It turned out to be surprisingly easy to fall into the new routine. James woke up at the same time he would to go to Home Depot for work, but instead of walking through Brooklyn, he’d take the metro to Manhattan alongside all the commuters, spend a couple hours with different instructors - various bureaucrats who had the free time - who’d go over protocol and the limits of their authority while acting as AA agents, and then go train in the spacious room that had been reserved for Team 0.

They were apparently the pilot to the whole Dawn Initiative, the origin point that drove the higher-ups to push for more funds, which meant they were stuck with that name.

To be honest, it feels too cool for what we are right now. It’s like we should all be A-rank Awakeners. Not H-rank rookies trying to not hit each other during practice.

That had been the main focus of Miss Walker’s lessons. She also had a more personalized program for each of them, and James had already reaped the benefits, finally bringing his Thakinetic Awareness and Resistance to level 2.

The first time he had used Resistance turned out to be almost involuntary. Miss Walker was pushing her aura on them again to temper them against any high-ranker that might want to intimidate them, when the effect suddenly lessened.

Once the passive effects of Resistance kicked in, he was able to supplement it with additional mana, and repeated instances of being subjected to the masked woman’s intent finally managed to increase the skill’s level.

On the other hand, Awareness leveled up when he finally managed to keep his attention on all four of his teammates and the target, thus avoiding getting in the way of any of their attacks.

Beyond that, Miss Walker had taken each of Team 0’s members to the side and had shown them an in-depth analysis of their current status and possible future paths. It had been kept mostly private, but the generalities were then shared with everyone else so as to develop strategies together.

For him, his teacher had laid down three different possibilities. He could continue as he was doing, becoming a sort of Warrior/Rogue hybrid that would push through every obstacle before him while keeping the battlefield under control. He could shift to a more MIND-oriented path, focusing mostly on his mental skills and using his empowerment only to deal precise blows. Alternatively, he could become a more classical physical attacker, with Thakinetic Empowerment as his primary skill.

James had quickly chosen the first, as it was what came to him organically. He was bullheaded by nature, and a bit of thinking made him realize that since the basis of his Talent was applying his Willpower through mana, becoming anything he wasn’t fully committed to was a recipe for disaster.

By the end of the first week, he was finally allowed to assign the free stat points he had banked.

STATUS WINDOW

Name

James Summers

Age

19

Awakening

1st

Talent

Thakinesis

Title

Level

6

MP

30/30

STR

8

VIT

7

AGI

7

SENSE

7

MIND

7

STAT POINTS

0

SKILLS LEVEL DESCRIPTION Thakinetic Empowerment 2 (Active): Utilize your Willpower to temporarily raise STR - VIT - AGI. Thakinetic Awareness 2 (Active/Passive): Expand your SENSE to feel other’s wills. Thakinetic Resistance 2 (Active/Passive): Empower your MIND to defend yourself against foreign influences.

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He would focus more on STR and SENSE once all his attributes had reached a decent level. Since the threshold to rank-G was level 50, he should get another eighty-eight stat points before then, which with Miss Walker’s guidance, he had decided to assign so he’d reach 20 in both his main stats and 13 or 14 in the rest.

The thought of focusing entirely on those two with the exclusion of the others had been quickly shot down, as that was apparently a very good way of growing out of balance, meaning he’d risk hurting himself since his body and mind would be doing more than they could physically support.

The distance between the main stats and the lesser ones would grow with time as he got stronger and stronger, but Miss Walker had been very clear to all of them that they shouldn’t overly specialize. Their Talents and the benefits of reaching a new Awakening tier would do that for them.

Being almost twice as strong as he had been when he got his powers, James felt amazing. His body responded in ways it could have never done before, and everything felt more vivid. He had thrown himself into the training, using it as a crutch to not think about the night he received the System and what Sally must think of him. He had tried to send her texts a couple of times, but no answer had come, and he had finally decided to acquiesce to her father’s request.

He would give her all the time she needed to fully recover, but one day, they would meet again. He would accept it if she still wanted to have nothing to do with him, but he couldn’t give up so easily.

“Oi Summers, come back with us, will you?” Lauren’s voice cut through James’ contemplation, and he looked up to find his team waiting for him in the training room’s parlor.

“We need to review all the info they gave us, possibly before noon, since we should start scouting the dungeon by then.” The Italian-American explained, holding up her tablet with a document opened.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. So which one did they give us?”

“A rat dungeon in Coney Island.” Daniel commented, making James freeze in his tracks. “What? Why did you make that face?” Asked Maria, noticing the wild look in the Thakinetic’s eyes.

“Why is that dungeon still open? Was the Radiant guild not supposed to clear it more than a week ago?” He asked instead, dropping down in his chair bonelessly. He had been ready to let go of the trauma of that night, especially because he had been reassured several times that the rats would be taken care of quickly. That they wouldn’t attack anyone else.

“Yeah, they were supposed to, but then a D-rank dungeon opened up in Long Island and they bought the rights for that too, so they ended up leaving the rat one to itself until the contract’s terms expired and it reverted back to the AA.” Lauren explained distractedly, her finger a blur as she scrolled through the document to find the relative section.

“Aha! Here it is. They had paid ten thousand dollars for the exclusive rights to Coney Island’s H-rank rat dungeon for ten days, which should have been more than enough for them to clear it, considering they have several D-ranks and many more E and G.” She then looked back up at him confusedly “But why that face? It doesn’t look like a particularly dangerous dungeon, and it’s not exactly uncommon for guilds to leave those be after they have made their money and then some farming the mobs, especially if juicier prey turns up.”

James took a deep breath, forcefully calming himself. “That dungeon should have been closed a long time ago. The rats had already started leaving it, and they knew it. They said they would take care of it.”

Immediately, all four of his teammates understood the subtext in his words. Awakening was a profoundly personal experience. While it could only happen in moments of great stress or personal change, the specifics changed greatly depending on the person. Some could awaken while in the throes of grief for losing a loved one, while others, like James, did so when under direct threat.

It was why they had never spoken about how they had all gained access to the System, as it was taboo to ask in the Awakener community.

With a much gentler voice, Lauren asked “Do you feel comfortable taking on this mission? We could get assigned to a dozen different dungeons if we ask. It wouldn’t be a problem for any of us.”

James smiled bitterly. “Thank you, but no. Someone needs to clear that place before more people can get hurt, and this way, I’ll be sure the job gets done well.” I should have known those filthy bastards wouldn’t even clean up the mess they had left behind.

“Alright, if you are sure…” The questioning looks coming from everyone were a bit annoying, but James bore with it. He had come to like these people, even if they were not friends yet. Still, they didn’t deserve his anger. He should keep it for those who were at fault.

When he kept his silence, they resumed the meeting, reviewing the general information gathered for them. “Since it’s been there for a while now, we should expect at least the Boss and the monsters closest to the center to have gotten a bit stronger than the initial data suggests.” Lauren commented, her finger hovering over a specific passage.

“They should not be close to G-rank, as projections for the density of mana there show that as happening in a month or so.” Maria expanded, getting a nod from everyone.

“There should be no long-range attacker presence, but there is a warning about possible infection if we get hit.” Ezekiel read “Well, living in the sewers is certainly not conducive to good health, I guess.”

“The armor and equipment arrived this morning, too, so we should be good to go.” Daniel added, gesturing toward the pile of boxes sitting in a corner of the room. They quickly wrapped up the meeting, all generally confident that they should be able to tackle the dungeon, especially when working together.

“Finally! I can’t wait to see how I look in mine.” Lauren exclaimed, grabbing Maria’s hand and pulling her to the women’s changing room. The three boys looked at each other, a shared understanding passing through them without needing to say anything.

----------------------------------------

Returning to the back alleys of Coney Island turned out to be easier than James had feared. The flames of anger that had reignited when he found out the dungeon was still open and running pushed away any lingering trauma he might have felt, and he stalked ahead of the group, his Awareness scouring every inch for any life.

If you want a job done well, do it yourself. At least, I’ll take pleasure in getting rid of these rats.

He wore sleek, black and green armor, which tightly hugged his body. It was made of treated monster leather, coming directly from a D-rank dungeon the AA kept open to farm for the valuable parts. If he had been required to pay for it, James would have had to work for a few years before he could even think about affording it, but the Agency had given each Team 0 member their own. It was one of the signing bonuses they were gifted, and it almost made the whole thing worth it by itself.

Maria’s had red highlights, Daniel’s gold, Ezekiel’s white, and Lauren’s was entirely black. Despite all being rookies, they cut quite the sight. After being deposited by the AA driver, a quiet man who simply presented himself as “Robinson”, who would be waiting in a black van for them to come back victorious, they quickly walked to the dungeon’s main entrance.

Similar to the squirrel den James had defeated, this place had multiple accesses, thanks to it being in the sewers. But the main one was right behind the lighthouse, where a packaging company had once had a depot. There, the sewer line had been chewed open in a wide hole, and numerous droppings all around made it clear they were entering the rats’ territory.

“Alright, we’re here. Did anyone notice anything different from what we expected? Is the mana gauge still indicating this is a H-rank dungeon?” James asked Lauren, who was fiddling with the sleek apparatus that analyzed mana emissions.

“Yeah, no relevant changes from the last time it was checked. We should be good to go in.” The busty brunette answered.

James gave one last look over to his gear, fastened his new reinforced gloves and carefully climbed down into the darkness.