House

If she has the powers of a cat because of her mutation, then what would my Angel Wings give me?

Because he was limited in what he knew about Angels, he couldn't figure out what kind of powers it could give him.

Is it empowering me right now?

Just like Lizzie's feline mutations, Atlan should have a diminished power inside him constantly active. Even if he didn't bring out his Angel Wings, he should be under a boosting effect.

As for what that was, he was clueless.

"But what about those who have 4-star mutations? You said that they always have their mutations active and they can't retract it like…you…?"

"Low rarity mutations are different. The powers they have are much weaker.

They suffer the side effects of always having an active mutation."

The truck finally stopped when they reached their intended destination.

Atlan didn't notice it but they were currently at the center of the City, full of the hustle and bustle of thousands of people both mutated and not, going about their days.

"Everyone's hurrying home, with the sun setting and all."

Lizzie got out of the truck and stretched her body. At this point, she already hid away her feline mutations, but her stretching looked strangely familiar to a cat.

She looked back at Atlan and asked teasingly, "Are you not going out?"

He awkwardly scooted through the backseats until he finally reached the door. Before he took his first step outside, he realized this momentous occasion.

He took a deep breath and finally took that step.

"How are you feeling?"

He looked around.

The first thing he noticed was that he was surrounded by healthy people. They didn't suffer from malnutrition. They didn't have that sunken look on their face.

The buildings around him were made of all kinds of metals with creative architecture.

It was better than seeing nothing but gray sands.

But that wasn't the most striking thing he saw.

In front of him was the full majesty of the Savior HeadQuarters. It had elevated footsteps, and he saw hundreds of people walking in and out of the palace.

Most of those were wearing either blue or green skin-tight suits with protective padding.

The whole place was painted white, with gold embellishments on the edges, giving it a pure and holy feel around it.

He was amazed at its enormity. Even the main gate was larger than anything he had ever seen.

And even though the total area of the HeadQuarters was insignificant compared to the vastness of the Unclaimed Lands, Atlan felt as if this building was even more immense than the desolate gray desert.

"I remember when I was a child and finally got to visit this place. How nostalgic. It's something else, isn't it?"

"Yes…it's amazing."

Lizzie smiled. "Well don't miss it too much. You'll be spending hundreds of years in that place, you'll end up sick of it."

"Are we going there?"

"We'll go there tomorrow. It's too late in the day and no one will be there to attend to your official registration.

I'll show you to your apartment first!"

Lizzie guided Atlan through the streets of the City Center. On the way, Atlan was able to see mutations close up. He was amazed at how integrated those alien body parts were to everybody.

"Your apartment house is provided to you by the City itself as part of your signing bonus. Since you're a B class Porter, you'll have a better bonus than others."

Lizzie walked while simultaneously explaining stuff to Atlan. She skillfully navigated her way through the crowd even when she was looking backward. Benefits of having feline instincts, I guess.

No matter how much he tried to listen to her, Atlan couldn't help but let his eyes wander.

There were food stalls selling all kinds of food. "Try our hot chip challenge! It's to die for!"

Kids were running around everywhere, playing and fighting at the same time with no supervision. "Hahaha, I'll cut you with this knife if I catch you!"

Everyone he saw was acting with no thoughts behind their actions. They were taking risks with no regard for their safety.

Why would they?

They had the security of God's grace behind them. They all thought they were immortal.

Should I tell them? He pondered before shaking off the thought.

"Keep up! We're almost there," shouted Lizzie a little bit further up ahead of the road.

Atlan then walked a little bit faster to catch up to her.

"Are you that excited? You didn't have to run."

Was I running? I was just walking…

Soon enough, the two of them walked to the end of the busy street and onto the residential area reserved for Saviors.

"Are they always like that?" asked Atlan as he looked back at the children poking each other with dangerous knives.

"Oh, yeah," she said proudly. "There's a lot of foot traffic on that street because it's in the City Center. People go there to have fun and relax, including some Saviors.

You should see them when it's festival time. It gets crazy."

A bunch of super-powered humans getting crazy with no regard for safety? Sounds…crazy. 

"We're here. This is your house."

Atlan saw a single-floor modern house complete with a backyard and a white picket fence. It was in the midst of a full neighborhood of houses similar to each other.

They walked inside the unlocked house and Lizzie gave him the full tour.

It had a decent-sized living room complete with a couch facing the TV, a separate bedroom all to himself, a bathroom equipped with a shower, and a kitchen.

It was everything he needed to live by himself for a thousand years if needed.

But Atlan didn't know what to do. He lived in the Unclaimed Lands where everything was made out of gray sand. He didn't even know how to flush a toilet.

Lizzie saw how overwhelmed he was and explained the uses of every machine in the house, including how to turn on the lights.

It took less than half an hour for Atlan to get the gist of everything.

"That's about it. You better take a sleep now and prepare yourself for tomorrow morning.

You'll have to show off your skills in the training center in front of everyone, so reserve your energy, okay?"

Atlan nodded. "Thank you."

She smiled. "No problem."

And just as she was about to close the door behind her, she finally remembered what she was trying to say before she got interrupted.

"Oh, I forgot to answer your question."

"What?"

"You asked me earlier if you can advance through the LifeSkill stages continuously with enough experience."

"Ah…yes. Can you elaborate?"

Lizzie nodded. "If you have enough experience, you can't simply advance to the next stage.

You need to head over to the Remedium so that you can advance. Only in those places can you get the power to break through to the next stage.

After that, you'll need a consolidation period where your power realm will start to settle into the next stage."

Atlan took her words and etched them in his mind. He wanted to ask more, but he refrained.

"Thank you again."

She smiled and waved him goodbye before leaving his house.

A few minutes after she left, Atlan lay on the wooden floor and closed his eyes. 

He contemplated. It turned out that the reason why he couldn't advance to the next stage was because he wasn't in the proper place.

The Remedium is a place where the God resides…is there something special in that place?

Since he didn't know where that was, Atlan couldn't do anything about it. He would just have to be patient and wait till Lizzie told him more about the Remedium.

He closed his eyes and focused on his Soul System. And as he did so…

[You have successfully advanced through the 1st Stage Student Realm of your SSS class LifeSkill Cherubic Retribution]

[Consolidation period: 12 hrs: 59 mins: 50secs]

His consciousness slowly faded into the darkness as he slept on the floor.