The walk home from the Grand Awakening Plaza was the longest of my life. Each step felt heavier than the last, not from physical weight, but from the colossal secret burning a hole in my mind. The world hadn't changed; the sun still shone on the gleaming spires of Luminara City, and the distant, shimmering dome of the Central Dungeon Breach Barrier still hummed with power. But I had changed. I was a fraud, walking among the oblivious.
The chimes in my head had finally ceased after I'd hurriedly left the plaza, putting distance between myself and the dense concentration of awakened Auras. My [Replicated Skills] list was a sight to behold, a sprawling, silent testament to my hidden potential.
[Replicated Skills: 147]
A hundred and forty-seven. In less than an hour. The list was a chaotic mix of the mundane and the magnificent. From [Keen Hearing (D-Rank)] to [Aegis of the Loyal (A-Rank)]. They all sat there, dormant, their progression bars stuck at a pristine 0%. It was like owning a library of legendary, locked grimoires.
My destination wasn't a proud guild hall or a prestigious academy dormitory. It was a small, modest apartment in the city's lower sectors, where my aunt lived. My parents... they were part of the reason I wanted to be a Hunter. They had been part of a cleanup crew, low-ranked Hunters who never came back from a C-Rank dungeon breach five years ago. The system had labeled them expendable. Now, it had labeled me the same.
I pushed the old, reinforced door open. The familiar scent of disinfectant and boiled lentils greeted me.
"Aunt Maria? I'm home," I called out, my voice deliberately flat.
She emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a faded apron. Her face, usually lined with weariness, was now etched with a painful, forced optimism. The news traveled fast in this sector; she must have already heard.
"Leon, my boy," she said, her voice soft. She opened her arms, and I walked into her hug, feeling like an imposter. "It doesn't matter. You hear me? An F-Rank... it just means you have a different path. A safer one." Her words were kind, but the underlying relief was palpable. She had lost her brother to the dungeons; the thought of losing me too must have haunted her every night.
"I know, Aunt Maria," I mumbled into her shoulder, playing my part perfectly. "I'm... tired. I think I'll lie down."
"Of course, dear. Of course."
I retreated to my small room, closing the door and leaning against it with a sigh. The act was exhausting. I looked at my reflection in the small mirror on the wall. Same messy brown hair, same ordinary face. Nothing about me screamed "future lord." Nothing hinted at the storm of power sleeping within.
DING!
A soft chime. A new notification, not for replication, but for progression.
[Fist of the Boulder (C-Rank) - Passive Progression: 1%]
[Fireball (B-Rank) - Passive Progression: 1%]
[Wind Sprint (C-Rank) - Passive Progression: 1%]
My breath hitched. It was working. It was actually working. Without me lifting a finger, my stolen skills were growing. The pace was glacial, but it was undeniable proof. The suspense was intoxicating. How long until they reached 100%? What would happen then?
My stomach growled, interrupting my reverie. Right. The real world still had demands. I needed to go to the market. It was a mundane task, but now, it felt like a covert operation.
The local market was a bustling, noisy affair, filled with the shouts of vendors and the chatter of civilians and low-ranked Hunters. As I walked through the crowded streets, my [Eye of the Mimic] was working overtime.
DING! [Skill Detected: Barkskin (D-Rank)] - Replicating... Complete.]
DING! [Skill Detected: h2 Heal (E-Rank)] - Replicating... Complete.]
DING! [Skill Detected: h2 Enhanced Smell (F-Rank)] - Replicating... Complete.]
The notifications were a constant, quiet stream. I was becoming a living repository of every minor and major skill in the city.
"Look, it's the F-Rank," a sneering voice cut through the market noise.
I turned to see a group of three boys from my Awakening cohort. The leader was Jax, a burly kid who had Awakened as a D-Rank Brawler. He puffed out his chest, his [Brawler's Resilience (D-Rank)] aura a faint, visible shimmer around his fists to my enhanced sight.
"Leave it, Jax," one of his friends muttered, looking slightly uncomfortable.
"What?" Jax grinned, stepping closer. "I just want to see if an F-Rank breaks if you poke him. Gotta be careful with the city's precious support staff, right?"
The crowd around us quieted, sensing drama. This was the reality I had to face. The public humiliation wasn't confined to the plaza. My heart pounded, but not with fear. With a cold, calculating anger. I could see the data behind his taunts.
[Target: Jax]
[Primary Skill: Brawler's Resilience (D-Rank)]
[Status: Replicated]
He was a bug. An insignificant, noisy bug. The urge to see what would happen if I willed one of my dormant skills to activate was overwhelming. But I crushed it. Revealing myself now, over something so trivial, would be the height of foolishness. A lord did not reveal his hand to a common thug.
So, I did what an F-Rank would do. I lowered my head, mumbled an apology, and tried to step around him.
"Hey, I didn't say you could go!" Jax said, shoving my shoulder.
It wasn't a hard shove, but it was enough to make me stagger back. The crowd gasped. And in that moment, as his hand made contact, another chime sounded, different from the rest. It was deeper, more significant.
[Condition Met: Physical Hostility Detected.]
[Analyzing Threat...]
[Dormant Skill: Aegis of the Loyal (A-Rank) is responding...]
[Partial Manifestation Available: Mana Redirection.]
A transparent, almost imperceptible shimmer of golden light flickered around me for a nanosecond. Jax's hand, which should have simply pushed me, was suddenly met with a gentle but firm反弹. It wasn't enough to hurt him, but it made him stumble forward, off-balance, as if he'd tried to shove a stone pillar that wasn't there.
He looked at his hand, then at me, confusion replacing his arrogance. "What was that?"
I looked just as bewildered as he was, which wasn't hard. I was bewildered. The A-Rank skill I'd copied from a guild master had reacted on its own! It was dormant, yet it had provided a passive, automated defense.
"I... I don't know," I stammered, the perfect picture of a scared F-Rank. "You must have slipped."
The crowd began to laugh, this time at Jax's expense. His face flushed red with humiliation. He glared at me, but the strange occurrence had spooked him. He muttered a curse and stormed off, his lackeys in tow.
I stood there, my heart racing for a completely different reason now. The skills weren't just growing passively; they could react. They could protect me subconsciously. The implications were staggering.
I finished my errand in a daze, my mind reeling. As I approached my apartment building, the city's public announcement system crackled to life, its tone urgent and grave.
ATTENTION, CITIZENS OF LUMINARA. AN S-RANK DUNGEON BREACH HAS BEEN DETECTED AT THE EDGE OF THE SCARLET WASTES. ALL A-RANK AND ABOVE HUNTERS ARE REQUIRED TO REPORT FOR DUTY. ALL OTHER CITIZENS, REMAIN INDOORS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
The air grew thick with tension. Sirens began to wail in the distance. An S-Rank breach. Catastrophic. The kind of event that could decimate a city sector.
People scrambled, their faces etched with fear. I just stood there, a bag of groceries in my hand, looking up at the sky.
My secret felt heavier than ever. My passive road to lordhood had just encountered its first major crossroads. People were going to die. Heroes would be called. And I, Leon Grey, the useless F-Rank, possessed the seeds of power that could maybe, just maybe, change the outcome.
But to reveal myself now would shatter the fragile anonymity I needed to grow. The conflict was no longer external; it was a war inside me. The lord I was destined to be demanded action. The boy I had to pretend to be demanded caution.
The chapter of hiding was over. The world was now in crisis, and my passive journey was about to be violently interrupted.