Looking at his stats brought him back to reality.
"Right, I've awakened…" he murmured.
In his mind, an awakening couldn't be so weak, so he didn't hesitate to press the button to allocate his extra point to his Strength as if he wanted to get some more strength to hold on to to get up.
Honestly, he wasn't weakened; it was his mind that didn't want to get up for fear of looking at the corpse beneath him.
By adding that point of strength, his mind was not naturally affected, but something changed as the new power coursed through him. His muscles tensed, and that was enough to make him open his eyes with a new clarity.
"That's right, I've awakened…" he repeated to himself.
His mind cleared, and the fear that had seemed suffocating a moment ago suddenly felt distant—a little more understandable. It was as if his body's strengthened muscles were telling him that this was the natural cycle of life.
Kill or be killed.
And with that thought, he stood up. Some of his clothes had been stained with the blood flowing from his boss's neck, but he barely noticed it.
He squatted down, preparing to drag the corpse to put it in a bag or do something with it. But before he could touch it, the system's translucent screen flickered to life before him.
[Do you want to put the body in the Inventory?]
For a moment, he didn't know how to react.
'Right… there's an inventory in the system of the awakened…'
That was convenient, although terrifying in a way. Even so, he wasn't in a position to think about whether something was terrifying or went against morality; he was only in the position of preserving his life, and if someone—especially the Clark family—discovered that his boss had failed the mission because he killed him, then he would be finished.
He knew what kinds of bastards they were, thanks to being related to them. They were the kind that were capable of killing their own relatives just for a few dollars.
For that reason, although he hesitated briefly, he eventually added the body of his boss, now ex-boss, to his inventory after removing all his belongings.
Among those scattered belongings, Elliot found almost nothing of value. But then, something caught his attention. He picked it up and turned it over in his hand.
It was a piece of broken mirror. At first glance, it didn't seem to have anything special about it, yet he felt strangely drawn to it without wanting to.
'Is it an item? Why doesn't the System register it?'
Although it looked like an item, if the system didn't register it, it meant there was something strange about it.
Technically, the system of any awakened being was supposed to recognize everything in this world, including powerful items, and it didn't matter whether the awakened being was weak or strong and regardless if the item was common or powerful.
But this one was not being registered by the system, which was curious.
Curious, Elliot examined the piece of mirror closely to see if it had anything different about it, like a button to activate something, but there was nothing. It was a simple broken mirror that the system could not register.
"Maybe it's too damaged for the system to register it?"
Thinking that it was useless, he was about to throw it away without hesitation, but before the mirror could leave his hand, the system suddenly registered it.
"Oh? That took a while."
He was about to check its details when the item activated on its own. Then, strange messages, completely unrelated to the system, appeared before his eyes.
*****
[Fortune-telling activated]
[When you see the Energy Thread connecting to the body you just killed, you will know who is to blame for your misfortunes.
Clue: Dungeon of Rank E Goblins, Final Boss.
Stay strong, destiny seeker.]
As soon as that message appeared, the mirror returned to its inactive state, leaving Elliot stunned.
"Fortune telling? The culprit of my misfortunes?"
He couldn't help but think of the Clark Family. If there was a culprit for all his misfortunes, it was surely them. They had murdered his mother and his sister, forcing him to live in misery where even escaping the city was difficult, thanks to always being under surveillance.
Then, all of a sudden, something strange happened. His mind seemed to have connected with the item, and it vanished—no, it was subconsciously stored in the inventory.
At the same time, he felt as if he was seeing a strange vision, and for a moment, he felt dizzy. He nearly lost his balance, but the vision and the sensation along with it ended as quickly as they came, leaving behind only a lingering image of a place in the city.
"The E-Rank Dungeon of the association? I see, that's the Goblins' dungeon, the fortune mentioned before."
Although he had no idea as to what kind of secrets one of the weakest dungeons in the city could hold, now that he wanted to get stronger, he would have to go through them sooner or later. So he nodded, determined to go and check it out.
But not right now.
Right now, he wasn't even qualified to go to that 'weakest' dungeon; he was too weak even for an E-Rank one.
Right now, he was barely an Awakened Beginner or, as the system called it, a Newbie Player. And he was among the lowest rungs of all the awakened newbie players.
That's why he needed to get stronger. And to do that, he had to master his Talent.
"Oh, right."
A thought suddenly struck him. He recalled what he had been trying to figure out before his boss interrupted him and quickly turned his gaze to the system.
Once again, and for what must be the seventh time, he read everything he could find about his new class in great detail. He took his time to scrutinize each word carefully, making sure that he hadn't overlooked anything.
When he finally did, he couldn't wipe the grin from his face.
'There's no mistake… I don't see the Fair Law anywhere. Does that mean I don't have any restrictions or penalties to my ability?'
His heart began to beat hard once more. The excitement wiped away all the previous traces of earlier discomfort, even making him forget the pain of the wound on his side.
The so-called 'Fair Law' was a restriction placed on all the Awakened beings and has existed as long as the system itself. It was imprinted on each ability and ensured fairness and balance on how all the classes, abilities, and talents could be used.
To understand this context, one must know how Attribute Energy works. It determined a person's Stat Points, which in turn dictated their Strengthening Ranks.
So, the Fair Law marks the type of Attribute you are aligned with. If your skill tells you that you were a Swordsman, your affinity would likely be associated with Strength and Agility, meaning that those attributes could be used at full capacity.
However, this also meant that while your two main attributes could be used to their full capacity, the remaining two attributes, which were Sense (Intelligence) and Resistance (Vitality), would be severely restricted.
This, in turn, made it much harder to develop them, and their power would be significantly weaker when used.
These restrictions have always existed and applied to all types of Awakened people; whether they were Variators, Imagers, or Fighters, you will be affected.
But his ability did not seem to bear the mark of the Fair Law anywhere.
He felt incredible if he had to say so himself—but it was still too early to claim victory.
"Generally, new Awakened Ones must undergo intensive training for several months before entering these Rank E dungeons. But if what my talent says is correct, it should save me a lot of time to be able to go to that Dungeon. Besides, I'm a summoner. My main stats should be Sense and a few others, so if I can boost my other stats, I can verify that I don't have the penalty.'
Elliot didn't want to waste any more time thinking. He quickly packed all his belongings into his inventory and wrapped a bandage around the wound on his side. It would take a long time to heal, but it wasn't too dangerous, so he didn't worry too much.
Without any further delay, he set off in the direction of the nearest gym.
The gyms were always busy, no matter the hour. Many trained in hopes of strengthening their bodies before awakening, while others, already awake but still too weak to go to the dungeons, came here to train and build strength.
Why? Because this is where the Energy was created.
When Elliot arrived, he froze in shock.
There was a reason why his Talent urged him to stay close to the places where Energy was created.
Attribute Energy didn't come out of the ground, nor was there a centralized source for it. It was created within the living beings.
If you exercise to increase your strength, you will create Physical Attribute Energy. The same was applied if you tried to increase your resistance or agility. Therefore, any form of physical effort generates its corresponding energy.
On the other hand, Sense Energy was created from mental exercises—studying, reading, or, in general, doing something that strengthened the mind's resilience, agility, or 'power' since Sense was the attribute that governed the mind.
This was why gyms and training centers were the prime places for people to improve themselves. They provided a controlled, safe environment where the people could steadily grow stronger.
And that was exactly why Elliot was shocked when he stepped inside.
His eyes scanned the place, taking in the sheer amount of scattered Attribute Energy.
He had never imagined that people left trails of energy scattered everywhere they trained. Even more surprising was that he could see a strange color among the energies.
The predominant colors here were red, yellow, and green.
Red was the most abundant.
'So, attribute energy has color, huh.'
A closer look at the energy revealed a pattern to him: the red energy was created when people exercised to increase strength. Yellow was for resistance, and green for agility.
A very subtle and almost imperceptible blue color blended with the other colors, possibly the Sense attribute. Being in a gym, people don't tend to work their minds much, so it was created less.
Knowing all this, Elliot couldn't help but step forward.
'This must be what I need to collect,' he thought, his heart tightening a little with anticipation. He still didn't know if that was how his Talent worked, but knocking on the door was not the same as entering.
So he started to walk.
It didn't take him long to realize that his theory was right.
All the scattered energy of attributes in the surroundings began to react, clinging to his body and sinking into him with determination.
Although it was barely perceptible, he could feel his body passively strengthening, filling with a strange yet fantastic power.
'Although I haven't created any stats points, it still works incredibly well.'
He walked around the whole gym, absorbing as much energy from attributes, not wanting to miss anything.
Although people gave him strange looks, he didn't care.
After doing it for several minutes, he was forced to sigh.
He hadn't gained a single stat point even after collecting so much energy.
Even so, he wasn't discouraged.
Although he didn't have a way to measure his energy, he could feel that his body was saturating with that mystical energy he had only heard about until now. And that was enough for him.
So, he paid the monthly fee for the gym membership and started training.
He knew little about it, but the gym was pretty good. It offered different training routines for different people, depending on how many days they had been exercising, their strength, and so on. These routines were categorized into 'Normal People' and 'Awakened.'
The Awakened group was further divided into two ranks—Awakened Beginner (Newbie Player) and Awakened (Player), the second rank.
Naturally, Elliot selected the Awakened Beginner program between the two ranks. Then, wasting no time, he began his training with a prescribed general routine.