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"Alright then... hearing what you've been going through makes me consider moving here after I graduate, so I can protect you," Faiz said with a determined look.
"You don't need to do that, man. That's way too much," I responded, laughing it off.
"I'll let you know whether it's a yes or no later, but you'll take it as is. I don't want to hear any rejection, okay?" said Faiz.
Hahhh, this guy Faiz Arya, I just can't understand him. He has everything—wealth, power, strength, and even a kind heart. Honestly, if you ask me, he's more suited to be the main character.
Speaking of Razy, he's not much different from Faiz... but yeah, you could say he's a bit more "normal" compared to Faiz. Despite coming from a powerful family, Razy acts fairly average. Even his awakening was pretty "normal." When he leveled up, he got a regular class—Assassin. Honestly, I was surprised when I heard. I expected him to get something rare, like Magic Swordsman or Greatest Lancer, considering how athletic he is. I still have doubts, though—did he hide something? The way he told me about his awakening was kinda suspicious. But whatever, Razy's still my friend, so I pushed aside my suspicions.
Hmm? You're wondering why both of my friends have such extraordinary backgrounds, while I'm just, well, plain? Long story short, I met Faiz in elementary school and Razy when I entered middle school. For various reasons, the three of us became a group, with me as the weakest one.
I'll explain more about that later if anyone's interested, hahaha.
"Alright, fine, whatever you say," I replied, snapping out of my inner monologue. Honestly, I always wonder why I talk to myself like this, as if someone's listening. Am I going crazy or something?
"So, let me ask you now. After your awakening today, are you gonna register with the Player Association right away?" Faiz asked.
"Yeah, that's the plan, but since you stopped me for a chat first, it turned out like this," I said jokingly.
"You jerk, that's not what I meant," he laughed.
"Anyway, let's head inside together. I need to go to the receptionist, too," Faiz said, inviting me.
"Sure, why not," I replied.
We stood up from the park bench where we had been sitting for nearly two hours, talking about this and that. Together, we headed toward the entrance of the Bandung branch of the Player Association.
As we walked through the sleek, futuristic sensor doors, I couldn't help but be amazed at how high-tech the place was. I paused for a moment to take it all in, but Faiz called out, urging me to hurry up toward the receptionist. The building was not just visually impressive—the interior was futuristic, with a floor made of strong aluminum, and there seemed to be some sort of electronics embedded in it, serving various functions. It wasn't even hot inside. In fact, it was comfortably cool the moment I stepped in.
"So, you brought the documents, right? Like your student ID and national ID?" Faiz asked.
"Yeah, don't worry, I've got them in my wallet," I replied.
"Alright, hand them over. I'll take care of the registration for you, along with some guild work I need to do," Faiz offered.
"Hmm, sure, thanks a lot, Faiz," I said.
"No worries, man. You just sit tight over there. I'll let you know when it's time for the skill test," he reassured me.
"Got it," I replied, giving him a thumbs-up.
I sat down on a nearby chair and pulled out my phone, starting to search for information about what happens during the awakening test.
As I browsed the internet, I found out that there were quite a few procedures involved. But the most important one—the one that truly confirmed you were awakened—was being able to summon your **Inventory**.
"Inventory."
A subspace room measuring 1x1 meters—a gift for anyone who has awakened. While it's small at first, it can be upgraded as you level up, just like any other skill, up to level 10. Inventory isn't a typical skill that shows up in the skill menu; it's more like a subconscious command implanted by the system into those who have awakened.
This procedure is crucial because only true awakened individuals are allowed to hunt in dungeons. There have been incidents where people pretended to be awakened just because they were stronger than the average person, only to end up dying in a dungeon. The procedure helps minimize such casualties.
Furthermore, while the **Inventory** is summoned, the display looks somewhat similar to a status screen.
If I recall correctly, you need to imagine an empty room while saying the word "Inventory."
"Hmm, I guess I'll try summoning 'Inventory' to open my subspace," I muttered.
[Due to the influence of the skill OverLimit, congratulations to the host for developing the skill •Inventory•.]
...
...
Once again, this skill surprises me. While others need effort to summon their Inventory, the skill just creates it for me. How does this "OverLimit" skill even work? I don't know for sure, but remembering how I got the skill "Observe", I've noticed two possible triggers for the skill to activate.
First, the user has to imagine the power they want.
Second, the user must at least verbally say the keyword to create the desired skill.
From my two experiences of acquiring skills, these seem to be the conditions for activating it. But is that really it? I'll have to experiment more later.
Now that I've got my Inventory, I should try using it... Wait, did I just see a notification saying I acquired a skill?
"Status" I called out.
The status screen appeared in front of me.
"Just as I thought," I muttered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
||Name: Lathan Louvain
||Level: 1
||Age: 18
||Race: Human (??)
||Job: None
||Affiliation: None
||Str: 7
||Agi: 8
||Int: 24
||End: 13
||Luck: 20
[|Main Skill: OverLimit (?)|]
||Subskills: Observe (lvl 1), Inventory (lvl 1)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Skills are supposed to be subconscious abilities, so why did this one get created as a skill? I don't get it.
"Whatever, I guess I'll just use it anyway," I said.
"Inventory" I commanded.
The Inventory window appeared before me. Its interface was similar to my status window, and its display... It's hard to describe. How should I put it? It's like the status window, but completely empty. Should I try touching it?
I slowly reached out and touched the system window, and my hand seemed to disappear into the void, leaving just my elbow visible outside the window. The feeling of touching it... It's like dipping my hand in water, but my hand wasn't wet, and the part of the system where my hand entered turned black, forming a hole like a black hole in the movies, spinning slowly. Honestly, I was shocked by how cool it looked, with all the effects that appeared when I interacted with the interface.
I withdrew my hand and decided to experiment by putting my wallet into the Inventory interface. When I did, a small box appeared on the previously empty screen, with a wallet icon in it, just like in an RPG.
"This skill is a real anti-theft tool if you ask me," I chuckled.
Not long after, Faiz approached me, calling out.
"Hey Than, your registration is done. You just need to go through the power and awakening tests now," Faiz said as he reached me.
"Oh, great. Thanks a ton, Faiz," I replied.
"By the way, you know how the procedure goes, right?" Faiz asked.
"Yeah, more or less. I've seen it a few times on YouTube, haha," I joked.
"Hahaha, you're gonna be a Hunter through YouTube tutorials, just like those wannabe TikTok kids who think education is a joke, hahaha," Faiz laughed.
"Man, those kids are just ignorant and rude. They think they're cool by acting like that," I replied.
"True, especially back when that trading trend blew up. Suddenly, all these kids were worshiping some 'guru,' saying, 'Lamborghini, boss, flex it! Hahaha,'" Faiz chuckled.
"Haha, yeah, that was wild. Anyway, let's not get sidetracked. Come on, let's get this over with," I said, inviting Faiz to join me.
The testing room was visible to everyone.
"Eh, I'll catch up later. I still have some work to finish. I'll come over when you're ready. Besides, your number's still 241, so it's gonna be a while," Faiz said.
"Alright, I'm off then. Thanks again, Faiz," I said.
"Okay, good luck. Hope you get great results," Faiz wished me.
"Aminnn," I replied.
I hurried through the hallway toward the testing room. Once there, I sat down, waiting for my turn.
"Feels like a hospital with all these numbers," I muttered to myself.
While waiting, I killed time on my phone, playing mobile games and reading some comics. Maybe reading these comics could give me ideas for new skills to create with my limitless ability—"OverLimit". I've always loved reading comics with Hunter or system themes, even before the Great Disaster that hit 10 years ago.
~~To be continued~~