Finally... Awakened!

The light was slowly fading as my senses returned back to the church. The first thing I noticed was that the HUD was back, and several messages appeared in the chat, including the completion of the latest quest, resulting in the 2 skill points and 50 crystal reward.

I decided to quickly check my shiny new status, before the priest has a chance to interrupt my thoughts. The current situation was rather pleasing.

Local Hero, level 1

Available Names: Child, Teacher, Novice Fighter, Store Assistant, Local Hero

Titles: Local Hero (+1 to all skills while protecting)

HP: 51/51, MP: 21/21, SP:22/22

Stats:

Strength 24, Dexterity 19, Constitution 21, Intelligence 15, Wisdom 14, Charisma 5

Luck 1, Speed 8, Stealth 2, Magic 9, Martial Prowess 10

XP 0/100

Physical Skills:

Basic Attack (Blunt – Lv3, Blade – Lv3, Thrown – Lv2, Unarmed – Lv1)

Slash Lv1

Double Slash Lv1

General Skills:

Awakening Potential

Dash Lv2

Rest Lv1

Arithmetics Lv2

Brighthilt Language Lv2

Blessings:

Inventory Control Lv1

Naming Lv1

Weapon: Rusty Short Sword – 3-5 Attack

100400 Ursa

Attribute Points: 24

Skill Points: 5

Crystals: 65

My HP increased by 8, while MP and SP increased by 3 each, with the difference probably being due to the attributes. I've gained 5 additional attribute points, which was the most that anyone could get from leveling up, and another skill point.

Then there were two blessings that I have obtained. I wondered how rare it is to obtain two, as I've only heard that in rare cases one could get a blessing. Actually, the thing that was on my mind is whether the blessings I got related to my grade, and if I had a higher grade, would I have gotten more, or better, gifts, if the two were related at all.

It was a bit delayed, but I finally noticed Priest congratulating me with a wide smile on his face. It was a bit awkward, but I went through the log quickly to see what he was saying, and it wasn't anything significant.

The most important aspects were that I could now access many books that are stored at the various temples, including this one, that are meant to help inform and guide the newly Awakened, and that because of the nature of the sheltered life in the village, Priest will help me with any questions that I may have.

Turning back, I noticed my parents tearing up, and even Father wasn't trying to hide his emotions. Peddler simply threw me a pouch with a nod and a smile. After the adults congratulated me, I told them that it may take a while and so we separated, leaving me with the priest.

A 10 year old boy and a priest, alone. Dangerous!

I smiled bitterly as I found out that my mind still worked the same way, and that not much has changed due to the Awakening.

"I'm sure you have many questions, but first let us proceed with tuning the Awakening Crystal to your soul." The priest said, leading me to the altar at the back of the room.

"Ah, Hunter mentioned it to me, but he didn't really explain." I said as I placed my hands on the altar. A small magical circle was engraved in it, and in its center was a small clear crystal which began to glow under my touch.

Priest nodded at the sight of the glow. "This Crystal is the connection of the Awakened to god!" He said, excited. "It grants several benefits, but enhancing the growth of its owner is probably the main feature. Within you, as an Awakened, there is an essence if Divinity. When an Awakened loses their life, this Divinity dissipates, returning to the world of the gods. But the Awakening Crystal claims part of that divinity and converts it so that it becomes part of you, allowing you to grow. You have probably heard the concept already from Hunter, but that is how one obtains the experience to level up!"

"So without it, an Awakened can't level up?" I asked, frowning.

"Indeed it is so. Are you also aware of Attributes and Skills? Good, then it will be short. Though you can improve through training, the levels one gains from the converted divinity also provide with such power. In its contained form they are meaningless, but if you visit the church, at an alter such as this one, you'll be able to direct the divinity in order to strengthen yourself." The priest explains earnestly.

"So, without visiting the church one is unable to use their levels to their fullest?"

"Indeed it is so. Though it means that the priests will see your status, be aware that all of us are under a strict Soul Oath and can't ever reveal the contents of it, not even to the High Priests." Priest assured me.

"Why is that?" Wouldn't it mean that they can't report people with criminal titles?

"History. It's a dark stain and this is the least we can do to try and correct it. Hundreds of years ago, arose a man with the markings of a Hero. The Priest that discovered him was excited and reported it, wishing for the church to support the Hero's growth, as he was still young and the danger at the time was great. Unfortunately, spies of the Demon Lord infiltrated the ranks of the church. Discovering the future Hero, they captured and corrupted his soul, turning him into the Demon Lord's right hand and leading to great disaster." Priest expressed solemnly, as if the excitement he had shown earlier was a lie.

"I… I see. Won't it be a problem that it's reported that I'm a Local Hero, and now that I'm Awakened…"

"Well, it's not optimal, but even if it wasn't reported to the church, with a name and a level, it can't be hidden for long. Usually, those that have the Hero's potential are revealed after they have obtained higher levels, but you don't have that privilege." The priest explained calmly.

Feeling that this was the end of that topic, I decided to ask what was on my mind a moment ago. "But what about criminals that could be caught if you could report them

"About that? Well, that's not really a concern. The gods are divided into two main factions, where we define them as the Good Gods and the Evil Gods, with a small Neutral Gods faction. Of course, things aren't so simple, but it would suffice for now. To Good Gods are careful and selective, so the Awakening is somewhat restricted. Compared to them, the Evil Gods tempt followers with easy access to power, so to those that throw away their humanity, such as bandits that prey on their fellow man, not only Awakening is easier, but also other benefits. The Good Gods wish to keep people close to them, which is why most of the benefits require you to come to a temple, but the Evil Gods provide the access freely…"

"But… Isn't that dangerous, to humanity and the Good Gods?" I asked, my frown only deepening.

"Sometimes. But the forces of good and evil aren't at balance, with good constantly keeping evil at bay. We must always remain vigilant and maintain things that way, but it is promised that when the forces of evil are growing, a hero will be born. Perhaps… Now?" Priest said, looking at me.

"Hmmm…" I didn't really want to reply to him at the moment. Things will get pretty annoying soon enough, if Priest will see my status, so there was no point. "What about the other benefits of the Crystal?"

"Don't worry, those are pretty straightforward and I'll give you the brochure detailing them." The priest said, waving his hand.

"How… Convenient." I said expressionlessly at that statement. "I guess that I'll go over that and the other books and if I have anything left to ask, I'll talk to you then?"

Priest was rather surprised. "Oh, you can read by yourself? I was going to offer to help you with the basics and some tutoring on reading, but I guess there's no need… Truly a remarkable youth."

"Is that so… Oh, is it done?" I avoided the praise awkwardly and turned to see the glow fading. Instead, parchment with details, regarding me, rested on top of the altar.

"May I?" The priest said with a smile as he grabbed the parchment, but the next moment he froze, as if time was just a suggestion that one could disregard.

"I… I… I thought… That your attributes will be… Relatively high… But…" The priest was trembling. To have such a reaction, and considering those numbers were probably on top of the page, meant that things will only get more troublesome soon.

"Twe- Twenty Four?! Five?!" He was shocked at different numbers this time. It probably seemed as though I gained them from a single level, which would've terrified even myself, but I didn't really know how to explain that I only got 5 and 1, respectively.

And apparently the priest's already pale face could get whiter. "Two Blessings… And… Naming… A power reserved to the gods, never before handled by a mortal…" Huh, he became more coherent now. A shock underflow perhaps?

"I guess I'm pretty special, huh?" I said halfheartedly, as I didn't really have experience with calming people in such a state.

The Priest blinked twice, as if waking up and reminding himself that I'm standing right there. "Special?" He asked, dumbfounded. "You could say that, yes."

"Say, why is Awakening Potential on my skill list?" I asked, trying to shift the conversation. "I didn't think that it's an actual skill, but isn't it meaningless once I undergo the ritual?" Though I did know that it was a skill, I didn't know how to ask without bringing it up.

"Awakening Potential? Oh, actually, there is a misgiving regarding the skill. People believe that those with the Potential aren't limited by the tiers of Awakening, but that's not true. While those without the skill face a wall at every tier and must undergo the ritual, those with the Potential have the process simply happen to them. However, after they advance to the next tier, sometimes the skill disappears. There is a hidden factor to the skill that determines your maximum tier, though you wouldn't find it out until you reach that tier. Since you still have the skill, it means you'll be able to reach the second tier at least. It's rare for the skill to disappear after the first awakening, but it did happen…"

I found that answer worrying, as the tutorial didn't mention anything regarding the loss of the skill.

The priest coughed so as to receive my attention before it completely left him. "Just… A suggestion regarding one of your Blessings, the Naming one. I don't know the extent of it, and I'm sure you'll find out sooner or later, but you should be very careful with it. If it does what I believe it does, then you shouldn't use it carelessly. Don't reveal that you have such an ability until you grow strong enough to resist anyone."

"I understand… Thanks." I nodded. Priest was right, of course. It was the desire of all people to have a name. It was something very basic, that I didn't think about in the other world, but living five years without a name of my own made me feel insignificant, even when my name was Local Hero.

"Another thing that you'll not find from the books, because it's unique to you…" The priest continued. "Being a Local Hero is not just some title with skill benefits. There's a reason why the church wanted to support your awakening. Heroes, even the Local ones, are pillars of humanity, and are recognized as such. Even a Local Hero without Awakening Potential has great standings, and at the lowest tier of awakening is equal to minor nobility. The higher the tier, the more influence a Local Hero has."

"But you have the Awakening Potential. The expectations from you are greater, and so is your standing. Even now, at level 1, just awoken, you are above any noble house and only have to bow Kings, and not any royalty that is beneath them. Furthermore, those that have the Potential and the Local Hero title are those that may become full-fledged Heroes. If you become a Hero, even the Kings will be unable to demand anything to you and you'll only have to answer to the Gods."

"That's… Big." I felt quite stupid at my reply, but I didn't know what else to say. It also felt as though I already answered a survey written by the gods, which somehow made things a bit more mundane and easier to swallow.

"Yes… It is." Priest nodded. "Do you wish to invest the attribute points now? I advise against investing the skill points until you have better skills, or understanding of your blessings, but…"

"I want to read the books you have first, before deciding… I got some experience with mana, but no magical skills. I considered the path of Magical Swordsman, so perhaps the books will provide me with some hints towards how I should grow."

"That is wise. Remember that as a priest, I have some magical knowledge. My skills are still growing, but I could still help you learn." He offered.

"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind…" I answered with a smile. After that, Priest led me to a shelf filled with books in one of the rooms at the back of the temple, leaving me there.

Scanning the titles of the books, I couldn't help but smile. There were elements that were missing, such as the elusive martial techniques, but there was a book that teach the basics of magic, beyond the fundamentals of mana that I've already learned.

Unfortunately, I knew that if I would start with that one, I would forget about the rest. It was from experience, especially with sites such as TvTropes, where I would open a tab to read something interesting, but it would contain links to other interesting articles. With each page, I would open several more. An experience that could break the mind of the strongest men, surely. For the same reason as I delayed investigating my Blessings, I did not start with the magic.

I turned to a book that contained basic knowledge regarding the Awakened. Opening it, the entire content would be copied to the Lore section, where it would be easier to read, for several reasons. While it felt like I was manipulating the HUD with my eyes, it was more accurate to say that it was through mental effort alone. It meant that there was no eyestrain at all, and I could also constantly read at my top speed, with complete comprehension. In the previous world, my top reading speed was at 300 WPM, but some information would be lost. Now, Intelligence increased my reading speed directly, and I could maintain it perfectly. With 15 Intelligence, my reading speed nearly tripled, and it would only increase further.

Actually, the book wasn't all that useful. Most of the information I've already obtained through the tutorials, with the rest being things that weren't very relevant to me. Awakened needed less food and rest, training was more effective, that kind of stuff. There was some shocking information, and it regarded pregnancy.

While for those that didn't Awaken, pregnancy had worked the same as it did in my previous world, for the Awakened it wasn't true. For them, pregnancy was more of a status effect, and the womb becoming more of an interdimensional pocket that was somewhat similar to my inventory, and once the it was time to give birth, the baby would simply pop, just like drawing an item from my inventory.

It seemed rather convenient, and allowed female adventurers to continue with less worries, as being pregnant wouldn't be as much of a hindrance. It also allowed women to carry multiple pregnancies at the same time.

The system went out of its way to help adventurers procreate, huh? Well, it wasn't perfect. Each fetus would take up a portion of the mother's life force, which would be expressed as a reduction to all attributes during the pregnancy. The reduction would depend on the race and ability of the mother, and for humans it was an average of 5%. While technically it meant that a woman could be pregnant with 19 fetuses at the same time, even a 25% penalty would be a great burden, and only those that kept slaves for breeding purposes would have them reach beyond that level.

It is also important to note that a 5% decrease in stats would have more than a 5% decrease in actual ability, especially with how the system truncates numbers. At 21 Constitution, 5% would actually cost 2 points. 21 Constitution provides 330% increase, while 19 provides 270%. Going from 430% ability to 370% means a decrease of 14% in HP. While attributes give more as they increase, losing these points hurts quite a bit.

The stat reduction was greater for stronger races, with an impossible level for superior beings such as dragons. For dragons, laying eggs ended up an essential part of their breeding process. Over a long period of time, a dragon wishing for an offspring would accumulate the life energy in the shell, and once all the necessary energy is stored, then the actual fetus would start being formed. In exchange for a far lengthier process, the energy could be invested over a longer period of time.

On the other hand, with weaker beings, the penalty was far less severe. Goblins had an average reduction of 1%, and could carry many pregnancies to term at the same time, and the duration of their pregnancies was short as well. These factors accounted for their explosive growth rate.

The amount of life energy invested was just that, an investment. For beings that invested more life energy, their offspring would be stronger. A high leveled mother of a species that suffered a large reduction would give birth to children with high potential. Even for humans, children of high leveled awakened parents had great advantage, which made me a bit sad to miss on those. Though I had plenty other advantages, so I mustn't be greedy.

There were other elements to pregnancy which made it very unique. For one, the father can contribute his own life energy to share the burden of the reduction. In case of the 5% reduction for humans, both partners could contribute 3% towards the fetus instead of the mother suffering the 5% alone. It was advantageous, as it allowed for more life energy to be invested, and thus increased the potential of the future offspring.

Then there was my mistake of referring to the one being pregnant as the mother. Pregnancy was, as I first thought, a status effect, and not one that was limited to females. The father could also be pregnant! Well, since there was little pain and discomfort involved in the process, it couldn't compare to the previous world, so it wasn't really that impressive for men to be willing to be pregnant.

The whole process of impregnation of the Awakened seemed to be explained as an intervention of the divinity that resides within the Awakened, which transcended gender. Awakened sleeping with each other could decide if none, either (and which one), or even both, would end up pregnant. Not only that, but same-sex couples could still have an offspring of their own.

I wasn't sure how useful that information was to me at the moment, and I could see it becoming more and more complex as other issues came to light, so I decided to stop at that and move on to different lore.

For now, I simply stored the books related to the gods and not read into that too much. While I might have already met a god left me weary, unless I grow strong enough to do something, knowledge won't be too useful at the moment. Instead, I chose to learn more about the world, as that could influence my near future more directly.

I had some knowledge from Child's memories, but the information here helped supplement it.

While the commoners would call the three continents by their geographical locations, Eastern, Western and Central, the more accepted names were the Lower Realm, Middle Realm and Higher Realm, respectively.

The Lower Realm, in which I reside, is where most humanoid races live, and is considered as the "physical world". It is most suited for life, allowing to live in abundance (though the greed of men left places in close to poverty, such as my village), and with little risk during their daily life.

The Higher Realm was claimed as the realm of higher beings. Few went to explore it, and it was unknown if anyone ever returned, so there was little information regarding the mysterious continent. With the aid of magic, it was determined that beings of pure energy resided within it, and perhaps those that are called the Gods marked the place as their home.

Then there was the Middle Realm, the continent to the west. A world that is neither physical nor energy, yet both at the same time. This was a place of demons and struggle. The land was harsh and inhospitable, and those that managed to survive in it had to have strength that was beyond the reach of most of the humanoid races living in the Lower Realm.

If the demons were to unite, they could conquer the Lower Realm and enslave all the lower races, but the demonic races were prideful and fractured, unable to unite under a single banner, while the lower races had a pact and would band together as soon as the smell of danger reached them. Only one cliché being could tame the demonic tribes, the Demon Lord. When one arose, a Hero was to lead humanity to face it.

That was why Priest was worried. The times surrounding the appearance of the Hero were turbulent ones, and my abilities were too high to not suspect the possibility that I might be the Hero, even if I didn't already have the Local Hero title.

The progression between Lower – Middle – Higher realms felt like a natural progression of danger that usually appeared in games, where you would rarely face much stronger enemies until you are at an appropriate level. I guessed that once my growth would stagnate, I'll end up in the Middle Realm. I might not even have a choice at the time.

The most common way to get to the Middle Realm were through the northern and southern edges of the continents, being the closest to each other and farthest from the Higher Realm. While the tension between the two realms was high, the risk visiting the Middle Realm brought along with it a high reward as well. There were daring merchants and adventurers that were able to return from the Middle Realm with great riches, sometimes even establishing trade agreements and such. Simply told, demons weren't unintelligent monsters, so while communicating peacefully was difficult, it was not impossible.

The path to the Higher Realm was both more and less difficult. While one couldn't simply sail to the Higher Realm due to extreme storms and other dangers that surrounded it, there were territories in both the Lower and Middle realms that were established as Paths of Light. It was an optimistic name, as the areas claimed by the Higher Realm were completely inhospitable and filled with monsters, designated as Higher Guardians, which were far more dangerous than anything otherwise met even in the Middle Realm. It was believed that if one can get through the Path of Light, one would be able to reach the Higher Realm. To me, "reaching the higher realm" sounded like dying, and it wasn't far from the truth of what happened to those that tried.

Information regarding the politics and powers of the Middle Realm wasn't shared with the public, so it couldn't be found, but I did get the general information regarding how it works in the Lower Realm.

The realm was split into 6 kingdoms, which were further split into 2 alliances. Brighthilt Kingdom was aligned with the Holyarch Kingdom to its north and the Eternal Kingdom to the west. These three kingdoms occupied the northern part of the Lower Realm. The southern alliance consisted of Myriad Kingdom, the Underoath Kingdom and the Burning Kingdom. I really hoped that the names sounded better in the native languages, but even if I were to turn off the translation, it wouldn't do my mental health any good at this point.

What was more important was that all these kingdoms used to be under the Everbright Empire, and it seemed like their names were derived from that in some way or another. While the Everbright Empire ended up collapsing and the six kingdoms were formed, it didn't completely disappear. Even though the northern and southern alliances were hostile to each other, they came up with an odd concept. The Empire City, built at the center of the Lower Realm, would be a unifying factor. There lived the Emperor, a descendant of the same family that ruled the Everbright Empire, and whenever a great crisis would strike, the kingdoms would unite under the Emperor's banner. In any other case, the Emperor was just a figure with an impressive but meaningless title that the kingdoms payed tribute to.

These books didn't have any current information, so I wouldn't find the names of the current kings and other wielders of power from them. Not that I truly cared, as I planned to avoid them at least until I'm strong, or have the Hero title. Other books had information such as code of conduct when meeting nobles or royalty, or even other adventurers, but the monster compendium was far more important. With that, I could gain a lot more information when Inspecting monsters, which would be very helpful in the future.

I hoped that this much was enough to raise my grade in the future, as I was already getting tired from the lore. I stared at the magic book with a gleam in my eye, ready to see what shiny new toys will be contained within!