"Yeah, I'm not staying," Omar said, "but maybe I'll keep the status screen and the skills when I go back? We've seen anime where that's happened before."
"Maybe you're right," I replied, half-joking.
Sito cut in. "What about your title and skills?"
Omar turned to him and grinned.
"I don't have a title, but my skills seem kinda cool now that Aaron explained all that stuff."
He looked at me expectantly.
"My first skill is Thermal Pulse — it sends out a wave of heat from my body that's like, hundreds of degrees. My second one's Cryo Snap — it's the opposite. Sends out a blast of cold. You said if I heat things up and then rapidly cool them, it could cause an explosion. Do you think my skills could actually do that?"
"Yeah, they could," I nodded. "If you use Cryo Snap after Thermal Pulse, whatever you froze could expand rapidly and explode. There'd be a lot of other physics going on, I'm sure, but yeah — there'd be an explosion."
I paused, then added, "If you used the skills in reverse order — Thermal Pulse first, then Cryo Snap — the effects would be different, though. Not necessarily an explosion, but definitely dangerous."
Omar looked like he didn't catch the second half of what I said. He was laughing — probably imagining himself blowing something up, which, to be fair, would be cool as hell.
"Don't try it, though," I warned. "We don't know if you can be hurt by your own skills. I think as long as your mana is still active in the effect, you're fine. But once it leaves your body? You're just another guy standing in an explosion."
Omar's excitement dimmed.
"Damn. Would've been cool to see," Joe muttered.
"What about you, Joe?" I asked. "What are your affinities and skills?"
Joe shrugged. "My affinities are Strong Force and Weak Force. I don't really know what that means, but it doesn't sound as broken as Omar's."
No way.
No fucking way.
If those names meant what I thought they meant… he could become a god. And he didn't even know it.
I kept my voice steady. "What are your skills?"
"I'll read them to you," Joe said. "For Strong Force, it's called Fusion Armor. It says: Temporarily reinforces your body by binding your atoms tighter, increasing durability beyond normal means and making you immune to dismemberment."
I swallowed hard.
That's the strong nuclear force. One of the fundamental forces of the universe. Just like gravity.
Joe continued, "And the skill for Weak Force is Lepton Shift—"
I didn't hear anything after that.
My mind spiraled with possibilities. What that power could do. What it meant.
"Aaron! Yo, you good?" Omar asked, snapping his fingers in front of me. "You zoned out when you heard Joe's skills."
"They sound cool," Sito added, "but why'd you react like that?"
I paused, then turned to Joe. I had to say it.
"Joe… you could be a god."
He blinked. "What?"
"You wield not one, but two fundamental forces of the universe. If you stay and level up, you could become unstoppable. You wouldn't have to fear that thing in the sky. You, me, Omar, and Sito — we could kill it. Easily."
Joe stared at me… then started laughing.
"Look how the tables have turned. Now he's trying to convince us to stay." His grin faded slightly. "But I'm not staying in this world, Aaron. It's the one and only time I'm going to say it."
He looked down, then back up, serious now.
"I don't know what the fundamental forces of the universe are. But if it means I'd have to become a god just to survive… I don't think I'd make it. If I stood in front of some giant monster, I'd freeze. I'd die. I know myself. I'm not cut out for a place like this."
He just… didn't get it. He didn't understand what he was giving up.
"You know what?" I said quietly. "You're right. I didn't want you guys trying to convince me to go home. So I won't try to make you stay."
Omar turned to Sito. "Last but not least?"
Sito looked up. One word.
"Time."
We all froze.
None of us needed an explanation. We all knew how broken that could be.
"My skill is called Moment Mark," he said calmly. "It lets me set an anchor in time that lasts 1.5 seconds. If I activate the skill again within that window, it brings me back to that exact moment. And if I reset the mark before it fades, there's no cooldown."
Silence.
Not just from us — from the entire room.
We hadn't noticed before, but everyone was watching. Staring. Some with awe, some with pure disbelief… and some with anger.
Then a voice broke the stillness.
Low. Disdainful. Cutting.
One of the guards scoffed, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Skills like that, and they're running away?" He shook his head. "Pathetic. Cowards."
stood up and grabbed my plate.
"I'm going back to my room," I muttered, "so I don't have to listen to this shit."
"Same," Omar said, rising from his seat.
"Me too," Joe added.
"Yeah, fuck this. I'm out," Sito finished.
We all walked toward the doors without another word.
People were still staring at us — some in judgment, others in disbelief, maybe even a few in fear. But none of them mattered. Not right now.
We moved together, quiet, shoulders tense — and yet the rhythm was familiar.
Almost like muscle memory.
It reminded me of when the four of us used to take our breaks at the same time. Back home, before all this. We'd walk together through the garden behind the building, past all the customers talking shit about our jobs, complaining about our bosses, debating anime, talking about our female coworkers and going out for drinks.
Only now, there was no garden. No shitty cracked steps and dirty alley. Just the echo of our footsteps in a dead-silent room, under the eyes of people who called us pathetic.
And in six days, I'd have to face all of this alone.