The atmosphere in the hall was briefly chaotic as the power suddenly went out for a few minutes.
People were surprised, and Joanna was no exception. Moreover, being alone surrounded by dozens of strangers made the girl worried. She was still too young after all.
"What took Klaus so long," she grumbled.
Speaking of the devil, Klaus finally appeared. Joanna's face lit up as she met her brother.
"Hey, hey. How did it go?" she asked curiously.
Without saying much, Klaus showed the smartlink around his wrist, and pressed the button on edge of it. Shortly after, a transparent blue hologram appeared.
[Name : Klaus Lee]
[Age : 18]
[Role : N/A]
[Talent: Speed Up]
[Elemental Affinity : Metal (Moderate)]
[Battle Power: 51,367]
[Rank : F-Class]
[Status: Uncertified]
After the system was successfully rebooted, the assessors immediately contacted their supervisor. They told him that an awakener beyond Top-Class had just appeared.
However, the supervisor was skeptical, thinking that the results issued were system errors.
So, they did retest on Klaus, but the results were different. The battle power score shown on the system was very low.
In the end, they concluded it was just a bug due to a power surge.
The reason why the test results changed was because Klaus suppressed his power. He had miscalculated, thinking that exerting 10% of his power wouldn't create a ruckus. Luckily, the incident did not escalate further.
"Well, there was a system error, and the testing process took a while," Klaus said.
Joanna frowned, not knowing whether to be happy or sad. Klaus was indeed an awakener, but compared to her, their score gap was like heaven and earth.
She pursed her lips. "It's okay, Klaus. At least you're an awakener. You're better than ordinary people." She then patted his shoulder.
Klaus only chuckled at his sister. It was as if he was disappointed to get worse results than her.
"You act like you're going to be a great awakener. Mom forbade you to get involved with things like this, remember?" Klaus teased her.
"If you don't talk to her, then there won't be any issues. Let's just go."
Klaus could only shake his head as the girl walked away.
They had been in this crowded building for five hours. Joanna promised Anna that they would be home before the dark. The sky was still blue, but the sun was already leaning towards the west, so they hurried home.
However, their plan changed.
As Klaus and Joanna walked out of the building, a group of awakeners were waiting for them at the entrance.
The group consisted of four men and a woman. The men wore armor, armed with swords or spears, and the remaining woman wore robes.
They approached everyone coming out of the building, asking people to help them.
"Sorry to interrupt. Are you awakeners?"
A man with a shaved head from the group drew close to Klaus. He simply brushed off the man's hand, and walked away from him. However, Joanna was just the opposite.
His little sister was talking to the bald man. Sighing in annoyance, Klaus approached them. He asked her to ignore him, but she refused.
"I think they need some help," Joanna said in compassion.
"Please hear us out first, buddy." The bald man also persuaded Klaus.
Complying with his sister's request, he agreed to listen to the bald man.
It turned out that in Chinatown, about a 30-minute walk from the Branch Office of Awakener Association, there was a "dungeon break", and this group of awakeners wanted to enter the "dungeon", but they were short of members.
So, they wanted Klaus and Joanna to join their party to qualify for the dungeon.
Dungeon break was the phenomenon of a dimensional rift appearing. If the rift was not closed immediately, then dozens of monsters would come out from there.
And people called the other side of the rift a dungeon.
The only way to seal off the rift and prevent waves of monster attacks was to deal with the source of the cause, and it was within the dungeon.
"If you require people to enter the dungeon, you'd better find someone else. Do you think we look like experienced awakeners?"
Of course, Klaus refused their request. He had no reason to help them, and they were uncertified awakeners. However, those people said they could manage it.
"Certification is just a formality. As long as you have a smartlink on your wrist, we can get into the dungeon. The police won't check awakeners one by one. We just need a quota, and you don't need to fight with us. We will protect you. And I promise to give you something in return."
Still, Klaus refused their request. There were many awakeners wandering around in full gear, while Klaus and Joanna were only wearing casual clothes. They were not ready for the dungeon.
Besides, he could not trust them. Asking random people for help was very suspicious. Unfortunately, his sister did not see it.
"Come on, Klaus. Let's join them. We've never been in a dungeon. I'm an A-Class anyway. You don't have to worry about me," Joanna said with hopeful eyes.
The group of awakeners looked surprised after hearing her words. They did not expect that Joanna was a high-rank awakener.
"Wow, that's amazing. You will be a big help to us." The bald man chimed in awe.
Joanna smiled widely, pride written all over her face, while Klaus could not hide his annoyance at her stupidity.
Taking a deep breath, Klaus finally made his decision. "Okay, we'll help you guys."
The bald man and the rest of the party members looked happy to hear it, as did Joanna.
"Aight, from now on we are a team. I'm Keith, the leader of this party." The bald man introduced himself.
After that, they all shook hands and got to know each other. The other three men in the group were named Tom, Eddie, and Evan, and the only female member was Karen.
Then, they immediately left for Chinatown.
For a moment, Klaus would follow their game. If anything untoward happened, he could just kill them all.