Kerren finally arrived, oh god how boring this was! This was the most awful ride of my life, not only Kerren's mother never stopped talking, which made me want to die, he didn't answer a single time! Why couldn't he tell her to shut up!?.. Anyway, Kerren is at the university and is about to go through a test! Wow! That is very interesting, right?!
...
- Sweetie, we're here -- Kerren's mothed told him as she already left the car, but didn't see him move -- Are you thinking about something -- she then asked.
- No. -- he said as he looked at her -- Lead the way -- he added while getting out of the car.
- Sweetie, were you thinking about the path you should take? I know that you want to go to the highest one, but dont you think that it's too much for you -- she asked in a concerned voice, hinting that he should give up.
- No. -- eh... do i even need to describe it?.. He was he same! For this whole week his tone of voice, expression or anything else didn't change at all! He's a damn doll! How do you describe a doll!?
Soon, they started walking towards the building. It looked like an academy from some old times which was strange, since the building was completely new. Why would they build it that way? Well, because some of the things there needed a lot of space. For example the training grounds, they were huge! Not only they had separate dungeons that were "raised" here for students to train, they even had their own habitats in which they raised and studied monsters! Of course, only animals could be raised that way, if they were to raise goblins or orcs sooner or later they would escape and cause chaos...
Something else? Yeah! The dungeon i was talking about! The stale S+ rank dungeon that was exclusive for high ranking classes! One could access it anytime to train inside, or to simply test something that was too dangerous to do outside. It was mostly used as "chiller" for higher-ups, if they were upset they would go in and destroy all they could see! Why could they afford to do that? Because the dungeon regenerated each month! Normally, a dungeon had a chance to erupt each month, it wasn't a random date or anything, exactly in 30 days from the moment it appeared it regenerated, af it too much time has passed since it appeared - it would erupt!
But, stale dungeons were an exception. They were extremely rare and the whole world had around 20 of them in total, which wasn't that much considering that there were around 3 thousand dungeons appearing each day. Of course, if those were hard to clear the world would've collapsed a long time ago, 90% of those dungeons are F to D class, F class dungeons could even be cleared by non-awakened people. Not just your awerage kids or anything, trained soldiers could do so if necessary, dont think that it's that easy.
Why didn't they erupt? They did, it's just that time needed for them to do so was much bigger than for normal dungeons. Normally, stale dungeons were much harder than normal ones or had some sort of a secret that was hidden inside, those secrets were usually never found because it was too hard. An example of that is a story that i told you when we were in the car, it was a complete accident!
Also, just to be clear, it's not that all stale dungeons were treasures waiting to be claimed, it's that that secret inside was the reason they were stale in the first place, meaning that it just so happened that a dungeon appeared around this exact place. What do i mean? Well, it's already time for us to go look at Kerren, since he'll soon be talking to the principle, soo... i will explain it later, okay? It's not that u're interested in it anyway.
...
Kerren was now inside a big room, he didn't know what it was called, neither do i, but if i were to explain? The size resembled a big theater, with the exception that it didn't have a stage, somehow. Wait, now that i look at it - there's nothing but doors on the walls, they didn't even add any windows, why is that?
Soon, a bulky lady came out with and started speaking, her voice was loud but she wasn't screaming. It was pleasant to listen to but she herself wasn't pleasant to look at, she was around 20 but had lots of wrinkles on her face and was fat. Even her hair wasn't spared from the amount of fat on her body, making everyone who looked at her to wonder if they didn't enter the wrong place.
They all thought that the one receiving him would be a beautiful lady to show their prestige!
- We welcome all new students! Today is the day we open our door for a new batch of future Protectors of our world! -- she said happily. If one didn't see her he would think that an insanely beautiful lady was talking. -- As the principal of this university i wish to thank all of our sponsors for allowing us to build this great room, it doesn't look nice when it's not on, but should i say "start"...
As she said it wonderful view appared everywhere. People who were inside of this room thought that they were teleported somewhere, that realistic it was! That was, of course, not true, the whole room was a highly-advanced barrier mixed with lots of other things. Its main purpose wasn't just those events, it was a training ground that they recently built and wanted to show off by inviting the guests here.
People looked around, they felt like it was a dream. For normal people - it was, but for awakened? They've seen much more than just that. So those that were already familiar were not dazed by the view. Kerren was not included because he really was entriced by it, the reason however was different - mana! It was the first time he felt such an abundant amount of it! He wanted to make use of it now, but it was not a great idea since he didn't know if he even could do that. It was somewhat hard for him to hold back.
- This whole place will change according to my will! -- the principle continued -- What you see now is our own dungeon, it's a perfect training ground for our students, it allows them to safely train their new skill or polish existing ones in a real dungeon! If you are worried about their safety - dont, we have a special team assigned to safekeep our students when they enter it. -- she quickly added, seemingly answering the question that arose in the head of many before they even asked.
- This place is also where our new students will undergo their tests that would allow us to understand their capabilities and which class they should be assigned to. The tests themself are simple. -- she said while waving her hand -- Those are artefacts are used to test one's aptitude, we decided to make it public to eliminate the chances of cheating, allowing parents and new students to be sure about their placing in the current year. Also, if parents also want to undergo a test - we will allow you to do so after the students. -- she added in the end, making some of the older people here curious.
After that, she invited people from a list she had. It wasn't in some particular order, simply a list of names that wasn't even sorted alphabetically. Kerren looked at the machines. For him, those "artefacts" as they called it looked like a stick to you. It was crude, awful and could only be used by god knows who. Those didn't even show any true potential people had! It simply identified the chances of one becoming an awakened by taking a probe of their blood and adding mana to it! This method itself wasn't trustworthy at all, which is worse that they claimed that the "artefact" could allow one to see their potential!
What potential? Some of the stars Kerren remembered weren't even able to awakened until their 30s, those people would've been eliminated here, but they were far above the rest! But, he didn't think much about it, after all he had "high potential", in his previous life he awakened in 4 years from now by using a lowest rank crystal, which was insanely rare and could only mean that one's potential was on the brink of awakening on its own.
At the time he was happy, but quickly understood that he had nothing to be proud of, he didn't even get a skill with his awakening, the only thing he got was boost in stats, which wasn't something bad because it allowed him to be far stronger than normal people... But a skill would've been better! It was much harder learning or inventing a new skill than just rising your status.
Of course, many people knew that to awaken a skill - one needed to have it already. What do i mean? If one trained with a sword for a considerable amount of time BEFORE awakening - he would gain such a skill corresponding to his current level + 1. A normal swordmaster that trained for, lets say, 15 years, would awaken a level 5 skill, which was somewhat good. One with 30 years with experince would get a level 7 skill.
But... the lady from Kerren's previous life, was she that old? Nope. It's called talent. I said "normal" swordsman. She was far from normal.
Kerren observed the people who took the "test". There were many people who had great talent, most of them were from high-standing families, while those with not so much talent were usually from poorer families. Why is that? Well, rich could afford to buy a few mana crystals after all, as of now it was the most popular and widespread way of awakening.
There were many people he could somewhat remember from his previous life - he was portering for them, after all. He didn't really care about that, but it was somewhat funny to him that he was now on the same level as they are.
Soon, his turn came. He was not the last, closer to being one of the first who had to undergo the "test". As he was about to go to the artefact his mother gave him a coin and said that it was lucky. Kerren could feel magical energy flowing inside of it, so it made him look strangely at his mother, it was the first time she saw some emotion on his face since they left the house. She didn't understand why that happened.
I did though, this coin truly was lucky. It's too long of an explanation if i were to do it properly so i'll shorten. Those coins weren't of this world to begin with, the one in Kerren's posession had a head of a woman on it, those heads were grades of such coins. They were usually given as a reward from a dungeon, until much later in time people thought that they were useless, many tried to unravel their secret, but as it usually goes it was just a lucky individual that got all the fame.
Those coins are used for literal wishing. One could wish for anything as long as it was only about him. For example: one could not wish for another person to die, while could for himself to die. As long as it was something that only "touched" the person who was using the coin - the wish will come. Of course, wishing to be a god or something like that wouldn't work, what you got in the end depended on the coin itself, if it had ample mana in it and was of a high grade - one could get a lot!
The coin in Kerren's had however wasn't anything like that. It was a "cheap" coin that would, at best, make him 1 cm taller if he wished so, while other coins could add up to 10 cm. Why would people wish for that in the first place?
Anyway, he put the coin in his pocket and walked towards the artefact. It wasn't anything good, it was bulky and looked like a machine from a hospital that would spew lasers or something. To use it you need to put a hand on a platform and allow it to take your blood, then wait for a while to see the number above change. It could only change up to a 100, if one had greater potential than that - it would simply show 0, indicating that a higher ranking machine needs to be used.
As he placed his hand on the artefact it started working, not too long after "78" was shown on it. It was not a high number and could barely give him access to a desired path, but it still made people around in enhale. Why? Because up until now he was the second person to have such a high number, it will, of course, change in half an hour, since not even 30% of all students took the test, but even then he would be in the top 25, proudly sitting on the 19th position.
In general, that test only mattered when you attended the university, later on nobody would even look at it, what is the use of that "talent" if the person itself is stupid? Classes changed a lot during the year, usually around 40% of the students changed their class according to their skills. Why was it even a thing then? Because some could be stupid, but were great warriors or excelled in magic, that alone was enough for them to be in high class of a path.
...
Soon, the test concluded. Kerren and a bunch of new student were assigned to a high class of their paths. Unlike others near him we wasn't happy or showed any emotion at all, which made him stood out of the rest. The rest of the students now had to take another test that would still allow them to enter a higher class even if their talent was bad. Of course, if Kerren wanted to he could enter it anyway earning himself more recognition and benefits, but he didn't even know the contents of the test, since none of the students could use mana the test would have to be either physical or theoretical. Kerren would fail in both.
First of all, his knowledge wasn't great. Theoretically, his practical part in mana-manipulation and mana-use in general was great... but did he know the theory behind all that? Nope! Second - physical part... do i even need to talk about that? Yes, Kerren did prepare to get into the physical path somewhere to be a tank, but was he really fit for that? Uhm... Not really.
As time went by the tests concluded and Kerren was invited to a class along with other students. There, the principal personally explained how things worked inside of the university. It was really simple. All you needed to do was to pass the tests. Not a single person would care if they didn't attend any of the classes and then perfected the tests, cheating was impossible after all. However, the students could still attend to classes and score points, allowing them to get benefits early. If one did a good job in class and on a test - thye would be classified as an elite, allowing them to get much more allowance and benefits than the rest.
That was basically all Kerren remembered from all the talking that was done. He didn't care about it in the first place. Why? Well, magic theory here was... bad. Imagine if you were sent back to the first grade, would you not excel in everything? You would, same goes for Kerren. What was sacred knowledge for others of this life was basic one from his previous one. Why bother attending those? To get benefits? The best benefit was the reward from the dungeon itself, nothing could beat it in Kerren's eyes.
However, to get access to the dungeon one needed to awaken first, which was a problem for Kerren. His natural awakening should've happened when he was around 21 years old, but now he was only 16. He needed a great amount of mana crystals to speed up the process. According to his calculation he needed around 50 gramms of 75% A crystal to awaken immediately, this amount becoming smaller every day.
Where could he get such an amount? As of now, even B crystals were scarce, so getting such an amount of A crystal was impossible, his only solution was to excel on a test somehow and ask for crystals as his reward, but the first test will only be in 3 months, what to do?