"Fear not my child, for I always loved you from the start. You can always try again or rest... "
Words flowed into my mind coming from the void.
I chose to try again and open my eyes up.
***
I opened my eyes, what greeted me is towering skyscrapers, high tech machineries, concrete and plants all over the place that tried to make the place sit in with the nature theme. But the monotonous and controlled proportions and designs of these plants make it feels fake.
I walked in the pedestrian but suddenly a reckless motorcycle rider almost grazed me and didn't look back.
I'm pissed and imagined hurling fireballs at the rider but alas, I can't do that.
I continued to cross the lane and looked at the "magician" who is conjuring colorful sparks and fire alike.
Someone offered him a tip but he refused while saying "Seeing my fellow survivors in this cruel world happy is already enough. "
My heart stirred at the spoken words of the old man but I shrugged it off and continue my way to my home.
I opened the news and after watching for a while a certain piece of it peaked my interest.
- A class S candidate was awakened and assessed-
I listen to it piece by piece,
And...
What I felt was the sin...
Of,
Envy.
I looked at the results from the awakening center I came from.
*Pius
Mana: 0
Test iterations: 6
....
...
Awakening conclusion: Not awakened*
I bite down on my lip till it bled.
I heaved a long sigh.
I can try again next year.
When I found myself in this new world I felt like some kind of excited energy flow through my body.
The mana they are talking about, I want it.
I crave it.
I long for it.
But fail after fail.
It cracks my hope.
But I will still try.
Even if it's the last thing I do in this world.
Then...
Bang!
In a middle of residential area
A rift of 3 stories high and 5 cars wide opened.
There were no warnings.
It just pop in the existence.
And the location of it was the house of a common man named Pius.
His house inherited from his awakened parents was consumed in an instant by a rift.
And as for Pius himself?
Nowhere to be seen.
The residents scrambled to evacuate.
And in an instant awakeners appeared one after another and provide order.
Rifts usually don't spawn monsters right away and this is crucial to safely evacuating civilians to safety.
And after approximately 2 years the first monster spawned.
It was a 2 legged humongous reddish humanoid being with huge amount deposits of fat throughout it's body.
...
In the middle of the forrest, a cave was sheltering a man named Pius.
"Where am I?"
Pius clearly knows that he is in a forrest inside a cave but how?
He was confused, he was in brink of sleeping and in a blink he felt grass touching his bare foot and immediately feel alert forgetting about sleeping.
And now he is in a cave trying to form his thoughts.
His first guess was a teleportation related awakened thought it would be funny to teleport him in a place full of grass and trees.
The second? A rift directly spawned in his face.
At this realization he hoped that it would be the first scenario to happen but after checking his low battery cellphone, he was convinced at the second scenario.
"Calm down Pius. "
If it is the lowest rank dungeon. I still have hope but if it's D or above. I could only die trying.
Pius organized his thoughts.
Rifts are one way once you got teleported, there's no way out except clearing the dungeon or some special items or abilities.
Rift map size also carries from the smallest stadium size or the largest discovered so far a continental map size.
Some rift is also not cleared so there's should be a larger map size than continental.
The rift is also full of treasure hidden around the map and this is the thing that Pius is trying to find before the monsters spawn.
Rift always enters a dormancy period before it start spawning monsters.
The longer the dormancy, the stronger the monsters spawned.
After the dormancy period the rift will spawn monsters inside it and it will fill its capacity first then after the rift is full, the rift will directly spawn the monsters outside the excess.
This is why Pius is searching for hidden dungeon items before the dungeon start spawning monsters.
Pius search the cave and found a 3 rusty dagger.
Probably the lowest rarity possible for an item.
He reached for it.
Bit by bit...
Once he touched it it vanished into thin air.
*Greed...
You will rot...
You will suffer...
You will...
Feel...
***
Buzz...
*Awakening complete*
A notification appeared in front of Pius.
The symbol of power.
Pius has got it.