Chapter 6: Come
"Isn’t that Charles Muller’s son working as a janitor in the Monster Prison? What a loser. It’s barely morning, and he’s already smoking. No wonder he failed."
The moment Enzo exhaled a puff of smoke, he heard the unpleasant remark from a young man who looked only a year older than him. The man wore golden armor and carried two swords strapped across his back.
"Hahaha, Augus, don’t even bother commenting. Trash will always be trash. If he wants to enjoy life as a cleaner, just let him," another man replied.
Enzo could only suppress the anger boiling inside him.
Thanks to their loud voices, passersby began looking his way, shaking their heads one after another.
"I think he’d make a good match for Emma Garcia."
"Oh, that ill-tempered food delivery girl? I heard she’s Mr. Garcia’s daughter. She tried to awaken a month early but failed, and her father kicked her out."
"Why don’t we help set them up?"
"Great idea."
"...."
Enzo was taken aback by the conversations spreading among the different groups.
Emma Garcia...
That was probably the woman who had brought him food.
As for Mr. Garcia...
Who didn’t know him?
He was one of the strongest Awakeners in the United States.
His reputation was second only to Charles Muller.
More importantly, even before becoming an Awakener, he had inherited a fortune worth tens of billions of dollars.
In other words...
He was both incredibly wealthy and unbelievably powerful.
Enzo found it hard to believe that woman was his daughter.
Then again, people probably felt the same way when they learned he was Charles Muller’s son.
"Hey, kid, what do you think? Want us to set you up with Emma?" Augus Brown suddenly asked.
"Just call her over. I’m sure both of them would gladly accept. Who wouldn’t want a bed partner in a place like this?"
Enzo frowned.
He wanted to snap back, but he knew better.
Even though he was an Awakener, he was still only Level 0.
Everyone here was his senior and could crush him with ease.
"What are all of you doing?"
A woman’s voice suddenly rang out.
Cold.
Oppressive.
It instantly silenced every open mouth.
Several people even stumbled backward just from hearing it.
The speaker was a woman in her thirties with slightly wavy crimson hair and strikingly long legs.
Yet despite her beauty, no one dared look at her disrespectfully.
Rebecca Morgan.
Even though men greatly outnumbered women here, not a single one dared challenge her.
"Why are you all still standing around? Get out there and kill monsters!"
She shouted again.
Even Augus Brown immediately turned and fled in fear.
That surprised Enzo a little.
After all, he knew who Augus was.
The previous year, he’d become famous throughout New York after awakening an S-Class Talent.
Once everyone else had left, Rebecca Morgan turned her gaze toward Enzo.
"Take this."
Without warning, she tossed a silver ring at him.
It landed neatly in his hand.
DING!
(You have obtained a Storage Artifact!)
The System notification appeared immediately.
"That’s your father’s inheritance. He earned it by sacrificing his life... Guard it well, or you’ll be robbed and killed."
After saying that, Rebecca headed toward the city’s main gate.
Enzo stood frozen, his mouth hanging open.
His cigarette even slipped from his fingers without him noticing.
So...
His father had actually left him an inheritance.
What shocked him even more was that Rebecca had personally delivered it.
He didn’t dare examine the ring for long.
Instead, he quickly slipped it into his pocket, afraid someone else might notice.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t bind it for use until he reached Level 1.
As eight o’clock approached, rookie Awakeners began arriving through the various portals.
They came from New York, Miami, and other major cities across the eastern United States.
Enzo saw all kinds of faces.
Some clearly came from influential families.
The rest were ordinary people lucky enough to Awaken.
For ordinary Awakeners, the road ahead wouldn’t be easy.
Unless they possessed high-tier Talents, they usually relied on sponsorships from powerful corporations.
Otherwise, they’d have to join established Awakeners and share EXP inside the prison.
The portal from City Z arrived a little later, but its group eventually appeared as well.
Enzo immediately spotted his classmates from Radiance High School.
Compared to the rookies from New York, City Z’s group looked far less impressive.
Apparently, Bella and Felix Gibson were the only ones from City Z who had awakened A-Class Talents.
Felix, meanwhile, kept an unusually low profile, hiding behind a large-built student.
Enzo also saw Bella.
She was dressed more simply today, yet her beauty still made her stand out.
She looked around as though searching for someone.
"Hm..."
Then Enzo noticed Nicolas and the others.
And behind them...
George.
He looked completely different now.
Crimson scales covered nearly half his body, separated by patches of normal skin.
His eyes had turned blood-red.
Cold.
Savage.
Even his fingernails had become sharp crimson claws.
One category of Talent was Transformation.
Rebecca Morgan’s Human Dragon Talent was one example.
Normally, however, no one stayed transformed unless they were fighting.
George’s appearance naturally attracted the attention of rookies from other cities.
"What’s wrong with him?"
They immediately began whispering among themselves.
"Isn’t that a Transformation Talent? Why is he staying transformed?"
"He’s a Fake Awakener. My cousin from City Z told me he passed all three Awakening Trials but still failed to Awaken. Since he’s Rebecca Morgan’s nephew, she turned him into one of her soldiers using a special Skill. That automatically made him an Awakener—a Fake Awakener. Fake Awakeners are permanently bound to their Talents and can’t return to a normal human appearance. If their Talent transforms them into a beast, they’ll stay that way forever," someone knowledgeable explained.
George’s gloomy expression darkened even further after hearing those words.
Even the other youths from City Z avoided standing too close to him, afraid of becoming targets of his anger.
Although his path to becoming an Awakener was unconventional...
His strength was unquestionably real.
"So that’s the Monster Prison..."
The rookies quickly shifted their attention to the largest building nearby.
"We’re not allowed to leave the Sanctuary unless a high-level Awakener escorts us. The only place we can level up is inside that prison."
"Let’s go. They should be handing out Sanctuary Cards there."
The crowd headed toward the Monster Prison.
There were probably well over a thousand rookies in total.
Their arrival made Enzo, who was standing guard at the entrance, feel rather uncomfortable.
After a moment’s thought, he opened the box of Sanctuary Cards completely and placed it in front of him.
The first rookie who arrived noticed it immediately, took a card without saying a word, and walked inside.
"Enzo?"
Bella, who was leading the Radiance High School students, spotted him immediately.
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
"You? What are you doing here?"
"I’m working here as a cleaning service worker," Enzo replied.
"Take your card and head inside first. We can talk later."
Bella could only nod.
She couldn’t stop because a long line had already formed behind her.
Eventually, it was George’s turn to take a card.
"What are you looking at?"
He suddenly shouted in annoyance, irritated by the few brief glances Enzo had given him.
Enzo was momentarily stunned.
He hadn’t expected George to yell at him.
The man really did seem mentally unstable after failing to Awaken.
Enzo pretended not to hear him, avoiding any unnecessary conflict.
From what he had seen so far, not a single rookie had awakened an S-Class Talent.
The best among them had only awakened dual A-Class Talents.
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