Cipher felt his consciousness fall into an endless void, descending deeper and deeper until suddenly - his eyes snapped open.
He looked around. A hospital room. White walls, sterile smell, the steady beep of a monitor.
What happened?
His head throbbed. He tried to piece together his memories - the fight, the cultists, the mana exhaustion, the collapse...
A sound broke through his thoughts. The snap of a book closing.
He turned.
A woman sat in a chair beside his bed, setting down the book she'd been reading.
She stood, stretching slightly.
"You're finally awake," she said.
Cipher pushed himself up to sit. "Who are you?"
"Selene. From Association HQ." She placed a hand on her chest, gesturing to the insignia on her uniform.
He observed her carefully. Association uniform…So they'd made it in time.
But something nagged at him. That name. Selene.
His mind drifted back to the future - during the final apocalypse, the Association Chairman who'd tried to organize the final defense. Her name had been Selene.
He looked at her again. Young. Maybe mid-twenties. Just an officer now, nothing like the hardened leader she'd become.
So she starts here, he thought.
"What happened to the cultists?" he asked.
"Handled. The Association took care of everything." She said, "More importantly - you just awakened, didn't you? Using all your mana like that leads to mana exhaustion. You're lucky you didn't cause permanent damage."
Cipher scratched his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I awakened a few hours before you guys showed up."
So that's why I passed out, he thought. Made sense now.
He summoned his system, checking his status.
His mana was fully recharged and he didn't have any status effects.
Selene's eyes widened slightly. A few hours? And he took down three E-ranks and a D-rank mage?
She studied him more carefully now, her expression shifting.
He must have awakened a rare class.
"Do you know why I'm here?" she asked after a moment.
"Registration, right? For my awakener identity?"
"That too." She stepped closer. "But I'm also here to invite you to join the Association."
Cipher blinked. "Join?"
"That's right. Someone with your abilities would be extremely valuable to the association."
He considered it. It was currently Year 3 after the System had descended - the Association was still relatively young and was building its strength, actively recruiting talent to handle threats like the Church of Eternal Brilliance.
Joining had advantages. Resources, information, protection. But also restrictions, oversight, questions he might not want to answer.
Still...
"So?" Selene prompted. "What do you think?"
Cipher sighed, then extended his hand. "Alright. I'll be in your care."
Selene hesitated, surprised, then quickly shook his hand. A small smile crossed her face. "Welcome to the team."
She'd expected him to be arrogant - most people who awakened rare classes were. But he seemed quite down to earth.
…
Cipher stared out the car window as they drove through downtown LA.
The city gleamed. Holographic advertisements floated between buildings. Sleek vehicles drifted past on magnetic rails.
It looked so clean and advanced. So different from South LA where he was from.
He'd almost forgotten what this part of the city looked like. In his timeline, by Year 10, even downtown had fallen to ruin.
There was something he didn't understand though. Three years after the System's descent, humanity had already advanced this much from raiding futuristic apocalypse worlds. They had made decades worth of advancements in just three years. Yet in seven more years, Earth would still fall. In mere days no less.
That's all it took for the apocalypse to destroy everything.
How? How could they advance this fast and still lose so completely?
"We're here," Selene announced.
The car stopped and they stepped out.
Cipher looked up at the Association building. A towering glass structure with the association logo prominently displayed. He'd been here once before, in his original timeline, right after awakening.
It looked exactly the same.
Lines of people stretched from the entrance - newly awakened waiting to register. Selene bypassed them entirely, leading Cipher through a side entrance.
They walked down the hallways until they reached the testing area.
She gestured to a blue crystal mounted on a pedestal.
"Place your hand there and state your name."
Cipher approached. His hand hovered over the crystal for a moment before pressing against its cool surface.
"Cipher."
The crystal flared with brilliant blue light. A card materialized in the air before him, slowly descending into his palm.
He examined it:
[Name: Cipher]
[Level: 5]
[Rank: E]
[True Rank: E]
His awakener ID. Finally.
Back then, his Glitch Class had prevented him from getting one as the system kept glitching during registration. But now, everything worked.
He noticed something. "What's 'True Rank'?"
Selene smiled. "Good question. Your Rank is determined by your highest stat. But your True Rank includes your unallocated points too."
She pulled up a holographic display to illustrate.
"Let's say you have 15 Strength, making you E-rank. But you also have 10 unallocated points. Your True Rank would calculate as 25 Strength (your highest stat + your unallocated points) - making you D-rank in terms of potential."
Cipher nodded. That made sense. The system accounted for hidden strength.
"Generally, unless you're classless or have a Unique Class, your Rank and True Rank will match," Selene continued. "Classes auto-distribute stats, so there's no hoarding points."
"I see."
"On that note, I should explain EXP calculation too." She began. "Killing an enemy at your True Rank gives enough EXP for one level. One rank below is half. Two ranks below is a quarter. It scales the same way upward - one rank above is double, two ranks above is quadruple."
Cipher's eyes widened slightly.
So that's why the EXP gained looked random. He thought.
"Anyway, I'm still on duty." Selene handed him a keycard. "This is for your room. New recruits are awarded a room by the association. But later, you'll have to get your own place."
Then a small handbook. "And this is the Awakener Handbook. It contains useful information about awakeners, Gates, apocalypse worlds, protocols, basically everything. Except classified stuff of course. Make sure to read it when you have the time."
She turned to leave.
"Wait, where's my…"
She was already walking away, waving over her shoulder.
Cipher sighed. He looked at the keycard.
A holographic screen suddenly projected from it, displaying a 3D map of the building with a glowing path highlighted.
Well, that's convenient.
He followed the path.