They were headed towards the same abandoned stretch of rusted warehouses and cracked asphalt where everything had changed yesterday.
"You didnât cause any incidents at home?" West asked.
Jax coughed.
"...Define incident."
West stopped walking.
"Jax."
"Okay maybe I frosted the floor a little."
West pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Can you regulate it?"
"I think so?"
West stared at him.
"Thatâs not confidence."
Jax inhaled and focused, reaching inward.
He found the three branches.
The first felt thick, heavy and cold while the second was thinner but sharper... the third on the other hand, seemed somewhat unstable.
He concentrated and soon the chill radiating from him, receded.
West nodded.
"Better."
They reached the abandoned industrial lot.
Steel beams jutted from broken concrete while rusted containers were stacked haphazardly.
Just as desired, there were no witnesses.
West turned to him.
"Show me."
Jax blinked.
"Show you what?"
"Anything."
Jax swallowed.
He extended his hand awkwardly.
"Okay uh... frost thing?"
He focused on the thickest branch, imagining cold, containment and then release.
The air around his palm distorted a bit as a thin spiral of icy vapor formed, condensed and shot forward in a narrow blast.
It hit a metal drum.
CRACK~
The drum frosted over instantly as a spiderweb of ice raced across its surface.
Thenâ
BOOM!
The drum split down the middle as expanding ice forced it apart.
Jax stared at the ruined metal silently while Westâs eyes narrowed.
"Again."
Jax grinned wildly.
"Oh hell yes."
This time he pulled from the second branch and the sensation felt different...
He stomped the ground and ice erupted outward in rough spikes from beneath the asphalt, ripping through concrete in a five-meter radius.
He stumbled back.
"WOAHâokay that oneâs aggressive."
West stepped forward, examining the ice formation.
It was dense and very solid.
He looked back at Jax.
"You awakened a frost-based bloodline."
Jaxâs grin nearly split his face.
"Say that again."
West ignored him and stepped closer, placing a hand near Jaxâs abdomen.
A text flickered across his vision.
<[ Bloodline Identified: Glacial Sovereign (Tier 1 - Three Branches) ]>
Westâs brows lifted slightly. "Glacial Sovereign? Interesting."
He looked at Jax again.
"How many abilities can you access?"
"I donât know! How do I check that?!"
"Feel for imprints. Techniques that donât feel like yours."
Jax closed his eyes and dove inward once more.
He could feel the three branches and behind them were... patterns...
Like frozen sigils carved into the core of each branch.
"I see... something," he murmured.
He focused on the first imprint and his body temperature dropped sharply.
The air around him crystallized.
A faint armor of translucent ice formed over his forearms.
Westâs eyes sharpened.
"Defense type."
Jax swung his arm around but the ice didnât crack.
"Oh thatâs clean."
He shifted to the second imprint.
The ground beneath him trembled slightly.
A circular field of frost expanded outward, lowering temperature in a steady radius.
It was a suppression field that raised his capabilities and reduced the mobility of everyone else around him.
Jax hesitated at the third imprint.
"This one feels... heavy."
West stepped back instinctively.
"Careful."
Jax nodded as he tapped into it lightly.
The sky above them seemed to dim for a split second.
A thin shard of concentrated ice formed above Jaxâs palm... like a glacial crystal.
Westâs instincts warned him of danger...
"Stop."
But his yell came too late.
Thoooommm~
The Glacial crystal shot forward with intensity and slammed into the other end of the wall, burrowing cleanly through it and leaving a burst of ice that spread across the east walls of the abandoned industrial site.
A scream was heard on the other end, causing Jaxâs face contort a bit.
"Oooof..."
They both stepped towards the hole on the other end and through the gap, they could see that the Glacial Crystal had burrowed its way into another building about twenty feet away.
A large chunk of the building was now covered in ice.
"Yeah weâre just gonna have to pretend like that we had nothing to do with that..." Jax voiced with a high pitched panicky tone.
"Be careful with that," West warned.
"You donât gotta tell me twice," Jax voiced while tip toeing away.
"You have three branches so it automatically makes you more powerful than regular tier 1 awakened," West stated.
"Huh... tell me more about this,"
Jax stood in the middle of the industrial lot, staring at the cracked asphalt and split metal drum like he had just unlocked a cheat code in reality.
West stood opposite him with his arms folded, analyzing.
"Letâs break it down properly," West said calmly.
Jax wiped his hands on his jeans even though they werenât dirty.
"Okay professor, hit me."
"At Tier 1, with a bloodline awakening, one branch grants access to two abilities connected to that bloodline."
Jax nodded.
"That tracks."
"With two branches, youâd have access to four abilities at Tier 1."
"Which sounds illegal."
"With three branches..."
West paused slightly.
"It should be spectacular."
Jaxâs grin widened.
"Spectacular is my brand."
West gave him a flat look.
"Yet you can only access three abilities right now."
Jaxâs grin faded a little.
"Yeah... I can feel more. Itâs like theyâre there. Just... locked... my third branch especially feels very thin... unlike the other two..."
"Your mastery is insufficient," West said. "The branches exist, but you donât fully control them yet. Youâll need to deepen your resonance with the bloodline before the remaining abilities unlock."
Jax flexed his fingers again and a faint mist formed.
"So I basically speedran awakening and now I have to grind."
"Yes."
"Okay. I can grind."
West nodded.
This was already more than he had hoped for...
Not only had he confirmed that he could awaken others, he had created his first member...
The first pillar of what would become something larger.
But to officially establish a gang under awakened law, there needed to be at least three registered awakeners.
Two wasnât enough.
He needed a third.
Someone trustworthy... and that was a much harder problem.
West turned.
"Letâs go. Weâre already late."
Jax blinked.
"Oh yeah. School."
They walked toward the bus stop, both unusually quiet.
Jax eventually broke it.
"So... weâre actually doing this?"
"Yes."
"Youâre building your own gang."
"Yes."
"And Iâm like... Vice President of Frost?"
West didnât respond.
Jax grinned.
"Okay but Iâm definitely designing the logo."
"You are not."
---