While they were eating, a few monsters appeared and tried to barrel at the barrier again.
[-1 Defense Point]
His eyes twitched.
He sighed and stood up, opening the door to see another dozen monsters tapping on the barrier again. "We cleaned up well, and the Inn itself has decent insulation. Why are there so many?"
To be honest, rationally speaking, he shouldn’t be that surprised. It had been a couple of hours since the last attack, and they were still in the danger zone, so half a dozen or a dozen monsters appearing every so often should be something he expected.
However, it made him super irksome, especially when he kept getting slapped with the uncomfortable truth:
To be able to enjoy his life here, he not only had to actually maximize the inn and its capabilities, but he also had to be able to defend it!
Even if the monsters here were on the ’weaker’ side to many powerhouses, they were terrifying monsters to him! Without the barrier, a single one of those could kill him! If Syl hadn’t arrived, who knew how long he would’ve been able to keep the Inn!
He really, really
While Pang said that he would have a chance to awaken with something he could buy from the Hearth Market, he was not particularly reassured.
From his tone, it was not guaranteed. He also wanted to know the power system here from the perspective of the locals, as there could be discrepancies from what Pang knew.
At this, Finn looked at Syl, who stood next to him. She looked completely unperturbed by the dozen beasts, and he felt envious.
"Can you tell me more about those Awakened Monsters you mentioned before? Humans and other creatures would have those tiers too, right? I mean, I know some things, but it’s been years, so..."
As mentioned, most creatures could only have the physical core, including the beasts. On the other hand, Elves could only develop magic, while humans could awaken either or none at all.
Syl nodded and told him the ranking systems, which were very different from what they knew. Even Pang—who took yet another wrapped F-class meat from his space—was listening in curiosity.
To summarize, in this world, the [Physical Core] had five ranks after the Dormant State, namely: the Awakened State, the Toughened State, the Fortified State, the Apex State, and the Titan State. Each rank had three Tiers 1 through 3, which basically just referred to the entry way of a rank through the peak of the rank.
The Ranks for those with a [Magic Core], on the other hand, were: Dormant State, the Charged State, the Resonant State, the Blessed State, the Prime State, and the Eminent State. It also had similar tiers.
Since the portals opened and after they were closed down, no Titans nor Eminents have been born at all, regardless of race.
As mentioned, this was because the state of energy in the world had been greatly reduced, absorbed by the many barriers that kept their greatest enemies at bay.
Apparently, even the Rank 4s of physical and magical cores— the Apex and Prime States, respectively—were also quite rare and there were only a handful of people still alive in total.
"I see that you are not even awakened..." Syl said as she looked at him, hovering her hand on his temple. He felt a little warm there and he could tell she was using some sort of magic to determine his level.
She sounded a little confused as she said this, though he reckoned it was probably only him who could hear the emotion. He looked at her, responding to her non-awakened comment. "Is it due to your sensitivity to mana?"
She nodded. "Well, I can tell by the quality of the aura around you," she said. "It’s very... random."
"How do I increase my level?" he asked. "Do I just have to absorb those crystals?" She had mentioned how people absorb a large number of those to level up.
"No, at the dormant stage, you cannot even directly break the shell that contains that energy, let alone absorb it."
"...is there a way?"
"Hm... I am not entirely sure. What is your age, Finn?"
"27."
"I have not seen a Dormant awaken at that age."
"..."
"Most powered people your age are in a mid to late Awakened state already, even among humans," she said, hitting his heart where it hurt. And she was just stating facts!
"The awakening usually starts very young, with the child slowly being exposed to essence. More established families would compress several essence stones into an accessory and let the child wear it for an extended amount of time."
This was also why people from rich and noble households would be likelier to awaken than commonfolk. It was because they had resources to get ahead of everyone else. With power as they grew old, their stature in life could not be worse than that of the less fortunate kids.
"Even if you do that, however, I do not know how effective it will be considering your circumstances," she said. "Your body has already developed, and it might be a challenge to acclimate it to essence."
Translation: You are too old, so it’d be difficult.
Finn sighed, knowing he only had Pang’s method left. What choice did he have? "How long would children need to awaken?"
"It depends. Elven children are exposed from birth, but I heard humans would take a bit longer, perhaps around seven or eight years old, and then they’d awaken at around 10 to 15 years of age."
That said, looking at the [Guest Logbook] he knew that Syl was already at the third rank for magic, the Blessed state, at such a young age. She was definitely a talent.
He just asked her what her level was, even when he knew it. No one would be comfortable to know his system was so intrusive that he knew such intimate details about them. If they did, wouldn’t guests be apprehensive to sign in?
She was already at the Peak of Resonant Stage, which was the second rank already. She had apparently completed Rank 1, Charged, as early as 14 years old. The higher the rank, the longer it took to upgrade. She was humble about it, but Finn had a feeling that most magicians wouldn’t be nearly as quick as she was.
"I see... thank you so much for telling me this."
"I remember giving you a few crystals," she said. "Please do not force yourself and try to absorb far stronger crystals than you—unless you want to explode, that is."
"..." "I won’t." Pang ate them all, anyway. Not counting the awakened cores he got with Syl’s help, of course, though even that was out of bounds to him.
He couldn’t help but pull out one of the awakened cores he had in his space. It was the size of his pinky nail, and he played around with it between his fingers.
"You also should not only absorb crystals without training your body, because it might not be able to handle it, either."
"...okay. Then, for educational purposes, where exactly in the beasts are cores found?" She had made the monsters disintegrate before so he didn’t know where the cores were located exactly.
"You can find the crystals in the monster’s hearts," she said. "They are formed in time, and they are in their most solid form at the peak state, or tier 3 of a state, and then restart again after the following rank.
"Otherwise, it is still in the blood and the muscles, not yet congealed, and therefore cannot be harvested."
So cores were only available at Tier 3, which explained why the monsters with cores tended to be more troublesome for their level.
That said, monsters were also unable to climb to another rank. Each ’species’ had their own limitation for growth, which could be said to be a balancing act because beasts were generally physically far stronger than humans of the same level.
At the same time, one could say that those with cores had already reached the peak of their strengths, period.
He gripped the stone tighter. He might not be able to use it yet, but he was determined it’d be part of his strength someday.
No matter what, he’d find a way to truly awaken.