Awakening (1)

It's been three years since the world changed with monsters dominating the land, which pushed humans to the brink of extinction, leading to humans having to live in safe zones to keep the small number of humans left alive, but that's not all. Dungeon gates appeared across the safe zones which could send all humans to extinction if they are not dealt with before the monsters break out.

It's also been three years since I lost my parents to the monster siege, so I've been living with my aunt and uncle ever since then, living inside a small house in New York City on the outskirts of the safe zone, barely keeping enough pay to put food on the table with my uncle being a D Rank Adventure and aunt being a receptionist at the Adventure's Association.

"Alex, it's time to wake up, we need to get ready for your system awakening ceremony." My uncle shouted from behind my bedroom door.

I groaned and spoke "Just give me another five minutes," before pulling my blankets back over my shoulders and trying to fall asleep again.

"If you don't get ready soon, then we'll miss the ceremony." My uncle shouted once again from the other side of the door.

Soon I realized what he was saying and got up with sluggish eyes and disheveled hair and walked over to open my bedroom door.

"Morning, Uncle Rich." I said while rubbing my eyes to get rid of the eye boogers.

"Morning, you need to get ready, we're leaving in 30 minutes." Uncle Rich said with a smile, before heading back downstairs.

"OK, I'll go get ready now." I said before shutting my door and walking over to my wardrobe and picking out underwear, a T-shirt, and some sweat pants before walking out of my room.

I grabbed some towels and went towards the bathroom. After entering the bathroom, I took a quick shower, and dried my body off with a towel before putting on my clothes.

Once I was done getting dressed, I looked at myself in the mirror and fell into a daze.

What I saw was a 18-year-old young man that was 6 foot 1 inches tall, he had black hair, with blue eyes, muscular, but not overly muscular like those body builders, and a clean-shaven face to go with it.

After getting out of my daze, I began brushing my teeth. After I finished brushing my teeth, I left the bathroom.

Leaving the bathroom, I headed downstairs, where I found my aunt eating breakfast at the kitchen table with my uncle; so I walked over to the kitchen table to see a plate full of pancakes, sausage, bacon, and eggs, which was my favorite.

I began eating at a fast pace, nearly gulping down all the food, but I made sure to savor the taste, since it was so good.

"Alex slow down, your going to choke." My aunt said while looking at me, gulping down my food.

"OK." I said after swallowing the food that was in my mouth.

I listened to my aunt since I knew she cared deeply about me, and I didn't want to worry her.

We soon finished breakfast, and left our house, since cars are useless now with people being able to reach higher speeds without the need of them, we had to walk to the teleport node that is connected to the teleport shrine in the middle of the city, which wasn't too far, since we lived close to the teleport node, so my aunt could go to work and my uncle can go to the Adventures Association to receive quests.

After a few minutes of walking, we reached the teleport node, which had a line of people using it, but it wasn't surprising with the system awakening ceremony happening that there were this many people using the node.

…

Gradually, the people in front of us began to thin out with them teleporting to their destination and soon it became our turn.

When we walked up to the teleport node, it looked like an obelisk stone with runes on it, but had magic circles engraved into the base floor that extended out from it, which radiated with power.

The teleport nodes and shrines were naturally erected three years ago when monsters appeared. Many people tried to investigate them by taking a chunk off of it, but to no avail with it being completely indestructible.

Teleport nodes could only transfer you to other nodes or shrines within the city, while teleport shrines could teleport you to other cities or countries, but the range was limited to shrines you have discovered.

There is one option to bypass this. That is to party up with someone who has discovered that shrine, which was hard to do, since many people living in New York didn't venture out of the city with them wanting to live a peaceful life like they used to before the world changed.

Once we stepped on the teleport node, the magic circle lit up and we soon arrived at our destination, which was the center of New York City, where the ceremony would take place.

We soon walked over to the place where the registration was and entered it.

When we entered, there was a line of people once again, but the line kept getting shorter, which displayed how quick and professional the Adventures Association was.

After 10 minutes or so, it was my turn, and we walked up to the counter, which had a beautiful young receptionist.

"We'll be registering Alex here, for the System Awakening Ceremony." My aunt said with a smile.

"OK, please fill in this sheet and he'll be registered right away." The receptionist said while handing us a clipboard with a registration sheet and a pen.

"Thanks." My aunt said while she handed me the sheet, which I began filling in quickly without any error.

I soon finished filling in the registration sheet and handed it back to the receptionist.

"You will be number 431 to awaken today. All you need to do is show this card to one of the employees running the ceremony and they'll do the rest for you." The receptionist said while handing out a card which displayed my number and ID.

"Thanks." I said, while leaving with my aunt and uncle.

We soon found the employee who had brown hair and wore a black and white suit and walked over to him.

"ID." The man said while extending his hand out.

He took the card and registered me as number 431, then brought me into the line.

"We'll be watching from the stands." My aunt said with a smile before walking away towards the stands.