"It's been a full day already. I was pretty hyped up yesterday, but now it's almost as if nothing's happened," Rean said. "I know if I was still in school, I could've had fun with friends celebrating this stuff. It's not a big deal since everyone who does the evaluation awakens. There's just this thrill and stuff I can't put to words, but there's something beyond profound about talking about this stuff with friends. I really wish I had more than just my brother at times. Damn it, I hate it when I think like this. I know my brother is enough, so why do I want more? It's alright, it's just us. That's not a bad thing," Rean said with all kinds of emotions wrapped up in his voice.
The door sounded open. Tylan was back.
"Hey, I got us a lot of drinks, so tell me, you're prepared to get stuffed to hell."
Rean and Tylan were orphans. They never knew their parents; this is the only life they knew. At the age of 16, Tylan took up an evaluation and awakened as a C rank. He's been steadily climbing the ranks and leveling up. He's been noted by top guilds. He got a bid last year from the second-best guild in the country, but he turned it down. His reason? He claimed to only be willing to change guilds when he gets an offer from the EAST VORTEX, the top guild in the nation. This offer put Tylan on the map without a doubt. He trended a bit and even racked up his own little following.
"Hey, hey, don't be shy. You're drinking from a cup? Come on, bottle that thing down like you're mad thirsty."
Cheers, jokes—they laugh all night.
The morning came, but the brothers weren't ready to face the day, at least not yet. Eventually, they would.
"Tylan, thank you. I appreciate what you did for me last night. It meant so much."
"Hey, don't sweat it. I got you, bro," Tylan replied with the most wholesome smile.
They settled at the dining table and had the last night's leftovers for breakfast.
"Hey, you should come join the guild," Tylan said with food in his mouth.
"I... I... can't," Rean replied with a tone very timid in nature.
"Sure you can. I mean, what's stopping you? You know, since I'm already in the guild, I can put in a good word and BAM, just like that, you're in."
"I just don't think that's a good fit. I appreciate it though," Rean replied.
"Is something the matter, or you've had so much of me now you can't stand being in the same guild as me? Well, if that's the case, don't worry. We may be in the same guild, but we're bound to be in different teams," Tylan said, teasing his brother.
"No, that's not it," Rean replied. "I don't want to be overdramatic or drag this out, so please just listen and please be considerate. I don't want to join your guild because I don't want to be the second Icaran on the team. I want to forge my own path. I am not trying to be edgy. There are things I just can't explain, at least not yet. I hope you understand."
Rean said this with his eyes looking down; he was unable to look Tylan in the eye.
"Sure, I get it. Hope I wasn't being too forceful," his brother said, radiating his usual joyful cheer.
"Thank you, Tylan," Rean said, finally letting this one out of his gut.
"I'm off to work. I take it you'll be joining a supervised raid today or tomorrow then?" Tylan asked.
"Yes, I will. I mean, I need to get scouted somehow."
"Okay then, best of luck."
12 hours ago.
"Come."
A system interface loaded up.
[Awakening] — (Pending)
[Type] — (Vessel)
[Current Convention] — (E)
[Talent] — (Forced Assimilation)
'Hmmm, this looks different from what I've heard online. It's probably unique to people like me, those suitable to be vessels or something,' Rean thought to himself.
'My awakening is still reading pending. I guess since I am a potential vessel, that probably doesn't mean much. I mean, it's probably going to be pending until I scale the S stage somehow. Then this talent thing... it's not wind or some element. It's Forced Assimilation.'
'I have never heard of anything like that.'
'Hmm, the interface just loaded another pop-up panel.'
"Do you want to continue on this tab?"
"Well, yes," Rean said.
Forced Assimilation is a basic God talent granted to a vessel. It puts its user in difficult situations where the only way out is evolving the opponent's skills and talents to the max and then extracting them.
(Extraction is the process of stealing a talent.) However, because you're evolving the talent of your opponent, please note that they will in fact be getting stronger through battle. You have to outlast them somehow before the time for extraction.
Rean read aloud. It was all pretty interesting to him—hell, even scary. It was just like back with the '12'. This new system stuff fascinated him unlike anything else.
"Okay then, what's this convention stuff?" he said.
Another panel popped up.
Your current convention attempts to link your current stats as a vessel to that of a normal huntsman. Would you like to see your stats?
"Yes," Rean responded.
[Strength] — (10)
[Mana] — (10)
[Speed] — (5)
[Evolution Rate] — (1)
"Okay, what do all this mean?"
The system opened four different panels at once, as if to overwhelm Rean.
The strength categorizes your attacking power and durability, allowing you to upgrade them separately.
The speed defines your travel and reaction speed.
The mana describes your mana reserves and your mana output.
The evolution rate determines everything relating to your talents itself—how fast you can evolve talents, how fast you can learn to use the pre-evolved talents, and much more. The evolution rate determines how fast and when your current convention goes up a rank.
"Wow... this... that... that was a whole lot to take in."
Rean was in shock. He might be something special—the numbers don't lie.
'But what do the figures mean?' Rean wondered.
A panel popped up.
Rean read: You max out all stats when these four reach 100.
"So it's percent-based. Interesting."
"Shoot, I took too long deciding what to wear. I might not make the first raid. Shoot!" Rean said, running out of the house and heading over to the site.