Chapter 1 Awakening
Chapter 1 Awakening
?A young man sat in a wheelchair, holding 30kg dumbbells in each hand. Sweat dripped from his chiseled face, and his expression was one of absolute determination.
"Just a little more...I can do it!" he exclaimed.
After several repetitions, he finally hit his target and, with a sigh of relief, let the heavy dumbbells drop to the floor with a loud BAM!
"I've worked hard today," he said with satisfaction. "I think that's enough."
That wheelchair-bound young man with short white hair was Nathan Gardner. He had an impressive sight. Despite his thin body, the layers of muscle in his arms were visible. Standing at a remarkable 177 cm and only 15 years old,
Nathan Gardner was truly a remarkable young man. Unfortunately, he could no longer use his legs.
He lost the ability to walk at five years old due to an accident that tragically took the lives of his parents and left him crippled for life.
His stepmother reluctantly took him in, yet she could only tolerate him for five years. Afterward, he was forced from his home and sent to live in a shabby old house outside of town, with only his mother's servant, Edna the beastkin, to care for him.
Nathan wiped the sweat from his face as the training room door opened. He pressed a button on his armrest and turned his wheelchair to face the far end of the room, where Edna had entered.
"Edna?"
At first glance, she appeared to be a normal human. But a closer look revealed otherwise. Her silver hair hung down to her thighs, and a supernatural grace seemed to exude from her.
Nathan, who had spent a long time with her, was fully aware that she was anything but ordinary - she hadn't aged a single day since he first met her.
She still looked nineteen!
"Young Master…"
Edna quickly made her way across the room to stand right in front of him.
"Why do you seem in such a hurry?"
"I'm sorry, Young Master Leon suddenly came, and he forced his way into this place."
"Big Brother Leon? Why did he suddenly come to this place?"
At her words, Nathan frowned. He then turned his head to the end of the room, where someone else had entered his training room.
It was a young man, around 190 cm tall, with blond hair and fashionable golden clothes.
Leon Gardner.
He was the eldest child of the Gardner family, Nathan's half-brother, and a high-level Hunter.
He walked into the room in long strides, stopped in front of Nathan, and narrowed his eyes while looking down at him.
Wordlessly, he threw a brown folder on the floor.
"What is this, Brother?"
Edna lowered her body and reached for the folder. She handed it to Nathan, and he then slowly read its contents.
"Young Master…" The girl's face looked worried.
"I will be taking over this place. And as for why… I don't think you need to know the reason. Just sign the document. I expect this house to be empty in seven days."
Nathan frowned at Leon's words.
"Why should I leave this place?"
The house was a gift from his father to his mother. And by the right, it was his. What Leon was doing was essentially daylight robbery.
"I don't want to repeat myself. I ask you to respect my hospitality. Take the money I offer, and," Leon turned to Edna and gave her a vicious smirk. "I am sure you can find a nice, small place to live happily ever after with this bitch."
Nathan looked up. "You can insult me, but please don't say such things to Edna, Big Brother," Nathan said softly but with a clear tinge of anger.
"Ho… Angry, are you?" Leon lowered his body to stare at Nathan right in his face. "But alas, weaklings like you… Have no right to say such angry words to me!"
Leon turned to Edna and pinched the girl's cheek roughly.
"She'll be a pleasant distraction for me. Why don't you sell this slave to me? I can pay you even more money if you do."
"She's not a slave! She gets paid, and I've never restricted her freedom, either."
"Really? If that's the case, then you wouldn't object if I buy her for a higher price, would you??"
The girl just kept silent and lowered her face.
Leon glared at Nathan before finally turning away in disgust.
"Tch… There are more attractive women than her in Yunatea. You are not worth my time."
Leon turned around but then stopped when he heard Nathan speak.
"Big Brother, I fully own the rights to this house. And I beg you to let me live in peace, even after losing the rights I deserve from Gardner's family," Nathan said.
"My poor little brother," Leon said with his piercing gaze and vicious smile.
"Let me remind you a little about how miserable your life was. And allow your brother here to make your life better than this. Accept the offer. There is nothing more valuable than you can get from this. Give up this house. Or else… I hope you're not stupid enough to misunderstand what I would do, right?"
Leon then turned around and left the place.
Edna then ran to the corner of the room and returned with a dry towel. The girl wiped the sweat on Nathan's face.
"Young Master, I'm sorry, I didn't know Young Master Leon was coming."
Nathan took Edna's hand and stopped what the girl was doing.
"I'm fine, Edna. Although I really don't understand the reason for his actions."
Edna nodded, but she still looked worried.
"Young Master, this place is wholly owned by Lady Diana. We have the right to defend this place."
Nathan nodded in response to Edna's words. "Agree…"
His mind raced as he analyzed the possible reasons they would want this house. Apart from being worth a little money, nothing special. Why would they go to all the trouble to drive him out?
However, before he could think much, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest!
"Something happened to my chest. It hurts so bad."
Nathan's right hand shot up to press on his chest tightly. He lowered his face and tried to hold back the feeling of wanting to vomit.
"Young Master… are you all right?" Edna grabbed Nathan's shoulders in panic.
"I don't think I'm fine."
Nathan's eyes felt heavy, and his body instantly went limp. And when he was about to lose consciousness, green digital writing appeared in front of him.
[Requirements have been fulfilled]
[You have received the blessing of Greed]
[You have received the blessing of Sloth]
[Do you agree to install the system?]
[Yes/No]
Nathan lost consciousness before he could read the entire text.
***
'Ugh, my head is so dizzy.' Were the first words which appeared in his mind.
Nathan opened his eyes and immediately frowned as he tried to suppress the dizziness on his forehead. The light in the room was blinding, causing him to squint slightly.
"I've returned to my room?"
Nathan was in his room and had already changed into clean clothes. He closed his eyes and sighed. He felt somewhat awkward about Edna undressing him completely and changing his clothes like a child.
'I have to ask her to respect my privacy more. I'm not a kid anymore.'
Nathan tried to lift his body, then leaned back. He was trying to remember the last thing that happened before he fell asleep, or instead, he fainted?
"Leon Gardner came over and kicked me out of my house. And then… Did I just have a heart attack? Why did I faint so suddenly like that? Fatigue? Over-training?"
Even though Nathan spent the last 10 years in a wheelchair, that didn't stop him from training. With Edna's help, he was able to learn to use the sword and could also do light body training. He persevered through the difficulty and the seemingly hopeless situation he was in, all because of one thing.
He wanted to walk and do activities like a normal human.
He still dreamed of being able to achieve great things.
He was one of the unawakened in a world of awakened superhumans.
About fifty years ago, a disaster struck the planet, and in its aftermath, the humans of this world could gain power through the process of awakening. Most awakenings would take place when human beings reach the age of twelve. But even at fifteen, Nathan was tragically unawakened.
Several years after the disaster and the awakenings, massive gates suddenly appeared in various places, which led to a brand new planet called Yunatea.
Yunatea was similar to planet Earth. It could support life and the new powers humans had gotten their hands on. However, Yunatea contained more than just human beings. Races that only existed in fantasy stories actually lived there!
And the most wonderful thing was, in Yunatea, human beings could reach heights of power that they could only imagine back on Earth. The most obvious difference was that while humans could only reach level 100 on earth, they could go even higher than that in Yunatea.
Nathan took a deep breath to relax his mind. As he did so, a memory fragment suddenly popped into his head. Before losing consciousness, he recalled seeing a digital screen appear before him.
'Was I hallucinating? Was that… a system?'
Nathan tried to think about how he could bring up the digital screen again.
"Notification history?"
[Requirements have been fulfilled]
[You have received the blessing of Greed]
[You have received the blessing of Sloth]
[Do you agree to install the system?]
[Yes/No]
His face immediately brightened. It turned out that he wasn't dreaming. The system really had appeared in front of him. He closed his eyes and tried to suppress the happiness that suddenly welled up in his heart.
This was the thing he had been waiting for all his life! A system! This was a sign that he had awakened. He will soon have an extraordinary power like the other hunters!
"But wait. Blessings? And not just one blessing. Two blessings??" Nathan muttered in disbelief.
Blessings were incredibly peerless sources of power beyond what normal Hunters could wield. Based on his knowledge, only seven blessings existed in all of creation, and they could only be possessed by the inhabitants of Yunatea.
It could not be passed down, and only one person from each race could possess each blessing. It was as though God had chosen the wielder of the blessing Himself.
"This is crazy!"
Sloth was a blessing that belonged to humans. That was all Nathan remembered. As for Greed, he had to find information about it immediately.
"Yes! Of course!"
Nathan didn't think long and immediately responded to the digital message in front of him.
[Installation progress 1%]
[…]
While waiting for the installation process to be carried out, Nathan got out of bed and sat back in his wheelchair. He pressed the button on his left armrest and approached the table in the room's corner.
Nathan searched for information on the internet about the seven blessings of sins.
"Greed… What??"
Greed was a blessing that belonged to the dragon race.
"Dragons? Impossible. How in the world can I have Greed? Unless…"?"
Nathan was sure that his father was from this world. But he had never really understood his mother's origins.
"Does this mean my mother was a dragon?"
[Installation complete]
"This is too much... Why did all of this happen all of a sudden?"
[Analyzing bloodline]
[50% human]
[50% unidentified]
The digital message that appeared after that really reassured his curiosity. He really was a half-human. However,
"Why is my other race unidentified? Am I really a half-dragon?"
[System initialization has been completed]
[Unlocking the blessing of Greed]
[Welcome to the Skill Creation System. What skill would you like to create?]
[The path to becoming the strongest is in your hands. Use this power to become the ruler who will save the lives of those who deserve it.
[Memory legacies 1/10 have been unlocked. Do you want to read it?]
[Yes/No]
Nathan tried to understand the message that appeared before him. Skill Creation System, a power that instantly awakened the cells in his brain just by reading its brief information.
"And memory legacies?"
Nathan thought for a moment. His curiosity was so great. He immediately nodded and muttered under his breath, "Yes."
His vision became blurry, and before he knew it, he had passed out.
After a while, Nathan came to his senses and realized the place had completely changed from before. He was in a car that seemed to be speeding, surrounded by people with very familiar faces.
"Where am I?"