The ride back was pretty uneventful. Alex even managed to sneak in a short nap.
As soon as the ride was over, he grabbed a slice of pizza on his way back to the dorm. He grabbed his belongings, swung by his boss's office, and told him he was quitting.
By the moment his boss was able to cobble together any kind of coherent response, Alex was already out of his office.
He was paid shift by shift, so there was no need for him to wait to collect any money, so he wasted no time and went to catch a bus that went straight to City #11.
City #11 was the second largest city in its administrative district, only topped by City #17. The mine Alex worked in was in a satellite town on the outskirts of City #11 Jurisdiction Zone. Despite the fact that City #11 was the original district capital, City #17 had two major points that made the district government move. The first one was the sea access. Just this fact alone accelerates the growth of any city, but City #17 also houses the only 3-Star dungeon in the immediate area. It wasn't rare for a city to have a dungeon, there were two 2-star ranked ones in City #11, but this seemingly small difference in rank was enough to propel City #17 into the ranks of the major cities.
Just by virtue of this point, City #17 became a de facto center for the district, and it was only a matter of time before the district government relocated there.
In any case, City #11 had the closest branch of the Bureau of Awakened Regulation and Control, and it was the place Alex needed to go if he wanted to get certified.
It took a bit over half an hour for the bus to arrive in City#11. Alex quickly found a hotel to check-in. The plan for now was simple. Since he wanted his record to be as clean as possible, he might as well commit to the idea.
First, he went to an awakened trade center. It was quite a large, multi-story building, bustling with people going about their business.
Alex ignored everyone and went straight for a shop that specialized in trading skill shards. Despite the luxurious look of the establishment, there was quite a bit of people who were dressed as poorly as Alex was. Maybe that's why the guards, who were awakeners themselves did not stop him from entering.
The hall was lined with rows of what looked like armored glass casings with skill shards inside. On the surface of each casing was a holographic text, detailing the effects of the skill shard and its price.
After looking around for some time, Alex found a few shards that interested him. The first was 1-Star inferior skill [Wind Blade]. It was a pretty basic skill, but its advantage was that you could configure the shape and rotation of the blade itself if you mastered the skill, making it a semi-AoE skill.
However, he could theoretically get this skill if he killed the alpha-level monster in the monster field he visited before, making it not the best option.
The second skill was the classic [Firebolt], 1-Star inferior skill, probably the most popular choice because of its simplicity. You just point the direction and a high-energy projectile flies in that direction, eager to burn a hole in your target.
Alex didn't really want to get it since he already had a reliable single-target projectile skill, as well as the fact that he already chose the first dungeon he was going to hit. It was called [Fire Valley] - a 1-Star dungeon filled with fire attribute monsters. Using the fact that [Resistance] provided him with a degree of fire resistance and his main attacking skill was an ice attribute one - it was a no-brainer. The [Firebolt] was basically useless there.
The third option was the [Spark] skill, which had a chance to jump to another enemy. It was a pretty straightforward skill, hit your target and pray it procs. The downside was that it was not the strongest single-target skill, as well as being an unreliable multi-target skill, which made one feel like this skill had an identity crisis.
Alex technically could afford an intermediate-level skill, if he went to the black market, but here, the skills of this level were just a bit out of his reach.
In the end, Alex went with [Spark] since it was the cheapest one and was still of some use. He could go to the [Merfolk Temple] dungeon next and simply electrocute all the enemies while they were in the water. It still cost him 2200 dollars.
He swung by another shop and purchased one Magic Crystal before returning back to the hotel. Alex learned the new skill right away and left for the bureau.
The bureau itself was located at the very heart of City #11's downtown. An imposing skyscraper was surrounded by what one could imagine to be a small-scale military base.
The perimeter was ringed by a wall made of reinforced concrete and barbed wire. There were watchtowers in the corners, manned by uniformed guards armed with assault rifles.
Inside the perimeter, there were several military vehicles parked in neat rows.
Despite that, droves of people in civilian clothing kept walking about their business within the compound. Alex passed the main entrance and was greeted by a large hall bustling with activity. He spotted a wide reception desk manned by several people and made a beeline for it.
After getting his directions, he proceeded to take a lift to find a particular room. Inside the room were a bunch of other people waiting in line and after roughly twenty-five minutes, it was Alex's turn.
He had to present his documents and fill in some papers before he was allowed to take actual physical and magical tests. After that, he went to the physical testing area. The area took a whole floor and presented a bunch of testing environments with special equipment. Since Alex didn't max out his vitality, his final score in strength, endurance, and agility was a fair 8, and he proceeded to the magic testing area.
There, he was asked some questions before demonstrating his casting ability. When asked about talents, Alex just lied that he had [Expanded Mana Capacity] talent, which was uncommon, but nothing groundbreaking, placing him right in the 'above average' bracket in the eyes of the examiners. He then cast [Spark] eight times in a row, prompting the examiners to nod approvingly before proceeding further. Just as Alex was starting to get a headache because of the tediousness of the process, he was asked to wait for his results in a separate office room.
Alex didn't have to wait for long before the door opened and a middle-aged man, who was, judging by his look, starting to get burnt out on this job entered the room.
The man tossed a folder onto the table and sat down in a chair opposite Alex.
"You mind?" The man asked as he took out a cigarette.
"Go ahead."
The man offered one to Alex, but he shook his head.
"Alexander Anderson, right?" The man opened the folder he brought.
"Yes, that's me."
"Elio Sirocco."
Elio extended his hand, and when Alex shook it, he realized that the man was at least a peak 1-Star awakened.
"Your test results came in fine, eight on all physical tests isn't bad, and pretty consistent with an unawakened person doing physical labor, like working in mines. Agility though, may have been a point of contention, but no one is forbidden from dancing or training in competitive sports, so it is kind of a moot point."
Elio took a puff of smoke and continued.
"Your magical abilities are pretty good. You claimed you got a mana pool expansion talent, and cast [Spark] eight times which is pretty good for someone who had only awakened today." Elio held a short pause looking at Alex.
"Thanks." Alex replied.
"This is all good... but you didn't awaken today, didn't you?" Elio stared directly into Alex's eyes. "You see, we have this pretty useful little thing called manawave detection device. The thing can detect differences in intensity and amplitude of mana waves, we use it to monitor changes in dungeons to predict breaks and schedule teams appropriately. The matter is, this device has one other use. It can tell you if someone's mana waves are chaotic like they have just awakened, or they have stabilized in a certain pattern which only develops after several hundred casts at the very least."
At this moment it was obvious that they have caught onto Alex's bullshit.
"Your background check came mostly fine, aside from a gap where you have seemingly dropped off the face of Earth for quite a long time." Elio stared directly into Alex's eyes.
"So how can we be sure to know that you are really Alexander Anderson and not someone who uses his identity? Care to elaborate?"