Recovery Level- 9

Despite the remarkable abilities of his family, Ram remained the only one who had not yet awakened. It was a burden he carried silently, especially now with his younger sister Lisa successfully unlocking her profession.

If not for the secret weapon he called his "Golden Finger," Ram might have succumbed to depression long ago.

The weight of being unawakened in a world where power meant survival and respect gnawed at him constantly.

As he sat at the table, waiting for their food to arrive, Ram watched Liam and Lisa bicker playfully, the familiar sight bringing a brief smile to his face.

But his mind was elsewhere, focusing on his attribute panel, as it always did when he felt stuck.

[ Physique: 0.99]

[ Spirit: 2.44]

"The Spirit is growing slowly, but the Physique... still stuck at 0.99," Ram thought with frustration.

He had made some progress in his Spirit, likely due to the strong soul he had carried over from his past life on Earth, but his body remained stubbornly unresponsive to all the methods he'd tried.

"Maybe it's time I take the Shadow Society up on their offer," he thought. The mysterious group had reached out to him, offering a new awakening method that could potentially break his stagnant Physique barrier.

It was a risk, but one he was increasingly willing to take. Ram pondered over his options, weighing his past efforts against the stagnant state of his Physique.

"I've already tried most known awakening methods," he thought to himself. "Is the Shadow Society my only remaining option?" He contemplated whether to accept the offer from the Shadow Society to try their new awakening method, hoping it might offer a solution to his stagnant Physique.

He had a strong hunch that once his physique breakthrough the bottleneck he should be able to awaken and use his Golden Finger. 

With his sister's awakening leaving him as the only unawakened member of his family, the thought gnawed at him more deeply than ever.

He needed to do something, and the Shadow Society—despite its shady reputation—seemed like the only option left.

Before Ram could dwell too much on the decision, their food arrived. The waitress set down a steaming platter of Roasted Fire Chicken Wings and Thighs, alongside Pork Ribs from Black Pigs and a generous serving of Fried Rice.

The delicious aroma filled the air, making their mouths water. Both Fire Chicken and Black Pig were Tier-1 monsters, having evolved from regular animals due to prolonged exposure to Reiki.

Their meat was known for being especially tender and flavorful, highly sought after by both ordinary people and awakeners alike.

As they dug into their meal, Liam shared some of his experiences as an awakened Professional, offering advice to Lisa on how to adjust to her new abilities and what she could expect from university life.

Ram listened quietly, absorbing what he could, though the conversation made him feel slightly out of place. As a non-awakener, he couldn't relate to the topics of discussion.

He was reminded once again of the divide between himself and the world of the awakened.

After lunch, Ram went to pay at the register, there was a middle-aged woman at the counter, and even before he arrived near the counter, the boss lady readied their bill and greeted him politely.

The total food cost him around 27.3 points Life Energy, Life Energy Crystals, and Spiritual Power Crystals are common currency used all over the Federation, Life Energy crystals is a special energy crystals condensed after killing monsters.

Which can be used by awakeners to cultivate, and recover physical strength, with many other uses.

Any Life Energy Crystal obtained from killing a Tier-1 (Black Iron) monster contains about 1 to 10 points of Life Energy. For 27.3 LEP you need to kill at least more than 5 to 6 monsters if you're lucky. 

One point of Life Energy can be roughly estimated as one Megajoule and a typical strong ordinary human produces around 8 points of Life energy every day.

It's a huge amount for ordinary people or even low-level awakeners, however for him it's not much. He was born into a good family who cares about him very much.

But he also has a special way of making Life Energy using the only skill of his Golden Finger 'Recovery Lv -9'. 

[ Skill: Recovery Lv-9: Restores 1% of total health every minute.]

This skill gives him the ability to recover 1% of his total health and energy every minute.

Every night he uses empty Life Energy Crystals to inject five to six points of his own Life Energy to fill them and restore the lost energy through the Recovery Skill.

It was not like this before but when the skill reached Level 9, he found that he was already proficient enough to manipulate and extract his own Life Energy.

Normally even awakeners don't have this kind of ability to extract their life energy.

He simply paid three Life Energy Crystals with 10 points each and left the restaurant looking back at the happy face of the middle-aged boss lady for the extra tip of 2.7 LEP. 

Once they left the restaurant, Ram dropped Lisa off at home and Liam at his own place.

Then, with a sense of determination, he made his way toward the outskirts of the city, heading to meet his contact with the Shadow Society.

After about 15 minutes of driving, Ram pulled up to an old motorcycle repair shop. The building looked as worn out as the man who worked there.

The shop owner, an old mechanic named Smith Bertrand, was hunched over a broken-down vehicle, his greasy hands moving with the skill of decades of experience.

This shabby mechanic shop was more than it seemed. Smith was Ram's contact with the Shadow Society, a secretive and forbidden organization that operated outside the Federation's laws.

There were plenty of rumors about the Shadow Society—whispers of their involvement in criminal activities like kidnapping, drug trafficking, and illegal awakenings.

People said they experimented with unnatural methods to force awakenings, even enslaving people through their dark rituals, but there were also some rumors that they saved a lot of villagers, who suffered from monster attacks.

The rumors were mixed, Ram didn't care about the rumors. He needed to awaken, and the Shadow Society seemed like his only remaining option.

He climbed out of his car and approached the old man, greeting him casually. "Hey, old man Smith, how's it going?"

Smith, who looked to be in his late seventies or early eighties, glanced up from his work. His clothes were tattered and covered in grease, and he looked every bit like a man who had spent his life fixing broken things.

Yet, despite his ragged appearance, his eyes were bright and sharp, betraying the wisdom and strength hidden beneath his worn-out exterior.

[ Name: Smith Bertrand] 

[ Age: 78/132]

[ Race: ???/Human]

[ Profession: Mechanic ??]

[ Physique: ???]

[ Spirit: ???]

[ Talent: ????] 

Ram had tried to check Smith's stats through his attribute panel before, but most of his details remained hidden.

The few things Ram could see only raised more questions. Smith was no ordinary old man. He had lived for over a century, his physique and spirit were unknown, and his profession, whatever it was, didn't register in the normal system.

The old man grunted, wiping his hands on a rag before standing up straight. "You finally made up your mind, kid?" Smith's voice was gravelly, but there was an undercurrent of curiosity.

Ram nodded, his mind set. "Yeah, I'm ready. Take me to the Shadow Society. It's time."