Chapter 15 — Awakener’s Bureau

  Upon stepping into the Awakener’s Bureau, he was immediately greeted by a long line of male and female college students in queue for awakening, none of whom he recognized. Most of them, or probably all of them, appeared to be from Dongan Academy, judging by the sweaters several of the students wore.

  “Follow me, Mr. Blackwood,” said Naver, walking forward as he fixed his sleeves.

  William felt many eyes on him as he moved to the front of the line.

  “Who’s that guy behind the navigator?” one student whispered loudly enough for those nearby to hear.

  “I think he’s from Trinity Academy,” another voice chimed in, dripping with both envy and curiosity.

  “Are you sure he’s a Trinity Academy student? I mean, he’s tall, but he doesn’t look that rich,” muttered a girl wearing a navy Dongan Academy sweater. Her tone carried skepticism but also awe. “He looks kind of sickly too. Hm… I take that back. He must be a Trinity student if he has a personal navigator.”

  “But wasn’t Trinity’s awakening ceremony a few days ago?” her friend replied, glancing between William and Naver. “Why is he here now?”

  “I don’t know. I wonder if he has a girlfriend.”

  “Oh yeah, did you hear about the girl who went missing in Trinity Academy?”

  News spread fast, and the implications were not good. William ignored the chatter, trying to stay positive and push down that lingering feeling that he was indirectly responsible for Abby’s possible death. In fact, the inconclusive nature of her situation made it even worse. He kept his focus straight ahead, clearing his mind of bad thoughts, although snippets of conversation continued to reach his ears as he walked past the long line of draftees. People openly stared, some sizing him up, others judging him some way or another. He suddenly felt aware of how haggard he looked—his frame was noticeably thinner after days of surviving on IV fluids alone.

  They arrived at the front of the line, and Naver spoke to the official-looking woman at the reception.

  “My advisee has priority for awakening,” Naver said, slipping her some paperwork. The woman reviewed the paperwork quickly and stamped it, then pointed towards the bench nearby.

  “Please wait over there for your name to be called.”

  William moved to the bench, and Naver walked over after a brief conversation with the official.

  “The awakening process takes about five to twenty minutes depending on the person,” he said to William as he walked over. “Since someone just went in, you’ll have some time before your name is called. Do you want me to fill you in on the new procedures?”

  “Please do,” William replied.

  Naver cleared his throat, maintaining his professional yet approachable demeanor. "The beginning of the process is the same as before," he began, speaking in a calm, measured tone. "With the orb. Do you want me to elaborate?”

  “No, it’s fine.” He’d read about the procedure in depth and didn’t need a recap. “Just let me know what’s new.”

  “Very well. As before, you will receive a numerical power level evaluation, with a level of 1 being the lowest. The government has also added a physical aptitude test to determine your overall combat readiness.”

  “After you receive your level, which is now officially referred to as your rank under the new system, you’ll enter the awakened fighting forces as part of the reserve pool in support of active military and guild personnel. You will be assigned combat missions and undergo specialized training.”

  William felt like the navigator was dodging an important question. His rent was already late, and he had no desire to work his part-time job anymore after seeing what he’d seen. “Are we getting paid for this?”

  Naver suddenly looked apologetic. “Ah, apologies Mr. Blackwood, but I did look into your file a bit.” He leaned in and whispered into William’s ear. “You are an orphan, is that correct?”

  “I am,” William answered. He noticed that many of the other draftees were listening in on their conversation, but he found no reason for Naver to hide his orphan background. He was on a partial scholarship to Trinity Academy, and so what? He was proud of it. He earned the right to be there, with the highest test scores ever achieved by a student in the government subsidized schooling for delinquent children program. He paid for his own living expenses since childhood, and so naturally he needed to know if he was going to get paid for risking his life.

  “Mr. Blackwood, members of the awakened fighting forces will be paid a salary depending on rank. At rank 1, that may be a very basic amount to cover living expenses.”

  “I can work with that,” William replied. “Is there any way to earn more?”

  Naver Frost appeared surprised at his eagerness, but regained his composure to answer. “Yes. After the awakening, you will have the same freedom as a normal awakener to take on missions from the request board and enter raid parties as a for-hire member. In fact, this is encouraged to allow the reserves to grow stronger through real combat experience.”

  “However, you must remember that no duties will supersede your military duties. If you are recalled for a reserve mission, that takes precedence over any other obligations, guild or otherwise.”

  “I see.” He couldn’t help the smile from growing on his face. From what he was hearing, this development fit his goals perfectly. Even as a rank 1, the government would at least cover a chunk of his rent and utilities, and he could quit his shitty job with Manager Kim and do what he needed to do from the beginning—become an awakener.

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  He wasn’t like the other students at Trinity Academy with bright futures ahead of them regardless of the state of the world. He’d been praying for something to change his pitiful paycheck-to-paycheck situation for the longest time, and it sounded like his big break had finally arrived. Now if only he could awaken that light that could penetrate the hide of an unclassed monster, and he might actually have a shot at turning his life around, maybe even becoming rich.

  To be rich… that was his dream since childhood, ever since those days where he slept in dumpsters with the rain hammering down noisily on the cover. He always wanted to live in a nice apartment with a heater that worked, a ceiling that didn’t leak, with a game station and a big TV, and a big bed to sink into where he could actually stretch his legs out for once. Just thinking about it made him excited.

  “Why does he look so smug about hearing that he’ll get paid? Isn’t he rich?”

  “Maybe he’s just like that,” another girl replied. “His expression is weird.”

  William quickly wiped the smile from his face, which had naturally arisen after thinking about all the luxuries he could afford if he became like one of those famous awakeners.

  Naver Frost cleared his throat awkwardly. “That sums up the new policies. Do you have any other questions?”

  “That’s all I have.”

  “Good. I’ll be back later to check on you once the initiation is complete. See you soon,” Naver said, before turning and heading into the employee only area.

  As he watched Naver walk away, for some reason William felt like he detected a hint of sadness in Naver’s expression, that could be seen even through his professional facade. He sat in silence as Dongan Academy students talked around him.

  A male student near him turned to his companion. “Did you hear about the reevaluation process? Apparently you can get retested after a month, or after completing ten missions to get ranked again. That means even if I get rank 2, I can test again and get rank 3 or 4 or something. I heard you get paid a lot more too. Like at rank 3, you’ll be making more than most managers!”

  His friend snorted. “Yeah, good luck with that. Not many people can get stronger that fast.”

  A few minutes later, the testing center door opened. Out walked a beaming male Dongan Academy student, newly evaluated and wearing an impressive military uniform with three stripes emboldened onto his chest.

  “Nice one, Killian!” cheered one of the student’s friends. “Level three, not bad at all. What power did you get?”

  “Body reinforcement,” he declared proudly, holding out his hand as an aura-like glow began to appear from it. “I can’t wait to get to the dungeons.”

  Congratulations continued as a white haired woman with a clipboard walked out of the double door room labeled Testing Center.

  “Next for evaluation, William Blackwood from Trinity Academy.”

  A few murmurs erupted from the line.

  “See, I told you he was from Trinity.”

  William walked to the woman, who motioned him in. “Come with me.” They headed through another set of doors into a hallway. At the end of the hallway was a steel framed door. William felt the outline of his phone in his pocket, mentally preparing.

  “Please,” the white haired woman beckoned. “Your awakening will take place on the other side of this door.”

  With an inhale, William grabbed the handle and pulled, walking into what could only be described as a reinforced testing chamber with white walls. Scratches, burn marks, and all sorts of debris and indications of untamed power usage of varying degrees of strength could be seen throughout the facility. A large black sphere sat in the middle of the room, supported by a stone podium.

  A row of target dummies stood to the left like pins at the end of a bowling alley, with a weapon rack by the beginning of the lane where the bowling balls normally would be. Various other miscellaneous objects of questionable use lay around the facility, including a bouncing yoga ball, cardboard boxes, and a crowbar.

  On the other side of the room was a soldier with a reader in his hand, an evaluation administrator, a panel of three judges, and a female barrier user dressed in guild uniform. She held a golden staff in her hand that emanated a glow from which a translucent barrier extended to cover the judges and personnel.

  Barriers were considered a defensive or support type ability. Barrier users had the critical capability to enhance the overall survivability of their team, and were paid a lot without having to risk themselves all too much on normal missions. Overall it was a decent gig, but he digressed.

  The evaluation administrator approached him and shook his hand.

  “When we give the ready signal, which will be when I raise my hand, please step up to the orb and place your dominant hand onto it with your palm first,” instructed the evaluation administrator. “Your ability should manifest immediately. Feel free to use anything in the room to demonstrate your power, although any intentional attacks against our barrier are strictly prohibited and you will face severe consequences.”

  “Is there a reason why some people can’t awaken or manifest an ability even after touching the orb?”

  “That’s a good question. Power manifestation is an imperfect science that we do not fully understand, although we have observed that younger candidates are far more likely to be able to manifest their power. All draftees from your cohort so far have been successful at manifesting some degree of power.”

  “I see.”

  “Do you have any other questions?”

  “How is power level—sorry, rank—decided?”

  “Another excellent question. We have an energy reader,” the evaluation administrator said, indicating towards the soldier with the scanner in his hand. “That will measure the energy synchronized to the orb from your power, which gives us a general understanding of the magnitude of your power. Then, the judges will adjust that based on your demonstration ability.”

  “Some powers may have a lower scanner reader compared to their actual combat power. For example, we had a telekinesis user today who demonstrated exceptional ability against the dummy targets over there, bringing her score from rank 3 based on her reading to rank 4.”

  “Understood. Can we use a tool for our power? Like, for example, my phone?” William slid his phone out of his pocket and showed the administrator, who looked at the cracked old screen with confusion.

  “O-of course you may, although you might find it better to use one of the other props that we’ve prepared in the facility, which should give you a better result than your phone,” he answered politely, although with a strained voice.

  He probably thinks I’m mad, William thought. Anyway, it didn’t matter now.

  “I think I’m ready.”

  “Very well. Let us begin the procedure. Please wait for my signal, then proceed to touch the orb.”

  The evaluation administrator walked back to the other side of the room, stepping through the barrier mage’s barrier as if he had just entered a bubble.

  He turned around and raised his hand. “You may proceed.”

  William approached the orb with curiosity, his phone in his hand. No matter how much he tried at the hospital and on the car ride here, he couldn’t get that glowing white light to appear again. Perhaps now was the moment for it to return.