Chapter 3: Getting a Goal
I haven't told my mother what has happened to me.
I want to go ahead and tell her that I'll make her life comfortable, and say 'You don't need to go through all those hardships anymore.'
But.
That's for when I'm able to use this cheat properly to profit!
That's when I'll tell her and surprise her.
Until then, it's a secret.
Because my mother would obviously be against the idea of me having to face dangerous monsters.
After a dinner that was more satisfying than usual, I go back to my room.
Now that I know about my ability, I need to think about how to level up and how to become rich as fuck.
I go around many Awakened guild forums and collect various information.
It says that you need to first go into the Awakened Association's site and report that you are an Awakened.
You have to submit the report within a month of becoming an Awakened.
This rule doesn't just end with fines.
You could even taste the dew of the execution grounds if you disobey it.
Even at school, students undergo physical examinations to check if they were Awakened every 3 months.
But I won't report myself straight away.
That's partially because I'm saving it up as a surprise event for mother.
But it's mainly because I feel a sense of excitement as I hide my power, which is different from any other Awakened.
"Cough cough, respect my preferences please, keh keh."
Just thinking about it makes this situation enjoyable.
I record the date to report in to the Association on my smartphone's calendar app.
-Ttum ttap- Ttum ttum tap- Good morning~ Good morning~
The alarm rings out loudly.
I don't know when I fell asleep.
I was sitting at the computer, searching for skills like crazy…
While eating the breakfast that mother prepares for me every day, I talk to myself.
"First! A strong skill with long range."
"Second! A skill that is imbalanced by its high mana consumption."
"Third! A skill that is cheap due to that imbalance! Bingo!"
"There's only that. Lightning Spray!"
It's a skill that I tried to find until my fingers started hurting.
There are tons of commercials for it.
The price is around 800,000 to 1,000,000 won.
###About $700-900 USD###
It's laughable that it's that cheap, considering my situation.
It's a skill that gets traded around pretty often too. It's that powerful.
But the one reason that it can't be a main skill! That would be its insanely high mana cost.
A few Awakened novices bought the skill book, enticed by the relatively cheap cost for such a high strength skill.
But the results were poor.
The skill 'Lightning spray' takes up 500 mana for every use.
And as the level of the skill rises, so does its mana cost.
The mana cost of 'Frost Orb' is 10 mana. Do you get the idea of how abnormal the mana cost of Lightning Spray is?
A level one Magician class Awakened can use 'Frost Orb' about five times. One point of the Int stat boosts MP by five points.
I wonder if there is any other skill that suits me this much other than 'Lightning Spray'.
Now I have my first goal since becoming an Awakened. The Skill Book: 'Lightning Spray'.
I go to school.
With a face full of confidence that's different from my usual face!
"Min-Cheol, you ok?"
It's Tae-Seong, a guy who sits behind me.
"What?"
"I mean, you got wrecked by Jae-Hyuk."
'And who's the bastard that knew about it but didn't say anything?'
These words are on the tip of my tongue, but I hold back.
"Ah~ It's ok, it happens all the time."
It's this strange kind of greeting.
We just gather together and talk about our own interests.
These guys don't think of me as a friend anyway.
"Wow~ Our Min-Cheol came to school after that beating?"
That thing that I knew was going to come finally arrives.
"Yeah!"
I reply bluntly.
"Yeah, I guess you have to come to school and study, I mean, what else would you do? But the way you're talking is really annoying, you know? If you want to keep getting beaten up, then keep talking like that, okay?"
The bastard spat out anger-inducing words without hesitation.
He have been born in a breeding facility.
But I'm different from yesterday.
I won't do what he wants and then have to fake laughter.
I will make myself understand, and I won't work with him.
While I'm thinking these thoughts, the bastard's already pulled out his cushion and is getting ready to sleep.
I can't concentrate throughout the entire lesson.
My head is filled with thoughts about what I have to do in the future.
It seems to be really hard.
I need a proper advisor, not just a forum post.
It would be stupid to ask Hwang Jae-Hyeok, and… Haah… So annoying.
Entrance to hunting grounds, loot, everything…
I only study, I don't know how the world works.
-Ding-Dong-Dang-Dong
The bell which signals the end of 1st period rings out.
I'm locked in my thoughts. Trivial things like lessons or the bell don't even reach my ears.
"Hey, did you see that yesterday?"
"What?"
"How Choi So-Hyeon cleared the Level 28 dungeon for the first time?"
"Retard, is it the first time that Level 28 dungeons have been cleared?"
"Ugh! Dude~~ Dude~~ It's a solo clear, you retard!"
"Real?"
"Really! It's not just the first for Korea; it's the first for the entire world!"
"Amazing, hooray for Korea! But hey, is Choi So-Hyeon your friend? Huh? Kekekeke."
A conversation that pulls my interest is going on behind me.
It's between Tae-Seong and his buddy Jin-Ho.
After the appearance of monsters, the fame of the top Awakened is pretty much the on the level of idols.
There are even fan clubs.
"Tae-Seong."
"Yeah?"
"Do you know a lot about Awakened or dungeons?"
Jin-Ho speaks up before Tae-Seong can reply.
"Hey, this guy's an absolute Awakened worshipper."
I smile genuinely as I look at Jin-Ho. Jin-Ho is laughing.
I feel like I can get information which wasn't on the internet forums.
"But why are you so interested all of a sudden?"
"Ah well, I saw a documentary yesterday and it was quite interesting."
I naturally ravel my story.
"Ahem~! Where should I start…? Do you know when and how the monsters came to be?"
Since I appear to have an interest in his profession, he looks at me and starts talking. It looks like he's enjoying himself.
'Ah… I don't want a theory lesson like an instruction manual…' I want to say those words.
But for now, I need information.
"I don't really know, I just got a sudden interest in it…"
I smile and listen to Tae-Seong talk.
The beasts that Tae-Seong talks about appeared about 40 years ago.
All around the world, purple Portals appeared.
The Portals didn't appear with any order, logic or pattern.
Randomly appearing, humanity felt fear and amazement at seeing those Portals.
But within an hour of the Portals appearing, we came to know that those things should not exist.
This is because the Portals exploded and started to vomit monsters into our world.
Many people were killed by them.
Every country gathered their forces to fight back against them.
But over the next three days, we realised how to stop the beasts from coming through the Portals.
Going through the Portal and killing all the monsters.
If all the monsters and the boss died, the Portal would become a dungeon, and no more explosions would happen.
Back then, military weapons were able to kill them.
And like that, humanity adapted.
But, as the days went by, the Portals also evolved.
With the monsters inside…
Near the Portals, rings like the the ones in the cross-section of a tree appeared.
Humanity considered the Portals as mere housework at this point, but we suffered more casualties as the monsters got stronger over the years.
The variety of the monsters increased too.
Then, with the military as their focus, 'Awakened' began to appear.
"They could've just destroyed all the Portals as soon as they appeared!"
I point out the most simple and correct solution.
"Hmm… Yeah! But what about the places that humanity couldn't conquer?"
"What if the Portals appeared beneath the ocean, or in jungles or on top of mountains? And, the Portals keep appearing every year!"
Tae-Seong continues to explain in a knowledgeable tone.
I slowly began become interested in his words.
###He was faking his interest before but now he actually has interest.###
"Right now, there are Portals from level 1 through to level 40. But Portals above level 28 don't explode. Isn't it strange? Like they're waiting for something big?"
-Pak! Pak! Pak!
"Really, you three, if you don't want your heads to explode can you shut up and stay still?"
Jae-Hyuk hits the three of us on our heads and glares at us.
Fucking beggar, carnivore, ugly, inhuman bastard!
Yeah~ I'll step over you soon enough, so just wait!
"S-Sorry, Jae-Hyuk."
Tae-Seong and Jin-Ho apologise profusely.
I guess they want to avoid danger.
"Let's talk more at lunch."
I say that to the other two, then turn to face the front.
"Oi! Kim Min-Cheol, you mad? Why don't you say something!"
As Jae-Hyuk's finishes talking, what I see isn't the front of the classroom, but its floor.
Ding-Dong-Dang-Dong
Everyone stares at me.
But not for long.
I guess they don't want to get caught up in it.
"This fucker, I let him go when he was being cheeky this morning, and then he goes and fucking does this?!"
###Basically he's angry because Min-Cheol isn't responding to his shit.###
"Ugh... Ugh..."
It hurts! Even though I'm an Awakened too, it fucking hurts!
Luckily, it seems that my bones aren't broken.
What level is this guy!?"
"Hey, the teacher's coming!"
Jae-Hyuk stomps on me one more time before returning to his seat, seething.
The teacher's really doing me a lot of favors here.
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