[Awakening in progress... 13%... 14%...]
He glanced briefly at the message hovering in his field of vision and walked into Raw's headquarters.
He had seen it too often. The floors were kept so polished without being ostentatious, and the number of employees walking about performing their functions was neither too few nor too many. Everything about the guild was adequate, which was why Raw could hold the ranking of top twenty without being among the untouchable.
And yet, there was not a single time that he felt at home in those halls.
It was the only place he had lived for six months. That should have been home. Instead it had been uncomfortable from the first day, and it still was.
"Good afternoon."
He stopped to greet the employees at the front and made his way to the elevator to the lower levels.
"Oh? He actually lived?"
One of the hunters already inside the elevator pointed at him and laughed. He was one of Raw's hunters, and one of the only hunters to leave the trainees and escape the tower.
"Yes."
Aha! Good to see you! You really went through it. I'm glad you made it back alive.
It was empty courtesy, and he could tell. The man's mouth was smiling, but his face was stiff.
If he was going to pretend, he could at least do it properly.
The hunter kept talking and patted his shoulder as one would an old friend.
"Your name was…Nasa, right?"
"…It's Nasel."
"Ah, right. Nasel. I got mixed up."
He didn't even know his own name. Of course he didn't. He had never called him anything but insults, contempt, or worse.
"It's fine."
"Nasel, you came straight back after getting out, right?"
He knew the question wasn't asked sincerely, and the thought behind it made his skin crawl.
"Yes. I came straight back."
"And you didn't do any interviews, right?"
"I didn't."
Oh! Good. You also didn't put up anything on the internet. Like, saying we couldn't help the trainees, or that kind of thing. You didn't write anything like that, did you?
"No. I didn't."
"Aahahaha! Good, good. That was truly a hard decision. Honestly, we hunters wanted to save the trainees too, but we couldn't.
His nerve was such that he almost wanted to sock the man in the face. One of these hunters had shoved trainees out of the way and raced ahead of the rest. If he really had even a shred of conscience, he wouldn't be able to say the words "we wanted to save them".
He said nothing.
The hunter's hand clamped on his shoulder.
"So you're still a trainee. Becoming a hunter is your dream, right?" If you want to survive in this industry, you should watch what you say. It's a smaller world than you think."
No more laughter, only the quiet confident threat.
Whatever attachment he might still have had toward Raw was thinning.
He exited the elevator without responding.
"Hey, Nasa, No, wait. Nasel!"
"Nasel!"
"He really survived…? How? He doesn't even have the talent to become a hunter."
They probably thought they were speaking in low tones, but the shock had made their voices louder.
Little affected him at their reaction; he had not expected to be welcomed back in any form.
"Hey, trainee! Tell us how you survived."
"Yeah, hurry up and give us the story."
"You didn't fight monsters, so you must've run. How'd you escape without getting noticed?"
They were just interested because they were interested, and there was never any thought of him as a human.
He replied vaguely and did not reduce his pace.
The next thing I remember is, I passed out. I just ran. I don't remember the details.
He immediately went to the instructors' office.
Their teachers, too, were guild officers, and when they talked about hunting, he might as well have just heard their conversation in the elevator.
"So, don't talk about what happened in the dungeon anywhere. Understood?"
Pressure disguised as concern. Threats dressed up as "advice."
He got bored, answered questions with one-word replies, put up with it until they were satisfied, and walked out of the office.
"Disrespectful brat. No talent, but his pride's still stiff."
His voice was low, low enough that the old him wouldn't have heard it.
But he could hear it now.
Talent. Right. He hadn't had it before.
But that was no longer true.
The window was closing, and the desire to become stronger swelled inside him, hot and stubborn. The pace of his awakening was past his power to slow, but not what he did.
He was told to rest for three days.
He had no intention of wasting them.
He opened the training hall doors and entered.
Hunters and trainees were already training throughout the room. He cast one last glance to the sparring ring and began his warm up, as usual.
The lengthening of it gave his muscles a strange, refreshing feeling.
He then moved straight into mana control.
Huuung…
The mana that had so obstinately settled in his heart was stirred, and when he guided it to a place, it went there without a hitch.
Huuuuung, phut.
A small bead of mana formed at his fingertip.
He had done it before, but this was different. It was faster, cleaner somehow.
He had regained some control.
And as if to acknowledge this progress, the message.
[Awakening in progress... 14%... 15%...]
He was closer.
"Hup… hup… one hundred twenty-one, one hundred twenty-two…!"
He was performing pull-ups with heavy weights strapped to his body.
He would have been finished at fifty, in the old days.
He had passed one hundred, and the truly ridiculous part was that he had strength left to go on.
"One hundred twenty-three… one hundred twenty-four…!"
Physical training was always on the back of training his mana, and his body was not simply fit and well-trained. It felt like it had gone through some deeper change, and he found the sensation intoxicating.
"What's with him? Why isn't he stopping?"
"Is he not getting tired? That weight is insane."
"Was his stamina always that good…?"
One or two of the trainees watching the whole debacle seemed interested as well, but none of them had been around for the dungeon rift.
The problem was that their interest wasn't friendly.
"Hey, Nasel. Want to spar?"
"You're not going to dodge again today, right? Unless you plan to live like a coward forever."
"If you refuse, I'll just assume you're scared of getting beaten again."
In front of him stood the three trouble-making trainees he was used to.
They had enough talent that the guild treated them like prospects, and that only emboldened them.
He recognized them; they were the same three who had already bullied him for six months.
Sparring was not uncommon, and duels between trainees were permitted.
However, they did not ask during office hours.
Even in private moments, however, he would be asked this, no matter how often he refused.
Their aim had never changed.
They were looking to hit him.
After four months of this, he finally gave in and agreed to spar.
It had been a disaster. He had not stood a chance, and the derision that followed had only strengthened the surrounding contempt.
He had refused each time since then.
"Nasel, you worthless idiot! Just do it!" You want to be a hunter, don't you? Why are you afraid of sparring? Hunters! Over here! The trainee refuses to spar again!
Other hunters nearby did not stop the three, but encouraged them.
"He's right. If you want to be a hunter, you can't fear fighting."
"When you're a trainee, spar as much as you can. That experience shows up in the dungeon."
"Just do it once. Even if you get hurt, the guild will heal you. What are you so afraid of?"
They had said these same things four months ago, and laughed at him as he lay broken and bruised upon the rocks.
He could ignore them and keep training. Pride didn't make anyone stronger.
He had already decided.
He would refuse.
But when he opened his mouth, the words that came out were not refusal.
"Fine. Let's spar."
He did not know why he said it.
Yet he did not regret it.
A feeling never left that he could do it.
And the message drifting in his vision was only confidence.
[Awakening in progress... 15%... 16%...]
And still the torrent of progress went on, with its force and vigor.
The training hall was noisier than usual.
"What, you came too? Weren't you off today after yesterday's dungeon run?"
"I heard there'd be something fun to watch."
"You're here to watch trainees spar too?"
"Of course. Watching weaklings fight is the best entertainment."
"Hahaha! True. Unawakened trainees brawling is more fun than most pro matches."
Hunters gathered to spectate.
Other trainees also stopped what they were doing and crowded into the scene to watch.
"I came because I heard it was the day Nasel gets beaten again. That talentless idiot actually accepted?"
"Apparently. And his opponent's one of the good ones."
"Oh, he is. Those guys are among the stronger trainees."
"This isn't even remotely balanced. He's going to get beaten until he drops."
"Maybe he'll surrender as soon as it starts."
"No way. You don't know how stubborn he is. Four months ago, he refused to surrender and kept trying to fight."
"So what? Stubborn doesn't change the fact he's talentless."
"Hah! True. He was the worst at mana control, right?"
Not just the worst.
The worst by far.
One of the three who had come up to him earlier that day stepped forward, looking hostile.
"Get ready to die today, idiot."
The opponent's words were loud, but the crowd's contempt louder still.
It was grating.
All of it.
He wanted it to end, regardless of the outcome.
He curled his fingers towards him, signaling his opponent on.
It worked immediately.
"You insane bastard!"
The trainee charged in without a doubt, like a bear.
Four months ago, he wouldn't even have had the chance.
But this attack now looked fairly innocuous.
It looked slow.
He knew he could dodge.
He chose not to.
Instead, he struck first.
Smack.
His fist arrived before the opponent had time to react.
"Kuh, !"
The trainee doubled up, holding his face and staggering, but was in range for the next blow.
Thud. Thud.
Each blow held strength he had not had before the awakening.
"Aagh!"
He fell like a puppet, when someone had cut the strings.
Unconscious.
It ended too quickly.
Another part of him was disappointed. Strength had a sort of addictive quality. He wanted more.
Then he remembered.
There were two left.
His mood lifted instantly.
The other two trainees stared at him, expressions tight with shock.
"You two, come in," he said, then corrected himself. "No. Both at once."
He was not trying to provoke them.
He really thought he could win.
The crowd erupted anyway.
They made the most noise, a heavy wall of sound that took the breath and would weigh the two trainees down.
"Go on! Fight!"
"Two against one! That'll be more fun!"
"What are you waiting for? Hurry up!"
The two seemed to approach him as if they had swallowed something horrible.
They really were going to come at him together.
"You dare fight both of us? You'll regret it."
"We'll leave you half-dead. Look forward to it."
They tried to sound intimidating.
It didn't work.
His confidence only grew as the messages appeared.
[Stamina has increased by 1.]
[Attack power has increased by 1.]
[The combat sense has been activated.]
[Awakening in progress... 16%... 17%...]