Chapter 253: A Coin
"What’s this now?" Daniel looked at the item August had picked up.
It was a coin, sealed inside a glass case. It didn’t look like anything special, yet it radiated a strange, otherworldly aura.
It felt like the coin didn’t belong to this world — or any world, for that matter.
Daniel frowned. Strangely, he felt a sense of familiarity with it.
"This is the Dead Coin. It can protect you once when you’re in real danger..." August glanced at it and handed it to him.
Daniel took it and tried to inspect it, but even the Mother System didn’t give any notification about it.
Apparently, the system either didn’t know about this item or didn’t want to analyze it.
That only made things weirder — and it made Daniel more curious. He looked at the old man, about to ask something.
"Don’t ask... I can’t tell you anything either. Just be careful with that coin, and if it ends up being useless to you, return it." August said seriously.
In truth, this coin was the city’s last resort — a one-time survival guarantee in case of a catastrophic disaster or a sudden appearance of corruption beasts ranked S or higher.
Technically, he wasn’t allowed to give this coin to anyone. It belonged to the city, and just doing this could get him fired — or even imprisoned for years.
But he chose to be selfish and gave the coin to Daniel anyway, even knowing how dangerous that decision was.
"I understand," Daniel nodded. He didn’t know what this coin really was, but he could feel its importance.
He stored the coin in his inventory.
After that, the two of them exited and stepped outside the building. They looked around and checked the surroundings.
It didn’t take long for a jet to suddenly appear above them. It was like it came from nowhere — even Daniel didn’t notice when it arrived.
It descended smoothly into a private landing area within the Awakened Association’s property.
"That’s it?"
"Yeah. They’re from the capital."
The jet doors opened and four people stepped out — three guys and one girl, the latter walking ahead of the rest.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. August. I’m Melissa," she introduced herself.
"Likewise." The head of the Awakened Association gave a nod.
The three boys also introduced themselves one by one. Then, all eyes turned to Daniel. The reason was simple — even though he looked young, his aura was powerful enough to immediately draw attention.
"I’m Daniel. Nice to meet you all."
All four of them let out a subtle breath of relief. It seemed dealing with this white-haired guy wouldn’t be hard. They greeted him back politely.
"Could you explain the situation to us, please?"
"Of course." August nodded and gestured for them to follow. He explained what had happened as they walked.
Meanwhile, Daniel looked at the jet before following them. It looked like a military fighter jet from a movie — except slightly larger.
Its color was white with streaks of black.
Daniel walked after them while quietly examining their power levels. The three guys were peak rank B, while the girl was rank A with a powerful aura — clearly no ordinary person.
August gave them a quick summary of the dimensional break and all the related events. When they heard that this young white-haired guy had handled the entire break on his own, they were stunned.
From what they knew, even they wouldn’t be able to manage something like that — and yet he had done it.
They turned and looked at Daniel with awe and newfound respect. Melissa even took it a step further and directly made him an offer.
"What do you think about joining the National Awakened Federation?"
"Uh? That was kind of sudden."
"Sorry, but it’s not every day I meet a genius like you. I’m sure the Federation would be thrilled to have you." Melissa said with a smile.
She had long blonde hair, bright green eyes, and a beautiful yet serious face. Her smile made her look even more stunning.
Daniel didn’t respond right away. He glanced at August. His current situation was complicated — truthfully, he didn’t care which group he joined.
As long as he could save his family, that was enough.
"Lady Melissa, this young man here is currently being invited by the Everlight Moon guild," August stepped in, saving him from answering directly.
"I see. That’s a shame. But if you ever change your mind, the doors of the Federation will always be open to you." Melissa nodded and continued inspecting the city with her team.
They spent about thirty more minutes checking the entire city to confirm that the dimensional break had truly been handled.
’The Federation’s not for you. They’re just a bunch of controlling freak bastards. Stay away from them as much as possible,’ August suddenly spoke to Daniel through mental communication.
’Aren’t you part of the Federation yourself?’
’Unfortunately, yes. They forced me to sign a contract that binds me to serve them until my last breath. That’s why I’m warning you — stay away from them.’
’I understand. Thank you for the advice and for everything else,’ Daniel nodded. He could tell August had deep resentment toward the Federation — but couldn’t do anything about it.
The inspection of the city took about two hours. They checked every corner and even collected all the remaining corruption beast corpses.
Those corpses were incredibly valuable — even Daniel had collected rank C beast corpses in the underground cave.
Naturally, they asked him about the queen’s body. After all, the corpse of a rank A corruption beast was extremely valuable and important.
However, Daniel simply told them that it was under the church, which had completely collapsed, and there was no way to retrieve the body.
The four of them could only sigh and give up on it.
At one point, August asked them to take Daniel with them to the capital if possible — and they agreed without any complaints.
Just because he didn’t accept their invitation to join the Federation didn’t mean they couldn’t try to build a good relationship with such a rare talent.
On the contrary, this was a rare opportunity.
After about two and a half hours, they returned to the jet. Their inspection was complete — it was time to leave the city.
"Thank you for your help and guidance, Mr. August. The city is now fully secure, and you may begin releasing the citizens from the shelters," Melissa said to August.
"I should be the one thanking you for coming." He spoke seriously, though Daniel could sense the sarcasm hidden deep in his tone.
It was obvious that August was mocking them — these people hadn’t done anything to help. But Melissa and the others didn’t notice it.
"You’re welcome. It’s our duty. Also, I should let you know the Federation has requested to install a teleport portal here to prevent future issues with blocked land or air routes."
The head of the Awakened Association nodded. He had been wanting to do that for a long time, but the Federation had never given the necessary resources or budget.
God knows why they suddenly changed their mind.
The four of them boarded the jet. Daniel said goodbye to August before getting in. It wasn’t clear when he’d return — if at all.
Most likely, even after saving his family, they’d end up staying in the capital.
"Take care, kid," August sighed. He had done everything he could to help Daniel — even broke the law and gave him that coin.
From now on, everything would depend on the boy and his luck. Still, he wasn’t too worried.
He had a strong feeling that one day, the name of this boy would echo across the entire world.
Daniel waved goodbye and boarded the jet. Now that he had some time before reaching the capital, he could finally copy some of the skills from his Fallen that he hadn’t copied yet.