The next six hours were a blur. First, he was called into the boss's office and had to tell everything he witnessed, twice.
The first time he was questioned, Alex claimed to have not seen anything out of the ordinary. However, his boss didn't believe him. Then Alex told the boss about the voice and the eye.
Because of this, he was sent to the infirmary. The doctor ran some tests but failed to find anything abnormal about his condition, on the contrary, he was in a peak state. However, he recommended that Alex take some time off because he feared that the mental trauma caused by the situation might have affected his sanity. In the end, the remains were recovered by a hazardous environment team, and the whole ordeal was blamed on a hallucinogenic effect caused by a confluence of different factors. The old mine was sealed off and collapsed and Alex was free to go.
It was already evening when he finally got back to his small room in the dormitory. He plonked down on the bed and closed his eyes drifting off to sleep.
It was a dreamless one.
The next day, he woke up feeling incredibly refreshed. All the mental and physical fatigue that he accumulated over the past year disappeared completely. He habitually opened the status panel to check if he had somehow awakened during sleep and froze.
[Alex]
[0-Star awakened]
[Talent: Attribute Consolidation, EX-Grade Mana Cost Reduction,???]
[Vitality:5]
[Force:1]
[Skills:N/A]
Alex couldn't believe his own eyes. For a moment, he considered the doctor's words about his sanity. He quickly closed his stat panel and opened it again, but nothing had changed.
He jumped off his bed and ran to the bathroom, looked into the mirror, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "I AM AWAKENED! HAHAHHAHAHHAAAA!"
And on top of that, not just any ordinary talentless awakened, he had not one, but two talents! And a weird question mark next to one of them, but whatever. He'll definitely find out what it does sooner or later. Heck, it might even be a third one!
The loud cheering caused his neighbor, Max, to barge into his room angrily, wanting to know what the fuss is about, only to have Alex tackle him in a bear hug.
"What's wrong with you dude? Did you finally go insane?" asked Max after he managed to wrestle his way out of Alex's embrace.
"No, no. I am fine. More than fine actually." Said Alex while grinning like a little kid who just found out that Santa exists and he decided to pay him a visit.
"Anyway, it is barely five in the morning, let people get some sleep before the shift."
Alex chuckled sheepishly. "Right, sorry about that. I won't wake you up so early in the future."
Max grunted something as he walked away back into his room.
With that, Alex was left alone in his room to savor the new feeling of awakening. He had imagined the process many times before, but the real thing was so much simpler, that it was hard for him to believe it was real.
"How come it happened now?"
He wondered if the weird crystal was the cause, but there was no way to verify that now, so he discarded the thought. It probably was. He will just have to live with the uncertainty for now.
Still giddy with excitement, he opened his stat panel again. He wanted to see the exact effects of his newly acquired talents.
[Attribute Consolidation]:
Your attributes are consolidated into new attributes. Strength, Endurance, and Agility are merged into a new Vitality attribute. Magic and Spirit are merged into a new Force attribute. Raising an attribute by one point will give the effect of raising its component attributes by one point each.
"Holy shit!" exclaimed Alex. It was unbelievable. Such a talent could easily propel you to the top ranks of awakened, as long as you had access to growth crystals. He could barely contain his excitement.
Now was the time for the second one.
[EX-Grade Mana Cost Reduction]:
Active skill mana cost is reduced by 99.99%
"Wh...at? Is that even legal? What kind of god-tier cheat talent is that?!"
This one was even more absurd. If he remembered correctly, the mana cost reduction skill shards are one of the most valuable ones in the market. But the strongest he knew of only reduced cost by 50%, and it only appeared once, when one of the strongest awakened, Aaron Zephyr, defeated a 9-star Leviathan in a one-on-one fight. Granted, that Leviathan was already wounded.
But Alex wasn't going to complain. No sane person would ever complain about having an OP skill, so he just shrugged it off as some good luck.
His excitement did not subside until his stomach rumbled loudly, reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything for more than twenty hours. He quickly dressed up and walked into the common area, where he bumped into the rest of his dorm mates.
"Alex, where the hell have you been?" Asked one of them. "The guys couldn't find you yesterday."
"Hey guys, sorry 'bout that." Replied Alex with a huge grin. "I was preoccupied."
"What's with this grin?" asked another. "You look like a creep."
Alex couldn't help but laugh.
"Yeah, you should wipe that smirk off your face, people will get the wrong idea."
"Oh, leave the poor boy alone," said an older member. "Let him enjoy his youth."
"Bah, whatever," replied the previous speaker. "Alright, time to go. See you, Alex."
And they left for work, leaving Alex free to get a bite. He grabbed a sandwich and a coffee from the cafeteria and quickly devoured them while formulating a plan.
First, he needed to get his hands on a skill shard. Any skill would do since his mana cost reduction talent would allow him to cast skills non-stop. The problem was, that if he used his credentials to buy one, it would be a matter of time for one or two of the Klaus' goons to pay him a visit. The only reason Alex worked for this mining company was that they didn't ask for your documents, or just any questions in general. At least half of the employees were in a situation similar to Alex's.
The document requirement to buy skills was there for obvious reasons, but it also stimulated the creation of the black market, where everyone could acquire whatever they wished as long as they had enough money.
The problem was that it was hard to say if anything bought from such an establishment was genuine. Or whether it was gained through a morally dubious method. After all, in some cases awakened would leave skill shards after their deaths.
Luckily for him, he did know who to visit.
Lenny was his name. Everyone knew that he used to be some hotshot back in City #11, but after he somehow landed himself into trouble with a crime syndicate there, he fled here and settled down in his little hideout. Despite this, Lenny remained the prime connection point to all things related to the underworld. It helped that he was in a similar position as Alex.
"Huh," Lenny huffed as soon as he saw the door to his "store" open. He was a stout middle-aged man, whose once handsome face was disfigured by countless scars, and his nose was clearly broken more than once. His hair was slicked back revealing his broad forehead. "What do we have here?"
"Hi Lenny," answered Alex. "How are you today?"
"Cut the crap kid," said the man, visibly displeased by the intrusion. "What the hell do you want?"
"I want to buy some vitality crystals," Alex replied, cutting right to the chase. "You've got them, right?"
"Ah, so you finally decided to get some? Did you get your stats to ten already?"
An unawakened person could train their stats to ten through physical training, which was also one of the reasons people in dire straits were willing to work in mines. After reaching ten, a vitality crystal could push you over the threshold, but wouldn't awaken you. It was the worst option of all, but better than nothing.
"Yes," Alex lied.
"Alright kid," said the man. "But it will cost ya. You know the rates."
Alex could practically hear the greed dripping from the man's words. Probably the reason he ended up here. Still, he produced several crumpled bills out of his pocket and placed them on the counter.
Lenny inspected them carefully. After checking each one under a UV light, he gave Alex a satisfied smile.
"Wait a minute," he said and entered a door behind his counter.
Soon after he returned with a piece of paper and a wristband. He put both in front of Alex and said, "Go to this address. Tell the girl inside you've come to pick up a package. Make sure to wear the wristband."
Alex picked up both items, thanked the man, and left.
It didn't take him long to find the location. It turned out to be some cheap hotel in the slums. He entered the building and walked straight to the reception area, where a young girl stood.