“My Gift is Soul Burn. It allows me to control fire. I’ve tested it, and it seems effective at long range. I can even create fire shields to protect us.”

  Sasha closed his fist, extinguishing the flame with a single movement.

  “From what I’ve read in the description… my power can…” he continued, pausing briefly.

  Sasha’s explanation was brief but impactful.

  Soul Burn: A Gift that transforms the user into a pure fire mage, capable of manipulating fire and becoming its very essence. In addition to granting immunity to fire, the user can absorb external fire to strengthen themselves, enhancing their abilities according to their own resistance. Maximum temperature in normal state (2,800°C).

  First Skill - “Eternal Flame”: Allows the user to manipulate their fire as if it were an extension of their own body. The summoned flames are completely obedient to the user’s will, able to take any form or size desired.

  Second Skill - “Infernal Blast”: Transforms the user into a being of pure fire, allowing them to absorb all surrounding fire and channel it to enhance their attacks. Upon reaching the absorption limit, they can release a massive burst of fiery energy, exceeding their normal state. Limited to the user’s endurance. The maximum multiplication is thirty percent.

  Soul Burn seemed like the perfect Gift for Sasha, but as he mentioned, it also had its weaknesses.

  In humid environments or under rain, Soul Burn’s power significantly decreases. While Sasha is immune to fire, attacks that extinguish fire, such as water, ice, or wind magic, can neutralize his abilities.

  As for Eternal Flame, the control over the flames drastically diminishes depending on Sasha’s energy. If he runs out of energy in battle, the flames will begin to dissipate.

  Since manipulating or maintaining multiple flames with Eternal Flame requires a high degree of concentration, if Sasha were to get distracted even slightly, his control over the flames would falter.

  Regarding Infernal Blast, remaining in pure fire form for more than 130 continuous seconds would cause critical overheating, forcing him to deactivate the ability and become vulnerable.

  The intensity increase for Infernal Blast is limited to thirty percent. If Sasha tried to exceed this limit, it could result in physical and mental collapse, even severe internal burns.

  If a full Infernal Blast explosion was generated with all accumulated fire, Sasha would require a cooling period proportional to the power released, during which time he could not use any fire-related abilities.

  Despite the clear disadvantages of his power, Sasha’s eyes sparkled with unwavering confidence.

  “Of course, my power has its limits…” he said calmly, crossing his arms. “But if we use it well, we can have the advantage in any fight. It all comes down to staying focused.”

  Though he didn’t say it directly, it was clear that Sasha fully trusted his abilities.

  Minoru also nodded in approval, looking at Raynard and me before continuing with the introductions.

  Still, after hearing Sasha and Minoru, I felt that the Gifts manifested as representations of our desires. Last Observer definitely correlated with my image of my worst enemy.

  The celestial observer.

  Thinking of him felt ironic.

  Well, now it's my turn.

  But before I could say anything, Ray stepped forward, interrupting impatiently. He then placed his hand in front of us, palm up, and created a small explosion in the air.

  “Air Bomb. That’s my Gift. It’s the best when it comes to power. I can create explosions on anything I want, but I need to touch my targets first. The further away they are, the smaller the explosion will be, and…”

  Ray’s explanation was confusing, but I could understand it.

  Air Bomb: A Gift designed to turn the user into an explosive combatant. It allows the user to generate invisible mines on any object, person, or surface they touch. The mines explode at the user’s command, and their power increases depending on how close the target is. Thanks to their immunity to their own explosions, the user can move aggressively in combat without fear of self-harm.

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  First Skill - “Explosive Burst”: This ability turns every contact the user has with any target into an explosive mine. The user can place an unlimited number of explosives, depending on their energy. The closer they are to the target, the greater the explosion's power.

  Second Skill - “Self Bomb”: The user becomes a living explosive, absorbing the energy of their target to reinforce their defense, but they can no longer make any other movements. This skill allows the user to release a massive explosion at the desired moment, affecting both the target and the surrounding area. Upon reaching maximum energy, the explosion increases by thirty percent.

  Ray’s Gift was similar to Sasha’s but with more close-quarters combat tricks. However, it also had its own limitations.

  Regarding the infinite mines of Explosive Burst, while Ray can place them indefinitely, the power of each explosion would decrease if he moved further away from the target. The most powerful explosions would only occur when he’s close, limiting his strategic reach.

  Considering this, Explosive Burst would be useless in long-range combat, as if the enemy kept their distance from Ray, all his explosions would lose intensity.

  Additionally, since Explosive Burst depends entirely on Ray’s speed, placing any explosive could take too long to react, allowing an attentive enemy to avoid contact or protect themselves before the explosions detonate.

  As for Self Bomb, if Raynard absorbs too much energy, there’s a risk of overwhelming his own absorption capacity. If Ray doesn’t release all the energy in time, the excess could damage his own body or even cause a premature explosion that could severely affect him.

  His skill was also a double-edged sword.

  Adding to that, Self Bomb has a slow channeling time. Ray would need a brief period to concentrate all his power. During that time, he’d be vulnerable to enemy attacks, as he couldn’t move or defend himself effectively.

  In this sense, if Ray unleashed a massive explosion with Self Bomb, if the target was stronger, the energy drained could weaken him after releasing his full power, leaving him vulnerable even if his target walked away with only a few wounds.

  It was truly a complicated power.

  When Ray finished explaining the details of his Gift, everyone turned their gaze toward me, and though I tried to stay calm, I couldn’t help but feel nervous.

  “It’s my turn, right…?” I murmured with an awkward smile, trying to lighten the mood, though I knew it wouldn’t work. “It’s amazing that you all have such powerful Gifts. Really… it’s incredible.”

  The atmosphere grew uncomfortable at my response. It wasn’t hard to notice that everyone was expecting something more impressive from me.

  I took a deep breath and stepped forward.

  “Alright…,” I said, breathing deeply. “My Gift isn’t as incredible. It doesn’t give me super strength or destructive abilities, but I think it can help us avoid ambushes.”

  I paused, assessing their reactions.

  “My Gift is Last Observer…,” I continued, activating it. “With this power, I can preview the next moves of living beings, as if the future is shown to me for a few seconds.”

  My words came out with more confidence than I felt.

  However, even knowing this, I explained every part of my Gift, also mentioning each of its weaknesses. I knew my power wasn’t what they were expecting, but I believed it could still be useful for the first test, though not in the way they imagined.

  “That’s all I can do…,” I concluded my explanation.

  In less than a second, Minoru spoke up.

  “With a power like that, everything will be easier…,” he said with a grin. “Alright, I already have our plan for the first test. I’ll be the tank. Sasha will be our shooter, and Ray will be our fighter.”

  There was no hesitation in Minoru’s voice. It was as if he had already decided that this would be our path.

  “If anyone doesn’t want this, now is the time,” he added, looking at each of us calmly.

  Minoru waited for any of us to object, but as no one refused, he continued with his speech.

  “Anthou…,” Minoru went on, turning toward me and giving me a pat on the shoulder. “You’ll be our strategist. You’ll guide us to avoid encounters with other students. We’ll only go after the robots and monsters; other students and the final bosses won’t be our target.” I could feel the discomfort in the air.

  Minoru’s words didn’t sit well with Sasha or Ray.

  Both wanted to fight other students; they wanted to test their Gifts in a real battle, but they stayed silent.

  They knew that attacking other students would only put us in unnecessary danger.

  My brother continued with his plan.

  “If you agree, let’s move forward as a team,” he said, putting his fist in the middle of us. “We need forty points, ten for each of us, and then we’ll head to the stadium. After that, we’ll disband the team. I know each of you has your reasons to get Lottery’s wish, so I won’t judge you if you decide we need to fight for it.”

  The tension still lingered in the air, but Minoru’s words held undeniable weight for us.

  The four of us bumped fists, though we knew we couldn’t fully trust each other. No one commented on this, but we were all preparing for any potential betrayal.

  As for me, I had some suspicions about Ray from his words, but I couldn’t accuse him without evidence.

  We knew that, eventually, each of us would have to fight for their own survival, but for now, the alliance was the only option to keep us safe.

  “Alright,” Minoru continued with a small smile. “Let’s get moving. There’s a long road ahead, and we’re not going to sit here waiting for the others to find us.”

  With that last gesture of momentary allies, we connected our communicators to formalize our team and began walking through the ruined city.

  Father Wataru… I swear I’ll keep my promise…