Awakening Test

"Ahhhhah..." Luk yawned.

He got up from his bed and did his daily routine, taking a bath, brushing his teeth, and things like that.

"Fuck... I missed this. In the VR game, we could simply leave and continue the next day, but now... I really stayed there for 29 days."

"Fortunately, that dungeon has a special effect that prevents the player from becoming hungry or thirsty throughout their stay."

"If not, I'd starve to death."

"Now... let me call Vanessa."

Picking up his phone, Luk dialed Vanessa's phone number, which she had told him previously.

"Hello?" A familiar voice came through the phone.

"I'm back, where are you?"

"O-oh! I'm right now at the Awakening Center." Vanessa replied.

"Awakening center...?"

"Oh, yeah. So, after defeating the boss of the first floor, many groups of people formed "guilds" like there was on the game, and they started occupying many places on the 2nd floor of the tower."

"However, as more and more people entered the tower, a huge amount of deaths started appearing, and because of that, they made an awakening association."

"Only those who can pass the test can actually enter the tower." Vanessa explained thoroughly.

Hearing Vanessa's words, Luk frowned a bit. Because if they are prohibiting normal people from entering the tower, that means that the guilds will have much more freedom to occupy the resources.

So, in the end, a solo player like himself will be in a very desavantegeous situation. But that isn't going to be a problem for him.

"Vanessa, did you gather all those items that I asked you to?" Luk asked.

"I did, except for the 'Mana Combustion Strings,' a guild started occupying the dungeon, and I couldn't enter it." replied Vanessa.

'Well... I'll go there later and pick them up.'

"Alright, come pick me up; I'll send you an address."

"Mhm."

Hanging up the call, Luk started thinking about this 'awakening association'. Firstly, he'll need to know if there's someone there who can pry into his status.

He has the Spirit Dragon Mask to block it; however, Luk doesn't know if someone has enough experience to know how to get one of the Great Five Eyes.

Especially the "Eye of the Truth" that the mermaid had shown him. Knowing if someone's lying or not is very beneficial to him and could grant him much more power in controlling his 'paws'.

Beep!

A sudden horn of a car got Luk's attention, so he jumped out of his window, and the sight of a lamborguini appeared in his sight.

He opened the door and commented with a faint chuckle.

"Enjoying life, huh?"

Vanessa, with a deep smile, scratched her head in response to his comment.

"Drive me to the awakening center," he ordered.

"Sure, are you going to get tested?"

"Obviously. So, tell me, what are the grades?"

"Just like the weapon grades, F to SSS. Currently, there are exactly 12 S-rankers and no SS or SSS grade rankers."

"Mhm... really? How do we get 'appraised'?"

"Basically, you need to deal the most damage possible to a machine, and you'll get your own grade."

"What grade did you get?"

"Obviously, I got S rank! I wouldn't let you down!" Vanessa proudly declared, even puffing her chest out.

"You did well..." Luk acknowledged with a nod.

'But that ranking is wrong, though. After the SSS rank, there's the immeasurable and over-rank. Only a handful of items exist for each of those grades. But, for skills and unique abilities... there are quite a lot.'

'But you can't get them without [Fusion]; after all, they are the skills and unique abilities of the Higher Beings of the tower.'

After the awakening association has been created, the players who are judged below rank F, are disqualified from going to the 2nd and 3rd floors.

And because of that, the 1st floor of the tower became the most occupied space; however, players are slowly leveling up because of that.

"We have arrived." Vanessa declared, looking at the huge building in front of her eyes.

She parked the car and walked along Luk to the awakening association.

They stepped into the building and saw a load of people with equipment awaiting their turn.

Luk immediately started looking around, trying to find the unique ability [Charm]. However, he still didn't find it.

'Tsk... I'll save it to later; atlhough it will be more difficult, I should be able to make her my wife since it's a full eclipse today.'

He still has a few hours left before the eclipse ends, and that's the reason why he's right here.

"Now, we need to wait..." Vanessa sighed.

"Mhm..."

"Huh? Why are you looking around so much?" Vanessa asked after seeing Luk turn his head many times in different directions.

"It's nothing..."

With that, they continued waiting; however, Luk was already waiting for an opportunity.

He was already cracking his knuckles.

At that moment, Luk sidestepped and went against someone, making him fall to the ground.

"Hey, what the FUCK is your problem!?" The person on the ground loudly asked with an angry tone.

'Perfect...'

Immediately, everyone's gaze fell on the person who was on the ground and slowly landed on Luk.

"Is that... Unknown!?" Someone suddenly spoke.

"Y-y-yeah! It really is Unknown! After all, the S-Ranker Vanessa is right next to him! And Unknown had helped her clear a dungeon!"

"Right! It appeared on the broadcast where Vanessa defeated the boss but still got hit by the boss's curse. Unknown then appeared briefly and should have healed her!"

"However... why is he only here now?" The crowd started whispering between themselves.

Suddenly, a towering figure emerged from the crowd, clad in a black suit that stretched over bulging muscles.

"Unknown... huh. How about joining my guild?" The man asked directly, a smile playing on his lips.

The crowd erupted into even louder chatter at this proposition.

"Is that Alexander Wood, Guildmaster of the Aestris Guild!? He's offering Unknown to join him!"

"Well, it makes sense. Even if Unknown hasn't been seen in the last month, he's still a legend. His rank should be at least A!"

"What Rank A!? It should be S! Remember how he handled the 'Guardian of the Forest'? Nobody else could do that!"

As the audience buzzed with excitement, Luk finally spoke up.

"No. Why the fuck would I join your guild? And not to mention how fucking weak you are." Luk said coldly.

The sudden silence that fell over the crowd was palpable.

Even Alexander appeared taken aback by Luk's words, his expression darkening with anger.

"Weak... Hahaahah..." Alexander laughed loudly. "Let me show you who's weak!"

With a sudden burst of rage, he threw a powerful punch at Luk, his muscles tensing with the force of his attack.

'Put all the stat poins to magic...' Luk mumbled.

His magic skyrocketed to 26 instantly!

Grip!

Luk directly caught Alexander's punch.

"!!!" Alexander's eyes widened; however, he didn't have more time to react.

⋘ You have activated the unique ability—"Shadow Reaper (S)"! ⋙

Instantly, Luk pushed Alexander to the ground and directly stomped on his stomach.

"BLEGUHH!" Alexander vomited a whole mouthful of blood.

Thud!

Luk stomped on him once again; however, Alexander had already passed out, which made him quite disappointed.

"He didn't even take two moves." Luk sighed.

And suddenly, a voice rang out.

"Luk Arcadia!" 

"Oh, that's me." He walked towards the examination room...

A faint silence covered the building...

"WHAT!? Did Unknown just defeat one of the strongest people in our country with two moves!?"

"Told you! It was impossible that Unknown would be rank A!"

"No wonder he could defeat the "Guardian of the Forest" at level 1. He's really powerful!"

Vanessa just looked at this situation with a faint smile on her lips. She really chose the right person.

Meanwhile...

'Fuck that Alexander... he didn't even have any useful unique ability or skills for me to copy.' Luk sighed.

"Ah... you're here... Wait, Unknown!?" The examinar exclaimed in shock

"Yeah, just tell me what to do." He spoke leisurely.

"Alright... Huff. You just need to strike this machine in front of you. This test measures the size of your potential when you strike the machine."

Listening to this, Luk immediately brought out his dagger.

⋘ You have activated the unique ability—"Shadow Reaper (S)"! ⋙

Instantly, a faint purple glow covered his body, and since his new skill is passive, it was already in effect.

SWING!

BOOM!

The moment Luk swung his dagger, the machine was directly split in half, and the examiner's eyes widened a lot.

He looked at the screen, and his eyes simply widened even more.

"C-c-c-congratulations! You're the first SSS ranker!" The examiner stammered as he announced the result.

Seeing this, Luk shrugged his shoulders and was about to leave...

"W-wait! The president said tha—!"

Swish!

Luk directly grabbed the collar of the examiner and lifted him up.

"Look, I don't give a fuck about what the president says or does. If I want, I can destroy the entire association alone, so don't fucking bother me!"

THUD!

Luk threw the examiner against a wall and then left. This kind of 'association' only exists to discover hidden talents to fortify themselves.

'Maybe... I should really fucking destroy it.'

Leaving the examination room, on a huge panel, the 1st place that held Vanessa's name along with S rank suddenly went to 2nd place.

"Vanessa, let's go." Luk spoke as he walked towards the exit.

Vanessa followed him and couldn't help but ask.

"What's your rank...?"

Luk smiled and pointed to his back, and at that single moment...

"FUCK WHAT!? UNKNOWN IS THE FIRST SSS RANKER IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!?" A huge sound came from his back.

The audience immediately opened their lips as this legendary moment came.

Luk patted Vanessa's head and spoke with a gentle tone.

"You'll get there too."

"Mhm!"