Whether abilities were a curse or a blessing was a subjective topic. Many people saw them as an unfair advantage, while others considered them as necessary for the preservation of humanity. Depending on the Rank of your ability, it would be a determining factor to how much potential your future had, but many other factors depended as well. Abilities ranked from A to F, A being the best while F being a disability. Rank-F abilities had the equivalent power and usefulness of Rank-E abilities, but would cause a person backlash when used, so they were seen as lesser than a person with no ability.

Rank-A to F were what the general public only knew, since there existed another rank that was stronger to any Rank-A ability. The reason these were kept under the rug was so the Galactic governments could pick them up for themselves and not give them any independence, only those with ties to the government knew about them. There was a good reason as to not let them loose, however, and that was because they were ticking time bombs. At any moment, if they lost control of their ability, the backlash they faced could kill them and those around them, with a few exceptions.

Rank-Z abilities were more of an abnormality in one’s genes, than a natural ability. They shared similarities with Rank-F abilities except the power was amplified to an unholy extent. This also is why every AI would accidently categorize Rank-Z abilities as a Rank-F, as their only difference was the amount of power used.

Rank-Z abilities also came with another price tag, as they could only be used under a certain trigger, be it mentally, physically, or emotionally. Take Kezner for example, usually, his flames would be a gray color and couldn’t burn or harm anyone, but when triggered, they turned pitch black and became an insanely hot temperature. In this case, it would be both mental and emotional.

Rank-Z abilities were once theorized to actually be sentient beings, able to think and learn for themselves though barely. It was quickly thrown into the trash as it was seen as some religious mumbo jumbo, since there was no evidence to back it up. In this society, everything required some form of data and evidence to back up a claim, nobody could take your word for anything. Though this led to a well informed public, it also conditioned the public to not think outside of the box, which was equally detrimental. Putting a cap on creativity harmed the growth of humanity and led to a plateaued civilization for a little while.

Yes, Kezner’s ability was a Rank-Z ability, but he had always been looked down upon for appearing to have a Rank-F ability, the amount of abuse he had experienced in the last seven years was more than most would experience in a multitude of lifetimes, all because of a single rank. All because of a single flame.

Currently in a stand-off, it was three against one, but the sole person had an advantage as he basically held the bodyguards’ Young Lady as a hostage. They couldn’t do anything in the position, as the second Kezner let his flames go, she would melt like a witch who had a bucket of water dumped on her.

It should be mentioned that these weren’t any ordinary run-of-the-mill bodies for sale workers, these were bodyguards that were handpicked and raised into the Family, leaving them with unwavering loyalty to any direct Family member, let alone the heiress of the Family. To put it in simpler terms, they would rather die than have anything happen to Arlean.

Something else that should be regarded is that Kezner was only at the 3rd Foundational Stage, while he was able to individually threaten the bodyguards who were at the 9th Foundational Stage, the bodyguards and Arlean viewed him as something scarier than a monster at this point.

“Sir, please put down your flames and we could talk about this, there is no reason to resort to violence, it only harms us both!” The bodyguard on the left said, trying to pacify the situation, but it only made the situation worse.

Kezner interpreted it as a threat in the heat of the moment as the black of his irises and pupils had shifted to the sclera of his eyes, leaving the empty pupils and irises a pure white. Though it was instant, it looked as if his iris and pupils weren’t two separate parts of his eyes, but one entity. They moved as if they were drops of an ink in water, basically clouding up until their color spread. He called this transformation of his eyes, Inversion, as it seemed like the colors inverted, Kezner was never the best at naming things.

This instantly made the black flames hotter than they were before. It got so unnaturally hot that the integrity of the boulder started to waver a bit while the tree was about to combust. Though he would be sad to part with them, he couldn’t help but push the intensity of the situation at their stake. He had about had it with Arlean, some things just shouldn’t be said to some people.

The intense stand-off lasted like this for about half an hour as Kezner was quickly depleting in energy, but so was everyone else, it’s just that none of them dared to show any weakness.

Seeing as how the other bodyguard failed and made the situation worse earlier, he gave him a hairy eyebrow at the other bodyguard while attempting something himself. Taking out his wallet, the bodyguard put away his ability and with his horrible acting skills tried “thanking” Kezner, “Oh generous, sir, our Ocano Family owes you so much for saving our heiress from her attacker! We only have this much physical money on us, so you can swing past the Ocano Family Manor later for the rest of the reward.”

The bodyguard slyly showed all the bills he had in his wallet as he threw it down in front of him with his arms up. Kezner was actually tempted to just fetch the cash and leave, he had been living in poverty for the past year, having a few millions in reserve wouldn’t hurt more than help, right?

There were many different currencies throughout the galaxy for every different nation, but there was one currency that was agreed upon, Reltz, which was printed and managed by the Galactic Bank, an independent and impartial entity that never chose sides unless it depended on the future of humanity. You can use Reltz, or RZ, in any nation in the galaxy or else it wouldn’t be seen as a legitimate state. The weirdest part about this was that the Galactic Bank never forced any nation to use its currency yet all of them accepted it with open arms. Of course there were many conspiracy theories revolving around this phenomena, that the Galactic Bank was run by a New Galactic Order, the Illuzimati.

On our Earth, throwing out a few million dollars over a small situation in an instant could harm the local economy, but here it did nothing to the galactic economy. If you took account inflation from the Zeklon dollar, ZKD, to the RZ, it was only a few hundred RZ. On Zeklon, a few hundred RZ was equivalent to living in the middle class for the rest of your life, even if you didn’t work. However, the closer to the center of the galaxy you got, the more expensive the cost of living was, as the quality of life improved.

The other bodyguard, who was a lot more foolish, caught on and did the same, the smart bodyguard and Arlean’s hearts dropped, “You fool! If nobody else is threatening him, what’s stopping him from attacking the Young Lady?!”

At this point, Kezner didn’t care less about Arlean, he was more interested in the money, like a bear finding honey surrounded by bees. His flames quickly turned gray as they spiraled into a large gray tornado, pushing Arlean and the bodyguards away as the wallets on the ground were eating away. Nothing was left of him other than the residual smoke that silently floated into the heavens.

When Arlean got pushed back, she was startled and accidently shot the ground where Kezner was standing, but it barely even chipped a piece off of the boulder. When looking back to how easily the black flames melted through the same boulder, she started sweating cold bullets.

The bodyguards were pretty depressed as they not only lost face for the Family but also millions of dollars. That was money collected over the years, which the Family most likely wouldn’t reimburse them for, meaning all they could do was sigh, but hey, what was money when the heiress was safe, right?

Arlean and the bodyguards fell to their butts in exhaustion as they let out sighs of relief until they felt another disturbance in the surrounding Natural Energy, causing them all to stay alert for any attacks. All three of them looked up only to find a spaceship slowly descending to their location.

Spaceship had become a broader term, as they had now primarily just existed for travel not for experimentation like they once were on Earth. The spaceship that was descending was a medium-framed ship, a Cruiser, more specifically, a Scout Cruiser. Scout Cruisers were meant for military purposes, predominantly scouting out a battlefield or for mission. These ships were the fastest of their frame type, but still had armor to defend to itself in case it engaged in a battle. Spaceships had started being named and classified under similar classifications to boats and actual ships, especially after they were commercially available.

Slowly landing in a large open area in the park, all three of their mouths gaped when they saw the three symbols, the first was a common insignia of the Union, no problem, the second was the Dominion’s symbol, pretty common since they lived in the Dominion, but it was the last symbol that threw them off, the Governor’s seal was painted on the ship. In other words, it was the Governor or their representative that had come here to this backwater planet.

Soon, there was a platform that was slowly descending from the belly of the beast. In the front was a formally dressed woman, with red hair, whose smile could chill anyone’s heart, and behind her was the Commanding Officer of the task force that stood behind both of them. The task force in the distance held a tamed ferocity, like a rabid dog that was put on a leash, the second they were let loose, even a little, they would bite without a second thought or a shred of hesitance. To add to that, they were all wearing helmets that completely covered their heads in black, all that was visible was their eyes, but the rest of the helmet acted as a gas mask.

Task forces weren’t exactly part of the military but they also weren’t part of the police force, they ran the behind-the-scenes chores, be it assassinations, or missions to prepare for and during wars. They only answered to the different levels of executive power, in this case, the Commanding Officer only directly answered to either the Chief Officer and the Governor. That was unless a person higher up in the chain of command asked for a report from the specific Commanding Officer, but that rarely ever happened unless they were trapped in the middle of a game of political chess.

Arlean was nervous, did her Family provoke somebody they shouldn’t have? Was a Clan trying to finish them off before they became a threat? What did they do to grab the Governor’s attention on this backwater planet?! However, even with this nervousness, she had to throw to the back of her head as the woman in formal attire started walking up to her.

As for the task force, they spread out and searched for whatever evidence of the battle they could possibly find. Thankfully for them, the area only pertained to the boulder and tree. When the woman finally made it in front of Arlean, she gave off a very charming smile as she introduced herself, while sticking her arm out for a handshake. After shaking her hand, Arlean felt like she was pardoned, culturally speaking, the strength you exerted in a handshake showed your stance towards the person, be it hostility, subservience, or just happiness to see the person. Thankfully by taking the subservient route, she racked up a good opinion with the Governor.

“Hello Young Miss Arlean, I think you may have heard of me, but I am Governor Vanya, the Governor of Star Cluster #37. I’m here because about 45 minutes ago, I received news of a major disturbance that required my attention and it happened to occur around here, would you know something about it?” Governor Vanya spoke in a natural and composed manner when talking to Arlean, which helped her adjust well to the situation and reply in a respectful and honest manner. Arlean proceeded to explain everything that had happened in the past hour.

Once she had finished, the Commanding Officer walked up to Governor Vanya, saluted, and changed his communication device into privacy mode to speak to Governor Vanya without leaking anything. With a nod, she sent off the entire task force back to the Scout Cruiser, “Young Miss Arlean, I would like to go talk with the Family Head of the Ocano Family, can you do me this small favor?”

Arlean could only hold back her words and nod. Refusing the Governor would only create an enemy the Family couldn’t face rather than an ally that could support them. Actually Arlean and the bodyguards were horrified of the Governor of their star cluster, she had single-handedly caused the demise of hundreds of thousands of people, be it the corrupt or innocent. The scariest part about it was that nobody knew how she did it and where she got the evidence for it, but it still happened, with her background unknown.