After much contemplation and discussion, Mako and Bill made their selections. Mako had thought long and hard and realized that given his current mentality, it would be beneficial for him to learn only one new ability as then he would have room to grow those abilities and learn skills.

Thinking about his build which consisted of Level 5 Fire, Level 5 Lightning, and Level 1 Energy Manipulation. All of his abilities were offense-based and didn’t have any defensive capabilities.

The defense was always the major weak point in Mako’s fights as he could always match the opponent in power but not in their defense, which often led to him getting hurt badly or knocked after only taking a couple of hits.

Mako thought back to the conversation he had with Gary and how he recommended that the best way to play was to have a balanced character that had his feet planted in a little bit of everything, making it so that he has no major weakness that is hard to cover and few minor weaknesses that can be easily covered.

Knowing that Mako moved away from choosing the Poison ability as it would be another offensive-based ability. Although it would be quite a useful ability, Mako already had strong skills for offense and now need to work on his defense as well as his overall fighting style and techniques which still needed a lot of work.

Plus it wasn’t a big loss for Mako as he would unlock the poison ability soon anyways as he only needed to break a few more crystals to get 100% to learn the Level 1 Poison ability.

He already had the Fire and Lightning abilities so that left him with only Earth and Water abilities.

Both were excellent abilities in their own right and Mako knew that he would have to eventually learn all five basic elemental abilities as they were just too important and versatile to just pass up.

However, since right now Mako could only choose one, he decided to go with the Earth ability which was a strong defensive ability with great utility and counter potential.

Mako never really liked the water ability mainly because of its major weakness of always carrying water around with you, but it wasn’t a bad ability in any sense, and since he had multiple abilities, he didn’t have to rely on the water ability at all times which was an upside, but Mako still didn’t feel like learning it yet.

Bill on the other hand had other plans in his mind as he didn’t really care for another ability as he had already duplicated the build his father had, but he knew that he had far greater potential than his father and for that, he needed to learn more abilities to become even stronger.

He was conflicted about choosing between two different abilities but in the end, he decided to listen to his heart as he reached forward and picked the ability book with a dark blue crystal embedded into its cover.

Bill had decided to learn the water ability.

With both boys having selected their abilities, they now had to decide which two skill books to take from the large pile of skill books.

This was a much harder decision as there were just so many good abilities that complimented their current abilities and some that complemented their newly picked abilities.

Mako decided to just double down on defense and picked skills that would be viable for defense as he had none at the moment while Bill didn’t really care much for the Water ability skills and decided to get the best skill for some of his favorite abilities, Sand and Wind.

Mako decided to choose a great D-Tier Earth ability skill called Stone Skin and a basic E-Tier skill called fortified stance, both revolving around the aspect of defense. There were also some great D-tier offensive abilities that Mako would have loved to add to his collection, but with him already possessing skills such as Flame Bullet and Lightning Claw, he was already pretty loaded on that front.

Bill decided to choose very amazing ability skill books, one for his Wind ability and the other for his Sand ability.

For the Wind ability, he picked the D-Tier ability skill called Cyclone Strike which was a great offensive skill and a big step up from his vacuum cutter, and for his Sand ability, he picked the only Sand ability skill available and that was the E-Tier skill called Sand Wave Salm which was a unique AOE ability skill. ｂ𝚍𝚘𝚟ｌ.ｎｔ

With their choices made, Mako and Bill expressed their gratitude to Paul for the opportunity. They recognized the immense value of these resources and the impact they would have on their growth as individuals and as a team.

Gratefully, Mako spoke, his voice filled with determination. “Thank you, Mr. Czolgosz. We appreciate your faith in us and this incredible chance to grow.”

Paul smiled, a sense of pride swelling within him. “Call me Paul. From this moment forward, consider me more than just a gang boss.”

After expressing their gratitude, Mako, Leon, and Bill spend the rest of the day together, eagerly going over their newly acquired skill books and abilities.

Leon told them that his father had also given him some books to become stronger, but since he already had four abilities, it wasn’t possible for him to learn any more at the moment.

Instead, Paul gave Leon a level 3 Fire ability book so that he could get his Fire ability up to code with his other abilities. Paul also gave him a couple of skill books which were both for fire as well as Hardening and Earth.

Back then when Paul forcefully made Leon learn new abilities to ensure his survival during the test, Leon didn’t even bother to learn any skills regarding his new abilities as at that all he wanted to do was to reject his father as much as he could and pummel Mako into the ground for making a mockery of him, but he now realized how big of an idiot he had been.

Leon had leveled up significantly considering that now he had four abilities each with decent skills and a lot of versatility, but unfortunately, it looked like he had also reached his limit as he couldn’t learn anything else anymore as whenever he tried, his mind would begin aching as it physically rejecting the knowledge and it was going to be some time until Leon could learn anything again.

Mako broke the orange crystal and gained the level 3 ability, but he couldn’t instantly learn the skills as he was still with Bill and Leon and had to wait until he was all alone before utilizing the insane skill.

Congratulations! You have obtained the Earth Ability

Earth is a defensive

/utility ability, your stats will be increased when using Earth-based moves

Fortitude 10

Strength 5

Stamina 5

To activate these boosts, you have to keep your ability active which will passively drain energy as well as release the aura of a level 3 Earth Ability user

Current rate of energy consumption: 20 Energy per minute

Meanwhile, Bill also quickly breaks the water crystal to obtain the Water ability, but he didn’t rush to learn its skills as he was more interested in learning the Cyclone Strike and Sand Wace Blast.

Both the ability books and the skill books weren’t actually readable as all the pages were just filled with cryptic text, but once a person broke the crystal for an ability book, he could somehow read and understand what was written inside the book and the same thing could be said for a person reading a skill book if they possessed that specific ability beforehand.

Once the ability and skills are learned, the book disintegrates into particles of light, completely vanishing from existence, exactly like when Mako insta learns them, but it usually takes time for other people, making them a one-use item.

Throughout their practice and discussions, Mako, Leon, and Bill share their insights and ideas, helping each other grasp the full potential of their newly picked abilities and skills.

As the sun begins to set, Paul treats them to a lavish dinner at the dining hall. Mako also added the treat boxes that he had received from Sir Derek on the table and they all dug in to enjoy one of the greatest tasting meals of their lives which was elevated even further with Sir Derek’s secret recipe donuts.

Just the boys were finished with their filling and scrumptious dinner, their teleportation marker starts beeping, indicating that it is time for the boys to return to the military base and embark on their new journey.

The trio gathered their belongings, feeling a mixture of excitement and determination. They stood close together, activating their teleportation markers in unison. With a bright flash of light, they disappeared from Paul’s office.

As they reappear in the familiar surroundings of the military base, the boys exchange knowing glances. They are ready to face whatever challenges come their way, armed with new skills and abilities.

“Took your sweet damn time!” A voice resounded from behind them. The trio turned around to see hat it was Nathan who had made that snide comment alongside Erin and Iris who had also arrived back at the military base a couple minutes before them.