David opened his eyes, to the not familiar ceiling. After staring at it a little bit, he remembered everything that happened. The crack, monsters, and that dragon. He jumped from bed and sat. His eyes looked around him. He was in the hospital. Meaning that everything had gone well, at least for him. He raised his left hand, hoping the mark wasn't there. His left arm was patched by a band-aid. He unraveled it slowly… The burn mark was fully healed, but the red mark was still there.
"Show me, my stat screen" He said it with a disappointed tone.
Mana: 18045/20500
"Hah… My stats are even higher than before. And I have more skills? What am I gonna do now?"
His eyes were fixated on the TV inside the room.
"Here we are at the scene. The crack that almost became the graveyard for 9 engineers and 5 hunters. Yesterday we saw a real miracle. The witnesses said that there was an S-class monster in this very crack. But everyone came out alive!! Here he comes, Hunter Cole!! Who defeated the monster and saved all those lives!!"
Suddenly a TV remote flew into the TV. And closed it.
"Hunter Cole my ass!! At least give him credit, you liars!! That fucking media manipulators!!"
It was a familiar voice. David got out of bed slowly and moved the curtain between two beds. It was Ethan. He was sitting on the bed without his glasses. His right arm and head were band-aided.
"Oh, Dave! I'm sorry. I guess I woke you up."
David was standing still. He stared at Ethan for a little while. After being sure that he was fine, he hugged him.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't protect you. I've awakened, but still couldn't protect you."
Ethan hugged him back. "Come on… You always stay strong and talk like an elder. Sometimes I forget how young you are, it's okay. Also, hug me like a man."
"I can't. I bent the bed's frame while getting up." His right arm pointed to the bed behind him.
"Oh right. I think it's a normal thing since you recently awakened."
The hug started being awkward. After noticing it, David let go of Ethan.
"So… Did you get the skill that allows you to make 1000 calculations in a minute?"
David's depressed face slowly lightened. A little smile appeared on his face. He took the chair standing beside Ethan's bed and sat on it.
"Nope. I have something better."
"So, what are you planning to do now? I mean you are an awakener now. Others said that you defeated that monster all alone."
"I just want everything to stay the same. I don't want to enter cracks and hunt monsters."
"I heard of some cases, where hunters keep living their lives like normal. But it goes for a hunter who is weaker than A-class. So what are the classes of your skills?"
"You sure know a lot about that stuff."
"I know a few low-level hunters. They always force me to listen to their stories."
"I have 5… No 4 skills, all of them are S-class."
"Well, that's… interesting. As far as I know, skills determine an awakened person's rank like having 3 B-class skills makes you B-class."
"So that means I am an S-class hunter at worst."
Ethan looked into the person sitting beside him and examined David's current look. His eyes were different from yesterday, looked like they returned to normal. His burned arm was already healed. Ethan remembered reading an article before that saying all of the wounds, scars and illnesses disappear after the person's awakening. After the awakening, wounds heals super-fast even the awakener is a low class one. Looks like it was true all along.
The things happened yesterday, no one would see it coming. In the end both of them were alive. Ethan thought about the other people's reactions. Everyone was afraid of David even though he was unconscious. He was David. He was the person he's been working with for a year, he was the one who's saved him. That wasn't fair.
While Ethan in deep thoughts, David let out a deep breath. After fixing his clothes, he grabbed the backpack hanging from his bed. "I will go and take a little air. I have some stuff to handle"
"You are not planning to run away, aren't you?"
"Don't worry. I need to deal with someone. Someone who's… Just ignore what I said. I will call you later."
David left the room after that. Ethan wanted to stop him, but he didn't.
The hospital was crowded. All of David's senses were enchanted; so he could hear all of the voices around him. And it was total chaos.
"What a mess. Why is everything so loud!?"
"Just… Show me the shortest way outside"
A white arrow appeared, showing the open window.
"Seriously? It literally tells me to jump out of the window. Is it even safe? My legs gonna get broken"
"If you say so… I really don't want to use the front door."
After checking his surroundings, David decided to jump. Walked close to the window, and jumped. He landed on his legs, without any pain whatsoever.
"Huh, I actually landed safely. Maybe that skill is not that useless."
"I was coming to see you, Mr. Blake. But you come to me, from the sky."
David turned back to see the source of the deep male voice. It was a man who was in a black suit. He was wearing black glasses.
The Reader? It's one of the new skills that appeared on its own. Also, I'm not the one who activates it!? David thought.
A line of text appeared on the man's head.
David took a step back. And he tried to understand what was going on.
"Sorry, I should've introduced myself first. I'm Matthew Carter. I'm from the Crack Hunter Association. I'm here to inform you about your hunter registry. Also to investigate what happened in yesterday's crack incident. Can we sit and talk?"
He pulled out a card and gave it to David. He was massive from the close.
"I don't want to talk about it now. I need to handle some stuff first."
David turned his back and started to walk.
"You are not planning to blow off your own head, aren't you?" Carter followed him. "It's pretty common for new awakeners to hurt themselves. Especially high-rank ones. You are an S-class. So I can't let you go."
"How can you be sure? I'm just a nerd. There is no way that I've awakened into something that strong."
He kept walking. He wasn't even looking at his surroundings. While walking David bumped into something hard. When he raised his head to see what it was, Carter was standing before him.
"An experienced, S-class standing before you. And your eyes, there is no fear. I'm not even mentioning your massive aura. You literally pushed me a step back when you bumped. I have a high defense as a tank, so it's impossible for someone who claimed to be weak to do that. It looks like you have an attack stat closer to an S-class."
He put his arm on David's shoulder.
"You can't even see straight, kid. Please come with me."
"Just let me go. I will come to see you tomorrow, promise."
"I can't just let you go."
"Fine. I will tell you everything you wanna hear then. I did defeat that monster. On my own. I acted with my senses. I was afraid. Afraid of death. If you ask me to do it again, I can't."
David's body started emitting black smoke. His eyes were shining red, while the black smoke covered the air around them. The pressure was too high. Carter felt like his body was crushing under a heavy object. People around them were also affected by it. Some of them stumbled and fell to the ground.
It happened again, a skill activated on its own. David thought.
Carter wanted to check the area around to be sure no one was hurt. There were civilians around before he engaged in a talk with David. But now his sight was completely blocked by the black smoke. He knew if David went into a rampage right now, he probably wouldn't be able to stop him before he hurt someone. It was impossible to guess what he could do since he was an unregistered hunter. There was only one option.
"Okay, calm down. I will let you go for now. Come to the Crack Hunter Association tomorrow. The address is on the card that I gave you."
"I will be there. Have a nice day" His voice was cold.
David walked away slowly. Carter was finally able to breathe again. Put his hand in his pocket and took his phone out. It was vibrating for a while.
"Carter is speaking."
"Did you talk with him?"
"Yes. He didn't attack me. He used a skill, just to scare me off. I think he's stable."
"Hahaha… Did he try to scare you? No one with the right mind would try it."
"He could've killed me if he wanted."
"So he succeeded? Did you really… Oh, your breath is still unstable. How did I miss that?"
"He said he will come to the Association tomorrow."
"I will be there, I can't miss this!!"
"Just be careful. Carter is out."
…
David started running after getting far away from Carter. He ran, ran, and ran. He stopped as a reflex. He was in front of his house.
"Wait, did I run all the way back?"
"You gotta be kidding me. I have more important things to do, so I will act like this didn't happen."
David took out his keys from the bag he was holding. Opened the door and closed it after entering inside.
Inside of the house was dark.
"What am I gonna do now? I'm about to lose my mind."
He looked into the bag he's been carrying. He searched inside of his bag for a while and then, he stopped.
"Like he will pick up the call. Who am I kidding?" His breaths got faster and faster. "It's not like I can call him, whenever I need help." At the end he throved his bag with a rage. Bag hit the wall before him, leaving a hole behind.
"Ha… Am I really lost it? I want to destroy, destroy everything… This house, the memories, all of it!" David clenched his fists. "I have enough power for that, aren't I? Heh… hehe… hahahAHAHAHA!!" His voice cracked.
"I know, you are the one who's activating all these skills… Aren't you? Come out…"
David's wrist started glowing red. The dark room was lit up by the red lights. Pieces come through his wrist and form a red human-like entity. When the red glow disappeared, there was a man standing before him. At the top of his head, there was a pair of red horns. On his left eye, a red scar could be seen. He looked just like David. It's like him looking at the mirror. He was the same height, same weight. And even he had the same messy hair like David.
Creature opened his eyes slowly, they were red. Just like the dragon David saw in the crack.