[3]Second Profession, Genius Idea

Kai waited in the Awakening Stone line for about ten minutes before he was allowed to pay the lady at the counter ten gold coins to go touch an Awakening stone. Awakeners could always view the system personally, but if they wanted to evolve skills, view a new or existing skill in depth, or Awaken for the first time, they had to be around an Awakening stone. In other words, The government found a free money glitch by having people pay by the half hour just to be allowed to be near these things. This also allowed them to relatively control who could awaken, banning known criminals and either snatching free talent or silently assassinating people they consider a problem.

Kai followed a guard armed with a mana gun for about five minutes before he came to a locked room with a high tech password. The guard walked up to the password machine on the wall, and then his hand became a physical blur because he was moving it so fast that Kai was only able to see after images even after Awakening. Kai already knew that this guard would be by no means simple and he wasn't planning anything shady, so he wasn't disturbed by the revelation that this man could probably kill him faster than he could blink.

After a moment, the high tech door opened up, and the guard stepped back a bit.

"Remember kid, you've only got thirty minutes, so if you're evolving a skill or trying to figure something out from the description of a skill or talent, you might want to take notes on what the system tells you and come again later."

The guard could tell that Kai was an Awakener, so he never would have guessed that Kai was coming to awaken a second profession and talent. After all, who the heck has two partially merged souls in their body? That would be impossible.

Kai nodded at the man.

"Thanks for the advice."

Of course, Kai had already written down the descriptions of his skills on a good old notebook. After all, Kai had spacial skills, what was a spy going to do? Reach into the pocket dimension and grab it? Not only his current skills, The Kai Darkbloom who Hunter Bellows inherited memories from had already been involved with shady characters for years and had learned multiple new skills and even evolved some of them. The skills that Kai had written down were actually one of his possible future development paths in depth, which was more information than Kai could say that most fifteen year olds had at this age, especially since he had two people's memories of living up to age twenty.

Kai walked up to the Awakening stone as the security door closed behind him. Kai's hands were bound by mana cuffs, but that didn't stop him from Awakening or anything. It would just stop him from actively using skills that involved mana, such as stuffing the Awakening stone into his pocket dimension and teleporting away. The Awakener Association was especially protective of these white glowing stones like the one on that pillar up ahead, so they didn't like to take chances.

Finally, after arriving in this world, Kai Darkbloom(formerly Hunter Bellows), could awaken his own profession and talent. Kai touched the stone, and it changed from a soft white glow to a vibrant green, and the light grew to the point that Kai had to look away. When the light died out, Kai sat down with his back to the pillar that the Awakening stone was on and silently chanted in his heart.

'System open.'

[User: Kai Darkbloom, Human]

[Occupation: Spacial Mage Level 1, Druid Level 1]

[Talent: Mana Affinity(B),One Man City(EX)]

[Physique:15]

[Mana:24]

[Skills: Pocket dimension Level 1, Blink Level 1,Speak To Nature Level 1,Nature's Blessing Level 1]

[Spacial Mage: You are attuned to the space of the world. Bending the laws of space is within your reach.]

[Druid: You long for nature and nature longs for you. As long as you listen to the world around you, the world around you will listen in turn.]

[Mana Affinity: Mana flows through you as if you are a part of nature. It is easier for you to master and control mana.]

[One Man City: What use is a life professional? Why depend on others for what you can do yourself? As long as you put the effort in, you can master any non combat professional related skills on your first try.(Holder of this unique talent is passively unable to awaken a life profession out of redundancy)]

[Pocket Dimension: You carry access to a miniature dimension. You can control everything in that miniature dimension(living creatures cannot enter).]

[Blink: Fold space around yourself to instantly arrive somewhere within your mana perception as long as you have enough mana.]

[Speak to nature: You can understand the intention of animals and plants, and you can also convey your intentions in kind.]

[Nature's Blessing: You are loved by nature, and therefore you are stronger within its embrace. (+10 to all stats while within places with an excess of plant life and less intelligent creatures. +100% recovery within places with an excess of plant life and less intelligent creatures, including slow regeneration of lost body parts.)]

Kai looked at his status. Then, he closed the status and reopened it two more times. The reality of the situation seemed to settle in a bit, and Kai jumped straight to his feet, unbelieving of the screen in front of him.

'Holy Fuck! What in sam hell is my status!?'

Druid? Unique talent that makes life professions redundant? A boost to both physique and mana values, and a passive skill that boosts his abilities in nature? Kai almost fell back over in shock. Kai hadn't noticed the immediate surge in strength before because of the heat current flowing through his body, but he sure felt it now. Both of his stats had been raised by over ten points each! That kind of strength from a level one Awakener was unheard of. This meant that Kai had fifteen times the strength of an ordinary person and a whopping twenty four times the mana value! Screw that Jack guy, he could be the main character instead! Did he even need to go to an academy to learn combat with this strength?

'Wait.'

Kai froze.

Suddenly, it was as if a jolt ran through him.

'Do I even need to go to an academy? That isn't even the right question.'

"Do I? Do I have to stay in this country at all? What if I just go live in a forest somewhere?"

Kai had whispered at first, as if he was afraid someone would overhear, but by the time he had finished the second sentence, he had spoken at a normal volume.

It was the equivalent of Kai's lightbulb moment. What were the things that bothered Kai the most right now? Kai had no real connections or allies, a bad reputation for being a scum rich second generation waste, and a bunch of enemies and former lackeys that would love to suppress or outright kill him. What were the greatest advantages of sticking around in the North Continent country? That was also clear to Kai. It was food, shelter, a chance to make new connections and even find love...

Kai silently made up his mind.

'Yeah, there's no real benefit to sticking around, right? I'll just pack up my life, stuff a bunch of useful things into my pocket dimension, and dip. I'm already completing my mission by connecting my soul to the original Kai's anyway. Might as well trek the world while I'm at it.'