Bill and Iris were in Commander Sable’s office for a whole hour as he explained all the details of the brand-new mission that he was about to assign to them.

Bill couldn’t believe his ears as he heard about all the things that were in connection with their first mission and how it wasn’t even the complete picture with a much bigger scoop that they had no idea of.

As they learned about all of the details, the more their blood began to boil after realizing that Iris’ death would be in vain as the real culprit behind all of this was still operating even after they had stopped one of their groups.

“Do we have any idea who this bastard might be?” Bill exclaimed with anger.

“Like I said Bill, I am retired now, so I don’t have all the privileges that an active commander would have. My resources are limited to this military base only and I don’t want this person behind all of this to suspect anything which is why I am entrusting this mission to you,” The commander explained.

An array of strong and negative emotions coursed through Erin and Bill as they understood the task presented to them and vowed to execute it perfectly this time.

With the matter of giving the new mission to Bill and Erin over, the commander handed Erin a small communication device.

“I have recorded a message for Mako with all the details of the mission, I want you to deliver it to him after you find him in the military school.” The commander instructed.

****

*****

“Commander, you said you wished to speak with the three of us alone. What did you want to talk about?” Bill asked now a bit curious as to what additional information the commander wanted to share with them.

“Ah yes… I actually wanted to have this talk with you much earlier with all four of you present, but It was just not meant to be… I wanted to discuss with all of you about the power of your mutant genes,” The commander said.

“Mutant genes…? What’s so important about that?” Bill asked.

“Oh, young one… you have absolutely no idea how big of a deal this actually is…” The commander replied. “You see it was deemed almost impossible that children of your caliber could ever hope to awaken their mutant genes, but you guys proved us wrong as three of you were able to awaken it during the recruitment test and now even Mako has awakened his mutant gene.”

“What are you saying, commander?” Bill asked, a bit confused.

“Didn’t you find it a bit weird that you guys were one of the only people that got an actual commander as their mentor while everyone else got less ranked military trainers, it because there is something quite special about your group.” The commander replied.

“I don’t know the reason behind all of your rapid growth, It could be a strange set of coincidences that allowed you to tap into this great power during the time of need, your guess is as good as mine, but what I do know is that you guys have already unlocked a great power inside of yourself and now you just need to master it.” The commander added.

“But commander, I thought that the mutant genes were just a random mutation of the ability in our bodies, acting pretty much like a cheat code to use a higher level of that ability than before,” Bill asked.

“Indeed you have heard the misconceptions that have spread around and around for so long that you and almost everyone else would believe it to be true; however, in the end, it is still a misconception.” The commander said.

“The mutant genes are the ultimate expression of the power hidden within an ability. It allows you to tap into the complete power of the ability stored inside of you. Right now your ability levels are very low which is why you received such a big jump in power even at the first stage of the mutant gene, but in reality, it is meant to further progress in power once we have reached the universal limiter,” The commander added. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cm

“Universal limiter?” Both Bill and even now Erin asked in unison as this was the first time such a word was mentioned in front of them.

“Ah… it seems that you still do not know… You see young ones, most strong abilities go up to a maximum of level 10; however, nobody can naturally attain that level by training alone. This is what we call a universal limiter, a limit placed upon all beings by nature itself that prevents anyone from naturally attaining an ability any higher than level 7. This is why you will never find an ability book higher than a level 7 and even that is extremely extremely rare.” The commander explained.

“Then how come all those great leaders and generals that we have heard stories about during the war achieve level 10 abilities?” Bill asked as he remembered the stories his father would often tell his children when they were young.

During the peak era of abilities, right around the time that the 10 legendary warriors emerged, there were legends of many great leaders and commanders who aided the warriors and had level 10 abilities.

“That is where mutant genes come in…” The commander replied. “Mutant genes are the exploit that shatters the universal limiter and allows the person to temporarily gain a higher ability level. Once a person has obtained a level 7 ability, they can learn to expand their aura throughout their entire body instead of keeping it contained within their core, and if they are successful, they will gain a higher power than what is naturally possible.”

Bill and Erin’s eyes widened with surprise as they understood the real purpose of the mutant genes and that they were far more powerful than what they had previously given them credit for.

“The reason why I want you guys to master your mutant genes is even though it is abnormal for you to unlock it at such a premature stage, it could grant you great power that could aid you in the hurdles to come.” The commander continued.

“But commander… how can we master it? I mean we can pretty much use it at will and it already grants us a lot of power,” Erin asked.

“That’s the problem, you see. At this premature stage, when you activate your mutant gene, the aura inside your body doesn’t expand to every part of your body, it explodes with the wild aura running free and rampant inside your body. This is why you suffer from such strong side effects after only using the power for a short amount of time and it is not good for your body, especially you Bill.” The commander stated.

“Uh… me?” Bill asked with confusion.

“Yes… When I saw you in the second stage of the mutant gene, I was afraid that you might die from the way your own aura was killing you from the inside out in exchange for power. Even I don’t understand how you were able to survive let alone recover so quickly, but the important thing now is to make sure that doesn’t happen again.” The commander explained.

The commander’s last statement left Bill a bit baffled as he didn’t expect the new power he had unlocked to be this severe considering he was able to mostly recover in just a few days following Iris’ funeral.

The commander explained that using the second stage of the mutant gene prematurely was a death sentence to anyone regardless of status or power and he truly had no idea why this wasn’t the case with Bill.

He had already ordered for the best medical team in the entire base to be on standby once he found Bill in that state, but miraculously he didn’t need it.

“You both need to learn and master how to release your mutant gene naturally without it causing any more harm to your body because I can assure you that if you continue to use this wild version of your mutant genes, you will eventually die” The commander warned.

Bill was still stuck on the fact that he could have potentially died while using that power and couldn’t think of a single reason why the universe had taken pity on him but he knew that his luck would run out and so he heeded the commander’s warning with great care. “What would you recommend we do commander? You won’t be able to teach us while we are in military school so how can we master this power in time before these people make a move for the Pyronite?” Erin asked.

“I want you to go and find Professor Curtis in the military school, he teaches the ability training class for the special class students and you can find him in his office located in the main military building at the center of the whole complex.” Commander Sable Instructed. “He owes me a favor and is an expert on mutant genes. Ask him on my behalf to train you guys to master the mutant gene.” He added.

“And Sir, what about Mako? Shouldn’t we also tell him about all of this?” Erin asked.

“Hmm… No, that wouldn’t be necessary, Erin. I have seen him train and he more focused on

the path of physical strength skill rather than his abilities. I don’t know what goes on in that boy’s head but he is making good progress and I don’t want to hinder him with all of this for now. As his friends, just keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t go overboard,” The

commander stated.

******************

{During the first night at the military school}

Erin and Bill stood respectfully in front of a middle-aged man who appeared to be purely

operating on coffee alone.

“That’s one hell of a way to cash in a favor, Sable” Professor Curtis said jokingly after he

heard Bill and Erin’s complete request.

“Alright, you two, even though I don’t do these special training courses, I’ll make an exception for Sable. You start tomorrow. Visit me in my office at 9 pm sharp every day, even on off days. I don’t tolerate bad punctuality.”