I Reject Quests

Jackport Town.

Rover City's City Lord's Mansion.

At the extreme left corner of the mansion was a wide green leveled field. On it, several young men could be seen jogging around the field. The weather was irritating as the young men had sweat dripping from their foreheads. However, even amidst the cruelty of the sun, their eyes carried determination and curiosity. Almost as if…

"So they are the new recruits…" Rubbing his smooth chin, Hase evaluated the rookies. "They don't look like they went through <<Awakening>>..." 

The servant standing beside him wasn't surprised by the question and answered accordingly. "Sir, it's because they aren't <<Awakened>>."

"They aren't? Then how come… could they be <<Half-Awakened>>?"

"Yes." The servant nodded.

Hase's face showed signs of understanding. A major part of the population doesn't get the chance to become <<Awakened>> for mainly two reasons. First, it takes quite a lot of money. For middle-class people, it is an enormous sum. Second, after deciding to "invest" such a large amount of money, sometimes people just turn out to be average. Sakura Garden Academy doesn't take in people who aren't nobles and commoners who aren't somewhat talented so they could only rely on themselves.

For those people, the Central has created a new formula - Half-Awakening Potion. It sells at ten times lower than Red Soulstan's Blood, which is the "potion" for <<Awakening>>. Of course, the Half-Awakening Potion would be far less effective than Red Soulstan's Blood in making the person get stronger. However, it is, universally acclaimed, a very good deal.

Non-Awakeners, in other words, normal people usually don't have a POW above 1. Even having a POW of 1 is considered to be a big deal among normal people. An <<Awakened>>, on average, /has a POW of 4 as well as a G.C. value of 4. <<Half-Awakened>>, on the other hand, has their POW increased in the range of 2 to 4 and they don't have G.C.. There have never been cases when their POW had exceeded beyond 4.

In this regard, by comparison, Rewen, just when he arrived in this world, wasn't a weakling by any means. He was just comparatively weaker when compared to <<Awakened>> and <<Half-Awakened>> who aren't the majority.

"No wonder… then, they are quite good." Being a Bronze-ranked Gruer User, Hase accurately figured the POW in the rookies through several factors. 

The servant nodded, then left the field without commenting any further.

Hase began thinking of a plan on how to train them when he heard a voice from behind.

"Hey, how's it going?" 

Turning back, he saw a familiar face. It was Rewen. 

"Oh well, fortunately, everything's been going smooth till now." 

"That's good. That's good…" Rewen said while looking at the surroundings. "Where is Reza?"

"She will start working tomorrow. Tell me about the slaves. How do you feel about the job?" Hase asked.

"It's cool, I guess. I'm not feeling the pressure yet but I'm sure I will after a few days. As for the sla… women, they are more or less good…? Oh, there was a murderer among them whom I sent back to her prison cell." Rewen didn't like to call them "slaves" for obvious reasons.

"A murderer?"

"Yeah, she had murdered her husband after she found him cheating. Not that I'm complaining but I wonder why she felt the need to give me that information. Did she honestly think I'm going to continue my therapy with an unapologetic murderer like her?"

"Hm… you sound angry."

Rewen was about to deny it when he figured that Hase may not be wrong. "Maybe. By the way, do you have any specific plan in mind? I mean, what do we do in the near future? This is probably too early for me to think about the future but I can't have peace of mind."

Hase showed a troubled expression. "I don't have any specific plans. I was thinking about… staying here for a few months until we get financially stable. But wouldn't it be a bit…"

"Yeah. At the end of the day, we are just freeloading." Rewen agreed with his thoughts. As he was thinking of a plan, he asked. "How many months do you think is 'a few months'?"

"Around three to four months…" Hase's expression turned weird as he looked at Rewen. He suddenly remembered that the boy in front of him was not an unknown figure. Even if he lived in a cave, he would know about the famous deal made between Hot Glacial Foundations and Atsushi Family fifteen years ago that was to come in four months.

Rewen wryly smiled and let out an exasperated sigh. "Do you think I have a chance?"

"Of defeating the HGF's President's daughter?" Hase had a ridiculous face when he heard the question.

"Of surviving, to be precise." Rewen corrected.

"Hm, I don't know. What is your POW?"

"Around 4?"

"G.C.?"

"1."

"Any skills?"

Rewen shook his head. [G.C. Channeling] wasn't really a skill. It was more of a necessary procedure that should be done in order to use G.C. freely. [Full-Body Channeling] is a [Unique] skill that permanently increases the base POW of a person by four times. 'Sigh, if only my base POW was a little more.' He lamented internally.

If he had even a POW of 3 as the base, then he would be standing here with the POW of 12 which is way too much of an increase. 

'It's ridiculous how much of a part talent plays…' Shaking off the thoughts, he looked at Hase who was speechless.

"Is there any chance that you can reconcile with your family?"

Rewen snorted. "Family? What is it? Can it be eaten?" He had been brought up in an extremely poor condition. Rumors of him being a disgusting person had spread far and wide and those rumors were spread by his own family. He had a father who is most possibly freely roaming the world and a mother who he had never seen in his life.

'I swear if there's a plot twist like  - 'LOL! Turns out your mother had always loved you and your father was secretly protecting you!', I'll fucking go insane.'

"It's going to be difficult in that case… No, I'll get this straight. I don't think that you can survive relying on your personal strength." Hase seriously said. He could sugarcoat his words but it would be insincere.

"That's correct." Unexpectedly, a smile emerged on Rewen's face. "Do you think that if I were to join a powerful organization, I would be able to go my own way?"

"Setting aside the fact whether you could join a powerful organization or not, it's still highly unlikely that Atsushi Family and HGF would leave you alone."

"So at the end of the day, personal strength is the only thing I could rely on. Right?"

Hase silently nodded.

"How strong do you think the HGF President's daughter is? Give me a goal I could work towards." Rewen asked.

"She is one of the rising stars of your generation. She is close to being a Bronze-rank Gruer User, at the very least. Being born with a golden spoon, she also possibly has some ranked skills up her sleeve. It's not that I watched her fight or anything but from what I have heard along with her popularity, to me, she appears to be someone who I would be wary of while fighting despite me being a Bronze ranked Gruer User."

"I had the same thoughts. So, is it reasonable to set my goal to reach the Bronze rank within four months?"

"It's unreasonable," Hase said with a straight face. "I'm not sure if you realize the gravity of your situation. Do you know what is the rate at which POW increases with time, regardless of talent?"

Rewen shook his head but had a general idea.

"Whether you <<Awakened>> with 1 POW or 10 POW, you would only get to increase your POW by two units within the span of a year. Look, Rewen. As much as I want to encourage you, it's only good that you know your limits and act accordingly. Setting an unreasonable goal is only going to make you feel pressure."

"In other words, is there no way for me to gain a significant boost in power in these four months?"

Hase sighed and shook his head. "Rewen, you don't understand. This is your development phase. There is no way you could explosively increase your POW."

"No way? Are you sure?" Rewen asked again.

"As far as I'm concerned, not really. No."

"Well, that's concerning." Rewen chuckled. "Oh, by the way, I saw a Gruer Detector back in the car…?"

"Yeah, it's a new one that I bought before we returned from the Capital. You can use it."

"Can I use it now?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." Hase handed over his car key to Rewen.

Receiving the key, Rewen walked to the mansion's private garage. Numerous cars were parked. Some of them belonged to the servants, some to the guests.