After that phenomenon, Ethan knew going to work would be pointless now.
He stopped showing up to work, and it had been a week already. All he did was lie on his bed for a week straight, curtains drawn, the room dim except for the light coming from his phone screen.
"HAHAHAHA! Nothing beats slacking after all! I don't need to wake up at 3 a.m. just to earn $150 a day."
He said it while scrolling through his phone, lazily switching between apps. The news about what happened was all over the media. Not a single platform was spared from the discussion—live broadcasts, conspiracy threads, interviews with newly awakened heroes, leaked status windows, panic buying, religious debates.
The whole world was talking about it.
People who survived that trial and had political power in their countries started the Awakened Associations. People began calling them the new government, as most of those who joined were awakened from the military, standing in uniforms once again but now with status windows and skills.
Meanwhile, those from powerful business families started forming guilds, recruiting awakened individuals and offering them tempting amounts of money, contracts, benefits, and promises of protection.
While all of that was happening, Ethan just stayed in his apartment as if this had nothing to do with him.
At first, he started going to the gym, trying to increase his stats just like what he had seen in games. He lifted weights, ran on the treadmill, pushed himself until his muscles ached and sweat soaked through his shirt.
But after three days of working out and running, his Strength and Agility didn't rise at all.
Instead, he received a message from the System.
Ding!!!
A screen popped up in front of him while he was running on the treadmill.
"Stat points can only be given and increased after finishing each quest. What you're doing is pointless."
It said, as if mocking his efforts over the past few days.
He halted his run, the treadmill slowing beneath his feet.
"What? If that's the case, I won't be able to join any guild and earn money." He sighed, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
The requirements for entering a guild were having 20 points in either Strength or Agility, or 15 points in Intelligence.
He looked at his status window again.
Name: Ethan Jones
Title: Villain: The Grand Instigator
Class: Instigator
Level: 1
HP: 100/100
MP: 50/50
Skills: WHISPERED PROVOCATION (E), SEED OF DISCORD (E), FALSE NARRATIVE (E), CHAIN REACTION (E), SMOKESCREEN TRUTH (E), READ THE ROOM (E), PANIC SPREAD (E)
STRENGTH: 8
AGILITY: 10
VITALITY: 10
INTELLIGENCE: 5
Sighing, he muttered, "These stats are trash."
After that, he just stayed inside his house.
He researched skills, and based on the reports, no one had received any growth-type skills, since there were no reports related to it. What he found was that a military officer who started the Awakened Association to control the awakened had an S-rank skill, and a prisoner who broke out of prison also had one.
The skill ranks went from E as the lowest to S as the highest.
It goes like S → A → B → C → D → E.
And his skills were all E-rank.
"Well, based on my skills description, it seems OP, and it's not like I need to fight either." he thought to himself.
Then a knock on his apartment door could be heard, followed by a female voice calling out.
"Ethan, are you inside?" she said.
"Yes, Emily! Wait up, I'm coming!" he replied, getting out of bed and heading to the door.
The girl standing in front of him had short brunette hair, a pretty face, and a noticeably curvy figure. She was Emily, his friendly coworker.
"Come inside." he said, opening the door wider. "Do you want water, coffee, or juice?" he asked.
"Water would be fine." she replied politely.
Ethan led her to his living room and handed her a glass of cold water, the faint sound of ice clinking against the glass breaking the quiet atmosphere.
"Why did you visit me, Emily?" he asked, neither cold nor warm.
Emily was already used to this. After all, Ethan was a nonchalant man. And if not for her approaching him first, he wouldn't even talk to anyone in their office and would just do his job. He wasn't really sociable.
"I... I saw you in the trial room, Ethan." she said. "Are you interested in joining a guild?" she asked.
"Hmm... You're awakened too, Emily?"
She nodded.
"What's your class?" Ethan asked.
"I'm a Healer." Emily replied.
Ethan nodded. "Not bad. You got one of the most sought-after classes." he replied plainly.
"What's yours?" Emily asked.
He activated his skill FALSE NARRATIVE smoothly.
FALSE NARRATIVE (E)
MP Cost: 16 MP
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Proficiency: 0.35%
Description: Fabricate or distort information, misleading a target and obscuring the truth.
Name: Ethan Jones
Title: Villain: The Grand Instigator
Class: Instigator
Level: 1
HP: 100/100
MP: 50/50 → 34/50
"I got an Orator." Ethan lied. "I'm not suitable for combat." he said plainly.
His lie wasn't detected by Emily, nor did she suspect him of lying.
"Oh, so it can be used this way too, huh... I guess I won't be detected by a Lie Detector if I use this."
Emily was shocked.
"An Orator? I don't think that's a common class, Ethan!" she said.
While she talked, he tried to view her status window but couldn't see it.
"It seems we can't see each other's status windows. That's good. I was worried others might see mine." he thought to himself.
He then activated another skill, READ THE ROOM.
READ THE ROOM (E)
MP Cost: 8 MP
Cooldown: 20 seconds
Proficiency: 0.30%
Description: Analyze nearby individuals to detect hidden tension, rivalry, or exploitable emotional weaknesses.
Name: Ethan Jones
Title: Villain: The Grand Instigator
Class: Instigator
Level: 1
HP: 100/100
MP: 34/50 → 26/50
A hologram screen appeared in front of him.
STATUS WINDOW
Name: Emily Williams
Class: Healer
Level: 5
Current Emotions: Happiness and Admiration
Emotions that can be exploited: Her admiration for the user is high and can make her your puppet.
Dinggg!!!!
YOU TRIGGERED A QUEST RELATED TO YOUR CLASS!!
CLASS-RELATED QUEST: MAKE EMILY HAPPY!
REWARDS:
Class-related Skill: PUPPETEER (E) (Growth Type)
5 Stat Points
TIME LIMIT: 23 Hours, 59 Minutes
PENALTY FOR FAILURE: PLAYER'S DEATH
"Ohhh, sweet..." Ethan smiled.
Without realizing it, he looked like he was staring at Emily and smiling while she was talking. This made Emily blush.
"I-Is something wrong?" she asked, trying to act cool.
Ethan closed the screen and smiled warmly at Emily.
He was already planning what to do next.