Chapter 6

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 6: Awakened Rank E (1)

The double experience buff turned out to be quite handy.

After defeating 10 imps in the dungeon, I leveled up, and the dungeon clear reward gave me an additional 100 experience points, bringing me to level 2.5.

From the Order faction's status window, I added points to agility, while from the Neutral faction's status window, I added points to luck again.

Thanks to the association staff, I arrived home comfortably, took a shower, and opened the strategy guidebook.

There wasn’t much new content.

Perhaps nothing substantial would come up until I reached level 5.

It seems I’ll need to upgrade my awakened rank to E-grade for new content to appear.

There wasn’t much information on the internet either.

“Stories about F-grade awakened ones are really sparse, huh.”

Most messages were encouragements saying, "Just don’t be scared and fight properly—you’ll win."

Occasionally, there were decent tips I didn’t know, like "The imp’s weakness is its horns, so aim for those."

Most posts about F-grade focused on mindset.

Honestly, how often does a modern person have to fight?

Even if you’re stronger and bigger than an imp, maintaining your fighting spirit isn’t easy.

Well, nothing of value here.

Let’s get some sleep and head back to the association.

I should hit up more dungeons while the experience buff lasts...

I heard there’s a training center inside the association building, and they offer free training for awakened ones.

Would training there increase my skill stats?

They even teach martial arts, so I might be able to improve my physical stats.

But how do I train my mana?

“Mana release.”

Poof!

I said that while lying on the bed, and my body floated slightly above it.

Startled, I checked if the bed was damaged, but thankfully, it was fine.

Phew.

If it had been a different spell instead of Fire Bolt, I might have used up all my mana.

But I can’t use it since it might cause a fire.

Oh well.

I’ll just sleep.

I can train at the association.

It’s been ten days since I cleared my first F-grade dungeon.

The next day, I announced I was heading to another dungeon, which garnered some attention, but I wasn’t the only one working hard.

Many others also went to dungeons daily and trained at the association’s training center.

By now, I had become familiar enough with their faces to exchange light greetings.

During this time, I learned spells and gained skills from the elves in the dungeon.

Fire Bolt, Wind, Ice Arrow, Light, Shield.

[Magic Level 1]

[You’ve gained the miraculous ability to wield magic. For humans on Earth, this is an unfamiliar domain. Spells can only be cast through incantations. The power of magic is reduced by fifty percent compared to its original form. Only first-circle magic can be used.]

The elves didn’t teach me second-circle magic since it wasn’t attainable at F-grade.

Tsk.

I should learn as much as I can while they’re willing to teach.

Anyway, after ten days of pushing myself with the double experience buff, I managed to reach level 5 and saw significant changes in my stats.

[Name: Kim Jiho

Class: NOVICE

Guardian: Pollux, God of Gemini

Title: Bat Awakened

Level: 5

Strength: 7, Agility: 7, Mana: 6]

[Name: Kim Jiho

Class: Beginner

Guardian: Aurelia, God of Volcanoes

Title: None

Level: 5

Body: F+, Mana: F+, Skill: F, Luck: E+]

In the Order faction, I’ve been raising my stats evenly, while in the Neutral faction, I’ve focused so much on luck that it jumped five grades from F- to E+.

At this point, I’m wondering if I should shift focus to stats like Skill, which is still at F.

“You’re already level 5?”

“No way… Even with the experience calculations, it should take at least twenty days.”

When I inquired about upgrading my rank after reaching level 5, the association staff were shocked.

“I cleared the tutorial in five minutes, so they gave me a double experience buff. I saw it online and gave it a try.”

“Oh! That’s good to know...”

“We should report this officially right away.”

Looks like the internet excuse works well enough.

As one staff member ran off somewhere, I asked another,

“So, how do I upgrade my rank?”

“Ah, I’ll guide you.”

We took the elevator to the seventh floor.

Do they handle rank upgrades within the building?

I vaguely remember hearing about this during my hardcore gaming days, but I didn’t pay much attention to F-to-E upgrades back then.

[Awakened E-Rank Promotion Room.]

Entering a relatively small room, I saw three dwarves sitting around a round table, chugging beer.

They were pouring soju into enormous beer mugs, a bizarre sight.

“The beer on this planet is way too weak.”

“But I’ve learned about this great culture called ‘soju-beer mix.’”

“Oh, Randolph, that’s my favorite thing about Earth—the soju-beer mix.”

“1:1 ratio is so delicious. I love soju-beer mix. I love kimchi.”

Hmm… 1:1 ratio?

These guys are nuts.

Chomp, chomp.

Gulp, gulp.

They grabbed pieces of kimchi pork belly with their hands, devouring them messily yet somehow without spilling anything on the floor.

Their beards absorbed everything like aprons.

“Excuse me… I’ve brought the awakened one here for their E-rank promotion.”

“A 12th-generation awakened? Forty days, huh? That’s relatively quick.”

“Yeah, for a human on Earth, that’s fast.”

“Gulp… gulp… ah! Smack. Fill my glass, Kandolph. I’ll go activate the crystal.”

One of the dwarves who had been guzzling beer and devouring pork belly stood up and waddled deeper into the room.

I glanced briefly at his empty glass before following him.

Ah, I’ll have to try some soju-beer mix myself after the double buff ends.

“So, human, is your zodiac sign Taurus? The 12th generation is under Taurus, right?”

"Ah, no, I’m from the 13th batch. Gemini."

"Gemini? Heck. That means it's only been ten days. How is that possible?"

"I had a double experience buff."

"Ah-ha! Now that you mention it, I think I heard about you from my comrades. They said there was a crazy guy who didn’t even listen to explanations, picked up a shield, and charged right in."

"That crazy guy is me."

"Hahaha! You’re an amusing fellow. Once you hit D-rank, let me invite you to our table. You seem like you’ll reach D-rank soon. E-rankers can’t even handle twenty bottles of soju, after all."

Wait... Can D-rankers handle that?

Thinking it’d be best to avoid crossing paths, I watched the dwarf fiddling with the crystal.

Looks like a dungeon core.

"Alright. Everything’s set. You’re the first from the 13th batch to rank up."

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

"What do I do now?"

"Just touch it. Oh, and the options for your new class will appear, so choose carefully."

That sounds incredibly simple.

They say the real deal starts at E-rank Awakener.

I guess this part is just getting through the beginner stage.

Well, the easier, the better.

The moment I touched the crystal, a semi-transparent message window appeared.

[Awakener Kim Jiho.

Level 5 confirmed.

Checking aptitude for attributes...

Available classes: Warrior, Mage, Assassin.

Please select your class.]

Warrior, Mage, Assassin, and… NOVICE.

Jiho.

I’m counting on you, Jiho.

Thanks to you, I’ve got an extra status window to lean on for ranking up.

Your guidebook has to be right.

This should work if I choose my class at D-rank, right?

[Warning: You have selected the NOVICE class.

If you do not select a class at this opportunity, you will not be able to choose one until the next rank-up.

Are you sure you want to select the NOVICE class?]

"Yes!"

[Warning: The NOVICE class comes with no special perks.

Are you certain about your choice?]

Geez, these warnings are starting to make me second-guess myself.

It’s fine.

I’ll be fine!

I clicked “Yes” again, and again, and again.

After going through four warning messages, I finally locked in the Novice class.

Ah… Am I making the right choice?

[You have ranked up to E-rank Awakener.]

[Skill level cap increased by +2.]

[Skill slots expanded.]

[You have gained 2 stat points.]

[You have maintained the NOVICE class. No additional bonus stats were awarded.]

[Limited communication with your guardian deity is now possible.]

Golden light burst from my body.

It flared up briefly before fading into a dim glow, almost as if it had never been there.

The dwarf who had been watching me scratched his head with a puzzled look.

"Uh… That’s odd. Did I drink too much? That yellow light only shows up for Novices."

"Good observation."

"What? Wait. You chose Novice? Did you mess up? No, there were so many warnings!"

"Nope. I plan to change classes at D-rank."

"What the—! I thought you were crazy, but you’ve completely lost it, haven’t you? Do you think it’s easy to go from E to D-rank? The difference in difficulty is on a whole other level!"

The dwarf shook his head vigorously and stormed off to his drinking table, downing a beer-mixed soju in one gulp.

"Wow. What a nutcase. Seeing this lunatic made my drink taste better."

"Hey, did you hear what he said?"

"Yeah, he chose Novice!"

"Whoa. He’s seriously nuts, huh? If he’s a Novice, we can’t even drink with him. Tsk, tsk. Still, I kind of want to have a drink with a lunatic like that."

It seemed the dwarves had already concluded that I, Kim Jiho, had no chance of reaching D-rank.

Ah… Why are they reacting like this?

They’re making me feel like I’ve really done something insane.

"Jiho, tell me it’s not true. You didn’t choose Novice, right?"

"Actually… I did."

"Aaaahhh! Why would you do that? What were you thinking?"

The association staff member clutched their head like the world was ending.

Ugh.

Stop it, please.

Just trust me; there’s a plan behind this…

[Pollux finds your rare choice intriguing and is observing you with great interest.]

[Aurelia deeply regrets becoming the guardian deity of such a fool.]

The Goddess of Volcanoes was displeased from the start, but regretting it now?

Come on.

What’s with the regret?

I’ll do well, so please don’t take away my status window.

[Pollux grants a special skill to Kim Jiho, the Awakener who caught his rare interest.]

[You have acquired the A-rank skill: ‘Infinite Stamina.’]

What the—?!

No, no.

Stamina doesn’t have to mean that, right?

It could just mean boundless physical and mental energy.

An A-rank skill is amazing.

Yeah. Let’s check the description.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]