"That's weird, as far as I know that has never happened bef-"

Cutting Ryan off, a brilliant crimson glow filled the room. Covering his eyes, Mark says,

“What is that?”

Ryan shouts back, “Like I know, you dipstick!

A few second later, the glow changed subsided, and they uncovered their eyes. Confused, they looked around the room, and found that the book was glowing ever so slightly. Walking towards the book, Mark was about to grab it when it suddenly started changing colors into a bright gold. Mumbling to himself under his breath, he says,

“What in the world is happening…”

Overtaking the book entirely, the gold shined even brighter than the first time, though only for a brief moment. When Mark regained his vision, he was surprised to see the book levitating in front of him. Slowly, it started opening to the first page. In big, bold, golden letters, it said “The Forgotten Manual.”

Unexpectedly, it dissolved into golden particles and another system prompt appeared.

Error restricted. Starting assimilation.

1%...

53%...

95%...

Assimilated.

"Mark, what just happened? Why did it dissolve?"

"I'm not sure... but it says it was an 'error' and that it assimilated it?"

"This is out of my pay-grade..."

Awakening completed. Abilities gained.

To further interact with the system, focus on the icon in the bottom left of your vision.

It took Mark a few seconds to process all that just happened. Re-reading the system prompt, he focused on the bottom left of his vision and realized that there was actually an icon there! Focusing on it for two seconds, a menu appeared in front of him.

Stats Abilities Titles Focus on one of the options above to expand it.

Focusing on stats for two seconds, the prompt changed.

Physical Stats Magical Stats Miscellaneous Stats Strength - E- Magical Potency - F Aura - F Endurance - E Magical Capability - F Concealment - F Agility - E-

Stats range from F at the lowest to S at the highest, with each grade having three tiers. For example, there is F-, F, and F+. Someone with F+ would be twice as strong as someone with F-, but thrice as weak as someone with E-. There is a big jump of power in between each letter, but not too much in between each grade.

Wondering if his starting stats are good, Mark asks Ryan,

"Are my stats good? Endurance is an E, agility and strength are E-, and the rest are F."

Surprise surfaces on Ryan's face when he hears Mark's stats. He replies,

"All of them are good for someone who just awakened. Your physical stats are superb, especially your endurance."

Hearing his stats are good, Mark grins and looks over them for a few more seconds. Wanting to explore the rest of the menu, he asks Ryan,

"How do I go back to the first menu I saw?"

"Just imagine the menu swiping to the right." (-->)

Listening to Ryan's advice, he tries to mentally swipe right, and it went back to the first menu.

Stats Abilities Titles Focus on one of the options above to expand it.

This time, he focused on the 'Abilities' tab.

Abilities

Enhancement - The ability to temporarily enhance an aspect of yourself.This ability has two sub-abilities.

Enhanced Physique -Temporarily enhance your physique, increasing your strength, endurance, and speed.

Enhanced Regeneration - Enhance your natural regeneration, recovering from wounds and exhaustion quicker.

Locked. Locked.

Mark was astonished that he had an ability. Normally, abilities are acquired through experience, mentors, or scrolls. However, what was more surprising were the two slots that were locked. While very rarely someone has a chance to start with an ability, from all of the research he had done on awakening, he has never heard of abilities being locked. Befuddled, he asked Ryan,

"Ryan...I have an ability."

"WHAT? What is it?"

"It's called Enhancement, but... have you ever heard of two slots that say 'Locked' in the abilities tab?"

Recovering from his shock, Ryan pondered for a few seconds, then replied,

"No, I have never heard of that happening to anyone. Why?"

"Next to 'Enhancement,' there are two slots which say 'Locked.'"

Scratching his small beard, Ryan thought about the implications this could have.

'This could either mean that Mark has two abilities that he has to unlock somehow, or... well, that's the only thing I can think of.'

"Mark, what do you think about this? What do you think it could be?"

"I was thinking that it is probably two extra abilities that are locked for some reason. Maybe it has something to do with the book my parents gave me? What was the name again... Ah! The Forgotten Manual! It said 'Abilities gained' when the book dissolved and it assimilated an 'error.' Maybe the book was too big of a sacrifice for the system and it had to take time to sacrifice it?"

Mumbling under his breath, Ryan said,

"How did I forget about that light show..." Speaking normally, he said, "Well, I can't think of anything else, so let's go with that!"

Shaking his head at Ryan's occasional forgetfulness, Mark looked at 'Enhancement.'

"Hey, why did you shake your head at me?"

"Nothing... nothing... what is a scalable ability?"

"Wait, let me guess... your ability is scalable?"

"Yeah, why?"

Shock filling Ryan's face for the umpteenth time today, he replied,

"Bro... that is the rarest kind of ability, since it grows with you."

"That sounds kind of op."

"That's why it's the rarest type of ability, you brainless fool."

Smiling wryly at Ryan's insults, he asks,

"So anyways, how do I activate an ability?"

"Just think of the ability you want to activate and it comes naturally."

Thinking of activating 'Enhanced Physique,' Mark felt energy filling his body. Jumping up and down, he estimated that he was 1.1x stronger than usual.

"So, what does the ability do?"

"I think it makes me 1.1x stronger than usual. I also feel more energized."

"Hmm, I've seen a few abilities that do similar things, but none of those were scalable."

Thinking of de-activating the ability, he felt the energy leave his body and returned to normal. Deciding to test the second ability, he told Ryan,

"I'm going to run to the kitchen really quick and grab a knife."

"Sure thing."

Running to the kitchen, Mark grabbed a kitchen knife and ran back to the garage. Slightly cutting the the tip of his finger, he was asked a question by Ryan.

"Why are you cutting yourself? Weren't you testing the power boost?"

"No, I'm testing the second sub-ability. It enhances my regeneration."

Ryan didn't even feel surprised anymore. He was already shocked too many times today, so he just stayed silent.

Activating the second sub-ability, Enhanced Regeneration, Mark closely watched the cut, hoping for it to instantly heal. To his disappointment, however, it took a whole five minutes to heal the small cut. However, by the time it finally healed, Mark was panting, drained of all his mana.

"*pant* *pant* Stupid ability, I thought it would heal faster. Why does it take five minutes only to heal a minor cut? And why does it drain all of my mana, too?"

"Hey, at least it didn't leave a scab. Look on the bright side, Mark, normally that kind of cut would take a few hours to heal. And your mana is only F rank right now, what if you increase it and your ability scales with you?"

"Fine, it's a good ability, was just hoping for something better."

"No need to be greedy, now. It's a scalable ability; many would kill for that."

"I guess."

Shrugging his shoulders, Mark asks Ryan,

"So, what are we going to do today?"

Checking his watch, Ryan saw that time flew by.

16:00

Ryan thinks for a moment, then smiles widely, saying,

"Well, I'm going to work you to the bone! But first, we must eat!"