Chapter 13

Awakening (2)

In a blink of an eye, my surroundings completely changed. Everything in reality disappeared, and the landscape I had seen decades ago was recreated. A complex sentiment rose within me.

"The Altar of Trials!"

There was a silver altar in the middle. In the sky, illusionary lights danced brightly and floated around. It was a landscape that was out of this world.

-Welcome to the Altar of Trials.

I heard the system message that the hunters, who were about to awaken for the first time, encountered. However, the message one may hear here was slightly different from the message they commonly hear after returning to reality. Contrary to the general system message that sounded like a machine was speaking, the insight that the Altar of Trials' messages felt more like talking to a person was common among the hunters.

And at the moment that I heard the message after a long time, I stiffened.

"Huh?"

What in the hell was that? Without minding my state, the system message continued.

-Reaching this Altar by any route means that you are entitled to proceed with the tutorial quests in your dimension...so...Earth.

-How does that sound? Would you like to Awaken after receiving the tutorial quest?

It wasn't the content of the message that surprised me; I was staring blankly over the Altar.

'When I, Choi Seung-Hyun, awakened, I remember there being no such thing?'

Telepathy resonated around the silver altar, which, for sure, didn't exist back in my days. But now I could see it. Instead of blood and flesh, a human figure, which appeared to be made up of mana, floated over the Altar. Outwardly, it looked like a woman. She was lying in a comfortable position in the air, making an expression that seemed to be one of intense concentration. What she was looking at were countless screen-shaped figures floating in the air in front of her. Each one was filled

As she stared at the screens, she opened her mouth again without even looking at me. Every time she moved her lips, a system message resonated.

-I'll ask you again. Do you want to receive the quest and Awaken? If you choose to accept, you will become a hunter immediately, and if you refuse, you will return to the original world without any change.

"···"

I thought that a conversation would be possible with the system messages here, but I didn't expect to see something like this. When she heard no answer, I could see her face frowning, looking at the screen. And finally, she turned her head towards me.

-Will you accept the Awakening...hmm?

Both of our eyes met, and she noticed it, too.

-What?

Her face that seemed to ask, 'Is this possible?', turned from suspicion to horror. Her face made of blue mana distorted, and a feeling of embarrassment spread around her like a wave. While staring at me, she suddenly moved. She floated to the left in the same position without saying anything as she was lying comfortably with the screens around her. My pupils followed her trajectory to the left. As she saw my gaze follow, her eyes widened even more.

-No way!

This time, she moved horizontally to the other side. I quietly let my pupils follow her this time as well. Then she poured out a system message, composed of blue mana, like a scream.

-Can you see me right now?!

*

The Cataclysm.

The day when numerous gates were opened on Earth without any warning and were arbitrarily connected with the middle dimensions called the 'Dungeon.' The monsters that poured out of the gate violated humanity, and some of the people who opposed those forces were summoned to a space called the Altar of Trials.

It was the First Generation hunters who had gained superhuman abilities through that experience. After that, as time passed and the number of experienced Awakened increased, humanity came to realize one fact. There was a difference between the system message heard at the Altar of Trials before the Awakening and the message encountered after returning to the original world after Awakening.

The message after Awakening was one-way communication and was closer to an information update. However, a two-way conversation was only possible at the Altar of Trials. Knowing this, hunter aspirants were made to compose a series of questionnaires before coming into contact with the Awakening Stone. What was a tutorial? Why was the Earth suddenly connected to another world, and how long would this phenomenon last? Who planned everything that had to be done, and for what purpose?

However, the message encountered at the Altar avoided answering the definitive questions that humanity was most curious about. Unfortunately, even if they were lucky enough to be answered, the summoners couldn't understand the meaning. The common testimony was that it felt as if part of the memory or part of the language processor was dimmed.

After tenaciously asking a few times, the summoners were forced to give up and start Awakening because the message threatened to kick the summoners out of the Altar if they persisted. But none of the descriptions of that process stated that someone saw such an entity in front of them.

-Well, this is a first. Hmm.

She seemed worried for a moment, then shook her head.

-I'm curious about what is going on, but I'm too busy to spend time-solving my curiosity. Anyways, Summoner, would you accept the Awakening?

Why could I see it? The reason was obvious. I could see through [The Successor's Eyes] because she was made up of mana. On the other hand, she didn't seem to have noticed the reason yet. Could she not see my unique skill?

"Before that, I would like to ask you a question."

-Yes, question. Certainly.

On her face, an annoying emotion as if asking 'You, too?' was revealed.

-I wish it were short and simple. Ask away.

An annoyed expression was explicitly revealed over the waves of mana. The main body of the system messages here must have been this entity. I brought up the question I had prepared. Messages here fully provided understandable answers to things that weren't categorized as critical questions. For example, questions about the state of myself, rather than the secrets of the world or the reason behind the Cataclysm.

I then spoke up once more, looking at the being made of mana.

"Am I able to Awaken now?"

I tried to make the question sound more specific.

"Do I qualify to receive the Seal of Awakening, awaken unique skills, open regular skill slots, connect with system messages, and activate potential Mana?"

Then the Mana aggregate replied.

-The latent Mana in the summoner's body is enough to receive the Seal of Awakening. So, of course, the summoner...

She stopped talking and frowned.

-Wait a minute. What is this?!

She was evidently surprised. This time, she flew toward me as she dismissed all of the screens surrounding her. Then she put her face right in front of my nose and stared into my eyes. My face was reflected in the blue eyes looking at me. We remained there for a while before she spoke again.

-This is driving me crazy. Why is the Seal of Awakening embedded in the soul and not the body?

What? She told me to wait a moment and then began searching for something anxiously.

-Anyone! Anyone, please come here. It's urgent!

Then, after a while, the dark space split long like it was cut with a knife, and a similar entity emerged from there. Likewise, it was a woman formed by lumped blue mana. The two began to have a serious conversation right in front of me.

-Really. The Seal is already in place. All the more in the soul.

The one who first met me posed a question.

-This is what I'm curious about. Can I put the Seal on a mortal like that? I've never seen such a case.

-You expect me to know?

-According to the regulations, there are three conditions under which a mortal can receive a seal on his body. Enter the Altar of Trials, must have mana that meets the minimum qualifications, and choose to Awaken of your own free will. You know what the first condition meant here, right?

-Yes, I know. The fact that you entered the Altar means that you have met some of the qualifications because there is a rule that a mortal who has already Awakened cannot enter the Altar of trial again...

-No, wait a minute. Technically, that wasn't exactly what you just said.

-Oh, I'm busy. Should I stamp the Seal on the body and send it away? Anyway, it's the soul that's got the Seal right now, and the body doesn't yet.

-You could get into trouble for that! What happens if (####) like us makes the decision to break the rules...

For the first time, among the telepathic energy they emitted, a piece that I couldn't understand came up. Certainly, something went into my consciousness, but as many hunters testified, I couldn't understand the meaning as if it were foggy.

At the same time, the entity seemed shocked.

-Is it okay to say those things in front of mortals?

-Anyways, the force will filter it.

-Oh, is that so?

But somehow, the system message came to my mind once again. It wasn't the conversation-like message between the two beings in front of me, but the dry telepathy I always heard after being awakened as a hunter.

-[The Successor's Eyes (Rank: EX)] detects the interference of the force.

-Attempting to recover the filtered semantic fragment... Recovery complete!

The beings who talked in front didn't respond; it seemed they hadn't heard the message echoing in my head. In the meantime, the portions that I couldn't understand found their form again. It was as if the foggy haze was clearing away! I could now understand the meaning that was just filtered out. Those two beings called themselves...(Ministry Spirits).

The dialogue between the Ministry Spirits continued.

-Look at that soul! The Seal was stamped, and there is a terminal in it. It is the terminal connected to the (####). And you're going to Awaken him again when he is already connected?

Again, the word changed to a blur and then came back into my cognitive range due to The Successor's Eyes' effect. The word filtered this time around was (Control Sentience). In summary, my soul is stamped with a seal of Awakening, and there was a terminal connected to something called the Control Sentience?

-We can't handle this. It's a problem that we can't answer by talking to each other. Open the full text of the business rules.

As soon as that was said...

The space around the Altar of Trial began to tense and shake.

"What?!"

A huge status window suddenly appeared, tearing through the darkness. It was incomparable to the previous status windows surrounding the two spirits. A blue Mana barrier covering most of my field of view overwhelmed surrounded all of us. I felt like an ant standing in front of an elephant herd. Countless characters and figures flowed like a river current inside the mana wall. The spirits, who were observing the mana status window like a great wall, nodded. Then, they made eye contact with each other.

-It must be so?

-It is so.

The spirit who first greeted me here spoke up.

-I remembered it wrong. No regulation says that mortals who have already Awakened cannot enter the Altar of Trials...this is the original text of the rules: mortals who have already been given the Seal of Awakening 'on the flesh' cannot enter the Altar of Trials.

-On the other hand, that summoner's body is clean.

-That's why he was able to enter the Altar. There are no rules preventing mortals who have their souls stamped.

-In the first place, there is no sentence mentioning the case where the Seal was stamped on the soul.

-No regulation yet.

-Yes, there are none. It's a regulatory void.

They nodded again. As space fluctuated once more, the huge mana barrier disappeared. After removing the status window, which was called the Work Regulations, the spirits turned to look at me.

-Summoner, I'll answer your questions.

I gulped dryly as they addressed me. As a result of looking up the regulations' full text, no regulations prevented the mortal body from being sealed if they already had a seal on the soul. I pushed back the desire to sing out the pleasure in my heart. I needed to hear the answer more clearly.

"If so, do you mean that if I want to, I can put another seal on my body while keeping the seal of my soul intact so that I can get a 'new' unique skill?"

The spirit was quick to answer.

-Yes, you can.

I understood it perfectly. The reason I was able to retain Choi Seung-Hyun's unique skill [The Successor's Eyes] as it was in my current state was still unknown, but the Seal of Awakening of my previous life followed with my soul, and the unique skill attributed to that Seal survived. And now, like ordinary hunters, what if I get another seal on my body? I would get one more unique skill attributed to that Seal. For the first time in history, I would become a hunter with two unique skills! I held back what I screamed and shouted in my heart.

'I was right!'

The question I had in the first place lingered in my mind. What would happen if I touched the Awakening Stone in my current state? In a way, it was an adventure. Seo Jin-wook's body had enough potential mana to become a hunter, the accidents up until now made that clear. That being known, it could cause unnecessary suspicion if I didn't react to the Awakening Stone. If they start to doubt if I had already Awakened, a deep investigation would be conducted, and the matter would become very complicated.

If they were accused of forcibly would be imposed under international laws and regulations onto the guild. I might be permanently suspended from working for the Celestial Dragon Guild's benefit if a forced Awakening were suspected. However, I was expecting it would end with the conclusions that the spirits made now.

Anyway, there was no seal on the body, and so my thoughts fit.

-Sorry, but it took too much time. No further questions are allowed. Summoner, will you accept the Awakening and proceed with the tutorial quest?

There was no more need for hesitation.

"Yes!"

The spirits nodded.

-Confirmation of quest acceptance. Awakening has proceeded.

At that moment, light flowed from the Altar of Trial and reached me. Immediately, a feeling of uplifting built up in my body. A clear change had begun.

"Ah!"

All sensation poured out of my body, mixed with the surrounding space, and seemed to flow back in like a waterfall. The rowdy energy broke down in me and re-aggregated. It was a phenomenon I felt once more after a long time.

And after a while...

-Completed.

Whoosh!

My field of view changed in an instant, and the surrounding landscape turned back into the reception room.

'I've returned to Earth!'

Expectant gazes greeted me. After the body awakened, the mana stored in my core could be quantified.

-Active Mana: 400/400

-Potential Mana: 71,600

My mouth felt like it would split open. At the point of Awakening, that level of active mana wasn't all that bad. Currently, the limit of the mana that could be used was 400, and there was no consumption yet, so of course, it was natural for my mana to be full.

What surprised me was the potential mana. The feeling was different than when it was perceived with a vague sense compared to when it was quantified. That number meant, as I practiced and consumed mana frequently in the future, my mana could be expanded by up to 71,600. In other words, the maximum could be expanded to 72,000.

The last thing I remembered was that the great mage Hibiki's mana was about 50,000. My heart was thrilled by the confirmed information so far, but I have to check on the more important things. I shouted with joy within my heart.

'Acquired skill, check!'

It responded with a stiff tone that felt completely different from when I talked with the spirits just a while ago. It was a system message that had long since been familiar to me.

-Details of the unique skills acquired by the user are as follows.

The moment I checked the explanation that followed, my eyes widened like they were going to pop out.