"How many heroes are there?" As long as she answers I'll ask as much as I can.
"Well, that depends on what you count as a hero. If you mean in the hero association, then there are about 100 maybe?" She answers
"How do you become a hero?" If there's an association then there must be guidelines to join.
"Usually, someone awakened gets involved with a incident in the city, they either end up dealing with it and come to us afterwards, or we hear of them first and go to them." In my head, this doesn't sound too strict. That sounds more like a volunteer service than anything else. "From there we help them with their ability, controlling it, and making sure that they understand how to use it. After that, they either go back to regular life, join the city defense patrols, or if they person is outstanding enough and they want to, they join the association."
"Whats the difference between the defense patrols and the association?" I guess just having 100 heroes wouldn't be enough to protect the city. It seems way too massive to just have that for it to be enough.
"The patrols are exactly that, patrols. They roam the city to observe and protect people from crime or angry awakened." At this point I think she realizes that I plan to keep asking questions for a while, so she take the seat in front of me where Adrian was sitting earlier. "The association deals more specifically with Awakened who purposefully conduct crime, the villains and the rogues."
"What's the difference between villains and rogues?" The more she answers the more questions I have.
"Villains get labeled as such when they repeatedly terrorize the public. Such as murder, theft, power high tantrums, property damage, the more cruel crimes. Rogues however are more tricky, and usually the more dangerous ones. To be labeled a rogue, you're not necessarily committing public crimes, but they're more often than not those whose powers make them difficult to deal with, and they usually do whatever they want. They're often hired as mercenaries by other villains, and either have a very specific agenda, or we're unable to do anything about them, they're not pleasant but I usually prefer them over villains and mindless killing."
"So what was the man who hurt me?"
"His name is Tricho, and he's usually a rogue, that day he acted as a villain however and he got caught."
"So what's an Awakened?"
"You know that's one of the first questions I expected you to ask." She said with a look of curiosity. She makes a fair point, but still, there's so much to learn right now is it that surprising I'm getting caught up on the little things?
"I asked right?"
"Still." She says as she squinted to gaze at me. After what seemed to be an unnecessary starting contest she shrugged. "Anyways, Awakened are those who have gone through the process of an Awakening. An Awakening is simply a part of this world, no one knows why it happens, but between the ages of 5 and 50, it's possible for anyone to awaken. Awakenings are how we receive abilities, it's something like a process of rebirth, everyone's bodies become stronger, and you receive an ability. No one knows what ability they'll get, but through Awakening, anything is possible. I woke when I was 20, it took me a few months to figure out what my ability was, but after getting angry a few times I figured it out."
The biggest news I got out of all of that was the fact that abilities aren't genetic. Which should mean that there isn't a horrendous class of 'nobles' that have been in charge since forever. Still, I had even more questions.
"So you don't know what your ability is even after you awaken?"
"Not always, when some people awaken they figure out what they're ability is immediately, but for most others its discovered through stress. Often times people don't even know they've been Awakened as it can happen while you're sleeping too."
"Then how did you know that it happened to you?"
"Well, like I said, it's a rebirth of sorts, I was in my home relaxing. I went to stretch and a sort of... force came over me. I felt, weightless, I felt alive and full of energy, I felt calm, and I felt more connected to life. It was only when my feet hit the ground again did I realize I wasn't just experiencing and euphoria of sorts. I felt so refreshed, like I had just woken up from the best rest of my life, I think that's why it's called an Awakening.
"But the biggest giveaway for me was how much healthier I felt, everyone who Awakens becomes levels stronger than a normal person, this is taught to everyone. So knowing that, I started moving things around my apartment, and when I lifted my dresser that almost broke my back while moving into my apartment with no issue, I knew what had happened." Her reminiscent tone reminded me of how grandparents would talk about their past to their grandchildren.
"Does everyone have an Awakening?"
"No. Awakening is very rare. On the continent we're on, Santtic, there are a little more than 2 billion people. From what we have seen, recorded, and studied, that means there should be about 50,000 Awakened. So rounded, that means there's a 0.0025 percent chance to awaken. World wide there are about 26 billion people, so there should be about 66 million awakened." This information wasn't something I felt I could just remember so I decided to start writing down the things she was saying. Of course since I still couldn't write in the language spoken here yet it was in English. Lys noticed it too, although she just threw a glance at the paper and didn't say anything.
"Does everyone who Awakens get an ability?" I ask after writing everything down.
"Thats a good question, it is assumed that everyone does get an ability, but because those who have abilities have brought up that it was difficult to discover that they had an ability, that not every awakened had discovered what they're abilities are."
"Then how did you discover what your abilities were?"
Unlike the usual immediate responses I was getting, she smiled to my question. It wasn't a pleasant smile however, it was one where there was pain easily visible behind it.
"Like most other awakened, I ran into a high stress incident in the city."
I can take a hint, and decided not to try to dig deeper into that bag.