When the duo reached home, the sun had already settled. David opened the door and threw himself to the couch. Luci was bothered by the shoes he was wearing. He untied them and tried to tie up again. David was watching him while he was struggling.
"You are stubborn."
"No, I'm not. I'm just trying to learn."
"It's interesting though. I mean you have a distinguished personality from me."
Luci was still struggling. David left him there and went to the back room. After trying a little bit Luci gave up and followed David.
The room had 2 beds, a study table, a wardrobe, and a large cabinet. Still, there was a large space in the middle of it. Street lamp's light can be seen between the large window's curtains. David was making the second bed.
"You can sleep here. I will use the bathroom on the second floor so you can use the one on this floor. Since our sizes are the same you can pick anything you want from there."
Luci stared at David and said, "You want me to take a bath?"
"Yes. You directly came from the crack. Who knows, maybe there is some mutated virus or something on you."
Luci was still staring at him.
"Come on. We need to get up early. If you're afraid I can wash you."
"No thanks. I can take a bath myself. I suppose."
"Just, don't lock the door. I will wait outside in case something happens to you."
"Okay."
Luci entered the bathroom. While he was washing David searched for his phone and found it inside his bag. He opened the search motor and searched "Summoner-type hunters". He surfed at the forums for a little while.
"Most of the tamed monsters have the animal level of intelligence. Like a loyal dog or a sassy cat. Even the strongest necromancer's soldiers are mindless pawns. This skill will be a bother. Maybe I should hide some crucial parts of it. I can say that Luci is intelligent because my ability allows me to share my own intel with him. Instead of saying that he can see my memories. And I can tell that I needed to teach basic stuff like walking and talking. It's better this way. About the skill table…"
"You can say that, you need to level up your summons to unlock them."
Luci was right beside him.
"That could work. Also all of your SS and unknown rank skills, we should say that they are S class. Let's just not mention Dem?n^%&/?*'s Wrath since it only gives a buff. And Naming Clause too. It sure is a scary one. I don't want people to get scared every time I call them. And I'm gonna hide ^%&/?*'s Blessing skill completely."
"We should hide my Reader skill too. I can imagine them calling us every single time they needed to rank something."
"It wouldn't be bad though; I can sit in the office all day and rank stuff."
"In case you forget, we need to research ^%&/?* person."
"And we need to go to the cracks for that…"
Luci nodded his head. David grabbed the towel in Luci's hand. Started drying his hair.
"You will get sick if you don't dry your hair."
"I don't think that I get sick from something that small."
David let out a deep sigh. "Just for once, except the stuff I gave you without any complaints."
After finishing drying Luci's hair David entered the bathroom. Luci was all alone.
"It is silent when he's not around." After staring around a little while he walked to the back room and lay on the bed. His head was heavy and he didn't have enough energy to keep his eyes open anymore. Luci's vision slowly fell into the darkness.
When David came out of the bathroom he saw the sleeping creature, no... The person on the bed. Slowly wrapped him with a blanket. And sat beside him.
Who would have guessed me, in all those people to get awakened and have this absurd skill. At least I'm not all alone in this new lifestyle… Luci is ready to stand by my side whatever happens. I guess I should leave things to the flow instead of fighting back.
He lay on the other bed and fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes.
…
The sun's light was entering the room from the window. It was hot. Luci awakened from his long sleep. After having a stretch, his eyes searched for David. But he was nowhere to be found. Luci got up and looked for him. David was preparing breakfast in the kitchen. After hearing footsteps he turned his back.
"I was going to wake you up. Good morning!" He was wearing an apron and holding a spatula in his hand. With the large smile on his face and his messy bed hair, he was looking pretty dumb.
Luci smiled a little and sat at the table. "Good morning. You look like you're in a good mood."
"No, I'm not. I feel like I can die from a panic attack any second."
Luci squinted his eyes and stared at David. "I thought that I became better at reading human reactions."
"It's not your fault. I'm used to hiding my emotions. Even people can't see through it."
David put a plate that had a sunny-side-up egg, tomato slices, 4 olives, and a large piece of cheese on it. He brought some toasted bread and completed the plate. "Eat them all, it's gonna be a long day."
"I wonder if I need to consume food or not."
David sat after preparing another plate for himself. "I'm not a necromancer so… you probably need to eat."
Luci held the fork and stabbed into the olive. David was watching him, in case he needed help with the fork. He was managing it somehow so David returned to his plate. After finishing their meals David started dishes but it was cut short by Luci's question.
"Are you a maid?"
David was startled by a question and looked at Luci with a confused look. Luci took advantage of it and took the sponge from his hand.
"I will wash them. We need to share the workload. If you keep doing that I won't be able to learn anything."
"Okay, if this is what you want. I will go and prepare clothes for you then."
"I will pick the stuff I'm gonna wear." Luci was serious about it.
"Okay, do whatever you want. I guess?"
David was already ready when Luci finished the dishes. He sat on the couch while waiting for Luci. While he was surfing through the net his phone rang. It was Ethan.
"Hello?"
"Hello? Is that what you gonna say after leaving me at the hospital? You said that you're gonna call me!!!"
"Oh… I'm sorry I was busy."
"Busy with what?"
"…"
"Anyways… Yesterday a man came to our hospital room and asked me some questions about you. He said he's from the Crack Hunter Association."
"Yeah, I saw him too. I will go to the association today to register myself as a hunter."
"I thought that you wanted everything to stay as it is."
"I give it some thought. As an S-rank hunter, I should protect the people I guess. I must enter the cracks until I find the meaning behind my awakening."
"You are talking like a main character who has decided to kill the demon lord."
"Pft… I don't think that I'm strong enough to defeat a demon lord."
"Cause you are stronger. Don't deny it; we all know that you are the one who's defeated that dragon. You need to claim your feat. Everyone is thanking and praising that Cole guy."
"I'm not after fame…"
"Also… That bloodsucker, I mean our lovely CEO, gave us a week to rest. He said he's even gonna pay our salary during this period. I guess this is his way of apologizing for sending us to death."
"I will quit after a week then. I'm getting my payment no matter what!"
"That's the Dave I know. Take care of yourself, kid."
"You too…"
David closed his phone. Luci was watching him for a little while. He was wearing a red hoodie with black pants.
"I guess you're ready. I will call you back to the mark. I wish to go there with you by my side, but if I do that people at the center could see you as a threat."
"Yes. Me going there with you will only confuse the people."
"After registering, you can go anywhere with me. So let's go and get registered."
"I will be waiting for your call."
Luci's mark gloved red. Glow covered all of his body and it shattered. Pieces collected around David's wrist and disappeared.
"Okay, it's time to move." David looked at his wrist. "Aww man, I already missed his company."
…
"This is gonna be so fun!!" said by a young woman probably in her 20s.
"Why are you that excited? We did hunter registrations before." This time it was a young man who was probably the same age as her. He was holding papers in his hand.
"Yeah, we did. But this is the first time that we do registries without the teach's leadership."
"This is why we should be two times more careful."
"Boo! You're running the entire moment."
"I'm doing it because you're about to get poisoned by power."
When the room's door opened, their conversation was still ongoing. An elderly woman entered the room.
"Teacher!" said by the young man.
"Teach, you said you will be having annual leave! Why are you here?"
"We have a situation in our hands. It's code 000." Elderly woman replied.
"Code 000? That's mean…"
"It's an S-class awakener!! This day is getting better and better. It's the best day of my life!!!"
"But how do we know that the S-class awakener will show up?"
"Agent Carter was on the mission yesterday. He got into close contact with them. Since he's an S-class, he can identify high-class hunters even before registration. Also, it's a unique case. It's about crack 28-11-85B."
"Oh, I know that one!! Hunter Cole cleared it by himself. Isn't he awesome?"
"Which is not true."
"What do you mean teacher?"
"What… Didn't Hunter Cole save all those civilians?"
"It's classified information but I can share some of it with you. Hunter Cole was supposed to go in the crack with those civilians but he didn't. The person who defeated the monster was a new awakener. The New World Association manipulated the media to be sure that it doesn't affect Hunter Cole's image."
"How can they do such a thing? That hunter getting all of the praises, even though he didn't do his job properly? What a joke…"
"Hey don't say that I'm sure that he has his reasons."
"The tricky part is the monster that attacked civilians classified as high S-class. Even an experienced S-class hunter would have a hard time with that monster."
"So we are expecting someone extremely strong, possibly dangerous and unstable."
"Eeek! I'm scared!"
"Don't worry about it. Mr. Carter said that they were stable. Also, he will be here himself to watch them from close. So which one of you will tell me the procedure that we need to follow?"
"I will start!!" Young girl leplied.
"The first step is the registry machine. Every day, the association accepts a set number of awakeners. Every awakener enters the registry machine. The machine measures the awakener's power level and decides their class.
After the machine, the awakener fills up a form that lists their skills. Each awakener performs a little showcase to show their skills to the registry staff. The staff decides whether the awakener can go to the crack or not.
Awakeners that get the pass note, take a short class about cracks and the basics of being a hunter. After finishing their class, they get their hunter licenses. In one week awakeners need to join crack hunts and collect 3 stamps for their license. When they collected 3 stamps, they came back to the association and became official hunters. The end!!"
"Well done but there is one more step for S-class hunters."
"I will continue then." Young man continued.
"If there is an S-class awakener, a council meeting will be planned by the association. The council includes: The Hunter Association Minister, at least 4 S-class hunters, and 2 prof or higher degree registry staff. This council tests the awakener's skills to the extreme and watches their overall behavior. If they can pass all the tests, they will become an official S-rank hunter."
"Good work you two. Like you said we will be applying the main procedure. Rest is on the association."
The door knocked. And it opened afterward. It was Carter. He was wearing the same black suit from yesterday, but his tie was different.
"Get ready Professor Turner. It's gonna be a long day."
"It's time for the action, let's go."
"Yes, teacher!"
"This is gonna be fun!!"