Choices

No wonder they set the awakening for free. Still, this is better than the black bull's loan shark style awakening. 

Inside the innerworld, Claire managed to reverse the flow. She watched as the rune symbols were etched on to her elements, starting from the largest. 

The inner world has a core, which is the mana type. Hers is non-attribute mana, and the largest planets are elements. However, there are secondary planets which circle around mana core, which are twelfth size of these elemental planets. As she directed mana to these secondary planets boosting their size, even these secondary planets started receiving runes. 

There's plenty of rubble circling around Claire's core. It took her entire concentration to push mana into these tiny planets to boost their size. In the end, she etched more than a thousand runes, etching up to third tier. Once that's done, she created a small mana sphere, to see if she could find a rune for non-attribute mana. 

Seems there was one. 

Once that last rune was etched, she stopped in exhaustion. 

She exhausted all her mental energy. 

Outside, the students are getting itchy, as they watch the green progress bar move at a snail's pace. The officer watching the fine details was looking at the information in shock, as she watched the number of runes copied by the student. Then, the etching of the library began. By the virtue of having a non-attribute rune, Claire is eligible to copy the entire skill library. 

The students mumbled among themselves as they watched the green bar grow smaller and smaller. 

Inside the innerworld, Claire lounged like a bored teen, with her legs dangling as the spells flashed as a whole in the sky, then the connections were made through runes. 

What does the police officer's recognition of the teddy bear necklace mean ? Was he one of the helpers for her uncle ? Was he investigating them on his own ? …

No, wait ! 

I am looking at this from the wrong angle. She corrected herself. 

What she should be thinking about is the police man's character in the first place. From what she noticed till now, he skipped reporting her despite knowing reporting could have brought benefits to him. At that time, she thought him a benevolent officer. But the next day, he sent thugs to her, to kill her and steal Zayne's storage necklace, despite their report understating its value. 

So, he is greedy. Then … Why did he not report her and Zayne ? They were definitely suspicious just by being an anomaly. 

….???

Then it struck her. ' he wants to avoid the attention. ' 

Sure, reporting her and Zayne is useful, but it puts attention on him, especially when he is surrounded by zealous colleagues. There must be something fishy about his own self, so he doesn't want more eyes on him. 

How could he be fishy at this point ? There's only one answer. He must be working for the Reapers. 

Claire sat in attention with a snap. 

But .. as long as the awakening is happening, the officer can not harm her. When the awakening is going on, he can not leave the place, can he ? 

She did not know. 

The only thing she could be sure of was that she was safe, as long as she was on the podium. 

The skill library was reaching its end. 

In the end, once the magic circles finished etching, the copying of the only skill the orb possessed began. 

The skill is called ' Report '. 

This skill is attached to the prisoner's arm cuff. 

That's the end. 

If it had been an average hunter with some mana, he would be walking away with one or two runes, no magic circles at all, and a parasite on his mana core, plus an useless skill which imposed on their privacy. 

When there's no more to be had, Claire stopped the mana flow to the awakening orb, and detached the arm cuff from her own mana core. 

Now, it's time for her to go out and receive her hunter badge. 

She walked out, wondering if she would receive strange looks for how long it had taken for her to go through the test. 

However, the license dispensing officer was quite alright with the time. 

' Ah ! We are the first school doing the awakening. Since there are no precedents, they don't think it's strange. ' she realized looking at him. 

" Congratulations. Your job is Engraver. " The officer informed her. 

" Thank you, Sir. " Claire told him, and returned back to her seat. 

She heard of engravers in her past life. They have little mana, but they have non-attribute mana cores, so they could bestow magic circles for people. She is not a true engraver in the sense she has elemental mana. 

She paused in her thoughts. Why is she so sure ? she could perhaps engrave magic circles too. She just needs to practice a little more.

" We have a standing recruiting offer for the Engravers. Would you like to apply ? " The officer asked, propping a document towards her. 

" Umm.. is engraving an important job ? " She asked like an ignorant little girl. 

' Yes, engravers are important. Only an engraver could bind the party together. As such, the more engravers one has, the faster a party could form. ' Claire knew as much from experience. 

" Not very important, but needed all the same. It pays very regularly. " The officer spoke wisely, making her feel like it's not an important job that could get paid well. 

Claire took the job application. Ofcourse, she was not going to apply for the job. There are no perks to be had. 

As soon as she walked to her seat besides Zayne, she started scanning the hall for the police officer. He was not in the hall at all. 

She subtly activated mirror eyes, and scanned the room. 

Nope. he was not there at all. 

However, there was something different about the hall. Every single meter from the wall, there was a small mana ball forming. As soon as the mana ball formed, it connected with another to create a barrier. It's growing one meter mana barrier at a time. 

Claire could think with her toes, and she would know that this is for trapping her inside. 

" Zayne. I am going to the restroom. It will take a while. " She told him. 

" Are you okay ? " Zayne asked concernedly. 

" I am fine. The awakening stone has a contract type spell which binds mana core with a chain. As long as you put the first link on the spare stake, it considers you chained. However, for spell etching to happen, you have to reverse supply the awakening orb with some mana. You will understand what I am saying when you enter innerworld. For now though, I just need some alone time to settle my mana. Don't worry about it, and wait for me. " Claire said in his ear, even as her eyes are roaming around the walls, keeping track of the growing mana barrier. " she patted Zayne's thigh reassuringly as soon as she finished her piece, and made a beeline to the ladies which is on the opposite side of the growing mana barrier. 

The moment she closed the stall's door, she unleashed her magic, removing screws from the window frame. The window came off. 

The mana barrier's speed increased in the direction of the ladies as soon as Claire moved. The window is on the opposite end of the entering door, with toilet stalls on either side. 

The screws were old and rusty, so they moved and shifted very slowly. 

Sweat beaded on Claire's forehead as she waited for the screw to come off. 

She needed to get to the children before this guy catches her and she needs to move them away first. She hoped Zayne remaining in the hall will stall him for sometime, but apparently, this guy is a cautious type. 

There are four stalls between the mana barrier and the window. There are four screws on four sides, keeping the window frame stable. 

First stall is covered. 

First screw came off. 

Second stall is covered. 

Second screw began turning… 

Third stall is covered. 

Second screw came off.. 

Fourth stall is covered. 

A mana box cut through the window, making a square hole. 

Claire jumped through the window, falling on the other side. 

The window was covered. 

Her skirt brushed the mana barrier, making the edges scald from the mana. 

The moment she fell down, Claire rolled down, rolling straight down. The auditorium is on the first floor, but it is still at a height. They would be climbing through six steps to reach the corridor. Claire rolled from the corridor where she fell in, and the barrier followed her tile by tile. 

She knew inside her mind that spells like barriers need to be tied to something. In this case, it should be the auditorium building. 

As soon as she landed on the ground, she scrambled to crouch, and from the crouch, she took off straight to the sky. 

Only, she miscalculated. 

The barrier is not bound to the auditorium building at all, it's bound to any constructed space within the school. 

Claire cursed in her mind. 

The high school, middle school and the primary school are all connected through a fencing wall. If the barrier followed any construction, then it would block her before she could collect Robin and Dolce. 

Now she is absolutely sure that the police officer is a Reaper Spy. 

She could go left to primary school, or right to middle school. 

Whom should she save ? 

Dolce and Robin ? or Twins and Brea ?