"...Yes, yes, I'm sorry. I would go to work, but I'm really not feeling well. Yes, please proceed. Yes, there's no need to worry. I'll start working again tomorrow. Thank you for your hard work."
After calling the prison he was working at early in the morning, Si Hyun was able to let out a sigh of relief.
His hangover was the cause of his headache and for feeling queasy. On top of that, so many things happened at once yesterday that he felt burnt out.
First, he headed to the refrigerator and drank a bottle of cold water.
He felt a bit better.
"An awakening..."
What kind of trick is fate playing?
An awakening on the same day that my girlfriend dumped me.
It was a type of awakening that made him feel like fate was playing a game.
Sitting on the sofa, Si Hyun opened the status window.
[Depressed Ward]
Name: Po Ah Him
Gender: Male
Occupation: Ward (Main), Executioner (Sub)
Level of Popularity: Very Popular
1) Iron Ward
- Po Ah Him was feared by all the criminals at the Reiter continent. Even the most brutal criminal couldn't breathe properly in front of him.
- When dealing with criminals, all stats are increased by 1000%.
- When they criminals see you, they will freeze up in fear. They will go into a panic state.
2) Avid Executioner
- Po Ah Him was born to be a ward, but he was also a competent executioner. He couldn't count the number of times he had to execute
criminals. He enjoyed being an executioner.
- When dealing with condemned criminals, all stats are increased by 500%.
- When they criminals see you, they will freeze up in fear. They will go into a panic state.
Strength: 1 (E)
Agility: 1 (E)
Knowledge: 1 (E)
Stamina: 1 (E)
Mentality: 1 (E)
Spell: 1 (E)
Physical Defense: 0.05%
Magic Defense: 0.05%
Poison Resistance: 0%
Flame Resistance: 0%
Passive: ??? (Inactive)
Active: ??? (Inactive), ??? (Inactive)
I really did have an awakening.
I did.
A ward, ward.
Also known as a Prison Officer in English.
It seemed like that was what it was talking about.
How should I process this?
Also, they described him as depressed.
Just looking at it was very odd.
Depressed...
Although I'm not too familiar about this awakening, I have read them on the internet and in articles.
When one awakens, the status window displays the overall stats of the person, which also provides a description of the person.
For example, if one's stats are in Level A, then they're usually described positively, such as, awesome, amazing, talented.
And if that description is fulfilled, then their description changes to Amazing Knight, Awesome Magician, and Talented Priest.
Other the other, those on Level E are often described as clumsy, inexperienced, incompetent.
They're also described as Clumsy Knight, Inexperienced Magician and Incompetent Priest.
But, to his surprise, seeing the word "depressed" was totally different from his personality.
Does that mean it describes the current emotions?
How are they able to summarize the skills with this?
No, there hasn't been a case where this word was associated with someone after they've awoken.
This was the first time hearing this job and the first time hearing this word.
It was becoming very vague.
Also, popularity.
'Very famous?'
This meant that the owner of the power was famous in that world.
Although there were false reputations, fame usually follows behind skills.
Then there's a possibility that its level is pretty high.
Next is nickname.
An Iron Ward and Avid Executioner.
Although the names were really scary and intimidating, in terms of effect, it was odd.
Even though the values looked really high, if you look carefully, it only deals with criminals and those with a death penalty.
It means that it has no use when it comes to the important gate monsters.
If others saw this stat, they would just shake their heads.
A low level stat.
Worst of the worst.
All the stats had the letter E next to them.
It was a waste to say I've awoken when there was a 1 next to it.
Si Hyun let out a small sigh.
"Lastly, the skills."
I'm sure there's something there, but they're all displayed as ???? so I'm not sure what is is. It also says inactive, so I can't even use them.
And there's only three skills.
It was a small number that matched with Level E.
I heard that those in Level A easily have two digit skills.
Is this all that I get?
Level E? Am I really a Level E?
What Soo Jin said earlier about me being just an ordinary ward briefly passed through my mind. It also felt like I could hear her smirk in front of me.
Is a ward worth nothing in both worlds?
What's wrong with being a ward?
Are the knights and the magicians the only main characters in the fantasy world?
Can't a ward be the main character?
"Whew."
Si Hyun calmed himself down for a moment ant sat down in front of the computer that was sitting on his desk.
It was to find more detailed information about the awakening.
If used correctly, the internet could be used as a report for information.
There's a massive amount of information about the awakening since a lot of people are interested in it.
Si Hyun found a popular blogger who wrote about this and started reading it from the beginning.
It all started with how the terrible tragedy happened when these odd dimensional portals opened all over the world.
As soon as it opened, unknown beasts came out from them.
The beasts started attacking the people as if they were thirsty for blood.
The military tried their best to defend against the beasts, but no matter what kind of weapons they used, it had no effect on them. There was chaos everywhere and thousands of people died within the first day.
If this continued, humans would cease to exist.
Luckily, humans that had awakened to their powers started appearing.
Through a systematic method, they used an unfamiliar power called a sword and magic and they were known as the Awakened Ones.
Their new power was effective against the beasts.
Thanks to their power, the world managed to overcome hardships. From then on, they became the shield of society by guarding the gates where the beasts lurked.
Many looked up to them and were inspired by them.
Si Hyun continued reading the stats of the Awakened Ones.
"Hm...on average, those that are in Level D have a general stat of 100. Level C's have 300, Level B's have 500, and Level A's have 700? And those that have less than 100 are Level E's."
The basic stats were referring to the primary stats.
For a knight, it would be power and agility. For a magician and a priest, it would be knowledge.
For example, even if a knight's knowledge was low, when it comes to ranking, it wouldn't have any effect.
Of course there's a primary stat that must be achieved. It was power.
A knight must have power in order to receive active skills.
And for skills that require a lot of power, they're required to have that much more power.
It's safe to say that one's power level determines their rank.
It's safe to say that a knight's power level determines their rank.
Using the power measuring tool, they're able to determine the level of their power.
For other stats, unless stated by the person themselves, it's hard to find out.
There weren't that many that wanted to reveal their stats anyways. The status window was much more important than one's personal information. For some, their life depends on these stats.
When calculating the ranks based on power, the more power one has, the more powerful their stats are. This meant either their fame or their skills were amazing.
It was like a rule where power was an important skill to have when determining the rank.
"But, my power is 1..."
Currently, Si Hyun's power level was 1.
If he were to go to the Hunter's Association and applied for a Hunter's License, his ranking would definitely be E.
In a guild, those that are in the E rank are fated to clean and take care of the offensive line.
With a bitter smile, Si Hyun started reading the notes about aliases.
It mentioned that alias was just as important as stats and skills and provided examples from E rank to B rank.
Si Hyun started reading while comparing to his alias.
Rank: E
Alias: Failed Student of the Magic Academy
- _ _ _ is the failed student of Leon's Magic Academy. They were the laughingstock of the entire school.
- When casting a spell, the time it takes to cast will increase by 100%.
- The power of the magic will reduce by 70%.
"Wow...is this a joke or something? I would've just died. The country should care for them."
Rank: D
Alias: Anger Management Knight
- _ _ _ has a reputation for being good at managing their anger. They turn berserk to people that are weaker than them and becomes an advocate of peace when there are people that are even a bit stronger than them.
- When dealing with people that are weaker than them, all stats are increased by 50% and becomes elated.
- When dealing with people that are strong than them, all stats are decreased by 50% and becomes humble.
“Geez, this too is…well…I’m sure they’ll be able to take care of the small frys.”
Isn’t there anything worth looking at?
This time, Si Hyun started reading the rank C description.
Rank: C
Alias: Cobalt Slayer
- _ _ _ is a Cobalt hunter that’s filled with anger. After their father was killed by the Cobalt, they decided to live the rest of their lives by hunting Cobalts. Until the day they died, they piled the Cobalt’s corpse into a mountain.
- When dealing with a Cobalt, all stats are increased by 100% and the effectiveness of all skills are increased by 60%.
- Cobalts will attempt to run out of fear after seeing the hunter. They cause them to flight.
Finally, an alias that doesn’t have any negative qualities.
He felt that one’s rank should at least be a C in order to be a useful awakened one.
“But, 100% even for a hunter?”
100% wasn’t a low percentage. If a rank C’s stat is 300 and it increases by 100%, it would be at 600. That means when they deal with a Cobalt, they surpass rank B’s.
Then, does that mean rank A’s, who’s stat is 700, will have an increased stat of 1,400?
“Even with the same percentage, with a high stat, it increases tremendously. Definitely a monster…”
If this is the stat of a C rank, then there’s no way B and A rank’s stats are lower than this.
Si Hyun hurriedly read through the rank B stats.
Rank: B
Alias: Elasson’s Prodigy
- _ _ _ lived in a village named Elasson and is a famous magician for being the prodigy of the village. Although he realized that he wasn’t a genius after arriving at the capital, but everyone acknowledged the fact that he was a brilliant, upper class magician.
- Possible to cast spells at a high rate. When casting a spell, the rate will decrease by 30%.
- Possible to amplify spells. The power of the spells will increase by 35%.
“Huh?”
Rank B’s value was way lower.
Si Hyun started thinking deeply about this and soon reached an epiphany.
There were no restrictions.
In exchange for have low stats, there were no restrictions, which meant they would be useful in any situation.
When targeting the gate, it’s not like they’ll only target the Cobalts and this alias is a lot more useful compared to the others.
“I see. If there are restraints, then the stats are higher. That’s why there are heavy restraints…”
Only with criminals, it’s 1000%.
Only with criminals with a death penalty is 500%.
But none of them can’t be used on the monsters at the gate.
It was the moment where he understood why the value of his alias was 1000% and 500%.
Lastly, he searched “inactive skills” and searched for over 30 minutes, but there wasn’t any information about it.
“Damn it.”
Si Hyun got tired and turned his computer off. Laying on his bed, the stared at the ceiling with a blank look.
Dumped by his girlfriend.
Awakened.
So many questions about the skills of the awakened ones.
“Aren’t there any tutorials or quests that I can do like in those online games? If there were, I’m sure my questions would be answered.”
Without any signs, a new messaged appeared in front of him.
“After carrying out the execution of his best friend, Po Ah Him became shocked and depressed that he headed to the most northern part of the country and shut himself in the cold weather. On top of that, for the longest time, he didn’t eat or drink anything and was on the brink of death. If he doesn’t eat any food soon, he may die.”