth would soon turn into death zones to be avoided at all costs.
Humanity had been almost wiped out during the first twenty-four hours. After that, only remote places had ever stood a chance against the feral tide of demonic beasts. And it would take humanity years to pin down how this new reality worked.
Sadly, talent in combat and magic went hand-in-hand with physical talent and intelligence. Jacob was not only frail, but he had never been the most brilliant person around; clenching his fists, he thought of how hard he had had it in his past life.
His magic talent had been pitiful; his combat talent had been negligible. He could not even steal candy from a baby in his current condition.
Humanity rated talent on a simple scale of ten. Someone had created a fun rendition with beast names, though. The top talent of ten was a Dragon talent. The winged scaled creatures were the overlord of the skies and the land, unbeatable tyrants of all existence.
The lowest grade had been called the Cockroach talent. Jacob had always found it funny how humanity despised the poor bug that could survive in any environment, even in a nuclear winter.
Now, he only had the knowledge of his past life and – guess what – his Cockroach talent. Beggars couldn't be choosers, unfortunately.
Demonic Beasts will start attacking in half an hour, he thought to himself.
"Frank, I need a hand. Can you come with me to the bathroom?"
"Jeez, Jackie. Have you shat yourself again?" his friend groaned.
The other students had heard Francis and burst out laughing.
Jacob caught one student trying to make an Instagram video of the scene: sadly, telecoms were already down the second the change started. Soon, they would get the first notices from radios, with hosts screaming while being torn alive by demonic beasts.
"Frank, hurry up," Jacob told his friend.
Francis stood up and briefly informed Mr. Michelis. Even though he made fun of Jacob from time to time, he always protected him from being bullied and abused. Whenever he was present, at least.
We need to do something. Very soon, people will start noticing they can use magic and break desks with a fist. Chaos will be upon us quickly.
I have to kill the beasts as quickly as possible.
If I remember well, there should be only three Demonic Wolves around here. Other monsters will follow in a day or two, but we need to sort out the problems among the humans before dealing with hell-spawn creatures.
As soon as they got out of the classroom, Jacob dragged Frank to the emergency exit. It was supposed to ring when the door opened, but it had stopped functioning eons ago. Nowadays, students only used it to catch a smoke in the small forest close by.
"Jake, man, what the hell? The bathroom is in the other wing of the school. Jake—"
I have no idea how I'm going to explain any of this.
"Frank, listen. Something is happening. Something really, really bad. I know I sound nuts, but please give me the benefit of the doubt for ten minutes."
Francis had always been both smart and athletic, above average in almost everything. He had not been exceptional, just above average enough to be remarkable.
"Oh man, at least Mr. Michelis won't notice, I guess. But I swear, Jake, if I have to clean any shit—"
Francis heaved and almost threw up.
Jacob heard similar sounds from the rest of the classrooms, coupled with multiple screams.
People were going to find out about their new abilities very soon.
Jacob barely felt anything. He wasn't sure if his slightly upset stomach was because of the change or because his aunt did not have any low-fat milk left.
Now that I think about it, I may have actually shat myself during the change. I just hope it was fear, and not the milk. I'm not in the mood to rehearse that experience.
Anyway, the prickling above his abdomen soon stopped, and he was left feeling nothing.
His pathways had just opened.
He started dragging Francis, who was still reeling from all that had just transpired.
"Frank, I really need your help. People will start dying very soon here if we don't do something. What you just experienced was the universe unlocking your magical and qi potential. I know I sound like I just went crazy on you, but just trust me, just this once."
Francis decided that questions might be in order. But he was going to keep them for later.
"Sure, man," he said, trying not to trip over his own vomit.
"Great, because we have some Demonic Beasts to hunt."
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