Chapter 5 - The Awakening Day (2)
The crystal was a mysterious object. It was found during one of the raids in an A-rank dungeon; it was quite a unique clear reward.
The crystal functions as a connection between an unawakened and the Akashic Records, therefore awakening you and giving you the right to enter a gate. It also worked as an identifier, so one could know what talent you have and what rank it is.
For example, an E-rank fire manipulation will turn the crystal to a faint orange, and a small fire will be projected outwards. However, if the fire manipulation was at A-rank instead, the crystal would turn into a strong, flowing orange, and a big fire would be projected outwards all around the awakened person. The effects are all mostly harmless, since it usually just manifests in ways that represent what talent it is. Most people already knew this, so during the ceremony, even when unexpected things like the earthquake happened, they didn't give it much thought.
It was just a small earthquake that would disappear after a second or two, so why bother? Well....
Who could've expected that the moment Kai pressed his hand on the crystal, it would explode in a sickly green light, and green cracks started to appear in the sky!
The world screamed as space itself was ripped open, a swirling mass of green and black that seemed to absorb anything that appeared in its place. Gasps erupted from the crowd as the world around them began to warp.
The sky overhead tore even more. Massive jagged rifts split across the heavens like shattered glass. Each one was bleeding an eerie green glow, edged in absolute blackness.
"What the—" Mr. Smith stumbled backwards, his computer finally cracking.
The ground beneath their feet rippled like water. The stage almost folded in on itself, and suddenly there were two more stages—no, *three*— overlapping at impossible angles. Kai stood at the center of all of them simultaneously, his hand still pressed against the crystal, eyes wide with shock.
People in the stands screamed as gravity betrayed them. Some floated upward, grasping at nothing. Others fell sideways, tumbling around like a drunk marionette. A woman found herself standing on what should have been a vertical wall, staring down in horror.
One little girl found herself staring into a rift, and she could see herself in it, waving back at her.
"Everyone, stay calm!" Mr. Smith shouted, but his voice was drowned out by the panic of the crowd and the sick sound of reality tearing apart. The largest rift opened directly behind Kai—a tear fifteen feet wide, swirling with black and green energy.m Through it, the audience could see... nothing. Not darkness. Not space. Nothing. The absence of light itself, the absolute void.
And then, just as suddenly as it began, everything snapped back. The cracks sealed. Gravity returned. The duplicated stages merged back into one.
Kai collapsed to his knees, gasping, his hand finally falling away from the crystal. Silence reigned in the plaza.
Mr. Smith stared at him, pale-faced, his tablet forgotten in his trembling hands. The crystal started to lose its color, and left there was a sentence that surprised him even more than anything ever could. His voice stuttered as he read it.
"P-Portal manipulation, SS-Rank..."
Gasps erupted from everywhere, SS-rank! The number of SS-rank talent holders could be counted under one hundred! They were incredibly rare, too see. Every known SS-rank Talent holders were high up in society; a lot of them worked for the government as generals, while the rest worked at the Explorers Association. The most notable ones are the 5 heads that lead their own divisions in the association.
Jinwoo's face was morphed into a surprise, too. Sure, he expected that this hyperactive friend of his would awaken, too, but an SS-rank? No way in hell could he have expected that! Even Kai himself had not expected it; his face was frozen in disbelief.
The silence lasted a minute before the crowd erupted in cheers!
"Oh gods, to think I've witnessed a real SS-rank awakening!"
"Did you see how powerful it was? It was leagues above David's!"
"Holy shit, life is unfair, why him and not me!"
One could practically see the scout's eyes glowing in hunger. If they could headhunt such a prodigy, they would be set for life!
Even the previous lazy Eirik was not fully invested; his eyes glowed with hunger while he stared at Kai. "We need him." His words were simple, but they got the point across. Elera shook her head, "I do want to recruit him too, but I'm sure The Vanguards have already gotten news of this too." She gave a complicated look towards the stage, "What can we offer that The Vanguards couldn't?" "Tch." Eirik could only grit his teeth in annoyance.
Different voices could be heard, but most of them cheered him on, the plaza shaking from the booming voice of the collective cheers. The sound seemed to finally register in Kai's brain, and he was brought out of his reverie.
"Whoa!"
He tried standing up, but his legs shook hard; he almost fell back to the ground if it was not for Mr. Smith, who caught him. He looked up to see a bright smile from the proctor, a reassuring smile. "Good job there, lad, your future will shine brightly for all of us." Kai didn't know how to respond to that, so he only nodded. He got his feet steady again and started walking back.
Everyone in the audience was chanting his name, and to be honest, it was slightly embaressing, he hastened his way back and finally found his seat. He threw himself back on it with an exclamation clear on his face.
Jinwoo could only shake his head in helplessness, but he couldn't let a moment like this pass.
"Pfft, where did all your bravado from earlier go?" He teased him with a small grin on his face. Kai, who was resting with his eyes closed, his lips twitched. He opened his eyes to glare at his best friend, " I want to see you happy if you managed to rip apart the whole plaza like it was pure paper." He grunted, clearly displeased.
Jinwoo couldn't fathom for the life of him why Kai was unhappy; shouldn't he jump around and be obnoxious about it? Pressing his new SS-rank talent onto his face while bragging? He didn't understand why, so he just asked.
"Dude, shouldn't you be happy about it? You got a high-ranked talent as you wanted." He was quite curious why. Kai could only sigh in exhaustion. "Yes i did... but! There's a difference between high rank and HIGH rank!" He turned towards his friend, looking into his eyes and searching for any pity.
"If I had a normal C-rank or B-rank, I could live the rest of my life comfortably. As long as I minded my own business, I could have lived like a king! But now? I HAVE to join a orginization, and I HAVE to challenge gates!" He groaned like a man who was slighted by the world.
"My lazy life! It's gone!"
Jinwoo gave him a deadpan look; he almost wanted to punch him.
Almost.
Jinwoo could only sigh and shake his head. He turned towards the plaza again, where Mr. Smith finally collected himself before continuing the ceremony by calling up the next name.
And so, the ceremony kept going, name after name was called up,
"Edward Joans, B-rank [Sound Manipulation]
"Harry Mars, A-rank [Swordsman]"'
"Emilia Johnson, E-rank [Wind Control]"
And some people had extraordinary luck and got an A-rank or B-rank, but the crowd was slightly less excited than before. But to be fair, there was an SS rank before them, so anything under it would be less exciting. The names kept being called up until the last name came up.
"Seo Jinwoo, please come forward." Jinwoo felt his heart pound when he heard his name. He took a couple of deep breaths before standing up.
"You got this, man, this will be a piece of cake for you!" Kai gave him a thumbs-up in encouragement, but it did not help Jinwoo at all. "Shut up! You're going to jinx me if you say that!" He barked to his friend, who slapped a hand over his mouth, "Oops." Jinwoo only shook his head and headed down the stairs towards the stage. With every step he took, a feeling of unease built up in his heart.
His legs brought him before the crystal; he could almost see his own face on it. Mr. Smith gave him a reassuring smile before gesturing towards the crystal, "Please, Mr. Seo. Put your hand on the crystal.
Jinwoo took a steady breath to calm his nerves, and his hand reached out towards the crystal. The unease in his heart was almost exploding.
'What if I awaken nothing, will I stay as a normal forever?'
Thoughts like that kept going through his head, and before they could get to him, he shook them away.
'No! No matter whether I awaken or not, I will still do my best to become an explorer, no matter what!' He declared in his heart, a resolute light shining in his eyes. His hand finally landed on the crystal. The crowd held its breath, waiting for the verdict.
Nothing happened. Another second passed, and still nothing happened. Jinwoo felt a cold sweat go down his face, and his hand started to shake.
Mr. Smith felt a sense of deja vu, and he felt like something bad was going to happen. But before he could answer, the crystal exploded in violet light!
The light was incredibly strong; it was not like the previous times, where it glowed faintly like the E-ranks or shone strongly like the SS-rank. It blazed like a violet sun, blinding everyone present.
Not even the strongest ones present could look directly into the light; they had to turn their head away to not hurt their eyes. Even Jinwoo had to close his eyes tightly since he was in the eye of the light.
In the storm of everything, Jinwoo could faintly feel like he heard a voice.
{Connecting to the Akashic Records...}
{Success!}
{Seo Jinwoo has successfully been connected to the Akashic Records!}
It was a cold voice, almost robotic. It sounded like an AI but with 0 emotion. Just cold, hard facts.
Jinwoo felt his heart lighten in elation! He awakened! He successfully awakened! He almost wanted to scream it out loud, but the awakening was not done yet.
{Searching for talent...}
{ERROR ERROR ERROR}
{ERROR ERROR ERROR}
{ERROR ERROR ERROR}
{...}
"..W-What?"
His heart, which was filled with joy, dropped like a stone; he felt like a mouse that had run an entire maze and was right before the exit before he was denied it. The messages kept sending, and he felt something bloating inside of him, like he was going to explode any minute.
{Overwriting current access...}
But before he could react, the voice returned. But this time it was more... alive.
{Oh my... to think someone would awaken this again}
It was a female voice. It had more emotion, and its voice was tinged with curiosity.
{It seems that your mortal body is nodisappearedt ready to take on it just yet}
{I'll help you awaken part of it for now; otherwise.}
Jinwoo felt the bloating sensation disappear, like it was never there in the first place. The voice laughed lightly, speaking to him like they were old friends.
{You sure are lucky, Seo Jinwoo. I will be watching you from here on out.}
And the voice dissapeared.
The moment held before the violet light receded, and what was left was a floating card. It had no writings, no engravings; it was just a plain white card. Floating there without a care in the world. Everyone was taken aback. Mr. Smith, who stood there in astonishment, read the words that appeared on the crystal. His face morphed from curiosity to pure disbelief!
"Uhm... Seo Jinwoo. You have awakened a F-rank talent."
"...Eh?"