Chapter 31: Aftermath
Daniel flopped onto his bed. His mother and Alice were still clinging to him, too happy and shocked to let go
They were hugging him like he might disappear again at any moment.
Eventually, after lots of effort, polite begging, and a few fake smiles, he managed to slip away and reach his room.
Well, after dinner at least—though it was more like trying to have dinner, since Alice kept throwing questions at him.
"How did you survive in there? Was the Tower really that dangerous? What were the monsters like?"
Daniel answered patiently, more or less, sticking to what he could actually explain.
Now that he was alone, he sighed and stared at the ceiling.
"Only one day’s passed... but it feels like I’ve been fighting forever."
And honestly, that wasn’t far from the truth.
He’d never been that close to death before.
Thankfully, the first-floor rules didn’t allow for real death—otherwise, he wouldn’t be lying here right now.
He opened the Mother System panel.
He still hadn’t checked the notifications that popped up after turning those three into Fallen.
[ You have successfully created 3 new Fallen. ]
[ You have acquired 10% of their stats. ]
[ You have received 3 extra lives. ]
[ Please choose names for the Fallen. ]
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
"Names? Hmm..."
He thought for a moment.
For Aron: Greed
For Lana: Pride
For Neve: Fool
[ Names successfully assigned. ]
[ Please choose one of their skills to copy. ]
Panels appeared. All of them were Minor Fallens
Their skills mostly focused on swordsmanship and didn’t really impress Daniel.
Not that they were useless, but with his current class power, they weren’t anything special.
Most of their skills were ranked C or B.
Only Aron had one A-ranked skill, and even that didn’t seem worth copying.
"Can I take EXP instead of a skill?"
[ Checking... ]
[ Ding... You may choose to receive 10% of their EXP before they were turned into Fallen, instead of copying a skill. ]
[ Only Fallen with equal or lower Rank than you are eligible. This refers to their official Rank. ]
Daniel’s eyes lit up.
[ You received 10% of the Fallens’EXP. ]
He took a deep breath and opened his own panel.
[ Status Panel: Daniel F. Noir ]
[ Rank: D / (211 / 5999 EXP) ]
[ Class: The Fallen Priest ]
[ Class Rank: Transcendent / SSS ]
[ Innate Talent: God’s Blood ]
[ Skills:
• Fallen Will (SSS)
• Crimson Judgment (SSS)
• The Light of Destruction (S) ]
[ Stats:
• Physical Power: 40 → 280
• Spiritual Power: 80 → 420
• Intelligence: 145 → 188
• Mana: 20 → 88
• Endurance: 180 → 511 ]
[ Body Status: Normal ]
[ Extra Lives: 4 ]
[ Mental State: Normal ]
[ Blessing: The Fallen ]
Daniel stared at the panel for a moment, stunned.
"This kind of boost...?"
His Physical Power had increased sevenfold.
His Spiritual Power had shot up ridiculously too.
With his current stats, crushing the One-Eyed Winter would be ridiculously easy.
"If only I could turn Ragzar too..."
Even thinking about it made his heart race.
Though he was being realistic; he had no chance.
Still, even without that, things looked great.
Now, he could destroy any corruption creature at Rank D. He might even stand a chance against some Rank C.
Though... he knew he’d probably still lose.
Rank C had a kind of natural superiority.
But at least among Rank D, he was unmatched.
One thing that caught his eye was the huge amount of EXP needed to reach Rank C.
"5999...? Seriously?"
The ranking system published by the National Awakened Federation and Mother System had seven levels: F, E, D, C, B, A, S.
There were also two unofficial levels called "National Rank" and "Demi-God." So, nine levels total.
He was currently Rank D, which was considered slightly below average.
But for his age, he was probably near the top of the chain.
From what he’d heard, getting from Rank F to C wasn’t too hard.
The real difficulty started afterward. Higher Ranks required more than just EXP—there were other conditions too.
Though, he had no clue what those were.
"One more reason to visit the association tomorrow," he muttered, closing the panel and staring at the ceiling.
He had to go to the Awakened association and register his rank-up. That would also give him access to the association store.
And through the online community, he could gather more information.
Plus, the day after tomorrow was the first of the month—meaning it was time for the monthly Awakened payment.
And yeah, he definitely needed that money.
He closed his eyes. Sleep slowly crept in.
---
The next morning, Daniel woke up to the smell of fresh bread and eggs.
At the table, his mom, Liana, and his sister Alice were sitting, breakfast already waiting.
He greeted them good morning, sat down, and started eating.
"Oh right, today’s the Fallen Sun Guild’s test. If I pass, I might get picked for their new team!"
Alice put her spoon down, speaking with a bit of excitement.
Daniel looked up.
"Want me to come with you? Mental support?"
"Nah, it’s fine. A few of my friends are going too. I’ll be okay." Alice smiled.
"Don’t push yourself too hard, sweetheart. Even if you don’t make it, nothing changes. You’ll still have a mother and brother who love you." Liana, who had been quiet until now, said warmly.
Daniel and Alice both laughed. A soft, warm moment passed between them.
"So, where are you going today?"After a few seconds, Alice glanced at Daniel.
"I need to head to the Awakened association. Update my info, register the rank-up, stuff like that." Daniel took a sip of his tea.
"You’ve been going to the guild a lot lately... are you sure it’s just for this? You didn’t fall for a pretty receptionist or something?" Liana suddenly narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.
Alice burst out laughing.
"It’s not funny. Nothing like that’s going on."
Daniel frowned.
"Well, either way, be careful. I’m not giving my son to just anyone." Liana kept smiling but her tone was half-joking.
"Me neither. Better not fall in love!" Alice said with a serious face.
"Meddling in Adutls stuff is rude." Daniel flicked her arm lightly and frowned.
Alice puffed up her cheeks and gave him a fake pout.
"Oh right, Mom—any update on the car?" Trying to change the subject, Daniel asked.
Liana sighed. "Mechanic called. Said we can pick it up in two days."
Daniel nodded. The car was still banged up from the dimensional fracture incident a few days ago.
Part of the body was wrecked, and it was unusable until fully fixed.
A few minutes later, Daniel got ready and left home after a quick goodbye.
He grabbed a taxi and headed straight to the Awakened association.