Awakened

After Zayne left, Claire put two rabbits in the steel pot, then enclosed it in a giant earthen pot with two red bubbles she collected. They give off scalding heat. She wanted to see if she could really slow cook with the bubbles. 

Zayne left the plastic bag of marbles at her place, saying he has no need for them, and they are his early payment to her. 

Claire knew that when the slimes are killed, if the skill they are dropping is compatible with you, the skill gets directly absorbed by the body. 

So, all these marbles are skills that are incompatible with Zayne. 

After Robin went to sleep, Claire did her own homework. Not that there's much of it. On top of that, knowing what she did about the entrance exam, no amount of effort can save her. So, she better focus on becoming a hunter obediently. 

She put the skill marbles on the table, sorted them by the colors. 

She has cores of water, earth, fire, wind , lightning, crystal, time, metal , ice , kinetic, gravity, undead, mind, fusion, sound, purification , magic , curse , life , spirit, space, antigravity, demonic , void. 

Her mana amounts to twenty four hundred. Every elemental core has equal share of this mana. So, she can use any skill that takes up to hundred mana points. However, even the most basic skill like a fireball or ice ball takes two hundred points of mana. Even the skill with lowest mana cost, metal needle takes about one hundred and fifty mana points. 

Despite having enough mana to rank in top among any academy, her mana can not be directly used in combat. The core elimination orb, which is used to remove an elemental core costs the same as a condo in the center of downtown. 

That's why despite being a ranker and strongest ice mage, she was still working like a slave for the guild. 

Now, though, she has better options. 

The little red marble is 'lighter'. It creates a light similar to a lighter. Takes ten points of mana. The small lilac ball is 'ignition' ; it creates a small electric shock, strong enough to shock a rat, but not good enough to frighten a neighborhood dog. The wind ball is a ' gust ' enough to fan your face, not your neck. 

The ice skill, though, is her favorite at the moment. 'Freeze ' is not strong enough to freeze anything bigger than a fingernail. But, it can cool down a glass of water. Life magic allowed her to grow things, heal stuff, and even cure curses, as long as they are sapping vitality. She got 'heal', which heals small cuts and scrapes. 

At this point, she stopped paying attention. She just absorbed all the skills she could absorb. Which is all of them. 

Then, only the last one remained. 

As she looked at the orb, her entire being felt electrified ! 

This .. this is 'mana core '. It separates mana from the elemental cores. Whenever a spell is cast, elemental cores get charged as needed from mana core. 

As she looked at the mana core in front of her, Claire remembered the stupidity of her past life. 'Mana core' itself was not a rare skill. If only she had gotten mana core instead of doing core elimination surgery, she could have had a lot more versatility in her combat. 

' Zayne Rhafyre ! I will learn Chinese, Japanese, Indian, western, fusion and molecular gastronomy as long as you want to taste it ! ' 

Claire vowed in her mind. 

It is absolutely right to do as much for just this skill. She never knew it could drop from a slime dungeon. 

' Wait ! she never knew slime dungeons could drop anything, fullstop ! ' … 

' Indeed ! In her last life, slime dungeons did not drop anything. How is it that they drop skills and materials this time ? ' 

A small hypothesis started to brew in Claire's head. Conspiracy that involved guilds, government and every entity that tried to control hunters. 

In the later years of her life, there was a strange video that proclaimed that all awakening mediums that are on earth are enslaving devices. They mark people as resources, stealing their drops, then taxing the items that are obtained. 

The truest awakening could only be obtained in mediums that exist in dungeons, namely, S-class dungeon Star Lord's temple, Aqua's sea, Ifrit's blaze , Enchanter's forest, .. so on and so forth. 

They even provided images. They looked very scary, but … Claire clearly remembered these altars. 

' Shall I try ? ' She wondered. 

'Would it be too stupid and reckless ? ' she mused for a moment. 

After a bit of thought, she decided, it's alright to attempt this. 

Even if she loses her life, it is not getting in anyone's way. At most, her cousin will miss her. It's not like he did not get by just fine after her absence in last life. She will just leave a letter, so they will know not to look for her. 

With that thought, Claire wrote a letter, put it on the table, and entered the slime dungeon. 

From there on, she imagined teleporting to the enchanter's forest, to the hexagonal cube she had seen. 

Surprisingly, she got there with no problems. 

She put her hands on the hexagonal cube, pushed her mana into it. 

The next moment, there was a push back from the cube. 

Claire vanished from the real world, opening her eyes in a vast nebula where a giant blue mana core pulsated in front of her, while twenty four moons surrounded it. 

A flow of pure mana fell down from god knows where, increasing the size of the mana core in front of her. 

With every pulse, the mana core increased in size, absorbing the mana that came from the gigantic water fall. 

Claire thought for a moment, then with every pulse, she charged the moons with mana. 

As the main mana core grew, so did its moons. 

By the time she finished, the main mana core had increased a dozen times in size. The moons are the same size as the original mana core. It is only then she has regained consciousness. 

The first thing she did was to check time. 

It seems an entire hour passed while she was awakening. 

Claire trashed the letter, then slipped into bed. The entire experience was surprisingly exhausting.

She woke up in the morning, feeling completely refreshed. The first thing she did after morning ablutions was to check on the pot with rabbit meat. 

The result was far better than she could ever think of. meat fell apart at a touch. The gravy was even tastier. So, for now, Claire kept it as a condiment to be added to porridge. 

After the meal, they went to school. 

With yesterday's shock, as long as Claire and Zayne were in class, almost all of the fifth class behaved well. 

Upon returning, Claire decided to take a break from the dungeon, as today, the black bull members will be training the rest of their classmates there. 

" Let us check on our vegetable beds, and plant the vegetables today. " She told Zayne. 

They took the children along with them. 

Claire did not do it previously because she hated the physical work, and cleaning up their vegetable lots needed a lot of work. 

" Oh ! Isn't it Claire, from two hundred and one ? " one of the curious matron working in the fields asked them. 

" Ah ! It is so rare for her to show her face. Who is that next to you ? Your husband ? " Snarked another woman, who had some beef with Claire. 

In the initial days, she tried to become Claire's friend, to mooch off her. Claire is all too experienced with her type, and rejected her with no quarters spared. It seems she was back to her old tricks. 

" This is your lot, that is mine. " Claire showed Zayne. 

Similar to their apartments, their assigned gardens are also side by side. 

They are fairly big land plots, each the size of twenty square meters. 

Claire has plenty of skills that apply to the ground. 

' Loosen ' she cast in front of her. 

One meter of land has become extremely loose, like it has just been broken through with a plow. 

That has taken sixty points of mana, from six different elemental cores.. 

Claire smiled, and repeated the task. 

Zayne followed behind her, breaking the earth and removing the weeds after Claire with a rake. 

The children removed the weeds Zayne gathered through a rake, piled them up in the corner on a flat stone platform. . 

Working together, they cleaned up both plots of land in no time at all. 

By the time they finished working, almost all the others went home. 

The children skipped around picking up the leaves, and placing it on the stone platform. 

" Want to see some magic ? " Zayne asked the children after reaching the platform. 

" Yes. " the children nodded their heads eagerly. 

Today, they have been particularly well behaved. 

' Dry ' Zayne cast. 

Tenth of the stuff they gathered, which was green and yellow just before turned a dry brown, indicating it's completely dry. 

' ha ! ' the children gasped. 

" Again ! " They implored Zayne. 

With ten continuous casts, the weeds are completely dry. 

" Ready for a different magic ? " Zayne asked them seriously. 

" Yes ! " The children answered eagerly, their shouts reverberating through the silent night. 

A small fireball flew from his hands, lighting the pile of plants on fire. 

' Gust ' Claire cast silently, sending the smoke up into clouds, rather than to the south with the wind.