Mary had a hectic day. From the moment of her awakening, her life was no longer hers. She doesn't have any freedom to choose to do what she wants, since that moment.
As one with an SS-Rank class, she was immediately transferred to a safe location. Even her parents were quickly brought away. The higher-ups are not stupid to only protect her. If anything happens to her family, she may soon follow her parents and fall before she gets a chance to rise, and rise to the top is what is needed from her.
After they pulled her away, the higher-ups quickly made a decision on how to protect her. She needs to enter dungeons for hunting. Only by leveling up could be strong enough to protect herself.
The city has a few newbie dungeons. They assigned a 2nd Rank bodyguard to intervene only when her life is in danger. Though she needed protection, intervening unnecessarily would hinder her growth, and ultimately they would stop the probability of her reaching her full potential.
Moreover, with her SS-Rank class, she can easily sweep through the newbie dungeons.
When people awaken, they are at level 0 and Rank 0. When one's experience reaches level 20, it is when one can progress to Rank-1. The ascension to higher rank isn't automatic. They have to go through a trial quest, and that quest varies for everyone. Only once it is completed do they progress in levels again.
The 2nd Rank trial would at level-50. When one considers these trials, the difficulty increases as rank increases. So a second-ranker bodyguard could easily clear any anomalies that may occur.
With such security, Mary quickly leveled up. She reached level-5 in the span of just more than a day. This can be said as unprecedented. No one ever has reached that level by the end of day one after awakening.
When she returned late at night after a day of dungeon diving, she heard the news from the capital. The leaders of the alliance decided to groom her perfectly so that she could become a pillar of humanity and could even reach the level of the five gods.
It was decided that after she reached level-20, she would directly enter the top university of her choice as a special entry.
The perk is that she starts well before anyone else. There is still almost a month before the test. Even after that, the admission wouldn't happen until a month after the test. This means she gets almost two months' head start.
With the Rank-2 bodyguard, it is estimated that she can reach level 20 within two weeks at maximum, maybe even less as she was already level 5. The faster she can reach level 20, the more time she would get to enjoy the benefits of the academy.
By the time new students enter the academy, she would be faraway from their reach.
As a special student, she can enter any dungeon with a guard. She would also be provided with a residence for herself and her family, where it is not easy to hurt her or her family, as it would be heavily guarded.
The protection wouldn't last for long, probably till she reaches Rank-4. After that, the protection from the alliance may reduce but until then, there would be bodyguards and that costs a lot for the alliance. This is a cost that she has to pay in the future.
She would be dancing in the palms of the alliance. She wouldn't have the freedom of her choice, not until she reaches the level of those five gods. Even then, she has to pull her weight to improve the alliance.
Mary knew that this could bite her in the ass in the future, but she had to take this gamble. Her family's life is in danger. She was happy that she awakened a top class, but that placed a target on her back. Her family could become collateral real quick if the alliance withdraws the protection.
The only way to be safe and to have no restriction in her choices is to become the god of humanity, a level only five reached in the entire history.
She knows that this won't be a walk in the park, but five did before her, and the conditions that they lived in were way worse than what she is in now. Only with this five present did humanity reach new levels.
The times were harder when they awakened. This was so true for the first one, as there was no guardian to watch over that one.
Those five had it worse when they started out, but because of them, humanity stands in a better position.
These five normally wouldn't involve themselves in alliance matters of ruling unless it is important. Though they abide by the alliance, they don't have a leash on them.
She decided that she would be the sixth. The only way to make sure that the alliance wouldn't put a leash around her neck.
This would be her goal to reach. For now, she needed to reach level-20 as soon as possible. She may need help to complete her trials for the rank-up.
Though it is forbidden to get help while taking those rank up quests, others can help them indirectly by providing information on how to complete the efficiently or making sure that no one would interrupt them.
Most of these quests would be to kill certain monsters to rank-up and that too in real world not in a dungeon.
In real world, the habitats of the monsters are not directly accessible, as one has to go through various other monster habitats. This would leave them tired by the time they reached their destination and can make mistakes when completing the quest.
While they were completing the quest other monsters may interfere, even other humans may interfere.
Out in the world, a hunter has to watch their backs not just against monsters, but also against other hunters. Greed would make people do a lot of bad deeds, and out in the wild with no surveillance they can be as bad as they want and nothing could happen to them.
So for efficiency's sake, having guards would make it easier for her.
She quickly got back to her room to rest as it would be super busy for her from the next morning.