Chapter 3: Welcome to high school

Chapter 3: Welcome to high school

Samuel and Jack returned home after the Karna awakening ceremony and after they received a tour of the school. Samuel was full of curiosity and wanted to know more about Karna. He knew his dad's Karna and what it could do. It had great abilities but it was lacking in many of the aspects that Samuel wanted. After convincing his dad to help him with his research, they spent the remainder of their day searching for everything they could about the types of Karna that humans have.

"Is that it?" Samuel asked his dad. "yeah that's pretty much everything that I can get that isn't too guarded by sovereign." Jack replied. " This is… disappointing," Samuel said as he leaned back into their coach.

Throughout their search for types of Karna's that are within the federation, they found a lot of information. Everyone regardless of background or talents will awaken a Karna when they come in contact with mythos.

Only those at the age of 16 and higher can obtain one. When people manifest their karna, it will appear with a certain number of golden constructs of light called stars. The number of stars a Karna has will determine how powerful the abilities it grants to its users are. From 1 star to 10 stars a Karna, with 1 star being the weakest and 10 star being the strongest.

While trying to search about the types of Karna out there, the father-son pair found that the federation only allows the general public to know the capabilities of 1 to 5-star Karna. Anything above that is confidential information.

Jack's own Karna is a 5-star, putting him in a league above average person but just below geniuses. With the use of Jack's Karna, they were able to gain access to information regarding Karnas up to 7 stars. But Jack couldn't go deeper than that without being found out by the sovereign so they stopped.

The majority of Karna users possess weapon type Karna, from guns to armor. Most people have 1 to 3-star Karna. The abilities they gain are very bland and not impressive. From 4 to 5 stars that hen things that become interesting. Jack's own Karna for example is probably one the most powerful 5-star in the whole federation. It gives him the ability to hack into all forms of technology and gain control of them. Plus the ability to create AIs and insert them into whatever he wants.

And his range of influence reaches the whole solar system.

Yet the most offensively powerful Karna they had read about were two 7-star Karna in the military. One gave its user the ability to summon a 100-meter-tall mechanized battle robot and the other one allows the user to summon their own spaceship and customize it in whatever way they want.

Although they were impressive. None of them have stood out compared to the fictional abilities that they have seen in the 4 data chips. " maybe higher stared Karna is more impressive. For now, you have to go to sleep. I have to go to work tomorrow." Jack said as he sent Samuel off to bed.

…

A few weeks went by and it was finally the first day of high school. Samuel entered the school full of hope, he kept wandering about the new friends he would make this year. His day went smoothly for the most part, that was until lunchtime. Some older students tried bullying Samuel and some other kids. Let's just say Samuel does not take being threatened or bullied well. For a 13-year-old he was just as tall as a 14 to 15-year-old. His large build gave him more strength than others would think.

The school day ended very peacefully and Samuel only had one thing left to do before going home. That was to apply for the martial arts club. Samuel wanted to learn how to properly fight. His dad wasn't much of a fighter. One might think Jack could fight due to his height and build, but the man couldn't even throw a proper punch.

The club members welcomed Samuel, and everyone was very kind. He decided to stay in the club for a while to watch them practice. Samuel sat on one of the benches watching the ongoing practice. A young lady caught his eye. She was by far the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was clearly older than he was, with shoulder-length black hair and light brown skin. She captivated our poor protagonist.

Jennifer Myers was currently on the mat sparing with another male student. Although she was a girl, she was taller and stronger than average and was very skilled in combat. She is the best among the girls and does very well even against guys. Yet something was off today, she constantly felt an intense gaze on her, turning to the source she saw Samuel there. He looked like any normal guy but with one glance she could see by his face that he was younger than her.

He has brown skin and eyes, with his hair tied into a bun. She didn't know why he looked at her like that. There was such pure curiosity within his gaze that she couldn't get upset. Her opponent seeing her momentary distraction tried to take advantage of it. He tried tackling her. Only to have his momentum used against him. Before he released it, Jenifer maneuvered around him and locked him in a submission.

After winning the sparring match, she and the guy shook hands. She went to one of the side tables and had a sit as she drank some water. Finishing her water bottle she wanted to keep calm but her frustration was building up. Turning to face the side she saw Samuel right across from her. He stared at him with shining eyes. "what's wrong with you, you've been staring at me for way too long and it's creeping me out" she said with clear frustration. Samuel releasing that he had offended her, quickly apologized "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to be weird or anything. I just couldn't help myself…you are strong. How are you so strong even though you are a girl" Jennifer didn't know how to respond. She didn't know whether to feel offended by his assumption that her being a girl meant she couldn't be strong.

But the genuine curiosity with which he asked her made her realize that he wasn't saying it with any intent to insult her. " I don't know…I'm just like this I guess" she responded. "What's up with your eyes? I've never seen anything like that. Is that why you're so strong? Do your eyes give you powers." Samuel asked again. He was staring at her directly in the eyes.

Jennifer has heterochromia her left eye is green while her right eye is a light shade of brown that almost looks golden. "Wha…what, no it's not like that. I have this condition called heterochromia. That's why my eyes are 2 different colors" Jennifer said, her emotions slightly in chaos. Her eyes have always been something that she felt embarrassed about. Yet here this guy was saying weird things about them.

She didn't know whether he was being rude or complimenting her. " Wow, really that's so cool. I wish I had two eye colors. Maybe one red and the other blue that would be so cool. It's like you have your own superpower." Samuel said in excitement. "it's not like that. It's just a medical condition." Jennifer said bashfully. This was new to her and his enthusiasm was something she wasn't used to when talking to people about her eyes.

"Imagine if you awaken a Karna that gives you powers based on your eyes wouldn't that be awesome," Samuel said as he got closer to her. Jennifer felt a little overwhelmed so she pushed Samuel's face away from her. " Relax dude it's not that deep.

Firstly I wouldn't want my Karna to have anything to do with my eyes and secondly, even if I did get such abilities what would they even be?" Jenifer said. She didn't know why was she entertaining this guy but she wanted to ask him what eye-related powers would even look like.

" Well, it could be many things. You could gain the ability to shoot lasers from your eyes?" Samuel said. " that does not make any sense. It's physically impossible for that to happen." Jennifer said quickly realizing that she might be wasting her time talking to Samuel. " it's actually very possible. Many cases of Karna physically altering their user's body have been recorded. Like some can shapeshift into animals. So if when you get your karna. It could modify your eyes in such a way that they could be used to shoot out beams of energy. Most likely the energy to be used would be mythos." Samuel said with a wide smile on his face.

Jennifer was stunned, not by what he said. But she was stunned that it actually made sense. "but I've never heard of such degrees of body modifications happening before" she said. Samuel replied " If a karna can make someone transform into an eagle what makes you think it can't do this. Just because something hasn't happened doesn't mean it's impossible. Especially with something as mysterious as Karna" Jennifer couldn't help but be interested in this topic. "What other abilities can be used with eyes" she asked.

The pair quickly found themselves talking for far longer than they had expected to. By the time they had realized it, it was time for them to go home. Jennifer entered her father's car as she watched Samuel go into his father's car. " Everything ok dear? Is that a new friend of yours?" Her father asked her. At first Jennifer didn't know how to answer that question so she just said " I'm not sure yet. We just met today and…" a sudden realization hit her " I forgot to ask his name" she said in slight embarrassment "Hahaha! Don't worry, you will probably see him tomorrow so don't forget to ask then" her father said as they drove off.