On a peaceful autumn night.
The clear sky glowed with a golden light, matching the warm lights emitted from the houses beneath it while the sun slowly dipped below the horizon.
In a dimly lit room, a young man could barely be seen while he lay with his back against the wall, his eyes were slightly swollen as his gripless hand clutched an almost empty beer bottle.
Just as the last few drops of alcohol in the bottle were gurgled down his throat, the young man's mind raced with numerous chaotic, uncontrollable thoughts.
"Damn it, damn everything; why does everything have to be hard for me, do you take pleasure as you watch me suffer or something?" The young man muttered as if speaking with the one above.
"Only if I had the means to fight back.
if only I could awaken.."
The young man started, but his words trailed off before he could complete as he stopped and shook his head.
Then, holding onto the last shred of consciousness that was separating him from being completely drunk, he continued, "I guess even something like that wouldn't have changed anything; I might have needed something way crazier, something that is similar to the powers of an omniscient god."
Just as the young man finished, the room suddenly lit up, startling him enough to open his eyes wide open even after being somewhat drunk.
And before he could comprehend what had happened, he saw a white screen float before him, which read.
[ Recognized the host's desire to obtain absolute knowledge, the last condition necessary has been satisfied. AWAKENING IN PROGRESS!]…
[ You have awakened as the unknown class: Knowledge S..]
But even before he could manage to read any further, the young man's body fell sideways before it crashed onto the floor, and snoring as he lay atop the soft moquette.
…
With the rising sun, a beam of light penetrated through a window before it hit the young man's cheeks and his eyelids.
After mumbling something and tossing himself around a few times, the young man finally opened his eyes.
Looking at the floor around him he tried to stand up before walking towards the bathroom door, only to realize that he had hit something with his feet as a green bottle fell over, producing a reverberating "TIN" sound.
Hearing the sound, the young man looked below his feet and sighed.
'How much did I drink? Well, I'm an adult now,' he mused, the annoyance on his face a moment ago turning to that of pride.
'Ugh, I still need to clean up, if someone were to see me, they would call the police'.
The young man had just turned eighteen, but since he was residing in the US right now, he still had three years before he could legally drink.
After cleaning up the disaster he had created, the young man tried to recall what had actually happened the night before, and it barely took him half a minute before he thought, "I must've become really desperate, to think that I would dream of awakening"…
_____
About eight years ago.
On a day that seemed just as normal as any other, a calamity befell upon earth and all of its inhabitants.
Huge cracks tore through the skies, pouring strange monsters from them.
The peace that once enveloped the whole world was then reduced to nothing but specs by those monsters, striking fear in every human, and making it hard for them to even fight back.
Even after using numerous guns and artillery, some of those monsters remained unscathed, causing many humans to start losing hope.
It was at that moment that a window appeared before everyone's eyes, the window had words written on it.
[ ??? has eyed your planet. ]
[ ??? has taken a liking to your planet and will now try to help the residents in opposing the unwelcome guests. ]
[ Seek help from those who have awakened. ]
From then on, many humans all around the world began to awaken, gaining access to mana, be it a woman, an elder, or a naive child, every awakened had from then on obtained the powers that allowed them to stand toe to toe against the monsters.
But not everyone could awaken similar powers, and over time it led to the formation of diverse ranks, which later on became the dream of many.
A dream to reach higher levels, and obtain fame, power, and money.
However, this dream of many could only be achieved by a select few, and with the passage of a few years, most resigned from having that fantasy and accepted their fate, searching for success through other means in this changed world.
_____
Coming back to the room.
Not thinking much about it, the young man walked into the bathroom and started to take off his clothes in order to take a shower.
Thinking about how he had acted while being drunk, the young man casually joked to himself, "If I did awaken, then it would create a reaction if I were to say… was it…
Status window?"
But to his shock, it truly happened, a window materialized right before his eyes, causing his face to turn pale, leaving him astonished and completely speechless.
[ Status Window ]
[ Name: Hans
Age: 18
Class: KNOWLEDGE SEEKER (Unknown)
Title: NONE
Level: 0
Strength: 1
Agility: 1
Endurance: 1
Wisdom: 10
Class Skills:
{Knowledge Hunger: Effect: Reading and discovering new things will increase your wisdom stats, the higher your wisdom stats are, the wider your memory will become.
Completion= 0% Passive}
{Almighty knowledge:
Description: Knowledge and cunningness are the only true weapons, once you obtain wisdom, everything else will come to you.
Effect 1: From now on, the only stat that will increase by external means will be wisdom. Effect 2: For every raise of 10 points of wisdom, all of your other stats will rise by one.
Passive}
Normal skills: None
]
Hans's legs almost gave out since he was barely able to walk after seeing all this, he struggled to approach the shower handle before starting it and letting the hot water cascade over his hair while trying to process what had just happened.
By the time Hans was finished with his shower, the bathroom was completely filled with steam and the glass had become foggy, making it impossible to see through.
After walking out, Hans quickly dressed himself in a black t-shirt and a simple pair of jeans.
He then examined himself in the mirror, pondering what to do.
Hans had wheat-colored skin and a tall stature, standing at a height of 183cm (6 feet).
Hanging down from his ears were numerous earrings as they stood out from his raven-black hair.
However, what would attract anyone's attention the most were his amber/ orange-colored eyes.
PAH!
Suddenly, a slapping sound echoed in the room as Hans slapped himself using both of his hands as if trying to wake up from the long trance.
After gathering up a few more things, he left the empty house before walking for a few minutes, arriving at a bus stop, and waiting for the desired bus.
After the arrival of the bus in a few minutes, Hans boarded and walked to one of the many empty seats to take the spot to his liking.
It was Sunday after all, and not many people would be moving at 9 am.
The ride was brief and took almost twenty minutes, but to Hans, who was lost in his thoughts, the twenty minutes felt akin to just a couple of minutes.
Getting off the bus and walking for another while, he finally arrived at his destination.
A five-story building with a clear insignia on the entrance: Awakened Management Association. Also known as A.M.A.
Hans walked in as if it was nothing special, and once inside, looked around for a while, feeling strangely nonchalant about the surroundings.
Thankfully, a young man Hans encountered in the hallway was kind enough to show him the way to the waiting room, from where he took a ticket with the number 13.
'A cursed number huh? I guess it's an unlucky day.'
Noting the irony, Hans waited for his number to be called while he looked around the room, which more than an office, reminded him of a hospital, a certainly not good memory.
During the past 4 years, he had already cycled to the hospital enough times to last him his whole lifetime, visiting his family members who had been cursed by the heavens.
It had happened when he was thirteen, his mother, father, and even his little sister; that unlucky day; he had lost everything he had.
Breaking his thoughts out of his tragic past was a speaker that resounded throughout the hall: ( Number 13, please come forward).
Realizing that it was his call, Hans stood up and walked into the cabin.
In the room was a woman who waited for him in her cozy armchair, and a white doctor's coat.
Taking the initiative, the woman said, "Good morning, you are here to register your awakening, right?"
Without saying a word, Hans nodded.
The woman continued, "Good, follow me."
Following that, the woman did some tests on Hans and after about half an hour the results were ready.
Coming out of another room, the woman from before sat against Hans and said in a serious tone, "I'm going to be honest with you, you should give up working as an awakened. If it weren't for the mana in your body, I would have doubted that you were even someone who has awakened, even normal people have a better physique compared to you."
"If someone like you were to enter a gate, not even your bones would come back, so don't waste your life."
Walking out of the doctor's cabin, Hans held the assessment paper in his hand which was now crumpled while he wore a disheartened look on his face.
After he walked out of the building, Hans threw the paper away.
If someone was around, they would have been shocked to find out what was written on it.
Power: G-Rank
Potential: F-Rank
Both of these ranks were the lowest that had ever been registered.
While most people would've been annoyed or sad about the results of such an assessment, Hans simply walked back to the bus stop as if nothing had bothered him, compared to the disheartened look on his face while he was in the building.
After he took a seat, a slight smile appeared on the corner of his lips as he muttered, 'That will help me cover my actions for a while.'
'Now… shall we go and test it?'
'The prowess of an unknown class.'