Chapter 6: Testing the Waters

"I guess so." Outwardly, Samuel seemed nonchalant about his newfound power. But inside he was very eager to test the waters and figure out what his abilities did.

"That's amazing!" Angela was very excited for her friend. She'd always thought that Samuel was a good person with the heart to protect. Unfortunately, she knew that he had no Aspect, which made it nearly impossible for him to become strong enough to fight against most monsters. Although technology had advanced, most of the effective weapons against monsters required mana to be activated. Now though, Samuel had Awakened, meaning he had an Aspect. Even if his Aspect was a non-combative one, at least he would be able to cultivate mana and temper his body. As long as he had personal mana, he would be able to find other options to get stronger.

"Thanks, Angela. Thank you for saving my life." Samuel wasn't one to skimp out on thanking his savior. He was always grateful to the ones who treated him like a human being. Too many people back in the Sanctuaries were elitists, who saw Manaless as useless wastes of air.

"We're friends, aren't we? That's what friends should do." Angela punched him in the shoulder playfully.

Samuel smiled. He was glad that people like Angela existed. If they didn't, he may have lost faith in humanity long ago.

He looked towards the coffee table at the book. Now that he had mana, he could absorb the chapter. Grabbing the book, he injected his mana into it. The speck of mana he worked so hard to generate infused into the book. Gradually the book began to glow, rising in temperature and getting hotter and hotter. Suddenly, it burst into ashes and a stream of energy entered his brain. As it did, he felt new knowledge filling his mind.

[Ding! Chapter IV, Greed detected. Updating…]

Right as the energy stream finished, full knowledge of the chapter had formed in his brain. The Reincarnation Game also updated his information, allowing him to view the details on the chapter.

[Chapter IV, Greed]

["Desire for truth is the natural state of existence. Greed for knowledge is like hunger for food or thirst for water. It's natural. It's necessary."]

[Ability - Eyes of Truth: Grants the ability to peer into the truth of objects and living beings.]

Although the descriptions in the game windows were somewhat lackluster in terms of how the ability actually worked, Samuel had it in his brain. He knew how to activate each of his abilities, but he just needed to see what would happen when the ability was activated.

First, he needed to regenerate some mana. Once an Awakened makes that first speck of mana, it becomes exponentially easier to generate mana. In fact, he could even slowly generate mana just by breathing and taking in the mana in the air. The meditation would simply speed up the process, allowing him to generate multiple times more in the same amount of time.

"Wow! Is that a spellbook? Why do you even have one?" Angela was quite surprised. Spellbooks were expensive and there wasn't any reason that Samuel would have one since he was Manaless before today.

"Uhh…Yes, it was something left by my father before his passing." He had no choice but to lie. Angela definitely wouldn't believe him if he told her it was part of his Aspect. "Angela, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about my Awakening for now."

Samuel wouldn't have cared any other time, but there was a certain Rick Quan that needed to stay in the dark. Samuel wasn't going to let him go easily.

"Huh? Why not? Isn't it good that you Awakened?" Angela was confused.

"I have my reasons. Please." Samuel knew that Angela was a hot-headed woman, which was why he didn't think it was a good idea to tell her about the situation with Rick. He was worried that she'd try to do something about it, and he'd rather take care of it himself.

"…Okay, fine. I won't tell anyone." She reluctantly agreed.

"Thank you."

"I'll let you rest now. Stay here for a few days. You can take the guest bedroom downstairs."

Now that he was Awakened, his body's natural healing would be much more efficient than before. Combined with the treatment from Grandma Hu, he would only need to rest properly for a few days even though he'd sustained such a grievous injury. Right now, he was already stable but resting would get him back to tip-top shape.

——

Three days later, Samuel was back in business. He'd essentially just spent the past days sleeping, eating, cultivating, and occasionally moving around to get his blood flowing. As for his job, it didn't matter anymore because he would be discharged from service anyway. Without a right arm, he wouldn't even be able to shoot a gun which would render his position as a soldier meaningless.

Samuel did his morning routine, attempting one-handed push-ups, brushing his teeth with his left hand, showering with one hand, and eating breakfast. Grandma Hu had been extremely caring and Samuel basically lived as a member of the Hu family for a few days.

"Sam, my boy. You're a tough one, ain't ya? Already ready to return to the real world?" Grandpa Hu slapped a hand onto Samuel's shoulder. Even though this old man was constantly hunched over, his strength was no joke.

"Yes, sir. I'm going to report back to my barracks." Samuel was going to report his injury and he would most likely be discharged immediately. The Sanctuary Guard provided lifetime benefits for soldiers who were discharged, although it wasn't anything special. If Samuel hadn't Awakened, he'd probably have settled down in Stoneburg and lived out the rest of his days surviving on the money from the Sanctuary Guard and the money he saved for the past five years.

But, he did Awaken. And he had plans.

"Sam! I'm heading to work. You want a lift to the barracks?" Angela came downstairs to where Samuel and Grandpa Hu were talking. She was dressed in her usual attire, a comfortable dress shirt and skirt. Slung around her shoulder was a sling bag, where she kept her gym clothes and battle equipment.

"Yeah, let me just grab my bag." Samuel was currently wearing a white button-up and a pair of jeans. His gear was in a backpack, including his gun. He'd need to return these things today.

After getting into the car with Angela, they drove off towards the barracks. The barracks where Samuel worked was basically just a section of the Stoneburg Defenders headquarters. The Sanctuary Guard cooperated with local guilds when soldiers were deployed outside of the Sanctuary. Stoneburg only had a small amount of Sanctuary Guard soldiers, just a few squads. For a small town like Stoneburg, there wasn't much ground to cover.

When they arrived, she dropped Samuel off at the barracks before driving to the guild parking. Samuel took a deep breath and walked into the barracks. He navigated to his boss' office and knocked on the door.

"Come in." A burly voice sounded out from behind the door.

Samuel turned the doorknob and strode inside. Sitting at the desk was a large Caucasian man. The burly voice completely matched the burly body that the man had. His hair was cut short, like most soldiers, but he had a bushy mustache that was rarely seen among soldiers.

"Sergeant Jones. Samuel Mo reporting for duty."

"At ease, Samuel. I heard what happened from Ms. Hu. I'll make this easy for you. Private First Class Samuel Mo. You are hereby honorably discharged from duty. The Washington Sanctuary will provide lifetime compensation for your services. Return your gear to the armory and pack your belongings."

"Thank you sir."

"Now that the official stuff is done. Sam, you're a respectable soldier. The people here in Stoneburg all admire you, so don't do anything you'll regret." Sergeant Jones was a good man. He was getting on in his years and he'd seen many soldiers get crippled or die in the line of duty. Death was usually the preferred option for the Manaless soldiers.

"I won't sir. I still have some goals in life. I won't be dying anytime soon if I can help it." Samuel smiled. He admired Sergeant Jones. A battle-hardened soldier with a big heart. Even if sometimes he showed it by conducting early morning surprise training.

"Good lad. Now, see yourself out. Don't forget that you'll need a place to live from now on. The dorms are for soldiers only."

"Yes sir. Thanks for the reminder sir." Luckily, he'd thought of that beforehand. The Hu family agreed to let him use the guest room until he found his own place. He was very thankful for that and even offered to pay rent but all of them declined. Grandpa Hu and Angela made more than enough money simply from working at the guild.

After that, Samuel went directly to the armory and dropped off his gear. Then, he headed to his dorm. He didn't have much stuff, just a few day-to-day living essentials. He packed everything into his suitcase and left the building. He didn't go to Lewis' room because he would already be on patrol duty by this time.

Instead, he headed directly to the Stoneburg Defenders guild. The guild was very well-equipped with various facilities including a gym with private training rooms. He'd asked Angela if he could swing by and borrow one of the training rooms for a few hours. She agreed.

He entered the guild building with relative ease. Since the barracks was essentially part of the guild, the soldiers were allowed to use some parts of the guild building. His access card still worked, even though he had been discharged. The gym was a familiar place to Samuel, so he easily navigated there. Angela was already waiting there.

"Hey Sam, how'd it go?" She hopped off the treadmill and took a drink of water.

"All checked out." He showed her his suitcase.

"So I booked this room for four hours, but you know how the guild is. We can probably use this for the entire day and no one will bat an eye." They walked to the training room while talking and Angela swiped her access card. The door swung open with a mechanical hum and they were greeted with the sight of a mostly empty room. The walls were all white except for one that had an array of targets. The only objects in the room were a humanoid training dummy and a couple high-tech devices in the corners of the room. In one of the corners of the room was a small glass enclosure with a chair and some shelves. Angela led him over to the enclosure.

"You can leave your stuff here. This glass is special. It has very high durability, and can withstand a lot. Do you want to change into better clothing for this?" Angela quickly explained the usage of the enclosure and then asked him a question.

"Hmm. Yeah. Let me change into my gym clothes." He began to rummage around in his suitcase before pulling out a grey tank-top and a pair of gym shorts. Without paying heed to Angela, he stripped off his clothes and changed. He'd practiced a lot with using just his left hand to change clothes. By this point, he was still a bit slow with it but managed to get it done.

Angela admired his body. He was somewhat average in height, around 175cm, but he was lean. You couldn't tell while he was wearing clothes but Samuel was very fit. His short, black hair was cut to the standard buzz-cut hairstyle that most soldiers were required to have. The mana cultivation he did over the past few days helped cleanse his skin which made it smoother.

"Alright. By the way, Angela, would you mind if I used my ability on you? It's a mental logistical ability so you probably won't feel anything."

"Sure, why not? Figures that you'd have a logistical ability. You were always so logical." Angela laughed.

"Well, that's not all. I also have another ability, although I'm not really sure how to categorize it exactly."

"Two abilities?! That's amazing, Sam! You're basically a prodigy." To be honest, Angela was shocked. There was only one other person in the guild who had Awakened with two abilities.

"I wouldn't say that. But anyway, let me try using my ability." Since Angela had agreed, Samuel was eager to try out the Eyes of Truth.

According to the information in his mind, he had to manipulate his mana and circulate it through his eyes and brain in a certain pattern. He tried doing it and it felt natural to him, as though he'd known how to do so his entire life.

When the ability was activated, his eyes glowed white for a moment before a status window appeared in front of him.

[Analysis]

[Name: Angela Hu]

[Title: None]

[Aspect: Blaze]

[Race: Human]

[Mana Cultivation: Level 2]

[Stats:]

[Strength: 18]

[Vitality: 19]

[Agility: 25]

[Intelligence: 20]

[Willpower: 15]

'Interesting. Looks like I can see a lot of information. Probably because Angela's willpower is lower than mine. Hm? Mana cultivation is a new status.' Samuel quickly brought up his own status window.

[Status]

[Name: Samuel Mo]

[Title: None]

[Aspect: The Infernal Guide (Incomplete)]

[Race: Human]

[Mana Cultivation: Level 1]

[Stats:]

[Strength: 11]

[Vitality: 11]

[Agility: 11]

[Intelligence: 15]

[Willpower: 16]

Mana cultivation appeared in his status window. He hadn't checked his status in the past few days, so he missed it. When he was meditating, he certainly felt his body becoming stronger and his mind becoming clearer. This was definitely the cause of his increase in stats. As for the intelligence increase, he theorized that it was caused by his absorption of the Chapter of Greed.

"Angela, did you notice anything?" Samuel was curious. Does the target of his Eyes of Truth feel anything.

"What? Did you use your ability? What did it do?" Angela didn't feel anything. Only about thirty seconds had passed since he told her he'd use his ability.

"It's telling me some information about your general status. Like, the name of your Aspect is Blaze, right? And your mana cultivation is level 2?" Samuel revealed his ability to her. It wasn't really something that needed to be kept a secret, because there were plenty of Aspects in the world that could identify objects and people. The question was what the limits of his ability was. The name was somewhat enigmatic, but that was a good indicator that it might be powerful.

"Wow! That's right. Hmm. Being observed like this is a little, I don't know, strange. Feels like my secrets are being revealed." Angela shivered slightly. Last time she was examined like this was when she went through the official NEO process to get registered as an official Awakened.

"Sorry, but I needed to test the ability." Samuel smiled sheepishly.

"It's okay. But now, you gotta show me the other ability too!" Angela perked up. She was intrigued by this Aspect of his.

Samuel nodded and walked out of the enclosure into the open space. The floor was padded by mats. He stood in the center of the room and faced the enclosure.

Devil Transformation was the ability he was most interested in. According to the description, he could morph his body or even form new body parts. If that was the case, he should be able to generate a new right arm, at least temporarily.

He circulated his mana according to the path in his mind. This ability was much more complex than the Eyes of Truth. There seemed to be several paths that he could circulate his mana in. He chose the one that focused on his right shoulder. A sizable amount of the mana he had generated over the past few days flowed to his shoulder. Suddenly, his right shoulder burst into flames. The flames were red on the outside but black on the inside. They extended out unnaturally, reaching exactly an arms-length away. He felt something materialize in the flames. As soon as it fully formed and the nerves connected, he felt new flesh taking the place of the empty air before. The flames disappeared and his new arm was beholden for all to see.