Chapter Two: The Lowest Rating

“You don't copy powers. You copy a piece of time containing a power.” “What's the difference?” “Ten minutes isn't an expiration date. It's ammunition. Learn not to pay in whole seconds.” Lin realized the dials did not run continuously. A sustained breeze cost one second per second, but Rift Sense could be pulsed only at the instant he shifted his weight. “What if I cut it finer?” Su Mi smiled. “Then welcome to Class Zero. Our gifts are worthless. Our brains had better be worth something.” At reassessment, freshmen attacked an alloy target. Qi Jin scored 7,400. His cousin Qi Ran, heir to the main family, raised a white-hot plasma crown and triggered the overload alarms without releasing it. The arena roared his title: Red Crown.