"What does the heart mean?" I was well versed on how the system awakeners.
I tapped on the gift to check its description.
[Gift [The Heart]: Whatever the heart desires it will take.]
"That tells me nothing, what kind of garbage system is this?"
*DING DING!!* a loud sound resounded as a spherical drone approached me.
"Refugee Citizen: Grey! Please follow me to report to the awakeners bureau. Failure to comply will lead to immediate arrest and being marked as an illegal awakener." the drone's voice was metallic, lifeless but clear, I had no choice but to comply.
"Before that, I hunted down a criminal on the wanted list, scan him."
I pointed at the lowlife's corpse and the drone immediately started scanning him, the QR code on his forehead appeared under the drone's laser.
Outlaws in New Pandora were tagged with a QR code on their first arrest, a slave's mark that served as both a bounty and an Identifier/Warning for normal civilians. If they were free and roaming around, they most likely had a bounty on them.
"Registered offender detected. Status: Dead. 20 credits deducted. Your permit as a bounty hunter has not been renewed in the last 2 years. 20 credits deducted. 175 credits sent to your account. Follow me to the awakeners bureau."
"Lead the way, Officer Drone."
Awakeners were an individual force capable of incredible damage to the public, therefore an awakening detection system was put into place, it detected the great surge in energy that occurred when a human awakened and sent out a drone to register the individual. An automated system that revolutionized the process and minimized villains/illegal awakeners.
.
.
.
It didn't take long to arrive at the awakeners office. A spiraling tower at the center point of every city, made from Blackstar steel and spirits and glass, even a catastrophe-level monster couldn't knock it down. I stood at the door for a bit, hesitant.
The people around me were too clean, too nice, too bright, and mostly New Pandorans. I felt out of place, we all looked human but I felt just a little bit lower on the scale than those around me.
The awakeners bureau just had to be in a richer part of town.
"Please enter, Mr.Gray. Failure to comply will lead to your immediate arrest." The drone went off again.
"Yeah yeah, I get it."
The automated doors slid open and I walked in towards the reception.
"Mrs. Jones will guide you through the rest of the process." the drone left after pointing to the receptionist.
She looked extra bright, even compared to the others. Clean, well-dressed, and beautiful, really beautiful. Blue eyes, blonde hair the whole shebang the nobles of New Pandora were known for. I was slightly stuck looking at her for a bit.
"Mr.Gray, right? Welcome to the tower and congratulations on your awakening! I just have to check your information and you can head into the registry."
"Uh, yeah, go ahead." I tried to avoid her eyes, they were too bright, too filled with hope.
"Let's see, last name Gray, first name and middle name....hidden? And the last name is gray...that's strange. Do you know why that might be?"
"No idea, it's always been that way, even I'm curious as to what it is."
"System didn't flag you, so there's no issue there. You're from Earth?!"
Her expression suddenly changed.
"Yes, is that a problem?" I half-expected the reaction.
"No, not at all, I just thought the hair was dyed. We just don't really get many awakeners from Earth, must be tough living in New Pandora alone,"
I was surprised, her reaction was strange, there was no hatred in her eyes but instead empathy. She felt bad as she read through my file, in the past the reactions I received were of disgust.
"New Pandora is New Pandora," I replied.
"True. Let's finish up, height: 187 cm, hair color: black, eye color: black....and done! You can head on in for the rank check now." She tapped some more buttons and then smiled.
"Thank you, miss."
"You can call me Maria, once you're done inside come back for the rest of the process."
"Will do."
I walked past her into one of the doors and arrived in a small room with a floating orb in the middle. An old man in a lab coat stood near it.
"Gray, what an earthling name. touch the orb quickly." He refused to even meet my gaze and his tone carried a certain pride and unwillingness.
I didn't say anything and placed my hand on the Orb, its job was simple, it checked and registered the rank of my Gift and if I had any skills.
The orb's color changed a few times and then it returned to normal.
"Interesting little orb," I noted.
[Whatever the heart desires, it takes!]
[You have gained a new skill from [Awakener's Tower: Test Orb], A-Rank [Status Check]: allows you to peek into the statuses of others.]
'It took the orb's skill?!'
"Gift rank is C. A bit too high for an earthling but nothing special."
[The heart desires revenge. Touch the transgressor.]
I didn't want to bother dealing with the old man but the system demanded it.
'I just need to touch him..'
"What are you looking at? Go annoy the receptionist outside-"
Before he finished talking I struck down with my palm on his shoulder.
"What are you doing earthling trash?! How dare you touch me?!"
"There was a spider on your shoulder, sir."
"You should have just told me, damned earthling manners. get out."
I left for the reception before he got suspicious.
The panels that appeared shocked me to my core.
[The heart has dealt out punishment.]
[You have robbed a new C-rank skill [Enhanced Stamina] from [Jion Grah: Chief ester]: its effects will applied passively and it will not appear in the status panel! And an added +20 to Physical stat.]
Instantly, I felt a change in my body, like I could run five marathons back to back.
'This gift, just how broken is it?!'
Stealing gifts from others was unheard of.
"All done. Unfortunately, the card materials are out for today. Your card will be out tomorrow, so come and pick it up whenever you can." Maria explained.
"No worries, thank you for your help."
"You want to get some coffee or a drink later?" Maria suddenly asked. Her face reddened ever so slightly as she spoke.
I was flabbergasted but pulled myself together, even though I had to have a good day eventually.
"Sure, tomorrow?" I acted nonchalant.
"Tomorrow is good!" She smiled.
"It's set then," I responded quickly.
I left after some small talk, I had some urgent plans to make.