Chapter 1- The Awakening

I couldn't keep the happy and confused smile off my face as I was lead through a doorway, hands over my eyes and two plump pieces of flesh pressed against my back. I took a few more steps forward before the slim and soft hands stopped blocking my vision.

"Surprise!" A chorus of voices echoed out through the small home I lived in.

A blue banner with golden letters stating 'Happy Birthday' hung from the corners of the dining room wall, with a small cake sitting in the center of the table. My mother, Marilyn Faux(37), a middle aged woman with a lighter tan, brown hair and rich green eyes. She wore the light red dress my father had gotten her for Christmas a few years back. My father, Robert Faux(40), stood next to her, an arm wrapped around her shoulders. His black hair was slicked back somewhat, as if he had just gotten ready for a day in the office. His rich blue eyes shined with pride as his lips curled into a small smile. He had on a polo and a pair of khaki shorts.

My two closest friends sat in two chairs holding a beer in their hand, raising the glass in greeting. On the right was Alexander Hamilton(19), a friend I have known since childhood. His blonde hair was in its ever messy state, his blue eyes shining playfully, with an ever present playboy smile on his face. On the left was William Blufeld(18). William I met in my freshman year of highschool, we became fast friends after pulling a prank on a local bully. Black hair, skin just as white as Alexander, and chocolate brown eyes.

A pair of small arms wrapped around my waist as I looked down. My little sister, Alexis Faux(14), smiled up at me. Her black hair was tied in a pony tail and her blue eyes shined up at me.

"Happy Birthday brother." She said while smiling up at me.

"Thank you, Alexis." I replied and rubbed her head. I felt the soft sensation leave my back and a pair of soft lips touch my cheek. I turned my head to look at one of the most important people in my life. Her fiery red hair fell down her shoulders with her emerald green eyes gazing at me intently. Her freckles going from under one eye, across her nose, to under the other eye just added to her beauty. She took my arm and squeezed it between her breasts.

"Happy birthday Art." She whispered into my ear. I couldn't keep my face from heating up just by being near her. We had never been intimate before, we were going to wait till we were both 18 for that. But it didn't stop my little brother from wanting to go wild in her presence. Samantha Huit(17), is a girl that has lived next door for nearly my whole life. We started dating 6 years ago and have been going strong ever since.

"Art stop being lovey dovey with your girl and get over here man! We gotta get this party started!" Alexander said as he slammed a beer bottle on the table. Alexis let go of me and rushed to sit down next to mom and dad. Samantha led me over to the table and sat down next to me. Alexander Cracked open the beer he had sat down and slid it over to me.

"Go on and blow out the candles son." My father told me as he held my mother's hand.

"Don't forget to make a wish!" My sister exclaimed excitedly. I couldn't contain my happiness as a smile nearly split my face in two.

"Alright, alright. I'll make a wish." I replied and leaned forward. I closed my eyes and prayed in my head.

'Whatever god or gods are listening to this out there. There is only one thing I would ask. That I can continue this life of happiness with my family and friends. That I will be able to fulfill my dream of marrying Sammy and having beautiful children of my own. I do not need strong powers or wealth. Just the people around me. So please, let things keep going the way they are.' I recited in my head and blew out the candles.

"So what did you wish for?" I heard William say after he took a sip of his beer. Alexander punched him in the shoulder lightly.

"Idiot if he tells you that it won't come true." Alexander said jokingly.

"What like your dream of having a stable relationship?" William shot back.

"I cannot help that my natural beauty is undeniable to so many women." Alexander said flipping his head back and putting a hand on his forehead dramatically.

"More like you cannot keep it in your pants." William said looking at Alexander with a skeptical look. As those two began fighting my mother took out some plates and began cutting the cake and dividing it amongst everyone. Before we began eating Sammy pulled out a small wooden box from underneath her chair. It had a diamond shape engraved on the red wood.

"What is this?" I asked curiously.

"Just open it." She said encouragingly.

I opened it and inside was a pale blue crystal sitting on a bed of silk. My heart skipped a beat as I recognized what it was.

"Is this..." I started and received a nod from sammy.

"We have been saving up for this for a bit now. Instead of getting you a bunch of stuff we all decided to pitch in and get you something more meaningful. This Awakening crystal will give you an extra 50% change of awakening." She said as I looked around at everyone wide eyed. They all just smiled and nodded. I closed the box as a few tears crept out from my eyes. I hugged her tightly and smiled at my family that had gathered here for me.

"Thank you. Thank you so much." I said wiping the few tears away. My friends just chuckled.

"Come on man, we are the three musketeers! Both of us awakened even though Willy here didn't get an innate talent. We cannot leave you behind. We gotta go dungeon raiding as the terrific trio!" Alexander said throwing an arm around William and raising his glass. My mother raised a glass of wine and my father had his own beer. As both Alexis and Sammy were under drinking age they just had some soda. I raised the beer Alexander had given me and toasted with them all.

"Cheers!" We yelled and drank.

*PFFT* I violently spit out the beer I drank and wiped down my mouth as my father and friends laughed at me hysterically.

"I did that my first time too son." My father chuckled.

"How do you drink this stuff? It tastes like piss!" I exclaimed sitting it down on the table and pushing it away.

"You will get used to it my friend." Alexander said between his laughs.

I felt a slender arm go around my waist and a head lay on my shoulder. I looked over and saw sammy staring at me sweetly as everyone dug into the cake. I gave her a peck on the lips and held up a piece of cake for her to eat. She took a bite of it and smiled at me again.

'This is paradise isn't it?' I thought to myself as I wiped a piece of icing from the corner of her lip and licked it off my finger. We partied for hours, just talking, laughing and enjoying ourselves until night came. At 10 my father and mother went up to bed for the night. Half an hour later my sister went to bed since she had track practice the next morning. Willy and Alex passed out a bit later after drinking a couple more beers.

A little Later~

I couldn't stop staring down at Sammy as she laid passed out on my bed. She had one of those semi-transparent night gowns on with a set of matching pure white underwear underneath. The moonlight shone through the window and cast an ethereal glow over her face.

I sat up and let the blanket fall off of me and into my lap. I quietly opened the drawer to my nightstand and took out a black box. I opened it slowly to make sure I didn't make any noise to wake her up and inside was two rings. They were both a shiny metallic black and one had a bright blue crystal inside. I had spent 3 years working summer jobs and doing odd jobs on the weekends to save up enough for these rings. They were made from tungsten carbide and the blue crystal was refined from the mana crystal of a D rank mana beast.

I guess I should explain where all of that comes from though. 100 Years ago, in the year 2000, on new years day the world was celebrating the coming of a new millennium. But the moment the clock rolled over the world shook with disaster. Dimensional cracks appeared in major cities across the planet. From inside them, monsters from another dimension appeared. Millions of them poured out decimating the unprepared humans. Traditional firearms did not work on the stronger monsters, some even had the ability to withstand conventional nuclear weapons. It was not until the first few Awakened showed up that the humanity really stood a chance.

Along with the dimensional cracks two other things appeared. One was various towers popping up across the planet from which various hostile and non-hostile entities came from, as well as The Olympus System. The Olympus System was given to a select few and whoever gained it was called an Awakened. They had the ability to grow past the hard set limits of the human body to become super-human. It took the first generation of Awakeners 10 years to finally beat back the monster tide enough to where humanity could finally settle down in certain areas. In that 10 year period though, 80% of the human population had died. The only safe haven was around a few of the towers that had cropped up. The first and largest of human settlements was created around a tower dubbed Zeus' Tower. Inside that tower, unlike some of the other ones, were many species of humanoid creatures. The tower itself was 100 floors tall. Each of which was basically a different world. From inside came demi-humans, dwarves, and elves. Each of which imparted a unique skillset unto a few of the humans they deemed as worthy.

Various martial arts, forging, foraging, and alchemical skills were passed down unto the newly arrived humans, to be spread to remaining the populace. Over the past 90 many more human settlements have cropped up around various towers, some even being made around dimensional rifts that were used as a source of income. Many new inventions came about as the entirety of humanity came to a peace agreement and united under one banner, The Federation, it was called. The HQ of which was stationed in Diane City, the capital city of Zion. Zion is the largest and most powerful country on the planet due to it being stationed at Zeus' Tower.

The World Awakened Association was founded by the Pioneers, the name that the first generation of Awakened, to manage all other awakened in the world and to give them training to fight the never ending horde of monsters.

The mana stones that monsters drop are the main source of income for a vast majority of small to medium cities, which are generally stationed at Dimensional Rifts. Many Hunters, the term used for Awakeners who hunt monsters, flock to those cities in which dimensional rifts exist to get some quick money. Mana crystals can rank anywhere from F-rank all the way up to SS-Rank. Though SS-Rank mana crystals are nearly impossible to get, considering the monsters that drop them are strong enough to rule areas the size of entire old world countries. Mana Crystals can be used in various devices now, some power high tech luxury cars, others power buildings. Sometimes they are used as jewelry or in the manufacturing of Artifacts. (Artifacts are equipment designed to be used by awakenings to fight monsters or augment their abilities.) Mana Crystals can even be used to help sustain the circulation of mana or even augment your own mana supply. So there is a wide variety of uses for them and the supply can hardly ever meet the demand.

Even F-rank mana crystals can sell for a quite bit of money, as one F-rank mana crystal is worth 100 Federation Dollars. My own family uses about 2000 Federation dollars a month to live off of. Which is why so many people aspire to be hunters. Not to mention F-rank crystals but higher crystals are worth much more. 10 F-rank Crystals are worth one E-rank Crystal. Ten E-rank Crystals are worth one D-rank Crystal, etc. It goes up in multiples of 10. So even just one C-rank Crystal is worth 100,000 Federation Dollars, or one Federation Credit.

100k FD = 1 FC

'It cost me an arm and a leg but I managed to get this E-rank mana crystal from a hunter that raided one of the dungeons in town and have it embedded in this ring. The jewelry I went to, to have this created even said the ring even had an added bonus of making mana circulation slightly easier. That way if Sammy awakens when she turns 18 she will have a slightly easier time manipulating her mana.' I thought to myself. I set the ring box back in the drawer and grabbed my phone.

11:59PM it read

I grabbed the mana crystal as the time ticked on.

11:59:55

11:59:56

11:59:57

I opened my mouth and swallowed the crystal as it got closer to midnight. As soon as it turned midnight and the crystal fell into my stomach, a bright blue screen appeared in front of me.

Scanning...

Identifying User's genetic sequence...

User Identified...

Creating Profile...

User Profile Created(User #194350972, Arthur Faux)...

Downloading extensions...

Welcome to the Olympus System, Arthur Faux...

Congratulations on Awakening!