Astrum Origin Hub

"Brother…"

"Aren't you staring at sister Amara too much?"

Vincent suddenly shivered, feeling a chill down his spine. He slowly turned around to face his younger sister, Marina, who wore a dark and disappointed expression.

"I'm not. You're imagining things," he said simply before changing the subject. 

"Go wash your hands and let's have dinner. I have something to tell you later."

Still annoyed, Marina left to wash her hands.

Vincent then faced Amara, who had messy bed-hair.

"You're drinking again, Sister Amara."

"Oh, come on, little brat. Are you my father? Let me be," she casually responded before jumping on the couch. 

She spread her legs in a comfortable position and took a sip of her beer.

"Fuah! That hit the spot!" she exclaimed.

"Did you even eat before drinking?" he asked as he walked to the kitchen, heading towards a rectangular black screen mounted on the wall.

"You know the answer to your question. Just go prepare dinner for us!"

Tap!

The moment he touched the black screen, it became transparent, revealing what was behind it: a fridge.

"What do we have here… Skinless chicken breast and some vegetables. I guess this will do…"

In this house, Vincent was the only person who could make a proper meal. Having lived by himself before, it was natural for him to learn how to cook.

Despite being 26 years old, Amara had no talent for cooking. Once, she made a meal for them, but Vincent had diarrhea for two days afterward. He vowed never to let her cook again.

Although she lacked cooking skills, Vincent was grateful to Amara. 

Three years ago, when their parents suddenly went missing on a trip, they had no idea what to do. With no money to pay rent for their previous place, Amara, who was living alone, took them in.

Amara actually had no connection to them; she just encountered them one night in a park while she was drunk, heading back to her house. 

Three years ago, Vincent was only 14, while his younger sister Marina was 13 years old at the time.

To pay for rent, Vincent was tasked with cooking for her, doing laundry, and other household chores. 

Even after living with her for three years, he still had no idea about the background of this mysterious drunkard. Nevertheless, they were grateful to her.

Twenty minutes later, Vincent made a chicken stir-fry with mixed vegetables and rice.

"Dinner is ready!" he called out as the food's aroma filled the dining room.

"Woah, it smells good!"

Marina was the first to arrive, followed by Amara, who had already finished her beer.

"Come on, let's dig in!"

Amara's eyes shone as she stared at the food on the table. Her previous laziness was nowhere to be found.

"These foodies…" Vincent thought.

Although he wore a wry smile, Vincent was inwardly glad that someone actually enjoyed his cooking.

His three weeks in Astrum had been quite an experience. He was able to accept his situation unusually easily.

After eating, the two foodies let out sighs of satisfaction. Their stomachs were visibly bulging, obviously full.

As Vincent cleaned the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher, the satisfied Amara suddenly inquired, 

"By the way, how did it go?"

Hearing this, Marina also looked at her brother. She knew what Amara meant: the awakening!

She was also curious about her brother's results but didn't dare to ask him, afraid that he might have failed and that it would hurt his feelings.

"Well, about that…" Vincent didn't immediately answer the question. 

He paused and stared at them, making them assume he had failed.

Marina's eyes darted left and right, unsure what to say. Making up her mind, she crossed her arms over her chest.

"It doesn't matter even if you failed to awaken. I'll be awakening myself next year. I'll be the one taking care of you!"

The usually aloof and lazy Amara also chimed in. 

"That's right, you can just continue living here and do the house chores."

Vincent's forehead twitched. Even though their intentions were out of concern, their choice of words sounded annoying.

"Why would you assume I would fail?"

"If you didn't fail, then… did you successfully awaken?"

Vincent stared at his young sister.

"What? Just tell me already!" she demanded in annoyance.

He eventually broke into a smile before nodding.

Seeing him nod, Marina gaped, her eyes widening. Amara, on the other hand, raised her eyebrows.

"Are you for real?"

Vincent simply held out his hand, showing them the C-rank talent.

"That's great! Congratulations, brother!"

Marina pounced and hugged him, obviously happy for him.

"Congratulations, little Vincent," Amara smiled, genuinely glad for the siblings.

"I can't keep calling you 'little' from now on. You're grown up now…" 

Shaking her head, she added, "It doesn't matter. You'll still be adorable little Vincent in my eyes."

Vincent could only offer a wry smile.

"So, what's your plan now, brother? It's still August. You still have 2 weeks before September and your birthday," Marina asked.

"Don't worry about that. I already have a plan in mind."

"Alright, if you need my help, just let me know," 

Marina claimed as she flexed her quite toned muscles.

"Now, now, Little Rina, let your brother go and have a rest. You should also sleep early; you have school tomorrow. Don't you dare be late again. I don't want to talk to your Instructor again," Amara said, shaking her head.

"Hmph! That was just once!" 

Although reluctant, Marina still agreed.

On the third floor, finally alone in his room, Vincent took a flat screen device from his pocket. After tapping it, a hollow virtual screen appeared. He quickly visited the Astrum Origin hub.

He logged in using his Origin Warrior License numbers. Soon, the ten-inch hologram screen widened, and a few more hologram screens surrounded him.

As he scrolled through the hub, he finally saw a thread post titled 'Beginners Guide to Origin World'. It was posted by a user named 'Tata Lino'.

He saw other thread posts by the same username but decided to read this one first.

The Origin World was a vast, endless expanse. It was like a universe inside a universe. Monsters, races, extraterrestrials, experts, powerhouses, etc., were all over the Origin World.

To enter, one had to use Origin Power to tap into their consciousness and enter the Origin World. By spending spiritual force, one could stay in the Origin World.

Spiritual Force is a power that grows as the warrior climbs in rank. For his rank, Tier 0, Vincent could only stay in the Origin World for 48 hours.

To be specific, Origin World's time was twice that of reality. So, 24 hours of reality was 48 hours in the Origin World.

The Origin World also had a rule that one could not simply leave the world as they wished. One had to wait for their time to run out or use an expensive escape item to leave the Origin World.

It also had a rule that once you died in the Origin World, you wouldn't be able to enter it again, essentially ending and cutting off one's endless potential.

Even with that risk, going to the Origin World had many benefits. As long as they survived in the Origin World, they could take everything they had back to reality!

It was a world with countless resources!

As an Origin Warrior, it was very important to explore the Origin World since the resources in the real world were already scarce.

"I have to carefully prepare and thoroughly plan my way in the Origin World…" Vincent thought to himself.

He knew the rewards and dangers the Origin World could bring to him. He continued reading through the hub, learning about key locations, influential powerhouses, and the rules within these key locations.

After learning all of this, he checked his email and read through the rules and regulations for registered Origin Warriors.

His attention then landed on the two Guides in his email: Basic Origin Meditation Guide and Basic Origin Movement Guide!

He skimmed through them. The meditation method was a guide on how to easily enter meditation, directing the origin power to train mental power. The movement guide was just a basic movement method using Origin Power.

Although both were basic and the lowest-rank skill books, they were very important not just to him but to all newbies as well. They would improve his overall survival ability.

The meditation guide to train mental power was vital since there were many monsters in the Origin World that had higher mental power than humans. 

Furthermore, experts had powerful mental abilities. Just being in the presence of an expert with significantly higher mental powers could make someone faint.

The importance of the movement guide lay in speed and escape movements, vital for survival.

Therefore, there were huge red warning letters at the end of the guides regarding confidentiality. It was illegal to make a copy and sell it for personal gain.

Since he was in his room, Vincent decided to try the meditation guide first. He took a lotus position, sat, and closed his eyes in the middle of his bed.

He concentrated, clearing his thoughts. The guide said he had to empty his mind first. This was the hardest step, according to the guide.

However, when he closed his eyes and focused for a moment, he felt something warm inside him, triggered, which instantly cleared his mind.

Soon, specks of white light began to appear around him before gathering in his body.

+0.1 Exp!

+0.1 Exp!

Notifications continued as he controlled the warm energy into the pattern according to the guide.

+0.1 Exp!

+0.1 Exp!

Thirty minutes later, he woke up and summoned his personal attributes with a thought, focusing on certain data.

[Vincent Magnus] 

Rank: Tier 0 (180/2600 Exp)

"I'm improving? Isn't it said it was only to train my mental power?"

He had no idea what was happening, but he was thrilled to discover that it could help him improve. Not wasting any more time, he began meditating again! He continued until he fell asleep.

The next day, Vincent, who was peacefully sleeping, unconsciously heard a buzzing sound.

Bzzz!

Pah!

With a subconscious slap, the buzzing sound near his ears stopped.

Host killed a mosquito, received +0.01 Exp!

Talent activated! 10,000x exp! 

Received +100 Exp!

As the notification sounded in his ears, Vincent felt a warm energy absorbed into his body, making him involuntarily moan.

Soon, he felt a seething heat inside his body. He immediately sat up and began meditating.

As time ticked by, he felt his body was bathing in a hot spring. His muscles and bones were cracking as if they were reforming.

Specks of light gathered around him.

After an indefinite amount of time, an explosion rang inside his body. He felt a surge of power. He even felt his senses increase greatly.

He also realized he had found a dark marble in his body.

"Origin Core!"

It could only mean one thing.

With a thought, he summoned his personal attributes.

[Vincent Magnus] 

Rank: Tier 1 - 1 ★ (20/100,000 Exp!)

"I've broken through?!"