Central Neutral City, Arcanum Nexus...
The city of Arcanum Nexus as the central neutral city was extremely developed. In the urban areas, skyscrapers towered into the sky, cars and air trains constantly moving in the bubble of city life.
Everybody seemed busy with one thing or another.
But a prevalent aspect of the city was the optimism in the air. Everywhere you looked, life seemed cheerful and peaceful, though it was all fast-paced. But this was just one side of the central city, the picturesque side.
The other side of the city was much darker... the slums.
And that was where Kairo lived.
The parts were refuse waste were dumped, where people lived under old abandoned bridges, where construction companies came to dump their scrap metal and useless materials.
The parts far away from the glittering halls of the Guilds and noble houses.
It was already night. The city lay under a thick blanket of ash-colored clouds that remained stationary while they shrouded the entire area in a dull gray mist.
Kairo’s home was a sizeable distance from the Awakening Ground, but he managed to make the journey despite the aching pain all over his body.
Home? To Kairo, home was inside a dilapidated car with the dusty back chairs as his bed, and with a hole-ridden curtain to barely give him some privacy.
You would ask, how does he bath?
Well, the river was the only thing saving the slum rats from chronic body odor, though in spite of it most slum dwellers still oozed.
Kairo couldn’t think about all of that though. After 4 days away from home, surviving in the urban parts of the city just to Awaken, to think that the only result he would get for it was pain?
"What the... shakabumle...!" he cursed.
When he passed, he didn’t show weakness to his neighbors, knowing that weakness was a sign of being bullied.
"I heard you went to the city to try your luck at awakening. The fact that you’re means you failed right?" One of the gangsters in the dumpster asked, smirking when he saw him passed.
"What made you think you could ever become an Awakened?"
In normal circumstances, Kairo would have snapped back. Afterall, he had a very venomous tongue, but not today.
Today, he was in a world of pain. It was taking all his willpower to not cry out loud.
Once he crawled inside his little abode, he gave in as the pain consumed him. It was agonizing. Kairo suspected that it was his muscles growing but, since when did muscle growth cause so much pain?
"Argh...!" He bit on the dusty chair.
His muscles tore and rebuilt repeatedly, leaving him in a torturous circle. His whole body was drenched in sweat and blood.
Yes, he was bleeding.
What cursed ability did he awaken?!
He was briefly distracted by a system notification.
[SYSTEM WARNING: Nutritional Deficiency]
>Daily Requirement: 0/2,000 calories consumed. Growth efficiency stagnated at 12%.
[Urgent Recommendation: Consume protein immediately!]
Well, Kairo had not eaten today.
"Consume protein? Great, so easy," he grimaced sarcastically despite his pain. "If I had protein, would I be , you dumb system?"
"Is this how dumb the system usually is?!" He couldn’t help but raise his tone due to the pain. It didn’t stop.
Of course, he knew what the system was. Every child does.
Apparently, it is an interface that has always been there from the inception of time alongside mana. If you manage to awaken, you automatically get access to the system to interact with the more magical realities of the world.
And yet, Kairo was still in pain.
Despite his agony though, despite the system warning, Kairo noticed his body slightly changing, transforming. His hands became thicker, veins bulging, shoulders broadening.
Due to malnutrition and also the fact that he was just 16, Kairo had always been seen as a dwarf. But now, he could tell that he was growing taller.
’An ability to grow taller? Don’t tell me that’s how useless my ability is, and don’t tell me that’s the cause of all this pain, f*ck!’
But the more he endured, the more he realized. ’It’s the hunger’.
The hungrier he grew, the more sharp the pain became. And once he thought of it, he understood. ’If this ability is reshaping my body, with no food as an energy source, maybe that’s what’s causing the pain’.
"Wait," his eyes widened. "Is it draining my life force?"
Quickly stumbling out of the car, he staggered through the dumpster and into the streets. It was still the slums, but at least, people still lived in brick buildings though they were still dilapidated and abandoned.
Stumbling into the streets, hollow-eyed and weak, with no money, food, and only hunger and pain as a companion, Kairo’s senses became extra sensitive.
The smell of meat from a butcher’s cart drove him into a frenzy.
Instantly, his eyes turned sharp. ’I’m no longer in the city,’ he thought. ’There’s no police here to pursue me’.
He moved carefully without drawing attention. And when the butcher was not looking, he stole scraps of raw meat and fled into the alleys.
"Hey! Boy, come back here!"
Collapsing in a trench, he devoured the raw meat like an animal. He was starving.
[Nutritional Intake Detected: 267 kcal]
Nutrient Composition: Animal Protein (high grade), Saturated Fat (low), Iron (moderate)
Muscle Efficiency: 31% ~ 52%
The pain reduced, slightly.
The burning eased, the trembling faded, and in its place, a low, humming heat began to rise.
It wasn’t pain now. Rather, it was power.
And that was right when the exhaustion finally took over as Kairo fell asleep right there.
The next morning, Kairo woke up in the trench and the first thing he noticed was the lack of pain. Of course, the hunger lingered.
But since he was no longer in pain, he sighed in relief.
He stretched, flexing his body to confirm that the pain was truly gone. All that was left in its place was a dull ache in his muscles.
He looked at his palm. "I’m an Awakened now?"
Hesitating slightly, he climbed a building. Now shirtless on the rooftop, he looked past the slums towards the distant vibrant city. From his view, it was a great divide, a literal chasm between the poor and the rich, the living and the living-dead.
At that moment, the system lit up again.
[Ability: Muscle Genesis]
>Class: [Warrior lvl. 1]
"Warrior huh?" Kairo raised an eyebrow.
Looking at the horizon, he smiled. Maybe, just maybe, he could finally breach the great divine afterall.
"GOOD MORNING WORLD!" He screamed.