Right after leaving the principals office Kerren went to look for whoever represented the guild he signed a contract with. It wasn't tough, as guilds usually had their own little "offices" with people that were scouting for promising students. It was a boring job, as new ones would arrive only once a year and going around between the same people would only annoy them, they usually just sat in their little cabinets waiting for someone to come.
Soon, he was infront of such a place, on the door inside was a sign saying with the name of the guild and name of the person, he didn't care about either of thos, but i will at least tell you how the guild was called, it was "Dawn". A relatively old but not very powerful guild that didn't even sponsor the university, but still could recruit people due to their old achievements. There was not much else to say about it, yeah it was important in the past and as the name suggests - it was one of the first guilds ever created. In this country, that is.
Kerren entered the door and immediately after said - I need 15 kilograms of 100% pure A crystals. -- he proclaimed without even introducing himself.
- Excuse me? -- The man in front of him said with an expression that said something like "What the f*kk is this guy saying?".
- I signed a contract with your guild. It said you will give me any amount of crystals i want until i awakened. I need 15 kilograms of 100% A crystals. -- he elaborated, not giving him any air to breathe.
- Oh, you're Kerren, please -- he said as he pointed his hand on a chair.
- I'm not here to talk, you have a three days to deliver those crystals to me or the contract is void. -- he then turned around and left under the questions of the man. Of course, it was an unreasonable demand, he made it on purpose.
Why would he want to do that? Simple. It was another great plan of his that didn't even exist. At first, he wanted to ask for 2 kilograms to awaken without any problems, but would they simply follow his request? While he was, indeed, a valuable asset - he had no power. What if he said that he needed something? He already signed the contract! We can just stall for time!
Kerren didn't know much about Dawn and he didn't want to. He made such a demand because it was a win-win situation for him. They provided such an amount? Perfect, i'll take it. They refused? Too bad, our contract suddenly stopped existing. They tried to stall for time? Boom, voided. They tried to negotiate? Voided. Anything he didn't like even a bit? Voided.
Why would he do such a thing? He would make himself look like he was as arrogant as could be, he already looked like that in the eyes of many, but those many were simply students, if the eyes of others he didn't amount to much. But what guild would want to take him in if he's making such demands? Kerren would be glad if none did. He didn't actually want to join one, as it could bring him trouble, but if he could to get benefits? Sure, he'll take some.
Well, i could add that if some random guild offered him to fulfill any demand of his he would join it and even work for its sake, it wasn't that big of a deal for him, pawn were useful, after all. He too would profit if they were stronger that pawns of other people.
Three days have passed. Kerren didn't attend to any classes nor he debated teachers. Why is that? Because his demand was fulfilled! He didn't exptect it himself, of course, it wasn't that big of a sum for a big guild, but why would they do that? Kerren himself didn't know, he thought that they'll just refuse and void the contract themself... Of course, it didn't really matter for him wether or not such a contract existed, who could force him to follow it after he was on the top of the world?
Before that he would need to get there, of course, but still... His main goal was awakening and then grabbing that oportunity so he could finally feel confident in himself, now he was as weak as one could be, with no physical or any other ability whatsoever. And so, he started absorbing mana crystals.
For any other person that would be an incredibly painful and arduous process that required tons of concentration. Oh, i'm only talking about non-awakened people, it's not as if even mages struggled with that, but if those students here tried to do what Kerren was doing now - they would give up three minutes later, telling everybody that it was impossible.
It indeed was, because it was incredibly hard for a normal person to feel and use mana, it was the crux of absorbing mana crystals, you only needed to take mana from the crystal, how would you do that? Who cares? You can even eat it and your body will do your job. It wasn't that effecient, of course, but it was a valid method. It was used even in Kerrens previous life, the modified version of it which was way more effecient.
As for Kerren? It was as simple as breathing for him. He didn't really care about what others thought if he suddenly awakened after being given some crystals, it's not like they'll torture him to know the secret, right? Yep, while it would be kind of tempting for some to do that, he already belonged to a guild, more than that - he was a student in one of the most prestigious universities in the world!
After a few days and almost two kilograms of crystals Kerren awakened. To his surprise, he was mistaken about the amount of crystals he needed. He already absorbed around 200 gramms of those even before receiving them from the guild, and even then he needed almost two more kilograms! Did that bother him? Yes, a lot. The reason wasn't as simple as just arrogance or him being angry because he made a mistake. He felt that something was not right, because he was sure that he calculated everything correctly! That could only mean that in his previous life something happened that sped up his process of awakening!
What that thing was? When did that happen? Maybe it was just a factor, like physical strength? Maybe it depended on the moral fact of the person awakened? He didn't know and it's not like he needed that information after awakening. Yes, if he ever wanted to awaken some other people it was useful, but other than that it couldn't be used. Selling knowledge regarding awakening wasn't a thing even in his previous life, it was too expensive and important.
Why? Well, why do you ask why? Because if any guild had such a method - they would rise above the rest in a span of a few years! Any knowledge regarding awakening was and will be a top secret, it wasn't all that useful later on, but if one could recruit thousands of people and then awaken them in less than a month? Well, that would be a problem for any other guilds that was in bad terms with the one that did that.
Oh, also, do you remember that people could get a unique skill when they awakened? You get a star if you do! Congrats! This information is completely useless but you still remember it! Well, about that... This time, Kerren did awake a skill, but... it was "Advanced Mana Control"... It was COMPLETELY useless to him, as he could control mana like those flying lizards that were the origin of it!
Why would he even need such a skill!? He was dissapointed and wanted to curse, as he suddenly realised...
-* This thing doesn't actually give you any skills... It just shows those that you have... Why did i not realise that sooner!? -- he was completely right. While it could give you some knowledge, it did so only in special cases, awakening was not one of them. What about stat boosts then? Well, that's a good question. The answer is simpler than you think - mana itself booster your ability. It cleaned up and made your body better, as much as it could, hence the boost. In truth - all of the awakened got it, it's just that sometimes there were no notification that it happened if the boost was too small.
What exactly do i mean? Well, those who got a skill were, most of the time, great people who already had their body in proper shape and had abundant mana inside of them for a long period of time, of course they wouldn't notice minute details, they would think that they got stronger from training! Which was, of course, also the case. So, in the end, mana did boost their power, it's just that they didn't notice it.
Was that knowledge that Kerren suddenly got an epiphany about unknown? Well, it's hard to say, if one were to make tests they would surely get it right with some time, but to general public it was more like a speculation than an accepted fact. In Kerren's previous life there wasn't any news about that, or maybe he simply missed that because he only cared about his own power and he was already awakened, why bother? It's not like he could awaken once more.
He didn't do much after awakening, he couldn't enter the dungeon yet so he only practiced his mana manipulation, altough he had ample experience, it still didn't feel right, as if something was wrong with mana or something like that, he had a feeling but couldn't tell what exactly was it. It was somewhat different from the black ooze he was used to, but... what exactly was it?
...
A few more weeks passed like that, he didn't go out of his room trying to unravel the mystery behind the strange feeling, but no matter what he tried he couldn't understand what was wrong. He didn't want to waste any more time, and since he needed to stall for it anyway, so people wouldn't really notice that he awakened after a few days after getting those crystals, it was just too fast.
Few weeks, however? It was possible if one was close to awakening and was a genius of sorts. Was Kerren one of those? Of course not, what a joke. But to others... he was. So why not use it to scam all of them? Thus, he never left the room, forcing people to think that he was thinking too highly of himself. After all, awakening at 16 wasn't something usual at this time, it was in the future, but now? Only geniuses and rich could do that, those that were attending that university were both, so even if he awakened they wouldn't think too much about it. OF course, they would be shocked as it rarely happened, but... nothing more than that.
One day, he heard a knock on the door. It was one of his "friends" that he got after debating teachers. He was famous, after all, why not suck up to him?
- Who is it? -- Kerren asked with an annoyed voice.
- Sorry if i disturbed you, but it is time to take our monthly test and you didn't show up, so teacher asked me to go get you... -- he quickly explained with a weak voice.
- Monthly test? They said it's once every three months before. -- Kerren was confused, he thought he wouldn't he bothered for two more months, but now he was forced to reveal his awakening?
- Yes, yes, this test is not THAT important, you will not get kicked if you dont attend, but you could get sent to a lower ranking path because of it... -- he was talking quickly and somewhat weakly, resembling Kerren in his previous life.
- Oh? Well, i guess i'll attend then, just to show everybody that none of you are worthy of even talking to me. -- he tried to sound as arrogant as he could, after all, if he did that people wouldn't easily mess with him or ask him of anything. Also, it would be easy to predict what other people tried to use against him.
Kerren then left the room and followed the student that told him about the test, he then led Kerren to where the test took place at.
It was a repetition of a test he took when he arrived to enroll, same artefact and whatever was next, Kerren didn't know.
As he entered the building those artefacts were in, all gazes suddenly fixed on exactly on him and the student that led him here. Some were full of admiration, some of scorn and some were impossible to read.
- Kerren, i see that you are here -- one of the teachers said -- Are you going to take the written test, or a talent test? -- he asked, trying to start a dialogue with him.
Kerren, however, was completely silent and just moved towards the artefacts that measured one's "talent". He didn't bother to look at teachers or to explain himself, or to ask whose turn was it, he simply placed his hand of a platform and waited.
0!
It meant that his talent was too great for this artefact! It was the first time since a non-awakened student got that grade! Oh.. wait, he did awaken already... It's just that they didn't know about it.
Teachers gathered around Kerren, like flies on... yeah, you got what i wanted to say. They asked him lots of questions none of which Kerren could understand since all of them were talking at the same time, 5 second later, Kerren got tired of that bullcrap.
- SHUT THE F*KK UP, ALL OF YOU! -- Kerren screamed on top of his lungs. Silence immediately took hostages and none dared to talk.
- I dont have such talent, it's just this artefacts of yours is not better than any of you. I awakened yesterday, that's why it's showing 0! -- he explained without hiding anything, why bother? With any proper check they'll see mana that was hidden deep inside of him, doing that was somewhat easy if one had good mana control, but Kerren still needed some practice. He learned how to do it properly in his "seclusion", after all, if one couldn't see what or who struck him - he wouldn't be able to retaliate, so it was useful for him.
Silence took even more drastic measures, and it seemed that even the world became silent.
- You... awakened? -- one of the teachers said quetly, so queitly, in fact, that if it wasn't dead silent now not a single soul would hear him.