Kaitlyn took a deep breath, trying to steady herself.
Her heart pounding, she scanned the crowd, looking for Daniel.
After the disheartening revelation, she hoped to find some comfort in his familiar face.
'It's ok. I might have got F rank, but he has A. He'll look after me,' she thought.
The laughter and chatter around her felt distant, making her feel even more out of place.
But finally, she spotted him across the school squares, the guild recruiters now respectfully maintaining their distance.
Her heart sank as she noticed he wasn't alone, Lucie now standing besides him.
Despite her misgivings, Kaitlyn gathered her courage, and walked towards them.
"Daniel!" she called out, forcing confidence into her voice.
He turned his head at the sound of her voice, and for a moment she felt like things might be alright.
But just as quickly, he averted his gaze, now chatting animatedly with Lucie.
Kaitlyn felt like she had just been stabbed in the heart, a fresh wave of hurt crashing over her.
As she called his name again and stumbled forward, Daniel turned around and walked away, Lucie at his side.
Their chatter seemed to grow exponentially louder, reverberating in her ears painfully as they left her behind.
"Daniel!" she called again, her voice breaking slightly. But it didn't matter as he was already gone.
First the awakening and now this. Why had he abandoned her? Was her rank all that he cared about? Were his words of love before all a charade?
A subtle hint of anger started to fill her, but it was still overshadowed by the pain of his rejection.
It surrounded her like a shroud, her world slowly fading to grey.
Her best friend, Elizabeth, reached out, concern etched across her face, but Kaitlyn didn't hear a word.
"Kat, I'm here for you -" Elizabeth began, but Kaitlyn cut her off, too consumed by her emotions to engage.
"I need to be alone," she muttered.
With that said, she turned away from Elizabeth and the crowd, as she made her way outside the school. She needed to be away from all these judgmental gazes. Her friend silently watched as she walked away.
***
Kaitlyn stood on the roof of a building, standing on its edge as she gazed down at the streets far below.
The people looked like ants as they went about their lives, the bustling city not even being registered in her troubled mind.
It was quiet up here, the only sound being of the wind whipping through her hair.
As she continued to lean against the ledge, memories flooded her.
Of Daniel's supposed kindness, of the moments they had shared. But now it all felt tainted.
In her sorrow, a thought suddenly struck her.
She could still try to use her power, right? Even within ranks, some powers were more versatile or otherwise better than others. For example, a C rank healing power would be valued just as much as most B rank powers.
She thus closed her eyes, and focused intently.
"Cloning huh," she murmured, as she attempted to feel her surroundings like she had been taught.
After a minute of prodding, she finally felt something.
Against the backdrop of darkness, a bubble of some incorporeal energy appeared.
Something she would have never noticed before. Mana.
As she concentrated on it, more and more appeared until her entire surroundings were filled with the mystical energy.
With all her mental strength, she gathered it towards her mana core, filling it up.
Once it felt like bursting, she finally relaxed.
Then extending her hands, she allowed the converted mana to be released.
"Shadow clone, come forth!" she instinctively felt the right chant to say, and the correct hand motions to make.
A surge of power coursed through her, and a shadowy figure appeared besides her.
Feeling the connection, she felt delighted. She had done it!
But just as quickly, her mana was sapped dry, and the clone started to fade away.
She tried to grab on to it, as if trying to stop it from disappearing, but her hand just passed through the clone as it fully vanished.
Kaitlyn gasped as she staggered back, the mana deprivation hitting her hard.
"That was useless! What am I meant to do with that?"
Any last shreds of hope were now gone, tears beginning to blur her vision.
Unbeknownst to her, her mana levels had started to slowly recover.
Once gathered in a person's core, a person's mana reserve was thus defined and would naturally return to that level once depleted.
But that was irrelevant now, as despair clawed at her.
She didn't want to feel this way any longer.
There was no way she had been reborn in this world only to end up at such a level.
But the truth was staring at her face.
Nothing felt like it was worth it anymore, as she contemplated the unthinkable, peering into the streets below again.
Maybe she could have another chance?
"I'm sorry, Mum and Dad. Alexis and Elizabeth."
But just before she could take the final lunge, a sudden ding rang in her ear.
*SYSTEM LOADING*
"What?" Kaitlyn looked around to see where the sound came from.
Was she hallucinating?
*POWER DETCTED*
There it was again, and there was nobody around here.
*FULLY ANAYLYSED. PROCEEDING TO UPGRADE POWER TO X RANK*
Kaitlyn was now forced to believe that the sound really was coming from her head.
"Wait, X rank? What's that?"
*FAILURE. HOST IS TOO WEAK*
"No, wait!" she shouted. She might be going crazy, but if this was real, she couldn't afford to lose this opportunity
*LOOKING FOR ALTERNATIVES*
Slightly relieved, she started to pay attention to its words more.
*ATTEMPTING TO IMPLEMENT LEVEL UP MECHANIC*
"Can you tell me what you are? And what this is?" she questioned.
But the robotic voice ignored her as it kept talking.
*SUCCESS. SETTING UP COMPLETE*
*WELCOME TO THE ULTIMATE CLONE SYSTEM*
The voice faded away, leaving Kaitlyn in stunned silence.
She quickly concentrated on her core again, noticing her mana slowly being refilled. But its strength was the same as before.
"Hey System, don't leave me hanging! How do I use you?"
No response.
"Stupid thing, shouldn't you have some menu to -"
Her words got stuck in her throat as a translucent holographic screen appeared before her.
After coughing, a small grin started to spread on her face.