Lying on the bed in his dormitory room, Oscar stared at his status screen with deep satisfaction.
Name: Oscar
System: Divine Hack System
Function(s): Ban
Traits: Aimbot | Invisibility (Locked - 10,000 EP to unlock) | Locked | Locked...
Level: 5 (0/500)
STR: 2 | CONST: 1 | AGI: 5 | INT: 12 | Mana: 120 | HP: 10
Unallocated Points: 0
Evolution Points (EP): 500
This was not bad growth for a single day. Moving from an unawakened mortal to a Level 5 Host with 500 EP in hand felt like a massive leap forward.
However, unlocking his next trait was going to take a long time, especially considering system quests were completely random.
’Is there a way to receive quests more quickly?’ Oscar asked in his mind.
[Quests are naturally triggered depending on your situation. Be in relevant situations, and you will receive quests accordingly.]
"Yeah, that helps a lot," Oscar muttered, shrugging his shoulders.
The system was the textbook definition of efficiency. It always answered his questions, but its responses were so brief and straightforward that they lacked detailed context.
Since the system refused to elaborate, he pulled out his phone and decided to check the internet.
He was genuinely curious about Naturals. Every time he revealed his status as a Natural Awakener, the treatment he received was remarkably good.
It was clearly far more than a simple title. Oscar spent the next hour browsing through official forums, global host registries, and deep threads.
"Damn it," Oscar whispered, reading through the articles in surprise. "I never expected Naturals to have such massive privileges. It is literally like being born into royalty."
Unlike ordinary Hosts who had to kill a monster to trigger a system awakening, the system awakened by a Natural was completely unique.
There would be no second person in the entire world with the exact same system. Because of this uniqueness, no opponent could ever predict a Natural’s traits or guess their hidden weaknesses.
They were ridiculously difficult to fight in a real battle. Oscar had to agree with that logic. Look at his own system and its first trait.
Aimbot allowed him to hit any target within range without missing a single shot. Now, imagine what would happen if he unlocked Invisibility as well.
If his traits functioned like the video game hacks he used in his past life, combining absolute aim with invisibility would make him practically unkillable.
If his own traits were this broken, what kind of terrifying abilities did other powerful Naturals possess? They were probably just as impressive and dangerous.
"No wonder the government gives them so much special treatment," Oscar thought, scrolling further down the page.
A Natural could enter any government-regulated dungeon completely free of charge, as long as they met the minimum level requirement. Ordinary Hosts, on the other hand, had to pay heavy entry fees just to run a single portal.
"Holy crap," Oscar gasped as he read the standard entry rates. "A single entry ticket for an Iron-Ranked Dungeon costs twenty thousand credits! No wonder Brad stayed stuck at Level 1 for so long."
Beyond free dungeon access, the government provided exclusive commercial discounts specifically for Naturals. All equipment purchases made from merchant shops linked directly to the Host Association received an automatic fifty percent government subsidy.
On top of that, many private merchants offered additional lucrative perks and free gifts just to curry favor with a Natural early on.
After all, if a Natural did not die early in their career, they were guaranteed to become influential powerhouses in the future.
Finally, Oscar searched for information regarding Greymoor Academy.
When the receptionist at the Host Association first handed him the direct entry recommendation ticket, he had not given it much thought.
His initial plan was to avoid academies altogether.
To him, academic institutions were always boring, filled with endless drama, strict rules, and annoying people.
However, the information on his screen proved that Greymoor Academy was entirely different. It was not a simple school for teenagers.
It was an elite training ground built specifically for Hosts who possessed the courage to leave the safety of the city walls and conquer uncharted dungeons.
Every single student who successfully graduated from Greymoor Academy was capable of solo clearing a Gold-Ranked Difficulty (GRD) dungeon.
Oscar knew that relying solely on government-regulated dungeons would eventually cause his growth to hit a hard ceiling. The primary purpose of regulated dungeons was safe training.
To truly level up at a rapid pace, he would eventually have to venture into raw, uncharted dungeons. Rushing into an uncharted dungeon without proper preparation and knowledge was a guaranteed death sentence.
Greymoor Academy was the ultimate place to master the mechanics of uncharted territory. The professors working there were high-level veterans with vast real-combat experience.
"I should go check out the academy tomorrow," Oscar decided, closing the tab. "If it doesn’t suit me, I can just leave whenever I want."
Next, Oscar researched the broader geography of the world. The planet was divided into four major continents, and he was currently living in Baidu City, located in the Northern Continent.
It was currently summer in the region, with local temperatures hovering around fifteen degrees Celsius.
In his past life, a temperature of fifteen degrees Celsius was considered full-blown winter in his hometown.
Summer months were considered peaceful periods across the Northern Continent because most active dungeons entered a temporary state of hibernation.
During winter, the situation changed drastically as dungeon activity spiked. Luckily, the chances of a wild portal opening directly inside the city were almost zero, as dungeons almost always manifested in remote areas without heavy human density.
This was not because dungeons felt mercy for human lives. Rather, the fundamental purpose of a dungeon was to release monsters into the wild to spread its territory.
If humans discovered a portal before it fulfilled its expansion cycle, they would naturally raid and conquer it.
Oscar paused as he read a deep scientific article about dungeon ecology. Dungeons actually possessed a form of sentience.
A cold shiver ran down Oscar’s spine, and the tiny hairs on his arms stood straight up. It was completely different from what he had originally assumed.
Even though dungeons only possessed a preset consciousness focused on spawning monsters, refreshing resources, and expanding territory, the realization that he was stepping inside a living, sentient entity made his skin crawl.
At the very least, these entities could not directly attack raiders themselves.
Finally, Oscar read about the actual power distribution and strength levels of the population in Baidu City. What he discovered completely shattered his recent perspective, showing him just how far off his previous assumptions had been.
Reaching Level 5 and easily crushing Brad on the rooftop had given him a faint illusion of strength. But according to the global database, a Level 5 Host in Baidu City was nothing more than a slightly stronger mortal.
Even Level 10 was considered nothing more than the starting line.
Most ordinary Hosts remained stuck at Level 10 for years, simply because they lacked the courage to step outside the city walls to farm experience.
Government-regulated dungeons simply did not provide enough experience points to advance beyond the beginner tier.
The city was a heavily fortified fortress, and staying inside offered complete safety.
Furthermore, most ordinary Hosts were not Naturals, and their assigned systems were simply not built for heavy combat.
Unless someone possessed powerful combat traits, risking their life in the wild made no sense.
However, very few Hosts were willing to risk their lives outside.
In Baidu City, there was a well-known saying: ’A person becomes a Host when they awaken a system, but they only become a true Raider when they achieve a Two-Star Class Change.’
Upon reaching Level 10, a Host could select their primary class from six main branches: Mage, Assassin, Fighter, Defender, Support, or Marksman.
However, a Host only truly specialized in their chosen field when they evolved that base class into a Two-Star class.
That was the moment when a person’s combat style became uniquely their own.
There were very few public details regarding the specific requirements for Two-Star evolutions, as high-level guilds and powerful families intentionally kept that information classified.
Oscar felt curious, but he could only sigh at the lack of available data.
Regardless, he learned one crucial fact: to evolve a class into a Two-Star rank, a Host had to reach Level 25 first.
Reaching Level 25 was completely impossible by relying solely on slow, government-regulated dungeons.
Closing his phone and setting it on the nightstand, Oscar laid his head back against his pillow. Attending Greymoor Academy was clearly the right move.