The moment Hans confirmed his skill selection his body was engulfed in a bright golden light, momentarily blinding the co-workers that were staring at him. The light dispersed and Hans' figure was revealed from underneath yet something was different, his hair had a bright silver colour.

"Wh-What happened?" Hans asked in feigned confusion "And why do I feel lighter?"

Chattering filled the room as Hans' coworkers were mumbling to each other.

"Could it have been a-?"

"No way"

"Why the newbie? Why couldn't it be me?"

"Is it really an awakening?"

"Yes, my little cousin had that happen to her too. She works as a-"

Jonathan cleared his throat loudly, causing the room to fall silent. He walked up to Hans and put his hand on his shoulder.

"It's your lucky day kid. You're an awakened now. This hasn't happened before so give me some time to look into the protocol. Feel free to wait at the break room, I'll take care of the coffee here." Jonathan said.

"Okay, I will." Hans replied in awe.

-

Hans was sitting in the break room, sipping on some chamomile tea. Everything had gone as planned yet he felt anxious. If he were to get caught it was game over. He knew he wouldn't get caught since he had gone through the procedures once more but he couldn't shake off a feeling of uneasiness.

***

[Awakening System] clashes with [??? System]. [Awakening System] will be suppressed.

[Awakening System] has been suppressed.

***

Prerequisites for unlocking [Hans Baker]'s innate skill have been met.

Skill [Lightning Dominion(A)] has been acquired.

***

Hans vocalized an expression of sheer surprise.

"I didn't think I'd see you again, old friend." Hans mumbled and generated a small amount of lightning from his fingertips.

A heavy hand knocked on the door three times before opening the door. Jonathan entered the room looking anxious and was followed by two others. One of them was a short yet stout man wearing thick glasses and baggy clothes. He had bright blue eyes and balding black hair. The other was a tall and extremely muscular woman wearing a tank top. She had long flowing light brown hair and two different coloured eyes, one of them being brown and the other silver with a weird mark instead of a pupil. She held a large wooden box tightly and with a lot of care. Two were in their late twenties with the man appearing a little older because of his balding.

The short man approached Hans first and extended his hand. "I am Gary. A mage from the hunter division. You're mister Baker right?" He asked.

Hans shook the man's hand in disbelief. "Yes, I am. Nice to meet you."

Hans was at a loss for words. The two people in front of him were absolute legends. The unlikely Romeo and Juliet of the hunter world and the greatest S-rank duo in the history of hunters. Gary Franks, the Archmage and Lilly Thompson, the Sun and Moon Berserker. Or at least they were in Hans' time. At that point in time they were up and coming A-rank rookie hunters with only a couple years of experience under their belts, something that would change in the coming years.

"Let's cut the pleasantries, mister Baker." Gary said coldly before turning his gaze to Jonathan. "He's legit."

Jonathan let out a sigh of relief. Hans looked at him puzzled for a moment but then everything made sense. Some hunters had a skill that could look for and locate a specific skill someone else might have. It had very few real uses and of those one was the most crucial one. Finding fake awakened.

"I used [Locate Skill]. I apologize for being suspicious of you but you have to understand that a newbie worker awakening in the middle of the regressor tracking department of the agency is a little too suspicious. And with the amount of fake awakenings increasing these days it's been hard to trust anyone." Gary stated.

"Oh no no no, don't worry. I understand. The reason I came here in the first place was to stop the regressors, I can't be mad at you for being suspicious of me." Hans said, pretending to be poorly hiding being hurt by the suspicion.

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An awkward silence took over that felt neverending until Jonathan's loud laughter broke it.

"I told you he's the one with the most passion for this. He's a smart kid. That's why he got first place in our interviews. And we don't even do placings. Hahaha." Jonathan roared in laughter yet again. "Shall we move to the measuring?"

"We shall." Gary nodded to Lilly who was standing next to him awkwardly, she looked shy and reserved, a whole different person from the hotheaded loudmouth Hans remembered.

Lilly put down the box she was given and took out two large colorless orbs that were connected to a large, metallic looking base that oddly sounded like wood when it was put on the table.

"These are the measuring stones. Each one measures a different thing. The first one measures your physical ability. It scans your body using mana and gives us the results of how potent your physicality is." Gary said. "Now, can you please place your hand on the stone?"

Hans nodded his head and put his hand on the stone. The colorless stone took on a faintly blue hue and Hans started feeling the familiar tickling feeling of the mama entering his body. He flinched at the feeling yet kept his hand on the stone. The stone's color became a little deeper but it still was a relatively light blue.

"Huh. An E-rank physique from the get go? That's very impressive. Most people start at F. What a potent awakening." Gary mumbled, holding an array of different coloured cards. They were the cheat sheet for what each colour meant.

"That's a good thing right?" Hans asked.

"For most." Gary pushed the measuring stone aside as it started to lose its colour and turned colourless yet again.

Hans had a big smile on his face yet he was fully dissociated from the situation. He was certain his awakening started at F-rank like all others. The special thing about him was his skill. Was that why the regressors were that powerful?

"We have one more test left, don't get too happy. This is the really important one. This measuring stone is a little more complicated. It draws out your mana and given a specific energy signature in it, it can infer the overall worth of the skills you have access to. It's similar to a blood test." Gary brought the second stone closer to Hans.

"O-Okay" Hans put his hand on the second measuring stone.

The measuring stone started getting a yellow colour. It started off faint but kept on getting brighter. The brighter it got, the more perplexed did everyone in the room look. The colour settled at a vibrant yellow with some golden streaks flowing in it.

Gary took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his sweating forehead. "Well. That's a total of A rank. That's….That's something else."

"This is good…right?" Hans asked.

Gary tried to give Hans a reply but he got uncharacteristically flustered and was stumbling at his words, struggling to speak a cohesive sentence. Lilly softly touched him on the back of his neck and gave him a smile.

"It's not as simple as that." Lilly replied "When people awaken, they only get one skill. They can gain more as they grow stronger but everyone starts with only one. Which means you have an A-rank skill. Those are rare, among hunters to the point that even S-rank hunters usually only have one."

Hans didn't speak and had a look of deep focus on his face yet he knew exactly where Lilly was going.

"People will want you, they will do ANYTHING to get their hands on you. And not only that, you'll struggle to control your skill at first, that's the sheer power of an A-rank skill." Lilly continued, she looked like she was in pain while explaining her situation. "I'll try to cover your scores up. I know all too well what trouble that would bring you. I started off just like you."

Hans was well aware. He had been thoroughly incentivised and threatened in order to join some guilds. But, he had no-one left they could use at that point and when he became the government's dog, he wasn't worth the hustle. His house had gotten trashed a couple of times but he was relatively unscathed. Yet he always had a bitter taste in his mouth about it.

"I understand. Thank you for helping me." Hans said.

"Oh, of course." Lilly lowered her voice and retreated behind Gary.

"So, mister Baker." Gary cleared his throat. He was back to normal. "Are you perhaps able to use your skill?"

Hans fell completely silent. That was one of the most important milestones in creating the perfect alibi. He had to appear both talented and like a newbie. If he did too well he would get a lot of suspicion on him, if he did too poorly he would be stuck in training for much longer, and pretending to be a newbie is difficult.

"I think I can," Hans replied.

Hans pretending to be in a state of extreme focus, softly biting his lower lip with his eyes glued to his hand. Controlling the skill wasn't the difficult part, it was pretending he couldn't. At first he created lightning in his fingertips and then started ramping up the intensity. More and more the lightning crackled louder and louder in a display of power. He maintained it for a minute but then streaks of lightning started shooting out and scorching the walls. The lightning was out of control. Lilly went to interfere but Gary stopped her as Hans pretended to be barely able to suppress it. When the lightning was gone, Hans turned to look at his examiners.

"Did I do go-" Hans saw the room almost moving by itself as he started to lose consciousness. He had forgotten one thing. Using his skill needed so much stamina, stamina that his body currently did not have. He had made a mistake.

-

Hans found himself laying on the break room couch.

"You're up huh?" Jonathan asked.

"Yes sir." Hans replied.

"Oh come on. No need for formalities with me. I'll be the one having to call you sir soon based on how well you're doing. The lovebirds left. Lola said you shouldn't overuse your skill and Greg said that your awakener card will be ready in 3 to 5 business days. But seeing how much you ruined this room I say they'll give it to you after a month hahaha. How are you feeling?" Jonathan said with a chuckle

"I'm feeling good enough to get back to work." Hans stood up from his chair.

"No you don't. You're having the day off. They did tell me that you'll be fine because of your special awakened body or some bull but you're going home." Jonathan said.

"I can work." Hans insisted.

"This isn't a request. You're going home. Otherwise I'll have you take our lovely training course again. How does that sound?" Jonathan took a sip of his coffee and stood up, opening the door and taking one step outside

"Resting at home sounds fine." Hans said fast to catch Jonathan before he left.

"That's the spirit." Jonathan smiled and went out of the room.

-

Hans had left his office and decided to walk home. His body was on autopilot so he took a detour by a coffee place he frequented in both this and his previous life. It was the coffee place that was owned by one of his good friends, Sarah. It was a small and cozy coffee shop at the corner of a street with a very loyal customer base but it would grow into one of the must try places of the city in just a few years.

Hans entered the coffee shop and the simple yet cute decor made him feel nostalgic. It was much more spacious than he remembered but he didn't have much time to think before he was hugged by a woman. She had bright red hair, green eyes and her clothes were branded by the store's logo, a duck in business attire drinking a cup of coffee with the shop's name "Coffee For All" under it. It was Sarah.

"Hans! Where have you been?" Sarah asked, gripping him tightly. "You haven't come by in a full week and haven't been answering the phone either. We thought you died or something."

"Work training. Hard. Sleep instead. No look. Sorry." Hans replied in a joking tone.

"Was it that bad?" Sarah stopped hugging Hans and went behind the counter "Will you get the usual mister busy guy?"

Before Hans could answer a man's voice was heard from behind the coffee machines "What are you doing with my wife?"

A man emerged from the store's back room. He was tall with long brown hair and eyes and well built. It was Jack, Sarah's husband and Hans' former roommate and childhood friend.

"It's not what it looks like." Hans joked, "How are you doing mister married man?"

Jack hugged Hans and then they proceeded to do a complicated multi-step 'secret handshake'.

"This sunday me and Sarah will be officially married for 6 months so we are going to invite the gang for dinner. Gregory said yes, Maria said yes and we are waiting for Julie to get the day off. You're coming." Jack said

"Only if you make the food. I haven't had any of your cooking since you left me for a girl." Hans acted hurt.

"Yes, I stole him away so I can have his cooking all to myself. Here's your coffee." Sarah chuckled, putting a large mug with the face of a monkey on it in Hans' hands. "Your special cup missed you"

"Thank you." Hans took a sip of the coffee. "I'll let you off the hook this time because the coffee is good. Consider yourself lucky."

A vaguely familiar face passed by the glass walls of the coffee shop. It was a tall man with blonde hair and blue eyes. But his face felt extremely familiar.

"Walk you bitch. Don't make me say it twice." The man said. Even his voice felt familiar.

He was pulling a woman by the wrist. She had long, beautiful brown hair.

"Dan, stop. You're hurting me." The woman said.

Hans' mug fell onto the ground and broke into pieces, spilling hot coffee everywhere. Sarah said something but Hans only heard white noise.

That voice.

It was Olivia's.